May 23, 2025

Power Weekend

It's time for another EpicDuel Power Weekend! Get double experience and credits all weekend long! This is a great way to build Legendary ranks quickly and earn enough currency for that pricey item you've had your eye on. Since the upcoming Monday is a holiday for the USA, Power Weekend will extend all through Monday as well, instead of ending Sunday evening.

New Achievement

Open your achievement shop for the latest Heroic Memorial achievement, available for a limited time!

Quality of Life

EpicDuel is introducing two new significant quality of life changes:

• Core Removal: Finally! This seems like such a simple concept, and we're sorry it took so long to implement, but it really is so much nicer to be able to remove a core without installing a new one in its place. Note that locked cores will still not be removable.
• Item Locking: Sold an item accidentally? Never again! With this update you'll notice that nearly all items have a small lock icon next of the item preview in your inventory interface. Simply click this icon to lock the item, rendering unable to be sold! Want to sell it later? Click the button again to unlock the item and sell it! Though this new feature covers all item types, items that are currently unsellable, like key mission items and ultra-rares, will remain locked and unable to be sold no matter what. Also, when you equip a locked core item to a weapon or armor and remove it, the default state for that core will still be unlocked.

AdventureQuest: The Coloring Book of Lore

Did we mention that there's an official Artix Entertainment coloring book? In case you missed it, you can get this wonderful real life work of art from Heromart and get exclusive in-game rewards in EpicDuel as well as AQW, AQ3D, DF, and the original AdventureQuest!

Tags: Nightwraith

May 20, 2025

EpicDuel is back with some small changes that we didn't want to hold until Friday.

Bug Fixes/Changes

• Nightmare Luthiel Guard: Fixed a bug that rendered it undable to be equipped.
• Added a daily battle tracker to everyone's character stats page to the right of the total wins achievement. This tracker displays daily wins and win rates for 1v1, 2v2, and Juggernaut battles. Similar to losses, these stats are private and can only be seen by the user they belong to.
• The missions "Armored to the Teeth" and "Abominable? Adorable" can now be completed if with the seasonal Baby/Dark Yeti OR the permanent, Varium-only Baby/Dark Yeti.

Tags: Nightwraith

May 16, 2025

Become the Nightmare:

Everyone who has ever successfully defeated on of EpicDuel's extreme Nightmare bosses knows it can be a slog. To aid those who wish to grind out wins against Nightmare bosses for achievements and drops, we're adding new anti-Nightmare cores to the drop pools. These cores will have a 15% drop chance. Nightmare boss drops will also come equipped with anti-boss cores. If the Nightmare boss shares a drop pool with a non-Nightmare boss, those drops will also have anti-boss cores equipped where applicable.

The power increase for these cores are defined below:

• Primary (Bane): +400
• Sidearm (Shot): +200
• Blast (Auxiliary): +200
• Guard (Defenses): +300

The followed new cores have been added to their respective boss' drop pools:

• Nightmare Kartherax Bane
• Nightmare Kartherax Shot
• Nightmare Kartherax Blast
• Nightmare Kartherax Guard
• Nightmare Capt. Shoggoth Bane
• Nightmare Capt. Shoggoth Shot
• Nightmare Capt. Shoggoth Blast
• Nightmare Capt. Shoggoth Guard
• Nightmare Nightwraith Bane
• Nightmare Nightwraith Shot
• Nightmare Nightwraith Blast
• Nightmare Nightwraith Guard
• Nightmare Charfade Bane
• Nightmare Charfade Shot
• Nightmare Charfade Blast
• Nightmare Charfade Guard
• Nightmare Dage the Evil Bane
• Nightmare Dage the Evil Shot
• Nightmare Dage the Evil Blast
• Nightmare Dage the Evil Guard
• Nightmare Abyss Spider Bane
• Nightmare Abyss Spider Shot
• Nightmare Abyss Spider Blast
• Nightmare Abyss Spider Guard
• Nightmare Pumpkin Lord Bane
• Nightmare Pumpkin Lord Shot
• Nightmare Pumpkin Lord Blast
• Nightmare Pumpkin Lord Guard
• Nightmare Adjudicator Bane
• Nightmare Adjudicator Shot
• Nightmare Adjudicator Blast
• Nightmare Adjudicator Guard
• Nightmare Azrael Bane
• Nightmare Azrael Shot
• Nightmare Azrael Blast
• Nightmare Azrael Guard
• Nightmare Acatriel Bane
• Nightmare Acatriel Shot
• Nightmare Acatriel Blast
• Nightmare Acatriel Guard
• Nightmare Luthiel Bane
• Nightmare Luthiel Shot
• Nightmare Luthiel Blast
• Nightmare Luthiel Guard
• Nightmare Azrael's Guardian Bane
• Nightmare Azrael's Guardian Shot
• Nightmare Azrael's Guardian Blast
• Nightmare Azrael's Guardian Guard

Grab these cores today and make the Nightmare fear YOU!

