Patch 1.4.0 - Season 1 Begins

General Updates

Season 1

The Pre-Season is finally over and Season 1 has begun! Rankings have been reset and new rewards are here to earn. We've made sure there are reasons to play and login often throughout the Season, and there's reason for everyone to participate.

Each Season will run for 2-3 months and average 10 weeks. With each new Season, Rankings and the Leaderboards will be reset. Read more about Season 1 in our February Dev Update.

Patch 1.4.0 will go live on March 7th.

New Rewards System - Sponsors

The Sponsor Reward System replaces Weekly Quests and unlocks at Account Level 5. Sign a Sponsor before they become unavailable and complete daily quests to progress along the reward path. You will be able to change sponsors at any time, but only one "active" sponsor will receive progress for completed dailies. If you have sponsors with progress, but not completed, then you will need to complete the progress on at least one of these sponsors before being able to sign a new one. Some of these rewards will be unique to their season, others will help you unlock Champions or earn in-game currency.

Some Sponsors have a League requirement, and therefore higher ranked players can get their hands on even more rewards. For Season 1 there are two League Sponsors - one requires Gold League, the other DIamond League.

One of the six Sponsors for Season 1, which rewards a new Bakko Weapon, Outfit, and Bakko himself (or tokens)

We decided to expand on the current daily quest system for a few reasons. Daily quests are a natural way to gate content throughout a season. If you want to claim all rewards you will need to be active throughout the entire season but if you are a more casual player you will still be able to get your hands on high quality rewards by signing the sponsors you like and can make progress over a longer period of time.

As you can have up to three daily quests active at a time you don't necessarily need to login every day to make progress, playing 2-3 times a week will still be enough to claim all sponsor rewards during a Season if you want to collect everything. Besides this, sponsors allows us to tell you a bit more about the Battlerite world by presenting new characters and places as we expand on the Battlerite universe.

Once you have signed a sponsor and completed at least 1 daily quest that sponsor will remain in your quest-log even past the season date. This means that you will still be able to complete a reward-path past the signing date but remember that you can only have three sponsors in-progress at a time, so you will need to complete the path of at least one of them before you can sign a new Sponsor.

New sponsors will be added each new Season and some of them will return with new rewards.

Leaderboards

Leaderboards have been added to the game and navigated to via the "More" tab or a link on the League. These will show the top 200 players in five Regions (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania) for Solo Queue, 2v2, and 3v3.

Regions are determined by what servers the player or team has played on the most. Playing most of your matches on EU servers will result in you being counted as part of the Europe Region. Read more about the logic being the Leaderboards in our February Dev Update.

Reward Changes

• Growlan, the Champion's Warlion, is now a permanent unlock via an achievement instead of a temporary reward
  • Once a player reaches Grand Champion, or if they have reached it in their account lifetime, they will be able to claim this mount permanently

• The Top 5 players on the Leaderboard at the end of the Season will receive a unique Title to highlight their achievement
  • This applies to the Top 5 players in each Leaderboard region and to Solo, 2v2, and 3v3

• Added League avatar frames. Avatar frames will represent your current League and Division so that players can feel a better sense of progression
  • This frame can be disabled in the options menu if desired

Pre-Game Lobby

The Pre-Game Lobby has been designed to improve the ability to strategically create team compositions and counter pick enemies in the League gamemode. You can find more information on the decisions and development behind the Pre-Game lobby in our February Dev Update.

• Pre-Select your Champions before matchmaking in League, you will then have the option to change your pick according to team and enemy picks in a Simultaneous style draft system
• Players can now choose to downvote up to 3 maps in the lobby settings in both Casual, League, and vs AI and for 2v2 and 3v3. Maps downvoted are less likely to be selected in Matchmaking

New Unity Version

We are in the progress of updating to a new Unity version to hopefully fix some crashes users are experiencing, especially crashes regarding DirectX 11. While we're not ready to switch over to it right away we will have a public branch up on Steam.

We will try to keep this branch up to date with the live version but there is a possibility it will lag behind by a day or two.

UI / In-Game Chat

• The in-game chat now supports similar features to the chat in the menu
• Can now switch channels using TAB
• Can reply to whispers using the /reply and /whisper commands

Matchmaking and Ranked System

We are making improvements to the placement algorithm to result in more accurate placement positions. The following will apply to Season 1:

• New players, or players with insufficient previous ranking data, will be required to play 10 placement matches
• Players with previous ranking experience will be required to play 5 matches

Additionally, players will no longer be able to view ranking data for their opponents and teammates before or during the match. This information will still be visible once the match is finished. This change is to tackle the toxicity and unwanted match behavior resulting from referring to visible ranking data.

