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

April 18, 2025

EpicDuel is now live with a major update to the Name Change functionality! Plus, a sprinkling of balance changes and quality of life improvements for good measure!

Name Change

This has been on the to-do list for quite awhile, but we were finally able to implement it! The Name Change interface now displays all your previously owned names, including your current name. You can use your mouse wheel to scroll the list if it's too long. You might surprised by how many aliases you've purchased throughout the years!

The best part of this update is that changing your name to a previously owned name is now FREE! To start, there is a five day cooldown to prevent abuse and confusion from frequent name changes.

Since name change to an previously owned name is now free, the price for a new name has been increased to 2500. This is to account for the increased value in a name -- you keep it forever and can always change back to it for FREE. For the longest time people assumed that if you changed your name, someone else could purchase your old one. That was never the case. People never knew because of the lack of a functional name log! Plus, Varium is easier to obtain now through free methods. Even new characters start with Varium. The relatively low price of 1,100 made it easy to name camp. People can still technically name camp, but it will be much harder, and more expensive!

It's possible we could expand this feature in the future to allow other players to view the most recent names of their friends or even sell back old names they don't want to use anymore.

Balance Changes

• Artillery Strike: +30 damage to all levels
• Concentration: The +40 HP gain stacks with lifesteal effects
• Proton Cannon: HP gain is no longer being affected by Legendary points
• Blood Shield: 5 → 4 turn Cooldown
• Brace (Stunned): New version created to allow more granular control of different Brace applications and to add visual clarity.

Quality of Life

• Style Change Interface: Input the number of the style you want and press "enter" to jump directly to it.
• Custom Color disabler toggle: All CC items will display default colors when enabled. Normally, the game iterates through every single piece of equipment you have, searching through the 100s of Flash symbols that compose them to find any pieces with CC tags applied. This setting will bypass that check and can offer a performance boost. This may lead to some janky results, but low performance modes aren't made for the game to look pretty -- they're made to help the game run faster! Maybe I should make a "Potato" mode that sets everything to its default setting? Think of the glorious frames-per-second!

Tags: Nightwraith

April 11, 2025

EpicDuel is back with a truly EPIC balance update covering everything from damage ranges to core balance. If that's not enough, we even threw in some bug fixes and quality-of-life changes for good measure!

Balance Changes

General 

• x30 cores: Reverted all to the same values as their permanent versions. Removed all from shops except the following:
  • Absolution (armor) x30
  • Destruction (armor) x30
  • Domination (armor) x30
  • Fortitude (armor) x30
  • Infinity (armor) x30
  • Supremacy (armor) x30
  • Vigor (armor) x30
• Damage ranges reduced by slighting increasing the lower values (Divisors) and reducing the range multiplier. Divisor changes:
  • Resistance = 0.29, 0.39, 0.48, 0.48
  • Defense = 0.29, 0.39, 0.48, 0.48
  • Bot Damage = 0.39, 0.48, 0.58, 0.58
  • Primary Damage = 0.44, 0.56, 0.62, 0.82
  • Auxiliary Damage = 0.37, 0.56, 0.64, 0.81
  • Gun Damage = 0.37, 0.64, 0.64, 0.84
  • Reduce the multiplier that determines maximum damage/defense from 1.2 to 1.1
• Improved robot damage bonus for lower focus levels:
  • Focus 1: +90 robot damage
  • Focus 2: +120 robot damage
  • Focus 3: +150 robot damage
  • Focus 4: +180 robot damage
  • Focus 5: +210 robot damage
  • Focus 6: +240 robot damage 

All Classes

• Field Medic: Requires +3 → +2 Technology per level

Bounty Hunter:

• Shadow Arts: Removed Dexterity boost
• Venom Strike: 4 → 3 turn cooldown; remove support scaling: Flat 80 poison damage at level 1, +10 per level

Mercenary:

• Hybrid Armor: Removed highest stat boost; Add effect that converts 7% of all outgoing damage to user’s Energy; +2% def/res boost to all levels
• Bunker Buster: +20 damage to all levels
• Surgical Strike: +20 damage to all levels

Tech Mage:

