The Season of the Viper has begun and Update 8.5 is available!

Embark on a new Journey with Triss Merigold, and discover what treasures await along the way!

06.05. - 11.05. Switcheroo

• After 2 turns the players switch hands.

11.05. - 18.05. Entrench

• Every played unit has resilience.

18.05. - 25.05. Plus One

• Whenever you play a unit, spawn a 1-power copy of it at the end of its row.

25.05. - 01.06. Trial of the Grasses

• Whenever a unit appears on the board, damage it by 2 then boost it by 4. If it's a Witcher, the damage is not dealt.

01.06. - 08.06. Irresistible Attraction

• Whenever you play a non-Spying unit, move a random enemy unit with the same power to the opposite side.

This season is planned to end on June 8th, 10:00 a.m. CEST.



Welcome to the 8.5 Patch Notes article.

This update, the spotlight is stolen by the new Journey, featuring Triss Merigold!

By progressing through it, you'll be able to unlock the new leader, as well as unique cardbacks, avatars and more.

8.5 also brings balance changes, that were focused on three goals:

• Making the weaker stratagems stronger and more tempting to choose for your deck.
• Buffing some of the less popular leaders and making them more versatile
• Balancing new cards released in 8.3 update

To top it off, we introduce new Starter Decks, aiming to make it easier and more entertaining for the new players to join the game.

You can read on details and more changes and improvements below.



Enchanted Armor:
ability changed to:
Order: Boost a unit in your hand by 3 and give it 2 Armor.

Ceremonial Dagger:
ability changed to:
Order: Damage an enemy unit by 3 and give it Bleeding (2)

Cursed Scroll:
ability changed to:
Order: Draw a card of your choice, then put a card from your hand at the bottom of your deck.

Armory is now a Location.
Ability changed to:
Resilience.
Deploy: Boost an ally by 6.
Order: Give 3 Armor to an allied unit.

Regis: Provisions changed from 13 to 12.

Land of a Thousand Fables is now a Location.
Ability changed to:
Resilience.
Deploy: Play a Special card from your deck.
Order: Transform a special card in your hand into a random unit of the same provision cost from the same faction.

Operator: Provisions changed from 8 to 7.

Armorer's Workshop: Armor given changed from 1 to 2.

Traveling Merchant: Power changed from 4 to 5.

Wagenburg: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Iris: Shade: Provisions changed from 10 to 9.

Iris' Companions ability changed to:
Deploy: Draw a card of your choice, then Discard a random card.
If you have Iris in hand, choose which card to Discard instead.

Myrgtabrakke: Power changed from 4 to 5
Provisions changed from 8 to 7.



Dettlaff van der Eretein: Initial Blood Moon duration changed from 1 to 2.

Unseen Elder: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Archespore: Power changed from 2 to 4.
Ability changed to:
Deathwish: Summon all copies of this unit from your deck to this row.

Foglet: Ability changed to:
Deathwish: Spawn Fog on opposite row for 3 turns.

Ancient Foglet: Power changed from 1 to 4
Provisions changed from 4 to 6.
Ability changed to:
Deploy: Boost self by total duration of row effects on the opposite side.
Whenever you apply a row effect, boost self by it's duration.

Cyclops is not restricted to the Melee row anymore.

Miruna: Power changed from 4 to 5.

Succubus: Category changed to Relict.

Urn of Shadows: Ability changed to:
Order: Trigger an allied unit's Deathwish ability.

Eredin: Power changed from 5 to 6.



Reckles Flurry: Ability changed to:
Order: Split 3 damage randomly between all enemy units ignoring their Armor.
Charges: 3

Mask of Uroboros: Number of Crows changed from 1 to 2.

Coral: Power changed from 5 to 6.
Ability changed to:
Zeal. Order: Draw a card, then Discard a card.
Whenever you Discard a card, damage a random enemy unit by 2.

Dire Bear has new part of ability: Berserk 7: Affects only the opposite row.

Eist Tuirseach: Bloodthirst changed from 2 to 3.

Crach an Craite has new part of ability: Order: Damage a unit by 1.
Cooldown: 2

Armor Up: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Svalblod Totem is now a Location and has Resilience.

Bear Witcher Quartermaster now has Zeal.

Terror Crew Plunderer: Power changed from 2 to 3

Terror Crew Axe-wielder: Power changed from 2 to 3.

Harald Houndsnout: Provisions changed from 9 to 8.



Pincer Maneuver: Ability changed to:
Order: Draw a Northern Realms card of your choice, then shuffle a card from your hand back into the deck and Spawn a Volunteer in your Melee row.
Charge: 2

King Foltest is now a Soldier.
Power changed from 7 to 6.
Provisions changed from 12 to 11.
New part of ability: At the end of your turn, boost a unit to the right by 1.

Queen Meve is now a Soldier.
New part of ability: When the Counter reaches 0, boost all allied units by 1 and reset the Counter.
Whenever this unit receives a boost, gain 1 Armor.

Poor Fucking Infantry: Power changed from 1 to 3.
Ability changed to:
Deploy: Spawn Left Flanking Infantry and Right Flanking Infantry on both sides of this unit.
Bonded: Boost self by 3.

Lyrian Arbalest: Power changed from 3 to 4.

Siege Tower: Vitality and boost changed from 3 to 4.

Inspired Zeal: Boost changed from 1 to 2.



Invigorate: Ability changed to:
Order: Boost 5 units in your hand by 1.
Charges: 2

The Great Oak: Power changed from 7 to 8.

Scoia'tael Neophyte has new part of ability:
Order: Transform an allied Elf into Elven Deadeye.

Munro Bruys: Ability changed to:
Zeal. Order: Transform an allied Rowdy Dwarf into a Dwarf Berserker.
Charge: 2

Vrihedd Vanguard: Power changed from 1 to 2.

Cat Witcher Adept: Power changed from 3 to 4.



Morvran Voorhis: Power changed from 6 to 7.

Lockdown: Provisions bonus changed from 13 to 14.

