Aug 8, 2023

Predecessor - Omeda Kari

Ready yourself, Champions! Zarus is coming in V0.10!

Zarus of course is our second original Hero after Kira and a devastating bruiser who marries deft agility with raw and limitless power. Internally we’re thrilled with how he’s come out and we can’t wait for you to get your hands on him!

For those of you who haven’t already skipped ahead to read about his abilities, this game update also brings some fairly hefty improvements to the way ability descriptions are showcased in game!

We won’t keep you any longer, pick up a spear and let’s leap into battle!

~ Kari, Senior Community Manager

Zarus seeks out a new challenge!

The mighty Zarus, Champion of Nyr and blessed by the God of the Senezani, roars into combat!

A ferocious warrior with an insatiable appetite for power and glory, Zarus dominates the battlefield in his quest for godhood!

Watch Zarus In Action!

In case it Evaded you, now’s a good chance to catch up on our Zarus Ability Overview video!

Abilities:

Gladiator [Passive]:
Upon entering combat, gain a stack of Gladiator when dealing damage with basic attacks or abilities to enemy Heroes or Monsters, stacking up to 8 times. Each stack grants 1% increased physical power.

After exiting combat, stacks will fall off over 5s, restoring 0.5/1/2/3% (levels 1/6/11/16) of Zarus’ maximum health per stack consumed.

Thrust [LMB]:
Cleave: 10%
Range: 375
Effect: Melee basic attack dealing 54 (+80% Bonus Physical Power) physical damage.

Barricade [Q]:
Cooldown: 22/20.5/19/17.5/16
Cost: 80
Effect: Unfold your shield for 1.75s, reducing incoming damage by 60/65/70/75/80%. Upon recasting or after the duration, swing the shield dealing 55/75/95/115/135 (+100% Bonus Physical Power) physical damage, increasing up to 110/150/190/230/270 (+200% Bonus Physical Power) based on duration, and Stunning targets hit for 0.5s.

Evade [E]:
Cooldown: 16/15/14/13/12
Cost: 40
Effect: Dash in your current movement direction, gaining 15% movement speed for 1.5s and 20% Attack Speed for 4s.

Spear of Nyr [RMB]:
Cooldown: 12/11.5/11/10.5/10
Cost: 30
Effect: Channel to throw a spear, dealing 70/100/130/160/190 (+110% Bonus Physical Power) physical damage to targets hit. Releasing within 0.3s will thrust the spear forward, dealing the same damage and refunding half the cooldown.

Damage increases by 100% against targets below 20% maximum health. Deals 75% damage to Minions.

Coliseum [R]:
Cooldown: 120/100/80
Cost: 100
Effect: Leap at an Enemy Hero, dealing 150/235/320 (+150% Bonus Physical Power) physical damage. A large Coliseum is summoned for 6s and the bonus from Gladiator is doubled.

If the target is killed within the duration you will permanently gain 6/8/10 Physical Power. You may recast this ability to end it early.

New Skin - Warlord Zarus

Not all gods have to be pleasant. It’s time to show your merciless side.

Show your deific might with the new Warlord Zarus skin [Rare], our first skin with additional visual effects! Find it in store in V0.10!

Updated Hero Ability Descriptions:

Hero ability descriptions have had a glow up! All of the important text you need to know is now colour-coded, with each of the ability’s properties having its own bulleted line. It’s never been easier to follow along with what each ability is doing for you!

It’s not just abilities though! Attack speed, critical chance and damage are now also shown on basic attacks.

And, as a final bonus, we’ve also calculated the total amount of damage each ability deals, meaning you no longer have to do advanced maths on the fly. Neat!

Countess’s reliance on acquiring passive stacks to succeed in a match is a double-edged sword. It means she tends to function less reliably in low-kill games while conversely has the potential to snowball out of control and become a healing menace should she “feast” too heavily on her opponents. Stripping back on the Magical Lifesteal available in her Passive and redistributing it into her Ultimate will ensure Countess is less tied to her early kills to thrive, and won’t run rampant quite as easily, especially when building tanky.

Blood Tithe [Passive]:

◆ Magical Lifesteal per stack decreased from 1.5% to 1%.

Eventide [E]:

◆ Damage increased from 80/120/160/200/240 to 85/125/165/205/245.

Feast [R]:

◆ Percent Healing increased from 45% to 50%.

Gadget possesses an incredible amount of hidden utility due to the amount of Magical Armour Shred present on her Ultimate, which frequently enables heavy Magical Damage compositions to succeed beyond the norm. Like Drongo before her, we’re stripping back the Shred Duration to ensure its strength is isolated more to Gadget’s individual burst rather than her team, while also shifting some strength away from spammable waveclear and into her Sticky Mine to better reward her for singling out a target.