• Concentration: Removed damage reduction; added effect that grants user flat +40 HP for every outgoing attack
• Deadly Aim: Removed Support boost
• Assimilation: Removed Strength scaling: Flat -110 Energy at level 1, +10 per level
• Overload: Improves with Support → Dexterity; 2 → 1 turn cooldown
• Plasma Rain: Improves with Dexterity → Support

Cyber Hunter:

• Plasma Grenade: Add 20% lifesteal
• Proton Cannon: 25% lifesteal → Flat +100 HP gain; 20% energy drain → Flat -100 Energy
• Venom Strike: Removed Support scaling: Flat 80 poison damage at level 1, +10 per level

Tactical Mercenary:

• Tactical Grenade: Removed Support scaling: Flat -110 Energy at level 1, +10 per level; 150 → 170 Energy gain
• Mineral Armor: Remove highest stat buff
• Barbed Grenade: +30 damage to all levels
• Suppressing Fire: +30 damage to all levels
• Annihilation: +30 damage to all levels
• Field Commander: Removed Support scaling: Flat +40 Support boost at level 1, +3 per level; removed increased Rage gain; added effect that grants lifesteal based on 50% of Support boost
• Toxic Grenade: +20 Energy cost; 85% → 100% damage; remove Strength scaling: Flat 80 poison damage at level 1, +10 per level

 Blood Mage:

• Fireball: Removed stun chance; add 15% def/res debuff for 2 turns; +1 damage per 0.32 → 0.3 Strength
• Red Vision: Removed Strength boost
• Blood Shield: 5 → 4 turn duration; 90 → 75 Energy gain; remove Technology boost; remove Support scaling: Static resistance increase values 40%, 43%, 46%, 48%, 50%, 52%, 54%, 56%, 58%, 60%
• Blood Instinct: +1 Dexterity per 3 → 5 Technology; 90 → 75 Energy gain 

Cores:

• Mega Stun Blast: 25% → 20% stun chance
• Paralysis Coating: 25% → 15% stun/crit chance; 15% → 20% defense ignore
• Screaming Soul Spears: 85% → 100% damage; 3 → 2 turn duration
• Ballistic Shield: 13% → 6% deflection chance increase
• Deflection Shield: 13% → 8% deflection chance increase
• Ninja Reflexes: 13% → 8% block chance increase
• Lucky Strike: Multiplicative instead of additive
• Lucky Strike/Aim Assist/Laser Sights/Super Scope: Effects apply to all attacks instead of only basic attacks
• Primary/Gun/Auxiliary Mastery: Remove crit chance increase; +10% weapon damage on basic attacks → Flat +25 weapon damage for all attacks

Robots:

• Azrael’s Affliction P/E: 30% → 20% of current HP as life-stealing poison
• Infernal Overload P/E: 95% → 85% initial damage; 130% → 125% max damage; peaks at round 9
• Asgard’s Fury P/E: 4 → 3 turn cooldown
• Dino Fire P/E/PxE/ExP: 4 → 3 turn cooldown; 10% → 8% of target’s max HP as damage bonus
• Rusted Dino Fire P/E/PxE/ExP: 4 → 3 turn cooldown
• Dragonblade Familiar Drill P/E: 4 → 3 turn cooldown; 20% → 17% of damage to HP and Energy
• Flesh Demigod Judgement P/E: 4 → 3 turn cooldown; 25% → 15% lifesteal
• Infernal/Plasma Super Beam: 91% → 97% initial damage
• Shadowlord’s Severance: P/E: 4 → 3 turn cooldown; 35% → 30% defense ignore 

Bug fixes / Changes:

