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Update 1.11 introduces a new assassin hero, party and friend improvements, three new skins, balance changes, bug fixes and better Android support. Let’s check it out …

 

BLACKFEATHER BACKGROUND & LORE

Blackfeather is a striking duelist who pierces the hearts of his opponents. When building weapon items, he becomes a powerful assassin. Building crystal and utility items instead unlocks powerful effects for himself and his team. He performs well in the lane where he can focus on accumulating gold early in the match.

Want to know more about Blackfeather? Read his interconnected lore with travel companion and fellow kidnapper, Phinn.

• Princess Kidnapped!
• Social Climbers
• ‘No Use Resisting!’
• Ruffians!
• Love’s Failed Kiss

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BLACKFEATHER EARLY-ACCESS PERIOD

Blackfeather will be unlockable with ICE only for the first 7 days. Afterward, you will be able to unlock Blackfeather with ICE or Glory.

HEARTTHROB (HEROIC PERK)

Blackfeather’s attacks and abilities apply Heartthrob stacks to enemies. This stacks twice on minions and monsters and up to five times on heroes and objectives. Any time stacks are added or refreshed, Blackfeather also deals bonus crystal damage for each stack of Heartthrob already on the target.

Instead of energy, Blackfeather uses Focus for his abilities. Focus is capped at 100 and naturally regenerates 7.5 per second. Blackfeather also recovers an additional 10 focus for each basic attack he lands.

FEINT OF HEART

Blackfeather lunges to his target and basic attacks. For the next 4 seconds, the target leaves behind a rose trail that grants Blackfeather and his allies move speed when moving through it. When this ability is used against a target with full Heartthrob stacks (shown as broken hearts), it will execute the target for bonus true damage based on the target’s missing health (capped against non-heroes).

Overdrive: The rose trail also makes Blackfeather and allies unslowable. Additionally, the cooldown for Feint of Heart is reset if the target is killed within 0.5 seconds.

ON POINT

Blackfeather pierces all enemies in a line, damaging them and applying a decaying slow for 1 second. The duration of this slow is increased by 0.3 seconds for each stack of Heartthrob on the target. If this hits at least one enemy hero, Blackfeather also gains a barrier that scales with a percentage of his bonus health and recovers focus. The amount of focus recovered is further increased with a percentage of his max energy and a percentage of his energy recharge.

Overdrive: On Point gains increased range.

ROSE OFFENSIVE

Blackfeather cuts through his opponents, basic attacking all enemies along his path. During the dash, Blackfeather is immune to negative effects and takes greatly reduced damage. This ability has 2 charges.

NEW FRIEND FEATURES & MORE

Fury wanted to play with his friend, MrBurnz. Fury went online, but saw that MrBurnz was in a game. “In a game” was just too vague for Fury to know if he should wait for MrBurnz or play a game on his own.

Have you ever been Fury? On your Friends list, you’ll now be able to see how long each friend has been in their match (plus some more cool details), so you can decide if you want to wait for them, play with another group or YOLOqueue.

If you decide it’s worth hanging out for a few minutes, you can send that friend a “Play Next?” request, giving them a simple “YES/NO” notification in-game that will inform you if they have room in their party, time for another game, etc. That way, it’ll always be worth the wait because you’ll know for sure if your friend will be free to play.

This notification will never interrupt your play; it will simply display as a number in a new button in the lower-right of the screen.

‘PLAY NEXT?’ FEATURE – STEP BY STEP

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A LITTLE FRIENDLY COMPETITION

Thanks to your awesome feedback, we included a way for guilds to see where they stand in comparison to other guilds. Now, in your guild’s Rewards tab, you’ll be able to see the guilds closest to you in level on the rewards ladder.

 

 

CLOUD RAIDER VOX TIER II

Vox ranks up to captain with Tier II of the Cloud Raider Vox skin.

Read Cloud Raider lore!

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SAWBORG TIER III

In update 1.11, Tier III SAWborg goes after the robots that have been hunting him! Read the end of his lore … or is it the beginning?

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DEATH METAL KRUL TIER III

This is why you play Krul every game. The Pinnacle of Rock and undead warrior, Death Metal Krul’s final skin is the embodiment of zombie power.

Read Death Metal Krul lore.

 

SKYE

BASE STATS

• Base weapon power changed from 63-128 to 72-112.

 

FORWARD BARRAGE

“Our first goal is to make Forward Barrage actually useful to weapon Skye. Without any special basic-attack steroids, we are making Forward Barrage absolutely beastly when combined with critical-strike items. We’re also shifting crystal Skye’s power curve, distinct from Weapon Skye. CP Skye is now very focused on the Target Lock bonus, with lower power in early game but quadratic scaling as you pile on the crystal power in late game (because the damage is boosted by both the crystal ratio, then amplified by a factor that itself, has another crystal ratio).” —SurpriseBirthday

• Fixed a bug where shots did not reach the stated range of 10 meters.
• Can now crit weapon damage with 50-50-50-50-70% bonus crit damage.
• Damage amplification vs. locked target changed from 25% flat to 10% +18%CP.
• Deals 70% damage to objectives

 

SURI STRIKE

This change lowers the total damage of Suri Strike if you hit all four missiles but increases the damage if you only hit one of them. More importantly, we are reducing Skye’s level two power spike when she first gains the ability to Barrage twice in a row. This was especially powerful in the jungle where there are no minions to hide behind and heroes have yet to acquire the counterplay options to deal with such brute power. —SurpriseBirthday

• The first missile that hits a target deals full damage, while subsequent missiles deal 20% damage.
• Damage changed from 160-260-360-460-620 + 240%CP (total) to 90-150-210-270-330 + 150%CP (each)
• Forward Barrage cooldown reset down from 100% to 40-55-70-85-100%.
• Fixed a bug where Target Lock was lost when the target left vision.

 

DEATH FROM ABOVE

“This ability was meant to set up kills, not do the killing itself. With CP, this ability single-handedly exploded entire teams and easily rolled over objectives. The intended playstyle is for Forward Barrage to deal most of the damage, with Suri Strike designed to reposition Skye, and Death from Above to influence the position of enemies. In exchange for damage, we’re giving this ability a forgiving cooldown, and — with a Clockwork — potential for multiple uses in the same team fight.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Cooldown down from 70-50-30 to 30-24-18.
• Damage down from 275-350-425 + 170% CP to 250-300-350 + 50% CP.
• Damage to objective lowered to 70%.

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 PETAL

“We’re happy with her increased presence in the Halcyon Fold, but there is more polish to be done! First, we’re moving her back to blue energy. This allows Petal to benefit for the usual range of regeneration mechanics. We’re also tweaking her power from various angles, but don’t take that the wrong way.”  —SurpriseBirthday

 

MUNIONS (HEROIC PERK)

• Bonus attack speed from consuming Sunlight up from 10-40% to 20-65%.

 

 

BRAMBLEBOOM SEEDS

• Seed charges are now considered Energy again (benefits from potions, heal camps, Ace buff, etc.).
• Munions will no longer steal non-hero last hits when Petal has an Ironguard Contract.

