Age of Darkness: Final Stand News

Protectors of the Light,

With this update, we’re bringing a wave of balance changes aimed at refining unit roles, improving underperforming heroes, and ensuring more strategic variety across the roster. Whether you’re a frontline warrior, a ranged tactician, or a master of deception, these adjustments should give you new ways to dominate the fight.

From Vizargo’s much-needed buffs to Soldiers gaining more survivability, and a shake-up for the Pikemen, this patch focuses on enhancing gameplay depth while ensuring every unit has a place in your army. Let’s dive into the details!

[h3]Balance Changes[/h3] [h2]VIZARGO[/h2]
Vizargo has needed some love! Even before Armour, he was tricky to use, and post-1.0, it was clear he needed attention. We hope you enjoy his buffs to Serenity, Veiled Coil, and Claw Dash.

• Veiled Coil range now scales more dramatically over levels to account for larger melee armies nearby.
  
• Adjusted Veiled Coil maximum heal percentage per unit slain from 3/5% to [color]30%[/color].
  
• Serenity damage has been significantly increased to match other heroes' damage output.
  
• Reduced Serenity base cooldown by almost [color]50%[/color].
  
• Claw Dash now has scaling charges from [color]2[/color] up to [color]4[/color], allowing Vizargo to move in and out of combat or aggressively clear enemies.

[h2]SOLDIER[/h2]
The Soldier has been underperforming as newer units and systems have been introduced. Meanwhile, Pikemen have taken the crown as the best all-around melee unit. To make Soldiers a more viable choice, we’ve improved their survivability.

• Reduced Soldier upkeep from 2g to [color]1g[/color].
  
• Added [color]25[/color] armour.
  
• Increased base Health from 150 to [color]200[/color].
  
• Increased base damage from 7 to [color]9[/color].
  
• Increased knockback from 0 to [color]0.3[/color].

[h2]PIKEMEN[/h2]
As mentioned, Pikemen have become the strongest value melee unit. To help diversify unit choices, we’ve made slight adjustments but will monitor these values closely.

• Adjusted base damage from 13 to [color]12[/color].
  
• Added [color]1[/color] food cost.
  
• Adjusted knockback from 0.35 to [color]0.2[/color].
  
• Adjusted shred from 5 to [color]4[/color].

[h2]ARCHER[/h2]
Archers were once a powerhouse, but as other units have gained benefits, their effectiveness has declined. To address this, we’ve improved their shred effectiveness and increased their tower attack speed.

• Tower attack speed improved from 2.5s to [color]1.8[/color] cooldown.
  
• Increased Tower Shred increased from 2 to [color]5[/color].
  
• Increased base Shred from 0 to [color]1[/color].

[h2]ORDER KNIGHT[/h2]
The Order Knight desperately needed additional shred, and we’ve delivered!

• Order Knight Shred increased from 2 to [color]7[/color].

[h2]HARBINGER[/h2]
The Harbinger was falling behind in the ranged department, making them feel awkward to play. We’ve given them a small boost to their tower and general range effectiveness, and reduced the frustration of needing to recast Dark Prophecy by increasing its range and duration.

• Tower attack range improved from 5 to [color]6.5[/color].
  
• Normal attack range improved from 2 to [color]3.5[/color].
  
• Dark Prophecy range [color]doubled[/color].
  
• Increased Dark Prophecy duration from 25s to [color]80s[/color],
  
• Increased Dark Prophecy cooldown from 60s to [color]140s[/color].

[h2]ROGUE[/h2]
Rogues had a slightly higher damage per hit than intended, making them a DPS powerhouse when paired with attack speed and charge melee perks. We’ve adjusted their base damage while keeping their gold-steal and stealth utility intact.

• Base damage adjusted from 7 to [color]3[/color].

[h2]AELIS LOYAL GUARD[/h2]
The Loyal Guard plays a crucial role in Aelis’ clear speed and survival, but she has fallen behind recently. We’ve increased their HP, damage, and shred to keep them competitive.

• Base HP increased from 65 to [color]120[/color].
  
