Tidal Surge PTS Notes

Wave Defense

PvE experiences are nothing new to Paladins, from LTM scenarios to past Events like Dark Tides, we’ve always toyed around with moments where players can fight AI combatants.
However, we’ve slowly worked on a passion project that looked to create a new experience that allows players to play a more-developed vision of what those modes could be like. Presenting Wave Defense, a new rotating game mode for Paladins.

Basics

• Survive 10 minutes against waves of combatants who slowly escalate in number and difficulty.
• Protect the objective in order to prevent the horde from draining your tickets.
• The horde wins if you lose 30 Tickets.
  • Dying to the Horde loses you 1 Ticket.
  • The Objective drains 1 Ticket every 3s it is left uncontested.

• Random powerups have a chance of spawning after a kill, allowing players to claim brief buffs.

Queues

Matchmade

This version allows players to queue with randoms and enjoy Wave Defense with a full team! This is the primary method of enjoying the mode and what we intend to balance for in the future.

Private

This version allows players to play on their own or with up to 4 friends without worrying about other players. Want to try a fun challenge or test out builds? This version scales based on the number of players, with our goal being an enjoyable experience regardless.

Experiences

Corrupted Burrow

Directly following the events of “Burrowed Within”, protect Brightmarsh and the Burrows from Yagorath’s brood of hatchlings and various monstrosities that are attempting to infect its heart. Moji managed to weaken the Maw’s grip on Nature, but only together as friends can you fully push back the Darkness to its seal.

Forgotten Altar

Deep within Ska’Drin ruins of Primal Court, the Pyre has hidden away an altar preserving an ancient weapon. Curious Champions are encouraged to look into it by Tiberius, but Azaan refuses to allow them to do so with ease. Acolytes and Arbiters of his will stand in between you and uncovering more about the Realm’s most ancient force.

Dark Tides

A reimagining of the original Event mode, Dark Tides takes place on Marauder’s Port, where corrupted cultists are performing a ritual to amplify the powers of the Kraken to attempt to open another Rift to fully destabilize the Realm. Once you interrupt them, prepare for denizens of the Abyss to arise and punish you for your heresy against their Lords.

Our goal with Wave Defense is to gauge player interest with this initial beta experience, and if enough enjoy it look to make updates/improvements in future releases. We hope you all enjoy!

Trial Challenges

We’ve heard feedback from the community that some of the new challenges are too long-term focused. With that in mind we’ve made the following changes:

• Damage And Heal Players For 2,000,000 total Health ➡️ Damage And Heal Players For 1,500,000 total Health
• Expend 15,000 Ammo ➡️ Expend 1,500 Ammo In Non-Training Siege, Team Deathmatch, Or Onslaught Matches
• Expend 150,000 Ammo ➡️ Expend 15,000 Ammo In Non-Training Siege, Team Deathmatch, Or Onslaught Matches
• Expend 500,000 Ammo ➡️ Expend 50,000 Ammo In Non-Training Siege, Team Deathmatch, Or Onslaught Matches
• Get 100 Headshots ➡️ Get 80 Headshots
• Heal 3 Allies Within 5 Seconds 75 Times ➡️ Heal 3 Allies Within 4 Seconds 40 Times
• Heal 4 Allies Within 5 Seconds 50 Times ➡️ Heal 4 Allies Within 4 Seconds 25 Times
• Kill 40 Frontline Champions ➡️ Kill 30 Frontline Champions
• Kill 60 Damage Champions ➡️ Kill 45 Damage Champions
• Kill 60 Flank Champions ➡️ Kill 45 Flank Champions
• Kill 60 Support Champions ➡️ Kill 45 Support Champions
• Spray 200 Times ➡️ Spray 50 Times
• Spray 30 Times In Onslaught or KotH Matches ➡️ Spray at least twice in 5 Non-Training Onslaught or KotH Matches
• Spray 30 Times In Team Death Match or Payload Matches ➡️ Spray at least twice in 5 Non-Training Team Death Match or Payload Matches
• Spray 40 Times In Siege Matches ➡️ Spray at least twice in 10 In Non-Training Siege Matches
• Spray 100 Times In Non-Training Siege, Team Deathmatch, Or Onslaught Matches ➡️ Spray at least twice in 25 Non-Training Siege Matches

We will of course continue to monitor Trials and player feedback regarding them.