 

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION

• Munions are no longer invincible while channeling.

 

 

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 RONA

“We’re tightening Rona’s Rage economy, as it is extremely abundant, and plus, she needs to calm down a bit.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Rage decays sooner when out of combat (down from 7 to 5 seconds).

FOESPLITTER

• Foesplitter first activation rage gain down from 5-10-15-20-40 to 5-25.

 

 

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CELESTE

 

 

 

SOLAR STORM

“Now that we have the turret barrier, we can get rid of this awkward rule on Solar Storm and open up some plays.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Solar Storm does 50% damage to structures (up from 0%).

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KOSHKA

TWIRLY DEATH

• Fixed a bug where Koshka’s empowered basic attacks had a longer cooldown than intended.
  

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PHINN

“Now that roamers have more gold, we’re amping some power & scaling options for roamers who are not Catherine or Ardan.” —SurpriseBirthday

 

QUIBBLE

• Quibble Damage up from 205-525 + 150%CP to 230-590 + 200%CP.

 

 

FORCED ACCORD

• Cooldown down from 75-65-55 to 65-55-45.

 

 

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FORTRESS

ATTACK OF THE PACK

• Fixed a bug where wolves were getting stuck on the spawn platform.

 

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ADAGIO

See Phinn quote above.

 

 

GIFT OF FIRE

• Crystal ratio up from 65% to 80%.
• Projectile speed increased

 

 

AGENT OF WRATH

• Projectile speed increased.

 

 

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ARDAN

VANGUARD

• Fixed a bug where Vanguard was interacting incorrectly with Ardan’s Vanguard target.

 

STORMGUARD BANNER

“This change focuses the benefits on the only person on the team actually earning Ironguard gold. This item now exclusively empowers the romaer with strong objective clear and a tad of hero damage that is never overwhelming, but always noticeable.” — SurpriseBirthday

• Price down by 150 gold.
• New Passive:
  • Basic attacks deal 20 additional true damage per second to non-heroes.
  • +1 damage for every 25 gold earned from Ironguard.
  • 25% of this damage applies toward heroes.
  • Damage caps at 150.

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REFLEX BLOCK

“Reflex Block is supposed reward for reacting and predicting incoming disables. Chain-stuns should be weak against Reflex Block because the second and third stun are extremely predictable, yet the first stun prevents you from activating Reflex Block! To prevent the enemy from using Reflex Block, you must now resort to silence.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Can be activated while stunned.

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BOOTS

“Boots are always ignored until the final purchase. We are now giving you stronger incentives to upgrade mobility in exchange for less power.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Travel Boots:
  • Out-of-combat speed boost delay & ramp up duration down from 5 to 3 seconds.
• Journey Boots:
  • Sprint cooldown down from 50 to 30 seconds.

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AFTERSHOCK

“Aftershock was too bursty at 20% damage but too weak at 15% damage with its current price.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Price down by 200 gold.

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LIGHT ARMOR & LIGHT SHIELD

• Sell-back value down from 150 to 50 gold.

TURRETS

“As players get better at Vainglory, teams are mastering the art of the turret dive. We’re making this more dangerous to do, but with the right aggro juggling, the best teams can still dive for the kill and escape with their lives … and maybe an Ace buff.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Percentage health damage up from 5% to 7.5%.
  
• Consecutive shot damage ramp up from 30% to 45%.

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KRAKEN

“Kraken was unusually squishy against weapon-based abilities such as Thunder Strike. We are normalizing the defensive stats for her.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Kraken is now equally tanky vs weapon and crystal damage.

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JUNGLE

Adjusted jungle monster individual experience values:

• Double big camp experience down from 25 to 13 each.
• Heal camp experience up from 17 to 29.
• Double big camp deals ~10% more damage.

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GOLD & EXPERIENCE

• Gold generation has been increased from 3.5 to 4.0 per second.
• Ironguard Contract gold increased from 60% to 75%.
• Experience granted from lane minions is increased by 20% per ally.

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ENERGY CLARITY

When you are low on energy, your energy bar will flash red. Allies are able to see this as well.

BETTER ANDROID SUPPORT

• Vainglory now supports Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), significantly increasing the number of supported devices.

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 BUGS FIXES

• ­Heroes with high attack speed can once again stutter step with maximum efficiency.
• Fortress’ wolves no longer get stuck on the platform.
• Ardan’s Blood for Blood now properly reacts when his ally takes damage. 
• Koshka’s empowered attacks are slightly quicker to match her regular attack timing.

After much testing and experimentation, Blackfeather is locked and ready to go. Check out his final ability kit below, and read the last installment of his tale with Phinn and Princess Malene. And to see Blackfeather in full-match action, be sure to watch the special Blackfeather Dev Livestream today at 2PM PST/22GMT!

MEET THE ASSASSIN BLACKFEATHER

Blackfeather is a striking duelist who pierces the hearts of his opponents. When building weapon items, he becomes a powerful assassin. Building crystal and utility items instead unlocks powerful effects for himself and his team. He performs well in the lane where he can focus on accumulating gold early in the match.

HEARTTHROB (HEROIC PERK)

Blackfeather’s attacks and abilities apply Heartthrob stacks to enemies. This stacks twice on minions and monsters and up to five times on heroes and objectives. Any time stacks are added or refreshed, Blackfeather also deals bonus crystal damage for each stack of Heartthrob already on the target.

Instead of energy, Blackfeather uses Focus for his abilities. Focus is capped at 100 and naturally regenerates 7.5 per second. Blackfeather also recovers an additional 10 focus for each basic attack he lands.

FEINT OF HEART

Blackfeather lunges to his target and basic attacks. For the next 4 seconds, the target leaves behind a rose trail that grants Blackfeather and his allies move speed when moving through it. When this ability is used against a target with full Heartthrob stacks (shown as broken hearts), it will execute the target for bonus true damage based on the target’s missing health (capped against non-heroes).

Overdrive: The rose trail also makes Blackfeather and allies unslowable. Additionally, the cooldown for Feint of Heart is reset if the target is killed within 0.5 seconds.

ON POINT

Blackfeather pierces all enemies in a line, damaging them and applying a decaying slow for 1 second. The duration of this slow is increased by 0.3 seconds for each stack of Heartthrob on the target. If this hits at least one enemy hero, Blackfeather also gains a barrier that scales with a percentage of his bonus health and recovers focus. The amount of focus recovered is further increased with a percentage of his max energy and a percentage of his energy recharge.

Overdrive: On Point gains increased range.

ROSE OFFENSIVE

Blackfeather cuts through his opponents, basic attacking all enemies along his path. During the dash, Blackfeather is immune to negative effects and takes greatly reduced damage. This ability has 2 charges.

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NEW LORE: LOVE’S FAILED KISS

By SugarVenom

Phinn chewed on his pipe while a bobber floated on the still water of a pond. He sat on a rock, half snoozing, jerking awake whenever his fishing pole slipped out of his claws.

