Cross of Auria News

It has come to my attention that there are not enough essences floating around in the ecosystem. Here's a temporary fix for that - an enemy you can beat on! The squishy fella doesn't do so much in the way of fighting back, but if you use your elemental skills on him, you'll surely beat the essence-stuffing right out of him! Each element caps out at 5 hits for maximum effectiveness, but each battle can only run for ~10 turns before his barrier gives out.
Each victory rewards 2 Essence of Life and 2 Essence of Magick, plus up to 5 conditional elemental essences dependent on how many times he's been struck with that element before the battle ends. This effectively marks the first time Thunderous, Midnight, and Daylight essences can be obtained and stockpiled for later.

I originally planned to hold this update back until some more stuff was finished, but the bug with the old Halloween event needed to be addressed immediately. Full notes below.

The next update may take a while longer to release. For more pre-release insight, join us on Discord @ https://discord.gg/Ur4GdaKxPD and make sure to select the CoA role on your way in!


6.8.1.1 [Build #179, Release Date: May 13, 2025] Event:
- A new event is running in the Veil until June - The Essence of Essences! Challenge this enemy as many times as you like and beat the essences out of it!
Fixes:
- Fixed the boss encounter in the 2021 Halloween event which did not properly trigger. It is unknown how long this bug existed as it was never reported.
Updates & Changes:
- "Elite" enemies now reference the 2nd generation character sheets, but have +5 to all stats and give 2x "group" exp. "Boss" enemies now reference 2nd gen sheets, but have +10 to all stats and give 2x "single" exp. This only affects future changes and new creations and is not applied retroactively.
- Snowdrift Village DLC enemies have been scaled down to level 20, from 20-45. It should now be possible to collect the Frostslayer class during the events of the Orc War.
- Snowdrift Village, both DLC and non, now exits to the "Snowdrift Area". Access to Snowdrift Village requires travel through the Snowdrift Area.
- Adjusted the way Halloween event 2020 and 2021 process victories and escapes, hopefully leading to less double encounters from the same visible field unit.
Skill & Mastery Effects:
- Halloween event skills now require 10 uses to level up consistent through all 10 levels.
Notes, Known Issues & Other:
- Removed leftover Battlefront maps from the game files.
- Removed 67 "Timelost Zone" map files from the game data that were originally noted in patch 6.6 on Jan 2, 2025. Any remaining transfers to these defunct zones will cause game crashes - please report them immediately!
- Removed 7 additional unused maps.

Let me tell you a quick story about my time developing this update. I started at level 20 - the minimum required level to pick up The Orcs of Lvell quest from Captain Reynolds in Port Reception. I designed the encounters while testing them, picking up from where I had left off months ago. The first segment took me a solid 40 minutes, but to make sure everything was functional - I could not have save points along the way. The second segment, having more moving parts and crazy battles, took another 30-40. I did this at least 15 times, starting from the very beginning at Quest accept every time. Then I got sidetracked on the concept of the update earlier this week - introducing a legendary scythe. So I spent hours and hours fine tuning that and making sure it worked. But I made the boss too difficult. So I had to ask myself if the enhanced difficulty was a bad thing, or should I just gear up to fight it. So I geared up. For close to 6 in game hours, I completed the entire Hall of Challengers and picked up several Rift An'ura weapons from the Colosseum. With these in hand, I completed the Scythe requirements, moved on to the new Orcs of Lvell story and knocked it right out of the park.

I tell you all this to highlight something I didn't consider would ever happen with Cross of Auria - the difference in preparation for me between level 20 to level 25 plus the Challenger gear and legendary scythe turned what was originally an hour and a half update to the story down to nearly 15 minutes.

For the first time ever in CoA, this update delivers you a new challenge that is difficult but able to be overcome at lower levels and really shines when you've done adequate side content.

The Orcs of Lvell quest isn't the only thing rolling out today. I've finally created a use for Dojo Cerberus in Lvell - Class Trials! Effective immediately, after day 1 and before the start of the Orc War, level 15 class trials are available for White Mage, Black Mage, Swordsman, Knight, and Pyromancer - allowing you to try them out before committing to leveling them! Oh, and conditions for obtaining Pyromancer are now baked in! They are incredibly steep but for this class in particular, a story event will grant this class in one of the next few segments to be released.