Buried Treasure Flashback Event Pass

What happens when you mix together surfers, pirates, and sea creatures? A Summer full of Flashback Fun! The Buried Treasure Flashback Event Pass brings back some of the most beloved cosmetics from the Shore Patrol and Pirate’s Treasure Battle Passes, as well as the Dark Depths Event Pass! 5 curated skins from those passes, as well as a whole host of previously exclusive cosmetics alongside a new set of Titles, are available in this trifecta of summer themes! As with the previous Flashback, players who own items within will be able to earn boosters and Crystals so everyone can join in on the party!

Limited Time Modes

Active from Friday - Monday 12 AM ET throughout the Tidal Surge update

New

Lian, I Shrunk the Realm!

• Enjoy a version of TDM where every time you manage to get an Elimination, your Champion shrinks by 10% in size and health while moving faster and jumping higher. This effect can stack up to 5 times, so watch out where you step as tiny Champions fight to see who can become the smolest bean!

Updated

Truly Talented

• Bomb King
  • New Talent: Pop n' Lock
    • Poppy Bomb now deals 500 extra damage and cripples for 2s.

• Imani
  • Added to the Champion Pool
  • New Talent: Equilibrium
    • For 3s after using Elemental Shift, your cast speed is increased by 30%

• Mal'Damba
  • Wekono's Curse
    • Reduced damage from 900 over 3s ➡️ 560 over 2s

• Pip
  • New Talent: Lead Vial
    • Healing Potions now only activate when directly hitting a target, and may persist in the world for 10s after hitting a surface. Reduces cooldown of Healing Potion by 3s.

• Seris
  • The Void Protects
    • Now caps at 500 Shielding per target

• Zhin
  • New Talent: Blademaster
    • Deal 30% more damage to enemies within 20ft of you

  • Retaliation
    • Now makes Counter last 1s longer.

• Yagorath
  • Added to the Champion Pool
  • New Talent: Defensive Curl
    • While in Hardening, you are immune to Anti-Heal.

Player feedback around Truly Talented was beyond what we expected, so we wanted to meet the moment and provide additional support. First, we made some focused balance changes to help existing Talents function closer to their historical versions. We also are giving Seris a limit to her Shield dominance. In addition to balance changes, we've added additional Talents to the pool including 2 new Champions: Imani and Yagorath.While many enjoyed this mode's lack of more contemporary Champions, these two allow us to explore some ideas that make them meld better with this era of Paladins design. Let us know how they feel and whether we should continue or leave this LTM a pure nostalgia fest!

Balance

Items

Armor Plating

• Now only active when the user is not affected by Crowd Control

Bloodbath

• Healing amount changed to 450|450 over 3s
  • 15 Healing is applied every 0.1s

Rejuvenate

• Reworked to “Increase your healing output by 10|10%”

Ever since passive Anti-Healing replaced Cauterize as a Item, Rejuvenate has been both a staple to Frontline gameplay and a difficult balancing act for the sandbox. It's ability to counteract a large chunk of Anti-Heal's effectiveness made it feel compulsory to any skilled composition while creating two distinct late game states to design around. This rework is meant to solve several of the issues modern Rejuvnate has caused. Firstly, by shifting who buys the Item for its benefit from reciever to caster, Frontlines and other previous buyers can have more build diversity. Supports have already had very little Item diversity, and while introducing a healing output Item makes it a likely purchase, this still would offer some new nuance between Rejuvenate and Chronos on most Supports they don't have currently. This also fixes an issue where Support players have little say in how well they heal, mattering if their teammates bought Rejuvenate or not.This version also would now be properly affected by Anti-Healing, meaning it's overall strength is lowered to compensate for only 1 person in an average composition needing to purchase it, as well as providing us a more predictable sandbox to continue our goal of reducing the reliance on healing. This means we can more actively monitor how various compositions and Supports affect middle and late game healing, as well as gives us more room to adjust the Anti-Healing system if needed.Another goal of this swap is allowing niche builds and more self-sustain choices that forgo Supports entirely. Hell or High Water Octavia and several other ideas now have an Item to further boost their potential effectiveness. This version of Rejuvenate also synergies with other Lifesteal and Healing Item/Cards, so we believe it's a better Item that has more interesting applications for everyone.

