Skul: The Hero Slayer News

[1] Release 1.4 Patch Notes

Greetings, Skul Squad!

First of all, thank you for your patience with our update.
In this patch, we’ve finally brought out the ‘Skul Balance Adjustment’!

Old skulls newer,
Dumb skulls funnier,
Weak skulls stronger,

Let me introduce our brand new skulls!

[hr][/hr]

Bug Fixes

Fixed bug where the inscription ‘Piercing Wind’ would have ‘Rear Blast’ not properly work
Fixed bug where ‘Gunpowder Sword’ would not work properly when dash attack deals a critical hit
Fixed bug where Mage and Warrior would not appear in Chapter 4
Fixed bug where Priest would not deal with some of the attacks
Fixed bug where Magical Slime would occasionally duplicate an item in a specific column of inventory
Fixed bug where Prisoner would not show Legendary awaken animation
Fixed bug where Dark Paladin’s enhanced normal attack would have a smaller range than the VFX
Fixed bug where Dark Paladin’s ‘Dark Rush’ would have a smaller attack range than the VFX
Fixed bug where Dark Avenger would not form a magic field when using Dark Cross
Fixed bug where dark orb traps would deal much higher damage to enemies than usual

[hr][/hr]

Changes

[h2]System[/h2]

Polished the animation when attacking enemies get stiffened
Reduced and polished each skull’s hit VFX

[h2]Maps[/h2]

Reduced HP of the energy source in each chapter’s Mystical Ruin map
Added SFX when interacting with Magical Silme
Added SFX when interacting with Halfling Girl

[h2]Skulls[/h2]
[h3]Skul[/h3]

Increased damage of swap skill

Skills
- Adjusted the amount of skill to 1 in the air
- Reduced the range of the projectile

[h3]Skeleton-Sword[/h3]

Increased chance of enemy bleeding when attacked
Increased bleeding duration
Increased bleeding damage

Swap Skill
- Reduced bleeding duration
- Increased bleeding damage
- Increased damage of swap skill when Royal Guard or Royal Guard Captain
Skills
- Changed damage type: Physical → Magical
- Increased cooldown time: 10s → 12s
- Increased skill damage
- Changed damage type: Physical → Magical
- Reduced cooldown time: 6s → 5s
- Increased skill damage of Skeleton-Sword and Skeleton Guard
- Reduced skill damage when Royal Guard or Royal Guard Captain
- Reduced cooldown time: 12s → 8s
- Reduced skill damage
- Reduced cooldown time: 25s → 20s
- Increased Poison duration
- Increased Poison damage of Guard, and Royal Guard
- Increased Royal Guard Captain’s buff damage duration: 10s → 15s

[h3]Skeleton-Shield[/h3]

Increased Guardian and Guardian Commander swap skill damage

Skills
- Reduced cooldown time: 13s → 10s
- Reduced skill damage
- Reduced skill damage
- Increased cooldown time: 11s → 13s
- Increased skill damage
- Changed the number of hits by projectile for the Guardian Commander from multiple hits → 1 hit
- Reduced cooldown time: 30s → 25s
- Changed Guardian Commander’s damage type: Magic → Physical
- Increased Guardian Commander’s skill damage

Increase damage dealt to enemies in front when blocking damage while concentrating

[h2]Skeleton-Spear[/h2]

Increased damage of swap skill

Skills
- Reduced cooldown time: 8s → 7s
- Increased skill damage for Skeleton-Spear
- Reduced skill damage

[h3]Werewolf[/h3]

Reduced jump attack damage for Elder Werewolf, Alpha Werewolf and Eternal Werewolf

Originally posted by author
Developer comment
Except for the common grade Werewolf, all other werewolves have a 2-hit jump attack. However, each of those hits counted as one separate hit, so double the damage was being done. This was our mistake and it took a long time for us to recognize the issue.

Swap Skill
- Increased damage of swap skill
Skills
- Increased skill damage
- Increased bleeding damage for Elder Werewolf, Alpha Werewolf and Eternal Werewolf
- Increased cooldown time: 7s → 12s
- Increased skill damage
- Increased bleeding damage for Elder Werewolf, Alpha Werewolf and Eternal Werewolf
- Increased skill damage
- In case of the Elder Werewolf, Alpha Werewolf and Eternal Werewolf, the stats increase for each enemy killed by the Scratch attack: 1% → 4%
- Increased cooldown time: 6s → 9s
- Reduced skill damage

[h3]Petty Thief[/h3]

Reduced amount of gold that falls from enemies: 3 Gold → 2 Gold
Reduced amount of gold that falls when using the Wanderer or Outlaw’s Normal Attack: 20% → 15%

Swap Skill
- Increased damage of swap skill
Skills
- Increased skill damage
- Changed the number of hits: 2 hits → 1 hit
- Increased amount of gold that falls from enemies
- Reduced skill damage
- Fixed issue where the attack range was wider than the actual effect for the Wanderer
- Increased explosion range for Outlaw
- Increased skill damage
- Changed the number of hits: 2 hits → 1 hit
- Increased amount of gold that falls from enemies

Increased damage of swap skill

Skills
- Increased cooldown time: 7s → 10s
- Increased skill damage

Increased damage of swap skill
Reduced the amount of Gold obtained from enemies: 5 Gold → 3 Gold

Skills
- Changed damage type: Physical → Magical
- Increased cooldown time: 7s → 10s
- Increased skill damage
- Increased bleeding damage

Increased damage of swap skill
Reduced the amount of Gold obtained from enemies: 5 Gold → 3 Gold

Skills
- Increased cooldown time: 7s → 10s
- Increased skill damage

Reduced damage of swap skill
Changed the number of hits made by the attack involving swinging a dagger after movement: 2 hits → 1 hits
Reduced debuff duration debuff: 5s → 3s

Skills
- Reduced skill damage
- Reduced Smoke Screen duration

[h3]Carleon Recruit[/h3]
Since both Carleon Recruit and Grave Digger fight by summoning minions, something was needed to set them apart.

