Highguard’s final update arriving soon. Thank you for playing with us.
Summary
Highguard will permanently shut down on March 12, with servers online until then; over 2 million players contributed to its world, and the team is grateful for the community's support.
A final update will launch, adding a new Warden, a new weapon, account level progression, and skill trees, with patch notes coming soon.
Thanks from Wildlight to players for playing, supporting, and being part of Highguard’s story.
Today we’re sharing difficult news. We have made the decision to permanently shut down Highguard on March 12.
Since launch, more than 2 million players stepped into Highguard’s world. You shared feedback, created content, and many believed in what we were building. For that, we are deeply grateful.
Despite the passion and hard work of our team, we have not been able to build a sustainable player base to support the game long term. Servers will remain online until March 12th. We hope you’ll jump in with us one more time to show your support and get those final great matches in while we still can.
The team is excited to release one final game update to enjoy in the remaining life of the game. We'll be adding a new Warden, a new weapon, account level progression, and skill trees! Full patch notes are coming, and we're targeting tonight or tomorrow morning for patch release.
From all of us at Wildlight, thank you for playing, for supporting us, and for being part of Highguard’s story.
Highguard's Final Patch
Summary
The Farewell Tour patch adds Account Progression with XP, a new Skill Tree, and a Reset option, plus a new Warden and a new weapon.
It introduces four playstyle branches—Raider, Harvester, Treasure Hunter, and Protector—with quick XP gains to unlock up to two trees.
The update introduces Koldo and The Switchback, and goes live today at 4pm PST as Highguard winds down.
The Farewell Tour - Full Account Progression and Skill Tree, a New Warden, and a New Weapon!
Coming Today at 4pm PST
For our final patch, we’d like to thank everyone who has played and is still playing Highguard. Even though we are shutting the game down, we are excited to give our remaining players one last big update to keep you entertained over the weekend. Thanks again for playing with us. Enjoy!
Account Progression and Skill Tree
Level up your account and build out your Warden with powerful new abilities, passives and upgrades!
Account Progression
You’ll now level up your account level just by playing the game. As you return to the lobby, you’ll gain XP, level up, and earn Skill Points to be spent on the new Skill Tree!
Everyone’s account will start at level 0, and goes to level 100.
Your first level acquired will reward you with 5 Skill points. Afterwards, you receive 1 skill point per level up until level 40 for a total of 44 points to spend. This allows players to choose up to two skill trees to max.
Skill Tree
The Skill Tree is designed for players to build out their upgrades in 4 distinct playstyles. Each branch has a variety of options for players to choose from, with 2 tiers of power on all small nodes. Here is a list of what each branch focuses on, along with a few examples.
Raider - for players looking to be unstoppable during Raids, along with some buffs and abilities focused on general combat efficiency.
Infiltration - while raiding, zipline further into the enemy base
Juggernaut - destroying a wall provides a short duration overshield
Spearhead - you receive a Domesplitter and a Thumper Charge when your Siege Tower rolls in
Harvester - for players who are looking to increase their Vesper gain and the power of their Warden Axe
Heavy Swing - you swing your axe with two hands, instantly destroying Vesper Nodes
Shatter Orb - destroy enemy soul orbs with your Throwing Axe or Regular Axe Swing
Field Crafting - Create Armor, Equipment and Raid Tools in the battlefield
Treasure Hunter - for those players who love to loot
Treasure Seeker - hidden chests can be found and opened at PoIs
Archaeologist - Can sell items to Trader Flynn
Artifact Mastery - Amulets have a bonus magical property when equipped
Protector - for players who enjoy defending and keeping the team together
Resonant Walls - reinforced walls are more durable
Unbreakable Armor - once every 2 minutes, armor loss is prevented on death
Vanguard - while defending your base, allies can spawn on you
You can unequip a skill easily, and you can Reset all your points at no cost by clicking the button at the bottom.
We’ve tuned the XP gain to be very fast so players can earn points quickly and enjoy the full spectrum of the feature.
New Warden - Koldo
An old soul bound to protect the lost continent of Highguard
Koldo was discovered on Highguard. A lost soul from long before the continent disappeared, trapped inside a suit of armor, he searches for answers to his past. Koldo uses the power of his soul to protect his allies.
Passive: Guardian Angel
Protect any friendly orbs around you from destruction.
Automatically deploy your shield when reviving allies.
Tactical: Soul Shield
Deploy a shield for you and your allies.
Ultimate: Battle Cry
Koldo raises a standard that creates a protective dome. He can pick up and carry the standard, and drop it again at will.
Being inside the dome gives allies faster health regeneration.
New Weapon - The Switchback
Long range double-barrel shotgun
The Switchback brings unparalleled versatility, comfortably handling both close range and long range encounters. When used in hipfire, it’s a shotgun. Aiming down the sights will transition the weapon into a marksman rifle.
The name “Switchback” originates from its unique double-barrel design. You’re able to rapidly shoot twice before needing a rechamber, though you also can pace your shots to keep up a continuous stream of fire.
In the field, many Wardens have sought to wield the Switchback. Only a few have truly learned to master it.
Gold Versions
The Switchback has 2 gold versions that can be found in loot chests, or with Trader Flynn.
