Update 19 is coming soon(ish) - Post No.2
Hey,
Hope everyone's good! Last week we mentioned that Update 19 will be making some meaty changes to some of Dead Cells’ underlying mechanics.
Some mutations have been mentioned as a bit of a non-starter once you're at higher levels, so we want to address this and make sure all the mutation choices have a significant impact on your run.
So, to start with we’re going to give damage mutations a bit more OOMPH to open up your mutation options. To do this we'll be changing their effect from DPS-based to percentage-based.
We know that sounds a little bit dry, so if you're not up for some Dead Cells maths right now you can check out this TLDR:
[h3]THE SITUATION [/h3]
At the moment, the damage from mutations is calculated on a DPS value that is separate from your weapon's base DPS value. The mutation DPS increases by 15% for each of the scrolls that you have for the colour of that particular mutation. These are:
The 'scaling from scrolls' approach was chosen during the Foundry Update way back in December 2017, because it’s very similar to the way that weapon damage is displayed and scaled. However, the damage increases that you get from a weapon’s level, quality & affixes are all calculated through percentages. This makes damage mutations much less effective the further you get into the game.
This is because as the weapon level & quality increase, their contribution to total damage rises while the mutation's stays the same. You also get more affixes with higher quality weapons which only increases the gap, leaving the mutation's effect in the dust.
If all that sounded like complete waffle, we can illustrate it with a rough example of the Combo mutation {+160 DPS for 8 seconds after killing an enemy} on the Frantic Sword in BC0.
The effect of the Combo mutation on Frantic Sword I is this:
While, the effect of the Combo mutation on Frantic Sword VIII is this:
Now for argument's sake let's look at the Frantic Sword with a +100% damage on poison affix instead.
Frantic Sword I:
Frantic Sword VIII:
So, currently the damage increase from DPS based mutations diminishes with each increase in weapon level or quality. But the other contributors to weapon damage are based on percentages of the weapon's base DPS, so their effects are preserved at higher weapon levels.
[h3]THE FIX[/h3]
Since we don’t see any reasons for handicapping damage mutations, we’re going to move the relevant mutations from their current DPS system to a percentage-based one. This will let them scale just like the other weapon multipliers, so they don't lose their effect as your weapons improve. Wooo equality!
We haven't settled on exact % figures for each mutation yet, but we'll adjust it to make sure they're a real benefit to pick up, giving you a dilemma over which mutation you want to choose for your build every time.
This change will make damage mutations relevant at all Boss Cell levels and their effects will be much clearer to you as a player. We're hoping this will encourage a wider use of the current mutation roster, opening up more builds and strategies to experiment with.
More updates to come soon!
Thanks,
Matt, EE and MT
Official Discord Official Reddit Motion Twin Twitter Dead Cells' Facebook
Community Highlights:
@okajamira
@GarbageWormboy
Hope everyone's good! Last week we mentioned that Update 19 will be making some meaty changes to some of Dead Cells’ underlying mechanics.
Some mutations have been mentioned as a bit of a non-starter once you're at higher levels, so we want to address this and make sure all the mutation choices have a significant impact on your run.
So, to start with we’re going to give damage mutations a bit more OOMPH to open up your mutation options. To do this we'll be changing their effect from DPS-based to percentage-based.
We know that sounds a little bit dry, so if you're not up for some Dead Cells maths right now you can check out this TLDR:
- At the moment, damage mutations increase a weapon's DPS based on the number of scrolls you have of that mutation's colour.
- Damage from the mutations is calculated from a base DPS value separate from the weapon's DPS value. e.g. Combo gives +160 base DPS for 8 seconds after a kill.
- Weapon level, quality and affixes increase a weapon's DPS based purely on multiplying the weapon's base DPS by percentages.
- This results in mutations contributing less and less to total weapon damage as the weapon level/quality increases.
- To solve this. we will be changing the calculation for damage mutations from a DPS value to a percentage of weapon damage - preventing their impact on total DPS from dropping as weapon level/quality increases.
[h3]THE SITUATION [/h3]
At the moment, the damage from mutations is calculated on a DPS value that is separate from your weapon's base DPS value. The mutation DPS increases by 15% for each of the scrolls that you have for the colour of that particular mutation. These are:
- Combo (Red/Brutality)
- Vengeance (Red/Brutality)
- Tainted Flask (Red/Brutality)
- Support (Purple/Tactics)
- Tranquility (Purple/Tactics)
- Extended Healing (Green/Survival)
- Gastronomy (Green/Survival)
The 'scaling from scrolls' approach was chosen during the Foundry Update way back in December 2017, because it’s very similar to the way that weapon damage is displayed and scaled. However, the damage increases that you get from a weapon’s level, quality & affixes are all calculated through percentages. This makes damage mutations much less effective the further you get into the game.
This is because as the weapon level & quality increase, their contribution to total damage rises while the mutation's stays the same. You also get more affixes with higher quality weapons which only increases the gap, leaving the mutation's effect in the dust.
If all that sounded like complete waffle, we can illustrate it with a rough example of the Combo mutation {+160 DPS for 8 seconds after killing an enemy} on the Frantic Sword in BC0.
The effect of the Combo mutation on Frantic Sword I is this:
- 137 base DPS
- Combo mutation = 137 + 160 DPS = 297 DPS - a 116% damage increase
While, the effect of the Combo mutation on Frantic Sword VIII is this:
- 137 base DPS
- 100% damage bonus = 275 base DPS
- Combo mutation = 275 + 160 DPS = 435 DPS - a 58% damage increase
Now for argument's sake let's look at the Frantic Sword with a +100% damage on poison affix instead.
Frantic Sword I:
- 137 base DPS
- +100% damage on poison = 137 + 137 DPS = 274 DPS - a 100% damage increase
Frantic Sword VIII:
- 137 base DPS
- 100% damage bonus = 275 base DPS
- +100% damage on poison = 275 + 275 DPS = 550 DPS - a 100% damage increase
So, currently the damage increase from DPS based mutations diminishes with each increase in weapon level or quality. But the other contributors to weapon damage are based on percentages of the weapon's base DPS, so their effects are preserved at higher weapon levels.
[h3]THE FIX[/h3]
Since we don’t see any reasons for handicapping damage mutations, we’re going to move the relevant mutations from their current DPS system to a percentage-based one. This will let them scale just like the other weapon multipliers, so they don't lose their effect as your weapons improve. Wooo equality!
We haven't settled on exact % figures for each mutation yet, but we'll adjust it to make sure they're a real benefit to pick up, giving you a dilemma over which mutation you want to choose for your build every time.
This change will make damage mutations relevant at all Boss Cell levels and their effects will be much clearer to you as a player. We're hoping this will encourage a wider use of the current mutation roster, opening up more builds and strategies to experiment with.
More updates to come soon!
Thanks,
Matt, EE and MT
Official Discord Official Reddit Motion Twin Twitter Dead Cells' Facebook
Community Highlights:
@okajamira
@GarbageWormboy