Peter Molyneux is back, this time with a new god game called Masters of Albion that he’s talking up at gamescom 2024. Sound familiar? Anyone who’s played Fable, one of the many games from Molyneux’s much-loved back catalog, will know Albion well.

Albion is the setting for the Fable series, originally developed by legendary UK studio Lionhead before Microsoft shut it down in 2016. Microsoft is currently working on a brand new Fable game, in development at Forza Horizon maker Playground. So, is Masters of Albion a Fable game?

In a new interview with IGN, Molyneux explained his thought process:

“So Albion is the old English name for England and Wales and Cornwall. And I think it's a really interesting world. It's an interesting universe that Fable touched upon and really I think Albion in Masters of Albion, it extends and expands that, but it's not actually Fable 5 or anything like that.

“But if you've played Fable, then definitely Masters of Albion will be familiar to you. One of the things that we have got and we absolutely wanted a nail was the humor and a lot of what the humor is. I think in the Fable games, it's not so much about telling jokes, it's more about giving you the ability, the player, to do ridiculous and funny things. And we've got that in Masters of Albion in absolute spades really. I think we're really nail that.

“So there's a lot you can do with your hero, which is very funny. Some of it can be very cruel, some of it can be very kind. There's a lot you can do with your hand that can be kind and cruel. And I really love the detail that we can go into.”

IGN followed up to ask, directly, whether the Albion in Masters of Albion is the Albion players have explored in the Fable games.

Molyneux replied:

“Yes, yes. Fable was set in Albion, Masters of Albion is set in Albion.”

But how? Surely Microsoft might have something to say if Masters of Albion is set in the Albion from Fable?

Molyneux said Albion as a setting doesn’t belong to anyone.

“Albion is like saying if you set a game in America, you can't set any other game in America,” he said. “So Albion can't be copyrighted. It's the name for England and Wales and that's how we get away with it.”

It sounds like the Albion in Masters of Albion isn’t exactly the Albion in Fable, then, rather yet another humor-filled fantasy take on old England.

Speaking of Fable, we asked Molyneux how it feels to see another company make a Fable game, following Lionhead’s demise.

“I'm fascinated to see what Playground does with Fable,” he replied. “I'm absolutely delighted that the franchise is continuing to grow. I mean, that makes me so proud, to be involved with the brilliant people that made Fable and we made something that was worthy for someone as brilliant as Playground to make it.

“I hope they make it their Fable. I hope they keep the humor, the trailers that I've seen so far look stunning. But I'm curious about the gameplay and I'm curious about what their Fable looks like and plays like and feels like, as opposed to what Lionhead would look like and feel like. What an incredibly diplomatic answer that was!”

The First Berserker: Khazan appeared at gamescom 2024 kick-off show Opening Night Live to reveal details of a technical closed beta test on console ahead of the game’s early 2025 release date.

The new trailer, showcased during ONL, is below:

The First Berserker: Khazan is described as a “hardcore action role-playing game” with a 3D cel animation graphical style and a dark fantasy setting. The developer is Neople, which is behind the enormously popular multiplayer beat ‘em-up Dungeon Fighter Online, known in South Korea as Dungeon & Fighter. Indeed, The First Berserker: Khazan is set in the DNF universe. Fighting game DNF Duel is similarly set in the DNF universe. The publisher is Nexon, the company behind recently released looter shooter The First Descendant.

The technical closed beta test is set for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X from October 11- 20. Expect a release on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S at some point in early 2025.

Here’s the official blurb:

The player will become Khazan, the great general of the Pell Los Empire, who overcame death and sets out to reveal the incidents that led to his downfall and seek vengeance on his enemies. Survive the relentless pursuit of imperial forces, navigate conspiracies aimed at killing Khazan and overcome the harsh environments encountered.

Catch up on everything announced at Opening Night Live via our round-up.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Meta Quest 3-exclusive VR game Batman: Arkham Shadow now has a gameplay trailer, courtesy of an appearance during Opening Night Live at gamescom 2024.

The gameplay video, below, shows off combat that will be familiar to fans of the Arkhamverse games, retooled to work in virtual reality. We see punching, gliding, grappling, stealth takedowns, as well as Batman’s famous Detective Vision, all displayed in first-person for a VR headset.

Batman: Arkham Shadow is a new entry in the Arkham series made famous by developer Rocksteady, and is developed exclusively for Meta Quest 3 by Camouflaj and Oculus Studios. Arkham Shadow is a prequel to 2009’s groundbreaking Arkham Asylum, and takes place between the events of 2013’s Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum.

Fittingly, Origins voice actor Roger Craig Smith reprises the Batman role here. This is a younger Batman than the one seen in the main Arkham trilogy, but more seasoned than the relative rookie hero we saw in Arkham Origins. This Batman takes on the Rat King, a “dangerous new criminal with a cultish following.”

We also have the full cast reveal: Troy Baker as Harvey Dent; Tara Strong as Dr. Harleen Quinzel; Mark Rolston as James Gordon; Khary Payton as Otis Flannagan; Earl Baylon as Lyle Bolton; Chelsea Kane as Barbara Gordon; and Martin Jarvis as Alfred Pennyworth.

“Experience the origins of these legendary characters — and discover which (if any) of them turn villain before the credits roll,” Meta teased. Batman: Arkham Shadow also has a slightly narrowed release window of October 2024.

For more, check out IGN’s extensive Batman: Arkham Shadow - 5 Details We Found In the New Trailer feature. And be sure to check out our Opening Night Live 2024 roundup to see what else was at the show.

Batman: Arkham Shadow is of course set to launch after Rocksteady's own Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a controversial Arkhamverse live-service looter shooter that flopped to the tune of $200 million.

While publisher Warner Bros. has said Rocksteady will release Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's first year of post-launch content, it has yet to announce the studio's next game. According to Bloomberg, staff at the studio are currently working on a director’s cut of the phenomenally successful Hogwarts Legacy, while leadership pitches a return to single-player following this live service misstep.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Sid Meier's Civilization 7 appeared during Opening Night Live to help kick off gamescom 2024 with a first-look gameplay trailer and a release date.

Firaxis’ strategy sequel launches February 11, 2025 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam, with the deluxe edition including five days of early access (what amounts to an effective release date of February 6).

Based on the new trailer, Civilization 7 features a more grounded art style than the divisive Civilization 6 look. We loved Civilization 6 when it came out back in 2016, saying it would "go down in history as the most fully-featured launch version in the series." Though the series has changed leadership hands a number of times over the years, it remains beloved and successful. In fact, the first human equipped with a Neuralink brain implant apparently stayed up all night playing Civilization 6 with the technology.

Be sure to check out IGN’s Opening Night Live roundup to see everything announced during the show.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Bethesda recently added a 60 frames per second option to Starfield on Xbox Series X but left the Xbox Series S version out in the cold. Thankfully modders have stepped in to save the day, as they so often do.

As verified by the tech wizards at Digital Foundry, Starfield on the less-powerful Xbox Series S can now be played at 30fps thanks to mods (search for ‘Series S' under the mod menu). Using mods, Digital Foundry found Starfield on Xbox Series S hit a baseline of 60fps even on challenging GPU-limited areas of the game, such as heavily populated cities, with some less-demanding areas rising to 90fps.

However, it’s worth noting that playing Starfield on Xbox Series S in this way drops the resolution to 1280x720 from 1600x900. "We seem to be finding the limits of FSR 2 upscaling quality, with some ugly artefacting," Digital Foundry reports. "Even so, you are getting a viable performance mode — it's just that the trades are far more obvious to the eye than the Series X version."

The inevitable next question is that if modders can get Starfield running at 60fps, why hasn’t Bethesda? Digital Foundry said the reduced resolution that comes with such improved frame-rate performance means “Starfield simply isn't a particularly attractive game at this point.” Bethesda, Digital Foundry suggests, may not feel this trade-off presents Starfield in as good a light as it requires.

Starfield’s performance on Xbox Series S may not be front of mind for Bethesda in any case. Last week, Bethesda Game Studios chief Todd Howard responded to a backlash over Starfield paid mods, confirming the developer would take a look at its pricing model for Creations content.

On Steam, Starfield’s recent user review rating fell to ‘Mostly Negative’ after disgruntled players hit out at Bethesda for charging $7 for a single Starfield mission. The second mission of the recently released Trackers Alliance is only available as a Starfield Creation and costs $7, or 700 credits.

Looking further ahead, Howard has confirmed plans to release a second story expansion for Starfield following this year’s Shattered Space, and commented on the long development of The Elder Scrolls 6.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Fallout New Vegas, Grounded, and Pentiment developer Obsidian has responded to a question about the ongoing comparisons between its next game, Avowed, and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim by pointing to another of its previous games: The Outer Worlds.

