GENERAL
AoE Targeting Fixes
We found issues with our previous logic for targeting enemies with area of effect or bouncing mechanics. A good example where this was very noticeable was in the encounter with Vexirah in Silken Hollow. Many abilities would not cleave, splash, or bounce to smaller enemies around Vexirah, even when they were all stacked on top of each other. We have worked through and fixed this across all heroes. This will generally make these types of abilities more reliable in their targeting logic across the entire game. The following is a list of abilities that were affected by this issue.
Helena
Measured Strike
Shield Slam
Shield Throw
Meiko
Rising Storm
Spirited Vortex
Forbidden Technique
Xavian
Sun Strike
Blinding Slash
Solar Blades
Omega Reprieval
Sun’s Verdict
Gunde
Blood Arc
Grim Carve
Slaughter
Oathshatter
Tariq
Heavy Strike
Heavy Strike - Lightning
Wild Swing
Face Breaker
Chain Lightning
Sledgehammer
Mara
Seething Burst
Rime
Bursting Ice
Ice Comet
Coalescing Frost
Glacial Assault
Icy Talons
Frostwyrm’s Spite
Ardeos
Pyromania
Fire Frogs
Flare Up
Fire Toads
Elarion
Multishot
Highwind Arrow
Lunarlight Mark
Lunarlight Mark - Barrage Explosion
Piercing Seekers
Aeona
Echoes of Ruin
Entropic Burst
Paradoxical Twist
Weapons
Nature’s Fury
Blessing
The Vehement
HEROES
Helena
The Legendary [Bindings of the Blackened Vanguard] now interacts with Helena’s [Veteran of War] mechanic as intended, causing the free [Shockwave] to reduce the cooldown of [Shields Up] as expected.
Meiko
Meiko has been suffering from a number of bugs that have been hurting her survivability greatly when using certain talents. We have also heard from you that her damage output has been much too low in comparison with Xavian and Helena. With these adjustments, our aim has been to make sure she is competitive in damage - even with the new legendary cloak legendary - and to fix the bugs that were causing deaths to her or her party members in certain situations.
All Meiko ability damage has been increased by 15%.
Fixed an issue causing [Forbidden Technique] to sometimes not grant the correct amount of damage reduction upon expiring naturally.
Fixed an issue causing [Stone Guard] talent to sometimes grant negative Armor to Meiko.
[Twin Souls: Bulwark] now grants Meiko a large amount of threat when enemies enter the [Sibling of Earth’s] area of effect, while still holding all threat for its duration unless an enemy is manually taunted.
This adjustment makes sure Meiko has some breathing room to catch up on threat once the [Sibling of Earth] is destroyed or expires.
Talent [Shattering Obelisk] now deals Wind Damage when pulsating.
The Legendary [Drape of Earthen Spirits] now additionally grants 20% increased Wind Damage while equipped.
Xavian
Fixed an issue causing [Spirit Refunds] triggered by his [Brilliant Flash] to not grant him the [Rising Spirits] buff.
Gunde
Talent [Raven’s Precision] damage is now reduced beyond 5 targets (was 8).
Talent [Oathshatter] now deals 50% of its damage to other nearby enemies (was 35%), and its damage is now reduced beyond 5 targets (was 12 targets).
Talent [Bloodcraze] damage is now reduced beyond 1 target (was 3).
Talent [Bloodcraze] damage bonus per stack of [Owed in Blood] consumed increased to 170% (was 130%).
New Legendary [Feathered Wraps of the Raven God] (wrist slot)
Your [Owed in Blood] grants you [Carrion Onslaught], increasing the damage of your next [Blood Arc] by 20%.
The damage bonus to [Blood Arc] is further increased by 2% for every stack of [Owed in Blood] that was consumed.
[Carrion Onslaught] also causes your next [Blood Arc] to instantly spawn up to 10 [Blood Feathers], and then up to 10 [Blood Feathers] again every 2 seconds over 8 seconds, based on the amount of [Owed in Blood] stacks that were consumed.
