There’s a new patch for Gigantic and its making some significant changes to game mechanics as well as some Hero’s. To kick us off and if you can’t yet read the Beta forums, the patch notes are below. If you have already read the patch notes and want to jump straight to my analysis, hit this link and it'll zip you all the way down.

BIG STUFF YOU’LL NOTICE RIGHT AWAY

POWER ORBS

• There’s a new way to power up your guardian and gain some focus for yourself: power orbs!
• You’ll see a glowing orb appear whenever you kill an enemy hero. Get close to the orb, and you’ll grab it to gain 2 power for your guardian and 10 focus for yourself.
• You’ll also find power orbs elsewhere on the battlefield. Those grant 1 power to the guardian and 5 focus to the hero who grabs one.
• During the Clash, power orbs appear at empty summoning circles periodically. If you grab one, you’ll get 12 power for your guardian and 25 focus for yourself.

NEW CREATURES

We’ve added two new summoned creatures: the autumn bloomer and the yeti cyclops.

The autumn bloomer costs 2 focus, and it creates an invisibility power-up at the center of its healing pool every 30 seconds. If you grab the power-up, you’ll be invisible for 4 seconds.

The yeti cyclops costs 3 focus, and it creates a frozen area (slows and deals damage) at a secondary entrance to the summoning circle it’s guarding.

HERO CHANGES

We’ve tweaked many of the heroes, and we changed Aisling a lot. You can read all the details in each hero’s section below.

TWEAKS YOU’LL NOTICE EVENTUALLY

• We changed the amount of power your guardian gets when you kill an enemy hero. You now get 5–15 power, depending on the enemy’s level, instead of a flat 8 power per kill. You can get more power if you grab the power orb after the kill, of course.
• We tweaked power generation a bit (beyond the power orbs and the level-based power reward for enemy kills). Now guardians don’t generate power for themselves during the Clash if no enemies are nearby.
• You’ll see stars over your head whenever there’s a hit reaction that disables your abilities.
• You’ll see new visual effects for heroes, pets, and guardians who are shielded: HK-206 (after fortifying with Siege Mode upgrade), Aisling (after recalling Sir Cador with the Shielding Presence upgrade—more on that below), Sir Cador (when first summoned and after you tap E/RB to refresh the shield), and vulnerable guardians (based on how much power they had).
• If you use a leap skill, you can’t be immobilized in midair.
• We’ve corrected some DPS exploits for Aisling, Charnok, Xenobia, Tripp, Tyto the Swift, Voden, and Mozu. Go, and sploit no more.
• We taught the Gigantic client to switch languages based on the default language your Windows 10/Xbox One operating system uses.

REMODELING THE BATTLEGROUNDS

• We’ve altered the colors on the minimap to better match the actual terrain.
• You’ll now find power orbs on the battlefield at the start of the match, and they’ll appear on empty summoning circles during the Clash.
• The terrain destruction during rampages and the Clash will hurt you if you get too close, but it won’t kill you unless you were already near death.

ON GUARD-IANS

• We’ve convinced the guardians to move around more when you engage them in their lairs.
• The visual effects for a guardian’s shield give you a clue how strong the shield is.

CREATURE FEATURES

GENERAL

• All creatures only dodge backward when an enemy is nearby, and they dodge only when facing their target. We removed some extraneous visual effects from the end of a creature summoning.

BLOOMER

• Welcome, autumn bloomers! Beyond that, we’ve made some other changes.
• When a bloomer dies, the healing pools it created disappear.
• Baby bloomers now directly heal allies during a fight. They launch two homing projectiles that heal for 75 each.
• If a nearby ally is below half health, a baby bloomer channels a healing beam on them that heals 100 health per second for 5 seconds (12 second cooldown).
• Adult bloomers also directly heal allies during a fight. They launch a single homing projectile that heals for 300. They also have a healing beam for allies below half health, and theirs heals 150 health per second (same duration and cooldown as the baby bloomers).