We are also introducing a match quality factor that will affect the rating changes for all players within a match. Matches with large differences in skills between the players and/or teams will be counted as a "low-quality" match and result in smaller rating changes for both winners and losers. Games where the balance in skill is fairly equal will have a slightly higher rating change. With this adjustment we hope to tackle the issue where some players and teams can quickly farm rating on lower skilled players and teams. We also want to reduce the frustration for players who end up with lower skilled teammates and suffering from large rating changes.

The changes to matchmaking and ranking for Season 1 will make it slightly slower to climb, reducing the huge gap in visual skill. This will also improve matchmaking and reduce the queue times.

Team Name Changes

Due to the inclusion of the new Leaderboards, Team Names are more public than ever before. The Team Leaderboard is treated very much the same as the Solo Leaderboard, and therefore Team Names will now be treated similar to Account Names. Being able to change a team name whenever a player wanted was fun, but could create confusion and toxicity with the addition of Leaderboards. For this reason, we have changed team names so they work similarly to account names.

• Team Name Changes can be found by clicking on the team name in the Lobby, Profile, or Team Tab in the friends list
• Each team gets one free Team Name Change each Season
• Team Name Changes now cost 750 Gems
• Any team member can change the team name
• Team members will be notified when a teammate changes the team name
• Only one Team Name Change can be purchased at a time

Pre-Season Rewards

The following rewards will be awarded to participating in the Pre-Season, corresponding to the highest League achieved:

• Bronze
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Bronze)
  • 3 Silver Chests

• Silver
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Silver)
  • 5 Silver Chests
  • 500 Tokens

• Gold
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Gold)
  • 3 Gold Chests
  • 1,000 Tokens

• Platinum
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Platinum)
  • 5 Gold Chests
  • 1,750 Tokens

• Diamond
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Diamond)
  • 7 Gold Chests
  • 2,500 Tokens

• Champion
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Champion)
  • 7 Gold Chests
  • 3,500 Tokens
  • 1 Legendary Outfit Chest

• Grand Champion
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Grand Champion)
  • 7 Gold Chests
  • 5,000 Tokens
  • 1 Legendary Outfit Chest
  • Growlan, the Champion's Warlion

Battlerite CamCrew

Battlerite has a unique application kit in VR we call CamCrew. You can watch private matches in VR, but you can also work with the camera movement in full 3D and be you own "Camera Crew" in VR in the game, with the result rendered direct to video. Live or in a Replay. CamCrew will go in to public beta in the next patch, more information will come soon

CamCrew features:

• Find and start a replay of your choosing
• Direct and animate the camera in a replay to produce cinematic shots of the game, displayed on the monitor or direct to video
• Watch live private matches as a spectator
• Control the camera in a live match and direct what is shown on the monitor
• Play around with figurines of the Champions in the lobby

Champion Prices

• Destiny price reduced
  • 900 Gems to 700 Gems
  • 5800 Battle Coins to 4450 Battle Coins

• Thorn and Destiny are now available in Free Rotation
  

New Champion - Jamila, the Shadowblade Assassin

A young assassin from the Shadowblade clan, Jamila suddenly found herself the new leader after the death of her mother, the previous matriarch. As the youngest leader in the clan’s history, some call her too inexperienced and undeserving of the title. Determined to silence those detractors, Jamila enters the arena to prove her mastery of the Shadow Arts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is4nfBWhFwM
Abilities

Assassin's Cut (M1)
Three quick stabs that deal 6 damage each, followed by a heavy strike that deals 16 damage.

Shuriken (M2)
Throw a bouncing shuriken, dealing 18/12/6 damage and inflicting Snare.

Elusive Strike (Space)
Hold to charge a dash for up to 0.8s to increase damage and range. It deals 8-18 damage and dashing into a wall triggers a wall jump that inflicts Incapacitate.

Shadow Dance (Q)
Counter the next melee or projectile attack. When you counter an attack, gain Immaterial for 0.5s, turn invisible, and increase your movement speed by 35% for 2.5s. Your next Assassin's Cut while invisible becomes Shadow Slice, dealing 14 damage and inflicting Phantom Cut.

Hook Shot (E)
Launch a hook that deals 6 damage and pulls you and your enemy together. You strike after colliding, dealing 8 damage. Hook Shot can be used to pull yourself to a wall.

Deadly Blow (R)
Strike forward with both weapons. Deals 22 damage, inflicts Stun and heals yourself for 22 health on hit.

Stalking Phantom (F)
Summon a phantom that dashes forward, dealing 18 damage and stopping behind the first enemy hit. Upon arrival, it chases and strikes enemies in bursts for 18 damage up to 3 times.

Blood Kunai (EX M2)
Throw a small knife that deals 8 damage and inflicts Weaken. Hitting an enemy causes the knife to bounce to a nearby ally, healing them for 16 health. If there are no nearby allies, it returns to you.