In an interview with Game Informer, game director Carrie Patel was asked if Obsidian embraces comparisons to Skyrim or pushes against them. Patel replied by failing to namecheck Bethesda’s all-conquering fantasy role-playing game, instead suggesting fans should think about sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds instead.

“I think the best comparison is The Outer Worlds,” Patel insisted. “I think that gives a much clearer idea of the scope of the game and also the design and layout. Like The Outer Worlds, Avowed has a series of open zones that are connected and unlock over the course of the game, rather than one giant map that you can walk through from beginning to end. And yeah, in terms of the kind of the quest structure, the narrative structure, it's a lot closer to The Outer Worlds, as well.”

This tallies with previous comments from Obsidian staff about Avowed, which takes place in the same universe as the developer’s own fantasy role-playing game Pillars of Eternity. In June 2023, Obsidian boss Feargus Urquhart told PC Gamer the studio’s initial pitch was for Avowed to be a bigger, sprawling open-world fantasy role-playing game like Skyrim, but it ended up being smaller scale.

You can see why some would compare Avowed to Skyrim, though. Avowed is a first-person (although it can also be played in third-person) fantasy RPG with monsters and lots of magical combat. At face value, it has similar first-person melee and magic battles, with the character dual-wielding weapons and spells. There are dialogue choices to make, too, although you can't romance your companions.

In the same Game Informer interview, gameplay director Gabe Paramo answered the Skyrim comparison question directly, saying: “My opinion on that is I don't love it.”

Paramo continued: “Even as I've learned in my role, comparing two games, even for the team – let's forget the player for a second – even for the team it's hard to say, ‘Use this like this.’ You have to break down the mechanic more because people will grab what mechanics they think you're talking about. Without it, if you're not very clear about what it is specifically, you are trying to be inspired by another game.

“Personally, I don't love it because a lot of players can take whatever they want from those games and go, ‘It's gonna have this and this and this.’ I prefer if we just better just explain what it is our game is doing.”

Earlier this month, Obsidian seemingly accidentally revealed the Avowed release date in a hastily tweaked post on the developer’s website: November 12, 2024. Obsidian, now of course owned by Microsoft, will be at gamescom in August to show Avowed on the Xbox booth.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Blizzard has announced plans to run a second Public Test Realm for action role-playing game Diablo 4, this time for Season 5.

Diablo 4’s first PTR ran in April and let Battle.net PC players play the well-received Season 4 early. Similarly, the Season 5 PTR gives fans a taste of what’s to come June 25 to July 2 for players with a PC Battle.net account only.

“The purpose of the PTR is to test updates and features before the launch of Season 5,” Blizzard said in a blog post. “Then we’ll make adjustments to Season 5 using your feedback before it goes live for everyone. The feedback we receive helps us to fine-tune balance changes, eliminate bugs, and create the best experience possible. Having a PTR gives us a chance to test new systems, and we’re grateful for your time spent playing.”

As for what to expect from the PTR, there’s a new questline that takes place after the events of the main questline and presumably leads into the events of Diablo 4’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, which launches October 8, 2024. “Season 5 features a new story where enemies are cut-down, alliances shift, and unlikely friends emerge from the shadows,” Blizzard teased.

It’s worth noting that you’ll need to head to Hawezar in World Tier 3 and “investigate a disturbance amongst the cityfolk there” in order to trigger the questline. The World Tier 3 requirement means you’ll need to have completed the campaign and crossed over from World Tier 2 by defeating that difficulty’s Cathedral of Light capstone.

Completing this new questline lets you battle the Infernal Hordes, the new gameplay activity coming with Season 5. Infernal Hordes features seemingly endless waves of enemies, which grow more powerful with each passing day. It sounds very much like a Diablo 4 take on a wave-based rogue-lite: the Infernal Hordes is an activity where you slay hordes while earning Burning Aether to unlock powerful weapons and rewards.

Elsewhere, Season 5 introduces new Legendaries, Uniques, and items. There are quality-of-life updates to endgame bosses, too. Diablo 4 Season 5, which does not have a name yet, launches August 6.

Diablo 4 Season 5 PTR Patch Notes:

1.5.0 PTR Build #55051 (PC) - June 25, 2024

GAME UPDATES

New Items and Tempering Recipes

Tempering Recipes

Worldly Finesse - Offensive

• +X% Critical Strike Damage
• +X% Vulnerable Damage
• +X% Overpower Damage
• +X% Ultimate Damage

Unique Items

Unbroken Chain - Amulet

• Casting Steel Grasp reduces Iron Maelstrom’s Cooldown by 5-10 seconds. Enemies damaged by Iron Maelstrom deal 15-30% less damage for 6 seconds.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Forward Momentum - Mobility

• Knocking back an enemy grants 25-40% Movement Speed for 3 seconds.

Tempering Recipes

Slayer's Finesse - Offensive

• Vulnerable Damage
• Bonus Damage against Injured
• Bleeding Damage

Unique Items

Björnfang's Tusks - Unique Gloves

• Cataclysm is now guaranteed to strike anything in range and you deal 40-80%[x] increased damage for the duration of the effect. While Cataclsym is active, you gain unlimited Spirit.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of the Rushing Wilds - Mobility

• Casting a Companion Skill grants 5-15% Movement Speed for 5 seconds, up to 15-45%.

Tempering Recipes

Ultimate Efficiency - Resource

• Cataclysm Cooldown Reduction
• Lacerate Cooldown Reduction
• Petrify Cooldown Reduction
• Grizzly Rage Cooldown Reduction

Unique Items

Path of Trag'Oul - Unique Boots

• Bone Prison traps a larger area and fires 20-35 Bone Splinters at enemies trapped within. Increase your Maximum Essence by 2 for 8 seconds each time these Bone Splinters hit an enemy.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of the Unholy Tether - Mobility

• Casting Golem's active Skill creates a bond between you for 6 seconds. While the bond is active, both of you are Unhindered and gain 25-40% Movement Speed.

Inexorable Reaper's - Mobility

• Sever now dashes you forward to attack instead. It becomes a Mobility Skill and costs no Essence, but has a 22-7 second cooldown.

Aspect of Creeping Mist - Mobility

• Gain 20-35% Evade Cooldown Reduction.
• You can now Evade during Blood Mist, traveling twice as far. Entering or exiting Blood Mist resets your Evade Cooldown.

Imprisoned Spirit's - Offensive

• When Bone Spirit explodes inside a Bone Prison, it explodes an additional time, dealing 40-70% of normal damage.
• Bone Spirit now prioritizes enemies inside a Bone Prison.

Tempering Recipes

Necromancer Wall - Defensive

• Skill Ranks of Necrotic Carapace
• Skill Ranks of Drain Vitality
• Minion Damage Reduction
• Chance for your Minion Attacks to Fortify you for 3% Maximum Life

Unique Items

Shroud of Khanduras – Unique Chest Armor

• Dark Shroud grants Immune for 3 seconds, but your Evade Cooldown is increased by 9-3 seconds. Evading while Dark Shroud is active leaves behind an explosion that deals Shadow damage and pulls in enemies.

Legendary Aspects

Of Nebulous Brews – Mobility

• Using a Healing Potion grants 35-50% Movement Speed for 3 seconds. After moving 30 meters, you spawn a Healing Potion.

Galvanized Slasher's – Resource

• Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy with a Mobility Skill has a 15-30% chance to fully restore your Energy. Your Maximum Energy is increased by 10-25.

Of Iron Rain – Offensive

• Smoke Grenade has a 35-50% chance to create an Arrow Storm where it explodes, dealing Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms continuously apply Vulnerable.

Breakneck Bandit's – Offensive

• Flurry deals 15-30% increased damage and has a 20% chance to Stun enemies for 3 seconds with each hit.

Mired Sharpshooter's – Utility

• Caltrops is now a Marksman Skill that periodically throws 5-20 piercing daggers over its Duration, each dealing Shadow damage and applying Vulnerable for 3 seconds.

Tempering Recipes

Subterfuge Expertise

• Increased Smoke Grenade damage.
• Increased Smoke Grenade Size.
• Increased damage for each Dark Shroud Shadow.
• Increased damage on Next Attack after entering Stealth.

Rogue Persistence

• Increased Maximum Life Percentage gained while Dark Shroud is active.
• Increased Maximum and All Resistance Percentage for 5 Seconds from Health. Potions.
• Increased Skill Ranks of Second Wind.
• Increased Skill Ranks of Aftermath.

