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New Skill Keyword: Affinity! (Set 1)

New Keyword: Affinity


A new keyword has been added to skills! Affinity allows you to consume buff and debuff stacks to pay for the Potential cost of a skill. Here's how it works:

Intimidate is a fairly pricey skill, but applies a full-power attack debuff onto an enemy while stripping the power away from most of their buffs. Spending 2 Potential usually means that you'd need to wait to get it back to continue using your strongest skills...

But now that the skill has Enrage Affinity, you can consume up to 2 stacks of the Enrage buff to pay for the cost instead of spending Potential!




Some skills can also have affinity with debuffs, meaning not only do you get to skip the cost, but you also get to cleanse yourself of potentially deadly status effects.

This is a massive power boost compared to casting it normally, and is a great way to turn Battle Modifiers that spam you with debuffs into an advantage!




The exact wording of Affinity is as follows:

- When this Skill spends Potential, stacks of the specified buff or debuff are consumed to reduce the amount of Potential spent.

Here is the first set of affinity cards. Most of them are existing cards that have gained an affinity, along with a couple of new ones. Another set of affinity cards will be coming soon, covering the buffs & debuffs not included in Set 1.



After the first 2 sets of Affinity Skills have been completed, a set of Items & Passives related to Affinity will be added into the pool.

Future Update Preview: Channeling!

A new pair of keywords is coming: Channel and Amplify!

Channel:
Instead of activating immediately, you must begin the specified number of rounds to complete the Channeling. Once ready, the Channeled Skill can be used for free, during any Ally's turn.

Amplify
If this Channeled skill is ready to cast, and you did not cast it, activate this effect when your team's round ends.

Example:

Dynamo - 2TT

Channel 1
Fully Shock a unit.
Amplify: Deal 4 Lightning Damage to all enemies.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1566090/Malice__Greed/

Clarity & Quality of Life Improvements!

Quality of Life Improvements


- Skill damage numbers now update based on factors like Attack, Defense, and immunities.




- Damage Over Time on units is now pre-calculated and shown on their health bar.



If the unit will die, the bar turns pink:



Additionally, status effects now have differently colored duration ticks, and a colored arrow, indicating whether they are a Buff or Debuff.


- You no longer need to abandon enemies & allies when you are out of space in your party and don't want to Butcher. You can instead Devour them to increase your Max HP for the rest of the run.




- A new tutorial compendium has been added, with info about all game mechanics.



- You can now forcibly increase your maximum difficulty in the upgrade shop.




- The health barrier on Elite & Boss enemies that causes them to immediately retaliate with Pandemonium if they have not used Pandemonium yet is now visible on their HP bar.




- There are now additional options for displaying enemy resistances.



- You can now enable Free Demonform in the Preferences menu.

- You can now choose a custom starting ally in the Preferences menu.



- Many tooltips have been changed to a new system, allowing them to follow the cursor and more reliably prevent them from going offscreen.

- Ally and Enemy camera movement can now be toggled independently.


Gameplay Changes


- Summoning allies now only costs a half crystal instead of a full one.

- The "Anarchy" Malice modifier has been changed.

Old: Summoning allies is no longer free during the first round of combat.
New: Summoning allies costs a full crystal instead of half.


- Enemies no longer spawn unrestricted in all locations. You can see what areas a unit will appear in by inspecting them.



- A variety of underwhelming units have had their skill loadouts refreshed.


New Skills





New Starting Perks


- Some new Haven Influence options are available to unlock in the upgrade shop.



- Perception now offers a Rare item instead of a Common item.

New Awakening Option




https://store.steampowered.com/app/1566090/Malice__Greed/

The 'Devil In The Details' Update is AVAILABLE NOW!

Malice & Greed's 'Devil In The Details' Update is here!


This update is focused around reducing the amount of brain melting caused by the game, while adding more strategic payoffs that don't require a Ph.D.

Major Changes


- Buffs and Debuffs have been reduced in complexity to more appropriately fit the current scope of game mechanics. Many of them are now stronger, more reliable, and have more synergies and payoffs.

- The "Resist" status against damage has been removed from the game.
As a result, a large number of units have had their immunities and health values changed.

- Hits against weaknesses now also bypass Defense.

- Enemy damage in Pandemonium no longer counts as always hitting a Weakness, but their skills still become Efficient. Enemies can no longer enter Pandemonium on the first round, unless you bring an Elite or Boss unit to low HP.

- Elite Battles now spawn 2 units instead of 4, but they are much more powerful.

- Common Battles now usually spawn fewer units, but they are more powerful.

- You can now defy death with Demonform even if your protagonist is destroyed.

Debuffs


Bleed
- When Bleed is applied to you, and when its duration is progressed, lose HP equal to the amount of Bleed on you.
(Note: Bleed is how HP Loss instead of Physical Damage.)