Tariq
We have been happy to see Tariq’s popularity rise since the start of Season 3 and the removal of his Swing Timer! We have also heard your feedback on his Schism build being a bit too random performance-wise - as well as feedback that his lightning build, while very strong on single target encounters, has had poor performance in multitarget scenarios. These adjustments have been made to improve those aspects.
[Heavy Strike] damage has been increased by 15%.
[Heavy Strike] now deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets (was 5 targets).
[Skull Crusher] damage has been increased by 15%.
[Hammer Storm] damage has been increased by 15%.
Talent [The Motherload] now increases [Chain Lightning] damage by 65% for every unique enemy it hits other than your main target (was 50%).
Talent [The Motherload] no longer grants the additional passive 10% increased damage to [Chain Lightning].
Talent [Thunderstruck] now adds 3 additional bounces to [Chain Lightning] (was 2).
Talent [Schism] now has a 35% chance to trigger (was 25%) and now increases the damage of your next [Skull Crusher] or [Hammer Storm] by 150% (was 250%).
The Legendary [Loop of the Thundering Vortex] now additionally causes [Chain Lightning] to generate 50% more Fury.
Mara
We have been receiving feedback on the new Hemotoxin that the new design felt very passive and have decided to act on it to provide a more interesting gameplay loop for that build. We have also seen Mara’s Finisher Builds performing under our expectations and have addressed it.
[Web Crack] cooldown has been reduced to 24 seconds (was 30 seconds).
[Queen’s Fang] damage has been increased by 15%.
[Arachnid Assault] damage has been increased by 15%.
Talent [Feed the Queen] now increases the damage of your next [Queen’s Fang] by 12% per stack (was 10%).
Talent [Hemotoxin] has been changed back to its Season 2 design.
We received feedback and agreed that the new [Hemotoxin] felt very passive and had very little agency. As such we have returned to the prior version of Hemotoxin with some adjustments.
Your [Backstab], [Widow's Bite], and [Auto Attacks] have a [12% chance] to apply 1 stack of [Hemotoxin] to the target. causing it to take 20% Agility poison damage every 1.5 seconds over 9 seconds.
Using [Hemorrhaging Strike] on a target afflicted with [Hemotoxin] consumes 1 stack, instantly dealing 100% of [Hemorrhaging Strike's] bleed damage to the target and 67% of [Hemorrhaging Strike's] bleed damage to other nearby targets as poison damage.
The damage is affected by the amount of combo points spent on the [Hemorrhaging Strike] that triggers [Hemotoxin].
[Hemotoxin's] area damage is reduced beyond 1 target.
The Legendary [Assassin’s Shadow-lined Cloak] now has the [Shadow Clones] performing a 6-combo point [Queen’s Fang] at 100% power (was 50% power).
The Legendary [Wristbands of Vexirah’s Prey] now deals 28% of the damage over 6 seconds (was 25%).
Ardeos
We have been looking over Ardeos and found some issues that have been limiting his performance in unintended ways. These issues have now been addressed. We have also heard feedback regarding his Fire Frogs and Fire Toads and decided to make some adjustments to make his frog-builds more competitive and to provide more ways to build it toward various target counts, while also adding some power to his Explosivo and Devouring Flames builds as well.
[Infernal Wave] damage has been increased by 21%.
[Apocalypse] damage has been increased by 15%.
Fixed an issue causing Wildfire to have no effect on the damage over time effects from [Fire Ball], [Fire Frogs], [Crackling Inferno], and [Apocalypse: Explosivo]
[Wildfire] now increases the tick rate of Ardeos’ fire damage over time effects by 30% (was 20%).
Fixed an issue with the Legendary [Exquisite Flaming Toad Cloak] that caused it to only deal damage to a maximum of 10 enemies upon exploding.
