The Steppes are home to nomadic tribes who live off the land while enduring the harshest environments, whose combat skills have decided the fates of empires. Smash through new challenges, earn exclusive rewards, and unlock the mighty Sons of the Steppes unit line in Conqueror’s Blade Season II: Wrath of the Nomads,  available to download for free today!
Season II introduces a brand-new feature: complete a special set of challenges to unlock seasonal units, which are permanently available to recruit without spending any Honour. 

Spearheading the charge, the Sons of the Steppes are the first new seasonal units to join Conqueror’s Blade! These nomadic warriors hail from the great rolling steppes of the north, a native tribe who move, hunt, and fight for themselves in a world now ravaged by war. Knowledge is power, and their survival skills and history within this land makes many warlords eager to draw swords with them.



Six new units are available to unlock and recruit, including:

• Namkhan Archers (Tier 3): Hunstmen and herders serving in the warband of their local chieftain. To assist in tracking and destroying escaping enemies, these troops use barbed arrows, and then follow the blood-trails. Like most steppe units, Namkhan Archers are vulnerable to ranged weapons, but excel in field battles.
• Selemchid Cavalry (Tier 3): These horsemen make good reconnaissance units, and can execute flank attacks in smaller battles. Unlike many melee cavalry units, they charge into combat without using lances, but should take care to avoid enemies with ranged weapons.
• Khorchins (Tier 3): Khorchins are mobile, have excellent attack capabilities, and can shoot accurately while galloping at full speed. They carry two types of ammunition: one for maximum damage, and one for armour penetration. Khorchins are frequently the first steppe unit an enemy force encounters, so these cavalrymen must be prepared to fight any foe they find.
• Tseregs (Tier 4): The assault infantry of a chieftain’s warband. Their armour is fairly weak compared to the armies of the south, but the Tseregs’ fighting traditions allow them to bypass a blocking shield, or attack more quickly for a short time. They will fight well in open spaces, and should aim to close the distance with the enemy as quickly as possible.
• Khevtuul Cavalry (Tier 4): The main battle force in any mounted steppe warband, being equally at home using bows as they are using swords. Years of fighting experience have allowed them to use the “Hunter’s Charge”, which will send any enemy unit not destroyed outright running for the hills in fear.
• Kheshigs (Tier 5): Bodyguards to the Great Khan and his family in peacetime, but on the battlefield, they are the elite heavy cavalry force and the dread of their enemies. Their most fearsome tactic is to charge into an enemy unit, then turn and charge once more after their leader. A wise commander can use this to hook around an enemy battle line and strike its open flanks.

Don’t worry if you don’t manage to complete all the challenges during the season, you can still unlock the Sons of the Steppes after Season II has ended.



Fight. Rise through the ranks. Earn epic loot. Blaze through over 100 levels of the Battle Pass by tackling daring challenges, and unlock exclusive nomadic-themed rewards along the way. By the way, it’s easier than ever before to progress through the lower levels!

There are loads of free rewards up for grabs throughout Season II if you have the basic version of the Battle Pass. You can also upgrade your Battle Pass to the premium version to begin unlocking every level of rewards, including premium rewards.
Collect unique items only available during Season II, inspired by the newly-discovered nomadic tribes. Clad your army in thick furs, antler helms, and the garb of the proud peoples of the Steppes, and also nomadic-themed weapon skins, including:

• Noyan’s Battle Attire (Hero Attire)
• Khurul Unit Attire
• Snow Tiger Unit Attire
• Khanate Guard Unit Attire
• Shaman’s Ceremonial Attire (Hero Attire)

The Sons of the Steppes hold the wolf in reverence as a sacred creature. Collect their totemic Fangs (available as bonus level rewards beyond level 100 on the Battle Pass), and redeem them in the seasonal shop to claim even more epic content.



Get to grips with three new maps during Season II, including:

• Allenburg (Siege): Nestled in an undulating valley, this magnificent castle city may prove difficult to capture, as its inner fortress presents a challenge to those who breach the outer defences.
• Emerald River (15 v 15 Field Battle): Surrounded by mountains and divided by a great river, there are many strategic opportunities to take advantage of on this map. Secure the high ground for an advantage!
• Cliff Duel (Deathmatch): Will your doom be decided on the edge of the world? Surrounded by stunning landscapes and cloud-kissed peaks, this battleground is perched precariously on a cliff’s edge, giving a sense of danger and finality to your battles here.

