Pinned NDA Balance Playtests

In this patch we are addressing damage output between range and melee weapons in large scale fights. To achieve this we are adjusting the Resilience Penetration on all melee weapons and lowering the Resilience curve of melee weapons.
A lowered Resilience Penetrations will lead to lower damage output in large scale battles. This is offset by the lowered melee Resilience leading to melee vs melee damage output staying similar. But ranged weapons now deal more damage vs melee weapons in large scale fights.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.

Bows

• Enchanted Quiver (regular Bow)
  
  • Normal Attack Damage Buff now is lowered if an enemy is in close proximity:
    
    • If an enemy player is in a 6m radius Normal Attack Damage is reduced to: 185%
      
    • Normal Attack Damage Buff: 220% -> 230%
      
• Lucent Hawk (Mistpiercer)
  
  • Damage: 160 -> 180
    

Crossbows

• Divine Engine (Energy Shaper)
  
  • Cast Time: 1s -> 0.7s
    
  • Cooldown 40s -> 35s
    

Cursed Staffs

• Enfeeble Blades (Lifecurse Staff)
  
  • Radius: 5m -> 6.5m
    
• Cataclysm (Damnation Staff)
  
  • DoT Damage: 18 -> 24
    

Daggers

• Merciless Finish (Bridled Fury)
  
  • 0 Stack Damage: 63.2 -> 68.3
    
  • 1 Stack Damage: 100.8 -> 108.8
    
  • 2 Stack Damage: 151.2 -> 163.3
    
  • 3 Stack Damage: 200 -> 216
    

Fire Staffs

• Searing Flame (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Furious Flame - Damage: 191 -> 210
    
• Flame Tornado (Blazing Staff)
  
  • Cooldown: 40s -> 35s
    

Frost Staffs

• Glacial Obelisk (all Frost Staffs)
  
  • Cast Time: 0.6s -> 0.4s
    
  • Damage Increase: 15% -> 20%
    
  • Cooldown Increase: 15% -> 20%
    

Nature Staffs

• Spirit Animal (Rampant Staff)
  
  • Healing Increased per player: 20% -> 25%
    
  • Healing per Tick: 13.5 -> 14
    

Swords

• Crescent Slash (Clarent Blade)
  
  • Base Damage: 182 -> 170
    
  • 3 Stack Damage: 130 -> 155
    
• Majestic Smash (Kingmaker)
  
  • 0 Stack Damage: 87 -> 91.35
    
  • 1 Stack Damage: 140 -> 147
    
  • 2 Stack Damage: 210 -> 220.5
    
  • 3 Stack Damage: 297 -> 311.85
    
• Soulless Stream (Galatine Pair)
  
  • Uptime of the area: 1s -> 0.8s
    
  • 0 Stack Damage: 84 -> 88.2
    
  • 1 Stack Damage: 134 -> 140.7
    
  • 2 Stack Damage: 201-> 211.05
    
  • 3 Stack Damage: 285 -> 299.25
    

War Gloves

• Gravitational Collapse (Spiked Gauntlets)
  
  • Fixed AoE Damage Escalation
    
  • Damage vs Plate: 380 -> 323
    
  • Damage vs Leather: 240 -> 204
    
  • Damage vs Cloth: 140 -> 119
    
• Hundred Striking Fists (Ursine Maulers)
  
  • Fixed AoE Damage Escalation
    
  • Damage per Tick: 36 -> 32.4 (vs Players)
    
  • Delayed Damage: 30 -> 27
    
• Infernal Boulder (Hellfire Hands)
  
  • 1st Bolder Bounce Damage: 210 -> 220.5
    
  • 2nd Boulder Bounce Damage: 140 -> 147
    
  • 3rd Boulder Bounce Damage: 70 -> 73.5
    
• Purifying Combination (Fists of Avalon)
  
  • Power Punch Damage: 235 -> 245
    

Helmets

• Spider's Thread (Duskweaver Helmet)
  
  • 1st Cast - Cooldown: 30s -> 20s
    
  • 2nd Cast - Cooldown: 30s -> 25s
    
• Ballista Support Fire (Royal Helmet)
  
  • Hit Delay: 1s -> 0.6s
    
  • Standtime: 0.4s -> 0.2s
    
  • Stun Duration: 2.66s -> 2.2s
    
• Motivating Worker's Song (Miner Cap)
  
  • Now also decreases all damage you deal by 50% for 6s.
    
  • Fixed an issue where the spell was cleansable by allies and unpurgeable by enemies.
    

Armors

• Mend Wounds (all Armors)
  
  • Initial tick: 1s -> 0s
    
  • Total Number of ticks: 12 -> 8
    
  • Healing per tick: 6% -> 9%
    
  • Energy per tick: 5% -> 7.5%
    
  • The caster can now move while channeling, with 50% reduced movement speed
    
• Electric Field (Stalker Jacket)
  
  • Cooldown: 30s -> 35s
    
• Enfeeble Aura (Guardian Armor)
  
  • The spell is now a toggle spell (this means it is also unpurgeable)
    
  • Now while active it reduces the caster’s damage by 15%
    
  • Energy Cost: 10 -> 8%
    
• Spirit of Vengeance (Harvester Garb)
  
  • Buff Duration: 8s -> 10s
    
  • Shield Value: 327 -> 392
    
  • Does not increase Gathering Speed anymore
    
• Windshield (Miner Garb)
  
  • Buff Duration: 8s -> 10s
    
  • Does not increase Gathering Speed anymore
    
• Flow (Quarrier Garb)
  
  • Flow Stack Duration: 1.1s -> 3s
    
  • Does not increase Gathering Speed anymore
    
• Purging Shield (Lumberjack Garb)
  
  • Buff Duration: 6s -> 8s
    
  • Does not increase Gathering Speed anymore
    
• Watershield (Fisherman Garb)
  
  • Now also makes immune to slow effects
    
  • Does not increase Fishing Speed anymore
    

Shoes

• Crush Charge (Duskweaver Boots)
  
  • Range: 15m -> 12m
    
  • Cast time: 0.4s -> 0.6s
    

Capes

• Devious Traps (Heretic Cape)
  
  • Now spawns two additional traps behind the player
    
  • Trap Area Duration: 10s -> 5s
    

Potions
We are adjusting all potions for the upcoming update, where new potions are added and we are introducing potion enchantment up to level 3. Potion scaling is now changed from linear scaling to have more impact on the middle level Potions, similar to the progression of food strength.

With the new potions we reevaluated the role of the poison potion in the game. It is now more focused on locking down a single target, by hindering it to disengage. We removed the resistance reduction, but compensated it by higher base damage output. The utility of the resistance reduction will be available with the new upcoming Acid Potion.

These changes go live together with the new potions.

• Changed Scaling of Potions (all potions)
  
  • Potions now start with a bit less power on low tiers and have more value in their mid tiers, while staying at a similar power level at the end
    
• Energy Potions
  
  • Split the Energy gain into an instant Energy Restore (64%) and the remaining 36% will be restored over 7s.
    
  • Now also increases cooldown rate for 7s by 9% (T2) and up to 30% (T6.3)
    
• Sticky Potions
  
  • Area Radius: 3m -> 3.5m
    
  • Now removes other Sticky Pot areas in a 15m radius
    
• Poison Potions
  
  • Cast Range: 9m -> 11m
    
  • A poisoned enemy is now slowed for 0.2s everytime the target takes damage (does not work on mounted players)
    
    • Slow Strength depends on potion tier (E.g. T8 slows 39.7%)
      
  • Poison Duration: 3s -> 4s
    
  • Tick Rate: 0.75s -> 0.5s
    
  • Doesn’t reduce resistances anymore
    
  • Total base Damage increased to compensate for lost resistances reduction
    
    • E.g. total damage of a T8.0 potion
      
      • vs mobs 270 → 795
        
      • vs players 183 → 358
        
    
    
    
    

Food


Cooldown reduction has been one of the most powerful buffs available on food, as it increases their damage, utility and mobility. To reduce this all around buff and promote other viable food options we are reducing the cooldown reduction value on food.
Food that increases Max Hit Points is much less frequently used, to make food with this buff more competitive and a viable option we are aggressively increasing the value.
These changes below will reduce or increase the value of every food that has this buff comparably to its current value.

• Cooldown reduction on food decreased by 20%
  
• Max Hit Points buffs on food increased by 15%
  

Resilience (Formerly known as Focus Fire Protection)
Resilience is a defensive mechanic in Albion Online reducing the damage taken by an enemy player the more players attack him. As melee weapon players expose themselves to more danger they inherently have a higher Resilience. (Melee Resilience Curve Factor: 50, Range Resilience Curve Factor: 25)
We are decreasing the Melee Resilience Curve Factor, reducing the sustain of melee players in group fight situations and enabling more punishment opportunities for overextension in large group fights.

• Melee Resilience Curve Factor: 50 -> 40
  
  • This decreases survivability by 5.37% vs 3 players, by 14,62% vs 10 players (compared to live)
    
  • The buff caps at 80% Resilience vs 18 players (the cap was reached vs 15 players on live
    

Resilience Penetration
Resilience Penetration is a stat found on all melee weapons, this penetration ignores a percentual value of the target's Resilience (Focus Fire Protection). Ranged weapons have no Resilience Penetration.
This exists to offset the danger a melee user needs to put themselves in, in a group fight. In recent times, more and more ranged weapons get replaced with melee weapons in large scale fights, mainly due to their high Resilience Penetration.

We are overall reducing Resilience Penetration values to bring melee and range damage output closer together in large scale PvP situations.
The new resilience values are decided on a case by case basis and take into consideration the ability range, likely target amount, damage distribution and overall playstyle of a weapon.

Swords

• Broadsword: 50% -> 40%
  
• Claymore: 40% -> 40%
  
• Dual Swords: 40% -> 35%
  
• Clarent Blade: 50% -> 20%
  
• Carving Sword: 40% -> 35%
  
• Galatine Pair: 40% -> 30%
  
• Kingmaker: 40% -> 30%
  

Axes

• Battleaxe: 50% -> 30%
  
• Greataxe: 40% -> 30%
  
• Halberd: 50% -> 30%
  
• Carrioncaller: 50% -> 30%
  
• Infernal Scythe: 40% -> 30%
  
• Bear Paws: 50% -> 30%
  
• Realmbreaker: 40% -> 25%
  

Maces

• Mace: 30% -> 20%
  
• Heavy Mace: 30% -> 20%
  
• Morning Star: 30% -> 20%
  
• Bedrock Mace: 30% -> 20%
  
• Incubus Mace: 30% -> 20%
  
• Camlann Mace: 30% -> 20%
  
• Oathkeepers: 50% -> 20%
  

Hammers

• Hammer: 30% -> 20%
  
• Polehammer: 30% -> 20%
  
• Great Hammer: 30% -> 20%
  
• Tombhammer: 30% -> 20%
  
• Forge Hammers: 50% -> 30%
  
• Grovekeeper: 50% -> 20%
  
• Hand of Justice: 30% -> 20%
  

War Gloves

• Brawler Gloves: 60% -> 35%
  
• Battle Bracers: 60% -> 35%
  
• Spiked Gauntlets: 50% -> 25%
  
• Ursine Maulers: 60% -> 30%
  
• Hellfire Hands: 60% -> 35%
  
• Ravenstrike Cestus: 50% -> 30%
  
• Fists of Avalon: 60% -> 30%
  

Spears

• Spear: 40% -> 30%
  
• Pike: 30% -> 40%
  
• Glaive: 30% -> 40%
  
• Heron Spear: 40% -> 25%
  
• Spirithunter: 30% -> 20%
  
• Trinity Spear: 30% -> 35%
  
• Daybreaker: 40% -> 35%
  

Daggers

• Dagger: 75% -> 50%
  
• Dagger Pair: 75% -> 50%
  
• Claws: 75% -> 50%
  
• Bloodletter: 75% -> 50%
  
• Demonfang: 40% -> 35%
  
• Deathgivers: 75% -> 50%
  
• Bridled Fury: 50% -> 30%
  

Quarterstaffs

• Quarterstaff: 30% -> 20%
  
• Iron-clad Staff: 30% -> 20%
  
• Double Bladed Staff: 30% -> 20%
  
• Black Monk Stave: 30% -> 20%
  
• Soulscythe: 30% -> 20%
  
• Staff of Balance: 30% -> 20%
  
• Grailseeker: 30% -> 20%
  

AoE Escalation Mechanics Rework
AoE Escalation is a base combat mechanic in Albion Online. If an AoE ability hits multiple enemy players the damage of the ability is increased, depending on the amount of targets hit. The same mechanic exists for Crowd control spells that contain an AoE Root, Stun and Silence. In this case the crowd control duration is increased.

We improved and fixed AoE Damage escalation for a large amount of abilities.

Improved/Fixed AoE Damage Escalation

• Spinning Blades, Heroic Cleave, Parry Strike, Blood Bandit, Rending Rage, Raging Blades, Threatening Smash, Grasp of the Undead, Blazing Geyser, Falcon Smash, Gravitational Collapse, Hundred Striking Fists, Dragon Leap, Shockwave, Backhand Strike, Sweeping Bolt, Caltrops, Raging Storm, Deadly Shot, Ray of Light, Lunging Strike, Impaler, Circle of Life, Thorn Growth, Brambleseed, Deadly Swipe, Throwing Blades, Vault Leap, Tornado, Rising Blow, Whirling Strikes, Sacred Pulse, Frost Lance, Anguished Soul, Cursed Beam, Nasty Wounds, Firebreath, Avalonian Beam, Opening to Hell, Force Pulse, Splitting Slash
  

Improved/Fixed AoE CC Escalation

• Ray of Light, Avalanche, Freezing Wind, Snare Charge, Circle of Life, Spectral Trident, Splitting Slash, Earth Shatter, Crescent Slash
  

As you all know we are pretty busy working on the new items for the next update. But the next patch improves some underused abilties and addresses some of the dominant items in specific content types.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.

Arcane Staffs
The addition of Chain Missile allowed Arcane Staffs to be played like a traditional DPS. Since then Magic Shock was seeing less usage over time, because it is too much outshined by Chain Missile. To make it more competitive for this slot again, we are increasing the damage output of Magic Shock, so it is more attractive to play as an unique damage & cc alternative.
As a Quality-of-Life change, similar to other defensive Beams we are giving Protective Beam the ability to walk with a 50% movement speed penalty.

• Magic Shock (all Arcane Staffs)
  
  • Damage: 135 -> 150
    
• Protective Beam (Enigmatic Staff)
  
  • The caster can now move while channeling, with 50% reduced movement speed
    

Curse Staffs
Grudge Energy Cost has been considerably lower than other Curse W-slot abilities. That is why we are upping the energy cost to bring it more in line.

• Grudge (all Curse Staffs)
  
  • Energy Cost: 7 -> 10
    

Fire Staffs
To increase Fire Bolt playability in group fights we are increasing the Range to enable more flexible positioning in the back line.

• Fire Bolt (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Range: 12m -> 13m
    

Hammer
Since we are changing the Diminishing Return duration in this patch, hammer lines in general should benefit from this change. But Great Hammer is already a very strong weapon inside the Mists due to its mobility and reliable crowd control. To make it less mobile in Mists we are increasing the Tackle cooldown. To make it stronger in group fights, hitting multiple enemies will reduce the cooldown. This leads to a higher cooldown for solo play, but lower cooldown in group play.

• Tackle (Great Hammer)
  
  • Cooldown: 15s -> 20s
    
  • Reduces the ability cooldown by 20% for every enemy player hit. (up to 2 times)
    

Maces
Air Compressor has been the primary ability in large scale fights to engage and create clumps of players. Especially with Deep Leep this could be achieved very fast and with a low investment of resources. To give enemies more time to react to the engage, we are increasing the Hit Delay and adding a self slow for Air Compressor.

• Air Compressor (all Maces)
  
  • Hit Delay: 1s -> 1.5s
    
  • Added a self-slow of 30% for 2.5s
    

Quarterstaffs
Double Bladed Staff has been a dominant weapon in Mists gameplay due to its high mobility. We are increasing the Cooldown of Soaring Swipe to decrease the mobility in the long run, especially when trying to escape. But keep the identity as a very quick engage.
Tornados knock up and slow do not scale with Item Power. To diminish the increased energy cost that comes with higher Item Power we are changing the Energy Cost to be percentage based. We are further reducing Stand Time, as well as fixing an issue where the Tornado slow would add on to Slow Diminishing Returns.

• Soaring Swipe (Double Bladed Staff)
  
  • Cooldown: 15s -> 18s
    
• Tornado (Soulscythe)
  
  • Stand Time: 1s -> 0.7s
    
  • Energy Cost: 21 -> 15%
    
  • The Tornado does not trigger Slow Diminishing Returns anymore.
    

Spears
In most cases Spirit Spear is outclassed by Lunging Strike, except for Trinity Spear builds. To open up more possibilities to use Spirit Spear on other spear weapons we are adding an attack damage buff and decreasing the extra energy cost after the maximum amount of charges has been reached.
But since Trinity Spear profits immensely from the Spirit Spear buff, we will reduce the Attack Speed buff from Spectral Trident to not make it too strong in Corrupted Dungeons.

