EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

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

June 20, 2025

War Token Shop Preview

Visit Morzyd the Scavenger in The Bazaar (the huge crashed battleship in The Barrens) to browse her inventory of past War Prizes. The shop requires at least one War Token to access the shop! The items are temporarily priced at 5 War Tokens for now while we work on a fair pricing model that applies the proper value to coveted War Prizes. Also, the shop is still being populated with prizes so there are still many more armors and mutating items that are yet to be stocked in the shop. Save those precious War Tokens if there's still an item you want to see featured.

War Prizes purchased from this shop, when they can be purchased, cannot be sold. Additionally, only one of each item can be purchased and owned. This is to make sure nobody accidentally "wastes" their War Tokens on accidental purchases.

Homes UI Update

• "Clear All" button below the "Save" button to allow you to instantly remove all items from a home at once. This is great for when you accidentally drag some awkward items partially off-screen.
• Items in your inventory are now sorted based on most recently purchased, then grouped by ID so all your duplicates will be grouped together. This is the first step towards item stacking in Homes.

Arcade 10x Follow Up

With this update we have corrected the bug that prevented the 10x multi-spin option from updating the Arcade score correctly. It's always fascinating to check the data to see what features are appreciated purely based on data, because sometimes player feedback alone undersells how much a feature is used.

For example, thus far over 32,000 items have been Locked and 5,000 items Favorited using the new inventory options. Clearly there was a ton of demand for those features.

More recently, the day before we introduced the 10x option to Arcades, 8,818 Tokens were spent, with a value of 576,860. The day we launch 10x, the number jumped to 41,030 spins with a value of 20,818,560! Those number seem impressive, but then I realized that the tracker was not updated to recognize the 10x spin, so those numbers could be up to 10 times higher! 

I know these quality of life features aren't as exciting as flashier (pun not intended) battle-centric features and improvements, but it's crystal clear that those features are not going unused or unnoticed.

Fixes, Changes, and Balance

• All time win rates restored to the Leaderboards.
• First strike: Everyone but the the starting player will start with 20% Rage.
• Critical Heal: Threshold increased to 30% from 25% to match the kneeling animation.
• Static Grenade: Set to 90% damage instead of 80%

Tags: Nightwraith

June 16, 2025

Glow-in-the-Drake T-Shirt

Because true heroes shine brightest in the dark.

Channel your inner dragon spirit. By day, it’s sleek, iconic Artix logo. But when the lights go out, the real magic begins. Infused with glow-in-the-dark enchantments, it radiates with arcane energy, glowing bright as if summoned from the heart of Lore’s deepest dungeons. Perfect for late-night raids, shadowy side quests, or just flexing your legendary status in the real world.

Visit HeroMart to order the epic Glow-in-the-Drake T-Shirt today!

Bonus Digital In-Game Rewards

When you pick up this product, you’ll also unlock in-game rewards across AdventureQuest Worlds, AdventureQuest 3D, DragonFable, EpicDuel, and AdventureQuest Classic! Exclusive rewards in EpicDuel include:

•  Achievement - Glow-in-the-Drake
• Weapon - Glowing Dragon's Blade P & E
• Weapon - Cyber Dragon's Blade P & E
• Weapon - BackLight Dragon's Blade P & E
• Weapon - Cyber Battleon Blade P & E

Tags: Nightwraith