The new Carleon Recruit will now only perform the minion’s special attacks once the minions appear to inflict great damage at the desired time. The timing and direction of the summons allows the new Carleon Recruit to lead the battle more advantageously. Passives of the Carleon Recruit, which now feature additionally enhanced active combat, were also modified to better emphasize its characteristics.

Depending on the Carleon Recruit’s grade, they can have a passive buff that amplifies the physical attacks of minions. The attack power of the minions can be greatly improved for a certain period of time by using the gauge. A passive buff like this will allow you to concentrate the full force of the Carleon Recruit’s power.

Increased distance moved forward when attacking after concentrating
Decreased damage dealt when attacking after concentrating

Passive
- Improved passive for Carleon Sergeant, Carleon Officer and Carleon Commander
Swap Skill
- Increased damage of swap skill when using Carleon Recruit, Carleon Sergeant and the Carleon Officer
- Reduced number of squad members called when using Carleon Commander: 5 → 3
Skills
- Improved skill [Comrade System- Recruit]
- Improved skill [Comrade System- Archer]
- Improved skill [Comrade System- Armored Soldier]
- New skill [Comrade System- Assassin] added
- Deleted skill [Perfect Slash]
- Improved visual effect when minions come and go

[h3]Ent Skull[/h3]
No matter the grade of skull, we want the Ent skulls to have a unified concept and playstyle.

Based on its grade, the new Ent skull will receive reduced cooldown times, stat bonuses and stronger skills when standing on grass.
In order to plant grass, the Ent skull requires a special resource called “Seed”, so if you time it right it can make a positive impact in battle.

Increased attack range for combo attack
Improved hit box for combo attack
Increased forward movement speed when using combo attack

Passive
- Improved passive
Swap Skill
- Increased damage of swap skill for Ent Skull
- Reformed skul swap for Old Ent Skul, Huge Ent and Elder Ent Skul
Skills
- Improved skill [Rapid Growth]
- New skill [Nature’s Grip] added
- New skill [Deep Roots] added
- New skill [Nature’s Fury] added
- Deleted skill [Tree Charge]
- Deleted skill [Thorny Vines]
- Deleted skill [Tree Buddy]

[h3]Stone Monkey[/h3]

Increased skill damage

Increased skill damage

[Buddha Cyclone]
Increased skill damage

[Striking Staff Technique]
Increased cooldown time: 8s → 14s
Increased skill damage

Increased skill damage

[Buddha Cyclone]
Increased skill damage

[Striking Staff Technique]
Increased cooldown time: 8s → 14s
Increased skill damage

Increased skill damage

[Occult Arts: Magic Staff]
Increased cooldown time: 10s → 14s
Reduced skill damage
Changed the number of hits: 23 hits → 12 hits

Increased damage of clone’s skill attack
Increased skill attack damage to the nearby enemies when concentrating
Swap Skill
- Reduced damage of swap skill
Skills
- Reduced damage of attack without concentration
- Increased damage of attack with concentration
- Increased damage of attack with concentration
- Increased cooldown time: 10s → 14s
- Reduced damage of attack without concentration
- Increased damage of attack with concentration
- Changed the number of hits: 23 hits → 12 hits

[h3]Grave Digger[/h3]
Comparing with the Carleon minions, the minions from Grave Digger will not be able to move around and hard to be summoned.
Therefore, by reducing the skill cooldown and duration of minions, we’ve decreased the stress caused when summoend to an improper position.
Also, those minions from the brand new Grave Digger can deal with magical damage so that Grave Digger will summon them based on its magical power.

Increased the duration of spirits appearing automatically
Increased damage of the explosion when defeating specters for Saviour

Skills
- Changed damage type: Physical → Magical
- Reduced the duration of minions: 20s → 8.5s
  
  [Hamlet]
- Reduced cooldown time: 20s → 15s
- Increased skill damage
  
  [King Lear]
- Reduced cooldown time: 25s → 18s
- Reduced skill damage
  
  [Macbeth]
- Reduced cooldown time: 33s → 24s
- Reduced skill damage
- Increased Macbeth’s special attack speed for Soul Bearer and Saviour
  
  [Othello]
- Reduced cooldown time: 28s → 21s
- Reduced skill damage
- Increased Othello’s special attack speed for Soul Bearer and Saviour

Increased the duration of spirits appearing automatically in Land of the Damned

[h3]Warrior[/h3]
We initially designed the Warrior as a slow but a skul of immense power. This is why every attack of Warrior has a delay and skills can be enhanced by concentration.
However, due to the game’s fast and dynamic pace, it was too risky and stressful to just stand in one place.
We were concerned that the Warrior may lose its colors if we just reduce the duration of concentration and delay of the attack.
We’d been constantly discussing how to deliver the strength and power of the Warrior to our squad and this is what we’ve thought of.

The new Warrior will continue to be slow and wait in place for enemies, but it now can withstand enemy advances and perform even more powerful attacks. When the new Warrior is carrying out the skill’s concentration completion attack it becomes invincible, and the relative attack is enhanced by the number of times you were hit while invincible according to grade.

