Update 6.1 is coming and packs a lot of awesome stuff, including 6 new leader abilities, a new keyword: Initiative, and multiple balance changes! Full list can be found below!
Changes
- From now on the most progressed daily quest will be expanded by default on mobile Welcome Screen.
- Numerous bug fixes for Ornament Selection
- Spare cards will now be milled after entering Deck Builder. Cards that can be transmuted won't be milled.
- Coinflip: inviting player will always go first in friend matches.
- Leader ability can now be activated by drag and drop or double tap
- Your deck and the graveyard can now be opened by tap and hold or double tap
- Android: vibration is toned-down and set to off by default.
- Android: the game will now allow downloading missing files over cellular connection.
New Features
- Six new leader abilities added to the game - one per faction (details below).
- New audio-visuals when shield and poison status is applied.
- Card Tooltip have been improved - dynamic values for Hoard/Tribute.
- Social media channels are now available in the Main Menu.
Neutral
- New Keyword: initiative - trigger ability if using this card is the first action during your turn.
- Geralt: Igni ability changed to:
- Deploy, Initiative: destroy the highest power unit(s) on an enemy row with a total of 20 or more power. Geralt: Igni provision changed from 11 to 10.
- Scorch ability changed to: destroy the highest power unit. Initiative: destroy all highest power units instead. Scorch provision changed from 13 to 12.
Developer comment: Scorch and Geralt: Igni are both really important cards to have in the game, as their mere existence makes players think twice before committing to the most optimal plays that would leave them vulnerable to either. We very much like the impact on the metagame they have, but lately, it has been increasingly difficult to play around both of them. By saving couple of order effects, players could effectively remove their opponent's agency over playing into or around those punishing effects.
Following a community's suggestion, we have decided to limit those powerful effects to the first action you take in any given turn. If your opponent plays recklessly, there is no change. If you have means to align their units to be more vulnerable to those cards, the opponent will have at least one turn to respond before being pushed out of the round with fire. This should promote an interaction between the players, bluffing and exciting back and forth, instead of total blowouts that were hard or impossible to play around due to the reach.
- Hanmarvyn's Blue Dream ability changed to: play a unit from your opponent's graveyard with provision cost 9 or less and give it Doomed. Hanmarvyn's Blue Dream provision changed from 13 to 12.
- Renew ability changed to: play a unit from your graveyard with provision cost 9 or less and give it Doomed. Renew provision changed from 14 to 12.
Developer comment: Renew and Hanmarvyn's Blue Dream are very difficult cards to balance as the only way to do so was not making powerful gold units. We have introduced a provision cap for their effects so the cards themselves can become more predictable, which lets us interact more with their provision cost. The numbers might have to be tweaked again in the near future, but we believe this is a much healthier direction for those cards.
- Chironex provision changed from 9 to 8.
- Garrison provision changed from 11 to 10.
- Germain Piquant power changed from 4 to 5.
- Golden Froth provision changed from 5 to 4.
- Unicorn provision changed from 9 to 8.
Developer comment: Some Neutral cards require a small point adjustment to keep up with all the changes that keep happening all around them.
Monsters
- New leader ability: Overwhelming Hunger: Order: Destroy an allied unit, then Spawn an Ekimmara in its row and boost it by destroyed unit's power. Charge: 3. This ability adds 13 provisions to your deck's provision limit.
- Alpha Werewolf power changed from 4 to 5.
Developer comment: Alpha Werewolf has followed his New Year's resolution and hit the gym, so his power has gone up a bit.
- Old Speartip provision changed from 14 to 13.
Developer comment: Old Speartip has followed his New Year's resolution and lost some weight, so he should be easier to fit in your deck now.
Skellige
- New leader ability: Blaze of Glory: Order: move a Skellige unit from your deck to your graveyard, then damage an enemy unit by its power. This ability adds 15 provisions to your deck's provision limit.
- Cerys an Craite ability changed to: Deploy (Melee): spawn a Drummond Shieldmaiden in this row. Deploy (Ranged): spawn a Drummond Queensguard in this row.
Developer comment: Cerys now does not require you to keep either of the cards that she summons to her aid in the deck. This change should make her much more powerful and a little less brickable tempo play.
