Hello Warriors,

As we head into the final chapter of For Honor’s Year 5: Year of Covenants, we know that many of you may have been waiting to know more about what’s next.

Today, we are really happy to announce that For Honor will be back with another year of new content with Year 6: Lost Horizons, starting March 17th.

For more than 5 years, we have had the opportunity to try new things, improve and evolve with you, our community, while staying true to For Honor’s identity. As we conclude Year 5, we are really excited to experience with you what we have in store for the upcoming year.

Without further ado, here's a sneak peek of what to expect for Year 6: Lost Horizons. More information will follow as we get closer to the launch of Year 6 Season 1. Stay tuned!


In Year 6, the world of For Honor is getting bigger and it starts with the arrival of a new group of heroes presented in Y5S4, the Outlanders.

Venturing from the outside, the Outlanders will view the For Honor world under a new lense but also impact Heathmoor with novel forms of combat and cultures.

The first of this group, the Pirate, bring with them multiple relics they have collected across their different travels. These relics will uncover these lost horizons and forgotten mythologies of Heathmoor.

These relics will be unveiled one by one each season and will help push the boundaries of new themes that will be explored.

Unlike previous years, the Year 6 narrative will not necessarily unfold in chronological order.

You can expect a first glimpse as we get closer to March 17 once Year 6: Lost Horizons begins.

Similarly to Year 5, Year 6 will have four unique Seasons and two new heroes. Both of them will be part of the new group, the Outlanders.

The first new hero will be released in Y6S2 TU2, and the second hero in Y6S4 TU2. Both will bring new elements of combat that differ from the existing factions and we can't wait to see your reaction to how they will shake up the battlefield.

For more details about the Outlanders, you can check out our special FAQ article.


Along with existing offers such as new unique battle passes each season, themed armor and weapon variations, content of the week; Starting in Y6S1, we will be adding a new customization option to the mix: Hero Skins.

Hero Skins will be a new option in the hero appearance customization tab. Here, players will be able to select any Hero Skins that are available to the hero that they are looking to customize.

But what are they? Hero Skins are top-to-bottom designs that affect every element of a hero’s appearance harmoniously. With these full-set designs we can push the boundaries of all the elements composing the hero’s customization and push the fantasy of their identity even more. This includes armor, weapon, body type, skin, facial features in novel ways, and we cannot wait to show you what it looks like!

For Year 6, we are aiming to release one hero skin per season for a single hero within the current For Honor roster.

When equipped, the Hero Skin will override the customization and body type you already have on your hero while Perks will remain unchanged. You cannot dismantle Hero Skins but some customization elements can be changed such as Color Palettes and Materials.

The Hero Skin is an additional option for the player to customize their hero. It is important to mention that the traditional customization system remains.

The Hero Skins can be purchased anytime with Steel or in stores upon their release.

We will give you more details about the Hero Skins and the season itself in March 2022.


With a total of 30 playable heroes and two new ones on their way, we will continue working on hero balancing and fight system improvements to give the best gameplay experience to the community.

Of course, we will also bring back and continue prioritizing Testing Grounds for each season.

This has been an amazing tool that has helped us connect with you and have a more direct line to your feedback. This has and will continue to help shape the For Honor experience as we head into Year 6.


The competitive scene was a pillar we expanded on in Year 5, where we introduced a new year-long format to our competitive program: the Dominion Series.

Our plan for Year 6 is to continue supporting and expanding the competitive scene as much as possible, whether it is for experienced competitors of the program or new players looking to break into it.

More details on Year 6’s competitive program will be shared at a later date. Don’t miss the Dominion Series Finals that will be held on February 12 that will conclude this full competitive year. Here, the winners For Honor 2021 Dominion Series Regional Champions will be crowned.

More details to come

That’s all we have to share with you today, we can’t wait to show you what we have in store for Y6!

In the meantime, you never know, there might be some clues dropped in some places.

Lastly, we want to thank you once again for all these years and your loyalty warriors!

Buckle up, there is more to come!



See you on the battlefield!

For Honor Dev Team

• Who are they? Where are they from?

The Outlanders are a group of heroes who hail from lands far from Heathmoor not many people know of. They are not part of the traditional factions (Viking, Samurai, Knights, and Wu Lin).

The Outlanders are free adventurers who have no cultural links between each other. They fight for those who are loyal to them or who pay them well.

Presented in Year 5 Season 4 in Title Update 2, the Outlanders are introduced by the first hero of this group, the Pirate. The Pirate will defend their loot and treasures to the death.

Do the Outlanders have an emblem?

Yes, the Outlanders have their own emblem. Below you can see the new emblem of this group of heroes.



First, we added elements representing their mindset and the common goal they share, such as a compass and a sextant.

Being part of the For Honor world, we have not forgotten to add a dagger in the middle of the emblem.

All these elements and colors combined to represent the traveling and fighting side of the Outlanders.

• Why are we adding this group to For Honor?

The arrival of the Outlanders allows us the opportunity to expand the choice of cultures we can explore when creating new heroes and in-game realization. This will bring more diversity to For Honor and allow us to tell stories that were not possible with the existing factions.

• Are they a new faction? What makes them different from the other factions?

We don’t consider the Outlanders as a traditional faction since, unlike Viking, Samurai, Knights and Wu Lin, they will hardly share cultural similarities. This is done on purpose, to allow ourselves a greater liberty for the future of the game. The Outlanders will also not be taking part in the Faction War because they are adventurers who are not interested in settling down and conquering new land.

• Y5S4’s new hero, the Pirate, resembles the Wu Lin in culture. Why are they part of the Outlanders group and not the Wu Lin?

In our story, the Pirate hero will be shaking things up for this season and serves as a segue (or as a Trojan Horse, if you prefer) to introduce the Outlanders. As explorers and adventurers, they are the ones who will bring the relics, and they will establish a connection between Heathmoor and this new group of Heroes….

The Pirate seems to have an ascendance to the Wu Lin. Does this mean that new heroes will also have ascendance such as Viking, Samurai, Knights or Wu Lin?

Not necessarily. With the Outlanders, the goal is to introduce something new, to expand the choice of heroes and bring different cultures and backgrounds in Heathmoor.

Starting September 9th, Y5S3 Tempest brings drastic change to the world of For Honor as we close the chapter on Y5S2: Mirage.

Under a scorching sun, the factions of Heathmoor long fought for water. But what was once scarce then came in overwhelming abundance. The unbearable heat of the drought melted the glaciers of Valkenheim and as a result, the water levels rose dangerously. Torrential rains and violent winds fell upon Heathmoor, with no end to the storm in sight. With the home they once knew overrun with water, warriors found themselves out of their element. All except the Vikings, for whom the storm had brought about rebirth… and an opportunity to reign supreme.

The aforementioned themes are strongly represented in Y5S3 Tempest’s in-game realization and seasonal customization. For more information about the season, continue reading. We’ll go over the Storm Tides event, this season’s Battle Pass, everything regarding the Testing Grounds and more. Stay tuned for new armor variations and maybe some other surprises for Y5S3 TU2.

Lastly, for this season, we are excited to announce that, at launch, all heroes will be receiving a unique execution.

For detailed discussion of the season and what’s to come with the For Honor Dev Team, be sure to check out the Warrior’s Den VOD to see what’s to come on September 9th at launch Y5S3: Tempest. Y5S3 WD Reveal VOD






Amid catastrophic flooding, Horkos and Chimera both struggled to survive. As safe land became a rare commodity, the animosity between warriors only intensified. Starting on season Launch until September 30th, players will be able to play through a Free Event Pass and gain access to a multitude of rewards such as a new Battle Outfit, an Effect as well as an Ornament. During the event there will also be new weapons available for players to loot.




The coming of unending rains led the Vikings to believe that Aegir and Ran, the deities of the sea, were listening. Legends said that the married couple ruled over the oceans, and that their generosity came from offerings. For Chimera, this meant honoring Ran by respecting nature. But Aegir demanded blood… and Horkos were more than happy to provide.

These themes make a strong impact in this season’s Battle Pass. It is now possible to dress your warriors with gear that will remind you of Norse divinity or to wear the jewels of the ocean.

