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Greetings, Ascended!
Wolcen: Endgame, patch 1.1.7.0, is now live! This patch brings:
A Semi-Fresh Start The sweeping changes coming with this patch require a soft-reset for existing characters on the Steam platform. For precise details as to what has changed for characters and account progress, please click here[wolcengame.com].
The Blind Prince Comes…
“Rest now, Ascended. You are free.”
The events at Crimson Keep hang over the mind of the Ascended, an endless nightmare from which they felt they’d never wake. A family torn asunder, and a foe unleashed.
Meanwhile, sinister forces had conspired to harness the power of Oshara, the ancient dragon matriarch and Voice of Naedre. Though their effort ultimately failed, it did uncover a new target, a new opportunity, sequestered away in the halls of Stormfall Palace.
Now, the city falls under the hungry gaze of a being more powerful, more cunning, and more dangerous, than any you have directly fought before. A being whose machinations have led you, the Ascended, to this moment. All you have fought for, all you have lost, the allies you have gained, and the family that was broken, are poised to burn away in a tide of ash, fire, and Fury.
You must prepare. Stormfall must prepare.
Beware, Ascended, for spoilers lie ahead. If you wish to go into Chapter IV blind, but want to read up on the other changes that have come with the patch, proceed to the “Infinite Scaling” section. However, if you want to know exactly what strife and struggle awaits you: read on, brave one…
Chapter IV
Chapter IV brings new story elements and new mechanics to Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem. Taking place during and after the events of Bloodtrail. Upon the timely intervention of a stalwart ally, you must face the architect of all that has happened to this point. Ahriman, The Blind Prince, is like nothing the Ascended has faced before: he is a walking god and has forces beyond count. He seeks an object in Stormfall that is key to fulfilling his plans to pacify the entire world and bring order to all under his falsely magnanimous eternal rule.
You must see to the defence of Stormfall and fulfil your duty: save the city and overcome the encroaching threat of Ahriman.
A Rogue-lite Chapter IV plays differently from the previous chapters in that it focuses on a rogue-lite experience. With so dangerous and immediate a foe as Ahriman, your first attempt to defeat him will most likely end in failure. As will, quite possibly, your second attempt, or maybe even more…
Players will have access to a light version of Champion of Stormfall mode in Chapter IV, from which they will work to defeat allies of Ahriman, weaken his abilities, and complete projects to reinforce the defences of Stormfall: all to ensure you have a fighting chance of defeating The Blind Prince and freeing your family.
Ahriman and his Lieutenants The Lieutenants System is the primary means to weaken Ahriman before you face him. As you complete Operations, two new progress bars will begin to fill. One for Ahriman’s inevitable arrival, and one for a chance to strike at one of his Lieutenants. The more Lieutenants you can defeat before Ahriman comes, the better your chances (and loot)!
Launching a Lieutenant mission you will give you a chance to select one of Ahriman’s many devastating skills and weaken it, should you succeed.
During the mission, you will face off against many powerful enemies, Ahriman’s Lieutenant, and a Spectre of Ahriman himself. The Spectre is completely invulnerable, such is the power of Ahriman, and will use the same attack you selected before starting the Operation against you until the Lieutenant is defeated.
If you are victorious, Ahriman will have a weaker version of the selected attack when you next face him. In Champion of Stormfall mode this expands slightly, and you will be able to choose between weakening Ahriman’s attack or increasing the number of guaranteed items he will drop…should you beat him.
If you are defeated by the Lieutenant in either mode the Lieutenant progress bar will reset, though it will take half the time it did prior to refill.
You can view the details of what abilities you have weakened, or how many items you have elected to have drop instead (in Champion of Stormfall mode), in the Preparations Overview screen by pressing the button to the left of the progress bars on the War Table screen.
Note that in Chapter IV both Ahriman and the Lieutenant encounters are at a set level. In Champion of Stormfall mode their difficulty will be scaled according to your progress through the Warmap difficulties.
Curses and Blessings Curses and Blessings are a new set of random Modifiers for Operations launched from the War Table. These modifiers sit on top of the War Table’s existing mission modifiers in both game modes. While they are far fewer in number, they are much more powerful and unique and will enable, or necessitate, more strategic play.
They will begin to appear on Operations as you eliminate more of Ahriman’s Lieutenants in Chapter IV, or as you ascend to higher difficulty levels at endgame. The more Lieutenants you have slain, or the higher the difficulty you have chosen, the more Curses and Blessings you will have on each Operation (up until the very highest difficulties, where the cruel machinations of Ahriman will take one Blessing away from you).