• Spirit Spear (all Spears)
  
  • Added a 5% Attack Damage Increase per Stack (max 3)
    
  • Energy Cost when reaching maximum amount of charges:
    
    • 1st Activation: 3 -> 1.5
      
    • 2nd Activation: 6 -> 3
      
    • 3rd Activation: 9 -> 4.5
      
• Spectral Trident (Trinity Spear)
  
  • Attack Speed Buff: 100% -> 85%
    

War Gloves
Infernal Boulder is currently very difficult to reliably hit. Therefore we are reducing the Cast Time and shifting the damage to be focussed on the first and second boulder hit. This should lead to a much more reliable damage profile and unlock the weapon in multiple different content types.

• Infernal Boulder (Hellfire Hands)
  
  • Cast Time: 0.92 -> 0.62
    
• Damage
  
  • 1st Bolder Bounce: 140 -> 210
    
  • 2nd Boulder Bounce: 140 -> 140
    
  • 3rd Boulder Bounce: 140 -> 70
    
  
  
  

Helmets
Emergency Shield has not seen much use in recent times across all content types, to make it more reliable we reduce the cooldown and increase the shield value when, even when used above the 40% Health threshold.

• Emergency Shield
  
  • Cooldown: 40s -> 30s
    
  • Shield above 40% Health: 150 -> 200
    
  • Shield below 40% Health: 300 -> 300
    

Shoes
Delayed Teleport has become very niche, to make it better suited as an alternative engage shoe option we are reducing its cooldown. This also increases its mobility aspect and makes them more competitive against other blink shoes that have the benefit of dodging abilities in the moment instead of relying on prediction.
Position Swap has also become used not too often anymore. To bring them back as an alternative option for tanks we are increasing the Range improving both the aggressive as well as defensive play.

• Delayed Teleport (Mage Sandals)
  
  • Cooldown: 20s -> 15s
    
• Positional Swap (Fiend Sandals)
  
  • Range: 8m -> 10m
    

Miscellaneous
Diminishing Returns is intended to reduce the impact of stacking crowd control in a short amount of time leading to very frustrating gameplay on the receiving side. With the current 15s maximum duration players can run into the issue of reducing their own crowd control E-abilities if their cooldowns are reduced. To make this less likely we are reducing the maximum Diminishing Returns Duration.

• Max Diminishing Return Duration: 15s -> 10s
  

Next Balance Patch we keep improving less used items and abilities and toning down some abilities that are frustrating to play against or are too dominant in specific content types. And also some Quality of Life improvements.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.


Arcane Staffs
To increase the value of Arcane Orb’s effects it now purges before the silence. This change makes sure the purging effect removes silence immunity buffs on the target, before silencing the target.

• Arcane Orb (one-handed Arcane Staff)
  
  • Purge now triggers before the silence
    

Bows
Enchanted Quiver has been very powerful in various solo player activities. To give other weapons a better chance to defend against it, the damage output will be toned down a bit. Additionally we slightly increased the projectile size of Magic Arrow, to bring it more in line with other similar abilities.

• Enchanted Quiver (Bow)
  
  • Attack Damage Increase: 240% → 220%
    
• Magic Arrow (Warbow)
  
  • Projectile hitbox has been increased slightly
    

Crossbows
To give crossbows more consistent damage output in PvP fights, we increased the projectile speed and reduced the stand time of the ability.
Siegebow is very popular in large scale fights and is often used with multiple users at the same time. To reduce the efficiency of using multiple Siegebows at the same time the percentage damage does now do damage depending on the remaining health of the target. This keeps the alpha strike of the first Siegebow still deadly, but using multiple Siegebows at the same time will now diminish each other’s damage output a bit.

• Explosive Bolt (all Crossbows)
  
  • Standtime: 0.3 → 0.2
    
  • Projectile Speed: 30m/s → 40m/s
    
• Vicious Barrage (Siegebow)
  
  • Changed the % Damage based on Max Health → % Damage of remaining Health
    

Maces
Heavy Maces have been extensively used in 5v5 Crystals and are especially dominant in the Cross map, as is also often used in Large scale battles in the open world. To bring them more in line with other tank weapons, we increase the cooldown.
Additionally Battle Howl now purges before the silence. This change makes sure the purging effect removes silence immunity buffs on the target, before silencing the target.

• Battle Howl (Heavy Mace)
  
  • Cooldown: 15s → 18s
    
  • Purge now triggers before the silence
    

Swords
Iron Will’s effect does not scale with Item Power. Currently the flat energy cost however gets higher on more Item Power. In order to not have the cost scale up with the same effect we change the energy cost to be percentage based.
Although Parry Strike has a lot of outplay potential the ability is not used very often. To make the ability more attractive to use we are reducing the cooldown slightly, so it can be used more frequently in a fight.

• Iron Will (all Swords)
  
  • Energy Cost: 9 (flat) → 10% (of max energy)
    
• Parry Strike (all Swords)
  
  • Cooldown: 18s → 16s
    

Quarterstaffs
With the recent rework of the Brecilien Cape we want to give players a tool that can reliably break shields in large scale battles. To achieve this we added a Shield Break to Black Monk Staff. To not overload the ability we removed the Slow.

• Fatal Blade (Black Monk Staff)
  
  • Removed the Slow
    
  • Breaks any shields every time it deals damage
    

Spears
To improve the reliability of Spears in PvP fights we made it easier to hit Impaler.
Additionally we fixed a problem with the hitbox of Spear Throw (Heron Spear) to make it less likely to hit targets behind the caster, if they were extremely close.

• Impaler (all Spears)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.4s → 0.3s
    
  • Standtime: 0.8s → 0.65s
    
• Spear Throw (Heron Spear)
  
  • Adjusted Projectile Hitbox to make it less likely to hit close targets behind the caster
    

Helmets
Retaliate is still one of the most used helmets in solo fights, especially in Stalker Corrupted Dungeons. If most 1v1 fights resolve around one helmet choice it reduces the diversity in builds and match ups too much. To reduce the impact of the helm in this content we are reducing the duration of the Retaliate buff.
To further improve the possible variety in helmets we are also buffing Block (Soldier Helmet) and Stone Skin (all plate helmets), which are both currently underrepresented.

• Block (Soldier Helmet)
  
  • Channel Duration: 1.75s → 2.5s
    
• Electric Discharge (Judicator Helmet)
  
  • Fixed a bug where it would trigger higher diminishing returns than intended
    
• Retaliate (Hunter Hood)
  
  • Buff Duration: 4s → 3s
    
• Stone Skin (all Plate Helmets)
  
  • Cooldown: 45s → 30s
    
  • Buff Duration: 7s → 4s
    

Armors
Life Steal Aura is getting used a lot in PvP fights in the Mists to instantly heal up on mobs. To reduce the effectiveness of this strategy we are reducing the lifesteal against Mobs.

• Life Steal Aura (Hellion Jacket)
  
  • Now steals only 50% of the damage dealt from Mobs (Life steal vs players stays unchanged)
    

Shoes
Crush Charge has been popular in a wide variety of content, we are increasing the cooldown to open up space for other offensive Boot options.
Dodge is underplayed for quite some time, we’re decreasing the cooldown to match it to other available i-Frame Boot options.
Energetic Sprint energy values have been decreased reducing the ability of solving any energy problems solely through this basic ability.
Rejuvenating Sprint has been overplayed in any small scale content, to allow other options to be played we are reducing the effectiveness of the heal.

• Crush Charge (Duskweaver Boots)
  
  • Cooldown: 20s → 25s
    
• Dodge (all Boots)
  
  • Cooldown: 25s → 20s
    
• Energetic Sprint (all Cloth Sandals)
  
  • Energy per Tick: 5 → 4 (Total Energy: 20 → 16)
    
• Rejuvenating Sprint (all Plate Boots)
  
  • Heal per Tick: 18 → 14.4 (Total Heal: 72 → 57.6)
    

Battlemount Abilities
Recently players started stacking multiple Roving Bastions to roam the open world, because they provide a safe way to deal significant damage in high numbers. To make it less attractive to stack multiple Bastions, we reduced the damage significantly and put more value into the debuff that stacks up.

• Crystal Beam (Roving Bastion)
  
  • Damage Reduction Debuff: 12% -> 15%
    
  • Damage: 120 -> 24
    

Miscellaneous
To prevent players from unintentionally canceling their own channels and toggles in the heat of battle, we're increasing the minimum duration before they can be canceled by pressing the ability button again.

• Cooldown on Spell Change: 10s → 5s
  
• Minimum duration of a toggle before it can be canceled: 0.5s → 0.75s
  
• Minimum duration of a channel before it can be canceled: 0.3s → 0.75s
  

Knightfall Abbey
Blessing of Compassion is outshining other available Blessings inside the Knightfall Abbey, to promote other Blessings we are reducing its effectiveness.
Blessing of Compassion

• 1 Stack Heal: 14% → 10%
  
• 1 Stack Heal over time: 7% → 5%
  
• Scaling per Stack:
  
  • Instant Heal: 1% (unchanged)
    
  • Heal over time: 0.5% → 0.25%
    

Next Balance Patch is also mostly focused on improving less used items and abiltties.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.

Arcane Staffs

• Time Freeze (Great Arcane)
  
  • Immunity to another Time Freeze vs Players: 5s -> 11s
    
• The Void (Malevolent Locus)
  
  • Reworked Cleanse Logic inside the area. CC effects and debuff are now instantly removed when applied (i.e. preventing micro stuns inside the area)
    

Bows

• Demon Arrow (Wailing Bow)
  
  • Reworked Damage Increase logic, so the damage keeps increasing when multiple targets are hit at the same time.
    

Daggers

• Chain Slash (all Daggers)
  
  • 1st Hit Damage: 90 -> 110
    
  • 2nd Hit Damage: 110 -> 125
    
  • 3rd Hit Damage: 130 -> 140
    
  • 4th Hit Damage: 150 -> 155
    
• Merciless Finish (Bridled Fury)
  
  • Fixed missing AoE escalation, reduced base damage to make up for this change
    
  • 0 Charge Damage: 79 -> 63.2
    
  • 1 Charge Damage: 126 -> 100.8
    
  • 2 Charge Damage: 189 -> 151.2
    
  • 3 Charge Damage: 250 -> 200
    
• Demon Fang
  
  • Resilience Penetration: 50% -> 40%
    
• Bridled Fury
  
  • Resilience Penetration: 75% -> 50%
    

Fire Staffs

• Burning Field (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Damage of initial hit: 52 -> 70
    
• Flame Blast (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • When cast on yourself or an ally target the target gains a 60% move speed bonus for 1.6s.
    

Holy Staffs

• Holy Touch (Lifetouch Staff)
  
  • Tick Interval: 0.6s -> 0.5s
    
  • Amount of Ticks: 6 -> 5
    
  • Heal per tick: 64 -> 76.8
    

Maces

• Vendetta (Camlann Mace)
  
  • Projectile Range: 18m-> 21m
    
  • Projectile Speed: 19.23 m/s -> 23.07 m/s
    

Nature Staffs

• Soul Link (Ironroot Staff)
  
  • The ability can’t target mounted players anymore
    

Spears

• Forest of Spears (all Spears)
  
  • Number of Ticks: 8 -> 6 (This reduces the max channel duration by 0.6s)
    
  • Damage per Tick: 35.96 -> 47.94 (total channel damage stays the same)
    

Swords

• Fearless Strike (Carving Sword)
  
  • Resistance Reduction:
    
    • 0 Stacks: 0.07 -> 0.05
      
    • 1 Stack: 0.11 -> 0.10
      
    • 2 Stacks: 0.17 -> 0.15
      
    • 3 Stacks: 0.24 -> 0.2
      
  
  
  
  

War Gloves

• Create Opening (all War Gloves)
  
  • Cast Range: 2m -> 2.5m
    
• Earth Crusher (Ravenstrike Cestus)
  
  • Self Slow: 50% -> 25%
    
  • 0 Charge Damage: 160 -> 166
    
  • 1 Charge Damage: 170 -> 176
    
  • 2 Charge Damage: 180 -> 187
    
  • 3 Charge Damage: 190 -> 198
    
• Spiked Gauntlet:
  
  • Resilience Penetration: 60% -> 50%
    
• Ravenstrike Cestus
  
  • Resilience Penetration: 60% -> 50%
    

Shoes

• After Image (Mistwalker Shoes)
  
  • Recast time for the back teleport: 4s -> 6s
    

Capes

• Fey Barrier (Brecilien Cape)
  
  • While the shield is active the caster becomes immune to purges.
    
  • Removed the debuff removal and Debuff Immunity
    
• Sandstorm (Bridgewatch Cape)
  
  • Slow Strength: 20% -> 40%
    

Misc

• Cooldown when changing Equipment or Spells: 10s -> 5s (moved to a later patch)
  

The Balance Changes for the next patch are mainly focused on improving the values of some underused abilities.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.

Arcane Staffs

• Time Freeze (Great Arcane Staff)
  
  • Mob immunity to consecutive casts: 5s → 11s (player immunity remains unchanged)
    

Axes

• Rending Spin (all Axes)
  
  • Damage against Enemies closer than 2.5m: 45 → 65
    
  • Damage against Enemies 2.5m+ away: 68 → 80
    
• Deadly Chop (all Axes)
  
  • Standtime: 0.7s → 0.35s
    
  • Cast Time: 0.5s → 0.4s
    
  • Energy: 10 → 8
    

Fire Staffs

• Flame Tornado (Blazing Staff)
  
  • DoT Ticks after leaving the area: 3 → 5
    
  • Cooldown: 45s → 40s
    

Nature Staffs

• Well of Life (Wild Staff)
  
  • Healing Ticks: 6 → 5
    
  • Healing per Tick: 46 → 55.2
    

Quarterstaffs

• Concussive Combo (all Quarterstaffs)
  
  • 1st and 2nd Hit Damage: 75 → 85
    
  • 3rd Hit Damage: 120 → 130
    

Spears

• Spear Throw (Heron Spear)
  
  • Damage: 186 - > 200
    

War Gloves

• Purifying Combo (Fists of Avalon)
  
  • Dive Kick Jump Speed: 14m/s → 16 m/s
    

Helmets

• Purifying Smoke (Helmet of Valor)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.5s → 0.4s
    

Armors

• Purging Shield (Mage Robe)
  
  • Cooldown: 45s → 40s
    
• Speed Caster (Scholar Robe)
  
  • Cooldown 40s → 35s
    
• Fury (Soldier Armor)
  
  • Max Stacks: 10 → 8
    
  • Damage Increase per Stack: 7% (max 70%) → 9% (max 72%)
    
  • CC Duration Increase per Stack: 4% → 5% (max stays unchanged)
    
  • Cooldown: 40s → 35s
    
• Electric Field (Stalker Jacket)
  
  • Damage from overlapping Electric Fields no longer stacks
    
• Firebreath (Mage Cowl)
  
  • Slightly increased hitbox size close to the caster and the speed of the hitbox expansion
    

Shoes

• Swift Cut (Assassin Shoes)
  
  • Dash Speed: 28m/s → 34m/s
    
• Vengeful Sprint (Demon Boots)
  
  • Reworked the scaling
    
  • Increase caster's Move Speed by 50% and Damage by 10%
    
  • For every 20% Health Missing gain additional 25% Movement Speed and 5% damage increase. (Max Stacks: 3)
    
  • Cooldown: 60s → 40s
    

Disarray Changes

• Disarray Level 1 Threshold: 26 players → 21 players
  
• Sequential Disarray levels are adjusted to begin at 5 fewer players
  
  • E.g. Disarray Level 2 Threshold: 27 players → 22 players
    

Crystal Arena / 5v5 Crystal League

• At the start of a match all players receive a +100% movement speed buff which lasts 6s
  
  • Cannot be purged
    
  • No further movement speed buffs can be received while active
    
  • Applied once per match, when leaving the tent for the first time
    

Like you all know from our latest Dev Talk, we are currently busy working on various new items and other changes. However we still want to make a couple of adjustments in the next patch to improve some items & spells that are currently not used a lot and toning down some items that currently provide too much value. And we are also removing the ability to mount up in 5v5 Crystal League & Crystal Arena, to make it less safe to backcap the enemy team.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.