Changed dash type: Charging → Tackle

Passive
- Improved passive for Gladiator and Warlord
Swap Skill
- Increased damage of swap skill
- Changed hit amount: 3 hits → 1 hit
- Increased buff time for Gladiator and Warlord: 5s → 8s
- Increased concentration speed for Gladiator and Warlord
Skills
- Added a delay to attack with concentration for Gladiator and Warlord
- Adjusted the direction after attack with concentration for Gladiator and Warlord
- Changed VFX of attack with every level of concentration for Gladiator and Warlord
- Improved delay for skill animation
- Polished VFX
  
  [Rising Slash]
- Reduced cooldown time: 12s → 10s
  
  [Power Strike]
- Reduced cooldown time: 14s → 11s
- Can adjust the leap distance
  
  [Dominate]
- Reduced cooldown time: 10s → 8s
- Changed attacking process
- Reduced skill damage
  
  [Final Strike]
- Increased cooldown time: 8s → 14s
- Reduced skill damage

Reduced skill damage

[Power Strike]
Reduced skill damage

Increased damage of attack without concentration
Reduced damage of attack with concentration

[Power Strike]
Increased damage of attack without concentration
Reduced damage of attack with concentration

Increased damage of attack without concentration
Reduced damage of attack with 1st level of concentration
Reduced damage of attack with 2nd level of concentration

[Power Strike]
Increased damage of attack without concentration
Reduced damage of attack with 1st level of concentration
Reduced damage of attack with 2nd level of concentration

[h3]Hunter[/h3]

Increased damage of swap skill

Skills
- Reduced Bow Master and Sniper’s delay before concentration.
  
  [Piercing Shot]
- Changed damage type: Magical → Physical
- Increased skill damage
  
  [Multi-Shot]
- Increased cooldown time: 8s → 10s
- Increased skill damage
  
  [Siege Shot]
- Increased cooldown time: 10s → 13s
  
  [Stationary Shot]
- Increased cooldown time: 12s → 16s

Increased skill damage

[Stationary Shot]
Increased skill damage

Increased damage of attack without concentration
[Stationary Shot]
Increased skill damage

Increased the degree of concentration speed increase, when there are no enemies nearby

Skills
- Increased the damage of concentration-completed attack
  
  [Stationary Shot]
- Decreased the damage of concentration-completed attack
- Fixed the issue of the effect not following the player during the concentration-completed attack

[h3]Minotaurus[/h3]
Everytime the hefty Minotaurus slams the ground, chunks of the rock and dirt go flying into the air. We designed the Minotaurus with size and power in mind, but the chaos caused by the countless fragments flying in the air wasn’t actually that cool. So we decided to get rid of the chunks of rock flying in the air and change Minotaurus into a close-range fighter.

The new and improved Minotaurus has a stronger passive than before. This effect is called “Earthquake” and it increases attack range and damage dealt. Depending on the skull’s grade, repeatedly targeting enemies could result in the powerful attack called “Ground Shatter”.

Changed number of hits for jump attack: 2 → 1

Passive
- Improved passive for Minotaurus II and Minotaurus III
Swap Skill
- Increased damage of swap skill
Skills
- Reduced cooldown time: 10s → 8s
  
  [Stomp]
- Reduced cooldown time: 20s → 12s
- Reduced skill damage
- Changed it so that jump distance is adjustable
- Changed attack style of back attack for Minotaurus II and Minotaurus III
  
  [Plow Up]
- Reduced cooldown time: 12s → 10s
- Increased skill damage

Reduced skill damage

Reduced skill damage
Improved effects

Increased skill damage
Changed attack style of back attack
Improved effects

[Bludgeon]
Increased skill damage

[Plow Up]
Changed to one big boulder that penetrates the enemies instead of several small boulders

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1147560/view/3120434657829136207

[2] Release 1.4 Patch Notes

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1147560/view/3120434024088084280

[h3]Mummy[/h3]

Originally posted by author
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Improved phenomenon where attacks would be interrupted when attacking continuously

Passive
- Increased chance that weapons drop after clearing enemies with Revived Mummy and Revived Ancient Mummy
- Improved weapon damage
- Increased ammo for some weapons
Skills
- Increased cooldown time: 6s → 8s
- Increased skill damage
  
  [Mummy Bomb]
- Increased cooldown time: 10s → 12s
- Increased skill damage
  
  [Mummy Ball]
- Increased cooldown time: 5s → 6s
- Reduced skill damage when using Revived Mummy
  
  [Scratch]
- Increased skill damage

New weapon added, ‘Laser’
New weapon added, ‘Homing Missle’

Swap Skill
- Changed so that a random weapon is received through a supply drop

New weapon added, ‘Railgun’
Reduced supply drop cooldown time: 60s → 40s

Originally posted by author
Developer comment
Originally, the text describing the cooldown time of supply deliveries was mistakenly listed as 30secs and it took us a long time to recognize the error. We think this is because the Swap Skill had to be relied on so heavily for this skull.

[h3]Gargoyle[/h3]
We tried to design Gargoyle to control the skies, but there were few opportunities to actually fight in mid-air.
The original Gargoyle had to be mid-flight in order to get bonuses, but the enemies weren’t in the air so the player always had to maintain an awkward altitude. This wasn’t what we hoped to achieve with this skull’s design. And since we can’t just increase the number of airborne enemies, we changed our way of thinking.

The new Gargoyle will still be a master of the sky and might even spend more time mid-flight.
When in mid-air, it can dash three times in whatever direction you want and the reformed skills should help to adjust its altitude.
.And most of the attacks will target enemies below and to the right, so it should boost your battle prowess.
Enemies will now be struck with fear when seeing the Gargoyle fly above them.

