Paladins News

[h2]Ska’Drin Celebration Event Pass[/h2]
For our final Event Pass of this year, we've commissioned community artists for our 2D cosmetics as well as created 5 recolors in the Event Pass that bring some Limited Skins forward with new looks!

• Makilla Makoa (Volcanic)
  
• Shaman Grohk (Chieftan)
  
• Exhortation Fernando (Ultimatum)
  
• Infernal Lord Drogoz (Abyssal Lord)
  
• Coastline Cony Rei (Beach Bunny)
  

In addition to these skins, there is another recolor of Volcanic Makoa available for Direct Purchase, called Shikoa! In total, there are 6 new skins players can get their hands on right away as a present from us to the community! NOTE: Their final look is not set in stone on PTS, with 2D cosmetics and certain skins actively in progress.
[h2]Merry Mayhem Returns![/h2]
The Ska’Drin aren’t the only ones celebrating! Merry Mayhem returns as a Special questline for the holidays, allowing players to earn some exclusive rewards as well as Chests and Gold. Here’s the order of things you’ll be asked to complete and the rewards:

• Play 1 Match
  • Limited “Happy Holidays!” Title
• Capture 2 Siege Objectives
  • 750 Gold
• Deal 50,000 Damage in A Match
  • 750 Gold
• Play 3 Arcade Matches
  • 1500 Gold
• Heal for 30,000 Health in A Match
  • 2500 Gold
• Win 2 Matches
  • 50 Crystals
• Earn 20,000 Credits
  • Flair & Style Chest
• Earn 100 Eliminations
  • Golden Cache
• Play 25 Matches
  • Festive Presents Chest
• [REDACTED]
  • Limited “has saved Realm-mas!” Title

Across the game, we’ve added highlights and callouts to various effects and unified how we describe them across all Champions. There are a few new examples as well as changes to existing effects:

• Zhin’s new version of Yomi (spoilers) uses the word Ignite instead of Burn. This is to indicate that the flames he attaches to a target deal no damage & instead act as a damage amp for him.
  
• Displacement effects have been broken up into the following subcategories: Knockback, Knockup, Push, Pull, and Lift. Knock and Push effects are currently countered by Sentinel and Pull and Lift effects by Unbound.
  
• Older instances of phrases that mean the same as an Effect have been replaced by that Effect (e.g “reduces Movement Speed” have been replaced with Slows) for clarity.
  

Crowd Control is a very core part of the Paladins experience, from fueling part of the ability loop to a major frustration point as the tension of between the amount and severity of CC effects evolved over time. This is the first step in a series of changes we hope to make to communicate Crowd Control more clearly, eventually with the goal of updating and improving Crowd Control to be both more robust and less frustrating. This starts with calling out similar effects that players can reliably expect to behave the same and also highlighting specific effects that can act differently based on context. Generic highlights have been given to widespread effects, with certain more niche effects having unique tags. (e.g. Rei’s Spirit Link)

Our vision moving forward is a more dynamic way to interact with these effects beyond the Items currently used to counter them, like Ignite and Burn having interplay where teams can combine them for unique effects, or Allies can stack things like Linked and other defensive buffs to shutdown less-coordinated pushes. Stay tuned for more on this front in Year 8!

[h2]Limited Time Modes[/h2]
[h3]New[/h3]
TDM Roulette

• Draft your team carefully in this Gun Game-inspired Throne TDM! Everytime you die, randomly swap to another Champion on your team and quickly adapt to overcome your opponents!
  

[h3]Updated[/h3]
Truly Talented
Champions

• Added Atlas to the Champion Pool.
  • Flashback Fissure: Activating Second Chance leaves behind an unstable fissure that explodes after 3s, dealing 1,000 damage.
• Removed Yagorath from the Champion Pool.

Game Rules

• Starting Credits decreased from 500 ➡️ 400
  
• Credit earn rate from the Objective has been reduced from 4 ➡️ 2
  

Map List

• Replaced certain maps with their Classic variations
  • Stone Keep
    
  • Warder’s Gate
    
  • Timber Mill
• Removed certain maps released or reworked after Season 2
  • Frozen Guard
    
  • Dawnforge

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where certain Talents were not available for players to select, softlocking them.

Truly Talented is receiving yet another sandbox update, this time focused on shifting the LTM from simply about Talents to a different speed of play. As the notes may suggest, we’re pushing this mode to fulfill what many players felt when they initially played it: nostalgia for a prior version of Paladins. Instead of being about emulating exactly what Season 2 was like, Truly Talented provides a heightened version of gameplay that hits that same feeling of basic kits with deeper customization. Initial Credits as well as earn rate are reduced to lean into power plays and thoughtful Item purchasing, and Yagroath has been removed for Atlas to have the roster match the era we’re aiming for. Maps have also been adjusted to reflect this direction while keeping ones players love!

[h2]General[/h2]
[h3]Damage Types[/h3]

• Refactored various weapons & abilities to properly use the correct damage type between Direct & Area.
  
• Added new callouts on various effects to note when they swap damage type due to Talent selection.
  • Example: Ash’s Slug Shot Talent now informs players it swaps her weapon from Area to Direct damage.
  
• Moved a select number of abilities from one type to another to accommodate new consistency guidelines.
  • Example: Azaan’s Conviction now is classified as Area, Lian’s Valor is now classified as Direct. Our guideline on abilities that hit multiple targets is whether it deals the damage in a single fire (e.g. dashes, Piercing) or if it’s firing multiple smaller attacks for each person (e.g. Valor, shotguns)
    

When we originally removed Blast Shields, we stated consistency in the Direct & Area systems as our biggest concern. Behind the scenes, we had a lot of abilities that were not categorized at all, under the wrong umbrella, or hybrid damage types on one ability that made readability difficult for the average player. This system was left behind as well, with newer Champions either ignoring or breaking previous conventions due to irrelevancy to the end user. Revisiting this system allowed us to re-conceptualize the divide and do a pass over all the abilities to create new guidelines to make things more predictable and learnable for players as well as easier for us as developers to upkeep. Obviously, these changes mean very little unless…

[h2]Items[/h2]
[h3]Returning Item: Blast Shields[/h3]

• Reduce your damage taken from Area of Effect attacks by 6|6%.
  
• Costs 300|300 Credits, replaces Arcane Warding.

[h3]Returning Item: Haven[/h3]

• Reduce your damage taken from Direct attacks by 6|6%.
  
• Costs 300|300 Credits, replaces Armor Plating.

The legendary pair return! Haven and Blast Shields both are being brought back and will be able to interact with the expanded Item Store for the first time, allowing for a mix of classic and brand-new builds. Our goal with the reintroduction of the Direct/Area damage system is to offer Champions and loadouts that have lost relevancy since its removal to shine in certain compositions once more (e.g. blasters, damage type swap Talents), as well as reduce the overall amount of effective DR closer to what players were used to in S2/early S3. We expect this change to initially make the overall TTK a bit quicker, but as players adapt and learn it should level out closer to current feels.

[h3]Hoard[/h3]

• Gain 10 ➡️ 15 Credits every 15|-5s
  
• Gain 5|5 ➡️ 7|7 Credits on getting an Elimination.
  
• Now transforms at Level 3 to instead provide 10% Movement, Mount, Cooldown, and Ultimate Charge speed.
  
• Cost increased from 150|300|600 ➡️ 200|400|2000 Credits.
  