Gear up for the storm with the Y5S3 Battle Pass. Get 100 tiers of rewards for all heroes to unlock new weapons and effects. Premium rewards include Tempest themed outfits, effects, weapons, a battle points boost from completed matches, 11K steel and more. This Y5S3 Battle Pass will be available from season launch to December 6th.


The Stage 2 of the Dominion Series concluded on Saturday, Aug 28th. Participating teams in the NA and EU region were granted cash prizes and points that will count towards the Championship Finals in February. The VOD will be available on the ForHonorGame Twitch channel and on Ubisoft’s YouTube channel. The bracket results can also be found on battlefly here for the EU region and NA region.

Two more stages are left for the 2021 Dominion Series – Registrations for the Stage 3 Qualifiers are currently live at battlefy.com/dominionseries and the first Qualifier will begin on Oct 9th.


Following up on last season’s Testing Grounds phase, we have a lot of elements that will enter the live game at launch of this season through Patch Changes:

• Orochi Improvements
  
• Raider Improvements
  
• Option Selects Improvements
  
• Rally Call/Vital Leech Improvements
  
• “Sticky Dodge” Improvements
  
• Crashing Charge nerfs

For this season, two topics are going to be entering the Testing Grounds from September 16th to the 30th:

• Shinobi Rework
  
• Dominion Improvements

If you want more information on the changes implemented at launch and what’s to come in the Testing Grounds this season, here is a dedicated article that breaks down all the details given by the fight team: Testing Grounds

That is the recap that we have for you Warriors and we hope you enjoyed the Warrior’s Den!

We’ll see you again at the next Warrior’s Den Recap. Remember, no one is safe from the Tempest.

See you on the battlefield!

The Referral Program gives you the possibility to invite your friends on the For Honor battlefield and to earn rewards by doing so!



From XP boosts, scavenger crates, to days of Champion Status; the Referral program begins July 22 2021 and runs until Oct 21 2021. For honor players from all platforms are eligible for this program. Referrals must be made to friends from the same platform but not limited to your friend list.

For Honor Dev Team

http://forhonorgame.com/referral

The Kyoshin are legendary Samurai who have a deep connection to the spiritual realms. Their special training led them to master the art of fighting with a concealed blade, the Shikomizue. While they flow through battle wielding their sword and scabbard, they use heavenly powers to gain the upper hand against the enemy. Their special Kaze Stance can block incoming attacks and allow them to retaliate quickly.

• Difficulty: Hard
  
• Counter-Attacker Fighting Style
  
• Group Fighting Specialist

• Kaze Stance: Defensive Stance that Blocks Incoming Attacks
  
• Kaze Attacks: Attacks from Kaze Stance can lead to Quick Combos
  
• Unblockable and Undodgeable Mix-Ups

• Traits menu changes:
  
• New tile icon
  
• The ‘Gender’ tab (in English) has been changed to “Body Type”
  
• Default Body Type (and associated voice) appears as “1” on screen; if there’s any Alternate option available, it appears as “2”

Developer’s comment: These modifications only affect UI; heroes still have the same amount of customization options as before.

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Warden's Out of Stamina right side Heavy attack to have the wrong animation (FH-1676)

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Kensei to play the wrong block animation after blocking a Heavy Light combo from different sides (FH-1525)

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Nobushi to have odd animation transitions when chaining into Heavy Finisher (FH-1407)

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Jiang Jun's Top Light into Top Light chain to have an offset camera (FH-1512)

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Hitokiri to have the wrong animation during Side Dodge Heavy Chain (FH-1569)

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Jormungandr to have a sliding dodge animation after a feint (FH-537)

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Zhanhu right side Heavy to have the wrong animation when performed after a right-side parry

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused Heroes to not receive damage if they run in the center of “Arrow Strike” (FH-1266)

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that allowed the player to bypass the collisions and get out of the world at multiple locations near Capture Point C

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that allowed the player to be able to bypass collisions after getting bumped at multiple locations

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the player to get killed when opponent performs shield bash towards the corners of inner and outer gates (FH-252)
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the opponent to be killed if a bump attack or guard break bump is used near the gate in phase 1 (FH-1404)
  

USER INTERFACE

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused a visual glitch to be displayed on Hero’s right side (FH-1873)
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that blocked Faction Change at the beginning of a new Season
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused a Field of View change from 87 to 90 to display floating banners in the background (FH-1770)
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Respawn timers for both teams to disappear when either team enters breaking, even though non-breaking players were still able to respawn (FH-1402)

CUSTOMIZATION

• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Tiandi, Shaolin, Nuxia and Jiang Jun to be missing Gambler's Fallacy Battle Outfit (FH-1864)
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused inconsistencies with opponent’s bodies collisions after the Warden's “Blackstone Bash” Execution (FH-1796)
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused a Frame Rate drop when highlighting Season 18 Battle Pass Emblem in Emblem Editor
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Warden’s “Megaera Chest” piece to not have physics simulation
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Jormungandr's “Eclipse” event weapon parts to be positioned backward (FH-1387)
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Hitokiri “Butterfly Beheading” execution to be louder than expected (FH-1615)
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Weapon to be offset for the Berserker while performing the “Severe Amputation” Execution in the barracks and in game (FH-2140)
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Shinobi's "Hooked on a Killing" Execution to last longer than expected (FH-1508)
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Orochi “Seijuro's Finesse” Execution camera to not face in the right direction after the execution (FH-1427)
  
• (Bug Fix) Fixed an issue that caused the Raider “Steinunn chest” piece to not apply the color palette on the chest (FH-1074)

Hello Warriors!

JC from the Fight Team here. It’s that time of the season again and we’re back with yet another Testing Grounds! They will be open from July 1st to July 8th.

We’re doing something a bit different this time – we’re trying both Hero changes as well as system-level changes in the form of Option Select changes.

The changes we’re covering in this Testing Grounds are:

• Raider changes
  
• Orochi changes
  
• Shinobi changes
  
• Option Select improvements

Raider’s changes are mostly about making the hero more consistent as well as more efficient. We’re improving the 1v1 potential of the hero while also making sure their Zone Attacks are better.

Orochi’s changes aim to improve the performance in 1v1 situations as well as in group fights, where the hero is currently struggling.

Shinobi received quite large changes which should redefine how the hero plays. Shinobi should now be more focused on close-range combat and ganking, with the moveset centering around landing as many Sickle Rains as possible.

Finally, we’re testing tech that should see the majority of Option Selects to be removed from the game entirely.

Keep reading below for more details on the changes you can expect coming to Raider, Orochi, Shinobi, and Option Selects. You can also tune in to tomorrows Warrior’s Den where Stefan and myself will be going through all the changes.

Before getting to the Testing Grounds details, we would like to address some errors in the roadmap shown in our previous Warrior’s Den. Covenant Games should be starting a week earlier, right after Testing Grounds, on July 8th and ending on July 15th. Also, the Dominion Series Stage 2 Major will begin on August 28th. This is great news for participants as they will have one extra month to prepare.

• Now 400ms, down from 500ms
  
• Now no longer interrupted on non-Superior Block
  
• No longer has variable timing as a soft feint from Heavy Attacks
  
• Now deals different damage when using Soft Feint version and Dodge version

Developer’s comment: Storming Tap had a few efficiency problems, most notably it was reactable by many players, even though it had variable timing. We’ve adjusted this so that it always comes out at the same timing as Feints, sped it up so it is more reliable, and made it not interrupted when blocked so that Raider can pressure opponents better.

• Adjusted Uninterruptible Stance during Heavy Attacks to always start at the feint timing instead of at various timings depending on the attack

Developer’s comment: This should still let Raider use Heavy Attacks to trade with opponents, but should no longer be at timings where players could take a hit, feint then guardbreak their opponents.

• Raider’s Storm now costs 12 stamina, down from 50 stamina
  
• Raider’s Fury now costs 12 stamina, down from 35 stamina

Developer’s comment: Raider uses Zone Attacks as alternate Heavy Attacks, both in mixups and in punishes. We’ve adjusted the Stamina cost of these attacks to cost the same as Heavy Attacks so that Raider can use them more often and more efficiently.

