Fangs News

Balance Changes

<< NERFS >>
Yanari
E:
CD increase 7.5s >>> 8.5s
Armor Shred reduced 15 >>> 10
Damage reduced 60 >>> 55

SPACE:
Damage reduced 60 >>> 50

ULT:
Duration reduced 2.5s >>> 1.75

With Yanari's game feel changes, she's more consistently able to land her Skill 4, which means more orbs, and overall more damage across the board. Increasing the gap between them and reducing it's overall power. Similarly reducing the damage on Skill 1 since it's also much easier to land as well. Her Ultimate has always been best in class, so we're bringing down it's duration to help bring down it's power.

Kiona
SPACE1:
Total Healing reduced 150 >>> 132
Shatterbomb [Augment] Damage reduced 200 >>> 125
Rejuvenating Assistant [Augment] CD reduction reduced 55% >>> 45%
Added some VFX to the Rejuv Shatterbomb combo so it's not a surprise to enemies

E:
Large Shard Damage reduced 80 >>> 75
Med Shard Damage reduced 40 >>> 35
Small Shard Damage reduced 20 >>> 15

With the recent Kiona Augment change [Rejuvenating Assistant] Shatterbomb is now being used oppressively so toning down the damage with it's new interaction. Also along side this reducing the total healing on Kiona to punish her a bit more when either playing a ranged playstyle or the augment playstyle. Along with the projectile speed changes her Skill 4 is more reliable so toning down it's overall damage.

Zoey
ULT:
Heal reduced 200 >>> 150

SHIFT:
Lure Chime duration reduced 2.5s >>> 2s

Zoey's spike healing has gone up quite a bit with having the Skill 3 baseline healing added in. Toning it down a bit. Also have heard some consistent feedback through voice chat of Lure Chime's power levels. So I toned down the duration of the Unstoppable given on it.

Rayo
RMB:
CD increased 7s >>> 8s

Projectile speeds have helped Rayo a bit, especially in regards to his RMB. So increasing the gap between RMB casts here to bring it down a bit.

Somnia
SPACE:
CD 5 >>> 7s

Somnia's been playing at high tempo, using this ability to maximize DPS as well as defensive power.

Tufts
Megaseed 40 >>> 30% less damage taken while ulting

This augment's winrate and pickrate are extremely high, and also contributing to a lot of his durability

<>
Rowan
RMB:
CD reduced 10s >>> 8s

SPACE:
CD reduced 10s >>> 9s
Damage increased 75 >>> 80

Rowan overtime has had his cooldowns increased due to his stat checking past. So we're bringing down his cooldowns for his bread and butter to get more of them cycled in the heat of combat.

Rose
Ult damage 60 >>> 65 damage per sword fired

Rose ult has been feeling underwhelming compared to other hero ults. Small buff

Astrada
SPACE
CD 11 >>> 10s

SHIFT
CD 13 >>> 12s

Astrada is heavily cooldown gated, these changes intend to open up larger windows of aggression

Wylde
SHIFT
Damage 30 >>> 35

Wylde's playstyles and builds are heavily dominated by RMB centric playstyles. Buffing his less popular SHIFT ability to open up some build diversity

Belroth

P:
40 >>> 45 Max armor (28 >>> 32% Max % damage reduced)

Belroth was over-nerfed last patch. This change is intended to get him back to a stable position so that we can evaluate future changes more accurately

Map Balance

Utility Packs
25%->15% Energy

Wing Rush
100%->75% Push

Bugs Fixed
-Fixed a bug that caused Presets to kick some players back to Main Menu Fix failed... still working on it
-Fixed a bug that was causing Zoey to lock out after using Ult
-Fixed a bug that blocked Chat in Augment Select
-Fixed a bug where some characters like Somnia couldn't Cancel their cast
-Fixed a bug where Ranked and Casual matches were swapped in Career
-Updated some images in game for New Brutus (Newtus)
-Quality of life improvements to Voice including colour coding for channel activity (Party vs Team)
-Fixed a few tutorial strings in various languages

