Conquest Dark news & patch notes

It’s once again time for a monthly featured build and this month I’ve picked a build that fits the season. Summer is at its peak, it’s hot af and you’d rather spend your time outside than sweating next to your PC. The build below is perfect for starting a run, leaving your character AFKing and going outside to sip on your drink in the sun. 

This month’s featured build is Lazy Reflector by Daryl Zero (modified slightly by me).

“The laziest build out there. It gets boring quickly.

Note: Soul Veil just helps you level faster. Reflect damage scales with levels, so this is a great bonus. If you get a good Chainmail with exp, you don't need Soul Veil.” 

- Daryl Zero

To try out the build in-game:

Hail, Fated Ones!  The publishing team at Mad Mushroom here with a quick message about another ARPG in our portfolio that you might enjoy: Hell Clock.

Hell Clock is a roguelike ARPG from Rogue Snail, set in a dark retelling of real Brazilian history. And it has its first major expansion dropping on July 14: Cursed War!    To celebrate, Irmstoi has added something from Hell Clock to Conquest Dark. We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but fire the game up and see if you can find it. If you already own Conquest Dark you can get Hell Clock on a pretty big discount with our bundle and the Steam Summer Sale starting tomorrow. As always, feel free to let us know what you think in the Discord. - The Mad Mushroom publishing team

New Content

• Added a new Hell Clock artifact to celebrate the upcoming launch of Hell Clock’s Cursed War expansion. You can check the game and the expansion here.

Gameplay

• \ Armor Enhancement can no longer roll stats that have already been capped. If a character has no viable stats to enhance, a reroll token is granted instead, similar to how Rune Scrolls work.

• Armor Enhancement selection can no longer contain the same item multiple times in the same selection. The item can still appear again after rerolling or upgrading the selection.

• \ Soul Fragments can no longer roll with stats that are already capped.

User Interface

• \ The Stygian Archive can now be opened and browsed during gameplay through the main menu. Abilities however cannot be upgraded until the ritual is over. 

• Corrected some minor UI text issues.

• The UI now shows the maximum number of acquired Black Planet Shards along with the currently available free ones.

• Eldritch Scroll icons above ritual locations now correctly reflect the use of the Orrathorium. If the Orrathorium is not active, the locations will not show scrolls that would drop from extended ritual bosses. 

• World Map locations are now sorted correctly, and locations in the background are no longer drawn on top of locations in the foreground.

• Fixed character sheet showing incorrect stat cap for Target Amount. 

Balance Changes

• All Primary Attack Abilities (Weapon Sets), now have new global stat bonuses that replace the old local stat bonuses. It is worth noting that global bonuses from dual-wielded weapons stack.

• All Ability Master level upgrades have been redesigned and are now significantly more powerful. 

• \ The amount of stats gained through Soul Fragments has been reduced by 50%.

  Developer Comments: The goal of this change is to place more emphasis on stats from other sources. Stats from fragments can easily make some early-game decisions feel less important, as they can cover all stats even with the randomness taken into account. This is highly experimental change and you can expect changes to it in future updates.

• Chained Attack Steps is now capped at 200% (300% total value). 

• Chained Attacks now have their additional chain reach lowered to around 50–75% of the ability’s initial reach. This means the chained attack can still trigger from the same range as before, but the additional chains will not reach as far.

  Developer Comments: Chained attacks are meant to be attacks that reward player for targeting groups that are far away and tightly together. With the previous implementation the chains were just reaching too far and covered easily the whole screen and way beyond it leading into situations where player couldn't even see the enemies before they died. This is still possible by stacking high enough attack reach, but now the chains feel slightly more balanced.

• Survival Tactics Mastery health regeneration increased from 2.5% to 5%. 

• Spike Balls damage increased from 250% to 500%.

• Arcane Orbs damage increased from 150% to 300%.

• Ring of Ruin damage per stack increased from 3.75% to 5%.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused Soul Coin and Corrupted Soul Fragment drop rates to be lower than intended.

• Fixed a bug that caused incorrect cap to be shown on Chance for Soul Coins and Chance for Corrupted Soul Fragments.

• Fixed incorrect multipliers on ability upgrades granting them twice the amount of Ability Power than intended.

This month’s featured build is Space Lazer Madness by Sugar_Ray.

“This build comes online very fast and has no defensive capabilities so to speak of. But the sheer damage output makes defense unnecessary.

I've not seen such a high dmg build yet where you feel like 80% like you're completely alone in the ritual circle because everything dies so fast that you don't even see it.

The idea is to use only Cosmic Ray and push it's damage as far as possible. Between Tier 15 and 20 there are a few spots where enemies have enough life that you have to run away for a bit.”

-Sugar_Ray

To try out the build in-game:

I’m going to start this first monthly development update with the classic “there’s some good news and some bad news.”

About a month ago, when I started working on the design of the new upcoming class I quickly realized that it felt mechanically too similar to what already exists in the game, just with a different theme and visual flavor. I felt it wasn’t something players would be excited about after such a long wait.

I scoured Discord, the Steam discussion boards and other channels to get a better picture of what players really wanted to see from a new class and then decided to pivot towards that. I’m not going to reveal the new class just yet, but I can tell you that mechanically it’s something very different from the other classes.

Now for the “bad” news. Because of the complexity of what I’m working on at the moment, it will most likely take a bit longer than originally planned and the next major update will probably be released closer to early autumn.

There’s going to be a small update during the summer that will bring some minor new content and balance changes, especially to how weapon sets are handled. This should shake up the meta a bit and provide some new build opportunities.

With that, I’m going to leave you until the start of next month with a small teaser.

Gameplay / UI

• Damage floater animation is no longer sped up if game speed is increased.

• Focus target now prioritizes elites and bosses over normal enemies.

In-Game Build Planner and Auto-Build Mode

• Added some missing stats to In-Game Build Planner fragment stat categories.

• Updated official barbarian farming build.

Balance Changes

• \ Resistance Piercing Chance stat base value reduced from 20% to 5%. 

  Developer Comments: This stat is one of the most powerful in the game, especially against enemies with high resistances (elites and bosses), but the large base value meant it would almost always reach the cap very quickly without requiring much thought. This change is intended to make it a meaningful part of character progression and build planning.

• Piercing Strikes mastery now grants +5% Resistance Piercing Chance.

• Aimed Shots mastery now grants +15% Resistance Piercing Chance.

• Multi-Shot mastery Projectile Amount stat increased from 15% to 20%.

• Thief Resistance Piercing Chance class bonus reduced from 60% to 25%.

• Deathbringer’s Handwraps now grant +100% Resistance Piercing Chance.

• Zordolf’s Battle Harness Critical Strike Chance stat increased from 5% to 25%.