Imperial Formation has new part of ability:
Whenever you play a Soldier, give it 1 Armor for each adjacent soldier.

Damien de la Tour: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Stefan Skellen: Provisions changed from 10 to 9.

Vreemde: Provisions changed from 7 to 6.

Vrygheff: Power changed from 3 to 4.

Vivienne de Tabris: Power changed from 3 to 4

Masquerade Ball will now only progress for Aristocrats played on your side of the battlefield.

Emhyr Var Emreis: Ability changed to:
Zeal.
Deploy: Draw a card, then move a card from your hand to the bottom of your deck.
Whenever your opponent plays a unit, give it Spying.
Order: Seize a 1-power enemy unit with Spying.
Devotion: At the end of your turn, refresh this card's order.

Combat Engineer is now a Soldier.
Power changed from 3 to 4.

Toussaint Knight Errant: Power changed from 2 to 3.

Rico Meiersdorf will now also change his power when he is in the deck.



Back-alley Chemist: ability changed to: Zeal. Order: Give an allied unit Poison and gain 2 Coins.

Horst Borsodi: New part of ability:
Fee 1: Give an allied unit Vitality for 1 turn.

Ewald Borsodi: New part of ability:
Fee 1: Give an enemy unit Bleeding for 1 turn.

Salamandra Mage is now a Mage.

Roland Bleinheim: Tooltip now correctly specifies that a unit needs to gain Poison in order to get Coins.

Cleaver: Armor changed from 2 to 0.

Whoreson Junior: Ability changed to:
Insanity.
Deploy: Damage a boosted enemy unit by 6. Gain a Coin for every point of excess damage dealt.
Devotion: Damage an enemy unit instead.
Fee 3: Destroy an enemy unit with 3 power or less.

Halfling Safecracker: Removed Intimidate
Power changed from 3 to 4.

Damnation: Provisions changed from 8 to 7.

Greater Brothers: Armor changed from 4 to 5.

Professor: Damage changed from 3 to 4.

Pirate's Cove: Ability changed to:
Order: Spawn Sea Jackal on an allied row.
Charges: 2.

Boris: Power changed from 3 to 5.

Grand Inquisitor Helveed: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Keeper of the Flame: Ability changed to:
Deploy: Boost adjacent units by 1.
Tribute 4: Boost all units in this row by 1 instead.
Decrease this card's Tribute cost by 1 for every allied Cleric.

Sacred Flame: Added Firesworn category.

Tiger's Eye: Number of Coins changed from 4 to 5.



Support for 60fps on Apple M1 (Silicon). User can switch between 30 and 60 via Options.
(Search for Power Saving option)

New Journey

• New character - Meet Triss & Condwiramurs Tilly - powerfull mage & talented seer
• Rewards - a lot of rewards to unlock in standard and premium paths
• Contracts - unlock even more ornaments by playing matches with your favourite outfits
• Story - images drawn from Condwiramurs dreams about Triss life, added each week with new quests

New starter decks

Cards with names, tags and keywords containing Latin letters with diacritics (e.g. ą, ê) can now be searched for using basic Latin letters.

Visual improvements for using orders of premium Stratagems. Added new visual effects for Tiger's Eye, Basilisk Venom and Engineering Solution.



Journey story art is now shown correctly on mobile devices.

Game boards are now scaled correctly on mobile devices when previewed in the Play Menu and the Deck Ornament Picker.

Dandelion: Vainglory is now able to target and destroy Saber-Tooth Tiger: Stealth.

Pitfall Trap will now trigger correctly when the opponent plays a Trap.

Sigi Reuven will no longer count the unique gangs from its original deck when played by the opponent through Cantarella.

The Adrenaline effect will now work correctly for Gerd and Salamandra Mage when played from the hand.

Welcome to the Draft update! We know that we've been quiet for some time, but worry not, we didn't forget about the format and we're planning bigger changes in the near future. With 8.5 we introduced changes to existing packages which allow for better balance. We've also added the 12 new cards from the 8.3 update to the roster! Enjoy!


Maddoc special package will only contain 2 Maddoc's and a bomb instead of 3 Maddoc's

New core card: Crach an Craite

The following cards were added to Tribal- Ships & Pirates:

• Holger Blackhand

The following cards were removed from Tribal- Ships & Pirates:

• Hvitr and Aelydia

The following card were added to Defense - Sukrus Package:

• Morkvarg

The following card were removed from Defense - Sukrus Package:

• Giant Boar

Created Mechanical - Discard Package

New Core Card Eist Tuirseach added:

• Enabled Mechnical - Discard Package

New core card Eldain added:

• Enables Traps Package

Core card Gezras of Leyda adjustements:

• Enable Move Package
• Disable Traps Package

Added Malena into Mechanical - Move Package

Removed Paulie Dahlberg from Mechanical - Move Package

New core card - Brouver Hoog:

• Removed Value - Prebuff package
• Added Defense - Armor package

Added Sheldon Skaggs to Value - Prebuff Package

New core card - Unseen Elder

Removed core card - Orianna

New Core Card: Dettlaff van der Eretein

• Increase odds of Bleeding & Weather
• Enables offensive Bleeding

Removed core card - Mourntart

New core card Anna Henrietta:

• Offensive - Poison package enabled
• Mechanical - Create package enabled
• Increased chance for Combo packages

Removed core card Xarthisius

New core Card: Emhyr Var Emreis

Removed core card Usurper

Added Usurper: Officer into the package Mechanical - Disloyal

Removed core card: Trolololo

New core card Queen Meve:

• Adjusted Boost and shield probabilities

New core card: King Foltest

Added King Roegner to Defense - Shield package

New core card: Whoreson Junior

Added Caleb Menge to Offensive - Bounty package

Removed core card Harald Gord

New core card Cleaver:

• Enables Mechanical Intimidate
• Enables Mechanical Tribute

Added Draug into Tribal - Soldiers package

New core card King Foltest enables:

• Tribal - Soldiers
• Mechanic - Thinning
• Unique: Mechanic- Thinning - Blue Stripes package

This time, we introduce some quality of life changes (like the renaming of the tabs in the Quests section), visual improvements (Adrenaline has now additional VFX!), and balance changes. Some of the things, we already made available during last month, like the new Reward Trees and Seasonal Changes. We decided to release them earlier, since they didn't require a client update, so we were happy to bring them in as soon as they were finished. In this update, we're expanding on them even more, adding fresh content to both features.

