Earlier, we launched a public beta branch to test the biggest balance update since the game entered Early Access. You can read all the details in our previous post.

A new beta branch update is live! We've made balance changes to skills, heroes, artifacts, spells and creatures, adjusted starting resources and Single Hero Mode, and fixed a number of bugs.

Full patch notes are below. Good luck on the battlefield!

⚠️ Important: this update is available on the public beta branch. Some images, translations and other elements may be missing — we will finish them before the update is released for the main version of the game. None of the changes in the beta are final: based on the test results and your feedback, we may adjust or revert them.

1. Open Steam and right-click Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era in your library.

2. Select "Properties" → "Game Versions & Betas".

3. In the "Game Versions & Betas" section, select the public-test-branch branch.

4. Wait for Steam to download the update and launch the game as usual.

5. In some cases, you'll need to restart the Steam application for the Beta branch to appear.

How to return to the main version: in the same "Game Versions & Betas" tab, select "Default Public Version".

Saves: beta saves are stored in the [c]saves_beta[/c] and [c]campSaving_beta[/c] folders.

Please note:

• When you switch to the beta, your save list will be empty. This is normal: your saves are still there and will reappear once you switch back to the main version.

• Cloud saves are disabled in the beta.

• Beta saves will not be visible in the main version of the game.

Multiplayer: to play together, all players must be using the same game version. Beta players will play on a separate server with other beta players.

v. 0.82.03 BETA

General

• Starting resources have been adjusted depending on the game difficulty.

• Single Hero Mode: removed the 20% reduction to the amount of Astrology Points and Law Points required to level up. As a result, unlocking Global Map Spells and Laws in this mode will now be slightly slower.

Skills

• Made various changes to the subskills of "Summon Swarm", "Offense", "Defense", "Logistics", "Scouting", "Sorcery", "Nightshade Magic", "Resistance" and "Thaumaturgy".

• Reworked the new Temple faction skill: the effect of its Prayers is now single-use, but it can stack. Instead of affecting only the currently active stack, it can now be stored on multiple stacks at once until each of them triggers it.

Heroes

• Adjusted the starting skills of Typhona, Old Pilgrim, Zam and The Minstrel.

• Weakened the specialization of Lord Edgar, as well as the specializations of all creature specialists and experience specialists.

Artifacts

• Added a new artifact: "Orb of Poison". It prevents both heroes from using hero abilities during the first round of combat. "Orb of Inhibition" no longer applies this effect.

• "Tactical Guide" now affects both sides of the battle, not only the enemy.

Spells

• "Shadowflight" (level 1) has been weakened and moved to Tier 1 of High Neutral Magic, allowing heroes to learn it at level 4.

• "Gate of Light" has been moved to Tier 2 of High Neutral Magic, allowing heroes to learn it at level 8.

• "Pocket Dimension" has been moved to Tier 3 of High Neutral Magic, allowing heroes to learn it at level 12.

• "Dimension Door" (level 4) has been slightly buffed.

Creatures

• Made numerous minor balance adjustments to creatures.

Map Objects

• Adjusted the guards of "Mearea's Altar".

• "Pandora's Box" objects containing spells no longer teach the hero magic while ignoring their magic skills.

• "Pandora's Box" objects with a choice can no longer be closed and postponed.

Templates

• Exodus: the external guards of creature dwellings are now increased by ×1.5 instead of ×2.

• Fixed various bugs, including one that granted players a huge amount of Law Points when capturing external dwellings.

Thanks for your reports — keep sending in bug reports, it helps us make the game better!

With love,
💙 Unfrozen Team

The Unfrozen team is currently preparing the biggest balance update since the game entered Early Access. We plan to change the formula for calculating damage from Attack and Defense, rework skills, artifacts, and alternative upgrades of creatures across all factions, make the AI on the Global Map noticeably stronger, and add two new units to the game.

🗺️ What about PvE? In case you missed our previous patch, here’s a quick reminder: we recently added Alliances, so you can team up with friends against both the AI and other players, and a fully random map generator built primarily with PvE in mind. Before that, we added the “Broken Alliance” map and the “Prisoners” scenario. We’re now hard at work on new story maps and single-player adventures, and announcements are coming soon. And the much smarter AI opponent in this update should especially please PvE fans — games against the computer are about to get a lot more interesting!

