Shield Generators no longer reduce the shields of the owning team's Nexus when destroyed.
Nexus
Health: 8000 ⇒ 4500
Shield: 6000 ⇒ 4500
Health no longer regenerates when out of combat (shields still do!)
Towers now apply a stacking slowing effect and deal minor area damage.
Vision and Detection wards have a new model and animations!
Fixed a bug that prevented Shield Generators from dropping Gems
Automated production will now purchase stat upgrades, but will never occupy more than one production slot at a time with them
Deck Building
Advanced unit slots: 4 ⇒ 5
The Juggernaut takes the final spot for all default decks.
Now shows the units your team has selected, even before locking in.
Heroes now display their locked-in basic unit's information in a card next to their own when selecting a Hero. Click the card to pan between the Hero and the basic unit!
Damage and Armor Types
Context: We're beginning work on simplifying the damage and armor type system! While we have a system like this in place to aid us in balancing certain matchups (especially at lower tech levels), there are some things the system has failed at achieving for us. Failing that, the system is incredibly difficult to grasp. So, we're going to work on making this system as simple as possible while still serving our goals!
Removed the "Light" armor type; all units are now "Heavy" or "Normal"
Typically, "Heavy" units are melee. There are, and will be, a small handful of exceptions
Units that have had their armor type changed from "Light" to "Normal" have received health adjustments to compensate.
More details can be found in each unit's changelog
Titans
No longer Charge
Now circle each other in a more predictable pattern
NEW ABILITY: Ground Slam -- The Titan winds up a strong attack, then unleashes it, dealing 30 damage and stunning enemy units in the area.
Claimed Titans can no longer loot Gems or Energy pickups.
Critter Regions
Critters now fight back rather than fleeing. Their damage is fairly pitiful, though...
Critters have received a new, less-vicious model.
Creeps
Now drop Energy pickups when slain!
Caterpillar (Easy Camp minion; Medium Camp minion)
Has received a new, much more vicious model!
Pitcher Plant (Hard camp captain)
Health: 4000 ⇒ 3000
Armor type: Light ⇒ Normal
Flying Flytrap (Hard camp minion)
Health: 1500 ⇒ 1100
Armor type: Light ⇒ Normal
User Interface
With the removal of the Shield Generator mechanic (its interaction with the Nexus's shields), the scoreboard at the top of the interface no longer represents anything and will always read 0-0. Please note that this is a work in progress!
Event Announcements
Certain high-impact game events now have announcements displayed onscreen calling attention to them. These events include:
Titans have Spawned
A Titan has been claimed
A Titan has been killed
A structure has been destroyed
Floating Combat Text
Now displays healing received and distributed!
Aggregates damage and healing more frequently (Translation: You'll see more numbers, and you'll see them more quickly when damaging or healing something)
Units
Hero abilities no longer scale with every Hero level (stats still do)
Heroes now gain benefits to their abilities at Level 5, 10, 15, and 20.
Basic abilities upgrade at levels 5 and 15
Ultimate abilities unlock at level 10 and upgrade at level 20
More details can be found in each hero's changelog
The EXP curve has been slightly accelerated.
Blue
Ryme
Now benefits from the Arctic Newt's Ice Floes upgrade!
Frostbolt now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 5: Cooldown reduced by 3 seconds; damage increased by 15
Level 15: Cooldown reduced by 3 seconds; damage increased by 30
Frozen Orb now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 10: Unlocks this ability.
Level 20: Radius increased by 1.25
Hydros
Healing Waters now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 5: Healing increased by 50.
Level 15: Healing increased by 100.
Turn the Tide now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 10: Unlocks this ability.
Level 20: Radius increased by 2; health threshold increased to 40%
Aquanaut
Health: 185 ⇒ 140
Armor Type: Light ⇒ Normal
Dredgecrawler
Health: 205 ⇒ 155
Armor Type: Light ⇒ Normal
Frostcaller
BioShard cost: 150 ⇒ 125
Attack range: 8 ⇒ 10
Unit Cap: 4 ⇒ 3
Frostfall
Casting range: 16 ⇒ 20
Movement slow: 50% ⇒ 40%
Slow duration: 0.9 seconds ⇒ 3 seconds
Radii: 1.8 ⇒ 2.2
Green
Alder
Living Vines now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 5: Cooldown reduced by 4 seconds; root duration increased by 1 second
Level 15: Cooldown reduced by 4 seconds; root duration increased by 2 seconds
Deeproot Terror now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 10: Unlocks this ability.
Level 20: Deeproot Terror gains 200 PHYSICAL RESIST and MAGICAL RESIST; radius increased by 1.5
Grath
Stone Form now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 5: Cooldown reduced by 4 seconds; healing per second increased by 15.
