Predecessor News

◆ Resolved an issue that prevented new skins from showing.

Patch releasing May 30th, 2023.

Heya Champions! o/

The V0.7.2 balance patch is just around the corner and it is shaping up to be BIG. We also hope that it’ll mark the beginning of the end of our focussed efforts to tackle Time To Kill (TTK) improvements in Predecessor. As a reminder, our goal is to create a mid-late game environment that promotes more back and forth gameplay, more tense fights and most importantly, more rewarding counterplay.

The largest part of this process is of course, fiddling with the base stats of our Heroes. A lot of our Heroes have fairly varied base stats that were once fitting, but due to the changes we’ve made throughout Early Access are now no longer suitable. Generally speaking we’ll be looking to make most Heroes more durable, even in the early game, largely due to Crest sustain decreasing in the previous update meaning that damage now sticks better. However a couple heroes will be made a little squishier for certain cases and we’ll explain this reasoning case by case.

Next up, items are also getting a big check up. Lots of passives are losing additional tack-on effects that end up contributing heavily to shorter TTK scenarios due to overloaded effects. Most of these are being trimmed off, reduced or reworked.

Finally, as stated, a few items are also getting reworked to allow Tanks to provide a more utility-focused and durable role within a team, whilst providing options to more players to deal with those Tanks with particular itemisation. Now that Tanks have their new fun Crests to play with, we want their usual items to reflect a similar behaviour. As such we’re trimming their damage, haste, and natural use cases to provide more durable and utility-oriented effects.

Upcoming patches may look to make adjustments to the changes brought about in this patch as we continue to revise and hone our balance and design towards our original goal, so expect reaction based changes rather than a new goal or purpose over the next few weeks.

- Bloodmordius, Senior Game Designer

This week's list of changes is so long that it exceeds the character count limit for Steam blogs. Please click here to view the full patch notes over on our website.

◆ Resolved an issue that replaced important and useful text with [SPANISH]???

Patch releasing 13.00 BST May 16th, 2023.

Greetings Champions! It’s time to talk about Content Update V0.7!

As the thick fog clears around a wrathful Forest, Morigesh is revealed as the next Hero joining the Predecessor roster!

We’re practically buzzing to talk about this deadly force of nature, but first we want to go into more detail about those oft-mentioned TTK changes we’ve been promising.

V0.7 represents the first half of the large sweeping changes we’re making to fully address the TTK (Time To Kill) issues we’ve identified in Predecessor. Specifically, this week we’re resting our sights on Crests, Minion Towers and XP issues. These can all be tackled separately and should serve to lay a stronger foundation for the upcoming 0.7.X Balancing Patch that will dive deeper into Hero base stats, Abilities and Items. It’s important that we make those changes in tandem, otherwise we risk creating some rather harsh imbalances.

For now our first goal is to decrease Crest sustain and lower their overall stats. This will allow us to create a Laning environment where committing to your abilities when trading feels more meaningful, as damage will carry more significance and force opponents to return to base more often. It will also allow us to provide more base durability, making it harder for Heroes to take each other out in the early stages of the game when they commit to those all-in pushes. Lastly it also allows us to decrease Minion damage to Heroes as there will be less natural sustain to mitigate it. With these changes we’ll be taking the opportunity to rework some T3 Crests to help provide more exciting Power Fantasies for you all to enjoy.

After this we have changes to our XP gains from objectives. We’ll mostly be shifting away from global XP sources so that leads achieved on one side of the map don’t tip the balance on the other side. It can feel really unfair for a player to be winning their lane, but global XP sources catch their opponent up in spite of their efforts. This is a leading cause of team snowballing and how objectives can snowball into each other.

Finally, we’re also taking the opportunity to review our last new Hero, Phase, after lots of valuable community feedback. Her kit struggles a lot due to her former identity and legacy from Paragon, having had tools that incentivised a backline-heavy playstyle that was often quite non-interactive. Right now it’s beyond our scope and capacity to rework her playstyle into a more close-range one as it would require heavier revisions to all elements of her kit holistically. Instead we’ll be repositioning Phase into more of an enchanter role, hoping to carve out a strong identity as a Hero that can rescue her teammates from crucial mistakes.

