Kayrie

*starts hording Amii-Booster*

*starts hording Amii-Booster*

Looking forward to this! Once I can beat the damn map, heh.. 

Greetings Skylords!
A new month; a new Community Update! It's time to bring you up to speed with everything going on in Skylords Reborn!

• Update regarding antivirus programs flagging Skylords Reborn as unsafe

Last month we informed our players of issues regarding Anti-Virus programs flagging Skylords Reborn files as unsafe, preventing the launcher and installer from working correctly. Because the issues are still ongoing, we'd like to take another moment to talk about the situation. 
Many players have been confused why the issues are now popping up, 3 years after release. While we can not confirm our theory due to AV-programs being vague about their reasons for flagging files, one theory we have is that experimental features regarding replays and SMJ export collection we rolled out a while ago triggered the AV response. This feature would allow players to directly go into their folder to find their replays. This might have triggered the AV response but, sadly, reverting the changes does not suddenly remove the unsafe flag. AV-programs also tend to share their databases, so even though we reverted the changes, the damage was already done and multiple AV-programs now continue to flag SR-files as unsafe. 
It is worth noting this situation is not unique to Skylords Reborn, as we have also seen reports of the popular game "Palworld" undergoing similar issues. While unrelated to our current issues, it goes to show Anti-Virus programs are very complicated and time consuming to deal with, even for bigger companies.
We are currently trying to get our files marked as safe again by getting the right certification, but these steps take time. While we are still hard at work to fix the issues, the rest of our team continues their work on new content, like the new patch we have released this weekend. We had hoped to fix the AV issues before its release, but also don't want to hold back our content due to the uncertainty of the situation.
This currently leaves players with two options to play Skylords Reborn; wait for the situation to resolve, or manually exclude the files from your AV-program. 
We have seen some confusion regarding the issue also happening to players without a dedicated Anti Virus program like Norton or McAfee. Please note that Windows automatically comes with the AV-program Microsoft Defender, which also blocks the installer/updater. 
While we continue to search for solutions for the current situation, here is a explanation on how to add an exception to Microsoft Defender. Excluding the Skylords Reborn folder (not just the file) should also prevent players from constantly having to manually exclude the file every time we patch the game.  
We have also updated the Forum-post to include this explanation on how to add an exception to Microsoft Defender, the default Anti-Virus program that comes with Windows. 
We know asking players to add an exception to their Anti Virus is a big ask, and we are still trying to solve the problem in a way that does not require this. We hope for your understanding and patience, this situation is affecting us all. 
 
• New Patch Release

On to a brighter note! Our latest content patch released this weekend, bringing with it two new cards and a ton of balance changes. The majority of these changes are to tier 3 units, making sure the game is in a great place to explore our new campaign maps scheduled for later this year.
Balance changes include long awaited ones like the Colossus rework. Other notable changes are found on Lost Dancer and Banditos, but with so many changes, we highly suggest you check out the patchnotes for the full list of adjustments. 

This patch also brings two exciting new cards for the Frost and Nature factions. 
The first new card is Icespike. 
Icespike can apply a weak 800-strength Ice Shield to up to 5 allied units. This shield can be strengthened up to 2000 total strength by Ice Age. This gives Frost T3 a new sustain option in addition to Ward of the North. Icespike will also freeze any unit it attacks on contact. This kind of auto-attack CC is common among NPC enemies, but as of yet it is not a feature of any player card. We thought this was thematically fitting, turn enemies to ice while using ice to protect allies, and it makes the unit a bit more interesting than being just a walking Ice Shield generator.  
We also have a short Card Spotlight video showcasing the card:

Our second new card is Swarm. 
While Nature decks have a lot of flexibility, one of Nature's persistent weaknesses is buildings. None of Nature's damage spells affect buildings and the faction lacks long-range siege abilities that would allow players to target important buildings in the backline. While we have tried multiple solutions to this problem that were not just adding a Nature version of Earthshaker, we also recognized that Nature does need a specific anti-building spell. Still, we wanted to give this spell a unique twist that fits the Nature faction and so we settled on a spell which spawns burrowers unconditionally, allowing you to directly target buildings with siege bugs.
We also have a short Card Spotlight video showcasing the card:
 
There are also some nice quality of life changes in this patch. For example, you can now use the text search in the achievements window to look for missing maps and cards. For example, if you search ''Crusade'', it will return all achievements related to the PvE map Crusade that are still incomplete. 
We have also added more information to logs when getting errors or crashes, which should help us better diagnose the cause of game instabilities. If you run into any issues, the best way to reach us is through our discord. 
We hope you will enjoy the changes this patch brings, be sure to share your feedback! 
 
• PvP Maps

While the majority of our map department is finalizing new campaign maps, we did not forget about the PvP players. The latest patch brings a long requested change to the map Uro: the removal of the fortification walls that led to many heated arguments. 

The Skylords Reborn team has been tweaking the official PvP maps since release, and doing so resulted in a good understanding of what makes a good PvP map. We are therefore excited to announce we have started work on our first brand-new PvP map!
While terrain and minimaps are still subjected to change, we asked RadicalX to share design thoughts about the map:
Hey everyone, I am very excited to share a few thoughts on our upcoming PvP map project.
We want to create a unique theme, that isn't already covered by the existing map pool. Therefore, our new map will feature a teleporter, providing lots of unexplored possibilities to play out the game. It will cover a large diagonal and unlocks new possibilities to outmaneuver the enemy. That said, its importance is also affected by player choices. You can always choose to expand towards safer areas in the early game and avoid the fast paced teleporting area.
Our main goal for map balancing is to create different viable approaches for each playstyle and faction, while providing a fun experience with room for a lot player interaction. Terrain and resource locations are supposed to be meaningful (balancing spell efficiency with choke points, map control relevance, late game economy) while preventing disruptive strategies, which proved to be troublesome on existing maps (T1 exploits, long range cliffing, aggressive walls).

We will share more details once the core design is finished.
 
• New Featured Community Map

Some of you might be familiar with the map "Restoring Lyr". This map dates back all the way to 2021, and has seen numerous changes and tweaks by multiple map designers since then. We even set out to turn it into the first official new Campaign Map, going as far as sketching ideas for the loading screen, and do a test recording for the loading screen introduction. After a ton of hiccups in the design process, we ended up scrapping the map as an official campaign map candidate, and instead moved onto Unexpected Visitors and Into the Jungle as our new candidates, but many of us found it a waste to discard all the progress that went into designing and balancing the map. 
We are therefore happy to announce Restoring Lyr saw another batch of changes, including a visual rework and some balance tweaks, and can now be played as a new Featured Community Map. 

This map tasks two Skylords with a mix between Defense and Offense, and will be a fun and challenging experience for Skylords eager for new PvE content. A big thank you to everyone who worked on the map over the years. We hope players will give it a try, while we finalize our official campaign maps. 
We would like to remind you that you can also complete quests and earn gold + BFP by playing community maps. 
 
• Events

We are currently understaffed in the Event Department, which has become clear by the lack of events the last few months. If you are interested in helping out, please consider applying for the Event Manager position. In the past, many non-staff players have also come up with fun events, so please note that you are not required to join the staff to host an event. 
• Host your own tournament / event
Want to host a tournament or event? Please reach out to our Event Organizer @Metagross31. We can help you out with various topics and are glad to discuss potential ideas. We can also sponsor the prize pool for your event. If you have a cool idea for a PvE event, or want to host a PvP tournament, please don't hesitate to reach out to us, we will gladly assist you.
 
Current events
 • SECOND PHASE IN PROGRESS - PvP AI programming contest
We are gathering players for a new type of event. Get ready for an AI Programming Tournament, where the submitted programs will face off in an epic showdown to find the ultimate AI strategist! More information.
 
 
• Contribute to Skylords Reborn

Skylords Reborn is a community-driven project fueled by the passion and dedication of over 50 volunteers. We are always on the lookout for like-minded individuals. If you have a passion for gaming, programming, design, or marketing, we invite you to have a look at our open positions!
Sadly, both of our artists are located in countries that are effected by war, so our art output is currently heavily impacted. If you are a talented artist able to draw in the BattleForge art style, please contact us. 

Don't have time to formally join the staff, but still would like to help out? Please check out this guide on how to support Skylords Reborn as a community member.
 
• In Conclusion

That's all for this Community Update! We appreciate you taking the time to read through it.
As is tradition, we're including a scratch code as a small token of our appreciation for your support.
The code will reward you with a General booster: ICES-PIKE-ANDS-WARM
The code is valid until August 1st, when we will bring you another Community Update. 
We're always looking for ways to improve and value your feedback. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to share them with us. We'll be back next month with more updates on our ongoing projects and upcoming features.
You can also sign-up to our e-mail newsletter here.

Archive
• Skylords Reborn Documents (Deep Dives, Behind the Scenes, PvP Guide)  
• Overview Community Updates
• Community Update June 2024

great job team! 
 

Patch #400046 - Stone Turtle
Welcome to our newest patch. This update contains our twelfth balance patch for the game, a brand-new card, a new booster type, and our new map of the day feature!