Balance Changes:

• Crippling Strike: 22% (level 1) to 40% (level 10); removed Strength scaling
• Deadly Precision: auxiliary boost 11% (level 1) to 20% (level 10).
• Reroute (TLM): static auxiliary boost of 15% for all levels.
• Azrael’s Doombringer Beast P/E: reduces defences ~50% for 1 turn, 100% damage; blockable.

Bug Fixes / Changes:

• You can now purchase Battlepass levels all the way up to 60.
• Win rates are now hidden on PvP leaderboards.
• Bosses that use custom animation timelines such as Kartherax or Azrael are now able to use Brace instead of freezing when trapped by a skill that locks melee like Tentacle Prison or Permafrost.

Tags: Nightwraith

May 09, 2025

It's only been a week since Smoking Shadow made his appearance as a genuine Delta V boss battle, and I thought you might be interested in some stats!

As of this post people have claimed victory against his Legendary form 1920 times (170 uniques) while his Nightmare form has only been bested 1330 times (139 uniques). The very first teams to win against his Nightmare form were:

• Kratos Style -- MapWarCyber
• I Anubis I -- KingOfTheDay
• CactusChan -- Despair

It's hard to say exactly how quickly people will take down a new EpicDuel boss, if they can at all, but I suspect people were especially motivated by the generous drops! Some drops will still remain after this latest update so there's still a reason to Smoke the Shadow after today.

Those lucky and skilled enough to defeat either the Legendary or Nightmare bosses will receive the corresponding Legendary and Nightmare Smoking Shadow Slayer Achievements.

Giting Prize Progress

It's hard to believe, but we are finally nearing the end of the Gifting reward list. My hope is that we will be finished before the official start of summer. I always jinx myself with these declarations, but I'm confident in our ability to deliver the remaining gifts in an efficient manner. Thank you again for all your patience as we navigate this unprecedented wish list!

Balance Changes

• Azrael's Annihilation P/E: 100% --> 85% damage
• Plasma Grenade: Matched Energy cost with Barbed Grenade
• Skull Cracker/Smasher: 90 --> 100 Energy cost
• Sea King's Curse: Unusable --> Usable when Revitalization is active on target. Other armor-removing skills will now work against Revitalization as well.
• Hunter's Mark: 3 --> 2 turn duration

Tags: Nightwraith

May 02, 2025

NEW BOSS INCOMING: SMOKING SHADOW

A new boss has emerged from the shadows of Central Station and he's itching for a fight! As a wish from the most recent Gifting event, Smoking Shadow wanted to become a boss NPC in EpicDuel. I was happy to grant this request as it is sure to provide an ample challenge and enjoyable experience for the entire EpicDuel community! This boss will feature 3 modes: basic, Legendary, and Nightmare, each with their own achievements. Legendary and Nightmare modes will have their own exclusive drops with some only lasting a week! A few of Smoking Shadow's fellow Gifting winners were even generous enough to include their items as low percentage drops!

Legendary Drops:

• Kaidou --> 1%
• Yoru's Legend --> 3%
• Lele's:
  • Nika --> 1% (1 week only)
  • Enel --> 1% (1 week only)
• Alonzo Harris':
  • Brigade’s Inferno --> 5% (1 week only)
  • Alonzo’s Pulse --> 5% (1 week only)

Nightmare Drops:

• Draconic Igris --> 1% (1 week only)
• Yoru's Nightmare --> 3%
• Lele's:
  • Enma --> 1% (1 week only)
  • Shusui --> 1% (1 week only)
• Alonzo Harris':
  • Brigade’s Guardian --> 5% (1 week only)
  • Alonzo’s Shadow --> 5% (1 week only)
    
    

Those who are able to defeat Legendary or Nightmare Smoking Shadow before the update next Friday will also receive new achievements commending their alacrity and determination!

NPC Drop Improvements

Since this update features NPC drops so heavily, I decided to make some improvements to the NPC drop system. NPCs can now drop more than 1 rewards at a time! Also, each item now rolls for it's own independent drop chance. Previously, if we set item A to have a 50% drop chance and item B with a 50% drop chance, nothing else would ever be able to drop and you could only receive one drop at a time. Now an NPC can drop as many 50% drop items as we want! This should help ease frustrations when farming for low percentage drops since each item in an NPC's drop pool receive it's own drop chance, meaning it is possible, if unlikely, to receive multiple low percentage drops from one battle.

Restrictions have also been placed on NPC drops in other battle modes they may appear in aside from challenging them directly.

PvP and Arcade Drop Improvements

Good news! PvP drops, aside from mission/miscellaneous items (like Arcade Tokens and various shards/gems), will now auto-convert to 150 Credits, accumulating into one Credit prize at the end of battle if multiple duplicates are obtained.This will be joyous news for people who frequently use the Arcade games or play PvP battle modes extensively. Sellback on PvP drops that can be auto-converted have been normalized to 150 for drops going forward.

