Greetings Defenders,

Dungeon Defenders II: Power of the Ancients is live for all platforms! This expansion is full of new progression, power, and challenges.

The content released in this expansion is massive. We’ve included the long awaited Onslaught game mode, our new largest map ever, The Lost Temple, and our new Ancient Power system. There’s tons of things to share in these patch notes, so let’s get right to it!




Onslaught introduces a new floor based progression, enemy mutators, and unique enemy schedule and lane selection. You gain better loot with every floor, see different enemies in every lane, and have to tailor your defense to each and every threat. The deeper you descend, the stronger your opponents become, unleashing familiar Trials enemies, as well as progressively difficult mutators and enemy schedules.

In addition to the new systems, we’ve added some new Onslaught rewards! For beating certain floors, you can unlock new Flair sets. You might even be able to find a new companion from Victory Chests…

Did I mention Victory Chests? Onslaught will feature a new Victory Chest that is exclusive to Onslaught and is a little more visually impactful. You’ll see what I mean when you beat your first floor!

Floor Progression

In each floor of Onslaught, there can be 1-3 maps on each floor. This will cycle between 1, 2, and 3 until you reach our end-game scaling around Floor 60.

For Example:

• Floor 1: 1 Map
  
• Floor 2: 2 Maps
  
• Floor 3: 3 Maps
  
• Floor 4: 1 Map
  
• Floor 5: 2 Maps

And so on and so forth. In our end-game, every floor will be three maps.

Each floor that you beat will have better and better loot up to our current maximum Chaos VII level.

Mutators

Mutators are a system that existed in the game previously, but now we’ve really cranked it up to eleven. There are over 20 different mutators that will unlock as you progress deeper into Onslaught. These mutators will be semi-randomly selected based on the enemies that they’re assigned to. Mutators will shift and change how you need to build each lane, so pay attention to the enemy billboards that appear over each enemy spawn, and check out the new corresponding Mutator icons that will show up when you target an enemy that has one. We’ve blacklisted certain combinations of Mutators from appearing together, but there are some crazy combinations that will definitely crank up the difficulty for players interested in strategizing.

Some Example Mutators:

• Berserker Mutator: Enemies start off weak, but become stronger the longer they are alive.
  
• Exhaustion Mutator: Enemies start off strong, but become weaker the longer they are alive.
  
• Detonator Mutator: When enemies die, they explode, causing damage to heroes and defenses around them.

New Enemy Schedules

Groups of enemies within our game are referred to as “schedules” in our studio. These schedules determine what types of enemies that spawn out of each enemy lane. In Onslaught, each lane will spawn a different enemy schedule and will require you to build a set of defenses that is effective against that group of enemies.

Example Enemy Schedules:

• Game Ogre Enemy Schedule: All enemies are Ogres.
  
• Timmy’s Revenge Enemy Schedule: Every type of Goblin in a lane. Gobu.
  
• Cy-hex Lava-zerker Wompers: Cyborks, Hex Throwers, Lava Orcs,
• Berserkers, and Melee Goblins… have fun!
  
• And many more!

New Gating and Unlock Progression

The choice is YOURS!... in regards to how you progress. As you unlock more floors through Onslaught, more tiers of Trials are unlocked, and on the flip side, the more Trials tiers you complete, the more floors you unlock. Current players that have completed certain difficulty levels of Trials will already have appropriate Onslaught floors unlocked. For example, players that completed Chaos VII have Onslaught Floor 55 available now. Here’s a list of where you’ll end up in this expansion when you first load in:

• Chaos I: Onslaught Floor 3
  
• Chaos II: Onslaught Floor 4
  
• Chaos III: Onslaught Floor 7
  
• Chaos IV: Onslaught Floor 10
  
• Chaos V: Onslaught Floor 16
  
• Chaos VI: Onslaught Floor 37
  
• Chaos VII: Onslaught Floor 55

Defenders can choose to progress through each Floor of Onslaught, or clear through our unlock progression via Trials and each Chaos difficulty. Check the Challenges UI for details about when these unlock or check out the next Chaos level of Trials at the War Table and it will show you the requirement needed to unlock the next level.




It’s HUGE, it’s crazy, and it changes every time you play! The Lost Temple is by far the largest and most interesting level we’ve ever made. During each visit to this humongous map, different lanes and cores will be selected and activated, providing a different experience upon each visit. As you are playing the map, keep an eye out for an additional lane opening up. When a new lane opens up, we’ll give you more mana and Defense Units to be able to properly defend it.

Another awesome addition to this map is the sheer number of enemies that will be able to be on the map. Combat may be a little more chaotic with the huge waves of enemies that will be spawning on this map. We cranked up the number of enemies on screen by almost 200%! Maybe even more? I don’t know, it’s insane… but also very fun. We hope you’ll enjoy it.




Get far enough into Onslaught, and unlock the ability to gain Ancient Power, an additional character progression system. Each time you gain Ancient Power, you will receive a number of permanent account buffs, raise the maximum cap of points that you can put into each Ascension talent, and keep/increase your new Minimum Ascension Level.

Minimum Ascension Level

The Minimum Ascension Level is based on your Highest Achieved Ascension Level, your Highest Achieved Floor of Onslaught, and will increase each time that you push your limits. You will gain +3 to your Minimum Ascension Level for each additional Floor of Onslaught that you beat over Floor 65 and for every 50 Ascension Levels that you have when you finally hit “Gain Ancient Power”. When you gain Ancient Power, your new Ascension Level after the reset will be whatever your Minimum Ascension Level is.

For example:
On your first playthrough, you hit the minimum requirements to gain Ancient Power and have beaten Floor 65 and have 250 Ascension Levels. Your Minimum Ascension Level will be 15. You got +0 for beating Floor 65 since you didn’t push above it, and you gained +15 for your 250 Ascension Levels.

On your second playthrough, you also only do the minimum requirements to gain Ancient Power. You will gain +0 to your Minimum Ascension Level because you did not push any additional Floors past 65, and you didn’t gain any additional Ascension Levels that would have raised your “Highest Achieved Ascension” number.

At this point you need to push Onslaught Floors or Ascension Levels over 250 to gain more Minimum Ascension Level.

Permanent Buffs

Each time you gain Ancient Power you will also yield permanent buffs:

• +5% Permanent Experience Bonus
  
• +5% Permanent Gold Gain Bonus
  
• Ascension Talent Cap raised by an amount that corresponds with your
• progression.
  
• Increase or Keep your new Minimum Ascension Level

Ancient Powers

In addition to the permanent buffs, you will also receive one point that you can allocate into a number of additional unique Powers! These are the ones that stack with other party members. Some of these include:

• Increased Tower Health %.
  
• Increased Tower Damage %.
  
• Lifesteal based of x% of Hero Damage dealt.
  
• Reduced resurrection timer.
  
• Increased resistances %.
  
• And more!

All the buffs can be used in every game mode!

Limited Progression Reset

When you gain Ancient Power, your progression will be reset back to Onslaught Floor 1 and Chaos I with your gear and shards reset to that appropriate level. Using your new Powers, you’ll be able to reprogress back through our end-game at a quicker pace and push into deeper floors of Onslaught with your newfound strength!


We are adding leaderboards to see who have progressed the furthest through Onslaught. There are two new boards that track different things. The first, our Onslaught Leaderboard, will track the furthest floor progressed similar to Mastery’s leaderboard (i.e. players completing the highest floor at the same are both listed as first).

The second, our Ancient Power Leaderboard, will track which players have acquired the most Ancient Power. There is more info regarding these leaderboards down the road, but are currently used to see who is the best of the best!


We’re introducing a new system, Defender Packs, to acquire flairs, costumes, pets, and accessories. We weren’t a fan of our old lock box system because it had limited accessories you could unlock, and required keys to open them. Defender Packs were made to always feel rewarding whenever you received one. There are various ways to acquire them, a couple include completing the campaign or progressing through Onslaught. They have a chance to drop from the highest floor you've completed, even when farming your highest floor. If you’ve already completed the campaign, you automatically receive the Defender Packs you would have earned.

