Skillshot City News

Mutate your skills to unlock new combos!

Skills are the core of GSA. The first 90% of each match is spent leveling up as fast as you can to unlock skills and create strong synergies before the final showdown. Well this process just got a whole lot more interesting with skill mutations.



Every skill now has a "mutation power". This isn't active to begin with, but you can activate it at vendors by spending a new in-game currency called Syringes. A simple example of a mutation is the Self Repair skill. This normally just heals you, but if you activate it's mutation power it will ALSO make you move much faster for the 2 seconds that the heal is active. This opens up new ways to use the skill, like chasing or escaping from enemies.



[h2]54 Unique Mutation Powers[/h2]
All 54 skills in the game have their own unique mutation power. Here are a few examples:

- Radiate's mutation makes your own nukes heal you, allowing you to cast it on yourself.
- Executioner's mutation causes enemies to explode when they die, creating chain reactions of cops exploding eachother.
- Invisibility's mutation causes you to accumulate damage when standing near enemies, allowing you to stalk enemies to secretly charge up a powerful shot.
- Flying Dagger's mutation makes your throwing knife fly back to you like a boomerang, allowing you to double hit enemies and do trick shots.
- Bullet Time's mutation will steal all nearby enemy bullets and fire them back towards them (like in this image below).



[h2]Activate Mutations with Syringes[/h2]
You get +1 syringe every 5 score you earn in game, and it works out so that most players will be able to activate either 2 or 3 mutations each match. But you'll usually have 5 skills, so you'll need to choose which skills you want to build around, as you can't mutate them all.

Mutating a skill will also give that skill a big boost of skill points, based on the rarity of that skill, forcing you to really invest into the skill you're mutating. This is a big power spike, and makes it extra exciting to earn score and get that next syringe. The primary way to get score is to level up but also get kills during overtime, and this new incentive to get score ASAP gets players to really hunt kills during the final showdown moments, instead of hiding away.



[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]

[GAMEPLAY CHANGES]
- When you die or respawn, all vendor options reset for you.

- When zombies revive, they only start with 100 health, and will need to regen the reset.

- Knife now does 70hp damage, with 60 rate of fire. Instead of 60hp damage, with 80 rate of fire.

- Shadows from players in the air are more visible.

- Bomb Boxes have a slightly bigger explosion radius.

- Crate Race modifier can only be completed once per round.

- The leaderboards now show players' actual builds used in-game. Not their builds from the menu. This includes the skill level and syringes.

[CLASS CHANGES]
- Assault's reload speed is now +70% instead of +50%.

-Fixed a bug where criminal's gangster could kill enemies. It now caps at 1hp like the rest of the gang.

-Criminal's gangster has a 3% chance of appearing instead of a 5% chance when shifting.

[SKILL CHANGES]
- Backtrack renamed to Teleportation. Teleportation will teleport you to your target after a short channeling time. After teleporting, it will heal you.

- Combo Killer now drops loot starting at double kills, not triple kills.

- Armed Robbery rewards are now only given once every 60s. A little indicator will appear above the vendor's head to show when it's ready to be killed again. Speed vendor upgrades speed this up.

- Armed Robbery has higher drop rates to compensate.

- Blade Mail no longer buffs the next bullet as it takes damage. Instead, Blade Mail will drop damage med kits as you take damage.

- Rambulance no longer boosts your vehicle speed (too hard to drive with). Instead it will make your car take less damage.

- Energy Vortex no longer slows enemies (for netcode smoothness reasons). It has been compensated by having a larger radius and doing more damage/healing.

- Automatic Armor's protection duration is now 2s instead of 1.5.

- Firestorm flies a bit slower through the air.

- Assassinate's econ boost ranges from 30% to 120% instead of 40% to 160%.

- Critical Rage's cooldown rescaled to 32 to 8s, instead of 30 to 12s.

- Spike Trap's vulnerability time is 4s instead of 3s.

- Clip Magnet has greater seeking, but takes longer to refill a clip. The seeking bullets also now expire when that gun reloads.

Hey all, this version just polishes up the econ and scoring systems a bit. It mostly plays the same with one key difference - how to score well.

Your score from level ups is now capped at 20 (when you hit level 10). This is fairly easy for most veteran players to achieve, and so everyone will be equally on 20 points here. Instead, focus on outscoring enemies by getting more kills during overtime, and by winning the rounds 1 and 2 showdowns, which now give +5 score each (in hindsight they should have done this a long time ago).

