Patch September 26, 2024

General Changes

• Added new hero, Mirage.

• Added an initial Anti-Cheat detection system. When a user is detected as cheating, during the game session the opponents will be given a choice between banning the user immediately and ending the match or turning the cheater into a frog for the rest of the game and then banning them afterwards. The system is set to conservative detection levels as we work on a v2 anti-cheat system that is more extensive. We will turn on the banning of users in a couple of days after the update is out. When a match is ended this way, the results will not count for other players.

• Added global quickcast support. You can now configure your abilities and/or items to be on quickcast mode globally. You can also customize each ability individually to be quickcast or not. This also supports grenade style abilities.
• Hero specific keybinds now say the ability name instead of ability 1-4
• Added Zipline hotkey that can be independently bound from space/jump
• Fixed per-hero keys not inheriting user-defined default keys properly
• Added keybind indicator for hero-specific binds showing which keys have been bound for that hero

• Added Custom Match play mode
• Private lobbies now have an option to turn on cheats
• Private lobbies now let you select the specific servers to use
• Private lobbies now have an option to make the match publicly visible or private to only the players
• Private lobbies now support post-game and replays properly
• Private lobbies now allow picking specific lanes (solo and dual lane colors are displayed)

• Added a cheat report option in-game and post-game
• Can now mute and report enemy players using ESC while in-game

• Updated the game access invite UI to make it clear when users have been accepted (in most cases we look into where a user said their friend wasn't accepted, the user was actually accepted but they never claimed the game on the Steam notifications side)

• Added voice indicators for when players are speaking in party and team chat (green for party, white for team)
• Updated Player Card and action menu when clicking on a player in the friend list or ESC menu
• Fixed Rich Presence for Steam and in-game friend lists
• Party Code is now hidden when you enable Streamer Mode

• Added Region indicator to the matches on the watch tab
• Fixed search by MatchID not working for games that are live
• Added Spectator Fog of War toggle (hotkeys available in settings)

• Added South Africa servers
• Added Italian localization

• Instead of showing the total number of favorites for each build, we now tag popular builds using a mix of both recent and historical usage so that newer builds are easier to find
• Builds that haven't been updated in 30 days now have a distinct visual

• General rendering performance improvements
• Shadow quality improvements for higher shadow settings
• Fixed issues with player outline rendering in FSR2
• Fixed regression with saturation volumes outline not showing up
• Displacement mapping no longer an official option and will likely be cut (it can be enabled with a ConVar after the game starts)
• Lighting improvements in map

• Picking up a powerup will now list all the stats they modify in the HUD instead of a generic name like 'Casting' or 'Gun'
• Spirit scaling is now always shown on the tooltips without needing to hold alt/tab
• Updated Viscous icon to look more different from Dynamo
• Added frosted shell effect on the rejuv crystal when Frozen Shelter is active
• Music and Sound effects will now pause during game pause
• Fixed Guardian trying to shoot people unsuccessfully behind cover

• Fixed Quicksilver Reload bonus damage not working correctly with things like Scorn and Flog
• Added timer sound to the last couple seconds of Flying Cloak
• Wall Jumps now use better animations to communicate directionality
• Fixed jumping between ziplines consuming stamina
• Fixed Magic Reverb not getting increased bonus damage from damage amps
• Improved preloading during queue time
• Updated Killing Blow effects
• Updated Lightning Ball effects to reduce some visual noise
• Fixed some issues with Crimson Slash effect not appearing reliably
• Viscous Puddle Punch will now show a red preview for when the punch is out of range but within 2x of the cast range
• Fixed Ricochet not respecting LOS when picking the targets
• No longer play low ammo sounds when firing while sliding
• Fixed not being able to bind Reload to Mouse Wheel Up/Down
• Minimap line colors now match the color of the hero drawing them
• Fixed spectator keybinds not showing correctly
• Updated Flying Strike effects to reduce some visual noise
• Fixed Flex Slot unlock order not matching the usual order of unlocks
• Updated Sleep Dagger projectile, impact and sleeping debuff visuals
• Fixed imbue and active abilities dialog not responding to keybinds if your ability/item binds included a modifier key or were bound to the mouse wheel
• Fixed Dynamo not playing an animation during the cast delay on Singularity
• Updated bullet shield break effects
• Updated Unstoppable effects to be clearer at cast time
• Fixed various projectiles going through bosses (Wraith cards, Geist bombs, etc)
• Fixed Dash not always breaking breakables
• Breakables will now wait to spawn if a player is in the way
• Abrams now has a new custom heavy melee animation
• Updated Haze VO
• Fixed a bug where Kelvin desperation VO for Arctic Beam and Ice Path were flipped
• Turned off a Shiv line where he referenced slowing down enemies when he wasn't actually doing so
• Removed reason 31 of why Lash is better than Bebop and replaced it with reason 26 of why Lash is better than Bebop (fixed a bug with Lash's hero select lines)
• Replaced a Grey Talon select line to make his intentions more clear
• Infernus will no longer appear in every bot match
• Bots can now choose to play Lady Geist, Mirage, Shiv, and Warden
• Fixed min/max falloff range displaying incorrectly on Weapon Stats Tooltip
• Updated Rejuvenator buff effect
• Updated wall bounce effects for Viscous in ball form
• Added citadel_give_gold cheat command
• Improved read on the connecting rope for Flying Strike and reduced visual obstruction of the ending slash
• Music bug fixes for replay and spectating
• Allow announcer lines for kill streaks and various hero lines to play while the player is in an active combat encounter
• Timing critical music and sfx will pause and resume in response to game pause