Sticky Mine [Q]:

◆ Magical Power Scaling increased from 70% to 75%.

Seek & Destroy [RMB]:

◆ Cooldown increased from 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 to 12/11.5/11/10.5/10.

Tesla Dome [R]:

◆ Shred duration decreased from 5s to 3s.

The ‘Stone hasn’t been quite living up to his potential as of late, especially in the Offlane where he loses out to many opponents and struggles to come online. To help give him an edge, we’re bumping up his general strength in the early game to help him hold his own in lane, while also doubling down on his unique capability to block-basic attack by bolstering his Deflect capabilities in the late game.

General:

◆ Base Health increased 620 to 645.

Stoicism [Passive]:

◆ Deflect Cooldown decreased from 15-6.5 (-0.5 per level) to 15-4.8 (-0.6 per level).

Make Way [Q]:

◆ Damage increased from 70/115/160/205/250 to 75/120/165/210/255.
◆ Cooldown decreased from 16/14.5/13/11.5/10 to 14/13/12/11/10.

Assault The Gates [RMB]:

◆ Damage increased from 90/135/180/225/270 to 100/145/190/235/280.
◆ Camera can now be rotated after casting.

More early boom for the R2000 missile, at the expense of some early Mana pool to ensure Howitzer doesn’t feel overly welcome in the Support role now that he’s bringing some extra heat to the early game.

General:

◆ Base Health decreased from 610 to 600.
◆ Base Mana decreased from 520 to 440.
◆ Mana Growth increased from 38 to 43.

R2000 Missile [Q]:

◆ Damage increased from 70/120/170/220/270 to 90/135/180/225/270.

Belica has been finding a little too much success lately, largely due to the pairing of her early lane pressure and late-game Stun capabilities. With less value coming from Missing Mana damage on early Neural Disruptors, enemy Mages will now feel less overwhelmed in the laning phase when at a Mana deficit. Likewise, a single Stun will now be slightly less of a death sentence after Belica achieves rank five, nudging down her late-game efficacy.

Seismic Assault [Q]:

◆ Innovation Stun duration decreased from 1.6s to 1.45s.

Void Drone [E]:

◆ Gold when destroyed increased from 10 to 20.

Neural Disruptor [R]:

◆ Damage increased from 150/225/300 to 170/235/300.
◆ Enemy Missing Mana damage decreased from 0.5/0.55/0.6 to 0.4/0.5/0.6.

The jolly Orc has proved too potent as of late. With high base damage and the ability to heal up any poke with a beat of his drum, punishing Narbash is a difficult task. To reduce his overall efficacy, we’re shifting some of his damage values to create more of a tradeoff between Tank and Enchanter itemisation, while taking a small chunk out of his early healing capabilities. Oh and there’s a Cleave buff too! If you know, you know...

General:

◆ Basic Attack Cleave increased from 10% to 20%.

Song Of My People [E]:

◆ Healing per Rhythm stack decreased from 0.3/0.35/0.4/0.45/0.5 to 0.2/0.25/0.3/0.35/0.4.
◆ Bugfix: Healing per Rhythm stack now correctly increases with rank.

Thunk [RMB]:

◆ Base Damage decreased from 90/130/170/210/250 to 90/125/160/195/230.
◆ Magical Power Scaling increased from 50% to 70%.

Crash Bang Boom [R]:

◆ Damage decreased from 200/300/400 to 180/270/360.
◆ Magical Power Scaling increased from 60% to 85%.

Revenant receives a lot of early upfront power from his passive, allowing him to overly stat-check others in lane should he get even a small gold lead. By shifting the curve of his bonus power gain from his Passive and redistributing some of his Obliterate damage into Scaling, Rev’ should prove to be a little less oppressive at his 1-item spike.

Bounty Hunter [Passive]:

◆ Base Physical Power Amplification at levels 1-18 decreased from 5.75%-10% to 1.5%-10%.

Obliterate [Q]:

◆ Damage Decreased from 40/60/80/100/120 to 40/55/70/85/100.
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 40% to 45%.

A quick bump in Mana Economy for the Reaper. In short, heavy Siphon use in lane will result in 1 or 2 less casts before a recall, ensuring a fairer trade off in early efficacy for Sevarog given the scaling he possesses.

General:

◆ Base Mana Regeneration increased from 1.1 to 1.3.

