Author: Bryan

Bug fixes and misc optimizations

• The erroneous Consignment House item type filters produced by 1.5.15b’s item changes have been removed.
• A bug that allowed affixes of Codex recipe-exclusive relics to spawn on other mods has been fixed.
  • A similar bug that affected Hexer’s Shroud has also been fixed.
• The volume of Ken’s, Tester’s, and Ethan’s new voices was slightly increased.
• A small typo in Tracy’s quest text has been fixed.
• The Halloween event’s Treats! log text will now properly describe that Tough Hollow Gourds can be obtained anywhere in London.
• The Fawkes event’s Uncovering the Plot log text will no longer inaccurately direct the player to Templar Base. It will now list the Gunpowder Plot’s ingredients and instruct the player to use it before reporting back.

Monster fixes and changes

• Talox’s Lieutenants can no longer erroneously inherit the Indomitable affix from Talox.
• The tutorial bosses will no longer get random affixes that can cause excessively difficult encounters in the early game.
• Sekworm’s mod drops will now have a level boost of 1.
• Sydonai has been changed in the following ways:
  • His HP, Armor, and Damage were moderately increased.
  • His Shields were considerably increased.
  • He acquired the Indomitable affix.
  • His loot was slightly reduced, as it will no longer roll an additional treasure class.

Item fixes and changes

• The drop rates of all new items introduced in 1.5.15b have been adjusted to better align with conventional drop rates.
  • This only applies to global drop rates, and not to drop rates of dedicated monster sources.
• A few Necropolis exclusives that were excluded from the regular drop pool (but not Belzor’s pool) will now drop normally.
• Yio’s Sidearm had its Increases damage of Swordsmanship skills by (60-80%) affix changed. It will now offer Increases damage of Flying Blade and Duelist skills instead (30% each).
• The drop rates of all global 2-handed Templar guns have been significantly decreased.
  • This does not apply to the Arcane Desolator, since it has a dedicated drop source.
• The Explorer’s Notes quest item will no longer be tradeable or auctionable.
  • A very rare potential malfunction of this item has also been fixed.
• All tutorial questline reward items will now only come with the maximum number of possible mod slots. In addition, the following among them were modified to become more useful when they’re acquired:
  • Teacher’s Nightblade had its minimum Damage increased. It acquired some base Poison Attack Strength, and a 100% Damage of Poison Effect.
  • Vicar’s Wardcleaver had its minimum Damage increased. Its minimum added Ignite Attack Strength roll was increased to 80, and it acquired some base Phase Attack Strength.
  • Miner’s Pickaxe acquired some base Ignite Attack Strength, and 10-12% Shield Penetration.
  • Miner’s Beehive acquired the Railed affix that grants 64-72% missile speed, and 10-12% Shield Penetration. Its Sfx Attack Strength affixes were also removed and their bonuses were relocated to the weapon’s base stats, which effectively reduced the weapon’s final feeds and allowed it to get up to 3 augments.
• Harper’s Fury has had its Damage rebalanced to favor its Splash Damage component much more than its Field Damage component, and its affix that increased Weapon Energy Consumption will now decrease it instead. Its maximum Energy was also reduced to allow for energy consumption mods to benefit it more.
• Divine Judgement has had its base Damage moderately increased.
  • These changes are not retroactive.

Codex PDA changes

• The item type of all Unique PDAs will now be named “Unique Intercepted Comms”.
• The 3rd PDA of each line will now be Common instead of Enhanced, and the 6th PDA of each line will now be Enhanced instead of Rare.
  • In effect, this means each line will have 3 Common, 3 Enhanced, and 2 Rare PDAs, better reflecting their grades’ rarity.
• The first Codex PDA recipe will now require 3 Common and 3 Enhanced PDAs.
• All Codex PDA recipes will now be visible in the Cube’s recipe list.
  • Since the first and second recipes’ outcomes are random, they will be described as “Random Scholar’s Relic” and “Random Scholar’s Weapon” respectively.

Level changes

• Necropolis has been changed in the following ways:
  • Level 2 will now feature a 20% chance for a random miniboss spawn, Abgoth, in both difficulties.
  • Level 4 will now feature a 20% chance for a random miniboss spawn, Sine Nomine Alvus, in both difficulties.
  • Level 5 will now always feature a miniboss spawn, Bonevast, in both difficulties.
    • These minibosses will feature regular Champion loot across all kills.
  • Nightmare Difficulty Necropolis spawnclasses have had their densities increased. They have also been changed to feature more Zombie Summoners of different types, favoring quality over sheer quantity.

Skill and affix changes

• Nanobots will no longer return to the player while they’re in their attacking state.
  • Since such skills do not traditionally note such behaviors, this change will not be reflected in the skill’s description.
• Tempest will now only attack enemies while the caster is within 30m of it.
  • The skill’s description text has been updated to note this behavior.
• The pair of Camouflage and Escape has been changed in the following ways:
  • Their shared cooldown has been lowered from 20 seconds to 10. This now allows cooldown reductions that bring Camouflage to below 20 seconds to apply normally.
  • Each skill will now prevent the use of the other while active.
    • The descriptions of these skills have been changed to outline this change. The shared cooldown will not be noted, however, as these are traditionally not noted on skills. The Engineer version of Escape will also not list the Camouflage interaction, as the class does not have access to this skill.
• Escape has been further changed in the following ways:
  • For both classes, it will no longer belong to the Tactical or Boost skillgroups.
  • The Marksman version will now also have Sprint as a prohibiting state, the same as the Engineer version of the skill.
• Escape Artist no longer belongs to the Boost skillgroup, and Elemental Beacon no longer belongs to the Curse skillgroup.
  • These changes are strictly cosmetic, as both of these skills are passive.
• The new Damage calculation for all Novas has been readjusted, to have it scale more smoothly from lv1 and prevent early player deaths to enemies that featured Novas. Final Nova damage at lv50 should be slightly higher than before, and continue to scale linearly from that point on to strongly favor higher levels.
  • This does not revert the functionality of Nova affixes on armor, since it is not a reversion of the new formula to the old one.
• The Morbid Fang Nova’s Damage has been slightly increased.

Notes and clarifications

• The strings glitch where players would have their names or titles replaced by other strings of text should now be fixed, or at least far less frequent. This fix was applied on its own before the release of this hotfix.
• Despite the initial 1.5.15b patch notes, Omerta’s memorial poster has remained in the rotation of station posters. Its removal was intended to coincide with the addition of a humorous memorial poster and signify progress, but player feedback had us reconsider this decision.
• Since 1.5.15b, the in-game mail (“Z-mail”) panel no longer activates while any NPC dialogue is open. By extension, the “reroll” practice that was using it has also become impossible. This was a last-minute change that aimed to address a game-breaking exploit, unrelated to the “reroll” practice.

This patch sets the groundwork for the long-awaited CS expansion, by bringing sweeping difficulty changes across the board. It adds a slew of global items, in line with the plans of Flagship Studios, and it includes fixes, clarifications, class changes, and minor new encounters and recipes in preparation for 1.6.

Difficulty and level changes

As Hell trembles, its earthly forces seem to be growing weaker. Specifically:

• The Nightmare level curve has been revised, and will now conclude at lv55 – where CS will begin.
• The tougher Emissaries have been weakened.
• The Australia dungeon has become easier and more rewarding.

All of these changes intend to make CS fit into the overall game more appropriately, opening up a new endgame frontier while pushing other content down to make for a smoother ladder toward it. As they do, they should also strike a better balance between solo content and party content, with clearer dividing lines between the two.

The Nightmare Mode level curve

To make for a smoother leveling experience across NM and a logical transition to CS, NM map and station levels have been revised. Specifically:

The latter portion of Charing Cross

• Millennium Battle: lv37
• Craven Street: lv37
• Embankment Approach: lv37
• Embankment Redoubt: lv37
• The Mind Of 314: lv37
• Waterloo Bridge: lv37
• Savoy: lv38
• Temple Approach: lv38

Temple Station

• Temple Station and most adjacent maps: lv38, except;
• Puddle Dock: lv39
• The Exospector: lv39
• Cannon Street: lv39
• Angel Passage: lv39

Templar Base

• Templar Base and most adjacent maps: lv40, except;
• Ludgate Hill: lv41
• Bishop’s Court: lv41
• Old Bailey: lv41

Monument Station

• Monument Station and most adjacent maps: lv43, except;
• Lower Thames: lv44
• Tower Gateway: lv44
• Tower Of London: lv44
• Cannon Street Rail: lv44
• Exodus: lv44
• Crown Office Row: lv44
• Mark Lane Approach: lv45
• Mark Lane Station: lv45
• Liverpool Approach: lv45

Liverpool Street Station

• Liverpool Street Station and most adjacent maps: lv46, except;
• Abandoned Tunnels: lv47
• Houndsditch: lv48
• Undershaft: lv48
• Primrose: lv49
• Shoreditch: lv49
• Necropolis Level 1 through 4: lv50
• Necropolis Level 5 (The Deep): lv51
• Guildhall: lv53
• John Milton Passage: lv55
• Veil Asunder: lv55
• St. Paul’s Approach: lv53

Finsbury Square

• Finsbury Square and most adjacent maps: lv51, except;
• Ploughyard: lv52

St. Paul’s Station

• St. Paul’s Station and both starting adjacent maps: lv53
• Paternoster Row: lv54
• Little Britain: lv54
• St. Paul’s Hellgate: lv54
• Hell: lv55

The Emissaries changes

All Emissaries except Malphas have had their skills weakened to make for easier encounters. To prevent them from becoming too easy, however, they’ve also acquired some more defenses.

All Emissaries will now be immune to stun and interrupt, and in addition:

Malphas

• Malphas’s ignite defense was considerably increased.

Eihort

• The cooldown on Eihort’s dig skill has increased to 2 minutes from 1 minute.
• Eihort’s minions will automatically die off after 90 seconds. 

Ruax

• Ruax’s summon interval has increased to 2 minutes from 1 minute.
• The number of Hellrifts spawned by Ruax was decreased to 2 from 3.

Xitalu

• Xitalu’s self-healing has decreased to 5% HP from 10%.
• The lifetime of Xitalu’s eyepods was shortened to 30 seconds from 60 seconds.
• Xitalu’s ignite defense was increased by ~30%.

Finally, the Mutant Fury has been nerfed in the following ways:

• Its damage was reduced by ~30%.
• Its attacks will no longer have inherent shield penetration.

The Australia dungeon revamp

The Australia dungeon has been revamped, in line with player feedback, engagement rates, and its optimal place in the progression curve.

• Both maps have had their party multiplier reduced to make for easier encounters, facilitating easier solo play. They may still not be average solo content, like the Wilds are not, but the difference will be notable.
• A new hidden recipe has been added to the Cube, which requires 30 “Ancient Australian Blueprints” and will produce a random Australia item.
  • Player class, faction, and level do not affect the potential outcomes of this recipe. 
• All 4 Named enemies featured in Australia may now drop “Ancient Australian Blueprints”, with the following chances:
  • T-3000: 100% chance for 3, 50% chance for 1 OR 2
  • Named bosses: 100% chance for 1, 25% chance for 1 OR 2
    • In addition, Gate Of Time has been relocated in the world map for more visual clarity.

In line with the dungeon’s increased accessibility and rewards, however, as well as the effective nerf of Emissaries themselves, the Explorer’s daily quest will now award 2 fragments instead of 5.

New NPC voices

Through generous contributions by the community, and the team’s own efforts where appropriate, new voices for NPCs new and old have been added to the game: 

• Rick is now voiced by Lenvaldier
• Baker is now voiced by Seadee
• Smith is now voiced by Luehk
• Librarian is now voiced by Luehk
• Seer is now voiced by SumiSahirat
• Auctioneer is now voiced by GuitarBard
• Vicar is now voiced by Bryan
• Envoy is now voiced by Nadja
• Miner is now voiced by Sy
• Ethan is now voiced by Seadee
• Modder is now voiced by Lenvaldier
• Coder is now voiced by Sy
• Tester is now voiced by DeusBlackheart
• Ken is now voiced by .yio
• Athanasios is now voiced by Bryan
• Tour Guide Sangan is now voiced by Nadja

In addition, the upcoming CS expansion is set to feature the voices of Guitarbard, Shagrazir, and Luehk, alongside our own Crash195x2, Psyona, Nadja, and Bryan.

Codex entries

Codex entry items have been added to the game. These PDAs contain excerpts from intercepted communications, which usually contain in-world information the player might be interested in.

• To the best of our ability, this information is either directly adapted from or is strictly faithful to official canon material; Dark Horse comics, Mel Odom’s books, and Flagship’s unreleased game material. Very few creative liberties were taken, primarily to facilitate tongue-in-cheek references in Flagship’s own style or to pay tribute to external non-canon material such as PeeterMcG’s beloved Hellgate community story. To the best of our ability, none of this information should deviate from established rules and conventions or clash with Flagship’s established creative vision and direction.

Availability

Upon completing Leader’s final “The End is the Beginning is the End” quest in St. Paul’s, the Envoy will deem you trustworthy enough to hand you some information on behalf of a third party. These quests will explain how codex PDAs came to be, and why they’re available across London.