On the grass beside him, Blackfeather had surrounded the unconscious princess with plucked flowers. “Look at her,” whispered Blackfeather in awe. “Is she not the most captivating thing you have ever seen? Her hair. Her pale skin. Her delicate fingers, how they clutch her prized mirror! Her eyebrows, arched as if to say… as if to say…”

“…let me sleep,” said Phinn.

“No, that’s not it. There is a… a dare in her expression. ‘Do you dare to do what must be done?’ Yes, your highness, I…”

“I meant, let me sleep,” said Phinn with a sharp-toothed yawn. “You kept me up all night with your princess-stealing.”

“How can you think of slumber when such an adventure is about?” Blackfeather dropped with great drama to his knees beside the princess and tucked her hair behind her ears. “When such a beauty needs aid? Never fear, my lady. Blackfeather is here.” With that, he bent and brushed his lips against hers.

Phinn snored.

Susie, perched comfortably on Phinn’s nose, tweeted a morning song.

A red-whiskered carp poked its head out of the pond to peer with suspicion at the bobber.

Princess Malene did not stir.

“That’s bizarre,” said Blackfeather, startling Phinn awake. “Something went wrong with the kiss.”

“Like as not, it’s your technique,” said Phinn, making eye contact with the carp. “Kissing is an art. It’s all in the incisors.”

“I weep for troll women.”

“I haven’t yet had a complaint,” said Phinn as he casted again, landing the bait closer to the curious carp. “Come on, now. Heeeere my little breakfast. Take the juicy worm, now.”

“Your provinciality would drain the romance out of any but this exquisite moment,” said Blackfeather, and again he lowered himself to press his lips to Princess Malene’s, lingering longer this time.

Susie ate a fly out of Phinn’s ear.

The carp nibbled the bait.

Phinn snorted awake and yanked up his pole, piercing the carp through its coquelicot-mustachioed lip.

Princess Malene did not stir.

“Preposterous!” cried Blackfeather. He pouted with crossed arms while Phinn reeled in the carp. “Something is wrong with her, because I am the best kisser in this land.”

Phinn raised up his wriggling catch, but Blackfeather was too despondent to admire it. “Maybe she needs to be awake to enjoy it,” offered Phinn.

“That is the point of the kiss,” cried Blackfeather, startling Susie. “To wake her up.”

The carp died.

“Kisses don’t wake up princesses. Who told you that nonsense?” Phinn bit the head off his breakfast and chewed while shaking his head at his friend.

“They don’t?”

“Of course not. Only the tickle of a seraphim’s feather will wake a sleeping princess. Blue feathers work best.”

Susie nodded in agreement.

“That … that makes so much sense!” Blackfeather sighed with relief. “Why else would my kisses be ineffective? Now, where do we get this famed azure plume?”

“Beats me. Not as many seraphim about as there used to be. Why do you care anyway? I thought we were her kidnappers, not her heroes.”

“We can’t very well collect a bounty on a princess in a coma.”

“Seems you rather like her.”

“Like her? Dear, sweet Phinneas. The crevasse between heroism and villainy is not wide, but it is deep.”

“Take care not to fall in when you jump over, then.” Phinn swallowed the remainder of the carp and, as was his habit after eating anyway, fell again to napping. Once he was sure that Phinn wasn’t watching, Blackfeather took Princess Malene’s hand.

“I shall be the one to tickle you awake, your highness,” he whispered. “I care not where the adventure takes me.”

To be continued … someday.

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READ MORE BLACKFEATHER LORE

• Princess Kidnapped!
• Social Climbers
• ‘No Use Resisting!’
• Ruffians!

 

With Update 1.11 around the corner, this week’s free rotation includes heroes getting some incredible new skins. Both SAW and Krul get their Tier III skins in this update, evolving them to their final form. Vox gets the Tier II version of his Cloud Raider skin, with some vivid splash art to go with it.

Vox has been one of the big stories of the VGL Autumn Qualifiers, as Halcyon Hammers’ XenoTek revealed an Aftershock build that has spread like wildfire over the North America meta. Watch the full match set vs. VON Diablo here, featuring some incredible surprises. With multiple viable build paths, Vox is one to play this week!

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VOX (LANE/SNIPER)

• Coming in Update 1.11: Cloud Raider Vox Tier II!
• Hero info & lore
• VaingloryFire guides

Vox has a new skin coming in Update 1.11 with Cloud Raider Vox Tier II! Check the in-game Market after the update to get this new skin.

Vox is a mobile sniper with a high-energy playstyle, with quick dashes and excellent teamfight repositioning. Vox deals significant damage either to a single target or to groups of enemies depending on his build. This flexibility allows Vox to react according to the needs of his team.

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KRUL (JUNGLE/WARRIOR)

• Coming in Update 1.11: Death Metal Krul Tier III skin!
• Hero info & lore
• VaingloryFire guides

Krul becomes the ultimate hard-rock zombie warrior when Update 1.11 unleashes his Tier III skin on the Fold! Look for this skin in the Market soon.

Krul is a jungle nightmare who dominates in 1v1 duels. Able to absorb massive amounts of damage and recover large portions of his own health mid-battle, Krul can bring the pain and survive a beating as long as he can stick to his target.

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SAW (LANE/SNIPER)

• Coming in Update 1.11: SAWborg Tier III!
• Hero info & lore
• VaingloryFire guides

SAWborg Tier III will be released in Update 1.11! If you’ve been waiting for your chance to display your SAW prowess as either a crystal or weapon build, this is your chance! Find the SAWborg Tier III skin in the Market soon.

SAW has arguably the highest damage potential in the game … but at the huge expense of mobility. Excellent at sieging important locations, SAW zones out entire regions from the enemy team with suppressing fire.

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CATHERINE (ROAM/PROTECTOR)

• Hero info & lore
• VaingloryFire guides

Catherine brings the most reliable stun and disruption skills to teamfights and ganks. Hard to kill and great at chasing, she can secure kills and turn around fights that would otherwise be lost. Catherine can soak up damage and strike fear on sight. She is best roaming between jungle and lane. 

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GLAIVE (JUNGLE/WARRIOR)

• Hero info & lore
• VaingloryFire guides

Glaive has one of the most feared abilities in the game: a jet-powered Afterburn strike that will slice through you and blast you back into a tactically fatal position. In teamfights, Glaive’s area-of-effect cleave and Bloodsong lifesteal makes him incredibly hard to bring down.

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RINGO (LANE/SNIPER)

• Hero info & lore
• VaingloryFire guides

Ringo is often played as the primary damage dealer for his team. He can shoot at blinding speeds and finish off fleeing enemies with an epic fireball that follows foes across the battlefield. Incredibly weak in the early game, Ringo players should focus on earning as much gold as possible in the lane before picking big fights.

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ABOUT THE FREE HERO ROTATION

The free hero rotation unlocks six heroes each week to play as long and as much as you want in the Casual queue. It’s an opportunity to test drive heroes before using ICE or Glory to unlock them. The free hero rotation does not include hero skins.

