As somebody with a billion collective hours across games like Starcraft and Dota, the most fun and exciting times in those games were balance patches. Not because I was waiting for a nerf, but because it reopens the door for players to experiment again.
Currently, the items that give permanent bonuses are still too much more valuable than the items that give temporary boosts. By slightly lowering the permanent bonus from items and increasing their rarities, I'm hoping this gives other items an opportunity to shine.
Unfortunately with a pretty major balance change, I have to reset the King of the Hill.
King of Co-Op
Co-op teams that complete either a Casual or Ranked run with 15 trophies can now continue together into King of Co-Op.
The team keeps its shared tower, inventory, shops, economy, event rewards, and remaining lives.
King of Co-Op is unranked and never changes the final MMR earned during the completed Ranked run.
Losing the final remaining life now proceeds through the normal results and run-summary screens instead of leaving the Challenge button unresponsive.
New Items
Vampire Bat
A new Uncommon Dark/Physical Poison Weapon.
Cost: 20g
Physical Damage: 25
Poison: 15
Cooldown: 5 seconds
On hit, heals its owner using Vampire Bat’s current Poison.
Tier 1/2/3 healing multiplier: 1x/2x/3x current Poison.
Camp Fire
A new Uncommon Fire/Earth Burn and Heal aura.
Cost: 20g
Burn: 10
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Adjacent Creatures gain +25/+50/+100 Heal at Tiers 1/2/3.
When Camp Fire occupies the center block (Row III, Column III) the same aura reaches every Creature in the tower.
Per-Activation Item Changes
Whet Stone
Rarity changed from Uncommon to Rare.
Cauldron
Rarity changed from Uncommon to Rare.
Ashen Venom
Rarity changed from Uncommon to Epic.
The Projectile tag has been removed.
Previously gave the Weapon above +2 permanent Burn and the Weapon below +2 permanent Poison at every tier.
Now grants +1/+2/+3 permanent Burn and Poison at Tiers 1/2/3.
War Banner
Rarity changed from Uncommon to Epic.
Previously gave row-and-column Creatures +2/+4/+8 permanent Damage per cast.
Now gives those Creatures +1/+2/+4 permanent Damage and +1%/+2%/+4% permanent Haste.
Ironbark Stag
Permanent Thorns growth changed from +1/+2/+4 to +1/+2/+3 after attacking.
It now checks its own Thorns instead of the tower’s total Thorns.
Once it reaches 15 of its own Thorns, each attack permanently grants Damage equal to its current Thorns.
This replaces the old threshold of 10 tower Thorns and the old flat +1/+2/+4 Damage reward.
Cinder Brand
Rarity changed from Rare to Epic.
Permanent Burn granted to the item above changed from +1/+2/+4 to +1/+2/+3.
If the item above is a Weapon, it now gains +15/+30/+60 Damage for the current battle.
This replaces the old +2/+4/+8 permanent Weapon Damage.
Ember Anvil
Weapons directly to its right and below now gain +20/+40/+60 Damage for the current battle.
The Weapon below also gains +20/+40/+60 Burn for the current battle.
These replace the old permanent +3/+6/+12 Damage and +5/+10/+20 Burn bonuses.
All Ember Anvil bonuses now reset after combat.
Oath Lantern
Permanent Burn granted to the item on its right changed from +2/+4/+8 to +2/+3/+4.
Its Light-item bonus remains +5%/+10%/+20% permanent Crit Chance.
Additional Balance Changes
Righteous Flail
Rarity changed from Uncommon to Epic.
Base Multicast reduced from x3 to x2.
Totem of Unity
Previously counted every different element across the entire tower.
It now counts only elements represented by items in its own row or column.
Power per represented element changed from +5%/+10%/+20% to +10%/+20%/+30% at Tiers 1/2/3.
With all seven elements aligned, the maximum is +70%/+140%/+210% Power.
Goblin Alchemist
Burn-to-Shatter conversion now scales by tier.
Tier 1 converts Burn at 1x.
Tier 2 converts Burn at 2x.
Tier 3 converts Burn at 3x.
Previously, every tier used the full 3x conversions
Chronomancers pocket watch
Now gives all items +100% haste for their first cast then -100% haste afterward. (No longer instant cast. All items will cast in 1 second).
Gargoyle
Poison damage bonus from being placed in row 1 increased to 20/40/80
Locust Swarm
Base multicast reduced to 0 down from 3.
Hunting Spear
Now gains -1s/2s/3s cooldown if there is a creature to its left.
Dipped Dagger
Gains +6/12/24 poison per cast this battle up from 3/6/12.
Blood Well
Below Water items gain +3/6/12 bleed.
Enchanted Quiver
Gives projectile to the right 2/3/4x multicast
Earth Totem
Row items gain 10/20/40 bonus damage.
Bramble Trap
Gains 5/10/20 bleed/thorns while placed in row 5.
Viper Totem
All items in row gain +5/10/20 poison
Stone Abomination
Adjacent Items gain +3/6/12 thorns
Ankh of Reincarnation
Fatal Blow heal is now 2000
Aztec Smoking Mirror
All items in the same row mirror their left right bonuses. If an item would give a bonus to the right, it will now also give it to the left.
Stormglass Shard
Above column items gain +0.5s/1s/2s random shock if Water, or Air
Odins Gungnir
Adjacent items shock deals 100 physical damage.
Heavens Harp
Adjacent items gain 10/20/40 cleanse
Rat King
Income bonus is now tower wide for all creatures.
Cursed Skull
Cooldown reduced to 7 seconds.
Shadowbolt
Asset image updated
Grave Bell
Below item gains +4/8/18 Bleed and 25/50/100% power this battle on cast.
Air Stone
Increased Crit damage for all air items increased from 25% to 50%
Dark Stone
Gives all items heal equal to their poison. Changed from permanent health equal to posion.
Creature Stone
Gives -1 Seconds cooldown to all creatures, up from -0.5 Seconds.
Performance and Display Improvements
Smaller 1024×576 and 1152×648 windowed resolutions are available.
The full Encyclopedia catalog is now constructed only when the Encyclopedia is first opened, reducing startup work.
Interface and Quality-of-Life Improvements
Occupied tower blocks can now be moved without removing their item first.
Drag the surrounding block frame to move the block, its item, and its elemental-block identity together.
Event decisions now include an Inspect Tower option.
This temporarily returns to the tower for item and layout reference.
Battle XP now increases with the battle number:
Battle 1: 10 XP
Battle 2: 15 XP
Battle 3: 20 XP
Each later battle adds another 5 XP.
Crit Damage bonuses now add correctly to an item’s existing critical multiplier in tooltips.
Air Totem no longer causes the displayed total to count the item’s base Crit Damage twice.
Items affected by Goblin Alchemist now replace their Burn output line with the live Shatter amount they will actually produce.
The preview updates with Burn, Power, tier, and other tower bonuses.
Event items are displayed in king of the hill inspection.
Matchmaking Improvements
Casual and Ranked matchmaking now tries to avoid accounts faced during the previous three completed fights.
If the available player pool is too small, opponents are progressively allowed again, starting with the oldest previous fight.
King of the Hill and King of Co-Op are exempt because crown progression may require repeatedly challenging the current leader.