Level 70 ninja can now advance a mastery through a brand new ritual. Leaping gets a shortcut: double jump straight up onto a ledge or tree, no charge needed. Tree Jumping is easier to steer, combat hitboxes are tighter, Vulkan is now the default renderer, and big fights and crowds run a lot smoother.

Advanced Mastery

At level 70 you can advance one of your masteries and open its strongest jutsu. Advancing used to be a quick menu choice. It's now a ritual on the Awakening screen, with a trial of its own for every mastery.

No accidents: like awakening, advancing is a 10-second hold in four steps. Each step has its own warning, ending with a last chance to let go.

Double Jump Leap

You no longer have to charge a leap to get up onto a ledge or a tree. Jump, then press Jump again while you're in the air, facing a ledge or a tree, and you leap straight up onto it. This feature was thought of by IronLion!

• Works on anything a fully charged leap from that spot could climb: ledges, cliffs, platforms and tree tops

• Costs 110 stamina, the same as a leap

• While a second press would leap, a faint ring in your village's colour marks where you'll land. Turn it off with Show Double Jump Landing in Settings > Gameplay.

Tree Jumping Improvements

• Leap where you're heading Walking off a tree top now leaps to the tree in the direction you're walking. If there's no tree that way, you leap toward the side of the crown you walked off.

• Marks point at the tree top The marks at the edge now point where the next tree's crown is drawn, and stay steady as you move about

• You can now leap onto a tree another ninja is standing on

• Marks now update straight away when a tree grows or something is placed nearby

• Short leaps between close trees now whoosh more quietly than long ones

Combat

• Tighter hitboxes Players are now hit as a 24-pixel box in the middle of their tile, instead of the whole 32-pixel tile. Attacks, jutsu, projectiles and thrown weapons now have to land a little closer to hit. Walking and bumping into things are unchanged.

  

• Your own villagers' health bars now show as friendly in war and danger zones, since they can't hurt you there. The striped caution bar is now only for concealed players.

• Fixed knocked-up summons getting stuck in place for good

Vulkan Is Now the Default

Thanks to everyone who tried the new renderers last update. Vulkan is now the default renderer everywhere except macOS.

• Everyone moves to Vulkan once with this update, including players who picked OpenGL or Direct3D 12 before. You can switch back any time in Settings > Graphics > Renderer.

• Your choice now sticks: the renderer you pick is kept from now on, instead of going back with every update

• If Vulkan can't start on your computer, the game restarts on OpenGL by itself and tells you why under the setting

• Direct3D 12 fixes: fixed a crash after logging in, coloured wedges drawn across the screen on some maps, and what we believe caused random crashes when changing maps

Smoother Fights and Crowds

• Jutsu-heavy fights: jutsu art now loads in the background instead of in the middle of a frame, removing hitches of up to 45 ms the first time a jutsu shows up

• Sounds: a sound playing for the first time no longer stutters the game

• Crowds: lighting new characters is three times faster, and preparing them is much faster on Vulkan and Direct3D 12, so crowds coming into view freeze far less. Memory a big crowd used is now given back about a minute after it leaves.

• Vulkan and Direct3D 12: character lighting now runs on the graphics card, and so does grass physics on Vulkan. Effects from your earlier sessions are prepared at startup, so they don't hitch the first time you see them again.

• Windows: fixed short hitches of 8 to 18 ms while the game waited for the graphics card

• Grass, the hotbar and shadows also cost less every frame

World

• Updated the Toad Dojo 1st and 2nd Floors

• Mist Village Arena is now slightly smaller

• Takumi Village can no longer be captured by enemy ninja

Guilds

• Guilds now have at most 30 members. Member Slot stops at rank 20, and the ranks for members 31 and above are gone.

• Guild Points spent on those ranks are given back automatically

• A guild that already has more than 30 members keeps them all, but can't take anyone new until it's under 30

• Cash Shop Guild XP packs have been nerfed. The chances for each scroll are now:

This makes levelling your guild through other means more attractive.

Organizations

• Leaders can no longer be removed from their organization until their leader role is revoked

• Leaders are no longer removed automatically by the member time limit

Changes and Fixes

• Hold to gather Berry bushes and other resources you gather by hand now open only after you hold the interact key for a moment, so you no longer open them by accident mid-fight. A gold ring on the Hold to gather prompt fills as you hold. Supply crates and potholes work the same way. Resources that need a tool still open on a press.

• Trade and duel requests now expire after 3 minutes. An ignored duel request no longer stops either of you from challenging again until you relog.

• Private messages: in the name box, Up and Down now pick a suggested name, Tab fills it in and Enter messages them. A name typed in full is listed first. Tab-completing in chat no longer opens the PM box.

• Softer snow: the snow's dusting, footprints and glints are now drawn soft and round instead of square, so drifts no longer look pixelated up close. Footprints are shaded with light and shadow.

  

• Server updates: when an update is waiting for the new game client, the countdown now pauses at one minute instead of being cancelled

• Dragging an item out of a hotbar slot no longer moves the HUD

• Fixed walking straight off some map edges holding you at the edge instead of taking you to the next map

• Fixed players being unable to log in while holding old organization items that were made stackable

• Escorts following you to a new map no longer play the login animation for the players you leave behind