Shadow Arena News

The maintenance is now finished and you can now access the game.
Thank you for your patience during the maintenance.
We have sent you compensation as a token of our apology for the inconvenience you may have experienced.





* Note
- Your compensation has been sent to your in-game mail. If you do not receive the compensation before the expiration date, it will expire and you will no longer be able to collect it.





Greetings, this is Shadow Arena.
We will be undergoing maintenance on May 24, 2021 (Mon).
During the maintenance, you will be unable to access the game.





[h3]■ Game Maintenance [/h3]

- Game Maintenance Target: All servers
- Game Maintenance Schedule:
> May 23, 2021 (Sun) 20:00 - 22:00 (PDT)
> May 24, 2021 (Mon) 05:00 - 07:00 (CEST)
> May 24, 2021 (Mon) 06:00 - 08:00 (MSK)
- Maintenance Details: Fix an issue where the player who dealt the final hit when defeating a monster sometimes did not obtain the tokens and/or buffs.
- Game Maintenance Impact : Unable to access the game


※ Additional Notices
- The maintenance and website maintenance times are subject to change, extension, and/or early completion. Any changes will be provided as an update on this site.
- Once the maintenance begins, you will be automatically disconnected from the game, even if you are waiting in-queue or in a match.




Thank you.

Greetings, this is Shadow Arena.
Here are the updates made to Shadow Arena during the maintenance on May 20 (Thu).

* Patch Size: Approx. 173.40 MB

Check out the details below, and we will see you in the Arena!



[h3]■ Major Bug Fixes[/h3]

- Fixed an issue where the Stoneback Crab would not attack AI Players.
- Fixed an issue where you could not go up certain terrain features.
- Fixed an issue where trying to jump on top of the hill near the Shadow Shrine would cause you to get caught on the edge of the hill.
> This terrain feature was removed from the edge of the hill, and the hill itself was lowered in height.


[h3]■ Game System Changes[/h3]

- At the start of the match when players transform into Black Spirits and launched into the air, parties will now be launched in different directions (as much as possible) from other parties and they cannot change directions after being launched
- Until 10 minutes into the game, players will now transform into Black Spirits and fly towards the center of the Dark Fog when resurrected.
> The flight distance will decrease according to how much the Dark Fog has closed in.

[Dev Note]

Running into an enemy team at the start of a match was something that usually led to your match ending in a rather quick and unspectacular fashion, which in truth, is something meant to compel players to gather up with other party members from very start of the match. As a result, we’ve made improvements to make each party launch out in different directions from others (as much as possible) at the start of the match to allow each party the chance to get stronger safely at the early phases of the match.

Also, even if you defeated enemy team members during early to mid-stages of the game, you couldn’t really gain a clear advantage because the resurrection time for team members was short. If you failed to defeat the entire team during this time, dead enemy team members would revive one-by-one, ultimately dragging out the battle or even reversing the tide. To address this, we’ve changed how players are launched into the match as Black Spirits after being revived (until 10 minutes into the match), so they are launched towards the opposite sides. This is meant to provide a clear advantage for the team wins a skirmish, while allowing the defeated team to freshly start over at a new location.


[h3]■ Leaver Penalty[/h3]
- Temporarily removed the leaver penalty.
> We’ve temporarily removed the leaver penalty due to an issue where leaving a party in lobby caused a leaver penalty to be applied. Once this issue is fixed, we will reinstate the leaver penalty.


[h3]■ Hero[/h3]

- Increased the motion speed of going up terrain (hills, etc.) by approximately 25%.
- Made improvements for an issue where the following Heroes must jump first to get up and go up inclined terrain.
> Jordine Ducas, Yeonhwa, Ahon Kirus, Haru, Orwen, Goyen, Sura, Tantu, Hexe Marie, Ataraxia




- Decreased the time it takes for a basic attack after a jump attack by 66.7%.
- Fixed an issue where you could not use a lateral basic attack after a jump attack.




| Phantom Raven (RMB)
- Improved to teleport you as soon as you use the skill.
> The animation time of casting Phantom Raven was decreased by approximately 0.18 sec compared to before.

| Sun of Destruction (R)
- Decreased the animation time of the first charging motion when launching the attack right away by approximately 0.13 sec.




