This update is more visual focused than usual. The starting area reflects the holiday season, the mainland features flying dragons and there are a decent number of new or restored battlefields. The dwarven tiles can spawn most of the new battlefields(of any type) but you can bump into something new in any terrain area. More to come in the future.
The first major change is that tier 6 and tier 7 units have been reduced by 2 and 1 respectively. For some time now I'd been feeling that their impact on the battlefield was higher than I'd like. Also, the cyclops, fire dragon and thane stats have returned to their original 3.1 glory, at the cost of -1 and -2 growth respectively. Their overall balance has not really changed but they have their 3.1 feel back, are harder to kill and.. a bit more vulnerable to instakills. Except fire dragons that got crystal scales.
Inferno has lost the alt succubus Channeling but gained access to the Star Axis: They can gain +6 Spellpower at the cost of +6 Attack, bringing their starting stats to 5/3/10/7. Channeling could achieve higher spellpower than this but 1) succubi could be weakened or disabled before activating their special 2) usually succubi die within 2 turns and the Spellpower bonus with them.
A couple of quality of life additions: There is now a trading post to sell back unwanted artifacts at full price, although in a new form :) And the battlefield area contains observatories so that you can instantly spot your opponent if he's at the edge.
Not much on skill changes.
Morale has dropped to 40% bonus as it could be punishing in the hands of a good might build.
Dungeon Battle Frenzy now unlocks Offensive Formation instead of Fiery Wrath. Not only did it not stack with the Fiery Wrath from Destructive but also had a bug with the mentor :)
Hellfire now focuses more on fixed damage to make up for the extra Spellpower of Star Axis. Its damage remains similar but it is now viable for might-heavy builds.
A few hero specials have been tweaked.
- Grok's Avatar of Destruction has been rebalanced. Less damage (because of wheeling), no Bash (because of high init), no 50% Magic Protection but gains mind spell and instakill immunities. The original ability was Avatar of Death and as such was already immune to Puppet and the like.
- Nur has returned to 7 mana regeneration per turn because it triggers even on fast actions (despite the Atb bar showing that she doesn't). But academy is not particularly starved for mana so.. she also gets +6 djinns to sweeten the deal.
- Flamewielder and Master of Elements Spellpower bonus toned down to +7. The latter no longer spawns summons when your units die because it was abusable with Last Stand or worked twice with Consume Artifact. It was fun and interesting but sadly a bit of a mess.
- Ylaya gets +1 Spellpower because Ultimate Irresistible Magic isn't always great to have. The other existing heroes that start with an extra skill also have +1 stat so here we are.
- Findan loses 7 hunters. If we can make his volley aimable, he will no longer require extra hunters.
Finally, unit changes.
- The basic Cyclops has had its ranged animation fixed :) Nival had given it a titan shot animation and it was also missing an additional turning animation when grabbing the goblin.
- Colossus is no longer a melee alt because I felt that academy is more interesting with a tier 7 shooter. For the time being, he plays like a Titan with a different ranged animation.
- I did not like Gremlin Saboteurs being a coin toss counter to WarMachines so they get Warding Shot. It fits the sabotage theme and makes them more useful overall. The alt that used to have it will remain an alt skin until I find a satisfying gameplay idea.
- The Hellhounds having both Howl and Pack Hunter was normally fine.. Unless your tactics revolve around the Phantom Forces bug to make an army of Hellhound stacks ^^ Even if they die fast, this can get out of hand with the right timing. They are back to Fire Shield and Avenging Flames now.
- With Channeling gone, the third alt succubus is downgraded to an alt skin. I'm sure I'll find something suitable for them in the future.
- Lava Dragon's Liquid Flame now deals 20 dmg, since they their numbers dropped.
- Acid Hydra's hp slightly toned down. They favour acid splash panic while the others favour survivability.
That's it for now, merry Christmas!