Misc Gameplay

• Side lanes are now a little further apart from the middle lanes
• Added a First Blood bonus bounty for the first kill each player gets. Grants 150 bonus souls.
• Lane setup is now always 1-2-2-1
• Zipline Boost now starts on cooldown again
• Trooper damage reduction from Guardians reduced from 35% to 28% (they die a little faster to Guardians now)
• Trooper share radius reduced (from allied hero to allied hero 50m->40m, from orb to allied hero 40m->35m)
• Reverted recent creep sharing duplication changes (back to how it was over a week ago, we want to see if it's still an issue with the other changes in this patch)

• Some latency-related calculation improvements that help orbs be a little less deny favored
• Orbs now appear a little smaller to the enemy that is trying to deny them

• Added a Soul Generator (like the one in hero sandbox) in the respawn area. Starts spawning orbs at 3 minutes. Each orb is worth 10 souls when shot. (primary purpose for this is cases when you are very close to an item purchase)

• Fire Rate slows now stack diminishingly

• Rejuv bonus creep HP increased from 50% to 70%
• Rejuv bonus is no longer consumed for dead players, they have it on their next life now

• Troopers no longer give half bounty when base guardians are destroyed for that lane
• Killer to Assist bounty ratio reduced from 2.0 to 1.7 (slightly more to assists)
• Midgame respawn time increased a bit (reaches 50s at 20 min instead of 40s at 20 min)
• Teleporter delay reduced from 5s to 4s
• Guardians now deal 10% more damage to players

• Sinner's Sacrifice now grants a permanent golden statue bonus when it is killed
• Fixed Sinner's Sacrifice sharing bounty to nearby allies

• Added indicator on the hud to help track your passive cooldown items when they are 1s from ready (headshot Booster, Medic Bullets, etc)

• Boon count increased from 11 to 14 (added to 16/18/20k)
• Non-Health boon bonuses rescaled over the 14 levels (same total as before)

• Aggressive crouch spamming within a very narrow window will now cause you to very briefly move progressively slower
• Added Rejuv drop on a loop in the sandbox mode
• Added infinite ammo option to sandbox ("No Reload")
• Fixed dashing downwards not destroying breakables
• Silence now deselects your ability if you had it open when silenced

Weapon Items

• High-Velocity Mag: Bullet Velocity reduced from +30% to +25%

• Pristine Emblem: Now requires High-Velocity Mag
• Pristine Emblem: Now grants +35% Bullet Velocity

Vitality Items

• Combat Barrier: Fire Rate while shielded reduced from 8% to 6%
• Combat Barrier: Weapon Damage while shielded reduced from 28% to 25%
• Combat Barrier: Bullet Shield increased from +300 to +325
• Health Nova: Weapon Damage increased from 10% to 12%

• Improved Bullet Armor: Bullet Resist increased from 45% to 50%

Spirit Items

• Mystic Reach: Ability Range increased from 16% to 18%
• Mystic Reach: Now provides 6% Bullet Resist instead of 6% Spirit Resist

• Withering Whip: No longer grants +8% Fire Rate
• Withering Whip: Spirit Power increased from +4 to +6
• Withering Whip: Now grants +1 Sprint
• Withering Whip: Cast range increased from 24m to 30m
• Withering Whip: Fire Rate slow increased from 40% to 45%

• Improved Reach: Now provides 12% Bullet Resist instead of 12% Spirit Resist

Map Changes

• Outer lanes at the middle of the map pushed further away from the inner lanes

• Added connection from canal near the urn platforms through the Radio Station and Apartment buildings

• Reworked interior corridors of Fish Market/Nursery to exit to the buildings sooner
• Added interior room partition from the Fish Market/Nursery to the Shops
• Moved rope to the Fish Market/Nursery rooftop to the back of the building
• Removed upper interior hallway from rope to the Fish Market/Nursery rooftops
• Moved truck from in front of archway with cosmic veil to the back of the Fish Market/Nursery

• Redesigned outer lane path (ziplines and trooper nodes) from Walker to Guardian on Amber Yellow and Sapphire Purple

• Added interior passage beside Subway Entrance to the outer lanes