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0.5.0 Major Update

Hello everyone, this is LIFUEL. This update focuses primarily on skill overhauls and adjustments.

We have completed these optimizations and tuning based on the continuous feedback you've provided and our analysis of player skill usage data.

Skills that previously had low pick rates have been reworked or buffed, and we've also introduced a new suite of Combo Skills centered around throwing-type mechanics. On the other hand, some skills that were overperforming have received balance adjustments. The specific details are as follows:

New Skills

The skills added in this update are mainly focused on throwing and ranged categories. Build variations utilizing consecutive throws will be further enhanced, and we’ve also introduced new skills that yield higher returns as their cooldowns and energy costs increase.

Previously, builds that maximized cooldown reduction or focused on melee combat had an overall strength that significantly outperformed others. Therefore, we have made adjustments in this patch to give ranged and high-cost skills enough room to shine through the newly added Combo Skills.

In this process, the value of certain underutilized Passive Skills has also been elevated, giving rise to a wider variety of build combinations and allowing everyone to experience more diverse combat styles.

Main Skills

We've also tweaked and added a significant number of other skills.

Image

Name

Damage / Cooldown / Energy

Description

Hunters Mark

20 / 8 / 2

Fires a bullet, applying a Mark to the target for 5 seconds. Deals an additional +5 damage when attacking the marked target.

Combo Skills

Image

Name

Damage / Cooldown / Energy

Description

Fast Shot

29 / 2

Shots forward, granting an Attack Speed +20% buff.

Arc Sling

40 / 5

Throws a grenade. When hitting a Vulnerable enemy, it ricochets to other targets, reducing the cooldown by 10% per hit. (Triggers up to 4 times)

Focused Barrage

20x20 / 14

Deploys a bombardment device to bomb the surrounding area. Deals+200% damage to Vulnerable enemies.

Pulse Spear

14 / 2

Throws a spear that crushes enemies; grants +1 Energy upon hitting an enemy with a buff.

Spin Reaper

21x2 / 1

Throws two blades; reduces all skill cooldowns by 1 second upon hitting an enemy with a buff.

Flame Conductor

30 / 3

Triggers an AoE explosion, applying 5 Burn stacks. Attacks 1 additional time when hitting a Burning enemy.

Volt Shower

15x6 / 0

Throws 6 lightning bolts; upon impact, additional lightning strikes down to deal 10 damage.

Resonance Laser

24 / 4

Fires a laser; the number of hits increases by +1 for every 1 point of Energy possessed by your equipped Main Skill.

Burst Lance

180 / 10

Thrusts forward to crush enemies; explodes and deals massive damage upon a successful crush. Increases Energy Cost by 2.

We hope you can experience more diversified combat actions and build combinations through these newly added Combo Skills.

Existing Skill Reworks

Over the past period, we have continuously analyzed the skills preferred or neglected by players at various stages, and we have received a large amount of feedback. This rework mainly optimizes and buffs skills with lower pick rates to make each skill's identity more distinct. Although some adjustments are purely numerical buffs, the overall design was considered based on their performance in final, fully-completed builds.

Main Skills

Image

Name

Damage / Cooldown / Energy

Description

Static Electricity

7x3 / 4 / 2

[Before] Swiftly thrusts, dealing 5 Shock damage. Applies an additional +5 Shock to Shocked enemies.

[After] Swiftly thrusts and applies 10 Shock. Applies an additional +30% Shock when hitting Shocked enemies.

Spiral Cutter

11x3 / 9 / 2

[Before] A powerful sweep. Killing an enemy with this skill resets its cooldown.

[After] A powerful sweep. Stunning or killing an enemy with this skill resets its cooldown.

Combo Skills

Image

Name

Damage / Cooldown / Energy

Description

Lightning Blade

12 / 2

[Before] Applies +3 Shock after piercing through enemies.

[After] Applies +15 Shock after piercing through enemies.

Incendiary Shotgun

11x3 / 2

[Before] Fires 3 waves of flames forward, applying 2 Burn each time.

