Killsquad Ekaar Update v0.18.9.1

The Ekaar Update is here! A new Hero is joining Killsquad: Ekaar! Ekaar is coming to the battlefield with his combat drones, each with a special ability such as shields, slowdowns and targeted damage. Combined, they give you a more tactic control of the fight to finish his enemies with a hell blast of his shotgun.

SPEC OPS contracts have received a revision, reorganized sets of enemies, better encounter placements and a general rebalancing giving you the feel of an elite mercenary, as it should be!

And the opportunity to be that elite mercenary is here, Momma has been kidnapped, save her from a new boss with challenging and new exciting gameplay at the new SKUA contract of SPEC OPS Difficulty.

WASTELAND 7A received a new aesthetic pack adding variety to his asset pack for two contracts, giving the map a more unique identity.

NEW HERO: EKAAR

A new hero! Ekaar is joining the Killsquad. A close range tactician with drones to control the incoming enemies using a directional shield, slows, targeted damage and of course a shotgun to deliver hell in synchrony with his abilities!

General

· Added five Emotes for Ekaar.
· Added ten Weapons for Ekaar.
· Added six skins cosmetics for Ekaar. (The Halloween skin will be unlockable at the Halloween event)
· Added four head cosmetics for Ekaar.
· Added two torso cosmetics for Ekaar.
· Added two arms cosmetics for Ekaar.
· Added two legs cosmetics for Ekaar.

Skills

· Basic Attack: I wonder how my shotgun would affect your molecular structure... let's try it out.
· Lunge: Ekaar can dodge once. One dodge is recharged every 2 seconds.
· Superior Being: Ekaar's Skills have no cooldown, instead needing to use Photons Ekaar refills his Photonic bar over time. Killing enemies also has a chance of dropping Photons.
· Alpha Strike: Ekaar commands his drone, Alpha, to fire a shot to the nearest enemy, dealing 375 damage in a small area. Enemies with reduced movement speed receive an additional 35% damage.
· Beta Shield: Ekaar commands his drone, Beta, to place a shield in front of him, blocking any small proyectile it comes into contact with. The shield uses Photons as long as it remains active. Basic Attacks that shoot through the shield, knockback enemies and have their damage increased by 25%.
· Gamma Swirl: Ekaar commands his drone, Gamma, to spin around him, dealing 50 damage any time it hits an enemy and marking it. Marked enemies will drop Photons after receiving damage from a Basic Attack.
· DISINTEGRATE!: Ekaar commands his drones into position, filling his Photonic bar and unleashing a devastating death ray in a fixed direction, dealing 500 damage per second. While the death ray is active, Ekaar cannot use his other Skills. This Skill can be ended prematurely by reactivating it or when the Photonic bar reaches 0.
· Gemini Effect: Ekaar creates a temporal disturbance, filling his Photonic bar and duplicating all his drones for 15 seconds. Any Skill or effect a drone has is effectively doubled.

Upgrades

· ABM Lunge: If you hit any small projectile while performing a Lunge you absorb it, converting each proyectile into 50 Photons.
· Gamma's Helper: Generates a small Gamma drone. When Gamma Swirl is activated, the drone performs that Skill with an increased diameter.
· Marking Strike: While Beta Shield is up, anytime you would use Alpha Strike the shot will move in the direction of the shield. Once it goes through the shield, the shot will become empowered, increasing the area of the explosion and marking enemies. Marked enemies will drop Photons after receiving damage from a Basic Attack.
· Decelerating Swirl: Marked enemies have their movement speed reduced by 50%.
· Overchargeble Shield: When 2 Basic Attacks go through Beta Shield, the shield gets overcharged. Upon deactivation, the shield releases an energy wave dealing 300 area damage. Enemies hit by Shield Overflow have a chance to drop Photons.
· Alpha's Helper: Generates a small Alpha drone. When Alpha Strike is activated, the drone shoots a small plasma sphere that deals 50 damage per second to any enemy it impacts with. If it gets hit by a Basic Attack that has passed through Beta Shield the sphere explodes, dealing 550 area damage.
· Insulating Shield: While Beta Shield is active, if Ekaar receives a hit that deals more than 800 damage, the shield turns into a sphere, granting Ekaar invulnerability for 3.5 seconds. At the end of the invulnerability, Ekaar will heal for 50% of the damage received over 10 seconds. Receiving damage will cancel this heal. Insulating Shield can activate once every 10 seconds.
· Gamma Radiation: When 3 unmarked enemies are hit by Gamma Swirl, a radiation wave is released, dealing 900 area damage around Ekaar.
· Phantom Strike: Alpha Strike fires an additional shot, but they both deal 20% less damage.
· CEASE TO EXIST!: While DISINTEGRATE! is active, if Ekaar shoots in the direction of the death ray, it increases briefly in length and width and deals a burst of 600 damage.
· Siamese Method: Gemini Effect's cooldown is lowered to 80 seconds and the duplicated drones duration is increased to 20 seconds. While the duplicated drones are out, your Skills cost 35% less.
· Prototype Sigma: Generates a small red drone. Every time Ekaar uses Photons to use his Skills, the drone charges. When 200 Photons are used, the next time Photons are used, the drone will start to autodestruct. After a short delay, the drone explodes, dealing 1211 damage to Ekaar, enemies or allies in the area.
· Beta v2.0: The activation cost of Beta Shield is removed and the Photon usage over time is reduced while active.