• These quests will only be available in Normal mode.
• These quests do not affect codex functionality in any way, and only serve to inform the player of their existence.

Structure

Codex PDAs are mainly split across the 3 factions, and are named and numbered accordingly. The names use acronyms, which stand for “Intercepted [Faction] Comms”:

• The 30 ICCs are focused on Cabalists
• The 30 ITCs are focused on Templars
• The 30 IHCs are focused on Hunters
• The 10 IGCs are general comms

In turn, codex entries are graded:

• #1-2, #11-12, and #21-22 of each set are Common
• #3-5, #13-15, and #23-25 of each set are Enhanced
• #6-8, #16-18, and #26-28 of each set are Rare
• #9, #19, and #29 of each set is Legendary
• #10, #20, and #30 of each set is Unique

These grades do not reflect rarity, and won’t affect the Piecemaker.

Sources

As the codex quest will inform you, demons throughout London can carry such items. Specifically:

• All Champion enemies have a 1% chance to drop PDAs of any rarity except Legendary and Unique
• Legendary and Unique PDAs may only drop from designated bosses and Zombie Scholar, a new Treasure Passageway spawn

The player’s class and faction do not affect PDA drop rates from any sources.

Recipes  

Finally, once read, these PDAs can be used productively. The Cube will now feature hidden recipes, which are as follows:

• 2 Common, 2 Enhanced, and 2 Rare PDAs: one among 3 new Named Legendary relics
• 4 Rare, 1 Legendary, and 1 Unique PDA: one among 9 low-level Unique weapons, 3 per faction
• 6 Unique PDAs: a Mythic mod of a random type

The Named Legendary relics the first recipe can produce are the following, and will carry the following affixes:

• Relic of Strength (Templar): +Strength, and +swordsmanship damage OR +shield damage OR +swordsmanship userate
• Relic of Knowledge (Cabalist): +Willpower, and +evocation damage OR -Evoker skill power cost OR -Summoner skill power cost
• Relic of Vigilance (Hunter): +Accuracy, and +Combat damage OR -Combat power cost OR +Tactical userate

The low-level Unique weapons the second recipe can produce are:

• Trakt’s Illumination
• Fisher’s Fiery Cast
• The Eradicator
• Megalodon
• Mordify
• Ceremonial Shard
• Fusilier’s Friend
• Derek’s Divine Equalizer
• Arashi’s Spider-Shot

To avoid potential issues with storage, each PDA will stack with copies of itself up to 50.

New global items

New Unique items for base types that had none have been added to the game, so that these base types have Unique variants to roll for. Split by faction, these items are the following.

• Please note that level ranges and area restrictions that apply to base item types will also apply to their Unique variants as normal.

Cabalist items

• Eruptor (mk1): St. Helen’s Plume
• Lava Launcher (mk2): Anak Krakatau
• Magma Cannon (mk3): Fury of Vesuvius
• Boneshredder (mk1): Azrael’s Master
• BioTox Rifle (mk1): Batson’s Green Death
• Scourgeblaster (mk2): Aurego’s Spray
• Baneblaster (mk3): The Emerald Assassin
• Hive Crystal (mk1): Arbeh’s Creeping Death
• Hive Shard (mk2): The Hive Queen 
• Infector (mk1): Hussda’s Agonizing Disease
• Defiler (mk2): Plague’s Birth
• Spoiler (mk3): Ruinous Pulse
• Phasebeam (mk1): Planeshifter
• Phaseshifter (mk2): Soulstream

In addition, a new Mk2 variant of Boneshredders, named Soulrender, was added to the game. This variant will drop from lv40+ enemies, and comes with its own Unique version in “Soulshredder”. 

• Except for Soulrenders and “Soulshredder”, all of the above items use names left over by Flagship Studios.

Templar items

• Flanged Shield (mk1): Buck’s Buckler
• Molten Edge (mk1): Paxton’s Icarian Blade
• Swarm Edge (mk2): Ravenous Edge
• Rift Ripper (mk2): Pilgrim’s Conviction
• Thunderblade (mk2): Ancestors’ Grace
• Hypermace (mk2): Cantor’s Cudgel
• Broadsaber (mk2): Ire of Peasants
• Pyredge (mk2): Serrator
• Adamantine Asp (mk2): Venom Injector
• Vorpal Slasher (mk2): Nightslasher
• Vorpal Ripper (mk3): Yio’s Sidearm
• Charger: Faraday’s Device
• Starburst: Lightwave

In addition, the two following base sword types, and a Unique variant for each, were added to the game as possible drops from lv32-42 enemies:

• Holy Broadswords (Templar Broadswords Mk2), and their Unique variant “Divine Judgement”
• Shadowblades (Nightblades Mk2), and their Unique variant “The Black Shroud”
  • As Flagship Studios had not planned for most of these items, only “Paxton’s Icarian Blade”, “Nightslasher”, “Divine Judgement”, “Faraday’s Device”, “Lightwave”, and “The Black Shroud” are names left over by them.

Hunter items

• XM17 Stingray: He Who Hunts
• XM18 Deathray (mk2): D2B3 ‘Doku No Kage’ Deathray
  • Since Hunters were the most complete faction in this regard, Flagship Studios had no such plans; both of the above are new names.

All factions

• Workman’s Shirt: Kevin’s Shirt
  • Flagship Studios had no plans for such an item; this is also a new name.

New community items

In recognition of upstanding players’ and benefactors’ contributions to London 2038, particularly toward the above initiative but also beyond it, new community items have also been added to the game. 

Some of the following serve as both namesakes and new Uniques for base types to roll for, hence the double mention.

• Nightblade (mk1), Necropolis only: Sterling’s Dagger Of Provocation
• Conjurer gloves, Necropolis only: Mew’s Technical Machine
• XM17 Stingray (Mk1), Stonehenge only: He Who Hunts
• XM18 Deathray (Mk2), Stonehenge only: D2B3 ‘Doku No Kage’ Deathray
• Hunter Peacemaker, Butcher’s Imp drop: John’s Wit
• Hunter Peacemaker, Butcher’s Imp drop: John’s Reservation
• Nanodyne Shockstorm (mk1), Necropolis only: Dave’s Flux Rifle
• Meteor Blade, Necropolis only: 4tw’s Final Fiery Flash
• Grand Glyphshard (mk2), Necropolis only: Zuran’s Orb
• Predator Ripshard (mk2), Necropolis only: Aurene’s Murdermittens
• F-S ‘Steelhook’ Launcher (mk2), Necropolis only: SeaDee’s Boombow
• Stormcaster (mk3), Necropolis only: Luehk’s Claymaker
• Headguard, Necropolis only: Sy’s Mining Cap
• Order Gloves, Stonehenge only: Lenvaldier’s Karnak-bound Bracers
• Flanged Shield (mk1), global drop: Buck’s Buckler
• Vorpal Ripper (mk3), global drop: Yio’s Sidearm
• Quartermaster legs, St. Paul’s areas only: Mark’s Trousers
• Defender gloves, St. Paul’s areas only: MMan’s Winter Gloves
• Conjurer helmet, St. Paul’s areas only: Crash’s Firm Jaw
• Quartermaster boots, St. Paul’s Hellgate only: Gudy’s Two Shoes
• Defender boots, St. Paul’s Hellgate only: Don’s Power Shoes
• Conjurer boots, St. Paul’s Hellgate only: Violet’s Red Shoes
• Tech, Sekworm drop: Val’s Valor
• Relic, Sekworm drop: Psyona’s Eye
• Battery, Sekworm drop: Night Hawk
  • In addition, CS is set to feature namesake items for Guitarbard and Shagrazir.

Necropolis changes

• The Champion spawn chance in all Necropolis levels was slightly increased.
• 9 new items among those outlined above, 3 per faction, will be Necropolis-exclusive drops. These are:
  • Templar: 4tw’s Final Fiery Flash, Luehk’s Claymaker, and Sterling’s Dagger of Provocation
  • Hunter: Sy’s Mining Cap, Seadee’s Boombow, and Dave’s Flux Rifle
  • Cabalist: Aurene’s Murdermittens, Mew’s Technical Machine, and Zuran’s Orb
    • These items have also been added to the treasures of Belzor, the Eye of Blood. Each kill will have a 3% chance to drop one of each faction’s new items. Said rolls for each faction’s items will be separate; there are 3 different 3% rolls, one per faction.

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St. Paul’s and Veil Asunder changes

• Veil Asunder will now feature a new spawn class. All enemies there will no longer award exp, as it’s intended to be a passing encounter.
• The St. Paul’s Hellgate area will now prohibit town portals and PRDs.
• 6 new items, 2 per faction, will be drops exclusive to the St. Paul’s Hellgate area:
  • Templar: An Oni’s Yamato, Don’s Power Shoes
  • Hunter: Martin’s Villainy, Gudy’s Two Shoes
  • Cabalist: Womb of Egeria, Violet’s Red Shoes
• 3 new items among those outlined above, 1 per faction, will be drops exclusive to Church Yard, Paternoster Row, Cheapside, and Little Britain. These are:
  • Templar: MMan’s Winter Gloves
  • Hunter: Mark’s Trousers
  • Cabalist: Crash’s Firm Jaw

Item changes

• The drop rates of Taskmasters (mk3) were significantly increased.
  • This will also affect the drop rates of their coveted Unique variant, “The Master’s Hand”.
• The drop rates of all 2-handed Templar guns were significantly reduced.
  • This will also affect the drop rates of all their Unique variants, but not “Arcane Desolator” since it’s a dedicated Unique drop with no normal variant.
• Vorpal Shredders (mk1) will now drop from level 25-31 enemies.
  • Their Unique variant, “Wolverine”, will now be a possible drop as well.
• Spike Bolters (mk1) will now drop from level 13-24 enemies.
  • Their Unique variant, “Vanya’s Bolting Anger”, will now be a possible drop as well.
    • This item has been tweaked from its original form to be more useful; its autofire skill was changed to a more unique one, it acquired a unique  onhit nova, and it acquired its type’s normal slots where it had none. To compensate and fit its new design, its skill bonus was reduced and its “increased electricity damage” affix was changed to added electricity damage.
• The cursed “Wedding Ring” now has its own themed flavor text which hints at its intended use. It has also had its hp degeneration significantly increased.
  • The latter change is essentially cosmetic, since this ring’s only benefit comes by using it as a recipe material.
• “The Burnshredder”’s base damage has been slightly buffed. Its fire damage component was converted to splash, and it has acquired a 30% direct physical damage component. Its ignite attack strength has also been slightly buffed.
• “Nick’s Nailgun” has acquired an additional tech slot. Its onkill nova has also been changed to an onhit one of the same grade.
• “Sine Nomine Inquisitoris” has been buffed in the following ways:
  • Its base damage was slightly buffed. 
  • Its base critical chance was increased to 8% and its critical damage bonus was increased to 150.
  • Its Rate of Fire was increased to 100.
  • Its shock attack strength was slightly increased.
• “Kalika’s Catharsis” has been completely revamped:
  • It will no longer function as an Id Pulsar but as a streaming field gun with physical/fire damage and inherent stun/ignite strength. 
  • It will no longer be a Unique variant of its base type, but a global Unique drop with no base variant.
  • Its +1 to all Summoner skills was changed to +2 to Mind Power skills and +2 to Dominate.
  • It has acquired the model’s 5 original mod slots, since its new skill allows their use, and will now be able to receive augments for the same reason.
  • It will no longer feature the generic flavor text or description text of Id Pulsars, since it’s effectively not one. It will still clarify that it is not usable by Drones, however.
• “Gabriel’s Fury” has acquired a 20% electrical damage component, to match “Call of the Archangel”’s design and make use of its inherent shock attack strength.
• “Big Ben’s Radiated Ribauldequin” has had its base damage significantly increased. Its direct/splash damage ratio was also changed to 40/60, so that direct damage isn’t rounded down to a visually odd “0” value.
• “The Botmaster”’s minion damage bonus was changed to a Bot damage bonus with higher values.
• “Vestments of Soteria” will now also feature a 20% sfx defense bonus.
• “XM55-B 20mm Shrapnel Rifle” has had its level lowered. It will no longer drop from Ember Freak, but from Fat Bully instead.
• “Shinn’s Guard” has been revamped. Its minimum damage was buffed by 50%, its critical damage bonus was lowered to 100%, and it acquired a 300% damage of poison effect bonus.
• “Vaisha’s Caress” has had its nova on kill changed to a nova on hit with the same values. In addition, it will now feature arcs.
  • Changes other than Rate of Fire changes are not retroactive.