Basebreaker
Repeater
New Game Mode and a Weapon Balance Patch!
Summary
Announces Raid Rush, a fast-paced 5v5 mode with round-based base upgrades and trader interactions, swapping sides after each round.
Quality of Life tweaks include Comeback Kill rewards, Reviver Amulet adjustments, and extra defender spawns in Smuggler’s Den.
Weapon balance updates across Vanguard, Dynasty, Corsair, Longhorn, Longhorn (Repeater), and Viper, plus bug fixes.
Another week, another gameplay patch!
This week we are bringing a new action packed mode called Raid Rush, some QoLs and some Weapon Balance changes.
New Mode - Raid Rush!
A high-intensity 5v5 showdown
In Raid Rush, 2 teams of 5 players will take turns attacking and defending their bases with no pesky looting phase in between.
Instead, select your base and use Trader Flynn to upgrade your weapons and equipment in a round based format. After each round, you’ll switch sides between attacking and defending. Your base walls and generators will be repaired, and you’ll be rewarded some Vesper to spend at the Trader, who will have different offers after every round. And don’t worry about buying armor - everyone has the same armor, and it will escalate in rarity as the rounds progress.
This mode plays fast and is the perfect place to get a quick hit of action!
Dev Note: 3v3 Raids has been disabled while Raid Rush is active.
5v5 and Ranked 3v3 are still available.
Quality of Life
Comeback Kill - Grab a kill after going on a death streak of 3 or more and get rewarded 2 Vesper per death, on top of the 3 for the kill. You’re back in the game!
Reviver Amulet - bonus revive speed reduced from 50% to 15%.
Dev Note: We feel like the speed of a Reviver Amulet revive was creating too much safety for mid-combat revives.
Smuggler’s Den - added more defender respawns
Weapon Balance Updates
Vanguard - Reducing accuracy and controllability - it's too dominant across long ranges
Dynasty - Buffing damage to provide a better tradeoff for the challenging recoil. It now takes one fewer bullet to kill against blue, purple, and gold shields
Corsair - Reducing the delay before the recoil pattern resets, so that the Corsair can be fired more quickly without sacrificing accuracy
Longhorn - Increased fire rate to make the Longhorn more versatile, making it more viable at medium and close ranges.
Longhorn (Repeater) - Hipfire accuracy buffed to satisfy the end game power spike feeling
Viper - Reducing controllability when using the 2x Optic in order to balance out its long range power
Bug Fixes
Fixed some wall geo you could walk through at Belltower in Kingdom
Fixed Firing Range base select being too short
New Base and New Raid Tool
Summary
New Base - Cloudreach is introduced as a fortified airship hangar with an elevated deck and generator-focused layout.
New Raid Tool - Lockpick uses darts to open doors and windows, featuring the Purple variant Warden's Lockpick.
Store updates include seven weekly items at Trading Post, Moonbruin Mount in four versions, and the Wayfinder Series cosmetics.
New Base and New Raid Tool Patch!
Coming Later This Week
This patch is purely content focused, with a brand new Base and a powerful new Raid Tool added to the game, along with new offerings in the Store.
We are also working on next week’s patch, which we aim to bring a new game mode focused on the Raid experience, as well as some balance adjustments to weapons, among other things.
New Base - Cloudreach
A fortified airship hangar that the Iron Vigil uses for repair and resupply into Highguard.
This base has a large airship docked high above the ground, with the Anchor Stone in the cargo hold of the ship itself. The deck surrounding the airship overlooks the entire area, giving defenders an elevated position to snipe from, but allows quick repositioning to both generator rooms, where combat quickly turns close quarters.
Small ventilation shafts located above the generator buildings allow defenders to throw grenades in to flush out attackers if a bomb is planted.
The layout is strongly forward facing, with only 3 plant points - one on the front, right and left sides. If attackers feel rushed to plant at the front, they then have to fight across the entire base to get to the generators, which are located in the back buildings.
New Raid Tool - Lockpick
Small but mighty. The best way to raid an enemy base is to let yourself in, and lock them out.
This powerful new Raid Tool quickly fires darts that open doors and windows, temporarily disabling them for the enemy and giving control to your team.
Swap to the Lockpick in your loadout menu at the start of a match, or find them randomly in red Weapon Chests. Darts are a new ammo type that can be found in chests and supply barrels, or purchased from Trader Flynn.
The Lockpick has 1 Purple variant.
Warden’s Lockpick (Purple Version)
A powerful version of the Lockpick that casts an energy field in the lockpicked door or window. For teammates, passing through it gives a short speed boost. For enemies, it delivers a small zap that damages, slows and highlights them for a very short time.
New Store Offerings!
Trading Post
Trader Flynn now offers 7 items every week instead of 5.
Some items will be repeats of previous weeks, allowing players to earn rewards they might have missed.
Moonbruin Mount
A gentle giant.
This new mount is available for purchase in the store, and comes in 4 different versions in the same bundle!
Wayfinder Series
A collection of Iron Vigil themed cosmetics for an adventurous airship crew.
5v5 Raid Mode is here to stay!
Summary
5v5 Raid Mode will stay available.
We appreciate players who joined over the weekend to try it.