• Description for Darkeater’s Impaler reads 3 turns instead of 2.
• Descriptions for Ninja Reflexes and Deflection Shield read 50% max block/deflection chance instead of 30%.
• Description for Dualism reads 100% damage instead of 110% (105% AOE).
• Azrael’s Annihilation is sometimes applying the debuff to the user for 2 turns instead of 1. The skill is now tracked via turns instead of rounds so in a 1v1 each player has a chance to react or retaliate. This also helps balance the skill in Juggernaut and 2v2 since the debuff will expire before a character can be attacked twice. This was a unique problem because it was the first skill ever to apply a debuff to both the target and attacker in the same turn.
• Azrael's Doombringer Beauty P/E (NPC): NPC version with a maximum HP drain/gain of 200 and 6 turn cooldown. Added to level 56 and 57 of the Basic Battlepass. Those who already claimed those levels of prizes will receive the bot manually.
• All seasonal robots will now have a permanently available version for Varium-only while the seasonally available one will have a Credit option.
  • Baby Yeti
  • Dark Yeti
  • Ballistic Bunny Bot
  • Electro Bunny Bot
  • Botanical Hazard
  • Dark Botanical Hazard
  • Blood Hawk P
  • Blood Hawk E
  • Lionhart's Avatar P
  • Lionhart's Avatar E
  • Kartherax's Darkspawn P
  • Kartherax's Darkspawn E
  • Cyber Yeti P
  • Cyber Yeti E
  • Monkakazi P
  • Monkakazi E
  • Pirate Bot P
  • Pirate Bot E
  • Phantasm Droid P
  • Phantasm Droid E
  • Cyber Shark P
  • Cyber Shark E

Tags: Nightwraith

April 04, 2025

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

Good luck and happy dueling to reach level 60 of EpicDuel's latest Battlepass season!

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

• Azrael's Doombringer Beast P:
  • Azrael's Beast Bash P: Physical overhead smash with a 25% crit chance.
  • Azrael's Annihilation P: Mutually reduce defense 50% and healing 99% for 1 turn. 1 turn warmup. This is the first skill to apply a debuff to both the attacker and the target.

• Azrael's Doombringer Beast E:
  • Azrael's Beast Bash E: Energy overhead smash with a 25% crit chance.
  • Azrael's Annihilation E: Mutually reduce defense 50% and healing 99% for 1 turn. 1 turn warmup. This is the first skill to apply a debuff to both the attacker and the target. 

• Azrael's Doombringer Beauty P:
  • Azrael's Assault P: A vicious physical onslaught ignoring 15% defense.
  • Azrael's Affliction P: 85% dmg. and inflict life-stealing poison for 30% HP over 2 rounds. Maximum 500 / Minimum 50 HP steal. Can be cured with Medic.

• Azrael's Doombringer Beauty E:
  • Azrael's Assault E: A vicious energy onslaught ignoring 15% defense.
  • Azrael's Affliction E: 85% dmg. and inflict life-stealing poison for 30% HP over 2 rounds. Maximum 500 / Minimum 50 HP steal. Can be cured with Medic.

Balance Changes

• First turn: All players except the one with first strike will have Brace applied.
• Shadow Arts: 7% --> Flat +25 robot damage buff.
• Energy Shield (Tactical Mercenary): Increases by 20 points per level rather than 2 or 1.
• Nanotech Armor: Replaced with new skill, Cyber Armor --> Increase defenses based on a percentage of armor points (43% at level 1, +3% per level for max. of 70%)
• Adaptive Offense: Removed energy drain 
• Captain's Charge: 3 --> 2 turn duration.
• Mastery cores: Only basic attacks deal +10% damage.
• Factions: To combat alting, going forward Faction recruits must be level 40 or higher. Current members of factions can still be under level 40, but all new members must be at least level 40.

Tags: Nightwraith

March 21, 2025

EpicDuel is back with some incredible new Gifter rewards and a light helping of balance changes and bug fixes. Plus, there is a special announcement and explanation concerning the upcoming Battlepass progress.

Balance Change and Fixes:

• Skill/Core Changes
  • Jack Frost Fury P/E: 25% robot damage as MP poison --> Flat -50 MP for 2 turns; keeps initial energy drain based on damage; Can't stack with other MP poison effects
  • Darkeater's Impaler: 3 --> 2 turn duration; 85% --> 100% damage
  • Minotaur's Rage P/E: 25% --> 30% defense reduction; removed stun chance
  • Icy Overkill (gun and aux): 110% --> 100% damage
  • Revolver Revolution: Animation updated to use existing sidearm instead of revolver
  • Bot summon animations: Hide sidearm and auxiliary to improve performance while bot and skill animations play.
• Bug fixes:
  • Primary/Gun/Auxiliary Mastery are not correctly adding +10% damage on normal attacks
  • Vigor x30 (aux): Visual bug displaying +7 Dexterity and +7 Support 
  • NPCs will use Brace sometimes when they cannot use an action instead of freezing and timing out
  • 16 Year Alpha Achievement text error

There is also a known issue in which NPCs can still target users with Lionhart's Shield active. This is mainly seen in 2v2. As a failsafe, the shield has extreme damage reduction forcing the minimum damage values (30-50 depending on attack type). This will have to be the case until an ideal solution is found.