Speaking of class trials, for players who have not downloaded Eyes in the Frost (which you should, it's free), Snowdrift Village hosts a single class trial for the Frostslayer class. I won't cover too much about what that class has today - the important part is the Ice-Killer element typing, which does reduced damage to most elemental enemies but 2x damage to Ice enemies.

The important thing about classes is... you keep the skills, magic, specials, and everything else even when you change back to your main class!

Finally, this patch includes a finalization of all tiered elemental abilities (Firebolt, Firebolt II, etc) as it relates to their Learn requirements and Mastery effect. Because this is a brand new introduction, the specifics are not saved in the patch notes at the bottom of this post, but the general ideal is as follows:
Reference info: Firebolt I = Tier 1 Stage 1, Lava Burst II = Tier 3 Stage 2
- Tier 1 Elemental abilities now require 10 Essence of Life & 10 Essence of Magick, + 10 of the related elemental essence to be learned when available from the Skill/Class Learn Skill screen.
- Every additional stage per tier requires 5 extra elemental essences, plus a character level of +5 to learn.
- Tier 2 abilities require 20 Essence of Life & Magick, and Tier 3 require 30 of each.-
- Learn costs can be avoided by using skill guides or leveling classes to the point where they would learn these abilities naturally. The learn cost effectively exists to allow you to get higher potency skills earlier.
- ALL elemental abilities affected by the above changes also now have a maximum mastery level of 10 with the mastery effect of -1 MP / -1 TP / +25 Damage per level.

So, let's show a brief overview of tiers and stages for abilities.
Tier & Stage Differences
Emberstrike I: 15MP/30TP
Emberstrike II: 10MP/20TP/1CD
Emberstrike III: 5MP/10TP/2CD
As the STAGES increase, the cost to use is reduced and the cooldown increases. The damage output however is the same across all three stages.
Flamestrike I: 30MP/50TP/STRIKES TWICE
Flamestrike II: 20MP/35TP/1CD/STRIKES TWICE
Flamestrike III: 10MP/20TP/2CD/STRIKES TWICE
As the TIERS increase, the number of hits increases with no loss to the damage per hit. This effectively makes Flamestrike I by default exactly twice as powerful as Emberstrike I.
Lavastrike I: 50MP/70TP/STRIKES 3X
Lavastrike II: 35MP/50TP/1CD/STRIKES 3X
Lavastrike III: 20MP/30TP/2CD/STRIKES 3X
Lavastrike III (Level 10): 10MP/20TP/2CD/STRIKES 3X/+250DMG per strike
At max level (where levels are earned by usage), abilities can do more damage or cost less to use depending on what their Mastery perks are. In this case, all elemental skills that follow a 3 tier 3 stage format have level 10 max, -1TP/-1MP/+25damage per mastery level! Elemental magick on the other hand has the same level cap, but has -1MP/+50damage per mastery level.

Without further ado...