CERBERUS

• We’ve tweaked behavior for cerberus majoris so they’re generally more mobile in a fight. Good doggie!
• We’ve added a dashing attack that moves through targets and sets them on fire. It now dodges in combat, as described above.
• The cerberus majoris now spits three fireballs in succession, not all three at once.

DRAKE

• Adult drakes now have a new animation for their siege attack.
• Fire drakes have new animations for their fire barrage and fire breath attacks.
• Young drakes are now in the dodge state when creating the circle of flame around themselves.

CYCLOPS

• Welcome, yeti cyclops! Beyond that, we’ve made some familywide changes.
• You should find it more difficult to avoid cyclops melee attacks.
• Every cyclops can perform a leap attack at long range.
• The walls a cyclops creates should pop-in/pop-out much less frequently.

Aisling

Beyond the specific skill and talent changes you’ll see below, we made Sir Cador faster and increased his base damage.

Slash (LMB/RT)

• The Spectral Wave upgrade now replaces your melee attack with a projectile. You must hold down LMB/RT to shoot the projectile.
• We fixed a bug with the Father’s Reproof upgrade that allowed it to stack 6 times instead of 5 and thus reduce damage by an extra 5 percent.

Cador’s Command (RMB/LT)

• We gave the base skill a new name and a very short cooldown (3 seconds), and now it just tells Cador where to go. It doesn’t trigger a powerful attack anymore. Cador should pursue his target sooner after you reposition him.
• We added a new upgrade: Cador’s Charge (which is what the base skill used to be named). As you might have guessed, this upgrade makes Sir Cador perform a powerful melee attack every 7 seconds. It now deals 225 damage (down from 350).
• Cador’s Charge leads to Cador’s Might (Allies near Sir Cador deal an extra 15 percent damage) or Cador’s Restoration (Allies near Sir Cador heal 30 health per second).
• We added another new upgrade: Cador’s Defenses. Allies near Sir Cador gain +10 armor.
• Cador’s Defenses leads to Burning Blade (inflicts burning for 3 seconds) or Fast Recharge (Sir Cador charges every 3 seconds instead of every 7 seconds).

Cador’s War Cry (Q/LB)

• The base skill now interrupts enemies (instead of slowing them, but see below) at Sir Cador’s current location and grants him a 300 health shield. If you don’t have Cador out, he’ll appear right in front of you and perform the skill.
• The interrupt animation is much faster now.
• We added a new upgrade: Chastise. Cador’s War Cry slows enemies for 3 seconds.
• Chastise leads to Dread (Cador’s War Cry immobilizes enemies for 1.5 seconds instead of slowing them) or Intimidation (Cador’s War Cry inflicts 3 seconds of weakness).
• We changed the Spectral Armor upgrade so it grants +20 armor, not +40 armor.

Into the Blade (E/RB)

• This skill functions two ways. If you tap E/RB, it renews Sir Cador’s shield. The cooldown is 8 seconds, and it costs 2 stamina. If Sir Cador isn’t out, tapping E/RB summons him.
• If you hold down E/RB, Sir Cador returns to your sword, and you deal an extra 60 percent damage and gain +10 armor. The cooldown is 12 seconds, and it costs 25 stamina.
• All buffs granted by Into the Blade last 4 seconds.
• We changed the Shielding Presence upgrade so it grants a 300 health shield for 6 seconds instead of granting armor.
• We changed the Swift Return upgrade so you hold down E/RB to gain 10 stamina and +25% movement speed for 5 seconds. That’s a longer duration, and it gives you stamina rather than costing stamina.
• We changed the Ephemeral Sprint upgrade so you hold down E/RB to gain 5 seconds of invisibility.

Terrify (F/LS + RS)

• This skill now signals Sir Cador to trigger his focus attack.
• If Cador isn’t out, he’ll appear in front of you and perform the skill.

