Quick hotfix to address some of the issues on the new Halloween Challenge map, will be continue to fix additional issues as we can.

- Increased Starting Mana for the Halloween Map
- Fixed Ghost Bridge Collision
- Fixed Halloween cosmetics not dropping from Halloween Map

For the first time ever in DDA’s history we are doing an in-game Halloween event. This event will feature some new cosmetics for both login rewards and in-game rewards from the new Halloween version of Ramparts. In addition to this every enemy across the game will receive a special Halloween theme for the duration of the event. This Halloween Update is live now on PC, Xbox and PlayStation and will go until November 4th, 2022.



If you login between the dates listed above, you’ll unlock the following transmogs:

• Hallow's Evil Grin Mask
• Fish in a Jar Mask

With the introduction of the in-game Halloween event we have remade Halloween Spooktacular from the original game. This map will feature the new Halloween variants of the enemies permanently even after the Halloween event is over. It also has new lanes and an additional core to defend.



Completing the map will give you a Brain in a Jar Mask Accessory as a guaranteed drop, but for those out there that prefer a bit of gold to their look there will be a very low drop chance version that allows you to unlock the golden transmog variant of the Fish in a Jar, Brain in a Jar and the Hallow's Evil Grin Mask. The golden variants will only drop on Massacre though, be warned it can be very challenging for those just breaking into to Massacre.



This Halloween event brings spooky variants of each of the enemies in the realm of Etheria. All across the game these enemies will spawn for the duration of the Halloween Event. Afterwards the enemy skins will only be present on the Halloween Map which will stay once the event ends.





Well with the Halloween Event now released, our next stop is the Episode 2 Part 1 PTR which will begin on October 28th. This will feature the Outcast Summoner Hero, 2 new maps, Runes, trading and more! Check out the full post talking about these features on our forums later today!

To stay up-to-date on the latest news from Chromatic Games and the Dungeon Defenders franchise, follow us on all our social channels:

• Discord
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Twitch
• Forums

For Etheria!

Chromatic Games

DEFENDERS,

This post will provide an update on Episode 2 Part 1 work as well as announce the details about the upcoming In-game Halloween Event and Episode 2 Part 1 PTR. With that said let's get into it as this will be a long post!


For the first time ever in DDA’s history we are doing an in-game Halloween event. This event will feature some new cosmetics for both login rewards and in-game rewards. In addition to this every enemy across the game will receive a special halloween theme for the duration of the event. This Halloween Update will be released on October 14th, 2022 and the event will go until November 4th, 2022.

If you login between the dates listed above, you’ll unlock the following transmogs:

• Hallow's Evil Grin Mask
• Fish in a Jar Mask

With the introduction of the in-game halloween event we have remade Halloween Spooktacular from the original game. This map will feature the new halloween variants of the enemies permanently even after the Halloween event is over. It also has new lanes and an additional core to defend.



Completing the map will give you a Brain in a Jar Mask Accessory as a guaranteed drop, but for those out there that prefer a bit of gold or Neon to their look there will be a very low drop chance version that allows you to unlock the golden transmog variant.






As many of you know, the summoner from the original Dungeon Defenders game will be returning to DDA as The Outcast Summoner. This iconic hero has been one of the most requested heroes to return to DDA and as such we wanted to try our best to stay true to the original as best as we could, while also making adjustments to better fit DDA.

With that in mind, one of the things we felt strongly about was that the original model shown previously didn’t reflect what users expected for a remake of the Summoner. As such we’ve gone through and reconcepted and made a new model that fits the theme better.

Here is a first look at the new model!

Next up let’s talk about how the hero itself will work. After going through all the data from the Summoner Survey we have come to the following abilities, defenses and changes to the summoner.
Before we cover Hero Abilities, let's talk about some of the general features that the hero has first. The hero doesn’t have weapon slots and as such doesn’t have an actual attack. Instead the hero will be allowed to equip 2 pets at once. Additionally the Summoner will be able to equip Tomes and will be able to complete a weapon set using a single tome.

Regarding Minions we also have opted to not have Minion Units but instead use DU for the defenses. This solves 2 issues, the first being that players felt that they were missing out if they didn’t take advantage of having double the “DU” and additionally it would require we balance every map both past and present around having this feature.

Finally the Summoner has the ability to hover by pressing and holding the jump key at any point while the hero is falling. They will still be able to take advantage of the double jump as any hero can.

Primary - Minion Select

• Since the hero doesn’t attack, his primary will be used to select his minions. Currently we only allow single unit selection but will continue to iterate on this as feedback is received.

Secondary - Overlord Mode

• A big feature of the Summoner was his ability to go into overlord mode and have a more top down RTS style camera. This ability will allow the Outcast Summoner to pan around the map and place minions remotely as well as move them as necessary.

Active Ability - Flash Heal

• Flash heal offers the ability to heal nearby heroes, Minions and defenses by a percentage of their max health, scaling off the hero's Ability stat.

Buff Ability - Pet Boost

• While active the hero's pets will be buffed increasing attack damage and attack speed, scaling off the hero's Ability stat. This was a redux addition that we felt added a lot of potential to the hero being used as a DPS and playing off the ability for the hero to equip 2 pets.

Before we get started all the minions are still going through active balancing so these values might not represent what goes live for the PTR as well as adjusting balance as we receive PTR feedback.

Minion 1 - Archer (2 DU): Summons a Crystalline Dark Elf Archer. Shoots non-piercing arrows at enemies. 

Minion 2 - Spider (3 DU): Summons a Crystalline Spider to the battlefield. Flings webs at nearby enemies, slowing them down and doubling all damage they receive.

MInion 3 - Siren (4 DU): Summons a Crystalline Siren to the battlefield. She casts protective shields around defenses reducing incoming damage and also attacks offensively with her ranged attack.