- Crow Clan Preacher ability changed to: whenever you play an Alchemy card, boost self by 1. Bonded: boost self by 2 instead.
Developer comment: Previous Bonded ability did not make much of a difference in how you played with Crow Clan Preacher, or against it. With this change playing with the Bonded part of the ability should be much more rewarding and denying it, much more important.
- Dracoturtle ability changed to: whenever Dracoturtle loses Armor, boost it by the amount of Armor lost. Barricade: at the end of your turn, gain 1 Armor. Dracoturtle power changed from 6 to 5. Dracoturtle armor changed from 6 to 5. Dracoturtle provision changed from 11 to 10.
Developer comment: Now Dracoturtle will continuously regenerate it's shell unless it's stripped off completely. Change to power matches the lowered provision cost and it's initial Armor value will be the same at the end of the turn. This extra ability should make it easier to use the turtle in longer rounds when it can either supply Armor indefinitely or set up huge swings when left undisturbed.
- Drummond Shieldmaiden ability changed to: whenever this unit takes damage, Summon all copies of it from your deck to this row.
Developer comment: Shieldmaiden's effect was changed to be consistent with other similar effects.
- An Craite Warcrier power changed from 3 to 4.
- Bear Abomination power changed from 5 to 6.
Developer comment: Change to Bear Abomination token makes a couple of less used Skellige cards and Leader Ability more powerful. It should help the Svalblod cult catch up to the rest of Skellige faction.
- Heymaey Skald provision changed from 5 to 4.
- Vabjorn power changed from 5 to 6.
Developer comment: Those tiny tweaks should bring the cards closer to their more competitive counterparts.
Northern Realms
- New leader ability: Uprising - Order: boost an allied unit by 1. Charge: 4. Once all Charges are used up, Spawn and play Lyrian Scytheman. This ability adds 14 provisions to your deck's provision limit.
- Reynard Odo ability changed to: Deploy: Boost adjacent units by 1. Whenever you play a unit, boost it by 1.
Developer comment: Reynard was one of many high-end Northern Realms engines that was both locked to a row and at its best when played first in the round, which usually meant that if opponent had any answers, he would be an easy target. This change should make him harder to answer and also make the decision when to play him during the round a bit more open ended.
- Cintrian Envoy power changed from 3 to 4.
- Cintrian Royal Guard power changed from 4 to 5.
Developer comment: With this tiny bump, the Guards should be closer to the value you'd expect for 5 Provisions even if you did not draw well enough for them to take over the round.
- Donimir of Troy power changed from 6 to 7.
Developer comment: Purifying Donimir's Defender status also gets rid of his Shield. We have adjusted his base power so he can at least trade even on points if he gets answered with new Caretaker.
Scoia'tael
- New leader ability: Mahakam Forge - Order: spawn and play Tempering. All Dwarfs in your starting deck get 1 Armor. This ability adds 15 provisions to your deck's provision limit.
- Miner ability changed to: Order: boost an allied unit by 2. If it's a Dwarf, also give it 2 Armor. Miner power changed from 3 to 5. Miner provision changed from 5 to 4.
- Paulie Dahlberg ability changed to: Deploy (Melee): move an allied unit to other row. Deploy (Ranged): give an allied unit 2 Armor. Paulie Dahlberg provision changed from 8 to 6.
- Pyrotechnician ability changed to: Order: damage a random enemy unit and self by 4. Pyrotechnician power changed from 3 to 4.
- Sheldon Skaggs ability changed to: Deploy (Melee): damage an enemy unit by the amount Sheldon is boosted. Sheldon Skaggs power changed from 3 to 6. Sheldon Skaggs provision changed from 9 to 8.
Developer comment: Making Sheldon damage units based only on how much he is boosted and not his total power makes it easier for him to have a stable point floor, without fundamentally changing how the card operates. It also makes it easier to tweak his numbers, so he will enjoy a small provision buff.
- Xavier Moran ability changed to: Melee: whenever you play a Dwarf, gain 1 Armor. Barricade: at the end of your turn, boost self by 1. Xavier Moran power changed from 4 to 5. Xavier Moran provision changed from 9 to 7.