Talents

• Total Recall (3rd level) now reduces cooldown by 25 percent.
• Command Performance (3rd level) gives Cador’s Charge a shorter cooldown and longer range.
• We’ve disabled the 3rd level LMB skill talent.

Griselma

Reach Out (LMB/RT)

• This skill is now a beam attack, similar to Xenobia’s Gaze of Envy (LMB/RT).
• We changed the Touch of the Master upgrade so it boosts a portal beast’s damage by 25 percent (it used to be 50 percent).

Portal Beast (RMB/LT)

• Your portal beasts now do less damage. The visual indicator for the attack arc (120 degrees) is now more accurate.
• We changed the Bestial Attunement upgrade so the damage and armor bonuses are now +15 percent (they were +25 percent), and they now last 3 seconds (it was 6 seconds).

Portal Call (Q/LB)

• We reduced the cooldown on this skill to 7 seconds (it was 12 seconds). The cooldown gets 2 seconds longer if you take the Portal Trap upgrade, but the Heed the Call talent makes it 3 seconds shorter.
• We improved the Quick Change upgrade so it completes faster and fully heals portal beasts.

Displacement (E/RB)

• We changed the Exit Strategy upgrade so that you teleport forward if you’re more than 25 meters from your nearest trap.

HK-206

Bullet Barrage (LMB/RT)

• We renamed the Recoil Dampener upgrade as Rapid Fire.
• The upgrade just increases your rate of fire; your accuracy is unchanged.

Rail Gun (RMB/LT)

• We’ve rebuilt the right-hand upgrade branch. The first upgrade is Hand Cannon, which replaces your rail gun with a mid-range cannon that dazes enemies for 1 second on a direct hit.
• Hand Cannon leads to Daze for Days (increases the daze duration to 2 seconds) or Concussive Explosion (If you’re fortified, the cannon’s explosion dazes all enemies you hit).
• We also increased the projectile speed and projectile size for Hand Cannon, and increased the range slightly.

Imani

Silent Scope (RMB/LT)

• We’ve adjusted the sniping damage numbers so that the 2x and 3x damage multipliers you see are now accurate. We also rearranged the upgrades.
• The Adjustable Scope upgrade is unchanged. It now leads to Vital Organs (your scoped shots have 50% armor penetration) or On the Mark (your damage bonus starts at 2x after a fully charged direct hit while scoped).
• The Snapshot upgrade is also unchanged, except that it’s a first-tier upgrade now. It leads to Deft Hand (now a second-tier upgrade) or Combat Sniper (which we changed to grant you +15 armor, not +10 armor).

Cycle Ammo (Q/LB)

• We fixed a bug on the Blast Radius upgrade that kept it from playing nicely with the On the Mark upgrade to Silent Scope.

Kill Shot (F/LS + RS)

• We fixed a bug where the skill would fire from the wrong place, causing you to hit terrain instead of your target.

Talents

• We’ve enabled Recoil Dampeners (3rd level), which eliminates recoil on scoped shots.
• We’ve disabled the Fog of War talent, which let you use Smoke Bomb more often.

Lord Knossos

In general, we fixed an issue with air attacks that would let you fly. Insert flying cow joke here.

Skewer (LMB/RT)

• We increased the pause at the end of the combo.

Chuck (RMB/LT)

• The bleed from the Heavy Barrel upgrade now lasts the full 4 seconds promised in the description.

The Margrave

Demon Fist (LMB/RT)

• We added a +80 armor benefit to the Counter upgrade, available once every 3 seconds.

Charge Forth (Q/LB)

• You can more freely transition from this skill into other skills.
• We reduced the stamina cost from 15 to 10.
• Charge Forth now pushes other heroes forward when you bump into them while charging.
• If you take the Rush in Attack upgrade, your second Q/LB hits those you bump during the attack, in addition to the strike from the attack.
• We fixed a bug in the Flaming Fist upgrade, and now it should properly set enemies on fire if you bump into them while attacking.

