Yesterday Paragon released its v38.3 update and with it came a huge list of changes. What do all these changes really mean for the game, its heroes and its card system? Here’s my thoughts on the patch notes.

Card Changes

There’s around 20 card changes in this update and the majority are significant. What’s interesting is that the changes have made relatively niche cards universal so that all heroes can use them. Not only that, but the functionality of many has changed considerably. Ash of the Witch, as one example, now slows players for 1 second every time an ability is used. Stinger Booster also builds on ability use by improving basic attack damage.

What I find particularly good about all the changes is the fact they’ve instantly helped a variety of heroes. Serath is incredible with Stinger Booster while Shinbi - arguably the weakest hero in the game - is so much stronger thanks to Ash of the Witch. The two second cooldown on her Line Tempo allows her to regularly poke from 1500 units away, while constantly slowing.

Other cards, such as Toxic-Gel, are much stronger and it looks as though Epic have taken on board community concerns regarding crowd control and are actively attempting to implement cards that counter such lengthy stuns and roots.

Although many of the revised cards have expensive costs, they’re absolutely brilliant and I look forward to the full system redesign from Epic in the coming months.

Hero Changes

Iggy & Scorch received a huge damage buff this patch.

There’s tons of hero changes in v38.3 and most heroes have received some attention. The end result is a mixed bag. Heroes such as Lt. Belica that are already way overtuned didn’t see any tweaks, while heroes such as Iggy & Scorch or Shinbi - which needed drastic improvements - only received minor fixes. Where Iggy & Scorch are concerned, they received a relatively large damage buff, but it doesn’t remedy his static kit in a very mobile game. As for Shinbi, she’s much better of thanks to Ash of the Witch but there’s an argument the slow this card provides should be baseline and she still brings little value over any other hero.

Other changes see a Muriel nerf (why?) a reduction in the potency of Rampage’s stun (which is still too long at maximum level) and only tweaks to Howitzer’s Land Mine (when it’s his rocket that’s too strong).

Overall however, I have to say that some of the hero tweaks are good and while not everyone got what they needed (Aurora also feels way too strong still when her Ultimate is available) the game plays much better because of the balance changes, especially now Rampage has been brought into line.

If anything, I’m hoping the next major update chooses to revisit the weaker heroes (Shinbi and Iggy) to truly remedy their kit and/or damage output.

Finally, Yin is probably one of the best heroes to arrive in the game. Not only because she’s fun (and another ADC) but because she can deflect a whole host of projectiles. Whether it’s Rampage’s boulder or Grim.exe’s Ultimate ability, it makes surviving against crowd control much more enjoyable.

Loot Changes

I’m slightly wary of the approach Epic are currently taking when it comes to skins, banners and everything else inbetween. Although most skins are purchasable, many are behind RNG loot crates while the new banners, added this patch, are also gated. This seems bizarre because while I’m sure it works wonders for their revenue, getting hold of these rare cosmetic items is pretty painful.

If Epic are to continue with their loot crates, at the very least more banners should have been made available for direct purchase. With only one up for grabs right now, it feels a little tight not to allow us to buy more. Hopefully in the next few days we’ll see that happen.

Final Thoughts

Paragon still has a lot to do but patch 38.3 is undoubtedly good. The card changes are solid, hero balance isn’t too shabby and there’s only a handful of heroes I’d consider poor. Even the loot situation can be easily tweaked by increasing drop rates on keys and crates. As for everything else Epic has to deal with, such as match times and improving Monolith, there’s work to do. However, Paragon plays exceptionally well and is much more fun this patch than it has been in months.


V.38.3 Release Notes | 03.13.2017

PARAGON: YEAR ONE

It has been one year since the Ashurite portals opened on Omeda, Letha, and Zechin. One year since the search for the Paragon began. A time for solemn reflection... and cake!

This week marks the Year One anniversary since Paragon went into Early Access. To celebrate, V.38.3 brings a new Hero, huge updates to existing Heroes and Cards, as well as a week long celebration with gifts for all.
 


Yin
To kick off this update we welcome our newest Hero. Slow down projectiles and send them hurling back at your opponents with Yin, the wind summoning, whip-wielding Carry. You can check out all of her abilities as well as her announcement video, on the blog.
 

Major Hero Balance Update!

In this update we have changes to 20 Heroes. This marks the first of our major balance updates and features everything from minor tweaks to major ability overhauls. Check out the full list of changes in the notes below.

Banners Introduced
What's that in the distance? Is it a bird? A plane? No, its banners!!!

