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Dev Diary #49 - Hero Class Updates

[p][/p][p]Hello there, welcome back to the library. I am Thomas Schuiten, Senior Designer at Triumph Studios and today I am going to speak a bit on the Hero class updates coming with the Griffon Update and the new class coming with Archon Prophecy: The Battlesaint.[/p][p]So what actually happened with Hero Classes in this update and why? Well the gist of what we’ve done is we took another look at the “magic” classes we had and tried to see what could be done to improve them.[/p][p]The conclusion we arrived at was that the Ritualist and Mage were both trying to cover too many thematic and mechanical angles.[/p][p]Ritualists represented Druids, Priests, Necromancers and Summoners all at once, while the Mage was covering everything from a Wizard to an Elemental Shaman to a Witch casting curses.[/p][p][/p][p]Rough early representation of the general plan, yes the entire board looks like some hard-boiled detective’s clue board of post it notes.[/p][p][/p][p]This meant that none of these concepts really had enough skills to be fully explored, thus I aimed to split the themes from these two classes into 3 classes instead:[/p][p]The Mage would become the Elementalist, more focused on the battlemage role, dealing damage with powerful magic abilities of the chosen element.[/p][p]The Ritualist would remain, but instead of its half dedication to summoning it would lean harder into full support and healing abilities, allowing for a much more Druidic theme or should you choose to avoid that aspect of the skill tree, a simple but effective healer.[/p][p]Thirdly a new class would be created, the Warlock, giving us a place for all darker forms of magic, Curses, dark sorcery and necromancy.[/p][p]Lastly, though less directly a new class would be made to cover a previously lacking aspect: The Battlesaint, who will allow for more divine themed heroes, either as Clerics or Paladins.[/p][p][/p][h2]Elementalist[/h2][p]Mickia the Stormweaver, an Elementalist focused on lightning magic.[/p][p][/p][p]Elementalists are the most pure “wizard” representing class, they choose an elemental school and specialize in powerful magic abilities and attacks in that element. The old Mage class only represented Fire and Lightning, but there were two more obvious elements missing: Earth and Frost.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Discipline of Flames sets this hero on the path to become a master Pyromancer, making their basic attacks immediately ignite the ground under their targets (inflicting burning to their target) and granting a Lesser Evocation (to be improved upon in the next level up)[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Discipline of Frost is an excellent option if you want to make a more “control” oriented hero, inflicting slowed to targets upon which they can then inflict Frozen.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Lesser Evocation that the Disciplines provide you with, obviously implies the existence of a “greater” evocation. Each discipline has 2 options available to it:[/p][p][/p][p]Cloudburst, Blast or Frostwind hit an area of effect.[/p][p]Chaining Evocation jumps between several targets.[/p][p]Focused Evocation does heavy damage to a single target.[/p][p][/p][p]The damage type that these evocations inflict is determined by the chosen discipline, thus a Discipline of Earth Elementalist who picks Focused Evocation will inflict physical damage and Stunned, while a Discipline of Frost Elementalist would turn that Focused Evocation into Frost Damage and Frozen instead![/p][p]Speaking of the Discipline of Earth, this provides a bit of an unconventional option for a “mage” character, as they deal physical damage, and the inherent benefit of the discipline being the application of sundered armor, they work well in combination with other physical damage units.[/p][p]To further empower your heroes’ elemental magic, the left and right path of the tree feature differing ways to go about it:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Elemental Echo works best for Elementalist who seek to pummel down larger foes with debilitating damage over time or for Earth Disciplines, sundering their armor thoroughly.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Amplifying Elements however works both for those who spread their flames, but the primary thought behind this skill's creation was to allow Frost Elementalists a more natural target priority, after all, the frozen target is not your priority for damage. This way your hero can freeze opponents, and have their frozen forms amplify their damage against the remaining threats![/p][p]The Elementalist gets access to a few additional abilities further along their skill paths, elemental gateway is a central skill, letting the Elementalist relocate away from threats and giving them some mobility they’d otherwise struggle with. It is still quite limited however, positioning your Elementalist hero and keeping them out of melee is crucial after all![/p][p]Down towards the bottom we have Conjure Elemental Spirit, a more thematic inclusion than anything that lets you have the classic wizard-like conjuration of an elemental.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Ritual of Elements allows for unleashing a true barrage of evocations if the Elementalist is positioned right, letting them reset cooldowns and increasing their potency until the hero moves.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Lastly, Inexorable cast lets them empower their abilities for a turn to all but guarantee an effective application of their effects, and when upgraded bypass defenses for a brutal strike![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]For the “capstone” of the Elementalist I really wanted to support a sort of “ultimate” spell ability. Thus Elementalist ended up with this unique star shape at the bottom of its tree, where each unique ultimate spell is visible, the options you can choose depend on the chosen Discipline. The central skill “Elemental Mastery” grants a significant boost to both defenses and offense based on the Elementalists discipline, a Flame Discipline Elementalist for example will gain a lot of Fire Resistance and additional Fire damage on their attacks.