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Year 4 is about learning and building upon what we have experienced together in these past 3 years. Let’s keep the party going! - For Honor Dev Team

Year of Reckoning is the upcoming fourth year of For Honor and refers to all changes and new heroes that will be brought about in 2020, during Seasons 13-16, starting with Hope.

The Year of Reckoning will introduce two new heroes, one in season 14 and another in season 16, together with new event content, updated maps, extensive Hero reworks and even new sets of armor visuals. Other changes such as Hero balance, bug fixes and quality of life touch-ups are to be expected.

Overview

The Year of Reckoning is a turning point in For Honor’s history. The great war that has been raging over the past years takes an unexpected turn. The earth has quietened down, but new leaders arise and warriors across all factions need to decide what they are really fighting for.

Heroes

Like Year 3, Year 4 will have four new Seasons, each with its own theme, rewards, and activities.

Two new faces will arise during the Year of Reckoning. One Hero will be released during Year 4, Season 2, and the other during Year 4, Season 4. Their arrival will coincide with the storyline, as well as the events of the Year and its seasons. We can’t wait to find out which side you choose!

You will be able to purchase them upon release or unlock the new Heroes with steel as usual.

Battle Pass

Seasonal Progression Update: Battle Pass in, Year Pass out

Starting with Year 4, Season 1, we will be introducing a new reward system with the For Honor Battle Pass.

In the past, rewards relied solely upon random drops after matches and scavenger crates, which gave little visibility on the items you were able to unlock.

Now you will have clear objectives throughout the 100 tiers within the Battle Pass where you will be able to unlock items through gameplay. The battle pass will be limited to character customization items and consumables meaning that you do not need to purchase it to have access to the two new heroes coming during the year.

The For Honor Battle Pass will consist on a Free pass and a Premium pass, with a shared progression across the different tiers and resetting with each new Season.

Everyone will have access to the Free pass and its rewards. In the Free pass, you can unlock items such as ornaments, steel, color swatches, champion status, embossings, and more.

Owners of the Premium passes will have access to unique customization rewards such as new signatures, new weapons, new executions, new effects, and more.

Both free and premium passes will have rewards for all heroes.

It was also important for us to make the Premium pass an addition to, and not a substitute for, the existing means of getting content in the game. Thus, we will be keeping original options for players with new content of the week, sales, and scavenger crates /drops at the end of the matches to get customizations items.

We will have more details to share on the Y4S1 Battle Pass and the season itself in January 2020.

Game Balance

With 26 characters in the current roster and two new faces joining the fight in Year 4, balancing remains a top priority for us. This includes hero balancing, of course, but also game mode balancing.

A major step toward strengthening our process of balancing has been the introduction of Testing Grounds.

For Year 4, you can expect this tool to have a big role in how the dev team continues to bring changes to the game. The focus of the year remains on increasing character viability, allowing for a wider range in team composition at a higher level of play, and continue to improve offense to enhance the core gameplay of For Honor on a more general level.

Competitive

The competitive nature of For Honor has been part of the experience since the get-go. One of the main reasons why the competitive scene has continued to grow over the years is thanks to you guys who have supported it at a grass roots level. Year 3 was the first step in better supporting the tournament/competitive scene of For Honor, with more visibility on community tournaments, in-game prizing, but most importantly the introduction of the spectator mode.

The competitive scene is extremely important to us as it is to you. It helps us grow the community and is ultimately a compass in shaping the experience of the game. The competitive scene is a pillar which we intend to expand on in Year 4 with a new all-access competitive program set to launch.

More details will be shared soon.

And More to Come

We will expand on all of these elements in January as we get closer to launch of the Year of Reckoning, we are really excited for what this year has to offer!

Lastly, we want to thank you for all the creativity that you guys have shown us over the past 3 years. Whether it be cosplays, fan-fiction, memes, videos, and fan art; we felt inspired for Year 4.

That is why we will be working with renowned artists for each season’s iconic image, starting with the Year 4 image below, made by the American illustrator AJ Frena. Representing the Year of Reckoning, we are proud to be able to share her piece of art with you all today and cannot wait to share more details later in January for what’s to come in For Honor.


"After so many signs, all believed the end of times was nigh. Or so they thought. The earth quietened without warning, and a new dawn came. Hope filled the warriors' minds for the first time in ages. They remembered the many heroes who had fallen, who once fought for peace. For a brief moment, the leaders of Heathmoor ceased their quarrel. It was called the Truce of Wyverndale."

Year of Reckoning: Season 1, named "Hope," is the thirteenth season of the ongoing Faction War. The cataclysm has stopped, and Heroes are now instilled with a new energy that they have not experienced in ages: hope.

Features

New Armors and Weapons

As the earth quietened down and hope bloomed again, many blacksmiths and artisans in Heathmoor outdid themselves to craft richly decorated metals, refined woodwork and sophisticated embroideries inspired by the heroes who had died in legendary battles.

Get your hands on brand new free armor and weapon visuals for your heroes as you play during Y4S1: Hope.

All Heroes have received a Rare weapon visual which reflects the new age of Hope. As for armor, the Marching Fire Wu Lin Heroes get all new armor sets. The original Heroes and the Year 3 Heroes get variations of already existing sets. Year 1 DLC Heroes will receive new visuals later in the year.

Hero Updates

While there were no new Heroes or reworks, Heroes have received some changes to their moveset for better balance and to reduce frustration they may have caused.

  • Charged Heavy Openers have been adjusted as they proved to be too strong as an option select. Now, for Conqueror, Shinobi and Highlander, the earliest that they can feint their Charged Heavy move has been delayed (before, they could instantly feint these moves upon start-up).
    • On the otherhand, cancelling these moves now allows from them to guardswitch during the cancel animation, as they were not able to freely do so before (or in Shinobi's case, had no such guard during the feint animation).
  • Conqueror's forward movement during their Charge Heavy stance and on their Light attacks have been increased. This should allow them to hit their opponents properly, as they had difficulty in doing this when they backstepped (this was most apparent with their Chain Lights).
  • Lawbringer's Parry punishes together with his Swift Justice Finisher have been reduced in damage so that his Punishes arere not too high, even for a Counter-Attacker. Stamina consumption of Impaling Charge and Impaling Riposte has been reduced so that he does not go out of Stamina too easily.
  • Tiandi's Top Tiger Dodge (Light Dodge attack) now can branch slightly later from their Forward Dodge, allowing more variation when the attack can be initiated. Stamina cost for their Zone Attack has also been distributed so that it consumes less Stamina overall, opening up their offensive options when using it.
  • Hitokiri had their Mangetsu move (Heavy Opener) slightly reduced to increase the number of strikes that would be needed to defeat low health opponents, akin to the change made to their Endless Myriad Heavies' damage in the previous Season. Their Throws also push their target a bit farther away.
  • Jormungandr's bash-based moves now deal less stamina damage, and the shield they receives from Hamarr's Favor has been reduced. In trade, the wall stagger for their Throws and Side Finishers has been delayed, guaranteeing punishes they should have had.
  • Other small changes:
    • Forward movement increased on some Heroes' moves.
    • Gladiator's Fuscina Ictus (Toe Stab) now correctly grants 30 Revenge to their opponent, whereas it was 10 before. This prevents the move from being abusable as a ganking tool.
    • Berserker and Nuxia received small adjustments to their parry punishes to improve input comfort.

Feats have also received a few changes. Traps have had adjustments made to their visual placement so that they now will show above ground; before, they could be hidden under the ground or hidden from sight where it shouldn't. Haymaker has also been nerfed, both due to changes in Gladiator's kit that let him use his bashes more effectively, and in anticipation of changes that will be made to Centurion.

Battle Pass

The leaders of Heathmoor signed a truce in a sacred meadow named Wyverndale. According to many tales and songs, Wyverndale was once a mythical city guarded by dragons that was destroyed during the cataclysm. All that remains now is a small, neutral clearing hidden in a luxuriant forest.

The heroes of Wyverndale are often seen as the first defenders of peace in Heathmoor. Weapons, symbols and tapestries were recreated in their honor.

Due to the Year of Reckoning releasing only two Heroes, the Year Pass has been replaced with the seasonal Battle Pass. Bring your customization to a whole new level with 100 Tiers of rewards for all heroes, all worth over a million Steel! As this pass is seasonal, progression through the Pass will reset at the end of the season.

Free & Premium Pass

The Season Pass has two ranks: the Free Pass and the Premium Pass. All players will have access to the Free Pass, earning rewards which include embossings, ornaments, an emblem outline, color swatches, paint patterns and more. Rewards are earned every few tiers.

The Premium Pass on the other hand offers the bulk of rewards, such as new signatures, new weapons, new executions, new effects, and more. Premium Pass owners will still receive rewards from the Free Pass. The Premium Pass also offers +10% Battle Points, the points necessary to progress through the Battle Pass tiers.

As both Pass' progression are shared, a player is able to upgrade to a Premium Pass and receive all rewards they would have gotten if they had purchased the Premium Pass from the start.

Notes

Take note that the purpose of the Battle Pass is to guarantee rewards for players, compared to how all rewards were based around random drops post-match or scavenger crates. The Battle Pass however will not replace any current system of cosmetics and loot gain, such as the above mentioned random drops, any event loot or the content of the week.

Content of the Battle Pass, even for the Premium Pass, will only be character customization items and consumables, preventing a pay-to-win model. All tiers are also visible to Free Pass owners, so there are no hidden rewards. However, the exclusive rewards in the Premium Pass may become unobtainable at the end of the season.

Progression through the tiers of either Passes can be hastened with Steel, skipping either 1, 5 or 20 tiers at once. The price for hastening progress is static through the tiers and between both ranks of Battle Passes.

Other Changes

The For Honor devs held a community emote contest back in the early summer of 2019, with winners being promised that their emote would be added to the game. The first one of them has been added in this season as the "Reluctant Applause," where the Heroes applaud in an unsatisfactory manner. (video down below)

To reflect the season of Hope, there have been changes to the menu elements. New menu music, together new background visuals for all menus.