Since its release in 7.1, Hoard has been topic of debate amongst the community. Late game value vs. early game efficiency in a hectic match of Paladins was the original design goal and we felt it hit the mark for the experiment - at first. Once the dust settled the item became much more binary, only really seeing play in the most greedy of builds. This was partially due to the fact that the Item had no payoff, the trade-off of increasing your economy for a dead item slot became too much for most players and Hoard soon fell off the radar for most Champions. With all that said, we’ve given Hoard a bit of an overhaul. Now at max level - which you’ll notice is much more expensive than anything else in the store - Hoard replaces its economy effect with a powerful 10% strength version of all other yellow Items. While the original design heavily valued the dead item slot as part of the trade off, this new version places value in Hoard as a late game item. A gamble to see if you can prolong the game long enough to really ramp up your stats vs other more traditional end-game builds. It still technically has the same trade-off as before, but now rewards making the commitment for sticking through the game as a hoarder instead of punishing you.

[h3]Nimble[/h3]

• Increased scaling from 7|14|21% to 10|20|30%

In the spirit of popular community requests and leaning into our past, Nimble is also seeing its value brought back up to where it was in the early days of Paladins, but without a price increase. Enjoy the slightly faster pace of play!

[h2]Cards[/h2]

• Various cards that were equivalent to raw damage amplification have been reworked.
  • Betty La Bomba’s Ride the Rocket
    
  • Kasumi’s Essence Drain and Deadly Traps
    
  • Nyx’s Center of Combat
    
  • Omen’s More More More and Void Choke
• Select Champions are receiving focused shifts between their base kit and Cards to rebalance where their strengths come from.
  • Saati
    
  • Rei

Over the years, the design philosophy behind Cards has shifted and evolved alongside the system itself. After our recent efforts on modernize and standardizing other systems has proven fruitful, we’ve been turning our eyes towards more Card reworks and adjustments to slowly shorten the gap between various Champion’s loadouts and improve the overall interest in Cards for both new and experienced players. These changes are first steps into future adjustments spurred by the pain points modern Champions have had with damage amplification Cards as well as Card designs and scaling that didn’t hold up to older Champion options. Over the next several updates, we’ll continue to take a look at specific types of Cards or specific Champions that could see their options improved to fall into our new standards and expectations across the roster.

[h2]Champions[/h2]
[h3]Barik[/h3]
Talents

• Forgefire
  • Increased single turret damage from 350 ➡️ 400
    
  • Increased double turret, single target damage from 450 ➡️ 666
    
  • Increased range from 22 ➡️ 30 units
    
  • Now is Barik’s Level 8 Talent
• Fortify
  • Now is Barik’s Level 1 Talent

Barik has been struggling slightly the latter half of this year, mainly as the meta shifts around him yet he sits static with some key QoL issues. While this is not as comprehensive as we’d like to give him, it’s a very popular community request to swap these Talent unlocks, and it will push him into a better spot for us to assess the next areas we can tighten up his gameplay loop. Forgefire hasn’t been feeling quite as impactful as we’d like, so we’re also giving it some targeted buffs to up the threat level of his mini–Flame Turrets to add some risk if they are ignored. We’ll continue to keep an eye on his performance into the new year!

[h3]Betty La Bomba[/h3]
Ultimate

• Long Live the Queen
  • Now provides CC Immunity during windup
    
  • Once Betty dismounts, the Rockets speed increases from 80 units/s ➡️ 100 units/s

Cards

• Ride the Rocket
  • Reworked to “Increase the projectile speed of Cluster Bomb by 6|6%”

Betty’s Ultimate has often felt underwhelming compared to her other bombastic peer, and her flight struggles compared to someone like Drogoz due to her windup being so vulnerable. We’ve decided to give her immunity the second she hits her Ultimate so she can try and get the Rocket out before taking lethal damage, as well as having it fly faster after she jumps off to encourage her to use it a bit different than the King himself. Ride the Rocket was also one of the stranger damage amplification cards, which we have reworked to give a beloved older effect to this newer blaster. She also will benefit quite a bit from the return of Haven & Blast Shields if teams do not Itemize around her, so watch out for the Queen!

[h3]Bomb King[/h3]
Talent

• Accelerant
  • Now also deals 200% bonus damage to Shields

[h3]Evie[/h3]
Talents

• Snow Globe
  • Decreases Slow on Ice Storm from 60% ➡️ 30%

Cards

• Cold Acclimation
  • Reworked to “While within your Ice Storm, Heal for 32|32 every 1s and gain 10|10% Movement Speed. The Movement Speed lingers for 3s after leaving Ice Storm.”

Snow Globe had some oppressive matchups when fighting Evie - constantly getting bombarded by her powerful CC led to incredibly lopsided matches. We’ve reduced the strength of the Slow on these mini-versions to allow more opportunity for escape. On another Ultimate note - Cold Acclimation as a Card quite literally never saw play, so we’ve taken a big swing at it and made something entirely new. Cold Acclimation facilitates aggressive play within your Ultimate and gives Evie that extra little bit of survivability to outlast a big team fight.

[h3]Grover[/h3]
Cards

• Chopper
  • Increased scaling from 50|50 to 80|80

[h3]Io[/h3]
Ultimate

• Begone
  • No longer explodes on walls, instead will continue along wall after dropping targets on collision for a few seconds.

It was incredibly frustrating as Io to launch your Ultimate and have it instantly detonate on errant collision. Begone frustration! Now Io’s Ultimate travels along the surface it hits, leading to sneaky shots that can send people flying and generally more successful Io Ultimates.

[h3]Kasumi[/h3]
Weapon

• Yokai Doll
  • Adjusted targetter to be more precise, allowing aim control in scenarios with multiple targets.
    
  • Reduced overall cone size from 6 ➡️ 1
    • Against most Characters, Kasumi will be required to aim within 1 unit of their body. She’ll maintain a level of forgiveness in close quarters, but at range will ask more to land blows.

Talents

• Haunted Ground
  • Decreased cooldown after activation from 8s ➡️ 6s.

Cards

• Deadly Traps
  • Reworked to “Increase the duration of Spirit Trap's Crowd Control effects by {0.2|0.2}s.”
• Essence Drain
  • Reworked to “Reduce your damage taken by {6|6}% for 2s after using Savage Tear.”

Kasumi has been in a much stronger spot since our last set of changes, but there are still lingering issues on both sides of her duels. We're continuing our work on Yokai Doll's behavior, now adjusting the cone at multiple levels to function a bit closer to a hitscan weapon. Kasumi will now have to be much more precise (within a Cassie arrow of her target) as well as have more control on who she is aiming at when enemies are bunched together. We've also adjusted a few of her Cards to no longer affect the damage output of her abilities but still offer helpful buffs, including rolling old functionality into Haunted Ground! Overall, we think these changes will make Kasumi more consistent and enjoyable but we'll continue to look at feedback on her!

[h3]Khan[/h3]
Talents

• Lian’s Shield
  • Reworked to “Your Bulwark now regenerates even while active. If your Bulwark breaks from full charge, allies around you gain 35% Movement Speed and 400-Health Shields for 4s.”

Lian's Shield has always had a bit of a tough time on a character like Khan, whose goal is to move between Bulwark and aggressive options frequently as well as Bulwark being quite weak in the late game unless heavily built into, so we're shifting the identity of this Talent to instead be a holdout tool where Khan tries to keep it up to escape or bait the enemy team into breaking it, providing a buff to his allies!

[h3]Lex[/h3]
Weapon

• Magnums
  • Reduced camera shake while firing by 65%

Talents

• Heroism
  • Reworked to “Gain Crowd Control Immunity during Combat Slide”.
• Death Hastens
  • Adjusted camera shake to mirror base Magnum changes

Cards

• Wicked Don’t Rest
  • Reworked to “Heal for 60|60 after using Combat Slide”.