Item and affix clarifications

• All affixes, items, expertises, and skills which referenced “all elemental effects”, “elemental defenses”, and “defenses against all special damage effects” (but not individual attack strengths or defenses, such as “Stun Attack Strength” or “Stun Defense”) have had their descriptions streamlined to avoid confusion and ensure consistent terminology. Specifically:
  • All affixes, items, expertises, and skills which increase either all elemental attack strengths or all elemental defenses will now not specify “all”, and simply state they increase sfx strengths or sfx defenses.
  • All affixes, items, expertises, and skills which increase all elemental attack strengths will now refer to “sfx attack strengths”.
  • All affixes, items, expertises, and skills which increase all elemental defenses will now refer to “sfx defenses”.
    • This includes Focus Item tooltips and descriptive texts as well.
• Armor pieces that offer increased damage as an inherent property will now reflect this more accurately, reading “increases damage by [value]%” instead of “adds [value]% damage”.
• Affixes which increase firing accuracy will now read “+[value]”, and ones which decrease it will now read “-[value]” in red.
• All novas which are remote (ie centered on the enemy) will now state this in their effect text by specifying “Remote” before their nova’s name. Regular novas (ie centered on the player) will read the same as before.
• The green description line of Id Pulsars will now correctly end in “.”.
• A typo in “Seven-Branched Sword”’s flavor text was corrected. 
• “Johny’s Mecha-Slicer 3000”’s overview screen will now correctly list physical splash damage.
• “Zen Focus” will now feature a unique description line that clarifies its unique fire attack and atypical damage.
  • As always, clarifications are strictly explanatory and do not affect functionality in any way.

Skill clarifications and corrections

• All skills that increase all outgoing damage will now simply state this, instead of specifying weapon/skill types they affect, for brevity and clarity.
• Sprint will now properly clarify it increases movement speed.
• Vigor will now properly capitalize Rate of Use.
• Spider Mines will now display its cooldown.
• The following skills will now state their base duration:
  • Sprint
  • Surge of Restoration, Surge of Wrath, Surge of Speed
  • Multishot
  • Medpak Retrofit
  • Elemental Drain
  • Word of Fear
• Skills that reference Elementals will now correctly distinguish between the “elemental” adjective and the “Elemental” noun, and capitalize the latter.
• The Summon Force Elemental skill will now clarify that it summons Force Elementals, not “Earth” ones.
• The Summon Spectral Elemental skill will now clarify that its phase attack strength bonus applies to its summoned Elemental.
• Darkform now outlines its passive effect through a “PASSIVE:” line in the description window for clarity and text economy.
• Shield skills which gain sfx attack strength bonuses will now read “sfx attack strengths increased by:” instead of listing each elemental effect.
• Surge of Speed will now clarify its “velocity” bonus refers to movement speed.
• Charge’s description will now end on a “.” instead of a “!” to avoid visual confusion.
• Summon Carnagor no longer mentions “armor” twice.
• Inhibitor Bots now state they also take up the player’s shield penetration value (which applies when they detonate through Concussive Crash).
• Elemental Beacon’s effect description was streamlined to match Elemental Drain’s.
• Elemental Drain’s skill synergy line will now clarify that Brom’s Curse’s sfx defense reduction is in addition to its own.
• Flashcrasher Grenade will now correctly read “Base Shield Penetration of all Grenade skills increased”.
• A typo in Aura Stability was fixed.
• Brom’s Curse will no longer erroneously state that its effect scales to the user’s maximum hp value.
• Crusader Wrath will no longer read “melee strength”, as its damage bonus can also apply to guns. Its armor reduction effect has also been relocated to the description field from the effect field, since it’s static and skill levels don’t affect it.
• Prayer of Smiting will now state that it deals “electricity damage”, in line with other skills.
• Angelic Orator now specifies that damage reduction applies while Call of the Chosen’s taunt effect applies, and references Call of the Chosen as the receiver of its bonuses for more clarity.
• Crosscutter, Sword Typhoon, and Path of Righteousness now state that they cannot trigger Surges.
  • As always, clarifications are strictly explanatory and do not affect functionality in any way.

Affix additions and changes

• All novas, whether when the player or an enemy is hit or killed, have had their damage calculations revamped to more closely scale to the level of the item which grants them. The difference in performance compared to before should be minimal.
  • This change has also allowed armor affixes of novas when the player is hit to deal damage, as outlined in the “bug fixes and optimizations” section below.
• New affixes which grant an sfx attack strength bonus to the player’s minions have been added to the game. These affixes can appear on all Cabalist and Hunter armor pieces, and are “Enchanter’s” (Common), “Innovator’s” (Rare), “Elementalist’s” (Legendary), and “Afflictor’s” (Mythic).
  • These affixes will not affect spells that take up the player’s +minion damage value but are not themselves minions, such as Tempest and Swarm. By nature, they can only affect actual minions which can deal damage. Specifically:
    • Engineer: the Drone, Rocket Bot, Bomber Bot, Nanobot, Spider Mines
    • Summoner: all Elementals, Carnagor, Warper, Reaper, Shadows
    • Evoker: Ember, Wall of Bone, Spectral Serpents
• Two specialized Unique affixes geared toward minion damage have been added to the game; one which grants a damage bonus to the player’s Demons, and one which grants a damage bonus to the player’s Bots. These affixes will currently only be present in select Unique items, and more sources of both may roll out with the next patch.
• Bosses which are immune to AI changes (Fear, Taunt, Mind Control, Blind, Stop) will now have a new monster affix, “Indomitable”, to communicate this to the player.
  • This new affix can also occur normally, spawning on random Champions.
• A new monster affix, “Vigilant”, has been added to the game. This affix will grant immunity to critical hits, as well as a 50% armor bonus.
  • This new affix will not occur normally, and will only be assigned to designated bosses and unique enemies.
• The “Boomerang”, “Backlash”, and “Rebounding” monster affixes have been revamped. Specifically:
  • They will no longer function differently depending on an enemy’s existing Aura.
  • Reflected damage will now function as ranged thorns, reflecting static damage consistently instead of sudden bursts.
• The property of Venom Totems (and Master Totems, when Venom Totems are active) which procs Bug Hives when hit has had its damage significantly decreased, to prevent sudden bursts of damage killing players.
• 3 new Mythic affixes, exclusive to helmets, have been added to the game:
  • “Mage’s”: +1 to all Cabalist skills, +1 to a random Cabalist skill
  • “Knight’s”: +1 to all Templar skills, +1 to a random Templar skill
  • “Soldier’s”: +1 to all Hunter skills, +1 to a random Hunter skill
    • These affixes will block “+1 to all [class] skills” affixes and augments, as the two belong to the same group.
• A new Mythic affix, “Flawless”, has been added to the game. This affix is exclusive to batteries, fuels, and techs, and grants reduced weapon energy consumption alongside a 1-2% chance to trigger a remote Electric Nova on hit.

Skill changes

Blademaster skill changes

• Sword Of Reckoning has been modified in the following ways:
  • It will now gain 2% critical chance per skill level. 
  • It will now always grant 10% Armor Penetration.
  • As a skill synergy, it will now increase the damage of Sword of Authority by 10% per skill level.
• Sword of Authority has been modified in the following ways:
  • It will now have a prerequisite of 2 points into Sword of Reckoning.
  • It will now gain 2% critical chance per skill level.
  • It will now always ignore 10% of the enemy’s armor.
  • As a skill synergy, it will now increase the sfx strengths of Sword of Reckoning by 10% per skill level.
• Hamper’s enemy speed and armor penalties have been equalized with those of the Guardian’s version of the skill.
• Call Of The Chosen and Angelic Orator will now cap at 7 points each. Their effects have been scaled accordingly, so they should only be very slightly less effective than before when maxed.
• Offensive Blademaster skills have been added to new skillgroups for increased customizability. These are the following:
  • Duelist: Sword of Reckoning, Sword of Authority, Hamper
  • Knight: Sword of Justice, Sweeping Strike, Whirlwind
  • Flying Blade: Crosscutter, Sword Typhoon, Heaven’s Arc, Charge, Path of Righteousness
    • Affixes that modify these skillgroups will not spawn normally or be augmentable. For the time being, such affixes will only be available on designated Unique items.

Guardian skill changes

• Sword Of Reckoning has been modified in the following ways, in line with the Blademaster version of the skill:
  • It will now gain 2% critical chance per skill level. 
  • It will now always grant 10% Armor Penetration.
• Prayer of Smiting had its base max damage value buffed by ~30%.
• Prayer of Retribution had its base min damage and base max damage values buffed to 50% of the respective values of Prayer of Smiting.
• In line with the new skillgroups for Blademaster skills, the respective Guardian skills have also been added to the same skillgroups. These are:
  • Duelist: Sword of Reckoning, Hamper
  • Knight: Sword of Justice, Sweeping Strike
  • Flying Blade: Heaven’s Arc

Summoner skill changes

• The Reaper was changed in the following ways:
  • Its base damage was changed to fire, and it got some matching base ignite strength.
  • Its sfx defenses were equalized to regular values, and its ignite defense was significantly increased.
  • Its thorns value was increased, and thorns will now take up the player’s Demon damage value (but not the player’s minion damage value).
  • Its deflection calculation was revamped; deflection chance will now start at 5% at level 1 and increase by 5% per skill level (capping at 50% when maxed).
• Select skill level prerequisites have been adjusted to make it possible for the class to acquire all of its skills with hard points, which was previously impossible. Specifically:
  • The prerequisite of Afterlife for Drain Life and Blood Surge has been reduced from 2 to 1.
  • The prerequisite of Summon Witch Doctor for Dominate has been reduced from 3 to 2.
  • The prerequisite of Summon Warper for Spectral Strike and Spellstorm has been reduced from 3 to 2.
    • The respective Demon prerequisites for these Command skills now also align with Meat Shield’s Carnagor level prerequisite of 2.
• Master of Lightning will no longer grant a chance for Electric Discharge on hit. Instead, Storm Elementals have acquired thorns, which Master of Lightning will now buff by 5% per skill level.
  • This is in addition to the 5% damage bonus per level, which the skill will now display properly.

Evoker skill changes

• Ember and Spectral Serpents will now also be affected by the player’s Demon damage value.
  • Their descriptions have been updated to state this interaction.
  • This is in addition to them being affected by the player’s minion damage value.

Monster and level changes

• Embankment Redoubt will no longer scale to player level but feature static enemy levels instead.
  • The troops controlled during the RTS quest do still scale to player level, however, so massive level differences will inform quest difficulty.
• The 5 Lies will now drop regular monster loot on kills after the first.
• Sydonai’s sfx defenses were revamped to account for the now-easier NM encounter. 
• Sydonai will now belong to the new “Primus” caste.
  • The Primus caste will not occur normally, and only specific enemies will belong to it. For the time being, said enemies will only be Sydonai and Quavontavius.
• Quavontavius will now belong to the new “Primus” caste, and has acquired the new “Vigilant” affix. 
• Quavontavius has been nerfed in the following ways:
  • Its NM level was reduced, in line with Veil Asunder’s level.
  • Its attacks no longer have inherent shield penetration.
  • Its ignite defense was reduced by 50%.
• Quavontavius’s drop table was adjusted. Instead of its previous loot, it will now have:
  • A 100% chance to drop an analyzer
  • A 15% chance to drop a tier 1 skill token
  • A 15% chance to drop a tier 2 skill token
  • A 15% chance to drop a tier 3 skill token
• The tutorial bosses have had their hp significantly increased.
  • Quavontavius did receive a slight hp buff as well, alongside the “Vigilant” affix, but its level reduction and other nerfs will still make for an easier fight than before.
• Motley Beast’s size was increased considerably. In addition, its hp and armor were slightly increased.
• The Butcher’s Imp’s size was increased by roughly 50%. This has no other effect on this enemy.
• The Butcher’s Imp will now have a 3% chance to drop one of two namesakes; “John’s Wit” or “John’s Reservation”.
  • These items will scale to the Imp’s level.
• Bloodblade’s regular treasure was changed to that of an ordinary mob. It will still have its original treasure on first kill.
• Lady Vengeance and Ember Freak will now drop Champion treasure the first time they’re killed.
• Sekworm will feature unique loot the first time it’s killed, and regular Champion loot on subsequent kills.
• Sekworm will now have a 50% chance to drop one of 3 new Legendary mods on the first kill; “Night Hawk”, “Psyona’s Eye”, and “Val’s Valor”.
• Zombie Summoners of all types will now summon appropriate zombies that correspond to their names. Specifically:
  • Zombie Summoners will spawn regular zombies
  • Blood Bringers will spawn Blood Zombies
  • Festering Kings will spawn Festering Zombies
  • Ghoul Lords will spawn Ghouls
• A new type of Zombie Summoner, named Plague Bearer, has been introduced to the game. This type will spawn Plague Zombies, completing the alignment above, and will produce a toxic field on death.
• The variety of Zombie Summoners throughout London has been increased. 
• Tubby Bastard’s hp has been increased.
• Blobbo has been modified in the following ways:
  • Its hp has been increased.  
  • It will no longer be a random encounter in Piccadilly Circus, but a permanent one.
  • Its treasure will now be the same across kills (ie first-time loot will be the standard loot).