The observed balance between 3v3 and 5v5 helped inform the decision.
You've been asking, and we're happy to share—5v5 Raid Mode is here to stay!
We appreciate everyone hopping in over the weekend to give the mode a try. We saw a fairly even split between 3v3 and 5v5, which helped inform our decision.
Balance and Technical Updates Patch
Summary
The patch introduces Desktop options like High Performance Mouse Input Polling and allows FSR as the active anti-aliasing method, along with performance improvements and throttle removal when in the background. Gameplay updates include Gear Up Phase shortened to 90 seconds, updated PoI waypoints, and balance changes for Ekon, Kai, Mara, Atticus, Condor, Redmane, Una, plus changes to Raids and Firing Range. Quality of Life and bug fixes cover end-of-match podium stats, longer rejoin times, UI refinements, and crash/visual fixes across platforms, plus ranked point adjustments for Bronze and Silver.
Technical Updates
Desktop users may now enable “High Performance Mouse Input Polling” in the Settings menu
Dev note: While the engine has never performed mouse input smoothing, users may have perceived latency or frame rate dips on certain machines when using a high poll-rate mouse. This setting causes the engine to poll mouse inputs on a separate worker thread at a much faster rate and may improve performance for some systems. As this is a newer feature, we are leaving it disabled by default, as it may interfere with third-party overlays, and alt-tab/window-focusing behavior.
Resolved visual bugs with emotes and other animations when playing with a Low or Medium View Distance Quality settings.
Desktop users may now select FSR as the active anti-aliasing method.
Dev note: Previously, only NVIDIA users had the option to switch AA methods between TSR and DLSS. Now, all desktop users can also opt into FSR. AMD GPU users with supported cards will automatically leverage FSR4 when this option is selected. When selected, the FSR Quality Mode setting supersedes the internal resolution setting, and a new FSR Sharpness option can be tuned to add additional sharpening as desired.
During matches, the frame rate is no longer throttled to 30 FPS when the game is in the background.
Dev note: On Windows, it’s not uncommon for applications or the OS itself to steal focus from the game (popups, notifications, etc.). This could happen in a subtle way that would cause the throttle to “stick” because the game never regained focus. We’ve opted to just remove this throttle altogether since it’s rare to actually want to throttle the game while mid-match. The Max FPS setting can still be changed at any point.
Match load times were significantly optimized on all platforms.
Additional crash fixes and optimizations.
Gameplay Updates
Gear Up Phase
Dev note: All of these changes are aiming to bring players to loot and fight at the Shieldbreaker site, with a quicker time to shoot.
Gear Up Phase shortened to 90 seconds from 120 seconds
The PoI waypoints at the start of the phase now only show on the location the Shieldbreaker will be forming. It never fades away until the forming phase starts.
Masterwork Weapons and Ultimate Chargers now only appear at the PoI where the Shieldbreaker is forming
Reduced respawn times to 15 seconds from 20 seconds during the Gear Up and Shieldbreaker Forming phases
Raids
Raid will now end after one generator explodes, teleporting attackers back home and resetting the match to the next Gear Up phase.
Dev note: This change aims to give losing players another chance at success and create tighter games. Games can still be won in 1 Raid by destroying the Anchor Stone.
Quality of Life
Added Assist and Damage to the end of match podium stats
We've increased rejoin times so players that disconnect from a match will have an easier time getting back in
The Stats screen “Success Rates” has been reformatted to not be a decimal
Ranked Updates
Increased kills/assists points for Bronze and Silver
Character Balance Updates
Ekon
Dread (Passive) now triggers at <50% enemy health instead of <100% enemy health
Dev Note: We've heard everyone's feedback about being scanned too frequently. This feels like a particularly important numerical threshold because it prevents a revived ally from being instantly scanned.
Kai
Increased the health of his Ice Wall from 300 to 400 and health of individual chunks from 40 to 50
Mara
Increasing Sacrifice (Passive) range from 8 meters to 10 meters
Atticus
Shockspear (Tactical) cooldown reduced from 60 to 45 sec
Shockspear charges reduced from 3 to 2
Condor
Increase passive detection range from 40 meters to 60 meters
Soaring Guardian (Ultimate) updates
Transitions quicker to bird form
Increased lateral move speed
Smoke projectiles travel faster
Enemies in Condor smoke sphere get a “position revealed” HUD indicator
Condor will now say “baddies” less.
Redmane
Pounce (Tactical) updates
Cooldown reduced from 60 to 45 seconds
Pounce reduced from 3 to 2 charges
Increased weapon raise time after a leap
Increased travel speed while using ranged leap
Una
Forest Wisps (Tactical) will now target enemies twice as fast and more reliably
Increasing projectile speed on both Forest Wisps and Tree Walker (Ultimate)
Reducing the duration of the Tree Walker's cast animation.
