In the spirit of Halloween, the duel map has received an atmospheric makeover: Carved pumpkins, skeletons, darker lighting and eerie glows :) Now, the more interesting stuff!
NECROPOLIS
- Necropolis has a major warmachine addition, the Demilich! Traditionally, necro ballista was a pretty bad choice (since their class has the lowest sum of Attack and Knowledge stats) so Plague Tent had been boosted in its place. But while the other factions had one machine for attacking and one for healing, necro had one that could only do one or the other. Enter the Demilich! It shoots once per action, applying a Deep Freeze effect (minor ice damage plus +30% damage vulnerability) and also has access to Scattershot! (attacks a 3x3 area for half damage).
- Skeleton Archers lose 1hp but gain ranged protection and 25% magic protection so now they won't die to a sneeze :) Just don't expose them to melee.
- Poltergeists can now steal 2 shots but from any range! It can go up to 3.
- Death Knights now instakill 10% of the stack instead of 15%.
- Mummy Tremors spell a bit toned down.
SYLVAN
- Arcane Archer's defense reduction goes back to 50% at the cost of damage. Their role as high tier killers is now more pronounced.
- Master Hunters revert to their original stats, plus +1 Init and min damage. With Arcanes toned down, they no longer need No Range Penalty. They are pretty dangerous versus lower tiers or within their full range.
- War Dancers +1 min damage.
- Crystal Dragons revert to 200hp.
- Talanar now gives Enraged to all units. And Enraged now gives +2 attack per dead stack!
- Nature's Wrath returns to the skillwheel and additionally gives +1 attack.
FORTRESS
- Runic Machines now causes a weak fireball, like Deleb's ballista. While Runic Machines increased the rate of fire, the individual shots were lacking in damage.
- Chilling Armour is no longer accessible to Fortress.
- Brawler damage toned down (because defense reduction went up to 50%)
- Thanes retain their Crushing Blow pattern (2x2) but can no longer stun. Also back to Lightning Immunity.
- Ingvar loses the extra Shieldguard hp and Svea loses the extra spellpower.
- Wulfstan now gets extra berserkers instead of extra defence.
- Rolf spec changed because Fortress ballista now triggers fireballs by default.
DUNGEON
- The Dungeon ballista now applies Deep Freeze like the Demilich. The element of ice does not have clear weaknesses(Emeralds immune to earth, Magmas immune to fire) and the minor ice damage helps the ballista stay relevant even if your focus is on Spellpower. A might build will deal more damage but it's perfectly usable for magic builds too.
- Stalkers revert to poison (because defense reduction went up to 50%)
- Hitmen down to 5 shots.
- Raelag spec switched to Aura of Swiftness (+8% Init)
- Shadya's Shadow Dancer spec ranged damage to -20%.
HAVEN
- Griffin alt introduced. Acts like a faster battle griffin that rushes the enemy side instead of diving.
- Alt haven priest hp upped to 72 to be on par with the others.
- Crossbowmen back to 2-6 dmg / 5 attack while Marksmen to 3-7 dmg.
- Retaliation Strike no longer triggers against ranged attacks but goes up to 220% of your normal damage.
- Freyda's Divine Vengeance sp multiplier from 1.3 to 1.
ACADEMY
- Rakshasa Rajas gain +1 Initiative.
- Call Storm goes from 15 to 20 damage per titan.
- Maahir's special now gives +2 defence instead of +1 attack/defence.
INFERNO
- Demon Overseers explode harder (up to 410 damage)
- Tier 5 revert to their 3.1 stats.
STRONGHOLD
- Sky Daughters lose Infernal Chain from lvl 3 rage but gain +1 Initiative.
- Executioners revert to their 3.1 damage (-1 min/max)
- Foul Wyverns from 12 to 11 init.
GENERAL CHANGES
- The map has Quickcombat/Autosave/Sim turns preselected, thanks to PawelW!
- The opponent gold bonus goes from 10000 to 7500.
- Teleport Assault fixed!
- When a single target spell gets resisted, the caster's Atb is reset to 50% instead of 0%. Resistance is less likely to win games.
- Elven Luck was rather powerful in the hands of Haven, Inferno, Dungeon and Stronghold so it became a Sylvan unique again. As compensation, they get Fortune's Favour that adds +1 luck (Thanks to (1)[H]nZ88 for the name suggestion :) ) It does less damage than Elven Luck on average but luck rolls are now more consistent.
- First Aid Tent down to 6 uses. It was 8 to give more value to Plague Tent but now necro has the Demilich!
- Some battlefield and text improvements.
Special Thanks to Marko for his incredible work :)
The map will be released soon, probably tomorrow. Cheers.