Level 15: Cooldown reduced by 4 seconds; healing per second increased by 30.
Bestial Rage now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 10: Unlocks this ability.
Level 20: Gains an additional 150 PHYSICAL RESIST and MAGICAL RESIST
Seedbot
Size increased by ~10%
Health: 195 ⇒ 175
Attack cooldown: 1.6 seconds ⇒ 1.4 seconds
Grove Tender
Health: 260 ⇒ 195
Armor Type: Light ⇒ Normal
Toxin Mystic
Health: 230 ⇒ 175
Armor Type: Light⇒ Normal
Red
Eris
Dis-Array now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 5: Damage increased by 15
Level 15: Damage increased by 30
Volley now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 10: Unlocks this ability.
Level 20: Radius increased by 4.
Vex
Now benefits from the Spitfire's Molten Lobber upgrade!
Scorch now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 5: Cooldown reduced by 2 seconds; radius increased by 0.5
Level 15: Cooldown reduced by 2 seconds; radius increased by 1
Pyroblast now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 10: Unlocks this ability.
Level 20: Width increased by 0.5
Cinder Beetle
Corrected the tooltip for Spawn Beetles, indicating that it now spawns 3 Cinderlings.
Apocalyte
Health: 315 ⇒ 240
Armor Type: Light ⇒ Normal
White
Celesta
Now benefits from the Wisp's Battle Sense upgrade!
Illuminate now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 5: Cooldown reduced by 8 seconds; damage increased by 4
Level 15: Cooldown reduced by 8 seconds; damage increased by 8
Cleansing Light now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 10: Unlocks this ability.
Level 20: Radius increased by 1
Vela
Fair Warning now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 5: Range increased by 10; radius increased by 0.6
Level 15: Range increased by 20; radius increased by 1
Diplomatic Measures now gains the following benefits at key Hero levels
Level 10: Unlocks this ability.
Level 20: Duration increased by 6 seconds; movement speed bonus increased by 20%
Raptor
Health: 65 ⇒ 55
Armor Type: Light ⇒ Normal
Wisp
Health: 70 ⇒ 55
Armor Type: Light ⇒ Normal
Sabre
Damage: 20 ⇒ 16
Attack recovery time: 0.1 seconds ⇒ 0.2 seconds
Sprint
Duration: 5 seconds ⇒ 4 seconds
Endurance (Upgrade)
Sprint duration increase: +5 seconds ⇒ +3 seconds
Deadeye
Health: 185 ⇒ 140
Armor Type: Light ⇒ Normal
Movement speed: 4.4 ⇒ 4
Unit Cap: 8 ⇒ 4
Take Aim
Cooldown: 24 seconds ⇒ 15 seconds
Cast time: 3 seconds ⇒ 1.3 seconds
Damage: 500 Normal ⇒ 140 Projectile
Headshot (Upgrade)
Take Aim Success cooldown reduction: 70% ⇒ 50%
Windray
Health: 315 ⇒ 240
Armor Type: Light ⇒ Normal
Mercenaries
Several Mercenaries have had their build times set to 120 seconds and their BioShard costs removed. These Mercenaries are a class of unit we're calling "Utility Mercs." The roster of Utility Mercs currently consists of:
Juggernaut
Engineer
Sentinel
Snerp Herder
Vespid Carrier
Warp Drone
Siege Engineers have been disabled.
Snerp Herder
Health: 230 ⇒ 175
Armor Type: Light ⇒ Normal
Unit Cap: 3 ⇒ 2
Engineer
Unit Cap: 2 ⇒ 1
Ion Cannons have been reworked!
No longer consumes the Engineer on cast, but, rather, the Engineer enters the Ion Cannon during construction. If the Ion Cannon is destroyed while constructing, the Engineer is killed in the process.
Unit type: Structure ⇒ Unit
Energy cost: 6 ⇒ 0
Cooldown: 0 seconds ⇒ 70 seconds
Construction time: 60 seconds ⇒ 10 seconds
Duration: Infinite ⇒ 60 seconds
Health: 1600 ⇒ 600
Damage: 200 ⇒ 125
Attack Cooldown: 8 seconds ⇒ 4 seconds
Vision radius: 45 ⇒ 19 (standard)
Structural Integrity (Upgrade)
Tech requirement: 2 ⇒ 4
Cost: 75 ⇒ 200
Bonus Engineering healing: 60% ⇒ 100%
Now increases Ion Cannon damage by 100
Juggernaut
Tech level: 4 ⇒ 2
Energy cost: 8 ⇒ 5
Damage: 300 ⇒ 100
Attack cooldown: 3.2 seconds ⇒ 3 seconds
Health: 6000 ⇒ 3000
NEW UPGRADE: Reinforced Juggernaut
Available at Tech Level 4 for 200 BioShards
Grants the Juggernaut 200 Physical Resist and Magical Resist.