Improved Passive
Increased speed when falling to ground after performing a mid-air basic attack

Swap Skill
- Swap Skill Reformed
Skills
- [Wind Gust] skill reformed
- [Eye of the Gargoyle] skill reformed
- New skill [Storm] added
- [Stone Stomp] skill removed
  
  [Petrify]
- Increased cooldown time: 10s → 16s
- Increased skill damage
- Reduced amount of time enemies are slowed by Golden Gargoyle

Changed damage type: Physical → Magical

[h3]Clown[/h3]

Improved feeling of control when attack speed is increased

Passive
- Reduced explosion range of marks
- Increased damage dealt by marks when using Pierrot and Joker
Swap Skill
- Increased damage of swap skill
Skills
- Reduced skill damage
  
  [Surprise Box]
- Reduced skill damage

Increased skill damage

Increased skill damage

[Highlight]
Reduced skill damage

Reduced skill damage
Increased duration of stun inflicted by Peek-a-Boo Knives of normal explosion

[Highlight]
Reduced skill damage

[h3]Water Skull[/h3]
Originally, the Water Skull’s unique point was its ability to knock back enemies. We intended for its design to sweep up enemies and carry them away on waves, but due to the high number of enemies moving around from side to side, this wasn’t very rewarding for players.

The new Water Skull will now allow you to push around enemies when and where you want. Along those lines, the Normal Attack has also been improved so that the Passive takes effect and that should create interesting synergies.

Changed damage type: Physical → Magical
Increased attack speed of combos
Increased distance moved forward by combo attack
Increased attack range of combos
Improved hit boxes of combos
Increased attack range of jump attacks

Passive
- Removed knock-back effect of waves
- Increased distance traveled by waves
- Increased duration of waves
- Increased damage dealt by waves
Swap Skill
- Changed swap skill name: Dive → Overflow
Skills
- New skill [Lake of the Spirit] added
- [Ebb Tide] skill removed
  
  [Rising Tide]
- Reduced cooldown time: 8s → 6s
- Reduced skill damage
- Changed the number of hits: 5 hits → 1 hit
  
  [Dive]
- Changed name: Overflow → Dive
- Added invicibility frames to moving action before raising water pillar
- Reduced cooldown time: 12s → 10s
- Reduced skill damage
  
  [Tornado]
- Changed it so that water pillar will move the player when using Aqua Skull and Poseidon

Reduced damage of Swap Skill

Skills
- Reduced skill damage

Increased damage of swap skill

Skills
- Increased cooldown time: 14s → 18s
- Increased skill damage

Icon will display the number of waves on the current map

Swap Skill
- Increased damage of swap skill
Skills
- Changed proportional effect of number of waves: Increased size → Reduced cooldown time
  
  [Tornado]
- Increased cooldown time: 14s → 18s
- Increased skill damage
- Increased amount that the duration of whirlpools is increased by each wave: Max 15s → Max 20s

[h3]Ghoul[/h3]
The Ghoul’s main concept is eating up enemies and growing in size. This characteristic is quite unique and visually appealing. Also, growing in size and being able to attack whole groups of enemies in a large radius is a fun factor that can’t be found in other skulls.

However, due to the Skul being a Rogue-lite, it’s extremely important to manage your HP bar and having a huge body (and hit box) really increases the chances of being hit.
And since the act of “eating enemies” was such a large focus, the Passive only being activated by clearing enemies meant that it wasn’t really usable in boss battles.

The new Ghoul can now be commanded to “Digest” the flesh chunks it has and shrink to its normal size while recovering some health.
And now when taking damage from enemies, there is a certain chance that flesh chunks will drop. This should help boost your power in battles with Adventurers or bosses too.

We also changed [Hook Attack] to a basic skill to boost Ghoul’s mobility and usability rather than focusing on damage dealt.
We hope these changes will help you to slice and dice enemies with the huge butcher’s blade.

Changed it so that there is a certain chance that flesh chunks drop when hitting enemies with normal attacks
Increased duration of flesh chunk buff: 10s → 20s
Increased max carrying amount of flesh chunks: 10 → 30
Reduced amplification of physical attack damage per flesh chunk: 4% → 2%
Reduced maximum size that the body can grow
Originally posted by author
Developer comment
Now Ghoul can go anywhere, no matter how big it grows.

Skills
- New skill [Wide Slash] added
- [Hook Attack] Changed it to a basic skill
- Improved hit box of biting attack for Ghoooul and Ghoooooul
  
  [Inhale]
- Increased cooldown time: 10s → 13s
- Increased skill damage
  
  [Body Bullet Tank]
- Reduced skill damage
- Changed the number of hits: 8 hits → 1 hit
  
  [Deadly Crusher]
- Increased cooldown time: 12s → 13s
- Changed the number of hits: 2 hits → 3 hits
- Changed it so that jump distance is adjustable

Increased damage of swap skill

Increased damage of swap skill

Increased damage of swap skill

Skills
- Increased duration of stacks gained for biting attacks: 5s → 20s
- Reduced amplification of physical damage per stack for biting attacks: 10% → 4%
  
  [Body Bullet Tank]
- Increased duration of stacks gained for biting attacks: 5s → 20s
- Reduced amplification of physical damage per stack for biting attacks: 5% → 3%
  
  [Deadly Crusher]
- Increased duration of stacks gained for biting attacks: 5s → 20s
- Increased crit chance per stack for biting attacks: 3% → 5%

[h3]Ninja[/h3]
The original Ninja wasn’t bad, but it’s also hard to say that it was great. It wasn’t easy to control or maximize its potential, so some players didn’t prefer it.
So for this reformation we focused on making it easier and more fluid/agile.
When we first designed Ninja, we focused on the skills/attack done by the dagger rather than ninja arts, but this changed as we released ver1.0. For instance, during Early Access, the Swap Skill of Ninja used a dagger instead of the current ninja arts such as Fire/Water Style. This eventually weakened the color of Ninja and we decided to change the Swap Skill to using a dagger.

