EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

August 01, 2025

The Hephael Knight Showcase Battlepass is NOW LIVE! Login now to earn the latest collection of Hephael-themed weapons, armors, morphs, bots, and more crafted with care by Acatriel!

Who or what is Hephael? When the first colonists arrived on Delta V, they brought the myths of the old worlds with them, laying the foundation for new legends to emerge. To the superstitious of Delta V, Hephael is the god of the son and god of the forge, offering aid to followers and desolation to non-believers. Though the dominance of technology suppressed such beliefs during Delta V's peak, desperate times have caused the citizens to seek salvations through more primitive, but no less potent, means.

So you all know what you're getting into with the new bots available in this season, the skill descriptions are listed below:

• Hephael's Avatar P
  • Hephael's Slash P: Summon Hephael's Avatar to inflict Physical Damage.
  • Hephael's Incantation P: Lock all target's skills that require Energy for 2 rounds.
• Hephael's Avatar E
  • Hephael's Slash E: Summon Hephael's Avatar to inflict Energy Damage.
  • Hephael's Incantation E: Lock all target's skills that require Energy for 2 rounds.
• Hephael's Frenzy: Convert 5% of outgoing dmg. to Energy if dmg. is over 50. 
• Twilight Strike: Increases Primary Critical chance to 75% when HP is below 30%.
• Twilight Aim: Increases Sidearm Critical chance to 75% when HP is below 30%.
• Twilight Blast: Increases Auxiliary Critical chance to 75% when HP is below 30%.
• Twilight Shield: Increases Defense/Resistance 15% when HP is below 30%.

New Skill Augments

This update, we're starting the grand implementation of skill augments. Eventually each skill will have at least 2 augments. If you're interested in the math, that means each class will have up to 531,441 potential skill combinations! Augments will come in one of four different varieties:

• Duration Augment (DA): Changes the duration of the effect of the skill, and either strengthens or weakens the effect accordingly.
• Utility Augment (UA): Changes one or more of the effects of the skill to another effect.
• Polarity Augment (PA): Changes the damage type of the skill to the opposite of its base version.
• Efficiency Augment (EA): Makes the skill weaker in one way and stronger in another.

For this release we're starting small with a skill that all 6 classes possess: Field Medic. This essential skill will receive 2 augments.

• (EA) Field Medic: Heal yourself or an ally over 2 turns. Cures poison.
• (UA) Field Medic: Heal yourself or an ally and remove debuffs. Cures poison.

To access these augments, retrain your character, then reduce your points in Field Medic to 1. That will reveal left and right arrows you can use to choose the augments. All skill augments will work this way when they are eventually introduced.

Please be patient as we fill out the class skill trees with new augments in the coming weeks, creating 144 new skills. We'll do our best to balance the updates so all classes get equal attention without overwhelming balance with too many options at once.

Special thanks are due to the community that suggested and contributed to these new skill augment ideas! This would definitely not be possible without your dedication and input. With great persistence and a little luck, this change could lead EpicDuel into an exciting new era of PvP action!

Seasonal Rare Reset

Next week, all seasonal rares will reset to their normal schedule, meaning this is your last chance to collect any remaining out-of-season seasonal rares you had your eye on!

Epic To-Do:

Here's a taste of what we have cooking up in the coming weeks:

• Skill Augments: As stated above, completing the 144 (132 after today) skill augments will be the main focus of the coming weeks. 
• Gifting rewards: Hopefully this is the month all prizes are complete! Will the latest Battlepass out of the way, progress should be much faster.
• New Promo: It's been ages! Acatriel is steadily working on an epic new promo!

Tags: Nightwraith

July 25, 2025

Unleash the unstoppable power of Infinity! Feel the pulse of legendary battles where every second counts the very moment your power level shatters the limits of time itself! Channel your inner champion, harness the forces of the universe, and push beyond Infinity!

Get this gorgeous poster today to claim Epic rewards many AE games, including your favorite post-apocalyptic Flash-based PvP MMO, EpicDuel!

• Achievement - Phantom Chronomancer
  • Weapon - Phantom Chrono Scythe
  • Weapon - Phantom Chrono Bow
  • Weapon - Phantom Chrono Blaster

(Collector's Edition Exclusive)*

• Achievement - Phantom Time Wielder*
  • Weapon - Specter Chrono Scythe*
  • Weapon - Specter Chrono Bow*
  • Weapon - Specter Chrono Blaster*

*NOTE: Collector's Edition Exclusives are not included with a purchase of a Regular Edition.

Content Creators Unite!

For ages EpicDuel has offered special achievements for creating Youtube videos. At the time, this was the best way we could think of to reward and encourage content creators (I think the achievements are so old that "content creator" wasn't even a widely used term yet) in the community to produce videos featuring EpicDuel. Awarding these achievements was a very cumbersome and time-consuming manual process that was very antiquated and unsustainable, especially with limited resources to review dozens, if not hundreds, of videos for quality and content. 