You can read all the details below.

01.04. - 06.04. Patience is a virtue!

• At the start of your turn, transform all cards in your hand into random ones that cost 1 provision more

06.04. - 13.04. Dual Casting

• Once per turn, when you play a special card, spawn and play a copy of it immediately after.

13.04. - 20.04. Power Shift

• At the start of the match, set the power of every unit in your starting deck to its Provision Cost.

20.04. - 27.04. Battle Rush

• Both players have just 8 seconds to complete their turn and 15 seconds to complete the redrawing phrase.

27.04. - 06.05. Seesaw

• On the end of the player's turn, Damage player's odd power units by 1. Boost player's even power units by 1.

This season is planned to end on May 6th, 10:00 a.m. CEST. 

• The tabs in the Quests section of the Social Panel have been renamed to be more specific.

• Phoenix provision changed from 11 to 10.
• Living Armor provision changed from 11 to 10.
• Olgierd Von Everec power changed from 7 to 8
• Olgierd: Immortal power changed from 7 to 8.
• Iris von Everec provision changed from 7 to 6.

• Wererat power changed from 5 to 6.
• Provision changed from 7 to 6.
• Ice Troll power and provision changed from 5 to 4.
• Queen of the Night provision changed from 7 to 6.
• Succubus power changed from 4 to 5.
• Garkain power changed from 3 to 4.

• Sukrus now has Pirate category.
• Arnaghad armor changed from 0 to 2.
• Derran provision changed from 7 to 6.
• Gerd adrenaline changed from 4 to 3.

• King Belohun provision changed from 9 to 8.

• Ida Emean aep Sivney provision changed from 7 to 6.
• Yarpen Zigrin power changed from 5 to 6.

• Slave Infantry power and provision changed from 4 to 5.

• Tunnel Drill provision changed from 6 to 7.
• Prophet Lebioda provision changed from 9 to 8.

• Seasonal Mode now changes weekly.
• New Seasonal Mode added: At the start of your turn, transform all cards in your hand into random ones that cost 1 provision more
• Two new Reward Book trees celebrating new year in GWENT: The Great Oak and Stalwart Leadership
• Five new Reward Book trees connected to the Master Mirror expansion
• Cards with Adrenaline will now be highlighted when their ability is stronger.

• Fix for random crashes after match on Android
• The "Hide Cards" option is once again consistently available when selecting a card to Create
• Hybrid will now boost itself correctly when Brewess consumes any allied units
• Fixed a rare issue in which a high number of Cahir on the board could desync the game.
• Fixed an issue where discarding a single card on devotion would lower the counter by 2 for Eist Tuirseach. 

This time we welcome back some of the old friends in form of 12 new cards, portraying GWENT's classic leaders.

Their abilities have been designed in a way that ties them closely to their faction, and pays homage to their origins.

8.3 is also introducing a lot of balance changes, notably boosting vampires, redesigning Lockdown, and changing the scope of Warrior tag.

You can read on all the changes and news in detail below.

Seasonal mode: Banished

• After mulligan Banish both players decks. Whenever a card appears in any deck, banish it.

This season will last until April 1st, 10:00 a.m. CEST.



Vesemir Mentor: Adrenaline changed from 5 to 4.


New card: Dettlaff van der Eretein.
Power: 6, Provision: 10, Category: Vampire
"Deploy: Spawn Blood Moon on an enemy row for 1 turn. Increase the duration by 1 for every adjacent Vampire.
Order: Damage an enemy unit with Bleeding by 1.
Deathblow: Spawn an Ekimmara on this row.
Cooldown: 1"

New card: Unseen Elder.
Power: 5, Provision: 12, Category: Vampire
"Deploy: Give Bleeding (4) to an enemy unit.
At the end of your turn, give Bleeding (2) to a random enemy unit without Bleeding.
Devotion: Bleeding on enemy units also triggers at the end of your turn."

Carapace: Veil status will now only be granted if the target is a Monster unit.
Developer comment:
Carapace ability protects cards from both damage and statuses. We decided to remove one of those protections for neutral cards so answering cards like Ciri:Dash can be easier.

Alp:
Ability changed to:
Deploy: Give an enemy unit Bleeding (3).
Order: Give an enemy unit Bleeding (3).

Fleder: Ability changed to:
Whenever an enemy unit received Bleeding, gain Vitality with the same duration.

Protofleder: Ability changed to:
Deploy: Give an enemy unit Bleeding (3), then boost self by the amount of Bleeding on that unit.


New card: Crach An Craite.
Power: 7, Provision: 10, Category: Human, Pirate
"Deploy: Give 2 Armor to 3 Pirates or Ships in your hand.
Whenever you play a Pirate or Ship next to Crach, damage it and the lowest power enemy unit by each others power."

New card: Eist Tuirseach.
Power: 3, Provision: 11, Category: Human, Warrior
"Veteran.
Deploy, Bloodthirst 2: Draw a card, then Discard a card.
Whenever you Discard a Skellige unit during your turn, Summon it from your graveyard to this row.
Counter: 2.
Devotion: Also works whenever a Skellige unit enters your graveyard during your turn."

Ursine Ritual: Provision changed from 17 to 16
Developer comment:
Ursine ritual provision was a bit of an anomaly players ended up catching up to, making the it in overwhelming majority "The" Skellige leader ability, despite others also showing good results. If it's only a +1 in a vaccuum, Skellige has the tool to make pinging its own units be at the very least worth 0 points if not more. With this nerf, we hope to see diversity come back to the Skellige leader ability picks.