• Zordolf’s Battle Pants Resistance Piercing Chance stat reduced from 40% to 25%.

• Death Rush animation slowed down and area of effect slightly increased.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug in the In-Game Build Planner where the eldritch gear list would not update properly when the race, class, or origin was changed, causing an error.

Conquest Dark has now been in Early Access for one year (actually a week over, but I was too busy writing this last week). Since launch it has sold more than 150,000 copies, securing development funding for years to come, especially for a one-man team. This allows me to take my time and think beyond the game’s original concept, shaping it into something truly unique that stands out among other survivors-likes and ARPGs. 

The First Year

Before I go into more detail about what’s coming in the future, I want to take a quick look at what was added during the first year and also set expectations for the amount of new stuff coming in year two. There were a total of 37 major, minor, and hotfix updates to the game during its first year. Here are some of the highlights: 

Gameplay and Systems

• New Character Creation \

• Damage Meters \

• Eldritch Scrolls and Eldritch Gear

• In-Game Build Planner, Shareable Builds and Auto-Build Mode

• Reworked Altars \ (later reverted due to community feedback)

• Ancestral and Primeval Soul Fragments

• The Orrathorium \

• Ability Master Levels

• Ability Upgrade Global Bonuses \

• Game Speed adjustment \

• Mouse Movement \

• New music tracks and reworked audio

New Content

• 2 Rituals

• 6 Bosses

• 2 Events

• 20 Unique Items

• 11 Eldritch Items

• 3 Weapon Sets

• 1 Armor Set

• 6 Abilities

• 4 Artifacts

• 6 Runes

• 2 Origins

• 9 Stats

The game also received a total of 12 major and 9 minor balance passes.

There were also numerous other changes, such as reworked energy mechanics, revamped armor sets and set bonuses, improvements to the UI, game guide entries and tutorials, bug fixes, optimizations, visual improvements, engine updates, and more. A large part of these additions and changes was influenced directly by community feedback from you.

A Look Into the Future

For many players, the first year felt light on new content, especially new areas to explore. A large part of this was due to the focus on implementing missing features and reworking some of the existing ones (which is what Early Access is for). Roughly two-thirds of my development time was spent on this.

The game is still missing some core features such as translations and achievements, but I will try to do a better job of pacing these alongside new content. That said, the old format of using a rigid, fixed roadmap, where decisions about what is coming next are made 6 to 12 months in advance, is not working, especially when I want to react quickly to community feedback and needs.

From now on, I’ll communicate more frequently about what’s coming next and how development is progressing, alongside a separate list of features and ideas planned for the future. This gives me more flexibility when deciding what to work on next.

Translations

Translations are the most requested feature for the game, and not having them leaves a large part of the playerbase out. However, translations are also a huge undertaking for a single person and significantly increase the amount of time spent on every new feature, as all translations need to be added and kept up to date.

Outsourcing translations is very expensive, especially for a game that is constantly changing and has a rapid update cycle, and it is not a viable long-term solution. Because of this, the translation system will be based on machine-translated and community-driven translations, with a limited number of supported languages available at launch, alongside an open system that allows players to easily add their own languages.

I don’t currently have an exact ETA for this system, but I expect it to arrive late this year.

Achievements

The second most requested feature is achievements. I have to admit that I’m not personally a very big fan of achievements, especially when they create very mobile game-like in-game task lists for players.

The simplest form of achievements would be standard Steam achievements, but I feel that many players have different expectations for this system, which I’d like to hear about in the comments below.

This feature will most likely be one of the last additions before the 1.0 launch, as the game is still changing rapidly during Early Access, which could result in achievements being changed or removed over time.

New Class

This is the most exciting thing coming to the game in the near future for me personally and it’s something I’m currently actively working on.

With the new class naturally come new mechanics, a new ritual, a new faction, new abilities, armor sets, stats, artifacts and more, amounting to the largest content update the game has received so far.

I’m going to keep the new class a secret until its release, but it probably won’t be hard to guess once I start sharing updates. I expect this update to take 2 to 3 months to complete, during which the game may once again feel “dead” or “abandoned.”

Thanks again to everyone who has supported the game and taken the time to read through this post. Keep sharing your feedback, builds, and ideas through our Discord server and Steam discussion boards. Your feedback has had a huge impact on the game over the past year and it continues to help guide its future.

-Irmstoi

Finding a good build that feels uniquely barbarian and doesn’t repeat things we’ve already seen a lot of (looking at you, Eye of the Berserker) has been a bit tough and it made me realize it’s probably the class most in need of a minor revamp. Barbarian was the first class created years ago and it’s clearly not as flexible and diverse as the rest of the classes. You can expect some reworks to barbarian abilities later this year.

That said, this week I’m going to share a build I created (calm down, calm down... I asked the community for permission before featuring my own build) while designing and testing the new Ring of Ruin artifact. This is a classic whirlwind barbarian that scales nicely up to T10 and even beyond if you pick your stats carefully.

With this build, the weekly featured build format is also changing to a monthly format while I concentrate on working on the next large content update for the game. More on that in a post coming later this week.

“This build focuses on the Ring of Ruin artifact, creating a setup that stacks the debuff as quickly as possible and then deals massive AoE damage with both your primary attack and Whirlwind ability. Whirlwind keeps rapid stuns up, lunar damage from your eldritch weapons stacks Freeze on enemies and runed Primal Roar keeps the Burning debuff active on them for additional damage modifiers and also provides sustainability.” -Irmstoi

To try out the build in-game:

User Interface

• Corrected text in multiple places in the UI. 

• Ritual descriptions now mention the difficulty level. This makes it easier for new players to evaluate the challenge without having to interpret it from the ritual modifiers.

• Ritual descriptions now indicate whether Shards of the Black Planet can be slotted into obelisks without a difficulty penalty. 

In-Game Build Planner and Auto-Build Mode

• Save as Build feature now recognizes if player has skipped any of the abilities.

Balance Changes

• Ordwyrn, Crown of the Conqueror

  • Increased Damage per 1000 Kills reduced from 15% to 10%.

  • Increased Damage per 1000 Kills stat based value reduced from 1.5% to 0.5%

• Doubled the drop chance of Normal and Primordial Soul Fragments from all sources. 

• Reduced the effectiveness of Obelisk of the Sun and Obelisk of the Flesh on Soul Coin drops by 50%.

• Reduced the base values of Chance to Drop Soul Coins and Chance to Drop Corrupted Soul Fragments stats from 5% to 2.5%, and lowered their cap from 100% to 50%. 

• Hunter's Apprentice Mastery: Pierce Amount increased from 0.5 to 1.

• Herald of Kuu: Doubled main attack damage (this was accidentally halved previously).