Minions have also received an updated look, as they now wear clean armor that display how resources have been more plentiful.

The Custom Match Menu structure has been changed, moving "Rules" and "Options" from the main menu area into being an integrated part in the Game Mode section.

A new effect visual has been added, "Master of Peace," which can be earned by participating in the Ranked Duels.

Bug fixes have been made to elements of the game, such as fixing displaced animations for emotes and executions, erroneously sized visual customizations, and map bugs. Heroes also received some fixes for bugs, such as visual issues for Raider's Storming Tap, Centurion pinning allies or enemies that he was not targeting, and the Punch Through feat dealing twice the bonus damage it was intended on dealing.

Midseason Changes

During the midseason change, couple of improvements were initiated.

  • Breach improvements have been implemented from the Testing Grounds.
    • Attacking Team no longer has Respawn Tickets during phase 1 and 2. Instead, the Ram's health at the end of Phase 2 will determine how many Respawn Tickets they will have when facing the Commander.
    • Respawn Timer is now 20 seconds (+3 second when executed), instead of increasing based on how many Feats the Hero had unlocked.
    • The game has been sped up by increasing the Ram's speed and the capture rate of Archer Points.
    • The Guardian has had a few changes, one being that they won't throw down a Fire Flask anymore. On top of that, the buff they give to their slayer's team has been changed into its very own buff instead of being a collection of the Attack, Speed and Defense buff of before. The Guardian buff now has the following attributes:
      • Full health healing + Revenge upon attaining the Buff.
      • 100% shield, infinite stamina, 10 times more damage to Pikemen, and 50% less damage taken from Pikemen. 2 minute duration.
      • Unique effect - Guardian glowing eyes.
      • All buffs are still lost upon death.
  • Guardbreak vulnerability has been standardized across the board for all Heroes. Feint into Guardbreak combat has also been adjusted to be more balanced.
  • Couple maps have received map adjustments to make them more balanced.
    • Hallowed Bastion: The Commander Phase area has had some adjustments to grant less visibility for Defenders. There is a new stealth path from the Healing Zone to the Commander, a monolith at the bottom of the stairs to the Commander, the Ballista is walled and the spawn for both Defenders and their Pikemen have been pushed back.
    • Citadel Gate: Zone A was hard to enter for Defenders due to the drop from wooden ramp. Now it features a proper ramp, though part of it still works like the drop it was before. Point C also received some fencing so that climbing the ladder was not a death sentence.
    • Temple Garden: Point C (the Garden Tree) has had a couple adjustments to make it less frustrating, from revamping the bridges to be equal in size with proper rails to the remapping of the under-tree so that swift Heroes cannot stall by running.

Season Delay due to COVID-19

For Honor Production Update, a message to our community

First and foremost, we hope that everyone is doing well and is safe at home during these times. On our side, the team is still hard at work to keep For Honor fully operational even though we are doing so from home.

We are proud of how quickly everyone on the For Honor development team has adapted to the situation. However, even with all our efforts during these times, this unprecedented event has slowed down our ability to effectively test our upcoming content. For this reason, we have taken the decision to delay the release of Year 4 Season 2 to June 11, 2020. This delay of 6 weeks gives us the time we need to adapt our testing pipelines to this new situation.

We know that this news is disappointing; we were all excited to be able to show you what was coming to For Honor for the upcoming season. However, we are confident this was the right decision for us to be able to launch the content as we intended.

On a positive note, the team is currently working on a plan to be able to bring back fan-favorite activities to compensate for this delay. Those activities will be available in May and we will soon share more details within our May roadmap.

We want to thank you for your continued passion and support. Stay safe everyone.

The For Honor Team

Due to the COVID-19 Outbreak that has caused governments to enforce a lockdown for all but essential workers to stay at home, Season 2 of Year 4 was pushed back to June 11th, 2020 to give staff more time to work on the upcoming content. In the meantime, the developers have promised that during the coming two months, content will be reused on top of a rotating event playlist to make sure that For Honor is not left as a wasteland of content. The first two weeks of this delay kicks off with a double XP fest to boot.

Gallery

Images

Video

Trivia

  • All premium Executions from the Battle Pass references a legendary sword from the faction's culture:
    • Clarent (Knight): Although Excalibur was King Arthur's iconic sword, he also wielded other swords, one of them being Clarent.
      • Clarent was meant to be a sword of peace, used for knighting and ceremonies instead of battle. But it was infamously stolen by Mordred and then used to killed Arthur at Camlann.
    • Futsunomitama (Samurai): A legendary sword used by the Japanese god of thunder and swords, Takemikazuchi . It was gifted to Emperor Jimmu, the first Emperor of Japan, to quell the Middle Country.
      • The Futsunomitama (布都御魂剣; futsunomitama-no-tsurugi) is categorized as a Totsuka-no-Tsurgi (十束剣; lit. "sword of ten hand-breathes"), legendary swords that appear in Japanese mythology and are owned by a Japanese god.
    • Dainsleif (Vikings): Dáinsleif ("Dáinn's legacy") is King Högni's sword, according to Snorri Sturluson's account of the battle known as the Hjaðningavíg. The sword was forged by Dáinn, one of the Dwarves, and like other magical weapons of Norse mythology, wounds made by the sword would not heal.
      • The sword was brought up in the Skáldskaparmál, where Heðinn offers Högni compensation for the abduction of his daughter. Högni replies that peace cannot be made as he had already drawn Dáinsleif, and once drawn it has to fell someone's life.
    • Goujian (Wu Lin): An archaeological sword from the Spring and Autumn period, wielded by King Goujian of Yue. King Goujian's reign coincided with the last major conflict with the rivaling kingdom of Wu, which resulted in his victory and the annex of the rival.
  • The new Premium Battle Pass Signatures make reference to various myths and legends where individuals turn into stone for various reasons, mostly as a curse.
    • Lethaea's Fate (Knight): A mythological character who was turned into stone due to her vanity. She is only mentioned briefly in Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses.
    • Otohihime's Tale (Samurai): Otohihime (弟日姫; more commonly rendered as 弟日姫子), is the wife of Ōtomo no Satehiko (大伴挾手彦), and is commonly conflated with Matsu'ura Sayohime (松浦佐用姫), a legendary heroine in Japanese Buddhist mythology. When her husband left for an expedition in 536, it is said that Otohihime prayed with such fierceness that she was transformed into stone.
      • The Japanese and Chinese localization mistakenly refers to Otohime (乙姫) instead, the princess of an undersea castle that appears in the Tale of Urashima Tarō. Otohime gifts the titular character with a box that turns him into an old man.
    • Dans Maen (Vikings): Dans Maen (Dawn's Men, Cornish for "Stone Dance"), also known as "the Merry Maidens," refers to a late neolithic stone circle in Cornwall, United Kingdom. A local myth tells that the stone circle was created when 19 maidens were turned to stone as punishment for dancing on a Sunday.
    • Ashima Stone (Wu Lin): The Stone Forest (石林; pinyin: shílín) is a set of limestone formations in the Yunnan Province of China. According to legends, the forest was the birthplace of Ashima (阿诗玛; pinyin: āshīmǎ), a beautiful girl of the Yi people who turned to stone upon being forbidden from marrying her suitor after falling in love.


"What do we fight for? Peace!?

Peace is a false hope! It is a lie told by leaders who have lost the will to fight. But the time of reckoning has come! We will cleanse Heathmoor from the liars and the wicked. We will start a new era for the truest heroes of this world!

Peace is poison! We are war!"

Year of Reckoning: Season 2, named "Tyranny," is the fourteenth season of the ongoing Faction War. While the world has its eye on the peace and Honor Games, a sinister threat was brewing. A group of mysterious warriors naming themselves as the Horkos geared up and gathered secret allies from all factions. Peace was soon to be a distant dream as they make their attempt to bring back the Age of Wolves.

Overview

Peace is beautiful, but it is also fragile. Temporary. A false promise of happiness. Some warriors may still live in blissful hopes for peace, but the Truce of Wyverndale is soon to be a distant memory.

Year 4 Season 2 Tyranny is a new chapter in For Honor's history. Hope may be a waking dream, but peace cannot survive on tainted soil. War is coming!"

A genuine feeling of hope grew in everyone’s heart as the Truce of Wyverndale convinced more and more people across Heathmoor. Yet a sinister threat was also brewing. As the celebrations of the Honor Games continued with a reenactment of past battles against Apollyon and the Blackstones, a group of mysterious warriors geared up and gathered secret allies from all factions. Peace would soon become a distant dream...

In one of For Honor's most ambitious season's ever, Tyranny brings much anticipated updates from the community with fight updates, events, new customization, a new battle pass and a new Hero that will reveal themself amidst the season.

Features

Test Your Metal - Metal Trials

The Honor Games are not over yet. Season 2 continues with the Metal Trials: a tribute to the fall of Apollyon. Warriors from all factions will reenact legendary battles, impersonating the heroes and villains who made history. Not only will you be able to replay the fan-favorite gamemode, Test Your Metal, you will also get access to all the great rewards that come with it.

The Test Your Metal gamemode event makes a return to For Honor as the Honor Game shifts its focus on reenacting the events of Apollyon's reign. The gamemode has been rebranded as a the Metal Trials and has the team fight against powerful adversaries from the story campaign. During the first two weeks, players will face one of three faction teams, headed by Apollyon for the Knights, Tozen for the Samurai, and Gudmundr for the Vikings. In the last week, the champions of each faction will group together in a final face-off.

The gamemode is a team deathmatch and is the best of 7 rounds. During the event, players can collect loot from the Apollyon's Legacy event, including exclusive gear, weapon visuals and more. Even the Y3 and Y4 Heroes have been given their own special gear visuals in anticipation of this event.

More information about this gamemode can be found here.

Centurion Rework

Thanks to your participation in Testing Grounds, Season 2 marks the official release of the Centurion update to the live game. You will now also be able put a face to the word: Incredibilis!