Defender Packs include a giant inventory of different skins and flairs, some being extremely rare and prestigious. If you happen to receive a flair, costume, or accessory you already own, you’ll be rewarded handsomely with gold instead!


Forest Biome

• Updated to give 1250 mana from 1000 mana.
  
• Now matches the maps Defense Unit cap.

• Fixed a button display issue with Ev-2 when placing a defense with a controller.
  
• Frostbite Tower can now target training dummies.
  
• Fixed a spelling error with The Dawn of the Blood Moon Incursion.
  
• Fixed an issue where the “G-Up” sound was not playing correctly.
  
• Fixed a pet unequip issue at the Petrinarian.
  
• Fixed an issue where the town hub music was tied to the SFX slider.
  
• Thunderbolts and Lightning can only be equipped to magic staves now.
  
• Fixed Lavamancer Harden/Inflame VFX.
  
• Fixed an issue with Start Campaign appearing after completing it.
  
• Escape can now cancel pet rerolls.
  
• Water spout trap now named properly.
  
• Orbs should no longer drop during Campaign.
  
• Less words are caught by the profanity filter now.
  
• Glaive of Storms attack animation ends correctly now.
  
• Fixed an issue where controller inputs could provide an extra daily mission.
  
• Fixed an issue where Automation was healing more than intended.

• We are investigating an issue where Harpy’s Perch currently does not gain the pierce buff while corrupted.
  
• We are investigating an issue where Angry Nimbus does not gain storm damage or change material while in Corrupt form.
  
• Frosty Beams Shard affected enemies are not kept frozen through the entire duration.
  
• Vampiric Empowerment Shard’s current stat boost is being displayed incorrectly.
  
• Automation does not work on Snaking Sands, Slime Pits, Geyser Trap, and
• Angry Nimbus towers.
  
• Tuskar is currently using Witherbeast's icon.
  
• Assault on Throne Room with mini-Ogres has a chance to spawn at the core.

This is just the start for what’s to come in Dungeon Defenders II! We poured a lot of love into Power of the Ancients and know you’ll enjoy Onslaught. We have a lot of planned for Dungeon Defenders II in 2018, and are grateful for the support you show us to make the game the best it can be.

For Etheria!

The Dungeon Defenders II Team

Greetings Defenders,

Dungeon Defenders II: Power of the Ancients is live for all platforms! This expansion is full of new progression, power, and challenges.

The content released in this expansion is massive. We’ve included the long awaited Onslaught game mode, our new largest map ever, The Lost Temple, and our new Ancient Power system. There’s tons of things to share in these patch notes, so let’s get right to it!




Onslaught introduces a new floor based progression, enemy mutators, and unique enemy schedule and lane selection. You gain better loot with every floor, see different enemies in every lane, and have to tailor your defense to each and every threat. The deeper you descend, the stronger your opponents become, unleashing familiar Trials enemies, as well as progressively difficult mutators and enemy schedules.

In addition to the new systems, we’ve added some new Onslaught rewards! For beating certain floors, you can unlock new Flair sets. You might even be able to find a new companion from Victory Chests…

Did I mention Victory Chests? Onslaught will feature a new Victory Chest that is exclusive to Onslaught and is a little more visually impactful. You’ll see what I mean when you beat your first floor!

Floor Progression

In each floor of Onslaught, there can be 1-3 maps on each floor. This will cycle between 1, 2, and 3 until you reach our end-game scaling around Floor 60.

For Example:

• Floor 1: 1 Map
  
• Floor 2: 2 Maps
  
• Floor 3: 3 Maps
  
• Floor 4: 1 Map
  
• Floor 5: 2 Maps

And so on and so forth. In our end-game, every floor will be three maps.

Each floor that you beat will have better and better loot up to our current maximum Chaos VII level.

Mutators

Mutators are a system that existed in the game previously, but now we’ve really cranked it up to eleven. There are over 20 different mutators that will unlock as you progress deeper into Onslaught. These mutators will be semi-randomly selected based on the enemies that they’re assigned to. Mutators will shift and change how you need to build each lane, so pay attention to the enemy billboards that appear over each enemy spawn, and check out the new corresponding Mutator icons that will show up when you target an enemy that has one. We’ve blacklisted certain combinations of Mutators from appearing together, but there are some crazy combinations that will definitely crank up the difficulty for players interested in strategizing.

Some Example Mutators:

• Berserker Mutator: Enemies start off weak, but become stronger the longer they are alive.
  
• Exhaustion Mutator: Enemies start off strong, but become weaker the longer they are alive.
  
• Detonator Mutator: When enemies die, they explode, causing damage to heroes and defenses around them.

New Enemy Schedules

Groups of enemies within our game are referred to as “schedules” in our studio. These schedules determine what types of enemies that spawn out of each enemy lane. In Onslaught, each lane will spawn a different enemy schedule and will require you to build a set of defenses that is effective against that group of enemies.

Example Enemy Schedules:

• Game Ogre Enemy Schedule: All enemies are Ogres.
  
• Timmy’s Revenge Enemy Schedule: Every type of Goblin in a lane. Gobu.
  
• Cy-hex Lava-zerker Wompers: Cyborks, Hex Throwers, Lava Orcs,
• Berserkers, and Melee Goblins… have fun!
  
• And many more!

New Gating and Unlock Progression

The choice is YOURS!... in regards to how you progress. As you unlock more floors through Onslaught, more tiers of Trials are unlocked, and on the flip side, the more Trials tiers you complete, the more floors you unlock. Current players that have completed certain difficulty levels of Trials will already have appropriate Onslaught floors unlocked. For example, players that completed Chaos VII have Onslaught Floor 55 available now. Here’s a list of where you’ll end up in this expansion when you first load in:

• Chaos I: Onslaught Floor 3
  
• Chaos II: Onslaught Floor 4
  
• Chaos III: Onslaught Floor 7
  
• Chaos IV: Onslaught Floor 10
  
• Chaos V: Onslaught Floor 16
  
• Chaos VI: Onslaught Floor 37
  
• Chaos VII: Onslaught Floor 55

Defenders can choose to progress through each Floor of Onslaught, or clear through our unlock progression via Trials and each Chaos difficulty. Check the Challenges UI for details about when these unlock or check out the next Chaos level of Trials at the War Table and it will show you the requirement needed to unlock the next level.




It’s HUGE, it’s crazy, and it changes every time you play! The Lost Temple is by far the largest and most interesting level we’ve ever made. During each visit to this humongous map, different lanes and cores will be selected and activated, providing a different experience upon each visit. As you are playing the map, keep an eye out for an additional lane opening up. When a new lane opens up, we’ll give you more mana and Defense Units to be able to properly defend it.

Another awesome addition to this map is the sheer number of enemies that will be able to be on the map. Combat may be a little more chaotic with the huge waves of enemies that will be spawning on this map. We cranked up the number of enemies on screen by almost 200%! Maybe even more? I don’t know, it’s insane… but also very fun. We hope you’ll enjoy it.




Get far enough into Onslaught, and unlock the ability to gain Ancient Power, an additional character progression system. Each time you gain Ancient Power, you will receive a number of permanent account buffs, raise the maximum cap of points that you can put into each Ascension talent, and keep/increase your new Minimum Ascension Level.

Minimum Ascension Level

The Minimum Ascension Level is based on your Highest Achieved Ascension Level, your Highest Achieved Floor of Onslaught, and will increase each time that you push your limits. You will gain +3 to your Minimum Ascension Level for each additional Floor of Onslaught that you beat over Floor 65 and for every 50 Ascension Levels that you have when you finally hit “Gain Ancient Power”. When you gain Ancient Power, your new Ascension Level after the reset will be whatever your Minimum Ascension Level is.

For example:
On your first playthrough, you hit the minimum requirements to gain Ancient Power and have beaten Floor 65 and have 250 Ascension Levels. Your Minimum Ascension Level will be 15. You got +0 for beating Floor 65 since you didn’t push above it, and you gained +15 for your 250 Ascension Levels.

On your second playthrough, you also only do the minimum requirements to gain Ancient Power. You will gain +0 to your Minimum Ascension Level because you did not push any additional Floors past 65, and you didn’t gain any additional Ascension Levels that would have raised your “Highest Achieved Ascension” number.