We’re also bringing back a recent Expedition map for Field Battles:

• 
  Desert Fortress (Field Battle): Built to hold back the tide of invaders from distant lands, this arid stronghold has withstood many battles over the course of history.

Starting with Season II, we will be temporarily taking some older maps out of action on a regular basis to implement balance changes and tweaks, before reintroducing them to regular rotation at a later date. 

The Hidden City (Siege), Harbour City (Siege), Ghost Town (Field Battle), Grassland Conquest (15 v 15 Field Battle), and Battle in the Mountains (Deathmatch) maps have now been removed from rotation. We hope you look forward to playing the new and improved versions of these maps when they return in the future!
Throughout Season II, a series of campaigns will be released where you are tasked to complete certain objectives on behalf of your House, with rewards available at each stage. Stage 1: The Baron’s War is now active – start conquering fiefs in your region for the glory of your House!
Warlords can now wage war from anywhere in the open world! Press ‘J’ and click on the ‘Camp’ icon to camp, and once completed, you will be able to access matchmaking battles (this works the same as in forts). You can still team up with other warlords and join battles with players elsewhere in the world while matchmaking in the open world. 
A new system awards warlords loyal to Houses with titles based on their land ownership. Capturing fiefs will give the House Liege a title, such as Catellan, and the ability to grant a lower-ranking title, such as Reeve, to House members (a similar system will also be in place for NPC Houses). Weekly rewards will be granted to warlords who have earned one of the new titles!



Ranked Matchmaking is a new competitive seasonal event where players can engage in ranked battles to climb the ranks and earn rewards.
A new Territory Wars feature will allow you to join NPC Houses from four different alliances, so you won’t be left out if you haven’t settled into a player-run House yet.

• 
  Complete eight new Weekly Challenges across eight weeks! You can reset two challenges per week if don’t like the look of them. New challenges will be cycled in at 00:00 (server time) every Thursday.
• Don’t fail to prepare. Create a Warband Build before joining battles or leaving a city! Click ‘U’ to open the Unit Interface, select ‘Warband Builds’, and create a build for the open-world or matchmaking battles.
• Conqueror’s City is coming! Fight for control of this coveted fortress later on in Season II as part of the Territory War Campaigns.
• Lots of bug fixes, optimisations, plus rebalancing of units, maps, and weapons.

If you want to explore all the changes in the Season II update, check out the patch notes. More detailed information about upcoming features will be made available in the near future.

The battlefield awaits. Update your game to start blazing through the new unit line and Battle Pass in Conqueror’s Blade Season II: Wrath of the Nomads!

Please be aware that from 7:00 CET on Thursday 19th December (10pm PST December 18th), the Conqueror’s Blade servers will be inaccessible. The downtime is expected to last for 6 hours.

• Season II: Wrath of the Nomads is being deployed. See patch notes.

Please stay tuned to our Discord channel in case of any immediate server updates.

Hey there, warlords! My name is Jacek, and I’m the new Producer for Conqueror’s Blade. I’m joining the team to ensure that the game is on the best possible course for the new year, together with my fellow Producer Alexey. I’ve got lots of experience working on different free-to-play titles, both for MY.GAMES and elsewhere, and I’m thrilled to be joining such an exciting game.

As I get myself really well acquainted with Conqueror’s Blade and the entire development and publishing teams in the coming weeks, I’m going to help steer the game into the calmest, and most promising waters for 2020 and the years to come. I’m really happy to be here with you, and I’m looking forward to going through all your feedback!



How many levels will the Battle Pass have?
The Battle Pass will have 200 levels, with the main rewards spanning from level 1 to 100. After you reach level 100, you will be rewarded with Fangs, Season II’s version of Conquest Tokens, which can be used to redeem seasonal content.

Will the Battle Pass be easier to complete compared to Season I?
We have listened to feedback and optimised the Battle Pass to make progression much smoother. We will continue to monitor and listen to feedback throughout Season II to continue to make this feature more engaging and rewarding.

Are Unit Challenges part of the Battle Pass?
They are not. Unit Challenges are part of the Season, but they are NOT a part of the Battle Pass, meaning anyone can take part in the Challenges and unlock the units.

Can I unlock all of the new units for free?

Yes!

