In a past devlog, we went through the combat system of Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades, including how strategic you can be by exploiting the environment and positioning to your advantage. However, we did not dive deep into one of the foundational pillars when it comes to this genre: the status effects.
For Pathbreakers, we decided to have a smaller amount of buffs and debuffs and keep them more streamlined. This does not, however, mean that they will be bland to play with. Quite the contrary: with the way skills can be altered by ability modifiers, we end up with more complex permutations of debuffs and buffs in a sense.
Generally speaking, when it comes to the debuffs, you can expect to pick up the system quickly and easily in the early game, and discover more complexities as your characters gain levels and start getting access to more passives and modifiers. As the game progresses, you’ll pick up new tricks and setups that will increase the mileage you gain out of debuffs.
The base debuffs of Pathbreakers
Before expanding on the debuffs explanation, we are going to list all the basic ones that you will have at your disposal:
Poison: a venomous application that reduces a unit's max Action Points (AP) for a few rounds, limiting the number of actions and movements they can take during their turn.
Bleed: an open wound that deals a fixed amount of damage to a unit at the end of their turn for a few turns. The unit will also leave a blood puddle on the ground that conducts electricity, just like a water puddle.
Root: immobilize a unit for a short while. It is more effective on melee characters.
Charm: a mind-domination effect that causes the affected unit to take actions that benefit the spellcaster who charmed it. It has a short duration.
Stun: a dazed unit cannot do anything at all and will skip its turn. It only lasts 1 round.
Taunt: a taunted unit will only target the unit that aggro’d it. If the taunted unit isn’t in range to attack the taunter right away, it will start moving in the shortest path possible toward them.
Smite: a special debuff exclusive to Paladins. The smite itself doesn't do anything to the target, but when the caster attacks the target, it triggers bonus holy damage on the unit for each hit.
How status effects work
In Pathbreakers, status effects are unique on the target. That means a unit can be rooted and poisoned simultaneously, but it cannot have two different root effects at once. In general, debuffs will overwrite each other or refresh their respective durations (except for Smite: a target could have many Smites applied at once, one for each Paladin casting it).
Debuffs have a pretty high success rate by default. There’s a catch, though: the more you cast them on a target, the easier it is for them to resist the status effect later. Most units start with 0% resistance to debuffs, but as you apply a Stun, for example, the target will build a tolerance to it, so that the next application will be harder to land. Each debuff has its own "speed of resistance building", usually tied to how powerful the effect is.
The “gradual resistance” concept is intended to not only make debuffs a useful part of your arsenal from the onset, but also to try to limit them from becoming overpowered, by avoiding situations where enemies (or your own mercenaries) could be locked into a debuff chain and be completely nullified.
We want to make debuffs an appealing and prominent choice for your builds, and that is why they have a limit. They are powerful if used correctly, and with proper planning, you can finish a fight without even letting the enemy properly set up.
More combinations with the extra effects
All debuffs can carry "extra effects", usually tied to passives or ability modifiers. So, for example, the base Root will immobilize the target, but the caster could have chosen an ability modifier to also add a "Defense -4" debuff for the duration of the effect. There are a lot of different modifications, tied to defense, damage resistance, accuracy, and a lot more, that can be applied to status effects.
This is why in our introduction, we prefaced by saying that the complexity will increase as your characters gain more levels and skills, even for known debuffs.
Finally, there are also special debuffs that can have multiple tiers of application and combine different effects. Those are usually only used by special enemies and bosses, so you'll have to be on the lookout for them. Thankfully, tooltips are extra informative, and you'll always know exactly what a debuff does.
The buffs
When it comes to the buffs present in Pathbreakers, we again tried to keep it simple and streamlined, with a smaller amount of base effects, but with the same extra effect system that can be applied to them.
Here's the list of all the base buffs:
Physical Damage Up: any physical damage the unit deals will be increased by the buff's % increase.
Elemental Damage up: any elemental damage the unit deals will be increased by the buff's % increase.
Accuracy Up: the unit's accuracy rating is increased by a flat amount.
Physical DR Up: the unit gets physical damage resistance.
Elemental DR Up: the unit gets elemental damage resistance.
Crit chance Up: the unit gets an increased chance of scoring a critical hit with their attacks.
Simulacrum: the unit gets phantom images around it, which will each have a chance to absorb an attack aimed at the caster.
Invisible: the unit becomes invisible for a short while. Enemy units won't know where the unit is unless they are standing right next to them, and they can't be targeted by single-target abilities for the entirety of its duration. While a unit is invisible, it has bonus accuracy on its next attack as well.
Fortified: the unit takes reduced damage from all sources for a short while.
Rage: a special buff exclusive to Berserkers. The unit will gain bonus damage and temporary HP, but suffer a malus to their defense in exchange.
Dash: all normal movements cost only 1 AP for the duration of the buff.
Regen: the unit will heal a % amount at the end of their turn.
Buffs, much like debuffs, can only be applied once per unit. Identical buffs will overwrite or refresh in general.
Like for the debuffs, they can have multiple different effects attached to them, such as increased accuracy, damage, and flanking bonuses.
There are a few special buffs tied to boss units or special enemies as well, but we'll keep those a surprise for now.
Singing and Auras: AOE Status Effects
On top of buffs and debuffs, Pathbreakers also has songs and auras. These function as large AoE bonuses for allies (for singing) or penalties to enemies (for auras) that follow the unit generating them. Any ally or enemy within the area, depending on the type, is influenced by it. They work a bit differently from standard status changes, but you can view them as mobile zones that provide ongoing supportive or hindering effects for a limited time.
We are still tuning the status effects in the game, but in general, our philosophy is to make sure buffs and debuffs are interesting to use, so they are often paired with other effects, such as some amount of damage for debuffs, so they don't feel too much "all or nothing". The system that builds up “resistance to debuffs” as they are cast on a target will also need to be finely tuned, to make sure debuffs don’t feel too overwhelming, yet interesting to use.
And that’s a wrap for the Status Effects devlog! We hope that you are as excited as us to see all of these mechanics come together in Pathbreakers.
If you want to keep updated with our latest news, consider following our socials and joining our Discord Server to start interacting with the rest of the community members and, as always, thank you for your support!