Predecessor Patch V.0.5

Greetings Champions!

Patch V.0.5 is almost here and with it comes the arrival of our first ever original Hero, Kira - the deadly shadow huntress! 

As mentioned in last week’s announcement here, we’re extending Season 1 until the 17th of April to give everyone a little extra time to unlock those epic end-of-season rewards.

V.0.5 is our last major content update of Season 1. We’ve delivered a lot during this first period of Early Access but unfortunately we’ve not quite finished everything we wanted to finish in this time. Specifically we’re still hard at work on the Public API, Competitive Nights and a Spectator/Replay mode. There’s a chance that some of these features might be ready to release alongside our next balance patch two weeks from now, but if that isn’t possible then we expect that they’ll arrive around a month from now with the V.0.6 update. Regarding the Tutorial specifically, we’re working hard on this but it needs more time than most other features, so this will now be released during Season 2.  

Back to this week’s patch, Kira isn’t all that’s coming in V.0.5! We’re also adding XP rewards to the AI mode, new skins to the shop and we’re releasing a player survey too. 

Kira of course is the star of the show this week (sorry Shinbi!) and we can’t wait to see you all hitting the battlefield with her. From everyone at Omeda Studios thank you for being here with us for this important milestone!

- alex, Lead Game Designer

A NEW HERO APPEARS

Kira joins the hunt!

We’ve already covered Kira in lots of detail, so check out the previous newspost for everything you need to know about this deadly huntress!

https://www.predecessorgame.com/blog/kira-joins-the-hunt

MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS

AI Mode XP

The recently added AI Mode will now grant account XP on match completion! Keep in mind that these games will provide less XP than regular PvP games, but if you’re looking for a chill way to grind for those end of Season skins then this might help.

Skins Shop - Update

First and foremost, the Platinum Store is now enabled on the Epic Games Platform! 

Perhaps more excitingly however is the fact that in this update we’re  adding 3 new skins to the store!

Those skins are:
◆ Cardinal Sin Kira [Common]
◆ Wasteland Howitzer [Common]
◆ Arctic Frost Dekker [Common]

Additionally you can now see the rarity of a skin above its name in the store. 

Currently we have two rarities that can include any of the following changes:

Common
◆ Skin colours
◆ Materials
◆ Textures
◆ Minor model changes or other minor visual changes

Rare
◆ Skin colours
◆ Materials
◆ Textures
◆ Sound effects
◆ Substantial model changes or substantial visual changes

A skin can have any number of the changes listed in its rarity tier in any combination. The more changes there are and the more complex they are, the more Platinum they are likely to cost (within their rarity tier). In the future this information will be clearly available in game.  

Moving forwards we plan to add new skins with each game update (every 2 weeks), meaning the next skins will be coming in April 4th’s Balance Patch, V.0.5.X.

Player Survey

All players who have reached Level 10 and above will be prompted on login to fill in a one time only feedback survey (via Google Forms). This pop-up can be dismissed and if you would like to fill out the survey at a later time there will be a button on the main menu linking you to the survey. 

Your feedback is important to us, and we’ll use the results from this survey to help us shape our plans for Season 2 and beyond. In advance we thank you for taking the time to fill out the survey.

Kill Counter

Earlier in the season we removed the Kill Counter that appeared on the HUD, we chose not to communicate this at the time. We had hoped by removing the counter there would have been a positive impact on some tracking data that we were monitoring and therefore it was important that players discovered the change organically. Having reviewed the data however we’ve found that the change did not have the impact we had hoped for so we’re re-enabling the feature. We appreciate all the feedback the community provided on the topic, it was very helpful.  

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

◆ Wards can no longer be placed on non-walkable areas.
◆ Core alarm duration decreased from 5s to 4s.
◆ Adjust camera shake in general based on community feedback.
◆ Khaimera’s Unleash sound effects have been altered.
◆ Adjusted Rampage’s Boulder volume.
◆ Support Crests now show their stacks on the HUD.
◆ Updated the audio for Fangtooth’s attacks.
◆ Updated Primal Fangtooth’s cone attack audio.
◆ Removed free-look keybind from controller.
◆ Adjusted Fey’s movement sound effects.
◆ Mouse is now always locked to the game window regardless of the window mode. This change had to be removed from this patch, it will return in the future.
◆ Fixed multiple Hero abilities that were not previously drawing Tower aggression.