Cursed Staffs

• Vile Curse (all Cursed Staffs)
  
  • Cooldown: 2s -> 2.4s
    
• Cursed Sickle (all Cursed Staffs)
  
  • Projectile Speed flying in cast direction: 10.4m/s -> 15.3m/s
    
  • Projectile Speed flying back to the caster: 10.4m/s -> 7.9m/s
    
  • The total up-time of the projectile stays unchanged
    
• Cursed Tar (all Cursed Staffs)
  
  • Radius: 2.5m -> 3m
    
  • Cast Time: 0.3s -> 0.2s
    
  • Cast Range: 13m -> 15m
    
• Anguished Soul (Demonic Staff)
  
  • 0 Stack Fear Duration: 0.4s -> 1s
    
  • 1 Stack Fear Duration: 0.8s -> 1.25s
    
  • 2 Stacks Fear Duration: 1.2s -> 1.5s
    
  • 3 Stacks Fear Duration: 1.6s -> 1.75s
    
  • 4 Stacks Fear Duration: 2s (unchanged)
    
  • Now consumes up to 2 Vile Curse Charges on the enemy. (instead of all charges)
    

Daggers

• Deadly Swipe (all Daggers)
  
  • Energycost: 7 -> 9
    
  • Energy gain on hit: 4 -> 6
    

Fire Staffs

• Pyroblast (one-handed Fire Staff)
  
  • Removed the aim-rotation mechanic
    
  • Now it is a targeted ability that always shoots the projectile towards the targeted enemy. (The projectile can still be body-blocked or dodged with a blink)
    
  • Targeting Range: 15m
    
  • Cast Time / Damage
    
    • 0.4s / 240 -> 0s / 200
      
    • 0.8s / 300 -> 0.6s / 280
      
    • 1.2s / 360 (unchanged)
      
  • Increased Projectile Speed and hitbox
    
• Combustion (Infernal Staff)
  
  • After cast the targeted enemy gets now feared for 0.75s (but is immune to the fear after catching fire once)
    
  • Removed the silence effect of the Flame Trail
    
  • Instead the Flame Trail now fears enemies for 0.75s
    
  • Improved Hit Detection of the Flame Trail on the ground
    
  • Immunity against the Trail after hit: 0.5s -> 0.8s
    

Frost Staffs

• Frost Lance (all Frost Staffs)
  
  • Cast Time: 0.35s -> 0s
    

Hammers

• Giant Steps (Forge Hammers)
  
  • Slow Strength: 50% -> 20%
    

Maces

• Defensive Slam (all Maces)
  
  • Now also increases Crowd Control Resistances by 0.2 (for reference Displacement Immunity currently increases CCR by 0.3)
    
  • Range: 3m -> 3.5m
    
  • Hit Delay: 0.3s -> 0.2s
    
  • Standtime: 0.5s -> 0.2s
    
• Sacred Ground (all Maces)
  
  • Area Duration: 6s -> 5s
    

Helmets

• Inner Corruption (Cultist Cowl)
  
  • The Damage can't be reflected anymore
    
  • Damage vs Players: 67 -> 63
    
• Avalonian Beam (Cowl of Purity)
  
  • The Beam now expands much faster
    
  • Increased the hitbox size
    
  • Standtime: 0.8s -> 0.4s
    
• Retaliate (Hunter Hood)
  
  • Reflected Damage: 100% -> 85%
    
• Smokebomb (Hellion Hood)
  
  • Cooldown: 60s -> 40s
    
• Displacement Immunity (Knight Helmet)
  
  • Does not increase Crowd Control Resistance anymore
    

Armors

• Bloodlust (Mercenary Jacket)
  
  • Heal per Tick: 54 -> 50
    
• Mist Cloud (Mistwalker Jacket)
  
  • Caster is now slowed by 20% while turned into Mist Cloud
    
  • Energy Cost: 9 -> 16%
    

Capes

• Sandstorm (Bridgewatch Cape)
  
• Reworked the ability:
  
  • Condition: Activates when you cast an E-slot Ability
    
  • Effect: Creates a 5m sandstorm aura surrounding the caster for 6s.
    
  • Slows unmounted enemies around the caster by 20%
    
  • Reduces Crowd Control Resistances by 0.2.
    
  • Sandstorm Duration: 5s -> 6s
    
• Mark of the Raven (Morgana Cape)
  
  • The cape now activates at cast start of a E-slot ability (i.e. when casting Meteor the cape will now activate at cast start and speed up the remaining cast time)
    
• Vanisher (Undead Cape)
  
  • Inivisibility Duration: 6s -> 5s
    
  
  
  
  

Crystal League

• 5v5 Crystal League and Crystal Arena matches
  
  • Players can’t use mounts anymore
    
• Claiming an Runestone will now be canceled if the caster is in one of the following states:
  
  • Invisible
    
  • Invincible
    
  • Not Targetable
    

Next patch focuses mainly on improving various underused and outdated abilities. Additionally we overhaul the Quarterstaff PvE experience for new players, as well as more visual overhauls, to further improve the game-feel and readability. We also tone down some items that have been too oppressive in certain content types.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.

Arcane Staffs
Chain Missile still puts out a lot of sustain damage in 5v5 Crystal League. To make other DPS options in this content more attractive we are reducing the group damage output of Chain Missile, but increase it’s damage on the primary target. Making this ability better for 1v1s and small scale fights. The Dark Sphere debuff is also very oppressive in Crystal League. To make it less devastating for the enemies we are reducing the debuff duration.

• Chain Missile (all Arcane Staffs)
  
  • First Target Damage: 121 -> 132
    
  • Projectile Bounce Damage: 60 -> 25
    
  • Arcane Charge Damage: 61 -> 55
    
• Dark Sphere (Evensong)
  
  • Debuff Duration: 7s -> 5s
    

Axes
Realmbreaker is a very strong enabler in one-shot comps in 10v10 Hell Gates and other similar size group fights. The Aftershock Hit Points Reduction debuff is not affected by the armor reduction caps, but effectively also increases the damage taken of the target. To reduce the impact of this additional damage increase we are lowering this debuff value.

• Aftershock (Realmbreaker)
  
  • Hitpoints Reduction: 20% -> 15%
    

Bows
Enchanted Quiver is overhauled into an ability that keeps the auto attack playstyle theme, but is a bit more interactive. The low cooldown makes it less about single target burs and makes it less susceptible to purges. Instead the play style should feel more similar to playing an ADC in a MOBA. Mistpiercer has also dropped in usage, to make it more impactful in large scale fights, we are increasing the damage.

• Enchanted Quiver (Regular Bow)
  
  • Reworked the ability:
    
    • Enchant 6 of your arrows for the next 8s.
      
    • While you hold enchanted arrows, your attack speed is increased by 50% and your normal attack damage is increased by 240%.
      
    • Auto-Attacks consume 1 Enchanted Arrow.
      
    • Recast the ability within 8s to sidestep into target direction and enchant 4 more arrows. (cannot exceed 6 arrows)
      
    • Cooldown 12s / 15s (after multicast)
      
    • Enchanted Arrows on Activation: 5 -> 6
      
    • Enchanted Arrows on Multicast: 3 -> 4
      
    • Max Enchanted Arrows: 5 -> 6
      
    • Second Activation Cooldown: 15s -> 12s
      
• Lucent Hawk (Mispiercer)
  
  • Damage: 145 -> 160
    

Daggers
Deathgivers are currently very oppressive in Solo Mists. We want to nerf the item primarily in the Mists without affecting it too much in other content types. Therefore we are increasing the cooldown of Shadow Edge. The high mob density inside the Mists allows Shadow Edge much more mobility options than in other situations. To affect Shadow Edge not too much in situations with less mobs, hitting an enemy player will reduce the cooldown back to the current value.

• Shadow Edge (all Daggers)
  
  • Cooldown: 15s -> 20s
    
  • Hitting an enemy player reduces this ability’s cooldown by 25%
    

Fire Staffs
Fire Staffs struggle in solo and small-scale fights. Since Fire Staffs lack mobility, we want them to be a bit more dangerous in open fights, that is why we are increasing the damage output of Searing Flame.

• Searing Flame (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Searing Flame Projectile Damage: 94 -> 99
    
  • Furious Flame Projectile Damage: 182 -> 191
    

Frost Staffs
Great Frost is currently struggling to find its place. To make it more viable as a damage dealer for small and medium sized group fights we are increasing the damage of Hail. Additionally we are also increasing Frost Lance damage output, which is currently underused. The higher damage output should make it more attractive to also be used in small and medium group fights.

• Frost Lance (all Frost Staffs)
  
  • Damage: 145 -> 160
    
• Hail (Great Frost Staff)
  
  • Damage: 130 -> 142
    

Hammers
We are increasing the sleep duration of Knockout, the least used Hammer ability. The longer sleep duration should make it more attractive in certain situations to take an enemy temporarily out of the fight.

• Knockout (all Hammers)
  
  • Sleep Duration vs Players: 4.36s -> 5s
    
  • Sleep Duration vs Mobs: 8.72s -> 10s
    
  • Hit delay: 0.4s -> 0.25s
    
  • Standtime: 1s -> 0.5s
    

Quarter Staffs
Adding two new abilities to improve early PvE experience and allow for more options with damage dealing bruisers playstyles for Quarterstaffs. Additionally we are buffing Separator, an ability that is rarely used. We are increasing its root duration and the cast-range, this makes it easier to reach the target and also works against enemies with Robe of Purity active.

• Added new Q-Ability: Whirling Strikes
  
  • Whirl your staff around, dealing 38 physical damage every 0.25s in a 5m radius while channeling for up to 0.6s (can move while channeling).
    
  • Hitting at least one enemy will reduce this ability’s cooldown by 0.5s for 5s (stacks up to 3 times)
    
  • Cooldown 4s / Channel Duration 0.6s
    
• Added new W-Ability: Gale Dance
  
  • Swing your weapon up to 3 times into the target direction, dealing 80 physical damage each hit.
    
  • Hitting an enemy with all three swings increases your Move Speed by 30% and Normal Attack Damage by 50% for 4s
    
  • Cooldown: 12s / Channel Duration: 1s
    
• Concussive Combo (all Quarter Staffs)
  
  • Improved Hit Detection of the first two hits
    
• Separator (all Quarter Staffs)
  
  • Cast Range: 3m -> 5m
    
  • Root Duration: 1.6s -> 2.5s
    
  • Removed the Slow on knocked back enemies
    
• Removed the Ability: Empowered Slam
  
• Removed the Ability: Heavy Cleave
  
• Adjusted Ability Unlock Order:
  
  • Always Unlocked:
    
    • Concussive Combo
      
    • Whirling Strikes
      
    • Gale Dance
      
  • Level 3: Stun Run
    
  • Level 15: Forceful Swing
    
  • Level 40: Cartwheel
    
  • Level 70: Rising Blow
    
  • Level 85: Separator
    

Swords
While it is nice to finally see Dual Swords successfully being played across the game. The recent buffs also made it very hard to fight against, especially in solo and small-scale fights. The combination of the uninterruptible jump and the knock up afterwards reduces counterplay options. Since Dual Swords was struggling a lot with the interruptible jump, we keep that part but will take away the knock-up. This gives the enemy more options to react.

• Spinning Blades (Dual Swords)
  
  • Doesn't knock enemies into the air anymore
    

Helmets
Mage Cowl was a very widely used ability in the game, but its core design didn’t allow for much interaction or outplay options. That is why reworked the Poison ability into a cone Firebreath, which applies a DoT. This can now be missed or dodged, but can hit multiple targets at once or invisible targets. Additionally we are buffing Immortal and Spider’s Thread which are still seeing little usage across the game.

• Poison (Mage Cowl)
  
  • Reworked into the new ability: Firebreath
    
    • Breathe fire in a 13m cone in front of you. Any enemy hit catches fire and takes 160 magical damage over 3s.
      
    • (For reference DoT Damage of the old Poison was 180)
      
• Immortal (Mistwalker Hood)
  
  • Cooldown: 45s -> 30s
    
• Spider's Thread (Duskweaver Helmet)
  
  • Standtime: 0.1s -> 0s
    
  • Thread Projectile Range: 15m -> 17m
    

Shoes
To indirectly buff tanks in group fights we are increasing the cooldown of Break Free. This extended down time between self cleanses, allows tanks to get more value of big CC effects in longer group fights, like Crystal League.

• Break Free (Mercenary Shoes)
  
  • Cooldown: 25s -> 30s
    

Visual Improvements
Improved visuals and audio for these abilities to make them more satisfying to use and easier to read.

• Quarter Staffs
  
  • Stun Run (all Quarter Staffs)
    
• Swords
  
  • Interrupt (all Swords)
    
• Armors
  
  • Speed Caster (Scholar Robe)
    
  • Electric Field (Stalker Jacket)
    
• Shoes
  
  • Energetic Sprint (all Cloth Sandals)
    
  • Rotten Ground (Cultist Sandals)
    
  • Mark of Sacrifice (Hellion Shoes)
    
  • Rejuvenating Sprint (all Plate Boots)
    

Crystal League
For the next season we are changing the Crystal League match rules. The Runestones will now score much less frequently. But the scoring Runestones will then reset back to neutral each round. This means the leading team can’t just get the Runestone advantage and play defensively and win over time. To make up for the longer scoring rounds the point value per rotation has been increased accordingly to keep the whole match duration roughly the same.

• 5v5 Crystal League & Crystal Arena
  
  • At the end of each Round, all scoring Runestones reset. Meaning the team that holds more Runestones at the end of each Round loses their Runestones.
    
  • Scoring Round: 60s -> 150s
    
  • Scoring Changed:
    
    • 1 Runestone advantage 10 -> 25
      
    • 2 Runestones advantage 10 -> 35
      
    • 3 Runestones advantage 20 -> 50
      
  • Runestone Channel Range: 4m -> 8m
    
  • Changed Map: Cross → Spade
    
• 20v20 Crystal League
  
  • At the end of each Round, all scoring Runestones reset. Meaning the team that holds more Runestones at the end of each Round loses their Runestones.
    
  • Scoring Round: 120s -> 180s
    
  • Scoring Changed:
    
    • 1 Runestone advantage 10 -> 30
      
    • 2 Runestones advantage 10 -> 45
      
    • 3 Runestones advantage 20 -> 60
      
    • 4 Runestones advantage 20 -> 75
      
    • 5 Runestones advantage 60 -> 90
      
  • Runestone Channel Range: 4m -> 8m
    

In the next patch we mainly focus on improving the feeling and audio- / visual feedback of many early game items. To improve the first impression of the game and bring some older items up to our modern standards. So many changes are not primarily intended to address the current end game meta, but rather meant to improve the foundation of our gameplay.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.


Arcane Staffs
Time Freeze was a very dominant item across mid- and large scale fights. It was especially very decisive as a defensive tool to save allies. While it was great for the Arcane player to have that much impact on the fight, it essentially was too strong as a tool to make up for any positioning mistakes and most importantly helped larger groups more than smaller groups. To help smaller groups to capitalize on positioning mistakes of larger forces we will remove the ability to Freeze allies. Instead Great Arcane will now solely be used to stop enemies. To allow it to have more impact in this new role we buff it's player freezing capabilities, while taking its defensive option away.

• Time Freeze (Great Arcane)
  
  • Is now limited to affect maximum 5 enemy players and 5 ally players at once (mob target is still unlimited)
    
  • Can't freeze allies anymore
    
  • Base Cooldown: 60s -> 45s (Cooldown scaling stays the same, so it has 25s cooldown on 2000 IP)
    
  • Cast Time: 0.6s -> 0s
    
  • Hit Delay: 0s -> 0.5s
    
  • Enemy Player Freeze Duration: 2s -> 3s
    
  • Player Immunity after a Player Freeze: 15s -> 5s
    

Bows
Most changes are intended to make Bows feel better and more responsive to play. Ray of Light’s cooldown is further decreased but we also reduce the root duration. This way we want Ray of Light to be the more damage oriented kiting option on W. We are also making Ray of Light to be the first W spell, to make the early PvE experience more interesting, because right now player’s start with two self buffs in their kit (Explosive Arrows and Enchanted Quiver), which makes Bows feel not very dynamic in the early game.

• Auto Attacks
  
  • Standtime after each attack: 0.4s -> 0.3s
    
• Poisoned Arrow (all Bows)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.2s -> 0.1s
    
• Ray of Light (all Bows)
  
  • Cooldown: 12s -> 10s
    
  • Root Duration: 1.99s -> 1.8s
    
• Adjusted Spell Unlock Order:
  
  • Level 3: Explosive Arrows -> Ray of Light
    
  • Level 70: Ray of Light -> Explosive Arrows
    

Crossbows
We are adjusting the auto attack timing for Crossbows to make the weapon line feel more responsive.

• Auto Attacks
  
  • Standtime after each attack: 0.4s -> 0.3s
    

Cursed Staffs
Demonic Staff has been a very dominant item across various content types. Its combination of high damage potential and a Fear allows for combo setups with too much burst damage and limited counter play. For example following up with Cursed Beam after the Fear, while the enemy has four Vile Curse Charges on them. To reduce the follow up damage potential, while the target is feared, the Anguished Soul will now consume the Vile Curse Charges on the enemy.

• Anguished Soul (Demonic Staff)
  
  • Now consumes all Vile Curse Charges on the enemy
    
  • Fear Duration is not fixed anymore, instead it scales with item power, bonus cc duration factors and target CC resistance
    

Hammers
Forge Hammers has recently been buffed to have more impact on its attacks, which made it very powerful in Crystal League and Hell Gates. The combination of a frontline Bruiser with good damage and disruption and the very high tankiness makes it too hard to counter. We want to keep the high impact of Forge Hammers in the front, but reduce their survivability, so they don’t outperform other weapons in this role.

• Giant Steps (Forge Hammers)
  
  • Armor Factor: 0.35 -> 0.2
    
  • Magic Resistance Factor: 0.59 -> 0.35
    

Quarter Staffs
Concussive Blow is reworked into a multicast ability that plays very similar to the current iteration but feels much better to use and communicates what is happening more clearly. Additionally we reduce the Standtime after Vault Leap, allowing the caster to combo while the enemy is still in the air at the cost of some of the cast range.

• Concussive Blow (all Quarterstaffs)
  
  • Reworked into a Multicast ability
    
  • Combine up to two abilities. The combo resets after 6s
    
  • 1st and 2nd: Flowing Blow
    
    • Land a Flowing Blow on the targeted enemy, dealing physical damage in a cone in front of you.
      
  • 3rd Concussive Blow
    
    • Land an overhead Concussive Blow on the target, dealing physical damage and stuns.
      
