Patch 6.4.0 - Major class skill updates and more.

[lynxbird]

Class Balance Update

Defender:
- Added one new offensive passive which scales with character health pool.
(The Defender is performing as intended, making the player tanky and winning battles through enemy attrition. We will introduce one new passive to further reinforce this playstyle.)

Blademaster:
- Added a new defensive passive skill that heals the player based on the amount of bleeding.
- Small buffs to two weaker passives; "Spin to Win" can now be upgraded further.
- As an indirect buff, two-handed weapons received some buffs.
(Blademaster's gameplay, centered around reapplying bleeds, scales very well from mid to late game. However, it can struggle a bit in the early game. We have introduced a new early-game passive to help with this.)

Berserker:
- Slight nerf to the lifesteal percentage of Perun's Rage upgrade.
(We are happy with how the Berserker plays. However, in the late game, it can become overwhelmingly strong, so we are slightly reducing its late-game power. The change is minor, and it should still remain one of the stronger classes.)

Fortune:
- Added one new passive for earning coins based on critical chances.
- "Duplicate" now properly deals damage when the player is unarmed.
- "Duplicate" now also applies Brawler passive buffs.
- Fixed an exploit with bounty hunts and enemies immune to dying. Also, bounty hunts no longer reward overkill on small creatures.
(Another class that is performing as intended, it serves well as a supportive class similar to the Defender or Runebinder. With the new passive, we aim to further solidify its intended role. A few additional fixes should also help off-meta Brawler builds.)

Trapper:
- Added two new passives that reward dodging enemies and sneaking around them.
- Slight buffs to Explosive Barrel and Arcane Grenade.
(The Trapper isn't necessarily weak, but it lacks excitement as a class. With two new unique passives, we hope to make it more engaging for players.)

Marksman:
- Quality-of-life improvement for bow kiting movement, plus a new game setting to ignore attacking forest animals while moving. v6.3.5
- The ricochet skill was nerfed in v6.3.5; some of ricochet damage was restored back in v6.4.0.
- Buffs to Bowman passives.
- A few bows received buffs as inderect buffs to class.
(We see the Marksman as being in a good place. What we did was redistribute some of Ricochet's power to other areas, as it was overshadowing other skills.)

Hunter:
-Added a new passive that buffs damage while in animal form.
-Slight nerf to Doggo Nourishment.
-Slight nerf to Mana Strike damage.
-Buffs to spear passives, spear items, and spears are now slightly easier to find.
(In the past, Hunter needed some help, so we ended up overbuffing hunting dogs' permanent scaling with bones and Mana Strike. Now, we’re pulling back some of that power while compensating with buffs in other areas.)

Rogue:
- Added a new passive related to poisons.
(This class is also in a good place. We are adding a new poison-related passive to further promote this playstyle, rather than relying too much on instantly executing enemies.)

Frostshaper:
- Increased intelligence scaling and damage on frost skills; these skills can now be upgraded further.
- Added one new active defensive skill and one new passive defensive skill.
(Frostshaper scaled poorly into the late game due to long cooldowns, extended casting times, and late-game immunity to freezes.
We will keep the longer cooldowns but have increased some values to make skills feel more impactful when they land. Additionally, we have added a new defensive active skill for late-game survivability, along with a useful defensive passive to provide another incentive to choose this class.)

Flamekeeper:
- Buffed scaling for fire spells and reduced their cooldowns.
- Added one new passive defensive skill and one new passive offensive skill.
(Flamekeeper already scales well into the late game in terms of damage, but it is very weak defensively and was at risk of being quickly burst down.
This class should feel destructive in the late game, so we have reduced some cooldowns and given it a bit of extra scaling. Additionally, we introduced one new offensive passive and one strong defensive passive to help it compete with other stronger late-game classes.)

Necromancer:
- Necromancer hat has been reworked, it now buffs skeletons based on the number of stacks of Soul Collector.
- Buffed Necromancer skeleton stats, intelligence scaling, and Corpse Explosion damage.
- Added one new passive to strengthen summons.
(The Necromancer feels strong in the mid-game but can fall off in the late game, especially in some arena runs or boss fights where bosses have strong AoE skills.
While it has the Soul Collector skill, which scales infinitely, this mechanic pushes it away from its intended gameplay. To address this, we are giving skeletons more late-game power. We will monitor the impact of this buff and may adjust Soul Collector’s burst damage if it proves to be too strong.)