Changed it so that you’re invincible when performing a Switcheroo
Increased damage dealt by a Switcheroo

Swap Skill
- Changed Swap Skill: [Fire Style: Fire Dragon’s Breath] → [Light Speed]
Skills
- Reduced cooldown time: 8s → 6s
- Reduced skill damage
- Reduced delay between charging forward and slashing
  
  [Full Blooming Blade]
- Reduced cooldown time: 10s → 8s
- Reduced skill damage
- Reduced amount that projectiles spread
  
  [Phantom Rampage]
- Reduced cooldown time: 15s → 12s
- Reduced skill damage
- Changed the number of hits: 18 hits → 9 hits
- Increased skill speed
  
  [Wheel Shuriken]
- Reduced cooldown time: 13s → 10s
- Reduced skill damage

Allows to use special jump attack up to 3 times in the direction player wants
Increased special jump attack damage
Reduced the charge distance when special jump attack is used in up, down

Skills
- [Phantom Wheel Shuriken] skill removed
- New Skill [Transform: Phantom Wheel Shuriken] added
  
  [Flash Rampage]
- Increased cooldown time: 8s → 10s
- Reduced skill damage
- Changed it so that the skill can be charged 3 times, but you can only move forward once
  
  [Flash Phantom Slash]
- Increased cooldown time: 5s → 10s
- Increased skill speed
  
  [Full Blooming Blade]
- Reduced skill damage
- Reduced amount that projectiles spread
  
  [Exploding Shuriken]
- Increased cooldown time: 7s → 16s
- Increased skill damage
- Allows the player to cancel the later delay if the skills are used in a row
- Changed it so that the skull will temporarily maintain its elevation when using a skill
  
  [Phantom Rampage]
- Reduced cooldown time: 25s → 12s
- Reduced skill damage
- Changed the number of hits: 14 hits → 7 hits
- Reduced the amount of clone groups that can be summoned: 4 → 3
  
  [Phantom Cross]
- Increased skill damage
  
  [Wheel Shuriken]
- Reduced cooldown time: 18s → 14s
- Reduced skill damage

[h3]Berserker[/h3]

Increased skill speed

[h3]Samurai[/h3]

Increased damage of swap skill

Skills
- Reduced base damage of skill
- Increased damage per mark
  
  [Spinning Slash]
- Reduced cooldown time: 10s → 9s
- Increased skill damage
  
  [Evading Slash]
- Increased skill damage

Reduced amount that cutting wave is spread

Increased amount gauge is filled by using skill attacks on enemies

Skills
- Reduced skill damage
  
  [Spinning Slash]
- Reduced max amount of spins: 4 times → 3 times
  
  [Evading Slash]
- Increased amount gauge is filled by successful counterattacks
  
  [Quick Slash]
- Increased skill damage

[h3]Living Armor[/h3]
It was quite difficult for the previous Soul Knight to collect the spirit flames until it was in a stable stage.
Also, using the skill in a state of combustion would consume all soul flames and the skill tended to be restricted until it became stable, which was frustrating.
Therefore, we have increased the number of spirit flames for Living Armor, while Soul Knight will have fewer spirit flames for a stable stage and be able to deal with the strengthened skills more frequently.

Changed damage type: Physical → Magical

Passive
- Increased the size of the gauge
Swap Skill
- Increased damage of swap skill
Skills
- Reduced skill damage
  
  [Soul Burn]
- Reduced cooldown time: 15s → 12s
- Reduced skill damage
- Changed the number of hits of the blaze on the ground when used during combustion: 10 → 5
  
  [Soul Knuckle]
- Reduced skill damage
  
  [Soul Charge]
- Reduced cooldown time: 13s → 12s
- Reduced skill damage

Reduced the amount of flame spirit required from combustion to being stable

Skills
- Increased skill speed when used in a stable state
  
  [Soul Burn]
- Changed the number of hits of the blaze on the ground when used in a stable state: 10 → 6
  
  [Soul Knuckle]
- Increased skill speed when used in a stable state
- Reduced number of consecutive explosions when using this skill in a stable state: 10 → 5
  
  [Soul Charge]
- Increased skill speed when using this skill in a stable state

[h3]Rock Star[/h3]

Changed damage type: Physical → Magical

Skills
- Changed it so that the amp is affected by gravity
  
  [Climax]
- Changed damage type: Physical → Magical

[h3]Predator[/h3]

Improved hit VFX

[h3]Grim Reaper[/h3]
The Grim Reaper was the very first Legendary skull, so its really simple mechanisms drove us to work on it some more. So we took this chance to completely overhaul the Grim Reaper and it has been reborn.

The new Grim Reaper can collect spirits each time an enemy is killed. And depending on how many spirits are collected, its Magic Attack Power can be increased and when certain thresholds are reached, every skill will grow stronger.
This type of Passive means that the Grim Reaper will be a little bit weaker than other Legendary skulls. However, if you pick it up in the beginning of the game, it should become a force worth reckoning with in the late game.

Improved character animation

Normal Attack
- Changed damage type: Magical → Physical
Passive
- Improved passive
Swap Skill
- Reduced damage of swap skill
- When clearing enemies with the Swap Skill, receive the same effect as collecting spirits
Skills
- [Harvest] skill reformed
- [Sentence] skill reformed
- New skill [Guillotine] added
- New skill [Fissure of the Netherworld] added
- [Death by Fire] skill removed

[h3]Champion[/h3]
Champion is a master of one-on-one matches with specialized skills. However, we don’t think Champion is a true champion just yet. We plan to make our Champion the utmost fighter and as a boss slayer through this update. The first step to this will be having all of Champion’s skills consist of skills that give damage to a single target.