  • 1st and 2nd Hit Damage: 80 -> 75
    
  • 3rd Hit Damage: 125 -> 120
    
  • Renamed to Concussive Combo
    
• Vault Leap (regular Quarterstaff)
  
  • Standtime: 0.6s -> 0.25s
    
  • Range 15m -> 12m
    

Swords
We are adding the new W-ability Blade Cyclone. An fun and engaging ability, which deals damage and also offers some mobility and repositioning. Since Swords already have a lot of mobility in their kit, we wanted to keep the additional move speed it offers under control by limiting its distance and move speed. And as an additional check it also always consumes a Heroic Charge. For pure unconditional mobility Iron Will will still be the superior choice. Blade will now become the Swords first W ability, to vastly improve the first experience with the weapon tree. We also improved various Sword ability visual effects to make them more satisfying to use.

• Added new W-ability: Blade Cyclone
  
  • Swirl into target direction, dealing 40 physical damage up to 3 times.
    
    • Move Speed: 11m/s
      
    • Range: 7m
      
    • Standtime: 0.25s
      
  • If you have at least 1 Heroic Charge active, it will be consumed and enemies take 60 physical damage every hit instead.
    
• Crescent Slash (Clarent Blade)
  
  • Projectile Speed: 28m/s -> 29.3m/s
    
  • Improved Projectile Hit Detection
    
• Adjusted Spell Unlock Order:
  
  • Always Unlocked:
    
    • Heroic Strike
      
    • Heroic Cleave
      
    • Blade Cyclone
      
  • Level 3: Interrupt
    
  • Level 15: Splitting Slash
    
  • Level 40: Hamstring
    
  • Level 70: Parry Strike
    
  • Level 85: Iron Will
    

Shoes
Ethereal Form’s downsides are currently making it not used much. To make it more reliable to use we make the channel at the start uninterruptible. Additionally we are also removing the self damage reduction effect to open the ability up to be more useful in various content types.

• Ethereal Form (Feyscale Sandals)
  
  • Delay to turn into Ethereal Form: 1s -> 0.5s
    
  • The channel is now uninterruptible
    
  • Removed the self damage reduction
    

Visual Improvements
Overhauled visuals and audio for these abilities to make them more satisfying to use and improve readability

• Bows
  
  • Auto Attacks
    
  • Poisoned Arrow (all Bows)
    
  • Enchanted Quiver (Regular Bow)
    
  • Undead Arrows (Whispering Bow)
    
• Crossbows
  
  • Auto Attacks (including Energy Shaper)
    
• Quarter Staffs
  
  • Concussive Blow (all Quarter Staffs)
    
• Maces
  
  • Sacred Ground (all Maces)
    
• Swords
  
  • Splitting Slash (all Swords)
    
  • Mighty Blow (Broadsword)
    
  • Charge (Claymore)
    
  • Spinning Blades (Dual Swords)
    
  • Crescent Slash (Clarent Blade)
    
• Armors
  
  • Speed Caster (Scholar Robe)
    

In the next patch we will improve some of the currently underperforming items and abilities like Dual Swords or Dagger Pair. And other adjustments aimed at the 5v5 Crystal League meta. Improving options to potentially break through very defensive strategies like Iron Breaker being able to break shields and blinks protecting against purges to pair with offensive builds like regular bows. While toning down some of the strongest defensive options like Iron-clads and Druid Staffs. In the next patch we will also change the map back to “5v5 Crystal Realm - Cross” for Crystal League and Crystal Arena for the duration of Season 18.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.

Axes

• Raging Blades (all Axes)
  
  • Vastly Improved Hit Detection to be more reliable
    
  • Added an additional hit directly on activation
    
  • Inner Ring Radius: 2.5m -> 2m
    

Daggers

• Shadow Edge (all Daggers)
  
  • Improved Hit Detection at max range
    
• Slit Throat (Dagger Pair)
  
  • The cast is now uninterruptible
    
  • Cast Time: 0.4s -> 0.6s
    
  • Cast Range: 2m -> 3m
    
  • Castrange Tolerance: 5m -> 7m (the cast won’t be canceled as easily by running away anymore)
    

Hammers

• Iron Breaker (all Hammers)
  
  • Now also removes shields on enemies
    

Nature Staffs

• Rejuvenating Flower (all Nature Staffs)
  
  • The Flower on the ground is now activated by any ally stepping on it.
    
  • Flower Area Radius: 3m -> 5m
    
  • Max Targets: 5 -> 10
    
  • Standtime: 0.4s -> 0s
    
• Spiritual Seed (Druid Staff)
  
  • Cooldown after Recast: 20s -> 30s (Casting once still has 20s cooldown)
    
• Spirit Animal (Rampant Staff)
  
  • Max Targets: 15 -> 20
    
  • Healing Increased per Ally: 30% -> 20%
    
  • Maximum Targets for Heal Increase: 10 -> 20
    

Quarter Staffs

• Hurricane (Iron-clad Staff)
  
  • Channel Duration: 3s -> 2s
    

Spears

• Breakthrough (Daybreaker)
  
  • Cast Time: 0.5s -> 0.35s
    
  • Dash Speed: 20m/s -> 24m/s
    

Swords

• Spinning Blades (Dual Swords)
  
  • The Caster is now immune all CC Effects during the Jump
    
  • Damage is now independent of Heroic Charges (it always does 2 Heroic Charges damage now)
    
  • Enemies are knocked up for 0.6s on impact
    
  • Auto Attack Buff Duration: 5s -> 3s
    
  • Auto Attack Buff Damage Increase: 50% -> 100%
    

Shoes

• Blink (Cleric Sandals)
  
  • Caster is now also immune to purges for 0.2s
    
• Raging Blink (Stalker Shoes)
  
  • Caster is now also immune to purges for 0.2s
    
• Evasive Jump (Royal Shoes)
  
  • Caster is now immune to purges during the jump
    

Mists

• Long Hostile Dismount
  
  • Ability Cooldown: 12s -> 15s
    

We are working right now on balance changes which are intended to go live in the the Off Season after the CLC, between S17 and S18. The aim is to tone a few items down that are very dominant in certain content types, like Great Arcane. Further tone down some mobility outliers in the Mists, Royal Jacket and Claymore. While bringing some new options for the meta, like a new Holy Staff passive and a new effect for Gigantify Potions and some improvements for items that are currently underused or outshined by other items. The changes for the Long Hostile Dismount Cooldown are intended to already go live with Patch 1.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.

Arcane Staffs

• Time Freeze (Great Arcane Staff)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.5s -> 0s
    
  • Cast Time: 0s -> 0.6s
    
  • Standtime: 0.6s -> 0s
    

Axes

• Bloody Reap (Infernal Scythe)
  
  • Damage above 40%: 108 -> 126
    

Crossbows

• Sweeping Bolt (Heavy Crossbow)
  
  • Damage: 178.13 -> 192
    

Daggers

• Blood Ritual (Demonfang)
  
  • Damage: 112 -> 106
    

Fire Staffs

• Flame Tornado (Blazing Staff)
  
  • The Damage is not reflectable anymore
    

Holy Staffs

• Removed the Passive Aggressive Caster
  
• Added New Passive: Ascended
  
  • Condition: Activates when you cast your weapon's second-slot ability
    
  • Effect: Makes all your casts and channels uninterruptible for 1.5s
    

Maces

• Oathkeepers Base Stats
  
  • Additional Health Factor: 200 -> 150
    
  • Additional Ability Power Factor: 1.2 -> 1.05
    
  • Additional Auto Attack Factor: 1.2 -> 1.05
    

Spears

• Spear Throw (Heron Spear)
  
  • Cooldown: 25s -> 20s
    

Swords

• Iron Will (all Swords)
  
  • Move speed Increase: 20% -> 10%
    
• Splitting Slash (all Swords)
  
  • Hitdelay: 0.3s -> 0.2s
    
  • Standtime: 0.5s -> 0.3s
    
• Charge (Claymore)
  
  • Range: 13m -> 11m
    
• Crescent Slash (Clarent Blade)
  
  • Projectile Range: 18m -> 21m
    
  • Projectile Speed: 22m/s -> 28m/s
    

Helmets

• Spider's Thread (Duskweaver Helmet)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.2s -> 0s
    
  • Standtime: 0.5s -> 0.1s
    

Armors

• Purging Shield (Mage Robe)
  
  • Increased Resistances: 0.24 -> 0.28
    
• Royal Banner (Royal Jacket)
  
  • Cooldown Rate for the Caster: 50% -> 30% (allies Cooldown Rate stays at 50%
    
  • Max Targets: 5 -> 10
    
• Mythical Web (Duskweaver Armor)
  
  • Casttime: 0.6s -> 0.4s
    
  • Other Webs Removal Radius: 20m -> 16m
    

Capes

• Mark of the Raven (Morgana Cape)
  
  • Base Cooldown: 140.3s -> 120s
    

Potions

• Gigantify Potions
  
  • Now also makes immune to Forced Movement Effects
    

Mists

• Long Hostile Dismount
  
  • Ability Cooldown: 10s -> 12s
    
  
  
  • Also fixed a bug where the Long Hostile Dismount would not apply anymore if a fighting player died
    

These changes are intended to go live with the first patch of Beyond the Veil. This will not be a big balance patch but a couple of adjustments to react to the current meta on the game. The main goal is to tone down the biggest mobility outliers and have a few adjustments and buffs for currently underused abilities.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.

Axes

• Razor Cut (Bearpaws)
  
  • Range: 12m -> 10m
    
  • Energycost: 20 -> 16
    

Bows

• Frost Shot (all Bows)
  
  • Cooldown: 15s -> 18s
    
• Ray of Light (all Bows)
  
  • Cooldown: 14s -> 12s
    
  • Hit Delay: 0.8s -> 0.6s
    
  • Standtime: 0.4s -> 0.3s
    

Crossbows

• Caltrops (all Crossbows)
  
  • Move Speed Increase: 20% -> 30%
    
  • Move Speed Duration: 2s -> 3s
    
  • Slow Strength: 40% -> 30%
    

Daggers

• Lunging Stabs (Bloodletter)
  
  • Hitting a player below 40% Health doesn't increase the cooldown rate anymore.
    
  • Instead hitting a player below 40% now reduces the ability cooldown by 40%. (other slot cooldowns are not affected anymore)
    

Wargloves

• Triple Kick (all War Gloves)
  
  • Cooldown: 15s -> 18s
    
• Falcon Smash (Battle Bracers)
  
  • Range: 15m -> 13m
    

Armors

• Bloodlust (Mercenary Jacket)
  
  • Heal per Tick: 42 -> 54
    
  • Number of Ticks: 9 -> 7
    

Helmets

• Force Field (all Cloth Helmets)
  
  • Knockback Distance: 12m -> 9m
    
• Poison (Mage Cowl)
  
  • First Damage Tick: 1s -> 0s
    
  • Total Ticks: 5 -> 3
    
  • Damage per Tick: 39.93 -> 60
    
• Retaliate (Hunter Hood)
  
  • Reflected Damage: 70% -> 100%
    

Mounts

• All non Battle Mounts now take 3s to mount up
  
  • Saddled Greywolf: 2s -> 3s
    
  • Elite Terrorbird: 2s -> 3s
    
  • Elite Winter Bear: 2s -> 3s
    
  • Elite Wild Boar: 2s -> 3s
    
  • Elite Bighorn Ram: 2s -> 3s
    
  • Elite Swamp Salamander: 2s -> 3s
    
  • Elite Greywolf: 2s -> 3s
    
  • Spring Cotton Tail: 2s -> 3s
    
• All Battle Mounts now take 10s to mount up
  
  • Siege Ballista: 15s -> 10s
    
  • Venom Basilisk: 15s -> 10s
    
  • Flame Basilisk: 15s -> 10s
    
  • Elder's Command Mammoth: 25s -> 10s
    
• increased the IP of the Avalonian Basilisk to 1000 to match other T7 mount
  
  • Mount Health: 1239 → 1254
    

Mists
In the Solo Mists staying on a mount next to players is currently very safe. This enables the strategy to stay close to two players in combat with each other. Then dismount once a player is low and get potentially a third party kill. Inside this environment it is a strategy with not much commitment upfront, but high reward potential.

To make it harder to engage players which are already in a PvP fight, we will extend the dismount cooldown IF you dismount next to a player that is currently fighting another player.

• Long Hostile Dismount
  
  • If you dismount next to a hostile player that attacked or has been attacked by another player in the last 20s, you get the long Hostile Dismount Cooldown
    
  • The Long Hostile Dismount cooldown is 10s instead of 5s. (this is displayed with a different color !-mark over your head)
    
  • Applies only in Solo Mists
    
• Mount Health Cap in Solo Mists: 1200 -> 900 (Health Cap in greater Mists stays unchanged)
  

We have been very busy working on the next update. But apart from all the new content we have also tried to get some balance adjustments into the works to tone down and change some items and abiliteis that are too good in certain situations and also giving some improvements to a few skills, which are currently under performing. As a bigger meta shift we intend to make Cleanses in the game more broadly available for players to have more possible options to defend against CC.

All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch.

Arcane Staffs
Arcane Staffs are still very strong in the Crystal League meta and Enigma Blade also outshines other W abilities in most situations. To tone the ability down we are increasing the cooldown when using Flicker. This also adds more depth as the cast can choose between lower cast by only using the Blade or activating the extra mobility at the cost of a higher cooldown. Additionally to make Frazzle more useful again, we are changing it back to a damage taken increase on the target, which is a damage amplification independent of the target’s resistances. This allows for a more unique damage amplifying role.

• Enigma Blade (all Arcane Staffs)
  
  • Flicker Cooldown: 15s -> 20s
    
• Frazzle (all Arcane Staffs)
  
  • Energy cost: 9 -> 7% Max energy
    
  • Now reduces Bonus Defense vs players and mobs by 30%
    
  • Removed the Resistance Reduction
    

Crossbows
Due to its slow application of damage the Siegebow has been falling off the ZvZ meta. To make the weapon more competitive in modern Albion again we are shortening the channel time, but keep the same total damage output.

• Sweeping Bolt (Heavy Crossbow)
  
  • Cooldown: 18s -> 15s
    
  • Standtime: 0.7s -> 0.4s
    
• Vicious Barrage (Siegebow)
  
  • Cast Time: 1s -> 0.5s
    
  • Channel Ticks: 5 -> 4
    
  • Base Damage per Tick: 97.26 -> 126
    
  • % Damage per Tick: 2% -> 2.5%
    

Daggers
Demon Fang is in group fights still too oppressive, it just out-damages most similar options. To bring it more in line with other AoE burst damage weapons we are reducing the Resilience Penetration.

• Demon Fang
  
  • Resilience Penetration: 75% -> 50%
    

Fire Staffs
The reworked Pyroblast hasn’t been very popular, although it has a high potential damage it is very situational to make it hit. To make the ability more effective we are reducing the max channel time and the projectile range.

• Pyroblast (one-handed Staff)
  
  • Projectile Range: 20m -> 24m
    
  • Max Channel time: 2s -> 1.2s
    
  • Minimum Damage & Maximum Damage stays the same
    

Frost Staffs
Since the damage of Ice Crystal is very delayed it can be easily reflected on reaction, which makes it too risky to use in large scale fights. Therefore the damage will become un-reflectable. Hoarfrost Staff has not seen much usage after its latest rework. The cooldown is very high for the effect it provides, that is why we are significantly decreasing the cooldown. Additionally we are also increasing the Damage Increase duration of Frostbite, so the buff doesn’t fall off that easily anymore.

• Frostbite (all Frost Staffs):
  
  • Damage Increase Duration: 2.5s -> 4
    
    
• Avalanche (Hoarfrost Staff):
  
  • Cooldown 30s -> 20s
    
• Ice Crystal (Permafrost)
  
  • Damage can't be reflected anymore
    

Holy Staffs
We are increasing the hit delay after the Smite cast slightly, to make it a bit more likely to dodge the ability in 1v1 PvP situations.

• Smite (all Holy Staffs)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.15s -> 0.25s
    

Nature Staffs
To give more meaning to interrupting Revitalize after a few ticks, a lot of the needed energy for the full channels is paid upfront on channel start. Getting the whole channel through leaves the Nature staff user in the same energy level, but interrupting it early now has a strong energy penalty to it. Fighting with DoT weapons against a Great Nature Staff is too punishing, because Living Armor gets the Healing ticks almost guaranteed with little counter play. To give Cursed Staffs and axes a better chance, Living Armor now only heals on direct damage.

• Revitalize (all Nature Staffs)
  
  • Energy cost at Channel Start: 0 -> 20
    
  • Energy cost per Channel Tick: 9 -> 4
    
• Living Armor (Great Nature Staff)
  
  • Now only Heals when receiving Direct Damage (DoTs don't count anymore)
    

Swords
We are reverting the movement speed from Heroic Charges back to 9%. Because the provided mobility in Corrupted Dungeons is just too much of an advantage, even with the introduction of the Mephits. Additionally for Corrupted Dungeons we are reducing the range of Mighty Blow to give better counterplay options. Due to the low cooldown, long range and fast speed it can be very difficult to defend against it for many match-ups.

• Heroic Charge (all Swords)
  
  • Movement Speed Increase: 12% -> 9%
    
• Iron Will (all Swords)
  
  • Can't be purged by movement removing effects like Cripple anymore
    
• Mighty Blow (One Handed Sword)
  
  • Castrange: 10m -> 8m
    
  • Distance to the enemy after the Leap: 1m -> 3m
    
• Charge (Claymore)
  
  • 0 Charges Damage: 86.00 -> 81
    
  • 1 Charge Damage: 137.61 -> 130
    
  • 2 Charges Damage: 206.41 -> 195
    
  • 3 Charges Damage: 292.41 -> 276
    

War Gloves
To make Backhand Strike more reliable to use, it will now knock all enemies hit into the cast direction away. Which should make the ability way more useful, as enemies won’t randomly scatter around anymore.