6.8.1.0 [Build #178, Release Date: May 4, 2025] New:
- It is now possible to accept and complete a new quest - The Orcs of Lvell!
- In Snowdrift Village, the Frostslayer class is available for non-DLC owners for a brief trial battle.
- Dojo Cerberus is now available before the events of the Orc War to offer level 15 class trials for White Mage, Black Mage, Knight, Swordsman, and Pyromancer.
Fixes:
- Fireball II, Fireball III, Lava Burst, Lava Burst II, Lava Burst III now strike the correct amount of times.
Skill & Mastery Effects:
- Finalization of Elemental skills is now effective, with permanent learn costs, required levels, and required learned skills.
- Hailstorm: Level 10, -1MP/-1TP/+100dmg per level.
- Blizzard: Level 10, -1MP/-1TP/+100dmg per level.
- Eruption line: Level 10, -2MP/+250dmg per level.
- Waterfall line: Level 10, -1MP/+200dmg per level
- Icefall line: Level 10, -2MP/+33%dmg per level
- Swarm: Level 10, +33 dmg per level.
- Gust: Level 10, +25dmg per level.
- Psycho Shield: Level 10, -1MP per level.
- Elemental II skills & magic now have a 1 turn cooldown.
- Elemental III skills & magic now have a 2 turn cooldown.
- All elemental skills (except electric): Level 10, -1MP/-1TP/+25dmg per level.
- Snakelashing: Level 10, -1TP/+100dmg per level.
- All elemental magic (except electric): Level 10, -1MP/+50dmg per level.
- Freeze: Level 10, -1MP cost per level, cooldown 3.
- Shatter: Level 10, -1TP/+125dmg per level, warmup 1, cooldown 3.
- Infect: Level 5, +250dmg per level, cooldown 2.
- Spark Storm: Level 10, -1MP/+50dmg per level, cooldown 2.
- Arcane Cannon: Level 10, -1TP/-1MP per level.
- Arcstorm/Thunderstorm: Level 10, -1MP/+250dmg per level, warmup 2, cooldown 5.
- Barricade, Spellshield, Resurrection, Avoidance: Level 0.
- Curse: Level 10, +5%dmg/-1MP per level.
- Magick Siphon: Level 10, +20%dmg/-1TP per level.
- Backstab: Level 10, +10%dmg per level, reduced level 0 damage output.
- Knife Twist: Level 20, +33%dmg/-1TP per level, cooldown 3.
Notes, Known Issues & Other:
- A quest is added to your Quest Log after The Orcs of Lvell is completed, but its details are unfinished pending a future update. The addition of the quest to the log now will make it easier in the future update to process what to do next without requiring a vague NPC interaction.

The Orc War is almost ready to go through Lvell. During playtests, I came across some glaring issues that needed to be addressed first. Much of the patch notes below were intended to roll out alongside the OW progress, but some bug cleanup (challenger #4, soulbroken, some other undocumented things) required this go out immediately.

The first legendary scythe has appeared!
Since this is a brand new addition to the game I'll give you two hints:
- Quest starts in Den An'ura
- Eurus is required to start it.
This new weapon has 66 attack, 666 HP, and +6 to all other stats. Plus, normal attacks hit twice, there's a chance for Act Twice (or more), and it has a flat 6% barrier penetration. In addition to all those good things, it has a minor chance to apply any of the following: Blind, Silence, Slow, Disable, Soulbroken, Fear, Bleed, Poison, Reave, -MP, -TP, & Warp I. Finally, it has a greater than average accuracy for a weapon of its type. If you're one of the lucky ones to complete the quest all the way through - let me know! More importantly, if you get stuck on any part of it - definitely also let me know here in the responses or in the bug reports channel on Discord @ https://discord.gg/Ur4GdaKxPD

I am aiming to launch 6.8.1 (The Orcs of Lvell) by Sunday, but bugs and other issues may continue to push that back. I've learned from my mistakes in the past - I can't roll out an update until I know it works, otherwise helping players recover previous world states is a massive time consuming headache for everyone.