Minion 4 - Dark Elf Mage (4 DU): Summons a Crystalline Dark Elf Mage to the battlefield. Casts fireballs and periodically heals themselves and other nearby minions, as well as heroes.  

Minion 5 - Ogre (5 DU): Summons a Crystalline Ogre to the battlefield. Crushes enemies within melee range and occasionally fires poison snot balls from a distance.

This will mostly be a recap of the full runes introduction post as a lot of it remains unchanged from the original design but figured it was important to give a recap and fill in any blanks as needed.

Runes are broken down into two different categories they work in the following ways: 

• Hero Runes - Runes that affect your hero’s stats, attacks, and abilities.
• Tower Runes - Runes that affect your tower stats and activation (whether that’s damage or utility).

Additionally there are 2 types of Runes, General Runes and Class Runes and can be used in different situations.

• General Runes - Runes that can be applied to any hero. These are typically flat stat increasing runes, with some slight variations.

• Class Runes - Runes that are applied to a specific hero, or specific list of heroes.

Unlocking runes is a 2 step process. First you must obtain a rune which can be found by playing various gamemodes, maps and difficulties. Some runes will have specific drop locations while others will have random drop locations. Secondly you will need to pay a gold cost to consume the rune and permanently unlock the rank of rune.

Once you’ve unlocked a rune you can choose to use that rune in any of your available slots. Each hero has 2 Hero runes and 4 Defense Runes slots. Those rune slots can be set on each individual hero. Allowing you to add more customization to the way that hero builds.

With all that recapped, let's talk about some examples of runes we can expect to see in DDA.

• Explosive Shield - Shield Throw explodes on hit, dealing 100% of it's normal damage to all nearby enemies and increases number of Bounces by X.
• Spear Trap - Every X Seconds when the Spike Blockade is attacked it shoots out 8 piercing projectiles damaging enemies for X% Tower Health.

• Arcane Blast - Arcane Surge becomes a ranged piercing projectile which deals X% of secondary attack damage.
• Bouncing Magic - Magic Missile Projectiles deal X% damage and bounces up to Y additional targets.

• Chance Grenade - Grenade Toss has a X% chance to spawn another grenade upon killing an enemy.
• Shell Shocked - Enemies hit are slowed by X% and deal Y% reduced damage for Z seconds.

• Mystical Repair - Tower Boost slowly repairs defenses for X% of tower health over Y Seconds.
• Lightning Strikes - Every X Seconds, the Lightning Aura deals Y% tower damage to a single enemy within range.

• Decoy-GR - Decoy now shoots along with the hero at the same direction dealing X% of hero damage.
• Electric Shock - Proton Beam has a X% chance to shock and stun enemies for Y seconds.

• Yum Yum Seed - Sprout Seeds on-pickup restore X% HP and gives a Healing over time for Y% Max HP over Z seconds.
• Focus Blossom - Beaming Blossom does additional X% damage for each attack made against the same enemy, stacking up to Y times.

• Multiple Marks - Increases max number of Marked targets by X.
• Spin-To-Win - Carnage consumes -50% mana and does Y% of the original damage.

• Flash Buff - Defenses within Flash Heal gain Attack rate and Power for X Seconds.
• Healing Master - The Dark Elf Mage Minion can also heal nearby defenses for X% of the normal minion healing.

Now with all this talk about runes, there is another way to acquire them that wasn’t mentioned above which would be through trading. Trading will allow 2 players to exchange items and gold between one another. 

Players can request to open a trade and then add items and offer gold. Not every item is tradable, specifically any kind of entitlement reward like from the Kickstarter. Outside of that you are free to trade Armor, Weapons, Pets, Offhands, Accessories, and now Runes.

Additionally we also added a new gameplay setting to auto reject trade requests for the popular few that don’t wish to be overwhelmed with trade requests. You can still send trade requests while this setting is enabled but any attempts for others to trade with you will be rejected without notification.

Finally since we know players will want better ways to find other traders, we’ve added a way to host a public tavern with custom session names. While this isn’t a perfect solution, we hope we can improve this in the future and potentially look at new ways to host trading lobbies.

With the first part of Episode 2 comes 2 new maps to kick off Act 5. After defeating the Lycan King, the heroes traverse a great desert uncovering forgotten locations along the way. 
You’ll have to fight your way through the Bazaar in order to progress deeper into the secrets this desert holds!

Defend your core from threats old and new in the shadow of structures from a forgotten civilization.


As we hinted at in one of our live streams there will be 5 changes to the defense roster. These changes are based on metrics, survey data and general community discussions. That said if the feedback from these changes is not well received we will look at making changes as needed.

The Sniper tower offers the squire a new single target defense that will be very strong at defeating tanky enemies. It will use a special enemy targeting priority. This tower will replace the Bouncer Blockade as we felt the blockade was often overshadowed by the other blockades in the game.

Defense Rune - Piercing Upgrade:

• Pierces an additional enemy and scales damage of the attack by X%.

The Poison Dart Tower is the first addition of a defense to the Huntress’s kit. The PDT will shoot 3 individual projectiles. These projectiles are fanned out so that they spread out and hit multiple enemies down the path. It will use a fodder targeting priority. This tower will replace the Darkness Trap, as it was the most unused defense in the game, the alternative was the Thunder Spike Trap which we felt could have more use cases.

Defense Rune - Blinding Darts:

• Enemies hit by the Poison Dart Tower have a X% to become blinded for Y seconds.

In order to make room for the upcoming defense changes, we’ve decided to merge the Blocking Field and Reflect field. This means the defense will be able to serve as a wall or a reflect field and will have the same DU scaling of the original reflect field so that they continue to be used as they have in the past.

Defense Rune - Electric Fence:

• Blocking Field deals X% of Tower Health back to all attackers as electric damage.

