EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

December 08, 2025

EpicDuel's 2025 Gifting event is NOW LIVE! Login now and claim your daily reward and join the Gifting fun! Remember to review the rules posted in this megapost here!

Also, remember that opening gifts will work differently this year! There is no more /open1000gifts command. Instead, you can open your gifts from a button inside your mailbox. This handy button will show you how many gifts you have and allow you to open up to 100,000 Gifts at once. We may reenable the /open1000gifts if the extra convenience is required, but we will need more time to fully decouple the command from the old system. We also plan to implement a way to open all other gift mails like Daily Login and Level Up rewards.

Faction Rewards

To add some incentive for Factions to gift aside from the leading Faction, we're offering incentives for the 2nd and 3rd place factions. We will also try to add a place to display top Factions on the Gifting leaderboard before the end of Gifting.

• 1st Place - In addition to the Faction reward, all eligible members receive 1 Secret Package and 1 Silver Secret Package
• 2nd Place - All eligible members receive 1 Secret Package
• 3rd Place -  All eligible members receive 1 Silver Secret Package

Fameall

Did you know there is a way to get Fame FAST? Type /fameall into the public chat field to fame all eligible players on your screen!

Alonzo's Rares

Prominent EpicDuel community member and stream Alonzo Harris generously offered his personalized items be offered by Oz in Central Station!

• Brigade’s Inferno
• Alonzo’s Pulse
• Brigade’s Guardian
• Alonzo’s Shadow

Balance Changes

• Legendary Rank Adjustments:
  • +20 Primary Damage → +10
  • +20 Gun Damage → +10
  • +20 Aux Damage → +10
  • +20 Bot Damage → +10
  • +20 Defense → +10
  • +20 Resistance → +10
  • +20 Medical Mastery → +10
  • +50 NPC Crusher → +60
  • +50 NPC Armor → +60
• Underdog Adjustments:
  • Underdog I: Grants +1 to Dex/Tech
  • Underdog II: Grants +1 to Str/Dex/Tech
  • Underdog III: Grants +1 to Str/Dex and +2 to Tech
  • Underdog IV: Grants +1 to Str and +2 to Dex/Tech
  • Underdog V: Grants +2 to Str/Dex/Tech
  • Underdog VI: Grants +3 to Str and +2 to Dex/Tech
  • Underdog VII: Grants +4 to Str/Dex/Tech
  • Underdog VIII: Grants +4 to Str and +5 to Dex/Tech
  • Underdog IX: Grants +5 to Str/Dex/Tech
  • Underdog X: Grants +5 to Str and +6 to Dex/Tech
  • Underdog bonuses end at Legendary Rank 55 instead of Rank 79, meaning the last Rank at which you can get an Underdog bonus is Rank 55.
• Robots:
  • Gamma Parrot Punisher P/E: 100% dmg → 105% dmg; 10% Energy steal
•  Cores:
  • Gamma Rage (primary): Adds a 15% flat Rage boost for every primary attack.
  • Gamma Rage (Sidearm): Adds a 15% flat Rage reduction for every Sidearm attack.
  • Gamma Rage (Auxiliary): Adds a 15% flat Rage reduction for every Auxiliary attack.

Quality of Life

• You can swap through skill augments even after 1 point or more is invested in that skill tree node.
• You will retain your hairstyle when you class change or gender change as long as you own the style you are changing to. While many styles are linked across class and gender so buying one style grants access to all styles for that style number. However, some styles, particularly older ones, are not linked so buying the male version of Hunter style 13 only grants access to that one style. If you change class to a Mage without owning the male Mage style 13, you will revert to the default style.

Tags: Nightwraith

December 03, 2025

EpicDuel is LIVE with the last update (hopefully) before the Gifting launch update on Monday December 8! Gifting will activate as soon as it's ready, but we're aiming for early afternoon EST. If you are interested in participating, please refresh yourself on the rules posted earlier!

