We've made it, Templars!
Today, almost exactly two months after the Early Access launch, I'm releasing another Major Game Update for Arms of God. I know many of you have been waiting for these features, so I'm very happy to finally put The Endless Ascent Update into your hands.
THE ENDLESS ASCENT UPDATE
This update introduces Loadouts, giving you much more control over your builds. You can now save different configurations and switch between them more easily.
All Prayer and weapon refunds have also been increased to 100%, although additional Preset slots must be purchased.
The minimum Prayer pool has been set to 60. This value will increase in the future as more Prayers are added to the game. At the same time, you can now banish all 13 basic Tier 1 weapons, allowing you to significantly reduce the available Prayer pool.
Overall, control over RNG is now much higher, making it easier to experiment with specific builds and synergies.
THE ENDLESS MODE
A new mode is now available through the Expedition Map in the HUB. The Endless Ascent is the first Expedition region, with more regions and game modes planned for future updates.
The Endless Ascent introduces a new story consisting of 15 unique levels. The final level ends with a battle against a new boss, the Rector. After defeating him, the run continues into Endless Mode on Level 16.
This means you spend the first 15 levels creating your build, before testing how far it can survive in Endless Mode. Future Expedition regions may use completely different structures, including other types of Endless Mode that are not preceded by 15 standard levels.
GLOBAL LEADERBOARDS
Your score is saved to the Leaderboards. I decided to create a separate Leaderboard for every Templar class. This should be an interesting way to see which characters are actually stronger or weaker, and whether Primaris is still the most overpowered Templar.
Leaderboards will be reset after major balance changes or at the beginning of new seasons. Previous results will be saved in the Leaderboard History, where they will remain permanently.
Endless Mode is also a good place to collect more Vows, as bosses appear much more frequently. It should also make it easier to complete the achievement that requires defeating 300,000 enemies.
A large part of the Prayers menu code has also been rewritten and optimized. Gamepad navigation has received major improvements, especially when moving between Prayer and Preset slots.
UPDATES
Added The Endless Ascent to the Expedition Map in the HUB.
Added 15 unique Endless Ascent levels with a new story.
Added the Rector as the final boss of Level 15.
Added Endless Mode beginning on Level 16.
Added new Leaderboards divided by Templar class.
Added 4 minutes and 30 seconds of music created specifically for Endless Mode.
Added Presets and Loadouts.
Added purchasable Preset slots.
Added the option to banish all 13 basic Tier 1 weapons.
Set the minimum Prayer pool size to 60 (hot-fix 0.572, it was counting from minus 13 before) .
Added 100% refunds for Prayers and weapons.
Owned Prayers are now saved as part of the hero's Loadout.
Added win screen statistics to hero save data.
The final victory screen now displays all Templar statistics.
Added Frost Aura VFX.
Updated the Expedition Map.
Updated localizations.
Updated enemy sounds.
Updated the ground layer in the Act II illustration and key art.
Updated floor materials in Act III.
Made the Blood Chalice decal more visible.
Improved gamepad navigation in the Prayers menu.
Added additional gamepad quality-of-life improvements to the Prayers menu.
Optimized the Prayers menu UI.
Optimized enemy performance.
Changed ranged enemy attack maximum distances to 24 or 30 meters, depending on the enemy.
FIXES
Added a potential fix for the shop breaking while the player is AFK.
Fixed Ironmaw's spike attack remaining visible after moving to the next map.
Fixed switching targeting from Auto to Manual during gameplay not changing how the Templar targets enemies.
Fixed Second Rite causing ranged weapons to appear in the Prayer pool while playing as Judicator.
Fixed the Crux becoming invisible after placing it back on the map while using Martyr's skill.
Fixed the cursor covering currency names in the HUB menu.
Fixed FPS drops and visual artifacts caused by switching graphics settings from Uber or Epic to Low and vice versa.
Fixed the Enemy Highlight option affecting the glow on weapon models.
Fixed character perk descriptions disappearing from the character selection screen before starting a run.
Fixed a crash that could occur after refunding and unlocking Prayers and weapons.
Fixed an issue where creating a new Order prevented the player from starting a run.
Fixed melee shockwaves hitting the same enemy multiple times from a single attack.
Fixed Frost triggering with 0% Frost Chance.
Fixed Freeze explosions appearing green.
Fixed white floors appearing on certain levels.
Fixed Prayers refreshing when entering Endless Mode.