Staggering Leap (E/RB)

• If you get interrupted before you leap, Staggering Leap has only half the cooldown time.
• We also updated the skill to hit sooner when you land.

Mozu

Attractor Beam (RMB/LT)

• The Cantrip of Disruption upgrade now interrupts only if you hit someone when the skill starts.

Talents

• Added Dimension (3rd level) talent gives Dimension Door a much longer range.

Tripp

Lightning Strikes (LMB/RT)

• We reduced the damage slightly.
• We shortened the overall combo and increased the pause at the end of the combo.
• We also fixed things so that selecting the Shocking Blades and Assassin’s Credo upgrades together doesn’t give you huge damage spikes.
• You can’t spam the Shocking Blades upgrade repeatedly after Storm Surge, an upgrade to Flashdance (E/RB).
• The Power Surge upgrade gives you an 8 percent damage bonus only when you hit an enemy in the back or side. You’re an assassin after all...

Bladestorm (F/LS + RS)

• We added a half-second delay when Bladestorm ends before you can use other skills.

Tyto

Talon (LMB/RT)

• We increased the pause at the end of the combo.

Swoop (RMB/LT)

• The Shake It Off upgrade now shows “stun break” visual effects if you use it to break out of being stunned or launched.

Blade Dance (Q/LB)

• Hitting enemies doesn’t slow them down anymore.
• We changed the focus you gain per hit from 2 to 1.
• If Blade Dance gets interrupted early, it reduces the cooldown and stamina cost to perform the skill.

Fang (E/RB)

• We increased the base damage from 50 to 100.
• We increased the damage over time duration from 5 seconds to 6 seconds.
• Your pet no longer homes in on enemies within a cone in front of you. You have to aim directly at the enemy to get the homing effect. Fang’s homing arc is now 80 degrees.
• We increased the damage from the Pounce upgrade from 175 to 200.
• We increased the armor break duration from the Gnawing Out upgrade from 5 seconds to 6 seconds.

Blur (F/LS + RS)

• We reduced the overall damage.
• We added a 0.3-second delay after the attack before you can move or transition to other abilities.

Vadasi

Divine Wind (Q/LB)

• We fixed a bug in the Divine Protection upgrade that would allow you to gain extra armor from a fourth orb.

Voden

Green Man (Q/LB)

• We changed the order of the trickster upgrades so that Alternate Root comes first and you can combine it with range (A Ways Away) or stealth (Leaf No Trace).
• The healing spring created by your decoy no longer grants super jump to your team.
• The invisibility from the Leaf No Trace upgrade triggers when you summon a decoy or when you swap places with it.

Wu

Rain of Blows (LMB/RT)

• We reduced the extra damage from the Flowing Fist upgrade from 185 to 150.
• We fixed a bug that let the Flowing Stance upgrade stack four times rather than three times, granting an extra +10 armor.
• We lowered the Rupture upgrade’s bleed damage from 40 DPS for 4 seconds to 30 DPS for 3 seconds.

Splash Kick (RMB/LT)

• We reduced the base damage by 50, and reworked the left-hand upgrade branch.
• Burst the Dam is now a first-tier upgrade, and the armor break lasts 3 seconds, not 4 seconds.
• Splashdown is now a second-tier upgrade. The other second-tier upgrade is Down with Authority (triggering Splash Kick twice deals an extra 150 damage to bleeding or poisoned enemies).

Crashing Waves (Q/LB)

• We reduced the delay before you can transition to another skill, making the Rupture upgrade more reliable.

Tongue Lashing (E/RB)

• We increased the damage from 95 to 110.
• The Barbed Tongue upgrade now deals double damage, not triple damage.
• We reduced damage from the Poisoned Tongue upgrade from 60 DPS to 25 DPS.

Xenobia

Words of Spite (RMB/LT)

• We reduced the homing arc from 360 degrees to 80 degrees.