[/p][p][/p][p]From there the Elementalist may unlock their Discipine’s “master evocation”:[/p][p]Lightning Bolt for Discipline of Storms[/p][p]Wildfire for Discipline of Fire[/p][p]Sunder Earth for Discipline of Earth[/p][p]Withering Blizzard for Discipline of Frost.[/p][p][/p][p]Lightning bolt is a personal favorite, striking targets in a line and then additionally jumping to additional enemies from each target hit for a shocking amount of damage! (No, I am not sorry.)[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Warlock[/h2][p]Bapple the Treacherous, Warlock and connoisseur of curses.[/p][p][/p][p]The Warlock is a new addition included in the Gryphon update, this new class covers the darker magical aspects such as necromancy and curses. They mix the role of a debuffing battlemage with a bit of support through both healing and summoning. Primarily however, their specialty is weakening particular, powerful enemies and leaving them vulnerable to attack by their allies.[/p][p]The skill tree of the warlock is divided into two separate sections, the larger section on the left covers the more classic “battlemage” role while the right section is more support oriented in the form of necromancy.[/p][p]Within the curse tree your hero can choose their primary ability in the form of either the Hex Pact or the Blood Pact. This also gives a good indication of the sort of role this Hero will specialize in.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Hex pact is a powerful long ranged ability that lets the Warlock link to an enemy unit, which debilitates the target more and more each turn. A powerful ability to deal with large otherwise hard to kill targets. Choosing this skill leads naturally into the left side of the skill tree where the hero can further specialize in breaking morale or more debilitating control effects such as misfortune.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Blood pact in contrast, is a unique kind of link that targets friendly units instead. But unlike sharing pain or similar effects, this particular link is one of the costs. The Warlock gets a significant boost to their offensive power, but as a cost any damage the Warlock takes is also dealt to the linked unit. Thus this ability combines well with expendable units. (such as your undead summons!)[/p][p]Blood pact can be further upgraded into the pact of Eternal Servitude, making the target of your link Resurgent and heal as they attack. This lets you use the link on much less expendable units should that be your goal.[/p][p]This tree additionally features Siphon Blessings, a way to remove positive effects from an enemy unit, and Curse, an repurposed classic that now grants a way to apply your debuffs to multiple targets at once.[/p][p]As the capstone ability of this tree we have Infectious Affliction, a debuff ability that cascades through all connected targets, giving them Afflicted and Diseased, which makes them extremely vulnerable to follow up attack by the Warlocks allies. On top of this, it is a debuff ability, meaning it is improved by a number of other skills in the Warlock’s arsenal.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The necromancy skills in the Warlock class give it options to supplement your armies with some healing and additional units.[/p][p]The first skill in this tree, Transfer Life, is a cheap heal and buff that costs no action points to use. In return for this power however, it is only usable once per battle unless either the Warlock makes a kill themselves, or any of their summoned units die. This lets it combine well with expendable undead and the Blood pact ability mentioned earlier.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]This tree features Raise Undead and Dark Ritual, giving a choice between a multi-uses single target raise dead ability and the more bombastic, once per combat Dark Ritual raising a whole heap of zombies at once.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Lastly we have Claim Soul, useable only once per combat this close range finisher lets the Warlock deal damage that ignores defense. If the target is killed then the Warlock heals, refreshes their abilities and raises the slain target as a Wightborn version of themselves under the warlock’s control![/p][p][/p][h2]Ritualist[/h2][p]Khath-Mar the Ashtender, dead keeper of the living.[/p][p][/p][p]The Ritualist has seen both a lot of change and not as much as one may expect. It no longer has its summoning or necromantic abilities, instead it leans more into its specialization as a healer and support unit.[/p][p]The skill tree can roughly be divided into the left side being skills used before your units take any damage, and the right side focusing on skills about healing and recovery.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The left side of the tree is where you will find the Wildgrowth ability, now split into two versions from the start rather than having a rather lackluster start that then requires the upgrade to be worthwhile. The Ritualist can choose between Hostile Wildgrowth, giving them some offensive ability, and Protective Wildgrowth, which gives them a useful option to help units evade attacks.[/p][p]This side also has Awaken Entwined, a skill that lets you animate flora into an Entwined Thrall, or if upgraded an Entwined Protector![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The right section instead focuses on healing magic, with the first choice between Rejuvinate which affects units in an area, or Restore which is significantly more powerful but affects only a single target.[/p][p]This side also features other useful support abilities for specific situations, such as Decompose which lets you deny resurrections and provide additional healing. Or Deathward which lets you prevent a unit in a high risk situation from dying before you can give them the proper support.