Curses
Wave after Wave
Specialist enemies spawn lower tier enemies on death.
Meteor Strike
Meteors will strike random positions on the map.
Lightning Storm
Lightning strikes random positions on the map.
Blood Rain
Projectiles successively fall on to your position, leaving a damaging Area of Effect.
Exhaustion
Every time you cast a skill, a stack of a slowing effect is applied on your character, reducing your speed (total reduction is capped).
Blessings
Counter Strike
Double Skill Damage for the first skill used immediately after an Active Dodge.
Vampiric Ancestry
Regenerate Health on killing an enemy (or Force Shield if Health is full).
Apocalyptic Surge
Aspect of the Apocalypse will automatically activate when the player's Health is critically low (if the player has enough Primordial Essence). This does not count as a death/knockdown, and the player will have full Health upon exciting the Apocalyptic Form.
Ferocity of Baäpheth
After dealing a certain amount of damage, automatically cast a modified version of “Sovereign Shout” to boost Attack speed and Spell Casting speed.
Impurity Incarnated
Hitting enemies with a Spell/Attack/Skill applies a modified version of “Mark of Impurity” on the target.
Curses and Blessings in Chapter IV
Lieutenants Slain
Random Curses
Random Blessings
One 1 1
Three 2 2
Five 2 1 Curses and Blessings at Endgame
Difficulty Bracket
Random Curses
Random Blessings
I Adept (10-37) 0 0
II Veteran (40-67) 1 0
III Champion (70-97) 1 1
IV Master (100-127) 1 1
V Paragon (130-157) 2 2
VI Ascended (160-187) 2 2
VII Sovereign (190-217) 2 1
Infinity (217+) 2 1
New City Building Projects
If you have prepared sufficiently, you may be able to defeat Ahriman. Should you do so in Chapter IV, you will unlock Champion of Stormfall mode.
Should Ahriman prevail, and you fall in either Chapter IV or Endgame, all is not lost. While the Reagent’s Assembly projects will be reset, the progress of all other Buildings and Projects will be retained, along with their productivity bonuses, so you will be able to build up your strength more rapidly and try once again.
Infinite Scaling A new endgame difficulty tier and mode have been added with the patch: the Infinity tier!
You can unlock the Infinity tier, once you have progressed through the standard difficulty tiers, by sacrificing all the Skulls you have accumulated during your conquests. Once unlocked, you will be able to farm Skulls by completing Operations at the 217 difficulty, and then spend them in the Infinity tier to launch more challenging Operations. The more Skulls you spend, the higher the bonuses to Productivity, Magic Find, Item Quantity will be, but so too will be the health and damage of the enemies you face. 
The Infinity tier not only serves as a pathway to greater challenge and loot, but also as a pathway to greater power. For every Operation you successfully complete where you have spent more Skulls than your previous record, you will gain permanent bonus Attribute points. The amount of Attribute points you can gain is equal to the number of Skulls spent (minus the number of Skulls spent on your previous record).
Even more potent than that, you can also gain a permanent point to spend in the Gate of Fates the first time you successfully complete an Operation where a multiple of 50 or more Skulls have been spent. For example: you will receive a point the first time you complete an Infinity Operation where >50 Skulls were spent, and then the first time you complete an Infinity Operation where >100 Skulls were spent, and then >150 Skulls, and so on).
The power, and the rewards, are there for you to claim.
New Item Types Chapter IV also introduces two new item types to the game: Ahriman items and Cosmic items.
Ahriman Items Ahriman items, as the name would suggest, drop exclusively from Ahriman and his lieutenants. Much like Hunt or Wrath of Sarisel items, Ahriman items come with one random special affix from a unique pool of possible affixes. The special affixes on Ahriman items are drawn from affixes that could be found on some Unique items, or on some Gate of Fates nodes, but never on normal items and should help you fine-tune your characters even further than possible before.