- Improved visual effects of his basic attacks to be better visible.




| Shadow Step (RMB)
- Improved Shadow Step (RMB) to allow you to immediately transition to the next action after using it.
> The transition to the next was decreased by approximately 0.25 sec.
- Holding RMB after using going into stealth will no longer cause the sprint attack to be cast right away.
> Pressing RMB again will allow you to make a sprint attack.




| Thunder Viper (E)
- Made improvements for an issue where turning your camera while using the skill would not allow you to attack the enemy in the direction you faced.

| Kamasylve Tree (R)
- Improved the skill so that the Tree will be summoned 7m in front of you.
- Improved Kamasylve Tree so that Herawen’s HP and DP will be reflected on the tree’s HP/DP.
> The tree will have +200 HP of Herawen’s current HP.




| Switch Stance (RMB)
- Fixed an issue where you could not Roll backward immediately right after switching to Patience Stance.
- Fixed an issue where you would be automatically switched to a Courage Stance if you used a Matchlock while in Patience Stance.

| Patience Stance – Judgement of Light (R)
- Fixed a typo for the maximum attack range described in the skill description.




- Fixed an issue where using certain commands caused a currently unusable skill to be activated.




| Heilang (RMB)
- Fixed an issue where more than one Heilang could be summoned.
- Changed how Heilang disappears when using the skill.
- Fixed the range of Heilang’s basic attacks listed in the skill description to match the actual attack range.
- Fixed the value of Heilang’s Monster AP buff for allies in the skill description to match the actual the buff.

| Heilang’s Territory (R)
- Improved the issue where the skill’s visual effects would block the player perspective.




| First Blade: Rushing Gale (Q)
- Changed the skill so the Sura will have an active motion right after casting First Blade: Rushing Gale.
- Increased the cast animation of First Blade: Rushing Gale by approximately 0.56 sec.
- Increased the damage of First Blade: Rushing Gale and Whirlwind by approximately 23.8%.




| Reload (RMB)
- Decreased the reloading animation by approximately 0.15 sec.
- Fixed an issue where using Reload after a basic attack caused you to be temporarily unable to fire.
- Fixed an issue where using Reload after a basic attack and pressing LMB caused the reload to be cancelled.
- Changed so that you will no longer be able to attack while reloading if you are crouching.

| Overload (Q)
- Decreased the animation time of Overload’s consecutive shots by approximately 0.38 sec.
- Increased the transition time to other actions (basic movement) after firing by approximately 0.75 sec.




- Pressing LMB while sprinting will now allow you to cast basic attacks without stopping.




| Harbinger's Scythe (RMB)
- Decreased the movement speed of Harbinger's Scythe as follows.
> 1 Power of Quturan: 10% (Same as before)
> 2 Power of Quturan: (Before) 20% → (Now) 15%
> 3 Power of Quturan: (Before) 30% → (Now) 20%




- Added English and Chinese language voiceovers.

[Dev Note]
While hero-related patches usually involve us tweaking heroes to better balance them, sometimes we also make adjustments to their animations/movements and features to make them more fun to play. Although any kind of adjustment to a hero would inevitably affect balance, this patch was intended to bolster the unique features of each hero. This is why we greatly decreased the delay before/after the inherent skills of Ahon and Haru, but increased the delay before/after skills of Sura and Tantu and increased their attack power.

For all our heroes, we’ve tried to really highlight uniqueness at their release. However, the fact is that many features are shared across all heroes (i.e. Roll, Movement Speed) to ensure a baseline level of performance. No doubt there is a countless number of ways we can improve these on factors or make each hero more fun to play, but we believe we do need a lot more research at this point. We will continue our research and adjustments until you can really enjoy each heroes’ individual features and playstyle. Please stay tuned until then!


[h3]■ Contents[/h3]

| Blackstar Fragments
- Added a sound effect for the activation of Blackstar Fragments.
- Made improvements for an issue where the activation gauge of Blackstar Fragments would hide the Blackstar Fragments.
- Decreased the activation time of Blackstar Fragments from 3.5 sec to 3 sec.


| Meteorites
- Made improvements for an issue where the locations of falling meteorites would be obscured by terrain features.
- Decreased the stun time of Blackstar Meteorites (Black) from 2.5 sec to 2 sec.
> Improved the visual effects of Blackstar Meteorites (Black).

| Light of Ascension
- Made improvements for an issue where the visual effect of the Light of Ascension would block the player perspective.

| Ancient Relic

- Decreased the HP of Ancient Relics as follows.