The list of changes in the upcoming patch is quite extensive, so, as we promised, we would like to test it in a beta version first and get your feedback. That is why the update is first being released on a public beta branch.

⚠️ Important: none of the changes in the beta are final. Based on the test results and your feedback, we may adjust or revert them. At the same time, the beta is not a vote: we are looking for issues, balance problems, and unexpected interactions that we have not noticed ourselves.

The beta test is expected to last several weeks. If new beta builds are released during the test, we will describe each of them in a separate post with a numbered list of changes.

The full version of this patch will be released once testing is complete; we will announce the exact release date later, based on the test results.

We would be very grateful for your participation in the beta test.

1. Open Steam and right-click Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era in your library.

2. Select "Properties" → "Game Versions & Betas".

3. In the "Game Versions & Betas" section, select the public-test-branch branch.

4. Wait for Steam to download the update and launch the game as usual.

5. In some cases, you’ll need to restart the Steam application for the Beta branch to appear.

How to return to the main version: in the same "Game Versions & Betas" tab, select "Default Public Version".

Saves: beta saves are stored in the [c]saves_beta[/c] and [c]campSaving_beta[/c] folders.

Please note:

• When you switch to the beta, your save list will be empty. This is normal: your saves are still there and will reappear once you switch back to the main version.

• Cloud saves are disabled in the beta.

• Beta saves will not be visible in the main version of the game.

Multiplayer: to play together, all players must be using the same game version. Beta players will play on a separate server with other beta players.

Specific feedback matters most to us, rather than just an overall “like” or “dislike.” Please tell us:

• How the new damage formula feels in the late game and whether strong creatures remain strong;

• Which creatures or alternative upgrades feel too strong or useless;

• Which new combinations of skills, spells, or artifacts turned out to be unexpectedly strong;

• How the AI behaves on the Global Map in your random games;

• Which bugs appeared with the rework.

If possible, describe the situation: faction, template, game stage, army composition.

• 🐛 Bugs: the best way to report a bug is to press the F1 button in the game. This way our QA team will directly receive complete information about what happened, and we will be able to investigate the issue in detail.

• 💬 Beta feedback: the [c]#beta-feedback[/c] channel on our Discord[discord.com] and the subforum on the Steam forums.

Please leave your beta feedback there specifically so we don’t confuse it with reports about the main version. Thank you!

• Some spells may be missing icons or effects. These are being worked on.

v.0.82.02 BETA

New AI capabilities:

• AI main heroes can now flee from battle if they realize that winning would be extremely difficult, and for some time after fleeing they follow a special strategy to get back into the game as effectively as possible.

• The AI now learns spells of high Global Map Magic in the Magic Observatory.

• AI heroes have learned to use the most popular and useful Global Map Spells to move around the map.

• The AI now distributes resources better to effectively develop towns, hire armies, etc.

• AI heroes have learned to equip artifacts more effectively, taking into account set items, skills, army composition, etc.

• AI heroes have learned to pick only skills that suit their current role.

In addition to these new features, we have extensively tuned the AI’s general behavior so that it makes better strategic and local decisions. We plan to tell you more about this in future news when the update is released for the main version of the game.

This update brings a number of major changes that will significantly affect gameplay. With these changes, we pursued two goals: to reduce the creature stats that grew too much in the late game, which hurt the gameplay experience, and to bring more variety to the upgraded versions of creatures, making them more distinct from each other. These are fairly complex tasks: some of them were solved with targeted adjustments, others with a series of diverse changes.

In addition, we have worked on the formula for creatures’ Attack and Defense, namely how they affect the damage dealt. You can read about the reasons and goals of these changes below.

Please note: none of the changes presented in the open test are final. They may be adjusted, reverted, etc. depending on your feedback and the data collected during the test.

The current damage multiplier formula based on creature stats:

[c]Multiplier = (20 + ATK) / (20 + DEF)[/c], where ATK is the attacker’s Attack and DEF is the defender’s Defense.

It was originally introduced for two reasons: to keep low-tier creatures relevant in the late game and to cover both cases with a single formula — both when ATK is higher than DEF and vice versa.

However, several gameplay issues have emerged that we believe need to be addressed:

• As heroes have so many stats, creatures’ base stats become insignificant in the later stages — the outcome of a battle is determined by stack size and damage rather than by Attack and Defense.

• As a consequence of the first point, high-tier creatures lost their power as the game progressed and no longer looked like a formidable force compared to their "younger" brethren.