Phantom Strike (EX Space)
Dash forward and then back to your original position. Deal 12 damage and inflict Fading Snare on the way out and inflict Incapacitate on the way back. Hitting a wall triggers a wall jump that inflicts Incapacitate.

Phantom Cut (Debuff)
Deals 22 damage after a 2s delay.

Battlerites
View Jamila’s Battlerites here.

• Jamilla can be purchased in game for 900 Gems or 5800 Battle Coins
• For a limited time, using Gems to unlock Jamila will also grant 3x Jamila Chests

Jamila Chests

• Ownership of Jamila is required to purchase this chest
• Contains 3 drops. Guarantees at least one non-duplicate Rare, Epic, or Legendary Jamila item and one Rare normal item
• Available in two bundles:
  • 1 Jamila Chest for 150 Gems
  • 5 Jamila Chests + 1 Free Bonus Jamila Chest for 750 Gems

Shadowblade Legacy Bundle

• Ownership of Jamila is required to purchase this bundle
• Can only be purchased once for 950 Gems
• Contains:
  • Jamila Legendary Outfit “Shadow Matriarch”
  • 3 Jamila Chests
  • 7-Day Booster

Champion Updates

With this patch, we continue our work to improve rite options across the board, allowing for more interesting choices and playstyle differentiation when building loadouts.

Ashka

Ashka can generate a lot of energy quickly in the right hands, so we're toning down his energy gain slightly and will continue to monitor his performance if he needs compensation elsewhere.

• Fire Storm (M2)
  • Energy gain per projectile reduced from 7% to 6%

• Wildfire
  • Cooldown penalty reduced from 1s to 0.5s

• Magma
  • Damage reduced from 3 to 2

Croak

Battlerites

• Frog Slice
  • Increased the dash speed to scale properly with the range bonus

Destiny

The Plasma Booster rite has proven too hard to use, as you or your allies are unlikely to use the Plasma Wall for a quick boost while your enemy or their projectiles are inside the wall. The further boost to Plasma Wall rites gives more reason to utilize Plasma Wall as a support tool.

Battlerites

• Plasma Infusion
  • Shield value increased from 8 to 10[

• Plasma Booster
  • Now also grants allies passing through it a Shield that absorbs up to 16 damage and lasts as long as the haste.

Ezmo

The previous change to Ezmo's Feedback rite gave players a new option to punish enemies who hit their shield too freely, but it proved too potent in combination with the changes to Spell Eater. Even though it consumed Ezmo's weapon charges, it felt unfair to be hit by such a quick counterattack on a ranged harasser. We're restoring the feel of Ezmo's death-by-a-thousand-cuts playstyle while bringing Feedback more in line with other rites.

Battlerites

• Damage per charge reduced from 8 to 4, using the recast no longer consumes charges

Freya

Battlerites

• Lightning Speed
  • Increased attack speed reduced from 30% to 20%

Iva

Since Iva's recent changes to allow her to more reliably deal damage, she has been performing better and more often finds room in compositions. Her mobility rites allow her to weave in and out of combat on a whim however, dishing out damage without having to fear much retaliation. These changes will make taking those deep dives feel a bit more risky than before.

Battlerites

• Rocket Boosters
  • Haste factor reduced from 50% to 40%

• Blast Shield
  • Fading Haste reduced from 30% to 25%

• Igniting Spark
  • Now also deals 8 damage on Spell Block interrupts

• EMP
  • Dispel radius increased from 2 to 2.3

Jade

Jade has been a tough nut to crack for melee champions for a while now. Reducing the stun duration on Concussion Bomb makes their matchup a bit easier, while adjusting Gunslinger will make it harder for Jade to slip away with stealth.

Battlerites

• Gunslinger
  • Cooldown reduction reduced from 0.35s to 0.3s

• Surprise Shot
  • Now increases base Stun duration of Snipe by 0.25s, with the Stun duration being further increased by 0.5s while in Stealth

• Concussion Bomb
  • Bonus Stun duration reduced from 0.75s (total duration 1s) to 0.6s (total duration 0.85s)

• Farewell Present
  • Damage increased from 8 to 12, Fading Snare duration increased from 1s to 1.5s

• Delight
  • Initial healing reduced from 8 to 6, spell block interrupt healing increased from 8 to 10

• Magic Bullet
  • Now also increases Disabling Shot rang by 10%

Oldur

Oldur sees some bigger changes in order to enhance his support potential, especially in 3s, while still maintaining his identity as an aggressive ranged support. His fire-and-forget playstyle is unique and we wanted to ensure his power in this niche. His Rejuvenating Sands now applies a delayed heal effect by default, while its direct heal is reduced slightly to make juggling Rejuvenate and applying Time Bombs an interesting challenge. New rites have been added to allow players to tailor him to more of a support role, although they still have access to his many existing offense rites.