Patch Preview
One new card is now available! Jump in-game to collect Bedrock. Added Map of the Day! A multiplayer map will be chosen at random each day and highlighted on the map. Play it to receive extra rewards. The new Rebirth Booster is now available. Earn it by completing the Map of the Day and through events.  A few balance changes to underperforming Twilight cards as well as a bugfix to a longstanding bug with heal stacking. A batch of quality of life changes requested by the community.
General Changes
Added an indicator for if a random PvE lobby is for the Map of the Month. The Marketplace no longer resets the page on purchase. This should allow players to purchase multiple cards without having to repeatedly scroll back to the same page.  Boosters now stack in the booster inventory screen. Replays are now searchable and sortable. Players can also now see the played cards of all players in a replay. Outdated replays now show the required and current game version on hover over the gear icon. Replays of the tutorial map "Introduction" no longer show the gear icon regardless of game version. Dates & Times now are displayed in the player time zone using their operating system format. Deck name length increased from 16 to 30. This will allow players to better label their decks. The actual visible deck name is dependent on what resolution a person uses when playing the game. Free PvP deck cloning has been massively improved. If a player has a fully upgraded and charged copy of the card in their collection from the Free PvP deck, that card will now replace the free version of the card in the deck whenever the player clones a Free PvP deck.  Players can now export their in-game collection to the Skylords Marketplace Journal (SMJ) by using the chat command /exportcollection in-game. Once exported to SMJ, players can see their progress in terms of their total collection and check which of their cards are the most valuable to sell and which are cheap to buy in order to complete their collection. Removed generated maps from PvP daily quests. Additionally, the "win sparring match" on a specific PvP map quest has been changed from "win" to "play". This will allow players to finish the quest even if on a losing streak.  Units will ignore attack-move commands (Q shortcut) while in combat or using abilities. General Fixes
Implemented a fix for when sometimes swapping the player portrait with a card results in an error. Daily quests are now properly ordered with the most recently received quest at the top. Improved the descriptive text for the import deck tutorial mission. Added dates to PvE leaderboard entries. The text wrapping when displaying a lobby's rPvE difficulty has been fixed.   Fixed spectators counting for achievements, specifically PvP achievements. Fixed match statistics having an incorrect count for maps with spectators. A script will be run to correct the information in player profiles. Attack-move commands (Q shortcut) won't target corpses anymore.
New Cards
Bedrock - 280p T4 Stonekin Unit 
You will find the upgrades for this card on the map "King of the Giants".
When thinking about Stonekin's design, we determined that more buildings interactions fit well with the faction. More specifically, we thought that a building-based archetype was the natural expansion for a faction of living stones. Last patch, we released Tectonic Shift, and this patch we are adding Bedrock. Bedrock is a T4 ranged unit capable of spawning a Stone Launcher and casting an AoE shield that protects buildings in range. For more information, check out Community Update - October 2023.
 

Map of the Day
In our last major patch, we reworked campaign map rewards. A major driving force behind this change, beyond equalizing rewards between the random and campaign PvE modes, was to allow for more flexibility in the reward structure. This flexibility will allow us to create new systems which interact with campaign maps going forward. The first of these new systems is the Map of the Day (MotD) feature. The details for the MotD can be found below. We hope that by introducing this feature, and for rewarding players for regularly interacting with it, it will become as easy for players to find lobbies for campaign maps as it is for random PvE matches. We want players to be able to play the game mode they want, and to not be forced into a mode because of an imbalance in rewards or available lobbies.
[ Map of the Day Features ]
Each day, a new multiplayer map is chosen and highlighted on the world map via a flame identical to the flame used for PvP Happy Hours. Players who win the Map of the Day, on any difficulty, receive an additional choice of upgrade on the post-game reward screen. If the MotD is a 12p map, players will instead receive an additional 1200 gold for completing the map on advanced, and an additional 2400 gold for completing it on expert difficulty. A new achievement "Feel the Burn" has been added. For each day that a player completes the Map of the Day, they will receive 50 bfp. On every 10th completion, they will additionally receive a Rebirth Booster. Rebirth Boosters contain 3 cards, all from the Rebirth Edition (cards released by the Skylords Reborn team), with a substantially increased chance of producing an Ultra-rare card.
Achievements
[ Random PvE Achievement Changes ]
We have made a few changes to the names and structure of the main random PvE achievements. The new structure of the achievements and their rewards are listed below. Note that people who previously completed the random PvE 10 achievement (now expert+) will already receive credit for having completed "Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire." We have made this change to encourage people to play the new expert difficulty level, but without feeling forced to try and complete expert+ to get the booster reward.
The Road Not Taken [3 general boosters]
Win rPvE Advanced++ or higher [20 matches]
Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire [6 boosters]
Win rPvE Expert or higher [20 matches] - Locked until PvE rank 5 (Silver 1)
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here [Avatar: Demon Skull & Avatar: Hell Fire; Title: Hell Diver] 
Win rPvE Expert+ [10 matches & 20 matches] - Locked until PvE rank 10 (Gold 2)

Card Balance Changes
[ Global Balance Changes ]
All healing and rejuvenation effects now stack: 
Regardless of whether they are local, global, percentage, or flat, all healing effects now stack with each other. No longer will Fountain of Rebirth overwrite Wheel of Gift's healing effect. [ Twilight Changes ]
 Twilight Brute:
1. Gifted Burstout (g):
   A. Max Targets: 4 ➜ 7
   B. Damage application: Damages hostile or friendly units ➜ hostile units
   C. Ability cast range: 15m ➜ 25m
2. Infused Burstout (r):
   A. Damage: 400, up to 1600 ➜ 400, up to 2800
   B. Increase damage to buildings: 400 per target ➜ 600 per target
   C. Damage application: Damages hostile or friendly entities ➜ hostile entities
   D. Ability cast range: 15m ➜ 25m
Twilight Brute has an interesting ability that seems tailored fit for giving Twilight a new strategy in T2 PvE. While the ability itself is well-designed, its current strength holds it back. We are increasing the ability cast range to allow it to be used deeper into enemy encampments, increasing the total targets from 4 to 7, and removing the ally damage. We hope with these changes we help to create a new strategy where the player can run some Brutes into a camp and, along with Fire's damage spells, create a cascading explosion effect similar to how Evil Eye plays in T4.  
 Twilight Creeper:
1. Life points: 1700 ➜ 1880
2. Infused Spit debuff strength: 40% ➜ 50%
3. Tainted Spit debuff strength: 30% ➜ 40%
Twilight Creeper is well designed but it currently has low stat efficiency for a T3 L-sized melee unit. We are giving it some more life points and boosting its primary strength through the spit effect.
 Twilight Hag:
1. Damage: 75 damage, up to 153 in total ➜ 124, up to 186 in total (1030 dp20)
2. Life Points: 850 ➜ 1030 life points
3. Damage Counter: L-counter ➜ M-counter
4. Ability name change: Femme Fatale ➜ Enrapture
   A. Cooldown: 60 seconds ➜ 40 seconds
   B. No longer affects Male/Female. Negative effect now affects all enemies and positive effect all allies.
Twilight Hag is one of those cards which is fearsome to face in the lower tiers in PvE, but which as a player card is a wet noodle. We have sent her to the gym, and she has come back with an over 20% increase in both her damage and health stats. Alongside the stat increase, which is more than it might first appear because she had an unusually low single-target damage value previously, we are shifting her damage counter to M. The new M-counter plus her pre-existing small and medium knockback should make her feel powerful against smaller unit sizes. Besides low stats, Hag also suffers from a highly niche ability. The player cannot control the gender of their enemies, and it is not clear what units have what genders anyway (did you know Necrofury is a woman?). In general, we think these male/female mechanics just do not fit in Skylords Reborn, and in this particular case, they are holding back Twilight Hag from potentially becoming a potent crowd control unit similar to Timeless One. Therefore, we are removing the male/female interaction while also shaving 20 seconds off the ability cooldown. 
[ Minor Card Changes ]
 Wheel of Gifts:
1. The same gifts can no longer be activated while another instance of that gift is already starting up.
[ NPC Changes ]
Added several new NPC units: Bandit Bloodhorn, Bandit Wasteland Terror, Snapjaws, Overlord, and Lost Grigori. These units are now available for use by community and official mapmakers.   Lost Spirit Ship (NPC):
1. Removed the suicide ability.
2. Now spawns a Crystal similar to the player version on reaching the previous corpse threshold for suiciding.
   A. Crystal damages enemy units for 300 damage every second, up to 900 in total in a 30m radius.
   B. Cooldown: 30 seconds
   C. Duration: 10 seconds
The existing implementation of Lost Spirit Ship in PvE, while conceptually interesting and a good template for future suicidal units, simply does not work with a T4 XL-sized ranged unit. By changing NPC LSS to spawn a crystal instead, we give it a general usefulness that will open up the possibility of adding the unit to future maps and as a regular part of Lost Souls' rPvE repertoire. 
 Lost Converter (NPC):
1. Spell debuff: 20% less damage ➜ 30% less damage
2. Corpse collection radius: 25m ➜ 40m
3. Poison application radius: 25m ➜ 30m
3. Poison damage per tick: 25 (same as before)
4. Poison damage tick speed: 2s ➜ 1s
5. Corpse cost on enemy entry: 300 ➜ 50
6. Corpse cost per damage tick: 0 ➜ 25
In simpler terms: Lost Converter's poison effect now has normal ranged range (30m), deals double the damage it currently does, and has an increased debuff strength. The corpse collection range has also been increased to 40m, meaning that the building should begin poisoning the player sooner. This will slightly increase the strength of camps with a Lost Converter as the building should now do something.

Amii

HOW TO SUPPORT


Not so rarely new Skylords ask a simple question on Discord or the forums: How can I help? As we all wish for more players, there are things you can do to help to make Skylords Reborn succeed. Skylords Reborn can be supported through many actions, some of them are just two minutes for some clicks, others are a long-term commitment.
Important Disclaimer: This guide does not rank people by importance - these are suggestions how to help the game succeed, ranked by their needed involvement level. Also, you don't have to “climb this ladder” to become part of the Skylords Reborn team.
Hopefully some of these suggestions speak to you, and inspire you to take some action:

 
 SOLDIER
Quick Tier - the most helpful clicks to settle in
Help drive the most essential metric by subscribing to the official Skylords YouTube channel, and like the trailer. Join the Skylords Discord to stay on top of news, and help build an enjoyable community. Subscribe to the other official Skylords Reborn socials: Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and TikTok.  CHAMPION
Basic Tier - become a part of the community
Subscribe to BattleForge content creators, and like their videos if you enjoy them. Participate in events - not just for prizes, but to support event hosts. Make sure beginners are welcomed properly: Answer questions, and play multiplayer maps with them. Read the monthly Community Update and help spread correct information about the state of the project. Interact with forum posts or Discord messages through likes, emoticons etc. - the creators will appreciate that. Make a proper bug report when you encounter a bug or crash. This rarely happens, but: report rule violations, either ingame or on the #contact-staff Discord channel. Suggest the game to people you know that will enjoy a RTS/TCG game, but make sure you coordinate with the Skylords team Outreach Coordinator when contacting high profile people or outlets.  HERO
Dedicated Tier - invest some time to make the Skylords experience better
Accompany some Twitch streamers, while the community is still small, one viewer more or less makes a huge difference. Participate in the votes or share your decks on the SMJ community deck section. Become an educator: Help others understand core concepts like void power or faction mechanics, and give advice on expert maps on the ingame strategy channel or on the deckbuilding channel on Discord. Write a beginner guide or a deck building/strategy guide on the forum, or a more general one like the one you are reading right now. Create something: make a painting, a graphic, a short clip, a song, a text, a meme, an animated GIF or just some cookies, and share it in the art, video or meme channel. Become a sponsor of a community contest/event to beef up its prize pool. Join the discussion and give quality feedback on the Balance Discord.
   SKYLORD
 Invested Tier - halfway down the rabbit hole
Become a Contributor: There are several roles that don't require you to join the team, like Map Tester, Translator, Proofreader, Art Critique, or Internal Tester. Get involved into more detail-focussed Discords, like lore, descriptions, mapmaking, or rPvE. Help maintain the Skylords Reborn Wiki by either adding or updating articles. Create an enjoyable community map. Host an event for other Skylords to enjoy, be it PvE, PvP or something else. Contribute to Skylords Open Source projects. Become a content creator on YouTube, or start to stream the game on Twitch.  