Lex has been underperforming ever since Heroism was shifted in the Banners Fall Update to increase the cooldown substantially and Wicked Don't Rest was nerfed. Instead of retreading older ground, we decided to simplify and streamline this playstyle. Heroism now is back to being the CC-immune, on demand parry pick but with no resistance to damage. This also allows us to bring the cooldown back to normal values. With this change, we did want to close the frustration loop Wicked Don't Rest causes for good, so the card is being swapped to a heal on use of Combat Slide, giving him a way to spec back into survivability.

We also finally got to dig deeper into how Lex's recoil and camera works, reducing the amount of shake by 65%. We've left some in for feels and balance implications, but Magnums should now perform similarly to other fast rate of fire weapons in this department. Death Hastens also was finetuned to have recoil that matches stronger handguns like Androxus and Saati, while still having lower camera shake overall.

[h3]Mal’Damba[/h3]
Cards

• Pungent Gourd
  • Increased scaling from 5|5 ➡️ 8|8%

[h3]Nyx[/h3]
Cards

• Center of Combat
  • Reworked to “Royal Presence’s Poison now lingers on enemies for 0.8|0.8s”

Back with a vengeance, we’ve given Nyx players the ability to facilitate a Poisonn game plan with this card after removing the functionality at base. Its a cheeky card that lets you sneak in that extra % of Health that could turn a fight in your favor.

[h3]Omen[/h3]
Weapon

• Aphotic Reaver
  • Reduced number of shots to enter Anteumbra Mode from 2 ➡️ 1

Cards

• Everlasting Power
  • Reworked to “Whenever you mark an unmarked enemy with Ominous Brand, gain 8|8% Movement Speed for 3s.”
• More, More, More!
  • Reworked to “While at least 2 enemies are marked by Ominous Brand, heal for 60|60 every 1s.”
• Void Choke
  • Reworked to “Increase the lift height of Gravity Vice by 30|30%.”

Omen has been performing relatively well, and so we’ve taken the opportunity to shake up his kit and remove some frustration points when fighting against him. We’ve reduced the ramp time on his weapon to smooth out his game flow, but reworked some of his more problematic cards into mark-focused functionalities. These reworks encourage mark management in a way Omen never really had to do before, rewarding him with powerful effects if the uptime is kept high. This has long been a part of his kit players could ignore, and we’re excited to give Omen more varied playstyles.

[h3]Rei[/h3]
Passive
NEW: Mana Drain

• Hitting enemies with Sigil reduce the cooldown of your next Chain Heal by .4s. This effect stacks.

Abilities

• Spirit Link
  • Increased time to break from 2.25s ➡️ 3s
• Envelop
  • Removed damage done while close to enemies.
    
  • Reduced Movement Speed bonus from 40% ➡️ 30%
    
  • Increased Jump Height bonus from 50% ➡️ 75%

Talents

• Focus
  • Reduced Link duration from 4s ➡️ 3s.
    
  • Reduced cooldown from 7s ➡️ 6s

Cards

• Arcane Maelstrom
  
  
  • Increased scaling from 4|4% to 7|7%
• Arcane Manipulation
  • Increased scaling from .3|.3s to .8|.8s
• Desperate Defense
  • Increased scaling from 50|50 to 80|80
• Enveloping Magic
  • Reworded & shifted to “Decrease the maximum damage taken per instance during Envelop to 255|-20”.
• Magic in the Blood
  • Reworked to “Increase your Healing received by {5|5}% while at or below 50% Health”.
• Threat and Subject
  • Increased scaling from 8|8% to 10|10%

Rei has been performing well in Double Support compositions and certain Solo Support scenarios, however there are some pain points that are felt on both sides of her kit we want to address now that she's in that spot. A combination of several cards having lackluster scaling alongside the dominance of Magic in the Blood has left her choices when buildcrafting a bit more limiting than we'd like. To remedy this, we're moving current Magic in the Blood into base as a new Passive and empowering a wide variety of her Cards to be more enticing options.

In conjunction with more power going to...all her Envelop cards, we're taking another look at the ability and trying to better balance out the value provided at base with investing in those Cards. We've removed the small damage done near an Enveloped target to add a bit more clarity for opponents, and shifted the potency of effects towards the more unique Jump Height effect. This still leaves her feeling about as fast as prior if players utilize our buffs to Nimble, Threat and Subject, and other sources of Movement Speed.

Finally, Spirit Link and Focus have had a strained relationship where the link operates differently in more ways than listed. To clean up this dilemma, we're buffing the base Link to be more lenient on breaking and shifting Focus where the total duration is equal to the Link's break timer at base. Basically, Focus now breaks whenever the earliest opportunity for Spirit Link at base to break is. We've also reduced to cooldown penalty to accommodate this power shift, as we still want this playstyle to be potent in the right hands while allowing Restraint a lot more room for play.

[h3]Saati[/h3]
Abilities

• Ricochet
  • Reduced number of shots from 4 ➡️ 1
    
  • Increased explosion damage from 550 ➡️ 750
    
  • Decreased explosion radius from 35 ➡️ 25 units
    • The description currently in game that says 10 units is incorrect.

Talents

• Spare Change
  • Shifted effect to “Ricochet now costs 2 Pips and earning any Elimination grants you 2 Pips.”

Cards

• Costly Physics
  • Reworked to “Increase the damage radius of Ricochet’s explosion by 8|8%.”
• Steady Predictions
  • Reduced scaling from .8|.8 ➡️ .5|.5
• Steel Coin Purse
  • Increased scaling from 3|3% for 2.5s to 4|4% for 3s.
• Paper Design
  • Increased scaling from 4|4 ➡️ 8|8

Saati has also begun to enter a spot across levels we're pleased with, however there is still one community pain point we'd like to address: Ricochet. The identity of a trickshot conflicted heavily with its spamable nature and lack of thought that had to go into positioning and use, so we've flipped the design a bit on its head. It still requires an initial shot to freeze it in the air and hit a trickshot, but then the next shot will immediately detonate it into an explosion. We've adjusted this to feel more impactful and give reason for Saati to quickly throw a coin up & shoot it for some massive Area Damage. We've also updated a lot of her Cards to accommodate this change as well as Spare Change getting a buff to make it still feel impactful with this version of the coin.

[h3]Sha Lin[/h3]
Talents

• Sand Trap
  • Removed cooldown penalty
    
  • No longer Cripples

We want to make a longer visit to Sha Lin's kit and current balance state in the future, but as a part of our CC pass we wanted to tackle this specific pain point for many players fighting Sha Lin and open the door to future changes to the most daring, famous, and handsome adventurer in the Realm.

[h3]Seris[/h3]
Passive

• Soul Collector
  • Integrated Rend Soul’s healing and the Talent Soul Collector into a unified passive in base.
    
  • Each Soul Orb charge you detonate Heals you for 12% of your maximum Health, as well as increases your maximum Health and weapon damage by 1.5% until you die. Buff effects stack up to 16 times.

Talents

• NEW: Volatile Rift
  • Dealing damage charges Convergence 50% faster.
    
  • Replaces Soul Collector

Cards

• Bane
  • Adjusted description to accurately describe its effect.
    • Every Soul Orb charge you detonate increases your Movement Speed by 1|1% for 4s, up to 15|15%. Detonating a charge refreshes the timer.

Seris has seen a lot of changes this year, and with this set we intend to finally bring her design forward into 2025 and beyond. Soul Collector has been the predominant way to play her, adding a minigame to her loop that most players enjoy more than anything else. So, we're bringing that into her core and looking to rebalance her around a basekit version that requires a bit more investment but equal payoff. With the Talent slot empty, we're taking a lesson from our work on Grover and still keeping Seris with a proper Damage Talent, now augmenting her Ultimate playstyle and opening up some new tricks for her when it comes to Convergence plays.