- Yarpen Zigrin ability changed to: Deploy: damage an enemy unit by 3. Barricade: at the end of your turn, lose Armor and boost self by that much. Yarpen Zigrin power changed from 3 to 5. Yarpen Zigrin provision changed from 8 to 9.
- Zoltan ability changed to: Resilience. Deploy: boost adjacent Dwarfs by 2. Zoltan provision changed from 9 to 10. Zoltan armor changed from 0 to 4.
- Dwarven Mercenary ability changed to: Deploy: damage self by 1 for each non Dwarf unit in your hand. Dwarven Mercenary power changed from 3 to 7.
- Dwarf Berserker power changed from 2 to 3. Dwarf Berserker provision changed from 4 to 5.
- Munro Bruys power changed from 7 to 6. Munro Bruys provisions changed from 11 to 12.
Developer comment: Dwarves started in Homecoming as one of the Scoia'tel tribes, sporting a lot of utility for the faction and spread out over multiple archetypes. Over time they have became more and more of their own camp, playing more defensively than offensively. This bunch of changes is meant to re-introduce couple of Dwarves back to their own archetype, with emphasis on Armor, boosting and sticking to the board.
- Isengrim power changed from 6 to 4.
Developer comment: Isengrim is both a finisher and an engine in one. Lack of apparent weaknesses combined with how much easier we have made to get Elves on the board fast has made it necessary to lower his base power, both to make it harder for him to completely overpower opponents with points and make him more vulnerable when played earlier to become an engine.
- Ele'yas ability changed to: Deploy: destroy an allied unit, then Spawn 2 Elven Deadeyes in this row. Ele'yas power changed from 5 to 6.
Developer comment: Ele'yas has fallen quite a bit behind due to his nature as a finisher you want to play after your finisher, that is additionally quite disruptable. We have changed him to match more with current identity of Elves and left buffing his kin to Isengrim.
Nilfgaard
- New leader ability: Imposter - Order: lock an enemy unit, then spawn its base copy in the opposite row and boost it by 2. This ability adds 13 provisions to your deck's provision limit.
- Damien de la Tour ability changed to: Order (Melee): re-enable your Leader's ability.
Developer comment: Damien De La Tour and Stefan Skellen are now locked to the opposite rows. This change will make playing a Defender more of a choice and give the opponent another way to interact with their powerful abilities.
- Stefan Skellen ability changed to: Order (Ranged): spawn and play a copy of the last Tactic card you played this round.
Syndicate
- New leader ability: Hidden Cache - Order: Gain 3 Coins. On round start, refresh this ability. Your Hoards require 3 less Coins to trigger. This ability adds 15 provisions to your deck's provision limit.
- Salamandra Assassin ability changed to: Intimidate. Order (Ranged): damage an enemy unit with a Bounty by 2.
- Payroll Specialist ability changed to: Intimidate. Tribute 2: move a unit to the other row. Payroll Specialist power changed from 3 to 5.
Developer comment: Changes to both Salamandra Assassin and Payroll Specialist are meant to make them more of engines for Intimidate with extra tools than cards that happen to have Intimidate.
- Keeper of the Flame power changed from 3 to 4.
Developer comment: We are rising the value floor for Keeper so it's easier for him to keep up with the other 5 provision options even if you could not create the best case scenario for him.
- Sir Skewertooth provision changed from 8 to 7. Sir Skewertooth armor changed from 0 to 1. Sir Skewertooth Tribute changed from 4 to 3.
Developer comment: Sir Skewertooth had a hard time keeping up with similar engines because it's condition is a little trickier to play with. It should feel a lot more competitive with it's Armor and lower provisions. We have also adjusted the tribute cost so situations in which you have to play your crimes before Sir Skewertooth happen less often.
- Tatterwing provision changed from 8 to 7.
Developer comment: Tatterwing's unique ability is hard to utilize for big values so its cost is going down.
Game Fixes
- Fixed broken currency symbols in the shop
- Fix an issue with assimilate not triggering properly for cards on Playstack after cancelling and playing them again
- Fixed an issue whereby Yghern did not destroy itself upon having its armor removed by cards such as Iris: Shade or Sappers