Champions

Cassie

Abilities

• Blastshot
  • Now also applies a 12% max Health Poison over 3s

• Disengage
  • Now also applies a 35% Freeze for 3s
    • Freeze currently behaves the same as Slow

Caspian

Abilities

• Rogue’s Tempo
  • Now travels at a single projectile speed of 400
  • No longer benefits from stacks of Piercing or Sharp Momentum
  • Now applies a 2s Cripple instead of a Slow
  • Cooldown decreased from 11s ➡️ 9s.

  
  Deadly Momentum

  • Cooldown decreased from 13s ➡️ 11s

Talents

• Measured Cadence
  • Now travels at a single projectile speed of 400
  • No longer benefits from stacks of Piercing or Sharp Momentum
  • Now provides 15% Rogue’s Tempo Cooldown Reduction on hit instead of a Slow

Corvus

Talents

• Dark Gifts
  • Increased heal from 75 → 100
  • Increased Reload Speed from 15 → 25%
  • Increased Cooldown Reduction from 15 → 20%

• Stunning Visage
  • Now also reduces Projection’s Cooldown from 8 → 5s

Evie

Ultimate

• Ice Storm
  • Now applies a themed Freeze instead of a Slow
    • Let it Slow, let it Slow!

Io

Talents

• Sacrifice
  • Now indicates on Io's health bar to enemies that she will not die when Sacrifice is up.

When we brought back the Grohk Talent Wraith in Truly Talented, we rediscovered tech to convey abilities that trigger at a health threshold. We've expanded this to Io's Sacrifice to lower confusion and frustration when fighting her and allow more choice in how you punish her.

Kasumi

Health

• Increased from 2100 ➡️ 2200

Weapon

• Yokai Doll
  • Tightened targeting cone from 6 units ➡️ 4.5 units
  • Increased bonus Shield Damage from 200% ➡️ 250%
    • No longer can buy Wrecker

  • Cursed target damage output reduction increased from 2% ➡️ 3% per stack

Kasumi's kit is in a pretty decent spot after relocating to the Flank class, but her Yokai Doll still is a bit less consistent than many would like. We're tightening the targeting cone on it to be more precise, making her work a bit harder but upping the consistency heavily. We also are giving her more utility though the damage output reduction Curse applies, making her more able to duel targets as well as use her Ult to start a team snowball. Finally, we're resolving a longstanding conflict with stacking her passive and the item Wrecker by buffing the passive & removing her ability to buy the Item.

Kinessa

Weapon

• Carbine Rifle
  • Damage increased from 170 ➡️ 215
  • Firerate decreased from .15 ➡️ .19
  • Increased hip-fire accuracy from .75 ➡️ .9

• Fixed an issue where her damage ranges were not functioning as intended in Carbine mode.
  • Increased maximum effective range from 55 ➡️ 100
  • Increased minimum damage range start from 115 ➡️ 175
    • Due to how her Sniper rides her Carbine, its values have historically fluctuated without our input. This should now make her weapon feel updated for modern Paladins standards.

• Sniper Mode
  • Decreased damage from 1200 ➡️ 1000
  • Increased base damage from 30 ➡️ 100
  • Decreased charge time from 1.5s ➡️ 1s
  • Increased FOV from 25 ➡️ 38

Abilities

• Transporter
  • Travels 30% faster

• Oppressor Mine
  • Now applies a 15% Slow to targets affected by it

Ultimate

• Headhunter
  • Increased duration from 5s to 8s
  • On activation, Kinessa loses 50% Ult charge. Carbine shots cost 2 Ult Charge & Sniper shots cost 8 Ult charge. If she ends her ultimate with any charge remaining, that amount goes towards her next Ultimate.