When do you plan to release the system where warlords can reset the Honour from their unit nodes?

We plan to release this system with Season II. We will be providing more information on this feature in an article very soon!

Will you be adding new maps with Season II?

Yes! We will be introducing the following new maps:

• Siege: Allenburg
• Field Battle: Desert Fortress
• 15 v 15 Field Battle: Emerald River
• Deathmatch: Cliff Duel

Which maps will be taken out of rotation for improvements?

• Siege: Hidden City, Harbour City
• Field Battle: Ghost Town
• 15 v 15 Field Battle: Grassland Conquest
• Deathmatch: Battle in the Mountain

A few months ago you mentioned that you would be releasing maps every week, why has this not happened?

Throughout the year, many of our focuses shifted towards bringing more engaging and fun mechanics to Conqueror’s Blade. Seasons, challenges, new modes and events all took considerable development time, and we were unable to keep up with our intended schedule. However, our original plan was to release maps until the international version of Conqueror’s Blade caught up with the Chinese version. Currently we are planning different rotations of maps, and you will soon see many new battlefields to conquer, and new changes worked into older maps.

Are we going to implement new brackets for players between level 30 and 60, and to prevent level 60 players from facing level 500+ players?

We are currently working on different matchmaking possibilities. We are aware of the issues, and we will try to present some solutions throughout the course of Season II.

With the introduction of cross-server matchmaking, some warlords do not want to play against players on other servers. Do you plan to introduce a opt-out feature in the matchmaking interface?

We are exploring this possibility. However, cross-server only works for matchmaking battles, and you still can play grouped with your friends. We’ve also heard concerns about being matched with older servers, but the possible discrepancy on one server is much bigger than on EU West 1 and EU West 2, which have three weeks of difference. This is related more to overall matchmaking issues we are currently working on, rather than cross-server matchmaking itself.

Do you plan to merge EU West 1 and EU West 2?

Both servers have a healthy population, and while we are always monitoring server populations to give players the best experience possible, we currently have no plans to do this.

Do you plan to add new ways to get unit experience?

We are planning different events and bonus activities that will allow you to level up your units faster.

Will you lower the unit experience required to level up units?

Over the last few months we have been closely monitoring unit experience balancing and feedback on this topic. We have decided to make the following changes with Season II:

• Decreased the amount of experience needed to level up units.
  
• Decreased the amount of experience needed significantly to level up units over level 15.
  
• Decreased the amount of nodes needing to be unlocked as a prerequisite to unlock Tier 5 units.

We will be continuing to keep an eye on this system and will be continuing to read your feedback regarding unit experience gains and will make necessary tweaks dependant on balance and sentiment.

Do you have any plans to become more efficient when dealing with exploit abusers?

We are constantly working on these issues together with developers in order to stop cheaters and abusers ruining the gameplay experiences of honest players.

Do you plan to add a way for warlords to gift in-game store items to other players? 

Yes, we’re exploring this possibility.

Are there plans to implement new warlord classes or game modes in the near future?

We will soon release a roadmap for everyone to see the glorious future and the biggest upcoming beats of Conqueror’s Blade.

Will we ever see the House bank function? It was mentioned that this was being looked into in a previous producer video.

It’s not in active development right now. However, improving Houses and making House members’ lives easier is still a very high development priority.

Conqueror’s Blade stormed into Open Beta in June 2019. Since its launch, we’ve released four major updates, introduced the Rattan, Crusade, and Sons of the Steppes unit lines, added loads of new battlefields and features, and established a mighty global community of warlords. In addition to tomorrow’s Season II: Wrath of the Nomads update, we’ve got so much more in store for the future. Here’s to an incredible 2020, we can’t wait to share our plans with you in the new year!

Thanks for reading, I’ll see you on the battlefield!

Last month we asked you whether you’d like to see the start times change for daily events and, if so, what those times should be. We’ve since tallied the votes and can reveal that EU players want to keep things as they are, while NA players have decided on 6pm PST as the new start time - presumably to keep New Yorkers from falling asleep at the keyboard in the middle of a Territory War.

So, without further ado, starting from this Thursday (December 19), all NA server events will begin 90 minutes earlier, at 6pm PST. Event start times will remain at 20:00 CET across both EU West servers. 

Server Timezone: PST

As always, you can check out all event times and details right here.