At this point you need to push Onslaught Floors or Ascension Levels over 250 to gain more Minimum Ascension Level.

Permanent Buffs

Each time you gain Ancient Power you will also yield permanent buffs:

• +5% Permanent Experience Bonus
  
• +5% Permanent Gold Gain Bonus
  
• Ascension Talent Cap raised by an amount that corresponds with your
• progression.
  
• Increase or Keep your new Minimum Ascension Level

Ancient Powers

In addition to the permanent buffs, you will also receive one point that you can allocate into a number of additional unique Powers! These are the ones that stack with other party members. Some of these include:

• Increased Tower Health %.
  
• Increased Tower Damage %.
  
• Lifesteal based of x% of Hero Damage dealt.
  
• Reduced resurrection timer.
  
• Increased resistances %.
  
• And more!

All the buffs can be used in every game mode!

Limited Progression Reset

When you gain Ancient Power, your progression will be reset back to Onslaught Floor 1 and Chaos I with your gear and shards reset to that appropriate level. Using your new Powers, you’ll be able to reprogress back through our end-game at a quicker pace and push into deeper floors of Onslaught with your newfound strength!


We are adding leaderboards to see who have progressed the furthest through Onslaught. There are two new boards that track different things. The first, our Onslaught Leaderboard, will track the furthest floor progressed similar to Mastery’s leaderboard (i.e. players completing the highest floor at the same are both listed as first).

The second, our Ancient Power Leaderboard, will track which players have acquired the most Ancient Power. There is more info regarding these leaderboards down the road, but are currently used to see who is the best of the best!


We’re introducing a new system, Defender Packs, to acquire flairs, costumes, pets, and accessories. We weren’t a fan of our old lock box system because it had limited accessories you could unlock, and required keys to open them. Defender Packs were made to always feel rewarding whenever you received one. There are various ways to acquire them, a couple include completing the campaign or progressing through Onslaught. They have a chance to drop from the highest floor you've completed, even when farming your highest floor. If you’ve already completed the campaign, you automatically receive the Defender Packs you would have earned.

Defender Packs include a giant inventory of different skins and flairs, some being extremely rare and prestigious. If you happen to receive a flair, costume, or accessory you already own, you’ll be rewarded handsomely with gold instead!


Forest Biome

• Updated to give 1250 mana from 1000 mana.
  
• Now matches the maps Defense Unit cap.

• Fixed a button display issue with Ev-2 when placing a defense with a controller.
  
• Frostbite Tower can now target training dummies.
  
• Fixed a spelling error with The Dawn of the Blood Moon Incursion.
  
• Fixed an issue where the “G-Up” sound was not playing correctly.
  
• Fixed a pet unequip issue at the Petrinarian.
  
• Fixed an issue where the town hub music was tied to the SFX slider.
  
• Thunderbolts and Lightning can only be equipped to magic staves now.
  
• Fixed Lavamancer Harden/Inflame VFX.
  
• Fixed an issue with Start Campaign appearing after completing it.
  
• Escape can now cancel pet rerolls.
  
• Water spout trap now named properly.
  
• Orbs should no longer drop during Campaign.
  
• Less words are caught by the profanity filter now.
  
• Glaive of Storms attack animation ends correctly now.
  
• Fixed an issue where controller inputs could provide an extra daily mission.
  
• Fixed an issue where Automation was healing more than intended.

• We are investigating an issue where Harpy’s Perch currently does not gain the pierce buff while corrupted.
  
• We are investigating an issue where Angry Nimbus does not gain storm damage or change material while in Corrupt form.
  
• Frosty Beams Shard affected enemies are not kept frozen through the entire duration.
  
• Vampiric Empowerment Shard’s current stat boost is being displayed incorrectly.
  
• Automation does not work on Snaking Sands, Slime Pits, Geyser Trap, and
• Angry Nimbus towers.
  
• Tuskar is currently using Witherbeast's icon.
  
• Assault on Throne Room with mini-Ogres has a chance to spawn at the core.

This is just the start for what’s to come in Dungeon Defenders II! We poured a lot of love into Power of the Ancients and know you’ll enjoy Onslaught. We have a lot of planned for Dungeon Defenders II in 2018, and are grateful for the support you show us to make the game the best it can be.

For Etheria!

The Dungeon Defenders II Team

Greetings Defenders

Today we announce the next chapter of Dungeon Defenders II, the Power of the Ancients expansion, releasing next month! Check out the [/url]trailer here.[/url] Within our expansion are some legendary additions to the game:

• Onslaught, our new game mode that is your main focus of progression.
  
• Ancient Power, our new character progression that allows you to push the limits as defenders and increase your strength.
  
• The Lost Temple, our new HUGE map that changes its layout every time you attempt to conquer it.
  
• Defender Packs, a new way to unlock unique flair, costumes, and pets.
  
• And much more!

We are going to be revealing more Power of the Ancients info soon, and talking about Power of the Ancients on our Devstream this Friday at 3PM EST! To give insight into what we’ve been working on, we’re having some of our epic developers chime into the work they’ve put into Path of the Ancients, experiences throughout our development process, as well as what we’re most hyped about! Let’s get started:

For those of you who don’t know me from our different social platforms, I’m Community Coordinator turned Community Manager for Dungeon Defenders II. My focus has been taking all the feedback that you, our courageous, strong, glorious community, have provided to help make sure that Power of the Ancients is a behemoth of an expansion that you all want to conquer. This means taking your feedback and wants, meeting with designers, discussing the things that defenders enjoy, molding our new content to the things you enjoy, and then testing the beastly content that is created. You’re in for a wild ride!

Onslaught provides something for everyone to enjoy, from those who have just completed campaign, to the grizzled veterans of Chaos Trials 7. The progression feels so incredibly solid and polished. You steadily get gear and shards that are improvements as you progress. Trials now drop MORE gear and shards than before, making them more rewarding for taking on harder enemies sooner than you would in Onslaught. You can choose to progress through Trials to unlock Onslaught floors, or through Onslaught floors to unlock Trials, which just feels great having the option to go between the two and still progress. On top of this you also can increase your Ancient Power (a new form of character progression), which just offers a slew of benefits and choices that provide meaningful character advancement.

Besides putting time into our new expansion, I’m constantly working on ways to make our community a better place to be. I’ll be rolling out some new initiatives to make our social spaces an even better place to interact with one another; give our streamers a single banner to fly under, transparent requirements, maybe even some incentives; and everything I can to spotlight the greatness that is the Dungeon Defenders II community. There’s more to come soon!

FINALLY. I’ve probably been teasing most of our players for too long about our new “end-game mode” and “update” that we’re working on, but now I can finally talk about it! Huzzah! It’s not just a “game expanding update” anymore… It’s an expansion.

I remember a day, where I was just a baby armchair developer, playing the old version of Onslaught, wishing for checkpoints and some sort of save system that would keep my progress. Whelp, I wish I could say those were the “good ol’ days”, but this new version of that game mode is far beyond anything I could have expected.

We’ve taken several pain points of gameplay that players have been experiencing and kicked them to the curb! Facing off against the same enemies every map and the build never changes? CURBED. Tired of smart loot being weird? CURBED. Wanted more things to do in the game, but Trials was the only option? CURBED? (DISCLAIMER: Trials is still an option, but we tried to make Onslaught a better option. I mostly just wanted to use the “kicking to the curb” analogy but it may not have been the right choice. The aforementioned “CURBED” features still exist in the game in the Trials game mode, we’re just building future content in a better way.)

To give a really quick “Elandrian’s TL;DR” set of bullet points about this expansion:

• Onslaught is a brand new game mode that completely changes our end game progression and is nothing like the previous version of Onslaught.
  
• Onslaught features new loot progression that makes sense. Higher Floor Number = Higher Loot Stat Numbers.
  
• Onslaught features enemies and modifiers that will make your defense different each time.
  
• Onslaught will save which floors you were able to beat, you can then immediately play the next floor in your progression.
  
• Ancient Power is a way to do a limited reset on your account but keep progressing over time.
  
• The new map is unreal. You’ll have different lanes and cores each time you load in.