- Bloodmordius, Senior Game Designer




Morigesh emerges from the eerie swamp!



Grab your insect repellent Champions, Morgiesh arrives from the swamp to join the Predecessor roster! 

This fierce force of the forest has been added to the Early Access bundles, meaning she’ll be unlocked for free, for everyone, immediately.



[h2]ABILITIES:[/h2]

[h3]Pestilence [Passive]:[/h3]
Effect: Morigesh's damaging abilities apply Pestilence for 3s, dealing 0.5% (+0.15% per 75 Magical Power) of the target's maximum health as magical damage every 0.5s.
Subsequent damaging abilities against a target affected by Pestilence will refresh the duration and spread the effect to nearby enemy targets.

[h3]Dagger [Basic Attack] [LMB]:[/h3]
Ranged basic attack dealing physical damage.

Hive [Primary Ability] [Q]:
Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10
Cost: 80/85/90/95/100
Effect: Morigesh throws a hive of insects that explodes dealing 60/105/150/195/240 (+45% Magical Power) magical damage.
Damaging a Marked Enemy Target slows them by 20% for 3s.

[h3]Swarm [Secondary Ability] [E]:[/h3]
Cooldown: 16/15/14/13/12
Cost: 50/60/70/80/90
Effect: Become the swarm, gaining 20% movespeed for 3s. Passing through Enemy Targets deals 80/115/150/185/220 (+60% Magical Power) magical damage and restores 5/10/15/20/25 (+5% Magical Power) health.
Passing through a Marked Enemy Target restores 8x more health.

[h3]Mark [Alternate Ability] [RMB]:[/h3]
Cooldown: 6/5.5/5/4.5/4
Cost: 50/60/70/80/90
Effect: Select an enemy hero to deal 70/105/140/175/210 (+45% Magical Power) magical damage and transform your Voodoo Doll into their image.
Abilities have additional effects vs your Marked Target and they may be targeted by Curse.

[h3]Curse [Ultimate Ability] [R]:[/h3]
Cooldown: 120/100/80
Cost: 100
Effect: After a brief channel, summon a horde of insects to stab the Marked target, dealing 250/400/550 (+75% Magical Power) magical damage.
The Mark is removed upon casting this ability.


[h2]TUTORIAL MODE[/h2]

Alongside Morigesh, we’re excited to introduce the Tutorial feature in this update, marking our commitment to improving the onboarding experience for new players. This feature plays a vital role in helping new players familiarize themselves with the core and fundamental gameplay elements they need to succeed in Predecessor. Upon launching the game, some new players will be dropped directly into the Tutorial, where they will be guided through core mechanics; including Abilities, Experience, Leveling Up, Gold, Minions, Towers, Enemy Heroes, and the overall goal of the game. The Tutorial can be revisited repeatedly and accessed by everyone from the Game Mode menu.

It's important to note that this initial implementation of the Tutorial focuses on providing a solid foundation of knowledge. While it covers many essential elements, there is still much more to be learned by playing through Predecessor. We are committed to supporting new players with additional tutorials and onboarding features in the future to help address more advanced gameplay.


[h2]NEW SKINS[/h2]

More skins are hitting the store including an Omeda Studios-original Corporate Enforcer Lt. Belica!
◆ Inner Fire Feng Mao [Common]
◆ Corporate Enforcer Lt. Belica [Rare]
◆ Dark Heart Morigesh [Rare]



[h2]OTHER IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]
◆ Improved various Map collisions and made a number of minor visual improvements.
◆ Made improvements to Map/Ward logic.
◆ Replay Mode - Players can now use number keys to snap the Chase Camera to specific heroes. 
◆ Replay Mode - Players can now click on specific Hero portraits to snap the Chase Camera to said hero.
◆ Replay Mode - Added a sphere of non-essential terrain deletion around the camera.
◆ Replay Mode - Various control fixes.
◆ Heroes can no longer attack after the core has been destroyed.
◆ AI Heroes are now correctly blinded by Phase Psychic Flare.