Armour Affixes Weapon Affixes Accessory Affixes +X% Maximum Health +X% Attack Critical Chance +X to All Attributes +X% Health Regeneration +X% Spell Critical Chance Score +X% to Ailment Duration +X% Force Shield +X% Projectile Critical Chance Score +X% Rage Cost Reduction +X% to Block Efficiency +X% Projectile Critical Damages +X% Spell Cost Reduction +X% Force Shield Delay Reduction +X% Ailment Damage +X% One Handed Weapon Damage +X% Summons Health +X% Attack and Spell Casting Speed for Summons +X% Two Handed Weapon Damage +X maximum ailment stacks +X% Damages dealt by summons +X% Projectile Damage
Cosmic Items Cosmic items are rare items that present the ultimate fusion of all the special affixes found within the game and can only be obtained from slain monsters over level 40 in Chapter IV and Champion of Stormfall mode.
Each cosmic item will drop with three special affixes: one from the Wrath of Sarisel item pool (if the item is eligible), one from Hunt item pool, and one from the new Ahriman item pool. In cases where the item does not normally roll with one of the affix types (for example, some items do not roll with Sarisel affixes), a second Ahriman affix will be present instead. Naturally, these have the potential to be extremely powerful but also highly variable, so while they will be a rare drop, they will be more common than Unique items.
New Skills Iosonic Rain Attack: Only usable with daggers, bows, and pistols.
Skill Tags: Attack, Projectile: Rogue.
Inescapable Skirmish Spell: Only usable with melee weapons.
Skill Tags: Spell, Summon.
New Uniques
Chapter IV introduces a whole swath of new Uniques to collect and play with, along with newly introduced Imbued versions of existing Uniques. These will exist and drop alongside their “standard” counterparts but provide entirely new ways of playing. Our aim with all these Unique items is to push the potential of existing builds and provide catalysts for entirely new builds and gameplay styles.
Additionally, a new, higher-level tier of Unique Weapons has been introduced. Unique Weapons in this tier have a minimum required level of 80 and are tuned to offer a competitive (though not superior) alternative to high-level endgame player-crafted weapons. Our intention is still for players to want to craft weapons and chase those perfect rolls, but we also want to provide broader options for weapon choices, and we believe that having Unique weapons a viable option in endgame content will help achieve this goal.
For a full list of the new Uniques, click here[wolcengame.com].
And, finally, if you have an old favourite amongst the older Uniques, we are delighted to say that the large majority of Uniques in the base game have also been buffed, have had their drop rates increased, and can now roll with gem slots (with a few exceptions). You can find further details in the Balancing section.
Miscellaneous Changes
Changes to Endgame Difficulty Curve
We have made some changes to how the difficulty brackets in Champion of Stormfall mode affect Operations. As well an increasing the level of the enemies you encounter, and the multipliers for your Productivity, Magic Find, and Item Quantity, progressing through the Difficulty Brackets will now also change:
Reagents and Gems: Drop Rates and Adjustments 
From our perspective, a long-standing issue with the game has been the relative scarceness of Reagents and Gems. This scarcity prevents players from fully engaging with the Crafting System, experimenting, and using it efficiently. To rectify this, we have significantly increased the drop rates, and quantity dropped, for Gems and Crafting Reagents. Uber Bosses 
The Uber Lambach and Uber Oshara fights, obtainable through repeatable projects in Champion of Stormfall mode, have been scaled up in level, difficulty, and reward. Their mission level has been increased from 120 to 217 and we have also increased the loot quality of both bosses. We hope that they will now provide more variety, as well as a rewarding and interesting challenge. New Cosmetic Armour 
The good ship Mirrormaid has sailed in with another new cosmetic set for you to unlock. Relive your days leading the rank-and-file of the Republic army with the Republic Veteran Armour. Other Changes: 
Balancing
Skills, ASMs, and the Gate of Fates
The large majority of Skills, Active Skill Modifiers, and nodes in the Gate of Fates have been rebalanced in a way designed to encourage players to use a greater variety of Weapons, and use Skills they enjoy the feel of, rather than are “optimal”. Unfortunately, the full changelog for Active Skills, Active Skill Modifiers, and the Gate of Fates is too large to be displayed here. You can find it in its own separate post here[wolcengame.com].
Changes to Two-Handed Itemisation
It has been clear for some time that Two-Handed Weapons were being underutilised by the player base, as they have a lower Attack/Casting Speed and an inferior complement of Gem Slots compared to a dual-wielding setup. To rectify this, we have increased the Bonus Damage granted by Two-Handed implicit affixes so they can stand as a clear and viable alternative. This bonus can be up to +50% depending on the item tier. Additionally, the Warmonger segment of the Gate of Fates has been reworked to boost and cater to the Two-Handed playstyle (details are available in the previous segment). Lovers of slow and hard-hitting armaments, rejoice. We also have good news for every hedge-wizard, high magus, warlock, and necromancer in the land: Staves now benefit from the improved implicit Two-Handed Weapon affixes! They will now roll with a +25% (or more depending on the tier) modifier to All Damage on Spells and Attacks, and a –25% modifier to Attack and Spell Casting Speed. This also applies to Unique Staves. 