[Dev Note]

There are currently four objectives we can call as important: Shadow Lords, Stoneback Crabs, Ancient Relics, and Light of Ascension. However, except for the Red Dragon’s Offering, the Ancient Relics are generally not used as a strategical element as often as the other important objectives. This is due to fact you can utilize the same time to obtain other advantages, but also because each Relic has such high HP that they can’t be destroyed unless team members gather up on purpose and spend a lot of time. Since Relics have practically no offensive capability, they lacked a compelling reason to deliberately destroy them. Thus, we’ve greatly decreased their HP so that just one or two team members can destroy them depending on the situation.

| Fairy of Light
- Increased the movement speed of Fairy of Light by 13.6%.

| Tree Spirit
- Decreased the cast animation time of Tree Spirit’s HP recovery by 0.83 sec.
- Changed the Tree Spirit to show a casting animation even if your HP is at 100%.
- Improved so that if you are recovered by a Tree Spirit, your movement speed will increase by 20% for 3 sec.
- Increased the number of summoned Tree Spirits as below.
> (Before) Approximately 20 spots in all across the arena → (Now) Approximately 25 spots in all across the arena

| Shop
- Purchase Prices of some items are changed as below.


| Item
- Changed the cheerful motion taken at obtaining rare items to a more noticeable one.

| Tutorial
- When you play the tutorial about obtaining Blackstar Fragments, you will now obtain them after waiting for 3 sec.


[h3]■ Monster[/h3]

| Normal Monsters

- Changed the HP of normal monsters as follows.



| Shadow Troll

- Increased the DP of Shadow Trolls from 0 to 100.
- Increased the HP and damage of Shadow Trolls as follows.



| Shadow Lord
- Increased the DP of all Shadow Lords from 0 to 100.
- Decreased the HP of Gigagord by 2.78%.
- Decreased the HP of Saigord by 4.76%.

[Dev Note]

Compared to how fast heroes get stronger, the rate HP increased for monsters was rather too low, meaning monsters would be defeated too quickly in the mid-stages of the game. In spite of the ease at which monsters can be defeated, the current situation inadvertently forced players to actively seek out monsters which in turn created a new source of stress. Therefore, we’ve adjusted the HP of monsters to more appropriately match the rate heroes get stronger. Additionally we’ve added DP to the important monsters that are the Shadow Lords and Shadow Trolls, so that they are somewhat affected by “Ignore DP.”


[h3]■ Daily Quest[/h3]

- Removed the Support Box from the completion rewards of the daily quest, “First Play.”
> You can obtain the Support Box by completing the daily quest, “Rank 1st.”


[h3]■ Website/Launcher Fixes and Improvements[/h3]

| [Launcher]
- Fixed an issue where fonts overlapped on the Settings screen.

| [Official Website] - [Announcements]
- Improved the quality of the thumbnail image located at left of every announcement notice.



[Dev Note]
The mastery system will be introduced with the start of the preseason next week. Please stay tuned!



Thank you!

The maintenance is now finished and you can now access the game.
Thank you for your patience during the maintenance.


We have sent you compensation as a token of our apology for the inconvenience you may have experienced.





* Note
- Your compensation has been sent to your in-game mail. If you do not receive the compensation before the expiration date, it will expire and you will no longer be able to collect it.





Greetings, this is Shadow Arena.

We will be undergoing maintenance on May 20, 2021 (Thu).

During the maintenance, you will be unable to access the game and the official site.




