Community Update - March 1st 2025

[Majora]

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!

• Patch announcement

Great news Skylords! We will release a new content patch this weekend, introducing some exciting new cards, QoL fixes and balance changes! 

This patch will contain 4 new cards, two of which have been revealed in previous Community Updates, while the other two are a surprise release. Get ready to collect the long-awaited "Gate of Akylos", the first Amii building "Power Shrine", a new teleport spell "Spirit Gate" and a spawn building for the bandit faction; "Bandit Hut". 

These new cards have been long in the making, and we hope you are looking forward to the new options they will bring. 

Besides new cards, this patch also includes major reworks to several cards that were underperforming in PvE, such as Ice Shield Tower, Mountaineer, Strikers, and Altar of Nihil. 

We have also included some map changes, most importantly a rework to the map Empire. We also made a lot of miscellaneous changes. These range from small things such as incorrect map outcries to larger, more game-breaking issues like Jorne's allies blocking his path and thus blocking the game from advancing. A rework of the magical devices and the ritual at the end should also streamline the experience.

Lastly, this patch includes one of the most frequently requested features since release: easier distinction between affinities. Affinity differences are now highlighted in each card's description. Each card's specific affinity now has colored text whose color corresponds to its affinity element. These sections of highlighted text consist only of those words and abilities which are different than the ability of its alternative affinity card. Players who hover over cards with affinities in-game will immediately notice the changes. 

Head over to the patch notes for a full list of the changes and additions to the game. 

This patch will release on March 2nd. 
 

• New Featured Community Map: Thirsty Journey Home

While work continues on more official campaign maps, the public map editor continues to deliver new content. The new community map "Thirsty Journey Home" is the latest addition to our featured community maps. Featured community maps are high quality maps that count toward your daily playtime/rewards. This latest addition was created by one of our members on the map team, R4bitF00t, as a personal side-project. 

Thirsty Journey Home introduces Bren, a knight from Lyr who got lost on his way home. He now finds himself in a desert populated by bandits, while the Stonekin are on his trail. Can you help him find his way home?

You can find this new map in the Community Map section on the World Map. Look for the featured map Thirsty Journey Home, marked by a star.
Please note: this map will release alongside the new patch on March 2nd. There will also be a release event to win one of the new cards!

From the creator:
I really liked Mo's story in the original game, and wanted to make another character that players could enjoy. I hope I succeeded, and Bren will become another small part of Skylords Reborn you will cherish ^^ This is not the end of his story though; I plan to share his story over a 3 map odyssey. I hope you will continue to help Bren in his journey when the time comes.

- R4bitF00t

• Marketing Questionnaire

Skylords, we'd like to ask for your help. 

Skylords Reborn has a steady player base that consists of mostly original BattleForge players, as shown by our yearly feedback surveys. Most of you found out about the project due to some nostalgic Google search, or through friends. 

While the game is old (the original Battleforge released in 2009!), it stood the test of time quite well, and there is a lot to love for a RTS/TCG player. A recurring problem, even during the original EA times, is reaching those players. This has become even harder for us, considering we can not do any paid advertisement or marketing of the game. 

This is where you come in. We would like to reach potential players by approaching promising streamers/YouTubers who are active in the RTS or TCG scene. We would like to ask the community for help in our search for potential players that might enjoy this great game.

Please take 2 minutes to fill in our short questionnaire. 

• New Card Reveal - Phantom Stampede
While our next patch is releasing soon, we are already hard at work on future content. Lost Hulk was originally created as a fun unit for our Halloween Map Spooky Encounters, but ended up being embraced by the community. While we did not have the intention to add it as a player card originally, the interest from the community caused us to look at ways to include it somehow. Today, we are taking a look at the new spell card Phantom Stampede!

Please note: We are still working on the card. While we are generally happy with it, art, numbers and effects might still change before release. 

 

Ghost Train
Creates a stampeding Hulk that moves along a defined path of 35m dealing 750 damage to each enemy unit the Hulk passes through. Allied units along the path are granted Ice Shields which absorb up to 880 damage for 30 seconds. Reusable every 25 seconds.

Phantom Stampede does something we have never done before: spawning a unit that acts like a spell. Doing so was not without its challenges. Check out this early footage of its development while we were still figuring things out. 

Spoiler

 

Design notes:
Phantom Stampede is a hybrid support and damage spell meant to give Lost Souls a faction specific damage spell that does not rely on revenants, as well as a sustain option beyond Blood Healing. The card was inspired by the widespread desire to see the Lost Hulk unit as a playable card. We thought extensively about ways to add Lost Hulk to Lost Souls in a way that would be interesting and in-line with the faction's identity, but we ultimately determined that a stampede unit would not fit into Lost Souls. Still, we wanted to give players some way to use Lost Hulk, causing us to develop this spell.

Phantom Stampede will release in a future content patch, date to be announced. 

• 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!
 

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.
 

• 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!
 

Current events:

• NEW - Thirsty Journey Home - March 2nd until March 16th
To celebrate the release of both the new patch and the new featured community map, we have a special release event. Simply play the map and upload a replay for a chance to win one of the new cards! More information. 

 

• NEW - Skylords Reborn Winter Cup
Get ready for some PvP action! The Winter Cup is the first of four PvP tournaments happening this year. The tournament will be hosted and livestreamed by Ultralord. Everyone is welcome to join, please sign-up in advance. 

 

• 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.

 

• 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: VOID-GATE-WARP-HOME

This 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

 

[Majora]

We have also released spotlight videos for the new cards. Please give them a like for the mighty algorithm!

  

  

A big thank you to Dreamlord for voicing our spotlights!

[Bini Inibitor]

The card reworks will be juicy.

[DDrazard]

Awesome additionnal cards and reworks as always. Thanks of all the hardwork!

[Hrdina_Imperia]

Relally looking forward to the new cards. And the reworks might be new stuff as well. Great work!

[MisterFreeze]

Amazing 💯

[Skillz]

Thank you for your hard work!!!!!

Great Update

[Immortal Skylord]

Awesome Update!!! Thank you the Skylord Team!

[fShark]

This is amazing! This cover image is so beautiful and seeing the Lost Hulk mentioned in such a way made me so happy. Thank you for the love to Lost Souls 💙💜

[Majora]

6 hours ago, fShark said:

This is amazing! This cover image is so beautiful and seeing the Lost Hulk mentioned in such a way made me so happy. Thank you for the love to Lost Souls 💙💜

Did I find the one answering ''more lost souls cards'' on the survey? 😄 

[Stippy]

Really cool new cards. Can't wait to try them out 😃

[TwitchDaringin]

Really cool Idea, would be even better if the Juggernaut was part of the lost souls collection :) Would something like that be possible?

[Majora]

58 minutes ago, TwitchDaringin said:

Really cool Idea, would be even better if the Juggernaut was part of the lost souls collection 🙂 Would something like that be possible?

As we mentioned in the Design Notes; Phantom Stampede was designed because we felt simply adding Juggernaut to the Lost Souls faction would not make sense. It is important that factions feel different from each other, instead of simply being a reskin. 

[TwitchDaringin]

Understandable ofcourse. Would have being dope though :) that Mo Died in a story and then got back as a lost soul, with some adjusments :) and how about a worm for lost souls?