Fortunately, Beleen has helped establish a new content creator program that serves the same purpose as our existing Youtube video achievement, but centralized and more efficient. Although this system has been available for awhile, I wanted to highlight it here to make EpicDuel's community aware that this new system has fully replaced the old Youtuber achievements. If you didn't catch the original Design Notes post, I'll repost it below for you now:

What are the rules/qualifications?

• The Content Creators must actively make videos for, or stream, one or more Artix Entertainment games.
• No jerks: We will not grant badges to Hacking/Cheating/Trolling/Bullying/Illegal/Harassment creators.
• That rule above deserves additional clarification. We 100% support free speech & constructive criticism while ensuring a positive, respectful community.
• The "THEY DID WHAT!?" Rule: If a formerly great creator turns out to be... uh.... not great. The badges will be removed from them.
• If a content creator hits a major milestone... certain number of years making videos, or a certain number of hours streamed, send us a tip so we can give them (or make) a badge for it!

In case you missed it, here is the link to the nomination form:

Nominate video makers and streamers to receive a Content Creator Badge!

More War Shop Armors

Morzyd's War Shop has been stocked with additional War Prize armors! 

Bug Fixes / Changes

• Super War items can be purchased in unlimited quantities from the ammo depots.
• Updated vitals bar to show Critical Health threshold
• Armor-destroying skills can still be used with armor-destroying skills that have additional effects. For example, you can use Sea King's Curse against an opponent that has already been hit with a Hammer Grenade. The armor debuff doesn't stack, so this won't conflict with already applied skills.
• Gender-specific armors can be purchased regardless of the character's current gender.

Hephael Knight Battlepass

The Hephael Knight Battlepass is scheduled to be released next Friday. If you still have some items you need to collect on the current Battlepass, you still have some time! I know it seems silly to comment on this when the current Battlepass has been out since April, but somehow we always get a few emails from people mystified that the Battlepass that was in game for over 3 months is suddenly GONE! 

It might be better to have a countdown timer to show the exact amount of time remaining for each Battlepass, but I prefer to keep the dates flexible depending on when the next Battlepass items are ready. 

Tags: Nightwraith

July 18, 2025

Rare Cores Return (Kind of)

Some cores in EpicDuel have remained time-gated for over a decade. Since this is a PvP game, it's inherently unfair to restrict crucial abilities based on rarity. Thus, we have made some of those previously rare cores available to new players (*new* as in players who started playing after 2014) with a new coat of paint! While these cores have the same functionality as the rare cores, they are visually distinct. While this may seem like a bad thing to those who already possess the rare cores, please understand that it is impossible to balance a PvP game if certain cores are permanently unavailable to the general population.

New Items on Nightwraith:

• Nightwraith's Curse
• Nightwraith's Curse Aura
• Nightwraith's Override

New Item on Ylwa:

• Ylwa's Way: Omega Baby Yeti normal and special attack dmg. increased by 10%.

New Item on Captain Murdoc:

• Murdoc's Method: Omega Dark Yeti normal and special attack dmg. increased by 10%.

War Shop Update

Morzyd the Scavenger's War Shop was updated with many new armors. This is excellent timing since the current war is ending soon. Do you have enough influence to claim the Emperor Prize with 2 War Tokens?

Balance Changes

Before we introduce new additions to the skill trees, we have a new round of balance changes for you!

• Deadly Precision: 10% - 25% --> 6% - 15% auxiliary damage boost
• Reroute: 15% --> Flat +30 aux damage boost
• Double Strike: Removed Dexterity scaling; base values 25% at level 1, +2% per level
• Malfunction: +1 Technology per 4 --> 5 Dexterity
• Plasma Grenade: -25 Energy cost to all levels
• Crippling Strike: +30 Energy cost to all levels
• Concentration: Added a minimum damage threshold for HP gain (over 50 damage)
• Incensory: 120 --> 105 Energy cost; 3 --> 2 turn duration
• Omega Override: 110 --> 100 Energy cost

In Progress / Coming Soon

• Skill Tree Expansion
• Gifter Prizes
• Battlepass

Tags: Nightwraith

July 11, 2025

Skill Tree Overhaul

In perhaps the biggest change to EpicDuel since Omega phase started, EpicDuel is introducing expanded skill trees for all class! This means that all skills will be able to have two or more alternate skills that you can choose when retraining, opening up nearly infinite potential for build combinations. With this latest release we updated the live database to support these new changes. If everything is works fine with no major crashes or explosions, we will proceed to build and introduce new alternative skills for all classes. This process will probably take awhile, as skills take time to develop, test, and balance, but it's an exciting step towards breathing new life into EpicDuel's aging battle engine.