The free rotation changes every Tuesday and heroes in the rotation usually won’t return for a few weeks or months afterward, so unlocking heroes is always worthwhile. The free rotation does not apply to Ranked play to ensure players are already very familiar with the heroes they play in that try-hard environment with skill tiers at stake.

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Go play the heroes getting new looks in Update 1.11!

Vainglory is one year old! And coinciding perfectly with this special occasion is the incredibly important, incredibly huge launch of Vainglory in China. To celebrate, Super Evil and Giant Interactive have together lined up a week of special events!

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EVENT SCHEDULE FOR ANNIVERSARY WEEK (TIMES IN PST):

• NOW – Double Glory Week: For the first time ever, all players for an entire week will receive twice as much Glory (Vainglory’s earned currency) from playing matches. Use this currency to unlock more heroes, skins and cards.
• THURSDAY – China Launch Party! Watch this event broadcasted live, featuring star Chinese Vainglory player QUEEN and special celebrity guests. Channel and schedule will be confirmed and shared in the in-game News section soon.
• FRIDAY – Vainglory Anniversary special dev stream: Join us as we look back on a wild, crazy year! Anyone remember the marquee feature of update 1.03?
• SATURDAY – ‘Cards Crazy 8!’ – 8 Wins, 8 Cards: For 24 hours, every time you win a match, it will drop a card. The quality of these cards is guaranteed, as follows:
  • Wins #1-4: Guaranteed a Rare card each match.
  • Wins #5-7: Guaranteed an Epic card each match.
  • Win #8: Guaranteed a Legendary card!
  • This crazy card event begins at 4PM PST / 7PM EST / 00:00 GMT and runs for 24 hours!
• SUNDAY –  VGL Quarterfinals on twitch.tv/vaingloryleague
• TUESDAY, NOV 17 – Blackfeather Hero Reveal livestream: Watch Blackfeather played for the first time in full Vainglory matches on a special test server!

It’s amazing how much the game has grown during the past year (even before launching in China), and that is entirely thanks to all you amazing, dedicated players who have played, stuck with us and helped us improve. Together, we’re creating something special, both in terms of the in-game play experience and the competitive eSports scene.

We are so grateful that you continually choose to play Vainglory, and we will continue to work as hard and as late as we can to make the game better for you. This has been, and always will be, a dialogue between devs and Community. We are in this together, and we are always listening, taking notes and step-by-step improving the game based on your amazing feedback (and occasionally game-breaking strats).

So, join us in welcoming all the Chinese players to the Fold, play all week during Double Glory, win as much as you can during the 24 hours of “Cards Crazy 8,” watch the best teams in the world battle in VGL and tune in Friday for the special anniversary dev stream and Tuesday for the Blackfeather reveal stream! It’s going to be a huge celebration honoring you, our players. GLHF!  —PlayoffBeard

Update 1.11 is coming soon with three new exciting skins! Watch the special Vainglory dev stream to see them in-game! 

DEATH METAL KRUL TIER III

“Krul is a guy whose feelings are frozen in time. I wanted to make a lyrical, fun homage to the epic guitar bands I loved when I was a kid.” —Chainsaw

Heavy metal goes pure old school pulp fantasy with Death Metal Krul Tier 3!

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CLOUD RAIDER VOX TIER II

Vox ranks up to captain with Tier II of the Cloud Raider Vox skin.

INTERVIEW WITH SUPER EVIL ARTIST JUSTINSANE

“Vox’s style has been present day, but I wanted to dress him in a period costume. Kicking ass is even sweeter when you’re dressed like a glorious dandy.

“He wouldn’t be his father’s son without some high-tech gadgets. There’s power armor built into his arms and a case that looks old, but has glowing gadgets inside. There’s a contraption that runs throughout the suit and spins the ammo around his arms, and he always has headphones.”

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SAWBORG TIER III

Coming in update 1.11, Tier III SAWborg goes after the robots that have been hunting him! Read the end of his lore below … or is it the beginning?

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TIER III LORE

“Frankie? I don’t know a Frankie.”

The dwarf’s face peered out through the window in the thick metal door at the end of a dark and labyrinthine series of underground sewer tunnels. SAW reached inside and grabbed the dwarf by his throat.

“I got machine men hunting me down. I had to fake my death to escape. I don’t have time to guess at you sewer rats’ secret passwords. Get me Frankie.”

The dwarf’s eyes lit up. “I heard there were bots roaming aboveground. Real high-tech stuff,” he choked. “If those things are after you, I’m Frankie.”

“The Frankie who can build anything?” SAW’s fingers loosened from the dwarf’s jugular, and a bolt slid unlocked.

“I can engineer anything.” The heavy door slid open. “Follow me. The garage is back here.”

Inside, orange lights hung from high ceilings. Bad couches held together with duct tape encircled a good, if short, pool table. On those couches other dwarves sat, poking at holographic screens upon which lines of code scrolled. A knee-high robot full of coffee wheeled around, spitting steam out of its hinged top. “Hey guys,” called Frankie, “this giant guy just tried to kill me and now I’m taking him to the garage.”

“Okay,” muttered the others.

SAW trailed after Frankie, trying to decide how many dwarves he could take on at once. They were built low to the ground but there were a good bunch of them, some with mighty beards. “So. Can you can help me?”

“Probably not. Those bots?” Frankie pulled up a rolling door and flipped a switch that flooded an echoing garage with white light. “They’re way more advanced than anything I’ve engineered. Any idea why they’re hunting you?”

SAW whistled through his teeth at the artillery inside. Weapons and armor from everywhere he’d been, and many places he hadn’t. Actuators, anti-material rifles, a sentry turret. There was even a tank in the back, blown half apart and still crackling with something that glowed purple. He picked up a rocket-propelled grenade from a shelf stacked with them, hoisted it onto his shoulder. “I’ve made enemies in militaries all ’round the world.”

Frankie’s laugh sounded like marbles rattling in a coffee cup. “Took six years of bureaucracy for the local military to upgrade the 8002 to the 9000. They’re still tinkering with exosuits! Ha! I think on another level, big guy. I’m thinking about the future. I got a gizmo in the closet that’ll move things through time … but that’s not what you’re here for. You’re here for this.” He yanked a tarp away from a jumble of metal armor.

SAW set the RPG back where he’d found it. “I’m not much of a knight.”

“This is ablative plate. Nothing gets through it. It can’t be chipped, scratched, shot or vaporized. You could wear this armor in space.” Frankie hefted up a breastplate as big as his body with surprising strength. “I mean, your chances of winning are very low. Five, ten percent at best. The artificial intelligence hunting you is fully automated. Unkillable.”

SAW held up the helmet and stared into its eyes. “Machines are only as smart as whatever makes ‘em.”

“Whatever made these is smarter than you.”

“Robots can’t be tricky. Humans can get lucky.” SAW fit the helmet over his head. His voice came out muffled. “What do you want for all this?”

“If you manage to survive – which, I can’t stress enough, is a doubtful outcome – bring me back the pieces of the robots so I can see how they work.”

“You wanna make one of these things?”