• Now 500ms, down from 600ms

Developer’s comment: Stampede Charge was too slow to be effectively used as a ganking tool. The slightly faster speed should make it easier to players to use it to plan out ganks.

• Now 500ms (down from 600ms for 2nd and 700ms for finisher)

Developer’s comment: These attacks should now be in-line with other chained Light attacks.

• Now 900ms (down from 1000ms)

Developer’s comment: This should help Raider catch fleeing heroes better with a soft feint to Guardbreak than before.

• Can now cancel all non-Dodge attack (including Storm Rush) recoveries on Hit/non-Superior Block/Miss into Dodge

Developer’s comment: Orochi needed a way to be more effective in outnumbered situations as well as being able to go on the offensive more efficiently. With this change Orochi should be able to perform both well, instead of relying on the Finisher’s recovery cancels only.

• Removed Light Finisher
  
• Every non-Bash Opener now guarantees a combo Light attack that counts as the 2nd hit in chains

Developer’s comment: We want to reorient Orochi into a powerful “One-Two” hero with multiple options when landing attacks so that players no longer need to rely on multiple fast light attacks and instead focus on mixups and agility. These changes should push Orochi towards this archetype.

• Now accessible from Front Dodge as well as Back Dodge
  
• All 3 sides are now 600ms total with 400ms of visible indicators (changed from 500/600/700ms)
  
• All 3 sides are now Undodgeable
  
• Now costs 12 stamina to enter and 10 to feint. No other stamina costs.
  
• Was 10 to Enter, 12 to attack, 20 to feint

Developer’s comment: Storm Rush’s role has expanded. While it can still be used as an opener, its main purpose is now as a mixup with his new Kick move where depending on the situation Orochi’s opponents must make a read as to block a Front Dodge Storm Rush, or dodge the Front Dodge Kick (see Front Dodge Kick below).

• NEW OPTION: Front Dodge Kick
  
• Performed by hitting Guard Break during Front Dodge
  
• 500ms, can be performed at 300ms in Front Dodge and can be delayed until 500ms
  
• Gives a guaranteed 2nd non-Combo Light on hit

Developer’s comment: Orochi did not have a Melee for the longest time, but this felt like the right time to improve on Orochi’s offense, considering the new direction we are pushing the hero towards. As Orochi moves from being a pure counter-attacker towards a more balanced 1v1 hero, this new option should give Orochi players more ways to open up opponents.

• Now 500ms, down from 600ms
  
• Now has iframes for 300ms (previously did not have any)
  
• No longer interrupted on non-Superior Block

Developer’s comment: Riptide Strike, at this new speed and with the new iframes, makes it the optimal 1v1 counterattacking tool – it should be more reliable than before and deals slightly more damage than side Dodge Attacks.

• No longer interrupted on non-Superior Block

Developer’s comment: With this new property, Orochi can effectively both target swap in fights and not be interrupted against attacks with fast recoveries.

• Now have larger trajectories
  
• Now moves forward more

Developer’s comment: Orochi had little incentive to use their Side Heavy Finishers; while they were faster than the Unblockable top version, these attacks did not allow for defense in outnumbered situations. With these new properties, we hope that Orochi is now able to move more swiftly in these types of situations and can deal with multiple opponents more efficiently.

• Removed Hurricane Blast (Heavy Followup)
  
• Wind Gust now forces a reaction on the opponent and guarantees a Combo Light attack

Developer’s comment: Hurricane Blast was situational and was barely used – we opted to improve the functionality of Wind Gust instead so that it still provides a good satisfying attack while keeping some of the more advanced properties of Hurricane Blast.

• Removed Charging Heavy Attack from neutral
  
• Removed Ranged Guardbreak
  
• Ranged Heavy Attack is now a Melee and is only accessible after a Front Kick, Side Kick or Back Flip
  
• Ranged Heavy Attack can be target-swapped

Developer’s comment: Shinobi’s use of ranged attacks was proving to be problematic. Players were able to use Ranged Guardbreak to gank opponents without indicators, and could use Ranged Heavy attacks to poke at opponents safely, from off-screen in group fight situations. Finally, other heroes just do not have the tools necessary to deal with these Ranged Guardbreaks – even if Shinobi ends up pulled to the ground, the opponent is still stuck in an animation in which they will certainly be hit by an external attacker. We want to change how Shinobi plays so that the hero is more of a very agile close-ranged hero rather than being relegated to running away from opponents and using ranged attacks, and ensuring that Shinobi’s tools work with respect to the opponents’ tools.

• Front Kick can now be performed after a single Front Dodge
  
• Side Kick can now be performed after a single Side Dodge

Developer’s comment: Shinobi has difficulty accessing dodge attacks to counterattack and initiate against opponents. This change should help in making the hero more viable and better able to initiate offense.

• Light Finishers now chain to Sickle Rain
  
• Combo Lights now chain to Sickle Rain

Developer’s comment: Shinobi’s new offense revolves around landing Sickle Rain as much as possible – these changes should help in making the hero flow better towards their mixups.

• Top Heavy Finisher is now Unblockable
  
• Top Heavy Finisher is now 800ms (up from 700ms)
  
• Side Heavy Finisher is now Undodgeable
  
• Additional hits for Sickle Rain no longer need strict timing
  
• Guardbreak now leads to Sickle Rain

Developer’s comment: Sickle Rain is now the main focal point of Shinobi – as we move towards landing the attack more and more, making the Top version unblockable ensures that Shinobi has effective 1v1 mixups and can land the attack externally, while the side undodgeable versions are used in various mixups after a Front Roll to catch opponents who attempt to dodge the Flip Kick.

• Now chains to Flip Kick earlier
  
• Now chains to Sickle Rain
  
• Now accessible after a Back Flip
  
• Can be target-swapped after a Ranged Heavy attack or Back Flip

Developer’s comment: Shinobi now has a definite use for Front Roll as a mixup tool after a Ranged Heavies and Back Flips – Flip Kick is now fully unreactable and players must read what option their opponent will do instead of blindly dodging every time they see Front Roll.

• Now guarantees a Combo Heavy attack on hit

Developer’s comment: Flip Kick is now also a chain extender, giving a free Heavy attack that chains to Sickle Rain when it lands.

• Replaced Sliding Kick with a new Sprint Attack
  
• New option is still a Bash but no longer unbalances opponents
  
• New option now also leads to Combo Heavy on hit

Developer’s comment: This new Sprint Attack is more in line with other fast Bash attacks from Sprint – the guaranteed damage on hit ensures that the move is still viable, but it should no longer be frustrating to play against, and allows us to remove the jankiness with the variable hit timing, and extended hit timings on a first hit.

• NEW OPTION: Combo Heavy attack
  
• Accessible by pressing Heavy after a Flip Kick or a Sprint Attack
  
• Chains to Sickle Rain

Developer’s comment: This new option for Shinobi ensures that the hero flows better into Sickle Rain and gives proper damage on two of their bashes.

• Now only accessible on Hit only from any attack except Ranged Heavy
  
• Now chains to Front Roll

Developer’s comment: Back Flip is able to give Shinobi distance quite easily – with this change, Shinobi has to work harder to get it.

• Teleport now needs to be activated using Guard Break input (no longer automatic)
  
• Now chains to Heavy Finisher

Developer’s comment: Shinobi was the only hero with a guaranteed, automatic Deflect. This change gives players more agency as to whether they want to use the attack or not, and now leads to mixups instead of guaranteeing damage against different heroes.

• No longer guaranteed after a Teleport
  
• Ranged Heavy attack followup is now always guaranteed

Developer’s comment: Shinobi was gaining a lot of damage after a successful Deflect – this change now shifts the balance towards mixups where the opponent has to read if Shinobi will perform a Kick or an undodgeable Side Sickle Rain.

• Now chains to Teleport Kick
  
• Now chains to Sickle Rain

Developer’s comment: Shinobi now has access to strong mixups that lead to Sickle Rain when parrying, improving the hero’s flow.

The list of changes to Shinobi is quite exhaustive and may seem jarring to many players as the hero plays differently that before. We feel that this version allows much more variety in combat, is much more successful with mixups, and much healthier in the landscape of For Honor’s heroes’ toolsets. We look forward to your feedback on these changes!