[h3]■ Game Maintenance [/h3]

- Game Maintenance Target: All server
- Game Maintenance Schedule:
> May 19, 2021 (Wed) 19:00 - 23:00 (PDT)
> May 20, 2021 (Thu) 04:00 - 08:00 (CEST)
> May 20, 2021 (Thu) 05:00 - 09:00 (MSK)
- Game Maintenance Impact : Unable to access the game



[h3]■ Web Maintenance [/h3]

- Maintenance Target: Official Website
- Maintenance Schedule :
> May 19, 2021 (Wed) 19:00 - 21:00 (PDT)
> May 20, 2021 (Thu) 04:00 - 06:00 (CEST)
> May 20, 2021 (Thu) 05:00 - 07:00 (MSK)

- Website Maintenance Impact: Unable to access all services within the official website

※ Additional Notices
- The maintenance and website maintenance times are subject to change, extension, and/or early completion. Any changes will be provided as an update on this site.
- Once the maintenance begins, you will be automatically disconnected from the game, even if you are waiting in-queue or in a match.



Thank you.

The GM Trio is here!
And that means it’s time to take down some GMs!


[h2]Party Time with the GM Trio![/h2]

■ Event Period
- May 13, 2021 (Thu) 19:00 (UTC+9) ~ Approximately 1 Hour


■ Event Server
- Asia


■ How to Participate
① Log in to Shadow Arena.
② Enter Trio Mode during the event time.
③ If the GMs are in the lobby with you, you know what to do. It’s time to take a GM Trio down.


■ Event Reward


* The player who takes down the final surviving GM of the GM Trio and their party members will receive the event rewards.
* The event rewards are unrelated to the final rankings of the match.
* The GM Trio plan to continue playing trio matches during the entire event time.
* The GMs will be playing on equal footing as every other player. No special treatments or GM-only buffs here, folks.



※ Additional Notices

- All event rewards will be sent to the winning team during the May 20 (Thu) maintenance by in-game mail.
- Pearl Abyss reserves the right to change/cancel the event depending on mitigating circumstances. If changes are made, they can be found on this event page.
- If your account is restricted for violating the Terms of Service, you may be disqualified and have any prizes withdrawn even after being selected as a winner.
- If you have any other questions or concerns related to the event, please contact us via [Support].
- Any matters not listed on this page will follow the [Shadow Arena Event Rules].

Greeting, this is Shadow Arena.

Here are the updates made to Shadow Arena during the maintenance on May 13 (Thu).
* Patch Size: Approx. 131.26 MB

Check out the details below, and we will see you in the Arena!






[h3]■ Major Bug Fixes [/h3]

- Fixed an issue where players staying behind a wall or separated far away from the party leader while on standby would cause them to not be transformed into a Black Spirit and not launched out with party members.
- Fixed an issue with AI players where they would not attack and only use Roll.
- Fixed an issue where AI players would use skills that were on cooldown.
- Fixed an issue where AI players would not use HP Potions.
- Fixed an issue where AI players would prioritize attacking human players first.


[h3]■ Party Invite Feature [/h3]

- The Party Invite feature has been activated.
> Party Invites are only available for players on your friends list.
- For Duo Party, another player will be automatically matched as party member if the party leader presses the “Game Start” button.
> AI players cannot be added as a second party member for Duo Party.


[h3]■ Hero [/h3]


| Black Spirit Skills
- The effects and cooldowns of the Black Spirit skills have been changed as follows:



- Fixed an issue where using ‘Taunt’ and sitting down would cause monsters to move abnormally.


[Dev Note]

As the Black Spirit skills were being relatively underused, we’ve comprehensively re-balanced them to increase their effectiveness. With these changes, we hope to see more diverse strategies that adapt around different hero combinations or tactics.




| Gate Breaker (Q)
- Fixed the typo for max damage in the skill description.




| Thunder Viper (E)
- Increased Herawen's movement speed while using the skill by 50%.

| Kamasylve Tree (R)
- Improved the visual effect of Kamasylve Tree’s range to be easier to differentiate from an opponent’s tree.


[Dev Note]
While Herawen was in a slightly weak state, we felt her healing was up to par, so we slightly increased her movement speed while using Thunder Viper to buff her attack and debuff capabilities to compensate.




| Thunderbolt Arrow (RMB)

- Decreased the animation time before Orwen begins changing her shot by 0.21 sec.
- Orwen can now fire her arrow immediately without charging her shot gauge if you do not hold down RMB after using the skill. (0.2 sec decrease)


| Arrow Storm (E)

- Changed the maximum number of hits listed in the skill description from 5 to 2.