Battlepass and Gifting Rewards Update

Remember when we mentioned in an earlier DN post that the next Battlepass would be ready in March. Well, it's almost April, and still no Battlepass. What's the deal? We knew Gifting rewards would take up a big chunk of the year, but we had no idea until the event ended that we would still owe so many rewards. Lodrian and I have been working constantly for the last 2 months to complete the rewards as efficiently as possible, and while we've made good progress getting the list down to a more manageable level, there are still about 20 more to go.

I thought initially that I could work on rewards during the "day shift" and the Battlepass content on the "night shift." That clearly didn't go as intended and both shifts were devoted to Gifting rewards. I know it seems like these things are taking forever, but please keep in mind it's just Lodrian and I making all the content you see in game, with occasional help from Tomcat and Bido. Even with others helping with content production, old crusty Nightwraith is still the only one who can implement the items in-game. EpicDuel's artists work hard and are very efficient with their time, but the fact remains that I'm THE bottleneck to anything new being added to the game. With that consideration, I will be shifting to focus on the Battlepass almost exclusively until its launch, after which I will shift back to rewards.

I understand that this decision has the potential to upset both Gifters who were expecting their rewards soon AND everyone else in the community who expected a new Battlepass (or any new content, really) soon than later, but it has to be done for the overall health of the game unless folks are willing to wait until Summer for the next Battlepass.

As always, thank you for your patience and understanding. I hope to have the new Battlepass ready as soon as I can before returning in earnest to the Gifting rewards. I wish I could do both at the same time, but we are all confined by the physical bounds of this reality.

NEW Undead Legion Heromart Bundle

XXV Undead Legion - Bundle

Unleash the dark power of Dage the Evil’s Undead Legion Bundle! Embrace your darker side with chilling and terrifying designs straight from the twisted heart of the Undead Legion. These items will send a shiver down the spine of anyone who dares face you. Prove your loyalty as a devoted follower of the Legion!

"If you already own the poster and don't want the bundle to include it use code DAGETHRONEPSTOWNER to receive a discount, you must enter this code at checkout using the same account that the original poster was purchased."

*NOTE: HeroMart Bundles are the best value. You get all the physical products plus digital in-game items and exclusive badges and titles.

This Bundle includes the following rewards in EpicDuel:

• Achievement - Keeper of Underworld
• Weapon - Letum Codex Blade P
• Weapon - Letum Codex Blade E

That's just a taste of the rewards included across AE's main games!

Visit HEROMART now to get this pre-order while you still can!

Tags: Nightwraith

March 14, 2025

The most recent balance update made some big waves! This week we made further adjustments while reverting some changes from the previous update.

Balance changes:

• Reverted Primary damage scaling: 0.41 --> 0.46, 0.52 --> 0.58, 0.58 --> 0.65, 0.75 --> 0.85
• Focus: +1% stat bonus for Focus 1/2, +2% for Focus 3/4, +3% for Focus 5/6
• Double Strike: Improves with Strength --> Dexterity
• Maul: Removed healing reduction
• Overload: +15 --> +20 energy cost per level
• Smokescreen: -5 dexterity reduction for all levels after the first
  • OLD VALUES: 4 7 10 12 14 16 18 19 20 21
  • NEW VALUES: 1 2 5 7 9 11 13 14 15 16
• Proton Cannon: Unaffected --> Affected by Achilles' Phalanx/Color Blast/Consecrated Ground
• Supremacy (Primary) x30: +4 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +3 Technology, +3 Support --> +5 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Technology, +2 Support
• Supremacy (Sidearm) x30: +3 Strength, +4 Dexterity, +3 Technology, +3 Support --> +2 Strength, +5 Dexterity, +2 Technology, +2 Support
• Supremacy (Auxiliary)x 30: +3 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +3 Technology, +4 Support --> +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Technology, +5 Support
• Eternal Enhance: +3 --> +4 to all stats
• Radiation Burn: 35% --> 15% activation chance

Bug fixes

• Vigor (Armor): Properly set to +6 Dexterity and +6 Support
• Techstalker Bot E: Damage type properly set to Energy
• Malfunction can now stack with other tech debuffs aside from itself
• Debuffs applied by NPCs while the debuff is already active will no longer double stack

Gifting Rewards Update

While a few new custom hairstyles and items went out this week, one new prize is being offered generously by CactusChan: His custom CacBot 9001s are now available at Valestra for all to purchase!