Maybe this rather long list inspired you to help in one way or another. 
As a final suggestion: If you have free resources, you might be interested in joining the Skylords Reborn team and directly work on the game to make it better! Please be aware that almost everybody thinks “I'm not good enough” at first. Don't let that stop you! There are loads of different positions for nearly every skill set. 
 


If you have any suggestion about something I missed, please write it in a comment down below, so I may add it!
Kapo.

Greetings Skylords!
A new month; a new Community Update! It's time to bring you up to speed with everything going on in Skylords Reborn!

• February Hotfix Patches

Over the course of February, we released several hotfix patches for our most recent major content update. If you are still experiencing any issues, please contact our technical support team and/or use the 'report a bug'-feature on our Discord.
One of these hotfix patches also includes an often-requested feature: spawnable bosses in the Forge. We have added a new 'Leader' tab to the Forge Menu, allowing you to spawn bosses from randomly generated scenarios. 
 
• Upcoming Feature - Map of the Day 

In our last patch, we increased the rewards for playing campaign maps to bring them more in line with rPvE, which players could feel forced to play due to its better rewards. In our continued effort to allow players to enjoy each different game mode, we are working on multiple additional incentives to play the campaign; one being Map of the Day. 
Map of the Day is a feature that highlights a particular multi-player map each day and rewards players additional rewards for completing that map, similar to the PvP Happy Hour. This map is randomly selected each day, and picks from the pool of existing multi-player campaign maps. Our new campaign maps, once released, will also be added to the pool. 

Playing on the Map of the Day rewards players with an additional upgrade on all 2-player and 4-player maps. Players will also receive additional gold for completing the 12-player maps Passage to Darkness and Ascension on Advanced (1200g), and Expert (2400g) difficulties.
Our goal for Map of the Day is to give players an incentive to get together and play one of the various campaign maps, including less popular ones. The Map of the Day will highlight in a similar way to Happy Hours on the World Map, so people know which map is active for additional rewards. 

We are currently working on finalizing the feature, and hope to release it in the near future. 
Disclaimer: text, layout and colors are subject to change.
 
• Skylords Reborn Classic - Legacy Server

BattleForge shut down its servers on October 31, 2013, following its release in March 2009. Our unofficial revival of the game opened its servers on December 18, 2020 as Skylords Reborn. Over the past 3 years since its release, we have added a ton of new content, quality of life changes and balance changes to the game. While we don't have a video covering the last year, our 2-year recap video should give you an idea of what we've added to the game. 
It is not uncommon for communities to provide mod support for older titles. However, those titles are typically still available for purchase or playable offline post-official support. This is not the case for BattleForge. If you want to play BattleForge in 2024, your only option is through Skylords Reborn.  
Our dedicated team, now comprising over 50 volunteers, has always taken this project very seriously, striving to make it the best it can possibly be. We're committed to continually introducing new content and delivering fresh experiences to keep our players engaged. Whether it's through new campaign maps, additional cards, new systems (such as Reforging), or balance adjustments (discussed on our balance discord), we feel a responsibility to keep the legacy of BattleForge in place, while also wanting to prevent the same fate of its downfall. 
However, we acknowledge that some of our past and future changes, while essential for the health of the game, may impact players' nostalgic sentiments. Considering that numerous cards have already undergone modifications compared to the original game, the differences between Skylords Reborn and BattleForge is increasing with each patch. Thus, the concept of a Legacy server has been a topic of discussion within our team over the years.
Yet, implementing a Legacy server isn't as straightforward as reverting to the version of BattleForge at the time of its shutdown. The game simply wouldn't work. Significant overhauls to the game's economy, rectification of critical bugs, and resolution of other technical issues were needed. Now, as we enter the fourth year of Skylords Reborn, we felt it was time to revisit this idea and have devised a way to introduce a Legacy server without impeding Skylords Reborn's ongoing development.
Here is what you can expect of the Legacy server:
• Original cards, maps and balancing
• All cards are available to the player right away
• No progression system
• No new cards
• No balance patches
• No additional rPvE factions (Fire, Nature) or campaign maps
• No technical or moderation support
We have to set up the server this way to prevent additional workload that would impact our actual patch releases for Skylords Reborn, which will continue to be our top priority. Additionally, there may be certain features on the Legacy server that deviate from a true "legacy" experience. For instance, Reforging will be available (though redundant given the complete card collection), and while Achievements and Quests may also be accessible, some may be unattainable due to outdated balance, game systems, or maps. 
The server will work similar to our current test server, you'll log into the Legacy server with a new account, and there will be no interaction between players on this server and the primary SR-server. The SR-server will remain the default server for both new players discovering the game and seasoned veterans seeking fresh content. All our major content patches will be releasing exclusively on the SR-server, including new campaign maps and new cards. Because of this, we don't expect a big split in our player base.      
Nevertheless, we anticipate that the Legacy server will offer a nostalgic journey for Skylords keen on revisiting the original BattleForge gameplay, as well as for players interested in witnessing the evolution of Skylords Reborn.
While we're still finalizing certain details, and things might change before its release. The Legacy server is scheduled to launch alongside our next major content patch.
 
• New Card Reveal - Amii Sentinel

During our Anniversary Stream we announced there would be three new Amii units coming to Skylords Reborn in 2024. We will be revealing those cards in the upcoming Community Updates, the first being revealed today! Here is Amii Sentinel!
Please note: We are still testing the card. While we are generally happy with it, numbers and effects might still change before release. 


 
Grasp of the Earth - 60 power
Activate to reach Amii Golem's fist into the ground, emerging within the target area of 15m and dealing 1800 damage to enemies, up to 5400 in total. Reusable every 20 seconds.
 
Volatile Body
100% of all damage done to the unit will additionally also be distributed among all units within a 20m radius. This damage cannot be warded off with the help of damage reducing abilities because it is able to circumvent every buff or protective shield.
 
Siege
Deals 50% more damage against structures.
 
 
Elusive
Units with Elusive have the duration of the immobilizing effects of Freeze and Paralyze reduced by 10%.
 
 
Design notes: Our goal for Amii's T4 is to create a micro-intensive deck where most of the damage is unit-based. With Amii Sentinel in particular, our goal is to create a frontline tank that functions as a perfect conduit for Shadow's single-target buff cards. Volatile Body's 100% reflect turns Sentinel's health into a damage resource, which synergizes perfectly with cards like Regrowth, Transcendence, and Lifeweaving.
The active ability "Grasp of the Earth" is designed to one-shot problematic buildings when buffed, which is important because both Shadow and Nature lack fast acting anti-building tools.
Amii Sentinel is currently planned to release alongside our next major content patch, including brand-new campaign maps. We are not yet able to announce a release date. Please stay tuned for more information, and check in next month for another Amii card reveal!
 
• Art Spotlight - Amii Sentinel

It has been a while since we have done an Art Spotlight; diving into the process of our artists coming up with a new card artwork. Amii Sentinel was always part of a combination of three Amii units, combined into a single landscape image. We asked our artist Tweeto to share some work-in-progress artwork and sketches, as well as his workflow. As always, a big thanks to our Art Critiques to offer valuable feedback during the process.

Initial Sketch: I started off with a loose sketch to block in the basic stance and proportions of the character. Keeping the lines dynamic and rough, I focused on the silhouette to ensure a strong, impactful presence that conveys power and stability.
Values Blocking: Next, I moved into grayscale, blocking my values to develop the form and give the character a sense of volume. This is a critical step in figuring how light interacts with the different materials and shapes of the character. To speed up this process, I employed AI generation tools, which allowed me to quickly iterate on different lighting scenarios and value compositions
Color Blocking: After nailing down the values, I started laying in broad strokes of color. Using a muted palette, I began to block in the main hues, thinking about the overall temperature balance and how it will complement the character's environment.

Detailing and Texture: With the base colors in place, I zoomed in to start rendering the finer details. Here, I focused on the texture of the stone, adding cracks and variations to make the surface look realistic. I also added golden ornate details to give it a more intricate look, and connect the character to the Amii aesthetics.

Lighting and Atmosphere: Then, I intensified the lighting effects to emphasize the magical core and the dramatic ambient light of the scene. I worked on the specular highlights on the metal parts, as well as the soft glow emanating from the core, to suggest a powerful energy source within.

Final Adjustments: In the final stage, I made subtle adjustments to the composition and the pose, fine-tuning the contrast and saturation to make certain elements pop. I also added a more pronounced rim light to enhance the character's form against the background, and adjusted the overall color balance for visual harmony.
Polishing: To finish off, I polished the image by sharpening key areas to draw focus, such as the face, the core, and the hand. I also rendered the background elements, ensuring the character look integrated with the environment and reflect the character's influence on its surroundings.

We are very happy with how the Amii faction is now finally coming together, and hope you appreciate all the thoughts and passion that went into creating them! 
 