Unique Item

Axial Conduit - Unique Pants

• Chain Lightning alternates between orbiting you and seeking up to 3 enemies. When it returns, it drains 6 Mana from you for each active Chain Lightning. After draining 66 total Mana, the bolt explodes for (270%-570%) Lightning damage.
• Chain Lightning expires if you don't have enough Mana for it to drain.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect Of Tenuous Agility

• Gain 5-15% increased Movement Speed. This bonus is doubled if you haven't used a Defensive Skill in 8 seconds.

Aspect Of the Firebird

• Gain the Flame Shield Enchantment for free.
• When Flame Shield activates, Meteorites fall around you dealing (50%-70%) Fire damage.

Lightning Rod Aspect

• Chain Lightning has a 5-20% chance to chain an additional time when hitting Crowd Controlled enemies and Bosses, and will seek them as targets.

Aspect Of Elemental Acuity

• Casting a Pyromancy, Shock, or Frost Skill increases your Mana Regeneration by 10-20% for 5 seconds, once per Element.
• At maximum stacks, the total bonus is increased to 60-120% for 10 seconds, but all stacks expire after the duration.

Aspect Of the Orange Herald

• Lucky Hit: Up to a 5-10% Chance when you damage an enemy with a Skill to reduce the Cooldown of your Ultimate Skill by 2 seconds. Can only happen once per Skill cast.

Tempering Recipes

Discharge - Weapon

• +X% chance to cast an additional Charged Bolt (moved from Shock Augments).
• +X% Teleport size (moved from Shock Augments).
• +X% chance for Arc Lash to swipe twice.

Conjuration - Weapon

• +1-2 Hydra Heads on Cast.
• X% chance for another Ice Blade on Cast.
• X% chance for another Lightning Spear on Cast.

Conjuration Fortune - Utility

• +X% Hydra Lucky Hit Chance.
• +X% Ice Blade Lucky Hit Chance.
• +X% Lightning Spear Lucky Hit Chance.

Elemental Control - Utility

• +X Skill ranks to Convulsions.
• +X Skill ranks to Snap Freeze.
• +X Skill ranks to Crippling Flames.

Existing Tempering Recipe Additions

• +X Skill ranks to Conduction - Added to Sorcerer Motion.
• +X Ice Armor Duration - Added to Frost Cage.

BALANCE UPDATES

General

Skills

Bash

• Adjusted functionality: After bashing enemies 4 times, your next Bash will Clobber, Stunning enemies for 1.5 seconds. Clobber twice as often while using a Two-Handed weapon.
• Enhanced Bash
  • Adjusted functionality: Clobbering an enemy grants you 20% Maximum Life as Fortify.
• Battle Bash
  • Adjusted functionality: Clobbering an enemy generates an additional 10 Fury.

Flay

• Enhanced Flay
  • Vulnerable duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds.
• Combat Flay
  • Damage Reduction increased from 3% to 4%.
  • Maximum stacks increased from 4 to 5.
  • Buff duration increased from 3 to 6 seconds.

Endless Fury

• No longer requires Two-Handed weapons.
• Fury gain from Basic Skills increased from 10/20/30% to 12/24/36%.

Imposing Presence

• Maximum Health reduced from 6/12/18% to 5/10/15%.

Legendary Aspects

Wanton Rupture Aspect

• Frequency increased from every 40-25 seconds to every 30-15 seconds.

Aspect of Grasping Whirlwind

• Now pulls in new targets three times as frequently.

Steadfast Berserker’s Aspect

• No longer requires a Lucky Hit, and now always triggers.

Unique Items

Gohr’s Devasting Grips

• Explosion size is now affected by increases to Whirlwind’s size.

Paragon Nodes

Hemorrhage Legendary Node

• Now bonus Bleeding damage now caps at 45%.

Weapons Master Legendary Node

• Fury gain increased from 4% to 8% of Maximum Fury.

• Passive Rank bonus for Clarity affix added to Amulets.

Skills

Landslide

• Damage per hit of Landslide increased from 37.5% to 70%.
• Damage area increased from 1.5 to 2.
• Doubled the amount of pillars.
• Total damage increased from 70% to 280%.

Shred

• 1st Attack Damage buffed from 28% to 52%.
• 2nd Attack Damage buffed from 39% to 72%.
• 3rd Attack Damage buffed from 77% to 143%.

Pulverize

• Damage buffed from 50% to 92.5%.

Tornado

• Damage buffed from 35% to 65%.

Lightning Storm

• Damage buffed from 40% to 74%.

Hurricane

• Damage buffed from 187% to 346%.

Ravens

• Can now be cast while moving.

Poison Creeper

• Can now be cast while moving.

Lacerate

• Damage area increased from 1 to 2.
• Casting Lacerate now teleports to the target instead of starting at the caster.

Cataclysm

• Lightning Strike rate is doubled.

Grizzly Rage

• Cooldown for this ability now starts after Grizzly Rage ends.
• Previous - Shapeshift into a Dire Werebear for 10 seconds gaining 20%[x] bonus damage and 20% Damage Reduction. Damage bonus is increased by 3% each second while in this form. Kills extend the duration by 1 second up to an additional 5 seconds.
• Now - Shapeshift into a Dire Werebear for 10 seconds gaining 30%[x] bonus damage and 20% Damage Reduction. Damage bonus is increased by 3% each second while in this form, up to a maximum of 75%. Kills extend the duration by 1 second, but the duration cannot go above 10 seconds.

Debilitating Roar

• Damage Reduction decreased from 70% to 40%.

Earthen Bulwark

• Previous – Rocks surround you for 3 seconds, granting a Barrier that absorbs 45% of your Base Life in damage.
• Now – Rocks surround you for 3 seconds, granting a Barrier that absorbs 45% of your Maximum Life in damage.

Cyclone Armor

• Non-Physical Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.

Passives

Shepherd

• Previous – Core and Wrath Skills deal an additional 20% damage for each Companion you have.
• Now – Companion Skills deal an additional 20% damage for each Companion you have.

Skinwalker

• Previous – When you use a Shapeshifting Skill that changes your form, gain 2-5 Life. If you are at full Life, gain the same amount as Fortify.
• Now – When you use a Shapeshifting Skill that changes your form, gain 5-20% Life. If you are at full Life, gain the same amount as Fortify.

Aftershock

• Delay from second set of Landslides slightly decreased.

Lupine Ferocity

• Reduced amount of hits from 6 to 3 to benefit from the effect.

Vigilance

• Damage Reduction increased for each Skill Rank from 5% to 7%.

Iron Fur

• Damage Reduction increased for each Skill Rank from 3% to 4%.

Heightened Senses

• Damage Reduction increased for each Skill Rank from 2% to 3%.

Legendary Aspects

Metamorphic Stone Aspect

• No longer removes Wrath skill tag from Boulder.

Paragon

Thunderstruck Legendary Node

• Now has a maximum bonus capped at 40%.

Human Glyph

• Damage bonus increased from 6.6% to 9.9%.
• Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.

Protector Glyph

• Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.

Werebear Glyph

• Damage bonus increased from 6.6% to 9.9%.
• Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.

Werewolf Glyph

• Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.

Book of the Dead

• Necromancer Minion attacks can now Overpower.
• Minions are now more aggressive and will automatically engage nearby enemies.

Golem

• Active ability - If the Golem is far from the targeted location, it will now leap to the target.
• Iron Golem - Slam size increased by 56%.

Skills

Sever

• Primary damage increased from 80% to 110%.
• Secondary damage increased from 30% to 45%.
• Lucky Hit Chance increased from 20% to 25%.

Blight

• Damage over time increased from 105% to 135%.

Blood Wave

• Damage increased from 150% to 450%.

Passives

Shadowblight

• Hits required reduced from 10 to 8.
• Damage increased from 22% to 44%.

Hellbent Commander

• Previous - Your Minions deal 15/30/45%[x] increased damage while you are Close to them.
• Now - While you control at least 7 Minions, they deal 10/20/30%[x] increased damage.

Legendary Aspects

Blighted Aspect

• Bonus damage after triggering Shadowblight 10 times reduced from 60-120%[x] to 35-50%[x].

Developer’s Note: Blighted Aspect has been a disproportionately large source of damage for Shadowblight based Necromancers, giving far more power than we normally give for a single Aspect. To compensate for this change, we are increasing the baseline power of the Darkness Core Skills and Shadowblight with the goal of keeping these builds at approximately the same overall power level.

Aspect of Bursting Bones

• Bone Prison Burst damage increased from 9-12.2% to 75-120% of Weapon Damage.

