Dear Godir,

We hope you enjoy both the Griffon Update and the Archon Prophecy expansion. We prepared a new patch with all the hot fixes and changes — please have a look and let us know what you think!

Remember: the best place for bug reporting is our forum. [forum.paradoxplaza.com]

Game Version: 1.011.002.111115

• Changed Kledas & Anon to Battlesaint

• Unit “Chaplain” 

  • Healing Prayer - Reduced Temporary HP healed from +45 to +35

  • Champion Medal Healing Prayer - Reduced additional Temporary HP healed from +20 to +15 

• Light Spirit, Heal

  • Heal - Reduced Temporary HP healed from +60 to +50.

  • Heal - Increased Cooldown from 1 to 2 Turns

  • Champion Medal Heal - Reduced additional Temporary HP healed from +40 to +30 

• Removed mixed Order units from the Archon Host and Crusades so they don't spawn Undead Titans/Fallen Angels

• Reduced the degree with which Blessed Regions spawn

General

• Fixed a crash that could occur when a Jump Targeter would target an invalid position

• Fixed a crash that could occur during initial loading of the game

AI

• Fixed an issue where Crusader Hosts would not attack Umbral Dwellings

• Fixed a crash that could occur when the Target Player for a mission no longer existed and an invalid player was passed to the AI.

• Fixed a crash that could occur when Heroes changed side but remained Governor of a City

Art

• Fixed an timing issue with the "Frost Blast" ability from the "Shadow" affinity "Cultivator"

• Fixed an issue where Heroes inside the "Hero Recruitment" screen hold the "Short Spear" by the blade

• Fixed an issue where the wrong animation would play when Heroes use the "Short Spear"

• Fixed an issue where the "Avenger" unit changes its grip on its blade when being hit

• Fixed an issue where Mounted heroes with a bow have the bow misplaced on their back

• Fixed an issue where Dark units mounted on the chariot mount stand in-between the horses

• Fixed an issue where the Eartshatter Engine would stutter while moving

• Fixed an issue where Armour Colours would reset/changed when in-game

• Fixed an issue where Armour Colour would also change when changing Weapon Colour

• Fixed an issue where Item Preview would not update with the chosen Weapon Colour

• Fixed an issue where the Bone Dragon had a gap in its Neck

• Fixed clipping issues on the Paladin with several forms

• Fixed an issue where the colour of the Ancient Giant King Unlocks did not match their preview

• Fixed an incorrect Icon being linked for the Cleric Skill in the Hero Panel

• Fixed missing Beards on Dwarf Oathsworn and Architect Units

• Fixed an issue where summoned Devastator Sphers were visible

Interface

• Fixed an issue where Heroes with Dibs from your own Race would not appear in the front of the Hero Recruitment Screen

• Fixed an issue where the Chariot Animal Type slider would not activate after switching mounts

• Fixed an issue where Godir Origin Silhoutes would disappear when selecting a Godir Origin

• Fixed a mention of Battle Mage Unit in the Summon Fallen Angel Tome skill

• Fixed Soul Harvest not appearing as an Initial Bonus in the Tome of the Revenant

Modding

• Fixed an issue where Faction Customization Items did not correctly converting to the list used in Resource Ed after copying it to clipboard

Multiplayer

• Fixed a OoS that could occur when using regular link abilities due to parsing of localized text.

Prophecy Traits

Vision of Destiny

• Fixed an issue where the Nature Reward took all Food Income 

Story Realms

• Lowered the Free City/Marauder Combat Profiles from Challenging+ to Challenging on Hard Difficulty.

• Fixed an issue where Anon could be met prematurely on Rings of Emnora

• Fixed an issue where completing Rings of Emnora as a Renegade did not award the default completion Achievement.

• Fixed an issue where “Friendship has Ended” notifications would repeat if the player had a Friendship declared with Fredric at the moment of their scripted alliance. 

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Take command of the forces of light in the Age of Wonders 4: Archon Prophecy expansion. Join the celestial Archons as they strike back against Urrath’s corrupt forces. Consult the oracles, glimpse hidden prophecies that shape the fates of the realms and become the master of your own destiny. Thread on hallowed ground as you explore new Forms, Tomes and Blessed Regions inhabited by new Wildlife.