Coming with the season update is the much awaited rework of Centurion. After much testing both internally and through the Testing Grounds, the Devs bring to For Honor a renewed Roman warrior. Changes made to his kit have been done to either alleviate frustrating aspects or to improve his flexibility in dealing with more fight situations.

Overview

Centurion suffered from some problems in his fight kit – his offense never forced a reaction from the opponent in 1v1 scenarios and didn’t offer much in team fights besides his powerful ability to gank through inconsistent binding rules when it came to revenge-armor. This meant that Centurion was basically forced to turtle in 1v1s until a parry allows him to perform the Cutscene, or gank into the cutscene in 4v4 scenarios. This was very limiting for the Centurion, and frustrating for the opponent.

As we try to improve the Centurion, we would like to see him initiate and sustain offense and also reduce his ability to bind an opponent into certain death.

See more about the behind-the-scene for this update at this deep dive page.

Changes

  • Jab and Charged Heavy Finishers are now feintable (hard feint and soft feint into GB) later into the animation, even when they approach being fully charged.
  • Bind on Full Charged Heavies (Openers & Finishers) has been reduced from 1300ms to 766ms to allow the opponent the ability to react to Centurion's next attack.
  • Zone Attack can be feinted after the first and second hit, together with having target-swapability throughout the three strikes. Damage per attack has been reduced, but Stamina cost has been spread evenly between each attack (20 per strike).
  • Jab itself has received some improvements aside from being feintable:
    • Has the ability to target-swap now.
    • Gains Uninterruptible when fully charged .
    • Jab-feint-into-Guardbreak has improved in being a roll catcher.
    • Minimum charge Jab deals less Stamina damage (10 instead of 30) and does not stun anymore.
    • Charge portion is longer at 800ms, compared to 600ms before. Min-to-max charge Jab speed has been lengthened in response to this, becoming 800-1400ms from 700-1000ms.
  • Attacks have been sped up:
    • Chain and Finisher Lights are standardized now, both becoming 500ms, down from 600ms and 700ms respectively. They also deal more damage.
    • Legion Kick is now faster at 500ms, sped up from 600ms. Inflicts less Stamina damage but also costs less Stamina.
    • Eagle's Fury (forward dodge + Heavy) is now faster at 800ms, from 1000ms. Deals more damage.
  • Quick Throw removed. Replaced with Jab (Light attacks now chain into Jab).
  • Parry Counter (Parry + GB) now deals less Stamina damage. It also now chains into either a Jab (instead of Kick) or a chain Light attack.
  • Wallsplats guarantee a fully charged Jab or Heavy.
  • Eagle's Talon (Heavy on downed opponents) deals more damage, and now fully regenerates Centurion and the victim's Stamina.
  • Centurion's forward movement and forward dodge distance have been increased, while many of his attacks have better forward momentum to catch back strafing opponents better.
  • And more...!

Together with this rework, Centurion is receiving a new line of armor gear which reveal his face for all to see. Check the patch notes for more info on specific changes made.

New Armors and Weapons

For Honor's Year 4 Season 2 Tyranny brings brand new emotes, executions, outfits and armor variation. If you are not sold on the concept of peace, Tyranny brings you more ways to show how edgy you really are.

The warriors of Horkos want to be both feared and revered on the battlefield. Some of them wear black and gold attires as an homage to the former Blackstone Legion. Having secured the best resources available in Heathmoor, they are able to forge frightful armors for their allies across all factions.

Get access to the Horkos rewards during Y4S2 Tryanny through the seasonal and battle pass rewards.

All Heroes have received a Rare weapon visual which reflects the sinister arrival of Tyranny. As for armor, the original Heroes together with the Marching Fire Wu Lin heroes have received variations of already existing sets. While Centurion has received an entirely new set of gear in celebration of his rework, Year 1 and Year 4 DLC Heroes will receive new visuals later in the season.

Hero Updates

Other Heroes have been rebalanced, with a focus on what the community found to be frustrating to play against or as. These changes hopefully allow for better balance and to reduce frustration they may have caused.

  • Jormungandr:
    • Uninterruptible start-up on his Heavy Openers and Serpent Smite (forward dodge heavy) have been delayed to 300ms before the attack lands.
      • Their start-up values were 400ms for Heavies and 100ms for Serpent Smite.
      • Their new value is now 500ms for Side Heavies, 600ms for Top Heavies and 700ms for Serpent Smite.
    • Stamina damage and Regeneration pauses have been reduced on all bashes.
    • Light Finishers and Bash Finishers now have frame disadvantage to prevent spamming.
    • Light Openers chain into Light Finishers a little later, with Jotunn Surge doing the same when chained into any Finishers. This gives opponents an easier time parrying the follow-up Light Finisher.
    • Heavy Finishers feinted into Guardbreak now have better tracking.
  • Hitokiri:
    • Uncharged Heavy Openers now don't have Uninterruptible Stance. Fully Charged Heavy Openers still have Uninterruptible Stance.
    • Sweep's Uninterruptible Stance start-up delayed to 1000ms from 800ms.
    • Light Openers, Heavy Openers and Infinite Heavies chain to the next attack slightly later, allowing opponents a wider window to dodge the next attack.
    • Light Finishers aren't Enhanced anymore.
    • Heavy Openers and Infinite Heavies
    • Senbonzakura now counts as a Top Unblockable attack, thus can be parried now.
  • Shugoki's Openers have had their Uninterruptible Stance start-up delayed. To 300ms (was 200ms) for Lights, no earlier than 433ms (was 400ms) for Heavies.
    • Heavy Openers now also does not have Guardbreak Immunity during the charge phase.
  • Jiang Jun & Lawbgringer have had their max health reduced to 140. Previously, they have 145 and 150 health respectively.
    • Lawbringer's Impale attack now follows the same rules for binding an opponent on hit as other attacks
  • Nuxia's exclusive T1 and T4 feats have been buffed:
    • Damage buff from Deadly Duet (T1) increased to 20% from 15%.
    • Infection (T4) has had some changes:
      • Damage model has change to be a flat 10 damage per tick, from 5 (+3 per incremental ticks). Still ticks every second.
      • The ability now lasts 10 seconds (from 6.9 seconds).
      • Cooldown has been reduced to 120s from 180s
      • Effect radius reduced to 5m from 6m.
      • Activation now causes a Light Hit reaction on the target.
      • Visual feedback has been improved.
  • Black Prior's Bulwark Counter has been fixed so that it cannot be used in unintended situations. It now only counters "Attacks." This means it will not react to Feat Traps, ragdolls, people entering/exitting ladders, etc.

Battle Pass

The new battlepass is also here. Through the hundred tiers, get access to the new collections of items that you'll be able to unlock as you progress through the free or premium pass. Battle Pass and season content will be themed around a secret society in Heathmoor, named the Order of Horkos. This cult is determined to spread their influence on all factions, no matter the cost.

Rejecting the peace offered by the leaders, the cult known as the Order of Horkos has risen as a secret society in Heathmoor. It was created by a group of mysterious warriors who rallied the former Blackstones to their cause. With spies and covert allies across all factions, it has gained more and more influence over the past years. Its members believe they have been chosen by a deity, named Horkos, to weed out all impostors and hypocrites. Drawing some of their powers from alchemy, they are determined to become the leaders of a new world.

Through the influence of the Horkos, bring together magic, alchemy and corruption with this set of items from the Battle Pass.

Due to the Year of Reckoning releasing only two Heroes, the Year Pass has been replaced with the seasonal Battle Pass. Bring your customization to a whole new level with 100 Tiers of rewards for all heroes, all worth over a million Steel! As this pass is seasonal, progression through the Pass will reset at the end of the season.

Free & Premium Pass

The Season Pass has two ranks: the Free Pass and the Premium Pass. All players will have access to the Free Pass, earning rewards which include embossings, ornaments, an emblem outline, color swatches, paint patterns and more. Rewards are earned every few tiers.

The Premium Pass on the other hand offers the bulk of rewards, such as new signatures, new weapons, new executions, new effects, and more. Premium Pass owners will still receive rewards from the Free Pass. The Premium Pass also offers +10% Battle Points, the points necessary to progress through the Battle Pass tiers.

As both Pass' progression are shared, a player is able to upgrade to a Premium Pass and receive all rewards they would have gotten if they had purchased the Premium Pass from the start.

Note: Compared to last season, a few improvements have been made to the Battle Pass. Aside from increasing the amount of Steel and Salvage that was received per tier by tenfold, Battle Pass Gear can now be freely applied to other Gears regardless of rarity. This Battle Pass Gear change applies to past Battle Pass Gears too.

Notes

Take note that the purpose of the Battle Pass is to guarantee rewards for players, compared to how all rewards were based around random drops post-match or scavenger crates. The Battle Pass however will not replace any current system of cosmetics and loot gain, such as the above mentioned random drops, any event loot or the content of the week.

Content of the Battle Pass, even for the Premium Pass, will only be character customization items and consumables, preventing a pay-to-win model. All tiers are also visible to Free Pass owners, so there are no hidden rewards. However, the exclusive rewards in the Premium Pass may become unobtainable at the end of the season.

Progression through the tiers of either Passes can be hastened with Steel, skipping either 1, 5 or 20 tiers at once. The price for hastening progress is static through the tiers and between both ranks of Battle Passes.

Other Changes

Four new emotes will be added to the game, with two coming after the Metal Trials. The first two emotes display an attitude of discontent and rudeness through "Dubious Assessment" and "One of your Shrugs." The latter two emotes display an air of confusion or skepticism through "Confused Warrior" and "Skeptically Swaying." All four of these emotes were winners of the Emote contest held last year.

To reflect the season of Tyranny, there have been changes to the menu elements. New menu music, together new background visuals for all menus. Just like last season with the "Master of Peace" effect visual, this season has an effect visual that can be earned in Ranked Duels called "Horkos Sigil." Later in the season, at the start of July, Horkos troops have set themselves up in Samurai and Knight territories on the war map (see gallery below).