Aspect of Empowering Reaper

• Chance for Sever to create Blight increased from 10-25% to 15-30%.
• Blight bonus damage increased from 40-100%[x] to 60-120%[x].

Aspect of Hungry Blood

• Additional Blood Lance damage increased from 33-48% to 40-70%.

Aspect of Grasping Veins

• Critical Strike Chance after casting Corpse Tendrils reduced from 10-25% to 5-20%.
• Critical Strike Damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils reduced from 20-50% to 10-40%.
• Critical Strike Damage bonus now lasts for 6 seconds, rather than indefinitely.

Cadaverous Aspect

• Previous - Consuming a Corpse increases the damage of your next Core Skill by 5-10%[x], up to 25-50%[x].
• Now - Consuming a Corpse increases the damage of your Core Skills by 3.5-6%[x] for 5 seconds, up to 17.5-30%[x].

Torturous Aspect

• Previous - Iron Maiden is now also a Darkness Skill and deals Shadow damage. Enemies afflicted by Iron Maiden have a 10-25% chance to be Stunned for 1 second when they deal direct damage.
• Now - Iron Maiden is now also a Darkness Skill and deals Shadow damage. Enemies have a 10-25% chance to be Stunned for 1 second when they take damage from Iron Maiden.

Unique Items

Blood Moon Breeches

• Bonus Overpower Damage to Cursed enemies increased from 70%[x] to 100%[x].

Cruor's Embrace

• Core Skill Damage Affix replaced with Ranks to Tides of Blood Passive.

Ring of Mendeln

• Lucky Hit Chance Affix replaced with Summoning Skill Damage.

Deathspeaker's Pendant

• Summoning Skill Damage Affix replaced with Movement Speed.

Paragon

Wither Legendary Paragon Node

• Intelligence scaling is now capped at 1200 Intelligence.

• Maximum Arrow Storms increased from 5 to 7.
• Preparation
  • Previous – Every 75 Energy you spend reduces your Ultimate Skill's Cooldown by 5 seconds. Using an Ultimate Skill resets the Cooldowns of your other Skills.
  • Now – Spend 75 Energy to reduce your Ultimate Skill's Cooldown by 5 seconds. Ultimate Skills reset other Cooldowns and grant 15% Damage Reduction for 8 seconds.

Skills

Blade Shift

• Damage increased by 50% (0.2 to 0.3).
• Previous – Quickly stab your victim for damage and shift, allowing you to move freely through enemies for 4 seconds.
• Now – Quickly stab your victim for damage and shift, making you Unhindered for 4 seconds.

Developer’s Note: Unhindered allows you to move through enemies and prevents your Movement Speed from being lowered.

• Fundamental Blade Shift
  • Enemies moved through needed to activate Daze reduced from 5 to 3.
• Primary Blade Shift
  • Control Impairing Effect Duration Reduction increased from 20% to 30%.

Invigorating Strike

• Damage increased by 20%.

Enhanced Twisting Blades

• Return damage bonus increased from 30% to 35%.

Shadow Step

• Damage increased by 11% (0.72 to 0.8).
• Enhanced Shadow Step
  • Previous – Damaging an enemy with Shadow Step increases your Critical Strike Chance against them by 8% for 3 seconds.
  • Now – Damaging an enemy with Shadow Step Dazes and applies Vulnerable to them for 3 seconds.
• Methodical Shadow Step
  • Previous – Enemies damaged by Shadow Step are Stunned for 2 seconds.
  • Now – After Shadow Stepping, you gain 20% Damage Reduction for 3 seconds.
• Disciplined Shadow Step
  • Previous – Shadow Step's Cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds when it damages an enemy you have not hit with Shadow Step in the last 4 seconds.
  • Now – Damaging an enemy with Shadow Step Stuns them for 2 seconds and reduces its Cooldown by 3 seconds.

Dash

• Damage increased by 25% (0.32 to 0.4).
• Additional functionality: Dash Slows enemies hit by 30% for 3 seconds.
• Enhanced Dash
  • Previous – Enemies damaged by Dash take 15% increased Critical Strike Damage from you for 5 seconds.
  • Now – Casting Dash increases your Critical Strike Chance by 10% for 5 seconds.
• Disciplined Dash
  • Previous – Dash Slows enemies it hits by 30% for 3 seconds. Any enemy already Slowed will be Dazed for 2 seconds instead.
  • Now – At the end of Dash, Knock Down surrounding enemies for 2 seconds and deal 350% of its damage to them.
• Methodical Dash
  • Previous – Dealing damage to Crowd Controlled enemies with Dash reduces its Charge Cooldown by 0.5 seconds, up to 4 seconds per cast.
  • Now – Dash has 1 additional Charge and its Charge Cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds.

Flurry

• Lucky Hit Chance increased from 10% to 13%.

Enhanced Flurry

• Previous – Each time Flurry damages a Crowd Controlled or Vulnerable enemy, you are Healed for 1% of your Maximum Life, up to 12% Maximum Life per cast.
• Now – Each time Flurry damages an enemy, it has a 10% chance to apply Vulnerable for 3 seconds and deals 1% increased damage for 5 seconds after hitting a Vulnerable enemy, up to a total of 50%.

Advanced Flurry

• Previous – Evading through an enemy will cause your next Flurry to deal 30% increased damage and Stun enemies hit for 2.5 seconds.
• Now – Successive casts of Flurry increase its damage by 15% and reduce its Energy cost by 10%, up to 3 times.

Improved Flurry

• Previous – Flurry deals 20% increased damage to Vulnerable targets. If Flurry hits any Vulnerable enemy, it will make all enemies hit by that cast Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
• Now – Casting Flurry dashes you to the target and Heals 10% of your Maximum Life.

Caltrops

• Damage increased by 13% (0.4 to 0.45).
• Disciplined Caltrops
  • Critical Strike Chance bonus increased from 5% to 10%.

Dark Shroud

• You can now only lose 1 Dark Shroud shadow every 1.5 seconds.
• Enhanced Dark Shroud
  • Previous – Dark Shroud's shadows have a 14% chance to not be Consumed.
  • Now – Each active Dark Shroud shadow grants you 5% increased Movement Speed and also has a 15% chance to not be Consumed.
• Subverting Dark Shroud
  • Previous – Each active shadow from Dark Shroud grants you 4% increased Movement Speed.
  • Now – You Heal for 10% of your Maximum Life when a Dark Shroud shadow is removed.
• Countering Dark Shroud
  • You only need 1 active shadow to get the bonus Critical Strike Chance instead of 2.
  • Critical Strike Chance increased from 8% to 10%.

Smoke Grenade

• Additional functionality: Smoke Grenade now deals 45% Physical damage, has a 25% Lucky Hit Chance, and its Skill Ranks now give increased damage and Cooldown Reduction.
• Enhanced Smoke Grenade
  • Previous – Enemies affected by Smoke Grenade take 25% increased damage from you.
  • Now – Enemies hit by Smoke Grenade take 25% increased damage from you for 5 seconds.
• Countering Smoke Grenade
  • Previous – Lucky Hit: Dealing direct damage to enemies affected by Smoke Grenade has up to a 25% chance to reduce its Cooldown by 1 second, or by 3 seconds instead if the enemy is Vulnerable.
  • Now – Hitting an Elite or Boss with Smoke Grenade reduces its Cooldown by 5 seconds.
• Subverting Smoke Grenade
  • Previous – If an enemy is Vulnerable, Slowed, or Chilled then Smoke Grenade will Daze them for 20% longer.
  • Now – Smoke Grenade now deals Poison damage and applies another 45% Poisoning damage over 5 seconds.

Poison Imbuement

• Poisoning Duration increased from 5 to 6 seconds.
• Enhanced Poison Imbuement
  • Previous – Poison Imbuement's Poisoning Duration is increased by 1 second.
  • Now – Casting Poison Imbuement generates 30 Energy, increased by 2 for each Nearby Poisoned enemy.

Poison Trap

• Damage increased by 36% (0.11 to 0.15).
• Subverting Poison Trap
  • Poison damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.
• Countering Poison Trap
  • Chance to reset Imbuements increased from 30% to 40%.

Penetrating Shot

• New functionality: Now deals 10% increased damage per enemy it pierces.
• Enhanced Penetrating Shot
  • Previous – Penetrating Shot deals 10% increased damage for each enemy it pierces.
  • Now – Casting Penetrating Shot and hitting a Boss or Elite with it has a 25% Chance to fire an additional shot for free.