Siphon [Q]:

◆ Mana Cost increased from 25 to 30.

For this pass, we’re pushing The Fey’s damage profile away from relying on heavy Stun lock in favour of providing more raw burst potential. This should better enable her to blow up a target (or five) single-handedly with a well timed Ultimate, but leave her opponents more room for recovery and response should they survive the initial burst now that the Stun is less potent.

FlyTrap [R]:

◆ Damage increased from 200/275/350 to 200/300/400.
◆ Stun Duration decreased from 1.4s to 1s.
◆ Magical Power Scaling increased from 50% to 60%.

TwinBlast is still overperforming in a few areas. For starters, Vortex Grenades are a little too effective in the later stages of the lane and could use a hit to their damage to bring them in line. On the other hand, Ventilate is a huge point of contention for many and can prove oppressive, especially in Deathstalker builds. However, now that Deathstalker has received a rework, we’ve chosen to hold off on any additional adjustments to Ventilate while we wait for the dust to settle.

General:

◆ [Bugfix] Magical Armor Growth increased from 0.5 to 0.9.

Vortex Grenade [RMB]:

◆ Damage increased from 20/35/50/65/80 to 25/40/55/70/85.
◆ Total Physical Power Scaling decreased from 100% to 90%.

T2:

Crimson Edge:

A slight bump in early lifesteal to facilitate those that need some early healing.
‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Lifesteal increased from 5% to 6%.

Rapid Rapier:

A quick drop in physical penetration to resolve recipe issues.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Physical Penetration decreased from 5 to 4.

Crests:

Obelisk:

Obelisk’s ability to turn its wielder, be they Mage or Tank, into a burst Mage veers away from the core identity of the item as a scaling option for Magical users and results in too much strength. We’re shifting some of its damage potential away from Soul stacking and further into its magical power scaling to ensure the overall damage output of Condemn is more reasonable, and more tailored to those that build for damage.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Condemn Base Damage decreased from 80 to 70.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Condemn Damage per Soul decreased from 15 to 12.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Condemn Magical Power Scaling increased from 20% to 25%.

Assassin:

Included within this section are 3 Assassin item reworks: Deathstalker, Dread and Nightfall.

These are described below in further detail, but the goal with these items is to provide clearer thematic options in the form of a new Attack Speed option, Anti-Magic option and Sustain option; which are not just viable for the Assassin class itself, but also creating new build possibilities for Fighters and Carries alike.

Deathstalker [Reworked]:

Deathstalker provided an extra Percent Shred option that doubled up damage against both Tanks and squishies alike, providing too much damage output for those few Heroes that could use it and being especially abusive when stacked with other means of Percent Penetration.

We’ve opted to rework it into an Attack Speed-orientated choice, better facilitating new build combinations that wish to blend high Attack Speed with the Assassin playstyle, whether that’s with Feng Mao, a wild Grux, or even a Rad Rounds slinging Drongo.

NEW:
◆ Item Type: Physical Shred/Attack Speed
◆ Cost: 3100
◆ Physical Power: 40
◆ Physical Penetration: 8
◆ Attack Speed: 18
◆ Recipe: Rapid Rapier + Honed Kris + 650g
◆ Virulent Strikes: Basic Attacks against Enemy Heroes shred 2 physical armor for 3s, stacking up to 5 times.
◆ Onslaught: Gain Attack Speed equal to 70% of your Physical Penetration.

OLD:
◆ Item Type: Physical Shred
◆ Cost: 3100
◆ Physical Power: 45
◆ Physical Penetration: 10
◆ Ability Haste: 10
◆ Recipe: Honed Kirs + Ruthless Broadsword + 550g
◆ Corrode: Dealing damage to an Enemy Hero reduces their physical armor by 4% for 3s. Stacking up to 6 times.
◆ Virulence: Your abilities deal 25% bonus physical damage against Targets with 6 stacks of Corrode.

Dread [Reworked]:

While enjoyed by many, Dread provided too many benefits as a standalone item. Not only did it serve as an anti-magic option via statline, but it also granted Health sustain, Mana sustain and mobility, all while granting a reset condition that blurs the lines with Draconum. Having so many functions within a single item bloated its utility, frequently making it an optimal pickup in the vast majority of cases and best in slot, while also overlapping thematically with other items, thus convoluting the item set.

To help keep Dread more focused, we’re repurposing it into a strictly anti-magical burst option, usable by anyone seeking some extra damage and looking to dive into the magical fray.