Frustrations with revenge lock has been remedied this patch, as they have been either removed or greatly diminished for moves that force a specific animation when they land. Revenge lock had multiple issues, including a lack of responsiveness on activating Revenge and a lack of comprehension as to why Revenge didn't activate. To curb these issues, moves that locked revenge now allow victims to activate revenge once damage (Health and/or Stamina) has been dealt. This means that moves such as Nuxia's Traps, Shaman's Predator's Mercy and Black Prior's Bulwark Counter will still be able to Revenge Lock, but to a lesser extent; all other moves that used to lock should now be Revenge Parriable.

Here are the Heroes and moves affected by this change:

  • Aramusha (Ring the Bell)
  • Black Prior (Fixed issue with Bulwark Counter)
  • Gladiator (Skewer, Punches during Skewer, Fuscina Ictus ("Toe Stab"), and fixed issue with Throws, including throws from Skewer, generating Revenge)
  • Highlander (Caber Toss)
  • Hitokiri (Rei Kick)
  • Jiang Jun (Dou Shi's Choke)
  • Jormungandr (Heavy Finishers, Jotunn Grudge, Jotunn Surge, Jotunn Farewell, Jotunn Gift)
  • Lawbringer (Long Arm)
  • Nuxia (Glass Waltz, Jade Ballet)
  • Orochi (Hurricane Blast)
  • Peacekeeper (After 3rd Bleed Stab)
  • Raider (Knee hit after Stampede Charge)
  • Shaman (After the bite during Predator's Mercy)
  • Shaolin (Sun Kick, Sun Kick Sweep)
  • Shinobi (Forward Double Kick, Side Double Dodge Kick, Sickle Rain (initial hit), 3rd hit of Sickle Rain Stabs, Slide Tackle, Front Roll Kick, Teleport Kick)
  • Shugoki (After the hit during Demon's Embrace, Headbutt)
  • Tiandi (Palm Strike, Dragon Kick)
  • Valkyrie (Shoulder Pin, Spear Sweep)

Sanctuary Bridge has received some map adjustments. Ladders have been added to the overpass bridges leading to the respective Capture Zones, giving players options in how to approach those Zone especially if they are occupied by the opposing team. Debris and obstacles have been either cleared or changed to allow for ease of combat within the Zone. Ledges leading to Minion Lane for both Zones have been made into proper drops with improved response to drop input (for Zone C, the cart has been removed to make the drop a single drop than a two-step drop). Finally, some ledges have been removed.

Other smaller changes include the following:

  • For Breach, the Guardian Boost visual effect for the altar has been improved to better reflect the new Guardian buff instated last season.
    • The buff shown on Heroes has also changed from bright orange to electric blue.
  • In regards to Bots, they have been adjusted to not be so defensively powerful. They should now parry/block less frequently and get hit by more attacks especially if the attack is fast.
    • This should make PvAI combat feel more like fighting a human player, allowing players to use tactics from PvP also on the bots.
  • The Event playlist on the multiplayer map now has a timer to indicate how much time is left until the Event ends.
  • Feats such as Last Laugh have had bug fixes so that they now work properly.
  • Fixed an issue where Tiandi in Arcade Quests used the Dark Prince model.
  • A number of visual defects for gear visuals have been amended.

Midseason

Rise of the Warmongers

Before the arrival of the new Hero, one more actor takes stage to finally bring war to the land: the Warmonger! Taking on the look of the Destroyer herself, these tyrants have come to end the peace in Heathmoor. Stand up and fight against this terrible foe who in a deathmatch much akin to the Metal Trials, as they become stronger every round.

In the second half of the event, as the Warmonger is released as a playable Hero, players gain access to the Event Pass for some exclusive weapon visuals and effects.

Learn more about the event and the Event Pass here.

New Hero: the Warmongers

She who walks the path of glory and death without fear will rise.

The Warmongers are determined to become the new leaders of Heathmoor. With renegades from all factions among their ranks, they wear grim masks as an homage to the fallen wolves who knew the true nature of war. The Warmongers prey upon enemies with their elegant flamberge and use a dark power named Corruption to weed out the weak.

She can be purchased for immediate access with monetary currency in the Warmonger Hero Offer bundle, or purchased seperately with in-game currency two weeks later. Purchasing her through the bundle not only gives access to Warmonger, but also offers an exclusive elite outfit, an exclusive ornament, 3 Scavenger Crates and 7 days of Champion Status.

See more about the Warmongers on their designated page here.

Core Combat Update

Core Combat Update (CCU) offers changes to improve offense and timing consistency, together with reducing the effectiveness of light spam. The following are the changes that have been made through the CCU:

  • Inputs now will not have variation between being buffered or delayed. The feinting effect has been changed so that it is more believable (the pre-patch feint effect has been moved to Dodges). Both should improve timing consistency.
  • Stamina penalties removed from blocked, missed, interrupted and parried attacks to improve offense. Feints and Soft Feints still cost additional stamina.
    • Stamina damage on a number of stamina draining moves were also buffed with the original CCU. However, in a later patch on August 27th, all moves that dealt more than 30 Stamina damage were standardized to deal only 30.
  • Stamina cost for Lights increased to counter light spam.
    • Originally, this bumped up Stamina costs for all Lights to 12. After some additional patches, normal Light Attacks (Opener/Chain/Finisher/Dodge/Soft Feint Lights) were adjusted to 9, while all other Lights (Guaranteed Lights and Berserker's Feint-into-Light) were reduced to 6. These should deter mindless spam while maintaining a player's ability to use them as viable offensive choices if used with intention, as originally intended.
  • Damage values adjusted to incentivize the use of combos while reducing the strength of lights and parry punishes.
    • Light attacks and counter-attack moves generally are weaker, while heavy attacks are stronger. Chain attacks (especially finishers) are stronger than openers. Faster attacks in general are weaker than slow attacks.
    • In a later patch on August 27th, heavy attack damage were reduced to address the risk-reward balance as well as concerns with time-to-kill. They have been adjusted to values closer to what was had in the Testing Grounds' second phase.
    • In the August 27th patch too, deflect attacks have been buffed due to the CCU standardization making them unrewarding. They should be a more rewarding option now.
  • Recoveries normalized to shift frame advantage/disadvantage and hit stuns around. This will help improve offense, provide timing consistency, and also prevent continuous light spam.
    • Light attacks are disadvantaged. This allows opponents to always have frame advantage if they end with a light finisher.
    • Light attacks also have had their branching timing changed to allow opponents to dodge out of a Light Spam.
    • Heavy attacks (particularly Finishers) are now advantaged, meaning there is more incentive to end chains with a Heavy to keep up the Offense.
  • Sub-500ms opener attacks normalized to 500ms, and dodge attacks that were 500ms are now 533ms. Both are meant to counter the abuse of fast attacks.
  • Zone attacks are made more comfortable to perform. In a later patch on August 27th, some Zone Attacks had their damage increased due to becoming too low as a result of the CCU standardization, especially if their Zone Attack were their most viable Guard Break punish; a few were decreased for being too high in damage.

Together with these changes, there have been changes to Feats & Perks to accommodate for the damage/stamina changes, together with adjustments to some Heroes' kits.

  • Trap-based Feats now do not cause Stun effects and exhaust those caught in its blast radius by default. Those that kept it typically are meant to be used for the Stun, such as the Knight's Fiat Lux Feat.
  • Shield and healing Feats/Perks now provide less shields/health. For shield Feats/Perks, their duration have also been reduced.
    • The Shields Up and Vengeful Barrier perks' shields are now 25 from 15, but lasts only for 15 or 10 seconds respectively instead of infinitely.
  • Damage resistance Feats/Perks either have had their values reduced or adjusted.
    • For example, Hard to Kill now grants 30% damage resistance when at low health (under 50), from granting varied resistances based on current health.
  • Orochi's Chain and Top Finisher Lights are now slightly slower (500ms from 400ms), but their Top Heavy Finisher is now Unblockable.
  • Lawbringer's Shove moves (both Dodge and chain variants) now do not have Uninterruptible Stance.
  • Aramusha's Heavy Attacks and Berserker's Chain Heavies are now slower.
  • Highlander's Defensive Form Lights are now standardized to be as fast as other Heroes' Lights (500ms from 600/700ms).

Details for these changes can be checked out on the midseason's patch notes page here.

New Content

New Illustrious outfits and Event Exclusive Execution have been released. You can either guide a sheep with Belligerent Shepherd or summon a wolf with Belligerent Alpha. Would you like to dictate if your foe is a sheep or a wolf as you hold a blade to their neck? Purchase the Wolf among Sheep execution!

Other changes

The matchmaking screen has been changed to show all information for the gamemode that is being searched for. This also includes your own player statistics.

The Ram's health in the Breach gamemode has been increased from 9000 to 9750. Even after the Breach adjustments implemented back in the Season of Hope, data showed that Defenders still had a slight advantage. Increasing the Ram's health by one Cauldron drop should give a little more breathing room to push their ram forward.

Because of the invasion of the Horkos, the Shard remains in ruins with Draconite infecting the area. However, there is one more victim of the invasion: Daubeny and his castle where the Ring belongs to. Other maps such as Market Town and Overwatch have been wrecked by the spreading corruption. The faction statues on the faction war map have also been destroyed, with the Samurai one being covered by a tarp.