• Backhand Strike (all War Gloves)
  
  • Enemies are now all knocked into the same cast-direction
    

Helmets
To make Cleanses more widely available, Cleanse will now be on every Leather Hood. Giving more players the choice to change to Cleanse as an off spell if they want to react to their situation. Further we are improving the helmet abilities Energy Regain and Howl, which are a bit undertuned in comparison to other helmet abilites.

• Energy Regain (all Helmets)
  
  • Channel Duration: 9s -> 4s
    
  • Tick Interval: every 1s -> every 0.5s (Energy gain per tick is still the same)
    
• Howl (all Leather Hoods -> Mercenary Hood)
  
  • Cooldown: 30s -> 20s
    
  • Howl is now moved to Mercenary Hood
    
• Cleanse (Mercenary Hood -> all Leather Hoods)
  
  • Cleanse is now moved to all Leather Hoods
    

Armors
Stalker Jacket is outshined in most situations by Hellion jacket. To give Stalker Jacket more clear advantages we are making the cooldown shorter and increasing the damage, to make it the more desirable choice for consistent AoE damage output and keep Hellion Jackets focus more on sustain.

• Electric Field (Stalker Jacket)
  
  • Cooldown: 45s -> 30s
    
  • Damage per Tick: 26.70 -> 28
    

Shoes
We further want to add another Cleanse option on the shoe slot and add the new Ability Break Free for that. It will replace the ability Invisibility, which has already been outshined by other invisibility options in the shoe slot and felt a bit obsolete.

• Mercenary Shoes
  
• Removed the Ability Invisibility
  
• Added the new Ability: Break Free
  
  • Cleanses all Crowd Control Effects on Dash towards the targeted position
    
  • (can be used while stunned or silenced).
    
  • Cooldown: 25s / Range: 12m
    

Diminishing Returns
Reworked Diminishing Returns for Knockbacks and Knocking enemies into the air, to prevent player getting basically stun locked by repeated knock ups.

• Knocking enemies into the air is now affected by Diminishing Returns
  
• Knocking enemies into the air now counts as knockback for DR
  
• Various individual adjustments to how knocking enemies up translates into knockback DR
  
• Knockback DR Factor: 0.04 -> 0.15
  
• Knockback DR Time: 15s -> 10s
  

Misc
To offer a more enjoyable experience when playing dungeons we will reduce the cooldown after entering a dungeon or changing floors inside the dungeon. We keep the high cooldown in the Open World to not give more power to gank groups splitting up on two sides of an exit.

• Ability Cooldown when entering a dungeon or changing floors inside a dungeon: 15s -> 7s
  

Just as a heads up for everyone waiting for the next round of adjustments. The next Patch with Balance Changes will be Patch 7. Since Patch 6 has a lot of changes to a wide range of features in the game, we will first focus on finsihing patch 6. Among various other changes, you can also expect changes to Evensong and Chain Missile's total damage output in group fights.


Arcane Staffs
Arcane Staffs have become very popular after the latest reworks, but also introduced a few problems that we want to address. First the damage output in 5v5 fights became too high, to tone it down consecutive jumps of Chain Missile now do significantly less damage, this reduces damage in group fights and also offers more counter play, by body blocking the projectile to reduce the damage output on the backline. But the damage for 1v1s stays unchanged. Great Arcane provides a lot of utility in ZvZs and is especially very strong as a defensive. The main intended counter is to bait the Time Freeze out before committing fully on an attack, however the currently short invulnerability window allows it to chain Time Freeze quite frequently in a large-scale fight. To make a baited Time Freeze more impactful players will now be invulnerable to another Time Freeze for a significantly longer time. And finally Dark Sphere’s recent buffs made it much more reliable to hit, but this reliability made the strong slow too oppressive, that is why the slow strength will be reduced. Enigma Blade provides still a bit too much value on a W-slot ability, that is why we also tone down the damage output a bit.

• Chain Missile (all Arcane Staffs)
  
  • Arcane Charge Duration: 6s -> 3s
    
  • Projectile Bounce Range: 8m -> 7m
    
  • Damage for each consecutive bounce: 121 -> 60 (The first target hit still takes the 121 damage)
    
• Enigma Blade (all Arcane Staffs)
  
  • Damage: 180 -> 165
    
• Time Freeze (Great Arcane)
  
  • Cooldown increased by 10s
    
  • Player Immunity after a Player Freeze: 5s -> 15s
    
• Dark Sphere (Evensong)
  
  • Slow Strength: 25% -> 15%
    

Cursed Staffs
Now that players have adapted to the new playstyle of the reworked Grudge, the damage output they achieve with it is a bit too high and will be toned down. And the damage Output of the Anguished Soul is also a bit high, considering its utility with the fear effect.

• Grudge (all Cursed Staffs)
  
  • 0 Stack Damage: 20 -> 18
    
  • 1 Stack Damage: 25 -> 22.5
    
  • 2 Stack Damage: 60 -> 54
    
  • 3 Stack Damage: 100 -> 90
    
  • 4 Stack Damage: 150 -> 135
    
• Anguished Soul (Demonic Staff)
  
  • Damage: 175 -> 160
    

Daggers
The Damage Increase stacking of Throwing Blades makes it very powerful in large scale fights where it is easy to reach max stacks. To reduce the possible synergies with stacking too much damage buffs for one-shotting builds the Damage Increase will be reduced. But the raw damage of the Throwing Blade itself is a bit increased to soften the damage reduction by that change in small scale a bit.

• Throwing Blades (all Daggers)
  
  • Damage Increase per Stack: 15%- 10%
    
  • Damage per Hit: 35 -> 45
    

Fire Staffs
Fire Bolt can put out damage too fast in 2v2 Hell Gates, to make it less oppressive we increase the cast time, but to also make the ability more attractive in other content we increase the cast range. Additionally we reduce the damage of Flame Pillar a bit, which still has a very high burst damage potential, on a potential very low cooldown.

• Fire Bolt (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Cast time: 0.7s -> 0.8s
    
  • Cast Range: 11m -> 12m
    
• Flame Pillar (Great Fire Staff)
  
  • Damage: 200 -> 190
    

Frost Staffs
Frozen Surge is still very underused after the recent rework. This Q was meant to sacrifice some damage output for its kiting and slowing potential, however the current damage is probably just too low to make it work, that is why we are increasing the damage a bit and see if it gets played more.

• Frozen Surge (all Frost Staffs)
  
  • Damage: 80 -> 90
    

Holy Staffs
Generous Heal is outshined by Holy Flash in most situations in PvP. To make it a bit more competitive choice we are reducing the cast time and making it a bit more energy efficient. Great Holy is very strong and offers too much utility and sustain in 2v2 Hell Gates, to give more other healing staffs a chance to shine in this content we are reducing the sustain of Holy Explosion. One of the staffs we are currently not seeing often in 2v2 Hell gates is Lifetouch, that is why we are also improving it’s healing output to make it more competitive in this content. Another staff that is currently a bit underrepresented is Redemption Staff, to make it a bit more attractive to use we are reducing the energy cost a bit.

• Generous Heal (all Holy Staffs)
  
  • Cast Time: 0.7s -> 0.5s -> 0.6s
    
  • Energycost: 7 -> 6.2
    
• Holy Explosion (Great Holy Staff)
  
  • Resistance Increase: 0.2 -> 0.16 -> 0.12
    
• Holy Touch (Lifetouch Staff)
  
  • Heal per Tick: 59 -> 64
    
• Celestial Sphere (Redemption Staff)
  
  • Energycost: 20 -> 16
    

Quarter Staffs
Mystic Rocks is a strong heal denial that has the downside of the caster themself not being able to get healed. However pre-applied HoTs kinda circumvents this downside, that is why now activating the ability will remove all HoTs on the caster. The regular Quarterstaff is currently not used much, so we are improving its range and cast time, this should make it a bit more reliable to hit enemies and provide more utility with the increased range.

• Vault Leap (Regular Quarterstaff)
  
  • Cast Range: 13m -> 15m
    
  • Cast Time: 0.7s -> 0.6s
    

• Mystic Rocks (Staff of Balance)
  
  • Activating the ability now removes all HoTs on the caster
    

Nature Staffs
Cleanse Heal is still an extremely powerful ability and was widely used in the CLC even when facing tanks without big CCs that can be cleansed, it is still chosen for its raw healing output. Since the Cleanse already provides a lot of value, we will reduce the healing output of Cleanse Heal.

• Cleanse Heal (all Nature Staffs)
  
  • 0 stack Heal: 70 -> 55
    
  • 1 stack Heal: 90 -> 70
    
  • 2 stack Heal: 115 -> 90
    
  • 3 stack Heal: 150 -> 120
    

Helmets
With so many kidnap and knock up abilities in the game we are improving Knight Helmet as a counter. Higher range and max targets makes it easier to apply and large groups need less Knight Helmets allowing some player to free up the helmet slot for something else.

• Displacement Immunity (Knight Helmet)
  
  • Max Targets: 5 -> 10
    
  • Radius: 4m -> 5m
    

Armors
Everlasting Spirit is an extremely powerful ability that is very commonly used on a lot of builds. To make other Robe abilities more attractive in comparison we add a stronger downside to using this ability by increasing the energy cost on activation.

• Everlasting Spirit (Cleric Robe)
  
  • Energycost : 15 -> 20% Max energy
    

Shoes
We are improving a couple of currently underused shoe abilities, which core design and identity is actually an interesting choice, but currently still does not see much play. So we are increasing their value a bit more.

• Battle Frenzy (Graveguard Boots)
  
  • Movementspeed Increase: 40% -> 55%
    
  • Duration: 6s -> 5s
    
• Energetic Sprint (all Cloth Sandals)
  
  • Energy per Tick: 4 -> 5
    
• Frost Walk (Druid Sandals)
  
  • Movespeed Increase: 45% -> 55%
    
• Premonition (Boots of Valor)
  
  • First Buff Duration: 2s -> 3s
    
  • Movement Speed Increase: 20% -> 45%
    

Food
With the change to Everlasting Spirit we are also improving Crab Omelettes as a potential choice to deal with the higher energy cost for very energy dependent builds.

• Crab Omelettes
  
  • Energycost Reduction Factor: 0.05 -> 0.06
    
  • (example T7 Crab Omelette 9.5% -> 11.3%
    

Diminishing Returns
With the latest changes we made Diminishing Returns ramp up faster and make the mechanic much more effective in disincentivizing trying to stun-lock enemies. However with the long duration it currently also punishes tanks for using their large stun off cooldown, by diminishing their own stun. To have less negative impact on solo tanks we are reducing the max duration of Diminishing Returns, so it falls off a bit faster.

• Max Diminishing Return Duration: 20s -> 15s
  

Misc
In 2v2 Hell Gates teams with a Healer currently have very high chances at winning against any team without a Healer. But having 2v2 Hell Gates being so reliant on Healers is limiting the amount of players that can enjoy this content. So, to open up the possibilities of more comps without healers we are reducing the general Healing Output in 2v2 Gates. Important to note that shields also scale with Healing, so this change also reduces the impact of other sustain comps that rely on shielding.

• 2v2 Hell Gates
  
  • Healing Reduction: 10% -> 20%
    

Siince the last patches had a short turn around for the balance changes and the chages directly went to the staging server, there was no need for a NDA change because it was public information at that point. However since many players seem to use this thread as a quick reference for the latest Balance Changes. I also added the latest changes for Patch 5 in here.


Arcane Staffs

• Enigma Blade (all Arcane Staffs)
  
  • Damage: 200 → 180
    
• Dark Sphere (Evensong)
  
  • Base Cooldown: 48s → 42s
    
  • Cooldown Reduction per 100 IP: 1.5s → 1s
    

Daggers

• Blood Ritual (Demonfang)
  
  • Enemy Damage: 126 → 112
    

Fire Staffs

• Flame Pillar (Great Fire Staff)
  
  • Damage: 218 → 200
    

Frost Staffs

• Frostbite (all Frost Staffs):
  
  • Size of the projectile hitbox has been increased
    
  • Cast Time: 0.4s → 0.3s
    
  • Cooldown: 1s → 1.2s
    
  • Damage: 128 → 102
    
• Frost Nova (all Frost Staffs)
  
  • Range: 9m → 11m
    
• Frost Lance (all Frost Staffs)
  
  • Resistance Reduction: 0.16 → 0.12
    
  • Resistance Reduction Duration: 4s → 3s
    
• Freezing Wind (one-handed Frost Staff)
  
  • Standtime: 0.4s → 0.2s
    
• Hail (Great Frost Staff)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.2s → 0.4s
    
  • Recast Cooldown: 0s → 1s
    
  • Damage: 150 → 130
    

Mounts

• Flicker (Spectral Bat)
  
  • Added 0.2s of Damage immunity
    

The listed changes are intended to go live with Into The Fray Patch 2. The focus of the changes is to improve some of the reworked Magic Staff abilities and improve the Corrupted Dungeons meta by making the reset bats more effective at punishing enemies for kiting too much, as well as toning down some of the most successful items in this content


This post gets regularly updated with the latest changes of our internal playtests.

Very Important:
All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch. Sometimes we just try out various things, which may get reverted. Also the balance changes are not neccessarily all complete. Just because a certain item is not adjusted in the changelogs so far, doesn't mean it isn't on our 'need to be adjusted'-list. These changes are simply a snapshot of the current development and everything in there needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

This thread is not meant to discuss these unfinished changes. It is just to give all players the same chance of guessing the direction of the next balance patch

Cursed Staffs

• Curse Tar (all Cursed Staffs)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.5s -> 0.35s
    
• Grudge (all Cursed Staffs)
  
  • Damage after 0.0s: 10 -> 20
    
  • Damage after 0.5s: 20 -> 25
    
  • Damage after 1.0s: 40 -> 60
    
  • Damage after 1.5s: 70 -> 100
    
  • Damage after 2.0s: 120 -> 150
    

Nature Staffs

• Thorns (all Nature Staffs)
  
  • Area Damage vs players: 20 -> 25
    
• Rejuvenating Flower (all Nature Staffs)
  
  • Grow Interval: 2.5s -> 2s
    
• Brambleseed (all Nature Staffs)
  
  • Second Hit Damage: 162 -> 178 -> 162
    
  • Delay until Brambles Growth: 1s -> 0.7s
    
• Revitalize (all Nature Staffs)
  
  • Energycost at Channel Start: 0 -> 20
    
  • Energycost per Channel Tick: 9 -> 4
    

Spears

• Spirit Spear Charge (all Spears)
  
  • Normal Attack Damage Increase: 32% -> 28%
    

Swords

• Mighty Blow (one-handed Sword)
  
  • 0 Charge Damage: 84 -> 80
    
  • 1 Charge Damage: 135 -> 128
    
  • 2 Charge Damage: 203 -> 192
    
  • 3 Charge Damage: 287 -> 271
    
• Crescent Slash (Clarent Blade)
  
  • Base Damage: 172 -> 182
    
  • The projectile damage is now affected by AoE escalation
    

War Gloves

• Fleet Footwork (all War Gloves)
  
  • Using the Dash Follow Up now costs 4 energy
    

Helmets

• Force Field (all Cloth Cowls)
  
  • Knockback Distance: 14m -> 12m
    

Shoes

• Rejuvenating Sprint (all Plate Boots)
  
  • Heal per Tick: 20 -> 18
    

Taproot

• Max Health Increase Factor: 0.3 -> 0.25
  
  • Healing Reduction Factor: 0.12 -> 0.08
    

Corrupted Dungeons

• Bat Debuff
  
  • Movements Speed Reduction per Stack: 1% -> 1.5%
    
  • Debuff Max Stacks: 25 -> 30
    
• Bats will be non-targetable and not attackable (like the traps) This prevents interactions like Swords getting stacks from bats.
  
• Bats don’t spawn if a player is in close proximity anymore (to make sure bats don't spawn between 2 players in a chase)
  

These are the changes for the next content update, Into the Fray. This includes the new and overhauled abilities for Fire, Holy, Cursed and Nature Staffs. Other balance changes focus primarily on improving recently reworked abilities, which are still not performing well enough.


This post gets regularly updated with the latest changes of our internal playtests.

Very Important:
All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch. Sometimes we just try out various things, which may get reverted. Also the balance changes are not neccessarily all complete. Just because a certain item is not adjusted in the changelogs so far, doesn't mean it isn't on our 'need to be adjusted'-list. These changes are simply a snapshot of the current development and everything in there needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

This thread is not meant to discuss these unfinished changes. It is just to give all players the same chance of guessing the direction of the next balance patch

Bows
To make Lucent Hawk feel more fluid to use, we are eliminating the first activation of the buff. Instead it is now possible to directly shoot the first arrow.