We are introducing new tech in this Testing Grounds that lets us eliminate Parry Option Selects from the game. This ensures that offense is more potent, especially Unblockable offense, and has the potential to have large changes to the game’s meta at the skill levels where they are used.

To achieve this, we’ve ensured that when players enter inputs where one of the multiple outcomes is a Parry (outside of normal Parry attempts), said Parry is ignored and will not be performed. This means that when performing an Option Select, the non-Parry option will always occur. If you throw a Heavy Attack and feint it, your opponent will STILL perform the non-Parry option; if you let your attack go, however, the non-Parry option will get stuffed.

It is important to note that Zone Option Select, the most prevalent Option Select in the game (due to its ease of use) is also affected by this change. We are aware that some players advocate for keeping Zone Option Select in the game while removing the other, more egregious forms of Option Selects; in this case, our tech also disables Zone Option Select in general. We see this as a good thing as Zone Option Select effectively removes a layer of possible balancing we can use on Zone Attacks in general - when Zone Option Selects are present, Zone Attacks fall into 2 categories: Strong (because you can use them to Option Select) or Weak (because you can’t). This prevents us from using Stamina costs as a balancing lever on Zone Attacks. The removal of Zone Option Selects also lowers the efficiency of some specific Zone Attacks (Black Prior and Gladiator’s, more precisely) due to their state as a Bash, which made them especially strong as Option Selects as the typical counter (feint into Parry) cannot work against them.

We would also like to give a special shoutout and thanks to some members of our community who graciously helped us identify and reproduce a large variety of Option Selects. The Fight Team would like to specifically thank the following people with their involvement in this improvement:

• Freeze
  
• The Filthy Spaniard
  
• Nutella
  
• Barak
  
• RavelordServant
  
• Skorbrand
  
• Setmyx

Their help has been invaluable in helping us pinpoint exactly what the problem was with our Option Selects and helped us properly reproduce them so that we could shut them down.

[Stefan’s note: Huge thanks to these players for sharing their specialized knowledge of the game’s mechanics. This knowledge sharing here, and over the years has been critical to our ability to target the kinds of changes that we feel For Honor needs.

Quick reminder: when you fill out your player survey or post on social media, remember that it is the dev team that chooses the exact solutions for these problems, so if you don’t like the solutions here in the Testing Grounds, remember that these players aren’t to blame! :D]
Closing thoughts

We look forward to your feedback through the usual channels; we’ll monitor social media and will send a survey to formally gather your feedback.

See you on the battlefield!

CHANGES INTEGRATED from the Testing Grounds:

• Top Light is now 500ms (was 600ms)
  
• Top Light now deals 12 damage (was 13) due to speed increase
  
• Top Light now costs 9 stamina (was 12)
  
• Top Light After Feint is now 400ms (was 500ms)
  
• Top Light After Feint now deals 11 damage (was 12) due to speed increase
  
• Top Light After Feint now costs 6 stamina (was 9)
  
• Top Light OOS is now 800ms (was 900ms)

Developer’s comment: These changes normalize all of Berserker’s neutral light attacks, giving them all the same utility.

• Sprint Attack range increased to 2.5m (was 2)
  
• Sprint Attack forward movement increased

Developer’s comment: Berserker should now be able to catch up to opponents fleeing fights more easily.

• Dodge Forward Heavy Long Distance attack range increased to 2.5m (was 2.25m)
  
• Forward movement during Dodge Forward Heavy Long Distance increased to 6m (was 4.75m)
  
• Added rotation speed on miss recovery to ensure it properly rotates towards the locked target on miss

• Fixed issues with not moving correctly but still registering a hit
  
• Fixed issues with missing but holding a direction that would weirdly snap you forward at the end
  
• Fixed issues with default movement speed at the end of the attack
  
• Fixed issues that allowed Berserker to target swap too late, causing very glitched movement

• Forward movement during Dodge Forward Light increased to 5m (was 2.25m)
  
• Set Attack Range on Dodge Forward Light to 2m (was 2.5m)
  
• Attack is now Enhanced

• Are now Enhanced

Developer’s comment: Berserker should now be able to use their dodge attacks to both chase and enable their offense more reliably.



NEW CHANGES based on Testing Grounds Feedback:

• Heavy Finishers should now always connect when feinted to Guardbreak no matter which attack precedes it

• Recovery is 400ms (up from 300ms), preventing “infinite sprint”
  
• Super Sprint has feedback now

• Headbutt has VFX now

• Demon’s Embrace recovery is now 1300ms (down from 1500ms)
  
• After Demon’s Embrace, Shugoki can block at 1000ms

CHANGES INTEGRATED from the Testing Grounds:

• Uncharged Heavy Finishers now have reduced rotation, allowing most heroes to be able to comfortably dodge the attacks
  
• Fixed issues related to attacks not hitting external targets since the trajectory was placed too high
  
• Adjusted feint timings on Charged Heavy Finishers to ensure it works properly (can now feint during charge, feint happens 100ms before clip ends)

• Headbutt in chains is 500ms
  
• Headbutt now deals 10 damage
  
• Headbutt no longer stuns or deals stamina damage

• Attack is 500ms
  
• Starts 300ms into front dodge

• Attack is 533ms
  
• Side Dodge now branches to Headbutt from 300 to 500ms (was from 300 to 600ms)
  
• Side Dodge Headbutt miss recovery branches to Heavy from 100ms to 600ms

Developer’s comment: Shugoki’s Headbutt is now used in many more situations, and as such it needs to be more of a threat than previously.

• Added new attack: Dodge forward heavy
  
• Added Uninterruptible Stance on Dodge Forward Heavy at 400ms into the clip

Developer’s comment: these new dodge attacks should provide Shugoki with enough options to properly counter opponent bashes as well as opponents who tend to roll away too much. It also gives Shugoki a neutral opener, which should help him flow better into his offense.

• Fixed branching speed on left/right dodges to be consistent (they are both at 300ms now)

• Now shows the Unblockable symbol during the initial portion of the attack

• No longer has variable duration and reach - it is now fully static at 900ms (the previous shortest duration)
  
• Now deals 20 damage and heals for 10 (down from 22 damage and heals for 18). This is to compensate for the attack being available from Light Parry.
  
• Now only accessible from Down + GB in neutral and after a throw (removed branching from front dodge)
  
• Now has no armor whatsoever
  
• Now recovers stamina for the opponent
  
• Adding links to Demon's Embrace from feint clips for input comfort
  
• Fixed bug on movement

Developer’s comment: These changes are aimed at making Demon’s Embrace the ganking move it should be; its position in chains as a soft feint prevents it from being a thorough ganking move.

• Charge of the Oni is no longer an attack - it is accessed through tapping the Sprint button while sprinting, similar to Shinobi. The move no longer has dodge frames, bumps, etc. It is now a "super sprint" move.
  
• Shugoki cannot do Charge of the Oni if OOS

Developer’s comment: Shugoki has a difficult time performing his rotations – going from the lane to a side point or from side point to side point; with this, Shugoki gains an ability similar to what Shinobi possesses and is able to move around the battlefield more swiftly.

• Zone Attack now properly branches to finishers at the correct timing (frame 166ms)

• Removed Uninterruptible Stance from Neutral Lights
  
• Removed Uninterruptible Stance from OOL Lights

Developer’s comment: This helps prevent frustration while fighting against Shugoki, who could hit Light on reaction to anything his opponents threw.


NEW CHANGES based on Testing Grounds Feedback:

• Skewer now generates 30 points of Revenge

• Now deal 10 stamina damage
  
• No longer stuns
  
• No longer pauses stamina regeneration
  
• Forward Dodge Melee is now 500ms, can branch from 300ms to 500ms in front dodge
  
• Side Dodge Melee now occurs at 300ms in the dodge (is no longer delayable)

• No longer Unbalances opponents who are OOS

CHANGES INTEGRATED from the Testing Grounds:

• No longer prevents Executions
  
• Now deals 10 damage (was 6)
  
• Now chains to Heavy Finisher and Skewer (at 300ms)

Developer’s comment: Fuscina Ictus now deals a more respectable amount of damage while improving its ganking ability.