[NEW]:
◆ Item Type: Anti-Magic
◆ Cost: 3,000
◆ Physical Power: 40
◆ Physical Penetration: 10
◆ Magical Armor: 30
◆ Recipe: Honed Kris + Nullifying Mask + Sabre + 600g
◆ Sinister Shield: Upon receiving magical damage from an Enemy Hero, block 25% of all incoming magical damage for 3s. Sinister Shield regenerates after not receiving damage from Heroes for 20s.
◆ Scourge: While Sinister Shield is available, gain 20 bonus physical power.

[OLD]:
◆ Item Type: Anti-Magic
◆ Cost: 3000
◆ Physical Power: 40
◆ Physical Penetration: 8
◆ Magical Armor: 30
◆ Base Mana Regeneration: 150%
◆ Recipe: Honed Kris + Sabre + Polar Treads + 350g:
◆ Voracity: Killing an Enemy Target restores 5% of your missing health, increased to 20% for Enemy Heroes.
◆ Celerity: Gain 10% bonus movement speed out of combat.

Nightfall [Reworked]:

Nightfall’s isolate/splitpush condition did not translate well into the 3D space with its previous implementation, and saw little play as a result. In a bid to revitalise the item and redefine it now that Deathstalker is better occupying the Attack Speed niche, we’re doubling down on Nightfall as an alternative Sustain tool.

[NEW]:
◆ Item Type: Sustain
◆ Cost: 2800
◆ Physical Power: 35
◆ Physical Penetration: 12
◆ Lifesteal: 8%
◆ Recipe: Honed Kris+ Crimson Edge + 850g
◆ Eclipse: Abilities heal for 5% of damage dealt to Enemy Heroes.
◆ Blood Moon: While below 40% maximum health, Eclipse’s healing increases to 10%.

[OLD]:
◆ Item Type: Dueling
◆ Cost: 2800
◆ Physical Power: 45
◆ Physical Penetration: 12
◆ Recipe: Honed Kris+ Honed Kris + 750g
◆ Eclipse: Dealing damage to an Isolated Enemy Hero grants 10% attack speed and 10 ability haste for 5s, stacking up to 3 times. At maximum stacks, gain 8% omnivamp.

The Perforator:

A quick shift in stats to make Perforator more Haste heavy, better rounding out builds when it is picked up and differentiating it further from Demolisher.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Cost decreased from 3300 to 3200.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Physical Power decreased from 55 to 45.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Ability Haste increased from 15 to 25.

Mage:

Oathkeeper:

Oathkeeper was needlessly scaling too heavily with Total Physical Power rather than Magical Power, so we’re adjusting its scalings to allow it ramp appropriately with Magical builds.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Total Physical Power Scaling decreased from 60% to 35%.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Magical Power Scaling increased from 50% to 60%.

Support:

Truesilver Bracelet:

Less base shield, more scaling. This will help reduce the efficacy of Truesilver as a first buy (regardless of class) and ensure it scales more sizeably throughout a match.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Reprisal Base Shield decreased from 250 to 200.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Reprisal Bonus Health Scaling increased from 15% to 20%.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Reprisal Shield Duration decreased from 5s to 4s.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ Reprisal Damage decreased from 60% to 50%.

◆ Fixed a bug where Frostguard’s stacks would immediately be removed if the enemy walked outside the Aura.
◆ Fixed an error with Frostguard’s Item type. No longer states “Slowing Aura”.
◆ Fixed a bug where Mutilator’s enhanced ability proc would not scale down with On-Hit modifiers.
◆ Fixed a bug where Mutilator’s Mutilate passive would not correctly deal double damage when using On-Hit Abilities.
◆ Fixed a bug where Tectonic Mallet would cause Physical Power to be lost while Slowed.
◆ Fixed a bug with Cleaver’s shockwave VFX being larger than intended.
◆ Fixed a bug where Vanquisher would grant additional Malady stacks on kill.
◆ Fixed a bug where Feng Mao’s Ultimate Execute would not count as Ability Damage for certain item effects (such as Malady and Draconum).
◆ Fixed a bug where Murdock’s Stimpack would not display its increasing Mana Cost on level up.

◆ Fixed a bug where Terminus cost 50 gold less than intended.
◆ Fixed a bug causing Truesilver Bracelet’s explosion to deal more damage than intended.
◆ Fixed a bug where Draconum could stack with items in unintended ways.
◆ Fixed a bug where Dusk Minions could get stuck near Inhibitor ledges.
◆ Fixed a bug where players could stand on top of a tree in the Red Jungles.
◆ Fixed a bug where TwinBlast could use a rock to enable dashing up into Mid from River.
◆ Fixed a bug where Monsters would not always play impact SFX when hitting Heroes.
◆ Fixed an issue causing Tower Immune SFX to be too loud.
◆ Fixed a bug where TwinBlast would not show Cooldown notifications when trying to cast Vortex Grenades with no charges.
◆ Fixed a bug where Phase's Energy Lance [E] would pass through Steel's Force Shield [E].