• Swapped the positions of the Stargazer and Child of the Silver Moon Origins to better support other unlocks from those rituals.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the game could get stuck on an empty selection screen if the player turned off any manual auto-build options while the selection screen was open. 

• Fixed an issue where on some rare unknown cases the same boss could spawn twice in a row when playing extended normal rituals or shattered dark rituals.

• Fixed a bug where the back action keybind did not work when using any manual selection in auto-build mode.

This week’s featured build is Sunblotter by Hadrian.

“An auto-build version of the Hunter build I played most around the time I first beat Akka. Not optimized for Akka specifically, but inspired by that build and using the latest Unique & Eldritch gear, which was not available at the time. Enjoy! // Future Conquest Dark Content & more Survival, Sandbox, and Strategy gameplay @ ” -Hadrian

To try out the build in-game:

0.20.9 Early Access - Hotfix

Balance Changes

• Ordwyrn, Crown of the Conqueror: Increased Damage per 1000 kills reduced from 25% to 15%.

• Increased Damage per 1000 kills stat base value reduced from 6.25% to 1.5%.

Developer Comments: This is meant to be the go-to item for AFK builds that spend extended amounts of time in rituals, but it was scaling too quickly. With the above changes, it no longer overshadows other eldritch gear until players have accumulated a significant number of kills.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that could cause the game to crash when using auto-build mode and a build that does not contain any required or preferred fragments in the gearing phase of the primordial dark ritual.

• Fixed a visual bug that showed Attack Reach was still capped in the Character Sheet.

• Fixed a bug that would cause an error message to appear if players used the Save as Build-feature with a character build that didn't have a movement ability.

New Content

• New Eldritch Armor: Ordwyrn, Crown of the Conqueror

Gameplay Systems

• \ Upgrading Weapon Sets, Power, Passive, and Movement Abilities now grants related global stat bonuses, making all upgrades more rewarding by contributing to a shared global bonus. To compensate for the overall power increase, individual damage bonuses from upgrades have been reduced by 50%, though total damage remains higher than before.

User Interface

• \ Rituals on the world map now show an Eldritch Scroll icon if Eldritch Scrolls are available to drop from them. 

• Updated some Game Guide entries.

In-Game Build Planner and Auto-Build Mode

• \ Added a new option to force artifacts to be picked in order, instead of selecting whichever appears first during a ritual run. 

• Added new Add Stat Category, Add All, and Remove All buttons that can be used to quickly add sets of Soul Fragment stats to the Preferred and Excluded lists.

• Character builds generated from ritual runs now mention it in the description.

• Added featured community build Ashbringer by Yaimao.

Balance Changes

Eldritch Gear

• Umbrothuun, Hood of the Dead

  • Replaced the ‘Increased Damage when Below Full Health’ stat with ‘Increased Damage based on Missing Health.’ The damage bonus now scales with the percentage of missing health, rather than simply requiring you to be below maximum health. To maximize the bonus, you should aim to keep your health as low as possible. The base value of the new stat is increased from 50% to 75%.

Abilities and Masteries

• Golden Buckler: Reduced amount of Dodge Charges from 2 to 1.

Stats

• Damage to Stunned, Burning and Frozen base values reduced from 15% to 12.5%

• Damage to Healthy base value reduced from 12.5% to 10%.

• \ Attack Reach stat cap removed.

• \ Attack Reach stat base value reduced from 5% to 1.25%.

• \ Attack Reach value on Runes, Class Masteries, Ability Mastery levels and Character Traits increased to compensate above changes.

Developer Comments: This is a second iteration of the Attack Reach change based on feedback from the community. The goal is to keep some non-repeatable sources of the Attack Reach stat at similar values to what they were before, but significantly lower the gain from armor and fragments while keeping the stat uncapped. 

• \ Critical Hit Chance stat base value reduced from 5% to 2.5%

• \ Critical Hit Damage stat base value increased from 25% to 50%.

• \ Frozen condition now contributes 50% less to bonus crit chance.

Developer Comments: Critical hits are fun, but when it’s too easy to reach the cap and everything becomes a crit, they quickly lose their excitement. These changes make crits twice as rare, but they now deal twice as much damage when they occur.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a visual issue where equipping Fulskar did not remove the underlying armor texture. 

• Fixed a bug where saving a ritual build after a run that included Eldritch weapons would cause an error when picking up a weapon. 

• Fixed a bug that would freeze the game if the player was using Auto Build mode, had zero reroll tokens, and the build required an Eldritch item that was not present in the initial selection.

This week’s featured build is Ashbringer by Yaimao.

“It slows enemies and burns them to ashes. With 6  BP Shards used freezing falls off in later stages of the game as does damage (On T8-10). Band of Primal Power can be used instead of the Frostfire Gem.  Getting the Chromatic set is optimal but not always possible, so solar skills are best SoF/SB. Soul Shards with stats to cover weaknesses and increase damage and survivability , Chance for Rare items is very useful if you can get it , for more and stronger soul shards and armor pieces to increase stats.” -Yaimao

To try out the build in-game:

New Content

• New Rune: Xyth

In-Game Build Planner and Auto-Build Mode

• \ Added a new option to save your character as a build after a ritual run. 

• If a player uses auto-build mode with a build that requires an armor set, stats, or a passive ability that is not yet unlocked, the game now ignores those requirements and selects random options instead, rather than spending rerolls trying to find unavailable items. 

• If the player changes their class or origin to something different from what the current build requires, the game now ignores all build options related to those two. This also prevents it from pursuing options that are not possible with the selected class or origin.

• Fixed an issue with the official Hunter farming build where the Yiln Rune was incorrectly assigned to the Eldritch weapon.

• Added featured community build Arcane Hell by Hadrian.

Balance Changes

Abilities, Artifacts and Armor Sets

• Ring of Ruin: Increased damage per stack from 2.5% to 3.75%.

• Sigil of Flames can now use the Zir Rune (Instant Attack Chance).

• The Chain Mail set can now roll almost any stat in the game, similar to Soul Fragments, and now rolls with one additional normal stat. Its stats can no longer be set as required in the build planner to prevent the auto-build system from getting stuck trying to find an armor piece with impossible odds. 

Stats

• \ Attack Reach stat base value reduced from 7.5% to 5%.

• \ Attack Reach stat is now capped at 100%.

• \ Increased Attack Reach from Giant's Reach mastery from 7.5% to 10%.

  Developer Notes: The above changes are marked as experimental, meaning they may be reverted in future updates.

  Attack Reach is a very powerful stat that effectively allows any ability that scales with it to become a screen-wide damage swipe. While this can be fun, it also limits build diversity and reduces the effectiveness of other mechanics, such as projectile-based attacks. It forces the game to be balanced with the assumption that all AoE Abilities can eventually cover the entire screen, making it difficult to create meaningful variation in damage and range.