Weapons

· Epiphany: Basic Attacks have 10% chance of freezing enemies in an area for 1.7 seconds.
· Reactor Chamber: After hitting enemies with 3 consecutive Basic Attacks (without using Skills or dodging in between attacks), the next consecutive Basic Attack creates a large area for 4.0 seconds. Enemies that come into contact with the area will be poisoned for 4.0 seconds, receiving 20.0 damage every 0.5 seconds, and will have their movement speed reduced 50% for 4.0 seconds.
· Payday: After 3.0 seconds without performing a Basic Attack, you get an attack charge. The next time you perform a Basic Attack, you can do a second one without needing to wait for the recharge time.
· Echoing Supernova: Basic Attacks that are shot through Beta Shield become empowered, dealing 230.0, and have a 100% chance to burn enemies for 5.0, receiving 10.0 damage every 0.5 seconds.
· Awakening the Nightmare: You will lose -200.0 life every 1 seconds up to 30% of your max life. +50% lifesteal.
· Ohgur's Roar: After killing an enemy there is a 40% chance to spawn spikes on the floor that stun enemies.
· Last Frontier: Basic Attack's are narrower, but have their range increased. Damage is increased 60% against faraway enemies.
· Maelstrom: 25% chance to spawn 3 missiles on hit.
· Foundations of Rebellion: Basic Attacks have a 100% chance of exploding when an enemy is hit, dealing 50.0 area damage. Enemies hit by the explosion have a 35% chance of exploding again. The chance of exploding again is reduced by 15% for each consecutive detonation.
· Funeral Bells: 30% increased damage against nearby enemies. 65% decreased damage against faraway enemies.

SPEC OPS REFACTOR

Both Spec ops contracts received a revision, modified the sets of enemies, encounters and better placements of waves alongside a general rebalance to match the scaling difficulties of recruit and veteran! But that is not all... Momma has been kidnapped! Rescue her at the new Spec Ops contract. Prepare yourself to fight a challenging new boss with new mechanics and a lot of bullets to spare!

General

· Added a new SKUA map at the SPEC OPS Difficulty.
· Added a new boss fight with new mechanics.
· Rebalanced both "TROUBLE IN PARADISE" and "CLEAN THE MESS"

NOTE: This section is still in progress, it might change in the public release.

WASTELAND 7A AESTHETICS REWORK

The map received a rework to give a more organic aesthetics to the planet, giving the map a more unique identity with a new biome. The intention is to make the player feel that he's walking over a living creature.

General

· Added more than 30 new materials.
· Added three new environmental Assets.
· Added one animated environmental Asset.
· Modified 2 contracts to add this new aesthetics.

ACHIEVEMENTS

We know this is important for the community and here they are. 39 achievements come to killsquad, 5 of them are hidden and will need to be discovered in order to unlock them. The achievements are retroactive, so a veteran player will unlock any achievement they met the requirements for at the first login after the patch. Also, more achievements are in development, so expect new ones in future updates!