• Now chains to Heavy Finisher and Skewer at 100ms

Developer’s comment: Gladiator now has more ways to enter chains and initiate Skewer and other types of pressure.

• Now costs 12 stamina

• Bind Hit Reaction that plays on Exit from Skewer when the Gladiator Dodges has been reduced to 400ms (was 800ms) to remove the ability to combo with Dodge Light

Developer’s comment: Skewer should now be much more usable as there are multiple ways to initiate the attack, and as such it is now more in-line with other attacks.

• Now have Dodge Active from 33ms to 233ms

• Now have Dodge Active from 100ms to 300ms
  
• Now chain to Skewer
  
• Now have 2.75m range (was 2m)

Developer’s comment: These changes are aimed at making Gladiator more in-line with other heroes in terms of their dodge attacks, while also granting Gladiator more chase.

• 2nd movement phase now moves 4m forward (was 3.25m)

• Now chain to Skewer at 100ms (to ensure Feint to GB can connect)

NEW CHANGES based on Testing Grounds Feedback:

• Added extra forward movement to Neutral Side Heavies and Neutral Heavy Feints to ensure Feint to GB works within normal distances
  
• Heavy Finishers now move forward more during the attack
  
• Infinite Light Chains now move forward more consistently
  
• Infinite Heavy Chains now move forward more during the attack

• Top Heavy now deals 24 damage (was 22)

• Front Dodge now has defense and can block while dodging

• GB Attempt no longer bounces off

CHANGES INTEGRATED from the Testing Grounds:

• Blade Blockade can now be accessed after 100ms in any attack's recovery on hit/miss/bad block
  
• Blade Blockade Light follow-up is now 333ms and deals 20 damage (now guaranteed)
  
• Blade Blockade Light follow-up stamina cost is now 9 (was 12)
  
• Blade Blockade Light follow-up is now considered a Light attack
  
• Blade Blockade Light follow-up now causes a Medium reaction (was Heavy)
  
• Blade Blockade Heavy follow-up is now 333ms, has zone properties and deals 16 damage (now guaranteed)
  
• Blade Blockade follow-ups now always happen at 300ms in the Blade Blockade window (gives a lot more input comfort)
  
• Ring the Bell removed from Blade Blockade, and is now a soft-feint from Heavy Opener and Dodge Forward Heavy

Developer’s comment: These changes should improve Blade Blockade to where you use the appropriate follow-up depending on the situation, making Blade Blockade much easier to access.

• Ring the Bell removed from Blade Blockade, and is now a soft-feint from Heavy Opener and Dodge Forward Heavy
  
• Fixed Ring the Bell damage timing to be on hit (rather than start of the bind)
  
• Adjusted conditions on infinites to chain after Ring the Bell
  
• Removed Uninterruptible Stance from Soft Feinted Ring the Bell
  
• Ring the Bell now deals 12 damage

Developer’s comment: Aramusha now gains a tool to both open up opponents as well as set up ganks.

• New attack - Side Dodge Heavy. Dodge frames and iframes occur at 200ms during side dodge, and the strike is 600ms
  
• Removed links to front dodge side attacks

Developer’s comment: Aramusha should now be able to deal with opponent bashes and initiate his offense better.

• Dodge Forward Heavy's armor now starts at 400ms (was 100ms)
  
• Added ability to perform Ring the Bell Soft Feint from Dodge Forward Heavy
  
• Dodge Forward Heavy is now 800ms (was 600ms, to support the Soft Feint)
  
• Dodge Forward Heavy now moves 4m forward (was 3m)

• Bug Fix: Neutral Lights now have proper dodge timing (was 100ms after start of parry, now starts at parry timing)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed inconsistencies on branching to light attacks in recoveries

• Bug Fix: Removed branching to Dodge on Neutral Top Heavy Miss recovery
  
• Bug Fix: Infinite chain top heavy dodge window fixed (was 100ms after start of parry, now starts at parry timing)

• Removed hard flow to top from sides. Aramusha can now freely chain to any other direction
  
• Staying in the same direction gives a Heavy Finisher, but otherwise continues the infinite chain

Developer’s comment: This removes the need for Aramusha to do Side -> Top -> Side to continue his infinite chain. This should alleviate some of the predictability and give new options in group fights.

• OOL chain now chains left->right->left->etc (and no longer uses Top Light)

NEW CHANGES based on Testing Grounds Feedback:

• Now deals 30 stamina damage when fully held

Developer’s comment: Dou Shi's Choke was dealing too much Stamina damage when used. This should bring it more in line with other stamina draining attacks.

• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that was reported via Bug reporter that Jiang Jun's guard break will bounce off the enemy every time when performed after feinted sprint attack - by changing the strike to a Medium Hit Reaction (was Heavy)

• Stamina cost is now 12 (was 30)

CHANGES INTEGRATED from the Testing Grounds:

• Top Heavy Starter is now 800ms (was 900ms)
  
• Top Heavy Starter damage is now 24 (was 27), due to speed increase
  
• Left/Right Heavy Starter are now 900ms (were 1000ms)
  
• Left/Right Heavy Starter damage are now 27 (were 32), due to speed increase
  
• Heavy Finishers now Soft Feint to GB at the same timing as branching to Feint and Sifu's Poise
  
• Normalized Heavy Attack stamina costs (Starters and Finishers) to 12. Stamina costs were a bit over the place (Tops were always 12, but sides were sometimes 24 (after Zone Attacks mostly), sometimes 28 (when chained normally)
  
• Adjusted left/right trajectories to fit properly with attacks (increased side range on right heavy, front range on left heavy)

Developer’s comment: Jiang Jun can now use his Top Heavy opener as a Guard Break punish and his Side Heavy openers as Light parry punishes for extra damage. Also, Jiang Jun should be able to catch opponents with Guard Break from the Finisher.

• Jiang Jun’s stamina penalty on his Side Heavy Attacks is no longer relevant with the Core Combat Update; they retain their properties but now cost the standard amount of stamina for Heavy attacks.

• Dodge Forward Heavy is now 600ms (was 1000ms)
  
• Movement phase on dodge forward heavy is now a single phase that moves 4m
  
• Removed Feint and Soft Feint from Dodge Forward Heavy
  
• Dodge Forward Heavy now can start at 200ms into the dodge

• Uses Kick animation
  
• 500ms strike
  
• Begins 300ms into front dodge, chains to openers, and guarantees a light
  
• Deals 20 stamina damage
  
• No longer prevents Stamina Regeneration for 1.8s

Developer’s comment: These changes are twofold: Jiang Jun now gets a more reliable opener with his Kick as well as better chase with his Dodge Forward Heavy.

• Added links to Sifu's Poise from miss/hit/block

• Sifu’s Stance Zone Attack is now Unblockable
  
• Sifu's Stance Zone Attack reduced knockback to ensure a follow-up heavy finisher soft feinted to GB will connect

Developer’s comment: This lets Jiang Jun be more effective in group fights by throwing multiple, target-swapped unblockable attacks and be threatening against external opponents.

• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that was reported via Bug reporter that Jiang Jun's guard break will bounce off the enemy every time when performed after feinted sprint attack - by changing the strike to a Medium Hit Reaction (was Heavy)

• Recovery is now 300ms longer
  
• No longer gives free hits when it lands

Developer’s comment: This makes Jiang Jun have to decide which option to perform after a parry. Dou Shi’s Choke is no longer the best option after every single Heavy Parry.


NEW CHANGES based on Testing Grounds Feedback:

• Now deals 10 stamina damage (was 15)
  
• No longer pauses stamina regeneration
  
• Range is now 2 (was 1.6) to prevent backstep

• Now deals 10 stamina damage (was 30)
  
• No longer pauses stamina regeneration

• Now deals 22 damage (was 24)

• Now deals 14 damage
  
• Now branches from Dodge at a fixed 300ms (was 200ms-400ms)
  
• Improved the animation transitions

CHANGES INTEGRATED from the Testing Grounds:

• Zone Attack is now a Chain Starter
  
• Dodge Forward Heavy is now a Chain Starter
  
• Sprint Attack is now a Chain Starter

Developer’s comment: This lets Hitokiri chain into their infinite chains more easily and apply more pressure overall.