• Lucent Hawk (Mistpiercer)
  
  • Doesn't require a buff activation as a first step anymore, instead activating the ability will now directly shoot the first arrow
    

Cursed Staffs
We added two new abilities: Anguished Soul and Cursed Tar. For Demonic Staffs, Field of Death has been replaced with Anguished Soul, which summons a ghostly creature that fears enemies. Cursed Tar is a new Q-slot ability which places cursed areas on the ground applying Vile Curse Charges. Cursed Beam has been improved to make it more threatening in PvP scenarios by making it consume Vile Curse charges at a slower pace and increasing the guaranteed base damage. Grudge now deals different damage depending on how fast the ally attacks, so it now works with every auto attack speed and adds a bit more depth to the ability. And various other improvements and adjustments to make the staffs feel more polished.

• Hit and Run - Passive (all Cursed Staffs)
  
  • activates after every 4 -> 6 Casts
    
• Vile Curse (all Cursed Staffs)
  
  • Hitdelay 0.2s -> 0.4s
    
• New Q-slot Ability: Cursed Tar (all Cursed Staffs)
  
  • Create a Cursed Tar puddle with a 2.5m radius at target location lasting 4s.
    
  • Slows all enemies in the puddle by 10%.
    
  • Applies one Vile Curse Charge every 1s.
    
  • Cooldown 3s
    
• Cursed Beam (all Cursed Staffs)
  
  • Vile Curse Stacks are now removed every second tick
    
  • Channel Duration: 4.5s -> 3s
    
  • Damage with 0 stacks: 36 -> 48
    
  • Damage with 1+ stacks: 72 -> 68
    
  • Castrange: 11m -> 13m
    
• Grudge (all Cursed Staffs)
  
  • Grudge hit effect delay: 1s -> 0s
    
  • The Grudge effect now stacks up on the ally every 0.5s
    
  • Each Auto Attack consumes all stacks
    
  • Grudge Stacks 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
    
  • Damage 10 / 20 / 40 / 70 /120
    
  • This way Grudge triggers with all Attack Speed builds, but the damage is diminished if the attack interval is too fast.
    
• Death Curse (one-handed Cursed Staff)
  
  • The Death Curse Debuff can’t be cleansed anymore
    
  • Hit Delay for the Projectile: 0.4s -> 0.15s
    
• Removed the ability Field of Death (Demonic Staff)
  
• Added a new E-slot Ability: Anguished Soul (Demonic Staff)
  
  • Send an Anguished Soul in targeted direction, passing through all enemies.
    
  • Deals 175 magical damage.
    
  • Any enemy hit will be feared for a duration based on the amount of Vile Curse Charges on them.
    
  • Vile Curse Charges: 0 / 1 / 2 /3 / 4
    
  • Fear Duration: 0.4s / 0.8s / 1.2s / 1.6s / 2s
    

Daggers
Even after the latest buff, Demonfang still has difficulties competing with other weapons. To help it work better as an assassin weapon, we removed the DoTs on enemies and instead the damage is now applied instantly. The self Bleed is now also only triggered on the 3rd activation, which increases the incentive to just go for one or two hits and allows the caster to use this ability for two activations even when low on health. We also made various improvements to make aiming and hitting opponents more reliable.

• Blood Ritual (Demonfang)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.3s -> 0.15s
    
  • Instant Damage: 100 -> 140
    
  • Fixed AoE Escalation
    
  • Removed the DoT Damage on enemies
    
  • The Self Damage is now only applied after the 3rd cast
    
  • Self DoT Base Damage: 12 -> 60
    

Fire Staffs
Pyroblast is now a channeled skillshot that rewards positioning and timing. Ignite has been replaced with a new ability: Flame Blast. And Infernal Staff's Contagious Fire has been replaced with Combustion, which ignites an enemy leaving a flaming trail behind that silences. The Burn effect of Fire Bolt now triggers earlier, increasing the damage output if the same target is hit multiple times. Flame Pillar now has significantly more damage, on a higher 15s cooldown. But if at least one enemy is hit, the cooldown gets reduced back to 10s. And various other improvements and adjustments to make the staffs feel more polished.

• Fire Bolt (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Burn Damage over Time Delay: 1s -> 0.3s
    
  • Hit Delay: 0.2s -> 0.12s
    
• Burning Field (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.1s -> 0.15s
    
• Removed the ability Ignite (all Fire Staffs)
  
• Added a new W-Slot ability Flame Blast (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Select a target (Ally, Enemy, Self), after 1.6s an explosion occurs around the target, deals 150 magical damage to all enemies in a 5m radius.
    
  • If the main target is an enemy they also take an additional 45 magical damage immediately.
    
• Wall of Flames (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Standtime: 0.6s -> 0.4s
    
• Fire Wave (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Fire Wave area Duration: 0.8s -> 1s
    
• Fire Ball (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Cast Range: 18m -> 22m
    
  • Instant Damage: 124.63 -> 135
    
  • Projectile Speed increased by 10%
    
• Fire Artillery (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Hitdelay: 0.1s -> 0s
    
  • Projectile Hitdelay: 0.5s -> 0.2s
    
• Pyroblast (one-handed Fire Staff)
  
• Completely reworked the Ability:
  
  • Charge up a Pyroblast, while channeling for up to 2s (You can aim while channeling).
    
  • Deals magical damage in a 4m radius upon impact with an enemy based on how long you have channeled.
    
  • Charge Up: 0.5s / 1s / 1.5s / 2s
    
  • Damage: 240 / 280 / 320 / 360
    
  • Pyroblast instant Damage before the Rework: 300
    
  • If you channel for the full duration the Pyroblast will also knock back 2.5m.
    
  • Increased Projectile Speed
    
• Flame Pillar (Great Fire Staff)
  
  • Damage: 184 -> 218
    
  • Cooldown: 10s -> 15s
    
  • If at least one enemy is hit the cooldown is reduced by 5s
    
  • Energy Cost: 13 -> 9
    
  • Hit Delay: 1s -> 0.8s
    
• Removed the ability Contagious Fire (Infernal Staff)
  
• Added a new E-slot Ability: Combustion (Infernal Staff)
  
  • Inflame the targeted enemy dealing 143 magical damage over 5s.
    
  • After a short delay, the burning enemy keeps leaving a fiery trail that lasts 4.4s.
    
  • Deals 28 magical damage (vs. players) / 26 magical damage (vs. mobs) every 0.5s
    
  • Enemy players on the trail are silenced.
    
  • Cooldown: 30s -> 20s
    
  • Energycost: 15 -> 12
    
  • Area Damage vs Players: 45 -> 28
    
  • Area Damage is not reflectable anymore
    

Hammers
Forge Hammers are currently underrepresented. The low cooldown and moderate damage on each hit in giant form made it too easy for enemies to just move out of the effect area. Giant Smash now also knocks enemies into the air and deals more damage. This makes the ability more threatening and makes it easier to stick to targets. To offset this buff we increased the cooldown between each Smash.

• Threatening Strike (all Hammers)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.4s -> 0.1s
    
  • Standtime: 0.4s -> 0.1s
    
  • Cooldown: 3s -> 2s
    
• Giant Steps (Forge Hammers)
  
  • Giant Smash
    
    • Cooldown: 1.2s -> 3s
      
    • Now knocks players up for 0.6s
      
    • Damage: 75 -> 100
      
  
  
  

Holy Staffs
Healing Staffs don’t have the 50% damage reduction on the staff anymore. Smite has been reworked to make a more enjoyable solo PvE & PvP experience, and it is now possible to move while channeling Holy Beam, albeit at a reduced movement speed to allow for enough counter play. Desperate Prayer's Healing Output is increased and if used above the 40% health threshold it now gives the caster a buff that increases Healing Output. Creating an incentive to use the ability above the threshold. And various other improvements and adjustments to make the staffs feel more polished.

• Base Stats (all Holy Staffs)
  
  • Removed the 50% damage Reduction
    
• Smite (all Holy Staffs)
  
• Completely reworked the Ability:
  
  • Smite all enemies at the targeted location, dealing 100 magical damage in a 2.5m radius.
    
  • The next time any enemy hit takes damage within the next 3s, they will take an additional 30 magical damage.
    
  • Hitting at least one enemy will reduce this ability cooldown by 50%.
    
  • Cast Time: 0.6s -> 0.5s
    
  • Hitdelay: 0.2s -> 0s
    
  • Standtime: 0.2s -> 0s
    
  • Cooldown: 3s -> 2s
    
  • Instant Damage: 120 -> 100
    
  • Mark Damage: 40 -> 30
    
  • Mark Duration: 5s -> 3s
    
• Sacred Pulse (all Holy Staffs)
  
  • When used vs mobs, they are now knocked into the air, instead of knocked back
    
• Holy Beam (all Holy Staffs)
  
  • The caster can now move while channeling, with 30% reduced movement speed
    
• Desperate Prayer (one-handed Holy Staff)
  
  • Heal Value below 40%: 200 -> 220
    
  • Heal Value above 40%: 82 -> 100
    
  • Additionally if Desperate Prayer is cast on a target above 40% the caster receives a buff which increases Healing Cast by 5% for 15s. (stacks up to 3 times)
    
  • Energy Cost: 15 -> 12
    
  • Buff Duration: 12s -> 15s
    
• Holy Touch
  
  • Heal per Tick: 55 -> 59
    
• Celestial Sphere:
  
  • Base Heal: 60 -> 86
    
  • Healing the same target twice doesn't increase the Healing Output anymore
    
  • Initial Hitdelay: 0.4s -> 0.15s
    

Nature Staffs
Healing Staffs don’t have the 50% damage reduction on the staff anymore. Improved solo PvE & PvP experience, with a reworked Thorns spell and a new Brambleseed spell that knocks enemies airborne. Rejuvenating Mushroom has been replaced with the new Rejuvenating Flower multi-part spell: Grow multiple flowers on the ground that can be picked up and thrown to a specific spot to provide instant healing and Rejuvenation stacks. Revitalize is now on a much shorter cooldown, and is more limited by energy cost than cooldown, to make it more useful in PvP and provide higher single target healing output to compete with Holy in group PvE. And various other improvements and adjustments to make the staffs feel more polished.

• Base Stats (all Nature Staffs)
  
  • Removed the 50% damage Reduction
    
• Thorns (all Nature Staffs)
  
• Completely Reworked the Ability:
  
  • Conjure Thorns with a 3m radius at the targeted area, lasting 4s.
    
  • Deals magical damage and applies one Thorns Charge to all enemies within the area every 0.5s. (stacks up to 5 times).
    
  • Slows by 25%.
    
  • The ability goes on cooldown if you either cast it the maximum of 3 times or don't recast it for 3s.
    
  • Thorns Charges can be consumed by your normal attacks and deal additional magical damage.
    
  • Area Damage vs Players: 40 -> 20
    
  • Area Damage vs Mobs: 40 -> 30
    
  • Consumed Thorn Stack Damage: 30 -> 35
    
• Removed the ability Rejuvenating Mushroom (all Nature Staffs)
  Added new Q-slot Ability: Rejuvenating Flower (all Nature Staffs)
  
  • Plant a magical flower at the targeted position, lasting 20s. The flower grows stronger over time.
    
  • Collecting the flower gives you the ability to throw it at a targeted location. On impact it heals and applies Rejuvenation Charges on up to 5 allies within a 3m radius based. (only you can collect the flower).
    
  • Grow Time: 0s / 2.s / 5s
    
  • Heal: 17 / 41 / 70
    
  • Rejuvenation Charges: 1 / 2 / 3
    
• Added a new W-slot Ability: Brambleseed (all Nature Staffs)
  
  • Throw seeds along a 16m line in targeted direction, dealing 54 magical damage.
    
  • After a 1s delay brambles will grow along the line, dealing 162 magical damage.
    
  • Throws all enemies hit in the air for 0.71s.
    
• Revitalize
  
  • Cooldown: 15s -> 7s
    
  • Channel Duration: 4.5s -> 3s
    
  • Energy Cost per Tick: 6 -> 9
    
• Living Armor (Great Nature Staff)
  
  • Cast Time: 1s -> 0s
    
  • Cooldown: 25s -> 15s
    
  • Duration: 8s -> 4s
    
  • Heal Value on each hit: 27 -> 40
    
  • Can’t be stacked from multiple casters anymore
    

Spears
Glaive has been consistently very strong in 5v5 Crystal League, due to its threatening kidnap potential and high sustain damage. To make it less oppressive we adjust the Fling distance. And because this alone won’t be enough we are also increasing the cooldown of Harpoon. This is a change on the Q and W abilities that doesn’t affect other spear lines base gameplay as much as other changes would (like reducing Q damage for instance).

• Harpoon (all Spears)
  
  • Cooldown: 15s -> 20s
    
• Fling (Glaive)
  
  • Pull Distance: 10m -> 7m
    

Swords
Dual Swords still are still underperforming after the latest rework. To improve the abilities utility and damage output players won’t use the stacks after using it. The stacks helps to keep up with the target because of the move speed and the increased auto attack speed synergizes with attack damage buff at the end of the Spinning Blades.

• Spinning Blades (Dual Swords)
  
  • Doesn't consume Heroic Charges anymore
    

War Gloves
Fleet Footwork's second ability was too situational to be reliably useful and the reduced damage output for using it once was a big drawback. To make it more useful and fun to use, it is now a ground target dash that provides an auto-attack damage buff. This buff makes sure that the damage output doesn’t drop too much when using the second ability. Spiked Gauntlets in large scale fights have become too oppressive when stacked. To make it less desirable to stack Spiked Gauntlets, enemies can only be hit once per second by the effect. Ravenstrike Cestus is also very dominant in large scale fights, that is why we have reduced the damage output, to offset the fact that one usually gets high AoE Escalation due to the large radius.

• Fleet Footwork (all War Gloves)
  
  • Kick:
    
    • Damage: 50 -> 64
      
    • Slightly increased Hitbox
      
    • Step can now be used even without hitting an enemy during the kick
      
  • Step:
    
    • Range: 5m -> 7m
      
    • Doesn’t require a target anymore, it is instead a ground target Dash
      
    • Increases Attack Damage by 100% for 5s
      
    • Removed the Damage Reduction during the quick Step animation
      
• Gravitational Collapse (Spiked Gauntlets)
  
  • Enemies hit become immune to getting hit by another Gravitational Collapse for 1s
    
• Earth Crusher (Ravenstrike Cestus)
  
  • 0 Charge Damage: 188 -> 160
    
  • 1 Charge Damage: 200 -> 170
    
  • 2 Charge Damage: 212 -> 180
    
  • 3 Charge Damage: 224 -> 190
    

Misc:

• Self Healing Sickness Duration: 60s -> 120s
  

Corrupted Dungeons
With the overhauled Magic Staffs, we want to make solo Healers feel more powerful again. But we also don’t want out sustaining strategies to dominate Corrupted Dungeons.

• Healing Reduction inside Corrupted Dungeons: 20% -> 30%
  
• Casting any Holy- or Nature Q-slot Healing spell inside a corrupted dungeons, reduces the caster's damage by 50% for 60s
  

We are currently working on another balance patch that is intended to go live somewhere around the middle of this season. From our latest Dev Talk you probably know that we have been primarily working on the Magic Staff Rework. But we still want to bring you a balance patch, before the Rework hits live. However since our resources are mainly occupied with the rework we will focus on a smaller amount of changes and try to avoid changes to the magic staffs in the balance patch. And instead do bigger changes only together with the rework.

This post gets regularly updated with the latest changes of our internal playtests.

Very Important:
All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch. Sometimes we just try out various things, which may get reverted. Also the balance changes are not neccessarily all complete. Just because a certain item is not adjusted in the changelogs so far, doesn't mean it isn't on our 'need to be adjusted'-list. These changes are simply a snapshot of the current development and everything in there needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

This thread is not meant to discuss these unfinished changes. It is just to give all players the same chance of guessing the direction of the next balance patch

Axes
We increased the Resilience Penetration for Halberd and Carrion Caller to increase their damage output in group fights. This makes these Halberds more effective in large scale fights. Carrion Caller will also have higher sustain damage in group fights, which should also increase their sustain damage in Crystal League scenarios.

• Halberd
  
  • Resilience Penetration: 30% -> 50%
    
• Carrion Caller
  
  • Resilience Penetration: 30% -> 50%
    

Bows
With the last changes to Enchanted Quiver, we made the stacks fall off easier and have a slower ramp up time to allow for more counter play. Since these changes regular Bows have been quite underrepresented. For this reason, we revert the change to the stack duration. But reduced the damage burst potential to offset this consistency. That is why we revert the ramp up time back to it’s old values and only keep the shortened stack duration to keep the weapon in check.

• Enchanted Quiver (regular Bows)
  
  • Attack Damage Increase per Stack: 30% -> 35% -> 25%
    
  • Attack Speed Increase per Stack: 13% -> 15% -> 10%
    
  • Max Attack Buff Stack: 7 -> 6 -> 7
    
  • Attack Buff Duration: 3.5s -> 5s
    

Daggers
Blood Ritual now has more damage front loaded on the moment of each hit. This makes casting it in quick succession more viable. The ability still leaves a DoT that is overwritten each hit, which means for max damage there still is a reason to space the three activations apart. But utilizing Blood Ritual primarily for burst damage should still do a signifant amount of damage. The maximum damage output of this ability stays unchanged.

• Blood Ritual (Demonfang)
  
  • Now applies an instant 100 damage each hit
    
  • DoT damage: 50 -> 25
    
  • Number of DoT Ticks: 3 -> 2
    
  • Enemy Bleed Duration stays the same
    

Frost Staffs
Frost Staffs have been very dominant in various parts of the game. With their peak damage output when stacking multiple cast time modifiers, they outshine most other ranged DPS. While we want to keep the playstyle in general intact, we are reducing the damage output of Ice Shard slightly, to reduce the peak DPS that Frost Staffs can reach. Additionally we increase the cooldown of Freezing Wind, which offered a large area CC on a quiet low cooldown.