I don't have all the cards yet, and was stuck on a mostly Sandstinger composition playing Eris. I felt like I couldn't kill any T3 giant units (Aquadillos and Batterhorns mostly), even though I was doing a reasonably okay job dodging their big AoE abilities and I had T3 attack upgrades.
I know that big scary T3 units are supposed to be hard to kill, and they're supposed to be good against basic units in order to reward players for teching, but it feels impossible to actually kill them. Even if I correctly micro, I don't feel rewarded for playing well.
Gameplay has been pretty solid. I think I need to back off my shard focus a bit; I'm running into more situations where I need to rebuild and have no energy. I also end up with a lot of shards if I'm really pushing it, and need to keep on top of upgrades better.
I didn't notice the step at hero levels.
Frostcallers felt better than the last time I used them. I didn't notice them getting left behind while casting, and the extended slow gave more opportunity to pick off a few units.
I think I missed an outer tower buff somewhere along the line. In a bot game I had Vex with a somewhat early army; I'm used to being able to take down towers without really thinking about it as long has I have a half-decent tank (Vex), but I had the shield down and it mostly dead, and then I didn't have an army anymore.
Overall, I liked the changes in this patch again. Frostcallers feel more effective. I like towers being stronger. In-game announcements of key events are great (eventually I'm assuming there will be an audio / voice cue to go along with these, but I love the idea). The utility mercs seem like a cool idea too.
@wondible said:
I didn't notice the step at hero levels.
I too wish for a stronger visual effect when key levels (5, 10, 15, 20) are hit.
I also like the idea of being able to see the cards your allies are selecting during the deck-building phase. However, I found it very hard to interpret the tiny images in the current iteration. Perhaps with time I'll learn how to quickly recognize and read these tiny "cards". One thing that would help would be to display the name of the unit on mouseover.
it's better than Charge/March (Whatever you want to call it)
On the other hand, it has no reason to exist in my opinion and is simply super annoying to play against and it makes it so i'm fighting the NPC rather than the enemy army.
I did notice a larger area on Vex's basic in a later bot game.
The other day on the deck picker, I saw the hero/t1 lock icon and my first thought was that the the units were locked in an available/not sense. Perhaps a chain, knot, or something else that better expresses linked.
Treisk
Member, Administrator
Comments
I don't have all the cards yet, and was stuck on a mostly Sandstinger composition playing Eris. I felt like I couldn't kill any T3 giant units (Aquadillos and Batterhorns mostly), even though I was doing a reasonably okay job dodging their big AoE abilities and I had T3 attack upgrades.
I know that big scary T3 units are supposed to be hard to kill, and they're supposed to be good against basic units in order to reward players for teching, but it feels impossible to actually kill them. Even if I correctly micro, I don't feel rewarded for playing well.
Gameplay has been pretty solid. I think I need to back off my shard focus a bit; I'm running into more situations where I need to rebuild and have no energy. I also end up with a lot of shards if I'm really pushing it, and need to keep on top of upgrades better.
I didn't notice the step at hero levels.
Frostcallers felt better than the last time I used them. I didn't notice them getting left behind while casting, and the extended slow gave more opportunity to pick off a few units.
I think I missed an outer tower buff somewhere along the line. In a bot game I had Vex with a somewhat early army; I'm used to being able to take down towers without really thinking about it as long has I have a half-decent tank (Vex), but I had the shield down and it mostly dead, and then I didn't have an army anymore.
Overall, I liked the changes in this patch again. Frostcallers feel more effective. I like towers being stronger. In-game announcements of key events are great (eventually I'm assuming there will be an audio / voice cue to go along with these, but I love the idea). The utility mercs seem like a cool idea too.
I too wish for a stronger visual effect when key levels (5, 10, 15, 20) are hit.
I also like the idea of being able to see the cards your allies are selecting during the deck-building phase. However, I found it very hard to interpret the tiny images in the current iteration. Perhaps with time I'll learn how to quickly recognize and read these tiny "cards". One thing that would help would be to display the name of the unit on mouseover.
On the titan ability:
it's better than Charge/March (Whatever you want to call it)
On the other hand, it has no reason to exist in my opinion and is simply super annoying to play against and it makes it so i'm fighting the NPC rather than the enemy army.
I did notice a larger area on Vex's basic in a later bot game.
The other day on the deck picker, I saw the hero/t1 lock icon and my first thought was that the the units were locked in an available/not sense. Perhaps a chain, knot, or something else that better expresses linked.