Early Access Patch V0.17

Introduction

Greetings Champions!

As the dust settles on our momentous Open Beta launch, we thought it'd be Grim to go much longer without another game update!

We're excited to get back into regular game updates and deliver on those big content releases we teased earlier this year in Robbie's PRED Talk. With that said however, V0.17 is a smidge smaller than some of our other updates.

This is because V0.18 will include the highly anticipated 6th item slot as well as a bunch of all-new items and a drastic rebalance of the entire game, to say nothing of all the other significant features it'll release with.

That said however V0.17 does break the binary by bringing not just 0, not just 1, but 2 new targets to shoot at in the form of Grim and his trusty killing machine, .EXE!

Grim.exe isn’t all however! We’ve added the ability to set per-Hero casting options in the game’s settings and have your choices persist between matches, some fantastic new oriental-inspired skins for Countess and Wraith, as well as a sweep of balance improvements and bug fixes.

That's enough loading, let’s boot up and log-in!

A New Hero Appears

Engage kill mode, with Grim.exe! 

The grizzled gremlin and his personal Sentry Combat Robot, EXE are ready to engage!

Grim.exe is a utility caster whose ranged flexibility lends itself to offensive plays and defensive plays alike. Whether you like tearing up the battlefield with powerful precision, or controlling combat with strategic slows and disruptive displacement, Grim.exe has a mode for the job!

Hero Overview

Get up to speed with Grim.exe in our latest Hero Overview video!

Abilities: 

Pulsefire [Passive]:

Effect: Grim.exe’s basic attacks are modified to deal Magical Damage.

Grim.exe’s basic attacks and abilities apply Pulsefire to Enemy targets hit for 4s. The next basic attack or ability will burst the Pulsefire and deal 10 (+20% Total Physical Power)(+20% Magical Power) bonus true damage on-hit. 

Pulse Cannon [Basic Attack]:

BAT: 1.15
Effect: Ranged basic attack dealing 52 (+90% Bonus Physical Power) physical damage.

Displacement Blast [Primary]:

CD: 12/11/10/9/8
Cost: 60/70/80/90/100
Effect: Fire an empowered shot forward that deals 90/130/170/210/250 (+70% Bonus Physical Power)(+75% Magical Power) magical damage.

In Assault Mode, the shot is Lobbed and displaces Enemies away from the centre of the explosion.

Sentry Mode/Assault Mode [Secondary]:

CD: 0.25
Cost: 0
Effect:
Sentry Mode: Basic Attacks restore 6/7/8/9/10 mana.

Assault Mode: Pulse Cannon shots cost 12/14/16/18/20 mana, deal (+15% Total Physical Power)(+20% Magical Power) bonus magical damage on-hit and apply a 10/12.5/15/17.5/20% decaying slow for 0.8s.

Deflector Shield [Alternate]:

CD: 26/23/20/17/14
Cost: 0
Effect: Grim.exe activates a shield for 1s that blocks the next incoming enemy ability.

If the shield successfully blocks an enemy ability, Grim.exe restores 20/25/30/35/40% of his missing mana.

G.T.F.O [Ultimate]:

CD: 90/75/60
Cost: 100
Effect: Grim.exe slows himself by 60% and locks onto an enemy hero. After a short channel, a G.T.F.O. (Gyro Targeted Force Orb) is launched. The orb will pass through the world and non-Hero units but can be blocked by enemy heroes.

The orb deals 250/450/650 (+120% Bonus Physical Power)(+90% Magical Power) magical damage.

Store News

New Skins

Shogun Wraith

Show your combat prowess with the all new Shogun skin [UNCOMMON] for Wraith! 

Shogun Countess

Soak your katanas in the blood of the fallen, with the new Shogun Countess skin [RARE]!

Silver Ghost Kwang

Strike like a ghost in the night, with the new Silver Ghost Kwang skin [COMMON]!

Hot Rod Grim.exe

Do the flame decals on the new Hot Rod Grim.exe [COMMON] skin make him run faster? No. Do they make him do more damage? Also no. 

But do they make him look significantly more awesome? Absolutely.

New Bundles

Shogun Wraith Bundle

What good is it to topple a dynasty so stylishly if you don’t have a cool new spray to disrespect your opponents with afterwards? 

Shogun Countess Bundle

Break more than just the spirit of your foes. Break their hearts too.

Hot Rod Grim.exe Bundle

You can’t put flame stickers on a robot you don’t have. Pick up the new Grim.exe Hero alongside the new Hot Rod skin in this mini-bundle!

Per Hero Cast Options

We’re pleased to share new customisation settings for each Hero, meaning you can now set unique Cast Options between Default/Normal/Quick/Instant on a per-Hero basis in the Gameplay Settings menu.

These settings are persistent, remembered by the game between matches, but can only currently be changed while you're playing that Hero.

Controller Cast Option Changes

We’ve changed the default setting for casting on controllers from “Quick” to a new variant of the "Normal” setting.