New Achievement

The Fifteen Year Alpha achievement has gone rare permanently to make way for the new Sixteen Year Alpha achievement, celebrating over 16 years of EpicDuel!

Tags: Nightwraith

March 06, 2025

That's right, it's time for the first balance update of 2025! People either dread or rejoice these updates, but this one hits on enough general areas that there should be enough for everyone to chew on regardless of build. As usual, balance is subject to constant change so if you really hate these adjustments, we can always adjust in the future.

General Changes

• Divisor change to adjust Primary, Sidearm, and Auxiliary damage:
  • Primary Damage Divisors: 0.46 --> 0.41, 0.58 --> 0.52, 0.65 --> 0.58, 0.85 -- > 0.75
  • Auxiliary Damage Divisors:  0.42 --> 0.38, 0.65 --> 0.58, 0.75 --> 0.67, 0.95 --> 0.84
  • Sidearm Damage Divisors: 0.42 --> 0.38, 0.75 --> 0.67, 0.75 --> 0.67, 1.00 --> 0.88
• Successful stuns install Brace on the target.
• Brace: 15% --> 10% damage reduction.
• Max stats from items increased to 71:
  • 21 in one stat for primary
  • 18 for armor
  • 16 for sidearm
  • 16 for auxiliary

Class Skill Changes

• Tech Mage
  • Concentration 10% --> 7% damage reduction
  • Overload: Improves with Dexterity --> Support; 1 --> 2 turn cooldown
  • Deadly Aim: 10% buff to Technology --> Support
  • Plasma Rain: Improves with Support --> Dexterity

• Mercenary
  • Double Strike: Improves with Dexterity --> Strength

• Blood Mage
  • Energy Parasite: 2 --> 3 turn duration; 150 --> 100 initial energy drain
  • Plasma Cannon: 15% --> 20% defense ignore
  • Fireball: Improves with Dexterity --> Strength; scaling value 0.28 --> 0.32
  • Fire Scythe: Replaced with Bludgeon

• Bounty Hunter
  • Stun Grenade: Improves with Support --> Dexterity; requires Dexterity --> Strength
  • Static Grenade: Improves with Dexterity --> Strength; deals 70% --> 80% primary damage

• Tactical Mercenary
  • Frenzy: 40% lifesteal at level 1, +2% per level; New values: 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58
  • Suppressing Fire: Added 15% defense ignore

• Cyber Hunter
  • Adaptive Offense: Added 20% defense ignore
  • Proton Cannon: 26% --> 20% energy drain
  • Kernel Panic: Added Technology debuff: Base values -9% Resistance & -9 Technology at level 1, -18% and -18 at max level; scales per 8 Dexterity

Cores/Robots:

• Asgard's Fury P/E: Bonus damage based on energy present instead of missing energy (higher target energy remaining = higher damage) ✔
• Captain's Charge: 40% --> 35% lifesteal
• Revitalization: 6 --> 5 turn debuff; 25% --> 35% defense reduction
• Domination (Primary) x30: +6 Strength, +3 Dexterity --> +7 Strength, +4 Dexterity.
• Domination (Sidearm) x30: +3 Strength, +6 Dexterity --> +4 Strength, +7 Dexterity.
• Domination (Auxiliary) x30: +3 Strength, +3 Dexterity --> +4 Strength, +4 Dexterity.
• Infinity (Primary) x30:  +6 Strength, +3 Technology --> +7 Strength, +4 Technology.
• Infinity (Sidearm) x30:  +3 Strength, +3 Technology --> +4 Strength, +4 Technology.
• Infinity (Auxiliary) x30:  +3 Strength, +3 Technology --> +4 Strength, +4 Technology.
• Destruction (Primary) x30:  +6 Strength, +3 Support --> +7 Strength, +4 Support.
• Destruction (Sidearm) x30:  +3 Strength, +3 Support --> +4 Strength, +4 Support.
• Destruction (Auxiliary) x30:  +3 Strength, +6 Support --> +4 Strength, +7 Support.
• Fortitude (Primary) x30:  +3 Dexterity, +3 Technology --> +4 Dexterity, +4 Technology.
• Fortitude (Sidearm) x30:  +6 Dexterity, +3 Technology --> +7 Dexterity, +4 Technology.
• Fortitude (Auxiliary) x30:  +3 Dexterity, +3 Technology --> +4 Dexterity, +4 Technology.
• Vigor (Primary) x30:  +3 Dexterity, +3 Support --> +4 Dexterity, +4 Support.
• Vigor (Sidearm) x30:  +6 Dexterity, +3 Support --> +7 Dexterity, +4 Support.
• Vigor (Auxiliary) x30: +3 Dexterity, +6 Support --> +7 Dexterity, +7 Support.
• Absolution (Primary) x30:  +3 Technology, +3 Support --> +4 Technology, +4 Support.
• Absolution (Sidearm) x30: +3 Technology, +3 Support --> +4 Technology, +4 Support.
• Absolution (Auxiliary) x30:  +3 Technology, +6 Support --> +4 Technology, +7 Support.
• Supremacy (Primary) x30:  +3 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Technology, +2 Support --> +4 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +3 Technology, +3 Support.
• Supremacy (Sidearm) x30:  +2 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +2 Technology, +2 Support --> +3 Strength, +4 Dexterity, +3 Technology, +3 Support.
• Supremacy (Auxiliary) x30:  +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Technology, +3 Support --> +3 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +3 Technology, +4 Support.
• Prime Strength Boost: +6 Strength --> +8 Strength.
• Prime Dexterity Boost: +6 Dexterity --> +8 Dexterity.
• Prime Technology Boost: +7 Technology --> +10 Technology.
• Prime Support Boost: +6 Support --> +8 Support.
• Strength Boost (Armor): +3 Strength --> +8 Strength.
• Strength Boost (Sidearm): +3 Strength --> +5 Strength.
• Strength Boost (Auxiliary): +3 Strength --> +5 Strength.
• Strength Boost x30: +6 Strength --> +8 Strength.
• Dexterity Boost (Armor): +3 Dexterity --> +8 Dexterity.
• Dexterity Boost (Primary): +3 Dexterity --> +5 Dexterity.
• Dexterity Boost (Auxiliary): +3 Dexterity --> +5 Dexterity.
• Dexterity Boost x30: +6 Dexterity --> +8 Dexterity.
• Technology Boost (Primary): +3 Technology --> +5 Technology.
• Technology Boost (Sidearm): +3 Technology --> +5 Technology.
• Technology Boost (Auxiliary): +3 Technology --> +5 Technology.
• Technology Boost x30: +7 Technology --> +10 Technology.
• Support Boost (Armor): +3 Support --> +8 Support.
• Support Boost (Primary): +3 Support --> +5 Support.
• Support Boost (Sidearm): +3 Support --> +5 Support.
• Support Boost x30: +6 Support --> +8 Support.

Battlepass Preview

We're still working hard on the next Battlepass: Azrael's Doombringer! Though our progress has been slow, we're still chipping away at this next event to replace the current Deltamancer Showcase. If you still have several more levels to grind, you should still have plenty of time to complete the current BP before the next one arrives later in March!

Tags: Nightwraith

February 28, 2025

Epic Replicas Restocked!

The replica rares of Alonzo Harris, S P I D E R, and BadWitch have returned to Oz for another weekend! They were a huge hit last week, and the Gifters were generous enough to give you one more chance to collect them all before they go permanently rare!

• BadWitch’s Beta Brutalizer P
• BadWitch’s Beta Brutalizer E
• Alonzo's Beta Blaster P
• Alonzo's Beta Blaster E
• SPIDER’s Beta Bazooka P
• SPIDER’s Beta Bazooka E

Reward Progress

Many more Gifter prizes went out this week and you may see some if you have a keen eye or happen to be lucky enough to receive one from a generous Gifter! At this point, we are currently at about the halfway point for our prize creation. If we continue to move at a steady pace, all prizes should be completed soon, allowing us to resume our regular update schedule. As always, we thank you for your patience as we work to build the rewards for the top 2024 Gifters. 

