---
description: February 26, 2015
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# 1.2.0 Notes

## CELESTE UPDATE (1.2.0): OH, MY STARS!

_Update 1.2.0 includes the new mage, new tactical and social communication pings, follower notifications, Matchmaker improvements and important hero and item balance changes. Let’s break down this mighty update …_

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54ef8e07e4b0fceb1405ae16/1424985628146/#img.png)

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54ef967ae4b07bff74e91709/1424987771224/#img.jpg)

### **CELESTE BACKGROUND & LORE**

Celeste commands the stars, drawing upon their power to overwhelm opponents. Her star formations help keep enemies at a distance as well as finish them off as they flee. Start Celeste in the lane and fight from the furthest edges of battle.

Celeste is the second in a trio of heroes with interwoven stories and gameplay synergies. Keep an eye on the in-game News section for more lore soon!

**Read Ardan & Celeste’s ongoing story:**

* [**Catherine’s Mission**](http://www.vainglorygame.com/news/2015/1/1/new-year-new-story)
* [**Impossible Decision**](http://www.vainglorygame.com/news/2015/1/21/ardan-lore-impossible-decision)
* [**Above Boiling Bay**](http://www.vainglorygame.com/news/2015/2/14/new-hero-lore-above-boiling-bay)
* [**The Masker-Rage**](http://www.vainglorygame.com/news/2015/2/20/celeste-lore-the-masker-rage-1)

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54ef8e6be4b0d9f7952501c2/1424985708293/#img.png)

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54ef975de4b09f9a9abd7dfc/1424987998441/#img.png)

### **JULIA’S LIGHT (HEROIC PERK)**

Celeste’s basic attacks have a spell component, dealing crystal damage with a crystal ratio on top of the regular weapon attack. Celeste’s basic attacks also briefly reveal enemy heroes.

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54ef9f60e4b0821678794a59/1424990049699/#img.png)

### **HELIOGENESIS**

Celeste forms a small star at a target location, dealing crystal damage to nearby enemies. The star will briefly linger on the field. If Celeste uses this ability on an existing star, the star will go supernova, dealing more crystal damage in a larger area.

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54ef9f76e4b031e068b1f3a6/1424990071338/#img.png)

### **CORE COLLAPSE**

After a brief delay, the target location collapses and nearby enemies are stunned and take crystal damage.

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54ef9f8ee4b07741eb5c44e8/1424990095564/#img.png)

### **SOLAR STORM** <a href="#yui_3_17_2_3_1424989255918_20428" id="yui_3_17_2_3_1424989255918_20428"></a>

Celeste launches a storm of stars that travel across the world. The lead star passes through all enemies it hits, dealing crystal damage. Trailing stars collide with the first enemy they hit, dealing crystal damage in an area. The number of trailing stars increases each time Solar Storm is upgraded. Deals reduced damage to non-heroes and does not damage structures.

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54ef8ee2e4b0d68817104e01/1424985835322/#img.png)

### **NEW COMMUNICATION PINGS!**

_More ways to communicate on the battlefield._&#x20;

“Communicating with your team is now much more fun and tactically effective without being cumbersome. Just being able to indicate ‘It’s OK’, ‘Sorry’ and ‘Thank You’ has been transformative for our games in the Lair. “ _—Kraken_

* There are now 5 tactical pings above the mini-map, including new pings for “group up,” “caution” and “enemy hero missing.”
* Tap and hold the new social pings button in the upper-left corner of the screen to reveal new ways to communicate with teammates.

### **FOLLOWER NOTIFICATIONS**

_Making matches with friends just got easier._

“How many times have you wanted to get your friends to pop back into the game for one more match? Or, you just signed out only to learn later that your favorite Vainglory crew signed on just after you? Well, hopefully you can now ‘keep the band together’.” _—Kraken_

* Receive a notification when people you’ve “starred” come online.
* Notify your followers that you’re looking for a Party Queue match.
* You may turn off these notifications in the Settings app on your device.

### **MATCHMAKER AND KARMA IMPROVEMENTS**

_Step by step, this gets better._

“Some players were reporting hyper-uneven matches where they get paired with (or face) players either WAY better or WAY worse than them. We’ve been digging deep into match breakdowns and have uncovered better strategies for dealing with these uneven-match scenarios. The goal of these changes is to better help create matches with players of similar skill.” _—Mightier_

* The Matchmaker may hold you in queue longer than before. This allows the Matchmaker to be more picky about the quality and skill level of allies and opponents.
* Your Karma level now almost entirely relates to your Glory bonus rewards. Instead of considering your Karma level, the Matchmaker largely considers your recent behavior; if you have recently AFK’d, you will likely be matched with other recent AFKers.
* Please share with us your new Matchmaking experiences in the forums or email us at [support@superevilmegacorp.com](mailto:support@superevilmegacorp.com).

