There’s a storm coming, Defenders!
Wizards & Blizzards (Update 1.1) arrives August 23rd on Xbox One, PC & PS4! Our focus for this update is on delivering a new gender swap hero, creating important system updates, fixing numerous bugs, bringing the Revenge of the Yetis Incursion to all platforms, and setting the stage for adding larger modes and variety to the world of Dungeon Defenders II in our next updates.
Read the blog below to learn about the update, and then be sure to tune into our Wizards & Blizzards Devstream this Friday at 3PM EDT. We’re going to showcase the update and giveaway free hero codes!
New Hero: The Adept!
“A dedicated bookworm and talented mage, the Adept pursued the arcane arts from a young age. Unrivaled in her valley homeland, the Adept has come to Dragonfall to prove herself among the finest arcane masters and take the fight to the Old Ones on the fields of battle.”
The Adept is our next gender-swap hero! She sports two new abilities and one new defense while retaining most of the Apprentice’s kit:
New Ability: Arcane Bubble
The Adept creates a pulsing shield that reflects all enemy projectiles and periodically stuns all enemies within. It’s particularly useful against certain enemies (*cough* Dark Assassins *cough*).
New Ability: Arc Lightning
The Adept sends piercing bolts of devastating lightning that damage marked targets and enemies caught in-between.
New Defense: Hailstorm Tower
The Adept’s new defense is a powerful anti-air tower! The Hailstorm Tower fires a barrage of damaging ice shards at flying enemies, which also weakens them to follow-up attacks. This defense also draws reduced aggro from enemies.
New Shards for the Adept
The Adept has her own unique Shards to discover! (Note: These details are subject to change between now and release. Check out the patch notes next week for final information!)
- Wither Shield: Arcane Bubble withers enemies inside it increasing the damage they take by X%.
- Found in the Campaign Shard Pack
- Sanctuary: Heroes inside the Arcane Bubble shield heal X% of their health per second during the duration of the bubble.
- Found in the Chaos 2 Shard Pack
- Glacier: Hailstorm Tower fires a large rock dealing X% Defense Power damage once every 5 volleys.
- Found in the Chaos 2 Shard Pack
- Thunderwave: Arc Lightning deals X% Ability Power as damage to all enemies around you.
- Found in the Chaos 3 Shard Pack
- Arc Shielding: Arc Lightning places a shield on you that lasts 20 seconds that absorbs X% of your Ability Power. Enemies that hit the shield are damaged for a total of Y% of your Ability Power over 3 seconds.
- Found in the Chaos 4 Shard Pack
- Marking Bubble: Arcane Bubble adds X marks to enemies inside it.
- Found in the Chaos 4 Shard Pack
- Thunderbolts and Lightning: Increases the damage of Arc Lightning by X%.
- Found in the Chaos 5 Shard Pack
- Explosive Finale: Upon completion, the Arcane Bubble explodes dealing X% Ability Power damage to all enemies in and around the bubble.
- Found in the Chaos 6 Shard Pack
- Icefall: Hailstorm Tower attacks have a X% chance on hit to freeze enemies for 7 seconds.
- Found in the Chaos 7 Shard Pack
Try the Adept for Free!
Perhaps best of all, when the update comes out, you’ll be able to try the Adept for free by visiting the Portal in the Heroes Marketplace! Once you enter the Portal, you’ll be given access to a normalized version of the Adept decked out in gear. If you like being able to try out a premium hero for free, please let us know!
Revenge of the Yeti’s Incursion on PC & PS4
This frosty Incursion will be available on PC and PS4 in this update! Prepare to face the mighty Yeti and his abominable new minions on the Hot Springs map. Revenge of the Yetis will be available in Chaos VII, so prepare your heroes now!
Matchmaking System Updates
This update implements some major backend matchmaking updates, which we’ll be able to grow and improve the matchmaking experience upon. With this particular update, we’ve been able to improve the map-to-map flow, which makes it easier for you to stay together with a party of friends or with a group of randoms. We’ve also been able to fix the minimum Ascension Level Requirement filter, which will now stay active when you continue on to the next Trials match, and your custom game names will remain on transition. We’re also able to hide matches after they reach a certain threshold of play, so it’s less likely to join a nearly complete match. (Thanks for the feedback on that!)
There’s plenty more we want to do with this new backend system in the future (like improving the Party System), so stay tuned for more updates!
Gamepad Improvements
Continuing from our work in Patch 1.0.3, we’ve added a whole slew of new gamepad improvements! Among other changes, this includes Inventory UI quality-of-life changes, easier hero swapping, easier tower upgrading/repairing/selling and more! Check out the patch notes next week for a full list of details.
New Cosmetics Manager
This update introduces a brand-new Cosmetics UI to view and equip Cosmetics! Currently, equipping costumes and accessories is a pain. Not only do you have to go to a specific vendor to make your heroes look badass, but the current UI is a pain to navigate -- especially on gamepad.
This new UI is available directly from the “Cosmetics” tab in your Inventory, so now you can change your look on the fly! You’re also able to see all of the currently available Costumes, Accessories and Tower Skins in one location, and best of all, you can view all of them (including Tower Skins) before you make a purchase!
Bug Fixes
And finally, this update includes numerous bug fixes! Keep an eye on the patch notes for the full details.
We’ll see you in Etheria, Defenders!
Love,
The Trendy Team