Runebinder:
- Added a new passive that makes all spellbook projectiles homing.
- Runic Whirlpool now sticks to the player when cast.
(Runebinder is a solid supportive class that holds more power than one might initially expect. We have added a new passive to support greater build variety and adjusted Runic Whirlpool, as casting it on the ground felt frustrating when enemies could quickly walk out of it.)

Beastbane:
No changes.
(Beastbane feels like a melee glass cannon. While it has a weaker early game, it scales insanely well into the late game in a satisfying way. We won’t be making any changes.)

Doombringer:
- Slight nerfs to passive damage multipliers.
(This is a very strong class where each skill is powerful on its own. The main issue arises when it is used as a secondary class, as its passive multipliers can overly boost other classes. To address this, we will slightly reduce its power in that area.)

Item Balance Update
- Critical chance on weapons now increases with weapon upgrades, now scaling much higher.
- Some bows, spears, and two-handers have received buffs.
- Some items have received unique tbuffs, and certain item buffs have been slightly improved.
- Added a ring that provides lifesteal. (But only when a lifesteal weapon is not equipped.)
- Expansion class rings are now slightly easier to find.
(We are simply pushing for more variety by buffing weaker options so they are on par with the most popular ones.)

Achievements Rework
- 86 achievements can now be acquired outside of Ironman mode, while 5 game ending ones remain exclusive to Ironman.

Performance
- Introduced a new set of performance optimizations. The game will now consume significantly fewer resources when paused or while hovering over the UI.

Boss Battles Balance
- Reduced Zagriv Brothers' stun duration.
- Bear Guardian and Last Guardian received health pool buffs.

Clarity
- Clarity updated: Around 20 passives that require a condition to be active (e.g., a certain weapon) will now display a buff icon in the bottom right corner when requirements are met.

[zodiac-killer]

Hello,

Thanks for the continued support! I was wondering if the new Rogue passive can also be used with a bow?
Also, I don’t have enough slots to use all my abilities. Is it possible to add more slots for abilities?

Thanks a lot!

[lynxbird]

Hey, the new rogue passive is for melee weapons only.

As for the skills, yes, you can enable 4 extra slots and an alternative set of 12 new slots in the game settings on the second page.

[Kataphract]

Thanks for including your reasoning behind the changes. I look forward to seeing the new skills in game.

[DD The Pumpkin King]

I got briefly confused when I counted 13, guess Hunter was good to go

[Airsac]

thanks! necromancer def needed a boost cx

[Mad_Bison]

@lynxbird Thank you for the improvements to the already wonderful game!

[MaximB]

Thanks for the update, about Fortune, I like it's 3 major attack skills, but I didn't really like it's "money" skill "tree"... I mean, it's not that hard to earn money in this game, you can basically get infinite amount of money by selling animal stuff, flowers and food. (apart from all the loot)
So I'm not sure why he needs a money skill...
He could have used a more interesting skill.
And maybe reduce the time on his critical strike skill or make it replenish on kill like the Blade Master's skills? (although it might be too powerful on him as this skill deals massive damage).

Also BladeMaster has many skills to "spam"\attack as they also renew on kill,
But Fortune only got one skill (the other skills have long cooldowns and you have to wait too long after use).
Also Fortune has only one RELIABLE AOE skill that can harm more than one enemy, and it has a long cooldown.

[lynxbird]

@MaximB
Well, Fortune is designed as a supportive class that amplifies others (similar to Runebinder). Because of that, it doesn’t have all the tools you’d find in primary classes.

The idea for that passive came from players asking what to do with critical chances over 100%. We added it there with the goal of not further boosting its offensive power, as it was already performing well in that area. The alternative was to leave it as it was, considering it was already in a good spot.

[lynxbird]

@Kataphract @Airsac @Mad_Bison
Thank you very much!!

@DD The Pumpkin King
Yes, the Hunter update description has just been added to the list.

[MaximB]

If a class is supportive it needs to have buffs (active\passive) and auras, and not many attack skills - and it should also be noted as "support".

Currently Fortune does have some good attack skills, but not enough - and no healing skill.
And only one skill that can hurt several mobs.

Also the necromancer and Hunter - they don't appear to have many active skills...while their mobs do most of the damage, but it would be cool to have more active skills to spam while the mobs do the hard part.