Gallery

Images

Video

Trivia

  • In anticipation for this season's Warrior's Den reveal on June 9th, a tweet was sent by the dev team the day before. It depicts Centurion walking off towards the Den while one of the staff attempts to notify Centurion with "Where are you going, Cent? The Warrior's Den isn't until tomorrow at 12:00pm ET / 16:00 UTC !"
    • Check out the tweet itself here.
  • This season was hinted at during the Blades of Persia event, where the event orders were cryptic riddles. The answers to these riddles were "Peace is poison" and "we are war," both of which are stated in this season's trailer.
  • Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this season was delayed from mid-April 2020 to June 11th, 2020. Check out the dedicated section on the Y4S1 page for more.
  • This season marks the first season where seasonal executions were faction execution, with one unified execution per faction.
    • The Knight execution "Benedictio Militis" (lit. "A Soldier's Blessing" in latin) is in reference to what is known in the present as the accolade (alternatively, dubbing or adoubement); "Benedictio Militis" is its Latin name. The accolade was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies into knighthood.
    • The Viking execution "Sjaud" is a reference to Norse funerals, where on the seventh day after a person has died, people would celebrate Sjaund (sjöund; lit. "seventh") which included ritual drinking.
    • The Samurai execution "Ware Shinaba" likely is read as "我死なば" in Japanese, which can be translated as "If I am to die..." This likely makes a reference to the act of seppuku performed in the Execution, where the victim "chooses" to die honourably instead of being executed in other ways. "If I am to die (I'll choose to die honorably)."
      • Seppuku (切腹; lit. "cutting the stomach"), sometimes known as "harakiri" (腹切; lit. "stomach cutting"), is a ritualistic suicide associated with the samurai of medieval Japan. It was used as a method to restore one's honor by voluntarily atoning for their sins in death, killing oneself to prevent capture by the enemies, or was a form of capital punishment.
      • While pop culture often portrays seppeku as simply stabbing oneself, likely to censor the act, seppeku was a form of disembowelment where beyond the initial stab, they would cut their stomach horizontally (and sometimes also vertically) to make their death slow and painful in atonement of their dishonour.
        • The inclusion of an assistant, or "kaishakunin" (介錯人; lit. "intervention person"), for the ceremony was not standardized until the 17th century, making the act of seppuku prior to then more painful and prolonged. The inclusion of an assistant beheading the disemboweled was meant to be an act of mercy.
    • The Wu Lin execution "Tiandeng" uses the characters "天灯" (Tiān dēng) which translates to "sky lantern" or "heaven lantern."
      • In Chinese culture, the release of sky lanterns depends on the context of when they are released. In terms of death, releasing a sky lantern symbolizes the souls floating to heaven with the lantern either carrying or guiding them to their destination.


"Maybe, the Warmongers were right. Maybe, we were foolish to hope for more."

"Maybe, we deserved to be punished. It would be easier to give up and let them decide our fate."

"But we won't! Because it only takes a spark... to start... a rebellion."

Year of Reckoning: Season 3, named "Resistance," is the fifteenth season of the ongoing Faction War. The invasion by the Warmonger and the Cult of Horkos has shattered the minds of many warriors in Heathmoor. Witnessing their mighty power, it was evident that the best option was to surrender to the tyranny of these war-thirsty invaders... but some believed it's necessary to keep the resistance and not let the land be swallowed by terror and war.

Overview

"Heathmoor is in flames. Corruption is spreading. What do you do when all hope is lost? Well, you unite, gear up and fight back!"

"After a season of tyranny that has left crippling scars on the foundation of each faction, year 4 season 3 Resistance tells the story of the rebellious warriors who take a stand to vanquish a common enemy: the Warmongers and their order."

The Order of Horkos imposed a regime of terror and left many scars around the world. But in the most desperate times, a spark of rebellion is all they needed to bring back hope. As the warriors of Horkos seized several fortresses to conduct experiments with the Corruption, various groups of outcasts and mercenaries from all factions took up arms to reclaim their homes. Unexpected alliances were formed, and a new Draconite weapon was invented to fight the enemy back.

Rise together with the Chimera Alliance and dispel the Horkos from Heathmoor. Play your part for the resistance and get access to new armor, weapons, events, battle pass and more!

Features

Tales of Rebellion

"Starting at launch, live through the Tales of Rebellion event and be part of historic battles that will determine the future of Heathmoor."

Start the season with PvE event gamemodes where you act as one of the many rebellious warriors who team up with Goemon the Aramusha and the mysterious blacksmith, Ilma. The plan is to escort the Blacksmith into Horkos territory to banish the corrupted Horkos Leaders from Heathmoor. However, the Horkos Leaders won't be easy to defeat as they are empowered by Draconite, so fight corruption with corruption. Collect Draconite for Ilma and she will craft a special Draconite weapon that will sunder even the most Draconite-corrupted warrior! This event will come in many parts, starting with the siege of Overwatch fort that had been taken by one of the Harbingers, Yato.

For more information on the Tales of Rebellion event, see here. For more information on Part 1 specifically where you fight the Samurai Horkos and Yato, see here.

Team Identification

"Time to bring your hero's customization to the next level! No more distinctions between Attacker, Defender or Neutral colors: you can now wear any color palette you want, no matter which team you are in!."

Updates have been made to Customization and the UI for player comfortability. Color palette locks on armor visuals between Attackers and Defenders have been removed, as Heroes will now only feature neutral colors to allow for greater player expression. As a result, team identification has had an update, where allies will be in blue and the enemies orange. Health bars will now also be team color-coded. These will also affect NPCs such as Soldiers, as allied NPCs will be in blue with blue health bars.

Allies will also be outlined together with their name noted above them, thus visible across the map; players can turn this feature off if they desire more immersion. Enemies will only have their details (Name, Health, Stamina) shown when you are engaged in a fight with them. Team revealing feats or game mechanics (carrying an Offering) will now be shown with a fill flash on top of the previously mentioned outline feature.

The default color for non-customized characters have been change to “Radioactive Decay” (Yellow, Black, Light Grey). The “Exotic” palette (Orange, Turqoise, Light Grey) will still be unlocked by default.

More info in regards to Team Identification can be seen at this dedicated page on the official website.

New Armors and Weapons

Pledge your allegiance to the group of outcasts and mercenaries that make up the rebellion.

Using their influence, the Order of Horkos seized the most expensive resources to craft their weaponry and armors. The warriors who refused to join them were left with only scraps from battles and modest materials. But as these rebels joined forces to fight for their homes, they learned to make a better use of what they could find on the battlefield. With the help of some rogue blacksmiths, they crafted robust and practical gear that could survive the test of time.

Get access to the Rebellion rewards during Y4S3 Rebellion through the seasonal and battle pass rewards.

All Heroes have received a Rare weapon visual which follow a different path of corruption compared to the previous season, in the form of venomous insects and snakes. As for armor, all Heroes except for the Year 1 Heroes have received variations of already existing sets. Among the Year 1 Heroes though, Aramusha received an entirely new set of gear to commemorate Goemon rising to leadership for the rebellion.

Maps

A new map has been added, the Belvedere, to fulfill the circle of all factions having their own Arena map. This new Wu Lin arena features a gorgeous visage over a lake, together with Chinese architecture revived by Heathmoor architects. Enjoy the view as you partake in duels or brawls.

This season also features some map reworks, primarily Sentinel. Currently being the only Dominion map with Ballistas (and the first map that introduced them in a PvP gamemode), that aspect has been preserved. Instead, priority was made to map navigation and making those Ballistas more a secondary objective.

Both capture zones were modified in order to make them more fair to fight in. With the removal of a pathway behind Zone A, the Zone itself has been made to be bigger, with the stairs leading up to it becoming wider. A Brasero has also been added to its center to help as cover from Ballista fire from Zone C. Zone C itself has had many changes, such as the interior becoming larger and the outside platform being sized down. The upper level of the Zone where the Ballista is located has been removed from being part of the Zone, with fences now lining the interior drops. To create easier ways for players to move from Zone C to mid, ziplines have been added from the upper level towards the edges of the midlane.

For Duels on Sentinel, the dueling area in the Defender's Courtyard has been moved to the interior of the Tower. The trapdoor at the top of the tower has also been closed permanently. For Brawls, fights now happen in the Defender's Courtyard instead of the Tower's interior.

Other maps that have been adjusted are as follows:

  • Temple Garden: Zone A has been made to be more spacious by removing the doors and standing torches, preventing players from abusing the environment to obstruct attacks.
  • Harbor: In the Dominion gamemode, the open ledge in the midlane has been closed up.
  • Gauntlet: Zone C has been expanded into the dual-entry corridor, while the stairs from this corridor into the fallpit area has been widened.

Battlepass

The new battlepass is also here. Through the hundred tiers, get access to the new collections of items that you'll be able to unlock as you progress through the free or premium pass. Battle Pass and season content will be themed around the Sylvan druids, who bring together silver, Eir flowers and Bezoar stones to offer new weapons and mystic powers to Heathmoor.

As more people struggled with the Corruption, rebellious warriors sought the spiritual guidance of the Sylvans to survive and heal themselves. Wearing large antlers and wooden masks, Sylvans were revered in all parts of Heathmoor as the spirits of nature's vengeance. According to various sources, their first appearance predated the first cataclysm. Their knowledge of botany, herbalism, and blacksmithing was unrivaled.

Through the influence of the Sylvans, bring together herbalism, purification and divinity with this set of items from the Battle Pass. Also available are battle outfits and visuals that have come together with the formation of the Chimera Alliance.

Due to the Year of Reckoning releasing only two Heroes, the Year Pass has been replaced with the seasonal Battle Pass. Bring your customization to a whole new level with 100 Tiers of rewards for all heroes, all worth over a million Steel! As this pass is seasonal, progression through the Pass will reset at the end of the season.

Free & Premium Pass

The Season Pass has two ranks: the Free Pass and the Premium Pass. All players will have access to the Free Pass, earning rewards which include embossings, ornaments, an emblem outline, color swatches, paint patterns and more. Rewards are earned every few tiers.

The Premium Pass on the other hand offers the bulk of rewards, such as new signatures, new weapons, new executions, new effects, and more. Premium Pass owners will still receive rewards from the Free Pass. The Premium Pass also offers +10% Battle Points, the points necessary to progress through the Battle Pass tiers.

As both Pass' progression are shared, a player is able to upgrade to a Premium Pass and receive all rewards they would have gotten if they had purchased the Premium Pass from the start.