• Zone Attack now forces a Medium Hit Reaction (was Heavy)

• Dodge Forward Heavy now forces a Medium Hit Reaction (was Heavy)

• 600ms Attack
  
• Hits on opposite side of dodge
  
• Is a Chain Starter
  
• Branches from 200ms-400ms

Developer’s comment: Hitokiri now has tools to handle bashes and can use this to initiate offense more effectively.

• Now chains to Infinite Chain at 300ms, delayed until 400ms, delayable until 600ms. Guarantees Chained Heavy after Sweep
  
• Now chains to T4 at same timing as Heavy Chained

Developer’s comment: These changes make Hitokiri’s Rei Kick/Sweep mix-up more potent and push towards the infinite chain in a more consistent manner.

• Uninterruptible Stance begins on button release
  
• Side Chained Heavy forward movement is now 2.5m (was 2m)
  
• Side Chained Heavy trajectory angle is now 10 (from 30)
  
• Side Chained Heavy trajectory reach is now 1 (up from 0.8

)
Developer’s comment: Hitokiri should now be able to use their Infinite Heavy Chain attacks more effectively in group fights.

• Now chains to OOL chained attacks

• Bug Fix: OOS Neutral Top Heavy is now 1100ms (was 1200ms)

NEW CHANGES based on Testing Grounds Feedback:

• Zone Attack is now 600ms (was 500ms in the Testing Grounds)

• Dodge Forward Heavy now deals 24 damage when performed after a Superior Block (was 30 in the Testing Grounds)

• Subduing Blow no longer has Uninterruptible Stance during its recovery

• Dodge attacks remain as Light Parries

CHANGES INTEGRATED from the Testing Grounds:

• All dodge cancels happen at 333ms
  
• All attacks including Finishers can now be Dodge Cancelled

Developer’s comment: Zhanhu can now dodge-cancel all of their recoveries, including Finisher recoveries, to stay on the move and apply pressure to opponents.

• Side Dodge Attacks are now enhanced
  
• Forward Dodge Light is now 500ms (up from 400ms) (this is so it isn't frame advantaged)

Developer’s comment: Zhanhu’s Dodge Attacks should now be safer to use, and Zhanhu can now also use their Palm attack to open up opponents.

• Moved Subduing Blow to front Dodge
  
• Strike is 500ms
  
• Begins 300ms into dodge (can be delayed until 500ms)
  
• Chains to Openers
  
• Guarantees Light and Zone on Hit
  
• Removed links from Deflects

• All dodge attacks were meant to count as heavy parries in the Testing Grounds
  
• Superior Block Dodges now make followup attack Unblockable
  
• All Light and both Side Heavy Superior Block Dodge followups deal 22 damage
  
• Front Heavy Superior Block Dodge followup deals 30 damage

Developer’s comment: Zhanhu no longer has Palm on Superior Block dodges but can now guarantee damage when they successfully block.

• Right Heavy Finisher trajectory is now similar to Left
  
• Light Finishers are now 566ms (were 600ms)

• Zone Attack is now 500ms

• Changed block movement on neutral lights to 2m (was 1m) for front/side/back
  
• Can now do backstep light

• REMOVED – replaced by “Short-Tempered”
  
• “Passive | Deal (20%) more damage for a short duration after taking damage from an enemy (hero)”

Developer’s comment: Rocksteady was a ‘problematic’ feat, matched only by Thick Blood. Both Feats had completely obliterated entire opponent move sets, making Bleed heroes obsolete (for Thick Blood) and heroes who need an Unbalance to reach their special moves useless (like Caber Toss giving no damage). There’s no defending the old functionality of these two Feats, and now players and devs alike can sleep soundly at night knowing that they are both gone forever.

“Short-Tempered” we feel will keep some of the flavour of Rocksteady, in that when you get hit you will then gain a benefit. Unlike the unhealthy behaviour of Rocksteady, Short-Tempered benefits you a little bit no matter what hero you face, and never obsoletes an enemy.

• Improved collision detection across all maps (FH-378, FH-514, FH-1155)

Developer’s comment: While we strongly believe that this improvement will greatly limit the cases in which players can become stuck or reach out of map areas during a fight (most notoriously due to Bashes), we invite you to report any new issue of this type on For Honor Bug Reporter.

• To provide more transparency a pop-up now informs the player that his player report has led to an investigation and potentially an action

Developer’s comment: Thank you for your reports! We will continue to monitor For Honor for inappropriate behaviors, as well as take action as needed to preserve the integrity of game.

• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused Vicious Impale to starts 33ms too late

Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that mentioned that the Warden's “Shoulder Bash” could still be performed with a Back Dodge in Arena Custom Move set (FH-1490)

Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the camera angle to be off in the Battle Pass Emote Mood Effects when a Paired Emote was equipped

AUDIO

Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Sentinel map to have muted or deafened sounds due to camera angles, mostly when the camera is behind the player’s hero (FH-875)

CUSTOMIZATION

Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Male Gladiator's Chimera helmet to have floating Ornaments (FH-1694)

Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused Lawbringer's and Warmonger’s eyes to be completely covered for the “Omodamos” and “Gamelyn” helms (FH-1384)

Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the “Sylvan Panacea” to have an odd lip animation on the majority of female mask less helms (FH-1257)

Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that cause the material color to not be applied on Gryphon’s Protector Chest Shoulders (FH-1103)

Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Berserker “Hallvard” Chest armor Paint Pattern to not cover the whole armor (FH-603)

Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused Symbols, Paint Patterns and Embossing to not be displayed when equipped with “Hallvard” Arms' in barracks for Berserker (FH-593)

Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused inconsistencies for the facial expression of the Shaman in many Outfit Thumbnail's in the Barrack

Starting June 10th, For Honor’s Y5S2: Mirage transforms Heathmoor’s landscape and plays tricks on the minds of all warriors. After centuries of spoiling and exhausting the lands with constant battles for power and control, Mother Nature has decided to unleash her burning wrath. An intense drought has befallen the battlefield. The once rich and bountiful Heathmoor has become dry and desolate. The scorching heat toys with the minds of the most ferocious warriors, bringing forth new demons and nightmares. Who will be their salvation?



This season draws inspiration from Japanese mythology and the natural disaster drought These themes are strongly portrayed in Y5S2: Mirage’s events, narrative, seasonal customization, Battle Pass, and new hero. Also, making a return this season is the Testing Grounds and hero changes based on last season’s testing grounds.

For more information on everything For Honor’s Y5S2: Mirage, just keep reading. Below you will find more information on the event Visions of the Kyoshin, everything regarding Testing Grounds, and this season’s battle pass. Otherwise, you can join your fellow warriors starting June 10th in game and discover For Honor Y5S2: Mirage.






Starting at season launch to July 1st, For Honor’s limited-time event Visions of the Kyoshin is live.

Due to the battle for water, the Horkos and Chimera took the fight to the Kyoshin Temple. Groundwater was rumored to be foraged in the area. What they found there instead was torment from scorching heat and mystic warriors. Were they a mirage? Or were the Kyoshin more than a lost legend? Those who witnessed the battle agreed on one thing: The guardians of the Kyoshin Temple were nothing like anyone had ever seen...

In Visions of the Kyoshin, players will experience the Dominion game mode with a twist. Powerful entities called the Heavenly Ones contest points A and C. When defeated, these give a temporary buff as well as a special vision to the player who served the final strike. For a short period of time, you will be able to peer into the realm of these entities and possibly witness what is to come...

During the event, players will be able to play through a Free Event Pass and gain access to a multitude of rewards such as a new Battle Outfit, a Mood Effect as well as an Ornament. During the event there will also be new weapons available for players to loot.




The warriors of Heathmoor struggle against the drought and mind tricks. The Samurai are reminded of the Heavenly Ones, the embodiment of light and mirages in their pantheon of deities. The themes of For Honor Y5S2: Mirage make a strong impact in this season’s Battle Pass, allowing you to dress your warriors in gear reminiscent of Samurai legends and deities or bearing the cracks of a parched and desolate landscape.

Players can once again play through 100 tiers of rewards and unlock a shared execution per hero, one weapon set per hero, 2 battle outfits per hero, 2 effects per hero, and other various customization elements. Participating players will also be able to unlock a paired emote only available through Y5S2’ Battle Pass. This Y5S2 Battle Pass will be available from season launch to September 7th.