Balance Changes

• Gamma Pirate Promo:
  • Gamma Brand (primary, active): 90 Energy cost → 0 Energy cost
  • Gamma Rage (primary, passive): +2 str → 0; +15% Rage to user for every outgoing Primary attack.
  • Gamma Rage (gun, passive): +2 dex → 0; +15% Rage reduction to target per hit.
  • Gamma Rage (aux, passive) +2 supp → 0; +15% Rage reduction to target per hit.
  • Gamma Guts (armor active core): Added ability to absorb energy poison dmg as well from skills such as Frostbite. Does not work on one-hit energy drain skills or Energy stealing skills like Soul Siphon or Energy Parasite.
• Cores:
  • Infernal Offering: 114 Energy gain over 2 turns instead of 1 for a total of 342.
  • Prime Technology Boost (armor passive only): +7 → +8
  • Strength Boost (armor passive only): +3 → +7
  • Dexterity Boost (armor passive only): +3 → +7
  • Support Boost (armor passive only): +3 → +7
  • Botanical Entrapment: 85% dmg → 100%; 25% healing debuff → 20%
  • Zeus Might: -40 Technology → -27 Technology; 85% dmg → 100%
• Bots:
  • Blood Wyvernpyre Bot Special (Incineration P/E): 90% dmg → 100%
• Bounty Hunter:
  • (UA) Energy Shield: 30% ep drain on incoming attacks → 20%
  • (UA1) Venom strike: 48 poison / 48 ep drain → 40 poison / 40 ep drain
  • (UA2) Blood Lust: Level 10 23% Lifesteal, 5% ep drain → 21% Lifesteal, 5% ep drain
• Mercenary:
  • (EA) Static Smash 85% dmg → 100% dmg
• Tech Mage:
  • (EA) Assimilation 85% dmg → 100% dmg
• Tactical Mercenary:
  • (UA 1) Toxic Grenade: Level 1 48 poison dmg → 45
  • (UA) Energy Shield: 30% Energy drain on incoming attacks → 20%
  • (EA) Barbed Grenade: Scaling 0.26 per Technology → 0.29; +15 dmg per Level → +20
• Cyber Hunter:
  • (DA) Venom Strike: Level 1 120 poison → 115 poison
  • (UA) Cyber Edge (passively increase primary and gun dmg): Level 1 3% → 1%
• Blood Mage:
  • (EA) Energy Parasite: Level 1 18% → 19%

Quality of Life

• Checked settings now save after a relog.
• Battle results screen shows current War Item count after PvP battles. Due to a data timing challenge, this count doesn't include the new War Item added if you received one as a PvP drop.

Bug Fixes

• 10x Arcade button was failing to work in some cases.
• (EA2) Tactical Grenade title text not showing properly.
• Launcher news not displaying graphics properly.

Tags: Nightwraith

November 21, 2025

Login to EpicDuel's latest update of balance changes, bug fixes, and quality of life improvements!

Secret Package Preview

Acatriel has been hard at work crafting the fierce Frost Vindicator set for the winners of this year's Secret Package!

Gifting Score Tier Rewards Preview

We're pleased to share a preview of the Gamma Druid Collection, which will be this year's Gifting Score Tier reward. Items will be awarded to those who achieve these score tiers at the end of Gifting:

• 10,000
• 100,000
• 250,000
• 1,000,000 - instead of a Gamma Druid item, the achievers of the 1,000,000 gifting threshold may select an unmodified Legacy Rare (aside from Founder). This applies even if the person who achieves 1,000,000 gifts does not reach the top 15. This has never happened before in Gifting history, but it's certainly possible.