Uniques Balancing and Changes 
Along with the 30+ new Uniques that have been introduced to the game with this patch, we have also taken the opportunity to buff the Unique items already present in the game, and make them as exciting, useful, and competitive as they should be.
City Building Cost Changes
We have significantly reduced the costs of key City Building projects in Champion of Stormfall mode in terms of gold, primordial affinity (PA), and production. This will reduce endgame grind, promote a more satisfying sense of progression, and allow you to focus on the new endgame gameplay loop accompanying Chapter IV. Generally, the costs of repeatable projects will not change, but the costs of building infrastructure upgrades to increase your production generation towards projects will be significantly reduced.
XP-per-Level Requirement Reductions
We have reduced the overall XP requirements per level after level 40, with reductions of up to 45% for the last few levels. While the final few levels will still be a challenge to attain, in the traditional Wolcen-style, they will be far more reasonable.
Level Bracket 1-40 41-45 46-48 49-50 51-59 60-70 71-80 81-84 85-90
XP Reduction 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 40% 45%
Known Issues & Bug Fixes As this patch focuses on new content, the team is currently working on a number of bug-fixing patches that will follow shortly. We will also uses these patches to address any feedback on the content and system changes this patch brings!
Here are the major known issues with this patch that we aim to rectify ASAP:
Wolcen: Endgame, patch 1.1.7.0, is now live! This patch brings:
- The final story Chapter for Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem,
- A new Endgame loop,
- New Unique items,
- New infinite Endgame mechanics,
- 2 New Skill including all their damage type variants,
- New Item types and Affixes,
- Improvements to existing Unique items,
- A massive Balancing pass on Active Skills and Passive Skills,
- Improvements to Weapons,
- A new Cosmetic Armour,
- New monsters and enemies,
- and General Quality of Life improvements.
A Semi-Fresh Start The sweeping changes coming with this patch require a soft-reset for existing characters on the Steam platform. For precise details as to what has changed for characters and account progress, please click here[wolcengame.com].
The Blind Prince Comes…
“Rest now, Ascended. You are free.”
The events at Crimson Keep hang over the mind of the Ascended, an endless nightmare from which they felt they’d never wake. A family torn asunder, and a foe unleashed.
Meanwhile, sinister forces had conspired to harness the power of Oshara, the ancient dragon matriarch and Voice of Naedre. Though their effort ultimately failed, it did uncover a new target, a new opportunity, sequestered away in the halls of Stormfall Palace.
Now, the city falls under the hungry gaze of a being more powerful, more cunning, and more dangerous, than any you have directly fought before. A being whose machinations have led you, the Ascended, to this moment. All you have fought for, all you have lost, the allies you have gained, and the family that was broken, are poised to burn away in a tide of ash, fire, and Fury.
You must prepare. Stormfall must prepare.
Beware, Ascended, for spoilers lie ahead. If you wish to go into Chapter IV blind, but want to read up on the other changes that have come with the patch, proceed to the “Infinite Scaling” section. However, if you want to know exactly what strife and struggle awaits you: read on, brave one…
Chapter IV
Chapter IV brings new story elements and new mechanics to Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem. Taking place during and after the events of Bloodtrail. Upon the timely intervention of a stalwart ally, you must face the architect of all that has happened to this point. Ahriman, The Blind Prince, is like nothing the Ascended has faced before: he is a walking god and has forces beyond count. He seeks an object in Stormfall that is key to fulfilling his plans to pacify the entire world and bring order to all under his falsely magnanimous eternal rule.
You must see to the defence of Stormfall and fulfil your duty: save the city and overcome the encroaching threat of Ahriman.
A Rogue-lite Chapter IV plays differently from the previous chapters in that it focuses on a rogue-lite experience. With so dangerous and immediate a foe as Ahriman, your first attempt to defeat him will most likely end in failure. As will, quite possibly, your second attempt, or maybe even more…
Players will have access to a light version of Champion of Stormfall mode in Chapter IV, from which they will work to defeat allies of Ahriman, weaken his abilities, and complete projects to reinforce the defences of Stormfall: all to ensure you have a fighting chance of defeating The Blind Prince and freeing your family.