We’ll go over the specifics about each feature in future Devstreams and posts, so make sure to stay tuned for more specifics! You could also probably join our Remote Playtesting Group, sign an NDA, and check out the new content early, but I’m sure Dani will mention that below!

Howdy defenders. It’s been a while.

This milestone the animation team has been pretty focused on some very ambitious cinematics to announce our awesome release. Hope you enjoyed them. As well as an in-game event piece that you end game players will be seeing very soon...

There is a lot more to come, but until then, please enjoy one of my favorite cosmetic flairs we’ve been working on over here.



Creepy right? Almost like it’s going to reach out and grab you…

Our testing teams have been hard at working getting Onslaught up and going, and we’re ready to expand testing to our Remote Playtesting Group to get our community feedback and gut checks before we push for release.

Our playtesters are great folks and have helped make our releases better. If you want to get early access to Onslaught in exchange for giving us feedback and helping us iron out issues before release, we want you!

If you are 18 or over (sorry you need to sign our NDA so we can’t bend on this rule) and wish to help (PC only help for now, sorry console bros!), email me dani.moore(at)trendyent.com and let me know. We’re hoping to start testing this week, so you’ll want to be there when we do!

Holy frick, this map was a challenge and a half. This isn’t your grandpappy’s old Dungeon Defenders II level.

Since there are so many different possibilities that can happen in this game mode, I wanted to be really intentional with everything this map has to offer. We ran through scenarios and tests as to what combinations of the different Onslaught elements could appear and made sure that these combinations came together in a meaningful manner.

When the lanes open and cores are different each time, you get to have a different experience with different core and lane combinations. These two things working alongside the enemy modifiers make this one of the top experiences for Dungeon Defenders II.



Hey Defenders!

I can’t tell you how fun it has been to watch all of you play Mastery each week, and I am incredibly grateful for the positive feedback you’ve given me. I’m still hard at work revamping the loot generation system (it’s going to make sense, dammit) and designing out some new and exciting things coming in the future. I can’t wait to see the final weeks of Mastery and to watch you guys conquer Onslaught and beyond!

Love,
Mark

My first thought when looking at the concepts for the Onslaught expansion was, “whoa! I get to create these amazing concepts in 3D?!” I was very excited to create a variety of the 3D models and textures for the Onslaught Expansion. I enjoyed creating a wide range of assets ranging from a dragon to a tiling floor texture. The goal was to create a look that was mysterious, fun, and vibrant with bold colors.



Hey Everyone!

My name Jose and I’m a Technical Designer here at Trendy. Over the past couple of milestones, I have been working as the designer for the new Onslaught game mode. It has been a long and tiring endeavor, but we are so happy to finally have reached the point where you can see what we made for you.

Let me go over a few points to give you insight on our expectations for Onslaught and the immediate future of DD2. For this I need to go back to the somewhat-distant past of March 2017 and the release of Trials. While we enjoyed what Trials provided to the game, as a recurring game mode, it was evident that we needed a true end game with a longer life, and clearer progression.

This led us into thinking about how to create a new game mode that will keep you engaged with exciting content and challenges, regardless of how much time you put into the game. Onslaught, at its core, is just that: an ever-increasing challenge that will grow alongside the player, for as long as they want.

The main obstacle in front of us to achieve this goal was how to ensure a satisfying replayable experience. The immediate answer for us was the enemy selection, and how to mix them effectively. So far, every game mode in DD2 has run the same enemy types in each lane whenever you load into a map. However, for Onslaught, each lane will have different enemies coming through them. For example, one lane may have Cyborks and the other one may have Vanguard Goblins. That means that the same build will not work in every situation, and you will have to react independently to each lane. We gave each schedule of enemies a distinctive name, which you can use to strategize and share your best builds online on how to counter them.

As a secondary way to achieve replayability, we are bringing back enemy Mutators with full force. In the past, Mutators are modifiers that have been used to affect the performance of a given lane. A few months ago, I asked people in the forums to give me ideas for exciting new Mutators, and they did not disappoint. I’m pleased to say we have made roughly 35 new Mutators, all of them impacting gameplay in many ways. None of them are going to be boring flat number increases, but our goal was to provide you with fun challenges to overcome. In fact, some Mutators act as double-edge swords for the enemies by making them stronger in some way, but weaker in another.

Finally, the best example of Onslaught’s replayability lies in the new map we made for it: The Lost Temple. The Lost Temple is the biggest DD2 map yet, with 30 lanes and 10 cores! Of course, these are not going to be all open at the same time, but different lane/core combinations will be selected each time you play it.

Alongside replayability, our priority from Design was to help clarify the game’s gear progression. For this we are dividing Onslaught into Floors that will guide players in an upwards ladder of power progression and enemy difficulty increase. No longer will you have to worry about whether or not you should be playing a given Chaos difficulty to progress effectively, you now can just simply play the next floor in Onslaught and you will know you are on the right track.

My job was to design, balance, and work on the implementation of all the systems that I have talked about in this log. Anyway, I think I wrote way too much already. I don’t use twitter, but you can reach me on the official Discord. I hope you will enjoy all the exciting content we are preparing for you in the expansion =).


We'll be talking more about Path of the Ancients over the next few weeks. To make sure you get the most up-to-date information, check out our social media platforms:

• Facebook
  
• Twitter
  
• Discord

Also visit our Devstream this Friday at 3PM EST on Twitch, where we'll be showing off some Path of the Ancients goodness.

As always, we are incredibly grateful for the support that you, our glorious community, provide us. Get ready to dive deep into Onslaught, it’s going to be here before you know it!

For Etheria!

The Dungeon Defenders II Team

The Isomicon reveals its first secrets! While you’ve been defending against the evil that threatens Etheria, Gran Ma’ster found a way to imbue certain shards with incredible power. These hyper shards contain a very unstable power so she is only providing them to defenders that prove their mastery of the defensive arts. At the Gran Ma’ster’s behest, the Defense Council devised a set of challenges for the heroes to overcome.

With the aid of the Abyss Lord, Gran Ma’ster continues to delve deeper into the forbidden knowledge contained within the Isomicon. There’s still much more to decrypt, but there is a growing concern from what’s been revealed — dark forces are coming, and we are NOT ready. Go forth, Defenders! Prepare yourselves, and PROTECT ETHERIA!

Greetings Defenders,

It’s time to prove your strength, Ancient's Prelude (Update 1.2) is live! This is a monster of an update, introducing some amazing features that will push your limits. This patch has some awesome new content, a new additional cosmetic system, quality of life changes, balance, bug fixes, and kicks off the beginning of our seven week progression event. Let’s dive in!


The new game mode, Mastery, provides access to all Chaos maps, allowing you to choose where and how you progress. Gran Ma’ster requires you to complete up to five challenges per map, each indicated with a star on the Mastery progress bar. She’s not going to be making it easy either. In order to earn the full five stars on each map, you’ll need to complete all of the challenges together. All stars are earned one time, so once you’ve five starred a map, you have mastered the challenges presented and will have earned all the rewards it has to offer. The power contained within the Hyper Shards is unstable, so only Defenders that prove their might may equip them.

When conquering the Mastery game mode you’ll receive great rewards as you progress. Here’s what you can expect to earn as you decimate challenges:

• Hyper Shards
  
• Exclusive Flair
  
• Golden Pets
  
• Ascension levels
  
• Defender Medals
  
• Gold on gold on gold

With the Mastery game mode, we’ll be releasing a new tier every week, for the next seven weeks at on Wednesday at 9 AM EDT! It’s a lot of content to conquer, here’s a look at the schedule:

• Mastery 1: October 11th (TODAY!)
  
• Mastery 2: October 18th
  
• Mastery 3: October 25th
  
• Mastery 4: November 1st
  
• Mastery 5: November 8th
  
• Mastery 6: November 15th
  
• Mastery 7: November 22nd

The cap of earn-able stars will start at 105 with Mastery 1. Every additional tier will add an extra 105 stars to be earned, with the last week providing a total of 735 stars to be earned.