Morkvarg: Heart of Terror: Removed Warrior category.
Developer comment:
While we don't mind Morkvarg being played in the Warrior deck, we think that he shouldn't get additional synergies beyond his Deploy there. Instead, we're adding some more Pirate synergies to make that tag more relevant on him.
Terror Crew Axe-Wielder: Removed Warrior category.

Dimun Smuggler: Power changed from 4 to 3, Provision changed from 4 to 5.
Ability changed to:
Deploy: If played next to a Ship, Spawn a base copy of self on this row.
Order: Damage a unit by 1.

Dimun Warship: Power changed from 3 to 4, Provision changed from 5 to 4.
Ability changed to:
Whenever you play a Pirate, damage self and a random enemy unit by 1.
Deathwish: Summon a random bronze Pirate from your Graveyard to this row.

An Craite Warcrier: Power changed from 4 to 3, Provision changed from 5 to 4.


New card: King Foltest.
Power: 7, Provision: 12, Category: Human
"The first time a bronze unit on your side of the battlefield is boosted each turn, Spawn a base copy of it at the bottom of your deck.
Devotion: Also boost the Spawned copy by 1."

New card: Queen Meve.
Power: 7, Armor: 2, Provision: 10, Category: Human
"Inspired: At the end of your turn, lower the Counter by 1.
Counter: 3
When the Counter reaches 0, boost all allied units by 1."

Kaedweni Sergeant: Zeal removed, replaced by Formation.

Smoke Them Out!: Provision changed from 5 to 4.
Ability changed to:
Spawn 2 Volunteers on an allied row.
If you control a boosted unit, also boost Spawned Volunteers by 1.

Lyrian Scythemen: Power changed from 3 to 4.
Ability is now limited to boosted units on this row.
Developer comment:
Point ceiling of Lyrian Scytheman is a bit too high for a 4 provisions (and for Uprising.). We are lowering the ceiling, while increasing floor of the card - number of potential points is limited by number of units in a row, but with less developed board, players will get an extra point.


New card: Brouver Hoog.
Power: 6, Provision: 11, Category: Dwarf
"Deploy: Gain 1 Armor for every Dwarf in your hand.
Barricade: At the end of your turn, boost all Dwarves with Armor on this row by 1."

New card: Eldain.
Power: 6, Provision: 10, Category: Elf
"Deploy: Transform all your face-up Traps into Elven Deadeyes.
Devotion: Also transform your other artifacts."

Dwarven Chariot: Removed Bonded ability and replaced it by "Order: Give an allied unit 1 Armor. Cooldown: 1."

Eibhear Hattori: Power changed from 3 to 2, Provision changed from 6 to 9.
Ability changed to:
Deploy: Create and play a Trap card from your starting deck.

Serpent Trap: Added "Spring: Destroy the enemy unit with the lowest power.

Pitfall Trap: Added "Spring: Randomly split 6 damage between all enemy units."

Developer comment:

We're adding Spring abilities for Pitfall and Serpent trap so players will have option to manually flip them and transform them with Eldain in case they wouldn't trigger in the desired way.

Saskia: Added Harmony.


New card: Anna Henrietta.
Power: 3, Provision: 9, Category: Human, Aristocrat
"Deploy: Replace your leader ability with a base copy of your opponent's leader ability."

New card: Emhyr Var Emreis.
Power: 7, Provision: 11, Category: Human, Aristocrat
"Deploy: Draw a card, then move a card from your hand to the bottom of your deck.
Whenever your opponent plays a unit, give it Spying.
Devotion: At the end of your turn, Seize a random 1-power Spying unit."

Lockdown: Provision changed from 10 to 13.
Ability changed to:
Order: Disable opponent's leader ability for the duration of this round. If your opponent's leader has no Charges left or is on Cooldown, Spawn 2 Operatives on your melee row instead.
Developer Comment:
With it's ability to completely remove a dimension of the game, Lockdown was a problematic ability. While it could serve as meta control like we saw against Viy after the 8.0 patch, it could also be abused more widely like in the previous meta, and would easily oppress off-meta fun decks, something players have complained about since way before it became a meta pick.

Still, Lockdown offered a unique control tool to NG and we wanted to preserve that theme.

New Lockdown aims at forcing the opponent to make uncomfortable decisions (like spending the leader ability in round 1) while still allowing for interactions. It opens multiple layers of depth, complimented by cards like Damien de la Tour or the new Anna Henrietta.

Viper Witcher Mentor: Adrenaline changed from 3 to 2.

Kolgrim: Adrenaline changed from 2 to 1.
Developer comment:
It feels very hopeless to watch Kolgrim grow when you don't have an answer for him. With lower Adrenaline, he has 1 less turn to trigger, which means he doesn't necessarily require a direct answer to be outpointed.
False Ciri: Added Aristocrat category, Power changed from 5 to 4, Provision changed from 7 to 6.
Ability changed to:
Deploy: Boost all allied Agents by 1.

Cadaverine: Provision changed from 7 to 9. Type changed to Special, Category to Tactic.
Ability changed to:
Poison an enemy unit, then Spawn a base copy of it on the opposite row."


New card: Cleaver.
Power: 1, Armor: 2, Provision: 11, Category: Dwarf, Crowsplitters
"Intimidate.
Deploy: Spawn and play Shakedown.
Increase this card's Intimidate by 1 for every adjacent Crownsplitter.
Fee 4: Spawn Cleaver's Muscle on this row."

New card: Whoreson Junior.
Power: 5, Provision: 10, Category: Human, Cutups
"Deploy: Damage a boosted enemy unit by 6. Gain a Coin for every point of excess damage dealt.
Devotion: Also gain Insanity.
Fee 3: Destroy an enemy unit with 3 power or less."

Lined Pockets: Charges changed from 5 to 6.

Shakedown: Provision changed from 5 to 4.

Tax Collector: Provision changed from 5 to 4.

Whoreson's Freak Show: Provision changed from 8 to 7.