  This change is not intended to remove Attack Reach as a powerful stat, but rather to limit it so other mechanics can shine.

  Before anyone starts channeling their inner Karen and leaving negative reviews about how the game is now ruined, I would appreciate constructive feedback and discussion here on Steam or on our Discord about the change.

Enemies

• Fixed an issue where Shattered Dark Ritual non-boss elites were using incorrect loot lists. This can slightly reduce the overall gain of soul fragments.

This week’s featured build is Arcane Hell by Hadrian.

“This classic build has a 5-step program for success. Step 1: Start a Shattered Dark Ritual. Step 2: Load This Build. Step 3: Turn on Instant Autobuild Selection. Step 4: Run Around. Step 5: Behold. // Future Conquest Dark Content & more Survival, Sandbox, and Strategy gameplay @ -Hadrian

This week I wanted to feature a variant of a classic arcane spam build, simply because of how strong and visually stunning it can get. It’s powerful right from the beginning and scales into the late game, and it works even without maxed-out runes and eldritch gear. If you haven’t experienced it yet, give it a try and leave a comment below with what you think about it. Let us know what kind of builds you want to see in the future.

To try out the build in-game:

New Content

• New Artifact: Ring of Ruin

• New Origin: Child of the Silver Moon

In-Game Build Planner and Auto-Build Mode

• Adjusted the scoring system for how Auto-Build Mode chooses Armor Enhancements. The system now prioritizes higher uncapped eldritch stats, followed by stats set as favored for the gear pieces or listed as preferred for -soul fragments-.

• When picking soul fragments, Auto-Build Mode now checks whether all armor and artifact slots are filled. If they are, it spends rerolls to pursue preferred fragment stats instead of selecting the highest-value option that lacks them. This behavior makes endgame fragment selection more aligned with the configured build.

• Added ritual tags to the In-Game Build Planner. These can now be used to indicate what content a build is intended for and may later be used to filter builds.

• Improved the appearance and sorting of Auto-Build Mode build selection. Builds now display class icons and are sorted by class. Additionally, official and featured builds are distinguished by different colors.

• Improved build tooltips by adding information about tags and the game version the build was created with.

• All official pre-made farming builds now include eldritch gear entries instead of skipping them. These builds do not rely on eldritch gear but become stronger with it.

• Added featured community build The Wardancer.

Balance Changes

Enemies

• Enemy health scaling from T9 to T12 is now less steep, but ramps up to the previous values over T13 and T15. This will help more builds to pash through the T10 barrier.

• Changed enemy movement speed scaling so that it now reaches its maximum value over 15 tiers instead of the previous 10. This makes enemies slightly slower at higher tiers than before.

• Gigantos no longer turns toward the player when he begins his ground slam swing. This attack can now be easily avoided by sidestepping.

• Rekindled Bone-Lord movement speed no longer scales up with tiers.

• Rekindled Bone-Lord Ashen Fire Aura range increased. It is now easier to stay within the aura to avoid the burn effect caused by standing outside it.

Abilities

• Greater Arcane Missiles cost increased from 60 to 100.

Eldritch Gear

• Solaris, Edge of Eternal Sun

  • Added +250% Artifact Damage to Book of Radiance

• Sur’thunar, Bindings of the Primordial Fire

  • Burn Intensity increased from 200% to 250%.

• Fulcio, Bow of Cronus

  • Damage to Burning and Damage To Frozen are now global bonuses.

• Iskral, Staff of Endless Winter

  • Change to Freeze with Lunar Damage reduced from 75% to 30%.

  • Critical Hit Damage reduced from 500% to 250%.

  • Base damage reduced from 200% to 100%.

  • Reduced the amount of attack steps from 6 to 5.

  • Projectile Duration stat increased from 100% to 200%

• Umbrothuun, Hood of the Dead

  • Increased Damage while Below Full Health increased from 200% to 250%

  • Added +100% Proc Chance stat.

Artifacts

• Zaladon's Ring of Rapid Strikes

  • Attack Speed per stack reduced from 10% to 5%.

  • Maximum stacks increased from 10 to 20.

  • Now also grants 5% damage increased per stack multiplicative with other damage modifiers.

• Brand of Flame

  • Damage increased from 100% to 175%.

Origins

• Improved Stargazer origin icon visuals.

• Aura's Chosen origin can now be unlocked in the Temple of Lykasteia, while the new Child of the Silver Moon origin takes its previous place in the Tomb of Ulth Vuul.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that was causing reflected damage from Lampeia's Mirror to count damage modifiers twice.

• Fixed a bug in in-game build planner where removing Yiln rune from ability would cause the other removed runes to become unavailable.

Now that the bugs with the new In-Game Build Planner and the Auto-Build System are squished (hopefully), I would like to introduce a new experimental format where we feature both official and community created builds weekly. We are specifically looking for builds that feel unique, fulfill a specific fantasy and can pack a good punch helping players reach higher tiers. If you would like your build to be featured post the shared build string either in the Steam discussion forums or in our official Discord.

This week’s featured build is The Wardancer by BrownKnight.

“Dance your way to victory! This Build wins using kicks to kill.  Works best in Shattered Dark Rituals. Manually level armor, leave the rest to the autobuilder.” -BrownKnight

This build caught my attention because it uses a less used Movement Ability to create an extremely powerful and easy-to-play farming build with devastating screen-clearing capabilities, while also fully capturing the fantasy of “dancing through the battlefield.” As a bonus, it even works without the Eldritch item that takes it to the next level.

To try out the build in-game:

0.20.4 Early Access - Hotfix

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that allowed Eldritch items to be assigned to character builds that could not use them. This could potentially cause an infinite loop or freeze, as auto-build mode would repeatedly search for an item it could not find.

• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused auto-build mode to select Rune or Eldritch Scrolls, leading to erratic game behavior.

• Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause the auto-build mode to pick wrong Artifact if there were no rerolls left.

• Fixed a bug where the soul fragment “add stat” button did not become disabled after all stats had already been added.

0.20.5 Early Access - Hotfix

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where choosing an eldritch item with instant selections and manual armor selection would get the character stuck.

• Fixed a bug where sometimes the auto-build would fail to correctly check character Proficiencies and cause an error to appear.

• Fixed a display on the build planner UI where loading a build would not correctly show some of the required checkmarks.

Known Issues

• Sometimes the game can crash on startup after the logos. Restarting the game usually resolves this. This is most likely related to the Unity engine, graphics drivers, or the operating system, as the crash occurs before any game code is executed.

0.20.1 - Early Access Hotfix

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where missing an eldritch item unlock would not appear in the auto-build mode warning.

• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented players from exiting the selection screen when auto-build mode was enabled.

• Fixed a bug that caused the upgrade menu to grant infinite rerolls and become stuck when using instant auto-build mode and manual pick features together.

• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the In-Game Build Planner to display an incorrect name for a movement ability when switching between builds.

Known Issues

• There is a rare issue that causes a red error message to appear on the screen and the game to become stuck. I am currently working on finding a reliable way to reproduce this issue so it can be fixed. If you encounter it, please take a screenshot of your game window, post it in our Discord bugs channel, and describe exactly what happened before the error appeared.

0.20.2 - Early Access Hotfix

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that prevented the character sheet from opening when using auto-build mode together with instant auto-build selections and one of the manual selection options.

• Fixed a bug that caused a red error message to appear when opening the character sheet in combination with certain UI interactions. This issue may still occur elsewhere.

0.20.3 - Early Access Hotfix

Bug Fixes

• Fixed another case of red error message popping up.

Known Issues

• Sometimes the game can crash on startup after the logos. Restarting the game usually resolves this. This is most likely related to the Unity engine, graphics drivers, or the operating system, as the crash occurs before any game code is execute

Believed dead, it kept dragging itself forward… I’d like to start this post by apologizing for how long this update took to complete. When I first began working on it, I thought it wouldn’t take more than a month, but as with most things in game development, it turned out to be more laborious than expected. I know a lot of you have been looking forward to new content, and even though this update doesn’t include it, there’s some really exciting stuff coming later this year. Not dead, not abandoned.

So what is this update about then? Most of the community activity around the game revolves around asking for or sharing strong character builds for different types of content, classes or even specific abilities. While there are some community-made build planners, there hasn’t been an easy way to design and share builds and bring them directly into the game. For those who already have their own meta builds it can become tiresome to recreate the same character for every run, making the same choices when selecting weapons, runes, and abilities, when all you really want is to just chill out, steamroll some mobs and watch the numbers fill the screen. For players still figuring out their builds parts of the game can feel too difficult or unfairly balanced and finding help online often means trying to piece things together from screenshots. The new In-Game Build Planner, Shareable Builds and Auto-Build Mode are an answer to all of this and more. They create a stronger foundation for a game that focuses on rapid theorycrafting and experiencing cool builds. These features will launch in beta form (you can consider it “Double Early Access”) and evolve based on player feedback.

In-Game Build Planner and Shareable Builds

The In-Game Build Planner allows players to create premade character builds and easily share them with others. The planner is divided into multiple sections where you can define your character’s properties, abilities, gear and even soul fragment preferences. Sharing builds can be done either by sending the build file directly to other players, which is located in the Builds folder inside the installation directory, or more easily by using the Share button. This copies the build as a text string that can be pasted, for example into Discord and then imported by other players in-game. I’ll be frequently sharing my own builds, as well as community-made ones, through our social media channels. If you have any cool builds you can also share them here on Steam or on our official Discord.

Auto-Build Mode

Now that you’ve created a cool build or found one on Discord, what can you actually do with it? This is where the new Auto-Build Mode comes in. It’s an extension of the infamous Zordolf Mode, where the game takes over and makes choices for you. Instead of the previous random selections, it now follows the planned build you’ve loaded at the start of the ritual to the best of its ability. It does not cheat, though, and the game still provides the Auto-Build Mode the same random choices as it would without it. You can either give the game full control of your build or still make some of the choices yourself, such as armor and soul fragments. You can toggle Auto-Build Mode on and off at any time during gameplay using the designated hotkey (Z or Left Shoulder button). The update also comes bundled with different farming and end-game builds for each class.

UI/Visuals

• In-Game UI no longer shows the ‘Gameplay Modified’ text, but instead shows an icon for the active gameplay modifiers.

Balance Changes

• Reroll Tokens in Primordial Dark Rituals increased from 666 to 10,000.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in dagger attack animations where the damage event and animation were out of sync.

• Fixed a visual bug that could cause enemy spell effects to remain visible if the enemy died from reflected damage.

• Fixed an issue that caused rerolling Eldritch Gear to unintentionally consume reroll tokens.

• Fixed an issue where reflected damage could become negative after reaching the 64-bit integer limit.

• Fixed an issue where some inputs could still go through while Zordolf Mode was active, affecting its choices.

The long dark is over…

I’m finally back from my month-long vacation and hard at work on the next major update. Before that I wanted to ship a quick balance patch to address a few things that surfaced during the holiday season and share a new roadmap for 2026. Note that this is not all coming in 2026, and there will be smaller balance and content updates between the major ones.

UI/Visuals

• Unique and Eldritch items now show total amount of these rarities that can be equipped at the same time.

• Updated some Game Guide entries.

Balance Changes

• Counter Throw Damage reduced from 300% to 200%.

• Hammer of Sol can now use Rath (Attack Reach) rune.

• Barrier now scales from Base Health instead of Max Health. This means that Bonus Health from items no longer increase Barrier.

• Barrier Amount stat base value increased from 37.5% to 50%.

• All enemies have their barriers reduced by 50%.

• Shard of a Dying Star Damage increased from 2% to 5%.

• Xal, Xol and Xul (Increased Effectiveness of a Rune Type) runes are now infinite and can be used multiple times either on the same or different abilities.

• Yuletide Cap renamed to Worn Yuletide Cap and look changed to be less festive. This is now a permanent unique item with only the look changing by the season.

• Reflected Damage now scales with character Power. All reflected damage is multiplied by 1% of Power. As an example at level 11 characters deal now twice the amount of reflected damage as before.

• Reflected Damage to Elites base value reduced from 75% to 50%.

• Eldritch Scroll base drop chance increased from 5% to 10%.

• Eldritch Scroll drop chance increase per tier (up to T5) increased from +5% to +7.5%.

• Equipping Blood of Ulth Vuul now causes all of the items that grant passive abilities to roll with the core passive ability (if possible). This makes it significantly easier to stack passives for the artifact effect.

Other Changes

• Updated to Unity Engine to latest 6.3 version.

• Fixed a bug with Fan of Knives where the Life Lost proc chance would start at 100% and then decrease to 0% when affected by the Additional Proc Chance stat.

• Reduced Fan of Knives Life Lost proc chance from 15% to 5%. This is to rebalance it so it works as originally intended.

• Updated the Unity Engine version from 6.2 to 6.3. This may fix some crashing issues that some players were experiencing (or it may cause more issues).

A distant faint jingle draws closer…

After seeing how positively players reacted to the 0.19.x updates I decided to put together one more ‘secret’ holiday update for 2025 before taking a break for the rest of the year. This update adds new exciting gear (with a bonus seasonal item) with new build opportunities, a lot of balance tuning based on player feedback and a few minor bug fixes. Happy holidays everyone and see you in 2026!

