EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

February 06, 2026

Battlepass Progress

The Azrael's Viceregent Battlepass is in-progress and *should* be ready for release next week, barring any complications. I'm always cautious of calling an update in advance as that has a way of jinxing things, but I'll do my best to deliver! Plus, worst case scenario, stragglers have a few extra days to complete the current Battlepass (there's always at least one person who complains when the Battlepass that's been live for 4 months finally changes over).

Seasonal Rares Leaving!

When Azrael's Viceregent Battlepass goes live, the off-season seasonal rares will leave until mid-Summer! Your hours remaining to collect them all are dwindling, so act fast!

Balance Changes

This is part 1 of a larger balance update. This batch will focus on general skills, cores, and bots. Next week, we will focus on class skill balance.

• Field medic UA: Buff from +18 HP per lvl to +35 HP per lvl to match normal Field Medic
• Jack Frost bot: Removed 20% dmg to energy on initial hit
• Wolf’s Fury: Removed the 30% health condition; 20% Critical Chance; 30% Lifesteal; 30% Energy Conversion
• Saevusssax Annihilation: Removes Armor for 1 turn, Sidearm for 2 turns, Auxiliary for 3 turns, 0 EP cost
• Tremor Blast: Duration increased from 2 turns to 4 turns
• Hatchling Rush: Damage increased from 85% to 100; Heal debuff 20%
• Absorption: 25% to 20% conversion on incoming bot attacks
• Minor Absorption: 20% to 15% conversion on incoming bot attacks
• Crimson Offering: 80 HP cost to 100 HP; Reduce 300 EP gain to 280 EP
• Minor Crimson offering: 250 EP gained to 230 EP
• Infernal offering: 80HP cost to 100 HP; 280 EP total net gain; 93 EP per tick

NPC Speech

We've made an update to NPC speech. NPCs will no longer run out of dialog and fall silent. Also, special speech interactions like low-HP, blocks, and critical hits were completely broken and ignored, possibly for many years. This functionally has been restored. Additionally, non-standard bosses like Legendary Acatriel can now have dialog!

Coming Soon

Despite work on the Gifter rewards, we've been hard at work on new EpicDuel content!

• Azrael's Viceregent Battlepass (on schedule for next week)
• Buddy List, Inventory Slots, and Name Change coupons.
• Nulgath Birthday Rares.
• Weekly rotating missions.
• Much MUCH more!

Tags: Nightwraith

January 30, 2026

Finally, the Secret and Silver Secret package prizes have opened! If you were lucky enough to receive one or both of these packages during Gifting, you should find the new items sitting neatly in your inventory. Note that these can be sold, but they will automatically be added to your buyback record just in case you ever want them back.

Silver and Gold

With this update, we've "opened" the Secret and Silver Secret packages to reveal the 2025 Gifting prizes!

Secret Package

• Frost Vindicator Armor A
• Frost Vindicator Armor B
• Frost Vindicator Armor A CC
• Frost Vindicator Armor B CC
• Frost Vindicator Greatsword P
• Frost Vindicator Greatsword E
• Frost Vindicator Arsenal P
• Frost Vindicator Arsenal E
• Frost Vindicator Revolver P
• Frost Vindicator Revolver E
• Frost Vindicator Rifle P
• Frost Vindicator Rifle E

Silver Secret Package

• Frostbringer Armor A
• Frostbringer Armor B
• Frostbringer Armor A CC
• Frostbringer Armor B CC
• Frostbringer Greatsword P
• Frostbringer Greatsword E

Congratulations to all who got one or both of these exclusive packages, either through Gifting or through a generous friend in the top 15.

If you happen to have excess packages, those excess packages will be converted into Epic Gold Ingot or Epic Silver Ingots (Epic Gold Ingot Investing and Epic Silver Ingot Investing Daily Missions). Those can be redeemed via missions on the Krampus Trader for credits!

Some of the top Gifters have a few extra Secret and Silver Secret packages remaining so they will be left as-is for now to give them some more time to confirm their distributions.

Changes / Fixes

• Limited quantity Endless M4tr1x items that were introduced last Gifting are now sellable. 
• Fixed a bug that would "freeze" your character if you used certain combinations of overlapping slash commands.
• Removed notification message if vehicles or morphs cannot use /fire or /boom. Now the item either performs the action or it doesn't.
• Vehicles that hide your character (morphs) are now database driven.
• Externalized several megabytes of assets that were once baked into the client - this should make the main client load (slightly) faster. This will be an ongoing effort to reduce the main client's file size to pre-empt any issues compiling the client.