There is a new feature of the Unit interface that allows you to create and save Warband Builds, so that you instead of clicking on individual units to take with you every time you start a battle or leave a settlement, you can select one of a number of pre-selected unit arrangements instead. This allows you to not only join battles more quickly, but you can save deployments that are successful or that are suited to particular styles of gameplay.

1. To create or amend a Unit Build, press ‘U’ to bring up the Unit panel and select the new ‘Warband Build’ tab.

2. Click on ‘For Battles’ to see or create your deployments for matchmaking battles, or on ‘Open World’ for builds to take with you when leaving settlements. You can have up to three for each.



3. Select an empty deployment slot to create a new scheme, or click on “Primary Build” to amend it.

4. You can change the selected Build name at any time by clicking the icon to the right of the current name in the lower panel.

5. To add a unit to the build, click on an empty card in the lower panel to bring up a panel of your available units. To remove a selected unit from the current scheme, mouse over the unit card and the ‘Remove’ icon will appear above it.

6. Builds will be saved automatically, but you can select a favourite by clicking on ‘Set as Default’. This will be your selected choice when starting a matching battle or interacting with the Watchman, but you can change it via the ‘Select Build’ drop-down box. You can also change or remove individual units my mousing a unit card and selecting the appropriate command.



7. In addition to displaying your Leadership points status and total, you will also be shown marching speed, maximum marching time and Labour values when configuring and selecting Open World WarbandBuilds

Note that you cannot currently delete Warband Builds, but if you change its name and swap out all the units, it will effectively be new. The only limit is to the number of selectable builds you can choose from, which currently stands at three.

The above images are taken from a pre-release version of the update and cannot be considered final.

Up until now, new units introduced to Conqueror’s Blade were unlocked much as they have been since early beta; by spending Honour Points. Things will be different from the release of Wrath of the Nomads, as access to season-specific units will be tied to a new set of challenges. More directly, the more of the new Seasonal Unit Challenges you complete, the more units you will unlock as the season progresses.



There will be seven separate challenges per “stage”, with multiple stages to complete depending on the unit tier. Challenges will be accessible to all players - which means you are not hindered by not having a Battle Pass. Also, unlike most seasonal content, these challenges will not expire, so that if you don’t manage to unlock all of the new Season 2 units during Season 2, you can continue for as long as it takes.


If you don’t have the time to complete the required challenges, it will be possible to use Sovereigns to skip them, in much the same way that you can complete Daily and Weekly Quests. The option to do so will be available in the Seasonal Challenge interface.



Just as a final note, there are no plans to reassign any of the current units to the Seasons interface, which will continue to require Honour to unlock. It is only unreleased units that are directly tied in with future seasonal gameplay that may require challenges to unlock.

The above images are taken from a pre-release version of the update and cannot be considered final.

With a new season of warfare comes a new Battle Pass, but unlike war itself, this one has changed.

As during Season 1, your seasonal efforts will see you issued with Glory Points to help you ascend through up to 200 Nobility Tiers. However, instead of unlocking Conquest Tokens that can be exchanged for items at the Seasons Store, for the duration of Season 2 you will be awarded with Fangs - a currency that ties in with the nomadic theme running through the season and its updates.



As before, you’ll still earn substantial rewards for progressing without a Battle Pass, but if you have one you will receive more rewards more regularly as you progress. Also, if you decide to hold off buying the Battle Pass under later in the season, you’ll still be eligible to get all the bonus rewards you missed - so long as you don’t leave it too late.



Thanks to your feedback from last season, we have optimised the Nobility Tier rewards, so that the lower level rewards are more substantial. In addition, we’ve lowered the threshold for the season’s biggest reward to tier 100, after which - up to tier 200 - you will only be issued Fangs for reaching a new tier.



Here are some of Season 2’s reward highlights:
 

In terms of the Season 2 interface (summoned by pressing F5), the fundamentals are much the same. You can check out our Season 1 guide to the Battle Pass, interface and progression right here.

Please be aware that as a feature of Seasons gameplay, Glory points, Nobility Tiers and their stated Rewards are all reset prior to the start of a new season. Of course, you get to keep all the items you’ve been awarded through having a Battle Pass, however, the benefits of having a Battle Pass do not carry over into a new season. Battle Passes bought during a season expire when it ends.