Ahriman and his Lieutenants The Lieutenants System is the primary means to weaken Ahriman before you face him. As you complete Operations, two new progress bars will begin to fill. One for Ahriman’s inevitable arrival, and one for a chance to strike at one of his Lieutenants. The more Lieutenants you can defeat before Ahriman comes, the better your chances (and loot)!
Launching a Lieutenant mission you will give you a chance to select one of Ahriman’s many devastating skills and weaken it, should you succeed.
During the mission, you will face off against many powerful enemies, Ahriman’s Lieutenant, and a Spectre of Ahriman himself. The Spectre is completely invulnerable, such is the power of Ahriman, and will use the same attack you selected before starting the Operation against you until the Lieutenant is defeated.
If you are victorious, Ahriman will have a weaker version of the selected attack when you next face him. In Champion of Stormfall mode this expands slightly, and you will be able to choose between weakening Ahriman’s attack or increasing the number of guaranteed items he will drop…should you beat him.
If you are defeated by the Lieutenant in either mode the Lieutenant progress bar will reset, though it will take half the time it did prior to refill.
You can view the details of what abilities you have weakened, or how many items you have elected to have drop instead (in Champion of Stormfall mode), in the Preparations Overview screen by pressing the button to the left of the progress bars on the War Table screen.
Note that in Chapter IV both Ahriman and the Lieutenant encounters are at a set level. In Champion of Stormfall mode their difficulty will be scaled according to your progress through the Warmap difficulties.
Curses and Blessings Curses and Blessings are a new set of random Modifiers for Operations launched from the War Table. These modifiers sit on top of the War Table’s existing mission modifiers in both game modes. While they are far fewer in number, they are much more powerful and unique and will enable, or necessitate, more strategic play.
They will begin to appear on Operations as you eliminate more of Ahriman’s Lieutenants in Chapter IV, or as you ascend to higher difficulty levels at endgame. The more Lieutenants you have slain, or the higher the difficulty you have chosen, the more Curses and Blessings you will have on each Operation (up until the very highest difficulties, where the cruel machinations of Ahriman will take one Blessing away from you).
Curses
Wave after Wave
Specialist enemies spawn lower tier enemies on death.
Meteor Strike
Meteors will strike random positions on the map.
Lightning Storm
Lightning strikes random positions on the map.
Blood Rain
Projectiles successively fall on to your position, leaving a damaging Area of Effect.
Exhaustion
Every time you cast a skill, a stack of a slowing effect is applied on your character, reducing your speed (total reduction is capped).
Blessings
Counter Strike
Double Skill Damage for the first skill used immediately after an Active Dodge.
Vampiric Ancestry
Regenerate Health on killing an enemy (or Force Shield if Health is full).
Apocalyptic Surge
Aspect of the Apocalypse will automatically activate when the player's Health is critically low (if the player has enough Primordial Essence). This does not count as a death/knockdown, and the player will have full Health upon exciting the Apocalyptic Form.
Ferocity of Baäpheth
After dealing a certain amount of damage, automatically cast a modified version of “Sovereign Shout” to boost Attack speed and Spell Casting speed.
Impurity Incarnated
Hitting enemies with a Spell/Attack/Skill applies a modified version of “Mark of Impurity” on the target.
Curses and Blessings in Chapter IV
Lieutenants Slain
Random Curses
Random Blessings
One 1 1
Three 2 2
Five 2 1 Curses and Blessings at Endgame
Difficulty Bracket
Random Curses
Random Blessings
I Adept (10-37) 0 0
II Veteran (40-67) 1 0
III Champion (70-97) 1 1
IV Master (100-127) 1 1
V Paragon (130-157) 2 2
VI Ascended (160-187) 2 2
VII Sovereign (190-217) 2 1
Infinity (217+) 2 1
New City Building Projects
- Chapter IV introduces a new set of City Building Projects, tied to a new building called the Regent’s Assembly. Each project will help you during the Ahriman encounter in some way and could be key to victory. They have no starting prerequisites and can be completed in any order. You can view the details the projects you have completed in the Preparations Overview screen by pressing the button to the right of the progress bars on the War Table screen.