• Artifacts that increase combat stats had little impact on gameplay.

• Most importantly: as the total sum of stats grew, their effective power decreased. This confused players and made it harder for them to understand what was happening in battle and assess the situation.

Let’s look at the last problem with an example. Consider a Troglodyte (Attack 2, Defense 3) fighting a Waurms (Attack 20, Defense 20). Let’s see how much +1 Attack matters at different stages of the game.

Early stage, heroes’ Attack and Defense = 0:

• Troglodyte hits Waurms:

  • (20 + 2) / (20 + 20) = 0.550, then with +1 Attack:

  • (20 + 3) / (20 + 20) = 0.575. Increase: +4.5%.

• Waurms hits Troglodyte:

  • (20 + 20) / (20 + 3) = 1.739, then with +1 Attack:

  • (20 + 21) / (20 + 3) = 1.783. Increase: +2.5%.

Late stage, heroes’ Attack and Defense = 80:

• Troglodyte hits Waurms:

  • (80 + 20 + 2) / (80 + 20 + 20) = 0.8500, then with +1 Attack:

  • (80 + 20 + 3) / (80 + 20 + 20) = 0.8583. Increase: +0.98%.

• Waurms hits Troglodyte:

  • (80 + 20 + 20) / (80 + 20 + 3) = 1.1650, then with +1 Attack:

  • (80 + 20 + 21) / (80 + 20 + 3) = 1.1748. Increase: +0.83%.

The same +1 Attack increases damage by 4.5% and 2.5% at the start of the game, but by less than one percent at the end. The value of stats decreases as the game progresses.

Let’s look at the second point with an example. 1000 Troglodytes against 75 Waurmos (roughly equivalent to one week’s growth for each). A Troglodyte deals an average of 2 damage, while a Waurm deals 22.5. For simplicity, we only take into account the Attack/Defense multiplier, without other modifiers.

Early stage, heroes’ Attack and Defense = 0:

• Troglodyte hits Waurms:

  • Coefficient: (20 + 2) / (20 + 20) = 0.550

  • 0.550 × 1000 × 2 = 1100 damage.

• Waurms hits Troglodyte:

  • Coefficient: (20 + 20) / (20 + 3) = 1.739

  • 1.739 × 75 × 22.5 = 2935 damage.

• Waurmos deal 2.67 times more damage.

Middle stage, heroes’ Attack and Defense = 20:

• Troglodyte hits Waurms:

  • Coefficient: (20 + 20 + 2) / (20 + 20 + 20) = 0.700

  • 0.700 × 1000 × 2 = 1400 damage.

• Waurms hits Troglodyte:

  • Coefficient: (20 + 20 + 20) / (20 + 20 + 3) = 1.395

  • 1.395 × 75 × 22.5 = 2355 damage.

• Waurmos deal 1.68 times more damage.

Late stage, heroes’ Attack and Defense = 60:

• Troglodyte hits Waurms:

  • Coefficient: (60 + 20 + 2) / (60 + 20 + 20) = 0.820

  • 0.820 × 1000 × 2 = 1640 damage.

• Waurms hits Troglodyte:

  • Coefficient: (60 + 20 + 20) / (60 + 20 + 3) = 1.205

  • 1.205 × 75 × 22.5 = 2033 damage.

• Waurmos deal 1.24 times more damage.

The further the game goes, the weaker high-tier creatures become relative to low-tier ones. Building around strong stacks becomes unprofitable, and with small changes to base values (for example, +1 damage for both from the "Drum of War" artifact), a high-tier stack may even start dealing less damage than a low-tier one in the late game, although it dealt more in the early game.

What we are changing. The new formula is based on the difference between the attacker’s Attack and the defender’s Defense, rather than their absolute values. Let’s call it [c]Delta = ATK − DEF[/c].

The multiplier increases with the difference, but each subsequent point gives slightly less than the previous one: the first point of difference gives +4.00%, the second +3.96%, the third +3.92%, and so on, decreasing by 0.04% per point down to zero. Once the difference reaches 100, further increases in Attack or Defense no longer affect damage.

Essentially, the formula calculates the sum of an arithmetic progression. We’ll leave it behind the scenes, though, so we don’t scare you off with overly complex formulas.

• If ATK > DEF, damage is multiplied by (1 + Coefficient).

• If DEF > ATK, damage is divided by (1 + Coefficient).