Achievement additions

• In line with the Zombie Summoner realignment and variety boost, new achievements for killing the 5 types of this monster have been added to the game:
  • Ashes to Ashes: Kill 1,000 Zombie Summoners, revealed at 250 – grants the Undying Endurance skill
  • Gravedigger’s End: Kill 10,000 Zombie Summoners, revealed at 1,000 – grants the title “the Puppeteer’s Bane”
  • Surge of Blood: Kill 1,000 Blood Bringers, revealed at 250 – grants the Blood Pact skill
  • Bloodbath: Kill 10,000 Blood Bringers, revealed at 1,000 – grants the title “the Bloodletter”
  • Gravebound: Kill 1,000 Festering Kings, revealed at 250 – grants the Death Ward skill
  • Cauterized: Kill 10,000 Festering Kings, revealed at 1,000 – grants the title “the Green Knight”
  • Breath from the Grave: Kill 1,000 Ghoul Lords, revealed at 250 – grants the Grave’s Boon skill
  • Sealing the Crypt: Kill 10,000 Ghoul Lords, revealed at 1,000 – grants the title “the Ghoulslayer”
  • Miasma: Kill 1,000 Plague Bearers, revealed at 250 – grants the Plague’s Mantle skill
  • Necrosis: Kill 10,000 Plague Bearers, revealed at 1,000 – grants the title “the Plague Doctor”
• A new achievement for Blobbo has been added to the game:
  • Blobbo Storno: Kill Blobbo 100 times, revealed at 5 – grants the Blobbo Storno skill and the title “Guardian of the Stone”.
• A new achievement for Gatekeeper has been added to the game:
  • Shifting Currents: Kill Gatekeeper 100 times, revealed at 10 – grants the title “the Bouncer”.
    • The kill counts for these achievements are not retroactive.

In addition, a hidden event achievement has been added to the game. “Wisdom’s Blessings” requires that the player consumes a “Candy of the Learner”, and grants the title “the Scholar”. This achievement will become available through a future codex-related event.

Treasure Passageway changes

Treasure Passageways, excluding those found in the Wilds, now feature a 50% chance for a new spawn. Zombie Scholar is mostly harmless, and comes with: 

• A hefty money multiplier
• A guaranteed random mod drop 
• A 15% chance to drop a Legendary Codex PDA
• A 7% chance to drop a Unique Codex PDA
• A 5% chance to drop the Unique Cabalist belt, “The Master’s Band”

For more information on these PDAs, please check the “Codex entries” section.

Catacombs changes

The main Catacombs bosses will now also have a chance to drop Legendary OR Unique Codex PDAs in addition to their original loot. Specifically, their chances will be:

• Alastor (level 5): 1% chance
• Orobas (level 10): 3% chance
• The Deep Crow (level 15): 7% chance

For more information on these PDAs, please check the “Codex entries” section.

Recipe changes

• A new recipe for Mythic armor pieces has been added to the game. This recipe requires 30 Shiny Crystals, 10 Necro essences, and 10 Beast essences. Just like the Mythic weapon recipe, it has a chance to create a Retrainer instead of an armor piece. Unlike it, however, this recipe will always create an item that is usable by the crafting character.
• Two new hidden recipes using Cursed quality scrap materials have been added to the game:
  • 200 of each Cursed scrap material type and a Legendary armor will produce a Double-Edged armor piece
  • 200 of each Cursed scrap material type and a Legendary weapon will produce a Double-Edged weapon
    • The produced item’s level will be random. The type of armor or weapon used and the user’s faction and class will not affect the recipes’ outcome.
• A new hidden recipe for Australia-exclusive items has been added to the game.
  • For more information on it, please check the “Australia dungeon revamp” section.
• New hidden recipes for Codex items have been added to the game.
  • For more information on them, please check the “Codex entries” section.

Quest changes

• The “Death To Order” quest will no longer require the completion of the Deep, but only the completion of “Regicide”, the quest before it.
• All daily quests in Stonehenge and Parliament Square will now only be accessible in one difficulty mode per day, not both.

Misc changes and optimizations

• The game launcher will now pick among four splash images at random.
  • The rest of the in-game tributes to Omerta will remain, as intended.
• Weapons that feature arcs will now state this mechanic in their inspection window. The values displayed there will be updated if an external source modifies them, such as the “Reach of Talos” mod.
  • Weapons that don’t feature arcs on their own will not have their inspection windows updated if mods like “Reach of Talos” are added to them, since that will have no effect on such weapons.
• Weapons that have a chance to fire extra bullets will now state this mechanic in their inspection window.
• The “Aegis” buff’s icon now states its petrification immunity effect.
• The Hardcore death state icon now reiterates that “death is permanent” for clarity.
• The “Just One More” achievement’s text has been corrected, and will now accurately describe its requirement of getting all skills within a skill tab instead of getting all class skills.
• The “The Hellgate” quest text will now better instruct the player to proceed to St. Paul’s Station through Guildhall instead of just reading “to the Hellgate!”.
• Tier 2 skill tokens will now have a 15% chance to drop from designated bosses, in line with tier 1 and 3 ones.
• The achievement of killing 1000 monsters with Beetlebores was renamed to “Firefly”.
• Many new loading tips were added to loading screens, and a few old ones were corrected for accuracy.
• Stark, Crawford, Tracy, Ethan, and Catharina got inspection texts where they had none, and Titus got a new inspection text to replace his old placeholder one.
• An array of Unique/Named weapons, including most Hunter ones, that used their base types’ generic flavor text have received new flavor texts. A few Unique armor pieces also received new flavor texts.
  • This does not yet cover all Unique items, but the process will continue with the next patch to eventually cover all items throughout the game. 
  • There were a few exceptions, such as with “Buzz’s Frightgear” and “Dunbar’s Disruptor”, where the Unique variants maintained the old flavor texts while the base types got new ones.
• Nemo and Ko will no longer display their old “subscriber only” label, as this has no effect on gameplay and only confuses new players.
• A new humorous poster was added to the roster of station posters.
• The quest item “Wedding Ring”, found during the “Message Men” quest, was renamed to “Engagement Ring” to avoid confusion with the Dawn of the Dead ring of the same name.
• Alec’s wardrobe has been changed to that of a Cabalist, to match the quest’s text which describes him as one.
• “XM134 Viral Thunders” were renamed to “XM9x-B Viral Thunders”, to maintain consistency and not have the number shared between them and Falcons.
• Spelling errors to Desiccator’s name have been fixed. Quest texts, as well as the “Skull of Desiccator” item, will now use the correct spelling instead of “Dessicator”.
• The spelling error in the quest text of the “The Chicken and the Eggs” quest was fixed, and “Liderc” is now spelled properly.
• The typo in the “Sanctified” affix’s name was fixed.
• Recipes that wrongly displayed ingredient names (eg “essence_necro” instead of “Necro Essence”) like the “Necromantic Talisman” will now properly display the correct in-game names.
• Quest items that are not recipe materials will no longer be able to be placed into any storage container except the player’s inventory.
  • Any quest items already in any non-inventory storage container can only be retrieved, and not placed there again.
• The zmail inbox’s cap was lowered to 20.
  • While understandably unpleasant, this change intends to help reduce bugs related to massive numbers of item assignments.

Bug fixes and optimizations

• All novas which trigger when the player is hit will now properly deal damage.
• An issue where grade-specific quest rewards could rarely roll for higher grades than intended was fixed.
• Master Sniper’s state will now be normally removed on zone transition, as intended and in line with Sniper Mode.
• Weapons that feature increased poison or shock damage will now properly display this property, regardless of modding.
• Batteries produced by Alec’s blueprints will now be droppable, to prevent having unused blueprints produce permanent items.
• All quests which involve using Fast Wands will now properly check for the item and remove it on quest completion or abandonment.
• The quest rewards for “Kill No Name” will no longer be identified, as intended.
• The Engineer’s Escape skill now properly belongs to the Stealth skillgroup.
• Master Of Lightning will now properly display that it also grants 5% damage to Storm Elementals per level.
• The Easter event recipes will now be hidden as intended.
• “Sympathy” will no longer drop from Lady Vengeance, as intended.
• The ingame mail (“Z-mail”) panel will no longer activate while any NPC dialogue is open.

Patch summary

This patch intended to introduce our first summer event, alongside various QoL additions, bug fixes, and other modifications. However, with our project leader and dear friend’s tragic passing, development for patch 1.5.11 was halted and said plans were postponed. Its main focus became that of in-game tributes in Omerta’s loving memory, hence the timing of its release despite its incomplete state. 

 

Note: Item links will be added at a later time.

 

Patch 1.5.11b notes

 

Tributes to Omerta

• A statue of Omerta, wielding his namesake sniper rifle, was erected in Stonehenge.
  • While this tribute was bound to be made, we must still thank all of you who reached out and suggested it. The statue’s placement and function may change at a later time.
• A memorial poster was added to the roster of station posters.
  • Our heartfelt thanks to HeWhoHunts for inspiring this poster.
• A new Hunter torso, “Jacob’s Desert Camo”, was added to the game.

Alongside the above permanent tributes, a temporary memorial splash image was also added on client startup.

 

New items

The following Legendary-grade Named items, all tributes to departed loved ones, were added to the game:

• “Jacob’s Desert Camo”
• “Vestments of Soteria”
• “Demeter’s Eleusis”

These items will have a 15% chance to drop from Blood Barons in Ancient Bloods and a 3% chance to drop from Shulgoth in either difficulty, with said chance split equally among the three. Their item levels will scale to the level of the enemy which dropped them, and their final item level will inform the maximum values of the following affixes:

• “Jacob’s Desert Camo”: Evasion, duration of Boost skills.
• “Vestments of Soteria”: Total Armor Value increased, userate of Prayer skills, all sfx defenses (the “Kaleidoscopic” affix).
• “Demeter’s Eleusis”: power regeneration, userate of Mind Power skills.

Please note that “Jacob’s Desert Camo” also features unique green text within its inspection window. This is typically used for clarifications of unique mechanics such as hidden affixes, but in this one case it is only used for flair. This item only comes with the affixes listed on it, and will in no way hinder your efforts to find leg armor. 

 

Station poster changes

• New posters were added to all stations.
  • Our many thanks to DeusBlackheart for bringing this front of development back onto the table, as well as inspiring the “see, say” poster. 

 

Bug fixes

• “Balbi’s Ring” will now properly roll Swarm among its possible skills. 
  • This arose due to a hidden skill group cap, which we have now raised to prevent such issues. Moving forward, all unlocked (ie pre-Abyss) skills with multiple skill groups will now be treated properly by affixes that reference them. 
    • Our many thanks to Contra, who brought this to our attention some time ago.
• “Megan’s Fury” will now properly display its two +2 Sword of Reckoning affixes as a single +4 affix.
  • This new affix will not occur normally anywhere else, and will still prevent further +Sword of Reckoning augments of any grade like the original ones did.
    • Data-wise, the item granted +2 to each class variant of the skill with the intent to give either class +2 – but the game always summed the two and offered +4 to both classes. Since the item has been this way for 15 years, we deemed it fair to not nerf it by reducing the affixes to the intended +2, and instead fused the two into a +4 affix. 
• Charge and Shield Charge have been fixed and will now properly apply their damage once successfully connecting to a target.
  • Higher attack speeds caused this issue. Player character animations were lagging behind the actual sequence of the skill, thus leading to the damage being applied “into thin air” right before the character would move.

 

QoL changes

• The Escape menu now offers a “character selection” option.
  • This option is in addition to the original “exit game” option, so as to not complicate either process.

 

Skill description clarifications

The following skills’ descriptions received additional clarifications:

• Word of Fear’s effect field now correctly states that additional levels increase enemy armor reduction.
• Venomous Spirit’s skill description now states that the skill is capable of inflicting Fear.
  • While the skill’s effect field suggests this, listing Fear strength upgrades, there was no way for the player to know this before investing one point into the skill. 
• Shield Master’s skill description now reads “Shield attack skills” for more clarity.
• Great Defender now states that its health regeneration effect scales to the player’s maximum hp.
• Sword of Justice now better explains its damage penalty per swing, in both its description and effect field.

As with all clarifications, these text changes are strictly explanatory and do not affect the skills’ functionality in any way.

 

Item clarifications

The following items received additional text information in their inspection windows that clarifies how their hidden affixes function:

• Venom Lances, outlining their onhit Toxic Novas. This includes the Legendary “Vicar’s Viral Lance” and the Unique “Surya’s Perfect Solution”, which preserve this feature.
• XM314 Viral Thunders, outlining their onhit Morbid Fangs. This includes all caste variants, as they all feature the same hidden affix.
• Crusader Lashers (mk1) and Crusader Lances (mk2), outlining their onhit novas. This includes the Unique “Burning Crusader”, which features different novas than the normal versions, and its clarification text also outlines that its unique Exploding Spikes come with a longer cooldown interval than the normal 2-second one.
• The Unique Threat Elimination Device, “Harper’s Fury”, noting that its onkill nova uniquely lacks a cooldown interval.

As with the above, these text changes do not affect the items in question in any functional way.

 

Global map refinements

• The global map has been adjusted to both connect the Liverpool Station-St. Paul’s Station route better, and improve the readability of zone names across it. 
  • This change is strictly visual, and does not affect gameplay in any way.