“I’m an engineer. I want to make everything.”

SAW grabbed the breastplate from Frankie’s arms. “Deal.”

Want more Sawborg lore? Read the Tier I lore here.

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Read more SAW lore:

• The Bridge-Burner
• SAW’s Field Training Regimen
• SAW & the Leviathan, Part I
• SAW & the Leviathan, Part II

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MORE HERO SKIN REVEALS:

• Star Queen Celeste
• Cloud Raider Vox
• Paragon Catherine Tier 3

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Vainglory and China launch, every game you play from now until Nov. 19 will grant double Glory post-match! Use your newfound Glory to unlock heroes in the Market and get the cards you need for the skins you’re after.

‘DOUBLE GLORY WEEK’ DETAILS

• Double Glory Week will start on Thursday, Nov. 12 at noon PST.
• Double Glory Week will run until Nov. 19 at noon PST.
• All you need to do is play; you will get twice the Glory as normal for every match you complete!
• Tell your friends and guildmates … Better yet, team queue!

This week’s free hero rotation features heroes that received some special love this update. Whether it was pumping up Supernova damage for Celeste or increasing the benefit of fast reflexes for Ringo, each hero in this rotation was changed for the better.

Although Petal can be played as a roamer, she also does very well as a crystal power jungle carry. With the recent changes to Petal’s ultimate, Spontaneous Combustion, she can invest in some early crystal power and drastically change the tide of teamfights. —AdyEndrus

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TAKA (JUNGLE/ASSASSIN)

• Hero info
• VaingloryFire guides

Taka is a stealthy assassin who weaves in and out of battle, eliminating targets with his switchblades. With proper timing and combat awareness, Taka can pick off an enemy and escape — only to reappear again for another kill.

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PETAL (LANE/SNIPER)

• Hero info & lore
• VaingloryFire guides

Petal commands a flock of Bramblethorn Pets known as “munions” that she uses to swarm her enemies from long range. She excels at long, sustained fights where damage from her small army really adds up. She can even single-handedly take out important objectives such as the Gold & Minion Mines.

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CELESTE (LANE/MAGE)

• Hero info & lore
• VaingloryFire guides

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.

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FORTRESS (JUNGLE/PROTECTOR)

• Hero info & lore
• VaingloryFire guides

This Halcyon Well guardian is a snarling, frightening sight in the jungle. He stalks prey, closes in with teammates, flanks targets and creates challenging, multi-front confrontations. Stay near your allies and bite and claw your way to kills.

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KOSHKA (JUNGLE/ASSASSIN)

• Hero info & lore
• VaingloryFire guides

Koshka is an in-your-face assassin adept at getting the kill and then getting out. She should focus on assassinating weak targets and locking down the most lethal enemy. She is extremely fast at clearing jungle camps, making her an ideal jungler. Confident players will even invade the enemy-side jungle for fun and profit.

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RINGO (LANE/SNIPER)

• Hero info & lore
• VaingloryFire guides

Ringo is often played as the primary damage dealer for his team. He can shoot at blinding speeds and finish off fleeing enemies with an epic fireball that follows foes across the battlefield. Incredibly weak in the early game, Ringo players should focus on earning as much gold as possible in the lane before picking big fights.

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ABOUT THE FREE HERO ROTATION

The free hero rotation unlocks six heroes each week to play as long and as much as you want in the Casual queue. It’s an opportunity to test drive heroes before using ICE or Glory to unlock them.

The free rotation changes every Tuesday and heroes in the rotation usually won’t return for a few weeks or months afterward, so unlocking heroes is always worthwhile. The free rotation does not apply to Ranked play to ensure players are already very familiar with the heroes they play in that try-hard environment with skill tiers at stake.

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Go try the improved heroes from update 1.10!

Anyone want to win 20,000 ICE? How about 40,000 ICE??!!!

The VGL Bracket Challenge is back — and this time you can enter your picks for both your NA bracket and EU bracket for a chance to win up to 20K ICE for each bracket!

This concept will be quite familiar for those who watch March Madness and study the sweet science of bracketology. But for everyone else, here’s how it works:

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

• Print out or mark up the NA bracket and/or the EU bracket. (Use whatever’s easiest to fill it in, whether that’s writing on a napkin, Photoshop or an annotation app, whatever that is.)
• Predict the winner of each matchup, all the way through the finals. This will become less and less reliable as you stack prediction upon prediction.
• REMEMBER TO CIRCLE THE TEAM YOU THINK WILL WIN THE FINALS!
• Fill in the tiebreakers: Add in your guess for the end-game score of last match of the finals and which player will be the MVP of the NA finals. (You can click on teams in the online bracket to find a player for your winning team.)
• Tweet your bracket(s) with hashtags #vainglory and #VGLbracket.
• Brackets must be tweeted before the VGL Round of 32 starts on Sunday at 10AM PST in order to qualify for the contest. There’s no excuse to get the Round of 64 wrong! Just watch the matches! 

HOW WINNERS ARE DECIDED

• ONE POTENTIAL WINNER FOR NA AND EU EACH: If anyone tweets a perfect bracket (predicting every winner correctly all the way through the finals) and has a more accurate tiebreaker than anyone else, that one person will win 20,000 ICE! Note: You can have a perfect bracket without correctly predicting the tiebreaker. That is only a tiebreaker in the event of multiple perfect brackets.
• GUARANTEED WINNER IN NA AND EU (if no perfect bracket): If no one has a perfect bracket, then the person who predicts the most matchups correctly in NA and separately EU (and wins any tiebreakers) will win 10,000 ICE. That means someone is guaranteed to win at least 10K ICE!
• You do not have to fill out both NA and EU brackets! They are separate contests.

You have nothing to lose and potentially 40,000 ICE to gain! So, fill out your NA bracket and EU bracket now, get your friends to do the same, and see if you can either win the grand prize — or have the best bracket in your group or guild! Half the fun is trying to best your friends.  Good luck!

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If you’re not sure what a filled-in bracket should look like, here’s an example: 

Remember to tweet your bracket with #vainglory and #VGLbracket!

Until this update, guilds weren’t much of a party. Sure, you could put on a name tag, stand around by a potted plant and hope some cool guildmates showed up … but guilds weren’t exactly “exciting.” With 1.10, we usher in the next wave in a series of enhancements designed to crank up the music and make some heat. Read on to discover all the new stuff we’ve introduced, along with a coveted new skin theme and significant balance changes. Let’s get to it …

GUILD REWARDS, PROGRESSION & ACTIVITY

Guilds is a feature big enough that our work has to come in phases. With each update, we’re building on the foundation created in 1.9 and adding more and more to make guilds into a feature-rich experience for every captain, member and initiate. With massive season-end rewards, Guild Heat and new tiers, guilds are now much more than groups of 20-50 players …

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GUILD LEVELING & SEASON-END PAYOUTS!