[Dev Note]
Today’s update improves the animation of Thunderbolt Arrow, which was previously somewhat lackluster and hard to control.





| Thunder Breaker (Q)
- Thunder Breaker (Q) will now apply a Super Armor effect right after the skill is used for 0.12 sec.
- Super Armor will now apply to the entire skill animation when the skill is used while the Golden Gate (R) buff is active.


[Dev Note]
We’ve added a short frame of Super Armor to Thunder Breaker to allow more skillful gameplay that fits with Badal's concept as a higher difficulty hero.

While this might mean he is more difficult to play, it also allows you to time an opponent’s attack to counter them or just ignore their crowd control debuff. We’ve also added Super Armor to the entire skill animation when the Golden Gate buff is active to make it easier for you to counter or block enemy skills.




| Iron Pulverizer (RMB)
- Changed the additional attack’s crowd control debuff to Floating.
> Before: Knockdown 0.5 sec → Now: Floating 0.8 sec


[Dev Note]
In order to make Goyen’s heavy combos play out more smoothly, we’ve increased the debuff time of Iron Pulverizer’s additional hit and changed its debuff to Floating, which also fits better with the upward attack animation of the skill.

| Patience Stance - Sacred Barrier (Q)
- Improved the visual indicator of Sacred Barrier's range to better distinguish whether the skill is casted by an ally or foe.
| Patience Stance - Breath of Elion (E)
- Changed the skill’s buff message to now display the HP recovery over time and attack/movement speed separately.

| Patience Stance - Judgment of Light (R)
- Changed the skill’s buff message to now display the HP recovery over time and instant HP recovery separately.





- Increased the damage of his basic attacks by 16.7%.
- Increased his basic attack’s projectile hitbox size and explosion area of effect by 50%.

| Earth Alchemy Stone (RMB)
- Improved the visual effect of the summoned rock to better distinguish whether the skill is casted by an ally or foe.


| Forbidden Alchemy (R)
- Added the following items that will have a very small chance of appearing when the skill is used. (Chance of obtaining 1 of the following items: Approx. 0.45%)
1) Hand of Salvation
2) Boss Defense Gear
> Muskan’s Shoes, Urugon’s Shoes, Leebur’s Gloves, Bheg’s Gloves, Giath’s Helmet, Griffon’s Helmet, Dim Tree Spirit’s Armor
3) Red Dragon’s Offering





| Heilang (RMB)
- Improved the visual effect of Heilang's buff to better distinguish whether the skill is casted by an ally or foe.

| Heilang’s Territory (R)
- Improved the skill’s visual effect so that it does not block the player’s perspective.




| Older Brother! (RMB)
- Improved the visual effect of Black Spirit to better distinguish whether the skill is casted by an ally or foe.

| Laytenn! (R)
- Improved the visual effect of Laytenn to better distinguish whether the skill is casted by an ally or foe.




| Contaminated Sacrifice (E)
- Improved the visual effect of Shamanic Stick and Skeleton Wolf to better distinguish whether the skill is casted by an ally or foe.


| Frightening Crow (R)
- Fixed a typo for the max damage described in the skill description.




| Wheel of Fortune (E)
- Increased the skill’s cast animation time by 0.11 seconds.
- Increased max damage of the skill by 22%.

| Garden of Roses (R)
- Improved the visual range indicator of Garden of Roses to better distinguish whether the skill is casted by an ally or foe.


[Dev Note]
We wanted to magnify feeling of weight carried by Ataraxia’s Kriegsmesser, so we’ve greatly increased Wheel of Fortune’s damage, and added a slight cast delay to make it more dynamic but a bit riskier to use.





| Fire-rang (RMB)
- Improved the visual effect of her boomerang to better distinguish whether the skill is casted by an ally or foe.


| Burning Hula Hoop (R)
- Fixed an issue where Burning Hula Hoop’s sound effect would not disappear when Durgeff was caught by an opponent’s grab while using the skill.