[/p][p]Additionally the Ritualist has, on this side, access to two unique abilities, Polymorph and Reincarnate. Polymorph is a uniquely offensive ability for the Ritualist, that lets you potentially neutralize a particular enemy by turning them into a weakened animal, while Reincarnate lets you repurpose lost friendly units by resurrecting them as an animal of equivalent tier permanently. Turning a lost unit into a new ally.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]At the bottom where the two sections merge lie several powerful boosting skills that let the Ritualist lean in to either summons (through Entwined Awakening or Living Wildgrowth), Defense mode warding or even more healing. But it also provides the choice between one of three “Rite” abilities, powerful battlefield wide buff abilities that can only be used once per combat.[/p][p]Rite of Fury gives Hastened, letting your units advance aggressively, while Vigil braces them for incoming hits when the battle commences. Lastly, Rite of Restoration provides a solid heal to recover from suffered damage.[/p][p][/p][h2]Battlesaint[/h2][p]Last but certainly not least, we have our first DLC hero class: The Battlesaint.[/p][p]When we reviewed our roster of available classes there was a trope that was clearly not covered adequately, that of the Paladin and the Cleric - the Battlesaint is aimed to cover those niches.[/p][p]What sets the Battlesaint apart from the other classes is its versatility as a support/fighter hybrid role. You can build a Battlesaint as a full support hero wielding a staff, a zealous martyr or righteous Paladin. Not to mention the Battlesaint is able to use any weapon except for ranged weapons (which for now remain Ranger specific) letting them fill a large variety of roles.[/p][p]The Battlesaint features a unique status effect that they stack on themselves: Fervor.[/p][p]On its own Fervor provides a bit of Status Effect Resistance, but more importantly it can be used to boost the Battlesaints other abilities.[/p][p]The first skill choice for a Battlesaint hero is to choose the archetype they will lean into. This determines the primary method in which they gain Fervor:[/p][p]Cleric will set the hero on the more support oriented path, gaining Fervor each turn to ensure a steady supply even when using support abilities or entering defense mode.[/p][p]Paladin in contrast gains Fervor when making attacks, requiring the Hero to be on the offensive to accumulate Fervor, but with a faster build up especially in melee (where retaliations provide it too!).[/p][p]Then at the second level comes the most formative choice of how the Battlesaint hero will operate, this is a choice between three active abilities that each utilize Fervor:[/p][p]For full support focused heroes, Cleric’s Fervor is the obvious choice, which provides a scaling ranged heal.[/p][p]Saint’s Fervor is the middle ground, functioning like a “lay on hands”, a free action touch range heal that the battlesaint can use on themselves or adjacent allies.[/p][p]Lastly there is Warrior’s Fervor, which cannot target allies at all, but grants the battlesaint themselves a significant heal, as well as stacks of strengthened for each fervor used to really give them a divine boost in the fight![/p][p]From here the Battlesaint can further specialize, expanding towards the left side of the skill tree grants the hero more healing and support focused abilities. Bless lets them give Fortune to friendly units and by virtue of being a free action support ability is an excellent method of applying those support effects to units quickly.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Bless ability also combines excellently with Fervorous Disciple, which supplements the per turn gain of favor nicely.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Martyr’s Blood lets the Batlesaint take immense punsihment with reduced risk, safe in the knowledge that they can recover, and that their sacrifice empowered their allies to strike back![/p][p]The middle section of the tree lets the Battlesaint become an undying zealous martyr, giving them plenty of ways to survive brutal amounts of damage and remain standing. Using Warding Bond to take the hits for important friendly units or Radiant Retribution to damage adjacent enemies for foolishly striking your hero.[/p][p]The right side of the Battlesaint features the more “paladin” esque skills, auras to buff the hero and adjacent allies. Condemnation grants the battlesaint a way to significantly weaken a particular adjacent target as a free action.[/p][p]The capstone skills for the Battlesaint roughly relate to the three archetypes as well, the left side providing a powerful support ability that provides battlefield wide Regeneration based on the amount of Fervor used to cast it while ending the hero in defense mode, which combos nicely with the earlier shown Fervorous Disciple skill.[/p][p]Immortal Saint lets the hero return from death after 1 turn, gaining 5 stacks of Fervor for their trouble to let them get back in the fight immediately.[/p][p]Lastly, there is Smite, giving the battlesaint a powerful offensive way to use their Fervor.[/p][p][/p][p]Smite the fool before you slice with the tool.[/p][p][/p][h2]Outro[/h2][p]With this update, the magical hero classes should feel much more distinct and allow for more depth both thematically and in the builds you can make with them![/p][p]The Battlesaint included in Archon Prophecy gives you even more new ways to build your heroes, blessing your allies and smiting your foes![/p][p]I hope that you have enjoyed this look at the classes and that it provided some entertaining insight, if you wish to try them out, the Open Beta for Gryphon update is accessible on steam right now![/p][p]As for the Battlesaint and all the other new goodies shown in the other dev diaries, they will be releasing alongside the Gryphon update on August 12! I look forward to seeing what Heroes and Rulers you make![/p][p][/p][p] Follow us and be the first to know when we drop new content![/p]