 

Skill changes

• Tactical Stance will no longer be cancelled when the player throws a punch while using it.
  • In turn, the sfx bonus of Elemental Vision which upgrades Tactical Stance will also apply to punches.
• Master of the Flame will now require 2 points in Fire Elemental to be unlocked, in line with the other Elemental Mastery skills.
• Master of Lightning will now grant Storm Elementals a 5% damage boost per level, for a maximum of 50%. In addition, each level will grant them a 1% chance to trigger Electric Discharge on hit, centered on their target, for a maximum of 10%. 
  • Please note that Storm Elementals will not have the Electric Discharge effect by default. This effect is granted by Master of Lightning at lv1, and upgraded with additional levels.   
    • The +attack speed effect this skill had before was bugged, and failed to produce the intended outcome. Since that bug could not be fixed, we found this a fitting alternative.

 

Punch refactoring and achievements

The Pugilist achievement, unlocked at 100 punch kills, will no longer grant +100% punch damage while equipped. Instead, it will substantially empower punches in the following ways while equipped:

• Base punch damage will now scale to player level.
• Punches will now also deal minor splash damage, the radius of which will also scale to player level. 
  • Both of these values will be dynamically reflected on the achievement skill’s description window.

Beyond these changes, punches will still deal physical damage and will still be affected by +punch damage, +physical damage, +damage, and +melee speed affixes as normal.

In addition, two new punch achievements were added to the game:

• “Master of the Ring”. This requires 1000 punch kills, and becomes visible at 100. It awards the title “the Puncher”.
• “The Legend”. This requires 10000 punch kills, and becomes visible at 1000. It awards the title “the Punch Machine”, and equipping it grants +15% punch damage.
  • Please note that these kill counts will not include punch kills scored prior to this addition.

 

Punch event achievements

Finally, three new event-exclusive punch achievements were added to the game:

• “Knockout”. Completed by consuming a “Candy Of The Legendary Puncher”, this grants the title “the Class B Hero”.
• “Hard as Bricks”. Completed by consuming a “Candy Of The Elite Puncher”, this grants the title “the Rock”.
• “Trailblazer”. Completed by consuming a “Candy Of The Punch Connoisseur”, this grants the title “the Dynamite”.

The items for these three achievements will only be awarded to the winners of an upcoming punch-themed event, which will be announced and ran on the project’s Discord server. These achievements will remain invisible to everyone but the winners, so as to not take up space. Depending on the event’s appeal, we may run similar events with these and other rewards in the future.

Patch summary

This patch marks our first reactive work to event feedback, and brings an optimization in the form of new loot and treasure rolls for Emissaries of Myth bosses. As it does, it brings some fixes, more skill clarifications, and minor QoL and quest changes – while keeping its scope relatively narrow, as 1.5.7 intended to allow us to do moving forward.

 

1.5.8b patch notes

 

Fateful Attribute Retrainer distribution

Because of the changes outlined below, this patch will automatically distribute Fateful Attribute Retrainers to all existing characters. This is a new Unique variant of regular ones, which will also be distributed in the future if the need arises. Like its Fateful Skill Retrainer counterpart, it cannot be auctioned, traded, or dropped, and does not have a limit of one per character. 

 

Skill description clarifications

The following skills’ flavor texts and descriptions were further clarified to better convey their intended effects and behaviors. None of these skills were functionally changed in any way.

Templars

• Prayer of Healing: specified its healing range as within the user’s Holy Aura, and clarified that each healing recipient heals based on their own max hp.
• Templar Restoration, Crosscutter, and Heaven’s Arc: specified in their description texts that they can be used even under shock.
• Shield Bash: removed the description text’s “knockback” and “stun” components, and streamlined it to better convey the skill’s general sfx focus.
• Aura of Thorns: added a line that clarifies its range.
• Anchor: added a “TOGGLED SKILL:” field to its description text, and clarified its effect applies to swords, shields, and guns.

Cabalists

• Darkform: clarified in its description text that learning the skill allows the player to dual-wield foci even outside the transformation, and split the effect into lines for easier reading. Clarified that the Shadow Minion synergy bonus it grants applies to the effect of Dark Lord.
• Dark Lord: slightly rephrased the effect. Clarified that the maximum number of Shadow Minions depends on the skill’s level, and moved its line to the skill’s effect field.
• Demonspine: removed the leftover description line that suggested it can pierce enemies, which it no longer does.
• Bone Shards: removed the description text’s “knockback” component, and clarified it deals damage on cast. Also clarified that stunning enemies is not guaranteed.
• Wall of Bone: clarified in its effect field that it may be destroyed before expiration.
• Blood Surge: clarified in its effect field that it restores power instead of increasing it.
• Concentrate Damage: added a “TOGGLED SKILL:” field to its description text, and clarified its effect applies to both spells and guns.
• Elemental Mastery skills: separated the new description texts from the original flavor texts for easier reading.

Hunters

• Medpak Retrofit: corrected its effect field to state that upgrading the skill increases healing and shield regeneration amounts per tick, not tick frequency.
• Ghostly Strike: better clarified in its effect field that phasing is not guaranteed.
• Tactical Stance: clarified in its description field that using other offensive skills also cancels the skill’s effect.
• Multishot: clarified in its description field that using it does not cancel Tactical Stance.
• Drone Aggressive Mode: added a new field to its description text to better convey its behavior, and clarified that the movement speed bonus only applies during the skill’s effect.
• Rebounder, Ravager, and Concussion Rounds: clarified that the skills must be actively used for their full effect to apply, and that the listed “bonuses” come from other Rounds skills.
• Flashcrasher Grenade and EMP Blast: specified in their description texts that they can be used even under shock.

 

Drone fixes and changes

• The Drone will now start with 3 points in each of its 4 attributes as intended. It will then get 3 attribute points per levelup, maxing out at 147 points at lv50.
  • This change is not automatically retroactive; it will only apply to existing Drones after the player has used an Attribute Retrainer.
• Using an Attribute Retrainer will now also reset the Drone’s attributes as well as the player’s, if (and only if) the player has an active Drone at the time. In that case the Drone will be automatically dismissed on Retrainer use.
• Drone feeds will now properly account for attribute points given by Retrofit skills that are provided/buffed by +skill gear on the player. 
  • Previously, the game would sometimes fail to account for those +attribute sources before calculating total Drone attributes and deciding if they cover equipment feeds. This fix addresses that interaction.
• The Drone will now properly check for item feeds of attributes which it has 0 of.
  • In effect, this should prevent Drones from equipping gear whose feeds they don’t fully meet. While this should not occur naturally anymore, this fix was also applied for more security and futureproofing (ie bugs/glitches and potential attribute penalties).

 

Map changes

• Possibly Australia was reduced in size by roughly 50%.
  • This change should hopefully make its native quests easier, as well as help with game performance during the Ruax encounter.

 

Monster changes

• Shriekers, Screechers, and Howlers were changed from demons to beasts.
  • This includes named and noexp versions.
  • This change was made both for consistency with the model and to slightly increase the availability of beast essences across the game.

 

NPC and ally changes

• The Smith in Covent Garden Station has been moved away from Ko to avoid the issue of overlapping minimap icons.
  • He may now be found next to the portal to Train Depot, to better align with the station’s side quest progression.
• The Lightning’s damage bonus has been increased by an additional 200%. 
  • This is in addition to the 200% it had before.

 

Quest fixes and changes

• Ken’s “Petrified” and “And One More” quests have been repaired, so their quest target “Hybrid Zero” will now spawn normally.
• Joanne’s “Kill No Name” quest will now award Legendary-grade mods instead of predetermined Common weapons.
• The following quests have been reordered so that quest progression flows more logically:
  • Tyndall’s “Regicide” quest now comes before “Death To Order”, to avoid having the player backtrack into the Deep again. The quests’ texts have also been switched to reflect this change.
  • Gil’s “Dogs” quest no longer requires the completion of “That’ll Get Infected” to become available. It still requires the completion of “Arms & Answers”, as well as Gil’s previous quest, “Hey You”.
  • Lolli’s “Jaywalker” quest now requires the completion of part 3 of the “Arms & Answers” quest in Death’s Sewers, so as to align with Hatton’s “Lightweight” quest for Death’s City.
• The following quests’ targets have been changed so as to not inconvenience the player by not appearing or commonly dying to NPCs:
  • Volunteers: Defilers were changed to Shock Minions.
  • Give 110: Warpers were changed to Doom Husks.
  • Omnia Omnibus: Plague Zombies were changed to Bile Lords.
  • Gold-digger: Zombies were changed to Bile Lords.
  • Magnificent Thighs: Pain Leeches were changed to Bruisers.
  • Date Escape: Pain Leeches were changed to Shriekers.
  • Another’s Work: Soul Drinkers were changed to Shadow Husks.
  • Crybaby: Soul Drinkers were changed to Hellmeats.
  • Bad Customers: Dervishs were changed to Carnagors.
• Quest rewards across the game have been revamped:
  • With the exception of Named quest rewards, all quests after Charing Cross Station will now offer items of a minimum quality of Rare.
  • Several quest rewards will now offer Legendary items, often those of more demanding quests or ones closer to the ends of quest lines and stations. The item types most affected by this change are boots and mods.
  • Quest rewards should no longer roll Common focus items among Legendary items, due to the item change outlined below. This still excludes ones that offer conversion weapons (ie Puppet Masters and Id Pulsars), which still cannot roll for grades other than Common and Unique.
    • These changes affect both Normal and Nightmare, as the two share quest reward treasures.

 

Hunt-type quest fixes

• All targets of hunt-type quests (ie quests that require the player to kill specific Named targets) will now behave in the same way as Abyss bosses and Moloch do. Namely, they will now check for the quest holder’s presence in the map at the time of kill, and will not award loot if the quest holder is absent.
  • This fix intends to address a common longstanding exploit with boss farming, which Flagship was also struggling with and had started to implement countermeasures against. 
  • This fix does not apply to enemies who are quest targets but also spawn naturally (ie without requiring an active quest), or to targets of collect-type quests (ie that require collecting kill trophies from their targets). It only applies to those enemies who are exclusively spawned through kill-only quests.

 

Item changes

• Stovall’s Smiter’s damage icon has been changed into the proper physical one.
  • This change is only cosmetic.
• Attribute Retrainers will now require confirmation on use, the way Skill and Expertise Retrainers do.
• Attribute, Skill, and Expertise Retrainers now have a new hover text that states their function.
  • The Attribute Retrainers’ one also notes that it applies to active Drones.
• The following focus item lines that could previously only roll for up to Rare grade will now be able to roll for all item grades, from Common to Mythic:
  • Coreslicers, Coreslashers, Coreshredders
  • Ripping, Riving, and Rending Radiants
• The following focus item lines that could previously only roll for Legendary+ grades will now also roll for Double-Edged:
  • Mk1, mk2, and mk3 Ripshards
  • Mk1, mk2, and mk3 Bloodshards
  • Mk1, mk2, and mk3 Glyphshards

 

Recipe fixes and additions

• Weapon reroll recipes will now correctly award 2-handed Templar guns of the same grade as the 2-handed guns used as materials.
• Focus item reroll recipes will no longer produce the following focus items:
  • Coreslicers, Coreslashers, Coreshredders
  • Ripping, Riving, and Rending Radiants
• A new reroll recipe, exclusively for Mythic-grade Emissaries of Myth weapons, was added to the Cube. This recipe requires the following materials: 
  • 2 of the same Mythic item type from the same boss (ie with the same inherent caste)
  • 10 fragments of the boss’s corresponding caste, acquired by event subbosses of the same caste 
  • 100 spectral essences

 

Item additions

21 new Unique armor pieces, all using Flagship’s unused names, were added to the game as Emissaries of Myth boss drops. As with their Mythic weapon counterparts, CCM castes will depend on the boss from which these items drop.

Cabalist, Invoker set

• Tegument of the Ages (helmet)
• Carver’s Razormantle (shoulders)
• Fryjia’s Frock (torso)
• Glittens of the Archmage (gloves)
• Band of Trickery (belt)
• Obraim’s Tassets (legs)
• Way of the Eternal Mist (boots)

Templar, Order set

• King Baldwin’s Crown (helmet)
• Horns of Hattin (shoulders)
• The Tinker’s Chest (torso)
• Ascalon Bracers (gloves)
• Troyes’ Council (belt)
• The Traveling Pants (legs)
• Unrepentant Pace (boots)

Hunter, Military set

• Eagle Eyes (helmet)
• Harry’s Hardcase (shoulders)
• Milo’s Reprieve (torso)
• Wheldon’s Wheelgrips (gloves)
• Multitask Holder (belt)
• Destriders (legs)
• Drexler’s Smooth Move (boots)

 

Event boss and subboss changes

• The Bile Brain spectral subboss was changed to a Fury, and its affixes were changed for a more aggressive encounter.
  • This change seeks to prevent spawn issues and passive encounters, in line with player feedback.
    

Xitalu

• Its hp and armor values were reduced.
• The armor value of its Eye minions was reduced.
• The maximum number of Eye minions it can spawn was reduced from 12 to 6.