The Heat Cannon provides a unique defense to the game. It’s a short ranged flamethrower defense that hits all enemies within its range arc. While this defense is limited in range it will more than make up in defense power. This defense will have a fodder targeting priority. It will replace the new empty slot where Reflect Field was.

Defense Rune - Immolation:

• Heat Cannon applies a fire DoT onto enemies dealing X% of tower damage over Y seconds.

The Plasma Defense System or PDS is an omni-directional sentry that can target and attack up to 3 separate targets at once. The defense does have one major flaw in the form of a deadzone. The dead zone prevents the tower from attacking enemies that are too close to the tower. This defense will have a modified version of the special enemy targeting but instead prioritizes Djinns, Copters, and Wyverns before targeting other special enemies. This defense will replace the Shock beam, as we felt that the crowd control it provided was just outclassed by other crowd control oriented defenses regardless of balance.

Defense Rune - Full Coverage:

• Increases the Plasma Defense System’s defense range by X% but also increases the dead zone by Y%.

This has been a highly requested quality of life for endgame players. Auto Loot 2.0 will allow players to have multiple loot filters using the existing setup. This allows players to have filters tied to specific types of items, for example having a Auto Loot Filter specifically for picking up Accessories or a filter to pick up only swords. As long as an item matches 1 of the filters in your list it will get picked up when Auto Loot happens. 

This UI will allow you to create and manage the multiple filter profiles. Each one can have a name and Icon associated to help associate them. You will be limited to 8 filters at any point.

So now that we’ve talked about all the amazing things coming in episode 2, I know you all are dying to know when the PTR will go live. On that note I can say we are aiming for the PTR to go live on October 28th, 2022 pending any major setbacks. While we had initially planned for it to start early october we felt the extra time was needed, and with the halloween event it would be odd to have those launch at nearly the same time.

After the halloween event is over and the PTR is finished we’ll look at releasing the update live after we’ve made any necessary changes based on player feedback. Once that is live we’ll begin work on the remaining Episode Part 2 work and keep you all updated as that is developed. Though it is too early to say what the timeline will be like at this moment.

To stay up-to-date on the latest news from Chromatic Games and the Dungeon Defenders franchise, follow us on all our social channels:

• Discord
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Twitch
• Forums

For Etheria!

Chromatic Games

DEFENDERS,
This hotfix should address some of the pain points players have raised regarding Mixed Mode and Endless Survival. Additionally some changes to Sirens to help players who prefer to build around their cores. We'll continue to monitor this update as we make progress towards Episode 2 Part 1.

• Tweaked Boss Accessories potential to match that of Lycan King Boss Accessories when dropping at the same quality.
  
• Removed Dark Elf Warriors from Mixed Mode Randomization due to their enemy cap causing slow waves.
  
• Non-rifted Woodland weapons now drop as act drops instead of as a boss reward to match how fusion versions drop.
  
• Massacre waves should move quicker than before when there are less enemies on the map.
  
• Rifted Mix Mode should have less overall enemies now to be closer to survival, this won't be perfect due to the randomness of the Mixed Mode.
  
• Siren's Explosion no longer damages cores and caps out at 75% of defense health
  
  • Damage against heroes remains unchanged.

• Fixed issue with Mixed mode boss accessories not dropping.
  
• Fixed Various VFXs that weren't being removed causing performance issues.
  
• Fixed issue with Dark Elf Warriors getting stuck on Tornado Valley.
  
• Fixed issue where players had received wave 1000+ unlocked on specific maps.

To stay up-to-date on the latest news from Chromatic Games and the Dungeon Defenders franchise, follow us on all our social channels:

• Discord
  
• Twitter
  
• Facebook
  
• Instagram
  
• TikTok
  
• YouTube
  
• Twitch
  
• Forums

For Etheria!
Chromatic Games

DEFENDERS,

The Pre-Episode 2 Patch 2 is now live on PC, Xbox and PlayStation, including some major enhancements to the endgame in the form of Endless Survival, Rifted Mixed and Pure Strategy, and lots of balance changes. Let's dive into the changes!


Ever felt like 25 waves just wasn’t enough? Ever wish you could keep your build and keep playing forever? Well now’s your chance! Endless survival does just that by allowing the player to keep playing after wave 25 to no end. Each wave will get increasingly difficult, carrying on potentially forever.

Item quality will stay the same as wave 25, as this helps to avoid too much power creep. Every 5 waves we will reward players with a Map Victory chest, which will contain the same item rolls and potential as that of Wave 25. Bosses will spawn every 5th wave and gain 20% health each time.

Endless Survival can be started by the host pressing continue on the summary screen. Players will still be able to start on higher waves but must start on a wave after a Victory Chest. (Ex: Every 5th wave such as 26, 31, 36)

Since loot quality doesn’t scale we have added special rewards for endless survival in the form of Golden Pet Transmogs! Every map has a golden pet transmog to unlock by beating wave 100 on Massacre Survival on the respective map. With the exception of the Golden Giraffe On a Treadmill which is unlocked by beating wave 100 Massacre Survival on every map (Act 1, 2, 3 & 4).

We’ve received lots of feedback overtime asking for changes to the attack rate caps and as such In this update we are cutting attack rate caps for defenses in half for PC, Xbox and PlayStation. This means towers will attack much faster than they have in the past. We’ve also removed the higher attack rate caps on specific towers like Deadly Striker and Sludge Launcher. Unfortunately this is the only change in this list that Switch users will not receive.

Bonus Waves are now a feature of the past, and Bonus Difficulties will be replacing it. Bonus Difficulties work almost identically to how bonus waves work with one exception. Instead of getting a bonus wave after completing the map, Bonus Difficulty will scale up the entire map’s difficulty and loot quality.