Bug Fixes/Changes

• Faction Manager: Faction Founders and Officers can view the win count of all Faction members by hovering over the member's name. You can only only view the records of members of your own Faction.
• Favorited and locked cores will now properly sort when equipping cores to an item.
• All skills with multiple augments of the same category (i.e. UA, EA, etc...) now have numerical indicators to differentiate (i.e. UA 1, UA 2).
• (EA 1) Static Charge: 85% dmg → 65% dmg; +4% per lvl → +3%; No rage gain; +1% per 3.5 tech → 3.25.
• (EA 2) Static Charge: +2% per lvl → +3%; Scaling +1% per 6.25 tech → 6.50 tech.
• Poison Barbs: Inflicts 100% dmg instead of 85% dmg.
• EA Energy Parasite: Now scales at 1% per lvl instead of 2%.
• Super scope: Skill description on rollover was cutoff.
• Field Medic: The last 2 levels scaled at a faster rate that the previous levels. Now all levels will increase by the same amount for all Field Medics and augments.
  • EA Field Medic - Levels 8 to 10 increases +12 per level instead of + 15.
  • UA Field Medic - Levels 8 to 10 increase by +18 per level instead of +23.
  • Field Medic - Levels 8 to 10 increase by +35 per level instead of +45. 
• Heal Over Time and Damage Over Time interaction: When near full HP and the user appies a HoT skill like (EA) Field Medic, but then the opponent inflicts poison, the battle engine was clamping the health gain to the max HP instead of calculating the net gain/loss from the poison, resulting in a net loss since the max HP clamp was preventing the full HP gain. Now the proper net calculation will apply.

Tags: Nightwraith

November 07, 2025

Prepare for Gifting

To prepare for Gifting, the Epic Gifting Supporter 2025 achievements have been activated on all relevant promotional packages. I know this is a bit earlier than usual, but I won't be able to update next week so it seemed better to make the switch sooner than later.

Battlepass Rares Restocked

Look to The Challenger for returning Battlepass rares from previous seasons you may have missed!

• Kaiju Slayer Battlepass
• Azrael's Doombringer Battlepass
• Deltamancer Battlepass

Battlepass styles are also available for purchase for Credits or Varium, depending if the style was Basic or Enhanced when it originally appeared.

Infernal Guardian Returns

Infernal Guardian promotional items are available for sale at Kraggor in the Infernal Mines.

War Shop Update

Morzyd's War Shop has been updated with new rares from previous wars!

• Carcinisation Cannon P (WS)
• Carcinisation Cannon E (WS)
• Carcinisation Capper P (WS)
• Carcinisation Capper E (WS)
• Carcinisation Cuirass (WS)
• Carcinisation Cuirass CC (WS)
• Carcinisation Cruiser (WS)

Seasonal Rares Return

Seasonal rares have returned throughout the shops of Delta V! Grab any you may have missed throughout the years!

War Cooldown

To make sure we don't have a War overlap for Gifting, I've nudged the start of the next war by a couple days.

Power Week!

In lieu of an update next week, I will be activating Power Hour for the entire week, ending November 16th!

Battlepass Quality of Life

Last week the Battlepass temporarily lapsed because I set the end date incorrectly. Thus, I have improved the the Battlepass UI to indicate time remaining. This time is subject to change because Battlepasses require a lot of content and setup so it's difficult to schedule the next one precisely. I also updated the main Battlepass button to disable when Battlepass has ended to prevent endless pressing on a "stuck" button.

Bug Fixes/Changs:

• Gamma Brand: listed as Armor core in marketing when it is actually intended to be a Primary core.
• Plasma Cannon (PA): Fixed description to read a ignoring Defense instead of Resistance.
• Static Grenade (EA): +10 per level --> +15 per level
• Static Grenade (UA): +18 per level --> +15 per level
• Kernel Panic (DA): Improves 1% per level instead of 2%.
• Azrael's Doombringer Beast: Skill no longer lasts longer than intended in the event of a stun. Duration now properly tied to round count instead of turn count. Healing debuff applies to both attacker and defender for duration of debuff.
• Energy Shield (UA) (drain attacker's Energy based on 30% incoming damage): Energy reduction was calculated first so if the player had 50 Energy and lost 100 Energy, but also gained 50 Energy from another skill, the Energy loss would backstop at 0 so the net gain/loss would be +50. This has been changed to calculate the gain first, then the loss, resulting in a net gain/loss of 0 in this scenario. Energy loss damage bubble will display the net amount of Energy loss if the loss is greater than 0. The case has also been handled in which a skill increases Energy above the maximum, but another skill reduces Energy. For example, if a player has 400 Energy with a 500 max Energy and they gain 250 Energy but lose 100 Energy, they will have 500 HP after the net calculation.This should make Energy gain/loss scenarios easier to predict.