To achieve absolute mastery, experimentation with new builds is required to overcome the tasks set before you, pushing your limits as a Defender. Over the coming weeks, the Defense Council will work diligently with the Gran Ma’ster and Abyss Lord to continue deciphering additional levels of challenges and rewards for heroes capable of proving their mastery. The amount of time needed to decipher and develop each new Hyper Shard is about a week. To fill that time, we’ll be providing a little competition to celebrate this new discovery!


We’re running a special event: PROVE YOUR MASTERY over the next SEVEN weeks! This provides time for Gran and company to conjure the Hyper Shards that each tier rewards. The event showcases players on special weekly Mastery leaderboards. It lists the first 10 players to reach 105 stars per Mastery tier, per platform (PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4). If there aren’t 10 people to reach 105 stars at the end of the event, it ranks the furthest progressed players.

The Mastery leaderboards will update every 15 minutes, and require defenders to reach at least 10 stars before appearing on the leaderboard. Click here to check out the Mastery leaderboard.

The event starts at 9 AM EDT, and lasts until 9 AM EDT the following Wednesday. As the previous week-long event ends, the next event starts immediately after. Special prizes will be revealed soon after the event launches! These prizes do not give any powerful benefits, but provide visual bragging rights that spotlight defenders conquering the content the fastest. Teaming up is a huge benefit to dominating these challenges. If a team of two to four players claims the first spot, they’ll all be listed as first place. This means that second, third, and fourth place are still up for grabs. We’ll be sharing more information on the rewards soon!


Exclusive to the Mastery game mode are Hyper Shards, unique shards that you’ll only be able to claim if you are able to conquer the challenges Gran Ma’ster has provided for you. Hyper shards will be reminiscent of some of your favorite shards, except cranked way up in power. Each type of these shards will only be earned one time, and don’t worry — you can’t sell them.

There are seven different shards that can be earned. Here is a look at the shards and where you can earn them:

• 50 Stars: Mass Destruction
  
• 155 Stars: Vicious Strikes
  
• 260 Stars: Radiant Critical Power
  
• 365 Stars: Explosive Shielding Guard
  
• 470 Stars: Thunderstruck
  
• 575 Stars: Destructive Pylon
  
• 680 Stars: Super Fortification

These shards pack an extra punch, and can all be earned once. There is no limit to how many can be equipped at the same time. They are needed to bolster your strength to take on Gran’s challenges!

A new cosmetic system, Flair, allows your heroes to look even more legendary than before! Flair can be equipped over any existing costumes or looks on a hero and there’s currently four categories of flair:

• Head (Halos, masks, and auras)
  
• Back (Wings)
  
• Waist (floating objects and auras)
  
• Feet (auras, fire, and other effects)

There’s more than one way to acquire this new cosmetic so you can look even more heroic on the battlefield. Flair is available through:

• Collecting stars through Mastery
  
• Future game content
  
• In-game Shop
  
• Platform Storefronts (Steam, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network)

Flair will unlock as you collect more stars through Mastery, future game content, and available through our various store fronts. One of the packs will be available outside of the game for a particularly demonic look, but we’ll discuss later in the blog. With such a wide variety of customizable ways to mix and match flair, you’ll be sure to stick out in the Heroes Marketplace!

Golden pets are BACK! Well… some of them. Golden pets are pets that you will receive while playing through the Mastery game mode. It’s another way to show off just how great of a defender you are to those around you.

You’ll be able to earn a single golden pet type multiple times, for a total of seven pets:

• 90 Stars: Golden Gato Egg
  
• 195 Stars: Golden Creeper Egg
  
• 300 Stars: Golden Dragon Egg
  
• 405 Stars: Golden Gato Egg
  
• 510 Stars: Golden Creeper Egg
  
• 615 Stars: Golden Dragon Egg
  
• 720 Stars: Golden Gato Egg

With golden pets and the new flair system, you’ll be the envy of all that see you!




You’ll notice that your Private Tavern and the Heroes Marketplace have been decorated to celebrate Halloween. To add to the celebration, the Halloween-themed seasonal flair is now available! This flair is our first iteration of seasonal-themed flair, but it most definitely will not be our last — you have to look amazing year-round, right? With the Halloween set in particular, you’ll not only terrify your enemies on the battlefield, you’ll also be their worst nightmares!

Our Halloween pack, The Bundle of the Beast, will become available closer to Halloween on Steam, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network.


Selling Equipment With Shards

Implementing new shards that are acquired only once required some special attention. With this patch, if you sell a piece of loot that has shards inserted, the shards will be put into your inventory instead of being sold as well.

If your inventory is full when you sell a piece of loot, the shards will go to the scavenger for 30 minute. If you close the game, go between the Town, Private Tavern, or a map, the Scavenger will still have it for 30 minutes. Once 30 minutes has past, you won’t be able to reclaim them from him.

Orbs

Orbs have been relics that we’ve received a ton of community feedback on. To keep things balanced and functioning, defense speed has a cap. Orbs specifically were avoided by defenders due to them not being effective in providing optimal stats throughout the entirety of progression. Every relic type should be useful in most levels of play, and Orbs were not able to do this to a level we were content with.

Based off community feedback, we’ve removed Orbs from loot tables. This means that you won’t see orbs dropping, but instead another piece of gear will be dropping in its place. Current orbs will not be removed from your inventory or equipment. With orbs removed, you’ll be receiving more loot that will help you progress!

Mystic

• Call To Madness
  
  • Cooldown increased 10 seconds to 20 seconds.
    
    • Previously players were able to infinitely confuse a lane when using the inspiration shard.

Series EV-2

• Weapons Manufacturer
  
  • Adjusted range scaling with the introduction of Vicious Strikes Hyper Shard.

Weapons

• Shadowflame Dagger
  
  • Projectile life-time reduced to 2 seconds.

PC users will notice a command window opening with the game. This is a window to help us monitor any errors that might come with this update. If you close this window it will also close the game. It's only temporary and will be removed with our next patch.

• Fixed an issue where comparing items on the ground was not properly appearing.
  
• Fixed a homing issue with Shadowflame Dagger.
  
• Fixed an issue with Deadly/Vicious Strikes being removed from a world tree, that allowed defenses to remain outside the reduced range.
  
• Fixed an issue where pressing Esc to leave the Emporium or Inventory caused lag spikes.
  
• Fixed an issue where clicking To Hub would freeze players and return them to the title screen.
  
• Fixed an issue where Power of Storms shard was restoring 56 mana instead of 60.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Limit Break challenge not properly awarding score bonuses.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Heroic Power shard not performing correctly.
  
• Fixed an issue where failing the Kobold Bling King map allowed you to continue playing the map.
  
• Removed Consecutive Win row on scoreboard when it would appropriately show “0”.
  
• Fixed an issue that disconnected players loading into Forest Biome on Xbox One.
  
• Fixed an issue with various shards using incorrect values.
  
• Fixed an issue where Join Game and Create Game were placed incorrectly.

Mastery is just the tip of the iceberg for you, Defenders. While you conquer Gran’s difficult challenges and tests, you’ll attain the strength needed to protect Etheria and the citizens of Dragonfall from the darkness that lies ahead. We’ll learn more as Gran, the Defense Council, and the Abyss Lord decipher the Isomicon in the weeks to come!

We are eternally grateful for your support, Defenders, and will be providing more information on the upcoming power of the Ancients over time.

For Etheria!

The Dungeon Defenders II Team

The Isomicon reveals its first secrets! While you’ve been defending against the evil that threatens Etheria, Gran Ma’ster found a way to imbue certain shards with incredible power. These hyper shards contain a very unstable power so she is only providing them to defenders that prove their mastery of the defensive arts. At the Gran Ma’ster’s behest, the Defense Council devised a set of challenges for the heroes to overcome.

With the aid of the Abyss Lord, Gran Ma’ster continues to delve deeper into the forbidden knowledge contained within the Isomicon. There’s still much more to decrypt, but there is a growing concern from what’s been revealed — dark forces are coming, and we are NOT ready. Go forth, Defenders! Prepare yourselves, and PROTECT ETHERIA!