Changed Dash Type: Normal → Duck(Counterattack and deal physical damage when hit while dashing. Every action can be cancelled by dashing.)

Passive
- Improved effect of rage
- Reduced amount of energy gained with Normal Attacks
- Increased amount of energy gained with Skill Attacks
Swap Skill
- Swap Skill Changed: [Dragon Kick] → [Start Match]
Skills
- New Skill [Combination] added
- New Skill [Dirty Smash] added
- [Nuclear Punch] skill removed
- [Parry] skill removed
  
  [Quick Step]
- Reduced skill damage

[h3]Yaksha[/h3]
The original concept of stomping the ground the attack wasn’t bad. However, being tied to the concept of stomping and requiring dull gameplay was.

The new Yaksha unfolds the Domain of the Wicked to take the form of Rakshasa, and stomp on enemies within the Domain.

Improved character animation

Normal Attack
- Improved normal attack
Passive
- Improved passive
Swap Skill
- Reduced damage of Swap Skill
Skills
- [Yaksha Fist] Reformed skill
- New skill [Iron Strike] added
- New skill [Demonic Massacre] added
- New skill [Rakshasa of Iron Will] added
- [Yaksha March] skill removed
- [Sorcery: Goblin Stomp] skill removed

[h3]Archlich[/h3]
One unfortunate thing about Archlich was that the preference for Deathtrap was overwhelmingly low compared to other skills. One can only pray to meet the Dark Priests if they only had Archlich without Deathtrap. This got us to think, “if it’s a skill that you always want, let’s make it a skill you always have!”

Archlich can now input commands at specific intervals to use Deathtrap.
Reduced damage of chains summoned to random enemies

Swap Skill
- Increased damage of swap skill
Skills
- Reduced skill damage
  
  [March of Death]
- Reduced skill damage
- Increased the speed of summoning chains
  
  [Prison of the Damned]
- Increased cooldown time: 16s → 20s
- Reduced skill damage
- Reduced the effect of slowing down the time
  
  [Deathly Chill]
- Reduced skill damage

[h3]Gambler[/h3]
Depending on luck, the Gambler is a skull that can become stronger or weaker. Unfortunately, we felt that the previous Gambler was not worth the risk, which is a mistake in design. Hence we continued to contemplate ways of making the Gambler’s risk and return fun and appropriate. As a result, in addition to providing a new solution, the controls and visuals were also improved.

Changed attack method of combo attacks

Passive
- Upon the skill’s great success, regains 100% of its cooldown
- Upon the skill’s failure, regains 50% of its cooldown
Swap Skill
- Changed the Slot Machine’s attacks
Skills
- Changed the Roulette’s attacks
- Increased skill casting speed
  
  [Russian Roulette]
- Changed success and great success’ attack method
- Reduced damage upon failure
- Reduced damage upon great success
- Increased skill casting speed
- Improved VFX
  
  [Black Jack]
- Changed so that projectiles pass through terrain
- Changed great success’ attack method
- Improved VFX
  
  [Rain of Darts]
- Changed great success’ attack method
- Improved VFX

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[h2]Items[/h2]

Mana Bone

Improved item effect’s effect

Skul Reformation Update Coming Soon

Look forward to the newly reformed skulls on February 10th.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Update Schedule :
PST : February 9th @ 4PM

1,000,000 Milestone!

Hey Skul Squad!
There are now more than 1,000,000 players, meaning that Skul is now a million seller! We are extremely delighted and honored to have more than 1 million players with us. Hence today, we’ll be looking back on our journey to becoming a million seller.

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[h2]Early Access[/h2]

Skul was first shown to our players on February 19, 2020. It was SouthPAW Games’ first game, created over a period of 2 years.

During Skul’s Early Access period, which featured 22 skulls, we were able to closely communicate with our players and worked towards fun changes.

We remember the June 2020 2.0 version as being an experimental yet successful update. Can you believe that before the update there were no map rewards or crossroads, and that the amount of items owned was limited to only 6? Not even half a year has passed since Early Access began when we decided to challenge the foundations of the game with a variety of changes through the 2.0 update.
It was then that many systems such as stage composition, rewards, stats, inventory limit etc. were changed to become the basis of Skul’s system today. Although we were certain that the game would become even more enjoyable with this update, some of those around us were doubtful, questioning if the update was too drastic and what if the game loses its enjoyment.
It was risky of course, since it was extremely experimental and brought changes to various systems. But, isn’t that what Early Access is for?

Another reason the 2.0 update was particularly memorable is because of the DeadCells collaboration, for which we had a lot of fun integrating the Prisoner to Skul. While maintaining true to the speed and characteristics of weapons in DeadCells, the detailed designs of weapons that only existed as icons were brought to life through character animation. We wanted to stay true to DeadCells while bringing a new feel and sense of enjoyment that could not be experienced in DeadCells.

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[h2]Official Release[/h2]

After almost a year of Early Access, Skul was finally officially released on January 21, 2021.