Tags: Nightwraith

October 31, 2025

Legion Pumpkin Lord Drops

With this update, we've added several new Undead Legion-themed PvP drops!

• Legion Pumpkin Lord Saber P
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Saber E
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Sword P
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Sword E
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Glaive P
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Glaive E
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Talons P
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Talons E
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Fangs P
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Fangs E
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Hatchet P
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Hatchet E
• Legion Pumpkin Lord War Axe P
• Legion Pumpkin Lord War Axe E
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Staff P
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Staff E
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Summoner P
• Legion Pumpkin Lord Summoner E

 Two new NPC drops have been added to the Nightmare Pumpkin Lord boss!

• Nightmare Pumpkin Lord Slayer P
• Nightmare Pumpkin Lord Slayer E

Bido's Bolts

Bido has added new Limited-Rares to his shop!

• Dr. Voltforge's Sword P
• Dr. Voltforge's Sword E
• Dr. Voltforge's Arsenal P
• Dr. Voltforge's Arsenal E

HalloWarrior 5.0

The newest HalloWarrior 5.0 Achievement is available in the seasonal Achievement Shop!

Balance Changes

• (DA) Smoke Screen: +1 Dexterity per 2.5 --> 3.3 Technology
• (UA) Cyber Edge (Primary and Sidearm): 2%-15% --> 3%-12% bonus damage
• (EA) Plasma Grenade: +24 --> +15 damage per level
• (EA) Barbed Grenade: +24 --> +15 damage per level
• (UA) Terrify (stun): 15% stun chance --> 10% Defense/Resistance debuff; 3 --> 4 turn duration

New Gift Interface

If you check out your mailbox, you will notice that you see a new button for opening gifts, along with a display showing your current gift count. This is part on a ongoing overhaul to improve the user experience of opening thousands of gifts. While seeing a new gift in your mailbox was a cool experience, it tended to lose its luster after gift mail 1001 or so.  When the feature is completed, you should be able to open up to 100,000 gifts in a matter of seconds!

Faction Gifting Rules Addendum

Since we added incentives for Factions in this upcoming Gifting season, I've seen disturbing rumblings about people thinking of selling Faction member slots. The best way to handle this potential problem is cut it off at its head and declare that in order to be eligible to sharing or Faction Gifting prizes, a Faction member has to have been a member of a Faction before this post went up on October 31, 2025. Anyone who joins a Faction after this will not be eligible for the prizes. If you're reading this and you're already in a Faction or have been in a Faction for months or years, you've got nothing to fear.

I really wish we didn't have to be so strict and add all these rules and caveates, but scammers are like water: they always find a crack.

Coming Soon!

Next week, we will be returning seasonal rares to the shops, adding old Battlepass rares to The Challenger, and updating the Epic Supporter 2025 achievements to their Gifting counterparts. I know this is earlier than usual, but due to a schedule complication, it will be better to do this earlier than later.

Tags: Nightwraith

October 24, 2025

New Evolved Pumpkin Weapons

New seasonal rare (and some limited rare) weapons available at Gourdy and The Pumpkin Lord in the Biological Preserve!

• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Saber P
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Saber E
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Sword P (Pumpkin Lord Only!)
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Sword E (Pumpkin Lord Only!)
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Glaive P
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Glaive E
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Talons P
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Talons E
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Fangs P
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Fangs E
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Hatchet P
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Hatchet E
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord War Axe P
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord War Axe E
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Staff P
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Staff E
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Summoner P
• Evolved Pumpkin Lord Summoner E

Returning Harvest seasonal rares are also available at Bido and Snork!

Many more weapons are planned for release next week to send off October with style!

Gifting 2025

If you're thinking of participating in this year's Gifting event, please read the previous Design Notes covering all the new rule and prize changes.

New HeroMart Bundles!

In addition to collecting this week's in-game seasonals, you can also collect physical HeroMart merchandise complete with exclusive in-game items in other Artix Entertainment games, including your favorite, EpicDuel!

Tags: Nightwraith