- Fixed a bug where Boons didn't get their live balance changes. (Mutate CD 30->45, Spite Duration 8->5s, Rush CD 60-70s)
- Quality of life improvements to voice chat like, messaging when you join a voice channel
- Fixed a localization bug on Missions
- Adjusted the laser warning line on Crownwatch to be more accurate when players will be damaged from
- Updated Hit VFX for Brutus, Kiona, Rowan and Ishir
- Fixed a bug where Augment Select wasn't showing up occasionally
- Fixed a bug where players could die in Tutorial
- Fixed leaderboards
- Fixed an issue where some accounts had T-Posing Rose in Tutorial
- Fixed a bug where White Tiger Mount wasn't showing up in Battlepass
- Fixed Rime Tar giving too much armour
- Fixed a bug that made Tufts crash games in Augment Select
- Added 1v1 and 2v2 to custom games
- Partially fixed 5th Round Captain Vote. Still working on this one
- Updated New Player queue to optimize for fairer matches over faster matches. PLEASE continue to give us feedback on this one if you're a new player (under 5 games)

We are super excited for this patch to launch as it is the start of the new era for Fangs! Thank you for your continued support throughout early access—it truly means a lot to us that y'all have been committed to assisting us in helping make Fangs the best experience for all. While the game is still in development and some areas may be unstable and subject to change, we hope you enjoy a first look at what the future holds for Fangs. Continue reading to learn more!





This patch is content-packed! If you are looking for a detailed breakdown of the new features and improvement efforts, please check out our Letter From the Directors article. To highlight the main points, here’s a quick breakdown of what’s in store:

⬥ Improvements to the game’s Performance and Stability.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
⬥ Revision to the game’s projectile speed, VFX updates to Somnia and Rose, alongside ongoing improvements to the game’s Visual Impact and Game Feel.



⬥ No more channeling: Shards are now destructible and grant energy, a temporary damage buff, and are able to revive all dead teammates.
⬦Shard spawning VFX indicator added to help players understand when the shard will spawn

⬥ Health and Energy are now items players can pick up on the map without slowing down the action.
⬦Energy pack charges your ultimate ability
⬦Health and Energy spawning VFX indicator added to help players understand when health and energy packs will spawn

⬥ Updated Career, Hero Select, and Missions screens, making them quicker and easier to navigate.

⬥ Revamped and streamlined Augment system with Build Presets and Custom Build loadouts.



⬥ New Team Base system: heal back at the spawn area while remaining protected by an energy blast that will smite opponents who dare to approach.

⬥ New Leaver Penalty and Voice Chat systems.

⬥ Revised Tutorial and improved new user experience.



⬥ Upgraded Visuals: Crownwatch becomes the first map to have its presentation reworked with new grass and lighting. Brutus has a new and improved look aswell that aligns with our game’s art direction goals.

⬥ New Server Regions: Asia (North East), Asia (South East), and Australia.

⬥ New Language Options: Japanese, Korean, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

⬥ Condensed Artifact and Boon list.
⬦The following Boons are staying: Sight, Purity, Spite, Mutate, Rush, Duty, Burden, Rejuvenate. All other Boons have been removed.
⬦The following Artifacts are staying: Healthcharm, Anointed Sprites, Crushtooth, Wing Rush, Greathelm, Battleprism, Vanquisher, Aegisbreaker. All other Artifacts have been removed.






Note: Many Heroes had their cast times, projectile, and dash speeds reworked. You can view a spreadsheet with the changes here.


⬥ Emberburst (LMB): Projectile speed increased
⬥ Soul Flicker (Space): Dash Speed increased


⬥ Cleave (LMB):
⬦ Damage: 40 → 50
⬦ CD: 0.3s → 0.15s
⬥ Shackle Drag (E): Damage: 40 → 60

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Bloodhelm (Space): Damage 150% → 100%
⬥ Chain Flail (E):
⬦ Damage: 80 → 40
⬦ Projectile speed increased


⬥ Shardbark Carapace (Passive): Armor Gain: 50 → 40
⬥ Vicious Lunge (Space): Damage: 70 → 60
⬥ Boulder Toss (E):
⬦ Damage: 60 → 50
⬦ Projectile speed increased