Limiting Una to 2 Tree Walkers at a time
Firing Range Updates
More Character abilities work against Firing Range dummies
Condor Ultimate highlights dummies in smoke spheres
Redmane abilities now hit target dummies
Bug Fixes:
Improved the UI with Reporting and Blocking players
Fix for bug where multiple players on a single invisible zipline would cause them to become visible
Fix for Barghast emote VFX on low settings
Fixed basebreaker trails having distorted effects
Addressed some hitches that could be caused by rapid mouse movement
Fixed issue that would sometimes cause weapons skins to not appear correctly on a weapon
Fix for Redmane sometimes getting stuck in geo when performing a leap
Fixed animation bugs at low view distance quality settings
Fix for messaging overlaps in some UI menus
1.0.4 Patch Notes
Summary
Patch 1.0.4 adds FoV sliders for consoles, ADS/Crouch toggle options, and various video settings while optimization work continues.
New settings include View Distance Quality, DLSS presets, and toggles for Anisotropic Materials, Chromatic Aberration, and Bloom.
Crash fixes improve stability on PS5, slow storage load scenarios, and online presence/matchmaking, reducing crashes substantially.
Hey Wardens! We’ve just pushed out a patch with a number of improvements, including FoV sliders for consoles, toggle options for ADS and Crouch, many video settings, and more. The team is also working on optimization improvements, they just need a few more days to cook.
See below to see the nitty gritty details, and we'll see you in Highguard
Settings Improvements
Note: in an effort to release these changes to our players as quickly as possible, a number of menu options are not yet localized in languages other than English. Properly localized settings will be prepared for a future patch.
Game Input Settings
Added the ability to set Crouch to Hold or Toggle for all platforms.
Added the ability to set Aim Down Sights to Hold or Toggle for PC only (for now).
Toggling into ADS then tapping Sprint (shift on PC, left stick on controller) will swap your scope. This is disorienting on controller. PC players are recommended to rebind scope swap if using Toggle ADS. We will continue to look into adding this for console players who can’t rebind buttons yet, but we will need more time.
Video Settings
Console users can now adjust FoV to 110.
Low scalability settings for shadows and reflections are tuned for even more performance at the cost of some image quality.
Low shadow setting now also disables volumetric fog.
Added a new "View Distance Quality" setting that controls skeletal mesh LODs, which can be another useful control to tune GPU and CPU usage.
Players now have the ability to toggle the following features on or off, irrespective of other quality options:
Anisotropic Materials
Chromatic Aberration
Bloom
Motion Blur and Depth of Field need more testing to disable safely. Look for these options very soon.
DLSS users now have the ability to select a DLSS preset. More presets and better descriptions are coming in the next patch.
Players can now select Off to disable Global Illumination entirely.
Resolved an engine bug which could inadvertently throttled laptop users to 60 FPS regardless of frame rate settings.
Crash and Bug Fixes
This patch resolves crashes that could occur in the following scenarios
Leaving a match on PS5 with an unexpected input state.
Loading into matches on machines with slower storage devices.
A number of other bugs related to online user presence and matchmaking were also resolved.
Friends now appear online correctly after accepting requests, and Xbox presence updates properly. Major crash fixes have reduced crashes by 90%, significantly improving stability.
Friend status is fixed - players now appear online correctly and Xbox presence updates reliably. Our top crash issues are gone resulting in a 90% crash reduction.
5v5 and Performance Patch! And a New Base!
Summary
This update introduces an experimental 5v5 Raid Mode, a new Soul Well base, and several performance improvements.\n5v5 is a weekend experiment separate from 3v3, with a lobby that supports parties of 5 and adjustments like 10 raid lives and longer respawns.\nQuality-of-life updates include new visual toggles such as motion blur (PC and consoles) and anisotropic materials (consoles; PC already has it), plus a Soul Well base vignette to watch.
5v5 and Performance Patch! And a New Base!
For our first weekend, we’re excited to drop an experimental 5v5 Raid playlist, a new Base and a bunch of performance improvements for 3v3, along with some more options in the Settings menus for people to customize their game.
Read the details below!
5v5 Raid Mode - Experimental Playlist
We heard the feedback!
For the weekend, we are experimenting with a 5v5 Raid Mode.
This is a separate playlist and not meant to replace 3’s.
3v3 Raids are still there for people who enjoy it!
The lobby has been updated to allow for parties of 5 while the mode is live. Grab 4 friends and jump into some hectic raids!
A few small tweaks for this mode:
Raids are now 10 lives instead of 6
Respawns are slightly longer during raids to allow generators to be planted/defused
Dev note: As most of you know, we are working on optimizations across the game. Many are in this patch and 3v3 should see good improvements! But… adding 4 more players to the game is not going to improve performance, right? Please keep that in mind as you try 5v5!
Dev note 2: Firing Range does not support 5v5 at this time, so the Play button will be grayed out if your party is over 3.
New Base - Soul Well
Soul Well is a dark relic from a lost age. The Iron Vigil has now prepared this base construct for use in the field where the dead still speak.
This new base will be added to the rotation in all modes.
Optimizations
This patch contains several optimizations that touch on animation performance, projectiles, draw submission times, and other gameplay systems. These optimizations benefit console and PC, but every PC is different, so the exact speedup to overall framerate is dependent on GPU, CPU, and other factors.
Quality of Life
Enabled these visual settings on PC and consoles
Motion blur toggle for PC and consoles
Anisotropic materials toggle for consoles (PC has this already)
Balance and Technical Updates Patch
Summary
This patch introduces desktop performance features (High Performance Mouse Input Polling, FSR anti-aliasing), removes background throttling, optimizes load times, and fixes crashes.