6.8.0.11 [Build #176, Release Date: May 1, 2025] New:
- A new schematic can be found in Den An'ura given the right conditions! The requirements for fulfilling the schematic are extensive but worthwhile!
Fixes:
- Soulbroken now correctly increases weakness to Soul attacks by 33% instead of reducing them by 67%.
Updates & Changes:
- Updated icon color and types for various potions.
- Minor terrain change to Den An'ura to allow access to a new early-game forging station.
- Prime Shot now has max mastery level of 20 and grants +5 damage per level.
- Rapid Shot now correctly fires three arrows, has reduced chance to apply equipment states, has a reduced overall damage formula, but has Piercing.
- Adjusted the Lucky Strike visual for ranged characters and damage formula.
- Removed "Electric Alignment" from Sparkstrike, Lightningstrike, and Bolt Cutter tooltips. The effect itself remains active. Increased max mastery level of these skills by 5 and removed the flat damage mastery effect.
- Removed #-Hit and scope from most skill tooltips in favor of more important data.
- Removed "Synergy" from skill tooltips.
- Thermite Grenade, Frost Bomb, and Sludge Bomb now have piercing and the same damage formula as other tier 1 bomb skills.
- Removed redundant Poison tooltips. A skill that can apply poison (the state) is nearly always poison-type, unless otherwise specified.
- Reduced the Bleed chance of Insatiable Ravager to 33% per hit. Added 20 to its action speed.
- Craft now costs 10 TP, down from 100.
- Changed the 4th encounter in the Hall of Challengers.
Skill Mastery Effects:
- Expose Weakness: Level 10, +10% damage per level.
- Cyclone: Level 10, -2 TP per level.
- Cleave/Cleave+: Level 10, +25 damage per level.
- Crush Armor: Level 10, +10 damage per level, -2 TP per level.
- Battle Shout/Bulk Up/Ferocious Shout: Level 5, -1 MP per level.
- Swing/Rockbreaker: Level 10, +20% damage per level.
- Bloodthirst: Level 5, -1 TP per level.
- Insatiable Ravager: Level 10, +20% damage per level, -1 TP per level.
- Sap/Sticky Slap/Craft: Level 0
- Smoke Blast/Suppression Blast/Thermite Blast/Frost Blast/Sludge Blast: Level 10, +5% damage per level.
- Cut/Slash: Level 10, +30 damage per level.
- Warp/Cutter/Warpstrike/Warpspark/Warpblade: Level 10, +10% damage per level.
- Double Strike/Triple Strike: Level 10, +12% damage per level, -1 TP per level. Custom use requirement: level *20.
- Sparkshield: Level 10, -1MP/-2TP per level.
- Tail Slash: Level 10, +20% damage per level.
- Wicked Strike: Level 5, +500 damage per level, custom use requirement: level * 50.
- Fury Strikes/Blitz/Uppercut/Arcane Missile: Level 50, +20 Damage per level.
- Thunderstorm/Arcstorm: Level 10, -1 MP/+20% damage per level.
- Shoot/Arcane Shot/Rapid Shot/Volley Shot/Multi-Shot/Impact Shot/Poison Shot/Fire Shot/Ignition Shot/Lifelink Shot/Barrage/Beast Shot: Level 10, +10% damage per level.

I talked a lot in the previous few posts this week, so I'll keep this one as short as I can.

This patch sets up the background information for the Orc War to continue through Lvell. All of the data for the Lvell event is coded into the game, just not yet accessible pending final tests on the live branch with this patch.

Before reading the patch notes, how about some helpful hints!

Did you know that there's another character you can add to your team? Find him by exploring the Encampment area of Den An'ura!

There's a reason that electric power is displayed on the save screen. Has yours gotten high enough to figure it out?

During early development when I allowed viewers to redeem channel points on Twitch to add things to the game, tons of data for enemies was added and then they were hidden throughout the four kingdoms! Have you found Scorpio's Pupil in the Nexus Waterway? How about the recently added Scorpio's Image? Cleave wasn't always this easy to upgrade, you know...

The veil is effectively a mechanics playground. After testing, events will be adjusted then scattered into the real world. Ex: Snowdrift Village (formerly Yuelslain's Village) now appears on the World Map, but is not yet accessible directly.

6.8.0.10 [Build #175, Release Date: April 26, 2025] New:
- You can now rename the snake pet via the Shimmering Crystal key item.
- The treasure chest after acquiring Ares now contains a Recipe Book for creating Green Insect Weapon Parts and Green Insect Armor Parts more easily from the Crafting menu. These schematics and item activated combinations were left over from before Cross of Auria utilized the Crafting menu, but can't be removed due to overall functionality.

Fixes:
- Repaired the visual interaction during the Resurrection I discovery quest.
- Fixed an issue and added a debug for the Energy Bow during Search for the Strongest. This global debug will be removed in ~1month to allow players time to access it. It is accessed automatically upon opening the game if the requirements are met.

