This update adds Taolu, the playable 9th angel, to the Character selection options and gives some instructions for players to pick a color once sitting at the table.

This update is a major quality-of-life improvement for those that play with multiple players!

Solo + Taolu Update!

We found a nice way to refine the solo rules of Deliverance.

Before, you had this awkward rule of the Intercessor carrying 2 action tokens, but one of those tokens were usable by the angel. Now, the Intercessor uses 2 actions on its turn, but one of the options (Exhort) allow your angel to use an action (you must pay its cost). This effectively grants the same ruleset as before, but simplifies the rulebook and integrates the previous ruleset into the card itself. The rulebook is out of date, but the back of the Intercessor card reflects the updated solo rules!

We also updated the Intercessor Talent cards to lean into the discarding of Intercessor Talents. Now, players will be more freely able to discard a Talent in order to leverage more Talent bonuses during level-ups. This allows a clever solo player to use up to ~8 Talents in a game, which increases the skill cap of the true solo angel to survive in Abyssal difficulty.

Lastly, we added the final 9th angel, Taolu, and his Talent cards to the game! We haven't yet scripted his angel into the system yet, but we expect to have this completed in the next update.

Added a few additional angel buffs which allow them to be a bit more dynamic in higher difficulties:

1. Mikko got a boost that fits her toolkit beautifully. Jab becomes more powerful if you move into enemies now!

2. Azrael's Fever Break becomes a free action when removing an affliction from himself. He desperately needed some way to gain health under pressure without ruining his ability to deal damage, and this gives him that much needed steam!

3. Shula's STR is boosted to 3 (up from 2). She fills a really nice support role, but her early heals were a bit weak against bursty damage, and her high damage builds that revolve around big hits fueled by STR needed some love for solo.

Modified Prince Encounters a bit -- The health totals were a bit too high for solo and 2-player modes, which was especially noticeable on higher difficulties, but were excellent for 3-4. Therefore, balance of Prince health totals was modified to generally be lowered in 1-2 player games, and the same (or slightly higher) in 3-4 player games!

Added an option to solo mode Intercessor to boost a solo player's variety of choices each round. Now, Consecrate reads:

"Free Action - Once per round, grant target angel 1 shield OR 1 Courage."

This should give solo players the tool they need to tackle Abyssal difficulty, but needs to be tested further!

Patch 1.76

Nightmare and Abyssal difficulty are hard, and we elected to strengthen the angel cards a bit to help on a number of different levels. First, the Adventure difficulty can be quite difficulty for new players, and we wanted to add a bit more room for recovering from near-losses. This might also encourage more players to challenge themselves in higher difficulties, solo players included.

Also, some of the angels got new skills that add flavor and fix some of their inherent issues (Christine's single-target damage, or Michael's general mobility).

TL;DR

- Boosted many angels' stats to increase their survivability for higher difficulty levels.
- Adjusted several angel skills (Michael and Christine)
- Increased strength of some angels to bring them in line with others.
- Boosted the Intercessor for solo play to allow angels to survive higher difficulty levels.

Azrael:

+1 Discipline
+1 Wisdom

Azrael is a naturally damage-oriented angel in his talent builds. He does have an interesting healer build, but his role as a support was a bit weak, despite his Talent enhancements. The boost to Wisdom will not only help that, but will also increase the power of his Viral Plague Talent, which didn't see as much play as others. This change also boosts his survivability in solo, which is a welcome boon to Azrael players as they must use a more damage-oriented build in solo.

Christine:

- Replaced Advance with Shock. Now, Christine has a choice to deal 1 damage instead of move. Many of Christine's builds rely on her being close to enemies, and this change will make them stronger. However, she was a bit weak when dealing single-target damage and this should help with that weakness.

Gabriel:

+1 Health

Gabriel is quite strong as is due to his Shield Discus skill, but his ability to deal damage and sustain is reduced in solo, and so we boosted his Health a little bit to compensate for this.

Michael:

- Replaced Advance with Stalk. Now, Michael may move 1 additional space if he has at least 5 Courage ("at least" is there in the event that his Courage limit grows beyond 5).
- Inner Strength now always grants 1 Courage when using it on yourself. This should encourage Michael players to be a bit more self-sufficient when necessary!

Mikko:

+1 Health

Updated Ebb and Flow to require Mikko moves 1 space versus making it optional. This reinforces Mikko's position-based fighter skillset and rewards players for better control of Mikko.

Sardius:

+1 Health
+1 Discipline

Sardius players didn't have enough reason to use Smash over other skills, so we boosted his damage here. This also supports his heavy-shielding style.

Shula:

+1 Health

Shula is a strong character capable of high damage and great support, but she is a bit squishy, so we boosted her health a little bit to compensate for big swings.

Uriel:

+1 Health
+1 Discipline

Uriel is a strong tanky angel, but his self-heal is extremely weak. We felt this was too weak to survive at high difficulty levels, so we boosted his Discipline to enhance his survivability a bit early-on.

Intercessor:

- Consecrate now only grants 1 shield (down from 2), but is now a Free Action that you may use once per round. This will help offset the nature of only one angel to target in solo. While it will not help you survive bursts of damage, it will certainly help you combat the whittling down of your health over time, which will greatly aid solo players in higher difficulty levels!