• PvP Bots

Right now, Skylords Reborn doesn't have a mode where players can practice against computer-controlled opponents before jumping into ranked matches. This missing feature can make it tough for new players to get into PvP (Player versus Player). To help players ease into PvP, we're looking to add bots to the game in the future, and we're asking the community for their support to make it happen.
Below you can see a short video showcasing bots playing against each other:
 
ai_contest_announcement.webm
If you are interested in helping out, be sure to check the PvP AI programming contest below!
 
• Events

In between our monthly Community Updates, we host various events and tournaments, so be sure to keep a close eye on the in-game event tab and the forum calendar to stay informed and not miss out on any exciting events!
 
• NEW - Battle of Tactics #6 - Rainbow Road - February 23rd until March 3rd
Try to conquer a modified version of Dwarven Riddle in this crazy colorful contest hosted by Ultralord. In this one player map, you don't build orbs, but have a Rainbow crystal granting you different elements. More information.
 
• FINISHED - Faction Fusion: Embrace the Shift
Skylords were tasked to play the newly redesigned rPvE difficulties to have a chance at receiving one of the new cards, Lost Manabeast and Tectonic Shift. More information.
 
 • SECOND PHASE STARTED - PvP AI programming contest
We are gathering players for a new type of event. Get ready for an AI Programming Tournament, where the submitted programs will face off in an epic showdown to find the ultimate AI strategist! More information.
 
• Host your own tournament / event
Want to host a tournament or event? Please reach out to our other Event Organizers, @Metagross31or @Minashigo Hiko. We can help you out with various topics and are glad to discuss potential ideas. We can also sponsor the prize pool for your event. If you have a cool idea for a PvE event, or want to host a PvP tournament, please don't hesitate to reach out to us, we will gladly assist you.
 
• Contribute

Skylords Reborn is a community-driven project fueled by the passion and dedication of over 50 volunteers. We are always on the lookout for like-minded individuals. If you have a passion for gaming, programming, design, or marketing, we invite you to have a look at our open positions!

We are especially looking for some more proofreaders (English), to read over stuff like the Community Update and Event posts before they go live. We are also looking for translators (French, Russian) to help with our new campaign maps and more. 
Don't have time to formally join the staff, but still would like to help out? Please check out this guide on how to support Skylords Reborn as a community member.
 
• In Conclusion

That's all for this Community Update! We appreciate you taking the time to read through it.
As is tradition, we're including a scratch code as a small token of our appreciation for your support.
The code will reward you with a General booster: AFTE-RALL-THIS-TIME
The code is valid until April 1st, when we will bring you another Community Update. 
We're always looking for ways to improve and value your feedback. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to share them with us. We'll be back next month with more updates on our ongoing projects and upcoming features. You can also sign up to our e-mail newsletter here. 

Archive
• Skylords Reborn Documents (Deep Dives, Behind the Scenes, PvP Guide)  
• Overview Community Updates
• Community Update February 2024
 

Welcome fellow Skylords, to the official map editor tutorial!
Split into several parts, this tutorial will guide you on how to work with the BattleForge Map Editor. By the end, you will be able to create your own maps, script them, and publish them to the Community Maps section of the game.
Some of the topics might seem pretty lenghty. Truth is I only wanted to be thorough when making this tutorial, as the BF Map Editor has many little quirks, and any of them may prevent you from playing your map.
Don't be discouraged though, I will point out any known issues as I go along, and once you get more experience with the editor, you will find your best practises.
To begin, we'll need to start the map editor.
 
• Starting the Editor

Map editor is automatically installed with the game and is located in your Battleforge installation folder - look for pluginbasededitor.exe  
Simply double click the exe, wait for the editor to load and congratulations! You have just launched the editor and are ready to make some awesome maps!
 
Below is a list of tutorials we will go over, in order.
 
• Tutorials

In-Depth Tutorials
These tutorials are meant to be followed in order, and are aimed at complete beginners. However they sometimes contain little details that are not widely known about the editor, so these can contain some new information even for a more experienced user. As the scripting tutorials go along, the topics covered in them get more complex.
Map Work Creating a Map Working with Entities  Sculpting the Terrain and Blocking Texturing the Terrain Adjusting the Playable Area and Minimap Publishing a Map  
Scripting Script Editors Scripting Introduction Scripting Basic Events Part 1 Scripting Basic Events Part 2 Script Groups, Script Areas and Script Paths Creating Goals Default Script Files Member Scripts and Camp Respawns Using Ifs and Loops Warfare Patterns (Coming Soon)  
Extra Tutorials
These tutorials discuss topics that are not necessary for map creation, but can make work easier or elevate the map to another level.
Importing a Heightmap Map Patches (Coming Soon) Sound Tool (Coming Soon) Creating Cutscenes (Coming Soon) Unit Aggro (Coming Soon) Template Scripts  
• FAQ

Before we begin with the tutorial itself, here are some frequently asked questions.
Note that you can always ask questions in official Skylords Reborn Map Making Discord.
Q. Why cannot I see the map in the game?
A. Make sure that you:
set up the teams and player kits, ideally, using the available presets create and save the map description place and assign a starting position and monument for each player PAK the map  look in the correct place in game - for PvE maps only - open the Community maps node, for PvP or PvPvE maps open the Sparring node  
Q. Can I create my own entities? Such as an XL Mauler or S sized Emberstrike?
A. Unfortunately, no. BUT you can "modify" entities via the scripting tool. It is very basic and easiest is adding passive abilities. If you want to add active abilities, you also need to manually script the unit to use those abilities and where to target them, which is another problem altogether.
 
Q. My map keeps crashing when I want to play it, what do I do?
A. If you get an error message (it might be a bit tough to actually open the error message window) try to read it, it usually gives you a pointer to a script that is causing the issue, and what the issue might be.
If the map crashes without an error, check for any typos in your code, or if you accidentaly put an Action into Condition block, or vise versa.
If you still cannot figure it out, turn to our map making discord: Skylords Reborn Map Making
 
Q: How can I make a unit have Boss Immunities?
A. Use
EntityAbilityAdd {Tag = "tag", AbilityId = 1473, ApplyToFigures = false},
With ApplyToFigures = default or true the unit will be immune to certain spells (like mind control) but still can be paralysed and frozen.
 
Q. What are the things that can crash the editor or corrupt my map?
A. Several:
Cutscene editor - crashes, prevents map saving
While the tool is functional, it is heavily advised to leave creating cutscenes as the absolute last part of map development. Switching maps and then changing tags of entities - crash
With frequent saving, this, as any other crash, will be only a mild inconvenience. Working on a map that is not saved - crash
It is best to save your map as soon as possible, the editor cannot handle working on an unsaved map for longer period of time and you will lose all your work. Selecting quest_pve_soullight object under Leveldesign folder (DBID 254) - crash
Simply selecting the object in Entity Placement is enough to crash your editor. Hiding entities via Entity List - occasional crash
Sometimes the editor crashes when hiding entities, it seems to mostly happen for the first couple of times you use it, just save often and you'll be fine.  

Feel free to also join our Discord server since most day-to-day activity and communication happens there: https://discord.gg/HkxG8UdNEn 

Hotfix - 05 February 2024

General Changes
Campaign PvE maps will now only award gold for the first 60 minutes of play time. Added difficulty numbers alongside the new rPvE difficulty names. Added an experimental feature to save the Community Map filters, which can only be enabled in the config.json file via the setting: "community_map_filters_save": true The original rPvE 10 portraits have been reinstated alongside the new versions for players who completed the "A Need For Speed" Achievement before this patch. General Fixes
Surrender notifications will now display the correct player name again. Added the legacy avatar chosen at character creation to every player's inventory. Players who previously spent gold on the avatar received a 15000 gold refund. The remaining time for the daily boost will now be rounded correctly once again. Fixed the button in the "Go to existing match..." popup not functioning in some cases. Fixed issues related to quests. They will no longer disappear or cause the game to crash upon finishing a match. The 12-player Ascension and Passage to Darkness scenarios will now properly unlock when the required maps are completed. PvP maps now properly handle non-player teams. This allows for the creation of PvPvE maps. Card Fixes
Raven Archwalker: Mode switch Corrupting Shot Fixed an issue which prevented the card from attacking in this mode. Lost Banestone: Active ability Blessed Underworld Gate / Tainted Underworld Gate: Added a tooltip that the target is invalid when attempting to curse an already affected unit. Lost Manabeast: Active ability Immortalize: Fixed an issue on upgrades U0-U2 that would kill the Manabeast instead of the affected Revenants at the end of their Revenant's Doom. Improved the upgrade card descriptions to be more consistent. Lost Reaver (Fire) / Lost Reaver (Shadow): Active ability Infused Mob / Tainted Mob: Increase life points of summoned Lost Crawlers from 260/280/310/310 to 330/360/400/400. Lost Shade (Shadow) Passive ability Tainted Union: Added a missing upgrade 3 change to be displayed on the upgrade card. Lost Spirit Ship (Fire) / Lost Spirit Ship (Nature): Autocast ability Torpedo Gun: Corrected displayed damage radius from 15m to 10m. Lost Warlord (Fire) / Lost Warlord (Frost): Active ability Onslaught: Corrected displayed revenant lifetime from 15 seconds to 25 seconds. Improved the upgrade card descriptions to be more consistent. Passive ability Infused Undying / Blessed Undying: Improve spacing on affected card visualizations to be more consistent. Overlord: Active ability Blood Share: Increased the activation cost from 1000 life points to 1500 life points. Promise of Life (Frost): Blessed Revive: Removed the unhealable effect on the target after its resurrection. Decreased the unhealable effect duration to align with the actual spell duration from 30 seconds on all upgrades to 20/25/30/30 seconds. Gifted Revive: Improved the card description to be more consistent. Decreased the unhealable effect duration to align with the actual spell duration from 30 seconds on all upgrades to 20/25/30/30 seconds. Tectonic Shift: Changed the card's orb requirements from 1 Frost + 1 Nature + 1 Hybrid to 1 Frost + 1 Nature + 1 Neutral. Active ability Terrestrial Gate: The ability will no longer go on cooldown when the teleport fails due to collisions with other buildings. Improved the upgrade card descriptions to be more consistent in German. Buildings with tunnel abilities will now update their visual effects when teleported. Phase Tower Active ability Relocation: The ability will no longer go on cooldown when the teleport fails due to collisions with other buildings.