Updates & Changes:
- Changed spawn/despawn method for worldspawn Orcs.
- Sparkstrike, Lightningstrike, and Bolt Cutter no longer add equipment states to attacks.
- Adjusted tooltip for Galebrand.
- Lightning Rage now has a max mastery of 50 and reduces TP cost by 1 per level.
- If Ruby is under level 15 when trying to initiate the push into Lvell, Captain Reynolds will mention the orc battlegroup in Alpha Ruins. This event is not tied to any quest and is missable if the Orc War ends before they are encountered.
- Cure, Regeneration, Remedy, First Aid, and Stitch no longer require specific weapon types equipped to be cast.
- Arcane, Energy, Flame, and Frost Shock now cost 0 MP / 0 TP, have max mastery level of 10, grant 10% damage per level, generate 10 TP per hit, and have a 1 turn cooldown. Tier 2 and 3 Shock spells have a 1 turn increased cooldown per tier.
- Removed level display from Vine Snappers and upgraded them to 2nd gen character sheets with +2 levels. This change reduces the three headed variant's HP by ~8000.
- Adjusted dialogue from the An'ura Researcher in Port Reception to be conditional on the Ares right.
- Additionally adjusted the dialogue to make more sense.
- Short Sticks no longer respawn near Ares.
- Removed the additional Insecticide Quiver.
- Barricade, Spellshield, and Resurrection are now considered Magick.
- Adjusted disassembly pool for some low level armor, including those which could be disassembled but the pool was empty.
- Added Leather Strips to many disassembly pools.

Notes, Known Issues & Other:
- We are on the whole abandoning the concept of required equipped weapon to use certain spells. There is not enough room in ability tooltips to include all the special things about them, and "Requires: Wands" for example is just too many extra letters to add.
- The issue behind the Arcane Shock II cooldown has been discovered, so I reverted MP/TP cost/generation changes to those spells. However, all tier 1 shocks now have a 1 turn CD.

So far this week after 6.800 rolled out, I've been making rapid fire edits to mitigate the damage done by the loss of the ArmorScaling plugin. This mostly includes direct changes to damage formulas to enemy skills. Below are all patch notes from the updates this week, separated by launch group.

Here are the key notes so far:
- Enemies on the whole are more difficult to defeat & Piercing skills are necessary.
- Leveling up certain skills via repeat usage is critical for mid to late game success.
- Weird scenarios might happen due to the addition of the Snake Pet.
- Colosseum and Veil event difficulty is exponential due to the armorscaling change. It'll be a few more days before I can get to downscaling those (if necessary).
- Not everything is currently functioning as intended. Ex: Eurus in Singlehand Stance can cast Arcane Shock II without a cooldown, in spite of it explicitly having a cooldown programmed in the back end. When the dust settles, I'm going to have to adjust based on what's possible rather than what was originally intended.
- More rapid fire changes are to come, and I likely won't post an update here on Steam about what they are until Sunday. If you want updates before then, join us on Discord and select the option for CoA in the roles channel - https://discord.gg/Ur4GdaKxPD

6.8.0.8 [Build #173, Release Date: April 23, 2025] Fixes:
- Fixed the tiles in Black Forest responsible for re-adding SnakePet to the party.
- Fixed a broken interaction at the Inn due to the new Snake pet.
Updates & Changes:
- Additional damage added to Throw.
- Updated Werewolf, Oros Scout, Snowball, Eyes of Ullr, Ice Construct, Yeti, Froomba, Spawn of Ullr, and Snowman to 2nd generation character sheets.
- Market Town vendor no longer sells Mech Blades after quest is completed and 10x increase to item price before that.
- Changed Blitz damage formula.
- Additional damage per level for Uppercut.
- Additional damage per level for Arcane Shock & Arcane Shock II.
- Additional damage and percentage damage per level for Sparkstrike line skills. Increased mastery to 20.
- Increased Tail Strike mastery to 10, changed EXP required to level it.
- Minor changes to group Inn scene dialogue and Veil 3 autoplay functionality.
- Added a separate quest indicating to spend the night at the Inn on the Castle Grounds North exit tile with an additional parallel debug on the world map for players who missed it. This quest does not pop up prompt, but will appear in the quest log under both of those conditions. Additionally, if this part of the game has already been passed, it will add to the quest log and mark itself completed from the world map.