Let’s recalculate both examples using the new formula.

Key property: the result depends only on the Delta difference, not on the heroes’ stats.

• Troglodyte attacks Waurms: Delta = 2 − 20 = −18 (Defense is higher, so we divide).

• Waurms attacks Troglodyte: Delta = 20 − 3 = 17 (Attack is higher, so we multiply).

• These differences do not change as the hero levels up, since the hero’s bonus is added equally to both creatures.

• Coefficient for Delta = 17: we add up the increases of the first 17 points (4.00% + 3.96% + …) = 62.56%. Coefficient for Delta = 18: the same plus the 18th point (3.32%) = 65.88%.

First example:

• Troglodyte hits Waurms:

  • Coefficient: 1.6588

  • 1.00 / 1.6588 = 0.6028.

• Waurms hits Troglodyte:

  • Coefficient: 1.6256

  • 1.00 × 1.6256 = 1.6256.

The value of +1 Attack is now the same at any stage of the game:

• Troglodyte hits Waurms:

  • Was 0.6028, with +1 Attack → 0.6152. Increase: +2.06%.

• Waurms hits Troglodyte:

  • Was 1.6256, with +1 Attack → 1.6588. Increase: +2.04%.

Neither the heroes’ stats nor the stage of the game affect this anymore.

Second example:

• Troglodyte hits Waurms: 0.6028 × 1000 × 2 = 1206 damage.

• Waurms hits Troglodyte: 1.6256 × 75 × 22.5 = 2743 damage.

• Waurmos deal 2.28 times more damage — and this ratio now stays constant throughout the game.

Summary of changes:

• One stat point gives the same effect regardless of the total number of stats.

• The damage ratio between stacks does not change over the course of the game, so high-tier creatures remain effective at any stage.

• Artifacts and stat bonuses feel equally strong from the beginning to the end of a match.

• Low-tier creatures have become slightly stronger in the early game, but will no longer grow as much in power by the late game.

A mechanism has been added to the game that protects players from excessively long streaks of lucky or unlucky random events related to Morale and Luck. The probability of these effects triggering will now better match players’ expectations. Situations where your stacks with 5 Morale do not perform a single bonus action, while an enemy’s stack with 1 Morale triggers this effect almost every turn, will become practically impossible.

We have updated the combat interface and implemented the following features:

• Updated visuals: game elements have become more convenient.

• Improved indication on the initiative bar — stack features are now easier to read.

• Heroes’ faction active skills have been moved to separate skill panels, which frees up space on the regular hero ability panel.

• Added the "Favorite Spells" feature: you can mark 3 favorite combat spells in the spellbook to cast them quickly.

In this section, you will find changes to hero skills: the long-awaited rework of the Temple faction skill, a new skill, and adjustments to other abilities. As part of these changes, we tried to find more suitable places for some subskills to open up new gameplay opportunities for players.

The original concept of the Temple faction focused on two aspects: positive effects and the hero’s base stats. In this update, we are pursuing a policy of reducing creature stats in battle, so when reworking the faction skill, we decided to move away from a strong focus on one of these aspects — the hero’s stats. The new version of the faction skill is no longer tied to creatures dying in battle or to a significant increase in the hero’s stats, but it gives players new tactical opportunities.

The skill has been completely reworked:

• The new skill allows the hero to use one of three prayers in battle: "Song of Wrath", "Plea for Healing", or "Hymn of Power". After activating a prayer, the hero maintains its effect until the end of the battle or until they use any other prayer.

• The active prayer empowers stacks whose turn comes while it is being maintained. The empowerment lasts until the turn passes to another stack.

• "Song of Wrath": attacks of a stack under the prayer’s effect deal additional Pure Damage.

• "Plea for Healing": when a stack under the prayer’s effect takes damage, it restores a certain amount of health. It can resurrect fallen creatures.

• "Hymn of Power": when a stack under the prayer’s effect uses abilities, the duration of all positive effects applied to it is extended.

• The effectiveness of all prayers depends on the hero’s level.

• In addition to the main skill, all of its subskills have been reworked and adjusted:

  • "Fields of Serenity": friendly Temple creatures deal +10% and take −10% damage on their native terrain.

  • "Secret of Mana": after using any prayer, until the end of the round, allied stacks restore 1 temporary mana to the hero when their turn comes.

  • "Piety": the hero gains +10% experience.