That’s right folks in this update you will be able to see your very own banner, on player kill and tower kill across the battlefield of Agora. We will be putting a different Banner up for purchase in the store every day for the next two weeks that way you can let us know which ones you prefer. See the list of all the banners coming in this update below

New Cards and plenty of Card updates
We recently revealed that there's an impending full rework of the card system planned for 2017. While we're working on that larger rework, we wanted to update some of the existing cards to reflect our general direction for the future. This update reworks some of the more niche cards with more impactful passives or actives and changes the numbers for other existing cards.

Year One Celebration
And now for the cake! To celebrate Year One, we are making it rain all week long:

  • Year One Gift - Play one game this week and receive a Year One Gift*. This gift will grant you one of six skins from the Vault, you can see the full assortment below. *Founders will receive an additional gift as a special thanks!
  • Vault Skins:
    • Wasteland Twinblast
    • Monarch Dekker
    • Monarch Sparrow
    • Monarch Murdock
    • Midnight Muriel
    • Cobalt Steel
    • Substitution: 500 Coins
  • Double XP all week long.
  • Sales
    • Everything Bundle at 50% off
    • All Hero Bundles at 33% off
    • 10 Loot Crate Keys at 20% off

V.38.3 Released

MAJOR FEATURES

  • A new hero, Yin, has been released.
  • Paragon Year One event has started.
  • Chests are now available!
    • There are four tiers of chests: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond.
    • Chests can be opened on the Profile Overview page.
    • All Tributes have been converted to chests of an equivalent quality to the previous reward.
    • Victory Chests have been converted to Silver Chests.
  • Daily Login Rewards have been added.
    • Check out our full blog on this feature, here.

MONOLITH

  • Core Attacks will now be correctly rendered with Team Colored Visuals.
  • Fixed an issue where players that re-joined a match were seeing every other player as invisible due to an issue with visibility.

AI

  • Bots will consider some non-primary abilities while fighting jungle camps
  • Improvement to bots' positioning while using abilities, including some reaction if the target is not visible.
  • Bots should favor targeting enemies rather than jungle or lane minions.
  • Improvement to Bot position when retreating.

CARDS

  • Weekly Card Pack
    • Seek and Destroy
    • Merciless
    • Bloodsoaked Armor
  • Blight [Status Effect]
    • Reduced healing reduction from 75% to 40%.
    • Reduced duration from 6 seconds to 4 seconds.
  • Ash of the Witch
    • Rework. Now Universal affinity.
      • Cost: 6 CP
      • +12 Power
      • SLOW ON ABILITY HIT - Passive: Enemies hit by abilities are slowed by 150 move speed for 1 second.
  • Divine Shield
    • Rework. Now Universal affinity.
      • Cost: 8 CP
      • +60 Max Mana
      • +4 Ability Armor
      • SPELL BLOCK - Passive: Block an enemy ability. (45 second CD)
  • Quenching Scales
    • Rework. Now Universal affinity.
      • Cost: 4 CP
      • +50 Max Health
      • +30 Max Mana
      • MANA AURA - Passive: Grants 0.6 increased Mana Regen in a radius.
      • MAXED: TEAM HEAL - Active: Heal yourself and nearby allies for 225 health, granting 21 Basic Armor for 20 seconds. Cannot affect players more than once every 20 seconds. (80 second cooldown) [Mana Cost: 75]
  • Toxi-Gel
    • Rework. Now Universal affinity.
      • Cost: 6 CP
      • +100 Max Health
      • BURST CLEANSE - Passive: Taking 400 damage activates a self cleanse. Being out of combat for 5 seconds resets the counter. (2 second cooldown)
  • Thermo-Bond
    • Rework. Now Universal affinity.
      • Cost: 8 CP
      • +100 Max Health
      • +4 Ability Armor
      • DETERMINATION - Passive: Being hit by stuns, roots, and knockups grants a stack of health regen equal to 12% of your max health over 4 seconds.
  • Stinger Boost
    • Rework. Now Universal affinity.
      • Cost: 6 CP
      • +60 Max Mana
      • +11 Attack Speed
      • EMPOWER BASIC - Passive: After hitting an enemy hero with an ability, your next basic attack deals 50 + (20% of Power) bonus damage. Can only occur once every 1.5 seconds.
  • Power Chord
    • Rework. Now Universal affinity.
      • Cost: 6 CP
      • +6 Power
      • +5.5 Attack Speed
      • BLIGHT BASIC - Passive: Hitting an enemy with a basic attack applies Blight for 4 seconds.
  • Thickblood
    • Rework. Now Universal affinity.
      • Cost: 4 CP
      • +12 Power
      • +30 Max Mana
      • BLIGHT ABILITY - Passive: Hitting an enemy with an ability applies Blight for 4 seconds.
  • Nature's Muse
    • Reduced cost from 7 CP to 6 CP.
    • Reduce mana cost from 150 to 100 mana.
  • Tele-Blink
    • Reduced cost from 6 CP to 5 CP
    • Increased distance from 1000 to 1500.
  • Stab Link
    • Increased distance from 1000 to 1500.
  • Shockwave
    • Reduced cost from 6 CP to 5 CP.
  • Plasma Channel
    • Reduced cost from 6 CP to 5 CP.
    • Increased shred per stack from 4 to 8.
  • Bubble Tap
    • Reduced mana cost from 100 mana to 60 mana.
    • Removed Lifesteal stat.
    • Now grants +60 Max Mana and +4 Ability Armor.
  • Bounty Stalker
    • Increased critical chance per stack from 4% to 6%.
    • Reduced max stack count from 10 to 7.
    • Increased stack duration from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.
  • Satori Cloak
    • Increased shred from 15% to 50%.
  • Megavolt Pylon
    • Increased mana restored per nearby unit from 5 to 15.
  • Dreadfeast Relic
    • Reduced cooldown from 120 seconds  to 30 seconds.
  • Blinkshot
    • Removed Mana Regen stat.
    • Now grants +6 Power.