Rain of Arrows

• Casting Speed has been increased by 30%.
• Lucky Hit Chance increased from 2% to 4%.
• Cooldown reduced from 55 to 50 seconds.

Passives

Concussive

• Renamed to Unstable Elixirs.
• Previous – After Knocking Back or Knocking Down an enemy, you gain 4% increased Critical Strike Chance for 4 seconds.
• Now – Using a Healing Potion Stuns surrounding enemies for 2 seconds and increases your damage by 6% for 5 seconds.

Rapid Gambits

• Previous – Your Evade Cooldown is reduced by 0.5 seconds when you Daze an enemy.
• Now – Evading through an enemy Dazes them for 2 seconds. Your Evade Cooldown is reduced by 0.25 seconds when you Daze an enemy.

Trick Attacks

• Previous – When you Critically Strike a Dazed enemy they are Knocked Down for 0.5 seconds.
• Now – Dazing or Stunning an enemy increases your Critical Strike Chance by 2% and Critical Strike Damage by 2% for 5 seconds, both up to 12%.

Impetus

• New functionality: Added visuals to show when the effect is ready.
• Previous – After moving 12 meters, your next Non-Basic attack deals 7% increased damage.
• Now – After moving 15 meters, your next Core or Ultimate attack deals 8% increased damage. While the damage bonus remains, your Agility and Subterfuge Skills deal 4% increased damage.

Malice

• Previous – You deal 3% increased damage to Vulnerable enemies.
• Now – You deal 4% increased damage to Vulnerable or Knocked Down enemies.

Alchemical Advantage

• Previous – You gain 1% increased Attack Speed for each enemy you've Poisoned, up to 15%.
• Now – Dealing Poison damage increases your Attack Speed and Lucky Hit Chance by 1% for 8 seconds, up to 5%.

Developer’s Note: The maximum stack potential increases by 5% with each Skill Rank.

Second Wind

• Previous – Every 100 Energy you spend grants you 5% increased Lucky Hit Chance for 5 seconds.
• Now – Every 100 Energy you spend grants 15% of your Maximum Life as a Barrier for 3 seconds.

Aftermath

• Previous – After using an Ultimate Skill, restore 30 Energy.
• Now – While an Ultimate Skill is on your Action Bar, you Heal for 0.5% Maximum Life every second. After using an Ultimate, restore 25 Energy.

Weapon Mastery

• Dagger damage to Healthy enemies increased from 5% to 6%.

Key Passives

Victimize

• The Explosion damage of Victimize has been increased by ~50% to compensate for a bug fix, detailed below.

Momentum

• Previous – Cutthroat Skills grant a stack of Momentum for 8 seconds if they either hit a Stunned, Dazed, or Frozen enemy, or hit any enemy from behind. While at 3 stacks of Momentum you gain 20% increased Damage Reduction, 30% increased Energy Regeneration, and 15% increased Movement Speed.
• Now – Casting a Cutthroat Skill grants a stack of Momentum. Casting a Non-Cutthroat Skill removes a stack of Momentum. For each stack of Momentum, you gain 3% Damage Reduction, 3% Maximum Energy, 3% Energy Regeneration, 3% Movement Speed, up to 30%.

Legendary Aspects

Enshrouding Aspect

• Previous – Gain a free Dark Shroud shadow every 3 seconds when standing still. Each Dark Shroud shadow grants 2.5-4.0% increased Damage Reduction.
• Now – Using a Healing Potion makes a free Dark Shroud shadow. Each shadow grants 2.5-4.0% increased Damage Reduction.

Of Arrow Storms

• Previous – Lucky Hit: Your Marksman Skills have up to a 25% chance to create an Arrow Storm at the enemy's location, dealing Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms deal 30-40% increased damage.
• Now – Lucky Hit: Your Marksman and Cutthroat Skills have up to a 25% chance to create an Arrow Storm at the enemy's location, dealing Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms deal 45-60% increased damage.

Vengeful

• Arrow Storm Damage increased from 25-40% to 45-60%.

Ravager's

• Damage bonus to Shadow Step increased from 2.5-10% to 4.5-12%.

Trickster's

• Previous – Caltrops also throw a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal 25-40% increased damage.
• Now – Caltrops and Smoke Grenade receive Stun Grenade benefits and throw Stun Grenades that deal Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal 25-40% increased damage.

Of Noxious Ice

• Poison damage bonus to Frozen enemies increased from 15-30% to 20-35%.

Of Bursting Venoms

• Toxic Pool Poisoning damage increased by 24%.

Of Volatile Shadows

• Dark Shroud shadow Explosion damage increased by 50%.

Of Stolen Vigor

• Previous – Each stack of the Momentum Key Passive Heals you for Life per second and grants you 5% Damage Reduction.
• Now – While at maximum stacks of the Momentum Key Passive, your Cutthroat Skills deal 20-35% increased damage and you become Unstoppable for 3 seconds every 8 seconds.

Unique Items

Saboteur's Signet

• Previous – Casting Flurry has a 15-30% chance to release Stun Grenades that deal Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Grenade Skills have a 2% Lucky Hit Chance.
• Now – Casting a Core Skill has a 15-30% chance to throw Stun Grenades that deal Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades gain 5% Lucky Hit Chance.

Windforce

• Ranks of Concussive changed to Ranks of Malice.
• Vulnerable Damage changed to Dexterity.
• Previous – Lucky Hit: Hits with this weapon have up to a 30-40% chance to deal double damage and Knock Back the target.
• Now – Barrage has a 30-40% chance to Knock Back or Knock Down enemies with each hit and deal double damage.

Scoundrel's Kiss

• Explosion radius increased by 10%.
• The visual effect for the Physical damage has been improved to be more consistent.

Writhing Band of Trickery

• Decoy Trap damage increased by 8%.

Word of Hakan

• Previous – Your Rain of Arrows is always Imbued with all Imbuements at once.
• Now – Your Rain of Arrows is always Imbued with all Imbuements at once and receives your Arrow Storm benefits.

Paragon

Tricks of the Trade – Legendary Node

• Previous – Your Marksman Skills grant your next Cutthroat Skill 25% increased damage. Your Cutthroat Skills grant your next Marksman Skill 25% increased damage.
• Now – Your Marksman Skills grant your Cutthroat Skills 25% increased damage for 8 seconds. Your Cutthroat Skills grant your Marksman Skills 25% increased damage for 8 seconds.

Cheap Shot – Legendary Node

• Previous – You deal 5% increased damage for each Nearby enemy that is Crowd Controlled, up to 25%.
• Now – You deal 5% increased damage for each Nearby enemy that is Crowd Controlled, up to 25%. A Nearby Staggered Boss provides the maximum bonus.

Exploit Weakness – Legendary Node

• Previous – Whenever you deal damage to a Vulnerable enemy, they take 1% increased damage from you for 6 seconds, up to 25%.
• Now – Lucky Hit: Direct damage to a Vulnerable enemy has up to a 45% chance to increase your damage by 1% for 25 seconds, up to 50%. At 50 stacks, this bonus resets and you Execute all Nearby Non-Boss enemies.

No Witnesses – Legendary Node

• Is now capped at a maximum damage bonus of 35%.

Developer’s Note: This is to compensate for increased sources of Ultimate Skill Damage added to the Rogue Paragon Board this season.

Leyrana's Insinct – Legendary Node

• Is now capped at a maximum damage bonus of 35%.

Culler – Rare Node

• Execute Chance changed to Ultimate Damage.
• Magic Nodes in this cluster that gave Execute Chance now give Ultimate Damage.

Ruin – Rare Node

• Damage to Healthy changed to Ultimate Damage.
• Magic Nodes in this cluster that gave Damage to Healthy now give Ultimate Damage.

• Crackling Energy base damage increased from 20% to 30%.

Skills

Ice Armor

• Max Life Base Shield amount increased from 25% to 40%.
• No longer gains increased Shield based on damage.

Charged Bolts

• Base damage increased from 30% to 38%.
• Enhanced Charged Bolts
  • Explosion damage increased from 150% to 175% of Charged Bolt's damage.

Spark

• Base damage per hit increased from 10% to 12%.
• Enhanced Spark
  • Damage increased from 8% to 10%.
• Glinting Spark
  • Previous: Spark grants 2% increased Critical Strike Chance per cast for 5 seconds, up to 8%.
  • Now: Spark grants 2% increased Critical Strike Chance per cast for 5 seconds, up to 8%. At max stacks, your Spark hits grant 1 Mana.

Blizzard

• Base damage increased from 130% to 150%.
• Enhanced Blizzard
  • Blizzard damage to Frozen enemies increased from 25% to 40%.