New Eldritch and Unique Gear

• New Eldritch Weapon: Iskral, Staff of Endless Winter

• New Unique Armor: The Winged Helm of the Grand Huntress (Ancient Helmet)

• New Unique Armor: Night Sentry Leathers (Exceptional Pants)

• New Unique Seasonal Armor: Yuletide Cap (Common Helmet)

Ancestral and Primeval Soul Fragments

Soul Fragments are now split into three different rarities: Normal, Ancestral and Primeval (not to be confused with soul fragment sizes: Lesser, Normal and Greater, which overlap with the previous rarities). Ancestral Soul Fragments grant twice the normal amount of stats and Primeval grant three times. The Chance for Rare Items stat no longer affects the drop chance of soul fragments but instead the rarity of the fragment. Values from 100% to 200% give a chance to get Ancestral, values from 200% to 300% give a chance to get Primeval and a capped value of 300% always grants a Primeval Soul Fragment. This change is meant to reduce the amount of fragments dropping at endgame where picking them up constantly interrupts the flow of gameplay. This results in fewer fragments dropping but gives players slightly more power overall.

Gameplay

• Doubled Common Soul coin drop chance from normal enemies. Other sources of soul coins such as elites, bosses and chests remain unchanged.

UI/Visuals

• Corrected Reflected Damage Game Guide entry.

• Corrected values on Dark Soul Fragments Game Guide entry.

• Renamed Game Guide entry Lootable Resources to Resources (as not all of them are lootable.)

• Added a new Game Guide entry explaining Reroll Tokens.

• Clarified Tutorials and Game Guide entry for Eldritch Scrolls and Gear.

• Renamed Character Power in Character Sheet to Character Might to differentiate it with the Power stat.

• Reorganized some Character Sheet values and categories.

Balance Changes

Eldritch Weapons and Armor

• Solaris, Edge of Eternal Sun

  • Added second Rune Slot.

  • Fixed ability description.

  • Fixed incorrect icon edges.

• Fulcio, Bow of Cronus

  • Removed 100% Resistance Piercing Chance stat.

  • Removed one Rune Slot.

  • Added 300% Damage to Burning stat.

  • Added 300% Damage to Frozen stat.

• Grulm, the Triple-Bladed Sword

  • Reduced proc chance from 25% to 20%.

  • Reduced proc damage from 5000% to 2500%.

• Fulskar, Echo of Thunder

  • Reduced Power Ability Damage from 400% to 200%.

Stats

• Added a new proficiency Staves.

• Added a new stat Projectile Damage which increases… damage done by projectiles.

• Added a new stat Chance for Soul Coins (affects both Common and Primordial Soul Coins.)

• Added a new stat Chance for Corrupted Soul Fragments.

• Attack Arc base value increased from 7.5° to 10°.

• Renamed Chained Targets stat to Chained Attack Steps (taking suggestions on this.)

• Increased ‘Increased Reflected Damage’ base value from 25% to 37.5%.

• Reduced ‘Increased Reflected Damage to Elites’ base value from 100% to 75%.

Classes

• Acolyte of Kuu: Added Staves proficiency.

Rituals

• Desecrated Grounds: Fixed an issue where Commander Isaac was spawned instead of Lord Commander Urien.

• \ Enemies in Arena of Ikar now scale up to Tier 20. Enemies in other rituals still cap at T15.

Enemies

• Rekindled Bone-Lord

  • Reduced Movement Speed from 1.5 to 1.

• Gigantos

  • Increased Hammer Attack force from 10 to 20.

  • Increased damage of AoE zone from 10% to 25%.

  • No longer spawns a large AoE zone under it but instead three smaller ones further away.

Armor and Set Bonuses

• Stalker Set

  • Replaced Instant Attack Chance exceptional stat with Projectile Damage stat.

• Zarakesh Set

  • Replaced Damage to Healthy exceptional stat with Projectile Pierce stat.

• Blood Soaked Fists

  • Reduced Damage per Life Lost from 10% to 5%.

  • Reduced ‘Reduced Bleed Rate’ from 250% to 100%. 

Weapon Sets, Abilities and Artifacts

• Removed proficiency requirements from Book of Kuu and Book of Aura. These were duplicates with the main-hand weapons tied to the weapon sets.

• Spinning Blades: Can no longer be blocked or dodged.

• Counter Throw: Increased Damage from 150% to 300%.

• Fan of Knives: Now has an additional effect that grants 15% chance of dealing one Life Damage to non-elite targets hit.

• Mark of Shadow: Increased maximum targets from 5 to 10.

• Ricochet Shot

  • Increased Damage from 300% to 400%.

  • Can no longer be blocked or dodged.

  • Adjusted effect color.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug in The Stygian Archive that would show incorrect maximum amount for Weapon Sets.

• Fixed a bug with The Orrathorium where increasing the base tier of a ritual by only one would not work.

Hey everyone, just a quick note from the publishing team at Mad Mushroom that we have a new bundle available: Conquest Dark X Night Swarm. 

Night Swarm is a survivorslike and roguelike with deep RPG systems. You play as a vampire prince in exile, braving the wilds to slay swarms of enemies and rebuild your family's legacy and castle. If you like Conquest Dark, we think you'll dig this one too. And if you own Conquest Dark already, you can save a couple bucks!

Thanks for checking it out! - The Mad Mushroom team

A long-lost light stirs in the darkness…

Before I head off on holiday, I am releasing one last small patch adding a new powerful Eldritch Weapon, adjusting balance (buffs) and fixing a few minor issues. Thank you to everyone who played the game and helped shape it with your feedback. See you in 2026!

Gameplay

• Each Eldritch Scroll now has a second boss that it can drop from. Full updated list of scrolls can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/3238670/discussions/0/689741997425179629/

UI/Visuals

• Added a new icon to Crest of the Lightbringer.

• Added a new category to Character Sheet that shows damage reflection stats.

Balance Changes

Eldritch Weapons and Armor

• Grulm, the Triple-Bladed Sword

  • Removed Damage to Stunned stat.

  • Increased Damage To Inured stat from 150% to 750%.

• Fulcio, Bow of Cronus

  • Toned down audio volume.

• Fulskar, Echo of Thunder

  • Increased Power Ability Echo Chance stat from 50% to 100%.

  • Increased Crititical Hit Damage from 200% to 250%.

  • Increased Power Ability Damage from 200% to 400%.

• Umrothuun, Hood of the Dead

  • Removed Damage Reduced per Life Lost stat.

  • Increased Damage, Attack Speed and Movement Speed per Life Lost stats from 5% to 10%.

  • Added +3 Maximum Dodge Charges stat.