Ruax

• Its poison and ignite resistances were reduced.
• The number of Rifts it can spawn was reduced from 5 to 3.
• It will now heal for 10% max hp whenever it spawns minions.
• Its sight range was reduced to 60m.
• It will now spawn in an invulnerable state, which it will break out of once engaged. It will revert to this state if players disengage and distance themselves from it.
  • This change intends to address an exploit that allowed it to be farmed safely from a distance.

 

Event boss treasure changes

• The Emissaries of Myth bosses will now come with the following additional treasure rolls:
  • 6 rolls for Legendary+ mods; 50% chance each. 
  • 3 rolls for a random new Unique item among the ones above, 1 per faction; 20% chance each.

Patch summary

This patch brings the first iteration of a much-awaited drop rate revision, after the last one’s arguable step back. It offers more clarity across skill and item descriptions, some bug fixes, and multiple QoL-oriented changes to monsters, minions, and quests. It restores Flagship’s foundations for 2-handed Templar guns, and adds the first batch of them to the game for the aspiring Templar gunslingers. Sadly, it also reins in some of our recent affix additions, some enemy densities in specific maps, and some overperforming skills. In return, as what is perhaps the highlight of this patch, it brings a new, permanent event, which introduces its own new challenging enemies to fight and ample new gear to collect.

Finally, patch 1.5.7 signifies our last patch of this general scope for the foreseeable future – outside of hotfixes, new circumstances, and minor reactive patches along the way, of course. Going forward, we will primarily dedicate our efforts to bringing our own endgame expansion to life. In turn, future CM diaries will primarily focus on providing meaningful updates on our work in this area.

 

1.5.7b patch notes

 

Fixes

• The glitch where daily quest mobs in the Australia dungeon would get random property names has been fixed.
• The bug with the interaction between Challenge and Grand Aura has been fixed.
• Many data and string fixes were applied, which should hopefully fix the visible string glitches players have been seeing. 

 

Skill and item description clarifications

• The skill description of Shield Master has been slightly altered to better convey the skill’s intended behavior.
• The skill description of Summon Reaper has been altered to reflect the recent changes to its Demon.
• The skill descriptions of all new Elemental Mastery skills have been revised to clarify that their bonuses are always active and do not require the presence of their corresponding Elemental to apply.
• The following items received additional text information in their inspection windows that clarifies how their unique, hidden affixes function:
  • Sam’s Poker
  • Kikina’s Plague Mass
  • Malachor’s Pathfinders
  • The Phoenix
  • R. J. Donald’s Diplomat

 

Misc changes

• The Single-Player button has been removed from the game’s main menu.

 

Vendor and Consignment House changes

• All vendors across the game will now sell an unlimited amount of consumables.
• Flagship’s 4th Consignment House filter for Templar weapons was restored, so now the faction can filter for 1-handed and 2-handed guns separately.
  • A few new items make use of this filter, which you may find below.

 

Drop rate changes

• Common enemies in Australia will now drop items much less frequently.
• Champion and Boss enemies across the game now have a chance to drop items of their previous, pre-1.5.6b “enriched” treasures.
  • Specifically, Champion enemies will drop “enriched” loot 25% of the time, and Bosses will do so 50% of the time.

 

Quest changes

• Broker’s “Exinde” quest will now only be available in Normal mode, instead of once in either mode.
• Broker’s “Exinde” quest now requires 1 “Guardian’s Blood” item from the same quest target as before.
  • This and the following change intend to prevent issues with other quests that required the same quest items.
• Both of Ken’s quests in the Foreboding Wilds now only require 1 “Mummy’s Blood” drop from a new named mummy, “Hybrid Zero”. 
  • This mummy is much larger than others of its type, so it should be much easier to spot within this large map.
  • Ken’s quest texts have been slightly altered to reflect this change.

 

New items and affixes

• 6 new Mythic weapon types, 3 new Mythic items, and 9 new Unique weapons have been added to the game as event enemy drops. These are all event-exclusive drops, so you may find these in the event section below.
• 3 new early-game Common+ weapon types, each with its own midgame Mk2 version, were added to the game as global drops. These are all 2-handed Templar guns, and are the following:
  • Crusader Lasher (mk1) and Crusader Lance (mk2); modified Zeus Rifles
  • Inquisitor (mk1) and Holy Inquisitor (mk2); modified Electropulse rifles
  • Threat Nullification Device (mk1) and Threat Elimination Device (mk2); modified HARPs 
• The Mk2 versions of each of the above weapon types also come with their own new Unique variants, which are also global drops. In order, these are the following:
  • Burning Crusader
  • Sine Nomine Inquisitoris
  • Harper’s Fury
• Flagship’s unused Morbid Fang nova has been restored, without its unlimited piercing effect.
  • Currently, affixes with this nova may not roll normally. Two of the new items below make use of its “when it hits an enemy” variant, however; the “Lolth’s Ritual” mod, and the “XM314 Viral Thunder” weapon type. 

 

Item fixes

The following items’ unique affixes have been repaired, and will now appear and function normally.

• Hukhuk’s Virulent Knuckle; +3 to Word of Fear
• Edge of Fate; +30% Prayer cooldown reduction
• Ironbound Valley; +10-20% chance to trigger a Toxic Nova when the player is hit

 

Item and affix changes

• The new mod affixes for +Naturalism/Spiritualism damage, introduced in 1.5.5b, now have dedicated WILL feeds. 
  • This change is retroactive. 
• The new affixes for +Naturalism/Spiritualism damage across most sources have been adjusted to scale more linearly and more closely match their regular +damage counterparts. Across all common sources, these affixes’ new values are as follows:
  • Relics:
    • Common: 14-16% from 8-14%
    • Rare: 18-20% from 14-18%
    • Legendary: 22-24% from 20-24%
    • Mythic: 32-34% from 40-50%
  • Weapons: 
    • Common: 20-24%, unchanged
    • Rare: 26-28% from 30-34% 
    • Legendary: 30-32% from 40-50%
    • Mythic: 50-55% from 80-100%
  • Armor: 
    • Mythic: 12-17% from 20-30% 
  • Invoker armor inherent values and Unique items’ affix values were left unchanged. 
  • These changes are retroactive.
• The displayed Rate of Fire of all Starbursts has been reduced to 30. 
  • This change is only visual. 
  • As with all Rate of Fire changes, this and the following ones are retroactive.
• The Rate of Fire of all Sniper rifles which were slower than 30 has been increased to 30. Ones which were already above 30 remained unchanged.
  • This includes all Unique and Named versions.
• The Rate of Fire of all Eel Launchers has been reduced by 50%.
  • This includes the Unique version, Voltaic Eel Vat.
• The Rate of Fire of Blessed Revolver has been reduced to 30.
• The missiles of Infector guns will now pierce and damage all targets in their path.
  • This includes the Unique version, The Cleanser.
• The Cleanser will no longer drop globally. In addition, its minimum damage value has been considerably increased for more consistent damage output.
• Kikina’s Plague Mass now has a 10% field damage component. In turn, its interrupt strength was considerably reduced.

 

Monster changes

• All regular monsters and turrets in Australia maps will now fade away on death.
  • This intends to improve both base map performance and the event boss encounter that takes place on this map.
• Hell’s Cook has been enlarged so that it can be spotted more easily in Australia maps.
• Mummies in Dawn of the Dead will now fade away on death.
• Quavontavius will now only spawn in Veil Asunder if the corresponding quest, “Awakening”, is active.

 

Map and monster density changes

• Monster density in all park type levels was reduced by 50%.
• Monster density in Wake Hallow was reduced by 25%.
• Monster density in Elite Passageways was reduced by 50%. Champion probability was reduced by 25%.
• Monster density in Ancient Bloods was reduced by 25%. Champion probability was reduced by 50%.
• The maximum length of cave passageways was reduced, but each will always contain at least one chamber, excluding passageways found in the Wilds.
• Catacombs levels will no longer guarantee Passageway spawns. Instead, levels 1-5 will have a 30% chance, levels 6-10 a 40% chance, and levels 11-15 a 50% chance.
  • This last-minute change was done to avoid trivializing the new event introduced in this patch, while still keeping Catacombs a more Passageway-rich area.

 

Class changes

 

Summoner changes

• Elemental Nova was removed from the “Elemental Mastery” skillgroup.
• All the new “Master of” skills, introduced in 1.5.5b, and Master of the Elements were removed from the “Elemental” skillgroup.
• Summoning Circle was removed from the “Demon” skillgroup.
• The Shadow Minions’ ignite defense was brought in line with their other sfx defense values.
• All Elementals will now fade away on death.
  • This change intends to improve map performance and reduce crashes, but also has the practical effect of reducing opportunities to use Afterlife.
• Each Elemental summoning skill now has an individual cooldown of 10 seconds.
  • You may still summon different types of Elementals with no cooldown interval in-between. This only means that resummoning Elementals of the same type will have a cooldown between uses.
  • There are currently no new affixes that affect this cooldown, outside of the unique Elemental +userate found on the new “The Master’s Wand” Unique item.

 

Evoker changes

• The damage of Drain Life was reduced by 25%.
• The damage of Drain power was reduced by 25%.
• The damage of Flameshards was reduced by 50%.
• The damage of Hellfire’s initial explosion was reduced by 50%.
• The damage of Spectral Bolts was reduced by 50%.
• The damage of Spectral Lash was reduced by 25%.
• The damage of Arc Legion was reduced by 25%.
• The damage of Demonspine was reduced by 50%.
• The damage of Boneshards was reduced by 50%.
• The damage of Skullsplitter was reduced by 50%.
• The damage of Venomous Spirit was reduced by 50%.
• The damage of Toxic Armor missiles was reduced by 50%.
  • These may seem intimidating as standalone values, but they reflect our own buffed states of these skills over time – including the foci damage buff of 1.3.1a, skill damage recalculations and buffs in 1.4.2a and 1.5.3b, and the introduction of skillgroup affixes in 1.5.5b. These reductions, within their context, still intend to leave the class both early-game viable and highly endgame-viable – as our testers have assured us.

 

Guardian changes

• Shield Throw’s maximum number of bounces was reduced to 4 from 8.
• Shield Throw’s individual hits will now deal 35% of base damage.

 

Engineer changes

• The base damage of Spider Mines was reduced by 25%

 

New global event: Emissaries of Myth

New, powerful enemies of the mythical Mutant grade have found their way to London and beyond. Those enemies will rotate each week, emerging and retreating throughout the month. This will constitute our first, and permanent, global event.

 

 

Structure

 

From lv31 maps onward, you will encounter Mutant subbosses in Hidden Passageways across London (excluding cave-type ones found in Stonehenge). These Mutants will carry some valuable treasure of their own, and a unique, tradeable, caste-specific ingredient.  You may combine 100 of this ingredient into an untradeable consumable item in the Cube. Using this item will initiate quests that call forth the respective caste’s Mutant boss in specific maps, which you may then challenge.

The caste of the subbosses and respective bosses will change each week, with each caste taking up one week of each month. Should you not manage to gather enough of a caste’s ingredients in time, they will permanently remain in your inventory.

 

 

Bosses and rotation

 

These powerful new bosses have been mutated by an unknown power. While their base forms will be familiar, they will come with some unique characteristics of their own:

• Mutant quality; these bosses have been mutated into new levels of power. They will be much sturdier, and deal much more damage than their common brethren.
• New mechanics; with their ascension came newfound powers. Each of them will have a new set of skills to dissuade challengers.
• Iron will; these bosses will be summoned, but they will not be swayed. With power comes wisdom, so they will not respond to taunts and provocations, succumb to fear, or have their minds controlled.

Each of them will take up one week of the month, and each caste’s boss will be summoned in its own dedicated map. Specifically:

• Week 1 will be the Demon caste’s. You may summon Malphas, a mutated Shaman Imp, to Veil Asunder. Beware, its leashed allies have also tapped into new powers themselves. 
• Week 2 will be the Spectral caste’s. You may summon Xitalu, a mutated member of the unnamed species of Oculis, to Step into Hell in Piccadilly Circus. 
• Week 3 will be the Necro caste’s. You may summon Ruax, a mutated Zombie Summoner, to Possibly Australia. Unlike this map’s usual residents, it will award exp if killed.
• Week 4 will conclude the month with the Beast caste. You may summon Eihort, a mutated Carnagor, to the Foreboding Wild. Like Malphas, it has shared its newfound powers with its leashed allies.

Note: The current weekly rotation starts on the 1st of each month and ends on the 28th. This means that each month will have a short window when no subbosses will spawn, and this behavior is natural. If this arrangement changes in the future, there will be relevant patch notes and announcements.

Note #2: This window only prevents subbosses from spawning in Hidden Passageways. If you have gathered enough fragments for a talisman, or have stockpiled talismans, you may summon any boss at any time – including during this window.