[h3]■ Contents [/h3]


| Blackstar Fragment

- Areas with higher spawn rates of Blackstar Fragments have been removed. Instead, they now spawn as described below.
> Game start - 1 min into the match: Approximately 25 fragments will spawn near the outskirts of the Dark Fog.
> 3 min - 4 min into the match: Approximately 20 fragments will spawn near the outskirts of the Dark Fog.
> 6 min - 7 min into the match: Approximately 15 fragments will spawn near the outskirts of the Dark Fog.
> 9 min - 10 min into the match: Approximately 10 fragments will spawn near the outskirts of the Dark Fog.


- Blackstar Fragments will now no longer disappear in the Dark Fog.
- Changed the mechanism of obtaining Blackstar Fragments as follows.
> (Before): Obtained as soon as the player went near a fragment.
→ (Now): If the player goes near a fragment, a gauge will start filling up, and the player will obtain the fragment after approximately 3.5 sec.


[Dev Note]
Up until now, we believe Blackstar Fragments were difficult for players to tactically play around since they were rather counterintuitive. As a result, we’ve changed Blackstar Fragments to be easily spotted near the outskirts of the Dark Fog and disappear once the Dark Fog covers them. We hope these changes make Blackstar Fragments into something that simply acts as a stable way to increase the strength of the entire team, rather than be a high-risk, high-reward element like the Shadow Lords.
| Shop

- Added a new item.



- Changed effects and prices of certain items as follows.


| Meteorites

- Changed the damages of each Meteorite as follws.



[Dev Note]

As you may know, all existing meteorites, including the Black Meteorite that was added last week, only inflict fixed damage.

The fixed damage system was comparatively advantageous to heroes with high default HP or equipped with items that buff HP, and disadvantageous otherwise. This meant players focused on equipping HP buff items and bypassed most of the meteorite damage, leading to somewhat unexciting matches. To combat this problem, we’ve changed the damage to reduce a certain percentage of HP instead.
▶[Go to the May 6 (Thu) Update Details]



[h3]■ Tree Spirit [/h3]




- Added a new NPC called the ‘Tree Spirit’ that recovers the HP of heroes.
- Tree Spirits are summoned in 20 random spots at the start of match.
- If a hero goes near within a 5m radius around the Tree Spirit, the Tree Spirit will instantly recover 5000 HP of all nearby heroes.
- After it has recovered the heroes’ HP, it will sit down and be deactivated for 30 sec. Afterward, it will stand up and be reactivated.
- If a Tree Spirit covered by the Dark Fog, it will disappear.
- When the Light of Ascension appears, all Tree Spirits will disappear, and only one Tree Spirit will reappear in a certain spot near the Light.

[Dev’s note]
Following last week’s update, which reduced the HP recovery of from HP Potions, we’ve added a new NPC called the Tree Spirit that restores HP.
You can use these Tree Spirits to save HP Potions or instantly recover HP and change the tide of a fight. Additionally, a Tree Spirit will appear outside the Light of Ascension during the Ascension stage, potentially assisting the team that fails to seize the Light.


[h3]■ Monster [/h3]


| Shadow Troll
- Decreased the number of Shadow Trolls that appear as follows:
> (Before): 20 at 1 min into the match, approx. 10 at 4 min, approx. 5 at 7 min
→ (Now): 16 at 1 min into the match, approx. 8 at 4 min, approx. 4 at 7 min
- Changed the location of some Shadow Trolls that are spawned at 1 min into the match.

- Changed Shadow Trolls as follows.



- Decreased the Shadow Archer’s (a ranged, normal monster at Phase 3) animation time before attacking by 1 sec and increased the animation speed by 20%.



| Stoneback Crab

- Changed the buffs obtained by defeating Mountain Stoneback Crabs and Steppe Stoneback Crabs to be displayed as follows.
1) Defeat Mountain Stoneback Crab: Stoneback Crab’s Shell (Party DP +60)
2) Defeat Steppe Stoneback Crab: Stoneback Crab's Claw: (Party AP+30)
> These buffs will disappear if a hero dies while the buff is active.


[h3]■ Other Fixed and Improvements [/h3]


- Improved the visual effect of Light of Ascension so that it does not block the player’s perspective.
- Fixed the details for the Stoneback Crabs and Blackstar Fragments in the guide at the bottom of the Create Party (Trio) screen to match the actual effects.


[h3]■ Official Website Fixes and Improvements [/h3]


- Improved the alignment of the search box for Tablet PCs



Thank you.