This means you no longer have to casually play through wave 23, 24 and 25 to get to the single hard wave that challenges you and provides the loot quality you are looking for. Bonus Difficulties unlock the same way as bonus waves and are usable in the same locations.


Tired of not knowing who is not readied up? Wish you could see who joined your game without having to go to the escape screen? Want to know what level your friends are?

Well now you can do all that and more! The HUD party is a way to see a quick all of that and more at a quick glance. You’ll be able to see Names, Hero Type, Hero Level, Hero Health and Ready up status.


We have added another set of 4 new Fusion pets for you to collect!

• Act 1: Griffin
• Act 2: Etherian
• Act 3: Lil Bomber
• Act 4: Lycan King Mini

Fusion Pet Drop locations have been adjusted. Here is the complete list of where to get Fusion Pets:

• Griffin: The Deeper Well & Ancient Mines
• Steam Robot: Lava Mines & Alchemical Labs
• Paddle Ball: Magus Quarters
• Little Wizard: Tornado Valley & Tornado Highlands
• Etherian: The Ramparts & The Throne Room
• Monkey King: Endless Spires
• Lil’ Bomber: Arcane Libary & Royal Gardens
• Dragon: The Promenade & The Summit
• Mega Chicken: Glitterhelm Caverns
• Angry Cloud: The Mill & The Outpost
• Mini Lycan Prince: The Keep
• Demon Lord: Foundries and Forges

In order to fill out the game more and work towards our goal of eventually having more gamemodes open to the player at the endgame, we’ve added the ability to play those gamemodes with rifted enabled.

This will be something we continue to expand on in the future but wanted to offer the player the ability to play these modes with rifted enabled.

Pure Strategy will not be getting a rework in this update, We decided it was best to hold off on that rework till we can offer special rewards to go along with it. As currently other gamemodes are just offer inherently better rewards and so this is something we want to address at the same time.

With Rift added to mixed mode we wanted to offer players more reason to play mixed as well. As such we’ve added Bosses and allowed Bonus Difficulties to be used on mixed. This means the waves will be harder but the loot will scale to that of the bonus difficulty selected.

The goal with these changes is to provide players with more options for Pets, Weapons and Defenses. As with anything in this patch we will be monitoring this to see if any further adjustments are needed. 

This is gonna be a long list so get ready!

Defenses

• Squire
• Spike Blockade
• Health increased by 100%
• Harpoon
• Damage increased by 10%
• Bouncer Blockade
• Health increased by 100%
• Slice N’ Dice
• Health increased by 100%
• Monk
• Lightning Aura
• Damage increased by 10%
• Strength Drain Aura
• DU decreased from 5 to 4
• Apprentice
• Magic Blockade
• Health increased by 100%
• Magic Missile
• Damage increased by 10%
• Flameburst
• Damage increased by 10%
• EV
• Proton Beam
• Starting Attack rate increased from 0.3s to 0.5s
• Damage scalar increased by 10%
• Overall this is a nerf to early game and a buff to endgame
• Physical Beam
• Health increased by 100%
• Warden
• Roots of Purity
• Health increased by 100%
• Wisp Den
• Damage decreased by 10%

Pets

• Angry Cloud
• Increased damage by ~600% at the endgame
• Demon Lord
• Increased damage by ~185% at the endgame
• Dragon
• Increased damage by ~300% at the endgame
• Etherian
• Increased damage by ~20% at the endgame
• Hippogriff
• Increased damage by ~275% at the endgame
• Lil’ Bomber
• Increased damage by ~360% at the endgame
• Lycan Prince
• Fusion version gives Rift Armor
• Mega Chicken
• Increased damage by ~150% at the endgame
• Monkey King
• Decreased the damage increase per stack from 10% to 5%
• Increased the damage stack limit from 10 to 30
• Paddle Ball
• Increased damage by ~55% at the endgame
• Steam Robot
• Increased damage by ~65% at the endgame
• General
• Increased movement speed of all pets by 200%

Weapons

• Boss Weapons
• We increased the damage scalars of all Demon Lord, Goblin Mech and Ancient Dragon Boss weapons to try to be within 5-10% of the potential power of a Lycan King Boss Weapon when dropped at similar quality.
• The goal here is to allow players more choice to choose which of the boss weapons fit their playstyle the best. So playing Bonus Difficulties on Boss Maps should provide weapons with the potential to be as good as Lycan King Boss Weapons.

• Bonus Difficulty is now displayed on the pause menu in the bottom left corner.
• Opening launch cinematic has been replaced by a simplified loading screen.
• Fixed issue with a couple Mixed & Pure Strategy maps having wrong item quality drops.
• Fixed issues with Fusion pets dropping a really low quality in higher difficulties.
• Fixed issue where clients couldn’t cancel carnage.
• Fixed issue with Foundries and Forges having the wrong experience in Survival.
• Fixed Issue with auto sell loot total display showing negative numbers.
• Fixed issue with woodland weapons not dropping.

The next step for DDA is Episode 2 Part 1 PTR which includes Runes, Trading, The Outcast Summoner Hero, 2 Maps, The Bazaar and The Lost Metropolis. That’s not all though there will be additions coming in October that players will be excited for. Outside of DDA, we are still hard at work making a new update for DD2. 

To stay up-to-date on the latest news from Chromatic Games and the Dungeon Defenders franchise, follow us on all our social channels:

• Discord
  
• Twitter
  
• Facebook
  
• Instagram
  
• TikTok
  
• YouTube
  
• Twitch
  
• Forums

For Etheria!
Chromatic Games

DEFENDERS,

This patch should address some of the main issues players are seeing on the PTR currently. Overall the feedback we've been getting from the surveys has been really positive and we are happy with how things are going so far. We expect the PTR to go for another week before deciding if more time and changes are needed before looking at a live game release. If you are still looking to take part in the PTR to test these new changes, follow these instructions. 