Notes

Take note that the purpose of the Battle Pass is to guarantee rewards for players, compared to how all rewards were based around random drops post-match or scavenger crates. The Battle Pass however will not replace any current system of cosmetics and loot gain, such as the above mentioned random drops, any event loot or the content of the week.

Content of the Battle Pass, even for the Premium Pass, will only be character customization items and consumables, preventing a pay-to-win model. All tiers are also visible to Free Pass owners, so there are no hidden rewards. However, the exclusive rewards in the Premium Pass may become unobtainable at the end of the season.

Progression through the tiers of either Passes can be hastened with Steel, skipping either 1, 5 or 20 tiers at once. The price for hastening progress is static through the tiers and between both ranks of Battle Passes.

Other Changes

To reflect the season of Rebellion, there have been changes to the menu elements. New menu music, together new background visuals for all menus. Just like last season with the "Horkos Sigil" effect visual, this season has an effect visual that can be earned in Ranked Duels called "Chimera Supporter." Horkos warriors will now regularly be featured as one of the factions that appear in a match, opposing the Viking, Samurai or Knights.

New customization has been introduced at the start of this season. Together with the new Cinnabar material color that allows you to paint your armor in red, there is a new illustrious set, Draconite Lord, where you summon a Draconite-corrupted dragon at your behest. There are also new Faction executions: Catapults for the Knights, Spears for the Vikings, and Arrow Storm for the Samurai. The Wu Lin will receive theirs later in the season.

Other UI improvements have been made. For the Podium UI where the winning team is showcased after a match, the player names and emblems are now shown above each player in a more distinct fashion than before. New icons for players above Reputation 100 and Reputation 1000 have been added also. Orders are now part of the Game Menu than being a side bar on the War Map, which allows them to be seen during a match. The Orders UI format has also been modified to have more clarity in what prizes are offered.

All Bots should now have improved Stamina management behaviors when fighting in the lane, stopping to regain Stamina before going Out of Stamina and, if Out of Stamina, waiting to have Stamina again before resuming their attacks.

Replaced all dodges effects with a new "dodge shadow effect" for all Heroes, with all the Heroes now having their own base avatar when they dodge. Bug and customization error fixes have been made, such as fixing offsets in armor visuals and executions.

Midseason

Monsters of the Otherworld

With the midseason patch comes the yearly Halloween event, Monsters of the Otherworld. This event reintroduces old emotes, executions and other cosmetics, while there are an addition of new ones for veterans to enjoy. In contrast to the previous years of spooky green, this year's menu background a face-off screens are bathed in a ghastly purple! Join your fellow warriors on a trick-or-treat trip on Endless March and Spooky Slashers!

Participate in Halloween before the portal to the Otherworld closes once again at the end of the event. More details on the event page.

Player Experience

Player expression will be more flexible once again as armor piece color patterns that were forced will now not have restrictions. While some Heroes couldn't remove patterns on parts of their armor, this patch will remove that restriction by allowing Heroes to set these patterns to "empty," letting your Hero be bare in their natural form.

Ranked rewards now will be easier to obtain across the board. Whereas before, loot was only guaranteed for the winner, the loser will now also be guaranteed loot. The only loot that is restricted to the winner of the ranked match is the ornaments. Unlock conditions on some of these drops were updated, while references to the seasons in which they were introduced were removed as some players thought these cosmetics were not available anymore.

XP boost costs have been reduced across the board, cutting costs down by 25 to 66%. This allows players to use their excess Salvage more to gain XP boosts during a match.

Players can now deactivate event effects in custom matches, especially if they are playing content or are partaking in a tournament.

In-game Changes

Revenge will also be more recognizable on the battlefield as there will be a gauge around your ally and enemy's emblems that will display how much the Hero has built up Revenge. This will make teamfights a bit more manageable, whereas before, one would only know when a Hero filled their Revenge meter full.

For Dominion games, players will gain control of their Hero earlier during the opening cinematic compared to before. This will allign with other maps such as Temple Garden and The Shard which already allowed players to move during the fixed camera angle of the opening cinematic.

Gauntlet received further changes after the updates at the start of the season. The drop bridge connecting Capture Zone A and C directly (left bridge for Defenders, right bright for Attackers) now has a platform under it connected to the midlane, making a drop from the bridge non-lethal. The pit at Capture Zone C (Attacker side Zone) has been closed off and now allows navigation around it; the visual aesthetic of the room has been altered to reflect this change.

The winner's screen at the end of a match has had its camera angle adjusted so that players showcased on the "podium" are more dynamic, together with being less intrusive with the other winners.

And More

Bug fixes and other minor changes have been added. Check them out on the official 2.23 patch notes page here.

Gallery

Images

Video

Trivia

  • The name of the rebelling Aramusha, Goemon, is likely a reference to Ishikawa Goemon, a legendary Japanese outlaw and folk hero who stole gold and other valuables to give to the poor.
  • The names for most of the new armor sets for this season reference something or someone with a theme related to rebels or resistance against authority.
    • The exceptions are among the Knights, as the armor sets for Warmonger, Black Prior and Lawbringer do not reference rebelling or resistance based themes. The rest though reference topics in regards to contradicting religious beliefs to spur rebellion.
    • The Vikings reference individuals who lost much to achieve their victories.
    • The Samurai reference largely popular mass movements or specific individuals related to fighting against authority.
    • All the armor sets of the Wu Lin heroes reference the 108 Liangshan outlaw heroes from the 14th-century Chinese novel "Shui Hu Zhuan" written by Shi Nai'an.
  • The Chimera Alliance (possibly also known as the Chimera Rebellion), that has been hinted at in the battlepass for this season, may be named so as the warriors of all four factions "fuse" together like a Chimera to become a multi-animal monster that will resist the Horkos.
    • One of the Symbols obtainable in the battlepass, "Chimera Alliance 1," showcases four animals which likely represent each faction: a Lion (Knights), a Raven (Vikings), a Dragon (Wu Lin), and a Koi Fish (Samurai).


"Some believe they're fighting for power, for justice, or even for peace. Truth is these are just fancy words not worth dying for."

"Me? I'm just grateful I can still fight and breathe, but I've seen many of you out there who are not that lucky."

"So if you think you don't have a say in all this mess, if you're in too much pain to carry on, or if I've failed you before..."

"Let me tell you this: I've come back to make things right. I will stand and I will fight for you."

Year of Reckoning Season 4, named "Mayhem," is the sixteenth season of the ongoing Faction War. The momentum of the Rebellion is on the rise, but the rebels realize they need a leader who can truly unite them all to fight against the Horkos. The one who had been chosen was an old errant Knight who is now known as the Gryphon. Peace may have been a distant dream before, but now there is a new hope in the mayhem to come in the Battle of the Eclipse.

Overview

"The hour draws near. All that corrupts, all that resists - dominance or freedom, a path of endless war, a journey towards unity."

"Peace is poison. Peace is salvation. Fight for what you believe in and write history."

With the help of Ilma, a legendary Blacksmith, many warriors across Heathmoor were able to regain fortresses and discover some of the Draconite's true powers. Yet all these rebellions needed someone to unite them in this pivotal moment. Someone who knew the enemy better than anyone else, because he was once part of them. Someone who had learned from his past mistakes and was now ready to make things right.

After a failed attempt at bringing peace in Heathmoor, the one who was once called Holden Cross was now simply known as 'Gryphon'. He had forgone his former name and faction years ago. He became a mercenary to fight for those who could not bear the toll of war anymore, no matter which faction they belonged to. Under his guidance, rebels from all factions formed the Chimera Alliance, a full-blown army with the means to defy the Order of Horkos and stop their Corruption.

Features

New Hero: the Gryphon

"Some may know him by other names, but today, he has another."

Holden Cross makes his return to Heathmoor under a new guise, known by some as "the Gryphon." Although at first he wished to remain in the shadows at the advent of the Horkos, Cross found the conviction to do right and be the leader of the Rebellion so that Heathmoor could have peace. He does not simply fight for ideals such as peace or power, but for those who saw the good in him. He comes armed with the Bardiche together with his own way of using Draconite to help his allies.

He can be purchased for immediate access with monetary currency in the Gryphon Hero Offer bundle, or purchased separately with in-game currency two weeks later. Purchasing him through the bundle not only gives access to Gryphon, but also offers an exclusive elite outfit, an exclusive ornament, 3 Scavenger Crates and 7 days of Champion Status.

See more about the Gryphon on their designated page here.

Testing Grounds

Testing Grounds is back again, providing the chance to experiment with Heroes who need an update to their moveset. This time around, the changes made have been made to help certain Heroes who have a limited number of roles that they can play in gamemodes. The four Heroes that have been chosen are Warden, Peacekeeper, Nobushi and Shugoki. The test will only be around for one week, at the start of the season of December 10th to the 17th, and a survey will be sent out later to which feedback given through it will determine which of these changes will be pushed into the Live Game.