The reason for the score cap is that players were taking specific econ skills and classes just because they gave more XP, more levels, and thus more score. That's not a great incentive. It's still useful to take these classes because being a higher level makes you more powerful, but you'll now need to actually USE that power by killing enemies in showdowns if you want bonus score. You can't just automatically get more score than other players just by choosing the right class.

Another benefit of this change is that it tones down the RUSH factor of GSA. GSA is all about farming, and of course you still want to outfarm your enemies. But now you no longer NEED to do this. You can afford to do other things that don't give farm (eg shop from vendors, place chemicals, fight gangsters) and not worry that you're falling behind in score. So this opens up more strategies to win, and also removes the psychologcal feeling of "guilt" that you're doing something other than grinding XP.

Now you can chill out before overtime, and not rush. Use this time to prepare your build, then get a lot of kills and wins in overtime.

Enjoy!
bencelot

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[SCORING CHANGES]
- Score earned from level ups is now capped at 20 (level 10)

- We now get +5 score for winning rounds 1 and 2


[ECONOMY CHANGES]
- No new skill appears at level 15

- Deaths now remove 200xp instead of 100xp

- Kills now give 50xp + 10xp x streak (capped at 100xp) instead of a fixed 100xp

- Cops now give a flat 10xp and $100 per kill, instead of $50 + 10 x Wanted level

- The main supply drop has an extra $1000 and 100xp in it

- XP Fountains are now shown in the minimap

- XP Fountains are now only disabled for 20s instead of 120s

- Improved the pacing and difficulty of Survival mode. Also the Hostile Vendors modifier no longer hides vendors from the map.



[MODIFIER CHANGES]
- Crate Race gives 1 vendor upgrade instead of 2, but only requires 20 instead of 30 crates



[SKILL CHANGES]
- Force Field explosion damage is now 10 instead of 30

- Frenzy duration is now 2.5s instead of 3.0s

- Falling Inferno damage now ranges from 40% to 160%, instead of 30% to 120%. However, by default it no longer gives extra molotov duration

- Rambulance healing lasts for 10s instead of 6s

- Illicit Income cash per wanted level is doubled.

- Armed Robbery drops slightly more cash per vendor killed

- Mana Shield duration is now 3s instead of 2.5s after using a skill

- Proximity Rounds has a slightly larger trigger radius

- Radiate has a slightly larger area

- Laser Scope has slightly faster bullet speed but less range


[WEAPON CHANGES]
- Bazookas rpm is now 70 instead of 60



[CLASS CHANGES]
- Heavy gains +2.5% instead of +3.0% ROF when at low health

- Scavenger shifts are +33% instead of +50% faster (when moving. Still +150% when standing still)

Hey all, this version replaces the old passive XP income with something more skillful - XP Pools.



Scattered around the map are a new special type of zone called an XP Pool. It looks a bit like a gangster camp, but it is blue. Standing inside this will give you XP, until you drain the pool. There are 15 of these to explore for in the map.

Up the top right of the screen is a number that shows the amount of XP you're currently able to drain from these pools. This number gradually increases like a passive XP income. When it gets big enough you should seek out an XP Pool to claim it. This shifts this XP into your actual XP bar and levels you up.



It takes a bit of time to claim the XP. Up to 8 seconds per pool. And enemies can attack you while you do this, so they can claim the pool themselves. This is a far more interesting way to earn XP than the old passive income. It creates new points of interest in the map to fight over, and some subtle strategies as to the optimal time to claim the XP.

These XP Pools also serve a much needed purpose in GSA - forced downtime. It's only 8 seconds, but it's one of the only times in GSA that you can stand still and actually feel productive. All other times you are on your feet, hunting for kills and loot.

These XP pools scattered around the map will give players short moments of rest, while still feeling productive. It's a great time to look at your build, think about your skills, and decide on your next synergy. Something that is much easier to do when you're chillin' in a pool, than cruising through the city streets of Gene Shift Auto.



Enjoy!
bencelot


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[GAMEPLAY CHANGES]
- Passive Income has been replaced with a mechanic called "XP Pools".

- Reaching max shields no longer give +$1000.

- Kills now give a flat 100xp always. They don't increase based on your kill streak. However, the amount of cash earned can still increase based on your streak (ranging from $100 to $500 on a 5x streak).

- Vendors are less likely to spawn in a location where one has just died.

