Dear Tacticians,
It’s Christmas season and we have our first Major Update for you - full of presents!
We are adding a new mission in the campaign and introducing a new map for PvP battles.
We are also implementing several changes to the spells and artifacts of some of the Champions, with the objective to maximize the number of fun and powerful team compositions. To that end, we are tuning down the power of some Champions that were too strong and very often used (Bu Shin Thunder…), buffing some less powerful Champions (Na Jima...) and making some changes to less picked Artifacts to make them more exciting to play.
Finally, we are fixing some bugs that you found (thank you for your vigilance and your reports!) and improving the user experience in multiple places.
Please find below the full list of changes. And since Christmas is coming… Skygard Arena will be discounted during the Steam Winter Sale! You can grab the game on sale if you have not tried it yet.
We wish you a very happy festive season and we will see you in the Arena!
The Gemelli Games Team
------
CAMPAIGN
- Mission #16 has arrived in game! No spoilers - just brace yourself for an epic boss fight in which you will need to use your tactical skills at your best.
ARENA MODE
- New map for PvP matches: the Ice Walls! Get ready for some snowy skirmishes in the cold.
CHAMPIONS & ARTIFACTS CHANGES
Na Jima
The data shows that she is currently struggling in PvP matches. We want her to be able to hunt down enemy Champions, so we are increasing her mobility to put it on par with most Champions.
- Movement: 2 cells -> 3 cells.
Aerica - Sharpshooter
She fulfills very well her role as one of the strongest single-target damage dealers of the game. Her first Artifact, Precision Sight, is overwhelmingly used. We are buffing one of her other Artifacts to open more viable options.
- Slowing Ammunition (Artifact): If Aerica has not used her movement action this turn, Aimed Shot applies Slowed II to the target → Aimed Shot applies Slowed I to the target. If Aerica has not used her movement action this turn, applies Slowed II instead.
Aerica - Artificer
We are reworking one of her less-picked Artifacts to center her gameplay around giving ultimate charges to allies.
- Elvish Boots (Artifact): +1 Movement → Whenever Aerica or an ally teleports through a Pillar or the Relay Beacon, they also gain 1 ultimate charge.
Jorn - Predator
We are adding bonus damage on the critical strike of his primary action, to put it on par with most primary actions.
- Wild Charge (Primary Action): critical strikes now deal 50% more damage, on top of applying Bleed 3.
Daerio - Renegade
We are increasing the payoff on his ultimate if you are able to hit Pillars on top of Champions. We are simplifying the Ultimate Drinker artifact to make it more consistently powerful. We are also introducing a new Artifact with Lifesteal to offer more diverse playstyles!
- Checkmate (Ultimate Action): deals an extra 20 damage for each champion hit after the first → deals an extra 20 damage for each champion and Pillar hit after the first.
- Ultimate Drinker (Artifact): Whenever Daerio slays a Champion, he gains as many ultimate charges as this champion has (minimum 1) → he gains 3 ultimate charges.
- The Charged Blade Artifact is replaced by Blood Blade: When Daerio deals damage, he heals himself for 25% of damage dealt.
Daerio - Duelist
This Persona could feel a bit clunky to use and underpowered, especially because the Rival effect would take one turn to be applied. We are reworking the main spells and some artifacts to make Daerio Duelist more fun and viable!
- Ballestra (Primary Action) - reworked: -- Daerio lunges toward target enemy, then deals 35 damage. The target immediately becomes Daerio's Rival. -- If the target was already Daerio's Rival, deals a Critical Strike. -- Critical Strike: deals 50% more damage and steals 2 ultimate charges from target.
- Elvish Agility (Secondary Action) - reworked: -- Grants the Ethereal and Haste I tokens to Daerio. -- Ethereal token (reworked): The next Movement action can go across obstacles. It does not trigger surveillance effects.