Coming Soon

Despite work on the Gifter rewards, we've been hard at work on new EpicDuel content

• Azrael's Viceregent Battlepass
• Buddy List, Inventory Slots, and Name Change coupons.
• Nulgath Birthday Rares.
• Weekly rotating missions.
• Much MUCH more!

Tags: Nightwraith

January 23, 2026

It's been a week and few days since Gifting 2025 ended, and we're still hard at work on this year's Gifting prizes! Last week we were able to distribute as few prizes, and with this update, we're pleased to send even more prizes out, but we still have many more in-progress! Thank you for your patience as we craft these unique items that are sure to be among EpicDuel's most coveted and cherished rares! Thank you all for your patience as we continue our work.

However, just because we're working on Gifting items, doesn't mean we can't bring new content for everyone else! We still have much more planned for EpicDuel in the weeks and months ahead!

Coming Attractions

New week on Friday, we will open Secret and Silver Secret packages so the lucky EpicDuelists can enjoy their new rare rewards! In case there are still undistributed packages among the top 15 Gifters, we can still open the packages, but the top 15 Gifters with excess packages will retain them, just in case. 

Next Friday also marks the return of the War system! You should see the hours remaining on the War cooldown after this update goes Live.

Our next Battlepass is still in progress. The tentative release date is February 13th, but that can change depending on the Gifter prize progress. We don't want to overpromise, and there is still a ton of work to be done, but It would be REALLY REALLY cool to release this new BP on Friday the 13th!

Quality of Life

• Added button to core icons to allow instant removal.
• Removed Confirm screen when adding and removing cores.

This year we hope to add many more qualify of life features to EpicDuel to cut out annoyances while adding convenience.

Ruffle, Anyone?

We're not talking about potato chips (or crisps, if you prefer). Ruffle is a Flash emulator that is capable of playing old Flash games that are no longer supported by browsers. Recently, the desktop version of Ruffle updated to allow people to pay AQW and EpicDuel! It's not nearly as smooth as the AE Launcher, but it works! We haven't tested this yet, but this update could allow people to play EpicDuel on their phones.

I must iterate that the best way to play EpicDuel and other AE games is through our Launcher, as it is the only one we officially support. However, it's great news that there are other ways to experience our games for those who can't use our Launcher.

Tags: Nightwraith

January 16, 2026

Gifting 2025's Grand Finale!

EpicDuel's latest Gifting event crushed records that were formerly thought as uncrushable! A staggering 59,244,280 gifts were given, which I believe is the most yet. In fact, our #1 Gifter, CactusChan, blew past all previous records with 8,000,000 gifts given! Also impressive is that the game held up (though with some struggling) with over 700 people Gifting online! I say this every year, but I mean it: Gifting would not work without the entire EpicDuel community coming together to celebrate this game and the connections we've all made on Delta V. Whether you're hardcore, casual, or OG fans returning to check out the game after a decade, you all help make this event great and keep EpicDuel in active development after over 16 years.

The Top 15 Winners for the 2025 Gifting season are:

1. CactusChan
2. Ditto
3. Alonzo Harris
4. l Fade l
5. Mandatory
6. NojuiceLeft
7. DIRE Xap
8. DIRE Penelope
9. mr vamprix.
10. Dexmah
11. zayo
12. BadWitch
13. Snowy Alexandris
14. Caddeus
15. Smoking Shadow

It's worth noting that of the gifts given, over 5,000,000 remain unopened! You will have 6 months from today to open your gifts before they are cleared from the database.

Since this was the first year we've recorded Faction contributions to the Gifting scores, we should highlight the top 3 Factions in this year's Gifting season:

1. The Balance Brigade
2. Royal Legacy
3. Dreaming Awake

This was fascinating information and shows the power of a united Faction working towards a common goal!

To honor the top 50 Gifters and top 15 Factions, new leaderboards have been added permanently to Titan's Peak. We had to excavate TWO new chambers to accommodate the new boards without proper permits so hopefully we don't run afoul or Titan or any Krampus warriors. Be sure to stop by and pay your respects (/bow) to the greatest Gifters of 2025 (and maybe all time). 