HEROES

  • Heroes are now unlocked through daily logins. 
    • If you are an existing player you will not be affected.

AURORA

  • Base health reduced to 506 from 550
  • Health per level gain reduced to 68 from 74
  • Frozen Sword
    • Card Scaling reduced to 0.5 from 0.6
    • Base damage reduced to 58 from 59
    • Base damage per level reduced to 1 from 1.5
  • Glacial Charge
    • Cooldown increased to 22 / 20 / 18 / 16 from 20 / 18 / 16 / 14
  • Hoarfrost
    • Duration of effect reduced to 4 seconds from 4.5 / 5 / 5.5 / 6
    • Root duration reduced to 0.75 / 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 seconds from 2 seconds at all levels.
    • Mana cost increased to 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 from 50 / 55 / 60 / 65
  • Cryoseism
    • Base damage reduced to 160 / 200 / 240 from 180 / 230 / 280
  • Now deals varying shatter damage based on whether the shattering unit is a hero or not.
    • Hero shatter base damage increased to 56 / 86 / 116 from 40 / 62 / 84
    • Non-hero shatter base damage reduced to 28 / 43 / 58 from 40 / 62 / 84
    • Non-hero Card Scaling reduced to 0.1 from 0.2

CRUNCH

  • Punch
    • Attack speed gain per level increased to 2.0 from 1.4
    • Base damage gain per level reduced to 0.8 from 1

FENG MAO

  • Sweep
    • Attack speed gain per level increased to 1.5 from 1.26
  • Earth Shatter
    • Base damage reduced to 260 / 350 / 440 from 300 / 400 / 500
  • Card Scaling increased to 1.0 from 0.8
  • Polish & Bug Fixing
    • Feng Mao's feet now appear correctly in on the platform when viewing the hero under Profile.

THE FEY

  • Harvest Nettles
    • Cooldown reduced to 5 seconds from 6 seconds.

GADGET

  • Speed Gate
    • Movespeed increased to 125 at all levels from 35 / 50 / 65 / 80
    • Duration reduced to 1 second from 3.5 seconds
    • Cooldown adjusted to 22 / 18 / 14 / 10 from 22 / 19 / 16 / 13
  • Tesla Dome
    • Cooldown increased to 110 / 95 / 80 from 110 / 90 / 70
    • Base damage (dealt over total duration) increased to 375 / 575 / 775 from 350 / 540 / 730
    • Damage application has been reworked:
      • Damage now scales over time, starting off smaller and ramping higher.
      • Damage increases by 75% for each tick.
      • The final tick hits very hard!
      • Damage from Tesla Dome now applies a micro slow.
    • Tooltips updated
  • Polish & Bug Fixing
    • Fixed a bug where Gadget's ult sometimes applied one less tick of damage than intended.

GRIM.EXE

  • Mana gain per level increased to 33.6 from 28.8
  • Pulse Cannon
    • Card Scaling increased to 0.92 from 0.85
  • Suppression Mode
    • Suppression Mode slow now has an .8 second duration.