Analysis

The biggest surprises of this update is the addition of Orbs, the heavy treatment on Aisling and balance swings for Tripp and Tyto besides those four things, there are also a few things that caught my attention. To address the first, I suspect part of the reason for implementing Orbs is the fact that, at times, matches can be protracted if the teams are relatively even. PokeWars(TM) is very real at the moment and this should go some way in combating it. The fact that these Orbs are dropped on death, at summoning circles during the Clash and randomly on the battlefield, leaves me in no doubt that Motiga feel matches are taking too long or that there are dips of pace during play. I have to admit that there is, at times, the need to hurry a game along and I think Orbs will likely be a good cure especially on maps such as Canyon where the change of pace is much more noticeable than on Mistforge. My only current concern with the Orbs is the fact that at the start of a match, they're everywhere.

When it comes to the Aisling changes, I have to stay that I like where she's heading. From the previous update her heal was poor and her utility was undermined heavily by Xenobia. On top of that, she was also easy to kite and Cador was incredibly squishy. I'd have to say that despite her being brilliantly designed aesthetically, she was in need of really finding her niche. Overall I think the changes are good for her because it gives Cador more survivability, provides her with some ranged ability and Cador's War Cry interrupting enemies by default is welcome. As for Into the Blade, I really love the revisions because there's really flexibility here as to how you approach the skill lines. I'll be taking her for a spin later today to see the result of these changes first hand. 

As for Tripp and Tyto, the vast majority of all feedback I've seen throughout Alpha and Beta has revolved around these Hero's and how they're too strong. I'll admit that in the right hands, they are both formidable. The problem is that in organised play, I feel they fall off somewhat. They're both brilliant at 'pug' stomping because there's currently no means of communicating with your team besides pinging or GameVox. As a result, I fully expected them to be adjusted. Is it too much? I don't think so. Tripp has had her damage slightly lowered on her Lightning Strikes and she'll need to ensure her positioning more, but the pause at the end of her combo is largly negligible, the same with the half-second delay on Bladestorm. Where Tyto is concerned, his changes are minimal. Fang requires more aim but deals more damage because of it, whilst Blade Dance generates only a fraction less Focus but now has a reduced cooldown and stamina cost if interrupted. The strangest change to Tyto is to reduce the damage from his Blur as it already dealt so little damage.

Other notable changes include Wu receiving a reduction to his Tongue Lash damage (both paths were outrageous) as well as a reduction to his Rain of Blows damage. Having tested today, it hasn't made an enormous difference but it at least gives players some chance of countering his chain attacks. Finally, Griselma has undergone some serious tweaks. Her Reach Out is now a channeled attack, her Portal Beasts have had their damage reduced, their aura power from Beastial Attunement lowered and her Displacement teleport significantly limited. In all honesty, it's difficult to know where to start with my assessment of her now but on 2v2 testing today, I can report the following:

1. The channeled attack works and looks OK but it results in her dealing little damage at the start and it ramping up over time. The problem with this is that if you lose contact with a player for a split second, your damage starts at its lowest point again. The glow animation on the end of your staff is also a little odd and the shimmer of blue on the end of your staff feels a little out of place. I think the skill has lost a lot of its skill and flavor. 

2. Her Portal Beasts now have a wider cone of fire (which is most welcome and is feedback I gave previously) but their damage is pitiful now. Two Portal Beasts attacking Sven couldn't even kill him. I'm unsure if Motiga even want them to be able to kill players any more. 

3. The range change on Displacement + Portal Trap was needed, but it's incredibly difficult to know how far 25 meters is. In reality and after testing, it really isn't very far at all. It's about the length of a bus (if that helps) so her potential to escape is very, very limited. 

I'll reserve final judgement on all the above until I've had some more time to test the changes (you'll see me on stream on Friday). 

Oh and before I finish off this analysis, the new visual effects for Hero's and Creatures are brilliant. The Cyclops wall is particularly excellent and the mini-map recolor is great. Overall, then, things are shaping up nicely and I'll see you Friday over at Twitch/PersistentWorlder.