• Ice Shard (all Frost Staffs)
  
  • Damage vs players: 125 -> 118
    
• Freezing Wind (one-handed Frost Staff)
  
  • Cooldown: 15s -> 18s
    

Hammers
The recent changes to Crowd Control Duration scaling and Diminishing Returns have hit Great Hammers and made them less effective, since their role was dependent on a singular long lasting stun. So, we are increasing the Tackle stun duration, to make them more impactful in team fights again.

• Tackle (Great Hammer)
  
  • Stun Duration: 2.10s -> 2.35s
    

Holy Staffs
Great Holy is a very impactful weapon in the Holy line, which can make it very hard for melee opponents to get in. The enemy knockback is a bit too punishing for enemies, due to the long airborne time. To make Great Holy less oppressive for enemy melees, we are increasing the enemy knockback speed, which means they are shorter airborne.

• Holy Explosion (Great Holy Staff)
  
  • Enemy Knockback speed: 10m/s -> 20m/s
    

Maces
Heavy maces are currently underrepresented, although their silence and purge should be a good counter to Nature Staff sustain builds, like currently meta in the 5v5 Crystal League. To make them more attractive in their role we are increasing the radius of Battle Howl, so Heavy Maces are more effective in fulfilling their role.

• Battle Howl (Heavy Mace)
  
  • Radius: 5m -> 6m
    

Nature Staffs
Nature Staffs are currently very strong in sustaining enemy pressure in 5v5 Crystal League matches. Since we don’t want to reduce their healing output in other content too much, we want to make them more susceptible to being pressured by tanks. Therefore we are increasing the cooldown of Cleanse Heal and the additional heal. So if the enemy team pressures a Nature Staff player to use Cleanse Heal it will reduce the player’s healing output.
To further reduce the potential sustain of double healer teams we reduced the duration of Protection of Nature. Additionally we added a direct heal effect which makes it sure it also triggers Healing Sickness, but to offset this direct heal we slightly reduced the increased healing effect.

• Protection of Nature (all Nature Staffs):
  
  • Duration: 8s -> 6s
    
  • Now directly Heals the target for 40
    
  • Healing Increased: 40% -> 35%
    
  • This effect can't be stacked from multiple players on the same target anymore
    

• Cleanse Heal (all Nature Staffs)
  
  • Cooldown: 18s -> 20s
    
  • Heal Value - 0 Charges: 80 -> 70
    
  • Heal Value - 1 Charge: 100 -> 90
    
  • Heal Value - 2 Charges: 130 -> 115
    
  • Heal Value - 3 Charges: 170 -> 150
    

Spears
We reduced the Resilience Penetration of the Glaive to reduce it’s sustain damage in group fights. This should also reduce the sustain damage in 5v5 Crystal League, without any impact on damage output in solo play.

• Glaive
  
  • Resilience Penetration: 50% -> 30%
    

Swords
Currently Dual Swords are very similar to many other sword abilities, which leaves not much room to make the weapon strong in a unique role without outshining the other swords. That is why we are testing an attack speed and attack damage buff to the E ability, to make Dual Swords a strong auto attack bruiser. We are also improving the Passive Weaking on Swords as a way to impact enemy damage output more significantly, to give another option for useful passives. We have also reworked the hit detection of Mighty Blow (Broadsword) to only deal the damage if the caster lands close to the target, to improve counterplay interactions against it.

• Weakening (Passive - all Swords)
  
  • Max Stack: 1 -> 5
    
  • Damage Reduction per stack: 4% -> 2%
    
  • Removed the Healing Reduction Effect
    
• Mighty Blow (Broadsword)
  
  • Reworked hit detection so that the ability only deals damage if it lands in close proximity of the target
    
• Spinning Blades (Dual Swords)
  
  • When hitting at least one enemy the player now gets an additional buff, which increases Attack Speed by 50% and Attack Damage by 50% for 5s.
    
  • Removed the additional percentage damage vs players
    

War Gloves
Fists of Avalon has been struggling to find its place in the game. Therefore we have adjusted the ability. We removed the first part, the Roundhouse Kick, instead the ability start now with the Dive Kick. The Kick has less cooldown and keeps the enemy longer airborne to make it easier to follow up with the Purifying Fist. To further make the full combo more impactful the last hit now also purges enemy buffs on hit. (Removing defensive buffs before the damage is dealt)

Cross Step is another ability in the War Glove kit that has been struggling to find its place, that is why it has been reworked into a new ability called Fleet Footwork. The new ability starts with the Roundhouse kick that was previously the first ability in the Purifying Combination, but doing only damage without the knockback. After hitting an enemy with the Kick the ability can immediately be recast to do the Cross Step dodge as a follow up. The Cross Step now doesn’t grant a buff to Auto Attacks anymore, but instead the caster takes less damage during the animation, so it is used purely as a dodge or reposition. Additionally we increased the range of Shock Wave, to make it stronger in the intended role of catching up to a ranged opponent.

• Cross Step (all War Gloves)
  
• Reworked the ability to Fleet Footwork
  
  • Kick enemies in a cone in front of you, dealing 50 physical damage
    
  • Cooldown: 3s -> 2s
    
  • If the kick hits an enemy the ability can be re-activated for 3s -> 2s to use the Cross Step
    
  • Cross Step dodges behind the enemy
    
  • During the dodge animation all damage received is reduced by 40%
    
  • Cross Step Cooldown: 4s -> 3s
    
• Shock Wave (all War Gloves)
  
  • Range: 11m -> 13m
    
• Purifying Combo (Fists of Avalon)
  
  • Removed the Roundhouse Kick (The ability now starts with the Dive Kick)
    
  • Dive Kick:
    
    • Knocked in air duration: 0.86s -> 1s
      
    • Cooldown: 20s -> 15s
      
  • Purifying Punch
    
    • Now also purges enemies before the hit
      
  
  
  
  
  
  

Helmets



The Avalonian plate and cloth helmets have become less relevant in the meta. Purifying Smoke used to be a strong utility slot with offensive and defensive application. But it currently doesn’t seem to offer enough consistency for its high cooldown. To make it more consistent we are reducing the hit delay and increasing the range. Avalonian Beam’s cooldown will be reduced to make it a more attractive option, as it is currently also underrepresented.

• Avalonian Beam (Cowl of Purity)
  
  • Cooldown: 45s -> 40s -> 30s
    
• Purifying Smoke (Helmet of Valor)
  
  • Hit Delay: 0.7s -> 0.5s
    
  • Cast Range: 9m -> 11m
    

Shoes
The damage buff from Hellion Shoes could be used to increase damage beyond the damage buff cap. This was due to Mark of Sacrifice increasing Bonus Damage vs Players. To prevent further damage spikes we exchange this buff with a regular damage increase. To provide tanks with another option for a strong engage-tool we are lowering the cooldown of Elbow Smash.

• Mark of Sacrifice (Hellion Shoes)
  
  • Now increases Damage instead of Bonus vs Mobs / Players
    
• Elbow Smash (Judicator Shoes)
  
  • Cooldown: 30s -> 25s
    

5v5 Crystal League Match
Since it is very difficult to hold a 3 cap on the new map, the matches last much longer on average. To offset this slower point reduction we are increasing the point reduction per kill. This change also rewards killing players more and diminishes and diminishes the effectiveness of jsut out-sustaining the enemy team.

• Points Reduction per Kill: 4 -> 6
  

Healing Sickness (already live)
To broaden the range of possible team and item compositions, Healing Sickness is now only triggered by Nature and Holy Staffs. Healing performed by any other item (like Rejuvenating Sprint, Blood Bandit, Bloodlust, Blessed Aurora, or even when an Arcane Staff uses Holy Orb via Mimic) no longer triggers Healing Sickness.

For the start of Season 15 we are working on a patch with improvements for the next season. This is not intended as the next big balance patch, but instead will focus on some adjustments and imrpovements on currently underused abilities and items. This patch will go live after the CLC, but before the start of Season 15.

This post gets regularly updated with the latest changes of our internal playtests.

Very Important:
All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch. Sometimes we just try out various things, which may get reverted. Also the balance changes are not neccessarily all complete. Just because a certain item is not adjusted in the changelogs so far, doesn't mean it isn't on our 'need to be adjusted'-list. These changes are simply a snapshot of the current development and everything in there needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

This thread is not meant to discuss these unfinished changes. It is just to give all players the same chance of guessing the direction of the next balance patch

Arcane Staffs
Currently stealing an ability with Mimic and then not using it triggers the full 20s cooldown. To make Mimic more flexible and less punishing, this cooldown is completely removed.

• Mimic (all Arcane Staffs):
  
  • Timeout Cooldown 20s → 0s
    

Axes
Blood Bandit offered too much sustain in solo PvE, making it possible to reliably solo a lot of content that was not intended for solo players. To reduce the self sustain the Life Steal effect is now limited to one target and can be triggered less often. But to improve the damage and utility the ability can now be cast twice in a row. But Blood Bandit (Battleaxe):

• Blood Bandit (Battleaxe)
  
  • Can now be used twice in a row
    
  • First use deals physical damage depending on the Rending Bleed Charges on the target and immediately resets the cooldown.
    
    • Stacks: 0/1/2/3
      
    • Damage: 175/200/225/250
      
  • Second use deals 110 physical damage and heals the caster based on the Rending Bleed Charges of the first enemy hit (This heal only applies for the first enemy hit; consecutive hits do not grant additional healing).
    
    • Stacks: 0/1/2/3
      
    • Self-Heal: 50/80/110/150
      
  • Time Window for the second activation 10s
    
  • Cooldown: 10s → 20s
    

Hammers
Forge Hammers have been struggling to find their spot in the combat meta. So we are reworking Giant Steps to not revolve around an auto attack buff anymore. Instead the caster now gets access to a new ability while in giant form, where the caster can repeatedly slam the hammers on the ground in front of him dealing constantly physical damage in an AoE radius.

• Giant Steps (Forge Hammers):Removed Attack Damage Buff
  
  • While Giant Steps is active, the caster gains access to the ability “Giant Smash”:Effect: Slams the hammers on the ground, dealing 75 physical damage in a 4m radius
    
  • Cooldown: 1.2s
    
  • Range: 4m
    
  • Energy Cost: 0
    
  • The ability can be used repeatedly, as long as Giant Steps is active
    

Holy Staffs
Holy Touch is currently slightly underrepresented across the game. To bring it back as a force to be reckoned with in 2v2 Hellgates, its Healing Output has been slightly increased.

• Holy Touch (Lifetouch Staff):
  
  • Heal per tick 50 → 55
    

Nature Staffs
Spirit Animal has not seen much play in large group scenarios lately, instead players often rely on Wild Staff instead. To make it more attractive in its intended field, the group size it can affect, as well as its immediate heal, have both been increased.

• Spirit Animal (Rampant Staff):
  
  • Max targets affected 10 → 15
    
  • Instant Healing by the Elk: 60 → 110
    

Shoes
Run and the Sprint abilities fill currently a similar role. To offer more flexibility on the shoe slot Run has been replaced with Dodge on all shoes. This allows all Shoes to swap to an ability with invulnerability. The Sprint abilities on all shoes have been changed to fill the mobility role of Run. Assassin Shoes get the new Ability Swift Cut, which provides additional damage from the shoe-slot at the cost of limited mobility.

• Run (all Shoes):
  
  • The ability is removed
    
  • Instead all Shoes now can use Dodge
    
• All Gathering Workboots:
  
  • Added Rejuvenating Sprint as an additional ability choice (this change gives all gathering boots 4 abilities)
    
• Energetic Sprint (all Cloth Sandals):
  
  • Duration: 3s → 5s
    
  • Move Speed bonus: 100% → 80%
    
  • Energy per second 3.92 → 4
    
  • Total Energy gained: 11.76 → 16
    
• Refreshing Sprint (Leather Shoes):
  
  • Duration: 3s → 5s
    
  • Move Speed bonus: 100% → 80%
    
  • Cooldown: 30s → 32.5s
    
  • Cooldown Reduction: 49% → 25% → 33.33%
    
• Rejuvenating Sprint (Plate Boots):
  
  • Duration: 3s → 5s
    
  • Move Speed bonus: 100% → 80%
    
  • Health per second 20.48 → 20
    
  • Total Health gained 61.44 → 80
    

• Assassin Shoes
  
• Removed Dodge
  
• Added the new ability, Swift Cut:
  
  • Dash behind a targeted enemy and deal 111 physical damage
    
  • Cooldown: 12s
    
  • Range: 7m -> 11m
    
  • Energy Cost: 0
    
  • Damage: 111 -> 102
    

Mounts
With the recent changes that increased survivability of mounts, Pest Lizards became quite oppressive in an offensive role. In situations where they are used to follow large hostile armies into the battlefield to sneak away with the loot of players dying in large fights, the Pest Lizard was providing too much value with too little risk. In addition to the changes on the Pest Lizard, the Looting Dismount Changes introduced with this patch (see section above) will increase the risk of such tactics.

• Pest Lizard:
  
  • Move Speed Bonus: 110% -> 103%
    
  • Toxic Reaction:
    
    • Area Radius: 6m → 5m
      
    • Area Duration: 3s → 2.75s
      
    • Cooldown: 60s → 150s → 90s
      
    • Fear Duration: 3s → 2s
      
      
  • Toxic Cloud:
    
    • Area Radius: 6m → 5m
      
    • Area Duration: 3s → 2.75s
      
    • Fear Duration: 3s → 2s
      
  
  
  

Looting Dismount Changes

Hostile Dismount status now prevents looting of killed hostile players. Additionally players must now dismount before looting a killed player. This change was made for two reasons:

• To require a greater commitment to potential PvP while looting in combat situations, bringing greater risk to a previously easy reward
  
• To prevent players from accidentally losing their shield bubble when clicking on a corpse, which is often used to bait less experienced players into being easily attackable
  

Hideouts
The short-range protection bubble makes it very difficult to defend a Hideout that is currently under attack. The original reason why the bubble has such a short range was to prevent hopping safely between Hideouts. Since entering Hideouts (not set as Home) requires a channel nowadays, the protection bubble doesn’t need to be limited to the short range anymore. So we are increasing the Protection Bubble range.

• Max distance that can be traveled while keeping invulnerability bubble: 15m → 50m
  

We are currently working on another bigger balance patch. One of the main topics is the rework of CC Duration scaling and how Diminishing Returns affect the game. We also want to improve the open world experience for small to mid-scale fights, putting more emphasis on survival chances when smaller groups encounter a bigger group. We will also keep working on the War Gloves and make them more attractive to use in different types of content, as well as other general adjustments for various content types. However since the majority of our staff is now going into their christmas break and the patch contains a lot of changes, you can expect these changes to hit Staging early / mid January, which means the changes hit the live server probably late January. I already wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This post gets regularly updated with the latest changes of our internal playtests.

Very Important:
All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch. Sometimes we just try out various things, which may get reverted. Also the balance changes are not neccessarily all complete. Just because a certain item is not adjusted in the changelogs so far, doesn't mean it isn't on our 'need to be adjusted'-list. These changes are simply a snapshot of the current development and everything in there needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

This thread is not meant to discuss these unfinished changes. It is just to give all players the same chance of guessing the direction of the next balance patch

Axes
Great Axe's E ability is an uninterruptible moving channel, which also has very high damage output. Which can make this ability a bit overwhelming. To offer more counterplay options we will change the ability, so that the damage on each enemy ramps up over time. So if the enemy can get out of the channel before it ends the damage won't be as devastating anymore. This change also reduces the overall damage output against players which was a bit too high. But the damage output in PvE is improved with this change, since Great Axe now deals the same damage against mobs and players

• Whirlwind (Great Axe)
  
  • The damage now keeps increasing each tick if the same target is hit repeatedly
    
  • First Tick Damage: 76 -> 56
    
  • Each consecutive tick increases the damage by 4 (6 ticks in total)
    
  • Now deals the same damage vs mobs and players
    

Bows
Rain of Arrows channel duration was taking too long andt doesn't fit that much anymore with the general increased pacing of combat over the last years. To make it more useful in modern Albion we reduce the channel duration and increase the damage per tick. Making it less dependent on the Explosive Arrows buff to deal damage.

• Rain of Arrows (Longbow)
  
  • Max Channel Duration: 2.5s -> 1.5s
    
  • Damage per Tick: 60 -> 90
    
  • Total Damage Ticks: 6 -> 4
    

Crossbows
To improve survival chances of Crossbows in Open world situations, we are improving Caltrops. Now when an enemy activates the trap the caster gets an additional movement speed buff, to better create distances against enemies. This should help especially in outnumbered situations.

• Caltrops (all Crossbows)
  
  • Standtime: 0.5s -> 0.2s
    
  • Hit Delay: 0.5s -> 0.2s
    
  • If an enemy activates the trap the caster's move speed is increased by 20% for 2s
    
  • Slow Strength: 50% -> 40%
    
  • Cooldown: 4s -> 5s
    

Cursed Staffs
Enfeeble Blades have recently been reworked to take over the offensive purging rule in large scale fights. However the tick interval in the small radius makes it a bit unreliable at that role. That is why it now completely nullifies all enemy buffs for the whole duration. Additionally since it has a smaller radius than the Void, we also reduced the cooldown and made it a bit faster to cast to make it easier to utilize the purge in large scale battles. Since we increase the effectiveness of AoE Escalation we are also reducing the base armor shred of Cataclysm. Because with it’s big radius it is likely to hit a large number of players. And the escalated debuff strength would amplify the damage too much with the new escalation.