• Damage increased from 10 to [color]13[/color].
  
• Shred increased from 0 to [color]3[/color].

[h2]CO-OP DEATHNIGHT DURATION[/h2]
While we’d love to provide more customization options, for now, we’ve slightly increased Deathnight 3's duration and made significant increases to easier difficulties. This should allow players to create custom games with Forgiving Duration as a temporary workaround.

[h4]OLD VALUES[/h4]
[h4]NEW VALUES[/h4]
Overall we’re aiming to improve weak points in the roster and give players more options. Ensure to let us know what you think of the changes as we continue to monitor.We’ll be closely monitoring how these changes impact the meta and will make further tweaks as needed. Your feedback is invaluable, so keep sharing your thoughts and strategies with us!

Thank you,
The Age of Darkness Team

Protectors of the Light,

Thank you for your continued support and for all the feedback you’ve shared with us. Your insights have been incredibly helpful in identifying and resolving the issues players have been experiencing.

This latest hotfix focuses on stabilizing edge cases within Multiplayer and improving game performance; emphasizing on eliminating various crashes and bugs.

[h3]General Fixes & Improvements[/h3]

• Removed the ability to transfer Watch Towers to the other player in Multiplayer.
  
• Fixed being able to transfer non-transferrable buildings to the other player in Multiplayer by shift-selecting multiple building types.
  
• Fix for issues that prevented saving from working with some Windows settings in Survival and Campaign.
  
• Fixed an issue where players could get negative Map Seeds that weren't properly re-loadable.
  
• Added more player-facing messaging to some Multiplayer disconnect pop-ups and error pop-ups for lobby issues.
  
• Fixed some situations where Multiplayer saves aren't available to load.

[h3]Crash Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed a rare crash that could be triggered by some campaign scripting.
  
• Fixed a crash that could occur in situations where units are removed from a Triage Tent.
  
• Fixed a crash when entering a Multiplayer match with high latency.
  
• Fixed a rare crash related to the hover info UI.
  
• Fixed a camera-related crash.
  
• Fixed a crash when utilizing the cinematic system in-game.

While we’re currently hard at work to make Age of Darkness: Final Stand a smoother, more enjoyable experience for everyone. Right now, our top priorities are:

• Fixing Multiplayer Desyncs – We know how frustrating these can be, and we're working hard to improve stability.
  
• Continued investigation into Hero Abilities – Looking specifically into abilities going on cooldown but not triggering, and Projectile/Displacement Abilities causing crashes.
  
• Tweaking Balance & Game Duration – Adjusting pacing and balance to keep multiplayer matches fun, fair, and engaging.
  
• Gathering Community Feedback on QoL Improvements – Your input helps shape future updates, so keep it coming!

Your feedback and detailed reports are invaluable in helping us pinpoint and address these issues swiftly. Please keep sharing your thoughts and experiences with us.

Thank you,
The Age of Darkness Team

Protectors of the Light,

Thanks to everyone for the continual support and feedback we’ve been receiving. The information provided by the community is incredibly helpful to us in identifying and resolving problems that players are encountering.

The latest hotfix aims to continue improving the player experience, with its primary focus being on addressing a number of issues players are having with game crashes.

The update includes:

Improvements made to reduce crashes occurring in relation to cutscenes and abilities usage
Improvements made to reduce crashes occurring in relation to analytics and network issues
Tweaks made to particle and lighting effects in order to reduce crashes
Fix for the Hero Completion Achievements not unlocking properly in Multiplayer
Tweaks made to improve formation spacing

Your feedback and detailed reports are invaluable in helping us improve the gameplay experience. We are truly grateful for your active engagement and support; they inspire us to make Age of Darkness: Final Stand the best it can be.

Thank you,
The Age of Darkness Team

Protectors of the Light,

Thank you for the continued support we’ve received during our 1.0 launch. The feedback and insight you’ve provided has been instrumental in helping us to identify and resolve issues facing our players.