  • "Requiem": each time a creature dies, all of the hero’s stats increase by 1 until the end of the round.

  • "Care for Others": the effect of the prayer in use immediately triggers on the current allied creature.

  • "Contemplation": using prayers does not require Focus Charges.

• "Hive Power" subskill:

  • Before: the hero gains +1 Luck and Morale.

  • After: the cost and cooldown of the "Premature Emergence" ability are reduced by 1.

  • The subskill has been moved to Tier 2.

• The "Ravage" subskill has been moved to Tier 3.

• "Always Heads" subskill: the bonus to gold found on the Global Map (including when receiving rewards for capturing objects) has been reduced: 25% → 10%.

• The "Enlightenment" subskill has been replaced with the new "Understanding the Ephemeral" subskill:

  • Before: the hero gains another +10% experience.

  • After: the hero and friendly creatures deal +50% damage to summoned creatures.

• Magic damage bonus reduced: 20/30/40% → 20/25/30%.

• The "Piercing Spells" subskill has been replaced with the new "Protective Sorcery" subskill:

  • Before: spells ignore 25% of the target’s magic resistance.

  • After: reduces damage dealt by Heroic Strike to friendly creatures by 20%. The bonus is doubled if the hero has "First Aid".

• The "Summoning Sorcery" subskill has been moved to Tier 3.

• "Sticky Magic" subskill:

  • Bonus to the duration of applied effects reduced: 2 → 1.

  • The subskill has been moved to Tier 2.

As part of our general policy of reducing creatures’ base stats in the late game, we are significantly reworking "Battle Magic". Currently, this skill simply gives the army base power regardless of any other factors. It is actively used by both might and magic heroes, which contradicts the original design, according to which the skill should strengthen the combat potential of magic heroes. We understand that this change effectively weakens the skill, so we will closely monitor its performance; for now, we are carrying out a major revision of all subskills available to players when upgrading it.

Major rework of the skill:

• The skill now not only increases creatures’ Attack and Defense based on the hero’s Spell Power and Knowledge, but also reduces the influence of the hero’s Attack and Defense on the corresponding creature stats. Here is how it works. Under normal conditions, creatures receive an Attack bonus equal to 100% of the hero’s Attack and 0% of their Spell Power. With the max level of "Battle Magic", creatures will receive Attack equal to 60% of the hero’s Attack and 40% of their Spell Power.

• Bonus to creature stats (and, accordingly, the added penalty) increased: 15/20/25% → 20/30/40%.

• The "Aura of Destruction" subskill has been replaced with the new "Piercing Spells" subskill:

  • Before: after each spell cast in battle, the hero gains +1 Attack until the end of the battle.

  • After: spells ignore 25% of the target’s magic resistance.

• The "Aura of Protection" subskill has been replaced with the new "Mana Return" subskill:

  • Before: after each spell cast in battle, the hero gains +1 Defense until the end of the battle.

  • After: after each spell cast in battle, the hero gains +2 temporary mana.

• The "Aura of Wizardry" subskill has been reworked:

  • Before: after each spell cast in battle, the hero gains +1 Spell Power until the end of the battle.

  • After: after each spell cast in battle, the hero gains +1 Spell Power and Knowledge until the end of the battle.

  • The subskill has been moved to Tier 3.

• The "Battle Mage’s Authority" and "Mage Protector’s Authority" subskills remain unchanged and do not reduce the inheritance of Attack and Defense from the hero’s stats.

• The "Magic Time" subskill has been moved to Tier 2.

• The "Fast Metabolism" subskill has been reworked:

  • Before: negative effects applied to friendly creatures last fewer rounds: −1.

  • After: negative effects applied to friendly creatures cannot last longer than 2 rounds.

  • The subskill has been moved to Tier 3.

• The "Time Shift" subskill has been moved to Tier 2.

• Stat bonus when waiting or skipping a turn in battle reduced: 20/30/40% → 10/15/20%.

• The "Melee Mastery" subskill has been replaced with the new "At the ready" subskill:

  • Before: friendly creatures deal +10% and take −10% damage in melee.

  • After: when waiting in battle, a friendly stack gains +1 Speed until the end of the round.

  • The subskill is placed in Tier 3.

• The "Long Reach Mastery" subskill has been replaced with the new "Fortifying" subskill:

  • Before: friendly creatures deal +10% and take −10% damage from ranged attacks and at range.