Greetings Defenders,

It’s time to prove your strength, Ancient's Prelude (Update 1.2) is live! This is a monster of an update, introducing some amazing features that will push your limits. This patch has some awesome new content, a new additional cosmetic system, quality of life changes, balance, bug fixes, and kicks off the beginning of our seven week progression event. Let’s dive in!


The new game mode, Mastery, provides access to all Chaos maps, allowing you to choose where and how you progress. Gran Ma’ster requires you to complete up to five challenges per map, each indicated with a star on the Mastery progress bar. She’s not going to be making it easy either. In order to earn the full five stars on each map, you’ll need to complete all of the challenges together. All stars are earned one time, so once you’ve five starred a map, you have mastered the challenges presented and will have earned all the rewards it has to offer. The power contained within the Hyper Shards is unstable, so only Defenders that prove their might may equip them.

When conquering the Mastery game mode you’ll receive great rewards as you progress. Here’s what you can expect to earn as you decimate challenges:

• Hyper Shards
  
• Exclusive Flair
  
• Golden Pets
  
• Ascension levels
  
• Defender Medals
  
• Gold on gold on gold

With the Mastery game mode, we’ll be releasing a new tier every week, for the next seven weeks at on Wednesday at 9 AM EDT! It’s a lot of content to conquer, here’s a look at the schedule:

• Mastery 1: October 11th (TODAY!)
  
• Mastery 2: October 18th
  
• Mastery 3: October 25th
  
• Mastery 4: November 1st
  
• Mastery 5: November 8th
  
• Mastery 6: November 15th
  
• Mastery 7: November 22nd

The cap of earn-able stars will start at 105 with Mastery 1. Every additional tier will add an extra 105 stars to be earned, with the last week providing a total of 735 stars to be earned.

To achieve absolute mastery, experimentation with new builds is required to overcome the tasks set before you, pushing your limits as a Defender. Over the coming weeks, the Defense Council will work diligently with the Gran Ma’ster and Abyss Lord to continue deciphering additional levels of challenges and rewards for heroes capable of proving their mastery. The amount of time needed to decipher and develop each new Hyper Shard is about a week. To fill that time, we’ll be providing a little competition to celebrate this new discovery!


We’re running a special event: PROVE YOUR MASTERY over the next SEVEN weeks! This provides time for Gran and company to conjure the Hyper Shards that each tier rewards. The event showcases players on special weekly Mastery leaderboards. It lists the first 10 players to reach 105 stars per Mastery tier, per platform (PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4). If there aren’t 10 people to reach 105 stars at the end of the event, it ranks the furthest progressed players.

The Mastery leaderboards will update every 15 minutes, and require defenders to reach at least 10 stars before appearing on the leaderboard. Click here to check out the Mastery leaderboard.

The event starts at 9 AM EDT, and lasts until 9 AM EDT the following Wednesday. As the previous week-long event ends, the next event starts immediately after. Special prizes will be revealed soon after the event launches! These prizes do not give any powerful benefits, but provide visual bragging rights that spotlight defenders conquering the content the fastest. Teaming up is a huge benefit to dominating these challenges. If a team of two to four players claims the first spot, they’ll all be listed as first place. This means that second, third, and fourth place are still up for grabs. We’ll be sharing more information on the rewards soon!


Exclusive to the Mastery game mode are Hyper Shards, unique shards that you’ll only be able to claim if you are able to conquer the challenges Gran Ma’ster has provided for you. Hyper shards will be reminiscent of some of your favorite shards, except cranked way up in power. Each type of these shards will only be earned one time, and don’t worry — you can’t sell them.

There are seven different shards that can be earned. Here is a look at the shards and where you can earn them:

• 50 Stars: Mass Destruction
  
• 155 Stars: Vicious Strikes
  
• 260 Stars: Radiant Critical Power
  
• 365 Stars: Explosive Shielding Guard
  
• 470 Stars: Thunderstruck
  
• 575 Stars: Destructive Pylon
  
• 680 Stars: Super Fortification

These shards pack an extra punch, and can all be earned once. There is no limit to how many can be equipped at the same time. They are needed to bolster your strength to take on Gran’s challenges!

A new cosmetic system, Flair, allows your heroes to look even more legendary than before! Flair can be equipped over any existing costumes or looks on a hero and there’s currently four categories of flair:

• Head (Halos, masks, and auras)
  
• Back (Wings)
  
• Waist (floating objects and auras)
  
• Feet (auras, fire, and other effects)

There’s more than one way to acquire this new cosmetic so you can look even more heroic on the battlefield. Flair is available through:

• Collecting stars through Mastery
  
• Future game content
  
• In-game Shop
  
• Platform Storefronts (Steam, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network)

Flair will unlock as you collect more stars through Mastery, future game content, and available through our various store fronts. One of the packs will be available outside of the game for a particularly demonic look, but we’ll discuss later in the blog. With such a wide variety of customizable ways to mix and match flair, you’ll be sure to stick out in the Heroes Marketplace!

Golden pets are BACK! Well… some of them. Golden pets are pets that you will receive while playing through the Mastery game mode. It’s another way to show off just how great of a defender you are to those around you.

You’ll be able to earn a single golden pet type multiple times, for a total of seven pets:

• 90 Stars: Golden Gato Egg
  
• 195 Stars: Golden Creeper Egg
  
• 300 Stars: Golden Dragon Egg
  
• 405 Stars: Golden Gato Egg
  
• 510 Stars: Golden Creeper Egg
  
• 615 Stars: Golden Dragon Egg
  
• 720 Stars: Golden Gato Egg

With golden pets and the new flair system, you’ll be the envy of all that see you!




You’ll notice that your Private Tavern and the Heroes Marketplace have been decorated to celebrate Halloween. To add to the celebration, the Halloween-themed seasonal flair is now available! This flair is our first iteration of seasonal-themed flair, but it most definitely will not be our last — you have to look amazing year-round, right? With the Halloween set in particular, you’ll not only terrify your enemies on the battlefield, you’ll also be their worst nightmares!

Our Halloween pack, The Bundle of the Beast, will become available closer to Halloween on Steam, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network.


Selling Equipment With Shards

Implementing new shards that are acquired only once required some special attention. With this patch, if you sell a piece of loot that has shards inserted, the shards will be put into your inventory instead of being sold as well.

If your inventory is full when you sell a piece of loot, the shards will go to the scavenger for 30 minute. If you close the game, go between the Town, Private Tavern, or a map, the Scavenger will still have it for 30 minutes. Once 30 minutes has past, you won’t be able to reclaim them from him.

Orbs

Orbs have been relics that we’ve received a ton of community feedback on. To keep things balanced and functioning, defense speed has a cap. Orbs specifically were avoided by defenders due to them not being effective in providing optimal stats throughout the entirety of progression. Every relic type should be useful in most levels of play, and Orbs were not able to do this to a level we were content with.

Based off community feedback, we’ve removed Orbs from loot tables. This means that you won’t see orbs dropping, but instead another piece of gear will be dropping in its place. Current orbs will not be removed from your inventory or equipment. With orbs removed, you’ll be receiving more loot that will help you progress!

Mystic

• Call To Madness
  
  • Cooldown increased 10 seconds to 20 seconds.
    
    • Previously players were able to infinitely confuse a lane when using the inspiration shard.

Series EV-2

• Weapons Manufacturer
  
  • Adjusted range scaling with the introduction of Vicious Strikes Hyper Shard.

Weapons

• Shadowflame Dagger
  
  • Projectile life-time reduced to 2 seconds.

PC users will notice a command window opening with the game. This is a window to help us monitor any errors that might come with this update. If you close this window it will also close the game. It's only temporary and will be removed with our next patch.

• Fixed an issue where comparing items on the ground was not properly appearing.
  
• Fixed a homing issue with Shadowflame Dagger.
  
• Fixed an issue with Deadly/Vicious Strikes being removed from a world tree, that allowed defenses to remain outside the reduced range.
  
• Fixed an issue where pressing Esc to leave the Emporium or Inventory caused lag spikes.
  
• Fixed an issue where clicking To Hub would freeze players and return them to the title screen.
  
• Fixed an issue where Power of Storms shard was restoring 56 mana instead of 60.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Limit Break challenge not properly awarding score bonuses.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Heroic Power shard not performing correctly.
  
