Update 0.1.3-alpha | Rustwake
Two new areas, a new boss, a whole new weapon type, and enemies that finally know how to keep their distance.
New Areas
- Rustwake Gate (levels 18–20) four rooms of Armored Drones guarding the way in.
- Rustwake Foundry (levels 18–24) five rooms ending in a boss fight.
Both are marked on the world map.
New Boss: Steel-Joint Apex
A level 24 machine that fights at range and never lets you settle.
- Rail Volley: sweeps the entire room with rail fire and stuns everything it touches.
- Overdrive: at 40% HP the servos stop pacing themselves. Permanent +50% attack speed for the rest of the fight, and it runs visibly hot.
- Immune to stun: you will not be crowd-controlling your way out of this one.
- Drops 11 unique pieces, including the Apex Railfang, Apex Bulwark Plating and the Apex Targeting Rune.
Killing it unlocks a new achievement.
New Enemies
- Armored Drone MK1: (18–20) heavily armored ranged unit that backs away when you close in.
- Steel-Joint Stalker: (19–22) fast, long-reaching, and the source of most of the Foundry's gear.
New Weapon Type: Daggers
Fast, Agility-scaling weapons with their own art, available from level 1 all the way to endgame.
New Items
- 32 new items in total: 27 equipment pieces, 2 runes, and 3 new sellables.
- A full Rustwake set built out of scrapped machines, Rustplate Carapace, Sinewire Jerkin, Static-Weave Shroud, Arc Coil Rod, Piston-Head Maul, Stalker's Optic Visor, Tension Coil Band and more.
- A barrow line of gear with its own Grave Rot and Barrow Momentum effects, Barrow-Iron Longsword, Gravewarden's Bulwark, Shroudweave Cowl, Widow's Vigil Staff, Ossuary Reliquary, Pallbearer's Signet, Cairn-Marked Plate and the Gravecaller's Sigil Rune.
- Castle Kitten now drops real loot instead of just coins: the Sinir Watch Blade, Watcher's Iron Sallet, Sinir Sentry Hood, Tower Guard's Buckler, Watchfire Cedar Staff and Kitten Claw Charm.
Combat Tactics
Ranged units no longer stand still while a melee attacker chews on them.
- Kiting: a ranged unit steps out of melee reach during the gap between its own attacks. It never costs a shot, it never runs forever, and after a few steps the unit plants its feet and fights.
- Orba now kites. So do the Darkstinger and the Armored Drone MK1 expect those fights to move around a lot more.
Immunity System
- Enemies can now be immune to specific kinds of effects: stun, poison, bleed, curse, or everything at once.
- Broodmother, Gromm and the Steel-Joint Apex are now immune to stun. Perma-stunning a boss is over.
- Blocked effects show a clear IMMUNE popup over the target and a line in the combat log, so you always know why something didn't land.
- Consumables are no longer wasted on a target that's immune to them, the item stays in your bag.
Balance
- On-hit effects now trigger from every equipment slot, not just your weapon. Helmets, chests, rings and shields with a proc were silently doing nothing before, they work now.
- Stun duration increased from 1s to 3s. Stuns are worth landing.
- Orba Lifebound Orb: now targets your lowest-health ally instead of a random one. Healing reduced from 200% to 130% of damage taken.
- Early-game gear pass. Low-level equipment had bloated stat lines and inflated vendor value; stat budgets and sell prices have been tightened across swords, maces, shields, chests and helmets. A few pieces lost a third stat they had no business carrying.
Fixes
- Area level ranges on the world map showed the wrong values (and sometimes 0) for areas that don't override enemy levels. They now report the real levels you'll face.
- Enemies now play their own death sound instead of the generic one.