Finally, we've got a design fix to Bane that makes its effect clearer and preps us for future Card adjustments once we've seen how this initial shakeup plays out. Seris is a very popular Champion and performs well in average matches, but has struggled at the high end. These changes should help her there by allowing Forsake & Internal Torment more room, but we'll be keeping a close eye to ensure she doesn't end up descending the Realm into darkness.

[h3]Torvald[/h3]
General

• Health
  • Decreased base Health from 3000 ➡️ 2800
    
  • Increased base Shield from 2500 ➡️ 2700

Abilties

• Protection
  • Reduced Shield amount from 550 ➡️ 500

Cards

• Induction
  • Reworked to “Reduce Protection CD by 0.4|0.4s after using Recharge”
• Infusion
  • Reworked to “Heals for 30|30 every 0.5s while channeling Nullify”

Grandpa is on the loose again, crushing it in both high and low skill lobbies and generally being a nuisance. We’re shifting around his overall bulk to make him more susceptible to Wrecker, and reducing the effectiveness of Protection to alleviate the steam rolling a pocketed Champion can do. Finally we’re toying around with Induction and Infusion - two very unpopular cards - to breathe some new life into drafting a Torvald Loadout.

[h3]Willo[/h3]
Talents

• Nightshade
  • Now also refund 25% of the cooldown on hit
• Scorn
  • Now also states “Secondary Seedlings now deal 1500 damage over 2s to any deployable shield hit.”

After bringing down Blastflower, we want to give WIllo a bit more options across her Talents and loadouts to still feel rewarding no matter which playstyle you're looking for. Nightshade now will fuel itself a bit better, encouraging using it in burst combos and to shutdown plays more frequently, while Scorn is taking some inspiration from her Scorched Earth past and will give Shield busting capabilities back to her.

[h3]Ying[/h3]
Cards

• Shuffle
  • Increased scaling from 10|10% ➡️ 20|20%

[h3]Zhin[/h3]
Talents

• Guillotine
  • Now refunds 20% Ult Charge if used as a Killing Blow.
• Yomi
  • Reworked to “Whirl now Ignites enemies for 3s. Your Inferno Blade deals 15% bonus damage to targets who are Burning or Ignited.”

Yomi has long been Zhin’s most dominant option and a reoccurring meme of overly simplistic Talent designs. While basic Talents do have a place, Yomi offered so much value with no investment or change in play from the player. So, we’ve reworked it to instead offer a brand-new way to play with Whirl, turning it into a powerful combo starter that even synergizes if your team knows you are selecting it. This is something quite new for Paladins in how it functions so we’d like to give an example: If your ally Fernando is actively fighting someone with his Flame Lance, his Burn will allow your Inferno Blade to gain this damage buff! If you don’t draft into this synergy, the Talent is still strong with your own Whirl but to fully invest in the fantasy you should coordinate with allies. Meanwhile, Guillotine has lost a lot of its identity ever since we took away its faster regeneration rate. Considering it’s all about securing kills, we’ve added an additional effect where you are refunded some cost if you finish them and survive!

[h2]General[/h2]
[h3]Cosmetics[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where Defragged Inara wasn’t using the proper weapon death FX.
  • We’ve also granted Salt Io access to these death effects!
• Fixed an issue where Vanquisher’s Lance had constant loop & overly loud audio while firing.

[h2]Champions[/h2]
[h3]Drogoz[/h3]

• Updated W.Y.R.M Jets description to properly convey how it augments Booster.

[h3]Grover[/h3]

• Wisps of Sylvanus now properly provides a Movement Speed increase to both Grover and his allies.

[h2]Maps[/h2]
[h3]Dawnforge[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where Dawnforge would not play mode-specific music, only ambient audio.

[h2]Vora[/h2]
[h3]Cards[/h3]

• Unified in Purpose
  • Reduced scaling from 6|6 ➡️ 5|5
• What May Come
  • Now has an ICD of 6s

[h2]Yagorath[/h2]
[h3]Ultimate[/h3]

• Devour
  • Reduced pull speed from 390 ➡️ 370

[h2]General[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where the World Tour Event Pass timer was not properly displaying its end date.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Event Pass panel in the store did not have updated art.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Leiporian Rhapsody title lacked a space.
  
• Fixed an issue where Octavia's card Forward Operating Base was misspelled.
  
• Fixed an issue where Moji's Spit descriptions did not mention her healing.

[h2]Balance[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where the Astral Cycle card for Jenos overrode other movement speed increases.

[h2]Cosmetics[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where Street Style Seris lacked proper 1P textures.
  
• Fixed an issue where the recolors of Default Seris were unavailable to direct purchase.

[h2]Modes[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where Wave Defense lacked the ability to matchmake players.
  
• Fixed an issue where Wave Defense: Champion Difficulty did not progress its quest.
  • Wave Defense: Champion Difficulty is now active early as this weekend's LTM!

• Grover's Wisps of Sylvanus Talent is only providing the speed bonus to himself.
  
• Dawnforge does not play gamemode-specific music.
  
• Defragged Inara's weapon isn't using the correct death effects.
  
• Wave Defense becomes unstable later in a match, especially on PC.
  
• Various 2024 skins have overly loud or disruptive audio.
  

For the special occasion of Street Style as a theme returning, we’re excited to offer 2 Event Passes this update!

The first is OG Street Style, a remake of the original Street Style Event including all the cosmetics earnable from it back in the day. Ying, Maeve, Skye, and Ash have joined back together for a reunion tour to celebrate their impact on the Realm!

The second is Street Style: World Tour, a brand new Event Pass featuring Tyra & Seris! Both Champions are getting a classic Street Style look, but also have recolors giving nods to more modern genres of music and influencers. Fashion is still at the heart of Street Style, so there’s plenty of 2D cosmetics to collect as well!



We’ve also added tech that allows you to preview rewards from the Event Pass in the menu, restoring the ability for people to see all the earnable content in one place. NOTE: Event Pass Chests now expire when a new Event Pass replaces it, with a timer on the chests indicating when that will occur. OG Street Style will run until late this year, and Street Style: World Tour will continue on into early 2025!

[h2]Arcade 2.0 & Mode Updates[/h2]
We wrote a Developer Insights blog detailing all of the changes coming to Arcade and Game Modes! To fit all the balance changes in these notes, we ask you read on those changes here: Arcade & Game Mode Adjustments
[h2]New VGS Option: Legacy (Controller)[/h2]
For a long time, players have requested a console/controller version of what PC KBM players have through the Legacy VGS: access to all the voice lines we used to utilize (and still record for most skins) on a controller. This never was an option, even back in VGS 1.0 as the sheer number of button inputs would be quite absurd and difficult to make intuitive. So that’s exactly what we’ve done! Legacy (Controller) will be available on both PC and Console for controller players to have access to a suite of lines comparable to Legacy on KBM. This is because in order to make it possible, we had to break some conventions and muscle memory for VGS on controller. It will take some learning, but power users should be able to find this version offers them more communication tools should they master it. A few lines (~3) are still missing due to redundancy’s sake and to prevent 5-string inputs. As one would say in this new VGS, [➡️, ➡️, ⬆️, ➡️] Good Luck!
[h2]Event Pass Experience[/h2]
With us continuing the 2 Event Pass system forward, we’re going to adjust how Event Pass XP works. Each level of an Event Pass will now require 1,000,000 XP, meaning that it’ll be quicker to work your way through the tiers than it has been the past several passes and be an easier amount of XP for you to keep track of as you complete Quests to earn the latest rewards. This applies to both passes available in Street Style: World Tour, so during this patch you can level each pass side by side at the same rate!
[h2]Account Level Experience[/h2]
Starting this update, Quests will award Account XP alongside Event Pass XP! This will allow those early in their Paladins journey to earn Gold from levels a bit quicker and start unlocking more of the roster by focusing on the Activities tab. This also will apply to the Daily Quest Completion Streak for those looking to optimize their path to Ranked!
[h2]3D Lobby Return[/h2]
After internal testing and adjustments, we’re bringing back the 3D home screen to Paladins! A small but often requested change, this will now allow players to see a glimpse of the Ska’Drin Isles while they await their next match or are looking at whichever skin is featured that week. Over time we’ll investigate bringing back this feature to other menus but for now enjoy the view!