Gameplay updates shorten Gear Up Phase to 90 seconds, adjust Shieldbreaker-related PoIs, modify raid end conditions, and balance multiple characters (Ekon, Kai, Mara, Atticus, Condor, Redmane, Una) plus Firing Range tweaks.
Quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes span UI reporting, rejoin times, end-of-match stats, and fixes for emotes, skins, and various in-game glitches.
Technical Updates
Desktop users may now enable “High Performance Mouse Input Polling” in the Settings menu
Dev note: While the engine has never performed mouse input smoothing, users may have perceived latency or frame rate dips on certain machines when using a high poll-rate mouse. This setting causes the engine to poll mouse inputs on a separate worker thread at a much faster rate and may improve performance for some systems. As this is a newer feature, we are leaving it disabled by default, as it may interfere with third-party overlays, and alt-tab/window-focusing behavior.
Resolved visual bugs with emotes and other animations when playing with a Low or Medium View Distance Quality settings.
Desktop users may now select FSR as the active anti-aliasing method.
Dev note: Previously, only NVIDIA users had the option to switch AA methods between TSR and DLSS. Now, all desktop users can also opt into FSR. AMD GPU users with supported cards will automatically leverage FSR4 when this option is selected. When selected, the FSR Quality Mode setting supersedes the internal resolution setting, and a new FSR Sharpness option can be tuned to add additional sharpening as desired.
During matches, the frame rate is no longer throttled to 30 FPS when the game is in the background.
Dev note: On Windows, it’s not uncommon for applications or the OS itself to steal focus from the game (popups, notifications, etc.). This could happen in a subtle way that would cause the throttle to “stick” because the game never regained focus. We’ve opted to just remove this throttle altogether since it’s rare to actually want to throttle the game while mid-match. The Max FPS setting can still be changed at any point.
Match load times were significantly optimized on all platforms.
Additional crash fixes and optimizations.
Gameplay Updates:
Gear Up Phase
Dev note: All of these changes are aiming to bring players to loot and fight at the Shieldbreaker site, with a quicker time to shoot.
Gear Up Phase shortened to 90 seconds from 120 seconds
The PoI waypoints at the start of the phase now only show on the location the Shieldbreaker will be forming. It never fades away until the forming phase starts.
Masterwork Weapons and Ultimate Chargers now only appear at the PoI where the Shieldbreaker is forming
Reduced respawn times to 15 seconds from 20 seconds during the Gear Up and Shieldbreaker Forming phases
Raids
Raid will now end after one generator explodes, teleporting attackers back home and resetting the match to the next Gear Up phase.
Dev note: This change aims to give losing players another chance at success and create tighter games. Games can still be won in 1 Raid by destroying the Anchor Stone.
Quality of Life
Added Assist and Damage to the end of match podium stats
We've increased rejoin times so players that disconnect from a match will have an easier time getting back in
The Stats screen “Success Rates” has been reformatted to not be a decimal
Ranked Updates
Increased kills/assists points for Bronze and Silver
Character Balance Updates:
Ekon:
Dread (Passive) now triggers at <50% enemy health instead of <100% enemy health
Dev Note: We've heard everyone's feedback about being scanned too frequently. This feels like a particularly important numerical threshold because it prevents a revived ally from being instantly scanned.
Kai:
Increased the health of his Ice Wall from 300 to 400 and health of individual chunks from 40 to 50
Mara:
Increasing Sacrifice (Passive) range from 8 meters to 10 meters
Atticus:
Shockspear (Tactical) cooldown reduced from 60 to 45 sec
Shockspear charges reduced from 3 to 2
Condor:
Increase passive detection range from 40 meters to 60 meters
Soaring Guardian (Ultimate) updates
Transitions quicker to bird form
Increased lateral move speed
Smoke projectiles travel faster
Enemies in Condor smoke sphere get a “position revealed” HUD indicator
Condor will now say “baddies” less.
Redmane
Pounce (Tactical) updates
Cooldown reduced from 60 to 45 seconds
Pounce reduced from 3 to 2 charges
Increased weapon raise time after a leap
Increased travel speed while using ranged leap
Una
Forest Wisps (Tactical) will now target enemies twice as fast and more reliably
Increasing projectile speed on both Forest Wisps and Tree Walker (Ultimate)
Reducing the duration of the Tree Walker's cast animation.
Limiting Una to 2 Tree Walkers at a time
Firing Range Updates
More Character abilities work against Firing Range dummies
Condor Ultimate highlights dummies in smoke spheres
Redmane abilities now hit target dummies
Bug Fixes:
Improved the UI with Reporting and Blocking players
Fix for bug where multiple players on a single invisible zipline would cause them to become visible
Fix for Barghast emote VFX on low settings
Fixed basebreaker trails having distorted effects
Addressed some hitches that could be caused by rapid mouse movement
Fixed issue that would sometimes cause weapons skins to not appear correctly on a weapon
Fix for Redmane sometimes getting stuck in geo when performing a leap
Fixed animation bugs at low view distance quality settings
Fix for messaging overlaps in some UI menus
Episode 2 Patch Notes
Summary
Episode 2 Patch Notes introduce Ekon, the new Warden, and the Wolf form, plus the new location Skydrift.