The following is a brief list of rebalance changes that will be made for each hero, prefaced with the intention of the changes:

  • For Warden, changes will be made in regards to fully charged Shoulder Bash feints and Back Dodge Shoulder Bash, as well as making the hero more viable in 1v1 and 1vX situations.
    • Shoulder Bash cannot be accessed from back dodges, and won't offer additional forward momentum when feinted.
    • Shoulder Bash can now be accessed from any of Warden's attacks, instead of only from dodges and after lights. Cannot chain Shoulder Bash into itself.
    • Side Heavy trajectories have been improved, together with all Heavy Finishers being 900ms (Current: top is 1000ms, sides are 800ms) and Unblockable.
    • Zone Attack's recovery reduced to 500ms; forward momentum increased.
  • Peacekeeper’s changes will revolve around giving her more mobility in group fights, as well as adding a new synergy point for her Bleeds. Improvements to her base damage will be made to help her defeat her opponents more swiftly.
    • Heavy Attacks and Dodge Attacks have had their damage increased by 5. Bleed damage unaffected.
    • When locked onto a Bleeding target, Heavy Finishers and the second attack of Zone Attack become Unblockable.
    • Dagger Cancel's recovery can be canceled with Dodge. Otherwise, recovery timing is unchanged.
    • Zone Attack's first attack now counts as a Heavy attack, just like all Zone Attacks.
    • Zone Attack's feint timing has been normalized to not be early in the animation. Zone Attack can also be soft feinted to Guardbreak or Dodge.
    • The input for Riposting Stab (Deflect attack) has been changed to Heavy instead of Light.
  • Shugoki will receive changes aimed at some of his Armored moves, together with adding two new moves in his arsenal to counter opponents who roll away from him together with dealing with bashes.
    • Hyper Armor on Lights and Demon's Embrace have been removed.
    • Demon's Embrace has had its recovery reduced to 1500ms from 2000ms. Shugoki can also start blocking as early as 1200ms into the recovery.
    • New Move: Dodge Forward Heavy to catch back rollers.
    • New Move: Side Dodge Bash to counter other Heroes who have a Bash.
  • Finally, with Nobushi, improvements will be made to her flow so that she is effective in 1v1 as well as in the minion lane.
    • Hidden Stance and 1st hit of Zone Attack now only cost half as much Stamina.
    • Heavy Finishers (including Heavy Attacks from Hidden Stance) are now Undodgeable.
    • Zone Attack's feint timing has been normalized to not be early in the animation. Zone Attack can now be soft feinted into Kick, Heavy Finisher or Dodge.
    • Dodge Attacks (Cobra Strike and Sidewinder) now count as Heavy Openers, thus leading to Heavy Finishers.

Content for the Testing Ground can either be accessed through the dedicated Testing Ground section on the War Map, or through the Custom Gamemode setting. See more information on the changes at the following linked blog on For Honor's official website here.

New Armors and Weapons

For Honor's Year 4 Season 4 Mayhem brings brand new emotes, executions, outfits and armor variation. With the rebellion show off a new age of armor that is more advanced than before.

With more tools and resources at their disposal, the blacksmiths of Heathmoor have forged outstanding gear for the many heroes who will fight the great Battle of the Eclipse. More specifically, the Chimera Alliance has grown from a group of mercenaries wearing improvised armors to a great army that has now the means to stand on equal ground with the Order of Horkos.

Get access to the Pure Draconite rewards during Y4S4 Mayhem through the seasonal and battle pass rewards.

All Heroes have received a Rare weapon visual which reflects the sinister arrival of Tyranny. As for armor, all non-Year 1 Heroes have received variations of already existing sets. While Shaman has received an entirely new set of gear, the rest of the Year 1 Heroes will continue to receive their new sets in the future.

Battle Pass

The new battlepass is also here. Through the hundred tiers, get access to the new collections of items that you'll be able to unlock as you progress through the free or premium pass. Battle Pass and season content will be themed around the use of pure Draconite, along with avant-garde technology as the Rebellion push technology forward with cogs and gears.

Pure Draconite has been used not only to fight the Corruption, but also to make technological advances. As warriors everywhere gather their strength for the first battle between Horkos and Chimera, blacksmiths and makers across Heathmoor are inventing Avant-Garde weaponry and mechanical devices to levels that were never seen before.

Through the technological advances by the Rebellion, bring together Pure Draconite and steampunk aesthetics with this set of items from the Battle Pass.

Due to the Year of Reckoning releasing only two Heroes, the Year Pass has been replaced with the seasonal Battle Pass. Bring your customization to a whole new level with 100 Tiers of rewards for all heroes, all worth over a million Steel! As this pass is seasonal, progression through the Pass will reset at the end of the season.

Free & Premium Pass

The Season Pass has two ranks: the Free Pass and the Premium Pass. All players will have access to the Free Pass, earning rewards which include embossings, ornaments, an emblem outline, color swatches, paint patterns and more. Rewards are earned every few tiers.

The Premium Pass on the other hand offers the bulk of rewards, such as new signatures, new weapons, new executions, new effects, and more. Premium Pass owners will still receive rewards from the Free Pass. The Premium Pass also offers +10% Battle Points, the points necessary to progress through the Battle Pass tiers.

As both Pass' progression are shared, a player is able to upgrade to a Premium Pass and receive all rewards they would have gotten if they had purchased the Premium Pass from the start.

Note: Compared to last season, a few improvements have been made to the Battle Pass. Aside from increasing the amount of Steel and Salvage that was received per tier by tenfold, Battle Pass Gear can now be freely applied to other Gears regardless of rarity. This Battle Pass Gear change applies to past Battle Pass Gears too.

Notes

Take note that the purpose of the Battle Pass is to guarantee rewards for players, compared to how all rewards were based around random drops post-match or scavenger crates. The Battle Pass however will not replace any current system of cosmetics and loot gain, such as the above mentioned random drops, any event loot or the content of the week.

Content of the Battle Pass, even for the Premium Pass, will only be character customization items and consumables, preventing a pay-to-win model. All tiers are also visible to Free Pass owners, so there are no hidden rewards. However, the exclusive rewards in the Premium Pass may become unobtainable at the end of the season.

Progression through the tiers of either Passes can be hastened with Steel, skipping either 1, 5 or 20 tiers at once. The price for hastening progress is static through the tiers and between both ranks of Battle Passes.

Next-Gen Support

Additionally to the graphical improvements that were available since the launch of the PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Serie S, we are happy to introduce a 60 Frame Rate per Second on those consoles, so to recap:

  • Available since the consoles launch
    • 4k Resolution on PS5 and Xbox Series X, 1080p on Xbox Series S
    • Increased Level of Detail
    • Increased Shadow Resolution
    • Screen Space Reflection
  • Available with 2.24.0
    • All the above
    • 60 FPS on PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S

Map Changes

Beachhead has received a map rework to improve gameplay in both Dominion and in the Duel & Brawl gamemodes.

  • Lighting for the Knight variation of the map has been improved to be much more akin to at "Dawn" (still listed as Night).
    • As some of the fire pits were placed around the map to provide more lighting, these obstructions have been removed where appropriate. This is most noticeable in Brawls.
  • Entry into Zone C from the Attacker's spawn has received one more entrance in the form of a slope into the broken wall; one of the staircases of the indoor part of Zone C has also been blocked off to prevent stalling.
  • The Attackers have also received one more way to reach Zone A through a path way along the wall along the ramparts.
  • The drop platforms near Zone A has been fenced off to prevent drop attacks onto the minion lane. For Zone C, a new set of staircases lead from the middle of the minion lane up to the Zone; Zone C's drop zone has been raised to become a part of Zone C.
  • Between the rampart to Zone A and the areas that used to be the drop zone for Zone C is a new bridge that provides direction rotation without requiring players to travel through the minion lane.
  • Spikes on Zone A have been removed, with debris inside the zone reconfigured.
  • Location of one of the Duel spots moved from Zone C to Defender's spawn.
  • Due to the removal of fire pits in in the midlane, Brawl spawn location has been centered to be parallel to the Minion Lane, instead of being at an angle.
Developer's comment: Beachhead was in much need for some drastic changes for some time. Attackers had too few options when it came to navigating towards both Capture Zone areas. The newly added slopes, stairs and ladders will now allow Attackers (as well as Defenders) to easily get to wherever they need to go. Another issue in the map was that Mid-Lane was subjected to too many drop attack opportunities throughout its entire length due to the one-way drops. With the new stairs and bridge we keep the navigational options while removing the frustration of getting drop-attacked too often. Finally, the spikes at Capture Zone A were a major point of frustration and were too gratuitous in their position. We strongly believe this change makes the area much healthier as an integral fighting space.


Frost Wind Parade

A week after the start of the season, the Gryphon himself will welcome you to the holiday season, wishing you a happy winter with the return of Ice Brawlers together with some nice holiday loot. Enjoy the fighting during the festivities as Gryphon chants before a Yule Log fire.

The winter parade won't last for long, as it will end on January 7th. Learn more about the Frost Wind Parade at its dedicated article here.

Other Changes

New season content has all the "Death by..." Faction Executions granted to all Heroes instead of being Faction locked. There is also a flag-breaking Signature to show your rebellious attitude against the Horkos. Together with that comes the "Minified" Executions for All Heroes, where your Hero will minify your target into a small statue before performing an assortment of actions upon the small foe, such as collecting them, kicking them or even stomping them into oblivion.

The Revenge Gauge has been improved to display more information. If your enemy already has one Revenge Tag, their Revenge Gauge will blink to show that your next attack will increase the Gauge. The old Revenge Gauge in the bottom left screen has also been removed, as the information there was a duplicate of the gauge around players’ emblems. In response to these changes, the feats "Revenge Attack" and "Righteous Deflection" have been changed or adjusted:

  • "Revenge Attack" (Your Attacks fills your Revenge Gauge) will be replaced by “Executioner’s Respite”: increases heals of executions by 50% of their base value.
    • Developer’s comment: Now that the Revenge status is visible by everyone, having a Feat that lets the owner alter their Revenge state by themselves made it look inconsistent and confusing. and it defeated the purpose of giving better information on players’ status. We've replaced the feat with a whole new effect for any Hero that uses it, which we hope will be useful to all of them.
  • “Righteous Deflection” has been adjusted to ensure it no longer affects Revenge gains. The other effects of the Feat remain unchanged.
    • Developer’s comment: For the same reason we have changed the “Revenge Attack” Feat, we made sure players cannot affect their Revenge status by themselves anymore with “Righteous Deflection”.

Performing 2-Steps Verification will now reward players with 7 Days of Champion Status and “Horns of Eminence” Ornament. If a player has already activated the 2-Steps Verification in the past, the reward will automatically be delivered during their next login. Please note this reward can only be redeemed once. For any issues with the 2-Steps Verification, either consult the 2-Steps Verification FAQ page or contact Customer Support.