The Legendary [Exquisite Flaming Toad Cloak] has been adjusted
Now has a 20% chance to spawn a [Fire Toad] in place of a [Fire Frog] (was 10% chance)
The [Fire Toad] now deals 900% [Fire Frog] damage to the main target and 100% [Fire Frog] damage to enemies near your target. (was 1000% [Fire Frog] damage to all targets).
[Fire Toad’s] damage now always deals its full damage to the main target, even when hitting multiple targets (had reduced damage beyond 1 target on all targets, including the main target).
[Fire Toad] damage to enemies other than the main target is still reduced beyond 1.
The Legendary [Draconic Bracerse of the Devouring Flame] now increases damage taken by the target by 7% for each application of [Engulfing Flames] that is active on them (was 6%).
Rime
The most powerful build for Rime currently requires a high amount of investment to get the right items, stats, blessings, and so forth - and while it is performing well in the late game, Rime’s early game is suffering, and her other build choices are not able to compete. As such, we have made adjustments to provide more competitive choices, primarily by making Ice Blitz a more readily available cooldown for any build.
[Ice Comet] damage has been increased by 10%.
[Ice Blitz] has had its cooldown reduced to 60 seconds (was 120 seconds).
Rime is currently too reliant on maintaining Ice Blitz via Cascading Blitz to deal damage. We have received significant feedback on this gameplay loop being a fun way to play Rime so we have opted to make this setup easier to pull off, even during early character progression, instead of nerfing the overall power of the setup.
Talent [Avalanche] chance to trigger 1 additional free [Ice Comet] increased to 18% (was 15%) and chance to trigger 2 additional free [Ice Comets] increased to 9% (was 7%).
Talent [Coalescing Frost] damage has been increased by 8%.
Talent [Glacial Assault] now deals 30% of its damage to enemies near the target (was 20%).
Talent [Cold Shower] now has a 7% chance per tick to conjure a free [Ice Comet] upon the target (was 6%).
Talent [Icy Flow] now increases critical strike chance of your next spender by 20% (was 15%).
Talent [Icy Talons]
[Talon Strike] damage has been reduced to 40% of [Glacial Blast] damage (was 45%).
[Rising Talons] damage has been reduced to 40% of [Ice Comet] damage (was 45%).
Talent [Frostweaver’s Wrath] now has a 20% chance to trigger (was 17%).
Fixed an issue with the Talent [Supreme Torrent] that was causing it to not apply the 20% damage bonus to [Freezing Torrent]
The Legendary [Drakesblood Tapestry] now increases the damage of your next [Cold Snap] by 30% per stack (was 20%).
Elarion
We have noticed Elarion is currently lacking on Single Target and on extremely high target situations. These changes should help to address these problem areas without drastically affecting the current builds and their place in his arsenal.
[Heartseeker Barrage] damage has been increased by 10%.
[Focused Shot] damage has been increased by 20%.
[Celestial Shot] damage has been increased by 20%.
[Multishot] damage has been increased by 40%.
[Highwind Arrow] damage has been reduced by 5%.
Slight reduction to the power of [Highwind Arrow] is to compensate for [Highwind Arrow] builds having disproportionally more access to Multishots.
Vigour
Vigour is receiving a big update with this patch. Our goal has been to provide a little more breathing room for him, to allow him to weave a little more damage in between his heals and shields. We have also increased his damage potential substantially. Finally, a number of quality-of-life improvements such as tightening up the “Grand Design” casts and reducing the visual size of his absorbs while keeping their power intact by increasing the damage mitigation of his absorbs - to help clean up the party frame health bars.
All Vigour ability damage has been increased by 30%.
[Residual Light] from season 2 has returned. Once [Luminous Barrier] expires or is removed from a player they gain [Residual Light] for 20 seconds, reducing all damage they take by 10%.
Overcharging with the [Grand Design] mechanic now has a 0.3 second delay before the cast behind (was 0.15s) and the cast time has been reduced to 1.2 seconds (was 1.5 seconds).
This helps cause less unintended casts of Overcharge.
You can queue the next Overcharge cast by holding down the appropriate button during any other casts or during global cooldown to avoid the 0.3 second delay. For example by holding [Rune of Renewal] down while [Dawnflare] is being casted.