Talents

• Reposition
  • Now also reduces the distance you teleport from 100 ➡️ 75

• Octopressor
  • Replacing Oppression
  • Moved from Card to Talent, now states “Oppressor Mines now target up to 5 enemies and can have up to 3 active at once.”

Cards

• Aftershock
  • New Card to replace Octopressor, states “Oppressor Mines' Slow now lingers after exit for .4|.4s.”

• Lie in Wait
  • Reworked to "After 1s of standing still, zoom your Sniper Mode scope by 5|5%."

• Beam Me Up
  • Original effect moved into base at Level 3
  • Reworked to "Reduce your damage taken by 4|4% while in Transporter"

• Calibrate
  • Reduced effect scaling from .15s ➡️ .12s

• Power Supply
  • Reworked to "Hitting a headshot grants you .4|.4% Ult Charge."

We plan to release a blog to go through these changes in more depth, including the goals and methodology of these changes. For the most macro viewpoint, our goal is to shift Kinessa from a Sniper-first role to a more flexible, hybrid Damage. Her Carbine now is a much more capable weapon, while her Sniper is being emphasized as a poke tool that can clean up kills. This is both to provide her a more healthy spot in a meta, as well as allow more room for Strix in the future as the Sniper-first Champion.We also have done a pass on her Talents and Cards to lower the frustrations of fighting her playstyles while letting her have more freedom in buildcrafting, with the hope that these ways of play can become stronger without the painpoints that led to previous nerfs. Reposition has long been her best Talent, and with these tweaks will remain strong but require more skill to leverage. Octopressor was a card cursed to never be Level 5, and by shifting it to a Talent allows her to keep that gameplan with less complication and more Loadout space.

Koga

Abilities

• Dragon Stance
  • Movement Speed bonus reduced from 25% ➡️ 15%

Maeve

Talents

• Street Justice
  • Reworked to “Activating Midnight recharges Pounce. During Midnight, Pounce executes targets at or below 40% Max Health. Midnight lasts an additional 2s.”

• Cat Burglar
  • Damage bonus increased from 25→ 30%
  • Duration increased from 3s → 5s

• Rogue’s Gambit
  • Damage bonus increased from 15 → 20%

Street Justice has long been a polarizing Talent, and we felt it finally time to address. While we considered bringing back Artful Dodger, we felt the player fantasy behind Street Justice was one worth preserving. So, we've now tied the execute to Maeve being in Midnight, limiting it's uptime to match all other executes in Paladins. However, we've given the Talent some added perks that make the words "Goodnight" instill fear in her opponents. The execute opportunity remains active as long as Maeve is in Midnight stance, regardless of if the target is blinded or not. We also felt buffs to both of the rival Talents would make Maeve's suite now feel properly distinct and effective as separate playstyles.

Makoa

Ultimate

• Ancient Rage
  • Now increases Makoa’s size by 50%
    • You wouldn’t dare challenge him.

  • Now grants 50% Headshot Damage reduction
  • Increased bonus health from 4000 ➡️ 5500

Makoa has fallen a bit to the wayside compared to the rest of Frontlines, and while his core kit feels good, he's lost a bit of impact. Ancient Rage will now be an Ultimate that can let him block more damage for his teammates, allowing for another tool in objective fights. This also serves as a noticeable buff to the effectiveness of Leviathan for those who leverage every activation.

Moji

Talent

• Jubilation
  • Now also spreads 75% of Mark damage to nearby enemies
    • It makes them go Boom Boom.

While we've been watching and listening to feedback on the strength of Moji's healing output, we don't want to rush to overcorrect her numbers and features until she's fully settled in playrate and match statistics. However, Jubilation has been underperforming and many OG Moji players have spoken on how she still doesn't have a true Flank Moji level option. So, we've added the features of her old Talent Boom Boom directly into Jubilation to offer a close-to-par Damage experience.