Playing with your guild in Autumn Season 2015 just became a lot more important. By playing together with guildmates, you’ll level up your guild, unlock amazing crests and earn bigger and bigger end-of-season rewards. Check out the new REWARDS section and view the ladder of potential payouts. Then, grab at least one other guild member (yeah, that got easier), rep your guild, earn Fame XP and climb your way to huge Glory and ICE bonuses! All rewards pay out at the end of the season, so you’ll know exactly how much time you have to band together for that next reward tier.

For the most active guild members, we made a special treat just for you! Each time a guild fills its Fame XP bar and levels up, the entire guild gets to see and celebrate which three players achieved the milestone.

• Level up your guild to unlock escalating rewards at season’s end!
• View all season-­end payouts on a new guild ladder in the REWARDS section.
• Every 10 guild levels, you’ll rank up into a new guild tier and unlock a new guild crest.
• Two guild members can now queue without a full party to earn guild Fame XP.
• Guild leveling is significantly easier than in 1.9! In fact, your guild has been retroactively granted more levels. Go look!
• Invite and Friends lists now display both players’ team tag and their guild tag.

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NEW ‘GUILD HEAT’ BUFF

Perfect for guilds with active members wanting to earn Fame XP faster!

For a guild to truly thrive and progress into bigger rewards, it takes participation from nearly all the guild’s members. So, to incentivize participation and dedication, we’re introducing Guild Heat. This is essentially a bonus enabling guilds with lots of member activity to earn Fame XP faster. As member activity increases, the guild will be “warming up.” As the vast majority plays matches, your guild will be “on fire” and those guild levels and rewards will come significantly faster.

• New Guild Heat feature tracks member activity and rewards members with bonus guild Fame XP!
• WARMING UP: If 60% of members have played a guild match in the past 48 hours, members gain a 10% Fame XP bonus from guild matches.
• ON FIRE: If 85% of members have played a guild match in the past 48 hours, members gain a 25% Fame XP bonus from guild matches.
• Guild Heat will show up after your guild’s first match in 1.10.

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GUILD OPTIONS IN-GAME

Having second thoughts?

Decide during 1.9 that you’d rather have an invite-only guild … or that your guild motto was cheesier than you first thought? Now the guild captain can make easy in-game adjustments.

• Edit your guild type (open or invite only) and your guild motto in-­game.

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PLAYER NAME CHANGE

Rather than contacting Super Evil support, you can now change your player name in-game. If you’re not happy with how your name is displayed, change it in your profile.

STAR QUEEN CELESTE TIER I

Update 1.10 introduces the long-awaited skin theme for this popular crystal mage. We know many of you have been saving up ICE for this moment, and it’s finally here! Head to the Market now to get this Tier I skin with ICE, or start collecting Celeste cards today.

Read the Star Queen Celeste lore as she wields her royal star staff, commands an army and comes fully into her own power alongside father Ardan and brother Vox.

PETAL

“We won’t stop until Petal is viable and players are in love (again). Plus, her ultimate gets the revitalization that the rest of her kit got in 1.9.” —CaptainNeato

 

MUNIONS (HEROIC PERK)

Petal now uses an alternate energy system that represents the number of seed charges she has. This will remove her energy dependency and make the seeds the focal resource for Petal.

With this change to munion dependency, it made sense to redesign how munions interact with enemy heroes, lane minions and jungle monsters.

• Killing Petal’s munions no longer grants experience.
• Munions now have 4-5-6-7-9 ticks of health:
  • Hero basic attacks and direct ability damage each remove 3 ticks of health.
  • Multi-target damage, area-of-effect damage and attack bonuses remove 1 tick of health.
  • Minions and monsters remove 1 tick of health.
  • Damage-over-time effects deal no tick damage.
• Munions regenerate health when out of combat.
• Munions will try not to steal last hits when Petal has an Ironguard Contract.

 

BRAMBLEBOOM SEEDS

• Petal’s seeds no longer provide a healing and defensive aura. 

 

 

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION

Petal’s ultimate has been reimagined to make her a better team player, without negating her mage powers. Petal’s munions now heal allies as well as damage and slow enemies when they explode.

• Cooldown reduced from 90-80-70 to 70.
• Damage reduced from 215-310-405 + 80% crystal ratio to 180-240-300 +70% crystal ratio.
• Enemies in the explosion radius are slowed by 30% for 3.5 seconds
• Nearby allies in a larger radius are healed for 70-90-110 + 25% CP
• Munions are invincible during the ultimate.

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TAKA

“Permanent critical strikes caused Taka to snowball extremely hard starting from the mid-game because it made every point of weapon power 50% better than on anyone else. This change lowers Taka’s mid-game synergy with pure WP but grants some late-game power and build diversity through the ability to separately crit.” —Zekent

HOUSE KAMUHA

• Mortal Strikes are no longer crits. They instead add 40 + 25% of bonus weapon damage per strike. This bonus damage can critically strike per normal.

 

KAITEN

“We’re shifting this ability more towards skillful dodging of damage and stuns rather than pure damage.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Damage down from 75-150-225-300-410 + 120% crystal power to 100-360 + 80% CP.
• Taka is now immune to debuffs while mid-flip.

KAKU

• Taka will now de-stealth if he receives damage within 0.4 seconds of activation (down from 1.0 second).

 

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RINGO

“The fastest-possible basic attack reset using Twirling Silver is back, for all you snappy-fingered pros who could do this perfectly.” —Zekent

 

TWIRLING SILVER

• Fixed a bug where executing a perfect basic-attack cooldown reset using Twirling Silver was slower by about 0.2 seconds.

 

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RONA

“Changes to Serpent Mask means stacking this item is no longer viable, so we’re removing the Red Mist lifesteal reduction.” —Zekent

 

RED MIST

• Because Serpent Mask’s passive no longer stacks, Red Mist no longer has minus-50% lifesteal during channeling.
• Red Mist can now be canceled while silenced.

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VOX

The changes below were included in the 1.9.1 hotfix. (No new changes in 1.10.)

 

 

SONIC ZOOM

• Weapon ratio down from 50-55-60-65-75% to 35-40-45-50-60% (1.9.1 Hotfix).

BASE STATS & MISC.

• Base weapon damage down from 52 – 80 to 34 – 80 (1.9.1 Hotfix).
• Vox’s last-hit indicator is now accurate.

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GLAIVE

“Glaive had too much late-game lifesteal, and so now he has less.” —Zekent

 

 

BLOODSONG 

• Lifesteal down from 1% to 0.75% per stack.

 

 

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CELESTE

“We wanted to reward great Celeste players who know how to set up a Supernova without crippling Celeste’s viability. With Heliogenesis on such a short cooldown, it was too easy to drop stars down everywhere and left little room for counterplay.” —SurpriseBirthday

 

HELIOGENESIS

• Cooldown increased from 3.0-1.0 seconds to 3.0-1.4.
• Crystal ratio of the star decreased from 125% to 100%.
• Crystal ratio of the supernova increased from 175% to 220%.