The Y5S1 Testing Ground changes will also be released at the start of Y5S2. Bellow you can find a list of all those heroes and more details on their changes.

• Berserker
  
• Gladiator
  
• Zhanhu
  
• Aramusha
  
• Shugoki
  
• Jiang Jun
  
• Hitokiri

Taking the feedback we’ve received from you, our player community, we have also applied additional changes to the heroes; we’ll go into a bit of detail down below, but you can see the full list of changes in our patch notes.

We look forward to seeing how they perform once they are released and we are always keeping an eye on social media and our player surveys for additional feedback.

We’ll be going through each other hero give a brief overview of the changes from their Testing Grounds iterations.


Berserker is the only hero who did not receive any changes from the Testing Grounds; feedback was positive and did not warrant any extra adjustments.


Most of the feedback we received from Gladiator was positive, but we received some concerns about the power level of some of his moves, notably Fuscina Ictus, Skewer and side dodge Sucker Punch. We’re also addressing the “Stamina Bully” aspect of Gladiator which is a source of frustration amongst players.

• Fuscina Ictus’ main issue is that it dealt too much damage, most notably against opponents who are Out of Stamina as it unbalances them and guarantees a follow-up heavy attack. To remedy this,
  
• Fuscina Ictus no longer unbalances opponents who are Out of Stamina; it still chains into Heavy Finishers and Skewer, but players will no longer get a large portion of free damage out of a landed Fuscina Ictus.
  
• Skewer’s issue was that it is too safe to use in ganks; generally the changes to it were well-received, but its power was slightly too high, especially considering that players could mistime their ganking attempts and their opponents would receive close to no Revenge. We’re tweaking Skewer so that it now generates Revenge similar to most Bashes in the game – with this, players should have an easier time escaping Gladiator ganks and will give them extra lasting power if their opponents do not execute it perfectly.
  
• Sucker Punches are the last source of major feedback we’ve received: the side dodge variants were too strong with variable timing, making them able to avoid some mix-ups and made them much too safe, the Front Dodge variant was too slow and could not reliably be used as an opener, and finally, all of Gladiator’s Sucker Punches interact with Stamina in a way that is frustrating for players. We’ve changed Sucker Punch in the following ways: Side Dodge Sucker Punch no longer has delayable timings (similar to what we did on Gryphon), Front Dodge Sucker Punch is now faster to enable Gladiator to initiate better and all Sucker Punches deal less Stamina damage and no longer pause Stamina Regeneration.

We’re hoping that with these changes Gladiator’s power level high and that he becomes a viable alternative to Centurion for ganking in teams, but that the frustration experienced when playing against him goes down.


Zhanhu’s feedback was overwhelmingly positive – the multiple changes to the hero were very well received, but the hero’s power level, especially at very high competitive levels, was too high and needed to be toned down slightly to ensure the hero wasn’t becoming too strong.

• We’ve slowed down the Zone Attack to the speed it had before – at the new speed, it quickly became the best Zone Attack in the game, and Zhanhu’s new flow made it so that it was too strong in group fights. Its new speed should still be effective, but not too powerful.
  
• 
  
• The other change we’ve done is that his Side Dodge Attacks are now still always considered to be Light attacks when parried. There was a bug present on the Testing Grounds that left them as Light parries, (they were supposed to be Heavy parries) but after careful review and consideration, we decided to leave them as Light parries – Zhanhu’s Side Dodge Attacks are quite strong (they keep their new property of not being interrupted on block) but considering the difficulty in parrying them consistently, we felt that the risk/reward wasn’t balanced if they were Heavy parries

.
Zhanhu’s shaping up to become a new very strong hero with these changes, and we’re hoping we’ll start to see the hero picked in the Dominion series!


Aramusha’s feedback was also mostly positive – Blade Blockade as a whole is a clear winner, and the extra opening power Aramusha received with the new Ring the Bell soft feints were considered strong points of the hero.

• However, Aramusha also still suffered from lacking range in his attacks – since he still lacked forward movement during most of his attacks, several of his options were still too easy to evade. As such, we’ve improved the forward movement of most of his attacks so that they become harder to simply back dodge to avoid all options Aramusha could do. This includes Neutral Heavies, Infinite Light and Heavy chains as well as Heavy Finishers.

With the new increased forward range on Aramusha’s attacks, we’re hoping the hero will become a force to be reckoned with in the future as players explore the potential Aramusha brings to a team.


Shugoki’s changes were, overall, positive – players who didn’t play as Shugoki were happy with the reduced frustration when facing Shugoki and players who do play as Shugoki appreciate the extra steps taken so that Shugoki can open up and defend better against opponents.

• The two major changes we’ve pushing onto Shugoki concern Charge of the Oni and Demon’s Embrace’s recovery. Charge of the Oni’s change was generally perceived as positive as it gave Shugoki a way to move around the battlefield a bit easier, but there were issues with the stamina consumption of the move. As such, we’ve rebalanced the stamina costs so that players can no longer mash the Sprint button to continually enter and exit Charge of the Oni while keeping high speeds and costing relatively no stamina.
  
• Demon’s Embrace continues to be the most controversial change, but it was generally much better received than our previous iteration. With the changes coming to the move, we’ve also lowered the recovery of the attack when it misses so that you regain control of your hero in a timelier manner.

We’ll be keeping an eye on Shugoki’s stats and the feedback we receive – we hope that the frustration of playing against a Shugoki goes down while playing as Shugoki remains a satisfying experience.


Jiang Jun was well-received; while some players found that the Zone Attack that comes from Sifu’s Poise was too strong now that it is Unblockable, in most cases, the hero is well-balanced and has much better options than previously.

• The last point we needed to address was Dou Shi’s Choke’s Stamina damage – the move easily dealt a large amount of Stamina damage, and even with no guaranteed damage afterwards, it could put players Out of Stamina too easily. As such, we’ve reduced the amount of Stamina damage inflicted on opponents by this move; while it still deals a significant amount, it should no longer almost guarantee an Out of Stamina state when Jiang Jun parries a Zone Attack, for example.

Jiang Jun’s new changes make him a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, and it is now much easier to get into mixups and defend against multiple opponents, so our hope is that the hero ends up being picked more often to greater effectiveness than before.

Hitokiri

Hitokiri almost ties with Zhanhu in terms of appreciation of the changes the hero received – most players are very happy with the new chain openers, as well as Sweep finally having a place in the hero’s toolkit.

While the feedback was positive, there are some aspects of Hitokiri that we are addressing. First, Rei Kick and Rei Sweep will now deal less Stamina damage and no longer pause Stamina Regeneration. Hitokiri’s flow is great, but opponents need to have a way to come back against a Hitokiri that manages to catch them in the Rei Kick/Sweep mixups. Beforehand, Hitokiri would end up dealing too much Stamina damage and left opponents in a state where they had to wait before counterattacking – this change should help with this issue.

• Hitokiri’s Endless Myriad heavy attacks, which are guaranteed after the Rei Kick/Sweep options, also dealt slightly too much damage. When a Hitokiri is able to mix you repeatedly, the damage racks up very quickly, and as such we’ve lowered the damage of the attack slightly to give opponents more room to breathe.
  
• Finally, Hitokiri’s new side dodge attacks were considered to be too strong, as they dealt too much damage and could be delayed to avoid mixups. We’ve removed the delayable portion of the attack as well as reduced damage it deals to make it more in-line with other dodge attacks.

Hitokiri seems to be in a very good spot with these changes; 1v1 is much stronger and 1vX also seems to be getting quite a bump, so we’re happy with them. We’re hoping the hero will once again be picked in tournaments and become more competitive.




From July 1st to 8th, a new Testing Grounds that will be opening up. We’ll be testing the following changes:

• Raider changes
  
• Orochi changes
  
• Shinobi changes
  
• Option Select changes

We’ll go into further detail about the changes in a blog post as well as a Warriors’ Den segment as we ger closer to July 1st, but we’d like to take a bit of time to explain exactly what Option Selects are, as it is an often misunderstood topic amongst the community.
Intro to Option Selects

An Option Select, at its core, is when a player performs one or multiple inputs (usually in very quick succession) and one of multiple different actions occur, depending on what your opponent performed. In a sense, the game “Selects the Option” that matches the situation – for this to happen you need to have multiple different “Actions” as the outcome of what you performed as a player.