Skul experienced many changes after graduating from Early Access. Among which, the most memorable was the “Awakening”. To be honest, originally there were no plans for an Awakening system. But, it ended up being a newly designed system to resolve issues discovered during Early Access.
At the time, whether the player had a powerful skull greatly affected the likelihood of finishing the game. Meaning even if they had a skull that they liked, it was recommended that higher grade skulls were used. Naturally this led to an increase in the importance of luck. Hence during Early Access, the Awakening system was created to resolve such issues. However due to the amount of work required for the Awakening system, it was clear that starting development so late would cause a delay to the official release schedule.
It was a hard decision, but we decided on moving forward with the Awakening system because at the end of the day, what really mattered was that our game was fun. In order to reduce the delay caused by developing the Awakening system on the official release timeline, our team members put forth their best efforts to speed up the development process. It sure was difficult, but we were able to reach our goal because we had a great time while working on the Awakening system.

In 2021 many updates such as the item unlock, event map, and Quintessence reform were carried out. Among these updates we think that the Quintessence reform was an especially meaningful one. The context of the Quintessence reform was also similar to the Awakening system.
Because the stats of each Quintessence varied greatly according to grade, the base stats of a high grade Quintessence was much more important than having a good combination of Quintessence, items, and skulls etc. This led to only a few high grade Quintessences being used constantly while the others were barely utilized.
As a result, we emphasized the unique effects of each Quintessence and reduced the performance difference of each tier to resolve the issue.

We also attempted to display each Quintessence in-game. It was already possible to see some of the Quintessences when used, however most of them were only expressed through text so players had to use their imagination.
Creating a physical form for the Quintessence by combining the concept designer’s imagination and the textual descriptions was an interesting and fun experience for our developers as well, which is why the Quintessence reform was such a memorable update.

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[h2]Future Plans[/h2]
We originally planned to provide updates such as a hard mode, and QoL improvements in 2021. But it unfortunately didn’t happen and it is true that recently updates have been infrequent. This is because there was a lot of trial and error while developing hard mode, which meant that we had to adjust the design and update plan.

In the midst of developing hard mode, we came to the conclusion that Skul's hard mode shouldn’t just be “a higher level of difficulty”. It was a difficult decision but we ended up redoing the previous design, and are currently working on developing a more daring approach. Hence other systems related to hard mode must also be reformed in order for the hard mode’s content to function as intended.

Therefore as you all know, plans were changed and it was decided that the reform of Skul be carried out first.
Old skulls will be renewed, boring skulls will be more fun, and it will become meaningful to use skulls that were weak.
Through the upcoming Skull reform update, we would like to bring forth a new sense of enjoyment and experiences while laying down the foundation for hard mode content.

In addition to skulls, items and Inscriptions will also be reformed, and adjustments to level design made along with the hard mode update. The direction of this reform is the same as the skull reform.
The goal is so that even more diverse combinations can be powerful and enjoyable to prevent certain items and combinations from becoming overused.
It is very unfortunate that content which should have been released in 2021 is delayed once more. But in addition to re-creating hard mode, many quests occurred in the process of expanding the size of the development team, which inevitably led to a longer update cycle.

Originally posted by author
It's under construction!

One of our recent quests is to move our studio from a regional city to Seoul, the capital of Korea. Thanks to everyone's support we are now able to continue developing in an even better environment. In return, we'll continue to do our best for our games.

Even though it may be a bit slow, we’ll continue to provide updates for our players and stay true to SouthPAW Games’ philosophy of guaranteeing the fun in our games.
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[h2]Conclusion[/h2]
Thank you for sticking with us while we looked back on Skul’s road to becoming a million seller. This was a lot of fun to write while reminiscing about our journey with our players.
Once again, we deeply thank all of Skul’s one million players for your wonderful support. We’ll continue striving towards creating fun in our games.

Dev Blog #7 Development Update

Hey, everyone!
This is our seventh dev blog and where we'll be talking about the direction we're going to be taking with Skul: The Hero Slayer.
Currently, our scheduled date for the major Skul reformation update is in early February.

Our apologies for the delay in both the blog and the update.
SouthPAW has grown tremendously over the past year through your support and as such, we are facing new quests that surpass our current capacity. We're grateful to everyone for getting us here, but it is true that the team is just not big enough to cover everything.
We're actively recruiting new members and transforming our environment to set a smooth working pace and continue polishing Skul.
The team may be under pressure now, but we believe we're right in the middle of another milestone that'll push us forward to become a greater team of developers. Rest assured that we're working hard to achieve this milestone and make Skul a fun and lovable game.

So first, let's talk about what everyone's been waiting for: the skulls.
A diverse pool of skulls defines fun in Skul.
Including the Awakened ones, 100 skulls currently exist in Harmonia. We realize some of these skulls have flaws, big or small.
Not only that, but there are also skulls that can be really fun to play, given the right change in mechanics.
These are the reasons why we're working on skull reformation- in order to mitigate the flaws and amplify the fun.
Let's walk you through what kind of changes are coming.

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[h3]1. Skulls that were designed early in the game were comparatively weak or inefficient and were not as fun[/h3]

Yaksha's stomping skill is quite unique.
You can stomp on your enemies with normal attacks or by using skills; on your fifth use, you can deal great damage with Yaksha's giant foot.

Yaksha was a huge character, originally, but we downsized it a bit throughout development.
Despite the change in physique, we kept the idea of Yaksha brutally stepping on its enemies. The concept was maintained when developing its passives and skills.
We were satisfied with how we conceptualized Yaksha's skills in the game, so the character hasn't seen much change since its appearance in Harmonia.
However, after the addition of far more interesting skulls, the signature Yaksha stomp ended up being more bland than unique. Yaksha couldn't quite provide an exciting gameplay experience.

We decided to be bold with Yaksha.
The concept we originally had in mind wasn't just stamping feet, it was the idea of brutally crushing the enemies with a massive and menacing physique.
Wait, it doesn’t look that intimidating?