  • After: when skipping a turn, a friendly stack additionally gains +20% Defense.

• The "Manacraft" subskill has been moved to Tier 2.

• The "Summon Destruction" subskill has been replaced with the new "Parasitic Summon" subskill:

  • Before: the hero and friendly creatures deal +50% damage to summoned creatures.

  • After: the summoned avatar restores 3 temporary mana to the hero when dealing or taking damage.

A new skill available to all heroes and factions.

• Base effect: after winning a battle, surviving stacks in the hero’s army restore 20/30/40% of the creatures lost during the battle.

• Subskills:

  • "Return to Service": additionally restores 10% of the creatures lost during the battle. The bonus is doubled if the hero has "Recruitment".

  • "Healthy Decoctions": friendly creatures gain +2 Health.

  • "Antidotes": new ability — removes all negative effects from the target.

  • "Thrill of Battle": each time a friendly stack kills an enemy, it fully restores its health. Does not resurrect fallen creatures.

  • "Adrenaline": whenever a stack takes damage but survives, it deals +10% and takes −10% damage until the end of the next round.

  • "Ammonia": new ability — once per battle, allows resurrecting a fallen friendly stack, partially restoring its size relative to its size at the start of the battle.

• The following heroes have received this skill as a starting skill: Julius, Leira, The Iron Master, Typhona.

• The "Strenuous Training" subskill has been reworked:

  • Before: friendly creatures gain +2 Health.

  • After: reduces the cooldown of friendly creatures’ abilities by several rounds: −1.

• The "Elite Guards" subskill has been reworked:

  • Before: friendly creatures of Tiers 1–3 gain +25% of the hero’s Attack and Defense as Attack and Defense. The bonus is doubled if the hero has "Tactics".

  • After: allows retraining friendly creatures into their alternative versions without restrictions.

• The "Mentors" subskill has been replaced with the new "Militia" subskill:

  • Before: allows upgrading friendly creatures without visiting a town if the hero’s army already contains such upgraded creatures. Such an upgrade costs more than a regular one.

  • After: at the start of battle, friendly stacks of Tiers 1–3 receive 5% temporary creatures. The bonus is doubled if the hero has "Tactics".

• Identical artifacts can no longer be equipped at the same time.

• New artifacts added:

  • Common main weapon "Soldier’s Sword": +1 to the hero’s Attack and Spell Power.

  • Rare ring "Alchemist’s Signet-Ring": +2 to the hero’s Attack and Spell Power.

  • Epic belt "Kergar buckle": +3 to the hero’s Attack and Spell Power.

  • Common ring "Commoner’s Ward": +1 to the hero’s Attack and Knowledge.

  • Rare belt "Battle Mage’s Belt": +2 to the hero’s Attack and Spell Power.

  • Epic off-hand weapon "Greater Djinn’s Bracers": +3 to the hero’s Attack and Spell Power.

  • Common cloak "Satchel": +1 to the hero’s Defense and Spell Power.

  • Rare off-hand weapon "Ritual Shield": +2 to the hero’s Defense and Spell Power.

  • Epic boots "Boots of Dreams": +3 to the hero’s Defense and Spell Power.

  • Common armor "Leather Armor": +1 to the hero’s Defense and Knowledge.

  • Rare boots "Enchanted Jackboots": +2 to the hero’s Defense and Knowledge.

  • Epic helmet "Archmage’s Hood": +3 to the hero’s Defense and Knowledge.

• Two new items have been added to the "Living Arrows" set:

  • Epic off-hand weapon "Elven Blade": removes the melee penalty for friendly shooters.

  • Epic item "Ripe Apple": friendly creatures deal +10% ranged damage.

  • Set bonuses are now activated when collecting 3 and 5 items instead of 2 and 3.

• A new item has been added to the "Ambassador’s Word" set:

  • Legendary cloak "Diplomat’s Robe": +10% to the hero’s Persuasion Power.

  • Set bonuses are now activated when collecting 3 items instead of 2.

  • "Ambassador’s Sash" is now a belt instead of a cloak.

• The rarity of "Orb of Destruction" has been increased from rare to epic.

  • The item is now part of the "Hero of Tales" set. This set’s bonuses are now activated when collecting 3 items instead of 2.

• The rarity of "Tactical Guide" has been increased from epic to legendary.