Sigi Reuven: Provision changed from 12 to 11.

Ludovicus Brunenbaum: Coins gained through ability changed from 6 to 9, Tribute changed from 4 to 5.

Igor the Hook: Provision changed from 10 to 9.

Coerced Blacksmith: Profit changed from 1 to 2.

Oxenfurt Naturalist: Provision changed from 5 to 4.

Tunnel Drill: Fee changed from 3 to 2.

Rico Meiersdorf: Now set its power to the current power of the played card instead of the base power.

Dip in the Pontar: Provision changed from 5 to 4.

Stolen Mutagens: Salamandra condition changed from 3 to 2.

Beggar: Regular Profit changed from 2 to 3, Bonded Profit changed from 4 to 5.

Blindeye Apothecary: Tribute changed from 3 to 2.

Roland Bleinheim: Removed the Adrenaline effect.
Developer comment:
This quirky Adrenaline exchange between the two brothers allows us to raised their power level. On the one hand, Roland becomes a better "engine" overall, not limited anymore by its adrenaline. On the other hand, Gellert benefits from a grace period where his ability is unlimited.
Gellert Bleinheim: Removed Cooldown, added "Adrenaline 5: Cooldown 1."


12 New cards (Details in "Changes" part)


Overwhelming Hunger: Deckbuilder and Tooltip will now properly display the change to 2 Charges instead of 3.

Blue Stripes Commando: Now prevents the order getting clicked if the row is full.

Griffin Witcher Adept: Now prevents the order getting clicked if there is no valid target.

Fixed a bug where opponents could see the tooltip of a trap that was being tutored or created.

The Season of Love is here and brings a lot of changes to these love filled times.

It will last until March 2nd.



Whenever you play a non-Spying unit, move a random enemy unit with the same power to the opposite side.



Alzur's journey has come to an end, but a new one awaits. Prepare for the challenge and go questing with the powerful sorceress, Yennefer of Vengerberg!




Each week, you can unlock new rewards like leader skins, cardbacks, avatars and more - all connected to the violet-eyed mage. New achievements open up an opportunity to grab even more ornaments, by battling your opponents with your favourite outfits for Yennefer. This time the story will be mysterious as Yennefer herself. It will unravel in the dreams of Nimue, a talented seer. Each week will reveal a new vision about the story's progression.




Update 8.2 also brings extensive game balance changes, new fullscreen visual effects for Stratagems, and a round of fixes. You can read all the details below.






Neutral




Aguara: provision changed from 9 to 8.




Dancing Star: provision changed from 5 to 4.




Dimeritium Bomb: damage increased from 3 to 4.




Dorregarray: provision changed from 7 to 6.




Power changed from 5 to 6.




Maxii Van Dekkar: provision changed from 6 to 5.




Nivellen: provision changed from 8 to 6.




Red Haze: provision changed from 5 to 4.




Regis: power changed from 2 to 3.




Scorch: provision changed from 12 to 11.




Vaedermakar: power changed from 5 to 6.

Provision changed from 7 to 6.




Xavier Lemmens: provision changed from 8 to 6.

Ability changed to:

Zeal.

Order (Melee): Banish a card from opponent's graveyard.

Order (Ranged): Banish a card from your graveyard.

Cooldown: 1

Developer comment:

Interacting with opponent's graveyard can be very powerful in certain match ups. However, in many games Xavier Lemmens can be a card that doesn't offer anything valuable to the player, so naturally they would like to mulligan it. Since Xavier currently costs 8 provisions, it feels pretty bad to use a mulligan on such an expensive card. That's why we decided to make Xavier a cheaper and more accessible tech card, but also slightly less swingy and more interactive, so it gives the opponent a chance to react.




Yennefer of Vengerberg: provision changed from 11 to 10.




Yennefer: Conjurer: Added Zeal.

Provision changed from 10 to 9.




Monsters




Overwhelming Hunger charges changed from 3 to 2.

Provision bonus changed from 14 to 15.

Developer comment:

For a very long time Overwhelming Hunger was very high in the win rate charts - even when Monsters were considered the "weak" faction.

As a result, buffing old and adding new deathwish cards was always a risky decision, because those cards could be strong additions to an already strong deck. Additionally, Overwhelming Hunger makes the deathwish card completely uninteractive without any setup, which is also very restrictive for us. This was visible in the past, but became very apparent with Viy joining the card pool. We decided to lower the utility of this ability by removing 1 charge, but Ekimmaras are now 3 power (which should make some other Monsters card happy), so point value stays the same. This should make managing the consumes in Viy decks slightly more challenging.




Ekimmara power changed from 2 to 3.




Viy provision changed from 12 to 14.

Power changed from 8 to 7.




Bridge Troll: provision changed from 5 to 4.




Harpy: (Token spawned by Harpy Egg): power changed from 5 to 6.




Idr: provision changed from 8 to 7.




Katakan: power changed from 6 to 5

Developer comment:

Small adjustement to make Katakan drop on the board as 8 as he did so far - even though his power is reduced, he's still stronger overall - Thrive can be activated by 6 point units and Deathwish and Deploy are stronger.




Phooca: ability changed to:

Armor changed from 1 to 0.

Thrive 2.

Developer comment:

Old Phooca ability was meant to synergize with a card that didin't end up in the final version of Way of the Witcher. We decided to give it a try anyway, but since Phooca wasn't a very popular choice for your decks, we have a stronger version for you.




Rotfiend: power changed from 4 to 5.




Wild Hunt Hound provision changed from 5 to 4.




Skellige




Brokvar Hunter: ability is now tied to Ranged row.




Djenge Frett: power changed from 6 to 7.




Giant Boar: ranged ability can now target allies.

provision changed from 7 to 6




Haern Caduch: heal changed from 3 to 2.




Heymaey Flaminica: Power changed from 5 to 6.




Hym: provision changed from 8 to 7.




Lippy Gudmund: power changed from 4 to 3.

Provision changed from 10 to 11.