• Fixed an issue where failing the Kobold Bling King map allowed you to continue playing the map.
  
• Removed Consecutive Win row on scoreboard when it would appropriately show “0”.
  
• Fixed an issue that disconnected players loading into Forest Biome on Xbox One.
  
• Fixed an issue with various shards using incorrect values.
  
• Fixed an issue where Join Game and Create Game were placed incorrectly.

Mastery is just the tip of the iceberg for you, Defenders. While you conquer Gran’s difficult challenges and tests, you’ll attain the strength needed to protect Etheria and the citizens of Dragonfall from the darkness that lies ahead. We’ll learn more as Gran, the Defense Council, and the Abyss Lord decipher the Isomicon in the weeks to come!

We are eternally grateful for your support, Defenders, and will be providing more information on the upcoming power of the Ancients over time.

For Etheria!

The Dungeon Defenders II Team

The Isomicon reveals its first secrets! While you’ve been defending against the evil that threatens Etheria, Gran Ma’ster found a way to imbue certain shards with incredible power. These hyper shards contain a very unstable power so she is only providing them to defenders that prove their mastery of the defensive arts. At the Gran Ma’ster’s behest, the Defense Council devised a set of challenges for the heroes to overcome.

With the aid of the Abyss Lord, Gran Ma’ster continues to delve deeper into the forbidden knowledge contained within the Isomicon. There’s still much more to decrypt, but there is a growing concern from what’s been revealed — dark forces are coming, and we are NOT ready. Go forth, Defenders! Prepare yourselves, and PROTECT ETHERIA!

Greetings Defenders,

It's time to take a look at the future of Dungeon Defenders II by talking about our upcoming 1.2 Update, Ancient's Prelude. This is a monster of an update, introducing some amazing features that will push your limits. Not only are you getting some awesome new content, but you’re also getting numerous bug fixes, balance changes, quality-of-life fixes and more! Thanks for giving us feedback as we continue to evolve the game into its final form!

In Ancient’s Prelude, we are introducing Mastery, a game mode that challenges your ability as a defender and rewards you with great power. In addition to a new game mode, we’re introducing Flair! Flair is another cosmetic system that will take the look of your heroes to the next level. Shards and Flair aren’t the only rewards though. We’ll be handing out rewards such as golden pets, Ascension levels, gold, and more!

This is only the beginning of some serious changes in the world of Etheria and we can’t wait until the Isomicon reveals more information about what’s to come. There have been whispers of an endless level of challenge on the horizon.


The new game mode, Mastery, provides access to all Chaos maps, allowing you to choose where and how you progress. Gran Ma’ster requires you to complete up to five challenges per map, each indicated with a star on the Mastery progress bar. She’s not going to be making it easy either. In order to earn the full five stars on each map, you’ll need to complete all of the challenges together. All stars are earned one time, so once you’ve five starred a map, you have mastered the challenges presented and will have earned all the rewards it has to offer. The power contained within the Hyper Shards is unstable, so only Defenders that prove their might may equip them.

Mastery is intended to be a challenge for all levels of Defenders, both those climbing the ranks and seasoned veterans. Each challenge will bring your item level down to the appropriate level of the Chaos difficulty that you’re in, so there’s no way to just waltz right through these challenges. You’re going to fight tooth and nail to prove you’re worthy of the power that awaits you!

When conquering the Mastery game mode you’ll receive great rewards as you progress. Here’s what you can expect to earn as you decimate challenges:

• Hyper Shards
  
• Exclusive Flair
  
• Golden Pets
  
• Ascension levels
  
• Defender Medals
  
• Gold on gold on gold

To achieve absolute mastery, you will have to experiment with new builds to overcome the tasks set before you, pushing your limits as a Defender. Over the coming weeks, the Defense Council will work diligently with the Gran Ma’ster and Abyss Lord to continue deciphering additional levels of challenges and rewards for heroes capable of proving their mastery. The amount of time needed to decipher and develop each new Hyper Shard is about a week.


Exclusive to the Mastery game mode are Hyper Shards, unique shards that you’ll only be able to claim if you are able to conquer the challenges Gran Ma’ster has provided for you. Hyper shards will be reminiscent of some of your favorite shards, except cranked way up in power. Each type of these shards will only be earned one time, and don’t worry — you can’t sell them.


A new cosmetic system, Flair, was created that allows your heroes to look even more legendary! Flair can be equipped over any existing costumes or looks on a hero and there’s currently four categories of flair:

• Head (Halos, masks, and auras)
  
• Back (Wings)
  
• Waist (floating objects and auras)
  
• Feet (auras, fire, and other effects)

There’s more than one way to acquire this new cosmetic so you can look even more heroic on the battlefield. Flair will unlock as you collect more stars through Mastery, future game content, and available through our various store fronts. One of the packs will be available outside of the game for a particularly demonic look, but we’ll discuss later in the blog. With such a wide variety of customizable ways to mix and match flair, you’ll be sure to stick out in the Heroes Marketplace!


Golden pets are BACK! Well… some of them. Golden pets are pets that you will receive while playing through the Mastery game mode. It’s another way to show off just how great of a defender you are to those around you. With golden pets and the new flair system, you’ll be the envy of all that see you!




You’ll notice that your Private Tavern and the Heroes Marketplace have been decorated to celebrate Halloween. To add to the celebration, you’ll now be able to acquire Halloween-themed seasonal flair through sales on Steam, Xbox Live, and the PlayStation Network. This flair will be our first iteration of seasonal-themed flair, but it most definitely will not be our last — you have to look amazing year-round, right? With the Halloween set in particular, you’ll not only terrify your enemies on the battlefield, you’ll also be their worst nightmares!


Besides submitting terrific feedback and suggestions, you all have helped us by finding various bugs that we’ve been able to fix with this patch. Thank you for the help in getting them fixed!


Mastery is just the tip of the iceberg for you, Defenders. While Gran provides difficult challenges and tests, they are required to attain the strength needed to protect Etheria and the citizens of Dragonfall from the darkness that lies ahead. We’ll learn more as Gran, the Defense Council, and the Abyss Lord decipher the Isomicon in the weeks to come!

We are eternally grateful for your support, Defenders, and will be providing more information on Ancient’s Prelude and sharing more knowledge of the upcoming power of the Ancients.

For Etheria!

The Dungeon Defenders II Team

The Isomicon reveals its first secrets! While you’ve been defending against the evil that threatens Etheria, Gran Ma’ster found a way to imbue certain shards with incredible power. These hyper shards contain a very unstable power so she is only providing them to defenders that prove their mastery of the defensive arts. At the Gran Ma’ster’s behest, the Defense Council devised a set of challenges for the heroes to overcome.

With the aid of the Abyss Lord, Gran Ma’ster continues to delve deeper into the forbidden knowledge contained within the Isomicon. There’s still much more to decrypt, but there is a growing concern from what’s been revealed — dark forces are coming, and we are NOT ready. Go forth, Defenders! Prepare yourselves, and PROTECT ETHERIA!

Greetings Defenders,

It's time to take a look at the future of Dungeon Defenders II by talking about our upcoming 1.2 Update, Ancient's Prelude. This is a monster of an update, introducing some amazing features that will push your limits. Not only are you getting some awesome new content, but you’re also getting numerous bug fixes, balance changes, quality-of-life fixes and more! Thanks for giving us feedback as we continue to evolve the game into its final form!

In Ancient’s Prelude, we are introducing Mastery, a game mode that challenges your ability as a defender and rewards you with great power. In addition to a new game mode, we’re introducing Flair! Flair is another cosmetic system that will take the look of your heroes to the next level. Shards and Flair aren’t the only rewards though. We’ll be handing out rewards such as golden pets, Ascension levels, gold, and more!

This is only the beginning of some serious changes in the world of Etheria and we can’t wait until the Isomicon reveals more information about what’s to come. There have been whispers of an endless level of challenge on the horizon.