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Sageborn Claws (LMB): Max HP gain per hit: 2 → 1.5
⬥ Branchwood Heart (LMB): Max HP Bonus Damage: 0.834% → 0.7%
⬥ Branch Squire (Passive): This Augment was removed
⬥ Angerstone Talons (Shift): Bonus Damage: 50 → 30
⬥ Craterthorns (E): Damage: 75 → 40
⬥ Uprooters (Space): Additional knock-up duration: 0.6s → 0.4s


⬥ Shield Toss (RMB): Projectile speed increased

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Rocket Boots (Space): Bonus range greatly decreased


⬥ Base Stats: Health: 650 → 700
⬥ Swift Strike (LMB): Damage: 45 → 50
⬥ Spear Throw (E): Projectile speed increased
⬥ Hiari Smash (Shift):
⬦ Damage: 50 → 80
⬦ Cooldown: 13s → 12s

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Fifi’s Little Helper (Passive): Damage increase on takedown: 5% → 2%
⬥ Warmother’s Glaive (RMB): Damage bugfix: 20 → 10
⬥ Earthbreaker Pommel (Shift): Damage: +125 → +40
⬥ Dreadborn Artifact (Shift): Damage bonus: 15% → 10%


⬥ Base Stats: Health: 650 → 700
⬥ Wraith Slash (LMB): Damage: 50 → 55
⬥ Withering Blade (RMB): Projectile speed increased
⬥ Assassin’s Chains (Shift): Projectile speed increased

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Daggersling Gauntlets (Shift): Range: 30% → 15%


⬥ Frostwalker (Passive): Unstoppable effect no longer removes Frostwalker stacks
⬥ Shattershot (E):
⬦ Damage: 60 → 80
⬦ Projectile speed increased
⬦ Collision radius decreased
⬥ Polar Pull (Shift): Projectile speed increased
⬥ Blizzard (R): Tap cast instead of hold to cast

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Ice Fang Staff (E): Bonus damage: 60 → 20
⬥ Rejuvenating Assistant (Space): Reduces Vital Freeze cooldown instead of increasing healing


⬥ Storm Shot (LMB): Projectile speed increased
⬥ Flashbolt (RMB): Projectile speed increased
⬥ Volt Dash (Space):
⬦ Projectile speed increased

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Pinpoint Spotter (RMB): Bonus damage: 125% → 75%
⬥ Opportunist’s Goggles (E): Bonus damage: 60 → 50
⬥ Farseek: +100% → 75% Range | +40% Speed → +5% Speed


⬥ Sword Sling (LMB): Projectile speed lowered
⬥ Edge Flurry (RMB): Projectile speed increased
⬥ Demonic Union (R): Projectile Speed increased

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Klaive’s Puzzlebox (Space): Damage: 100 → 50


⬥ Glade Slash (LMB): Cooldown: 0.3s → 0.15s
⬥ Dourling Dive (Space): Damage: 50 → 75
⬥ Nature’s Fury (R):
⬦ Minimum damage: 115 → 150
⬦ Maximum damage: 300 → 350

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Swordglade Rune (Space):
⬦ Bonus damage: 50 → 25
⬦ Armor shred: 20 → 15
⬥ Sylverin (R):
⬦ Bonus damage: 50 → 75
⬦ Reduced range: 50% -> 35%


⬥ Ancient Knowledge (Passive): Reworked - Does not grant CDR to abilities anymore. You will refresh your passive 3 seconds after you cast an empowered ability.
⬥ Dream Shot (LMB):
⬦ Cast Impairment: 0% → 25% movement speed
⬦ Projectile speed lowered
⬥ Night Blast (RMB):
⬦ Damage: 90 → 75
⬦ Empowered bonus damage: 55 → 40
⬦ Cooldown: 6s → 4s
⬦ Projectile speed increased
⬥ Delirium (Shift): Cooldown: 15s → 12s
⬥ Fleeting Fancy (Space):
⬦ Movespeed increased to 50% for 1.5s, fading to 20% over the duration
⬦ The empowered version increases the duration by 0.75s. This cannot consume Ancient Knowledge (Passive)
⬥ Allure (E):
⬦ Damage 125 → 80
⬦ Cooldown: 10s → 7s
⬦ Projectile speed increased