• Enfeeble Blades (Lifecurse Staff)
  
  • Enemies are now immune to any type of buffs, for the whole duration while they are in the area
    
  • Cooldown decreased by 5s (across all Item Power)
    
  • Cast Time: 0.6s -> 0.4s
    
• Cataclysm (Damnation Staff)
  
  • Armor Reduction: 0.24 -> 0.18
    

Daggers
We are reducing the maximum damage of Bridled Fury a bit to make one-shots less likely with the new AoE Escalation. To further increase counter play options the caster won't be immune to damage during the backleap, so reflecting the damage is a threat to the caster.

• Merciless Finish (Bridled Fury)
  
  • The Backleap is not immune to damage anymore (only immune to CC)
    
  • 3 Stack Damage: 267 -> 250
    

Fire Staffs
Wildfire staff is still a very strong weapon across multiple types of content. The burst damage is still extremely high and the low cast time makes it really hard to dodge. We will increase the cast time back to 0.6s. This should make it possible to react if a Magma Sphere is directly cast into an enemy's face. Additionally we reduce the base damage on the first impact. The true damage DoT will keep it’s strong impact against tanks and high HP builds. But it doesn't melt cloth users as fast anymore.
We are reducing the range of Searing Flame a bit, since the cast range off-screen was a little too much on this low cooldown and high damaging Q ability.
Since Dawnsong is more likely to hit the enemy frontline it is difficult to utilize the Healing Cast debuff because the enemy Healer is in the backline. To make the value of the debuff more reliable it will now reduce Healing Received instead. And the cooldown will be adjusted to 30s to make it more possible to be better synced up with the other forces in a ZvZ.

• Searing Flame (all Fire Staffs)
  
  • Range: 20m -> 18m
    
  • Projectile Speed: 25m/s -> 21.6m/s
    
• Magma Sphere (Wildfire Staff)
  
  • Cast Time: 0.4s -> 0.6s
    
  • Instant Damage: 296 -> 240
    
• Flaming Phoenix (Dawnsong)
  
  • The debuff now reduces Healing Received, instead of Healing Cast
    
  • Cooldown: 40s -> 30s
    
  • Cast Time: 1s -> 0.6s
    

Holy Staffs
Redemption Staff has been dominating the Crystal League 5v5 scene after the latest rework. The bouncing mechanic was originally intended to make it hard to focus the healing on specific targets, however current teams have become very effective at keeping the Sphere on exactly the targets that need the healing. And with the high healing output per bounce the counter play for the enemy team is also very limited. To make this ability more interesting we reduce the base healing. But if the Sphere keeps healing the same two targets, each consecutive bounce heals for more. Interrupting this charge up mechanic also allows for more counterplay on the enemy team. Great Holy Staff provides high utility with it's AoE knockback and strong Heal, this can be used offensively and defensively and encourages good decision making from the user. But with it's low cooldown and high utility it currently outperforms other healing staffs in 2v2 Hell Gats, that is why we are increasing it's cooldown a bit so it has less up-time.

• Celestial Sphere (Redemption Staff)
  
  • Heal per bounce: 90 -> 60
    
  • Reduced base healing, But every time the Sphere keeps healing the same target within 1.5s, the healing output increases by 25%. (stacks up to 4 times)
    
• Holy Explosion (Great Holy Staff)
  
  • Cooldown: 15s -> 18s
    

Nature Staffs
One-handed Nature Staff struggles to find its place in the meta currently. The long cast time makes it easy to interrupt the E-ability and deny the healing completely. Since Circle of Life is already dependent on the Rejuvenation stacks on allies, we are reducing the cast time to make it easier to get the cast through.

• Circle of Life (one-handed Nature Staff)
  
  • Cast Time: 0.7s -> 0.5s
    

Spears
Glaive has been a very dominant item in the 5v5 Crystal League for a while now. To make it a bit less oppressive and more telegraphed we are reducing the cast range.

• Fling (Glaive)
  
  • Castrange: 5m -> 3m
    

Swords
Clarent Blade is still a bit underperforming since it's last rework. To make the unique feature of the weapon more attractive we are improving the strength of these additional effects. This also increases the maximum damage potential. Hamstring is meant to provide a Brawler type of playstyle. that is very sticky to the target and deals constant damage. To make the ability more useful in this role we are improving it's damage output.

• Hamstring (all Swords)
  
  • Damage 66 -> 78
    
• Crescent Slash (Clarent Blade)
  
  • 1 Stack Slow Strength: 20% -> 30%
    
  • 2 Stack Silence Duration: 1.4s -> 2s
    
  • 3 Stack Additional Damage: 94 -> 120 -> 130
    

War Gloves
Ater the last patch the gameplay of the new weapon line was improved, but in terms of effectiveness they are not quite where they need to be. So we are improving various aspects. For the Q abilities with more utility like Dragon Leap and Shock Wave, we want to incentivize players to use only the first part of the ability for constant damage on a low cooldown. And deliberately use the second part of the ability, to commit to the utility at the cost of a higher cooldown. Additionally we are improving various E-abilities. Spiked Gloves are intended to be working as a threat to enemy tanks, but the damage they currently provide is not threatening enough for plate tanks yet. That is why we are specifically increasing the damage vs plate significantly, so they can excel as a tank buster. For Infernal Boulder the secondary effect will be changed to a DoT that reduces Healing Received, which can be stacked up. To make this more useful as an ability to delete a target without a direct one shot and the debuff stacking should also help to communicate to new players that the boulder can hit the same target multiple times. We are also reworking the Aggressive Rush passive, with a damage buff that slowly ramps up with every normal attack, to have every single auto attacks have a bit more impact.

• Resilience Penetration (all War Gloves)
  
  • 40% -> 60%
    
• Dragon Leap (all War Gloves)
  
  • Cooldown when missing the first hit: 7s -> 4s
    
  • Time Window to activate the Uppercut: 3s -> 2s (this makes it more attractive to keep using the first hit to increase damage and only have a long cooldown when committing to the Uppercut for the additional CC)
    
  • Energycost: 4 -> 3
    
• Shock Wave (all War Gloves)
  
  • Cooldown for the first attack: 6s -> 4s (using the dash still triggers a 6s cooldown)
    
  • Enegycost: 5 -> 4
    
• Counter (all War Gloves)
  
  • The hit after the Counterl now knocks enemies into the air for 0.76s, instead of knocking them 3m away
    
• Falcon Smash (Battle Bracers)
  
  • Close Range Damage Radius: 3m -> 4m
    
  • Max Range Damage Radius: 5.5m -> 6m
    
• Gravitational Collapse (Spiked Gauntlets)
  
  • Damage vs Plate: 300 -> 450
    
• Hundred Striking Fists (Ursine Maulers)
  
  • The delayed Damage can't be reflected anymore
    
• Infernal Boulder (Hellfire Hands)
  
  • Doesn't apply a slow anymore
    
  • Instead each hit applies a DoT that ticks for 4s
    
  • Deals magic damage over time and Reduces Healing Recieved by 20%. (stacks up to 3 times)
    
  • DoT Ticks: 4 -> 3
    
  • DoT Damage per Tick: 5.6 -> 14
    
• Earth Crusher (Ravenstrike Cestus)
  
  • Knocking an enemy into the air, will now make the enemy immune to getting knocked into the air by another Earth Crusher for 1.5s.
    
    
• Aggressive Rush (Passive)
  
• Reworked the Passive it is now called Fatal Fury
  
  • 3 Hit Attack Chain: Every normal Attack increases your Damage by 2% for 3s (stacks up to 9 times)
    
  • 2 Hit Attack Chain: Every normal Attack increases your Damage by 1.5% for 3s (stacks up to 12 times)
    
  • On max stacks the buff can't be refreshed and will run out.
    

Helmets

• Growing Rage (Royal Hood)
  
  • Damage Increase per Stack: 5% -> 4%
    
• Mortal Agony (Stalker Hood)
  
  • Damage Increase: 20% -> 15%
    

Armors

Since we are buffng AoE Escalation we are reducing the damage buff from various armor slot items to make one-shots less likely. Everlasting Spirit specifically is already a pretty strong armor slot ability already. Jacket of Tenacity is currently quite underused, so we are improving Dynamic Defense, to have a shorter cooldown and generally a more reactive gameplay. Additioanally to make it easier and more reliable to get a specific buff, the ability can now also used on allies.

• Everlasting Spirit (Cleric Robe)
  
  • Damage & Healing Increase: 30% -> 20%
    
• Dynamic Defense (Jacket of Tenacity)
  
  • Can now also be cast on allies
    
  • Cooldown: 30s -> 20s
    
  • Buff Duration: 5s -> 4s
    

Shoes

• Defenseless Rush (Royal Sandals)
  
  • Damage Increase: 20% -> 15%
    

Misc
Resilience (also known as Focus Fire Protection)
To increase surival chances of solo players and small groups vs bigger groups we are increasing the Resilience ramp-up curve. The strength of this increase depends on the group size, the more attackers a target has the higher is the impact of this adjustment. If 6-7 players attack a player, this player now lives for around 10% longer than before.

• Melee Damage Reduction Factor: 40 -> 50
  
  • This increases survivability by 5.1% vs 3 players, by 12,8% vs 10 players (compared to live)
    
• Ranged Damage Reduction Factor: 20 -> 25
  
  • This increases survivability by 3.5% vs 3 players, by 15,1% vs 10 players (compared to live)
    

AoE Escalation
Additionally we increase the AoE Escalation to have more impact again, even for smaller clumps. This change favors smaller groups, since large enemy forces are more likely to overlap. The increased AoE Escalation Damage in large scale fights will be offset to a certain degree by the higher Resilience values. We will have to test if this change is enough to keep one-shots in check for large scale fight, but we might have to readjust some big damaing AoE abiltiies accordingly for this change.

• 2 Targets: 5% -> 8%
  
• 3 Targets: 10% -> 16%
  
• 4 Targets: 15% -> 24%
  
• 5 Targets: 20% -> 32%
  
• 6 Targets: 25% -> 40%
  
• 7 Targets: 30% -> 48%
  
• 8 Targets: 35% -> 56%
  
• 9+ Targets: 40% -> 56%
  

Crowd Control Duration
We reworked how our CC effects scale with ability power, so that they allign with the scaling of CC resistance in the game. This means CC effects will be weaker on high Item Power items. Despite fixing a bug, we also want to generally reduce cases of very long lasting crowd control effects in the game.

• CC Power now scales slower with Item Power. (This includes all types of CC Duration and Knockback distance)
  
• To make up for this change we incresed the base CC Duration values by 40%
  
• With this new progression curve CC Power will stay the same on roughly 1000 IP.
  
  • Below 1000IP CC effects will be stronger than they are on live
    
  • Above 1000 IP CC effects will be weaker than they are on live
    

Diminishing Returns
We want to disincentive stacking of long lasting hard CCs, therefore we are drastically increasing the effectiveness of Diminishing Returns. To avoid situations where players can get stun locked for an extended time period.

• Max DR Reduction of CC effects: 75% -> 80%
  
• Stun Factor: 0.1 -> 0.3
  
• Root Factor: 0.05 -> 0.3
  
• Silence Factor: 0.05 -> 0.3
  
• Forced Movement: 0.1 -> 0.3
  
• Slow Factor : 0.08 -> 0.3
  

These changes are planned for the first patch of the new update. Making some adjustments to a few weapons which are out of line. And making sure the new content is in a good state.

This post gets regularly updated with the latest changes of our internal playtests.

Very Important:
All these changes are still in testing and may vastly differ in the final patch. Sometimes we just try out various things, which may get reverted. Also the balance changes are not neccessarily all complete. Just because a certain item is not adjusted in the changelogs so far, doesn't mean it isn't on our 'need to be adjusted'-list. These changes are simply a snapshot of the current development and everything in there needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

This thread is not meant to discuss these unfinished changes. It is just to give all players the same chance of guessing the direction of the next balance patch

Axes
Since the Whirlwind channel can’t be interrupted anymore, the counter play options are rooting or slowing the Great Axe player, or creating enough distance. However with the movement speed increase built into the ability, it was very difficult to escape the Whirlwind damage. So we will remove the movement speed increase from the ability.

• Whirlwind (Great Axe)
  
  • Removed the movement speed increase
    

Daggers
To make Blood Ritual less dependent on blocking the self damage with an additional defensive like Cleric Robe, we are reducing the self damage.

• Blood Ritual (Demonfang)
  
  • Self Damage per Tick: 20 -> 12
    

Holy Staffs
Holy Flash has taken over the healing meta. With its high energy efficiency and Heal per Second it is currently outperforming all other Healing options on the Q-slot. Which is why we drastically increase the energy cost and also slightly up the cooldown to reduce the overall healing output per second and make it a bit less spamable.
Planned for Patch 2, to not delay patch 1 release.

• Holy Flash (all Holy Staffs)
  
  • Energycost: 4.2 -> 8
    
  • Cooldown: 3s -> 3.5s
    

Maces
The one-handed Mace has been very strong in a variety of content types and the combination. With the combination of high damage, stun and mobility they outperform many similar weapons, making is very strong, therefore we are reducing the damage output and the mobility of Deep Leap.

• Threatening Smash (all Maces)
  
  • Damage 157 -> 146
    

• Deep Leap (one-handed Mace)
  
  • Damage: 203 -> 156
    
  • Range: 14m -> 11m
    

Swords
Mighty Blow offers a lot of constant value on a low cooldown E-ability. It is intended to be played as a bruiser that can stay very sticky on a target with constant pressure, however currently the ability is a bit overloaded with effects on such a low cooldown ability. That is why we are removing the Damage Resistance Buff.
Planned for Patch 2, to not delay patch 1 release.

• Mighty Blow (Broadsword)
  
  • Removed the Damage Resistances Buff
    

War Gloves
Since War Gloves are an entirely new line that offers a lot of utility, outplay potential and combo setup, we wanted to make sure they don’t dominate the meta at launch and made sure that the kit has enough drawbacks. However it seems we have been a bit overcautious and while they seemed in a good place in test cases, they seem to underperform in various areas in the Albion live world out there Therefore we are currently looking for various improvements to get them in a better place in patch 1.

• Base Stats (all Wargloves)
  
  • Now increase Max health by 50 (base value) - For reference that is the same amount of Max Health Swords or Axes give.
    
• War Glove Auto Attacks - 3 Hit Attack Chains
  
  • Timefactor of the third hit 3 -> 2 (this makes the third attack faster, but overall DPS stays the same)
    
  • Canceling the third auto attack is now possible earlier, to enable more responsive repositioning and ability usage between attacks
    
• Create Opening (all War Gloves)
  
  • Cooldown when using the second hit: 4s -> 3s
    
• Dragon Leap (all War Gloves)
  
  • Cooldown: 8s -> 7s
    
  • Time Window to activate the Uppercut: 4s -> 3s
    
  • Removed the delay until the 2nd activation can be used. (this means you can instantly recast it, after the first hit)
    
• Cross Step (all War Gloves)
  
  • Buff Duration: 6s -> 8s
    
• Shock Wave (all War Gloves)
  
  • Range: 10m -> 11m
    
• Triple Kick (all War Gloves)
  
  • Damage vs Players per hit: 30 -> 37
    
• Backhand Strike (all War Gloves)
  
  • The ability doesn't require an enemy target anymore.
    
  • Instead it can now be used by casting in a direction.
    
  • The Strike then hits all enemies in a 6m range in the cast direction. Knocking them back and applying the knockback effect & damage to all targets hit by the Strike.
    
• Blazing Geyser (Brawler Gloves)
  
  • Cooldown: 20s -> 15s
    
• Falcon Smash (Battle Bracers)
  
  • Inner Circle Damage: 242 -> 264
    
  • Cast Range: 12m -> 15m
    
• Gravitational Collapse (Spiked Gauntlets)
  
  • Cooldown: 25s -> 20s
    
  • Damage vs Cloth Armor: 100 -> 140
    
  • Damage vs Leather Armor: 200 -> 240
    
• Infernal Boulder (Hellfire Hands)
  
  • Bugfix: Damage was not affected by AoE Escalation
    
• Earth Crusher (Ravenstrike Cestus)
  
  • Bugfix: Damage was not affected by AoE Escalation
    
• Purifying Combination (Fist of Avalon)
  
  • First Attack Damage: 35 -> 78
    
  • Second Attack: Bugfix: Damage was not affected by AoE Escalation
    
  • Third Attack Damage: 215 -> 235
    
• Aggressive Burst (Passive)
  
  • Normal Attacks needed to Activate: 16 -> 11 (for 2 hit auto attack chain War Gloves)
    
  • 3 hit auto attack chain War Gloves is unchanged, becasue the 3 hit attack chain is now faster
    
• Rushdown (Passive on all War Gloves)
  
  • Movement Speed Increase Duration: 1s -> 2s
    

Misc
With the dismounting changes introduced in the new content update, it became now very difficult to prevent a player from entering a hideout. Because enemy players can’t be attacked for 5s now. Therefore we increase the channel time to enter hideouts (without home setting).

• Hideout Enter - Channel Time: 3s -> 4s