• Kynorath, Wings of the Fallen

  • Removed All Damage and Ability Base Damage stats.

  • Added +100% Damage to Healthy stat.

  • Added +250% Critical Hit Damage stat.

  • Added +1000% Movement Abilility Damage stat.

• Sur'thunar, Bindings of the Primordial Fire

  • Increased Solar Damage from 100% to 250%.

• Brunjarn, Thorns of the Dying Sun

  • Increased Damage Reflected on Hit stat from 1000% to 2500%.

Stats

• Base value of Increased Reflected Damage changed from 12.5% to 25%.

• Base value of Reflected Damage to Elites increased from 50% to 100%.

Enemies

• Gigantos: Attacks no longer stun player.

Armor and Set Bonuses

• Zarakesh Set

  • 3-Set Bonus: Increased Artifact Damage from 125% to 250%.

• Cultist Set 

  • 3-Set Bonus: Increased Critical Hit Damage from 125% to 250%.

• Iliossia Set

  •  3-Set Bonus: Increased Proc Chance from 50% to 100%.

• Savage Set

  • 3-Set Bonus: Increased Damage Per Life Lost from 5% to 10%.

• Stalker Set

  • 3-Set Bonus: Increased Attack Speed from 45% to 75%.

• Bandit Set

  • 3-Set Bonus: Increased Power Ability Damage from 100% to 200%.

• Kharathia Set

  • 3-Set Bonus: Increased Damage to Elites from 150% to 250%.

• Deathbringer’s Handwraps are now of Common rarity.

• Gauntlets of the Obsidian Guard are now of Exceptional rarity.

• Blood Soaked Fists are now of Ancient rarity.

• Blood Soaked Fists:

  • Increased Damage per Life Lost stat from 5% to 10%.

  • Added +250% Reduced Bleed Rate stat.

  • Added +500% Primary Attack Ability Damage stat.

Weapon Sets, Abilities and Artifacts

• Brutal Flail: Reduced Knockback Force from 10 to 3.

• Sunfire Beams: Slightly adjusted volume levels.

• Throwing Knife: Reduced Resistance Piercing from 200% to 100%. (The extra value did nothing.)

• Divine Purge: Increased Base Damage from 50% to 100%.

• Book of Kuu

  • Changed Projectile Amount bonus to Double Shot Chance.

  • Proficiency requirement changed from Lunar Spells to Cosmic Studies.

• Book of Aura: Proficiency requirement changed from Solar Spells to Divine Devotion.

• Thrumming Femur: Increased damage bonus from 10x to 25x.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a display issue where altars would show incorrect tier above their title.

• Fixed a visual bug where Rekindled Bone-Lord beams could appear before the boss had fully respawned after being defeated once.

0.19.1 - Early Access Hotfix

• Fixed an issue with Eldritch Weapons where the UI state could become stuck if the character lacked the required proficiencies to equip the weapon and had no other Eldritch Weapons available.

0.19.2 - Early Access Hotfix

• Fixed a rare issue that could cause an error message to pop up when unlocking a faction armor reward when completing certain rituals.

0.19.3 - Early Access Hotfix

• Fixed a bug that caused an error message if an existing projectile based ancient armor was replaced with eldritch gear.

Fated Ones, the Eldritch Powers are now yours to wield...

As the year approaches its end, it is time for the last major update of this year. This update brings in new powerful endgame chase items, adds long-requested quality of life features, addresses balance issues, and fixes bugs, completing the roadmap for this year. Looking ahead to 2026, there are exciting new things coming to the game, such as a new class (can you guess what it is?), translations, achievements, additional content, and a few surprises. I’ll be sharing a more detailed roadmap early next year. If you'd like to discuss the update, share builds, ask for help, or chat about anything related to the game, feel free to join our Discord.

New Feature: Eldritch Scrolls and Gear

Eldritch Weaponry and Armor are the most powerful gear obtainable in the game. These are designed as endgame chase items that require some effort to acquire, but in return offer unfathomable power, supercharging your builds to god-like levels. Eldritch Weapons are powerful armaments with unique quirks tied to them, while Eldritch Armors feature strong base stats and a unique Eldritch Stat that appears only on that specific item. There are a total of eight different Eldritch Items, with a few more following soon after in a smaller update.

To acquire these items, you must first unlock Eldritch Scrolls feature by completing the Obsidian Bulwark ritual. Once unlocked the scrolls can drop from bosses in both Normal and Shattered Dark Rituals. Each scroll is tied to a specific boss, allowing you to target-farm them, and each eldritch item requires you to discover three scrolls associated with it, unveiling the story behind the item one scroll at a time.

For now, which scroll is tied to which boss is kept secret, as I want the community to slowly unveil them together and share their findings with each other. The base chance for a scroll to drop from a boss is 5%. This is further modified by the current tier (up to T5), as well as the Sun-Touched and Obelisk ritual modifiers, increasing the total chance up to 63%.

Once an Eldritch Weapon or Armor is unlocked, it can drop from Ritual Events during rituals or be obtained during the gearing phase of the Akka, Primordial of Gore boss fight. Unlike normal gear, Eldritch Weapons and Armor will replace your existing item in that slot, so it is not necessary to keep the slot empty. However only one Eldritch Weapon or Armor can be equipped during ritual.

New Location: The Orrathorium

The Orrathorium allows players to adjust the maximum tier and length of Normal Dark Rituals up to tier 15, replacing the previous static Extended Dark Rituals unlock. This new location can be unlocked by completing Moonfall Cliffs ritual.

Improved Stygian Archive

The Stygian Archive now displays all Unique items and the rarities they can appear in. In addition, armor sets have new icons, and several item sources have been clarified.

Gameplay

• Maximum amount of Unique items equipped is now limited to 2.

Developer Comment: Unique items carry a significant amount of power and in many cases the strongest builds were stacking as many of them as possible. Instead of nerfing these items, I’ve decided to limit how many can be equipped at once, allowing them to remain powerful while also encouraging more diversity in gear choices.

• Added a new stat, Increased Reflected Damage, which increases reflected damage from any source. This stat currently appears on soul fragments and on a specific new armor piece.

• Reduced extended normal ritual additional boss pool from 4 to 3 to allow the original bosses of the ritual appear more often.

UI/Visuals

• Added new more polishe Reroll Token icon.

• Minor adjustments to some other UI icons.

• Improved Ricochet Shot effect visibility.

Balance Changes

General

• Moved Bonus Artifact Selection upgrade from The Obsidian Bulwark to Temple of Lykasteia.

• Moved Divine Purge unlock from Moonfall Cliffs to Temple of Lykasteia.

Stats

• Barrier stat base value reduced from 50% to 37.5%.

• Artifact Damage base value reduced from 50% to 25%.