 

SOLAR STORM

“This ability does … far too much damage. There are already huge benefits to leveling up this ability from widening the trail. Because each star does AOE damage, multiple collisions already multiply the damage.” —Zekent

• Lead star damage down from 300-350-400 to 300-325-350
• Trailing star damage down from 150-175-200 to 150-160-170
• Energy cost down from 100-120-140 to 100-100-100

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CATHERINE

“Between constant stuns and incredibly potent damage mitigation, Catherine was a bit too effective with high amounts of cooldown.” —Zekent

 

MERCILESS PURSUIT 

• Cooldown changed from 13-13-13-13-12 to 13 at all ranks.
• Merciless Pursuit stun duration down from 0.8-0.9-1.0-1.1-1.4 to 0.7-0.8-0.9-1.0-1.2.

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KOSHKA

“Yummy Catnip Frenzy was often seen as a liability to use against opponents with Reflex Block. Previously, if your target Reflex Blocked your ultimate, YOU would be self-stunned for 2 seconds while your target walked away free! These changes should incentivize using the ability as an engage tool in addition to suffering less when blocked.” —Zekent

YUMMY CATNIP FRENZY

• This ability will auto cancel when Reflex Blocked by the target. It will still go on full cooldown.
• Cooldown for Yummy Catnip Frenzy reduced by 2 seconds from basic attacks (improved from 1 second).
• Can now only be used on enemy heroes.

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PHINN

“Missing Forced Accord was lacking counterplay since the cooldown refund was a bit too forgiving. Having more time in between hooks allows enemies to take advantage of Phinn’s slow move speed even more than before!” —Zekent

 

FORCED ACCORD

• Cooldown up from 75-60-45 to 75-65-55
• Cooldown refund down from 0-25-50% to 0-15-30%

MISCELLANEOUS

• Phinn’s voice in-game has been updated so that it’s easier to understand what he’s saying!

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FORTRESS

“We’re shifting the lifesteal from his B to his A. Utilizing lifesteal takes time, and when on Law of the Claw this mechanic rarely came into play. This also gives Fortress some late-game power that he sorely lacked because lifesteal is an extremely valuable stat in late game.” —Zekent

TRUTH OF THE TOOTH

• Fortress and allied heroes now gain 10-12-14-16-20% lifesteal upon leaping to your target.

 

 

LAW OF THE CLAW

• No longer grants lifesteal upon triggering (moved to Truth of the Tooth).
• Reaching max stacks will consume the debuff, so you can reapply the bleeding and attempt to pop it again on the same target.

 

ATTACK OF THE PACK

• Bounty on wolves reduced from 50 gold to 10.

 

 

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KRUL

“These are small changes to reward great Krul players for long-range sword throws. Too often is this ability used as a fast, point-blank stun that is guaranteed to hit.” —SurpriseBirthday

 

FROM HELL’S HEART

• Fixed a bug where the slow was not able to be Reflex Blocked.
• Fixed a bug where the stun and slow durations were not as long as intended for long-range and “boomerang” sword throws.
• Clarification: Stun and slow duration is 50% at point blank range, 100% at max range and up to 150% at boomerang range.
• Damage now also scales with throw distance the same way.

 

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SKAARF

“The speed at which Goop appears allows Skaarf to compensate for missing a Spitfire by immediately dropping a puddle that connects the fireball and his target. This was also adding a great deal of unavoidable burst to Skaarf’s kit. Finally, the fact that Kraken simply stands on top of a puddle made Skaarf far too strong vs Kraken, resulting in high-level teams almost never taking Kraken against an enemy Skaarf.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Goop has an additional 0.2-second delay before it lands on the ground
• Goop deals reduced damage to Kraken, as well as to lane minions.
• Spitfire will no longer hit multiple heroes if they are exactly on top of each other.

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JOULE

“The change to Tyrant’s Monocle is extremely favorable to Joule. Since she is in a good spot today, we need to adjust down Thunder Strike a bit to compensate.” —Zekent

 

THUNDER STRIKE

• Pierce down from 10-20% to 5-10%

 

EVE OF HARVEST / SERPENT MASK

“Some heroes are so exceptionally good at lifesteal that their entire kit depends on stacking it. However, others are terrible at lifesteal, making the stat largely useless on them. We’re reducing permanent, stackable, always-on lifesteal and replacing it with a powerful-but-capped bonus. This does wonders for most heroes, but it wears off quickly for those AOE spells that dish out tons of total damage very quickly.” —Zekent

• Lifesteal reduced from 20% to 10%
• New passive: Your next 600-1200 (level 1-12) points of damage has +25% lifesteal; recharges over 40 seconds.
• Serpent Mask weapon power down from 90 to 75
• Eve of Harvest crystal power down from 65 to 55

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TYRANT’S MONOCLE

“This item has always been a second-class citizen to Sorrowblade. We’re making it a stronger alternative, especially for heroes with good weapon damage per hit.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Crit chance up from 30% to 40%
• Crit damage down from 30% to 20%

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MINION CANDY

“We’re making it harder to maintain candy on the Gold Miner 100% of the time. Roamers now have to make more frequent trips to the jungle shop and spend more money to maintain candy, giving the other team more windows of opportunity to steal Gold Mine.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Duration on jungle bosses down from 60 to 30 seconds (lane minions still 60).

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VISION AND UTILITY ITEMS

FLARE GUN

“The visual effect of Flare Gun was a bit misleading in terms of how long it lasted. By permanently revealing traps, you can more easily clear big clumps of Scout Traps and more easily bait opponents when they think they have you caught out.” —Zekent

• Permanently reveals nearby enemy Scout Traps
• Flare Gun duration reduced from 12 to 5 seconds (to match the visual).

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SCOUT TRAPS

“These were turning the tide of early-game skirmishes too heavily.” —Zekent

• Damage down from 185-647 to 135-630

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CONTRAPTION

“You really don’t need to drop a flare in front of  yourself… you just don’t.” —Zekent

• Increased Scout Trap vs Flare Gun placement radius from 2.0 to 3.5 meters
• Charge time up from 15 to 20 seconds
• Charges are shared between multiple Contraptions
• Health granted by this item down from 200 to 0

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IRONGUARD CONTRACT

“While stacking Ironguard Contract was an interesting strategy, it heavily incentivized stalling out the game and rewarded defensive play and three-person wave clearing.” —Zekent

• When multiple nearby allies with Ironguard Contract qualify to earn bonus gold, only the ally with less total gold will receive any.
• Heal per monster / boss up from 80/160 to 120/200

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STORMGUARD BANNER

“Stormguard Banner was too strong … for everyone. Since it was primarily intended for roamers, we moved some of the awesomeness of its heal down to cousin Ironguard Contract while simultaneously increasing the commitment players need to make to buy Stormguard Banner itself.” —CaptainNeato

• Health regeneration down from 16 to 8
• Price up from 950 to 1100 (Warhorn/Contraption price unchanged)
• Sell value down from 575 to 200

TURRETS

“Average match length has gotten a bit longer since introducing turret barriers. These changes will make it easier for a full team to brute-force through the turret barrier, while making it harder for sneaky turret harassment to make a dent.” —Zekent

• Turret barrier changed from 300 barrier generated per second (with 600 max) to 200 barrier generated per second (with 800 max).
• Turret barrier is disabled when minions are in range, not when damage is exchanged with minions.
• Turret armor down ~15% across the board

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MATCH START SPAWN PLATFORM LOCK

“No need to shop on the run to reach that jungle camp. You now have ample time to shop to prepare yourself for battle!” —Zekent

• Players are locked for 10 seconds at match start. The shop automatically opens during this window and shopping is the only action you can take until unlocked.
• Players gain a massive speed boost the first time they leave the spawn platform.

