[2022] Dev Blog - Upcoming Shade & Sister of the Thorn Changes

In the upcoming Quality of Life update arriving on March 15, there will be some changes to two of Kerillian’s careers: Sister of the Thorn, and Shade. In this dev blog, you will learn more about these changes and what they mean for both careers.

Sister of the Thorn Kerillian’s latest career has undergone a bit of a renovation. The changes to Sister of the Thorn will add tools and opportunities for Kerillian to become an asset to the team in more ways than previously through debuffing enemies and controlling the flow of combat.

The goal with changing Sister of the Thorn is to address the most problematic areas of the career, make it into a stronger thematic role in combat, and lean more into the fantasy of the Sisters of the Thorn.

Updated Perk:

• Perk 1 Blackvenom Blades: Melee attacks apply Blackvenom, dealing damage and increasing damage taken by 12% for 10 seconds.

New & Updated Talents:

• Talent 2-2 Atharti's Delight - Changed to applying bleed when striking poisoned enemies instead of on critical strikes.
  
• Talent 2-3 Isha’s Bounty replaced with Briar's Malice - Casting Thornwake grants Kerillian 2 critical strikes.
  
• Talent 4-2 Bonded Spirit - Reduce the cooldown of Radiance by 50%, taking damage sets the cooldown back 2 seconds.
  
• Talent 4-3 Radiant Inheritance - Consuming Radiance grants Kerillian and nearby allies 15% power and 5% critical strike chance for 10 seconds.
  
• Talent 5-1 Pale Queen’s Choosing replaced with Recursive Toxin - Blackvenom can now stack 2 times.
  
• Talent 5-2 Moral-Heg’s Doomsight replaced with Lingering Blackvenom - Critical Strikes apply Blackvenom to enemies near the target.
  
• Talent 6-1 Ironbark Thicket - Now also increases the width of the wall
  
• Talent 6-2 Bloodrazor Thicket replaced with Tanglegrasp Thicket - Thorny vines now erupt from Kerillian and travel towards the targeted area. Enemies hit are dragged towards the target area.
  
• Talent 6-3 Blackvenom Thicket - Thornwake instead causes roots to burst from the ground, staggering enemies and applying Blackvenom to them.

Shade We felt Shade wasn't in a good place as a niche melee career, and that she needed more emphasis on positioning as well as allowing her to get behind enemies more often as a core part of her career. In order to support different playstyles, we also wanted to create a clearer intention with her Career Skill talents.

We wanted to remove the need for certain talent combinations and free up some more choices as a result. We added two new perks to get her more in line with other careers.

We have made an effort to make sure the Shade stealth minigame is a bigger part of the second to second gameplay. Players who utilize this well should notice a big improvement to backstabbing.


Rebalanced Perks & Passive:

• Main Passive: Changed to Assassin's Blade: 100% additional damage when attacking enemies with melee attacks from behind.
  
• Perk 1 Murderous Prowess: Charged critical backstabs instantly slay man-sized enemies.
  
• Perk 2 Blur: Parrying an attack and quickly dodging grants Kerillian stealth for a short duration.
  
• Perk 3 Dagger in the Dark: Melee attacks from stealth are always critical.

New & Updated Talents:

• Talent 2-3 Exquisite Huntress - Increased duration of the headshot damage buff to 10 seconds, up from 5.
  
• Talent 4-1 Ereth Khial's Herald replaced with Chain Killer- Successive Charged Backstabs increase Backstab Damage by 25% for 5 seconds. This effect can stack up to 2 times.
  
• Talent 4-2 Vanish replaced with Focused Slaying - Killing an enemy with a Backstab grants Cooldown reduction for 3 seconds.
  
• Talent 6-1 Cloak of Mist replaced with Shimmer Strike - Leaving Infiltrate grants Kerillian Stealth for 3 seconds. Killing an elite or a special enemy extends this effect by 1 second.
  
• Talent 6-2 Shadowstep replaced with Hungry Wind - Leaving Infiltrate grants Kerillian 10% movement speed and 15% Power with the ability to pass through enemies for 10 seconds. Infiltrate no longer grants bonus damage.