ICE INTRODUCTION[]
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☀ ICE is the new paid currency for instantly unlocking heroes anytime.
This is another milestone update—and not just because a new ninja hero enters the fray. You can now use real money to purchase ICE, a new currency for instantly unlocking any of Vainglory’s heroes. This gives players the ultimate flexibility: You can play matches and reach achievements such as Sinister Seven to save up Glory, then use your Glory to unlock heroes without any cost. But when you want a hero right now, you can spend ICE to make it happen and be playing that hero seconds later.
Head to the in-game Vainglory Market to check out special ICE bundles, including ones that give you as much as 900 or 2,400 bonus ICE included with your real-money purchase. —PlayoffBeard
Let’s take a closer look at this update ...
NEW HERO : TAKA, ASSASSIN OF HOUSE KAMUHA[]
Read his tactical breakdown here, and be sure to check out his still-unfolding lore comic series.
House Kamuha (HEROIC PERK)[]
Each time Taka critically strikes, he receives 75% of the damage back as health along with a burst of speed. Every 2 seconds, Taka is guaranteed a critical strike. Taka gains 1 Ki stack when he uses an ability or performs a critical strike (up to 5 stacks). Each stack of Ki increases the frequency of critical strikes and accelerates ability cooldowns.
Kaiten[]
Taka flips over his target, cutting it with his switchblade. Taka doesn’t take damage while in mid-air.
Kaku[]
Taka throws a smoke bomb at his feet, vanishing from enemy sight and gaining move speed. This illusion ends early if he strikes a target or he takes direct damage. Turrets, Scout Traps and Flare Guns will see Taka while invisible.
X-Retsu[]
Taka bursts through his target, carving an X with his switchblades for lethal damage. The target suffers a mortal wound, reducing its healing by 50% and taking damage over the next 4 seconds.
NEW FEATURES[]
Vainglory Market[]
- ICE may now be purchased with real money to instantly unlock heroes.
- The cost of Ringo, Catherine and Koshka has been reduced from 1,000 Glory to 800 Glory to help new players secure a basic set of heroes to play.
Hero Select Lobby[]
- If a player fails to connect or fails to choose a hero before the countdown reaches zero, the match will be cancelled (to prevent 2v3s). Players may then return to the queue to find a new match.
GAMEPLAY CHANGES[]
Stealth & True Sight[]
Taka brings some new stealth mechanics with him to the Halcyon Fold.
- Scout Traps, Turrets and Flare Guns now have “true sight.” True sight reveals anything invisible.
- Scout Traps are now able to reveal nearby enemy Scout Traps.
- Watch the Ciderhelm video below to understand how Taka’s invisiblity works—and how to effectively counter it!
Introducing Stealth in Vainglory
HERO BALANCE CHANGES[]
Joule[]
Thunder Strike is now a true skillshot.
- Fixed a bug that caused Joule’s Thunder Strike to always fire in the correct direction as long as Joule had her target selected.
- Thunder Strike weapon ratio increased from 0.33 to 0.40.
- Thunder Strike projectile width increased from 2.0 to 2.5.
- Big Red Button now deals half damage to turrets.
SAW[]
- Roadie Run cooldown increased from 15/13.5/12/10.5/9 to 15/14/13/12/11.
Ringo[]
Keeping a close eye on pure burst.
“Achilles Shot is extremely safe to use compared to other sources of burst. This brings it properly in line.” -SurpriseBirthday
- Achilles Shot crystal ratio reduced from 1.35 to 1.1.
ITEM CHANGES[]
Broken Myth[]
Half as good as before at full health … twice as good if you’re nearly dead!
“We found that the previous Broken Myth was too weak when purchased alone, and it was too powerful when stacked multiple times on heroes with % health damage (such as crystal SAW). The new Broken Myth is effective alone and brings in a special flavor of play: To deal massive burst damage, you must make risky plays—and you can only do so near the end of a battle.” —SurpriseBirthday
- Changed from granting 30% shield piercing all the time to 15% shield piercing + 0.5% bonus for each % health are you missing.
Tension Bow[]
- Cooldown increased from 5 to 6 seconds.
- No longer grants bonus armor pierce on top of base 15% piercing.
- Cost reduced from 2300 to 2150.
Book of Eulogies[]
- Health restoration increased from 25/50 to 35/70.
Barbed Needle[]
- Health restoration increased from 35/70 to 50/100.
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS[]
If you’re having a stability or performance issue, email: support@superevilmegacorp.com.
- Fixed a bug that could cause SAW to fire unlimited Mad Cannon shells.
- Resolved multiple issues that could cause 2v3s or 1v3s to kick off.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the Deserter screen to display erroneously.
- Squashed the bug allowing certain combinations of boots to stack move speed. (Boots move speed should never stack.)
- Fixed various issues that could cause a player to get stuck on the Hero Select screen.
- General stability improvements
Join the conversation in the forums and let us know what you think of Taka and the rest of the update! Note to those who can’t play yet: We’ve been crunching here at the Lair, and we’re now on the verge of continuing the global launch rollout. For all the players across the world asking, “When?” … we can’t wait to open up more regional servers and get the game in your hands. It won’t be long now.