【Before We Begin】
Before diving into individual hero balance, we would first like to address several powerful combat effects raised after the 2nd CBT, including CC Immunity, DEF-ignoring DMG, irremovable buffs, and dispels.
King’s Raid combat has placed heavy emphasis on long-lasting CC such as Stun, Knockdown, and Knockback, as well as extreme effects like DEF-ignoring DMG and removing all positive effects.
As CC skills became so impactful, maintaining permanent or near-permanent CC Immunity effectively became a baseline requirement for stable combat. On the other hand, dispelling an opponent’s buffs before casting key skills became a core part of combat.
Over time, party building and gear setup became easier in some ways, but stats such as CC Resist and CC Accuracy lost value. Combat became increasingly dependent on specific effects and team compositions, leaving less room for different builds and strategies.
This round of adjustments is part of our effort to bring that combat structure back onto a healthier track.
We understand that some changes may feel different from the gameplay experience remembered by players who were with King’s Raid during its final live service period. Our goal is not to deny those memories or experiences, but to preserve the appeal of King’s Raid’s combat while making more heroes and builds meaningful in the long term.
This does not mean effects such as CC Immunity, dispels, or irremovable buffs will be removed. The key is to reduce situations where one effect replaces other options, such as CC Immunity making CC Resist feel obsolete.
Powerful skills should have clear roles, but no single skill or hero should answer too many situations. Our goal is to move away from mandatory compositions and create an environment where players can actively choose stats, heroes, and gear to build a wider range of strategies.
【Sonia】
Sonia is a bruiser-type Knight hero designed to control the flow of battle through powerful Stun effects and DMG amplification. She can seize the initiative in battles against heroes, while also gaining an advantage in non-hero encounters by significantly reducing the enemy’s Groggy Gauge.
During the 2nd CBT, many players shared feedback regarding the change to the irremovable buff effect, which had been a core part of the Unique Treasure for Skill 2, Power of Lightning.
We received many comments such as, “It feels like Sonia has lost her identity,” and “Her core mechanic should be preserved.”
The development team also recognizes that this effect had a major impact on both Sonia’s playstyle and her identity as a hero. Based on the feedback we received, we will be taking another close look at the irremovable buff effect.
That said, irremovable buffs can be extremely powerful across a wide range of combat situations, and the dispel effects that interact with them can also have a major impact on the outcome of battle.
Because of this, rather than allowing these effects to be used without clear limits or become mandatory tools that players feel forced to bring, we want to tune them carefully so they remain compelling strategic options depending on each player’s strategy and the content they are facing.
Even as the combat system continues to evolve, we will keep reviewing and improving Sonia to ensure that her core identity as a Stun-focused bruiser Knight remains intact.
【Kasel】
Kasel can be described as a Dodge-based Warrior who avoids enemy attacks while disrupting the opposing side.
However, many players shared feedback that in actual combat, he did not feel as stable as expected.
In particular, after CC Immunity was removed, his combat efficiency dropped significantly. At the same time, while some Dodge-related effects were removed or reduced from certain skills, Dodge options still remained on his Unique Treasures and other related elements.
Because of this, we received feedback such as, “Kasel’s gear setup does not seem to line up with the direction intended by the development team,” and “It is unclear whether Kasel is meant to be a Dodge-based Warrior or a standard Physical Warrior.”
We agree that this is something that needs to be addressed.
In our initial direction for Kasel, we did not intend for him to be locked into a fully completed damage dealer role from the start. Instead, he was designed as a hero who could grow in different directions depending on party composition, gear setup, and progression choices.
In other words, rather than forcing a single “correct” build, we wanted to leave room for players to shape Kasel in different ways based on their choices.
However, under the current structure, we found that Kasel’s survivability can feel too low in the early to mid-game before a Dodge-focused setup is fully established. We also found that some skill tooltips were either unclear or did not fully match their actual effects, making it harder for our intent to come across.
We will maintain Kasel’s identity as a Dodge-based Warrior while reviewing his skill kit to make his Dodge-related effects feel clearer and more impactful in combat.
His skill tooltips will also be improved to better reflect their actual effects, helping players more clearly understand Kasel’s role and growth direction.
【Laias】
Laias is a versatile Priest hero who supports her party’s staying power in battle through shields, healing, and mana recovery support.
During the 2nd CBT, we also received a great deal of feedback regarding Laias. Skill 2, Bubble Shield, was expanded to affect four allies, but its lower shield value made the effect feel less impactful. Meanwhile, Skill 3, Festival of the Flow, was changed from instant mana recovery to increased mana recovery over time, which led to feedback that its mana support was difficult to feel during combat.
Our goal when adjusting Laias was to spread out the efficiency that had been overly concentrated in a single skill, allowing her to be useful in a wider range of situations.
As part of this direction, we added a heal-over-time effect to Skill 1, Healing Droplets, which had seen relatively low usage, to improve its overall value.
For Skill 2, Bubble Shield, we chose not to change the overly powerful CC Immunity effect to CC Resist. Instead, we expanded its coverage from a single target to four allies, allowing Laias to support the party more broadly from the early stages of the game.
Skill 3 was also reworked to create stronger synergy with allies who are built around mana recovery per second.
However, based on the results of the CBT, we found that this process spread the power of each skill too thin.
Because we focused heavily on increasing the number of targets, the shield’s impact felt significantly weaker. Mana recovery also did not perform as effectively as expected, which meant Laias was not able to fully deliver on her core strength: supporting the party’s staying power in battle.
We recognize these issues and are reviewing Laias’s overall skill effects so she can fulfill her intended role more clearly.
We will also revisit the baseline for mana recovery per second and review other heroes with similar effects, so that mana recovery support heroes, including Laias, can better perform their intended roles.
Thank you.