To reiterate, you will not see the new skills yet after this update!  The primary goal of this update is to lay the groundwork on the live database and test stability. If you don't notice any changes...that's a good thing! I means the update is stable and didn't break our existing skill systems.

Also, since this update contains substantial changes to the server and client code you should clear your launcher or browser cache to make sure you have the latest version!

War Shop Expanded

Morzyd's War Shop has been expanded yet again with classic War Prize armors!

Quality of Life Changes

Buff tooltips below player vitals now display the duration of active buffs and debuffs.

NPC Rage has been reverted.

Battlepass in Progress

The new Hephael Knight Battlepass is currently in progress! Enjoy this preview of the upcoming items.

Tags: Nightwraith

July 04, 2025

EpicDuel is celebrating the 4th of July with some major quality of life upgrades and the addition of dozens of mutating War Prizes to Morzyd's War Shoppe.

Home Inventory Update

The home editing interface now has a toggle to select sell mode. This will help prevent instances of accidentally selling items and make it easier to see the smaller home items for placement.

As the final update to Homes for awhile, home items can now be sold in bulk. This only applies to Credit items. Varium items must still be sold one at a time.

HP Diminishing Returns

All HP above 2,000 will start increasing at a slower rate per point, capping at 2,490 instead of the current 2,700.

NPC Rage

EpicDuel's many NPCs have plenty of pent up aggression from being dunked on for years. Now they are fighting back, as they can now gain Rage and use Rage attacks.

More War Rares

Morzyd's War Shoppe has been updated to include all the mutating War Prizes.

HeroMart Summer Deals

Summer Savings are LIVE at HeroMart! Buy 3 items and get a 4th eligible item for FREE!

Pending Projects

Skill Tree Upgrade: We are currently working on an update to skill trees that will add a new dimension to the classes. Each node on the skill tree could have an option to select one or more alternative skills. This is the biggest update to EpicDuel's core battle engine in ages and has the potential to add nearly infinite depth to the existing classes.

Next Battlepass.

Gifting Prizes, now and forever.

Tags: Nightwraith

June 27, 2025

EpicDuel is live and alive with a massive overhaul to housing, new War rewards tiers, and dozens of balance adjustments!

Bido Birthday Weapons

Bido has a new batch of limited birthday rares available at, you guessed it, Bido!

• Bido's Toxic Reaper P
• Bido's Toxic Reaper E
• Bido's Toxic Greatsword P
• Bido's Toxic Greatsword E
• Bido's Toxic Lance P
• Bido's Toxic Lance E
• Bido's Toxic Greatsword CC P
• Bido's Toxic Greatsword CC E
• Bido's Toxic Reavers P
• Bido's Toxic Reavers E
• Bido's Toxic Axe P
• Bido's Toxic Axe E
• Bido's Toxic Staff P
• Bido's Toxic Staff E

Home Interface Overhaul

• Items of the same type are now stacked.
• Slight buffer applied to clicking and dragging items to prevent misclicks.
• Clicking items to place them from inventory will automatically place them near the center of the room.
• Items now return to inventory instantly after removing them.
• Items equipped to the room are tracked visually show how close to the cap you are.
• To maintain data integrity, you must save before purchasing.
• Multiple timers have been added to prevent data desynchronization from rapid actions. When in doubt, saving your configuration will fully synch your home layout.
• Bulk home item selling is coming soon.

Seasonal Return

It's that time of year again! EpicDuel is maintaining it's tradition of restoring all the seasonal rare for a limited time during the Summer. Stay cool with some Frysteland rares from Torgan or adopt spooky autumn vibes with Snork's Halloween rares.

The Price of War

The War Token shop pricing has been adjusted to reflect the rarity and desirability of the prizes. We will be adding more over time so hold onto your War Tokens if you don't see your coveted War Prize yet.

We've also added a new 50,000 Influence tier to war participation: Emperor.This tier offers 100,000 Credits, 100 Arcade Tokens, and 2 War Tokens. All other tiers have been shifted downward, with the Private Tier now being the 1,000 Influence tier. The tiers now look like this:

• Emperor - 50,000 Influence
• Warlord - 25,000 Influence
• Commander - 15,000 Influence
• Sergeant - 5,000 Influence
• Private - 1,000 Influence

Balance Changes

This week we're implementing a ton of changes to address runaway stat inflation, class balance, and Legendary points.

