2.5 Notes
May 30th 2017
Update 2.5 introduces Talents and related in-game events, along with multiple quality-of-life improvements and some jaw-dropping new skins. Get all the details below. …
NEW TO BRAWL MODES: TALENTS
Talents are collectable hero upgrades that make Vainglory’s short BRAWL game modes such as Blitz and Battle Royale even more mayhem-filled and fun. Talents are not accessible in classic MOBA game modes.
TALENTS ‘AT A GLANCE’
TALENTS REWARDS
DAILY LOGIN REWARDS FOR TALENTS STARTING MAY 31
The arrival of talents marks a major milestone for the game and community, so we’re kicking things off with a special login event.
During the first week after Talents arrive, open the Vainglory app each day to claim your free rewards.
Your daily rewards can be found in the DEALS section of the Market on the days listed below:
DATE | LOGIN REWARD |
June 1 | 3 Skaarf Splitfire Talent Coins* |
June 2 | 3 Random Rare Talent Coins |
June 3 | 1 Random Epic Talent Coin |
June 4 | 2 Random Rare Talent Coins |
June 5 | 4 Random Rare Talent Coins |
June 6 | 1 Random Epic Talent Coin |
June 7 | 1 Random Legendary Talent Coin** |
*This reward will be available after maintenance on May 31 until June 2. **This talent coin will be for a hero you own.
Daily rewards begin and end at 5PM PDT, so be sure to open the app every day to ensure max rewards!
NEW HERO SKINS
‘Netherknight’ Lance (Legendary)
Lance followed Lyra into the Nether – but can he pay the price to save her? See more of the first knight of the Netherworld below.
CHECK HIM OUT IN GAME:
MODEL CHANGES
Chainmail Nether Fury armor
Hounskull helm
Ornate ebony wings
Obsidian shield featuring the Pinnacle of Awesome design
Crown of the Nether
Nether Trident engulfed in fire!
Halcyon Heart gems embedded in armor
ANIMATION CHANGES
Combat Roll is now a combat corkscrew flip!
Jump twists, hovers & slams trident into the ground when recalling to base
Leaps higher and hits the ground harder during Impale ability
EFFECTS CHANGES
Sparks and soot smoldering off of his trident
Inflamed crown
Glowing golden eyes
Flames fly from his shield during basic attacks and Gythian Wall ability
Impale ability creates Netherfire cracks in the ground
Gythian Wall ability creates an arc of flames & soot
ALTERNATE FATE LORE
WALLPAPERS
‘Broken Doll’ Alpha (Legendary)
The dollies have rescued their girl from the Bad Place. Read on to find out how the Legendary ‘Broken Doll’ Alpha dolly became a Real Girl and set off on her very own adventure!
CHECK HER OUT IN GAME:
MODEL CHANGES
Beaded and flowered pouf hairstyle
The key to Alpha’s clockwork heart is also a dangerous weapon
Lacy ballerina outfit with cutouts for keyhole through chest and broken cage crinoline
Blood-red pointe shoes
Dolly body joints
ANIMATION & EFFECTS CHANGES
Jetés, pirouettes, spin attacks & ballet poses!
Gold and black sparks and lightning ability effects
Classical walk and leaping sprint
During Termination Protocol, Alpha falls inside a golden clock and explodes in sparks & gears before the key winds her back to life
Deadly clockwork key attacks with beautiful ballet movements
Tip-toes through brush _en pointe, _then sits in an elegant pose
Recall: Red strings attach to her limbs, spin her around and drop her back in base
ALTERNATE FATE LORE
Part I: The Loud Voice & The Quiet Voice Part II: Pretty-Pretty Part III: Real Girl
WALLPAPERS
‘Spider Queen’ Kestrel (Epic)
‘Sylvan’ Kestrel’s story continues with a necessary trek to the world of subterranean elves. Read on to discover how Kestrel became the ‘Spider Queen’ and sealed off the Island Well from humankind.