[h2]Dawnforge[/h2]

• (Bugfix) Fixed portal near Forge preventing multiple players from using it in quick succession.
  
• (Design Change) Added a ramp in place of box jumping leading up to the upper floor from the Payload Path in the middle area of the map

[h2]Warder’s Gate[/h2]

• (Bugfix) Fixed portals near the center of map preventing multiple players from using it in quick succession.

[h2]General[/h2]
[h3]Aim Assist[/h3]

• Reduced maximum general magnetism by 20%.
  
• Added general magnetism to the following Champions:
  • Ash
    
  • Bomb King
    
  • Cassie
    
  • Dredge
    
  • Drogoz
    
  • Evie
    
  • Inara
    
  • Maeve
    
  • Makoa
    
  • Mal’Damba
    
  • Pip
    
  • Seris
    
  • Sha Lin
    
  • Vatu
    
  • Vora
    
  • Willo
• Reduced bullet magnetism by 25% on the following Champions:
  • Koga
    
  • Lex
    
  • Talus
    
  • Tyra
    
  • Viktor
    
  • Vivian

In our continued investigation of Aim Assist, we’ve discovered a number of inconsistencies and problems with our current implementation. Back in the Dark Tides update (1.6), we implemented a new (for the time) Aim Assist system that made it easier to customize settings on a Champion-by-Champion basis while standardizing how Champions receive it. However, as the team evolved and changed over time, these specific practices and assumptions about the game became less and less true. One of these core assumptions was that projectile Champions do not benefit from AA, but this isn’t accurate. Characters as old as Grover and as new as Caspian have had Aim Assist magnetism (i.e. a pull towards a character’s center mass when your reticle is very close) while other projectile characters listed above have not. In order to improve on these systems in the future and carry forward that original goal of a standard players can rely on, we’re doing a large reset. All Champions will now have the same benefits from Aim Assist magnetism; however, the maximum strength of Aim Assist magnetism has been reduced by 20% across the board. In practice, Paladins will still feel good on controller and these specific Champions should feel better to play on controller.

Moving forward, our goals will be to measure specific pain point characters and adjust them up or down to provide a comfortable and fair play experience. We’re starting with the select group of Champions that are receiving focused bullet magnetism nerfs (i.e. how generous we are when their reticle is near the head of a target). Outside of these specific adjustments, we’ll continue to watch the ways controllers perform between PC and Console respectively to ensure that crossplay environments like Ranked are given more integrity and even play across the Champion roster. We plan to take a look at Aim Assist tracking next (e.g. how much the reticle follows targets in motion) since we know that has been a source of frustration as well. We’ll keep players updated on our progress!

[h2]Champions[/h2]
[h3]Azaan[/h3]
General

• Increased health from 4250 ➡️ 4500

Abilities

• Sanctuary
  • Reduced cooldown from 13s ➡️ 12s
• Conviction
  • Reduced cooldown from 10s ➡️ 9s
• Reckoning
  • Reduced cooldown from 10s ➡️ 9s

Azaan has persistently remained in the bottom percentile of our Frontlines, glory days long behind him. We’re giving him some general quality of life improvements to his cooldowns and health to give him a bit of a bump.

[h3]Betty La Bomba[/h3]
Talents

• Gotta Bounce
  • Removed penalty to Movement Speed.

[h3]Bomb King[/h3]
Abilities

• Poppy Bomb
  • Reclassified as a Movement Ability, now affected by Cripple.

[h3]Caspian[/h3]
Cards

• Updated all Default Decks

Talents

• Everywhere at Once
  • Cooldown: 5s permanently ➡️ 8s affected by CDR.
    
  • Now also gives Caspian 1 additional charge on Deadly Momentum.
    
  • Now also heals Caspian for 200 Health on hitting an enemy with the dash portion of the ability.
    
  • No longer grants Momentum stacks on hit.
• It's Got Some Heft
  • Reverted to original release version

Measured Cadence is by far Caspian's highest pick rate and win rate Talent, while his other two Talents share below average rates. So, we’re taking a shot at reverted It's Got Some Heft & improving Everywhere at Once as we continue to work on making our devilish rogue the most devious he can be. Everywhere at Once had a strong upside, permanently setting Deadly Momentum’s cooldown to a low value - but that wasn’t enough to justify the choice. It's difficult to ask Flanks to directly engage enemies with their ability generally saved for retreating, especially when the upside of 1 stack per hit wasn’t valuable enough to expend the cooldown. We’ve taken the Talent and moved some of the values around, keeping its identity relatively similar to previous where it encourages aggressive use of Deadly Momentum. With an additional charge and heal-on-hit, it gives Caspian an aggressive initiation tool without neutering his escape.

[h3]Cassie[/h3]
Abilities

• Blast Shot
  • Removed Poison effect.

[h3]Corvus[/h3]
Ultimate

• Entropic Breach
  • Now also Heals Allies for 15% of maximum Health on initial target and 6.25% every .5s they remain in the area.

Entropic Breach has always been a bit unimpactful outside of the most specific moments, and Corvus often finds himself in a position where his team dies if he tries to properly utilize it. The Abyss has decided to grant him another boon, allowing him to heal his Allies within just as much as he harms his foes. Now, this Ultimate can more easily allow for some saves and pushes from your team and makes its presence on the battlefield more important.

[h3]Grover[/h3]
Abilities

• Blossom
  • Increased passive healing from 70 ➡️ 80
    
  • Increased active initial burst heal from 500 ➡️ 700

Ultimate

• Whirlwind
  • Now also provides 25% Movement Speed for 4s to allies affected.

Talents

• NEW: Wisps of Sylvanus
  • Blossom’s passive aura now also provides 15% Movement Speed.
    
  • Replaces Rampant Blooming.

Cards

• New Default Deck for Wisps of Sylvanus
  
• Gentle Breeze now also affects Grover

Grover finds himself at a crossroads, where on one side lies Talents rife with utility and the other lies Rampant Blooming being the only way for him to have impactful healing on his own. After a lot of thought, we wanted to try something new for him. Blossom is being brought back up to its potency felt previously but Rampant Blooming is no more, instead replaced by a Talent all about being an anchor for the team’s buffs. This means Grover’s healing is only augmented by Cards now, allowing us greater control of his output and allowing more room to balance him in a way that allows him to stay relevant across his Talents. Whirlwind is also gaining an even more powerful Movement Speed increase throughout its duration, offering him another reason to utilize his Ultimate in the late game regardless of Anti-Healing.

[h3]Kasumi[/h3]
General

• Increased base movement speed from 355 ➡️ 370

Abilities

• Spirit Traps
  • Reduced initial reveal distance from 100 ➡️ 40 units
    
  • Reduced full reveal distance from 40 ➡️ 20 units
    
  • Increased damage from 100 ➡️ 200
• Savage Tear
  • Increased bonus damage per stack of Curse from 20% ➡️ 30%

Cards

• Essence Drain
  • Reduced scaling from 2|2% to 1|1%

Kasumi is slowly sneaking into a place we’re happy with, but she’s still lacking some of the speed and burst many associate with our Flanks. We’ve brought her base movement speed up to the middle of her adoptive class, alongside a buff to Savage Tear to allow it to be weaved better into a combo while adjusting Essence Drain to compensate. The largest changes we are making are to Spirit Traps, increasing their damage and making them much harder to spot before you’re in the effective range. They now share the same detection distance as Stealthed enemies and once you fully see them, that’s a sign you’re in the blast zone!