- There are also three new Projects in the Dark Market (available only in Champion of Stormfall mode), all of which allow you to send out scouts to retrieve a random Unique item from a particular level bracket.
If you have prepared sufficiently, you may be able to defeat Ahriman. Should you do so in Chapter IV, you will unlock Champion of Stormfall mode.
Should Ahriman prevail, and you fall in either Chapter IV or Endgame, all is not lost. While the Reagent’s Assembly projects will be reset, the progress of all other Buildings and Projects will be retained, along with their productivity bonuses, so you will be able to build up your strength more rapidly and try once again.
Infinite Scaling A new endgame difficulty tier and mode have been added with the patch: the Infinity tier!
You can unlock the Infinity tier, once you have progressed through the standard difficulty tiers, by sacrificing all the Skulls you have accumulated during your conquests. Once unlocked, you will be able to farm Skulls by completing Operations at the 217 difficulty, and then spend them in the Infinity tier to launch more challenging Operations. The more Skulls you spend, the higher the bonuses to Productivity, Magic Find, Item Quantity will be, but so too will be the health and damage of the enemies you face. The Infinity tier not only serves as a pathway to greater challenge and loot, but also as a pathway to greater power. For every Operation you successfully complete where you have spent more Skulls than your previous record, you will gain permanent bonus Attribute points. The amount of Attribute points you can gain is equal to the number of Skulls spent (minus the number of Skulls spent on your previous record). Even more potent than that, you can also gain a permanent point to spend in the Gate of Fates the first time you successfully complete an Operation where a multiple of 50 or more Skulls have been spent. For example: you will receive a point the first time you complete an Infinity Operation where >50 Skulls were spent, and then the first time you complete an Infinity Operation where >100 Skulls were spent, and then >150 Skulls, and so on).
The power, and the rewards, are there for you to claim.
New Item Types Chapter IV also introduces two new item types to the game: Ahriman items and Cosmic items.
Ahriman Items Ahriman items, as the name would suggest, drop exclusively from Ahriman and his lieutenants. Much like Hunt or Wrath of Sarisel items, Ahriman items come with one random special affix from a unique pool of possible affixes. The special affixes on Ahriman items are drawn from affixes that could be found on some Unique items, or on some Gate of Fates nodes, but never on normal items and should help you fine-tune your characters even further than possible before. Armour Affixes Weapon Affixes Accessory Affixes +X% Maximum Health +X% Attack Critical Chance +X to All Attributes +X% Health Regeneration +X% Spell Critical Chance Score +X% to Ailment Duration +X% Force Shield +X% Projectile Critical Chance Score +X% Rage Cost Reduction +X% to Block Efficiency +X% Projectile Critical Damages +X% Spell Cost Reduction +X% Force Shield Delay Reduction +X% Ailment Damage +X% One Handed Weapon Damage +X% Summons Health +X% Attack and Spell Casting Speed for Summons +X% Two Handed Weapon Damage +X maximum ailment stacks +X% Damages dealt by summons +X% Projectile Damage
Cosmic Items Cosmic items are rare items that present the ultimate fusion of all the special affixes found within the game and can only be obtained from slain monsters over level 40 in Chapter IV and Champion of Stormfall mode. Each cosmic item will drop with three special affixes: one from the Wrath of Sarisel item pool (if the item is eligible), one from Hunt item pool, and one from the new Ahriman item pool. In cases where the item does not normally roll with one of the affix types (for example, some items do not roll with Sarisel affixes), a second Ahriman affix will be present instead. Naturally, these have the potential to be extremely powerful but also highly variable, so while they will be a rare drop, they will be more common than Unique items.
New Skills Iosonic Rain Attack: Only usable with daggers, bows, and pistols.
Skill Tags: Attack, Projectile: Rogue.
- Channel a rain of bullets in a straight line. The number of projectiles is determined by your Attack Speed.
- Shadow, Frost, Toxic, and Sacred variants are available.
Inescapable Skirmish Spell: Only usable with melee weapons.
Skill Tags: Spell, Summon.
- Summon a number of Alastor Railgunners who have defected from the Republic. If the skill is used when you have reached the maximum amount of Alastors, they will teleport behind you and shoot at the targeted location. This skill is unusual in that, while this is a classed as a spell, it will only work with melee weapons.
- Sacred, Toxic, Rend, and Shadow variants are available.
