Welcome to the February 2022 Balance Update!
Over the past year, we’ve bolstered our efforts to foster healthy Hero diversity at all tiers of play; some of our more recent moves include creating new Legends Families (October) and applying varnish to our Villains’ vices (December). This month, we are making tweaks to the Winter, Starfall, and Magic Families.
As always, we will keep an eye on live metrics following the update to determine whether further adjustments will be necessary. Please refer to our FAQ entry on Hero Balancing for more details on why we occasionally make post-release balance adjustments.
Alongside these balance changes, we are also making adjustments to certain Season IV stages, including the final faceoff against Dr. Moreau, in response to player feedback! We hope these recalibrations help more voyagers complete their journey through the Underwild.
All changes in this update will go live at 2022-02-08T09:00:00Z.
Winter Family
We’ve been closely monitoring the power of the Winter Family over the holidays and throughout January. Our data chillingly indicates that these Heroes are increasingly becoming an oppressive force in PvP battles, particularly when used as a group on Defense Teams.
We try to avoid nerfing things when we can, but we believe it’s best to take quick decisive action when a specific set of Heroes starts to completely take over the meta — having to play against the same Heroes over and over again simply doesn’t make for a great experience. Minion health is being trimmed across the Family, and the main outlier, Costume Krampus, is receiving additional targeted adjustments.
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Elf Minions
- 10% HP → 7% HP inherited from the caster
- Heroes affected: Buddy, Frosty, Krampus, Krampus (Costume), Mother North, Mother North (Costume), Rudolph, Santa Claus, Santa Claus (Costume), Mr. Pengi
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Family Bonus
- +5%/10% → +2%/3% health for Minions inherited from their summoner
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Costume Krampus
- Attack: 651 → 766
- Defense: 880 → 799
- Health: 1558 → 1451
- Class: Rogue → Barbarian
- Caster gets Taunt for 4 turns → 3 turns
- Caster gets +50% defense for 4 turns → +30% defense for 3 turns
- All allies get +45% attack and a further +20% increase every time they are hit for 4 turns → 3 turns
Starfall & Magic Families
In contrast to the Winter Family, these two groups have not been faring too well in recent weather. To let them perform wonders on stage a bit more often, we’re giving them both the Villains treatment — making adjustments to not only individual Heroes but also their Family Bonuses so that the group as a whole can become more relevant and versatile.
Starfall Family
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Family Bonus
- 40%/60% chance for 2/3 Heroes → 50%/75%/100% chance for 1/2/3 Heroes
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Director Zuri
- Heal for ally with lowest remaining HP: 60% → 65%
- Heal for all other allies: 37% → 42%
- Clown Minion inherits 13% HP and 20% attack → 15% HP and 22% attack
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Eiora & Fluffy
- Direct damage to target: 530% → 600%
- Max health reduction for all enemies with Minions: 304 → 404
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Emilio
- Attack: 745 → 751
- Burn damage over 5 turns when any enemy has Burn: 410 → 415
- Burn damage over 5 turns when no enemies have Burn: 320 → 365
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Theobald
- Direct damage to enemy with highest HP: 375% → 405%
- Direct damage to all other enemies: 230% → 260%
- All allies get for 4 turns +50% attack → +45% attack and a further +20% increase every time they are hit
Magic Family
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Family Bonus
- 25%/50% chance for 2/3 Heroes → 50%/75%/100% chance for 1/2/3 Heroes
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Passives
- Now affects all targets regardless of their element
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Agrafena
- x1 Mana Charge
- All enemies get for 3 turns -15% attack → -20% attack
- All enemies get for 3 turns -15% defense → -20% defense
- x2 Mana Charge
- All allies get for 6 turns +50% attack → +45% attack and a further +20% increase every time they are hit
- All allies get for 6 turns +63% defense → +54% defense and a further +5% increase every time they are hit
- All allies regenerate over 6 turns 1218 HP → 1428 HP
- x1 Mana Charge
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Anastasia
- x1 Mana Charge
- Grimoire Minion inherits 8% HP and 17% attack → 13% HP and 20% attack
- x2 Mana Charge
- Added 235% direct damage to all enemies
- x1 Mana Charge
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Anton
- x1 Mana Charge
- Direct damage to all enemies: 185% → 250%
- Each hit has 50% accuracy → 60% accuracy
- x2 Mana Charge
- Chance of revival for each fallen ally: 34% → 44%
- Allies revive with 30% HP → 40% HP
- x1 Mana Charge
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Cristóbal
- x1 Mana Charge
- Direct damage to target: 235% → 250%
- Damage if target has less than 50% health remaining: 470% → 500%
- x2 Mana Charge
- Direct damage to all enemies: 200% → 215%
- Damage if target has more than 50% health remaining: 400% → 430%
- x1 Mana Charge
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Dölgöön
- x1 Mana Charge
- All allies share received damage with each other for 2 turns → 3 turns
- All allies get +63% defense for 2 turns → 3 turns
- x1 Mana Charge
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Milena
- x1 Mana Charge
- Heal for all allies: 20% → 25%
- x2 Mana Charge
- Direct damage to all enemies: 390% → 420%
- x1 Mana Charge
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Motega
- Attack: 766 → 756
- Defense: 782 → 793
- x1 Mana Charge
- Butterfly Minion inherits 8% HP and 17% attack → 14% HP and 20% attack
- Targets hit by a Butterfly Minion receive +20% increased damage for 2 turns → 3 turns
- x2 Mana Charge
- Butterfly Fiend disappears after absorbing healing equal to 30% → 50% of owner’s max health
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Nadezhda
- x2 Mana Charge
- Chance of revival for each fallen ally: 34% → 44%
- Allies revive with 30% HP → 40% HP
- HP regeneration over 3 turns for all allies: 609 → 714
- x2 Mana Charge
Season IV
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Province 36-10
- Boss and enemy stats slightly reduced across all phases
- Protector Crystal HP reduced
- Phase 2: 2000 → 1500
- Phase 3: 3000 → 2500
- Remnant Shade Fiend accuracy debuff reduced
- Phase 2: -26% → -24%
- Phase 3: -29% → -24%
- Devouring Depths Biome Effect removed
- Enemies no longer innately resist status ailments and negative stacks
- Dark Heroes no longer receive +50% attack
- Holy Heroes no longer receive -50% accuracy
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Boss and enemy attack stats reduced in the following stages:
- Province 33-8
- Province 34-2, 34-7
- Province 35-5, 35-7
- Province 36-2