The new game mode, Mastery, provides access to all Chaos maps, allowing you to choose where and how you progress. Gran Ma’ster requires you to complete up to five challenges per map, each indicated with a star on the Mastery progress bar. She’s not going to be making it easy either. In order to earn the full five stars on each map, you’ll need to complete all of the challenges together. All stars are earned one time, so once you’ve five starred a map, you have mastered the challenges presented and will have earned all the rewards it has to offer. The power contained within the Hyper Shards is unstable, so only Defenders that prove their might may equip them.

Mastery is intended to be a challenge for all levels of Defenders, both those climbing the ranks and seasoned veterans. Each challenge will bring your item level down to the appropriate level of the Chaos difficulty that you’re in, so there’s no way to just waltz right through these challenges. You’re going to fight tooth and nail to prove you’re worthy of the power that awaits you!

When conquering the Mastery game mode you’ll receive great rewards as you progress. Here’s what you can expect to earn as you decimate challenges:

• Hyper Shards
  
• Exclusive Flair
  
• Golden Pets
  
• Ascension levels
  
• Defender Medals
  
• Gold on gold on gold

To achieve absolute mastery, you will have to experiment with new builds to overcome the tasks set before you, pushing your limits as a Defender. Over the coming weeks, the Defense Council will work diligently with the Gran Ma’ster and Abyss Lord to continue deciphering additional levels of challenges and rewards for heroes capable of proving their mastery. The amount of time needed to decipher and develop each new Hyper Shard is about a week.


Exclusive to the Mastery game mode are Hyper Shards, unique shards that you’ll only be able to claim if you are able to conquer the challenges Gran Ma’ster has provided for you. Hyper shards will be reminiscent of some of your favorite shards, except cranked way up in power. Each type of these shards will only be earned one time, and don’t worry — you can’t sell them.


A new cosmetic system, Flair, was created that allows your heroes to look even more legendary! Flair can be equipped over any existing costumes or looks on a hero and there’s currently four categories of flair:

• Head (Halos, masks, and auras)
  
• Back (Wings)
  
• Waist (floating objects and auras)
  
• Feet (auras, fire, and other effects)

There’s more than one way to acquire this new cosmetic so you can look even more heroic on the battlefield. Flair will unlock as you collect more stars through Mastery, future game content, and available through our various store fronts. One of the packs will be available outside of the game for a particularly demonic look, but we’ll discuss later in the blog. With such a wide variety of customizable ways to mix and match flair, you’ll be sure to stick out in the Heroes Marketplace!


Golden pets are BACK! Well… some of them. Golden pets are pets that you will receive while playing through the Mastery game mode. It’s another way to show off just how great of a defender you are to those around you. With golden pets and the new flair system, you’ll be the envy of all that see you!




You’ll notice that your Private Tavern and the Heroes Marketplace have been decorated to celebrate Halloween. To add to the celebration, you’ll now be able to acquire Halloween-themed seasonal flair through sales on Steam, Xbox Live, and the PlayStation Network. This flair will be our first iteration of seasonal-themed flair, but it most definitely will not be our last — you have to look amazing year-round, right? With the Halloween set in particular, you’ll not only terrify your enemies on the battlefield, you’ll also be their worst nightmares!


Besides submitting terrific feedback and suggestions, you all have helped us by finding various bugs that we’ve been able to fix with this patch. Thank you for the help in getting them fixed!


Mastery is just the tip of the iceberg for you, Defenders. While Gran provides difficult challenges and tests, they are required to attain the strength needed to protect Etheria and the citizens of Dragonfall from the darkness that lies ahead. We’ll learn more as Gran, the Defense Council, and the Abyss Lord decipher the Isomicon in the weeks to come!

We are eternally grateful for your support, Defenders, and will be providing more information on Ancient’s Prelude and sharing more knowledge of the upcoming power of the Ancients.

For Etheria!

The Dungeon Defenders II Team

The discovery of a secret tome could lead to new power! During a recon mission, Etherian Army scouts discovered a glowing sarcophagus within an ancient catacomb. The container exploded revealing the source of the light -- the Isomicon, the fabled tome of an ancient race of warriors. According to the Gran Ma’ster, the Isomicon reveals long-lost secrets to battle the Old Ones.

Producing the power within these secrets is incredibly difficult, and only the Gran Ma’ster has the expertise to create such power. With such demanding requirements, she’s creating challenges to find Defenders who are worthy to wield it. She says more information will come next week!



This discovery comes at an uneasy time in Etheria. Over the past few weeks, Mananode has appeared throughout the realm. The Council Elders say such events have occurred in the past, and they’re usually an omen of change. In response, scouts were sent to find what may be causing this increased appearance. Their search led to finding the now accessible catacombs, but the mystery of Mananode remains. Why have they appeared? Did they lead us to the Isomicon? If this is all tied together remains uncertain. We’ll report more information as we receive it.

The discovery of a secret tome could lead to new power! During a recon mission, Etherian Army scouts discovered a glowing sarcophagus within an ancient catacomb. The container exploded revealing the source of the light -- the Isomicon, the fabled tome of an ancient race of warriors. According to the Gran Ma’ster, the Isomicon reveals long-lost secrets to battle the Old Ones.

Producing the power within these secrets is incredibly difficult, and only the Gran Ma’ster has the expertise to create such power. With such demanding requirements, she’s creating challenges to find Defenders who are worthy to wield it. She says more information will come next week!



This discovery comes at an uneasy time in Etheria. Over the past few weeks, Mananode has appeared throughout the realm. The Council Elders say such events have occurred in the past, and they’re usually an omen of change. In response, scouts were sent to find what may be causing this increased appearance. Their search led to finding the now accessible catacombs, but the mystery of Mananode remains. Why have they appeared? Did they lead us to the Isomicon? If this is all tied together remains uncertain. We’ll report more information as we receive it.

Greetings Defenders,

Patch 1.1.1 is out now! This patch is focused on addressing a couple balance issues that you as a community have helped raise awareness to, as well as taking care of some nasty bugs. We will have some pretty big announcements in the coming weeks, so while these patches may not be very heavy, consider them the calm before the storm. You've been warned. Now let's get into some patch notes! (Full notes can be viewed here)

• Cybork
  
  • EMP stun duration reduced to 12 seconds from 15 seconds.
• Thorc
  
  • EMP stun duration reduced to 18 seconds from 60 seconds.
• EMP Kobold Flier
  
  • EMP stun duration reduced to 20 seconds from 30 seconds.
• Zapper
  
  • Stun duration reduced to 30 seconds from 45 seconds.

Huntress

Towers

• Blaze Balloon
  
  • Defense Power ratio increased to 4.25 from 3.5.
    
  • Critical damage ratio increased accordingly.

Shards

• Blazing Phoenix
  
  • Max damage increased to 5000% Defense Power from 850% Defense Power.
    
  • Phoenix projectile increased in size.
    
  • Phoenix projectile speed slowed slightly.

Monk

Abilities

• Pole Smash
  
  • No longer causes the Monk to get stuck on top of enemies if used mid-air above enemies.
    
  • Can now turn/target during the animation.

Series EV2

General

• Sword Container
  
  • Fire rate increased to 1 per second from 1 per 2 seconds.
    
  • Reduced firing width.
    
  • Reduced pellet number to 20 from 30.
    
  • Increased pellet lifespan.
    
  • Increased secondary lifespan.
    
  • Heat reduction reduced to 15 from 22.
• Various EV2 weapons have had their firing rates tuned.

• Fixed an issue with inventory tooltips going off the bottom of the screen when comparing items.
  
• Fixed an issues where certain regions were unable to be selected.
  
• Fixed an issue with sorting weapons, armor, and relics when using a controller.
  
• Fixed an issue where the end game “Press G” message was not appearing.
  
• Monk Skyguard Tower properly tracks damage for ‘Clear Skies’ challenge.
  
• Fixed typos in Hailstorm Tower description.
  
• Removed outdated attention/aggro text from several towers.
  
• Fixed an issue where players weren’t getting sent back to hubs after Incursions/Campaign sessions.
  
• Chlorophyte Arrows no longer changes color when upgrading.
  
• Fixed an issue causing players to get the “Press G to Ready Up” notification stuck.
  
• Fixed a bug where boost aura was causing Hailstorm Tower to increase enemy health instead of dealing damage.