Kicking things off with Phase, we’re looking to increase the value of linking to your allied target by providing a scaling, more substantial power buff that benefits all Heroes. We’ll also be increasing her early game durability to help out her weaker laning phase. Her passive will also be reworked to better place her in the Enchanter playstyle. We know some players are worried about the implications of Phase having access to healing again due to her performance in Paragon, however we feel that we have substantial checks and balances in place to prevent abusive interactions, and will be monitoring it carefully. To start with, healing will not be based on her own health regeneration, as this can reach vastly different levels of impact based on item effects that can create hard-to-balance scenarios whilst making it still feel impactful without those interactions. Lastly we’ll be shifting the healing away from her ultimate ability and granting Haste instead. This should make the ultimate vastly superior when cast with a linked Mage. These changes should help reinforce Phase as a one-on-one protector with powerful single target heals and enhancements, whilst still lacking team wide effects. This will make her a powerful laner and skirmisher without having her outshineother supports in teamfights.

General:
◆ Base Health increased from 550 to 595.
◆ Health Growth decreased from 100 to 94.

Essence Catalyst [Passive]:
◆ Casting an Ability restores 20 (+8 per level)(+10% Magical Power) health over 3s. Linked allies receive the same healing. This effect does not stack.

Telekinetic Link [RMB]:
◆ When tethered to an Allied Hero, you and they both gain + 6/7/8/9/10% increased Physical Power and Magical Power.

Energy Lance [E]:
◆ [QOL] Time to start firing the beam decreased by 43%.
◆ [QOL] Can now be cancelled as soon as the beam spawns (0.6s instead of 1.9s).
◆ Now allows Phase to hover for the duration.

Hyperflux [R]:
◆ Omnivamp removed.
◆ Attack Speed decreased from 60/90/120 to 50/75/100
◆ Grants 30/50/70 Ability Haste for the duration.
◆ Movement Speed changed from 10/15/20% to 25%.
◆ Movement Speed now decays over the duration.





 

[h2]CRESTS:[/h2]
All crests will be receiving around a 50% decrease to healing and broadly speaking more equalization across completion times. We’ll also be enhancing Crest Identity and opening up more paths for every role/class to choose from.

[h3]Marksman Crest:[/h3]
◆ Attack Speed increased from 5 to 6.
◆ Physical Power Removed.
◆ Health restored on Unit Kill decreased from 6 to 3.
◆ Evolve Threshold decreased from 300 to 150.

[h3]Sharpshooter Crest:[/h3]
◆ Physical Power Removed.
◆ Added 5% Lifesteal.
◆ Health restored on Unit Kill decreased from 6 to 3.
◆ Evolve Threshold decreased from 300 to 150.

[h3]Eviscerator:[/h3]
We’re making Eviscerator a more consistently powerful Crest by giving it a very high uptime, at the cost of its larger power spike potential. This will make the Crest a bit easier to use in skirmishes and still a threat for Tanks to avoid, whilst not making it an all-or-nothing Tank-shredder.
◆ Physical Power Removed.
◆ Rending Strikes Scaling increased from 15% to 20%.
◆ Rending Strikes Ramping Damage Removed.
◆ Rending Strikes Cooldown decreased from 90s to 30s.

[h3]Liberator:[/h3]
Liberator is being honed as a sustain-based Crest, but will lack damage as a consequence. This should make the choice more meaningful and also make it harder to pick up alongside other sustain options as doing so could lead to a lack of damage.
◆ Physical Power Removed.
◆ Lifesteal Increased from 5% to 8%.

[h3]Pacifier:[/h3]
We feel Pacifier is in a healthy spot however want it to interact better with our more ability based Heroes.
◆ Physical Power decreased from 20 to 10.
◆ Adrenalize Bonus Damage now occurs on any non-item/dot Physical Damage instead of just Basic Attacks.

[h3]Rogue Crest:[/h3]
◆ Added 8 Physical Penetration.
◆ Physical Power Removed.
◆ Ability Haste Removed.
◆ Health restored on Ability Hit decreased from 4 to 3.
◆ Health restored on Unit Kill decreased from 6 to 4.
◆ Evolve Threshold decreased from 300 to 200.