Fixed Bone Tower granting 2 Resources when destroyed by Burning Ground.
Optimized explosions so overlapping explosions should no longer trigger repeatedly.
REBALANCE
Each Bounce and Pierce now reduces damage by 20%. (Bounce and Pierce damage reductions also apply to lasers and melee shockwaves.)
Increased the movement speed of Custos and Primaris by 4, changing their movement penalty from -8 to -4.
Changed the Resource perk to grant 0.4 Resource after defeating an enemy with a Critical Hit (instead of 0.1 on Critical Hit).
Changed perk: Each 1% Dodge increases Damage by 2% (previously 1%).
Changed perk: Each 1% Armor increases Damage by 3% (previously 2%).
Distant Judgment is now stronger, moved to Tier 3 and reduces Critical Chance.
Removed Martyr's -24% Resource penalty.
All weapons are approximately 10% faster.
Increased Magnum damage.
Increased Twin Spark damage.
Moved Incinerator Coil to Tier 3.
Rebalanced weapon prices.
Fixed Range, Melee Damage, and general Damage bonus calculations.
Frost no longer stops bosses. It now slows them down to 50% of their normal speed.
Bloodlust Driver now also reduces Bounce.
Split Rebound now also reduces damage.
Rebalanced Bounce Prayers.
Rebalanced Projectile Prayers.
Rebalanced Critical Chance Blessings and upgrades.
Rebalanced Critical Damage Prayers.
Rebalanced percentage-based Critical Damage Prayers.
Rebalanced Melee Damage Prayers.
Rebalanced Attack Speed Prayers,
Rebalanced general Damage upgrades.
Rebalanced Prayers that grant Resource bonuses.
Rebalanced Near Dominion.
Rebalanced Hyper Rebound.
Rebalanced Chain Trigger.
Soul Extractor now provides a higher Attack Speed bonus.
Reduced Explosive Radius Blessings and Upgrades.
Reduced Freeze Upgrades.
PERFORMANCE AND OPTIMIZATION
Developing Endless Mode became a major stress test for the game and its optimization. Many systems had to be added, rewritten, or expanded so the game could handle much larger numbers of enemies, projectiles, explosions, and secondary effects.
TL;DR
Optimization is not perfect and will continue to be improved over the next few weeks.
The main remaining problem is, unsurprisingly, Primaris.
Primaris can currently stack 10 projectiles, 10 Bounces, a 50% chance to perform a duplicate attack, screen-wide explosions, and Burning Ground. In extreme situations, this can create approximately 200 explosions, with every explosion also attempting to ignite the ground.
This is where the game's performance can completely collapse.
The correct solution is complicated and requires deeper changes to how explosions, Burning Ground, and secondary effects are processed. I plan to introduce these improvements within the next one or two weeks.
However, instead of delaying Endless Mode for several more weeks because of this edge case, I would rather let everyone start playing it now.
BALANCE CHANGES
The main weapon balance change is the normalization of weapon prices. Most weapons are now cheaper and slightly stronger.
There was also a serious problem with damage calculations. Damage, Melee Damage, and Ranged Damage bonuses were multiplying elemental damage when they should have been added to it. The entire Prayer balance was designed around these values being additive.
It will mostly affect advanced meta builds.
Several players were able to reach the weapon damage limit of 10,000. That was a clear warning that something was wrong with the calculations.
These changes were especially important because the Endless Mode Leaderboards are global. Endless Mode requires a more controlled and consistent balance, and I could not ignore incorrect damage calculations when players are competing for scores.
PREVIOUS VERSION
I understand that some players strongly dislike any major balance changes.
Because of this, the previous build remains available on Steam through a branch called Previous Version.
To access it:
Open your Steam Library.
Right-click Arms of God.
Select Properties.
Open the Betas tab.
Select Previous-Version.
Arms of God is still in Early Access, and it is difficult for me to predict every consequence of these changes. We may encounter problems with cheaters, or discover a major issue that makes the Leaderboards unfair or no longer meaningful.
I am sorry in advance if something like this happens. My priority has always been to build Arms of God together with the players and to listen closely to your feedback. I do my best to respond to questions and concerns on both Steam and Discord.
If this update affects your experience negatively, please let me know before sharing that frustration in a negative review. Nothing is set in stone, and we are still iterating on the game together.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you. Your feedback is incredibly valuable to me, and I am doing everything I can to keep improving the game and provide a better experience with every update.
Take care,
Dominik