Sick
- When you would gain 5 or more HP, lose 1 stack of Sick instead. Does not affect Revives

Decay
- When you lose HP, you also lose 1/3 that amount of Max HP per stack of Decay on you.

Burn
- When Burn's duration is progressed, you take 1 Fire Damage for each stack of ANY debuff on you.
Not affected by Attack or Defense.

Freeze
- When you start a round while Frozen with at least 1 full Crystal, turn a full Crystal into a Fading crystal. Then, your Freeze is reduced by 1.

Shock
- When you start a round with 3 Shock, you deal 10 Lightning Damage to yourself, and lose a Crystal. Then, all Shock on you is removed.
(Note: This damage comes from the shocked unit. It will be affected by their Attack and Defense, and can gain effects like Lifesteal, Cull, and Hunt.)

Maim
- When you use a skill, lose HP equal to the amount of Maim on you.

Trauma
- Decreases Attack by 1 per stack.

Expose
- Decreases Defense by 1 per stack.


Buffs


Haste
- When another Buff is applied to you, if it isn't fully stacked, apply another stack of it and lose 1 Haste.

Lust
- When you deal damage, give it Lifesteal. Then, your Lust is reduced by 1.

Thorns
- When an enemy uses a skill on you, they lose HP equal to the amount of Thorns on you.

Invigorate
- When Invigorate is applied to you, and when its duration is progressed, gain HP & Max HP equal to the amount of Invigorate on you.

Focus
- When your damage hits an immunity, bypass it and lose 1 Focus.

Zombie
- Allows your corpse to use skills, as if you were alive.
- 2 Stacks: Generate a Fading Crystal when your round starts.
- 3 Stacks: Generate a full Crystal instead.

Protect
- When you would be affected by an enemy Skill, if the amount of Protect on you is at least as high as the Skill's Crystal cost, prevent its effect on you. Then, you lose all Protect.

Enlighten
- Reduces potential requirements by 1 per stack.

Enrage
- Increases Attack by 1 per stack.

Brace
- Increases Defense by 1 Per Stack.


Malice Modifiers


- Difficulty settings now have their own dedicated interface.



There are 9 difficulty milestones:

  • Normal Difficulty (0 Malice)
  • Brutal Difficulty (1 Malice)
  • Ruthless Difficulty (4 Malice)
  • Devious Difficulty (8 Malice)
  • Sinister Difficulty (12 Malice)
  • Malicious Difficulty (16 Malice)
  • Apocalypse Difficulty (20 Malice)
  • Godslayer Difficulty (25 Malice)
  • Oblivion Difficulty (30 Malice)


Warbands (Changed)
Allies lose an extra Crystal when their damage is negated.

Warbands+ (Now has Warbands' old effect)
Enemies gain 1 Defense.

Synthesis (New)
Whenever you lose permanent Max HP, the amount lost is increased by 2.

Synthesis+ (New)
Whenever you gain permanent Max HP, the amount is reduced by 2.

Harvest+ (New)
When you reroll a Skill, the cost of further rerolls is doubled, instead of increasing by 1.

Interfaces


- Demonic Skills have now been integrated into the current battle menu.



- You can now adjust game brightness.



- The Inspection interface has been improved.



- The Skill Mastery interface has been improved.

Combat Techniques


Guard's Combat Technique upgrades have been redesigned.

Reinforce
Increases Guard effectiveness by 20% ( 50% -> 70%)

Safeguard
When a Guarding ally with more than 1 HP takes lethal damage, they survive on 1 HP.

Fast Guard
Allies no longer stop Guarding after using a Skill.

New Skills




Skill Changes


The following skills have been changed:




Other Changes


- Some of the dankest battle modifiers have been toned down in difficulty, however..

- The Spin Fragment cost of rerolling battle modifiers has been drastically increased.
Old Cost: 1 per Battle Mod
New Cost: 2 + (Battle Mods * 2)

- Some skill interactions have been cleaned up to more reliably benefit the player. For example: Lethality's damage boost now only triggers when an ally damages an enemy, rather than when they damage any unit.

- Elon, & Bill now generate 7 Crystals per round instead of 8. The 'Onslaught' Malice Modifier that adds 1 crystal to the enemy team brings them back to the maximum of 8. Previously, it did nothing, as they were already at the maximum by default.

- Some battles have new backgrounds.

- Hovering on a unit will now show Base Max HP before modifications.

- The default Battle Speed has been reduced to make it easier to keep track of the battle.

- "Torment" Haven Influence now offers 1 of 2 boss items, instead of giving a random one.

- Added "Rod of the Krill Son"

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1566090/Malice__Greed/

[IN BETA] Buff Overhaul, Major Balance Changes

View details about this update here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1566090/view/3211637628714938770

Women's Day Sale!

Malice & Greed is 35% off as part of the women's day sale!