But what exactly is normal in today’s society, and what are the other options available in the in-game settings? Let’s break it down.

You can change these settings at any time in the settings menu.

Gameplay Balance Changes

Cleanse CC Immunity Window:

• Cleanse CC Immunity Window on-use increased from 0.25s to 0.35s.

Hero Balance Changes

Argus is still proving to dominate the battlefield with his early-game pressure and how hard he scales throughout a match. Once again we’re reducing the potency of his Dread Nova ability to reduce the strength of his early trade patterns, especially in Support positions. Likewise, Synaptic Obliterator hits extremely hard in the later stages of the game, borderline killing targets from full health with a few items. As a result, it is also seeing a reduction in its Magical Power Scaling.

Drongo’s ability to blow up a target once he unlocks his Ultimate is too consistent due to his overall damage output - especially in “kill lanes” where he is paired with CC-heavy Heroes such as Riktor. To ensure Drongo has to work a little harder for his kills, Shrapnel Cannon is losing some raw damage.

Gideon’s Black Hole ability has received a quality of life improvement aimed at increasing its fluidity and reducing frustration, with it now activating immediately when used. This removes the confusing case where Gideon’s ultimate is interrupted but able to be re-cast immediately, and resolves interactions such as Truesilver Bracelet’s Shield not activating instantly when the player uses the ability.

Grux's ability to run down his foes from minute one makes him a menace in the Offlane. By reducing his initial Bleed damage and durability, Grux will have a harder time stat-checking his opponent in the early stages of the lane, with more Heroes able to hold the line against his early pressure. Conversely, he is receiving a decrease to his Smash & Grab ability cooldown to grant him more uptime in fights in the late-game where he struggles the most.

Iggy is struggling to bring the heat compared to many other Mages, especially with his lack of up-front damage. A small increase to his Molotov’s Scaling should allow him some extra burst to threaten with.

After the previous rounds of balance, Kwang has begun to settle into a more comfortable position as a durable diver/disruptor, with his damage output more reasonable in Tankier builds. His baseline durability is still on the high side, however, so he’s getting another durability decrease to nudge him further into greater parity with other Heroes.  

Given how strongly she scales into the late-game, Lt. Belica often has too much control in the early-game, able to shove and pressure most matchups comfortably, allowing her a smooth transition into the later stages of a match. While there are other mechanical factors at play contributing to Belica’s power, there is a fine line when it comes to diminishing her laning strength. Given her short-range and more control-orientated kit, making Belica too weak in the early game can result in her being unable to keep pace and ever achieve relevance. For now then, she is once again receiving a decrease in her ability to out-shove opponents with a decrease to her base attack speed and Void Bomb damage, alongside correcting her ultimate’s Magic Power Scaling (as we overshot with the last set of changes), with the net result of the changes between this patch and the last patch being a sharp decrease in her overall laning presence post-first recall.

Muriel’s Consecrated Ground is receiving some extra love at Rank 1, better allowing her to defend herself and her allies in early trade scenarios, while also bringing greater match-up considerations between her and other Duos.

Revenant’s immobility and fragility leaves him exceptionally vulnerable to the majority of Heroes, especially divers. To grant him some additional relevance, he is gaining some additional Movement Speed and Physical Power Growth, better allowing him to outmanoeuvre his foes and act as a ramping threat.

Item Balance Changes

Obelisk’s Magical Penetration contributes to excessive burst damage scenarios and is thus seeing a reduction.

• Magical Penetration decreased from 8 to 6.

Raiment’s potency as a sustain item offers too much durability, especially when rushed. By reducing the Regeneration it offers, wielders will have to think twice about their positioning as the Regen’ is now more susceptible to being burst through. 

• Regenerator Damage Regenerated decreased from 10% to 8%.

Same as Obelisk: Less Pen’; less abnormal burst.

• Magical Penetration decreased from 8 to 6.

With the reduction in Cost seen in the last balance pass further opening the item up to Supports, Timewarp is providing a bit too much value as a standalone first-buy. It’s therefore receiving a reduction in Mana Regen to ensure it doesn’t completely mitigate a Hero’s Mana issues as early into a match.

• Timewarp Base Mana Regen decreased from 150% to 125%.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where Morigesh would not correctly Heal when using her Swarm on a close-range Target.

• Fixed a bug where Kwang could fall under the Orb Prime pit ledges when using his Ultimate.

• Fixed a bug where Grux’s Warlord skin’s channel trail VFX could sometimes play incorrectly.

• Fixed a bug where Feng Mao’s Earth Shatter SFX could stop mid-way.

• Fixed a bug where Feng Mao’s Stun animation could fail to play.

• Fixed a bug where players could become soft-locked if they left the fountain with the Crest Screen active.

• Fixed a bug that caused ability inputs to become unresponsive after cancelling abilities that are quick cast on Controller.

That's everything this time Champions, what do you think?

Let us know your feedback over on our Discord server or the Predecessor Subreddit.

Until next time!

Kari
Lead Community Manager @ Omeda Studios