Hi! Welcome to the Combat Update Beta!
After 3 months of Early Access we came to the conclusion that combat needed some extra love. The gamble we made by going for stuff like Viking auto-aim and one-shot Boss utility powers for the sake of accessibility, made us realize that a simpler game isn’t necessarily a more enjoyable one.
So here’s what’s new!
We reworked both Viking and Boss gameplay
Twin-stick Shooter. Vikings now aim manually, we decided to go for a twin-stick shooter setup. This affects everything from the Light Attack to Rage Attacks.
Heavy Attacks. Vikings now have a “heavy attack”, which is basically a secondary fire mode that is different from Viking to Viking
Roles. Vikings are now different in the way they play! Characters are now deeper and have been redesigned to fit certain “roles”. We picked 5 Vikings for this first test and they are as follows:
Edith - Assassin
Burrowing. Edith has the ability to dodge attacks by burrowing underground. When she emerges she can deal a Heavy Attack.
Backstab! Edith land automatic Critical Hits if attacking from behind her target. Applies to both Bosses and Minions.
Backstep. When performing a Heavy Attack, Edith also dodges backwards.
Squishy. Edith is the frailest of the Melee Vikings.
Skellies. Edith raises her relatives from the dead, which keep coming back to life as long as the ability is active.
Magnus - Bruiser
Charging Attack. Magnus’ Heavy Attack causes him to lunge forward over a short distance, cutting through several enemies at the same time.
All-rounder. Magnus is the most balanced of the Melee Vikings. Both his Health and Damage are above average.
Whirlwind. Magnus’ ability allows him to zig-zag around the battlefield dealing damage to any Minion or Boss that he touches.
Asha - Tank
Leap. Asha can hold down RT/Right-Click to perform a leap with her hammer, dealing AOE damage upon landing.
Buff. Asha is the “healthiest” of the Melee Vikings and can withstand the most punishment. She’s extremely effective as a healer.
Turret. Asha deploys a turret that fires automatically at all nearby enemies.
Innes - Sniper
Piercing Shot. By holding down RT/Right-Click Innes loads up a special arrow that cuts through multiple enemies
Fifi. Innes releases her trusty Fifi, a sabertooth tiger that hunts enemies.
Miko - Soldier
Scatter Shot. By holding down RT/Right-Click, Miko starts loading rounds in her Repeating Crossbow. Upon release she fires all the arrows (max 5) in a cone in front of her.
Gatling. Miko brings out a Gatling Gun that fires continuously.
Fit. Miko has more HP than other Ranged Vikings.
BOSS RAGE COST
Boss Utility Powers (Dispel, Trap and Heal) as well as the Bossrage now cost Rage and also have a cooldown. This now makes it an important choice of what Powers you use during a match and when you use them.
BOSS HEALING
We completely reworked the way Bosses heal themselves. We wanted to provide players with secondary objectives other than just bashing at the Boss.
To that end, Healing powers now spawn Healing proxies, a totem for Olaf and a healing minion for Jackhammer (We’re sticking to 2 Bosses for starters, Olaf and Jack).
Olaf’s Ice Cream Cones
When hitting (B) or Q, Olaf drops a Healing Ice Cream Cone on his Boss Cursor. The Cone has health and constantly gives Olaf HP.
The Cone also pulsates regularly, dealing damage to all Vikings caught in its range, siphoning HP from them and giving extra HP to Olaf
The Cones have HP and can be destroyed by the Vikings.
Olaf can have up to 3 Cones. Cones also deal damage when dropping in the scene.
Jackhammer’s MULEs
Upon hitting (B) or Q, instead of the usual Heal, Jack will spawn a MULE bot, a small robot that starts wandering and digging. MULEs dig out health drops for Jack. Jack can pick them up by running through them.
MULEs and their Health drops both have HP and can be destroyed by the Vikings.
Vikings fighting back
We took these decisions in order to give Vikings the possibility of countering the Boss’ healing efforts by destroying their minions and towers.
We hope you will enjoy these new design choices we made, let us know how combat feels, what strategies you come up with and if it’s better than what we have before.
Remember you need to “opt-in” for the beta. You can do this by doing the following:
Steam Game Library>Bossgard>Right Click>Properties>Betas>closed_beta from the dropdown menu.