The time limits for rPvE has always felt backwards and frustrating to me, instead of failing for taking too long it should reward people for finishing quickly.

Greetings Skylords!
A new month; a new Community Update! It's time to bring you up to speed with everything going on in Skylords Reborn!


• New Patch Release

Our latest patch, Revenant's Doom, has been released! This patch comes with two brand-new cards!
The new Lost Manabeast (card spotlight), in combination with our Lost Soul rework, allows players to lean more into the revenant playstyle of the faction. Meanwhile, Tectonic Shifts (card spotlight) gives Stonekin players the unique ability to bring their very buildings to the frontlines. 
This patch also sees the introduction of a new difficulty for rPvE, alongside a naming adjustment for the difficulty scale to be in line with the campaign map logic of Standard, Advanced and Expert. We have created a video to explain the changes in more detail.  
 

While the popularity of rPvE encouraged us to implement more challenges for players to enjoy, we also have been working on improvements for playing campaign maps. We have replaced the old Need/Greed, Random and Assign system for a clearer post-game screen. Players now earn rewards on a per-player basis, allowing players to pick the upgrades they would like, without feeling guilty towards their fellow players if they want the same upgrade. Meanwhile, disenchanting an upgrade now rewards the same gold regardless of the rarity of the upgrade, while also providing the player with PvE experience, depending on the level of the upgrade. For more information, check out our patch notes. 
 

 
Alongside new cards, our loot rework and the addition of a new rPvE difficulty, we have also implemented multiple balance changes, quality-of-life-fixes, and a smoother new-player experience through tutorial missions. 
 
Full Patch Notes

To celebrate the patch release, we have a small present for the community. Enter this scratch code in the marketplace to get a mini-booster: PLAY-SKYL-ORDS-RPVE, This code has expired. Please see the code at the bottom of this Community Update instead. 
 
• Where is Bedrock?

We know a lot of Skylords are looking forward to our revealed Stonekin card Bedrock. Originally planned for the current patch cycle, we sadly had to either delay the whole patch, or delay Bedrock due to technical complications while implementing the card. We are still hard at work on solving these issues, and while we feel confident we can release the card as intended, we were not able to do so before the deadline.
Our next big content patch of 2024, Echoes of the Amii, which will contain our new campaign maps, will not be released for quite a while. Because we do not want to delay Bedrock for so long, our current plan is to release a mini-patch in-between. Due to the uncertainty of the mentioned complications we are not able to share a release date yet. 
On the topic of Bedrock, many of you have voiced concerns about its card availability, noticing Bedrock will be the first Ultra Rare card released in Skylords Reborn. While the cards' rarity is decided by our rarity design philosophy, we also want to make sure enough players are able to enjoy this and other new additions from the Rebirth Edition. To do so, we are working on a new type of booster, focusing on the new Skylord Reborn cards from the Rebirth Edition. We are still fleshing out the details on how this booster will be obtainable, but rest assured that we will strive for a good balance between rarity and availability. We will share more information about this in the future. 
 
And with Stonekin getting a shiny new Ultra Rare, the Lost Souls couldn't stay behind. Now planned for a release alongside Bedrock, have a look at Gate of Akylos!
 
• New Card Reveal - Gate of Akylos

Today we have an exciting upcoming new card to reveal. At the end of 2022, we hosted a card creation contest where everyone from the community could submit a card design to our jury. Adding a new card to Skylords Reborn is a big undertaking, as has become apparent during the years (if you want to know more about everything that goes into it, be sure to check out episodes #2 and #9 from the interview series from Kapo). 
One of the winning designs of the contest was Lost Obelisk, a card aimed at supporting the Lost Souls faction's revenant gameplay. We have since been hard at work on balancing the original card design from Ult, and are happy to reveal its final iteration: Gate of Akylos!
Please note: We are still testing the card. While we are generally happy with it, numbers and effects might still change before release. 

Gate of Akylos is a powerful tier 3 shrine, making use of our hybrid orb to allow deck diversity among Lost Soul decks looking to play it. Let's break down the card! 
 
Soul Extraction
Activate to extract a revenant from a friendly Tier 3 or Tier 4 Lost Souls unit. A revenant of that unit will appear nearby, and if active, the Revenant's Doom effect will be removed from the unit. The unit cannot activate Revenant's Doom again afterward. Only one revenant can be extracted from a Lost Souls unit in this way. Has a 60 seconds cool-down after the building was built. Usable every 60 seconds.
 
Give up the Ghost
Activate to sacrifice up to 6 friendly Tier 2 Lost Souls units in a 50m radius around Gate of Akylos to extract revenants from their remains. A revenant from all sacrificed units will appear nearby. Has a 60 seconds cool-down after the building was built. Usable every 60 seconds.
 
Ethereal Anchor
Every friendly revenant in the current game will have its duration extended by 25%.
 
 
Design Notes: While we are happy with the recent changes to Lost Souls, the faction still lacks a global support card and all of its revenant effects (Lost Manabeast, Revenant's Blessing) are localized with a lot of micro and power required for upkeep. Gate of Akylos is intended to make revenants more efficient, both in terms of initial cost and overall longevity.
"Soul Extraction" provides a way for Lost Souls units to generate revenants without having to die, and "Give up the Ghost" allows for faster and cheaper transitions of T2 units to revenants, which can combine with Banestone to act as defenders. This gives GoA both an offensive and defensive function. Additionally, all effects work on allies, meaning that players who choose to run Lost Souls together only need 1 GoA between them.

Gate of Akylos will release alongside Bedrock in a mini-patch on a later to be announced date.
Starting next month, we will also start revealing the card designs for the upcoming new Amii cards planned for the Echoes of the Amii patch.
2024 is going to be an exciting year for Skylords Reborn!
 
• Skylords Reborn Resources

Over the years we have released a lot of content, both in-game and on our Forum. From explaining our rarity system, to Deep Dives exploring various factions, there is a lot of behind the scenes information available. We have now placed all these resources into one place, so both new and current Skylords alike will have an easier time finding the information they need.
 
Skylord Reborn Resources

 
 
• New - Map Editor Tutorial

Speaking of resources; our Map Designer r4bitf00t has been working on the official map editor tutorial! Every download of Skylords Reborn comes with the Map Editor, allowing Skylords to create their own maps and creative ideas. 
Split into several parts, this tutorial will guide you on how to work with the BattleForge Map Editor. By the end, you will be able to create your own maps, script them, and publish them to the Community Maps section of the game. If your map is enjoyed by fellow Skylords, it might even earn a place among the featured community maps!
Want to work on more formal map content? Consider applying as Map Designer or Map Developer and help out the team! 
 
Map Editor Tutorial

      
• Events

To celebrate the patch release, we have a new event based around rPvE, with the chance to win the new cards!
In between our monthly Community Updates, we host various events and tournaments, so be sure to keep a close eye on the in-game event tab and the forum calendar to stay informed and not miss out on any exciting events! 

• NEW - Faction Fusion: Embrace the Shift - February 1st until February 14th 
New cards for Stonekin and Lost Souls are here! Play the newly redesigned rPvE difficulties to have a chance at receiving one of the new cards, Lost Manabeast and Tectonic Shift. More information.
 
• COMING UP - Battle of Tactics #6 - Rainbow Road - February 23rd until March 3rd
Try to conquer a modified version of a well-known campaign map in this crazy colorful contest hosted by Ultralord. 
Stay tuned for more information!
 
• FINISHED - Amii Training Camp
While we eagerly wait for new Amii cards, let's find out if you fully master the existing ones! Play rPvE with only Amii Paladins and Amii Phantoms on Tier 2 and see how fast you can get! More information.
 
 • FIRST PHASE - PvP AI programming contest
We are gathering players for a new type of event. Get ready for an AI Programming Tournament, where the submitted programs will face off in an epic showdown to find the ultimate AI strategist! Phase 2 is starting soon! More information.
 
• Host your own tournament / event
Want to host a tournament or event? Please reach out to our other Event Organizers, @Metagross31or @Minashigo Hiko. We can help you out with various topics and are glad to discuss potential ideas. We can also sponsor the prize pool for your event. If you have a cool idea for a PvE event, or want to host a PvP tournament, please don't hesitate to reach out to us, we will gladly assist you.
 
• Contribute

Skylords Reborn is a community-driven project fueled by the passion and dedication of over 50 volunteers. We are always on the lookout for like-minded individuals. If you have a passion for gaming, programming, design, or marketing, we invite you to have a look at our open positions!

 
We are currently looking for some more proofreaders (English), to read over stuff like the Community Update and Event posts before they go live. 
Don't have time to formally join the staff, but still would like to help out? Please check out this guide on how to support Skylords Reborn as a community member.
 
 
• In Conclusion

That's all for this Community Update! We appreciate you taking the time to read through it.
As is tradition, we're including a scratch code as a small token of our appreciation for your support.
The code will reward you with a General booster: LOST-SOUL-STON-EKIN
The code is valid until March 1st, when we will bring you another Community Update. 
We're always looking for ways to improve and value your feedback. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to share them with us. We'll be back next month with more updates on our ongoing projects and upcoming features. You can also sign up to our e-mail newsletter here. 

Archive
• Skylords Reborn Resources (Deep Dives, Behind the Scenes, PvP Guide)  
• Overview Community Updates
• Community Update January 2024

Card Balance Changes
 

Global Balance Changes
Neutral Units are now limited on a per-player basis: 
   - Each player will now be able to play one copy of each neutral units. Neutral buildings are still limited on a per-team basis.
We have been increasing neutral unit synergies and releasing new neutral cards, but an issue is that if one player is running a neutral archetype, say Ravenheart & Raven Archwalker, the other members of the team are also restricted in their deckbuilding choices. We think this is contrary to the spirit of the game, and since there are no balance considerations preventing a change, we are loosening the restriction while keeping the uniqueness of neutral units intact.