Developer comment:

Lippy decks received 2 extra provisions with buffs for Roach and Knickers - with this change, we are taking some of the power back.




Olaf: power changed from 8 to 10.




Northern Realms




Pincer Maneuver: provision bonus changed from 15 to 16.




Arch Griffin: power changed from 5 to 6.

Provision changed from 10 to 9.




Griffin Witcher Ranger: ability changed to:

Formation.

Deploy: Boost self by 1 for every unit on an enemy row.

Order: Transfer all boosts from self to an allied unit.




Margarita Laux-Antille: power changed from 5 to 6.

Provision changed from 7 to 6.




Reinforced Trebuchet: added Crew: Damage a random enemy unit by 1 instead.

Developer comment:

We decided to give small buffs for Reinforced Trebuchet and Alba Pikemen to make them more in line with new 5 provision engines.




Scoia'tael




Call of Harmony: provision bonus changed from 15 to 16.




Barclay Els: provision changed from 7 to 6.




Cat Witcher Saboteur: power changed from 3 to 4.




Cat Witcher: adrenaline changed from 4 to 3.




Ciaran Aep Easnillen: provision changed from 7 to 6.




Dana Meabdh: Power changed from 6 to 7.




Iorveth: power changed from 3 to 4.




Iorveth's Gambit: provision changed from 13 to 12.




Morenn: Provision changed from 7 to 6.




Novigradian Justice: ability changed to:

Play a bronze Dwarf or Crownspitter from your deck.

If you already control a Dwarf or Crownsplitter, also Spawn a Cleaver's Muscle on allied Melee row.

Developer comment:

Novigradian Justice became a midrange card that is put into every single Scoia'tael deck, and provides the player with big tempo play as well as double thinning. We would like this card to be a powerful tool for Dwarf/Crime based decks, and less so for other ones, therefore we added an additional condition that needs to be met to unlock the full ability.




Vernossiel's Commando: provision changed from 5 to 4.




Nilfgaard




Imprisonment: provision bonus changed from 15 to 16.




Alba Pikemen: added Bonded: Damage a random enemy unit by 1 instead.




Auckes: power changed from 5 to 6.




Provision changed from 7 to 6.




Experimental Remedy: provision changed from 6 to 5.




Viper Witcher Mentor: adrenaline changed from 2 to 3.




Vypper: provision changed from 9 to 8.




Syndicate




Collusion: provision changed from 11 to 10.




Failed Experiment: power changed from 9 to 10.




Fallen Rayla: adrenaline changed from 3 to 5.




Kurt: ability changed to:

Deploy (Melee): Place a Bounty on an enemy unit.

Deploy (Ranged): Purify a unit.

Provision changed from 7 to 6.

Power changed from 5 to 6.




Madame Luiza: added Tribute 3: Gain Zeal.

Developer comment:

We are removing some of the risk that comes with playing Luiza - now her ability can be activated immediately, as long as you are willing to pay for it.




Salamandra Abomination: adrenaline changed from 4 to 6.




Salamandra Lackey: ability changed to:

The first time you gain a Coin each turn, boost self by 1.

Developer comment:

A small adjustment that will make Lackey work with cards that generate Coins at the end of the round.




Salamandra Mage: ability changed to:

Tribute 4: Damage 3 adjacent enemy units by 2.

Whenever you pay a Tribute ability, gain 1 Coin.

Adrenaline 5: Gain 2 Coins instead.

Developer comment:

Salamandra Mage was a bit underwhelming on release, so we decided to improve it by making him always generate coins for Tributes, and generate even more coins on Adrenaline. Even if the Tributes costed 0!






Improvements (additional full screen effects) for visual effects when using orders of Stratagems




New Journey

• New character - Meet Yennefer & Nimue - powerful mage & talented seer - learn more about those in weekly story updates
• Rewards - a lot of rewards to unlock in standard and premium paths
• Achievements - unlock even more ornaments by playing matches with your favourite outfits
• New type of story - images drawn from Nimue dreams about Yennefers life

Player can now click Order on Dol Dhu Lokke even when there are no units left in the deck.




Playing Syanna's Order into Matta Hu'uri will now correctly let you draw two cards.




Units that have Vitality/Bleeding and Veil at the same time will no longer be able to receive additional stacks for those statuses.

Welcome to the 8.1 update! This time, aside from the usual round of fixes and improvements, we're introducing a brand new card: Madoc! You may have heard about him in one of Snowdrops' stories. This fella has a fiery temper and soft spot for bombs, which make him come back for more action even if he's temporarily knocked out. Madoc will also join the Draft Mode club, with two new packages dedicated to his synergies.

This time, the patch does not bring much in terms of balance changes. It's not due to not seeing the need for it, but simply because of the holiday season that has cut short last month's time for development.

You can read the details on all the 8.1 changes below.

• Whenever a unit appears on the board, damage it by 2 then boost it by 4. If it's a Witcher, the damage is not dealt.

This season will last until February 9th, 10:00 a.m. CET.


New sound effects in Draft battlepicker

New card: Madoc.
Power: 3, Provision: 10, Category: Witcher
"Whenever you play a Bomb card, Summon this card from your deck or graveyard to a random allied row.
Order: Spawn Cataclysm for 1 turn on the opposite row, then destroy self.

Succubus ability changed to:
Deathwish: At the end of your turn, if there is another Succubus in your graveyard, Summon self from your graveyard to a random row and gain Doomed.
Adrenaline 3: Don't gain Doomed.


Premium Strategems have new, unique visual & sound effects when their orders are used

New category for Expansion Contracts

New category for Journey Contracts


Idarran now correctly mentions that his ability only works with units spawned on your side of the board.

Portal now correctly mentions that both units are summoned from the deck.

Vesemir, Lambert and Eskel now correctly mention that other Witchers are summoned from the deck.

Cat Witcher Mentor now correctly mentions that he boosts self for other cards on the row.

Cat Witcher Mentor now doesn't react to units transformed on the opposite (enemy) row.