[h3]Assassin Crest:[/h3]
◆ Physical Power decreased from 12 to 8.
◆ Physical Penetration increased from 4 to 8.
◆ Ability Haste Removed.
◆ Health restored on Ability Hit decreased from 4 to 3.
◆ Health restored on Unit Kill decreased from 6 to 4.
◆ Evolve Threshold decreased from 300 to 200.

[h3]Nex:[/h3]
◆ Physical Power decreased from 20 to 12.
◆ Physical Penetration increased from 10 to 15.
◆ Ability Haste Removed.

[h3]Ortus:[/h3]
◆ Physical Power decreased from 15 to 10.
◆ Physical Penetration decreased from 10 to 8.
◆ Ability Haste decreased from 15 to 10.

[h3]Witchstalker:[/h3]
◆ Physical Power decreased from 15 to 12.
◆ Physical Penetration increased from 6 to 8.
◆ Ability Haste Removed.

[h3]Warrior Crest:[/h3]
◆ Health Removed.
◆ Health Restored Scaling changed from 3% maximum health to 8% Total Physical Power.
◆ Health Restored Duration decreased from 15s to 10s.
◆ Evolve Threshold decreased from 400 to 200.

[h3]Champion Crest:[/h3]
◆ Physical Power decreased from 10 to 8.
◆ Health decreased from 100 to 80.
◆ Health Restored Scaling changed from 3% maximum health to 8% Total Physical Power.
◆ Health Restored Duration decreased from 15s to 10s.
◆ Evolve Threshold decreased from 400 to 200.

[h3]Brutallax:[/h3]
◆ Physical Power decreased from 20 to 12.
◆ Health decreased from 200 to 100.

[h3]Fenix:[/h3]
◆ Physical Power decreased from 30 to 15.
◆ Health increased from 100 to 150.

[h3]Iceskorn Talons:[/h3]
◆ Physical Power decreased from 15 to 10.
◆ Health decreased from 150 to 100.
◆ Ability Haste decreased from 15 to 10.

[h3]Magician Crest:[/h3]
◆ Mana increased from 50 to 120.
◆ Magical Power Removed.
◆ Mana restored on Ability Hit decreased from 5 to 4.
◆ Mana restored on Unit Kill decreased from 8 to 5.
◆ Evolve Threshold decreased from 400 to 300.

[h3]Wizard Crest:[/h3]
◆ Mana increased from 120 to 150.
◆ Magical Penetration Removed.
◆ Mana restored on Ability Hit decreased from 5 to 4.
◆ Mana restored on Unit Kill decreased from 8 to 5.
◆ Evolve Threshold decreased from 400 to 300.

[h3]Epoch:[/h3]
◆ Magical Power increased from 25 to 35.
◆ Health Removed.
◆ Magical Penetration Removed.

[h3]Soulbearer:[/h3]
◆ Magical Power increased from 15 to 25.
◆ Magical Penetration Removed.

[h3]Time Flux Band:[/h3]
◆ Magical Power increased from 20 to 25.
◆ Ability Haste Removed.

[h3]Occult Crest:[/h3]
◆ Health Removed.
◆ Health restored on Ability Hit decreased from 4 to 3.
◆ Health restored on Unit Kill decreased from 6 to 4.
◆ Evolve Threshold decreased from 300 to 200.

[h3]Warlock Crest:[/h3]
◆ Magical Power increased from 12 to 25.
◆ Magical Penetration Removed.
◆ Health Removed.
◆ Health restored on Ability Hit decreased from 4 to 3.
◆ Health restored on Unit Kill decreased from 6 to 4.
◆ Evolve Threshold decreased from 300 to 200.

[h3]Obelisk:[/h3]
Obelisk, as a Crest, is very accessible. This means it should not easily break the rule of a Hero who’s fallen behind providing value when killed. Negative bounties exist to prevent a behind-Hero providing a harsh snowball to the enemy team. Obelisk gaining Magical Power on generic takedowns broke this and led to some very unfair scenarios.
◆ Health Removed.
◆ Condemn stack forgiveness window decreased from 4s to 3s.
◆ Condemn Scaling from 30% to 20%.
◆ Cooldown decreased from 30s to 20s.
◆ Soul Stealer no longer grants Souls on Takedown.