Balance Changes
While changes are split here between PvE and PvP sections, many of the changes have important consequences for both game modes. Our PvE and PvP balance teams work closely together to ensure that the impact of all changes are evaluated for both game modes. Below, we have listed both the changes and our reasoning behind them. 
[ Tier 1 ]
 Envenom:
1. Base damage: Restored one missing tick on both affinities
2. Infused Intoxication: Scaling damage: Each time the 80 dmg threshold is reached, the poison damage increases by 10, stacking up to 6 times up to a maximum of 95 damage per second, and refreshing the spell duration.
This change should allow the card to remain near its current state in PvP by allowing the player to micro their unit away before the poison stacks out of control, while providing a powerful new tool for Nature T1 in PvE as powerful singular units steadily kill themselves by stacking the poison damage higher and higher.
 Mumbo Jumbo:
1. Power cost: 40p ➜ 50p
2. Targeting: Units only ➜ Units and buildings
3. Debuff strength (both affinities): 25% ➜ 35%
Improve Mumbo Jumbo's usability in PvE by allowing it to target buildings. This will be especially useful with the infused affinity (r) which increases damage taken by 35%. This should help Nature T1 focus down troublesome towers and spawners.
[ Tier 2 ]
 Earthkeeper:
1. Damage: 540 dp20 ➜ 660 dp20
2. Back Up, power cost: 25p ➜ 0p
Improve use cases for Back Up by removing activation cost and give the card slightly more in-combat power by giving it a 22% damage boost.
 Lost Reaver:
1. Mob:
   A. Targets: Hostile and friendly units ➜ Hostile units
   B. Corpse cost: 1500 ➜ 2000
   C. Crawler health: 310 ➜ 440 life points
2. Corpse Gathering maximum amount: 1500 ➜ 2000
Lost Reaver's ability seems made for PvE, but it has anti-synergy because it damages other friendly units and even its fellow crawlers. We have increased the corpse cost to make it slightly harder to use in PvP, while increase crawler health for better survivability. Additionally, and most importantly, we have removed the ability's friendly fire, which will allow players to spawn multiple crawler groups at a time without worrying about them killing each other instead of the enemy.
 Lost Shade(p):
1. Tainted Union
   A. Remove existing reflect effect.
   B. New effect, "When surrounded by at least 2 other Lost Shades, each individual unit will deal 61/61/61/68 damage per second and take 15% more damage."
Lost Shade(p)'s reflection effect has never quite worked, the more shades are in the union, the less damage is actually reflected. Instead of attempting to salvage an affinity effect we think is unfitting to the unit, we have instead decided to make the tainted affinity the true opposite of its frosty counterpart. Tainted Shades will receive more damage but deal more in turn, making them a high risk-high reward option.
 Vileblood(g):
1. Gifted Liquids (g) healing per wave: 300 life points equally spread ➜ 160 life points, up to 800 in total
Now works similar to Forest Elder's healing ability, with a separated single-target and multi-target healing amount. There are 6 total healing waves, meaning this changes the spell from 1800 total healing to 960 single-target healing to up to 5 targets. 
[ Tier 3 ]
 Ethereal Storm:
1. Charges: 8 ➜ 16
2. Power: 150p ➜ 130p
3. Duration: 21 / 21 / 21 / 26 ➜ 25 seconds on all upgrade levels
4. Now only damages hostile units.
5. Blessed affinity (b): All enemies in range take full damage, even when frozen (everything does full damage).
6. Infused affinity (r): Enemy units take 20% more damage.
7. Remove all stages except 1:
   A. Only one stage, baseline (0 Revenants) and stage 1 (1 Revenant).
   B. Baseline: 40 damage / Stage 1: 100 damage
The existing scaling effect is bugged, so we are simplifying the mechanic. There is now a base effect and an improved effect if one Revenant is present. This gives LS a consistent damage spell for itself but with reduced effectiveness in helping allies due to a lack of Revenants unless the player also casts Lost Evocation. The affinity effects provide missing things in the faction, such as the ability to ignore freeze's damage reduction.
 Lost Banestone:
1. Underworld Gate:
   A. Remove existing effect
   B. Add affinities, Tainted and Blessed
   C. Now spawns an own Lost Shade Revenant of the respective affinity
   D. Duration: Infinite ➜ 20 seconds
   E. Cooldown: 60 seconds ➜ 40 seconds
2. Tainted Underworld Gate (p):
   A. New effect: "Activate to curse the targeted enemy unit. Every second, the targeted unit will lose 70 life points. Additionally, if the target dies, it explodes dealing 300 damage to every enemy in a 10m radius and a Lost Shade revenant with an affinity toward Shadow will spawn out of its corpse with a lifetime of 25 seconds."
3. Blessed Underworld Gate (b):
   A. New effect: "Activate to curse the targeted enemy unit. Every second, the targeted unit will lose 70 life points. Additionally, if the target dies, Lost Banestone is fully repaired and a Lost Shade revenant with an affinity toward Frost will spawn out of its corpse with a lifetime of 25 seconds."
4. Glacial ➜ Everlasting
   A. Remove affinities, now one effect
   B. Radius: 25m ➜ 30m
   C. Now suspends the duration of any friendly revenants in the area.
With its new aura and the ability to generate unbound defenders, Lost Banestone will allow players to transition their T2 offensive units into T3 defenders. This fits in line with the new Revenant-based playstyle we envision for the faction. This will also remove the exploit where Banestone can permanently stop enemies on some cPvE maps from spawning, such as Bad Harvest and Siege of Hope. While this exploit is well known and used, these maps are perfectly completable without them, and they trivialize defending by functionally turning the map off.
 Promise of Life:
1. Affected units can no longer be healed.
2. Blessed Revive (b):
   A. Spawn delay: 15 seconds ➜ 10 seconds
   B. Ice Shield strength: 800 ➜ 1500
Improve blue affinity without impacting the current workaround to spawn extra legendary units. Additionally, add a new effect to both affinities preventing units affected by Promise of Life from being healed. This should especially help in multiplayer, where well-intentioned allies heal units you want to die. 
 Stone Launcher:
1. Orb cost: 1 Nature, 1 Frost, 1 Hybrid (T3) ➜ 1 Nature, 1 Frost, 1 Neutral (T3)
 Twilight Slayers:
1. Orb cost: 1 Nature, 1 Fire, 1 Hybrid (T3) ➜ 1 Nature, 1 Fire, 1 Neutral (T3)
[ Tier 4 ]
 Green Peace:
1. Protect the Environment! allied buff duration: 20 seconds ➜ 30 seconds
2. Protect the Environment! (r) damage buff: 50% ➜ 60%
 Infernal Chain:
1. Orb cost: 2 Shadow, 2 Neutral (T4) ➜ 4 Shadow (T4)
2. Power cost: 150p ➜ 100p
   A. Spell now costs 50p to cast once applied to the unit.
3. Ability Rework:
   A. Target: Single-target ➜ Up to 5 enemy units
   B. Bugfix: Allow Infernal Chain's healing to regenerate squad members
3. Blessed Bond (b) ➜ Tainted Bond (p):
   A. Remove 50% damage reduction for caster ➜ Add healing effect (55 per second) for each bond established
   B. Affected enemies now return 12% of current void power as power from the void
4. Gifted Bond (g): 
   A. Healing: 75 per second ➜ 55 per second per bond
   B. Stuns affected targets after 5 seconds for 15 seconds.
Two dedicated Shadow orb decks already have a lot going for them, 3 dedicated Shadow orb decks have both Death Ray and Plague, and Shadow Worm fails to provide a sufficient reason to go Pure Shadow on its own. The changes allow multiple bonds, with healing occurring per bond. This is intended to synergize with Shadow Worm's life loss from Mass Disintegration. Each affinity has a different role: the shadow affinity provides in the field void return, and the nature affinity grants a crowd control effect. 
 Lost Evocation:
1. Power cost: 150p ➜ 140p
 Lost Spirit Ship:
1. Torpedo Changes:
   A. Splash Radius: 15m ➜ 10m
   B. Knockback: Remove S & M-knockback
2. Life points:  3930 ➜ 3630
3. Power cost: 240p ➜ 230p
4. Recycling:
   A. Target: Own buildings ➜ Own buildings and Revenants
   B. Cooldown: 10 seconds ➜ 5 seconds
   C. Ability description simplified
5. Crystal Rework:
   A. Gifted Crystal (g): Damage effect removed, it now only heals
   B. Infused Crystal (r): Grants a +40% movement speed increase to friendly Lost Souls units
   C. Ability description simplified
Lost Spirit Ship (LSS) is the major damage dealer for Lost Souls, which relies on units to deal damage. Therefore, we would be unable to remove its high damage without providing heavy compensation in other places. Instead of doing a full stat realignment of Lost Souls units, we are focusing on LSS.
While the changes might look like LSS was significantly nerfed, this is less true than it first appears. First off, the card has the same stat efficiency as previously due to the cost decrease. The splash reduction is a direct nerf, but the removal of S & M-knockback is actually a buff. LSS would frequently knock back units, particularly S-squads, so far that it and other splash cards could no longer damage them. Additionally, there is a hitbox bug with flying S-units which makes it so that when they are knocked back their "click-box" extends over a massive radius. This issue was a major problem for LSS which is supposed to move around the camp to stay safe and to damage enough targets, as the player could no longer click a location to move, but now only press "attack" on the displaced S-unit."
The crystal is being changed to either heal or increase movement speed, with the pointless spawn zone effect being removed. By allowing it to vacuum up Revenants, we add strong synergy with both Lost Warlord's new ability and Lost Evocation. This means that LSS will scale in strength the more a player invests into Lost Souls.
 Lost Warlord:
1. New passive, "Undying": 
   A. Blessed Undying (b): The unit's revenant form spawns with an Ice Shield that absorbs up to 3000 damage. The Ice Shield refreshes every 25 seconds. 
   B. Infused Undying (r): The unit's revenant form deals 50% more damage.
2. Onslaught rework:
   A. Remove affinity
   B. Provides ground presence.
   C. New effect - "Activate for Lost Warlord to project a revenant of himself to a destination within a 40m range. This revenant provides ground presence, has no abilities, and lasts for 25 seconds. Reusable every 30/25/25/25 40/35/35/35 seconds."
With these changes, we hope to make Lost Warlord into the ultimate Lost Souls card, with a heavy focus on Revenants that synergizes with Nether Warp for quick movement of armies. We view this violation of fundamental game principles to be justified by the card's high orb restrictions and the recognition that by T4, the exploits enabled by teleporting ground presence are largely moot. The blue affinity is being buffed to have a refreshing Ice Shield for when players use cards like Lost Banestone and Revenant's Blessing to extend Revenant life times. This should help to equalize the two affinities.
 Overlord:
1. Blood Share:
   A. Life point cost: 1000 life points ➜ 1500 life points
   B. Healing: 1500 life points ➜ 1500 life points, up to 7500 in total
   C. Cooldown: 5 seconds ➜ 30 seconds
   D. Ability cost: 0p ➜ 20p
This change makes Overlord's "Blood Share" work similar to Forest Elder's "Forest Charm" in that it heals the group and the individual in different amounts. The goal here is to allow Overlord to function more fully as a sustain tank for the units it is protecting, as it already does for itself. This will help it to support army-based Shadow compositions, such as Shadow Worms, which is important because Overlord is the only melee Shadow unit in T4.
 Twilight Pestilence:
1. Power cost: 150p ➜ 120p