Public

Veteran League: Training wheels not included.
Spec. Ops. League: You're playing with the big boys now.
The First Seed: Defeat the Plague Seed for the first time.
Cleansing the Profane: Defeat Ib'hu the Profane for the first time.
Master Contractor: Complete ALL contracts.
Welcome to Killsquad!: And the journey begins…
Unforeseen Consequences: ?M?¿?E?&%E//(·)T()·%%U/·/!S???==).
Dead End Justice: Defeat the Runaway for the first time.
Faulty Prototype: Defeat Guerrilla Prototype for the first time.
The Bishop: Defeat Abomination for the first time.
The Queen: Defeat Queen Moggoth for the first time.
The King: Defeat Helldörren the Cruel for the first time.
Forger Initiate: Craft your first talisman.
Upgrade Buyer: Spend TECs for the first time.
TROY UPGRADED!: Obtain 40 Troy TECs.
ZERO UPGRADED!: Obtain 40 Zero TECs.
CASS UPGRADED!: Obtain 40 Cass TECs.
KOSMO UPGRADED!: Obtain 40 Kosmo TECs.
EKAAR UPGRADED!: Obtain 40 Ekaar TECs.
Rookie Troy: Reach Rank 5 with Troy.
Advanced Troy: Reach Rank 15 with Troy.
Rookie Zero: Reach Rank 5 with Zero.
Advanced Zero: Reach Rank 15 with Zero.
Rookie Cass: Reach Rank 5 with Cass.
Advanced Cass: Reach Rank 15 with Cass.
Rookie Kosmo: Reach Rank 5 with Kosmo.
Advanced Kosmo: Reach Rank 15 with Kosmo.
Rookie Ekaar: Reach Rank 5 with Ekaar.
Advanced Ekaar: Reach Rank 15 with Ekaar.
Contractual Obligations: Complete the last contract.
Elementary, my dear mercenary!: Use a weapon with the recommend element in a contract.
Get the Gadgets Recruit: Obtain all the Gadgets in the Recruit Contracts.
Get the Gadgets Veteran: Obtain all the Gadgets in the Veteran Contracts.
Key Finder: Find the three keys of The Skua.

Hidden

Excommunicado: You will need to discover how to unlock the achievement.
London Bridge is Down: You will need to discover how to unlock the achievement.
Checkmate: You will need to discover how to unlock the achievement.
Boogie Wonderland: You will need to discover how to unlock the achievement.
You are terminated: You will need to discover how to unlock the achievement.

AUDIO

· Added SFX to all emotes of the game.
· Added voice lines to all characters when inside a contract, now they will talk while fighting.
· Added new SFX when hitting enemies.
· Added SFX for all weapons, animations, basic atacks and footsteps of Ekaar.

GENERAL

· Added one new badge.
· Added three new Portraits.
· Added video tutorials for all Ekaar skills.
· Added four new Quests.
· Added Lore descriptions to all the factions.
· Added a new bonus to gears with elemental resistance. Apart from the resistance, it will give a bonus between 10 and 20% damage for the element. Depending on the rarity of the gear.
· Added a functionality to check the recent Steam players.
· Added a functionality to join a game of a friend using the STEAM friend list without having the game opened.
· Modified the mouse movement at the contract view. Now it should be smoother and less frustrating.
· Modified how the "target" message works at vehicle protection contract. Now if the vehicle needs to recharge the target of the contract will change accordingly.
· Modified some titles from the unseen and the sentinels.
· Modified the gamma settings, now the game will not be too dark following the instructions of the Gamma settings.
· Removed some legacy tips at the loading screens.

BUG FIXING

Crashes:

· Fixed a crash that might occur when equipping an emote.
· Fixed a crash that might occur when acquiring resources.
· Fixed a crash that might occur when finishing the "KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR" contract.
· Fixed a crash that might occur when the player goes to the lobby after playing some multiplayer games.
· Fixed a crash that might occur when the player navigate through the "SHOP" menu.

Major Issues

· Fixed a major bug at "PEST CONTROL" contract where the player could get stuck inside a rock, forcing the player to restart the contract.
· Fixed a major bug at "CLEAN THE MESS" contract where the player could get stuck inside the seeds portals without any enemies spawning.
· Fixed a major bug at "CRAZY ABOUT JADE" contract where the player could not see the progression of the Jade extractor.
· Fixed a major bug at "THE AURORA RELOCATION" contract where the player that entered mid-contract as reinforcement could not see the HP bar of the car.
· Fixed a major bug at "M.A.G.N.U.S" boss fight. He was not receiving damage over time when staying inside the blue area.
· Fixed a major bug that prevented the player to earn the "PANDORA'S BOX" portrait because the chest opened were not being tracked correctly.
· Fixed a major bug where the player is in a knockback state and uses a consumable. It would be spent without doing any effect.
· Fixed a major bug where you could equip weapons from other mercenaries.
· Fixed a major bug where you could create an infinite "exit animation loop" if the ESC button was spammed at the contract selection view.
· Fixed a major bug where the "GLADIOMOD" from Kosmo did not work when joining a game.
· Fixed a major bug where the player could get stuck at the loading screen when joining a game through the Steam friend list.
· Fixed a major bug where the player could experience an FPS drop with TROY when combining "TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION" and "EXPERIENCED CLONES" upgrades in a contract.
· Fixed a major bug where the player could experience an FPS drop when using the consumable "Portable Heal Station".
· Fixed a major bug where there is no light when the player enters the coliseum as a reinforcement.
· Fixed a major bug where the talisman "IDOL OF FUTURE CONQUERORS" was also activated when you kill enemies with a consumable instead of a skill.
· Fixed a major bug where the gear upgrade "LASER TRAP CD REDUCTION" from Zero was not working when using Laser Trap.
· Fixed a major bug where "SELF MEDICATION" was rendered in different positions for the host and clients.
· Fixed a major bug when swapping the controls of "STRONG SHOT" and "EXECUTION" with the controller blocking the player from using the "LUCKY DRAW" skill.