- Armed Robbery now gives +$1000 instead of +100xp

- Phase Drifting takes a bit longer to charge up to full speed

- Flaming Bullets duration is now fixed at 1s, and ranges from 3 to 12 hp/s damage

- Scavenger's new shifting perk is buffed to +50% shift restore speed instead of +33%


[GENERAL CHANGES]

- Random class and random skills modes no longer give bonus out of game XP (they still give in-game cash and XP though). This allows players to play whatever mode they genuinely prefer, instead of prioritizing these random modes purely for account progression.

- Fixed a bug where epic random flasks wouldn't always give epics

Hey all, just a small balance patch today. In a few weeks I'll release a larger update that gives every skill in the game a brand new special mutation that changes how it plays. Stay tuned for that!

The main focus of this patch however is to simplify the gameplay. The feature above will add a bit more complexity, and GSA is already a fast and complex game! So this version is "making space" for this upcoming feature by removing some complex mechanics that are mildly fun, but not enough to justify their extra complexity, and ultimately just become a bit of a mental tax that you need to think about if you want to play well. I'll give some examples, but it's a bit wordy and you can just skip to the changelog for a quick list of changes.

A good example is the penalty for death. This is now changed to give a flat 100xp penalty. If you die 6 times in a match, you'll have -600xp. Very simple. Just try to avoid dying. That's all you need to know and you can now go back to getting kills. The previous system however was more complicated. You lost 50% of your current XP towards the next level. This meant that if you just leveled up you'd lose a small amount, but if you were almost at the end you'd lose a lot! Now.. that is quite interesting. But it added a whole new level of complexity to the game. Good players needed to constantly check their XP bar to see where they were at, and know when they should take risks or not. Often though you'd forget this and then see a huge amount of XP drain away which felt bad. Ultimately, GSA is so fast-paced that it's more fun to just focus on getting clean kills, instead of having to constantly manage your XP bar. In a simpler or slower game this could be cool, but GSA is so fast it's just too much to focus on, and takes focus away from quality combat.

Another example is that this version removes the rare loot icons in the minimap. It's another thing to keep track of, that gets your mind into the UI and out of the game itself. Now you can just focus on exploring the city itself, instead of heading to checkpoints in a map. Another mechanic that got cut was the "first 3 kills of each round give bonus XP" rule. This cluttered up the HUD and it's just simpler to give a flat +100xp per kill. Finally, rounds are 1 minute longer to give sufficient time to explore and shop before the circle pushes you into overtime.

In general, this version should let you just exist in the city itself, and focus on quality combat without having to constantly check various parts of the HUD. Feedback is welcome of course!

Enjoy!
bencelot


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[GENERAL CHANGES]

- Wanted stars now appear in the middle of the screen when the "WANTED LEVEL X/5" message shows.

- Holding ALT will now show the names of guns in the bottom right.

- The "PLAY VS BOTS" button is renamed to "PRACTICE MODE" and it works slightly differently:

- In Practice mode, you will become invulnerable if you stand still and avoid shooting for 1s. There are only 12 bots in the lobby, and they are easier. You can't earn trophies in this mode. This is a good mode for players to explore the mechanics, read UI elements and skill descriptions, without fear of being shot at.

- Daily challenges give 250 acid and 2500 XP instead of 200 and 2000.

- The Deluxe DLC will now give 3x instead of 2x to these daily challenges. And it gives 3x instead of 4x to the ACID level ups (150 instead of 200). This is overall a buff, and should give DLC players DLC roughly +1000 more ACID per day (aka 1 flask).

- Legendary packs are only available to players who have bought the DLC or starter pack first.

- Added a new "CLAIM ALL" button when leveling up.



[GAMEPLAY CHANGES]
- There are now 4 minutes before overtime instead of 3.

- The first 3 kills of the round rule has been removed. Too complex. Instead, all player kills give +100xp more than before.

- When you die, you now lose a fixed 100xp, instead of 50% of your current XP progress. This removes the mental need to keep track of your current XP progress.

- Rare loot crates no longer show in the minimap, nor do heart crates show for survivors.

- It once again takes 3 kills instead of 2 kills to get the skill in the 3rd build slot at levels 4 and 6.

- No new skill appears at level 12 anymore. This is moved back to level 15 (but almost no one ever reaches this). 5 skills is enough.

- Hearts now give $100 instead of 10xp for survivors.

- The civilian gangster mission and place chemicals mission no longer appear in round 1.