Viper Witcher now correctly mentions that he spawns a base copy of the target.

Coated Weapons now correctly mentions that it spawns base copy of the target.

Gorthur Gvaed now correctly mentions that it can move any card from graveyard to deck.

Fallen Knight now correctly mentions that he only boosts self for units spawned on owners side of the battlefield.

Fixed a bug that displayed total number of points in rows in wrong order.

Adjusted art of one of the loading screens.


Added new Wombo Combo package:
- Madoc x 3

Added new special Package:
- Bomb

From mighty wizards, to terrifying mutants; from skilled witchers to bloodthirsty monsters; and beyond, with iconic locations, as well as all new special cards — Way of The Witcher is now live and brings 70 brand new cards to craft new exciting decks with!

Check out the Trailer:
https://youtu.be/Oh4xI03gDts

In celebration of today's launch, a variety of time-limited offers featuring Way of the Witcher Premium Kegs and unique ornaments have entered the shop. The latter include the Laboratory Border, as well as the avatar bearing the likeness of Cosimo — Alzur’s teacher and the sorcerer who helped create the first witchers.



More info on the expansion can be found here: http://playgwent.com/en/updates/way-of-the-witcher

Way of the Witcher is almost here and with it a considerable amount of changes. As many of you guessed, some are centred around the "Witcher" tag, so that already existing cards interacting well with Witchers are properly adjusted for the arrival of the new ones. Of course aside from that, there were multiple balance changes to other cards and you can read about them in detail below.

And with the festive season already in full swing, we also introduce the feature of Gifting so you can send goodies to your friends in GWENT and celebrate together.

Closing the list of changes are game fixes, some very much anticipated (Eredin!), some Quality of Life, but all improving the experience we'd like to offer you.

• New Packges for Draft. More detailed info soon.
  
• Redraft, Settings and Quit buttons have been added to the Draft user interface.

Eskel, Vesemir and Lambert power changed from 2 to 3.
Provision changed from 8 to 7.
Ability changed to:
Adrenaline 4: Summon Eskel/Vesemir/Lambert from your deck to this row.
Developer comment: The introduction of Adrenaline opens new possibility for old cards. We've decided to rehabilitate the Witcher trio but added the Adrenaline condition to make it less flexible and force to commit in round 1.

Vesemir Mentor ability changed to:
Deploy: Boost all allied Witcher units on the battlefield by 1.
Adrenaline 5: Also boost your Witcher units in hand and deck.
Developer comment: With plethora of new targets for Vesemir Mentor, his overall value increased a lot. Similarly to the Witchers trio, we introduced Adrenaline to the effect to keep it in check and force commitment.

Roach provision changed from 10 to 9.

Knickers provision changed from 9 to 8.

Dandelion: Poet provision changed from 12 to 11.

Portal provision changed from 13 to 12.
Ability changed to:
Deploy: Summon a random 4 provision unit from your deck to the left of this card
After 3 turns, Summon a random 4 provision unit from your deck to the right of this card.
Developer comment: In the past, the strategy to nerfing Portal was to nerf its targets. This time we would like to experiment with something different by removing one of Portal most oppressive feature: the ability to immediatly put two engines on the board. This allows us to bring Portal down one provision and most importantly rehabilitate its old targets by putting them back to 4 provisions.

Wagenburg now has a Siege Engine category.



Haunt provision changed from 13 to 14.

Vran Warrior now has 1 armor.

Old Speartip provision changed from 13 to 12.

Imlerith ability changed to:
Deploy (Melee): Draw a card, then discard a card. If discarded card was a unit, boost self by its power.
Developer comment: New month, new Imlerith! We are adjusting Imlerith to have better synergy with Way of the Witcher cards such as Dol Dhu Lokke.



Brokvar Hunter provision changed from 5 to 4.

An Crate Blacksmith now has 1 Armor.



Vernon Roche provision changed from 12 to 11.

Lyrian Cavalry provision changed from 5 to 4.



Elven Swordmaster provision changed from 5 to 4.

Dwarven Chariot now has a Siege Engine category.



Coup de Grace provision changed from 10 to 9.
Damage dealt increased from 2 to 3.

Affan Hillergrand provision changed from 9 to 8.

Braathens power changed from 3 to 4.
Provision changed from 11 to 10.
Ability changed to: Assimilate.
Deploy: Create and play a bronze disloyal unit from your starting deck.
Developer comment: We would like Braathens to be a card that supports Assimilate and Spies archetypes, rather than just a good midrange card that can be put in any deck.
To make it so, we are adding a deck building condition that shouldn't be a problem for archetypes mentioned, but other archetypes can still run him if the player is willing to adjust their deck. At the same time, we are improving his stats.

Emissary boost to a unit increased from 6 to 7.

Assire Var Anahid provision changed from 8 to 7.

Nauzicaa Sergeant provision changed from 5 to 4.

Master of Disguise power changed from 3 to 4.

Viper Witcher name changed to Kingslayer.

Fire Scorpion now has 1 Armor.

Alba Armored Cavalry power changed from 4 to 5, Armor changed from 0 to 1.

Impera Enforcers now have Zeal.




Gifting. New feature giving players the ability to send gifts to their friends. (Available only for Meteorite Powder and Real Money purchases)




Assire now reveals the picked card before putting it in the deck.
Developer comment: Quality of life change. This removes the need to check graveyard to know which card the opponent put back in the deck. Makes already shared information more accessible.

Miruna's tooltip now correctly mentions that the target is picked randomly.

Ampibious Assault, Blood Eagle, Avallac'h: Sage and Novigradian Justice will now properly show a shuffled version of the deck instead of listing the cards in order.

Vrihedd Officer tooltip was harmonized with other similar tooltips.

Eredin Bréacc Glas will now correctly increase the damage dealt by Frost.

Defender is now correctly referred to in tooltips as a status.

Units with the Bounty status will now grant coins correctly only when destroyed.

Master Mirror will now correctly transform cards that are able to interact with the deck, such as Oneiromancy and Matta Hu'uri.

