EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

July 23, 2021

Cores Reforged

Bot Core Changes:

There are a lot of robots in EpicDuel that haven't seen much use since their introduction. We've set out to turn the spotlight on some severely underutilized robots while gently nerfing the most power. We'll be curious to see if any of these changes can bring dusty old bots back into the spotlight. Monkakazi meta? We'll see!

• Assault Bot
  • Cleanse: Increased cleanse effect from 75% to 90%
• Yetis (all)
  • Chomp: 100% damage for all
• Pink Yeti:
  • Base damage lowered to 160
• Azrael’s Borg
  • Heart Attack: Description matches 85% effect.
• Bio Borg:
  • Thorns: Damage reflected raised to 85%
• Monkakazi
  • Detonation : Reusable with a 3-turn cooldown; extra damage is uncapped; damage is based on 2x the difference between opponent’s highest and lowest stats
• Cyber Yeti
  • Ice Shield: Removed damage reduction effect; Can be applied to allies; does not work properly when applied to NPC allies
• Gamma Bot
  • Gamma Fire & Punch : To help it compete with other powerful bots, the physical attack buffed to %110
• Black Abyss
  • Necrosis: Buffed to 2.4 from 2.0
• Tactical Shark Drone:
  • Bloodletting Bite: Reduced to 25% lifesteal
  • Grenade Storm: Drain all targets’ Rage by 25%
• Cyber Shark
  • Feeding Frenzy : 100% initial damage
• Botanical Borg
  • Spore Bombardment : Defense raised from 10% to 25%.
• Infernal Android
  • Infernal Overload : To make it competitive against the Mini-Rex I want to try an alterative to buffing the raw power. The bot is now multi-use with a 4-turn cooldown; Max lowered to 115%.
• Mini Rex
  • Dino Fire : 2-turn warmup
• Rusted Mini Rex
  • Dino Fire: 2-turn warmup 

Skill Core Changes:

This update will also introduce a host of changes to underutilized cores. The Molten/Plague cores in particular could introduce some interesting synergies.

• Spreadfire (sidearm): 95% damage against 2 targets.
• Spreadfire (aux): 90% damage against 2 targets.
• Nanosteel Armor: Decreases the ignored defense of incoming critical strikes by 85% instead of 35%
• Azrael's Torment: Increased initial damage from 85% to 100% initial damage; Energy cost reduced from 125 to 90; fixed description to match 85% debuff reduction
• Phase Shift: Cooldown reduced to 1
• Molten Bullet: Embed a super-heated bullet into target. Use sidearm to detonate, adding 10% damage per turn the target was hit (max 3 turns). *Max 30% extra damage ( Field Medic no longer removes Molten Bullet.)
• Deep Plague: Plague target. Strike target to detonate plague, adding 10% damage per turn the target was plagued (max 3 turns).* Max 30% extra damage( Field Medic no longer removes plague.)
• Molten Shrapnel: Embed super-heated shrapnel into target. Use auxiliary to detonate, adding 10% damage per turn the target was hit (max 3 turns). * Max 30% extra damage (Field Medic no longer removes Molten Shrapnel)
• Saw Strike E &. P: Rip through 25% of your target's defense with a 20% crit chance!
• Pacify: Lower target's Rage gain by 85% for 5 turns.
• Hair Trigger: Energy cost 0; No longer consumes Rage; Using skill with full Rage still consumes Rage.
• Infernal Fury: Mini-Rage no longer consumes Rage. Using skill with full Rage still consumes Rage.
• Primary Mastery: Damage added now stacks with other Mastery Cores*
• Gun Mastery: Adds +40 damage to basic sidearm attacks; Now stacks with other Mastery Cores*
• Auxiliary Mastery: Adds +40 damage to basic auxiliary attacks; Now stacks with other Mastery Cores*

*Mastery Core Addendum 9-21-2021:
I chose poorly when I used the word "stack". I meant that they could be used without negating the effects of the other Mastery Cores if equipped. In a previous update, I tried implementing a damage bonus for the cores, but found that if you equipped Primary Mastery and Gun Mastery or Aux Mastery, only the bonus from one core would apply. By "stacking" I meant that you could equip all 3 and receive the corresponding bonus on the corresponding attack type. Currently, if you equip the Primary core, you get the bonus for primary, Aux gets a bonus for aux, and so on. They don't stack like 35+40+40 as that would probably be too extreme a bonus for regular attacks. Sorry for the confusion.

That's all for now, but there is still plenty of room to adjust more underused cores and introduce new Credit versions of powerful Varium cores in the coming weeks.

Translation Expansion

Thanks to the help of our diligent translation team, we've added Portuguese translations for several of the more recent mission chains.  A good start, but there are still hundreds of missions awaiting translation so expect more each week until we're fully caught up. We'll also follow up with Spanish translations on an ongoing basis.

Quality of Life

Give your mouse button a break when changing your hairstyle or helmet because now styles can be cycled 10 at a time while holding the Shift key.

Also, to help duelists that are low on cash but want to try all the cores and stock up on seasonals, we're increasing the Omega Wolf Shard sellback price once again!

E'ry Day Skills 'r' Shufflin'

It's not secret that some loathsome souls resort to using special programs to play EpicDuel automatically. Why do people do that? I don't know. I do know that it's frustrating and unfair to folks who play the game legitimately so we've implemented some measure to counter their efforts (or lack thereof). 

First of all, Skill shuffling is back, baby! Now skill-tree skills can randomly shuffle in the first 5 rounds of a duel! Weapon/Armor cores and bots do not shuffle. This was a measure introduced several phases ago to combat bots. It's not a perfect solution, but if it makes even one botter cry, it will have been worth it.

Another measure to combat botting is a random placement for the Close button after reach battle. Sometimes it can be challenging to find against certain backgrounds, but, again, worth it ruin a botter's weekend.

I debated mentioning these changes, but since they'll be noticed and reported as bugs otherwise, I'll make a note here that these effects are intentional and not bugs. Speaking of bugs...

Bug Fixes

• Updated descriptions for skills that trigger at Critical Health (40% instead of 35%):
  • Hawk Guardian E
  • Hawk Guardian P
  • Wolf's Fury
  • Yeti Fury
  • Lifeline

Happy 11 Years Alley Cat!

Happy 11 Year Anniversary to the best cat in all of Delta V and beyond. Thank you for all that you've done and continue to do every day for the EpicDuel community.

If any of you happen to be around the train hub, you may have a chance to thank Alley's newly introduced avatar in person!

Tags: Nightwraith