Leading the charge for the Wrath of the Nomads update are six new units inspired by the Mongol Empire that once dominated central and eastern asia. Rather than conscripted for coin or wooed by Honour, as many current in-game units are, to unlock these new troops you need to impress them by completing sets of challenges that will soon be a part of your Seasonal progression. You can read more on these challenges soon, but for now we’re going to focus on the units themselves.

Generally, the new unit line contains troops that are strong fighters but don’t necessarily follow established battlefield etiquette. As an example, they may not fully benefit from being in a formation, but they will thrive once the chaos of battle is underway. Relatively lightly-armoured, these units enjoy mediocre survivability and good manoeuvrability and movement and can boast of a 5% damage increase when fighting on Field Battle maps.

Known for their ability to survive in hostile territory, the new units will consume fewer rations when traversing the open world and will claim extra food from each victory as a spoil of war - although they can’t carry as many provisions as similar units, as they prefer to stay as unencumbered as possible.



Namkhan Archers (Tier 3, ranged)

Namkhan roughly translates as “commoner” or “peasant”

Traits

• Light archers with a relatively low base attack.
• Firing can inflict bleeding on enemies and deal real damage.
• Veterancy Points can make the bleed effect stronger. Full stacks of bleed inflict heavy damage.

 

Khorchins (Tier 3, ranged)

A “khorchin” relates to an arrow quiver.

Traits

• These archers feature weak health and defence but strong attack and attack speed.
• Can fire somewhat accurately while moving.
• Can switch to bodkin arrowheads that increase armour penetration but lower attack speed.

Selemchid Cavalry (Tier 3, mounted)

Selemchid means “swordsmen” in Mongolian.

Traits

• This unit has high attack and is capable in sustained melee combat.
• Charge has a short cooldown, enabling lots of movement across the battlefield.
• Health is exceptional but defence is weak and this unit has a hard time dealing with arrow attacks.

Tseregs (Tier 4, melee)

“Tsereg” is Mongolian for “soldier” or “warrior”.

Traits

• This unit has high health and damage but low defence.
• Can use Swift Blades and Wolf Blades.
• Sabre Dance: Quick attack speed. Can attack two targets.
• Wolf Blades: Attacks can pierce armour and inflict bleeding.

Khevtuul Cavalry (Tier 4, mounted)

The Khevtuuls were the nighttime bodyguards of the emperor, counterparts to the Kheshigs.

• Traits
• This heavily-armoured unit has relatively low attack and movement speed.
• Can charge when wielding sabers.
• Can fire while charging when arrows are equipped. Launches a rain of arrows while riding in a charge formation.

Kheshigs (Tier 5, mounted)

Kheshigs were the daytime bodyguards to the Great Khan, a counterpart to the Khevtuuls

Traits

• Attacks with two sabers.
• Heavy blade riders with high attack and long charge cooldowns.
• Can launches a flurry of skills. The blades slash alternately, with explosive melee damage.
• Immune to control effects. Has high melee defence and low ranged defence.
• When charging, upon reaching a destination, can charge again toward a hero and inflict 50% damage.

The MY.GAMES Market is your one-stop shop for Conqueror’s Blade content at amazing prices. To celebrate the launch of our new storefront, we’re offering discounts on the best in-game Attire throughout December in the MY.GAMES Market Winter Sale!

A new trio of Attire Sets are available for purchase starting today. Save an irresistible 25% on:

• Chivalric Horse Attire:Knightly armor worthy of the most gallant steeds.
• Vadász CorpsUnit Attire: Equipped with this elite armor, your soldiers will hunt down the enemy without hesitation and mercy.
• AswaranHero Attire: This armor was worn by a noble cavalry that was once the cornerstone of a mighty empire.

The Chivalric Horse Attire, Vadász Corps Unit Attire, and Aswaran Hero Attire will be available from the MY.GAMES Market from December 16th at 00:01 CET until December 22nd at 23:59 CET (3pm PST)[/b][/b].

Attire for Heroes, Horses and Units in Conqueror’s Blade is purely cosmetic, and does not grant additional bonuses or advantages during gameplay. It just looks really, really cool.

This week we announced Wrath of the Nomads, reintroduced White Elk Fort and kicked off new contests and discounts - all of which are detailed in the moving picture below. Note that this will be the last video round-up of 2019, so you’ll have to try to keep abreast of the news all on your own for the next couple of weeks. We have faith in you - you got this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSy-cUjRsPw