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Healing Sands (RMB): Heal 75 → 60
⬥ Annihilator Tome (Shift):
⬦ Duration: 5s → 3s
⬦ Armor shred 10 → 6
⬥ Lifesnatcher Lantern (Space): This Augment was removed
⬥ Knowledge is Power (Passive): This Augment was removed
⬥ Soulmine (Passive): Max HP damage 10% → 5%


⬥ Nourishing Feathers (Passive): Projectile speed increased
⬥ Wing Dive (Space): Knock up: 1.2s → 1s
⬥ Slap! (LMB): Damage (Wings & Feathers): 40 → 45

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Owlshooter (Passive):
⬦ Range: 75% → 25%
⬦ Speed: 35% → 5%
⬦ Bonus Damage 200% → 125%
⬥ Volatile Treasure (Passive): Damage: 60 → 45
⬥ Beakdusters (RMB): Bleed damage: 10% → 5%
⬥ Hammer of Bonking (Space): Fixed a bug where the Stun was applied twice
⬥ Slam Cape (RMB): Slow Duration 3s → 1.5s
⬥ Vital Anklet (Passive): Ally bonus healing: 20% → 15%


⬥ Brim (LMB): Projectile speed lowered
⬥ Blight (RMB): Projectile speed lowered
⬥ Fan the Hammers (Shift): Projectile speed lowered
⬥ Lambaster (E): Projectile speed increased

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Champer Imps (E): This Augment was removed


⬥ Lion Claw (LMB):
⬦ Damage: 35/45/55 → 35/40/45
⬦ Cooldown: 0.2s → 0.1s
⬥ Divine Comet (E): Projectile speed increased
⬥ Spirit Rush (Space): Damage: 40 → 60

[h3]AUGMENTS[/h3]
⬥ Paupers Prayer (LMB):
⬦ Ability refund on hit 1.2s → 1s
⬦ Slow duration: 1.75s → 1s
⬥ Essence Trap (Space):
⬦ Range: 55% → 25%
⬦ Cooldown reduction: 4s → 3s
⬥ Battle Greaves (Space): Bonus damage: 50 → 15
⬥ Warding Incense (RMB): Shield/Heal Ratio: 80% → 65%


⬥ Witch Ball (LMB):
⬦ Projectile speed lowered
⬦ Boo will now shoot projectiles when you shoot them
⬥ Duoblast (Space): Projectile speed increased
⬥ Shield of Hope (RMB): Projectile speed increased
➤ Kit Changes: Zoey & Boo's Passive, Space, and Ultimate were reworked to feel more responsive during gameplay:
⬦ Catch Latch (Passive): Now makes Boo have an aura, healing allies for 20 HP/sec (Boo no longer attaches to the player)
⬦ Duoblast (Space): Still shoots a projectile, while also sending Boo to where you aim your cursor (Boo no longer shoots a projectile)
⬦ Feline Attraction (R): Now aims at where your cursor is located instead of requiring the player to position Boo. Additionally, any allies in the AOE (area-of-effect) will be healed for 200 HP

[h3]ARTIFACTS[/h3]
⬥ Crushtooth: Damage: 150 → 125




Since the removal of Shards to redeem Augments, we wanted to adjust the prices for unlocking Heroes based on their gameplay difficulty. Our goal is to make easy-to-play Heroes quickly accessible at the start of your Fangs journey, while difficult ones will be unlocked at an increased cost. You can see the price changes in this spreadsheet.







Hidden Leaf Games is an international studio with developers from across the globe! The team wanted to celebrate this diversity and our global community by rolling out in-game items that resonate with players from several countries. We are starting with Brazil—grab Stickers, Icon, and Banner inspired by Brazilian memes and culture for FREE! Keep your eyes peeled for future batches of free in-game rewards as a small token of our appreciation for our players. ♥



Again, we would like to thank everyone who has played or is interested in playing Fangs during its early access period! Our community continues to surprise and inspire us with their knowledge, memes, and insightful comments about our game—if you have accompanied our development journey so far, you know how much of our players' input goes into each new update.