Boss Weapons

• Further tweaked Fusion Boss Weapons to scale better when dropped at equal quality tiers. You'll still see about a 5-10% difference between any boss weapon and a Lycan king boss weapon.

Tornado Highlands

• Significantly cut enemy counts to be more in line with other maps in the act. 

• Fixed issue where Lycan King Lures weren't resetting properly between boss fights.
  
• Fixed issue with the Keep waves not scaling in endless.
  
• Fixed issue with the Lycan King not scaling health in endless.
  
• Fixed issue with Fusion Pets not having a minimum quality when dropped.
  
• Fixed Beaming Blossom not being able to attack after the first attack.
  
• Fixed issue where players could start on higher waves or waves they shouldn't be able to start on.
  
• Fixed issue with Lycan Prince Rift Armor not showing on the tooltip.
  
• Fixed issue with Lycan Prince Rift Armor now applying properly.
  
• Fixed issue with Rogue's Carnage not being able to be canceled on clients.

To stay up-to-date on the latest news from Chromatic Games and the Dungeon Defenders franchise, follow us on all our social channels:

• Discord
  
• Twitter
  
• Facebook
  
• Instagram
  
• TikTok
  
• YouTube
  
• Twitch

For Etheria!
Chromatic Games

The Pre-Episode 2 Patch 2 PTR is now live, and like last time we need help from our Defenders to test out all these upcoming changes! This PTR focuses on more endgame as well as balancing Pets and Weapons. We aim to run this PTR for a few weeks and tweak things as needed before releasing it to the live game including consoles.

We want you to join the PTR! If you own Dungeon Defenders: Awakened on PC/Steam, check out our forum post that shows you exactly how to join!


For those that complete the PTR survey, the PTR reward will be slightly different this time around, We’ll be allowing people to catch up on any missed PTR rewards in the past. You’ll be given the choice of reward in the survey. This includes the following rewards:

• Forest Ally’s Wings
• Eagle’s Wings
• Crystalline Corgi

For those that have all the PTR rewards or want something else, You can choose to enter in to win a set of Pizza Wings instead.

Ever felt like 25 waves just wasn’t enough? Ever wish you could keep your build and keep playing forever? Well now’s your chance! Endless survival does just that by allowing the player to keep playing after wave 25 to no end. Each wave will get increasingly difficult, carrying on potentially forever.

Item quality will stay the same as wave 25, as this helps to avoid too much power creep. Every 5 waves we will reward players with a Map Victory chest, which will contain the same item rolls and potential as that of Wave 25. Bosses will spawn every 5th wave and gain 20% each time.

Endless Survival can be started by the host pressing continue on the summary screen. Players will still be able to start on higher waves but must start on a wave after a Victory Chest. (Ex: Every 5th wave such as 26, 31, 36)

Since this is a PTR and there will be a lot of tweaking to the scaling, there won’t be any special rewards and something that will be added once we have a better idea of how far players will get.

Bonus Waves are now a feature of the past, and Bonus Difficulties will be replacing it. Bonus Difficulties work almost identically to how bonus waves work with one exception.

• Instead of getting a bonus wave after completing the map, Bonus Difficulty will scale up the entire map’s difficulty and loot quality.

This means you no longer have to casually play through wave 23, 24 and 25 to get to the single hard wave that challenges you and provides the loot quality you are looking for. Bonus Difficulties unlock the same way as bonus waves and are usable in the same locations.


Tired of not knowing who is not readied up? Wish you could see who joined your game without having to go to the escape screen? Want to know what level your friends are?

Well now you can do all that and more! The HUD party is a way to see a quick all of that and more at a quick glance. You’ll be able to see Names, Hero Type, Hero Level, Hero Health and Ready up status.

We have added another set of 4 new Fusion pets for you to collect!

• Act 1: Hippogryph
• Act 2: Etherian
• Act 3: Lil Bomber
• Act 4: Lycan King Mini

Fusion Pet Drop locations will be adjusted as well in this PTR. Here is the complete list of where to get Fusion Pets:

• Hippogryph: The Deeper Well & Ancient Mines
• Steam Robot: Lava Mines & Alchemical Labs
• Paddle Ball: Magus Quarters
• Little Wizard: Tornado Valley & Tornado Highlands
• Etherian: The Ramparts & The Throne Room
• Monkey King: Endless Spires
• Lil’ Bomber: Arcane Libary & Royal Gardens
• Dragon: The Promenade & The Summit
• Mega Chicken: Glitterhelm Caverns
• Angry Cloud: The Mill & The Outpost
• Mini Lycan Prince: The Keep
• Demon Lord: Foundries and Forges

We’ve received lots of feedback overtime asking for changes to the attack rate caps and as such In this PTR we are cutting attack rate caps for defenses in half for PC, Xbox and PlayStation. This means towers will attack much faster than they have in the past. We’ve also removed the higher attack rate caps on specific towers like Deadly Striker and Sludge Launcher. We’ll monitor these changes over the PTR and see if any adjustments are needed. Unfortunately this is the 1 change in this list that Switch users will not receive, unless major performance breakthroughs are made.

In order to fill out the game more and work towards our goal of eventually having more gamemodes open to the player at the endgame, we’ve added the ability to play those gamemodes with rifted enabled.

This will be something we continue to expand on in the future but wanted to offer the player the ability to play these modes with rifted enabled.

Pure Strategy will not be getting a rework in this update, We decided it was best to hold off on that rework till we can offer special rewards to go along with it. As currently other gamemodes are just offer inherently better rewards and so this is something we want to address at the same time.

The goal with these changes is to provide players with more options for Pets, Weapons and Defenses. As with anything in this patch we will be monitoring this to see if any further adjustments are needed. 