[h3]Kinessa[/h3]
Weapon

• Sniper Rifle
  • Decreased charge time from 1.2s ➡️ 1.1s.

Talents

• NEW: Crystalline Battery
  • Oppressor Mines now target you to supercharge, healing you for 25 every .2s and providing 100% increased Jump Height. Carbine Mode gains 15% damage while supercharged.
    
  • Replaces Octopressor.

Cards

• New Default Deck for Crystalline Battery

Kinessa is still performing well above where she had prior to her refresh, but we’d like to continue to iron out pain points players feel as and against her. We’re bringing a little bit of speed back to the Sniper in exchange for removing Octopressor from her Talent lineup, replaced by a complete 180 on her usual gameplan with them. Now, they will empower her with a damage amp on her Carbine Mode, making her able to duel in medium ranges. We’ll continue to look into other changes on her as needed!

[h3]Koga[/h3]
Passive

• Stamina
  • Koga now regains 1 Stamina for every 100 damage his Submachine Guns deal to Health.
    
  • Decreased passive Stamina regen from 9 per second ➡️ 6 per second.

Weapons

• Hellkite Claws
  • Each subsequent pierce now deals 30% less damage, minimum of 200.

Abilities

• Dragon Stance
  • Removed Movement Speed bonus
    
  • Reduced time to enter Dragon Stance from .425s ➡️ .22s
    
  • Reduced time to exit Dragon Stance from .85s ➡️ .44s

Talents

• NEW: Bullet Time
  • Supercharge your reflexes after using Shadow Step, increasing your fire rate and movement speed by 15% for 2s.
    
  • Replaces Adrenaline Junkie.

Cards

• Swift Hands
  • Reworked to “While in Dragon Stance, gain 4|4% Movement Speed.”
• Updated Adrenaline Junkie Default Deck
  • Now called Bullet Time
    
  • Replaced Trespasser 1 ➡️ Something to Prove 1

Koga has been ripping and tearing his way through matches, consistently performing very well compared to other Flanks. We’re tweaking him across the board to give us more design space going forward - as well as to alleviate some pain points when playing as and against him.

We’re moving Adrenaline Junkie into base at a weaker level to smooth out his game flow, since that Talent felt necessary more often than not to facilitate optimum Koga. Hellkite Claws have been a persistent damage tool since its buff, making it frustrating to fight against as Koga cleaves through an entire team. To keep its utility but reel in the obscene DPS it can pump out, each projectile will do less damage per penetrated enemy, making it less oppressive when engaging a group. Finally, we’ve added a new Talent in Bullet Time. This incentivizes aggressive use of Shadow Step during fights to boost your damage, but comes at the cost of a precious resource. Watch your timings and you’ll come out alive, just don’t get greedy!

[h3]Lillith[/h3]
General

• Increased Blood Health from 2500 ➡️ 2600

Abilities

• Swarm
  • Duration increased from 5.75 ➡️ 6s
    
  • Blood cost reduced from 350/650 ➡️ 325/600
• Death Wings
  • Blood cost reduced from 280 ➡️ 250

Cards

• Reworked Cursed Accord Default Deck

Talent

• Cursed Accord
  • Reworked to: “Blood Hexed allies ignore damage resistance up to 10%. Heal an extra 250 Blood Health when a Blood Hexed ally eliminates an enemy.”
• Maelstrom of Carnage
  • Increased Blood Cost reduction from 25% ➡️ 40%.
    
  • Increased radius bonus from: 30% ➡️ 40%

Since her release, Lillith has had some serious ups and downs. Specifically downs looking at the past couple months, fighting tooth and claw for her current position as second worst support in the roster. Keen to rise from the dead, we’re giving her some love to most of her kit. With Blood cost reductions across the board, on top of a bit of extra Blood Health, Lillith will be able to stay in a fight and do her job for much longer. We’ve also reworked Cursed Accord, this time giving it a powerful effect of damage resistance penetration, turning her into a Champion supercharger that you’ll be smart to focus ASAP.

[h3]Maeve[/h3]
Talent

• Street Justice
  • Now also provides a 20% increased Ultimate charge rate.

[h3]Mal’Damba[/h3]
Abilities

• Mending Spirits
  • Reduced cooldown forgiveness on missed target from 1.75s ➡️ 1.25s

Mal’Damba has been finally performing at a level that feels befitting his reputation as an honest Support…maybe a bit too easily though. This change is aimed at raising the floor higher slightly by being harsher when players miss his heal while not hampering his optimal play.

[h3]Nyx[/h3]
Abilities

• Royal Presence
  • Increased DoT from .175% ➡️ .2% of Max Health
    
  • Removed Poison lingering after targets exit the effect aura

[h3]Octavia[/h3]
Weapon

• Marksman Rifle
  • Increased minimum hip-fire accuracy from .80 ➡️ .85
    
  • Increased maximum hip-fire accuracy from .85 ➡️ .95
    
  • Fixed an issue where Octavia’s fire rate was faster than intended.
    • Increased postfire delay from .15s ➡️ .2s
  • Reduced recoil & screen shake on fire from 3.5 ➡️ 1.0

Abilities

• Commanding Leap
  • Now places a rally point on landing at base, providing 250 instant healing & 25 every .15s to yourself and allies within. Rally point lasts 1.5s.
• Distortion Field
  • Cooldown reduced from 18s ➡️ 16s.
    
  • Allies have 300% increased Jump Height when initiated from within the dome.
    
  • Enemies within also have their air speed reduced by 15%.

Cards

• NEW: Got Your Six
  • Increase the duration of Commanding Leap’s rally point by .25|.25s.
    
  • Replaces Clean Shots.
• NEW: Forward Operating Base
  • Allies within your Distortion Field now have 4|4% Crowd Control Reduction.
    
  • Replaces Priority Requisition.

Talents

• NEW: Paratrooper
  • Octavia now can float for 4s, gains 50% air control and deals 10% bonus weapon damage while in Commanding Leap.
    
  • Replaces Hell or High Water.

Cards

• New Default Deck for Paratrooper

Octavia misses seeing frequent deploys, so we wanted to revisit her kit and try to inject more fun into the average game for her. She’s by no means weak but generally a lot of players struggle to find something in her kit that excites them enough to play her, so these changes aim to shift her power in ways that allow her more to play with. Firstly, her Marksman Rifle has had a pass on how its gunplay feels. Her hipfire has been retuned to be much more manageable if you pace your shots, allowing more time outside of scope. When in scope, you’ll now suffer from significantly less screen shake & visual recoil which helps her feel like the trained shooter she is. Commanding Leap has Hell or High Water coming into base kit, making one of our simplest abilities into one that has a lot more utility and enhances her hybrid Damage-Support identity. Distortion Field is also finally living up to its name, distorting gravity for those inside. Everyone within will have gravity and jump height distorted, and enemies will suffer their Slow even while in air. Finally, her Cards and Talents have seen some adjustments to allow these additions to shine. Paratrooper turns a weak spot for her into a strength once more, giving a powerful amount of damage output when she leaps into action!

[h3]Ruckus[/h3]
Abilities

• Advance
  • Now can be fired while stationary to boost upward.