Fixes:

· Fixed a bug where the second curse taken was not shown until the gate was crossed.
· Fixed a bug where the "TURBO WHIRLWIND" skill from Kosmo did not follow the cursor position.
· Fixed a bug where the "BERSERK SLOWDOWN" skill from Kosmo did not give feedback if you are not the host of the game.
· Fixed a bug where the "INVICTAMOD" removed the slowdown of the basic attack.
· Fixed a bug where the "STEERING SUPERBALL" skill from Zero loses all the inertia when pushed by the front of the ball staying still even if you try to push it to another direction.
· Fixed a bug where the Hidden TEC's icons on the minimap where shown as chests instead of the TEC Icon.
· Fixed a bug where the player unequip a weapon or a gear, changing the inventory sorting.
· Fixed a bug where the "MYR" and "ENRAGE MYR" attacks would ignore the shields created by cars or towers in contracts where you have to protect something.
· Fixed a bug where the hidden TEC's at all Plague contracts were unlocked for all characters when you get one from one character.
· Fixed a bug where the portal icons did not disappear when starting a boss fight.
· Fixed a bug where the enemies still attack you when you finish a contract.
· Fixed a bug where the "SELF MEDICATION" skill SFX was reproduced in loop until the end of the contract.
· Fixed a bug where a player entering as reinforcement saw the "C.R.A.B" elite falling off the floor after killing it.
· Fixed a bug where a player entering as reinforcement to the coliseum could not see the round counter.
· Fixed a bug where a player was not able to see a profile of a party member in the lobby.
· Fixed a bug where a player unlocks an ability and changes character at the same time. The skills and upgrades appear in grey as they were blocked.
· Fixed a bug at the recruit Coliseum where the environmental lasers did not do damage.
· Fixed a bug at the shop the first time a player used it with a controller, the X button was not working.
· Fixed a bug at "CLEAN THE MESS" contract where the player HP bar desynchronize with the hp reduction curse.
· Fixed a bug at "PEST CONTROL" contract where the player could fall from the map at a rock near the hidden TEC.
· Fixed a bug at "FEDERATION VANGUARD" contract where the music will play wrongly after the first ambush.
· Fixed a bug at "TROUBLE IN PARADISE" contract where laser traps get desynchronize with the collider over time, hitting the player when it shouldn't.
· Fixed a bug at "OVERPROTECTION" contract where the player fall off the floor when he was killed.
· Fixed a bug at "DOUBLE TROUBLE" contract where the player could not see the progress on the collected eggs.
· Fixed a bug at "SHUT IT DOWN" contract where the final loot chest spawned inside an asset.
· Fixed a bug involving a flashing texture of the plague contracts. Now the texture will be rendered as intended.
· Fixed a bug of the Zero gun "ASTRALVERKUR". The shooting SFX was reproduced with a notorious delay between the shoot action and the shot.
· Fixed a bug allowing the player to buy weapons and gear under Vector 5.
· Fixed a bug using a controller while playing with Cass. If you used a Suriken and released the joystick at the same time, a basic attack will be done automatically by mistake.
· Fixed the descriptions of the "IDOL OF FUTURE CONQUERORS" and "TOTEMS OF PAST LEGENDS" Talismans.
· Fixed some lightning problems at plague contracts.
· Fixed some Spanish localizations bugs.
· Fixed some English localizations bugs.
· Fixed some Chinese localizations bugs.
· Fixed some Russian localizations bugs.

What are we doing right now:

PS: Please remember that the progress you've made in the beta isn't shared with the public version.

· Single Player game balance, Shop, perks, weapons, gear and map loot review
· If your game crashes, a Crash reporter will appear. Please add the details of what you were doing at the time of the crash and send it to us. If you want to, feel free to contact us directly here at [email protected], with your "Saved" folder (C:\Users%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Killsquad) attached.