CHECK HER OUT IN GAME:
MODEL & EFFECT CHANGES
Kestrel has transformed into a dark elf!
White hair and red eyes
Queen’s Web headdress with magenta jewel
Spider Mother Bow with webs
Golden elf leafy armor
Spider silk webbed costume
Drops exploding spider sacs for Active Camo
Elvish leap during Glimmershot
Spins into new pose for One Shot One Kill
Shoots spider silk into the air that pulls her up and recalls her back to base
ALTERNATE FATE LORE
WALLPAPERS
‘Lapdog’ Grumpjaw (Rare)
‘Lapdog’ Grumpjaw is NOT a bad boy, he’s just very large and very hangry. You’d be hangry too if your tummy was so big and empty. He’s a GOOD boy … if he’s on your team. Own your very own cuddly Grumpjaw!
CHECK HIM OUT IN GAME:
MODEL CHANGES
Totally redesigned French Bulldog breed
Nametag and Spiky Harness for giving a big fright!
ALTERNATE FATE LORE
The Proper Care and Feeding of Grumpjaw Lapdogs
WALLPAPERS
QUEST INTERFACE CHANGES
We’re adjusting the front-of-app presentation to make it easier to participate and track progress in your reward chests.
‘5-HERO CHEST’
The new “5-Hero Chest” replaces the first quest slot on the app front page. Play five different heroes to earn talent coins for those specific heroes! Make progress faster upgrading talents for the heroes you enjoy most.
‘SLOT 2’ QUESTS
The quests regularly featured in “Slot 2” have been your most popular, both in terms of participation and player excitement. We are retaining these quests, which will continue to appear and function as you’ve come to expect.
WIN REWARDS
Some players might not even realize that you are rewarded with bonus Glory for your First Win of the Day, Third Win of the Day and “Sinister Seven,” which is achieved when you win a match seven days in a row. A new, prominent presentation of these win bonuses takes over “Slot 3” and will fill in as you make reward progress. With the introduction of talents, Glory has never been more important. We hope this helps ensure you don’t miss out on free daily rewards.
As previously announced, if you have a quest in Slot 1 or Slot 3 in progress when Update 2.5 hits, you will lose that progress. Finish your quests while you still can!
QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS
IMPROVED VISUAL CLARITY
Permanent turret-range radiuses in all game modes
Consistent frost effects for slows
Death timers display around the match clock (don’t have to open Scoreboard)
Screen flashes for burst damage & stun effects (turn on in Settings)
SCOREBOARD
Now displays item cooldowns (including ally’s Fountain timing)
Ability Inputs
Pretargeted abilities such as Ringo’s Achilles Shot now pull up selection indicators when used without a target
BASE SANCTUARY (ALL MODES)
Heal and energy recharge per second up from 8% to 12%
Regeneration occurs in faster intervals for a buttery smooth experience
BASE SANCTUARY (STANDARD MODES)
Now grants a small speed boost
Boost is lost upon taking damage
NEW ACADEMY VIDEOS
Intermediate and Pro videos have hit the Academy! Whatever your skill level, check ’em out and improve your play!
PURCHASE OPTIONS
With the introduction of the new Talents progression system, Glory has become a much more precious commodity and you may run low from time to time. If there’s a talent coin you need in the Pick 3 or an upgrade just out of reach, you can now buy Glory with ICE to ensure you don’t miss out.
Get more Glory with ICE
DODGING AND LOW PRIORITY QUEUE CHANGES
Dodge Changes
Shortly after Update 2.4 rolled out, our team pushed a hotfix to address a recurring issue plaguing a wide range of players: match dodging (leaving during or immediately after Hero Select). Because dodging was hardly penalized — if at all — players adopted dodging as a tactic, abusing it to avoid any match with unfavorable conditions. This was so rampant that some players couldn’t get into a match, as someone else dodged every time. This dodging epidemic wasted players’ time, and it was especially frustrating after first waiting patiently in queue, only to then have their patience tested over and over as they suffered through each dodge.