- The kill zombies civ mission only requires 1 kill instead of 2.

- Vendor upgrades do prices differently. Instead of the price going up per purchase across all upgrades. It goes up on a per upgrade basis. The first purchase costs $9000, then the next $12000, then the final one is $15000.

- Vendor upgrades for skills won't appear if you don't have any skill that works with it.



[CLASS CHANGES]
- Assassin only gains +15% instead of +20% upgrade power per kill.

- Caster now get a -33% discount on skill upgrades instead of a -50% discount.

- Scavenger's second perk has been removed and replaced with a new one called: "Swift Shifts"

- Swift Shifts: Restore shift charges +33% faster when moving, or +100% faster when stationary



[SKILL CHANGES]
- Soul Drop no longer steals health from enemies. It still does the damage, but you no longer get that amount of health back as well (way too OP).

- Clusterbomb has a smaller range to toss at nearby players, only 35m instead of 45m

- Self Repair cooldown now ranges from 18s to 12s, instead of staying fixed at 15s

- Self Repair healing now ranges from 20 to 80hp instead of 20 to 110hp

- Frenzy duration now ranges from 20s to 14s, instead of being fixed at 20s

- Revenge Rockets bazooka damage now ranges from 50% to 110% instead of 30% to 90%

- Regeneration healing rate now ranges from 6 to 24hp/s instead of 5 to 20hp/s

- Shrapnel damage now ranges from +20% to +80%, instead of +20% to +110%

- Smoke Bomb healing now ranges from 8 to 32hp/s instead of 6 to 24 hp/s

- Flying Dagger damage now ranges from 100% to 130% instead of 85% to 115%

- Invis move speed is now +10 to +40% instead of +16 to + 64%. Gun penalty duration is now 0.5 instead of 1.0s.

- Boots of travel move speed is now +12 to + 48% instead of +16 to +64%. It kicks in after 0.5 instead of 0.7s.

- Phase Drifting speed now ranges from +40% to +100% instead of +60% to +120%

Hey all, this is a special announcement!

URANIUM has been rescaled to 50% of it's previous value. This means the COSTS and REWARDS and BALANCES in everyone's account is now exactly 50% of the previous value. Relatively, nothing changes.

If you notice that you have half as much uranium as before, this is why. But it is OK because everything is exactly half as expensive, so your purchasing power is the same as before.

Actually, everyone's uranium has been scaled down to 50%, and then had +200 added for fun, and to make up for the confusion.

Why make this change? Because it will align the prices with USD better. This change name makes 1000 uranium = $10 USD. This makes for easier maths, less confusion and more transparency.

So basically everything was rescaled down 50%, with these exceptions (all of them make things cheaper and better for players):

- Weekly challenges used to give 5/10/15/20/50 uranium (100 total). Now they give 5/10/15/20/25 (75 total, or the equivalent of 150 in old values). So they are +50% more rewarding.

- Leaderboard rewards are also better. Genetic God used to give 600 uranium, now it gives 400, but it should have been rescaled down to 300. So at 400 it is +33% more rewarding.

- All shop items got 50% cheaper. So did the cost of bonus daily challenges. But a few items got even cheaper than that:

- Epic Flasks used to cost 400 uranium. Now they cost 150.

- Epic Class Flasks used to cost 500, and now they cost 200.

- Shard boosters used to cost 500, now they cost 200.

- The uranium cost to swap DNA between classes used to be 30 x DNA%, but it is now 10 x DNA% (capped at 500).

Hopefully this doesn't confuse anyone! Also, there are some small gameplay changes listed below.

Cheers,
Ben.


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[GAMEPLAY CHANGES]

- Criminal's 3rd perk is now called "Shifty Soldiers": Every time you shift, there is a 3% chance to summon a gangster to join your gang (max 1).

- Killing a criminal will also instantly kill his entire gang.

- Magnets have a 20% hit rate instead of 15%.

- There are now 18 instead of 24 players in a server

- Fission mines from the Minefield perk are now visible instead of hidden

- Assassin's upgrades gain +20% instead of +15% per kill

- Assassin's no longer lose their potential next upgrade when they die.

- In squads mode, you get $5000 instead of $3000 for capturing gang loot

- As a survivor, hearts now display as XP

- Score is now given automatically for kills in overtime, instead of having to pick it up

- Dying once again removes all of your XP towards the next level.

- Players no longer gain score for the final 5 placement

- More loot pops out of enemies when you kill them