A slew of bug fix change have also been made, including the following:

  • Fixed damage inconsistencies between in-lock and out-of-lock attacks for Warden, Conqueror and Lawbringer.
  • Increased the recovery for Highlander's chained lights so that it does not have frame advantage, respecting CCU frame advantage rules.
  • Added extra forward movement on Aramusha's Neutral Lights and Neutral Heavies to ensure they connect after a Parry.
  • Fixed input inconsistencies that prevented a Hero from using a move after either a feint or a move they should be able to chain from. Some examples being the following:
    • Nobushi unable to Counter-Guardbreak after feinting a Zone Attack.
    • Nuxia's zone after a Light Opener or Chain attack.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the "Berzerker" Feat to apply Visual Effect on the hand of the hero despite the buff having ended.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the “Spear Storm” Feat area of effect to appear smaller than it is.
  • Fixed a slew of customization issues, including model clipping, parts of armor not applying color or have stretched/squished patterns, and offset animations.

Read more on the dedicated patch notes page here for more information on other bug fixes.

Midseason

Battle of the Eclipse

Gryphon leads the Chimera Alliance against Astrea and the Order of Horkos in the Battle of the Eclipse! Both teams battle to control the Forge and use its fully-powered Draconite Scythe to defeat the Draconite-empowered enemy leader. Join the fight in this limited-time Event Game Mode and collect exclusive Event rewards!

See more information about the event on its dedicated article page here.

Hero Updates

Based on the testing done during the previous Testing Grounds, the Hero Updates for Peacekeeper and Nobushi were fast-tracked to the live game (together with a few additional changes which are italicized) as their changes were mostly met with positive feedback.

Changes to Peacekeeper, as was observed in the Testing Grounds, have been made to improve her mobility in a team fight, together with improving her synergy with Bleeds more. The changes that have gone live are as follows:

  • Zone Attack's first strike now counts as a Heavy Attack, not bouncing off when blocked and having Heavy reaction when Parried. Second strike can now be soft-feinted into a Dodge or Guardbreak, and the feint timing has been standardized to not be too early into the attack. Recovery upon landing the second strike has also been reduced to 700ms from 1000ms, granting her Frame Advantage.
  • Dagger Cancel's Recovery has been lowered overall to 400ms (from 700ms) and can now be canceled with a Dodge at 333ms.
  • Heavy Attacks, including Dodge Heavies, now deal slightly more damage (+2 damage across the board).
  • Heavy Finishers and second hit of Zone Attack now are Unblockable when locked onto a Bleeding Target.
  • Riposting Stab (Deflect move) now is inputted with the Heavy input instead of the Light input.

Changes to Nobushi, as was observed in the Testing Grounds, have been made to improve her combat flow so that she performs better in 1v1s and in the midlane. The changes that have gone live are as follows:

  • Heavy Finishers, including the Heavy Attacks from Hidden Stance, are now undodgeable.
  • Cobra Strike (Dodge Lights) now counts as a Light Opener and can be followed-up with a Heavy Finisher instead of only chaining into a Chain Light.
  • The second strike of Zone Attack can now be soft-feinted into Kick, Heavy Finishers or a Dodge, and the feint timing has been standardized to not be too early into the attack. Stamina costs has been rebalanced to cost 20 Stamina for both strikes and 10 on feints (before, was 40 on first strike and 20 on second strike with no feint cost).
  • Sidewinder Form (Side Dodge Heavy) now counts as a Heavy Opener, allowing it to enter Death Rattle Form (Heavy Heavy chain). Recovery cancel timing has been reduced to 400ms (from 500ms).
  • Hidden Stance now costs 12 Stamina (from 24 Stamina), while Lights (particularly the Top Light) from Hidden Stance are now not able apply backwards movement.
  • The first 166ms of Kick has become hidden, effectively making the indicators visible for 400ms.

As for the other two Heroes who were tested, Warden and Shugoki, their updates will come at a later date. While Warden's changes needs a few changes before being released, the fight team will be working a little longer on Shugoki's improvements. This coincides with the fight team's desire to release Hero Updates during the next Season after the Testing Grounds and not any sooner, to give themselves more time to better process player feedback and decide how to act on it.

Customization

Gryphon has received some new customizations that have added in the form of four new armor visual sets (eight if counting the Alternate variants), including full face-covering helmets for all of them! These sets are the Viking Peninent set, the East Asian Bodyguard set, and the gladiatorial Entertainer and Convict sets.

A new Bookmarking system has also been added. The Bookmarking system allows players to mark their favourite items when browsing customization menus; by marking any of these items with said Bookmark, the item will be brought up to the top of the customization menu (much like Event exclusive and Discounted items), making it much easier to find them. Take note that Bookmarking is not cross-Hero, so marking a favorite customization won't affect other Heroes who share the same customization option.

Bookmarking works for all customizations, as follows:

  • Outfits
  • Paint Patterns, Symbols and Embossings
  • Ornaments, Materials and Color Palettes
  • Armor and Weapon looks
  • Executions, Emotes, Signatures and Effects

Target Cycling

Target Cycling has been updated so that it facilitates combat in a teamfight that has more than two enemy Heroes better.

As a refresh on terminology, Target Cycling refers to the ability for a player to switch which target they are locked onto in Guard Mode against. Players would use their dedicated button for switching the target they fight again, pressing their Right Stick in for Console, and pressing Alt for PC. However, in either platforms, switching between targets was finicky due to the limited room it allowed when a player to engage with more than two enemies, mostly due to how Target Cycling before only switched between the two closest targets. This disallowed players from swapping to a desired target, especially if they were farther away.

Now, Target Cycling has been upgraded so that instead of just "switching to the nearest target," the system will now cycle between all available targets when performing the Target Cycling. Take note that Cycling will only count targets that are either visible (in front of you) or nearby (including enemies behind), and the act of Cycling is time-sensitive, as you have 250ms between each press of the button to keep the Cycling engaged. If you attempt to switch targets past the 250ms rule, you will return to the original "next nearest target" rule for Cycling and cycle to the next closest target.

However, take note that this new feature is off by default. To enable this improved Target Cycling, go to the Options>Controls menu and ensure “Enable Cycle Targeting System” is checked. See details and videos about the Target Cycling improvements here.

Map Overhaul

Forge has received changes, based on changes to the map that were already seen in the Tales of Rebellion 3 event. The Waterwheel's bridge on Zone A has been doubled in width (removing clutter that was around the ends of the bridges), while the Foundry in Zone C has had the map changes seen in Tales of Rebellion Part 3 applied, such as opening up the walls that faced the mine tracks and the inside workstations mostly being removed (although a few small islands remain) for less obstructions. The backside of Foundry where there is the elevated wooden platform has also been closed off, likely to deter stalling. The location of the Forge's Brawl fight has been moved from the Central Workshop area which featured overly tight corridors, to the outdoor space around the Mining Tracks.

Entry into Zones through the sides have been widened for both Sentinel's Tower Balcony (Capture Zone C) and River Fort's Overwatch Rampart (Capture Zone A). On Harbor, the ledge overlooking the sea at the Lookout (Capture Zone A) has been slightly reduced in width by having more wall to block the ledge.

Other Changes

The following is a list of other changes and bug fixes that have been made during this Midseason patch:

  • While locked onto an opponent, Guardbreak attempts with a minion or pikeman in the way will now bump them out of the way, greatly reducing the odds of accidentally Guardbreaking the the minion/pikeman by accident.
  • Warmonger's Tier 1 Feat, Corruption Blade, has been adjusted once again to have a longer cooldown (75 seconds -> 90 seconds) and shorter active duration (15 seconds -> 8 seconds).
  • All of Kensei's Zone Attack Strikes now cause Medium Hit Reactions instead of Light Hit Reactions, ensuring that their Zone Attack is no longer unsafe on hit or block.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Gryphon, Aramusha and Lawbringer’s attacks to be parried by an external ally that was in the middle of a parry.
  • Fixed a number of missing animations for certain attacks for Lawbringer and Nobushi.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Shaolin's Qi Stance Superior Block Lights, “Bounding Blossom” and “Astonishing Blossom,” to become parryable and lead to the regular punish timings after a successful Superior Block.
  • Jiang Jun's Dou Shi's Choke will no longer unbalance opponents that become Out of Stamina due to the slap's Stamina damage at the end of the move.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Black Prior's “Bulwark Counter” to still deal 40 Stamina Damage after the CCU.
  • Gryphon now has 300ms to input a Light Combo (guaranteed Light from the same side after a Light Opener) instead of 200ms. Also, when parrying an attack, Gryphon will no longer buffer the follow-up attack without any inputs from the player, making it easier to do nothing after a Parry if a players desires it.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Level 2 and 3 Peacekeeper Bots and all Viking (except Berserker) Bots from appearing as random Bots in matches.
  • Fixed an issue that caused players' NAT types to be showing up as "Unknown."
  • Fixed an issue that could cause players to enter matchmaking with a group larger than the game mode limit, causing them to receive a joining error.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Capture Points on the mini map to be displayed in neutral color when being captured. Now the capturing team color will be displayed.
  • The Russian localization's description of the "Fresh Focus" gear perk has been fixed so that it no longer has missing information about the perk's functionality compared to the English version.
  • Fixes made to various customization for Heroes, such as stretching, skin tone inconsistencies, clipping, lack of colour, and missing/mismatched textures.
  • Improved the color of the Revenge Gauge in colorblind modes to ensure it can be properly distinguished from players’ emblems.
  • Added an in-game warning for players reported for disruptive behavior.
  • Steam Controller input will now display Xbox Controller UI Icons, consistent with all third party controllers. Note that the Steam Controller will still work as expected.

See here for more specific information on certain changes made during the midseason.

Gallery

Images

Video

Trivia

  • The main artwork for the season was illustrated by Theoretical Part, a duo of Russian illustrators.


Trivia

  • The Year of Reckoning was greatly hinted at during the Zhanhu's Gambit event through the flavour text of its Orders, mentioning supernatural events that are likely the advent of the peaceful era expressed in the Year of Reckoning.
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