The new Yaksha uses power stacks to open the Domain of the Wicked. Within the realm's boundaries, evil spirits reign the world.
Yaksha returns to its true form, Rakshasa, in the Domain of the Wicked. As Rakshasa, its basic attacks and skills are stronger.
Yaksha doesn't just stomp around anymore- you can now use its ability to open the Domain of the Wicked and swing a giant club at your enemies.

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[h3]2. Skull's mechanism wasn't uniform through the Awakening process[/h3]
In Skul, Awakening means to obtain the true power of the skull’s owner.
Awakening wasn’t part of Skul’s development plan; we’ve implemented it through our players’ feedback during Early Access.
This is why early skulls that were already made before the Awakening feature were difficult to design when we had to create Awakened levels for them, since they were made without taking upgrades into consideration.

We had an especially hard time designing the Awakened skulls for the Ent Skull.
The concept at the moment is that each Ent Skull has the characteristic of its matching Ent enemy found in the Forest of Harmony.
Due to this exceptional design, the Ent Skull’s attack type and play strategy continued to change with each Awakening, which wasn’t the direction we meant to take.
Through the reformation, we’re going to define a single play style for the Ent Skull and allow its Awakened skulls to build up on that style.

We’re going to focus on shaping the new Ent Skull into a melee fighter regardless of its type.
It pounds on the ground as it advances, and can enlarge its body part to reach enemies that are standing slightly farther.

The Ent Skull will be able to plant grass using seeds.
When you use a skill while standing on the grass, you’ll receive helpful buffs such as shorter cooldown times or the activation of stronger skills. Different buffs are available depending on the Awakened level.
The grassy area is not big, but you can plant multiple patches around the map. Where you plant and how you plan to use the seeds will be strategically important.

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[h3]3. Sometimes, enemies and other aspects of the game made it difficult to use the skulls to their full potential[/h3]

We put a lot of thoughts into balance each time we design a new skull.
Three main elements we take into account for each skull are concept, fun, and efficiency.
We found that if we focus on just one or two elements of the three, by the end of the development it makes the skull feel rather incomplete.

The Ghoul grows in size and strength by devouring its enemies.
We designed the Ghoul’s skills and passive with this concept in mind, which led to quite a disappointment in terms of efficiency considering Skul’s gameplay mechanics.

As the Ghoul, you grow in size and receive stat bonuses by acquiring flesh chunks or Swallowing your enemies.
A big body means increased attack range, but it also means a huge hitbox in favor of the enemies. This worked as a double-edged sword for Ghoul players.
Allowing your enemies to land hits on you is a huge risk in roguelike or roguelite games like Skul. Keeping your health bar full is of utmost importance.

All of the Ghoul’s skills require you to defeat the enemy.
This is useful against a mob of enemies, but becomes a huge pain during one-on-one battles.

The new Ghoul can “digest” the chunks of flesh it has. Digesting uses up all the flesh chunks you’ve got; you’ll restore some health and return to your normal size.
In addition, chunks of flesh have a chance to drop each time you hit your enemy, which will help you fight adventurers and stage bosses.
We hope this will help make playing the Ghoul less challenging and, in turn, encourage our Ghoul lovers to tackle melee fights against powerful enemies.

Last but not least, Throw Hook is now a basic attack.
In Skul, where you can only have up to two skills, deciding which skills to make “essential” always comes with much contemplation.
Skulls with essential skills will have much less skill combinations, so we try not to lock the skills down as essentials.
We made Throw Hook an essential skill only to realize that it was a poor choice.
There aren’t many reasons to make Throw Hook an essential skill.
We still do, however, think that Throw Hook is an interesting and fun technique, so we decided to turn it into the Ghoul’s basic attack.

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[h3]4. Some were simply not as good in terms of efficiency or control[/h3]

The Water Skull uses up moisture, which is obtained via basic attacks, to attack and strengthen its skills.
This means basic attacks are crucial in using the Water Skull, but short range and slow attack speed unfortunately had a negative impact on the Water Skull’s efficiency and controls.
Additionally, the waves you can create with moisture have shown the adverse effect of pushing your enemies back. This inconveniently relocated the enemy at unwanted times.

Our goal with the Water Skull is to improve the efficiency of its basic attack by increasing the attack range and speed.
We’ve also changed the waves so that they will no longer push the enemies around.
The idea of tides creating knockback makes sense, but in all reality, did not provide a satisfying gameplay experience.
The new Water Skull’s waves now focus on dealing swift damage.
The longer your battles are, the more powerful your Water Skull will become. The skull’s increase in power will be visible to the eye when fighting in smaller areas.

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[h3]5. Combining physical and magic attacks (hybrids) didn’t work out sometimes[/h3]
We’ve categorized the attacks to physical and magic in Skul.
So-called hybrid skulls came into play because we wanted to create skulls that utilize both physical and magic types.

Piercing Shot is the only magic attack the Hunter has. Any other attack by the Hunter deals physical damage.
Since it’s inefficient to buff your magic attack only to use Piercing Shot, the skill was absolutely useless to Hunter users. As such, we changed Piercing Shot’s attack type to physical.
Like so, we’re going to switch the attack types of various moves accordingly, and continue to research new ways to make hybrid skulls fun to play.

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[h3]That’s all for today![/h3]
Problematic skulls aren’t the only ones changing through our upcoming reformation update.
We’re constantly trying out different ways to help you enjoy Skul even more.
The skulls we’ve shared with you today are only a part of what we have planned. Many other skulls will see changes, whether they be big or small.
We’ll continue to do our best to ’balance the fun’ and make each and every skull fun to play.

Thank you all for your continued love and support.