New Uniques
Chapter IV introduces a whole swath of new Uniques to collect and play with, along with newly introduced Imbued versions of existing Uniques. These will exist and drop alongside their “standard” counterparts but provide entirely new ways of playing. Our aim with all these Unique items is to push the potential of existing builds and provide catalysts for entirely new builds and gameplay styles.
Additionally, a new, higher-level tier of Unique Weapons has been introduced. Unique Weapons in this tier have a minimum required level of 80 and are tuned to offer a competitive (though not superior) alternative to high-level endgame player-crafted weapons. Our intention is still for players to want to craft weapons and chase those perfect rolls, but we also want to provide broader options for weapon choices, and we believe that having Unique weapons a viable option in endgame content will help achieve this goal.
For a full list of the new Uniques, click here[wolcengame.com].
And, finally, if you have an old favourite amongst the older Uniques, we are delighted to say that the large majority of Uniques in the base game have also been buffed, have had their drop rates increased, and can now roll with gem slots (with a few exceptions). You can find further details in the Balancing section.
Miscellaneous Changes
Changes to Endgame Difficulty Curve
We have made some changes to how the difficulty brackets in Champion of Stormfall mode affect Operations. As well an increasing the level of the enemies you encounter, and the multipliers for your Productivity, Magic Find, and Item Quantity, progressing through the Difficulty Brackets will now also change:
- how many Map Modifiers automatically apply,
- how many Revives you have available,
- and, of course, how many of the new Curses and Blessings are applied.
Reagents and Gems: Drop Rates and Adjustments From our perspective, a long-standing issue with the game has been the relative scarceness of Reagents and Gems. This scarcity prevents players from fully engaging with the Crafting System, experimenting, and using it efficiently. To rectify this, we have significantly increased the drop rates, and quantity dropped, for Gems and Crafting Reagents. Uber Bosses The Uber Lambach and Uber Oshara fights, obtainable through repeatable projects in Champion of Stormfall mode, have been scaled up in level, difficulty, and reward. Their mission level has been increased from 120 to 217 and we have also increased the loot quality of both bosses. We hope that they will now provide more variety, as well as a rewarding and interesting challenge. New Cosmetic Armour The good ship Mirrormaid has sailed in with another new cosmetic set for you to unlock. Relive your days leading the rank-and-file of the Republic army with the Republic Veteran Armour. Other Changes: - The ever-enterprising Mohabi has improved his trade connections (or has accumulated an abundance of choice items from other adventurers). The average rarity of Weapons, Armours, and Accessories sold by Mohabi has been increased in both the Campaign and Champion of Stormfall mode.
- Gold and Primordial Affinity now display delimiters so larger numbers are easier to read. (For example: 500000 will now display as 500.000).
- A new warning box has been added to explain the practical differences between Online and Offline when creating a new character.
- New idle animations for your characters have been added to the main menu and character selection screen. These will change dynamically based on what weapons you have equipped.
- Over 20 new enemies and variants, big and small, with new abilities and attack patterns, have been added to the game.
Balancing
Skills, ASMs, and the Gate of Fates
The large majority of Skills, Active Skill Modifiers, and nodes in the Gate of Fates have been rebalanced in a way designed to encourage players to use a greater variety of Weapons, and use Skills they enjoy the feel of, rather than are “optimal”. Unfortunately, the full changelog for Active Skills, Active Skill Modifiers, and the Gate of Fates is too large to be displayed here. You can find it in its own separate post here[wolcengame.com].
Changes to Two-Handed Itemisation
It has been clear for some time that Two-Handed Weapons were being underutilised by the player base, as they have a lower Attack/Casting Speed and an inferior complement of Gem Slots compared to a dual-wielding setup. To rectify this, we have increased the Bonus Damage granted by Two-Handed implicit affixes so they can stand as a clear and viable alternative. This bonus can be up to +50% depending on the item tier. Additionally, the Warmonger segment of the Gate of Fates has been reworked to boost and cater to the Two-Handed playstyle (details are available in the previous segment). Lovers of slow and hard-hitting armaments, rejoice. We also have good news for every hedge-wizard, high magus, warlock, and necromancer in the land: Staves now benefit from the improved implicit Two-Handed Weapon affixes! They will now roll with a +25% (or more depending on the tier) modifier to All Damage on Spells and Attacks, and a –25% modifier to Attack and Spell Casting Speed. This also applies to Unique Staves. Uniques Balancing and Changes Along with the 30+ new Uniques that have been introduced to the game with this patch, we have also taken the opportunity to buff the Unique items already present in the game, and make them as exciting, useful, and competitive as they should be.