Welcome the Griffon Update, a gift from the Archon. This Free Update, available to all owners of Age of Wonders 4, brings tons of new Features and Improvements. Create Factions in more detail than ever before with the Extra Faction Data, a set of customization options that allow players to assign Custom City Names and Heroes to their Factions, or experience the reworked Mage and Ritualist Hero Classes as well as the brand new Warlock Class.   

Check below for all the details on the Archon Prophecy Expansion and the Griffon Update.

Below, you can find a lot of information about the new content: 

New Forms: Elysian & Ancients

Two New Forms bring their eternal struggle to the soul of your empire.The Elysians are ascended, divine, and heavenly beings that bring a touch of the divine to your realm. The Ancients are withered and bent beings from the depths of history - and other, more sinister places. Older and wiser than time itself, they’ve adapted and overcome their corruption with the use of magical enhancements.
Learn More: Dev Diary[forum.paradoxplaza.com] & Video

New Culture: Architects

Build your empire with the help of the Architects — construct vast, magical monuments within your cities and dedicate them to the affinity of your choice to empower your economy and unlock powerful bonuses. The Architects are a culture evoking the empires of antiquity, a people dedicated to the creation of something greater than themselves.

• Builds great monuments in the domain of their cities. These empower their economy and grant them additional Affinity.

• Gain Wondestone, a unique resource gotten from Magic Materials that the Architect culture seeks to acquire to build their monuments.

• Architect Units gain +1 Damage for every stack of Affinity Incarnate granted by their Monument and change their Damage type to match your Dominant Affinity.

Learn More: Dev Diary[forum.paradoxplaza.com] & Video

New Tomes

Pull through when the odds are against you and fight back in the toughest of moments. Manipulate probability, prevent enemy attacks and foresee the downfall of your enemies. Evoke Archonic magic of purity and rebirth, summon celestial allies and ascend to the ranks of the Archon. Corrupt their power and use their knowledge to protect your undead from those who wield the powers of light and fire. Walk along the path of divinity or corrupt it, only you decide your destiny.

Learn More: Dev Diary[forum.paradoxplaza.com] & Video

New Hero Class: Battlesaint

Answer the call of the divine with the power of the Battlesaint. Whether guiding the faithful as a sacred support unit or standing firm as a martyr-like tank, the Battlesaint turns virtue into strength and sacrifice into victory.

Learn More: Dev Diary[forum.paradoxplaza.com] & Video

New Content: Prophecy Traits

Forge your destiny with Prophecy Traits, new society traits that help you shape your empire. Early in your journey a vision will appear, challenging you to define your ruler’s purpose and ambitions. How you interpret it is up to you, but fulfilling the Prophecy will unlock powerful rewards.

• Factions with the Vision of Promise are destined to settle in a land of promise. It is up to the Ruler where they think this can be found.

• Factions with a Vision of Destiny are destined for a great purpose, fated to attract the attention of the Endaillon. The ruler chooses a mark their people bear.

• Factions with the Vision of Ruin are destined to bring about great change to the Realm. Your people foresee a ruinous event they are destined to bring about but do they prevent it or bring about the foreseen ruin.

Learn More: Video

New Content: Blessed Regions

Blessed regions are a new group of Custom Regions, making use of a new Celestial Terrain Overlay. These regions will give a minor economic bonus and annexing Blessed provinces will not incur a Stability Penality. Included in these Blessed Regions is a new Landmark, the Fountain of Creation. As if an extension of the well of creation itself, this fountain spreads the blessings of creation across the Realm.

Learn More: Dev Diary[forum.paradoxplaza.com] & Video

New Story: Divine Intervention

The Story of Age of Wonders 4 continues. The war against Urrath is intensifying, and its Generals are laying siege to Worlds where Dreamers reside. Sundren has left to fight the Umbral Abyss, avoiding all consequences of the chaos she wrought and the Godir of Magehaven are desperate. The Pantheon searches for aid against Urrath and The Gloomwatch might have a lead.

Even More Content

While we’re sure the above has your mouths watering, there’s even more that you can enjoy. Further included in the Archon Prophecy Expansion are:

• 8 Achievements

• 5 New Music Tracks

• 4 New Premade Rulers

• New Realm Templates & Realm Traits

• New Exotic Mount Traits

• New Archon Interface Skin & Banner Emblems

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3181540/Age_of_Wonders_4_Archon_Prophecy/

New Content: Flaws

Flaws are a new type of Form Trait that introduces meaningful drawbacks to your form. Unlike typical traits, Flaws add points rather than costing them when selected, allowing you to invest more into strengths elsewhere. Flaws aren’t meant to be shrugged off, they should feel impactful - traits you’ll need to actively embrace in creative ways. 