[After] Fires 3 flame attacks that apply +3 Burn. Returns 4 seconds of this skill's cooldown when hitting a Vulnerable enemy.

Remnant Flame Sweep

7x3 / 1

[Before] Sweeps with flames to deal 3 Burn damage. Deals an additional 6 Burn damage to Burning enemies.

[After] Sweeps with flames to deal 15 Burn damage.

Raging Flames

8x3 / 4

[Before] Fires flames, applying 3 Burn. Affected enemies consume Burn stacks 2x faster for 4 seconds.

[After] Fires flames. Upon hitting, deals additional explosion damage equal to half of the enemy's current Burn stacks.

Electron Blaster

39 / 3

[Before] Fires a powerful shock cannon, applying 5 Shock and 5 Burn.

[After] Fires a powerful shock cannon, dealing 20% of the damage as Burn and Shock.

Plunder

2 / 3

[Before] Moves backward and performs a slash. Restores 1 Energy upon hitting and reduces all skill cooldowns by 1 second.

[After] Grants a Shield equal to 50% of the damage dealt.

Acid Ray

5x2 / 2

[Before] Fires a piercing beam forward, dealing 5 Vulnerable and 5 Weakness damage.

[After] Fires an explosive beam forward, applying 5 Vulnerable and 5 Weakness.

Special Notes

This list features Combo Skills that have been nerfed or undergone unique mechanical adjustments. Since it includes balance nerfs, we are explaining them separately here.

Image

Name

Damage / Cooldown Multiplier / (Energy)

Description

Burst Fire

7x6 / 2

Changed to a Channeling skill.

Fires scattered bullets forward, launching additional bullets based on the number of buffs active.

Illusory Claw

15x2 / 2 / 2

Changed to a Main Skill, with a reworked effect.

[Before] Creates a rift that temporarily immobilizes hit enemies. Guarantees a Critical Hit if the enemy's HP is below 50%.

[After] Creates a rift that briefly staggers hit enemies. During the stagger duration, the damage taken by enemies is +20%.

Energy Release

22 / 1->2

Cooldown Multiplier increased.

Hops in place and releases energy, granting +7 Shield upon hitting enemies.

  • Burst Fire

    • Reason for Adjustment: Since this skill was capable of dealing massive damage in an extremely short window, we have adjusted it into a Channeling skill. This adjustment draws from the performance data of "Warp Grenade," which shares a similar mechanism, and has been optimized accordingly.

  • Illusory Claw

    • Reason for Adjustment: Previously, as a Combo Skill, its powerful crowd-control effect of "briefly immobilizing enemies" was difficult to fully utilize, leading to an unsatisfactory pick rate. After shifting it to a Main Skill, we redesigned its effects to better fit its new identity.

  • Energy Release

    • Reason for Adjustment: Compared to the skill's high strength, its Cooldown Multiplier was too low, allowing players to easily achieve "Infinite Shield" builds. The issue lies in the fact that this build required significantly fewer conditions to pull off compared to other builds, so we had to tone it down to a certain extent. However, we have preserved the core gameplay of this build. As long as you meet the necessary conditions, you can still achieve an Infinite Shield build—it will just require more resources and specific synergies to pull off.

Conclusion

We originally planned to roll out this update at the end of May, but because previous bug fixes and stability optimizations consumed a substantial amount of development time, the update was postponed.

Next, we will continue to push forward with the content for the June update. Furthermore, some skills and Combo Skills are currently still in the design or asset-production phase. We plan to gradually implement them into the game in subsequent 0.5.x minor updates.

At the same time, the skill balance following this update is not necessarily in its final, optimal state. While we always try to view the game from the players' perspective, it is never an easy task. Therefore, we highly welcome everyone to keep sending in your feedback. If you feel that any of the nerfed skills were adjusted too drastically, please let us know, and we will carefully consider your input for future optimizations.

We will keep working hard to prepare for the next update.

Thank you all for your continuous support!

Build and release context

Steam update times within 24 hours of this post. Matching dates do not confirm which build it describes.

  • Build 23678228 · public branch

    Steam updated · First observed