- The majority of level 60 Unique Weapons have received significant buffs to their damage values, as they very quickly fell behind normal weapons in terms of raw power.
- The majority of level 60 Unique Armours have received significant buffs to their defensive attributes (i.e. bonuses to Health, Force Shield, and Resistances).
- With so many new Uniques arriving and old ones being improved, we have also increased the drop rate of all Unique items, as we don’t want players to feel they have no chance of acquiring the one item they need to make a certain build work, but still retain some RNG goodness.
- Applicable Unique items can now drop with Gem Sockets (with a few exceptions)! Unique items can have their sockets rerolled by Zanafer, however, it will be more expensive than rerolling sockets on normal items as such fine craftsmanship and antiquities require experimental techniques.
Notable item-specific changes are:
- Argand's Heart glove: the Physical Damage on attacks and Material Damage multiplier affixes have been buffed.
- Envoy of War spaulder: the Attack Damage multiplier and Health per Rage point consumed affixes have been buffed.
- Seal of the Arbiter ring: the Melee Attack Damage affix has been buffed.
- Gaälnazek helmet: the Fire Damage multiplier and Elemental Spell cost reduction affixes have been buffed.
- Sagarnäris ring: values on all affixes have been buffed.
- Thirst amulet: the Spell Skill Damage multiplier has had its maximum potential value increased.
- First Men's Legacy glove: the Damage multiplier penalty has been reduced.
- Genesis helmet: the Force Shield affix has been replaced with an Occult Damage affix.
- Morbid Retribution helmet: the Ailment Damage affix has been buffed.
- Frostweave Qullituq chest: the Dodge Chance Score has been increased.
- Bio-Flow Symbiosis chest: the Attack Speed and Dodge Chance Score affixes have been buffed.
- Vigilance : Scorched Ravin helmet: the Attack Speed, Spell casting speed and Dodge Chance Score affixes have been buffed.
- Expurgation glove: the Material Ailment Chance Score and Dodge Chance Score bonuses have been buffed.
- Autarchic Secret helmet: the Material Damage multiplier and Attack speed bonuses have been buffed.
- Bloodlust helmet: the Rage on kill and Critical Damage buffs have been increased.
- Blood Tear bastion chest: the Rage and Willpower bonus points has been buffed.
- Hakeresh Shelya'ar spaulder: the Force Shield percentage, Spell cost reduction and Force Shield regeneration delay reduction affixes have been buffed.
- Odelia's March boots: the Material Damage multiplier has been buffed.
- Searing Reverie amulet: the Rage and Willpower bonus points and All Resistance Score percentage affixes have been buffed.
- Voidforged Endeavour ring: The maximum value for Occult Damage multiplier has been increased.
- Shadowcall ring: the Ailment Damage and Ailment Chance Score affixes have been buffed.
- Argand's Heart glove: the Physical Damage on attacks and Material Damage multiplier affixes have been buffed.
City Building Cost Changes
We have significantly reduced the costs of key City Building projects in Champion of Stormfall mode in terms of gold, primordial affinity (PA), and production. This will reduce endgame grind, promote a more satisfying sense of progression, and allow you to focus on the new endgame gameplay loop accompanying Chapter IV. Generally, the costs of repeatable projects will not change, but the costs of building infrastructure upgrades to increase your production generation towards projects will be significantly reduced.
XP-per-Level Requirement Reductions
We have reduced the overall XP requirements per level after level 40, with reductions of up to 45% for the last few levels. While the final few levels will still be a challenge to attain, in the traditional Wolcen-style, they will be far more reasonable.
Level Bracket 1-40 41-45 46-48 49-50 51-59 60-70 71-80 81-84 85-90
XP Reduction 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 40% 45%
Known Issues & Bug Fixes As this patch focuses on new content, the team is currently working on a number of bug-fixing patches that will follow shortly. We will also uses these patches to address any feedback on the content and system changes this patch brings!
Here are the major known issues with this patch that we aim to rectify ASAP:
- Achievements for Chapter IV are unlikely to work in the immediate period after the patch’s launch.
- Deleting a character will hide the entire character list, giving the appearance that all characters have been deleted. Thankfully this is not the case and creating a new character will resolve the issue (until we release a fix).
- There are some instances of placeholder text.
- We have some general performance improvements on the way.