- Duelist’s Dance (Secondary Action): Deals 20→ 15 damage to target enemy. If the target is Daerio’s Rival, Daerio gains Barrier and Riposte tokens. -- Riposte Token (from Duelist’s Dance): counter-attack next offensive enemy action received, dealing 25 → 20 damage.
- The Swift Dagger Artifact is replaced by the new Pick a Card! Artifact: -- At the end of Daerio's turn, one of the enemy Champions is randomly chosen and becomes Daerio's Rival.
- Galeblade (Artifact): Whenever Daerio gains Haste, this token’s level is increased by 2 → Whenever a Champion in your team gains a Haste token, the value of this token is increased by 1.
Champei - Earth Avatar
We are adding some nice side effects to some of her Artifacts to increase the number of interesting Artifact picks.
- Shocking Gong (Artifact): When an enemy receives collision damage, applies Slowed I to them → applies Slowed I to them and gives Celerity I to Champei.
- Rupturing Gong (Artifact): When an enemy receives collision damage, applies Bleed II to them → applies Bleed II to them and gives Regeneration I to Champei.
Raine - Poison Witch
We are making her movement and positioning spells more flexible to allow for more combos with her allies.
- Bramble Wave (Secondary Action): Pushes enemies back 2 cells in a 2-cell long cone and applies Poison 2 → Pushes all units back 2 cells in a 2-cell long cone. Applies Poison 2 to all enemies targeted.
- Beguiling Spores (Secondary Action): Attracts target enemy by 3 cells towards Raine and applies Poison 2 → Attracts target unit by 3 cells toward Raine. If they are an enemy, applies Poison 2 to them.
Vallya - Vanguard
We are really happy with her spells and her versatility! That being said, being able to cast Valorous Intervention without line of sight does not seem very healthy : it makes it too easy to use, as one does not need to make smart positioning decisions to be able to cast the spell.
- Valorous Intervention (Secondary Action) : can be cast without line of sight → requires line of sight to be cast.
Bu Shin - Thunder Warrior
The terror of the Arena! We are very happy with the core gameplay of his kit, as it allows for truly crazy turns with multiple actions and movements. That being said, he has simply too much mobility and damage compared to other Champions, so we are tuning down these aspects.
We are also nerfing his most used Artifact and buffing another one, again to try and make multiple Artifact picks viable.
- Eye of the Storm (Secondary Action): no longer grants another movement action.
- Thunderstorm (Ultimate Action) : deals 10 → 8 damage per cell travelled.
- Lightstealer (Artifact): Whenever Bu Shin neutralizes an Enemy Pillar, he gains 3 → 2 Ultimate Charges.
- Unending Tempest (Artifact): Bu Shin's health points are reduced by 50% → 25%, but Bu Shin ignores the one-turn penalty before redeployment when he is eliminated.
OVERALL GAMEPLAY CHANGES
- If a Champion has a Focus token and meets the condition for their primary action to deal a Critical Strike (e.g., Vallya Vanguard being under the effect of a Protection), the Focus token will no longer be consumed.
VISUAL IMPROVEMENTS
- Added visual effects on Pillars at the end of a game in Arena mode - check them out!
- Improved the visual effect of Bu Shin’s Thunderstorm ultimate in arenas with a night atmosphere.
UI / UX IMPROVEMENTS
- The description of Bu Shin’s Tunderstorm spell now displays Bu Shin’s current number of ultimate charges.
- Improved the buttons to capture a Pillar or teleport through a Pillar and their animations.
- In the Campaign mode, loading screens now display a gameplay tip.
BUG FIXES
- Casting Destroyer Ammo when Aerica is under Soul Bound no longer causes the game to freeze.
- Haste tokens gained after using a movement action no longer disappear at the end of the Champion’s turn.
- Eye of The Storm (Bu Shin Thunder’s secondary action) no longer consumes any Sight token.
- Opposite tokens (e.g., Poison / Regeneration) now cancel each other properly.
- Fixed several bugs related to Friendly matches.