Hydra

• Base damage increased from 14% to 16%.
• Summoned Hydra
  • Burn damage increased from 60% to 100%.

Inferno

• Base damage increased by 20%.

Flickering Arc Lash

• Previous: Gain 6% Movement Speed for 5 seconds for each enemy hit with Arc Lash, up to 18%.
• Now: Arc Lash grants 5 Mana if your swipe hits at least one enemy. When you hit 3 or more enemies or a Boss, your next swipe also deals 50% more damage.

Chain Lightning

• Now tracks how many Chain Lightnings are out.
• Greater Chain Lightning
  • Previous: Each time Chain Lightning bounces, it deals 5% increased damage for its duration.
  • Now: Each time Chain Lightning bounces, it deals 10% increased damage for its duration, up to 30%.
• Chain Lightning Enchantment
  • Now has a 4 second Cooldown.
  • No longer tracks Mana or sends out Chain Lightnings if the instance of Mana Drain is from an Auto Cast skill.

Ice Armor

• Max Life Base Shield amount increased from 25% to 40%.
• No longer gains increased Shield based on damage.

Flame Shield

• Cooldown begins when Invulnerability ends.

Enhanced Lightning Spear

• Previous: After Critically Striking, Lightning Spear gains a 5% increased stacking Critical Strike Chance for its duration.
• Now: Casting Lightning Spear spawns an additional Lightning Spear and increases their Critical Strike Chance by 15%.

Wizard's Blizzard

• Previous: While Blizzard is active, your Core Skills cost 20% less Mana.
• Now: While Blizzard is active, you gain 1 Mana Regeneration for every 20 Maximum Mana.

Teleport

• Cooldown increased from 11 to 14.
• Base damage increased from 25% to 35%.

Passives

Convulsions

• Stun chance increased from 5% to 7%.

Crippling Flames

• Immobilize chance increased from 5% to 7%.

Snap Freeze

• Freeze chance increased from 5% to 7%.

Static Discharge

• Chance to spawn Crackling Energy increased from 5% to 6%.

Shocking impact

• Damage for each Rank increased from 40% to 50%.

Combustion

• Base Burning damage increased from 20% to 40%.

Vyr's Mastery

• Previous: Close enemies take 15% increased damage from your Shock Skills and deal 20% less damage to you. Critical Strikes increase these bonuses to 20% and 25% respectively for 3 seconds.
• Now: When you Critical Strike an enemy with a Shock Skill you become Charged and take 25% less damage for 5 seconds. While Charged, Critical Strikes have a 10% chance to causes the damage to arc as Lightning damage to another Nearby enemy, or if there are no other targets you hit the target again for 250% of the damage.

Developer’s Note: Shock Sorcerer is often highly incentivized to play in close combat. This rework aims to open up the Shock Sorcerer playstyle, allowing for both close and ranged options while maintaining the defensive capability of the original design that players love.

Legendary Aspects

Charged Aspect

• Movement Speed bonus increased from 10-20 to 15-25.

Aspect Of Efficiency

• Mana Cost Reduction increased from 10-25% to 35-50%.

Aspect of Engulfing Flames

• Burning damage to enemies below 50% Life increased from 15-30% to 30-45%.

Aspect Of Abundant Energy

• Previous: Crackling Energy has a 35-50% chance to chain to an additional enemy.
• Now: Crackling Energy has a 35-50% chance to deal 40%|x| increased damage and chain to an additional enemy.

Aspect Of Splintering Energy

• Previous: Casting Lightning Spear always spawns an additional Lightning Spear and increases your damage with Shock Skills by X for Y seconds.
• Now: Critical Hits with Lightning Spear cause Lightning to arc from it dealing X damage to its target and up to 5 other enemies. This damage is increased by your Critical Strike Damage Bonus.

Aspect of Binding Embers

• Previous: Flame Shield lets you move unhindered through enemies. Enemies you move through while Flame Shield is active are Immobilized for X seconds.
• Now: Flame Shield grants you unhindered for its duration. Enemies you move through while Flame Shield is active are Immobilized for X seconds.

Aspect Of the Frozen Wake

• Ice Spike damage increased from 60%-80% to 80%-100%.
• Now has 15% extra damage to Ice Spikes instead of 15% extra Chill.

Aspect Of the Frozen Tundra (Deep Freeze)

• Ice Spike damage increased from 60%-80% to 100%-120%.

Glacial Aspect

• Now has 15% extra Chill with Ice Spikes instead of 15% extra Damage.

Paragon

Burning Instinct

• Burning Instinct Critical Strike bonus reduced from 1% per 25 Intelligence to 1% per 50 Intelligence and now caps at 40%|x|.

Ceaseless Conduit

• Crackling Energy damage reduced from 3% per 20 Intelligence to 1% per 25 Intelligence and now caps at 60%|x|.

Elemental Summoner

• Now caps at its damage bonus at 30%|x|.

Icefall

• Damage with Frost Skills increased from 15%|x| to 18%|x|.

Unleash Glyph

• Increased the damage bonus from 7% to 8%.
• Increased the Mana Regeneration from 7% to 25%.

Tempering Updates

• Developer’s Note: We are looking to expand what Affixes are available within the Utility Category to bring more depth and variety to Tempering.
  • Barbarian Innovation – Barbarian Utility Recipe
    • Earthquake Duration - from Wasteland Augments
    • Kick Vulnerable Duration - from Furious Augments
    • Frenzy Duration - from Berserking Augments
    • Flay Duration - from Bleed Augments
  • Nature Magic Innovation – Druid Utility Recipe
    • Hurricane Size - from Storm Augments
    • Lightning Storm Duration - from Storm Augments
    • Petrify Duration - from Earth Augments
    • Cyclone Armor Active Size - from Nature Magic Wall
  • Rogue Innovation – Rogue Utility Recipe
    • Invigorating Strike Duration - from Basic Augments
    • Twisting Blades Return Time Reduction - from Core Augments
    • Flurry Size - from Core Augments
    • Heartseeker Duration - from Basic Augments

Endgame Bosses

• For updates on our Endgame Bosses, you can read more about those changes here.

Helltide

• For updates on Helltide, you can read more about those changes here.

Loot Rewards

• For updates on Loot Rewards, you can read about those changes above here.

User Interface and User Experience

• Floating Combat Text has been updated to be more consistent and be more legible.
• Settings for Floating Combat Text have been added to allow players to further customize what sort of floating text they want to see.
• The Stats window now has a highlight for when the Armor Cap has been reached.
• The sections in the Stats window can now be collapsed and expanded as desired.
• Mythic Unique Items now have new visual effects and have a unique look in the Inventory for them to stand out more.
• Legendary Aspects can now be favorited and filtered while interacting with the Occultist.
• Shift-clicking a skill will now add 5 points (or as many as possible) to it in the Skill tree.
• The notification for unlocking and upgrading Aspects has been improved to be more prominent.

Miscellaneous

• Tortured Gifts in Helltide no longer contain Obols.
• This season's Nightmare Dungeon rotation remains the same as the previous season.
• World Bosses are now more resilient to damage.
• Experience rewards for side quests, including Priority Quests(i.e. Gem Crafting Quest) and Class quests, have been increased.
• Skills that grant Immunity, e.g. Flame Shield and Blood Mist, now only go on cooldown once the Immunity effect ends.
• Potions can now be used while Crowd Controlled.
• Certain tutorial quests, e.g. the quest for crafting a gem, are now tracked account-wide for completion status.
• Various Dungeons have had tweaks to their layouts to further streamline them.
• More Weapon Types are now available to more Classes.
  • Druids can now use Polearms, 1-handed Swords, and Daggers.
  • Necromancers can now use Maces and Axes. This includes Butcher's Cleaver being usable for Necromancers.
  • Sorcerers can now use 1-Handed Swords and 1-Handed Maces. This includes Azurewrath and Doombringer being usable for Sorcerers.
• Inherent Affixes on multiple Weapon Types have been changed.
  • Axes inherent Affix changed from Damage to Healthy Enemies to Damage Over Time.
  • Wands inherent Affix changed from Lucky Hit Chance to Vulnerable Damage.
  • Scythes inherent Affix changed from Life on Kill to Summoning Damage.
  • Staffs inherent Affix changed from Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies to Damage Over Time.
  • Bows inherent Affix changed from Damage to Distant Enemies to Critical Strike Damage.
  • Polearms inherent Affix changed from Damage to Injured Enemies to Vulnerable Damage.
  • Focus and Totem inherent Affix changed from Cooldown Reduction to Lucky Hit Chance.

