v0.17.0 — Three skill trees per class

Skill trees

Every class now has three skill trees that mix main skills, actives and passives:
- Sentinel: Guardian, Crusader, Juggernaut.
- Monk: Elementalist, Mender, Iron Fist.
- Berserker: Slayer, Ravager, Bloodrager.
- Duelist: Bladedancer, Rogue, Fencer.
Rows open at levels 1, 5, 10, 20 and 30, and a skill needs the one straight above it. You can learn skills from all three trees of your class.
Main skills grow stronger with the other main skills of their tree. The skill card lists that synergy.
Until you learn a main skill your hero uses a plain swing. The first main skill you learn is selected right away, and every active you learn switches itself on.
Each class has its own resource:
- Berserker and Duelist build Rage by attacking.
- The Sentinel builds Valor from hits, and from blocked or dodged attacks while Taunt holds. Between fights Valor settles at a third of the bar, so Taunt is always ready to open a fight.
- The Monk’s Enlightenment refills over time like mana, and fills up when you enter an area or after a death.
New affixes for the new resources: Valor on Hit, Valor on Block or Dodge, Reduced Valor Decay, Maximum Valor, Enlightenment Regeneration, Reduced Enlightenment Cost and Maximum Enlightenment.
The three ”+ to tree” affixes now raise your main skills, actives or passives.
New look: the trees sit behind tabs with their own emblems, and each skill shows its icon with its name. The shape tells the type: square for main skills, rounded for actives, round for passives. The skill cards are shorter and simpler.
Your save: every skill point you earned comes back to spend in the new trees, and your active-skill settings start fresh. Items that named a removed skill roll a new one.
Rush is now a 25% chance at rank 20 to reach the next enemy sooner. Therons Riddle now grants Teleport to every class: a 50% chance per kill to jump to the next enemy. Serpent Spine grants Venom Strike at rank 5 to every class. The Signet of the Matriarch, Desert Spike and Milan’s Dive carry procs of the new skills, and every proc on your gear now rolls on its own.

Cast Order

The Skills screen has a new Cast Order tab. It replaces the old rule popup and priority strip. Top to bottom, the first line whose conditions fit casts.
Simple (default): one line per active with On/Off and a rule; drag to reorder.
Full Cast Order (Settings → Character → Gameplay): up to 3 lines per active and up to 3 conditions per line, with new conditions such as enemy life, enemy type, buffs and debuffs, damage over time on you, and enemies that hit hard. Each line can save up its resource.
Your current rules carry over as they are.

Full Loot Filter

Full Loot Filter (Settings → Character → Gameplay) opens every filter row: weapon classes and single bases, each with its own Sell/Keep cells, following the row above until you set one.
Always keep: magic and rare drops with enough of your wanted affixes, and the base you need to upgrade a worn item at the Blacksmith.
Hover an “Auto-sold” line in the combat log to see which row sold it; kept drops get a ★ with the reason.

Endgame bosses

The Brood Matriarch now waits in her nest: a cave on the Dark Citadel’s western path. Tracking her needs that path cleared. Her nest is one run of eight different brood creatures, then Echidna herself, all at level 175.
New boss levels: echoed regional dungeons at 150, the Brood Matriarch at 175, Echoed Theron at 200. Their fights last longer and hit softer, and they lower your resistances for the whole fight instead of the Resonance malus.
Every enemy in an echoed run and in her nest, and every hunt mark, follows one rule: much more life, less damage.

Combat and balance

Hit chance against higher enemies now drops by a share of your hit chance (1% of it per level, at most 10%) instead of a flat amount, and enemies above level 99 gain Defense Rating more slowly. Endgame heroes hit far more often.
Attack speed from gear and Dexterity now adds up evenly instead of growing faster at the top.
Life leech is weaker against tougher enemies: ¾ against rares, ½ against specials, ⅓ against bosses and hunt marks.
Physical damage reduction from Defense and Constitution is lower; Strength and level give more Attack Rating.
A big balance pass on the main skills across all four classes. The strongest skills were toned down first (among them Shield Strike, Aegis, Smite, Executioner, Apex Predator, Hamstring, Reaver and Thousand Cuts), a few weak ones were lifted (among them Venom Strike, Mountain Blow, Ember Strike and Judgement), and the Sentinel’s Juggernaut tree gained a new passive, Unrelenting: up to +25% weapon damage.
Reduced Physical Damage now only appears on uniques.
Enemy stuns and freezes now follow the enemy’s attack speed, and after one ends you resist the next for 3 seconds.
New heroes start with Auto-Potion in Auto mode.

Hunts, dungeons and economy

The hunting crew’s find is decided when it returns, and a region you haven’t completed is more likely to give a new bestiary entry.
Repeat clears of a region dungeon give 60% of the XP. The Grasslands dungeon is now rank 23.
Tavern drinks cost 600 gold per hero level instead of a flat 50,000.
Your own Trading Board listings stay visible but can’t be bought by your other heroes.
Two-handers, staves, heavy armor and the Pavise have new level requirements; Enchant also raises Reduced Physical Damage, damage reduction, Life Regeneration and Life after Kill.
New achievement: Staff Master.

Fixes and smaller changes

The Thorns affix now actually works.
Monk heals show a soft green glow in the combat scene, the combat log lists the life a hit healed, and the training dummy counts Monk heals.
The Rampage icon shows Carnage’s attack speed as well.
The save icon and the “ms” readout in the corner are gone.
Main menu: “Died · back in camp” only shows until you have seen it.
World map: the selected tile’s level updates right after a Resonance change.
A skill card updates right away when you put a point into it.