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54ef8f59e4b0fceb1405b817/1424985946989/#img.png)

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54efa079e4b0f3846941a12b/1424990335574/#img.png)

### **KOSHKA**

_No longer energy-starved, she’s back in the hunt._

“After the Frostburn change from previous update, combined with the loss of energy from this update, Koshka is being hit really hard by these energy changes. This severely limits variety in her item builds and locks up inventory slots that could otherwise be used for power. Also, at high skill tiers, her ultimate was being Reflex Blocked with supreme ease, so we’re going to narrow the timing a bit and truly test your reflexes!” _—SurpriseBirthday_

* **Pounce energy cost reduced by 50%.**
* **Twirl energy cost reduced by 45%.**
* **Yummy Catnip Frenzy delay reduced by 20%.**

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54efa102e4b0c3b78087a757/1424990466964/#img.png)

### **CRYSTAL SAW**

_No time to bleed._

“For abilities that take a long time to execute, cooldown acceleration is doubly effective because the time between activation and finish was also being reduced. By moving the cooldown phase to _after_ Roadie Run completes, we ensure SAW cannot build so much CDA that he is almost always running. We’re also dropping the crystal ratio on Mad Cannon, which previously allowed Crystal SAW to have almost all of the benefits of a Weapon SAW when spun up.” _—SurpriseBirthday_

* **Roadie Run does not enter cooldown until the full duration of the run is finished.**
* **Mad Cannon crystal ratio lowered from 1.2 to 0.6.**

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54efa1cfe4b07741eb5c5428/1424990672903/#img.png)

### **SKAARF**

_Bug fix._

* **Fan the Flames was incorrectly escalating its burn duration; it is now always 3 seconds.**

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54ef8f7ce4b0f59ccd2b6637/1424985982334/#img.png)

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54efa4b0e4b0c3b78087c0fd/1424991408932/#img.png)

### **CLOCKWORK**

_Your build-path options just opened wide up._&#x20;

“We want to open up Clockwork as a generalized item to help _anyone_ use their abilities more often — not just crystal-hungry mages. Removing crystal power and replacing with energy means any protector or sniper who wishes to spam their skills can pick this up without worrying about wasting gold on crystal power.” _—SurpriseBirthday_

* **Changed build path to Void Battery + Chronograph.**
* **Hourglass & Chronograph no longer grant energy regen.**

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54efa4d5e4b0d7862a936cc3/1424991446168/#img.png)

### **FROSTBURN**

_This is basically stat-swap with Clockwork._

“Frostburn has always been intended for helping secure quick kills with the extra slow, which fits better with more crystal rather than more energy. Also, now that we’re going to see a lot more crystal in the game, we’re weakening the maximum potential of the slow.”\
&#xNAN;_—SurpriseBirthday_

* **Changed recipe to Heavy Prism + Eclipse Prism.**
* **Max slow capped at 35%.**
* **Grace period where the same target cannot be slowed again increased from 1.5s to 2.0s.**

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54efa4ffe4b0a5fce58c5c51/1424991488043/#img.png)

### **SHATTERGLASS**

_People gunna melt._

“A major theme of the next three item changes is to make crystal builds a viable path to becoming a late-game powerhouse. In this case, we want Shatterglass to stand toe-to-toe in late game power with Sorrowblade.”\
&#xNAN;_—SurpriseBirthday_

* **Crystal power raised from 115 to 150; price raised from to 2550 to 3000.**

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54efa520e4b0a5fce58c5d64/1424991521227/#img.png)

### **ALTERNATING CURRENT**

_Now a serious late-game threat._

“We are shifting damage from early game to late game, allowing high-crystal builds to deal even more damage using this item.” —SurpriseBirthday

* **Damage changed from 20 + 75% of crystal to 0 + 115% of crystal.**

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54efa546e4b0387b1c1b3ba4/1424991558897/#img.png)

### **BROKEN MYTH**

_Try it with Shatterglass. You know you want to._

“Broken Myth’s previous mechanic was too awkward, requiring you to be nearly dead to use it effectively. Now, you only need to fight for 5 seconds to achieve maximum potential. You won’t reach stratospheric heights like with Breaking Point, but it will be much reliable. Think of this item as giving you 35% pierce, granted with a 5 second ramp-up time.” _—SurpriseBirthday_

* **New passive: Gain 5% shield pierce per second as long as you are in combat with enemy heroes, turrets or Kraken. After 5 seconds, lose a stack each second. Max 5 stacks.**
* **Base shield pierce of Piercing Spear and Broken Myth down from 15% to 10% piercing.**

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54efa567e4b0e05430c805b1/1424991592771/#img.png)

### **SERPENT MASK**

_More clear. More effective._

“Losing the Barbed Needle passive was an awkward downgrade, since sometimes the heal is even stronger than the extra 10% lifestreal if you’re not yet dealing tons of weapon damage.” _—SurpriseBirthday_

* **Retains Barbed Needle passive.**

![](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ff565fe4b0826cfdfb4767/54062f48e4b096fd0ba12284/54efa588e4b0e005530d758b/1424991625398/#img.png)

### **BREAKING POINT**

“Breaking Point was already a very strong item. On top of that, it countered armor way too well! Replacing the armor pierce with crit will keep Breaking Point roughly as effective as before against normal opponents, but heavily armored opponents will feel appropriately harder to kill.” _—SurpriseBirthday_

* **Passive: Removed 5% pierce per stack; replaced with 5% crit chance & crit damage.**
* **Build path changed to Blazing Salvo + Lucky Strike.**

_Now, go light some people up with Celeste … and let us know what you think of the new communication pings and all the rest_ [_in the forums_](http://forums.vainglorygame.com/index.php)_! —PlayoffBeard_