Make sure to join our Discord server and follow us on Twitter to join the conversation if you haven’t already!

See you in game,

The Hidden Leaf Games Team

Hey everyone,

We would like to thank you all for playing and supporting Fangs throughout its Early Access—without our amazing community, we would not have gotten this far! Our goal for 2023 is to continue to improve the game until it becomes the ultimate brawler experience our players deserve.

In last week’s Letter From The Directors, we listed several design changes, QoL additions, and gameplay improvements that we are adding to the game based on player feedback. While our goal was to launch the patch on January 11, the team will need more time to polish and ensure the new content update meets a higher standard of quality.

The patch will now be released this Monday, January 16th. Please stay tuned to our Twitter and Discord server for more updates.

Thank you again for your patience and support! We are confident in these changes and excited for players to check them out—it will be worth the wait.

Hidden Leaf Games

Hey, everyone! Bao here, Game Director for Fangs at Hidden Leaf Games. I’d like to thank you all for joining us during our Early Access period—we’ve had an amazing time connecting with players and seeing them learn about our game that we have been working on for so long.

It’s no secret that we keep our eyes peeled to our Discord server for feedback and suggestions; we couldn’t be more thankful for such a passionate and dedicated community. We have heard your concerns about the state of Fangs, and wanted to give you a glimpse at what the development team will be focused on in the next couple of months.

The efforts listed below are what we deemed important in the short term to improve the gameplay experience to both newcomers and returning players. Please note that all the information in this article is a work-in-progress, and subject to change as we get more data and realign priorities.




As we entered Early Access, we realized that we did not hit the quality bar for performance and stability. While we expected some hitches launching Fangs while it’s in development, we chose to focus on testing gameplay features at the risk of server crashes and framerate issues. We heard your feedback—while it will take time, our priority now is addressing the game’s performance. Here’s what we accomplished for this patch:
⬩Optimized the way our game loads assets to prevent hitching.
⬩Increased server tick rates to be more responsive.
⬩Improved hero ability VFX performance.
⬩Adjusted lighting to be more performant on all settings.
⬩Improved material costs and overall draw calls.
⬩Increased server/client update rates to help eliminate rubber banding.


We have received a lot of feedback about the combat experience—specifically that hits do not feel satisfying. Since our Early Access launch, we have been working on a solution. So far we have made updates to the visual effects for Rose and Somnia, as well as improving hit satisfaction for all hero projectiles. This will be an ongoing process as we update the rest of our roster to meet our new quality standards. You can find a preview of the updates to Rose and Somnia below, as well as a few updates to hero VFX hits. Additionally, we have made significant changes to projectile speeds, cast times, and other clarity issues to improve the impact and satisfaction of these spells and make them easier to read.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]




[h3]Shards[/h3]
In response to player feedback, we are making significant changes to the way Shards work. While we appreciate the strategic gameplay that Shard running adds to the game, we understand that it can be frustrating for many players who cannot access high level play. To address this issue, Shards will now be less frequent, but will have a larger impact when they do appear. They will spawn in the same north and south areas of the map and feature an HP bar. The team that destroys the Shard will be granted an energy buff and be able to revive all their dead teammates.

[h3]Health Packs[/h3]
We have removed channeling from Fangs matches to increase the game’s tempo, and as a result, Health Packs will now work upon pickup. If you attack an enemy while they are receiving the heal-over-time effect from a Health Pack, it will prevent them from healing further. We want there to be less downtime between fights, and this change will encourage more team fighting.



[h3]Ultimates[/h3]
We have received mixed feedback about the strength and power budget of Ultimates. While they are fun to use and combo together, they were too easy to access, which resulted in players constantly using them back and forth. To address this issue, we have increased the cost of mana for Ultimates across the board and introduced a new pickup item that grants energy to compensate for the increased cost.

[h3]Positional Augments[/h3]
We are removing some of the less intuitive Positional Augments and Boons that contributed to low TTK (time-to-kill) for heroes. Additionally, most of the Augments associated with Shard running have been removed.