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RECOMMENDED ITEMS  IMPROVEMENTS

“Up until now, the in-game shop has only recommended Tier 3 items such as Sorrowblade or Aftershock. With Update 1.10, we’ve improved this functionality to be more granular. We’re using this to recommend Ironguard on roamers (without needed to recommend Warhorn or Contraption) and make much more intricate build paths for heroes with early-game power spikes like Taka and Ringo.” —SurpriseBirthday

• The Recommended section of the shop will now suggest tier 1 and tier 2 items, allowing for more nuanced build paths for certain heroes.
• Ironguard Contract is now the first item recommended on heroes with “roam” as their primary position.

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VAIN CRYSTAL

“Adding this for consistency across all structures.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Vain crystal now has the same barrier protection as turrets.

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SUMMONS

“Wow … these munions are … really tanky!” —Zekent

• Large jungle objectives no longer attack summons such as Petal seeds and munions.

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‘COOLDOWN SPEED’

“We renamed ‘cooldown acceleration’ to ‘cooldown speed,’ so this stat now starts at 100% instead of 0%. This has ZERO impact on gameplay; it is purely semantic. This stat now works exactly the same as attack speed: 100% is normal speed. 200% is double speed, etc.” —SurpriseBirthday

• Renamed “cooldown acceleration” to “cooldown speed.”
• Adjusted number display to start at 100%.
• No impact on gameplay. (Nothing actually changed other than the language.)

BETTER ANDROID SUPPORT

• Vainglory now supports Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean), significantly increasing the number of supported devices.

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 BUGS FIXES

• Vox’s last-hit indicator is now accurate. (Sorry!)
• Melee minion attacks are now affected by minion defense.
• Koshka & Rona now have their minion armor stat. (All melee characters have +33 damage mitigation from lane minions.)
• Taka’s House of Kamuha perk was triggering on non-perk critical strikes and was granting a move speed bonus.
• Taka’s attack animation was too slow when his attack wasn’t triggering a Mortal Strike from his perk.
• Taka’s Kaiten no longer grants him the move speed bonus from his perk.
• The slow from Krul’s From Hell’s Heart is now Reflex Blockable.
• Skaarf’s Spitfire no longer hits multiple heroes if they are exactly on top of one another.
• Vox had a faster default attack animation than intended (1.9.1 hotfix change).
• Vox last-hit indicator is now accurate (hotfix issue)
• Ringo’s attack reset with Twirling Silver is no longer slightly delayed.
• Too many Scout Traps on the map will no longer cause game disconnects.

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BLACKFEATHER ‘SNEAK PEEK’

While there’s no new hero in this update, the next hero is getting close! Read the Blackfeather Sneak Peek now for look at what this assassin’s abilities might be. Plus, get the inside scoop from Blackfeather’s lead designer, see Blackfeather’s splash art and read all the lore to date.

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Join or create a guild, play together to strive for huge end-of-season rewards and explore the new meta while sporting your new Star Queen Celeste skin! Go check out Update 1.10 later today.  —PlayoffBeard

At any given time, there are multiple Vainglory heroes in various stages of development. Today, we take a look at Vainglory’s next hero: the assassin Blackfeather. While this hero is likely to release with update 1.11, we make no promises because a hero never hits the Fold until it’s absolutely ready. That means playing AS Blackfeather, playing WITH Blackfeather as an ally and playing AGAINST Blackfeather all feel balanced. Blackfeather is still in testing to make sure we get that right (or die trying). —PlayoffBeard

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BLACKFEATHER ABILITIES (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

Blackfeather is still in development. During this process, abilities may change slightly — or change dramatically — depending on what the designers learn through the testing process.

HEARTTHROB (HEROIC PERK)

Blackfeather’s attacks and abilities apply Heartthrob stacks to enemies. Any time stacks are added or refreshed, Blackfeather also deals crystal damage for each stack of Heartthrob already on the target. Instead of energy, Blackfeather uses Focus for his abilities. This is capped at 100 and naturally regenerates. Blackfeather also recovers an additional 10 focus for each basic attack he lands.

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FEINT OF HEART

Blackfeather lunges to his target and attacks, dealing increased attack damage (+60 crystal power) and applying weapon effects. For the next 4 seconds, the target leaves a rose trail. Blackfeather and his allies gain move speed when moving through this trail. When this ability is used against a target with full Heartthrob stacks (shown as broken hearts) it will execute the target, dealing additional true damage based on the target’s missing health. Overdrive: The rose trail also removes and blocks slows while Blackfeather and his allies move along it. Additionally, Feint of Heart’s cooldown is reset if the target is killed within 0.5 seconds of being struck.

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ON POINT

Blackfeather pierces all enemies in a line, damaging them and applying a decaying slow for 1 second. The duration of this slow is increased by 0.3 seconds for each stack of Heartthrob on the target. If this hits at least one enemy hero, Blackfeather also gains a barrier that scales with 15% of his bonus health and recovers 35 focus. The amount of focus recovered is further increased with 2% of his Max Energy and 50% of his energy regeneration. Overdrive: On Point gains increased range.

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ROSE OFFENSIVE

Blackfeather cuts through his opponents, landing basic attacks on all enemies along his path. During the dash, Blackfeather is immune to negative effects and takes greatly reduced damage. This ability has 2 charges.

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HERO DESIGNER CIDERHELM DISCUSSES BLACKFEATHER:

“Blackfeather is all about decisions. He can be played as a weapon assassin or crystal warrior/roamer, and this is further divided by the specific items he chooses.

Rose Offensive (Ultimate)

Blackfeather cuts through his opponents, landing basic attacks on all enemies along his path. During the dash, Blackfeather is immune to negative effects and takes greatly reduced damage.

 

This ability has two charges.

“This ability is a blank slate. If you want a powerful crowd control ultimate, activate Shiversteel and apply it to every enemy in a single dash. If you want a burst ultimate, build critical chance and critical damage. And if you prefer to use the mobility for closing in on a single target or bypassing enemy crowd controls, keep the two charges ready for the right moment.

“Blackfeather has his bases covered when it comes to overdrives as well. Want a cooldown reset on a successful execute? That’s an overdrive. Want safe long-range harassment when you’re on the defensive? That’s an overdrive. Want to chain both charges of your ultimate together almost instantly? Learn the final rank of your ultimate.

“With Blackfeather, the choice is yours.”

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BLACKFEATHER LORE

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Blackfeather is coming soon to Vainglory. Again, all abilities are subject to change based on the testing process.