This is gonna be a long list so get ready!

• Squire
• Spike Blockade
• Health increased by 100%
• Harpoon
• Damage increased by 10%
• Bouncer Blockade
• Health increased by 100%
• Slice N’ Dice
• Health increased by 100%
• Monk
• Lightning Aura
• Damage increased by 10%
• Strength Drain Aura
• DU decreased from 5 to 4
• Apprentice
• Magic Blockade
• Health increased by 100%
• Magic Missile
• Damage increased by 10%
• Flameburst
• Damage increased by 10%
• EV
• Proton Beam
• Starting Attack rate increased from 0.3s to 0.5s
• Damage scalar increased by 10%
• Overall a nerf to early game and a buff to endgame
• Physical Beam
• Health increased by 100%
• Warden
• Roots of Purity
• Health increased by 100%
• Wisp Den
• Damage decreased by 10%

• Angry Cloud
• Increased damage by ~600% at the endgame
• Demon Lord
• Increased damage by ~185% at the endgame
• Dragon
• Increased damage by ~300% at the endgame
• Etherian
• Increased damage by ~20% at the endgame
• Hippogriff
• Increased damage by ~275% at the endgame
• Lil’ Bomber
• Increased damage by ~360% at the endgame
• Lycan Prince
• Fusion version gives Rift Armor
• Mega Chicken
• Increased damage by ~150% at the endgame
• Monkey King
• Decreased the damage increase per stack from 10% to 5%
• Increased the damage stack limit from 10 to 30
• Paddle Ball
• Increased damage by ~55% at the endgame
• Steam Robot
• Increased damage by ~65% at the endgame
• General
• Increased movement speed of all pets by 200%

• Boss Weapons
• We increased the damage scalars of all Demon Lord, Goblin Mech and Ancient Dragon Boss weapons to try to be within 5-10% of the potential power of a Lycan King Boss Weapon when dropped at similar quality.
• The goal here is to allow players more choice to choose which of the boss weapons fit their playstyle the best. So playing Bonus Difficulties on Boss Maps should provide weapons with the potential to be as good as Lycan King Boss Weapons.

Collecting feedback and testing, testing, testing! Make sure to fill out your survey in the PTR client and let us know what you think about the changes. Tell us what you like. Tell us what you don’t like. We expect the PTR to go for a few weeks, where you can definitely expect changes and we continue to get more information. Thanks again to our Defenders for taking the time to participate and give us feedback!

To stay up-to-date on the latest news from Chromatic Games and the Dungeon Defenders franchise, follow us on all our social channels:

• Discord
  
• Twitter
  
• Facebook
  
• Instagram
  
• TikTok
  
• YouTube
  
• Twitch
  
• Forums

For Etheria!
Chromatic Games

The Pre-Episode 2 Patch 1 is now live on PC, Xbox and PlayStation! Switch will get this update at a future date once it’s gone through certification. This patch adds many highly requested features and changes from the community.

Let’s get into all the great changes in this patch!


The Siren has been a point of frustration for many of our players and has received a rework. The reworked version will be targetable by towers and have two abilities and a normal ranged attack:

• Ability 1 - Mitigate damage to nearby enemies.
  
• Ability 2 - Target players/defenses with a casted explosion that will cause damage if the player does not move away before the cast completes.

Make sure to keep an eye on defenses and cores as The Siren will now attack anything in her path without needing to be provoked.

Note: Currently there is no difference between normal and rifted and is still considered a Rifted Enemy in both modes.


Do you want your Corgi to shoot fireballs? Well now they can! Pet Transmog can be accessed through the blacksmith and you can now transmog your currently equipped pet with any pet that you’ve unlocked.






What better way to welcome the addition of Pet Transmog than to add more pets to collect!

In this patch we’ve added 4 new Fusion pets for you to collect!

• Act 1: Steam Robot
  
• Act 2: Little Wizard
  
• Act 3: Dragon
  
• Act 4: Angry Cloud

Players can obtain them by playing Rifted Survival on any act map except for the encore maps. Bonus Waves will roll between the map's pet and the Fusion pet (50/50 currently). We expect to add more in future patches.




For those that have played DDGR, we changed the defense range decal to a clearer and nicer looking blue range indicator that more concisely communicates your range without overriding the environment. We’ve brought this over to replace the green glow that is currently presented. Overall we think this should provide players with a less obstructive view of their defense range.


Enemy Elemental Resistance has been lowered from 100% to 75%. This will not change how towers work. Elemental Towers will not target, Auras will not damage, and Traps will not trigger or damage elemental enemies.


This change makes it so that instead of drops always replacing the lowest IPWR item on the ground once the max drop limit has been reached, it will now instead keep 20 Armor, 10 Weapons and 10 Offhand drops on the ground and replace an item of the same category. Pets and Accessories are no longer culled and will stay on the ground.


Enemies now have a small chance to drop Fusion Gear when playing rifted. This isn’t meant to be a major source of Fusion Gear but will help players breaking into rifted to make sets easier.


This was an addition that was done in DDGR to allow players to have a centered camera view and has been a popular request in the community. This can be enabled in the gameplay settings for users that prefer that camera angle.


This new system will allow you to upgrade and repair defenses like never before! When enabled in the gameplay setting (Enabled by default). Each setting can be toggled on or off independently of each other.

Smart Repair will attempt to repair nearby defense to the reticle starting with the lowest health percentage.

Smart Upgrade will upgrade nearby towers to the reticle in the order of their priority fully before going down to a lower priority tower. Two towers of the same priority will alternate between the lower upgrade level. The priority list is now:

• Overclock Beam
  
• DPS Towers / Traps / Auras
  
• Blockades
  
• Everything else
  
• Reflect Field
  
  Example 1: If you have a Harpoon Tower and a Spike Blockade, the Harpoon Turret will get upgraded fully before the Spike Blockade receives any upgrades.
  