Following our earlier 1.0.1 patch, we are rolling out a small update to address an issue affecting a small number of players:

• Fixed a crash when launching the game and failing to access steam cloud save.
  

Thank you for your continued support and feedback as we work to improve Age of Darkness: Final Stand!

Thank you,
The Age of Darkness Team

Protectors of the Light,

Thank you for your ongoing support following our 1.0 release. Your input has been crucial in helping us identify and address the feedback shared by our players.

Our latest patch addresses a variety of community suggestions, including several fixes and improvements across Campaign, Survival, and Co-Op game modes.

You can read all the improvements and community feedback we have incorporated in v1.0.1 below:

[h3]Balance Adjustments[/h3]

• Increased melee range for the Order Knight auto-attack by 0.4.
  
• Lightbearer attack range increased, now attack from a short distance.
  
• Increased the Lightbearer’s base Health from 90 to 125.
  
• Added Armour to the Lightbearer from 0 to 25.
  
• Added Armour Regeneration to the Lightbearer from 0 to 0.02.
  
• Changed the Rogue’s basic attack to now be a multi-hit cone attack.
  
• Increased the Rogue’s Attack Rate from 0.25 to 0.15.
  
• Reduced the Rogue’s Gold Steal on kill from 3 to 2.
  
• Reduced the Rogue’s base Damage from 15 to 7.
  
• Increased the Rogue’s production Gold cost from 160 to 175.
  
• Increased the Rogue’s production Stone cost from 2 to 5.
  
• In Multiplayer T2 and T3 POI Camps reward slightly more Units/Siege Units.

[h3]General Fixes & Improvements[/h3]

• General improvements to load times and performance across the game.
  
• Fixed a situation where unlocked Survival Difficulties wouldn’t save correctly.
  
• Fixed a situation where Cloud Saves wouldn’t sync.
  
• Fix for buildings that aren't impacted by the treasury getting icons as if they are impacted after paying off a debt.
  
• Fixed Aelis's royal guards displaying a visual flicker under certain conditions.
  
• Fixed a selection bug caused by holding shift and selecting buildings.
  
• Fixed the objectives UI not updating correctly when you change the language.
  
• Fixed UI not displaying correctly on the action grid when canceling research.
  
• Fix for some situations in which some units wouldn't animate correctly.
  
• Improved Audio balancing across all three game modes.
  
• Fixed Audio timing issues present with Crushers.
  
• Added audio to various buttons that were missing audio feedback.

[h3]Campaign Specific[/h3]

• Fixed a situation where Campaign progression wouldn’t save correctly.
  
• Improved overall Cutscene audio within the Campaign.
  
• Fixed an issue where Nightmares could get stuck during Mission 3.
  
• Fixed audio timing related to Ritual Crystals in Campaign.
  
• Fixed Vizargo's shield in Mission 10 not displaying during combat.
  
• Fix for the wrong audio playing during cutscenes in Campaign Mission 10.

[h3]Multiplayer Specific[/h3]

• Fixed a crash that can occur when pressing the Multiplayer Button.
  
• Added a pop-up when you’re not logged into Steam and try to access Multiplayer.
  
• Fix for the host sometimes not properly loading into matches.
  
• Fix for being able to select the other player's team color button in the multiplayer lobby.
  
• Greyed out the "send" button in the trading window if no resources are going to be sent to the other player.
  
• Fixed an issue where Units gained from captured POI camps spawned in a single point.
  
• Removed the ability to transfer ownership of the Fishing Port in Multiplayer.
  
• Fixed an issue where for Death Nights that break two Crystals only one would drop Dark Essence.
  
• Disabled “+ buttons” in the trade menu when there are no more resources to send.

[h3]Balance Adjustments Deep Dive[/h3]
As noted above, we've made a number of changes to balance Heroes, Units, and Buildings. The goal here is to improve early-game survivability, smooth out some frustrating aspects, and give a few underperforming characters a much-needed boost. Here’s a closer look at the v1.0.1 as well as 1.0 balance adjustments, and how your gameplay experience will change.