[h3]Leaver Penalty[/h3]
We understand the frustration unreliable teammates can cause to the gameplay experience, and agree that something more had to be done in Fangs to address this. After extensive testing, we are introducing our Leaver Buster feature to punish players who repeatedly leave games or AFK.

[h3]Hero Select[/h3]
As part of our new ranked experience, we have updated the Hero Select UI to be more in line with the rest of the client—we have also introduced a new ranked-only feature for blind-draft mode. Both teams will pick heroes at the same time and will only be revealed once both have locked in. This should allow for more planning with your team when ranked points are on the line, although we are not yet ready to add full-draft without mirror matches.



[h3]Career Page[/h3]
We have made some bug fixes to the career page and updated the UI to be more in line with the rest of the client updates we are making.



[h3]Voice Chat[/h3]
Fangs is best played with friends and parties, but we want solo queue players to also have the advantage of better coordination. To that end, we are adding VOIP for both parties (players you are grouped with) and teams (players you were matched with.)



[h3]Pre-round UI and Recommended Kits[/h3]
As players explore the Augment system, we noticed that newer players would still struggle with choosing the right combinations. We are updating the pre-round selection to include multiple presets and the ability to edit your own.



[h3]Missions Update[/h3]
We are updating Missions to make them easier to track and complete. The UI and content will be revamped to make things clearer, and Missions will no longer auto-grant upon completion. Remember to claim your rewards after completing missions!



[h3]Tutorial and New User Experience[/h3]
We have updated the new user experience to break up the content to be more digestible, and added rewards for completion. This should allow veteran players to get into the game faster, while also providing new players with more guidance.

[h3]Better Matchmaking for New Users[/h3]
We have added some features to improve matchmaking for new players, which should ensure that they are not matched against veteran players.

[h3]New Regions[/h3]
We are happy to announce that Fangs is also coming to the following regions: Asia (North East), Asia (South East), and Australia alongside new language options: Japanese, Korean, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Like all aspects of the game during Early Access, our localization efforts are a work-in-progress and subject to improvement as we continue to work on the game.





[h3]Upgraded Visuals[/h3]
We are currently in the process of updating the visuals on our game maps, starting with Crownwatch. You will see new grass and lighting that is meant to feel more magical and vibrant.



[h3]Bases and Turrets[/h3]
After getting a good understanding of our new player experience, we realized that the lack of a "safe place" for players was causing issues. To address this, we have added healing fountains and turrets to the base to provide a safe haven for players to retreat to.







[h3]Brutus[/h3]
Meet Newtus! Brutwo? Yes, Brutus has a new visual! As Fangs continues to evolve, we are also rethinking some of our older hero designs and bringing them up to new standards in our game’s art direction. Our beloved stomp king still has the same personality and moveset we all love; his new appearance simply makes him more original and fitting of the rich world we have built for Fangs.



[h3]Rose[/h3]
Rose was a character who we were pretty satisfied with overall. However, we had the opportunity to make some quality-of-life focused changes to her casting rhythms that should increase overall satisfaction.

[h3]Somnia[/h3]
We have updated Somnia's kit to give her a more distinct role in the roster and have given her visuals a much needed upgrade. Somnia’s Passive has been a source of frustration for us for a while. It was hard for players to track and also modified her cooldowns in ways that made it hard for opponents to understand her current threat level. By removing the cooldown refund, the passive will refresh 3 seconds after the last empowered cast. Somnia should now have a more consistent casting rhythm and a power level that’s easier to track. This also gives us more room to tune her in a healthier way, and opens doors for further Augment development down the road.

[h3]Zoey & Boo[/h3]
We have had some difficulty balancing our premier healer in the game. Many of her abilities do not always function as expected, and her partner has also had reliability issues. Our changes are aimed at making her Ultimate ability more reliable and consistent, and also at introducing more counterplay to her Passive in order to improve the windows for her healing and casting.



The first major update goes live on January 11, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for our detailed patch notes. Thank you again for playing Fangs during Early Access, it means so much to us that you are a part of this journey. This article only lists some of the first goals in our Development Roadmap for 2023 and beyond, so please look forward to future content updates.

See you in the game!

—Bao Lam & Directors of Hidden Leaf Games