  Example 2: if you have 2 Harpoon towers and a Spike blockade, it will alternate upgrading the 2 Harpoon Towers to full before targeting the Spike Blockade
  
  
  Balance
• General
  
  • Item Effects
    
    • Irradiate can no longer activate on target dummies to allow users to more easily compare actual DPS values as irradiate.
• Squire
  
  • Spiked Blockade
    
    • Health Increased from 1160 to 1392
  • Slice N Dice Blockade
    
    • Health Increased from 1225 to 1470
    • Damage Increased from 7 to 7.7
  • Harpoon Turret
    
    • Damage Increased from 60 to 73
    • Projectile is no longer destroyed by map geometry
  • Bouncer Blockade
    
    • Health Increased from 1087 to 1304
    • DU reduced from 2 to 1
  • Bowling Ball Turret
    
    • Damage Increased from 70 to 84
• Apprentice
  
  • Elemental Barrier
    
    • Health Increased from 1160 to 1392
  • Magic Missile Tower
    
    • Damage Scaling Increased from 1.6 to 1.75
  • Lightning Tower
    
    • Damage Increased from 20 to 22
• Huntress
  
  • Explosive Trap
    
    • Damage increased from 375 to 412
    • Range Increased from 200 to 220
    • Rate Increased from 10 to 8
  • Inferno Trap
    
    • Damage Increased from 65 to 78
    • Effect Rate Increased from 0.65 to 0.5
  • Thunder Spike Trap
    
    • Damage Increased from 1500 to 1800
    • Rate Increased from 8.5 to 6.8
    • Can be overlapped with other Thunder Spike Traps outside of a small radius
• EV
  
  • Blocking Field
    
    • Health Increased from 882 to 1058
• Warden
  
  • Roots of Purity
    
    • Health Increased from 825 to 990
    • Shroomy Pit is now Shroomy Geyser
    • Use the new and improved Shroomy Geyser to yeet Shroomies to your heart's content!

• Entitlements no longer give items, but will now just unlock the transmog. Entitlements that were given as items are now sellable, but will not be tradable. Additionally those items will also be locked when logging in to prevent accidental selling. Note: Any entitlement items sold at this point will be gone forever.
  
• Added Social Button Bar to Main Menu.

• Fixed a few issues to help with multiplayer disconnects.
  
• Fixed an issue where the spawn door had some weird textures.
  
• Fixed an issue where hackers can see non hacked games.
  
• Fixed an issue where defeated enemies on the Tactical Map would still display despite being defeated.
  
• Fixed issues with item effects spawning projectiles at the wrong location.
  
• Fixed an issue where leaving a game that was lower difficulty than what your Tavern was previously set to would cause you to have difficulty scaling issues until hero swapping.
  
• Fixed an issue where deleting your last transmog could result in a crash.
  
• Fixed an issue where the client would occasionally crash when culling an item.
  
• Fixed an issue where the session browser displays 9999 games found instead of 0 when no games found on initial open.
  
• Fixed an issue where refreshing the Session Browser when there are no sessions will hide the X Games Found text instead of saying 0.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Siren icon on the Tactical Map was too small.
  
• Fixed some additional backend issues with Session Browser with games not showing up in specific cases.
  
• Fixed issue where Ping was not shown in the controls UI.

DEFENDERS,

We will be extending this PTR for one more week, as expected. We have made a handful of changes based on the data we have collected so far, and will be keeping a close eye on things as we move forward. We anticipate pushing the patch to the live game once we make any final changes and pass certification for consoles. If you are still looking to take part in the PTR to test these new changes, follow these instructions. We have also added a section to the bottom of the survey to reflect these new changes, so make sure to go back and edit your surveys.

The new Smart Upgrade system now has a more defined priority list. Towers will now be upgraded in the order of their priority fully before going down to a lower priority tower. Two towers of the same priority will alternate between the lower upgrade level. The priority list is now:

• Overclock Beam
  
• DPS Towers / Traps / Auras
  
• Blockades
  
• Everything else
  
• Reflect Field

Example 1: If you have a Harpoon Tower and a Spike Blockade, the Harpoon Turret will get upgraded fully before the Spike Blockade receives any upgrades.

Example 2: if you have 2 Harpoon towers and a Spike blockade, it will alternate upgrading the 2 Harpoon Towers to full before targeting the Spike Blockade.


Harpoon Turret

• Damage Increased from 66 to 73

Magic Missile Tower

• Damage Scaling Increased from 1.6 to 1.75

Lightning Tower

• Damage Increased from 20 to 22

Thunder Spike Trap

• Can now be overlapped with other Thunder Spike Traps outside of a small radius.
  
• Developer Note: This is something that people have suggested in their surveys and we wanted to experiment with this to see how players use this.

Siren

• Increased Base Health from from 8000 to 8190
  
• Increased Health Scalar from 200 to 225
  
• Reduced range of projectile attack from 1500 to 800 units

• Fixed an issue where the client would occasionally crash when culling an item.
  
• Fixed an issue where the session browser displays 9999 games found instead of 0 when no games found on initial open.
  
• Fixed an issue where refreshing the Session Browser when there are no sessions will hide the X Games Found text instead of saying 0.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Siren icon on the Tactical Map was too large.
  
• Fixed an issue where a Siren hitting the core would say the incorrect enemy name.
  
• Fixed an issue where traps didn’t show their effect range when activating tower view.
  
• Fixed an issue where EV’s node-based defenses weren't showing as invalid for their placement decal.
  
• Fixed an issue where the PTR session browser was region locked.
  
• Fixed some additional backend issues with Session Browser with games not showing up in specific cases.