BALANCE CHANGES

HEROES

Dekker

Dekker is still a fairly solid pick within the current meta, however she tends to be outshined by her enchanter friends in the Support roles. We’d like to give her more direct buffs by making her Stasis bombs a bit easier to land directly, her cage a bit more reliable and shifting the cage numbers a bit to incentivise earlier levels in Photon Disruptor after Stasis Bomb.

Rocket Boots [Passive]:
◆ Cooldown is no longer affected by Ability Haste.
◆ Cooldown decreased from 20s to 18-9.5s (Based on Level).

Containment Fence [E]:
◆ Collision Activation Time decreased from 0.65s to 0.5s.
◆ Duration changed from 2.25/2.5/2.75/3/3.25 to 2.4/2.6/2.8/3/3.2.

Stasis Bomb [RMB]:
◆ Projectile Speed increased from 3050 to 3500.

Drongo

Lately Drongo has seen a bump in early power due to damage being shifted away from crit and into his levels. This has allowed him to more safely enter Solo lanes in some niche scenarios. We’re decreasing his early game durability and damage a small amount to lessen his early presence and allow Solo laners more opportunities to deal with him.

General:
◆ Base Health decreased from 615 to 600.
◆ Base Physical Power decreased from 55 to 53.

Gadget

Shock Absorber [Passive]:
◆ Cooldown is no longer affected by Ability Haste.
◆ Cooldown decreased from 27-10s to 26.4-6s (Based on Level).

Gideon

Cosmic Power [Passive]:
◆ Cooldown is no longer affected by Ability Haste
◆ Cooldown decreased from 20s to 18-9.5s (Based on Level).

Howitzer

Armed Salvo [Passive]:
◆ Cooldown is no longer affected by Ability Haste
◆ Cooldown decreased from 16s to 16-7.5s (Based on Level).

Kallari

Omen was an item that never interacted well with the Kallari’s kit. These changes will allow her to very quickly access both her stealth and Death Mark when applying them with the same basic attack.

Quality Of Life:
◆ Omen’s Passive Cooldown Reduction will now apply to Shadow Walk and Death Mark when applied with the same basic attack.

Shadow Dance [Passive]:
◆ Cooldown is no longer affected by Ability Haste.
◆ Cooldown decreased from 22-6s to 20-3s (Based on Level).

Khaimera

Khaimera has been abusing Ashbringer above most other on-hit effects recently. We’ll look to resolve those with on-hit modifiers in future, but until then we’re making his Q ability behave like other Heroes’ abilities by not allowing the cooldown to start until it has expired. This means he can still stack up Ashbringer, but will not have his Q available instantly again.

Unleash [Q]:
◆ Cooldown now begins after all 5 hits have occurred or after the duration has expired.
◆ Cooldown decreased from 13/11/9/7/5 to 10/8.5/7/5.5/4.

Murdock

Shots Fired [Passive]:
◆ Cooldown is no longer affected by Ability Haste
◆ Cooldown decreased from 14.5-6s to 12.5-4s (Based on Level).

Steel

General:
◆ Shield Bash Stun Duration increased from 0.3s to 0.5s
◆ [Bug Fix] Shield Bash no longer stuns for 1s.

ITEMS

T1:

Wraps:
◆ Magical Armor increased from 10 to 12.

T2:

Some Tank T2s have suffered low efficiency due to fairly strong passives. They’re somewhat conditional, so we’re bumping up the stat line to help Tanks feel a bit better when curving towards their T3 options.

Barbed Pauldron:
◆ Physical Armor increased from 25 to 35.

Horned Plate:
◆ Physical Armor increased from 25 to 30.

Polar Treads:
◆ Magical Armor increased from 12 to 15.

CARRY:

Terminus:
Regardless of its second passive, Terminus has made ADCs feel a little too resistant to burst damage, especially alongside other defensive item options. We’re decreasing the scaling a bit alongside fixing its second passive.

◆ Anon Passive Shield Scaling decreased from 100% Total Physical Power to 80% Total Physical Power.