It's still possible to win a duplicate item if you upgrade the item you already have with Credits. This is to allow people to have multiple versions of the same item in different configurations if they wish.

This functionality has been extended to Arcade games as well. Duplicate rewards will skip the spin animation and provide a small notification box indicating the duplicate credits awarded. The duplicate rewards are configured to match the sellback of the items, saving you a trip to a nearby merchant.

This isn't quite as good as batch sellback, but I feel we're getting closer!

HeroMart STAR LORES Bundle

May the Fourth be with you… and the Fifth, and Sixth, too! The Star Lores Episode IV: A New Hype poster is an epic parody tribute to Star Wars, featuring original artwork by Crulon printed on premium heavy gloss stock. Measuring a stellar 24x36 inches, this collectible is signed (digitally, ofc) by the artist himself and certified FSC, making it the perfect piece for wall-art warriors and pun-loving padawans alike!

When you pick up this poster, you’ll also unlock in-game rewards across AdventureQuest 3D, AQWorlds, DragonFable, EpicDuel, and AdventureQuest Classic!

Tags: Nightwraith

April 25, 2025

This latest update will introduce many more balance changes, rollbacks, and Legendary reward bonuses! Plus, there is a major change to Simulation mode.

Balance Changes

•  General:
  • Increased super war item drop rate for 1v1 from 20% to 50%
  • Focus damage: Reverted back to +40 robot damage per focus level

• Mercenary:
  • Reactive Armor: Replaced with new skill, Deadly Precision: Increase auxiliary damage by a percentage of the weapon's damage bonus (min. 10%, max. 25%)

• Cyber Hunter:
  • Plasma Grenade: +1 damage per 0.3 --> 0.32 Technology

• Cores: Changed cooldowns on the following aux cores after use of normal aux from 4 to 3 turns:
  • Cold Ignition
  • Convergent Exsanguination
  • Sea King's Corruption
  • Skull Smasher

• Cores: Changed cooldowns on the following gun cores after use of normal sidearm from 3 to 2 turns:
  • Skull Cracker
  • Sea King's Venom
  • Corrosive Shot
  • Core Corruption
  • Darkeater's Insanity
  • Exsanguinating Spear
  • Blood Shot
  • Piercing Shot
  • Energy Shot
  • Pacify

• Blood Mage:
  • Fireball: Remove Technology requirement
  • Red Vision: Requires 24 --> 16 Dexterity at level 1, +2 per level

• Tactical Mercenary:
  • Reroute: -2% to all values; add effect that boosts auxiliary damage by a percentage of weapon bonus
  • Barbed Grenade: Scales with Dexterity --> Technology; scaling value 0.28 --> 0.32; removed stun chance
  • Annihilation: +1 damage per 0.3 --> 0.32 Technology

• Robots:
  • Necrosis: 2.5 --> 1.8 def/res reduction per target level (max debuff 130 --> 100); 85% --> 100% damage
  • Azrael's Affliction P/E: User gains 100% --> 50% of poison as HP
  • Azrael's Affliction P/E (NPC): 200 --> 500 max poison per tick; user gains 100% --> 40% of poison as HP
  • Deltamancer Disintegration P/E: Remove stun; add effect that grants user 20% of target's current energy (no energy drain, just gain)
  • Minotaur's Rage P/E: Removable --> Not removable by Cleanse/Saevussax Heart/Forbidden Pact

• Bug Fixes/QoL:
  • Destruction (aux) gives +6 str instead of +3
  • Limited-use stat cores no longer drop from PvP victories or daily rewards

Simulation Mode Changes

Simulation mode was a battle mode introduced years ago as a way for struggling players to climb their way back to victory after a nasty losing streak, earning Credits and experience through relatively easy NPC battles to gain much needed levels and Credits without hurting their win/loss ratio. This mode, however, was unlimited, and it was possible to battle infinitely. The buff to battle rewards awhile ago made it very lucrative to camp out in Simulation mode to the exclusion of all others. This was not the intention of this mode. AE has plenty of other games where you can stop AI-controlled enemies for fun and profit, but when presented with hard, unpredictable PvP battles or easy, predictable PvE battles, gamers will often choose the path of least resistance.

To address this, we've implemented a daily limit to Simulation victories. This limit will work in a similar way to NPC and Juggernaut battles. You will earn rewards for 300 victories, but after that, the rewards will stop entirely. This might seem like a huge nerf to rewards, but 300 NPC wins + 300 Simulation wins + 300 Juggernaut wins can still earn one a decent daily haul.

Legendary Rank-Up Rewards

As a final addition to this week's update, you will receive a bonus of 20,000 Credits for every new Legendary Rank obtained. Much like level-up rewards, you will receive this in your mailbox. Unfortunately, this rewards is not retroactive.

Tags: Nightwraith