• Resistance Piercing Chance base value increased from 15% to 20%.

Classes

• Piercing Strikes mastery (Thief): Replaced Resistance Piercing Chance with Damage to Stunned stat.

Enemies

• Lykasteia now remains on the ground for 3 seconds longer before performing another chained aerial attack.

• Reduced damage of Lykasteia’s flame circle from 100% to 50%.

• Lykasteia base health reduced from 500% to 400%.

• Rekindled Bone-Lord base health reduced from 400% to 300%.

Armor and Set Bonuses

• Silver Chainmail Set renamed to Chainmail Set. This set no longer has armor proficiency requirement and can be worn by all classes.

• Removed Golden Chainmail Set from the game.

• Greatly increased the value of multiple 3-Set Armor Bonuses.

• Bandit Set: Changed 2-Set Bonus to +7.5% Chance to Stun With Primal Damage.

• Bandit Set: Changed 3-Set Bonus to +100% Power Ability Damage.

• Brutal Flail: Removed stun chance and increased Damage to Injured stat from 150% to 750%. 

• Battlefield Shield: Renamed to Spiked Shield and added +500% Reflected Damage stat.

• Golden Buckler: Increased Dodge Charges from 1 to 2.

• Shield of the Order: Increased Bonus Health from 25% to 50%.

Weapon Sets, Abilities and Artifacts

• Soldier’s Sword: Resistance piercing chance reduced from 150% to 100%.

• Shard of a Dying Star: damage reduced from 3% to 2%.

• Greater Arcane Missiles: pushback reduced from 10 to 5.

• Thrumming Femur: Damage dealt increased from 500% to 1000%. 

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a tooltip error that sometimes showed incorrect armor stats in the Stygian Archive.

• Fixed some rendering issues that affected character mannequins on gear selection and character sheet.

• Fixed a bug that prevented Deathbringer’s Handwraps unique item from granting Execute passive ability.

Visuals

• Fixed a visual bug where large experience souls had tails that were too wide.

• Fixed an issue where body parts would sometimes continue rotating on the ground when they should be still.

• Fixed the size of the outer sparks in Aura of Sol.

• Improved visual clarity of Lykasteia’s area of effect attacks.

• Fixed an issue where Lykasteia’s animations would sometimes not play correctly.

Balance Changes

• Gigantos’s Hammer Slam attack can now be dodged and blocked.

• Rekindled Bone-Lord attacks and abilities no longer cause the player to burn over time.

• Lykasteia’s attacks and abilities no longer cause the player to burn over time.

• Lykasteia now remains on the ground for 1.5 seconds longer before performing another flying attack.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug with the Exploit Weakness ability that could cause the game to crash.

• Fixed an issue in the Temple of Lykasteia where bosses could sometimes leap outside the arena bounds.

By steel and sorcery, rise!

It’s time for another update for Conquest Dark. In the last major update post, I apologized for the long gap between updates and set out to try smaller, more frequent releases. My initial goal was to release weekly updates, each bringing a new weapon, ability, or artifact, while simultaneously working on a new ritual level. However, this proved to be more work than I could handle, and I eventually had to pull back from those plans and instead fold the content into one larger update—this one. I’ve also decided to remove the Supporter Pack from the roadmap for now. I’ll revisit it closer to 1.0, when the game is more ripe for it. Below is the updated roadmap, followed by the patch notes.

New Dark Ritual: Temple of Lykasteia

“Among the broken columns, Lykasteia, once general of the fallen sun goddess Aura, stands proud and unyielding in her devotion. Unknowing, she fights for a goddess who no longer hears her name, as a dark cosmic force bends her faith to its will.” The Temple of Lykasteia brings Dark Rituals to the islands of Iliossia, with a new theme inspired by ancient Greece and bundled with theme-appropriate rewards. This level also introduces three new boss fights that are considerably more difficult than the previous ones, falling somewhere between the Azgoroth and Akka encounters, especially when fought with obelisk bonuses active.

New Minor Feature: Ability Master Levels

All abilities, including Weapon Sets, now have an 11th upgrade level called the Master Level. This is a costly upgrade that adds a small local stat bonus to the ability, aimed at players who have reached resource caps and want more things to upgrade. Developer Comment: More resource sinks are planned for the future, but this one was quick and simple to add for players who want a little extra progression. Players who don’t enjoy grinding can safely ignore the minimal bonuses granted by the Master Level.

New Weapon Sets, Abilities, Artifacts and More

• New Weapon Set: Xiphos and Golden Buckler

• New Armor Set: Iliossian Light Armor

• New Unique Item: Footwraps of False Prophecy (Ancient Boots)

• New Passive Ability: Exploit Weakness

• New Artifact: Golden Feather of Larinyx

• New Obelisk: Obelisk of the Surging Tides

• New Stat: Artifact Damage - Increases the damage of artifacts that deal direct damage. Does not affect other artifact properties.

• New Stat: Reflected Damage to Elites - Increases reflected damage against elites and bosses, works as a separate multiplier over Damage Reflected on Block.

UI

• Adjusted some Game Guide entries to be more understandable.

Audio

• Added four new music tracks to the game.

Balance Changes

Stats

• Resistance Piercing Chance base value increased from 10% to 15%.

Events

• Aura's Gift Event kills now register when the player stands inside the ring, rather than enemies needing to die inside it.

• Aura's Gift Event area has been slightly reduced.

• Aura's Gift Event now requires twice as many kills to complete.

Rituals

• The Obsidian Bulwark enemy health scaling increased from 50% to 75%.

Enemies

• Senukhet the Undying’s immunity shield cooldown (the time it takes the shield to activate again) now resets if any special minion dies while the shield is down.

Armor

• Gauntlets of the Obsidian Guard bonus stat Damage Reflected on Block changed to Reflected Damage to Elites.

• Oathbreaker's Boots Passive Ability Damage bonus reduced from from 750% to 500%.

• Sunblessed Set exceptional bonus stat Chance to Burn with Solar Damage replaced with Reflected Damage to Elites stat.

• Zordolf Set 2-set bonus increased from from 500% to 1000%

• Zarakesh Set 3-set bonus replaced with Artifact Power (Proc Chance bonus has been moved to the new Iliossia set.)

• Zarakesh Set exceptional bonus stat Projectile Pierce Amount replaced with Artifact Damage stat.

Weapon Sets, Abilities and Artifacts

• Oathbringer damage reduced from 150% to 100%.

• Oathbringer energy generated per hit reduced from 15 to 12.

• Crest of the Lightbringer proc chance reduced from 50% to 25% and healing doned increased from 10% to 25%.

Bug Fixes

• Burn Damage is no longer capped at 2,147,483,647 but instead at 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 as intended.