Post Gifting Styles

We've just added styles 937 - 951 to the style changer. If you browse the new styles, you'll notice a few are inaccessible -- styles 939 - 942 have been awarded to those who had a score of over 100,000 gifts in the most recent Gifting season.

Balance Changes / Other Changes

This was a change we tried about a week ago, but couldn't make the actual recommended change in time:

• (UA) Stun Grenade: Removed stun chance; disables target's Active Cores for 1 turn.
• (UA) Overload: Removed stun chance; disables target's Active Cores for 1 turn.

These are some new changes:

• Removed +1/+2/+3 stat boosts for focus levels 3-6
• Chairman's Fury P/E: 100% --> 50% Rage steal

We have also made changes to the PvP drop pool:

• Removed Bido's Beast Breaker (all variants)
• Removed April Fool's items
• Removed Darkwraith items
• Removed Evolved Frostbane items
• Removed Infernal Overfiend items
• Removed Overfiend Nemesis items
• Added Omega Wolf Shards to the PvP drop pool
• Added Void Shards to daily reward pool (Omega Wolf Shards are already in the pool)

What's Next?

Our priority since Gifting ended was to record the initial wishes for all the top 15 Gifters. This includes distributing Secret and Silver Secret packages and working through the initial phases of prize creation. This season we already have some fascinating ideas for new custom items that are sure to achieve legendary status in the EpicDuel community. We thank you for your patience as we roll out these prizes with each week's release.

Tags: Nightwraith

January 09, 2026

It's hard to believe that Gifting 2025 is nearly over, and what a season it has been! CactusChan appears to have an impressive lead at #1 with over 6 million gifts, but I understand that there are more Gifting mega-events planned before Gifting formally ends.

No is as good a time as any to remind you all to please open your gifts! There's no reason to wait, and clearing the database before a massive Gifting spree should help make the events go much more smoothly.

In case it was unclear, Gifting will officially end at the end of the day on Monday January 12th. I know this can be confusing to map to different time zones (we operate on EST), but the 12th will be the last full Gifting day. In other words, if you try to Gift on January 13th, you will be too late!

What Happens When Gifting Ends?

For those of you who have been through this process before, this will be old news, but for the newbies, here is a rundown of the process after the Gifting season closes.

After Gifting deactivates, the leaderboard will finalize its list of top 50 Gifters and Gifting functionality will be disabled. Within a few hours after Gifting, emails will be sent to the top 15 winners to offer congratulations, gratitude, and begin the process of creating all the winners' prizes. If you are in the top 15 and don't receive an email within the first few hours, or we don't hear back from you for a day, we will find alternative means of contacting you.

Next, we will distribute the completed score tier items (Gamma Druid Collection) to all the qualifying Gifters. This should also be completed an hour or 2 after Gifting ends. An in-game announcement will pop when the process is complete (you will need to relog to see your items).

The Secret and Silver Secret Packages will not open until they are all distributed by the top 15 winners. This typically takes about 1-2 weeks for all the winners to decide so don't expect them in your inventory immediately after Gifting ends.

This season has been incredible so far, featuring the highest Gifting score of all time! This is great news, but also humbling as it sets a high bar for EpicDuel in 2026! Last year we stretched ourselves out way too far with the volume of prizes (there are still a few still in progress from the 2024 season!), but this year should be much more manageable. We hope for your patience and understanding as we work to fulfill the our obligations to the winners and all participants in this record-smashing Gifting season!

Gamma Druid Guardian

The Gamma Druid Guardian bot, which can be unlocked at a Gifting score of 250,000, is finally ready for a skill reveal:

• Gamma Smash P/E: 15% defense ignore.
• Gamma Maul P/E: 100% damage; copies all debuffs active on the user to the target.

This new ability should allow for devastating retaliation potential and serve as an amazing compliment to the Gamma Pirate Parrot's Mimic skill.

The Legend of Jolly Jack

Endless M4tr1x has some new missions for you. If you've been following along with the weekly item releases, you may have noticed some of the items are based on the components of a powerful, rare bot. Endless M4tr1x now has the means to help you assemble these parts and give them new life, if you have the Credits:

• Legend of Jolly Jack P
• Legend of Jolly Jack E

Endless M4tr1x has also added 2 new items to her shop to complete the set:

• Jolly Jack's Husk P
• Jolly Jack's Husk E

Balance Changes

• (UA) Stun Grenade: Removed stun chance; disables target's armor for 1 turn.
• (UA) Overload: Removed stun chance; disables target's armor for 1 turn.