BUG FIXES

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where Fury Regeneration would malfunction when assigning the Tactical Rallying Cry Upgrade.
• Fixed an issue where the 5 second internal Cooldown for the Aspect of Ancestral Echoes was not listed in the Aspect's description.
• Fixed an issue where stack granted by the Aspect of Limitless Rage could be inconsistently acquired.
• Fixed an issue where Charge could be used to bypass interaction channels, such as opening Helltide Chests.
• Fixed an issue where Earthstrikers Aspect could waste its guaranteed Overpower trigger on autocast instances. This includes triggers from Overkill and Ring of the Ravenous.
• Fixed an issue where bonus Fury generated by the Aspect of Berserk Fury didn't grant Fortify when used in conjunction with the Aspect of Numbing Wrath.
• Fixed an issue where Whirlwind didn't scale with Passive and temporary Attack Speed.
• Fixed an issue where the damage modifier for the Rumble Glyph was additive when fighting Crowd Controlled enemies. Rumble's Damage bonus is now capped at 30%[x].
• Fixed an issue where Death Blow wasn't being consistently reset when enemies were killed by shockwaves created by Overkill.

• Fixed an issue where the tooltip for Aspect of the Changeling's Debt was missing the damage type indicator when using advanced tooltips.
• Fixed an issue where projectiles from Tyrael's Might behaved erratically when used with Shred.
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip description for Enhanced Poison Creeper was missing information.
• Fixed an issue where the Rabies did not fully benefit from the Toxic Claws Passive.
• Fixed an issue where the the pull effect from Airidah's Inexorable Will had a larger area of effect than intended.
• Fixed an issue where Enhanced Rabies was scaling beyond the 60% bonus if the Damage over time duration was extended.
• Fixed an issue where weapon drops for Druids were skewed towards 2-Handed Weapons.
• Fixed an issue where Lightning Storm didn't scale with Passive and temporary Attack Speed.

• Fixed an issue where Skeleton Reapers could get both bonuses when using the Second upgrade option.
• Fixed an issue where the bonus Critical Strike chance from Supreme Bone storm did not trigger if Bone Storm was recast while another Bone Storm was still active.
• Fixed an issue where the Grasping Veins Aspect could apply its bonus without using Corpse Tendrils.
• Fixed an issue where Hellbent Commander's effect could still function when removing points after entering a new zone.
• Fixed an issue where the Aspect of Frenzied Dead had an irrelevant addition of "Summoning" to its description.
• Fixed an issue where the Cooldown Reduction granted by Rapid Ossification didn't apply to Bone Spirt when cast with 100 or more Essence.
• Fixed an issue where the Untimely Death Aspect was not gaining stacks when the player Healed values smaller than 1% of your max life.
• Fixed an issue where Reap didn't scale with Passive and temporary Attack Speed.

• Fixed an issue where the Methodical Dash upgrade didn't reduce the Cooldown of Dash by the full, intended amount.
• Fixed an issue where Puncture could generate multiple combo points when additional resource generation was high.
• Fixed an issue where Rapid Fire used with Scoundrel's Kiss and the Repeating Aspect behaved inconsistently.
• Fixed an issue where Shadow Clone didn't deal damage with Rapid Fire.
• Fixed an issue where Rapid Fire did not have a range limit when used with Scoundrel's Kiss.
• Fixed an issue where Scoundrel's Leathers would properly function when a Core Skill hit a target that wasn't explicitly aimed at.
• Fixed an issue where Forceful Arrow made targets Vulnerable after 2 hits instead of 3.
• Fixed an issue where Caltrops didn't trigger Movement Speed from the Aspect of Explosive Verve.
• Fixed an issue where Improved Penetrating Shot didn't display its duration on the Skill icon on your Action Bar.
• Fixed an issue where Victimize was double dipping its damage multiplier. A compensatory buff to Victimize was made here, as mentioned above.

• Fixed an issue where Vyr's Mastery applied to Non-Shock Skills.
• Fixed an issue where Ice Armor's tooltip suggested the Barrier value would increase when dealing damage.

General

• Fixed an issue where the Aspect of the Crowded Sage was calculating using base Life instead of Maximum Life.
• Fixed an issue where Damage over Time effects were receiving the bonus from the %Damage Stat twice.
• Fixed an issue where Needleflare Aspect was doing excessive amounts of damage to bosses when you were being hit a smaller enemies.
• Fixed an issue where the Elixir of Antivenin could be active alongside other Elixirs.
• Fixed an issue where Evade could trigger Yen's Blessing.
• Fixed an issue where Elite Scorpion enemies with the Teleporter Affix didn't actually teleport.
• Fixed an issue where the High Velocity Aspect was not restricted to Rogues.
• Fixed an issue where Items could disappear when opening many caches at once.
• Fixed an issue where Starlight did not properly work with Overhealing effects.
• Fixed an issue where Aspect of Frosty Strides couldn't be imprinted onto Pants.

User Interface and User Experience

• Fixed an issue where there was no indication on how to unlock Tempering if the player failed to pick up their first recipe. The quest now properly guides the player to pick up the free recipe.
• Fixed an issue where, in certain circumstances, Legendary materials could appear in the Lost Items Stash but could not be withdrawn.
• Fixed an issue where certain tooltips, such as for Berserking, did not properly indicate whether or not their damage was additive or multiplicative.
• Fixed multiple instances where Aspect tooltips had inconsistent info in their descriptions.
• Fixed an issue where many Unique Items did not display Class restrictions.
• Fixed an issue where incompatible Mount armors could be selected in the Stablemaster menu.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed an issue where materials from Season of the Malignant could drop in the Malignant Burrow.
• Various performance, visual, and stability improvements.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree is just a few days old but, predictably, mods for the expansion have already started coming in.

Most of the mods targeting Shadow of the Erdtree on Nexus Mods right now make the expansion easier. That’s no surprise, given the reaction so far. As IGN has reported, Steam user reviews currently have a ‘mixed’ rating after a flood of complaints about the rock hard bosses as well as PC performance issues.

Belger’s ‘Easy Shadow of the Erdtree’ mod, for example, decreases all enemy damage in the DLC by around 25%. “Many players complain about enemies in SOTE dealing too much damage,” Belger said in the mod description, “so if that’s your case, you can try this mod that lowers it significantly.”

Belger added that their mod can also be used by players to learn boss patterns without dying so often. They can then uninstall the mod and take on Shadow of the Erdtree’s rock hard bosses “the way FromSoftware intended.”

Elsewhere, existing mods for the base game were updated to work with Shadow of the Erdtree. For example, CheezeOfAstora’s mod lets players recover runes immediately upon death, so there’s no need to go to the exact spot of death to recover the runes. This is “not an easy mode,” CheezeOfAstora insisted. Syyyke’s ‘All in One Cheat Version’ very much is an easy mode, however.

Older Elden Ring mods that make the game easier are also seeing renewed interest now Shadow of the Erdtree is out in the wild, including GreyEnigma’s effort that reduces grinding by giving you various helpful items. And here’s a useful mod: byDelamain’s ‘DLC Ready Save File’ lets players skip Shadow of the Erdtree's boss kill requirements.

Elden Ring modders, then, are stepping in to help with what many are saying is the hardest experience FromSoftware has ever created. Ahead of Shadow of the Erdtree’s release, director Hidetaka Miyazaki signaled the DLC would significantly test players’ abilities. "The new challenges for the player are going to be the boss encounters as well as the different kinds of threats that the world will impose on people," Miyazaki told CNET. Some of these bosses are aimed at players who've completed most of the base Elden Ring, meaning FromSoftware has "kind of really pushed the envelope in terms of what we think can be withstood by the player," he added.

If you don’t want to go down the mod route, we believe Shadow of the Erdtree's Scadutree Blessings are the answer to the Elden Ring DLC's difficulty (Scadutree Blessing bolsters the recipient's abilities to deal and negate damage). You can check our guide to track down every last Scadutree Fragment.

Shadow of the Erdtree has certainly enjoyed critical acclaim, and has become the highest-rated video game expansion of all-time after overtaking Witcher 3 DLC Blood and Wine on Metacritic. IGN’s Shadow of the Erdtree review returned a 10/10. We said: “Like the base game did before it, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for single-player DLC expansions. It takes everything that made the base game such a landmark RPG, condenses it into a relatively compact 20-25 hour campaign, and provides fantastic new challenges for heavily invested fans to chew on.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Prime Video’s Fallout TV show ended with a clear nod to a much-loved Fallout video game, but there are still many questions left unanswered by Season 1. One thing we do know now is that a major character from the games — and who only makes a brief appearance in Season 1 — will play a part in Season 2.