Ranked Mode is now available with 3v3 matches, two splits per Episode, and Banner Frame rewards across ranks.
Gear updates include better loot via Masterwork items, waypoint markers, speed gates, new stats, orange weapon mods, and various QoL improvements.
A NEW WARDEN ARRIVES
EKON
A legendary monster-slayer who shapeshifts into a powerful direwolf to track and hunt his prey. Ekon is the last of a long line of ancient magic wielders known as the Wildwalkers, once thought extinct. When his mentor, and closest thing to family, goes missing in the lost land of Highguard, there is no monster or warden this great predator will allow to stand in his way.
Dread (Passive)
Reveal the heartbeat of wounded enemies. Once an enemy Warden is low health, they are highlighted in pulsing beats until they are dead, or their health regenerates.
Wolf Spirit (Tactical)
Unleash a spirit wolf to hunt the nearest enemy and apply Dread. This Wolf Spirit travels long distances, moving straight through rocks and structures to find its prey. If seen in time, it can be shot down.
This ability can be cast in human form, or in Wolf form.
Fearsome Howl (Ultimate)
Apply Dread to all enemies across the map and increase your movement speed.
This ability can be cast in human form, or in Wolf form.
Wolf Form
Ekon doesn’t ride an animal into battle, he becomes one—transforming into a powerful direwolf that tracks, hunts, and runs down mounted enemies. While in this form, Ekon’s speed is unmatched by other mounts. Through a full third-person point of view, the direwolf can see around cover. When moving in for an attack, weapons are laid down in favor of Ekon’s deadly bite attack, which will dash forward and bite a prey before immediately transforming back to human form to finish off the job. Attacking without a target will allow Ekon to perform a small air dash to traverse maps more athletically. In addition, while in Wolf Form, Ekon can track an enemy’s scent that they leave in their path. Ekon can use all of his other powers while in Wolf Form.
A NEW LOCATION IS DISCOVERED
SKYDRIFT
Far west of Headwall, beyond the vast, uncharted lands of Highguard where the maps go blank and expeditions go missing lies the fabled lost city of Skydrift recently awakened.
Wardens can navigate through hollowed out caverns once home to great winged-beasts, spar off against one another in an ancient ring of stone, and ride across colossal chain bridges and through remarkable Sky Jumpers to reach Skydrifts highest point - a palace above the clouds.
Skydrift is added to the map rotation in 3v3 and 5v5.
THE STAKES HAVE NEVER BEEN HIGHER
RANKED MODE
Ranked Mode is now available!
Gain Ranked Points (RP), earn point modifiers and climb the ranks to claim your rewards. Go from Bronze (Hare) to Grandmaster (Leviathan) if you’ve got what it takes!
Visit the Headwall menu in game to see more information.
Ranked Structure
The format for Ranked is 3v3
We believe 3v3 is the more tactical structure of the game and fits best for comp. We will monitor feedback as we get it.
Each episode will have 2 Ranked Splits. Splits will change the map and base list, and introduce some balance changes.
All players start Ranked for the first time in Bronze 3.
Each Rank has 3 Divisions.
There are 7 Ranks
Bronze (Hare)
Silver (Goat)
Gold (Ape)
Platinum (Dire Wolf)
Diamond (Gryphon)
Master (Manticore)
Grandmaster (Leviathan)
At the end of each Episode, you will be rewarded based on the Rank you achieved at the end of the Episode.
De-Ranking: You can only de-rank inside a Division during a Split. For example, by losing matches you can de-rank from Gold 2 into Gold 3, but you cannot de-rank from Gold 3 into Silver 1.
At the start of every Split, you will not de-rank at all. At the start of every Episode, you will move backwards 6 Divisions (2 full Ranks)
Fairness
Play with teammates up to 2 tiers difference
A two person party must be within +/- 1 tier of each other
A full party of 3 can mix any ranks and be able to play. You will queue into the Rank of the top Ranked player.
Solo Bonus: If you’re playing without a party, you’ll earn the Solo modifier (details below). You’ll gain more points and lose less per match.
Loss Protection: You accrue loss protection for playing matches all the way through. It will get automatically spent to stop you from losing RP.
Early Leaver Penalty is more severe in Ranked. Leaving early counts as 2 strikes and resets your Loss Protection.
Scoring System
We think if you win big, you should score big.
Victory has 3 versions, before the modifiers are applied.
Overwhelming Victory: 25 RP
This is winning with 100% base health remaining
Victory: 20 RP
This is standard victory where each team was more evenly matched
Close Victory: 15 RP
This is winning where your base had 35% base health or less remaining
For defeat:
Defeat: -25 RP
If you lost without doing damage to the enemy team.
Strong Defense: -20 RP
If you lost, but had done some damage to the enemy team.
Close Defeat: -15 RP
If you lost, but had done at least 65% damage to the enemy team.
Other modifiers:
Winning Streak Bonus: adds 3 RP for each win in a row, up to 6 extra points per game.
Kill Bonus: Earn extra RP for kills, up to a cap of 5 points per game.