[h3]Tempest:[/h3]
◆ Magical Power increased from 15 to 25.
◆ Health decreased from 150 to 120.
◆ Ability Haste decreased from 15 to 10.
◆ Magical Penetration Removed.

[h3]Typhoon:[/h3]
Typhoon is being repositioned to provide more value in its attack speed and dash mechanic as well as gaining some valuable sustain. This should start to open up some playstyles for Heroes that revolve around magical power and on-hit itemisation whilst using basic attacks to carry the weight of their damage. This will open up a more sustainable damage-oriented playstyle for Heroes that didn’t have access to it before.
◆ Magical Power increased from 20 to 25.
◆ Health Removed.
◆ Magical Penetration Removed.
◆ Added 4% Omnivamp.
◆ Cyclone Base Attack Speed per Stack increased from 2 to 3.
◆ Cyclone Attack Speed Scaling per Stack increased from 2% to 3%.
◆ Cyclone Max Stacks decreased from 6 to 4.
◆ Mirage Cooldown Reduction Removed.
◆ Mirage Cooldown decreased from 30s to 20s.

[h3]Titan Crest:[/h3]
◆ Health decreased from 80 to 60.
◆ Scaling increased from 0.75% maximum health to 1% maximum health.
◆ Health Restored Duration decreased from 15s to 10s.
◆ Base Healing Removed.
◆ Health Restore Doubling on Unit Kill Removed.
◆ Evolve Threshold decreased from 400 to 300.

[h3]Goliath Crest:[/h3]
◆ Health increased from 150 to 160.
◆ Health Regeneration removed.
◆ Scaling increased from 0.75% maximum health to 1% maximum health.
◆ Health Restored Duration decreased from 15s to 10s.
◆ Base Healing Removed.

[h3]Nyr Warboots:[/h3]
Warboots always provided an advantage that was unclear to both the user and the opposing Heroes. We’re shifting the sustain to benefit an all-in playstyle, making it more readable and have the potential to last long periods of time if the user can keep up the fight.
◆ Health increased from 175 to 180.
◆ Health Regeneration Removed.
◆ Resilience Changed:
◆ Resilience: Gain 40% decaying movement speed and regenerate 1.5% of your maximum health per second for 4s. After the duration, continue regenerating 0.75% of your maximum health per second until exiting combat - 90s CD.

[h3]Razorback:[/h3]
Razorback has many frustrating cases as the counterplay becomes “Don’t hit him”. We want to push this element back a bit and make the Crest’s potential reflection far weaker, whilst making it interact better with larger amounts of armor instead of simply raw HP. This allows us to provide durability and less reflection in one fell swoop. Sometimes you might still want to avoid hitting the target, but more often you can now power through - especially if you have access to sustain or have a substantial lead.
◆ Health increased from 150 to 160.
◆ Physical Armor decreased from 15 to 10.
◆ Magical Armor increased from 8 to 10.
◆ Health Regeneration Removed.
◆ Echidna Damage Reflect Magnitude decreased from 50% to 20%.
◆ Echidna Duration increased from 4s to 6s.
◆ Echidna Damage Reflect now reflects Pre-Mitigated Damage.
◆ Gain 25% increased Physical Armor and Magical Armor when Echidna is active.

[h3]Saphirs Mantle:[/h3]
Saphirs Mantle often felt underwhelming thanks to its power fantasy being overshadowed by Razorback. With its sister Crest now being more specialized, we’re doing the same here. We’re shifting Saphirs identity more towards being a big HP stick that provides Tanks a more offensive option when diving into teamfights. We’re also pushing it towards that infinite stacking potential that other classes have access to to give Tanks the option to scale harder.
◆ Health increased from 200 to 300.
◆ Health Regeneration Removed.
◆ Physical Armor Removed.
◆ Magical Armor Removed.
◆ Sturdy Active Changed:
Atlas: Increase your size and maximum health by 20% for 6s and Deal 40 (+1.5% maximum health) true damage to Nearby Enemy Heroes. After the duration, permanently increase your maximum health equal to 20% of the damage dealt - 75s CD.