6.8.0.6 [Build #172, Release Date: April 22, 2025] Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where Quest 204 would not properly add to the Quest Log (RF: A1).
- Fixed an issue where the exit tile of Alpha Ruins would lead to a Timelost version of Black Forest.
Updates & Changes:
- Adjusted the Toxic Crystal fieldspawn unit.
- Adjusted the damage formula for Bloodfeast (werewolf attack).
Notes, Known Issues & Other:
- Due to the changes with ArmorScaling, the game starts to build up a "desire to crash", which will ultimately result in a game crash if you continue to play without restarting the exe. Estimated time from first notice of laggy interaction to crash is roughly 1 hour.

6.8.0.5 [Build #171, Release Date: April 22, 2025] Updates & Changes:
- Added a new custom status for the Scarlet Boss battle to adjust for the Armor Scaling change.
- Removed Piercing from Sparkstrike, Lightningstrike, Bolt Cutter.
- Blitz now has +2 Damage Per Level & +3% Damage Per Level, with a level cap of 50.
- Fixed An'ura Mantis attack animation.
- Absorb now pierces 20.
- Flame Titan gains +2 MDF, +1 MAT, -3 LUK.

[6.804] - Fixed a pathing issue in Passage 5 to reconnect it to the main section of Nexus Waterway as part of the Shoreline/Port Reception opional questline.
[6.804-1] - Fixed the turn in step of the above quest.

6.8.0.3 [Build #169, Release Date: April 21, 2025] Updates & Changes:
- Updated Disassembly Pool for several low level weapons. This change is only reflected in newly acquired gear. Previously obtained gear retains the previous Disassembly Pool.
- Ankleblazer, Spiderling & Molten Bubble (Scarlet Group) +3 LV.
- Scarlet Toad, Scarlet Bull, Living Flame, Scarlet Lava Spawn, Moomba, Scarlet Gazer, Egg, & Drahkin (Scarlet Group) +4 LV.
- Toxic Slime, Toxic Gazer, Toxic Bubble, Frostbrood Slime, Frostbrood Gazer, Frostbrood Bubble, Gazer, Weed, Frosty Slime, Icy Gazer, Frozen Bubble (Frostbrood Group) +4 LV.
- Ankleblazer, Molten Bubble, Scarlet Toad, Scarlet Bull, Living Flame, Scarlet Lava Spawn, Moomba, Scarlet Gazer and Golem now correctly have fire-type defenses according to the type resistances chart. Golem and Scarlet Lava Spawn take additional damage beyond that from Electric attacks.
- Mend now has a maximum mastery level of 5, reduces MP cost by 1 per level, increases healing output by a fixed value of 25 per level, and has increased priority in the turn order. However, it can no longer be used out of combat. The MP Cost reduction per level may not function on current save files, but an event later in the game addresses this.
- Sparkstrike line skills now have Piercing in response to the Golem battle. This may be changed at a later date with a different fix.

6.8.0.2 [Build #168, Release Date: April 21, 2025] Updates & Changes:
- Fury Strikes now grants +5 Damage Per Level.
- Seahorse, Rock Crawler, Seagull, Spidercrab, & Urchin (Shoreline group) +3 LV.
- Slimeye & Rat (Worldspawn group) +2 LV.
- Adjusted text for Escape Start and Escape Failure.
- Minor exterior changes to The Phoenix Ash.
- Minor exterior changes to Cafe Lvellan.
- Minor interior changes to the Elcott Mansion.
- Cockatrice Minion +3 LV.
- Cockatrice Menace +4 LV.

6.801 [Build #167, Release Date: April 20, 2025] Updates & Changes:
The change to ArmorScaling made An'ura and other low level units too easy to kill and be too little of a threat to the party, so some skills have been adjusted.
- Shot now pierces 7.
- Cut now pierces 50.
- Slash now pierces 25.
- Chop now pierces 10.
- Poison Chop now pierces 10.
- Wing Slap now pierces 6.
- Ground Smash now pierces 10.
- An'ura Warrior, Archer, Knight, Seraph, Brute, and Hive Mind all gain +1 Attack & +1 M.Attack.
- Slice now has Piercing.
- Lvell Gazers leveled up to 3 with custom stats.
- Curious Bats updated to 2nd Gen stat sheets and have Level + 3.
- Bite now pierces 5.