• Core Changes
  • Absolution (Armor): +5 Technology, +5 Support.
  • Absolution (Primary): +2 Technology, +2 Support.
  • Absolution (Sidearm): +2 Technology, +2 Support.
  • Absolution (Auxiliary): +2 Technology, +3 Support.
  • Domination (Armor): +5 Strength, +5 Dexterity.
  • Domination (Primary): +3 Strength, +2 Dexterity.
  • Domination (Sidearm): +2 Strength, +3 Dexterity.
  • Domination (Auxiliary): +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity.
  • Infinity (Armor): +5 Strength, +5 Technology.
  • Infinity (Primary): +3 Strength, +2 Technology.
  • Infinity (Sidearm): +2 Strength, +2 Technology.
  • Infinity (Auxiliary): +2 Strength, +2 Technology.
  • Destruction (Armor): +5 Strength, +5 Support.
  • Destruction (Primary): +3 Strength, +2 Support.
  • Destruction (Sidearm): +2 Strength, +2 Support.
  • Destruction (Auxiliary): +2 Strength, +3 Support.
  • Fortitude (Armor): +5 Dexterity, +5 Technology.
  • Fortitude (Primary): +2 Dexterity, +2 Technology.
  • Fortitude (Sidearm): +3 Dexterity, +2 Technology.
  • Fortitude (Auxiliary): +2 Dexterity, +2 Technology.
  • Vigor (Armor): +5 Dexterity, +5 Support.
  • Vigor (Primary): +2 Dexterity, +2 Support.
  • Vigor (Sidearm): +3 Dexterity, +2 Support.
  • Vigor (Auxiliary): +2 Dexterity, +3 Support.
  • Supremacy (Armor): +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +4 Technology, +2 Support.
  • Supremacy (Primary): +2 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Technology, +1 Support.
  • Supremacy (Sidearm): +1 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +1 Technology, +1 Support.
  • Supremacy (Auxiliary): +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Technology, +2 Support.
  • Prime Dexterity Boost (Sidearm): +4.
  • Prime Support Boost (Auxiliary): +4.
  • Prime Strength Boost (Primary): +4.
  • Prime Technology Boost (Armor): +7.
  • x30 Boost cores match the Prime cores
  • Strength Boost (Sidearm): +3 Strength.
  • Strength Boost (Armor): +3 Strength.
  • Strength Boost (Auxiliary): +3 Strength.
  • Dexterity Boost (Primary): +3 Dexterity.
  • Dexterity Boost (Armor): +3 Dexterity.
  • Dexterity Boost (Auxiliary): +3 Dexterity.
  • Technology Boost (Primary): +3 Technology.
  • Technology Boost (Sidearm): +3 Technology.
  • Technology Boost (Auxiliary): +3 Technology.
  • Support Boost (Primary): +3 Support.
  • Support Boost (Sidearm): +3 Support.
  • Support Boost (Armor): +3 Support.
  • Primary/Gun/Auxiliary Mastery: +10% damage on basic attacks, removed +25 damage boost.
  • Eternal Enhance: +3 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +3 Technology, +3 Support.
  • Infernal Prism: added 200 HP heal.
  • Infernal Offering: 340 EP total gain, 2 turns 170 EP each turn.
  • Health reserve: Flat +450hp does not scale with armor (does not stack with crit heal).
  • Bido's Bitters: Duration increased to 6 from 4.
  • Shadowlord's Severance P/E: 27% def ignore.

• Legendary Rank Boosts
  • Primary Damage Bonus: +30 to +20
  • Gun Damage Bonus: +40 to +20
  • Aux Damage Bonus: +30 to +20
  • Bot Damage Bonus: +30 to +20
  • Defense Bonus: +30 to +20
  • Resistance Bonus: +30 to +20
  • NPC Armor: +40 to +50 defense against NPCs
  • NPC Crusher: +40 to +50 damage against NPCs

• General 
  • Focus boosts: Focus level 1/2 = 0 boosts; Focus level 3/4 = +1/1/1/1, Focus level 5 = +2/2/2/2; Focus level 6 = +3/3/3/3.
  • Agility/encumbrance: Removed from game. We're still investigating better ways of addressing extreme HP builds in PvP.

• Class Changes
  • Reflex Boost: 80 EP level 1, +5 EP per level  , flat +42 Dexterity at level 1, increasing by 3 per level.
  • Energy Shield: +20 EP per level  to +10 EP per level.
  • Defense Matrix: +20 EP per level  to +10EP.
  • Blood Instinct: flat +42 level 1, increasing by 3 per level.
  • Terrify: flat -42 level 1, increasing by 3 per level, scaling removed; 15 EP per Level to +5 EP.
  • Plasma Grenade: 10% ignore to 15%.
  • Proton Cannon: Revert to 20% lifesteal and 26% Energy drain.
  • Maul: +5 EP per level.
  • Intimidate: 15 EP per level to +5 EP. Removed scaling. 36 flat Strength Debuff at level 1, increasing by 3 per level..

Coming Soon

Next week we hope to roll out more improvements to housing, while finally catching up on the Gifting prizes. Plus, we have more War Token items to release! Plus, Acatriel is hard at work on the next Battlepass, and it's already looking amazing!

Tags: Nightwraith