 

Rewards

 

Each subboss will carry the following new items:

• Screecher’s Wail (Unique Steelhook)
• The Beeholder (Unique MIRV)
• Gift of Hades (Unique Poseidon SNPR)
• Tontus Talontus (Unique Locus)
• Bragi’s Tongue (Unique Tempest Rifle)
• The Master’s Wand (Unique Cabalist Arc Rifle)
• Arcane Desolator (Unique Templar Firefox)
• Kilij Reforged (Unique Afflictor)
• Faraday’s Law (Unique Devastator)
• Tymora’s Tear (Mythic relic)
• Reach of Talos (Mythic battery)
• Lolth’s Ritual (Mythic tech)

Instead of specific pre-designed Unique items, each boss will carry named Mythic weapons of 6 new types with random affixes. These weapons have been permanently transmogrified by the bosses’ influence, so they will differ from their original counterparts. Specifically, they will come with an array of unique characteristics:

• An initial level of 57
• Unique base mechanics, with only one exception, and different slots compared to their original counterparts
• An affinity for toxic damage, with only one fiery exception
• A standard Critical Chance Multiplier affix depending on the boss they come from
• More base affix rolls than other items

These items are the following:

• Claw of Eihort (Ripshard)
• Fist of Ruax (Bloodshard)
• Contagion Grinder (Dissector)
• Serpent Protector (Dissector Shield)
• XM314 Viral Thunder (XM909 Thunderclash)
• XM83-B Nuclear Rail Cannon (F-S Force Magnum)

Fixes

• The drop rates of the Explorer’s dungeon have been fixed, and items may now drop normally at rates depending on their grade.
  • These items do not belong to defined treasure tables, so Luck affects drop rates in this dungeon.
  • Zart’s Considered Opinion has been properly disabled from the global loot table, and may now only drop in this dungeon.
  • The loot table of T-3000 has been enhanced to include nanoshards and be more comparable to that of regular bosses.
• Hell’s Cook, Hell’s Packer, Reanimator Alpha, and T-3000 now don’t award exp when killed as intended.
  • Their qualities have been reverted from Unique to common for this to happen, so their names will now be written in white. Their treasure is still enriched Champion-grade loot as it was before.
• The stats of all named enemies in the Explorer’s dungeon have been adjusted to compensate for their loss of quality and to address their encounter difficulty. Namely:
  • Hell’s Packer, Reanimator Alpha, and T-3000 had their hp slightly increased.
  • Hell’s Cook had its hp slightly reduced. Its interrupt defense was removed to make handling its self-destruction easier.
• The visual glitch of slower swords with inherent +Group Attack damage duplicating rolled +Swordsmanship damage affixes has been fixed.
• Broker’s “Exinde” quest now requires a Mind Cradle instead of a Shiny.
  • This has been done to prevent a completion bug that occurred between this quest and Miner’s “Mausoleum of the Emperor” quest that follows, which required the same item.

 

Misc changes

• The Librarian’s “The Forgotten Trek” quest text has been updated to provide more specific directions to Oxford Circus Station.
• The treasure of Quavontavius has been changed from that of Wurm’s, and will now be identical to Sydonai’s.
• The global drop rates of Puppet Masters and the Unique “The Master’s Hand” variant have been slightly increased.
• The exp awarded by mummies in Dawn of the Dead has been reduced to 1/4th of its previous value. 
  • This change is in line with consistent player feedback, and intends to make the dungeon more appealing for its endgame drops than for rank exp. 
• An old buff to generic Champion and boss treasures has been reverted. 
  • This change intends to make Legendary-grade items drop slightly less often across the game, while allowing Luck to affect them more linearly and predictably. 
  • This change does not apply to the Explorer’s dungeon, as the enemies there have enriched (ie non-generic) loot tables.
• The Explorer’s dungeon’s drops and all other new items have been added to the wiki.
  • For your convenience, the 1.5.5b patch notes now include direct links to each Explorer’s item’s wiki page. 

 

Clarifications

• The Explorer’s dungeon deliberately awards no exp. This is to allow players to farm for their item levels of choice, without outleveling them as they do.
  • Hell’s Cook “disappearing” is also intentional. This is the base mob type’s normal behavior, and it occurs when it charges on nearby enemies and self-destructs. The quest text mentions this and suggests solutions. 
• Tutorial questline disruptions some old characters may still be experiencing are typically due to Broker quest completion status. To address them, please visit the Baker in Holborn Station (even if you have done so before), and follow the questline across stations to find any available quests you may be missing. You will need to complete the entire questline, along with Broker’s quests, to gain access to Miner’s final quests in Liverpool Street Station.
  • You may find more detailed instructions in this Discord announcement.
  • Please remember to update your game clients through the launcher. Missing quest rewards and other issues may arise due to outdated clients.
  • If you have picked up any quest before and are now offered wrong/missing rewards, please reroll the quest (by clicking on your zmail icon while in the quest window) for it to refresh.
  • Players who have completed the questline on both difficulties before the last hotfix and have lost Retrainers as a result will be receiving new Retrainers. We cannot automate this process so our GMs will have to do so manually – there will be a Discord announcement on this shortly.

Bug fixes and misc changes:

• Rings shouldn’t be able to roll Shield Generator Retrofit anymore. This skill was disabled as its effect was merged into Medpak Retrofit a few patches ago.
• EMP Blast was moved down by a row in the skill tree to take the conventional lvl10 skill position. This change is only cosmetic, and has no impact on gameplay at all.
• Fixed a discrepancy where Nicor was referred to as “The Nicor”. It is now referred to as “Nicor”, in line with the other Stonehenge bosses.
• Rick Sullivan and Nichols now correctly display their inspection texts.
• Moon Blades of all grades now correctly state that their attack speed is higher than “very fast”. This attack rate was named “extremely fast”. 
• All items with a splash and field radius penalty now correctly display this affix in red.
  • This affix is now named “Limited”. It does not currently roll naturally on Double-Edged items, and may only appear on specific Uniques.

 

Quest related changes: 

• You will be able to choose only one reward of the repeatable Wanted quest chains around London.
• Broker’s first quest, “Deinde”, now requires the completion of the new quest “The Call” to become available, along with “Triage” as it did before.
  • “The Call” belongs to a new quest chain that begins with “Mad Skills” in Holborn Station, and leads directly to the Broker.
• Broker’s final quest, “Exinde”, will now be immediately available after completing “Invicem”, the one before. 
  • “Exinde” will now require only 1 Shiny drop from a Named Lost One, “Salgrum”, in Liverpool Approach.
• Dotter’s “Bad Doggy” quest now requires the completion of Beasley’s “Mopping Up” quest to become available.
• Gil’s “The Narrow Way” and Joanne’s “Gig for Old Cap” quests will now be the last on their respective quest chain.
  • These changes intend to improve quest routing, by not having the player revisit these areas after reaching Temple Station.

 

Skill description changes:

• All skills now display their subgroups (Boost, Buff, Curse) in their skill descriptions.
  • This includes the universal skill, Sprint.
• Skills that are affected by the player’s minion stats and are not clearly defined as minions now state this interaction in their descriptions. These skills are:
  • Wall of Bone
  • Spectral Serpents
  • Tempest (newly added)
  • Swarm (newly added)
• Skills that scale with the player’s maximum hp value now state this interaction in their descriptions. These skills are:
  • Surge of Restoration
  • Aura of Renewal
  • Afterlife
  • Drain Life
  • Brom’s Curse
• Skills that scale with the player’s maximum power value now state this interaction in their descriptions. These skills are:
  • Drain Power
  • Aura of Power
• All Aura skills now define their base range of 10m in their description.
• Multishot now states the damage penalty reduction per level in its skill description from lv1 onward.
  • Multishot now correctly defines Strike skills as “Precision Strike”.
• Nanobots and Bomber Bot now state that they are affected by the Engineer’s shield penetration value in their skill descriptions.
• Sword Master’s skill description now aligns more closely with the phrasing of the others.  

 

Monster changes:

• Imp Snipers of all kinds will attack more aggressively.
• Teleporting monsters got their maximum travelling distance reduced to 25m (from 40m).

 

Level changes:

• Portal duration for Dawn of the Dead has been reduced to 5 minutes. 
  • This has been done to prevent an emerging trend of certain groups excluding players from parties who can’t complete the level multiple times per talisman use. 

 

New content:

• A new survivor has found his way to Holborn Station. The Baker seems very willing to help you, and he and his acquaintances throughout London will guide you and explain key mechanics. This questline will lead you all the way to St. Paul’s, and it’s our very first long-form plotline.
  • Each quest of this questline will require that you complete the previous one, and some will also require station-specific quests that unlock their respective areas.
  • Access to Broker’s quests will require that you follow this questline – which will lead you directly to him. Finishing this questline also requires that you complete all of Broker’s quests. He somehow seems to be involved in this…
  • This questline will provide one of the most requested rewards for midgame players; a unique, untradeable Skill Retrainer. This step occurs just before St. Paul’s Station.
  • Other rewards will include new, unique items of varying item grades. These are all tradeable, as knowledge is to be shared. 
    • Each quest of this questline directs you to the next in line, including talk-style quests that reveal their whereabouts.So new players will be properly directed to Oxford Circus Station, and be given clearer directions toward St. Paul’s Station. 

• Four new survivors have found their way to Stonehenge. Three of them will greet you with one introductory quest, and then offer daily quests related to the area. Specifically, these are the following:
  • Tour Guide Sangan will show you around Stonehenge. Both of her quests will send you to the Wilds, and her daily quest will award a lv30 Legendary Dreadmask, Spiked Guard, or NavShell.
  • Ken is a troubled Hunter who needs your help. Both of his quests will send you to the Foreboding Wilds, and his daily quest will award a lv30 Legendary Dire Cowl, Tower Helm, or Blast Helm.
  • Athanasios is a Hunter who needs no help, but will further explain how Stonehenge works. His first quest will send you to Wake Hallow, and his 4-part daily quest chain will have you farm the minor bosses’ heads in the bosses’ caverns, with each step awarding you with an additional head. 
• Four more survivors have set up camp in Stonehenge. Their quests will send you to a new, scaling, party-oriented dungeon that pays homage to hellgateaus. This dungeon’s drops are split into 2 tiers, based on what item levels may drop within the map; tier 1 items between item lv20-39, and tier 2 items from item lv40 and up. Each tier includes 5 new items per faction – with the exception of tier 2 Cabalist items, of which 4 are new. You may find these items in the “new items” section below.
  Specifically, these survivors’ quests are the following:
  • Explorer will send you to recover his old notes, across both his initial and daily quests. For both, he will award you with 10 essences of your choice.
  • Coder will send you after a familiar demon in his primal form. Both his initial and daily quests will award you a random lv30 weapon.
  • Modder will send you after a modified demon who can tank a few hits. Both his initial and daily quests will award you a random lv30 armor piece.
  • Tester will send you against an elusive enemy who prefers to quit than be fired. His initial quest will let you choose among skill tokens for Templar Restoration, Shield Throw, EMP Blast, Drone Aggressive Mode, Dark Form, and Wall of Bone. His daily quest will let you choose among skill tokens for Crusader’s Wrath, Aura Stability, Flashcrasher Grenade, Spider Mines, Dark Lord, and Spectral Serpents.
    • This dungeon’s items are NOT exclusively Unique, and include Rare, Double-Edged, and Legendary-grade items. So bear this in mind and adjust your Piecemakers accordingly. 

 

General item changes:

• Eel Launcher missiles now last for 2.5 seconds instead of 5.
• Eruptor missiles can now hit enemies.
• Hestia’s Vision got a new 15-20% chance to trigger Exploding Spikes on hit.
• Affixes that add points in Sniper and Master Sniper will now only appear and be augmentable on 2-handed sniper rifles.This is to account for Sniper no longer being usable with non-sniper weapons, making such affixes useless for them.
  • Rupert’s Rifle’s +3 Sniper affix was replaced with +3 Elemental Beacon.
• The Rate of Fire of Gau’s Equalizer was reduced to 60. Its Critical Damage Bonus was reduced to 0 from 50.
• The Rate of Fire of all Templar Nova guns was reverted to 30.
• The Rate of Fire of all Templar Grenade Launchers, Firefield Casters, and Flamecasters was reverted to 60.
  • This excludes the Unique Fisher’s Fiery Cast.

• Vigilantes, including the Unique version, can now fire 2 additional bullets per shot, each with a 30% chance.
• M51, XM55, XM57, XM63 and XM66 rifles can now fire 2 additional bullets per shot, each with a 15% chance.
• Zart’s Considered Opinion will no longer drop globally.