Miscellaneous Changes
Added Nature faction classes to generic NPC Nature buildings: Mark of the Keeper, Primal Defender, Stranglehold, Healing Well, Living Tower, Root Nexus, Healing Gardens, Howling Shrine, Mindweaver, Gateway of Nature, Temple of Nature, Wheel of Resilience, Wheel of Juvenescence, Wheel of Strength, Earth Crystal, and Fortress of Nature. Added Fire faction classes to generic NPC Fire buildings: Makeshift Tower, Rocket Tower, Blaster Cannon, Pyromaniac, Volcano, Tower of Flames, Gateway of Fire, Temple of Fire, Flame Crystal Added over 20 new Shadow NPC enemies for use in community maps. Includes units, towers, and spawn buildings. Units - Dreadcharger, Forsaken, Skeleton Warriors, Ripper, Wrath Blades, Nox Trooper, Harvester, Shadow Mage, Mutating Frenzy, Cultist Master, Rifle Cultists, Necrofury, Unstable Demon, Ashbone Pyro, Voidmaw and a Grim Bahir variant. Buildings - Stone of Torment, Lifestealer, Soul Splicer, Time Vortex, Necroblaster, Church of Negation, Embalmer's Shrine, Gateway of Shadow (small spawner), and Temple of Shadow (large spawner)  Worldbreaker Gun: Fixed animations not playing on U3. Fixed the normal maps of several map objects to correct their interaction with light. Nomad: Improved upgrade description to be more consistent.

Patch #400045 - Revenant's Doom
Welcome to our newest patch. This update contains our eleventh balance patch for the game, two brand-new cards, a rework of the rPvE difficulty system, tutorial missions, and many other changes, enjoy!

Patch Preview
Two new cards are now available! Jump in-game to collect Tectonic Shift and Lost Manabeast. Added tutorial missions! New and old players alike can now receive rewards for simple missions meant to explain some of the harder to understand mechanics of BattleForge. A new rPvE difficulty and changes to the existing difficulty system to align it better with the campaign map difficulties. Our much anticipated Lost Souls rework, a large number of buffs to well-designed but underperforming cards, and a change to the neutral unit exclusion rule. A complete rework of the campaign reward system, with individualized upgrades, gold rewards overtime, and gold rewards on-loss.
General Changes
Pause, Speed-up, and Slow-down buttons have been added to the Forge. Standard difficulty has been removed for the 12p maps Passage of Darkness and Ascension. Achievements have been adjusted accordingly.  The game will now remember the difficulty you selected for each map until you restart the game. Removed post-game message "Maximum rank achieved" for those players who are Master of the Forge rank in PvE. The post-game reward screen now always displays the player's current rank and experience earned. A description of the achievement completed has been added to achievement reward mail. Added previews when hovering over card and boosters rewards for achievements.  The networking library used for the client has been updated. Linux users will now need Wine 7.13 or higher to play the game. The game should still work on Windows 7, but support has been discontinued. General Fixes
Improved user interface responsiveness. Longer gaming sessions were previously experiencing slowdowns. Resolved an issue that prevented free PvP decks from being cloned. Fixed a game crash related to map scripts, most commonly affecting the "Titans" map.
New Cards
Tectonic Shift - 50p T3 Stonekin Spell 
You will find the upgrades for this card on the map "King of the Giants".
When thinking about Stonekin's design, we determined that more buildings interactions fit well with the faction. More specifically, we thought that a building-based archetype was the natural expansion for a faction of living stones. Tectonic Shift is a T3 spell that adds a teleport ability to friendly Stonekin, Frost, and Nature buildings. This teleportation ability functions highly similar to Phase Tower's ability as a permanent addition, similar to how Santa and Infernal Chain add new abilities to a unit. For more information, check out Community Update - September 2023.
Lost Manabeast - 120p T3 Lost Souls 
You will find the upgrades for this card on the map "Titans".
As part of our Lost Souls rework, we wanted to add the well-known NPC unit Lost Manabeast to the faction. The player version of Lost Manabeast is a ranged unit, which collects the souls of its victims to reset the revenant timer of allied Lost Souls units. It is a perfect fit for those players wanted to engage in revenant-based gameplay. For more information, check out Community Update - December 2023.
 

Random PvE Difficulty Redesign
A major part of the upcoming update is the addition of a new random PvE difficulty between level 9 and level 10. The significant gap that exists between level 9 and level 10 is well known, and this new difficulty, often referred to as level 9.5, is meant to help players prepare themselves to make the jump into level 10. Alongside this new difficulty, we are also changing the naming scheme of the random PvE difficulties and removing difficulty levels 1 to 3, which are almost never played. We hope this new system will make it easier for players to understand what difficulty is right for their skill level.
[ New Difficulty Naming Scheme ]
Standard difficulty - Old level 4 Standard+ difficulty - Old level 5 Standard++ difficulty - Old level 6 Advanced difficulty - Old level 7 Advanced+ difficulty - Old level 8 Advanced++ difficulty - Old level 9 Expert difficulty - NEW level 9.5 Expert+ difficulty - Old level 10
Campaign Loot Rework
Anyone who plays PvE in Skylords Reborn knows that the most commonly played multiplayer game mode is random PvE. One part of this is due to the ease of matchmaking, you can go to the 4p area and join a random PvE game of any difficulty without needing to jump around the map checking lobbies, and the other part is due to rewards. In most cases, random PvE simply rewards the player better, unless you get lucky while looking for an expensive level 3 upgrade. While our upcoming improvements to campaign map matchmaking will have to wait for a future patch, we are now rectifying the reward discrepancy between the two modes. 
[ Campaign Reward Changes ]
Campaign maps now reward gold over time. The total amount of gold rewarded has been substantially increased at all difficulty levels, even if players previously disenchanted all upgrades. Solo maps and multiplayer maps now give the same rewards. Campaign maps also reward players who lose a map part of the gold they would have obtained had they won. Standard maps reward 70%, advanced maps 40%, and expert maps 25% of the expected gold on-loss. Gold on-loss cannot be earned unless at least 5 minutes have passed in-game. The new Pick reward mode has replaced Random, Need/Greed, and Assign, which have been removed from the game.  Upgrades are now decided on a per-player basis, with each player able to choose the upgrade(s) of their choice. Expert and advanced maps reward 1 upgrade, while standard maps reward 2 upgrades. In the future, players will have the ability to earn more upgrades per map completion under special circumstances. Disenchanting an upgrade now rewards the same gold regardless of the rarity of the upgrade, while also providing the player with PvE experience, depending on the level of the upgrade. 

Tutorial Missions
Twenty-five new tutorial missions have been added to the game. These missions are designed to help new and old players alike to discover basic game features, as well as many of the new functionalities the Skylords Reborn team has added since the game's revival. Completing all 25 missions will reward players with 12 common cards, 8 uncommon cards, 1200 gold, and the new in-game title "Lyrish Scholar." These rewards are designed to help new players and function as a supplement to the existing starter decks. All missions are completable within an hour.
Tutorial Missions will be the new focus of attention when opening the rewards window, but focus will revert to quests once the missions are complete. 

 
 

Im so happy to be back.
Battleforge was One of my All-Time Top Games.
I was so addicted to the game and had all the promos back then, and created such great decks. I was so sad when the game closed back then.
I had a look many years ago but couldn't find anything. So happy that I can play it again now. Sad that I have to start again, but so happy that it's even possible and that so many friendly players welcomed me online and helped me.
Too bad I missed 3 years already, but I hope there will be a few more active years, so I still have the chance to clear the map again.
Just wanted to get this off my chest. Thank you

more power for my Stonekin yes!

Patch #400044 - 28 October 2023
🎃👻 Welcome to the Spoooooky Halloween Patch! 🦇🕷️
Skylords, gather 'round as the shadows lengthen and the nights grow cold! We're thrilled to present our ninth balance patch, teeming with delightful treats and perhaps a trick or two.
Dive deep into the abyss to discover a mysterious new card, unveil chilling new achievements that await the brave, and embrace the night as you light up the forge with a hauntingly beautiful new theme.
Happy Halloween in the Forge, Skylords!

