PVKII 1.0 is Here!
Pirates Vikings & Knights II is officially out of beta with the 1.0 release!
With this release comes the 4th pirate class, and 12th class overall — the Pirate Buccaneer. The release also features several new combat mechanics, multiple new maps and game modes, and more balance changes than you can throw a keg at.
Continue reading for more information on the Buccaneer and release notes. But first, a thank you to our community!
To The Finest Crew!
It's been over 6,500 days since PVKII was unleashed. Since then, we’ve sailed a long and thrilling course — shaped by countless hours of passion and the unwavering support of our community. Every clan formed, battle fought, and inside joke has driven us forward, inspiring new features, improvements, and stories that we never could have imagined alone.
As we launch our 1.0 Release, we honor the tireless work of absolutely every single individual who has lent their talent over the years. Thank you to the developers, creators, testers, translators, and everyone else whose contributions built this world. Thank you to the fans for believing in us, for your feedback and camaraderie, and for making PVKII more than a game — it’s a legacy we share together!
For ZeroTron
PVKII 1.0 is dedicated to the memory of ZeroTron, who passed away in May of this year. He was ambitious, barrels of fun, and had a heart of gold. Raise your tankards to ZeroTron!
With all that passion and creativity fueling us, let’s look to the future and what the 1.0 era brings to PVKII.
Pirate Buccaneer
Voiced by: Ki "Trenchdog" McKenzie, the Buccaneer is the latest class to join the scurvy Pirate crew, and the 12th and final playable character in PVKII. Wielding a sledgehammer, hatchet, boarding hook, and fiery special, you do not want to get in the way of this big man nor his pet cat, Luna.
Trailer and Release Notes
Watch the trailer and read the release notes on our official website! See below for the detailed 1.0 changelog!
1.0 Screenshots
Recommended Servers
The following servers are a blast to play on! We recommend these:
Get The Booty!
As we step into this 1.0 era, we invite both new adventurers and veteran swashbucklers to dive in, chart new battles, and help write the next chapter of a game that truly belongs to all of us.
This is Pirates Vikings & Knights II.
Detailed Changelog
Added Buccaneer:
The Buccaneer serves as the Pirate Team’s tank. His large health pool and powerful weapons provide an edge in brawls that his team has sorely needed. Once the guns are fired and explosions go off, the Buccaneer is there to keep the fight going. He can stand toe to toe with the other Tanks, allowing for his teammates to wreak havoc from safety. Hooking vulnerable targets and igniting the masses, this Jamaican Giant is sure to bring much needed edge to the fray.
Major Changes:
Kick and Roll now share the same cooldown of 0.5 seconds
Frequent Kicking/Rolling increases the cooldown (up to 6 seconds)
Added a short delay before you can roll after swinging a melee weapon
Added “Wall-Jumping”, kick a wall while airborne to propel yourself backwards
Fixed the Falling Damage Mod for melee weapons
Damage Display now shows Armor+Health damage instead of only Health damage
Added “Goomba” Stomping
Added team-colored outlines to retrievable projectiles
Increased retrievable projectile pickup radius (8 HU→12 HU)
Increased retrievable projectile lifetime (30s→60s)
Added flyby sounds to enemy projectiles
Halved the duration of stuns from blocking melee attacks improperly
Halved the duration of shield bash stun
Added new impact sounds for various projectiles
Added new impact sounds for shielding heavy ranged attacks
Added humiliation killfeed lines
Voice lines consistent for all clients
Added lip syncing and facial expressions to voice lines
Fixed a bug that caused explosions to deal more damage than intended
Reverted headshot hitbox changes
Added command, cl_fullcharge_ding, which plays a sound effect when fully charging a melee weapon
Combo Balance:
Removed “Parry Canceling” (waiting out or canceling a Counter-Attack to gain Combo)
Added “Combo Swapping”, spends Combo to swap weapons faster, up to 200% with 4 Combo
Delay before Combo starts decaying increased by 1 second
Combo now gained when hitting blocking / shielding enemies
Performing a Special now temporarily freezes Combo decay
Added Combo particle effects to weapons in both first and third person
Finisher Miss sounds now play globally
Shield Changes:
Shielding non-special explosions now protects players behind you
Shields now gain Shield-Bash charge when blocking melee damage, ~85 damage = 100% charge
Shield HP increased by 25% across the board
Removed the 25% ranged damage reduction passive from shields
Melee attacks deal reduced damage to shields when only later traces connect
Updated “After-Bash” charge so it decays instead of vanishing upon expiring
Changed Shield-Bash bar color to blue
Captain Role Shift:
Now that the Buccaneer is here to soak up damage, the Captain and his feathery friend have been adjusted to fill a more generalist role.