Learn More: Video

Updates: New Hero Classes

Magic Hero Classes have gotten their themes and mechanics split up to create new classes that more effectively cover their associated themes. These changes increase the variety of mage-type heroes that show up during the game, and improve replayability.

• Elementalist - This class is more focused on magical damage, setting up attacks or delivering the killing blow with powerful Elemental abilities. 

• Ritualist - This class is a nature based support class with many healing and utility abilities.

• Warlock - This class covers the darker magical aspects such as necromancy and curses. They mix the role of a debuffing battlemage with a bit of support through both healing and summoning

Learn More: Dev Diary[forum.paradoxplaza.com] & Video

New Feature: Extra Faction Data

We’ve expanded Faction Creation with a new Advanced Settings menu to give players more control over their custom Factions. Improve your faction identity with custom City Name Lists & fully handcrafted recruitable Heroes and define a Tome Path for the AI to follow when they take control of your creation. This feature is designed for players who want a more consistent and immersive experience—particularly when playing in worlds where their own custom Factions show up.

Learn More: Dev Diary[forum.paradoxplaza.com] & Video

New Features: AI Starting Bonus & Combat Difficulty

The game difficulty isn’t always quite there. While tools are already in place to adjust challenges these often result in artificial or uninspired gameplay. At the same time, the AI handles all Tactical Combat encounters the same way. This one-size-fits-all approach leaves new players feeling overwhelmed and seasoned players feeling unchallenged. That’s why we’re offering new ways to adjust difficulty levels.

• AI Strategic Bonuses are a way of giving selected AI players tailored early-game bonuses. These are designed to help them scale faster and apply pressure sooner, making each playthrough feel more tense, risky, and unpredictable.

• Tactical AI profiles change the behavior and difficulty of the combat AI to make Tactical Combat feel more balanced, dynamic, and satisfying.

Learn More: Video

Quality of Life and more

For each Major Update we don’t just work on new Content, Balance Changes or Fixes. We always try to dedicate some time to improvements that make the game easier or more accessible to use. With the Griffon Update we have a brand new set of Quality of Life Improvements for you to enjoy. 

Tired of the tedium that comes from world conquest? Multi Stack Movement allows players to select up to 6 Stacks and give them a combined Move Order. Notification Settings give you more control over the notifications within the game and allows players to tailor the notifications to suit their playstyle. And there's now a small chance that items you made in the item forge show up in future sessions. These Persistent Forged Weapons are saved when you finish a session and have a small chance to be given as rewards for Quest, Events & clearing location.

Read the full patch notes here[forum.paradoxplaza.com]

During this campaign we released lots of Dev Diaries, Streams and Feature Highlight videos, feel free to explore them below!

• Archon Prophecy First Look Dev Stream 

• Archon Prophecy and Griffon Update Overview Series by Pravus on YouTube

Moreover, we are inviting you for a post-launch Dev Stream this Thursday (14th of August), 14:00 CEST, during which you can ask the Devs questions, share your feedback about Archon Prophecy or Griffon Update, or just have some fun!

Watch on our YouTube this Thursday![youtube.com]

Our amazing Art Team prepared an Art Blast - a lot of artwork, concept arts, animations and just amazing pieces were released today on Art Station. Check it out and maybe you will find new cool wallpapers today (we definitely did). 

Explore the amazing artwork![www.artstation.com]

We have two news to share: 

1. There will be Expansion Pass 3. Yes. It is official! While we cannot provide more details at the moment, we strongly recommend you subscribe to your channels and newsletter so you won’t miss the news when the time comes! 

2. As we mentioned before, Expansion Pass 2 will be become a dynamic bundle, called Last Chance Bundle. Which means you will be able to “complete the set” if you already bought a standalone DLC from the pass and get a nice discount. The switch will happen at 18:00 CEST later today.

Follow us and be the first to know when we drop new content!

• Share your thoughts on the Forum[forum.paradoxplaza.com]!

• Chitchat on Discord[discord.gg]!

• Have fun with us on Twitter!

• Follow us on Facebook[www.facebook.com]!

• Subscribe to our Reddit and YouTube!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3181540/Age_of_Wonders_4_Archon_Prophecy/