Achievement Updates
[New] Happy Halloween! Rewards: Halloween Pumpkin (Avatar) + 1x Lost Souls Booster
Win the PvE community map Spooky Encounters on expert difficulty during the Halloween season. (One week from Oct. 28th)
[Updated] Never Thought of Him
Now rewards a brand new Fire Forge theme in addition to the 100,000 gold. Reward is retroactive.
Corporate Downsizing
Added 2 additional levels to the achievement with 2 additional progressive avatars.
General Changes
The deck limit has been raised to 500 total decks, inclusive of PvP, Tutorial, and General decks. Please note: Performance issues may occur at higher deck counts. A warning for this will be displayed once you reach 100 decks. Players using a deck level below 100 will now receive a notification encouraging them to check out the free PvP decks. High-res textures are now used for "Flightblocking" objects. Completed goals in maps will now be stored in replay files. The "Seasonal" forge theme has been renamed to the "Featured" forge theme. The new Fire Forge will be the featured theme until the end of November 2023. The game's file system logic has been updated to use UTF-8 paths for enhanced support. This feature is experimental and may be rolled back if necessary. Profile comparison section has been improved with filters allowing sorting by achievement group, achievement type, and locked achievements.
General Fixes
The 'Show Upgrades' button has been repositioned, creating more space between it and the 'Create Game' button. The brown background issue that occurred when clicking on the leaderboard entry in 2 player scenarios has been fixed. Leaderboard filters no longer reload incorrectly after choosing the map from the dropdown. Flying units are now restricted from opening gold chests. This rectifies an issue introduced by a previous change. Issues related to entities like power wells, monuments, and walls not updating their position correctly when teleported via map scripts have been fixed. Achievement Fixes
The tooltip for the forge spring theme locked achievement now correctly displays (8 maps) instead of (10 maps). Corrected faulty achievement descriptions with missing placeholder values in the profile comparison section. Resolved issues with the type filter not functioning properly in the profile comparison section. Chat commands in the chat menu will remain visible when switching chat regions. Community Map Fixes
Removed misleading error messages that appeared after downloading a community map when joining an open game. Resolved issues related to rapidly switching between community map entries which affected the minimap load. Private maps will now be deleted after 3 hours as intended. Downloaded maps will now properly replace older map versions on the filesystem. The "Local" map type filter will from now on display all locally available community maps, including those downloaded and already on the server. Fixed the issue of daily quests not progressing when playing featured community maps. Rectified the error where maps were counted multiple times for the 'complete different featured community maps' achievement. Resolved inaccuracies in the text for hardcoded local community maps.  

New Cards
Soulstone  - 70p T1 Frost ()
You will find the upgrades for this card on the map Defending Hope.
A common complaint among players is that Frost lacks good shield spells and abilities for PvE before T4. This hole in Frost's design is real, and leads to other issues, such as a lack of teamplay oriented utility and army sustain in the early game. Soulstone, a Frost-like version of Fountain of Rebirth that grants ice shields, fills this gap. It is also the first card to make use of a new evolution mechanic we are adding to the game. Once the player reaches T2, Soulstone can be transformed into a stronger version of itself. This allows it to scale with the player, without being overpowered in T1. We hope players enjoy this new card and the many synergies it brings to Frost, and we cannot wait to see what you do with it.  

Card & NPC Balance Changes

Global Changes
Standardize Basic Class Types:
Added missing faction & affinity class tags to all player buildings. Fixed wrong affinity class type on dozens of units. Added missing class type to dozens of units and buildings.  While technically a balance change as it fixes several card inconsistencies, such as some affinities not working with the correct elemental crystal card, this change also improves the accuracy of the card filtering function.

Description Fixes:
  Cleaned up the descriptions of dozens of player cards and NPCs for improved clarity in each language.     Introduced a new standard description for rage on all cards with the ability. Bug Fixes:
Shrine of Martyrs: Fixed a bug preventing alive units from being affected by a shrine if they had already been affected and the current one was destroyed. Sun Reaver: Fixed various faulty interactions with linked fire.
PvE Balance Changes
 Earthen Gift:
1. Charges: 8 ➜ 12
 Frontier Keep:
1. Power cost: 250p ➜ 125p
In truth, we have little idea how strong Frontier Keep is as a card, merely that it is overpriced for its current effect. As such, we are cutting its price in half and seeing what happens. 
 Grinder(r):
1. Infused Provoke (r): The damage buff is now stackable with external effects. 
Grinder's built-in damage buff after using provoke will now stack with effects like Earthen Gift(r) and Wheel of Gifts. 
 Mindweaver:
1. Fixed a bug where the population cap would be permanently increased beyond the 120 limit if a controlled unit died.
2. Edict of Command range: 30m ➜ 40m
3. Added a 40m radius indicator for Edict of Command on card play-out.
 Parasite Swarm:
1. Can now takeover T3 units on upgrade 2 instead of upgrade 3. 
Make Parasite Swarm more accessible to new players by reducing the total gold investment to reach T3 takeovers. 
 Sleet Storm:
1. Radius: 15m ➜ 20m
2. Spell delay: 5 seconds ➜ 4 seconds
Sleet Storm released below the power level we wanted for the card. We have increased the effect radius and decreased the time it takes for the root and gravity surge effects to activate to ensure the player can ensnare faster moving L and XL-units more consistently. 
 Stone Launcher:
1. Orb cost: 1 Frost, 1 Nature, 1 Neutral ➜ 1 Frost, 1 Nature, 1 Hybrid
2. Power cost: 70p ➜ 100p
3. Life points: 1700 ➜ 2200
4. Rock shot
   A. Splash radius: 5m ➜ 8m
   B. Now damages both air and ground units
5. Pulldown power cost: 80 / 80 / 75 / 70p ➜ 50 / 50 / 45 / 40p
Stone Launcher is now a normal tower. We think that T3+ AA-only towers are largely a bad design, and, on top of that, we needed a normal T3 Stonekin tower for our upcoming card Bedrock to be able to summon and Tectonic Shift to teleport.
 Stronghold:
1. Power cost: 150p ➜ 200p
2. Displayed attack value: 2850 dp20 ➜ 4950 dp20
3. Life points: 3600 ➜ 4500
4. Cannon Turrets: 
   A. Splash radius: 5m ➜ 10m
   B. Turret firing arc: Allow up to 3 turrets to attack a target at a time.
   C. Damage: 74 damage, up to 110 in total ➜ 164 damage, up to 246 in total
5. Bombardment:
   A. Now an active ability
   B. New description: Activate to shoot a mortar shell that deals 800 damage to enemies in a 15m radius around its target, up to 3200 in total. Knocks back small, medium, and large units. Has a range of 40m. Reusable every 30 seconds.
6. New passive, "To the Last!" 
   A. Description: If the fortress has equal to or less than 3000 life points left it will deal 25% more damage and take 25% less damage. If the fortress has equal or less than 1500 life points left it will deal 50% more damage and take 50% less damage.
7. New passive, "Slowed Construction:" Construction time is increased by 50%.
Stronghold has been reworked from the ground up and is finally worthy of being an Ultra-rare card. We encourage players to experience the card for themselves and we hope that we have done the card sufficient justice so that it will live up to its name and model. 
NPC Balance Changes
[ Existing NPC Changes ]
The changes discussed in this section pertain to the non-player versions of these entities which players encounter in campaign and random PvE.
 Flame Crystal:
1. Can now be frozen and disintegrated.
 Howling Shrine (rPvE variant):
1. Root Network connection radius: 25m ➜ 40m
 Mindweaver (rPvE variant):
1. Added small and medium knockback.
2. Splash radius: 5m ➜ 8m
 Nature Random PvE Boss Units:
1. Removed the "Nature" class to prevent unintended interactions with player cards (such as Protector's Seal)
2. Boss Tier: T5 ➜ T4
 Primal Defender (rPvE variant):
1. Orb cost: 3 Nature ➜ 2 Nature
2. Power cost: 150p ➜ 100p 
Now able to be overtaken by both affinities of Matter Mastery.
 Root Network Units (Nature rPvE Variants):
1. Fixed an issue where Treespirit, Thornbark, and Guardian of Nature would not aggro against flying units.
2. Increased ranged at which these units root to attack enemies from 20m to 28m.  
 Root Nexus:
1. No longer provides 2 support. 
2. Removed from Nature rPvE and replaced by the new Earth Crystal.
 Stranglehold:
1. Tower range: 30m ➜ 40m
[ New NPCs ]
These new NPCs are available to map makers to use for community maps. 
New NPC Units:
   1. Pest Creepers: A permanent version of the nature affinity Pest Creepers spawned by Sunken Temple. 
   2. Earth Crystal: Provides 2 support to root network entities within a 20m radius, replaces Root Nexus in Nature rPvE. 
   3. Fortress of Nature: Boss variant of Howling Shrine with 50m range.
   4. Bramblethorn: New Nature variant of Stonekin Rockstorm which roots on-hit. 
   5. Amii Phantom: Ranged-only with swift. 
 

I think it is worth mentioning here that after community feedback and playtesting, that we have decided to change the Stonekin card which we announced last month, Tectonic Shift, to also affect Frost and Nature buildings. In terms of Bedrock itself, this will open up access to Worldbreaker Gun and Stronghold, in addition to Deepgorge and Stone Launcher, as good companion towers for Bedrock's "Living Rampart" ability. 

Stonekin Hype ♥️
 
And Map Tester Hype! Pls come and give Feedback 👍🏻 

I'd like to say a couple of things.
First of all, the animation for that new stoneskin speel is absolutely awesome! Whoever came up with this, great work!
Second, when it comes to events, i would simply like events that involve minor changes on the pve missions, for example a temporary new option when you go into a mission like encounters with twilight and you select the event option, something like "all your cards cost 100% more but you will get 100% more gold for completing it. I know some people also already mentioned mutations like in starcraft and i also believe its a cool idea, but probably tough to implement. But maybe something like the treasure goblins from Diablo would work here. That everyday you can find one, lets call it a thief, who randomly spawns on the map (except for boss and starting areas) he will be tough to kill cause he might be very fast in running away, but if you kill him you get a nice pile of gold.
Third, i really like the gameplay trailer, super well done. The only thing that i think was missing is that when he mentioned that there are also completely new cards here they should have shown one, like the Wasteland terror for example.
Fourth, I wish the new team members all the luck and fun in the world, hope you will have a great time! @Linkz @Vultagx @pierakor @lucas_ansei @Kayrie
Fifth, great community update as always, the survey overview was really nice, thanks everyone once again for this incredible accomplishment! Skylords Reborn is a f**king gem!!!

Looking Forward to Work with this awesome Team ♥️
 
PS: keep an eye on Future Maps, they will be very Impressive!