Talents

• Aerial Assault
  • Altered to “Advance now has 3 charges.”
• Flux Generator
  • Decreased bonus Shielding from 1500 ➡️ 1000

Ruckus is performing well at the higher levels of play, but outside of that space he’s struggled to be picked and utilized. Aerial Assault has always been something that makes Bolt feel better to pilot around in, so we’re shifting the best part of it into base to both help how Ruckus feels but also allow for more Talent diversity than he currently sees. Flux Generator, however, feels a bit too potent compared to the others without a nerf to its Shielding bonus so we’re proactively tuning that down as well.

[h3]Seris[/h3]
Talents

• Internal Torment
  • Updated description to state she Reveals the target to her team.
• Forsake
  • Cooldown reduced from 3s ➡️ 2.5s

We’re still watching the short and long-term on both of these Talents before we look to shake Seris up again. Internal Torment is having its functionality clarified better (i.e. it already did this teamwide Reveal) and Forsake is receiving a small buff to its cooldown to give it a better chance at keeping up with other burst options across the Support class. We’ve been listening to the discussion around her across social platforms and will continue to iterate without taking away the approachability that has made her Paladins' most played Champion.

[h3]Strix[/h3]
Weapon

• Talon Rifle
  • Now ignores up to 10% of targets' damage resistance when fired from stealth.

Cards

• Roost
  • Increased charge rate bonus from 10% ➡️ 30% per level.

Talents

• Crack Shot
  • Pistol no longer fires 40% slower.

Snipers fill an important niche in FPS, serving as counter to aerial superiority and picking off stragglers of poor team coordination. That can be frustrating to fight against however, and so we’ve had to be careful over our patches when altering snipers. We’re taking a pass at Strix to fill out the fantasy of lying in wait and securing a high-value kill, while still keeping him fun to fight against with decent counter play.

Most significant of these changes is firing from Stealth now pierces up to 10% of damage resistance - giving Strix a way to alleviate one of his hardest counters at the cost of using his Stealth. While this may seem extreme, it elevates Veteran as a counter item, since if you don’t have DR, nothing changes in the engagement with Strix. Not to mention he’ll almost be guaranteed out of Stealth energy if he's constantly dipping into it for the piercing, so take that opportunity to sic your Flank on this defenseless fowl.

[h3]VII[/h3]
Weapon

• Burst Mode
  • Increased damage from 150 ➡️ 160
    
  • Decreased effective range from 110 ➡️ 100
    
  • Decreased max range from 200 ➡️ 175
    
  • Decreased minimum damage after falloff from 50% ➡️ 40%

Abilities

• Grappling Hook
  • Decreased range from 140 ➡️ 110 units
    
  • Decreased cooldown from 14s ➡️ 12s
    
  • Increased pull strength from 1325 ➡️ 1650
• Explosive Dodge
  • VII now has .25s of damage immunity when he starts to roll.

Talents

• NEW: Execute Article VII
  • Decree 77 now targets the closest enemy with laser lock-on. After .8s, your eye blasts them and deals 1000 damage in a 20-unit radius. Anyone hit is Executed if below 25% after.
    
  • Replaces Overcharged.

Cards

• New Default Deck for Execute Article VII
  
• Terror
  • Reworked to “Gain a 50|50 Shield for 4s after using Grappling Hook. ICD of 5s.”

Here we go again. VII has been a unique addition to the Flank class, and a perpetual challenge to balance in a way that feels fun for the player and fair for the opponents. We took a longer step back from his kit and are now reapproaching with a different outlook. Our goals with these changes is to simplify VII into the core of his identity: best in class movement, ambush-style engagement, and cooldown management. Burst Mode is being brought up in damage but down in range, bringing him closer to his peers when it comes to effective dueling range. (We’re aware this leaves Automatic in a weird spot, we plan to address this in a subsequent update). We’re also hitting the maximum range on his Grappling Hook, but allowing him more access to it. We’re also standardizing his pull speed at around Terror 3 to start, allowing us more control of how fast his peak movement is. Explosive Dodge is getting a unique effect inspired by Raum’s favorite game genre: immunity for a small window on dodge. This allows VII some neat tricks for those skilled enough to pull off timings.

We also went back to the drawing board on Overcharged, and after weighing the options have reimagined Decree 77 into a new, more thematic Talent. Execute Article VII allows him to access a Tribunal staple Execute via lasering down targets with his eye. Note that this Execute procs after the damage of the blast, meaning it can confirm into itself when used correctly. Terror, meanwhile, is being reworked to give VII some added survivability on hook, allowing him more options on which Cards he wants for sustain.

[h3]Talus[/h3]
Weapon

• Veracharger
  • Decreased minimum accuracy from .95 ➡️ .92
    
  • Increased accuracy lost per shot from .02 ➡️ .025
    
  • Reduced number of shots before accuracy decay from 5 ➡️ 3

While Talus remains mainly a Champion whose dominance is most felt on a controller, his weapon has a bit too much forgiveness regardless of input, especially during Overcharge. These changes are designed to ask Talus to be a bit more focused when aiming during the ability as well as spraying for longer durations without pausing. We’ll continue to look into his performance across inputs and platforms for further adjustments!

[h3]Vatu[/h3]
Weapon

• Kunai
  • Reduced damage from 310 ➡️ 280
    
  • Increased fire rate from 1s ➡️ .9s
    
  • Reduced time for reload pre-load from .9s ➡️ .6s
    
  • Increased time for reload post-fire from 0 ➡️ .3s

Abilities

• Dash
  • Removed DR

Talents

• Enveloping Shadows
  • Shifted to “Reduce the Cooldown of your basic abilities by 3% for each Kunai that hits an enemy.”
    
  • Removed ICD.

We heard loud and clear that the Kunai changes from Tidal Surge simply weren’t it for high level players, so we’re reverting those back to their previous values. As a part of this, we decided to adopt a popular community request for him to aid the fluidity of play: animation canceling his reload. This allows him to now use Shadow Bombs & Dash to finish reloading once he’s passed .6s of his reload time, raising the skill ceiling a little bit more for him. Speaking of raising his skill, we’ve removed the DR from his dash at base to push him to use Cards for his survivability. Finally, Enveloping Shadows is losing its ICD but now requires players to land more Kunai to reap the full reward of his cooldown reduction.

[h3]Viktor[/h3]
Talent

• Burst Mode
  • Decreased hipfire recoil from 1.75 ➡️ 1.25
    
  • Decreased accuracy loss on hipfire from .1 ➡️ .015

Burst Mode has a specific issue when it comes to useability on KB&M, so we’ve adjusting the hip fire to be significantly more controllable and allow those on the input a better experience on this Talent than previous obtainable.

[h3]Vivian[/h3]
Weapon

• Light Machine Gun
  • Removed camera shake while Vivian is using Precision Sights.

The latest innovation in Deepwerks technology allows Vivian to use her optics to focus beyond any felt recoil from her Light Machine Gun, encouraging its use when you need an added bit of control to decimate your opponents.

[h3]Vora[/h3]
Abilities

• Tendril
  • Now has 2 charges at base.
    
  • Increased cooldown from 10s ➡️ 12s

Talents

• NEW: Parasitic Pull
  • Tendril can now target allies. Hitting allies with Tendril provides them double your Tendril Card effects. Hitting enemies with Tendril deals 225 damage over 1.25s.
    
  • Replaces Relentless Presence.
• New: Eclipsed Affection
  • Reduce Obliteration's Cooldown by 2s, and by 50% after earning an Elimination. When used at max Darkness stacks, deal an additional 100 bonus damage.
    
  • Replaces Deafening Silence.

Cards

• New Default Decks for Parasitic Pull & Eclipsed Affection

The Maw holds many emotions, and none are quite as potent as jealousy. Watching VII fling himself around has pushed Vora to embrace her corruption further, unlocking new potential. Tendril now will have 2 charges at base, allowing her more mobility at base without relying on her Ultimate. In addition, we’ve taken her two infrequently used Talents and replaced them with devastating new options. Parasitic Pull allows Vora to utilize her unique launch tech on allies as well, providing them strong Shields or DR from her Cards before diving onto opponents. Eclipsed Affection, meanwhile, allows Obliteration to chain together combos and Eliminations that will hopefully one day finally let her triumph over Io.