General Stats
Captain’s Cutlass
Blunderbuss
Parrot
No longer dies automatically when the Captain does
Can target enemies directly by looking at them when sending the Parrot out
Added a direct target indicator above enemy heads
Parrot excretions now deals 2 damage
Updated feather particle effects to match Parrot Dye
Bondi Rework:
Flatbow
Now has a 4-arrow “magazine” that requires reloading
Fire rate greatly increased
Reload manually with R at any time, or with M1 when empty
Reloads one arrow at a time; cancel with M1 or M2
Retrieved arrows are automatically reloaded if there is space
Damage increased (53→57)
Charge rate increased (1.2→1.5)
Move speed while charging reduced (195→180)
Starting ammo reduced (20→18)
Max ammo reduced (40→28)
Ammo from pickups reduced (20→14)
Special cost increased from 210 to 220
Updated animations
Special
Activating the Special instantly loads 4 explosive arrows
Explosion and direct hits deal more damage (45->50)
Added knockback
Removed move speed slow down
New models for special arrows
Updated particles and sounds
Misc
Assassin Rework:
Stilettos
Base damage reduced (46→42)
Backstab damage consistency improved
Backstabs now scale with other damage modifiers (crits, combo finisher, falling)
Minimum backstab damage reduced (60→50)
Maximum backstab damage reduced (90→85)
Added new sounds for backstabs
Changed swipe animations to utilize the parrying dagger
Updated textures
Crossbow Pistol
Renamed to “Latchet Crossbow”
Damage increased (40->55)
Velocity increased (2100→3000)
Starting ammo reduced (5→3)
Max ammo reduced (8→3)
Ammo from pickups reduced (5→3)
Reload time increased (1.75s→2.33s)
New model, sound effects, and animations
Caltrops
Added a 0.55s arming time
Satchel direct hits now deal 5 damage
Slow potency reduced (60%→25%)
Triggering now marks targets for 2s, +0.5s per extra caltrop
Marked targets are visible through walls and take critical damage from the Assassin
Caltrop count increased (10→12)
Patch spread increased
Central caltrop replaced with a ring of 5 caltrops
Exterior ring increased to 10 caltrops
Lifetime reduced (60s→45s)
Deploy time reduced (0.5s→0.25s)
Velocity reduced (1500→1000)
Added new sounds for caltrop triggering and satchel impact
Added new footstep sounds during caltrop status effect
Added blood trail particles during caltrop status effect
Smoke Pot
Now the alt fire of Caltrops with a 50s cooldown
Shares charge rate, velocity, and arc with Caltrop satchel
No longer does damage in an AOE, only on direct
No longer stuns
Creates a smoke screen for 10s that obscures vision, name tags, and proximity alerts
Stepping into the smoke activates Cloak, once per Smoke Pot
Cloak
Now grants full invisibility, but visibility increases near enemies
While invisible, melee weapons stay at full charge
Move speed bonus now starts at 320 HU and decays over the duration of the cloak
Silences footsteps and automatic voice lines
Ambient sound is now audible to all players
Taking damage briefly increases visibility
All weapons are now usable but cancel cloak if used
Added a new sound for cloak canceling
Fixed projectiles and decals remaining visible while cloaked
Special
Replaced Smokebomb Special with “Sixth Sense”, a 17.5s stance
Increases Move Speed to 265
Gives the ability to see players through walls, represented by team-colored heart icons
Heart icon beats faster and grows larger the less health a player has
Damage an enemy below 40% Health to instantly kill them
Enemies below 66% Health can be instantly killed with a backstab
Instantly killable enemies have a barbed red ring around their heart icon
Misc
Other Class Balance:
Skirmisher
Cutlass
Now paired with a Flintlock Pistol in the offhand
Press attack while blocking to fire the offhand Flintlock
Has a Fire Rate of 2.3 seconds between shots
Updated models and animations
Flintlock Pistols
Powderkeg
Misc
Added Flintlock Pistols to character model
He’s finally got his earring!