New Achievements

In addition to the new Australia Day 2026 achievement available in the Achievement shop, we've added new achievements to account for the massive scores this year. I never thought we'd need an achievement for 6 million gifts, but here we are!

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a very specific skill interaction in which Kaijuzilla's special breath attack drains the target's EP to 0, then (UA) Energy Parasite is used against the target. If the Energy gain from the breath attack was 23 Energy, only the +23 Energy gain would be seen due to value clamping. Now, the battle engine will consider the net value so +23 Energy gain vs. a -90 Energy loss would set the target's EP to 0 instead of 23.
• Added automatic resolution to failed currency checks when the client/server Credit values are mismatched for any reason. The client will automatically set to the server value.
• Attempting to retrain if stats are below the base values will automatically reset stats to minimums.

Tags: Nightwraith

December 30, 2025

EpicDuel's 2025 Gifting season marches on into the New Year! Join the fun, and help us have an epic start to 2026!

Solo Nightmare

With this update you will be able to start any 2v1 NPC fight as a 1v1 fight. Simply press the "OK" button while waiting for an ally to join. All achievements and drops will be the same for this solo boss fight, but you will have the added benefit of being about pause the battle whenever you wish!

This functionality also applies to other duo bosses like Armor Hazard and Legendary Dage.

New Items Added to Endless M4tr1x

• Jolly Jack's Skull P
• Jolly Jack's Skull E
• Jolly Jack's Wing P
• Jolly Jack's Wing E
• Arctic War Bear
• Arctic War Bear CC
• Arctic Warlord Claws P
• Arctic Warlord Claws E
• Arctic Warlord Axe P
• Arctic Warlord Axe E
• Arctic Warlord Staff P
• Arctic Warlord Staff E

Secret and Silver Secret Package Contents Reveal

We are pleased to finally reveal the full contents of the Silver and Secret Package contents below. Remember that your Secret and Silver Secret Packages will open some time after Gifting is completed so the winners have time to distribute their packages.

Silver Secret Package

• Frostbringer Armor A
• Frostbringer Armor B
• Frostbringer Armor A CC
• Frostbringer Armor B CC
• Frostbringer Greatsword P
• Frostbringer Greatsword E

Secret Package

• Frost Vindicator Armor A
• Frost Vindicator Armor B
• Frost Vindicator Armor A CC
• Frost Vindicator Armor B CC
• Frost Vindicator Greatsword P
• Frost Vindicator Greatsword E
• Frost Vindicator Arsenal P
• Frost Vindicator Arsenal E
• Frost Vindicator Revolver P
• Frost Vindicator Revolver E
• Frost Vindicator Rifle P
• Frost Vindicator Rifle E

Gifting Tier Prizes

We are finally ready to reveal the full prize list for all the Gifting score tiers for 2025! These prizes will be awarded at the conclusion of Gifting. We will announce when all the prizes are distributed, so you can relog and admire your hard-earned loot!

10,000 Gifts Given

• Gamma Druid Greatsword P
• Gamma Druid Greatsword E
• Gamma Druid Magnum P
• Gamma Druid Magnum E
• Gamma Druid Cannon P
• Gamma Druid Cannon E

100,000 Gifts Given

• Gamma Druid Armor A
• Gamma Druid Armor B
• Gamma Druid Armor A CC
• Gamma Druid Armor B CC
• Gamma Druid Arsenal P
• Gamma Druid Arsenal E
• Gamma Druid Bike
• Gamma Druid Bike CC

250,000 Gifts Given

• Gamma Druid Guardian P (Bot)
• Gamma Druid Guardian E (Bot)
• Gamma Druid Bear Morph
• Gamma Druid Bear Morph CC

2026

As we approach the new year, it's interesting to reflect on all the challenges and changes brought by 2025. This was a ROUGH year for the industry in general with mass layoffs, brutal mergers, game cancellations, and studio closures. Games have always been a risky business, but the fact that we were able to make it through to 2026 in this environment seems like an incredible accomplishment. A game is nothing without its players, and we couldn't remain online without all of you. Whether you're a big Gifter with a maxed out buddy list or someone who just logs in for a few battles and chat with friends, you keep EpicDuel open for business!

2026 will surely offer more challenges, but challenges can also bring growth and opportunity. We will meet the moment, and bring even more exciting content to this humble Flash RPG!

Duel On, 2026!

Tags: Nightwraith