• Rejuvenating Sands (M2)
  • Healing reduced from 14 to 12
  • Now applies Rejuvenate: Heals 6 health after a 3.5s delay

• Renew
  • Reworked: Rejuvenate heals an additional 15% of the damage taken by its target during its duration. Restores up to a maximum of 6 bonus health.

• Rewind
  • Cooldown reduction increased from 6% to 8%

• Chronoshift
  • Battlerite category changed from Mixed to Utility

• Recreate
  • Now also grants Oldur a 16 health shield when traveling through an ally

• Passage of Time
  • Removed

• Sandstorm
  • Bonus damage reduced from 8 to 6 and now inflicts a Fading Snare

• Time Walker
  • Cooldown reduction increased from 2s to 3s

• Drain
  • Shield duration increased from 3s to 3.5s

• Eternal Dunes
  • New Rite: Each enemy hit by Quicksand grants 1 Rejuvenating Sands charge

• Renew replaced by Rewind

Rook

Raging Bull sees a change to its functionality to allow Rook to go in and do his smashing while in Berserk and to then either continue the chase or weave back out of combat.

Battlerites

• Endurance
  • Cooldown reduction when not hitting an enemy reduced from 3s to 1.5s

• Raging Bull
  • No longer grants bonus damage, instead also reduces Rush cooldown by 60% while in Berserk

• Crag
  • Fading Snare duration increased from 1s to 1.5s

Ruh Kaan

Ruh Kaan remains under the shadow of Thorn. He has fairly small presence before he manages to get in, so we're bolstering some of the tools he can use from a distance to solidify his role.

• Shadow Bolt (M2)
  • Damage increased from 28 to 30

• Affliction
  • Amplify factor increased from 15% to 20%

• Death Grip
  • Now reduces cooldown by 1s, and further reduces cooldown by 1s when hitting an enemy

• Night Stalker
  • Now increases movement speed by 8% and further increases it by 8% while weapon is charged

Shifu

The Spear wants to stick to his target to remain as effective as possible, something the Swift Feet rite greatly allows him to do but also gives him too much evasiveness. With these changes, we're toning down that evasiveness and instead offering it on other rites instead of allowing Swift Feet to pull double duty.

Battlerites

• Spear Lunge
  • Bonus range increased from 75% to 100%

• Swift Feet
  • Bonus haste duration reduced from 1.5s to 1s

• Spear Slinger
  • Cooldown reduction increased from 1s to 1.5s

Sirius

Much like Oldur, Sirius sees some bigger changes to up his support potential. He will be able to heal substantially more to help his allies before going in, while keeping his offensive melee healer role. His burst potential and CC capabilities see some adjustments to counteract the improvement of his newfound support power, as players will need to decide where to dedicate the power with his rites.

• Sunlight (M2)
  • Cooldown reduced from 5s to 4.5s

• Debilitating Slash
  • Battlerite category changed from Survival to Support

• Lethal Slash and Saros Cycle
  • Removed and combined into Saros Slash: Reduces weapon charge time by 15% and charged Crescent Strike deals 4 bonus damage

• Sun Bath
  • Battlerite category changed from Survival to Support

• Radiance
  • Self heal increased from 6 to 8

• Cosmic Reach
  • Bonus damage increased from 4 to 6

• Illumination
  • Healing received factor increased from 20% to 40%

• Lunatic
  • The recast Lunar Strike can no longer reapply Pretrify to an enemy that is already under the effect of a Lunar Strike Petrify

• Lunar Charge
  • Reworked into Moonlight: Hitting a target with Lunar Strike restores 1 Sunlight charge and empowers you next Sunlight, causing 1 additional beam to heal the ally nearest the area for 12 health.

• Moonstone
  • Reworked: Increases Petrify duration by 0.5s and reduces cooldown of Lunar Strike by 1s

• Updated to be Saros Slash, Radiance, Cosmic Reach, Sunscreen, and Moonstone

Taya

Battlerites

• Cold Wind
  • Fading Snare duration increased from 0.3s to 0.4s

• Wind Stream
  • Haste duration bonus reduced from 1s to 0.8s

Thorn

Thorn very much remains a force to be reckoned with, as The Twisted Terror should be. Its trading has remained slightly overtuned however, so less uptime on Neurotoxin along with a lower max cap on Regrowth should make it less daunting to engage. Regrowth gets a small quality-of-life component, with the 3rd hit of his M1 now providing a stack of Regrowth.

Battlerites

• Regrowth
  • Damage reduction per stack reduced from 7% to 6%
  • Root Grip now also applies Regrowth

• Neurotoxin
  • Duration reduced from 2s to 1.5s

• Sinister Sap
  • Cooldown reduction increased from 1s to 1.5s

Zander

• Portal (Q)
  • Inactive duration (the time the portal cannot teleport a target) increased from 1s to 1.2s