Added keg lighting voice lines
Sharpshooter
Long Rifle
Misc
Berserker
Big Axe
Base damage reduced (60→57)
Swing speed increased by 10%
Charge time increased (1.5s→1.7s)
Charge damage bonus increased (35%→42%)
Updated model and animations
Axe & Sword
Added a “Dual Strike” attack that passively charges over 5 rapid swings
Dual Strike charge rate scales with attack speed
Release M1 to perform a Dual Strike in the current attack direction
Quickly switch attack directions to carry over a Dual Strike
Range increased (45→53)
Adjusted Counter-Attack tracers
Special
Misc
Huscarl
Two-Handed Axe
Sword & Shield
Throwing Axes
Special
Maximum damage reduced (135->70)
Now briefly drags enemies along before launching them
Launches enemies with significant force after dealing full damage
Enemies launched into walls take up to 80 extra damage
Killing an enemy with the shield itself will fully refresh the duration of the Special
Now only stuns on impact with a wall
Gestir
Langseax & Shield
Javelins
Special
Reduced base move speed
Adjusted damage to be higher up front, but damage scales down continuously per enemy
Now can hold attack to increase speed but decrease turning strength
Colliding with a wall only ends special when holding attack
Misc
Heavy Knight
Greatsword
Arming Sword & Shield
Archer
Longbow
Crossbow
Special
Arrow count increased to 4
Damage per arrow increased (40→45)
Damage capped to 120
Now increases heat by 25% per arrow
Updated model and animations
Man-At-Arms
Mace & Buckler
Other Changes:
Gamemodes
Two new gamemodes have been added, Duel and Competitive.
In Duel, fight your opponent to the death in a skillful 1v1. The victor moves on to the next round while a spectator takes the loser’s place!
In Competitive, teamwork is king. Two teams with up to 4 players each fight each other in a best of 5 tournament. Teams are swapped after a half is finished, and friendly fire is enabled.
By default, Specials are disabled in both gamemodes.
Miscellaneous:
Gameplay:
Damage modifier for improperly blocked attacks rewritten
Props submerged in lava now experience new physics
Kegs exploding in lava now have unique effects, and will apply a lot more heat.
Kegs no longer stun teammates if friendly fire is enabled
Reduced screenshake when stunned
Added new sound effects for arrow impacting walls
Disabled low health grayscale effect by default, use cl_player_lowhealth_fx to re-enable
Temperature
With the introduction of fire damage, various sources can now increase your “heat”.
Fire damage increases heat
Reaching 100% heat will ignite for 5 seconds
Dodge-rolling or submerging in water reduces heat
Archer Special now increases heat by 25% per arrow
Explosions now increase heat based on damage dealt
Cold sources also reduce your heat, but if you are too cold then you will freeze. Cold sources include freezing water and Cathedral’s sudden death.
Menu Changes:
Map Changes:
ConVars:
Bug Fixes:
Fixed fast swinging weapons not dealing full damage through shield
Fixed huscarl shield special getting canceled by assassin’s smokebomb
Fixed submersion in lava resulting in a green screen filter