GRUX

  • Double Pain
    • Card Scaling reduced to 0.6 from 0.7
  • Smash & Grab
    • Card Scaling reduced to 0.3 from 0.4

HOWITZER

  • Land Mine
    • Base damage reduced to 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 from 75 / 125 / 175 / 225
    • Card Scaling reduced to 0.5 from 0.625
    • Duration reduced to 3 seconds from 5 seconds
  • Make it Rain
    • Cooldown increased to 105 / 90 / 75 from 90 / 70 / 50

IGGY & SCORCH

  • Oil Slick
    • Move speed increased to 100 at all levels from 20 / 30 / 40 / 50
  • Flame Turret
    • Base damage increased to 300 / 450 / 600 / 750 from 150 / 280 / 410 / 540

KALLARI

  • Death Sentence
    • Cooldown reduced to 110 / 100 / 90 from 110 at all levels

KHAIMERA

  • Ambush
    • Now grants 3 stacks of Spirit Regeneration on activation
  • Cull
    • Now grants 6 stacks of Spirit Regeneration on activation

KWANG

  • Light of the Heavens
    • Cooldown reduced to 16 / 14 / 12 / 10 from 18 / 16 / 14 / 12
  • Fury of the Heavens
    • Cooldown adjusted to 85 / 75 / 65 from 85 / 70 / 55

MURIEL

  • Serenity
    • Slow magnitude normalized to 200 / 250 / 300 / 350 from 175 / 245 / 315 / 385
  • Reversal of Fortune
    • Reworked:
      • No longer stuns enemies or knocks them up in an area around Muriel.
      • Now applies a 400 slow over 2 seconds.
      • Can no longer be cast while airborne.
      • Player camera will now correctly return to its normal rotation after Reversal of Fortune ends.

RAMPAGE

  • Boulder Throw
    • Reworked cast:
      • Now times out if the rock is held more than 5 seconds.
      • If Rampage manually cancels or times out the rock, he pays the mana cost, but the cooldown is not consumed.
      • Throwing the rock consumes mana and cooldown as normal.
      • Stun duration reduced to 1.4 / 1.6 / 1.8 / 2  from 2 at all levels.
      • Now stuns minions for the same duration as heroes.

RIKTOR

  • Mana gain per level increased to 45 from 36
  • Riplash
    • Range increased to 1525 at all levels from 850/1188/1525/1525

SERATH

  • Angelic Smite
    • Base damage increased to 58 from 55
    • Base damage gain per level increased to 1.8 from 1.6
  • Attack speed gain per level to 2.2 from 0
  • Base health increased to 522.5 from 475
  • Health gain per level increased to 76.8 from 64
  • Basic armor gain per level increased to 2.5 from 2

SHINBI

  • All-Kill!
    • Base damage per wolf increased to 55 / 80 / 105 from 47 / 61 / 74
  • Polish & Bug Fixing
    • Shinbi's heart FX should now appear correctly in the frontend
    • Updated footstep sounds and increased volume

SPARROW

  • Piercing Shot
    • Card Scaling reduced to 0.75 from 1.0
    • Base damage reduced to 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 from 80 / 140 / 200 / 260
    • Cooldown increased to 9 seconds from 8 seconds
  • Inner Fire
    • Cooldown to 100 / 85 / 70 from 90 / 70 / 50

STEEL

  • Bulwark
    • No longer occasionally blocks the pull of Grux’s Smash & Grab
  • Force Shield
    • Force Shield builds and becomes active .5 seconds faster

TWINBLAST

  • Grenade!
    • Base damage increased to 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 from 50 / 75 / 100 / 125
    • Card Scaling increased to 0.6 from 0.5
    • Projectile speed increased to 6000 from 3000
  • Polish and Bug Fixing
    • Grenade! targeting camera adjustments

YIN

  • Added Wind Gauntlet Yin to in-game store.
  • Added “Call the Shot” emote to in-game store.

UI

  • Rewards for leveling up are now chests. 
  • Hero Levels
    • Tribute Rewards are now Silver Chests.
    • Master Tribute Rewards are now Diamond Chests.
  • Account Levels
    • One chest is now rewarded at every level.
    • Existing unlocks remain (PvP, deck builder, etc.)
  • Rarities Changed
    • Legendary
    • Epic
    • Rare
    • Uncommon 
    • Common 
  • Some items changed rarities to fit system. This doesn't affect your chance to get them.
  • Fix for card ability text wrapping on deckbuilder tooltip screen.
  • Fix for hard to read text on chest reward rarity screen.
  • Loot Crate
    • Added
      • Banners added:
        • Dark Abomination (Legendary)
        • Gold Abomination (Legendary)
        • Iron Abomination (Legendary)
        • Glampoint (Epic)
        • Flamepoint (Epic)
        • Star Beacon (Epic)
        • Harbinger of Death (Epic)
        • Techpoint (Rare)
        • Terra Beacon (Rare)
        • Angel Crest (Rare)
        • Honor Crest (Rare)
        • Harbinger of Souls (Rare)
        • Shockpoint (Uncommon)
        • Checkpoint (Uncommon

To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Paragon Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 15, 2017

About The Author

Lewis is a long standing journalist, who freelances to a variety of outlets.

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