Cantarella is now able to play Trap cards from the opponent's deck.

Icons in Reward Book tabs should now always be shown correctly.



The arrival of Way of the Witcher means new cards, and more new exciting possibilities for all Game Modes, including Draft Mode! With the recent update we added brand new packages: Mechanical - Adrenaline, Tribal - Witchers, Value - Self poison and Offensive - Control. Of course the entirety of Draft Mode will be upgraded with the cards from the new expansion, enhancing the previously existing packages. As a finishing touch, there are some general balance changes and shuffles between package content which you can read all about in the changelog below.

Increased the odds of being offered Tactical Advantage

Urn of shadows stratagem now will only be offered if you choose: 
 - Frightener
 - Koshchey 
 - Haunt
 - Dol Dhu Lokke

Added in Tribal - Witchers package as a default available package. Increased odds of seeing it after picking it or Thinning - Witcher Trio or Wombo Combo - Witcher Trio

Added in a Value - Self Poison package

Added in Offensive - Control package

Mechanical - Traps has been moved to Offensive - Traps as well as the following cards added:
 - Iorveth

Increased odds of getting Spell focused special package after choosing Alzur as a core card

Replaced Albrich core card with Ivar Evil-Eye which boosts the following packages:
 - Tribal - Witchers
 - Offensive - Control
 - Tribal - Beasts (only Vypper Variant)

Added new Nilfgaard Core Card Gorthur Gvaed:
 - Tribal - Witchers
 - Value - Deck Shuffle
 - Tribal - Beasts (only Vypper Variant)

Replace Blueboy Lugos core card with Arnaghad which boosts the following packages:
 - Mechanical - Bloodthirst
 - Tribal - Witchers
 - Offensive - Control

Added new Skellige Core Card Haern Caduch which boosts the following packages:
 - Tribal - Witchers
 - Value - Self Wound
 - Special - Raid

Harald An Craite core card now also boosts the following packages:
 - Mechanical - Bloodthirst

Core Card Malena now properly increases odds of seeing Mechanical - Move package.

Replace Iorveth core card with Gezras which boosts the following packages:
 - Mechanical - Move
 - Tribal - Witchers
 - Offensive - Traps

Added new Scoia'tael core card with Stygga Castle which boosts the following packages:
 - Mechanical - Move
 - Tribal - Witchers
 - Defense - Armor

Replace Immortals core card with Erland of Larvik which boosts the following packages:
 - Defense - Boost
 - Tribal - Witchers
 - Value - Deck Shuffle

Added new Northern Realms core card with Kaer Seren which boosts the following packages:
 - Mechanical - Charge
 - Tribal - Witchers
 - Value - Prebuff

Replace Madame Luiza core card with Fallen Rayla which boosts the following packages:
 - Mechanical - Tribute
 - Offensive - Poison

Added new Syndicate core card with Salamandra Hideout which boosts the following packages:
 - Mechanical - Tribute
 - Value - Self Poison

Added in custom versions of swarm packages available to Mourntart Core Card in an attempt to make decks with her more viable.

Replace Weavess: Incantation core card with Koshchey which boosts the following packages:
 - Mechanical - Deathwish
 - Tribal - Insectoids

Added new Monsters core card with Dol Dhu Lokke which boosts the following packages:
 - Mechanical - Deathwish
 - Tribal - Insectoids
 - Special - Organic

The following cards were added to Coin package:
 - Salamandra lackey

With the following removed:
 - Oxenfurt Naturalist

"The following cards were added to Mechanic - Tribute: 
 - Salamander
 - Salamandra Mage
 - Madame Luiza

General reshuffle of Mechanical - Deathwish packages
Added:
 - Weavess: Incantation
 - Succubus
 - Viy
 - Hybrid

The following cards were added to Mechanical - Bloodthirst: 
 - Gerd
 - Bear Witcher
 - Bear Witcher Mentor
 - Armor Up

The following cards were added to Mechanical - Move:
 - Saber-Tooth Tiger
 - Brehen
 - Gaetan
 - Cat Witcher
 - Cat Witcher Mentor
 - Cat Witcher Saboteur
 - Cat Witcher Adept
 - Making a bomb

The following cards were added to Mechanical - Order:
 - Coen

The following cards were added to Tribal - Mages:
 - Cosimo Malaspina

The following cards were added to Tribal - Insectoids:
 - Idr

Overhaul of Tribal - Beasts package (many changes) and no longer a default package.

The following Core Cards and Leader Abilities will now enable Tribal - Beasts: 
 - Mourntart
 - Svalblod Totem
 - Ursine Ritual

The following cards were added to Defense - Shields:
 - Cosimo Malaspina

The following cards were added to Value - Deck Shuffle:
 - Griffin Witcher Adept

The following cards were added to Value - Self Wound:
 - Blueboy Lugos
 - Bear Witcher Mentor
 - Bear Witcher Quartermaster
 - Bear Witcher Adept

The following cards were added to Value - Board Swarming:
 - Idarran of Ulivo
 - Wererat
 - Siegfried
 - Chimera
 - Hybrid
 - Siren
 - Cockatrice
 - Morvudd
 - Plague Maiden

The following cards were added to Special - Neutral:
 - Triangle within a Triangle

The following cards were added to Special - Tactics:
 - Coated Weapons

The following cards were added to Special - Raid:
 - Armor Up

The following cards were added to Special - Move:
 - Making a bomb

The following cards were added to Special - Warfare:
 - Target Practice

The following cards were added to Special - Crimes:
 - Stolen Mutagens

The following cards were added to Special - Organic:
 - Spontaneous Evolution

Black Friday is here and Shupe has some smash smash deals for you! Until Monday you can get all the Expansion Kegs and Meteorite powder at a 50% discount.

The Expansion Kegs will disappear from the shop at the end of this sale, so grab some while you can!

If you feel dazzled by GWENT's artistic style, please support us with a vote in the annual Steam Awards for "Outstanding Visual Style".