Solo Bonus: Always earn an extra 4 points if queuing up solo.
Imbalance Protection
If a game is deemed imbalance by player ranks:
The favored team will have less points to win and more points to lose
The weaker team will have increased points to win, and less points to lose
Requirements
In order to unlock Ranked Mode, you must Win 10 matches of 3v3 Raid Mode.
This is retroactive. If you’ve already won 10 matches in Episode 1, Ranked Mode will be unlocked immediately.
Maps
The Ranked Mode playlist will have a subset of maps and bases per Split.
We will change the list every split to keep the rotation interesting, but allow time to build consistent strategies.
The first Split will have maps Kingdom, Summit and Rivermark, and bases Hellmouth, Smuggler’s Den, King’s Lair, Soul Well, Frosthold and Wellspring.
As more bases get added to the game, we think having a total of 6 bases in Ranked allows players to master certain bases and build competitive strategies over a Split, but still need to master more than 1 base because your first pick won’t always be available.
Rewards
Episodic Reward: Ranked players will earn a brand new cosmetic item called Banner Frames.
You will be awarded the Frame that matches the Rank you achieved in the Episode.
Frames grow in prestige at higher Ranks!
Every Episode will earn a new themed Banner Frame. This Episode’s theme is Ekon and the Wolf and will be awarded at the start of Episode 3.
A NEW BEAST HAS BEEN TAMED
WOLF
Loyal pack hunter of the wild.
The new wolf mount is free to all players.
Try Ranked Challenge: Play 10 matches of Ranked to earn the Shadow Wolf skin.
GEAR UP PHASE UPDATES
One consistent point of feedback we’ve heard is that the Gear Phase needs improvements.
We’re tackling that in 4 ways for the launch of Episode 2, and we’ll continue to work on that phase in the future.
Better PoI Loot
Red Weapon Chests in PoIs now contain Masterwork weapons.
Masterwork weapons have improved stats within their rarity. Blue Masterworks are better than Blues, but still less quality than Purple. Players can still loot upgraded weapons outside of PoIs, but the Masterwork versions of weapons each round are only found in PoIs.
Ultimate Chargers
These items are found in white barrels in POIs, but we’ve seen that players are having a hard time identifying that. In order to make that clear, white barrels that contain Ultimate Chargers now have an obvious gold glow.
Waypoint Markers
When you leave your base in the gear phase, waypoint icons will guide players towards the Points of Interest. They’re also pingable so players can communicate intent without voice comms.
The map will also communicate that PoIs contain Masterwork Weapons and Ultimate Chargers.
Speed Gates
Speed Gates are always on when a player is near them, instead of only when a Shieldbreaker is present.
This should allow players to get back to fights after respawning,
Read the blog from Wildlight designers on deeper thinking behind these changes.
QUALITY OF LIFE & NEW FEATURES
As we continue to improve the game through feedback, bug fixing and small features, we will document them here. When necessary, we’ll use “dev notes” to give context on why we made a specific change.
Stats 1.0
Players want stats! For Episode 2 we have added a Stats menu to Headwall.
The stats tracked here are mostly retroactive from Episode 1.
Raid Attack and Defense success stats are new for Episode 2, as we are just now starting to track these stats.
We will continue to expand this feature in future episodes.
New Orange Weapon Mods:
We will continue to mix up orange weapon mods. For Episode 2, we are adding variety and not removing anything.
Saber Rifle - Impact Rounds
Increased critical damage (headshots) with a slower rate of fire. Fires a two shot burst instead of three. Faster projectile speed.
Vanguard - Drum Magazine
Much larger magazine, with a slower reload.
Corsair - Doubleshot
Fire a 12 round burst on each trigger pull
Technical Updates
Performance optimizations were applied to player replication, movement netcode, and siege tower rendering.
Users can now enable NVIDIA Reflex on supported systems.
Several optimizations were added to reduce bandwidth utilization.
Gameplay Updates:
The Defensive Phase at the start of the game has been reduced to 30 seconds from 60.
Anchor Stones fuse timers have been increased to 80 seconds from 60.
Dev note: The goal here is to make Anchor Stones a bit harder to win on
We’ve added your Kills and Assists to the HUD above the minimap.
Many zipline usability improvements, including smoother attaching and riding, and making it harder to accidentally attach
Players can now have a maximum of 4 ziplines. When casting the 5th, their first one will automatically destroy
Improvements to mantle feel
You will be prompted to drop the BigRig when it gets to low or zero ammo
Upon being revived, you now get a hint to tap the emote button to say "Thank You". As a byproduct your character will no longer automatically say thank you.
Pinged orange weapons will now show the perk when you hover on them
You can now ping ziplines
You can now ping Mara darkspawn when it’s highlighted through walls (at the end of a raid)
You can now ping Kai’s ice wall
Pinging a Shieldbreaker or Domesplitter plant point now has more specific ping VO based on the scenario.
The end game podium will now highlight people who had the highest stats on their team
Smugglers Den minimap has been updated to be more accurate
Adjusted the final Shieldbreaker plant animation to take exactly as long as a normal one
The Trader menu will darken and update if his stock changes while you have the menu open
Dev note: This is to reduce accidentally purchasing something right as the stock is upgrading.