To dramatically reduce the number of match dodges, we instituted a strict penalty, which continues to be in effect: If you dodge a Ranked match, you will lose visual skill tier approximately equal to if you lost that match.
Following the release of this hotfix, feedback from the Vainglory Community poured in, expressing that there was another important dimension to the problem. That leads us to …
Low Priority Queue Changes
Some players expressed concern with the dodge changes, saying that dodging was their only recourse to avoid blatant trolling behavior. And while Super Evil continues to believe that dodging is an act of trolling itself, we definitely understand that feeling of victimization when stuck with players perceived as trolls. As a first step to rectify this underlying issue, we are significantly increasing Low Priority Queue punishments for detected and player-reported trolling behavior.
For those unfamiliar, the LPQ is a “penalty box” where you must sit around and wait for the punishment clock to expire before you can play your next match … and you must complete a series of LPQ matches before you are released back into the regular queuing experience.
The LPQ identifies bad behavior as:
Excessively declining matches
Dodging
Rude pinging
Trolling / Intentional Losing
Going AFK (abandoning matches)
Each of the aforementioned offenses is worth a varying punishment level; in some instances, it takes several infractions of the same type to earn a level. The more levels accumulated, the harsher the LPQ punishment.
Our hope is these LPQ changes will prevent the types of trolling behavior that cause players to feel the need to dodge — or cause players to have negative game experiences. This is not a silver bullet. It will not eliminate the issue. But we belief and hope it will substantially help, and we look forward to your feedback after release.
—PlayoffBeard
BLITZ CHANGES
BLITZ ONLY
Gold Miner renamed to Middle Sentry
Middle Sentry is now always visible
Upon the final blow, Middle Sentry no longer pays out gold
Killing Middle Sentry maintains 3-point reward
Out-of-combat health and regen increased
Sanctuary regen increased
Personal Blitz Score will track your Blitz performance over time
HERO BALANCE CHANGES
ARDAN
Julia’s Gift Ardan’s gear was due for a bit of a tune-up. This should make him far more effective at soaking up damage for his allies. —Zekent
Health gained up from 1% to 1.5%
BAPTISTE
BAD MOJO With a few bumps to his crystal ratios, enemies need to be even more wary when Baptiste is empowered. —Zekent
Impact crystal ratio up from 90% to 110%
Explosion crystal ratio up from 45% to 55%
ORDAINED This increase in range makes Baptiste a far more threatening hero to face off against. Mobile heroes beware… Baptiste will find you! —Zekent
Range up from 5 to 6
GENERAL
Baptiste’s Fear effects have been updated
CATHERINE
CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD A slight increase to the power of this perk makes Catherine a bit more durable later in the game if she has been diligently acquiring stacks. —Zekent
Armor/Shield granted per stack up from 1 to 2
GLAIVE
AFTERBURN While Glaive is meant to single out opponents, he was able to use this ability far too often, making him both incredibly hard to escape from and catch up to. —Zekent
Cooldown up from 22-20-18-16-10 to 22-20-18-16-12
GRUMPJAW
GENERAL
Grumpjaw now has a crystal recommended item path
Grumpjaw’s Grumpy now dashes to the target location rather than behind it
GWEN
BOOMSTICK This change makes Gwen a bit less oppressive in the late game where she could eviscerate targets with low defense. —Zekent
Weapon ratio down from 45% to 35%
KESTREL
GLIMMERSHOT This increase to the energy cost will force Kestrel to be a bit more careful when firing off barrages of arrows. —Zekent
Energy cost up from 50 to 60
ONE SHOT ONE KILL We can’t have this cost less than Glimmershot now can we? —Zekent
Energy cost up from 50 to 60
LYRA
STATS Lyra’s early-game pressure was unparalleled with her high amounts of healing paired with her incredible attack range. While her healing is still high, she will put herself in harm’s way if she wants to harass her foes. —Zekent