[h3]Willo[/h3]
General

• Passive: Pixie Dust
  • Given a unique name & description
    
  • After 4 seconds of use, Willo’s fall speed reduction decreases from 90% to 75%.

Talents

• Blast Flower
  • Reduced maximum stacks from: 4 ➡️ 3.

Willo has experienced a resurgence in popularity (and win rate) now that she can hover above and rain fairy-death on her foes. She's having a little too much fun with this, and fighting her can be a frustrating experience, so we’re adding a caveat to incentivize her touching down every so often and offer an opportunity for counter-play. Similarly Blast Flower has been performing really well, too well, but we like the new popularity it has garnered. We’re giving it a slap on the wrist to bring down the overall power while keeping the playstyle intact.

• Fixed an issue where the Aim Assist Strength setting didn't affect tracking.
  

• Event Pass timers are currently stuck at 0. OG Street Style ends December 11th and Street Style: World Tour ends February 5th.
  
• The new skins A-pose when previewed in the Event Pass screen.
  
• The Event Pass panel in the Store is using the wrong art.
  

• Reverted changes to Gyro Aim Sensitivity.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Street Style: World Tour Event Pass is using the wrong backer.
  
• Fixed an issue where Vora & VII's new Talents were not available in instance.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Login and Main Lobby menus were swapped.
  
• Fixed an issue where Dawnforge's staircases railings had improper collision and were not lit.
  

[h2]Azaan[/h2]

• Eternal reverted to current Live balance state.

[h2]Caspian[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where Everywhere At Once was not providing the proper cooldown reduction.
  
• It's Got Some Heft functionality and description restored to pre-Wild Hoard state.
  • Increases War's damage by 50
    
  • Increases War's range by 20%
    
  • Decreases War's firerate by 20%
    
  • Deals 20% more damage per target hit by same attack.

[h2]Corvus[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where Corvus wasn't being healed by his Entropic Breach.

[h2]Grover[/h2]

• Increased Blossom's activated heal from 600 ➡️ 700

[h2]Kasumi[/h2]

• Reduced Essense Drain's scaling from 2|2% ➡️ 1|1%

In a future update, we plan to remove/rework Cards that amount to a damage amp. This nerf is meant to allow Kasumi more flexibility in buildcrafting until then, while preserving her upcoming buffs.

[h2]Koga[/h2]

• Increased scaling of Swift Hands from 3|3% ➡️ 4|4%
  
• Decreased bonus from Bullet Time from 20% ➡️ 15%

[h2]Nyx[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where Royal Prescence wasn't doing Poison damage while enemies were within.

[h2]Vora[/h2]

• Parasitic Pull now provides double Vora's Tendril Card effects.
  

Greetings Champions! This Developer Insights blog aims to shed light on how our PTS process works, from the version that we use internally to the final version that becomes the Live build and everything in between. In the past, Evil Mojo has discussed PTS and veteran players may know a lot of this info, however, we felt it was time for an updated rundown of how we utilize this for the modern team using Street Style: World Tour as an example.
[h2]Internal Testing[/h2]
As many players know, we start to work on an update in a development build designed for rapid iteration and implementing things into Paladins on our own timescale. Often, smaller changes in Dev are intended to go out the following update while larger changes tend to exist in Dev multiple updates prior to release. For example, Wave Defense was in Dev for 11 months before it entered Beta in July and we already have some changes aimed for next year in our Dev build. However, whenever we’re ready to move all those smaller changes over to PTS, we go through a process called branch. Basically, this is when we move over all the files and changes in Dev to be reflected in the PTS client & servers.

This process can sometimes be quick, or occasionally take days depending on what we’re moving over, any issues or concerns we have during the process, and the current timeline. Generally, we try to branch a month out from the planned release date to allow us 2 weeks before public PTS.
[h2]Private PTS & Partner Playtests[/h2]
Once we’ve branched, our testing and changes are entirely focused on the PTS version of the game. This usually means refining our existing changes as well as resolving bugs players may be unable to playtest through. As an example of the state changes that tend to be in during this early PTS testing, look no further than the first blog of this series on Talent Design. Those Talent designs are the Dev versions we pulled to PTS, with test values and rougher designs than you all saw during public PTS.

The reason we released that blog – and the reason we always do private PTS testing for a bit – is to be able to iterate on designs, balance, and new content in the exact environment that players will playtest in. Once we’ve gotten PTS in a state we’re beginning to feel comfortable with, we then start Partner Playtests. This is a fairly new addition to the process that started in the Anniversary Update (June 2023) and has evolved to replace AoC previews from 2022 and prior.

The current iteration allows a select group of creators & community members to playtest on the PTS build alongside us about a week before it’s made public, giving us early feedback to start trending towards before we reveal the changes publicly. This group has been super helpful in allowing us more time to make larger changes to match community expectations as well as have a wider gamut of skill levels interacting with all the adjustments. Once we’ve held a few Partner Playtests, it’s time for the public!
[h2]Public PTS & Feedback[/h2]
Once we’ve announced and revealed the patch to players, we can release the public PTS and get feedback! In the past, PTS had been a larger moment due both to the number of team members we had and the number of players who would playtest, but it’s still quite impactful even today! We discover many new issues, bugs, and feedback points during public PTS that we wouldn’t be able to quickly find otherwise as well as further refining and guiding our work towards the best version for players.

After the weekend of public PTS, we then go through all the feedback we’ve received and sort it into categories of importance and feasibility. Naturally, with the update releasing less than 2 weeks out, the changes we can make are limited in scale to comfortably hit our certification deadlines. However, the typical feedback breakdown looks something like this:



Color-coding is used to signify the necessity of a change, with Green being “Can ship as is” and then a scale that goes to Red of “Revert before Live!”. The only Red entry for this update was the Gyro Sensitivity changes (sorry Gyro players for the scare, we didn’t have enough internal people to test those changes well!), but that also doesn’t mean it’s the only revert. Azaan’s Eternal rework was an Orange, which after discussion felt best to revert instead of trying to force in changes. You’ll get the full list of changes between PTS and Live sometime next week before release!
[h2]Final Build[/h2]
The last stage of PTS is preparing the final build, which is the version of PTS we send off to have platforms verify and prepare for release. This usually is tackled a week before the update, but can change based on how much work we need to get in to make the launch as smooth as possible. It’s never perfect, game development always wants more time, but we have to be quick because the next branch is almost always ~3 weeks away and we need time to work in Dev.

Once the update is released to the Live version of the game, we take the launch day to celebrate & look for bugs or major balance issues to hotfix, then get right back to work in Dev. If we do need to hotfix, we do all of that work in PTS as well meaning we have to make the call to hotfix or not before the next branch. If we wait too long, we won’t be able to easily, so that's why if an issue is discovered several weeks into an update, it has to wait until the next update.
[h2]Until Next PTS[/h2]
This blog has a lot less to do with Paladins specifically and is more a peek behind the curtains into what goes into making a PTS that is available to the public in general. It’s an intense process that takes a lot to make happen but is often worth it for a majority of updates. Sometimes, we do skip a PTS if we either don’t have time or deem the changes safe to send without that level of feedback, but we try to make that an exception.

Hopefully, this has helped players understand more about how and why we handle PTS the way we do & our continued interest in listening to community feedback, even if at times it feels we can’t change everything players may want in a given update. We appreciate everyone who plays on the PTS & encourage anyone on Steam to hop into the next one!