In many fighting games, Option Selects manifest themselves in wildly different scenarios, but in For Honor specifically, the term Option Select can only be applied to the “Parry” action. This is because of what Options Selects are at their core: as a player, you perform an action, and depending on what your opponent performs, you either Parry or do a different action.

A good example of Option Selects in For Honor is the infamous “Zone Option Select” – as a player, you can attempt to Parry an attack with the Zone Attack input (pressing both Light and Heavy buttons at the same time). The result is that you will either Parry if your opponent doesn’t Feint their attack or perform a Zone Attack if the opponent Feinted their attack. This is an Option Select; you perform a single input, and the resulting action from your input is either “Parry” or “Zone Attack”.

Many players mistakenly feel that Dodge Attacks as well as Superior Block attacks are Option Selects, but they in fact are not –when you perform a Dodge Attack, for example, you will ALWAYS perform that Dodge Attack, no matter what your opponent performs; this is not an Option Select, as the only result of your action is a Dodge Attack. Dodge Attacks, used defensively, can defeat multiple offensive options, but in the end when you perform a Dodge Attack, it will always come out – it won’t sometimes Parry and sometimes Dodge Attack.

For Honor players can use multiple Option Selects, but they are generally detrimental to the game as they stifle Offense, especially Unblockable (but Parriable) Offense. Players who know how to perform these Option Selects can easily defend against attacks that, by their design, should be more difficult to defend against.

In the Testing Grounds for Year 5 Season 2, we’ll be testing new technology that mitigates the impact of Option Selects. We’ll go into deeper detail as we come closer to the release of the Testing Grounds, but as an example, a clear winner in this case is Shugoki – with the new changes that are releasing with this Season, Shugoki can be considered weak against certain Option Selects; before his changes, he was able to cancel his Heavy Attacks into Demon’s Embrace, letting him beat players who would attempt to Option Select his charged Heavy Attacks through the use of Uninterruptible Stance, but as this is no longer the case, Shugoki may have a similar experience to a lot of unblockable Heavy attacks where they are easier to defeat than intended. With the new Option Select changes, however, players will not be able to Option Select a Shugoki and will have to defend themselves against his Unblockable Finishers in the way that was intended.

That’s it for now! We covered everything going on at the start of For Honor Y5S2: Mirage. Keep an eye out for more details on what Is coming throughout the season. We are excited to see you out on the battlefield on June 10th. Don’t let the mirages get to you.

The For Honor Dev Team

The following changes will be part of a Live Update to For Honor on Thursday, April 29th, 2021.

• Side Dodge Attacks are now 14 damage (down from 16)
  
• Side Dodge Attacks can no longer be delayed in side dodges; they will now always happen at 300ms (previously delayable until 500ms)

Dev Comment: This should make Side Dodge Attacks more predictable, as well as making it impossible to delay to dodge on most mix-ups, while still being a good dodge attack that leads to finishers.

• Kick Follow-up damage has been reduced to 24 (down from 28)

• Gryphon's Shove is now a Dodge Forward + Guard Break input
  
• Gryphon's Shove no longer chains after a miss
  
• Gryphon's Shove now costs 15 stamina (up from 12)
  
• Gryphon's Shove no longer pauses Stamina Regeneration

Dev Comment: The previous Back + Guard Break input of 600ms was unreactable for most players outside of high-level play. This meant that Gryphon's Shove was problematic (for different reasons) in both casual and high-level play.

By making Gryphon's Shove a 500ms Dodge Forward Melee, combined with the additional minimum of 300ms spent in the Forward Dodge, the move becomes predictable for most players, while also being unreactable to players at all levels of play.

Gryphon's Shove should now function as a mix-up and opener that is less frustrating to face.

• Draconite Mist now heals for 15 (down from 20)
  
• AoE range of Draconite Mist's healing effect reduced to 8 meters (down from 11)

• Draconite Bolt now heals for 15 (down from 20)
  
• AoE range of Draconite Bolt's healing effect reduced to 8 meters (down from 11)
  
• Draconite Bolt damage reduced to 20 (down from 30)
  
• Cast time of Draconite Bolt increased to 600ms (up from 400ms)

*PS4: 1.7Gb, Xbox One: 2.1 Gb, PC: 2.1 Gb*

• Improvement: Decreased Pikemen Health to 37 (from 46)
  
• Improvement: Decreased Pikemen Damage to 8 (from 10)
  
• Improvement: Decreased Fortifier Health to 80 (from 120)
  
• Improvement: Decreased Fortifier Side Heavy Damage to 24 (from 40)
  
• Improvement: Decreased Guardian Health to 520 (from 600)
  
• Improvement: Decreased Commander Health to 855 (from 950)
  
• Improvement: Decreased Commander Top Heavy Unblockable Damage to 48 (from 60)

Dev Comments: Following the Core Combat Update from last year we now revised the health and damage values from all different NPCs in Breach. The previous values no longer fell in line with the damage output from Heroes. We know that Pikemen were a source of frustration for many and with their new health values, most Heroes with a Light-Heavy combo will be able to dispatch them quicker with less stamina consumption.

• Improved the Dominion scoring widget:
  
• The 1000 points mark is now visible on the gauge to make the Breaking threshold easier to see at a glance
  
• A lock will appear on a team’s gauge when they reached over 1000 hard points as Breaking cannot be reverted anymore

Dev Comments: While the previous scoring widget was functional, we wanted to make it easier for players to quickly grasp how close teams are to Breaking, and whether or not a rally is possible by taking a capture zone. Even if these are fairly known rules to most players, we hope it will make the widget more comfortable to use, as well as clarify how the scoring works for newer players.


Weapon Set for Wu Lin heroes presented during the Y5S1 Warrior’s Den stream have been added as loot drops (FH-1445)




Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Crosshair to never disappear from screen during matches (FH-1450)
Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused Revenge to stack with other damage buffs (FH-1417)




Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Lawbringer's weapon to be misplaced and appear to be hovering when performing a light attack as part of the Swift Justice Combo (FH-1048)


Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Tiandi's Dragon and Tiger dodge animations to be mixed after performing them many times (FH-1262)


Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Shaolin's Sun Kick Smash animation to stutter after changing Guard direction (FH-1066)


Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Black Prior to be missing Unblockable effect on the shield during their Hawk's Charge (FH-1458)
Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Black Prior to have Superior Block effect on their sword


Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Shaolin's Blink feat to be allowed to block an attack as the feat is being activated (FH-1107)



Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the selection box in Gear parts to become duplicated when scrolling through items (FH-802)
Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Win Loss ratio value to be different when comparing the old profile with the new one



Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused most of Year 1 DLC and Legacy heroes to not have any "Grunts" noise when dodging (FH-891)
Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused some Voice lines and grunts from attacks to be cut off early when connecting with opponent (FH-425)

• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Gryphon’s “Rabid Wolf” elite outfit patterns and symbols to not be displayed (FH-1426)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Berserker's Asmundar helmet to have physics effect on the front metal part (FH-1382)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Zhanhu's Yushi Dafu armor chest to have physics effect on the shin parts (FH-1366)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Asgard's Favor mythic outfit Electric Storm idle effect audio to loop instead of playing normally (FH-1355)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Viking Elbow execution camera to not follow character properly (FH-1330)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Gryphon symbols and paint patterns to be misaligned with the cape (FH-1328)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Gryphon to be missing Legacy Crusader 1 and Legacy Crusader 2 color swatches (FH-1325)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Warden’s Gabrielle's Zenith set to have stretched texture on the right hand (FH-1294)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Jiang Jun's Lu Junyi Chest cape's trims and upper torso cloth to not be affected by the material or colour (FH-1149)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Gryphon's Night Bloom Elite Outfit to be missing from the Customization Menu (FH-1156)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the Female Kensei's Shigehide helm to not apply materials (FH-1045)
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that caused the female variant of the Steinunn to not apply the color on the chest piece (FH-1074)