Basic attack range down from 6.6 to 5.1
IMPERIAL SIGIL It’s back! Well… partially back! While the burst heal is incredibly potent, Lyra needs to make snappy decisions when trying to heal up her team. Leaving the sigil out longer is more healing overall, but sometimes a quick burst of health can save an ally in danger. —Zekent
New: When reactivated, will immediately consume the remaining duration to heal at 60% effectiveness
ARCANE PASSAGE With the changes to this ability, Lyra can regain her lost attack range while increasing the distance at which she can change the landscape of a skirmish. —Zekent
Range up from 9-10-11 to 9-11-13 meters
New: Passively increases attack range by 1.0-1.5-2.0 meters
PETAL
BRAMBLEBOOM SEEDS While taking out Petal’s munions is still a viable strategy when it comes to playing against her, she is able to summon more far too quickly. This slight increase in cooldown will give her enemies more time to put pressure on her. —Zekent
Cooldown increased from 2.5 to 3 seconds
SAW
STATS Bringing SAW’s defensive stats up to the standard of most other heroes. —Zekent
Armor and Shield up from 8-76 to 20-86
SPIN UP Getting rid of an often overlooked piece of SAW’s perk and granting it back to SAW’s base stats. —Zekent
Removed bonus Armor and Shield per stack
SKAARF
GOOP This change makes it so that Skaarf can’t instantaneously burst down his enemies. Instead, proper placement of his Goop pool is needed to truly see his power. —Zekent
Ignite damage down from 80-120-160-200-240 to 40-60-80-100-120
Burn damage up from 60-90-120-150-180 to 60-100-140-180-220
TAKA
HOUSE KAMUHA A pair of sharpened blades for Taka! —Zekent
Weapon ratio up from 30% to 35%
VOX
PULSE The slow on this ability made it a bit too difficult for melee heroes to keep up with Vox… but only a bit.—Zekent
Slow at center down from 20-22-24-26-30% to 15-17-19-21-25%
ITEM BALANCE CHANGES
ATLAS PAULDRON
These changes will give weapon carries a bit of a reprieve while still keeping the majority of this item’s effect. —Zekent
Cooldown up from 15 seconds to 20 seconds
Duration down from 5 seconds to 4 seconds
Attack speed reduction down from 65% to 50%
CLOCKWORK
While a worthy purchase when already at high crystal power, a lower cost means that purchasing it early for the other benefits can still be effective. —Zekent
Total cost down from 2500 to 2250
Sell price down from 1250 to 1125
ECHO
This item can create plenty of game-changing situations and a few slight adjustments should make it a much more powerful purchase. —Zekent
Total cost down from 2500 to 2200
Sell price up from 500 to 1100
Max energy up from 250 to 300
Base cooldown down from 30 to 25seconds
NULLWAVE GAUNTLET
Slight improvements to this item mean that enemies stocking up on activatable items must be a bit more wary when you pick up one of these. —Zekent
Range increased from 8 to 9
Cooldown down from 40 to 35 seconds
SLUMBERING HUSK
With a bit more cost effectiveness and uptime, this item should become slightly less niche. —Zekent
Total cost up from 1600 to 1700
Sell price up from 800 to 850
Health up from 400 to 500
Cooldown down from 45 to 30 seconds
BUG FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS
Fixed a bug where Blackfeather could incorrectly deal TONS of damage if certain conditions were met
Fixed a bug where Broken Myth would fall off at zero stacks
Lance’s critical strike basic attack sound has been adjusted
Baptiste’s Fearsome Shade hit box now more correctly matches the visuals
Baptiste can no longer target lane minions or hero summons with Ordained
Ringo’s Hellfire Brew hit box now more correctly matches the visuals
Baptiste now has the standard 33 minion defense on melee heroes
Grumpjaw’s Grumpy now consistently damages surrounding targets upon reaching the destination
Fixed a bug where Glimmershot reloaded faster than intended at low amounts of attack speed
Fixed a bug where Kestrel and Lyra’s basic attacks would travel a bit faster than intended at low amounts of attack speed
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