Warning: Spoilers for Fallout Season 1 follow.

In an interview with Variety, showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet confirmed Robert House “will be involved” in Season 2. Fallout video game fans know Robert House as Mr. House, one of the main characters in Obsidian’s Fallout New Vegas. In that game, Mr. House runs New Vegas as a brain plugged into a supercomputer that has extended his existence from the pre-war era into the post-war era.

Robert House makes a cameo appearance in the Fallout TV show during a pre-war scene in which the then RobCo Industries boss plots with Vault-Tec management and the heads of other companies to not only survive the inevitable nuclear apocalypse, but maybe even trigger it.

“Many of our lead characters are Vegas-bound,” Wagner said. “Las Vegas in the world of Fallout is Robert House’s town. Robert House will be involved in Season 2.”

Season 1 ends with a Power Armor-clad Overseer Hank stomping towards New Vegas, with The Ghoul and Lucy MacLean in hot pursuit. Wagner’s tease suggests newly knighted Brotherhood of Steel member Maximus will also end up in New Vegas. All roads, then, lead to a post-apocalyptic showdown on what's left of The Strip.

The question is, what form will Robert House take in Season 2? Will the TV show follow New Vegas’ lead and have the character star as a 200-year-old consciousness kept alive by machines? Or will the showrunners come up with some other way to have Robert House knocking about Vegas during this point in the Fallout timeline? After all, the mystery of how New California Republic chief Moldaver survived for over 200 years remains unresolved.

One of the developers of Steam and Xbox hit Palworld has teased the release of a PlayStation version.

Pocketpair community chief Bucky tweeted adding blue-colored hearts to Palworld’s existing black (PC), green (Xbox), and white (Mac) hearts. Blue is, of course, the color of PlayStation branding. With this context, a PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 release now seems likely.

🖤💚🤍Palworld🤍💚🖤

I want to add more hearts, but not sure what colour would fit...hmm...how about....

🖤💚🤍💙Palworld💙🤍💚🖤

Looks good I think!

👀

— Bucky | Palworld (@Bucky_cm) June 22, 2024

Palworld, dubbed ‘Pokémon with Guns,’ launched in early access form in January 2024 on PC via Steam and on Xbox as a day-one Game Pass title. It saw enormous popularity overnight, becoming one of the biggest game launches of all time. But it’s also one of the most controversial. Pocketpair has said its staff has received death threats amid Pokémon "rip-off" claims, which it has denied. Soon after launch, Nintendo moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod, then The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: "We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon." IGN asked lawyers whether Nintendo could successfully sue.

Player numbers have tailed off in the last half year, but the addition of a PS5 version would certainly provide Palworld with a shot in the arm. Whether Nintendo would greenlight a release on Switch is another matter entirely, of course.

Meanwhile, Palworld gets a major new update this week, called Sakurajima. It increases the level cap, adds new Pals, a new raid, a new faction and boss, and a whole new island. This update also comes with Xbox-dedicated servers, something the game had conspicuously lacked up to this point.

IGN’s Palworld early access review returned an 8/10. We said: “Palworld may crib quite a bit from Pokémon’s homework, but deep survival mechanics and a hilarious attitude make it hard to put down – even in early access.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

It’s been a bruising weekend for many Shadow of the Erdtree players. The DLC’s extreme — and intended - difficulty has sparked a debate about the rights and wrongs of developer FromSoftware’s approach with this Elden Ring expansion. But now that debate has spilled over into Steam user reviews, which currently have a ‘mixed’ rating after a flood of complaints about the rock hard bosses as well as PC performance issues.

Ahead of Shadow of the Erdtree’s release, director Hidetaka Miyazaki signaled the DLC would significantly test players’ abilities. "The new challenges for the player are going to be the boss encounters as well as the different kinds of threats that the world will impose on people," Miyazaki told CNET. Some of these bosses are aimed at players who've completed most of the base Elden Ring, meaning FromSoftware has "kind of really pushed the envelope in terms of what we think can be withstood by the player," he added.

And so it has proved. Over the weekend, players began to complain about the extreme difficulty with bosses and performance issues. “As a huge fan of all soulgames, I would love to like the DLC, but the enemies' damages are completely overtuned, especially for some bosses,'' reads one negative review. “Some have a completely erratic moveset rendering the whole experience just painful without any fun.”

“Good DLC, but performance has gone down as of the latest update,” reads another negative review, this time focused on the PC performance problems. “Constant micro-stuttering and frame drops, freezes as well as increases in loading times make it difficult to enjoy and play the game. One of the early boss fights takes place around a puddle of water, which drops frames considerably. Wait for performance improvements before buying.”

Perhaps mindful of the growing negative feedback over difficulty, publisher Bandai Namco tweeted some advice for struggling Shadow of the Erdtree players: “This is a suggestion to level up your Scadutree Blessing.” This tallies with advice IGN itself has offered. Indeed we believe Shadow of the Erdtree's Scadutree Blessings are the answer to the Elden Ring DLC's difficulty (Scadutree Blessing bolsters the recipient's abilities to deal and negate damage). You can check our guide to track down every last Scadutree Fragment.

This is a suggestion to level up your Scadutree Blessing

— Bandai Namco US (@BandaiNamcoUS) June 22, 2024

Meanwhile, the Shadow of the Erdtree review bombing continues, but it’s worth pointing out that at the time of this article’s publication, 65% of the DLC’s 32,722 user reviews are positive on Valve’s platform.

FromSoftware game difficulty has been a hot topic for years, with the likes of Dark Souls, Sekiro, and Bloodborne all called too hard by some. But extreme difficulty has not hindered their sales success. Indeed Elden Ring has sold an incredible 25 million copies, and is by a clear distance the biggest FromSoftware game ever.

Speaking to The Guardian, Miyazaki explained why FromSoftware looks to continuously push players, rather than offer easier difficulties that would theoretically open up its games to a wider audience.

"If we really wanted the whole world to play the game, we could just crank the difficulty down more and more, but that wasn’t the right approach," Miyazaki said. "Had we taken that approach, I don’t think the game would have done what it did, because the sense of achievement that players gain from overcoming these hurdles is such a fundamental part of the experience. Turning down difficulty would strip the game of that joy, which, in my eyes, would break the game itself."

An amusing upshot of the debate around Shadow of the Erdtree’s difficulty is a renewed nostalgia for the base game and its bosses, now said to be relatively easygoing in retrospect.

Ubisoft has finally put a release window on the Prince of Persia Sands of Time Remake: 2026.

The Sands of time remake’s release year, announced during the Ubisoft Forward 2024 event alongside a brief teaser video, comes after what was reportedly a troubled development. In November last year, Ubisoft said the Ubisoft Montreal project had passed an “important” internal milestone and that development was “progressing.”

Prince of Persia's first delay arrived in December 2020, just months after its initial announcement, with an indefinite delay following in February 2021. Ubisoft made its most drastic shift yet when development was moved from Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai to Ubisoft Montreal in May 2022. Work has continued at the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla studio since, with the publisher confirming it had moved into the “conception” phase of development in May 2023.

The Sands of Time first launched on PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and PC back in November 2003 to criticial and commerial acclaim. This hotly anticipated remake has been in the works for at least four years. In a blog post, Ubisoft said the remake is now entering its "full production phase", with Ubisoft Montreal receiving support from co-dev studios in Toronto, Bucharest, Paris, and Pune.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft announced updates for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which gets a story DLC in September, and The Rogue Prince of Persia, which dropped its first major free title update today, June 10. For more on what Ubisoft has coming up, check out everything announced at Ubisoft Forward 2024.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition has popped up on the ESRB’s website with a rating for the unannounced Switch game.

As spotted by X /Twitter user @Stealth40k, the listing (still live at the time of this article's publication) reveals a new game based on the Nintendo World Championships, a 1990 U.S. tournament that used a custom NES cartridge that includes minigames based on Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris. The Nintendo World Championships 1990 Game Pak is now considered the most valuable NES cartridge ever released.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition was rated by the ESRB.

This is probably what Pyoro was teasing. pic.twitter.com/tIlP9G45Pp

— Stealth (@Stealth40k) May 3, 2024

Here’s the ESRB description for Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, which appears to also include in-game purchases:

"This is a collection of 2D challenges and platformer games in which players traverse through various modes (e.g., speedrun, survival). Several challenges involve reaching specific points, while others prompt players to defeat small enemies or survive brief battles. Some games depict pixelated characters using small swords or arrows to strike at enemies; enemies typically get stunned or disappear in a flash."