Dead players no longer show up on the minimap
Dev note: This seemed confusing and redundant with being able to see a player's orb through walls.
Adjusted Mara’s Soul Armor power description to include that it also works on enemy players (so be careful where you throw it)
Added key bindings on PC for Map Screen, Character Info and Loadout
AFK timer in a match has been reduced from 5 minutes to 4
Firing Range targets have been replaced with new versions that stay open so you can test sustained fire
Firing Range can now accommodate parties of up to 5 players
Lobby/Menu Updates:
Added an option to leave the party by clicking on party member’s social card
You now get a message confirming that you sent a Friend Request
Slider bars in the settings menu can now be adjusted by typing in numbers
Changing your controller profile will now highlight what buttons are changing
You can now unblock players in your Social tab
Weapon Updates:
Vanguard
Slightly slowing rate of fire and raising damage. TTK is nearly equivalent. This just reduces the number of bullets required to kill
Increased headshot multiplier
Longhorn
Repeater
Less vertical kick, faster raise time, faster sprint raise time, less spread (hipfire), slower spread bloom (hipfire)
Viper
Impact Rounds
Smaller mag size
More kick
Item Updates:
Amulet: Bomb Kit
Bomb plant time nerfed (2.5s -> 3s). Defuse time is still 2.5s.
Amulet: Harvester no longer drops bonus Ultimate Chargers from White Supply Barrels.
Slightly lowered the top speed of orange Saddles.
Character Updates:
Slade
Fixed a bug where the impact damage from his Ultimate was not dealing damage on uneven terrain.
Adding friend/foe identification to Slade’s VFXs. Enemy fire will now take on a darker red appearance.
Redmane
Redmane can now break floors he’s standing on with his tactical
Redmane’s tactical now hits players more reliably.
Leaping into solid geo with Redmane will drop him to the ground faster, instead of bouncing off and floating down.
Mara
Mara will now dismount automatically when casting Immortal Coil while mounted, instead of getting an error message.
Una
Improved Una minion target acquisition speed (they should shoot at players faster)
Fixed Una minions having larger hitboxes than intended.
Atticus
Adjusted Atticus’s Ultimate audio to not be occluded by geo. This means you can hear him better in his active Ultimate state even if he’s in another room.
Quest:
The Quest is designed to be a set of difficult challenges to complete over the course of an Episode for some free rewards and bragging rights. Because Episode 1 was only 2 weeks long, we decided to keep the Episode 1 Quest active through Episode 2. We’ll be back in Episode 3 with more challenges and more rewards.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed a bug where characters with movement speed bonuses could double-dip on slide boosts
Fixed instances where you would sometimes get bumped off the zipline when respawning
Fixed some issues where the Play button would be unresponsive
Fixed an issue where loot in chests would show highlights for different rarities
Fixed a bug where the Care Package was dropping too low of level loot in the 3rd gear up phase and beyond.
Fixed an issue where Emote anti-peek wasn’t hiding enemy mounts
Fixed an issue where you could respawn with your initial loadout when dying to environmental hazards like lava
Fixed collision issues on Dustline
Fixed multiple ways to break Training by leaping and climbing over walls
Fixed some incorrect key bindings in the UI
Improved the reliability of voice chat icons
Fixed an issue where the Shieldbreaker would sometimes drop in inaccessible places if you tried to enter your own base
Removed the ability to drop the Shieldbreaker on top of the enemy dome (how cheeky)
Fixed rare cases where “Position Revealed” would stay on your screen long after a raid was over
Fixed an issue where pressing Esc to leave the Social menu would cancel matchmaking
Fixed an issue where Slade’s arms would not reset after losing his Hot Streak
Fixed ability to repair large gates in bases
Fixed Condor running in place when she uses her Ultimate Power while running
Reduced the amount of screen the Longhorn Repeater covers while jumping and firing
Fixed some invisible collision blocking bullets above banners on Wellspring base
Fixed some cases of your player having a third arm
Multi-Lock Rocket Launcher will no longer target trees
Fixed mounts not playing proper water audio and fx when running through it
Fixed ability for players to ping when riding a zipline
Removed the ability to place Mara’s Immortal Coil on open doors
Fixed the zipline gun colliding with air in some areas of Summit
Fixed Blast Hammers from doing splash damage behind you when used
Players are no longer detected by Condor’s tactical when standing still on their mount
Fixed Una summoning a Tree Walker in mid air by riding a zipline
Fixed some locations in Wellspring base where you would get kicked off your mount
Fixed an issue where you would hit yourself with a rocket if fired while running full speed on a mount
Improved game performance when mounting or dismounting
Improved some translations for different languages, both in text and VO
Added localized translations for different languages in the Advanced Training video
Fixed the Crossplay setting not saving when changed to off on consoles
Fixed rare cases where your controls would be unresponsive after using a mount emote
Fixed a bug that would cause ambient audio to drop out
Fixed a bug where mouse and controller sensitivity settings weren't being applied correctly while transitioning between hipfire and ADS
Resolved a bug where DLSS presets did not immediately appear or disappear in the Settings menu after modifying the antialiasing mode.