That's all this week!

Let us know what you think of this update over on Twitter, the official Subreddit or our Discord server!

Aug 8, 2023

Dev Diary #133 - Wet Nurses

Crusader Kings III - PDX-Trinexx

Hello everyone! This is my first time writing a dev diary and I want to share with you almost everything I worked on for Wards and Wardens. Let’s set the stage first: you are a ruler and your seed is stronger than ever, flourishing with your many offspring. Children play and run around all over your court, but you have more pressing matters to attend to! Perhaps the mother of your children has become incapable, unable to provide milk for your infants. Who are you gonna call? Wet nurses, of course!

► Discuss Dev Diary #133 on our forums!

Wet Nurse

Historically, a Wet Nurse was a woman of the court charged with the care of infants in need of breastfeeding, for whatever reason there might be. However, the position evolved over time and, in some circles, the wet nurse became an integral part of the family. She might care for older children and become an influential advisor, or even a second mother. Strong bonds were created not only between wet nurse and child, but also between children that were nurtured by the same nurse. Such children were called suckling siblings and were treated on the same level as blood siblings.

[Decision to search for a suitable candidate for Wet Nurse Court Position]

In the game, the Wet Nurse is represented as a Court Position. A child ruler, a ruler with children or one holding children hostage can hire a suitable woman as a Wet Nurse. In return, she provides illness resistance to children of the court and will inform her employer about significant milestones in childhood development, like a wee one’s first spoken words or first fallen teeth.

[Example of childhood development event: first fallen teeth]

Who can become a Wet Nurse, you may ask? Any able woman that has no particular noble roots. In history, these were commoners from the court: widowed mothers or just those in need of another source of income.

[Wet Nurse Court Position tooltip]

[Wet Nurse aptitude tooltip]

Rites of Passage

As part of our focus on children in this Event Pack, we pay some attention to the moment they become adults. Changing your societal status in such a way is a big deal even today, as seen in school graduations, specific birthdays and religious thresholds. Usually, this transition is signified by a ceremony or a ritual. I decided to look into tribal rites of passage and ended up with a decision, an amalgamation of different rituals from all over the world, with the most common or interesting rituals selected to represent the practice.

[Rites of Passage decision window]

Possible rites:

Duel: using the existing duel combat system, the child has to fight against an adult from the same culture
Scarification: a facial ravaging that may result in the Scarred trait
Seclusion: using the travel system, the child ventures into the wild on their own and comes back wiser and more worldly
Hair-shaving: similar to the halq in Islam, the child sacrifices their fair hair for adulthood
Elemental Cleansing: a baptism by either water or fire

[Rites of Passage: fire cleansing ritual]

This decision is available for any landed tribal teenager or any landed tribal parent/warden of a teenager. So it is possible to welcome your feudal hostages into your tribe and make them go through the rites. Three of the rite types will be available, the selection determined by the ruler’s cultural ethos. Each has a different effect on a child's personality, their skills, and more.

[Rites of Passage setup event: choosing a ritual]

A Guardian’s Influence on their Ward’s Personality

Have you ever felt that being a guardian offers little impact on the personality traits of your ward? Well, not anymore! The guardian now has access to an interaction which allows them to choose one of their own personality traits and try to push it onto the ward. The interaction is available for the player as well as an AI guardian, so choose them wisely! Otherwise, your sadistic, shy or paranoid guardian might just pass on their vile traits to your precious genius heir. This interaction is even available for wardens, letting them influence their child-age hostages.

[Example of a successful Influence Ward’s Personality interaction for the shy trait]

[Example of a failed Influence Ward’s Personality interaction for the callous trait]

The outcome is decided by the child, so the bulk of it is left to whatever RNG gods you believe in. However, the more alike the ward is to the guardian, the more likely the brainwashing is to succeed.

[Influence Ward’s Personality interaction window and acceptance tooltip]

All features mentioned above are part of the Event Pack “Wards & Wardens”. Next week will be the last DD before the release! In it, we will cover our new, beautiful art and animations.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2313541/Crusader_Kings_III_Wards__Wardens/

Join the conversation and connect with other Paradox fans on our social media channels! Official Forums Official Discord Steam Discussions Twitter Facebook Instagram Youtube