To stay up-to-date on the latest news from Chromatic Games and the Dungeon Defenders franchise, follow us on all our social channels:

• Discord
  
• Twitter
  
• Facebook
  
• Instagram
  
• TikTok
  
• YouTube
  
• Twitch
  
• Forums

For Etheria!
Chromatic Games

DEFENDERS,

The Pre-Episode 2 Patch 1 PTR is now live, and we need help from our Defenders to test out these upcoming changes! As mentioned in the Preview notes, this PTR will be focused on the implementation of a handful of new features, continuing to improve the overall quality of life in DDA, and fine tuning some of the balance on defenses!

Are you excited to check out these changes early? Do you like giving your opinion in a meaningful way? Do you want an exclusive Crystalline Corgi Pet Transmog? If any or all of these apply to you, we want you to join the PTR! If you own Dungeon Defenders: Awakened on PC/Steam, check out our forum post that shows you exactly how to join!

Test with us and get a Crystalline Corgi! Make sure to play for at least 30 minutes and fill out the in-client survey to receive this cute new Corgi transmog to use for your first ever Pet transmog! This survey can be accessed via the pause menu.



The Siren has been a point of frustration for many of our players and will be receiving a rework. The reworked version will be targetable by towers and have two abilities:

• Ability 1 - Mitigate damage to nearby enemies.
  
• Ability 2 - Target players/defenses with a casted explosion that will cause damage if the player does not move away before the cast completes.

Note: Currently there is no difference between normal and Rifted and the Siren is still considered a Rifted enemy in both modes.

Enemy Elemental Resistance is being lowered from 100% to 75%. This will not change how towers work. Elemental Towers will not target, Auras will not damage, and Traps will not trigger or damage elemental enemies.

This change makes it so that instead of drops always replacing the lowest IPWR item on the ground once the max drop limit has been reached, it will now instead keep 20 Armor, 10 Weapons and 10 Offhand drops on the ground and replace an item of the same category. Pets and Accessories are no longer culled and will stay on the ground.



We have added 4 new Fusion pets for you to collect!

• Act 1: Steam Robot
  
• Act 2: Little Wizard
  
• Act 3: Dragon
  
• Act 4: Angry Cloud

Players can obtain them by playing Rifted on any act map except for the encore maps. Bonus Waves will roll between the map's pet and the Fusion pet (50/50 currently). We expect to add more in future patches.

Do you want your Corgi to shoot fireballs? Well now they can!




Rifted Enemies now drop Fusion Gear

• This is our most requested change from our surveys and will help players better farm the Fusion gear they need!

Shroomy Pit is now Shroomy Geyser

• Use the new and improved Shroomy Geyser to yeet Shroomies to your heart's content!

Smart Upgrade and Repair

• This will make repairs a little less pain-staking. This feature can be toggled in the gameplay settings, and is on by default.

Spiked Blockade

• Health Increased from 1160 to 1392

Slice N Dice Blockade

• Health Increased from 1225 to 1470
  
• Damage Increased from 7 to 7.7

Harpoon Turret

• Damage Increased from 60 to 72
  
• Projectile is no longer destroyed by map geometry

Bouncer Blockade

• Health Increased from 1087 to 1304
  
• DU reduced from 2 to 1

Bowling Ball Turret

• Damage Increased from 70 to 84

Explosive Trap

• Damage increased from 375 to 412
  
• Range Increased from 200 to 220
  
• Rate Increased from 10 to 8

Inferno Trap

• Damage Increased from 65 to 78
  
• Effect Rate Increased from 0.65 to 0.5

Thunder Spike Trap

• Damage Increased from 1500 to 1800
  
• Rate Increased from 8.5 to 6.8

Elemental Barrier

• Health Increased from 1160 to 1392

Blocking Field

• Health Increased from 882 to 1058

Roots of Purity

• Health Increased from 825 to 990

• Warden's Sprout ground target changed to a projectile.
  
• Updated Defense Range indicators to be more user-friendly.
  
• The ‘Sell All’ hotkey returns.
  
• Added ‘Force Ready Up’ on the Escape UI for consoles.
  
• Transmog items that can no longer be obtained will now be hidden on the transmog UI.
  
• Added a gameplay option to toggle the DDGR Centered Camera Perspective view.
  
• Irradiate no longer procs on target dummies in order to help temper DPS expectations .
  
• Entitlements no longer give items, but will now just unlock the transmog. Entitlements that were given as items are now sellable, but will not be tradable.
  
• Updated item effect descriptions to say "Increases {stat name}" instead of giving the actual description of the stat.
  
• Updated Stability's item effect description to say "Reduces Knockback from enemy attacks."
  
• Added Social Button Bar to Main Menu.

• Fixed a few issues to help with multiplayer disconnects.
  
• Fixed an issue where the spawn door had some weird textures.
  
• Fixed an issue where hackers can see non hacked games.
  
• Fixed issues with item effects spawning projectiles at the wrong location.
  
• Fixed an issue where defeated enemies on the Tactical Map would still display despite being defeated.
  
• Fixed an issue where leaving a game that was lower difficulty than what your Tavern was previously set to would cause you to have difficulty scaling issues until hero swapping.
  
• Fixed an issue where deleting your last transmog could result in a crash.

Collecting feedback and testing, testing, testing! Make sure to fill out your survey in the PTR client and let us know what you think about the changes. Tell us what you like. Tell us what you don’t like. We expect to have about 1-2 weeks of this PTR, where you can definitely expect changes and we continue to get more information. Thanks again to our Defenders for taking the time to participate and give us feedback!

To stay up-to-date on the latest news from Chromatic Games and the Dungeon Defenders franchise, follow us on all our social channels:

• Discord
  
• Twitter
  
• Facebook
  
• Instagram
  
• TikTok
  
• YouTube
  
• Twitch
  
• Forums

For Etheria!
Chromatic Games