 

New items:

• 27 new items were added to the game as quest rewards across the new questline. These items are all named after the NPCs that award them, and are the following:
  • Baker’s Locus, Firefox, and Corrupt Blade
  • Smith’s Poisonous Fuel, Relic, Tech, Ammo, Rocket, and Battery
  • Librarian’s Radiant, Rifle, and Reaper
  • Teacher’s Lens, SNPR, and Nightblade
  • Seer’s Wrap, Chestguard, and Surcoat
  • Auctioneer’s Arcane, Holy, and Hi-Tech Ring
  • Vicar’s Axis, Viral Lance, and Wardcleaver
  • Miner’s Pickaxe, Detonator, and Beehive
• 3 new Unique items were added to the loot table of a new enemy, Ara, each with a ~10% chance to drop. These items are:
  • Edge of Fate (Shock Blade)
  • Claws of Destiny (Coreslicer)
  • Watcher’s Will (Poseidon SNPR)
• 29 new items of various grades were added to the game as drops of the Explorer’s new dungeon. Zart’s Considered Opinion was also made exclusive to this dungeon, given its theme. These items, split into level tiers, are the following:
  • Tier 1 Templar items: Maeyan’s Revival, Wild Retribution, Pennywise One, Jaknet’s Jacks, Deathwalker’s Bulwark.
  • Tier 1 Hunter items: Serious Killious, Peeter’s MacGnificent Belt, Johny’s Mecha-Slicer 3000, Blue Sunshine’s Hand Cannon, Kite’s Loctites.
  • Tier 1 Cabalist items: Zen Focus, Hukhuk’s Virulent Knuckle, Seferoth’s Supernova, Nagahaku’s Optional Jeans, Harrowing Truce.
  • Tier 2 Templar items: Sam’s Poker, Kikina’s Plague Mass, Butsutekkai’s Fervor, Leitner’s Legacy, Drai’s Glorious Belt.
  • Tier 2 Hunter items: Raw Meat Hide, Thumper’s Barrage, Malachor’s Pathfinders, The Botmaster, Athenai’s Power Gloves.
  • Tier 2 Cabalist items: Grace’s Lucky Garb, Berit’s Shock Treatment, Nadja’s Leisurely Strolls, Norak’s Anorak, Zart’s Considered Opinion.
• 3 new Legendary items were added to Big Ben’s loot table, each with a ~33% chance to drop. These items are:
  • Big Ben’s Radiated Ribauldequin (Raptor)
  • Big Ben’s Corrosive Falcata (Corrupt Blade)
  • Big Ben’s Transmogrified Arquebus (Rebounder)
• 6 new Unique items, 5 of which carry Flagship’s unreleased item blueprint names, were added to the game as Stonehenge-exclusive drops. These are:
  • Face of Death (Dreadmask)
  • Hounskull (Spiked Guard)
  • Skiff’s Guard (NavShell)
  • The Unconquered Sun (Sun Blade)
  • Pyromaster (Pyrosmasher)
  • Fry Fry Baby (Hellbore)
• 3 new items were added to the game as global drops. These are:
  • Brom’s Stalker (Spectral Spiker, Unique)
  • Adam’s Addler (Steel Adder, Double-Edged)
  • Envoy’s Persuader (Grizzly Rifle, Unique)

 

Armor set and sword changes:

• Swords of normal and slower attack speeds got an inherent +Group Attack skillgroup damage property, depending on their attack speeds. Specifically:
  • Very slow swords got +30% Group Attack damage.
  • Slow swords got +20% Group Attack damage.
  • Normal swords got +10% Group Attack damage.
    • This includes all Named and Unique swords, but excludes Wart’s Peg Leg.
• The Invoker armor set got reworked, and all Invoker pieces of item levels 1-44 can now spawn with one of the following:
  • All evasion affix (2-9, depends on item level).
  • A randomly picked caste damage (10-15%).
  • A randomly picked elemental damage (5-9%).
  • Naturalism or Spiritualism skillgroup damage (15-23%).
    • The possibility of inherent power regeneration affixes was removed.
• The Conjurer armor set can now randomly roll new inherent bonuses:
  • Weapon range and Firing Accuracy can appear on all armor pieces.
  • Mind Power skillgroup cooldown reduction can appear on all armor pieces.
  • Demon Command cost reduction can appear on Arms, Belts, and Helmets.
• The Caster armor set got reworked, and all Caster armor pieces can now spawn with one of the following:
  • Increased power regeneration (10 + (item level / 2)).
  • Inherent cooldown reduction, which was increased by 1% per piece for a total cooldown reduction of 49% at max level.
  • Inherent power cost reduction, which was increased for a total cost reduction of 49% at max level.
• The Rifleman armor set got inherent Critical Chance values.
• The Military armor set can now randomly roll new inherent bonuses:
  • Random sfx attack strength or increased damage vs a random caste can appear on all armor pieces.
  • Movement speed can appear on Belts and Leg armor.
• The Order armor set can now randomly roll new inherent bonuses:
  • Group Attack modifiers can appear on all armor pieces with different values.
  • Prayer Damage modifiers can appear on Arms, Belts, and Leg armor.
  • Prayer Cooldown modifiers can appear on all armor pieces.
  • Weapon range and Firing Accuracy can appear on Arms, Helms, Shoulders and Torso armor.
  • Missile Speed and Weapon Accuracy can appear on Belts, Leg armor and Boots.

 

Engineer changes:

• The Drone’s AI got tweaked to attack more aggressively and more consistently.

 

Blademaster changes:

• Templar Restoration and Crusader Wrath were removed from the “Group Attack” skillgroup.
• Crosscutter, Sword Typhoon, and Path of Righteousness were added to the “Group Attack” skillgroup.
  • There are currently no new affixes for the “Group Attack” skillgroup that may drop normally or be augmented onto gear, outside of the inherent sword and Order armor properties noted above. Unique items may also have this property.
• Onslaught now grants Critical Chance and Critical Damage to Charge and Path of Righteousness, in addition to its original bonus.
• Templar Restoration may now be used while the player is under the effects of shock.

 

Guardian changes:

• Shield Turn and Stampede were added to the “Group Attack” skillgroup.
• Shield Wall’s effect was reverted to its original form.
• The cooldowns of Prayer of Retribution and Prayer of Smiting were increased by 100%.

 

Evoker changes:

• The skill damage calculations of all spells that deal damage were refactored to enhance the effect of skillgroup affixes on them. There should be no discernible difference in performance when not using such affixes.
• All of the skills in the Nature tab, with the exception of Wall of Bone, were added to a new “Naturalism” skillgroup.
• Venomous Spirit, Swarm, Spectral Bolt, Spectral Lash, and Spectral Serpents were added to a new “Spiritualism” skillgroup.
• Afterlife was added to the “Mind Power” skillgroup, in line with the Summoners’ version of the skill.
• Blink was added to the “Mind Power” skillgroup.
  • This also affects the Summoner version of this skill.
• Venom Armor was added to the “Mind Power” skillgroup.
  • This also affects the Summoner version of this skill.
• Tempest’s initial damage was reduced by 50%. However, Tempest is now affected by the player’s minion damage value.
• Swarm now deals damage on impact before its field component begins to deal damage. In addition, it is now affected by the player’s +minion damage value.
  • This also affects the Summoner version of this skill.
• To better facilitate the new skillgroups, the following affixes that increase skillgroup damage were added for all focus items, with a level range of 1-100:
  • Naturalism: Gravedigger’s (Common, 20-24%), Stormcaller’s (Rare, 30-34%), Pyromancer’s (Legendary, 40-50%), Naturalist’s (Mythic, 80-100%)
  • Spiritualism: Reincarnator’s (Common, 20-24%), Harbinger’s (Rare, 30-34%), Channeler’s (Legendary, 40-50%), Spiritualist’s (Mythic, 80-100%)
  • In turn, the following affixes that increase skillgroup damage were added for all relics, with a level range of 1-100:
  • Naturalism: Arcing (Common, 8-12%), Gravebound (Rare, 14-18%), Infernal (Legendary, 20-24%), Naturalist’s (Mythic, 40-50%)
  • Spiritualism: Eldritch (Common, 8-12%), Chthonic (Rare, 14-18%), Otherworldly (Legendary, 20-24%), Spiritualist’s (Mythic, 40-50%)
• Finally, the following Mythic-grade affixes that increase skillgroup damage were added for all Cabalist armor pieces, with a level range of 1-100:
  • Naturalism: Naturalist’s (20-30%)
  • Spiritualism: Spiritualist’s (20-30%)

 

Summoner changes:

• The “Minion” skillgroup was renamed to “Demon” for clarity. In turn, the “Minion Commands” skillgroup was renamed to “Demon Commands”, and Demon skill descriptions now refer to Demons simply as “Demons”.
• Meat Shield was moved 2 columns to the right. This change is only cosmetic. 
• Summon Reaper was added to the “Demon” and “Mind Power” skillgroups.
• Venomous Spirit and Swarm were added to the “Spiritualism” skillgroup, in line with the Evoker versions of these skills.
• Dark Offering was added to the “Naturalism” skillgroup.
• The Reaper has gained the following affixes:
  • Backlash
  • Thorns (fire)
  • Fire field on death
  • Knockback immunity
• Summoning Circle now also grants all Demons passive hp regeneration per skill level.
• Spellstorm will no longer have its cooldown reduced per skill level.
• The cooldowns of Spellstorm and Spectral Strike were increased to 20 seconds. In turn, their shared cooldown was reduced to 10 seconds.
• A new passive skill, “Attunement”, has been added to the Demons tab, replacing Enrage. Unlocked at player lv5, this skill grants Willpower and increased damage to Demons per skill level.
  • “Skillful”, “Proficient”, and “Masterful” (+1, +2, and +3) affixes for Attunement have been added to the game, and may appear on any Summoner focus items and Cabalist guns.
  • Attunement (skill level 1) is now a prerequisite for Blood Link. In turn, Blood Link has become a lv10 skill, and Summoning Circle a lv20 skill. 
  • Summoning Circle (skill level 2) is now a prerequisite for Summon Reaper. 
  • The Blood Link skill level requirement to unlock Summoning Circle has been reduced from 3 to 2.
• 4 new passive skills were added to the Elementals tab, each corresponding to one non-Fire Elemental. Along with the revamped Master of the Flame skill, the 5 “Master of” skills, and their effects, are now the following:
  • Master of the Flame (lv5): +splash radius for Fires, +damage for all Elementals.
  • Master of the Arcane (lv15): +armor penetration for Spectral, +sfx strengths for all Elementals.
  • Master of Gaia (lv20): +hp regeneration for Forces, +hp for all Elementals.
  • Master of Lightning (lv25): +attack rate for Storms, +shield penetration for all Elementals.
  • Master of Venom (lv30): +sfx strengths for Toxics, +sfx defenses for all Elementals.
    • Each of these “Master of” skills requires 2 points in its corresponding Elemental to unlock.
    • All “Master of” skills, along with Elemental Nova and Master of the Elements, were added to a new “Elemental Mastery” skillgroup.
    • “Skillful”, “Proficient”, and “Masterful” (+1, +2, and +3) affixes for all “Master of” skills have been added to the game, and may appear on any Summoner focus items and Cabalist guns.
• Fire Elementals now deal splash damage instead of direct.
• To account for the new Elemental skills’ bonuses and overall class balance, the Elementals’ base stats have been decreased as follows:
  • The attack of all Elementals has been reduced by 33%.
  • The hp of all Elementals has been reduced by 20%.
  • The sfx attack strengths of Fire, Spectral, Force, and Storm Elementals have been reduced by 25%.
  • The poison attack strength of Toxic Elementals has been reduced by 33%.

The icons for the 5 new Summoner skills were all made by Korosukuma, to whom we owe our heartfelt thanks. 

Bug fixes:

• Itemized blueprints (aka “single-use recipes”) have been changed to only produce mods, which should prevent them from appearing bugged. The issue occurred because we’ve changed the crafting results of station crafters to be always usable by the player in the previous patch.
• The cube recipe which produced a two-handed gun for your class out of three two-handed guns failed on Templars, because they don’t have such an item. The recipe will produce a one-handed gun in this case for Templars from now on.
• The recipe which produced a focus item out of three foci occasionally resulted in a focus item type that doesn’t have a Legendary, Double-Edged, or Mythic quality level, turning the resulting item normal quality. To prevent this, we’ve excluded these item types from the result.
  • To be specific, these focus item types are Coreslicers, Coreslashers, and Riving Radiants. 
    • The reason for this grade discrepancy is that Coreslicers and Coreslashers were the non-Abyss counterparts to Ripshards, and Riving Radiants were the non-Abyss counterparts to Bloodshards. Flagship had these “lower” types restricted to Rare and lower grades, while the “higher” variants were restricted to Legendary and above.
• Fixed a bug that caused Korosukuma’s Claw to spawn a lot less than its intended drop rate.

Quest related changes:

• Repeatable Wanted quest chains around London must now be completed in order within the repeat interval (= one hour). 
  • To clarify; the first repeatable quests in quest chains start a 1-hour (in-game) timer on initiation. Any following quests on the same chain require that you have completed their prerequisites and must be initiated within this hour, otherwise the chain resets. Once you’ve successfully started the final (3rd) quest within the timeframe, the chain “reset” will not impede your ability to complete this quest.
• 5 Analyzers were added to the rewards of 1st-step repeatable quests in quest chains.
• 2 adrenaline pills were added to the rewards of 2nd-step repeatable quests in quest chains.
  • These new rewards are in addition to the existing Nanoshard rewards.
• The item level of legendary mods rewarded in every 3rd-step repeatable quest in quest chains got increased to 55, making them suitable for the item level 58 legendary weapons rewarded for completing the Parliament Square daily quest.