TANK:

Fire Blossom:
Fire Blossom has fallen to the wayside a bit. As most classes have easy first buys, we want to reinforce this for Tanks and make it feel like you’re not losing too much durability by purchasing it over other options.

◆ Health increased from 225 to 275.

Frostguard:
Frostguard suffers from a little less efficiency than it deserves due to its strong effect. We’re giving it a bit more armor to make it feel better to pick up compared to other Tank options.

◆ Physical Armor increased from 50 to 60.

Hexbound Bracers:
Like Frostguard, we’re hoping these changes help the Riktors and Dekkers of the world pick this item up again.

◆ Physical Armor increased from 50 to 60.
◆ Meditation Passive % Current Mana deactivation decreased from 60% to 50%.


Tainted Bastion:
Likewise, Tainted Bastion is also getting a small bump to its durability to helps Tanks feel a bit better at picking it up and even pairing it with Tainted Guard.

◆ Magical Armor increased from 30 to 35.
◆ Colossus Damage Mitigation increased from 5% to 6%.

MINIONS

Ranged:
◆ Damage to Heroes Modifier increased from 35% to 40%.

Siege:
◆ Damage to Heroes Modifier increased from 60% to 70%.

TOWERS

General:
◆ Ramping Damage increased from 30% per shot to 35% per shot (Still stacks up to 4 times).

Outer Tower:
◆ Health increased from 4500 to 5000.

MAP

General:
◆ Players should now be able to blink more easily outside of the Epic Monster Pits from the rear wall.
◆ The wall next to the 5 Stack Brown Minion Camp has been lowered to allow for easier jumping from the river side into the camp.

BUG FIXES

◆ Fixed a bug where players clipped into the environment near Dusk spawn.
◆ Fixed a bug causing the vision eye to appear above Kallari when stealthed in AI mode.
◆ Fixed a bug causing the minimap to display some camp timers when it shouldn’t.
◆ Fixed map collision causing players to get stuck on the back of Orb/Fang pit.
◆ Fixed a bug causing controller players to be unable to move.
◆ Fixed an issue causing bots to chase invisible targets.
◆ Fixed an issue causing Gadget’s Sticky Mine to lose its stickiness after Gadget died.
◆ Fixed a bug causing surrender to accept with too few players.
◆ Fixed a bug allowing Shinbi to activate her Circle Rhythm ability twice with no cooldown.
◆ Fixed an issue causing Mutilator and Infernum to trigger too many times on certain abilities. 
◆ Fixed Magnify’s description stating it required an Enemy Hero as a target to stack.
◆ Fixed an issue causing Lightning Hawk to scale from Bonus Physical Power rather than Total Physical Power.
◆ Fixed an issue where Mutilator was working against non-Heroes.
◆ Fixed an issue where Golem’s Gift was not refunding all 5 stacks when exiting combat with more than 0 stacks.
◆ Fixed an issue where Magnify’s description stated that the passive stacked only on Enemy Heroes instead of all targets.
◆ Fixed an issue where Terminus’s Endless passive was not granting the Anon Shield unless at full health upon achieving a takedown.
◆ Fixed an issue where Health bars were permanently disappearing when Murdock died during Long Arm of the Law’s targeting.
◆ Fixed a bug causing Gag Grenade to fail to affect targets leaving Stasis.
◆ Fixed a bug causing the Shinbi start game audio effects to play for teammates.
◆ Fixed a map collision issue in the Duo lane.
◆ Fixed an issue causing the post match defeat sound to play multiple times.
◆ Fixed audio being blocked incorrectly in various places.
◆ Fixed collision in Red Side Jungle.
◆ Fixed issues causing low FPS in the draft screen.
◆ Fixed a bug with Gadget’s Speed Gate visual effects.
◆ Fixed Feng Mao’s Auto Attack third animation having glitched legs.
◆ Fixed Offlane T1 Dawn Side collision.
◆ Fixed a bug where Kallari could get an extra Dagger Stack when triggering Ashbringer.
◆ Fixed a bug where you could bind a key to the same key as the Item shop.
◆ Fixed a bug where Red buff could be attacked, but not aggro’d. 
◆ Fixed a bug causing some skillshots to twitch off target

That's all this week!

Let us know what you think of this update over on Twitter, the official Subreddit or our Discord server!