[h3]Consort Crest:[/h3]
◆ Mana Regeneration increased from 25% to 50%.
◆ Magical Power Removed.

[h3]Reclamation:[/h3]
Purify is having its healing removed to better specialize and separate it from Tranquility.
◆ Physical Armor Removed.
◆ Purify Healing Removed.

[h3]Silentium:[/h3]
◆ Added 100 Health.
◆ Magical Armor Removed.
◆ Ability Haste Removed.

[h3]Tranquillity:[/h3]
◆ Added 10% Health and Shield Power.
◆ Ability Haste Removed.

[h3]Guardian Crest:[/h3]
◆ Health Removed.
◆ Health Regeneration increased from 25% to 50%.

[h3]Wardens Crest:[/h3]
◆ Health decreased from 120 to 100.

[h3]Leafsong:[/h3]
◆ Health increased from 120 to 180.
◆ Health Regeneration decreased from 75% to 50%.
◆ Physical Armor Removed.
◆ Magical Armor Removed.
◆ Added 10 Ability Haste.

[h3]Rift Walkers:[/h3]
◆ Health decreased from 150 to 120.
◆ Health Regeneration decreased from 100% to 50%.
◆ Magical Power Removed.
◆ Mana Removed.
◆ Added 10 Physical Armor.
◆ Added 10 Magical Armor.

[h3]Sanctification:[/h3]
◆ Mana Regeneration Removed.
◆ Health Regeneration decreased from 75% to 50%.
◆ Added 10 Heal and Shield Power.



[h2]MAGE:[/h2]

[h3]Dreambinder:[/h3]
◆ Chilling Spell Slow Magnitude adjusted to 10% for DoT Abilities.



[h2]MINIONS:[/h2] 
With lane sustain decreasing on average, we can now lower the damage delivered by Minions so that trades between Heroes themselves feel far more meaningful.

[h3]Melee:[/h3] 
◆ Hero Damage Modifier decreased from 55% to 40%.

[h3]Ranged:[/h3] 
◆ Hero Damage Modifier decreased from 40% to 30%.

[h3]Siege:[/h3]
◆ Hero Damage Modifier decreased from 70% to 50%.



[h2]TOWERS:[/h2]
T1 and T2 towers are having their XP yields shifted to a local amount. This means Heroes will still gain significant leads when winning their lanes but will not be strengthening their teammates across the map which can lead to unfair or unearned comebacks. We’re also bumping down the Core damage to Heroes to help players feel a little more comfortable closing out games, particularly without the Orb Prime Buff.

[h3]T1:[/h3]
◆ Global XP Reward changed to Local XP Reward.

[h3]T2:[/h3]
◆ Global XP Reward changed to Local XP Reward.

[h3]Core:[/h3]
◆ Core Hero Damage Modifier decreased from 140% to 100%


[h2]JUNGLE:[/h2]

[h3]Fangtooth:[/h3]
Fangtooth is getting the same treatment as Towers to help take more of that XP out of the game and slow down team snowballing.

◆ Global XP Reward changed to Individual XP Reward.

[h3]Mini Orb:[/h3]
Mini Orb is changing to a purely individual reward. This is to reinforce the strategy of pouring multiple buffs into one person to reinforce and strengthen them the most. This should make the decision to hand it off to solo laners far greater for the Jungler.

◆ Global XP Reward changed to Individual XP Reward.
◆ XP Reward decreased from 150 (+20 per level) to 150 (+10 per level).

[h3]Primal Fangtooth:[/h3]
Primal Fangtooth can remain as a global XP advantage as laning should have ended by this period and most fights over it will likely take place in a 5v5 environment. That said, we are decreasing the XP a bit as the current yields are very large and can provide too much of an XP lead, particularly for teams that are already ahead.

◆ Global XP Reward decreased from 590 (+15 per level) to 400.






The full list of bugs fixes included in this release will be added before or shortly after the game update is released.