1v1 Reward Boost

Due to popular demand, 1v1 Credit and Experience rewards have been increased to be more on par with 2v2 rewards. 

Next Week: BALANCE!

Next week we will finally address balance with a major update. It's been awhile since EpicDuel had a balance update, but that time has allowed the community to brainstorm many interesting ideas which should really breathe some excitement back into PvP.

Tags: Nightwraith

February 21, 2025

Beta Replicas Revealed!

Thanks to the generosity of Alonzo Harris, S P I D E R, and BadWitch, replicas of Beta Gear will be available at Oz for this weekend and next weekend only! This should be more fair and less anxiety inducing than past replica launches with limited quantities that sold out almost instantly. This should be plenty of time for anyone who wants these replica rares to get them before they're gone forever! I applaud this group for their coordination and magnanimity in making their replicas available in such an open and transparent way.

• BadWitch’s Beta Brutalizer P
• BadWitch’s Beta Brutalizer E
• Alonzo's Beta Blaster P
• Alonzo's Beta Blaster E
• SPIDER’s Beta Bazooka P
• SPIDER’s Beta Bazooka E

New Nulgath Rares

The Overfiend Nulgath has been stocked with dozens of new weapons!

• Archfiend Arachnodagger P
• Archfiend Arachnodagger E
• Archfiend Arachnoslayer P
• Archfiend Arachnoslayer E
• Archfiend Arachno Overlord P
• Archfiend Arachno Overlord E
• Malakai Sword P
• Malakai Sword E
• Malakai Sword CC P
• Malakai Sword CC E
• Nightmare Fiend Scythe P
• Nightmare Fiend Scythe E
• Nightmare Fiend Scythe CC P
• Nightmare Fiend Scythe CC E
• Nightmare Fiend Cleaver P
• Nightmare Fiend Cleaver E
• Nightmare Fiend Cleaver CC P
• Nightmare Fiend Cleaver CC E
• Nightmare Fiend Hatchet P
• Nightmare Fiend Hatchet E
• Nightmare Fiend Hatchet CC P
• Nightmare Fiend Hatchet CC E
• Evo Legacy Sword P
• Evo Legacy Sword E
• Evo Legacy Sword CC P
• Evo Legacy Sword CC E

Changes

• Minor Revitalization given energy cost of 100.
• Ultra Obliterator animation modified to use the player's equipped weapon.
• Minimum level set for code redemption: 10.
• Reduced battle over timer to allow players to exit battles faster.

Tags: Nightwraith

February 17, 2025

Early this morning, it was brought to our attention that some were seeing Omega items for sale in the buyback shop. After some frantic, but thorough investigation, we finally determined exactly what was going on.

Months ago we updated the buyback shop to include Omega Gear because some people had lost their Omega cores. If you recall, there was a brief period of time when the Omega cores could be removed, but instead of returning to your inventory as they should, they were destroyed.

However, the requirements for Omega buyback were too broad. If you bought 10,000 Varium during the time of the Omega promotions, you would see the gear in the buyback shop even if you didn't buy the Omega packages. Something similar happened with the Delta Gear when the buyback shop was first released. Fortunately, very few people have taken advantage of this so far, which makes sense considering you had to be around in 2012-2013 and purchased a lot of Varium within a narrow time window.

An additional side effect of that Omega buyback update was that people were also able to see Omega cores in their buyback shops if they owned the 2018 editions of the items.

To remedy this issue. We removed all Omega items from the buyback shops unless it was an item you purchased with Varium and sold. Since they cannot be sold, there's not really a reason to include them. For those who were able to purchase the Omega items while they were available: fortunately this issue was limited due to the strict requirements of the shop. Only characters who purchased 10,000 Varium while the Omega packages were available (2012-2013) would see them in the shop. Since these few people *did* support EpicDuel during the time of the Omega packages by purchasing a quantity of Varium equivalent to the price of the Omega Gear, and because this was a mistake on our part, we will allow these limited of purchases to stand.

Again, we are sorry for the inconvenience and confusion this caused. We spent all morning scrambing to figure out exactly what was going on and how it was occurring. Fortunately, the problem was very limited to about 5 people due to the restrictive requirements. 

Tags: Nightwraith