[Luminous Barrier] now takes 65% reduced damage (was 25%) and its absorb value has been reduced by 50%.
This change will make [Luminous Barrier] slightly stronger than before, but with a smaller absorb value - to help clean up the health bars from being enveloped completely in absorbs.
[Luminous Barrier] cooldown has been increased to 20 seconds (was 15 seconds).
[Soulbrand] direct damage has been increased to the equivalent of 3 ticks of Soulbrand (was 2 ticks)..
Talent [Ruptured Soul] now deals 12% of the damage that was remaining in the effect upon an enemy’s death (was 25%).
[Levitate] duration has been increased to 5 seconds (was 4 seconds). This also affects the duration of the talent [Ascending Avatar], increasing it to 5 seconds as well (was 4 seconds).
Talent [Meticulous Runesmith] absorb duration has been increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
Talent [Meticulous Runesmith] absorbs can now stack up to maximum absorb value equal to 1800% Intellect (was 2400%).
Talent [Meticulous Runesmith] absorb clean up.
The balancing changes above result in a slight reduction to [Meticulous Runesmith’s] power. In addition, we are now shrinking the absorb value and instead granting it 50% damage reduction - in order to clean up the health bars from being enveloped in absorbs.
[Meticulous Runesmith] now creates a shield with absorb equal to 50% of the healing done by [Dawnbreaker Orb] (was 100%), up to a maximum of 900% Intellect.
The shield from [Meticulous Runesmith] now takes 50% reduced damage (was taking full damage).
Talent [Divine Light] now causes your next [Circle of Light] to be empowered and free at 3 stacks (was 4 stacks).
The Legendary [Ring of Harmonizing Refractions] now allows you to hold up to 3 stacks maximum (was 2 stacks maximum).
The Legendary [Bracers of Resplendent Dawn] now increase the damage of [Dawnflare] by 50% (was 20%).
The Legendary [Bracers of Resplendent Dawn] now also grant 5% increased maximum health to players with an active [Rune of Renewal] on them.
Sylvie
Overcharging with the [Synchronized Fluttering] mechanic now has a 0.3 second delay before the cast behind (was 0.15s) and the cast time has been reduced to 1.2 seconds (was 1.5 seconds).
This helps prevent some unintended casts of Overcharge by increasing the hold time required before the Overcharge cast is triggered..
You can queue the next Overcharge cast by holding down the appropriate button during any other casts or during global cooldown to avoid the 0.3 second delay. For example by holding [Fluttercall: Heal] down immediately after pressing [Heart Bloom].
Aeona
Fixed an issue causing the Talent [Continuum Shift] to not properly apply its stun effect on targets when casting [Entropy’s Claim] while the proc was active.
ITEMIZATION
Fixed an issue causing Bad Luck Protection to not work as intended for [Legendary Items].
When Scrapping [Legendary Items], players will now receive the following:
A reasonable amount of Gold.
1x Arcane Aether
1x Legends Godstone
1x Epic Souldust
1x Legendary Souldust
PROGRESSION
Added a new title ‘Champion of Xul’ for players who complete the Pinnacle Dungeon on Nightmare Difficulty.
GENERAL FIXES
Fixed an issue where the Seasonal challenge Avatar and Title had the wrong unlock criteria.
Fixed an issue on the Hero Sheet and Player Profile widget where the Player Mastery information was showing a white box.
Fixed an issue where the party loot list at the end of dungeons was being pushed off the right-hand-side of the screen.
Fixed an issue where the UI would get out of sync with the backend once a player relogs during a session, causing upgraded, or scrapped items to appear unchanged.
Fixed various typos and errors in text across tooltips and information windows referring to concepts from earlier seasons.
Updated Localization text across all languages.
Removed [Xul, The Blood Monolith] from the Hero Sheet’s Dungeon Records as the dungeon cannot earn the player Dungeon Score so was causing confusion.