[h3]Heroes[/h3] Merek
Merek has always had great potential but struggled with low survivability and clear speed, especially early in the game. We've made a few tweaks to ensure he can shine as a tank-healer hybrid, excelling alongside an army that benefits from his presence.

• Improved base HP from 170 to 320 (this change reflects across all levels)
  
• Improved base damage to 17 from 14
  
• Increased damage of Crushing Weight across all levels

Vizargo
Vizargo was a bit too frustrating early on, especially for new players, though his potential was clear. We've given him a boost to his survivability and skills, especially during those early stages, to make him more approachable and effective.

• Improved HP across all levels, ie:
  • Level 1: 165 from 145
    
  • Level 10: 905 from 880
• Added small amount of armour per level after level 3
  
• Claw Dash cooldown reduced by approximately 7 seconds across each level
  
• Small boost to Claw Dash damage DASH and VORTEX (swipe at the end)
  
• Moderate boost to Impaling Wrath damage across all levels
  
• Small boost to move speed from 1.6 to 1.65

Aelis
We’re planning to revisit Aelis soon for some further improvements, particularly for the late game, but for now, she’ll receive a small armoUr boost at early levels to help new players get more out of her.

• Added small amount of armour per level after level 2

[h3]Units[/h3]
Rogue
Rogues have gotten a rework! They now perform more like an aggressive soldier-pikemen hybrid. While they’re still squishy and gold-hungry, Rogues now clear more effectively but remain risky to use!

• Added splash to attack instead of single target
  
• Reduced gold gain to 2 again (to account for faster clearing)
  
• Adjusted purchase price to reflect effectiveness
  • 175G, 5 stone, 5 wood
• Lowered base damage to 7 from 15
  
• Increased attack count to 2

Lightbearer
Lightbearers still need time to figure out their place but for now, they’ve received a range boost, allowing them to support from behind melee units instead of dying up front. They also get some bonuses to their survival.

• HP increased to 125 from 90
  
• Added Armour 25 from 0
  
• Starting Engage range pushed forward from 0 to 0.65

Order Knight
The Order Knight is still solid, but we’ve increased their attack spread so they can now hit more enemies at once, making them more effective in large fights.

• Increased attack range to 0.4

Harbinger
Harbingers still need further attention, but we’ve made a few changes to help their survivability and give them a slight edge in mobility.

• Starting HP increased from 120 to 250
  
• Move speed increased from 1.2 to 1.35

Flamer
Flamers now have better survivability and a slight improvement to their knockback ability.

• Added Armour to 16 from 0
  
• Added Knockback 0.1 from ~0

Hunter
The Hunter has been performing well, but we’ve given the Hunter Trap a small upgrade to improve its effectiveness.

• Trap duration increased to 5s from 3.5s
  
• Trap size increased to 2.5 from 1.5

[h3]Buildings and Research[/h3]
Triage Tent
We’ve reduced the cost of researching the Triage Tent, making it more accessible for players in the early game.

• Research cost reduced to 300 from 750

Trade Bazaar
The Trade Bazaar has had its purchase cost reduced, making it more affordable for players looking to expand their economy.

• Purchase cost reduced to 650 from 850

Grand Bellow Tower
We've given the Grand Bellow Tower a bit of a buff, especially in its range, attack rate, and damage, making it a stronger defensive option- We’ll be keeping an eye on this and other attack towers in the future.

• Attack range increased to 15 from 12
  
• Attack rate increased to 5 from 8
  
• Base damage increased to 10 from 8

Advanced Farm
The Advanced Farm was a little too pricey, so we’ve reduced its cost. We’ll keep an eye out for other later game research in the future.

• Research cost reduced to 1200g from 1500g

Your insights and thorough reports have been invaluable helping us to better refine the gameplay experience for you, our players. We’re truly thankful for your engagement and encouragement, driving us to make Age of Darkness: Final Stand the best it can be. We encourage our community to continue to communicate with us regarding any feedback, as we’re always here to help.

To give back to you all, we’ve also launched a community challenge with prizes which you can check out here.

Thank you,
The Age of Darkness Team