Nyx

Abilities

• Royal Presence
  • Now displays a duration bar while active

• Realm Breaker
  • Now can miss 2 hits before resetting combo chain

• Cards
  • True Freedom
    • Reworked to Heal for 75|75 when landing the final hit of Realm Breaker's combo

  • Devastating Blows
    • Increased bonus damage trigger range bonus from 4 → 5 units

  • The New Order
    • Increased Shield amount from 30 → 60

Seris

Talents

• Forsake (replaces Mortal Reach)
  • Restore Soul now heals over .5s, but it's cooldown is increased to 3s.

• Internal Torment (replaces Agony)
  • Rending Soul on a target with maximum Soul Orbs marks them to take 20% increased damage for 3s.

"They just hold heal" is thrown around often in conversations around certain Supports, none more than Seris. Her channeled heal and focus on non-aggressive gameplay is part of what makes her the most popular and approachable Champion, but it's also something that has kept her unviable at a higher level where Supports need to provide more than healing numbers. To address this, we've created 2 new Talents specifically focused on offering more active roles for Seris in gameplay and give newer Seris players a better transition from her ease to more complex and impactful playstyles. Forsake gives Seris access to a burst heal like her sister, opening up her ability to apply pressure through damage windows between cooldowns. Internal Torment, however, offers players willing to balance her channeled heal and steep investment on stuns a powerful debuff that her whole team can utilize.

VII

Abilities

• Grappling Hook
  • Can now hook enemies towards VII at base (again)
  • Cooldown decreased from 14 → 12s
  • Decreased charges from 2 → 1

• Explosive Dodge
  • Increased CD increased from 7 → 8s

Cards

• The Night
  • Increased CD reduction from 0.4 → 0.5s

Talents

• Overcharged
  • Now gives Grappling Hook a second charge
  • Increases Grappling Hook cooldown by 2s

Strix

Abilities

• Scope
  • Increased FOV from 25 ➡️ 38

We didn't want to give Kinessa so much without at least offering Strix a equally deserved FOV revert. We plan to revisit our Owl-themed marksman once we have Kinessa in a place that allows us to focus on curating his Sniping experience in ways that make him feel better on both sides of the scope.

Terminus

Weapons

• Massacre Axe
  • Reduced damage from 650 ➡️ 625

Talents

• Undying
  • Reduced DR received from 20% ➡️ 15%

Torvald

Weapon

• Gauntlet
  • Reduced damage from 200 ➡️ 195

Tiberius

Weapon

• Bladed Chakram
  • Now bounces 2 additional times.

Abilities

• Crouching Tigron
  • Startup reduced from 0.5s ➡️ 0.2s

Ultimate

• Blade Dance
  • Whirling Blade now has 0.2s of invulnerability on landing

Talents

• Predatory Instincts
  • Reworked to “Eliminations during Combat Trance reduce its next Cooldown by 25%.”

• Vicious Assault
  • Now grants 40% DR while airborne

Vatu

Weapons

• Kunai
  • Damage increased from 280 ➡️ 310
  • Fire rate decreased from .9s ➡️ 1s

Talents

• Enveloping Shadows
  • ICD decreased from 3s ➡️ 2s

Vora

Ultimate

• Harbinger’s Wrath
  • Movement Speed during increased from 60% ➡️ 75%
  • Increased targeting angle from 80 ➡️ 100
  • Increased fire angle from 20 ➡️ 25
  • Adjusted Ultimate Camera to aid with aiming and presentation

Vora's Ultimate is a unique tool that has both lethal and movement applications. We want to incentivize players utilizing it for its intended goal of execution so we're making the targeting more consistent and forgiving, while also adjusting the camera to better frame her target. We also are giving back some speed during her Ultimate to allow for chasing down opponents or a desperate escape from a lost fight. We're also tracking Unified in Purpose and its application of DR being based on final hit as opposed to initial.

Willo

Ultimate

• Blastflower
  • Reduced damage per stack 20% ➡️ 15%