• The rarity of "Orb of Inhibition" has been increased from epic to legendary.

• The rarity of "Monster Head" has been increased from rare to epic.

• The rarity of "Ring of Neutrality" has been increased from rare to epic.

• The bonus to reducing the enemy hero’s Spell Power of the "Crimson Resonance Controller" artifact has been reduced: 20/30% → 10/15%.

• The "Vortex Robe" artifact now restores temporary mana to the hero instead of permanent mana.

High Neutral Magic

• "Second Wind":

  • Mana cost reduced: 17/13/13/13 → 15/11/11/11.

  • Movement Points restoration adjusted: 40/40/60/60 → 35/35/50/80.

  • Number of uses depending on spell level adjusted: 1/1/1/2 → 1/1/1/1.

• "Pocket Dimension": mana cost increased: 14/10/10/10 → 22/18/18/18.

• "Gate of Light": mana cost reduced: 28/20/20/20 → 18/10/10/10.

As part of the faction creature changes, we have also revisited the balance value of Speed, alongside adjustments related to the reworked base formula. As a result, some stacks may have received minor stat adjustments — primarily high-speed creatures. However, most of the changes are related to the rework of alternative upgrades: in all such cases, creatures have undergone major changes.

Our goal is to make sure that every creature in the game can find its place and differs from its alternative upgrades. This does not mean that we are aiming for a perfectly even split in creature popularity: the main goal is for every stack to have its own use, offer new and unique gameplay, or something else.

Please note: due to these updates, some units will be weakened. For example, if a stack gains a new passive ability, it means it has become stronger. But to maintain balance, we need to reduce its stats or take away some of its other gameplay options.

Also, as part of this update, we have addressed the balance of some laws that affect creatures, making them more balanced and better suited to the role each stack plays.

• Tier 1:

  • Swordsman, Guard Captain, and Sun’s Aegis: these stacks have received the new active ability "Shields Up", which grants them an effect that reduces the ranged damage they take.

  • Swordsman:

    • Attack: 4 → 3

    • Defense: 4 → 3

  • Guard Captain:

    • Attack: 6 → 5

  • Sun’s Aegis:

    • Defense: 8 → 7

• Tier 2:

  • Crossbowman:

    • Attack: 5 → 4

  • Austringer:

    • Attack: 5 → 6

    • Speed: 4 → 3

• Tier 3:

  • Griffin:

    • Damage: 5-9 → 6-8

  • Temple Griffin:

    • Attack: 8 → 7

    • Defense: 6 → 10

    • Damage: 5-9 → 6-8

  • Guardian Griffin:

    • Attack: 9 → 10

    • Defense: 10 → 6

    • Damage: 7-7 → 8-8

    • Initiative: 10 → 11

• Tier 4:

  • Lightweaver:

    • Attack: 11 → 12

    • Defense: 11 → 12

  • Hierophant:

    • Attack: 13 → 12

    • Defense: 16 → 17

  • Sun Herald:

    • Attack: 16 → 17

    • Defense: 13 → 14

    • Damage: 11-18 → 11-17

• Tier 5:

  • Cavalry:

    • Defense: 17 → 18

    • Morale: 1 → 0

  • Noble Cavalry:

    • Defense: 17 → 18

    • Damage: 12-16 → 10-14

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Inspiring", which increases the chance of positive Morale triggering for all nearby allies.

  • Sunspear Cavalry:

    • Defense: 22 → 18

    • Morale: 2 → 1

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Strike and Return", which allows the stack to return to its starting position after attacking.

• Tier 6:

  • Mother Superior:

    • Health: 125 → 120

    • Initiative: 9 → 7

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Malleus Maleficarum", which reduces the magic damage taken by all nearby allies.

  • Excommunicator:

    • Attack: 26 → 20

    • Damage: 23-33 → 29-33

• Tier 7:

  • Angel:

    • Speed: 4 → 5

• The construction cost of creature-producing buildings, as well as the number of the corresponding creatures that can be obtained as a reward from Pandora’s Boxes, have undergone various adjustments related to the review of stack value and rebalancing.

Given the major update to the Temple faction skill, we are slightly revising the changes to the faction’s laws that were implemented in the previous update. As a result, the number of levels of laws that improve faction creatures has once again been reduced to two.

• All "Elite" creature laws: number of upgrade levels: 3 → 2.

• Laws "Resource Riches I", "Resource Riches II", "Resource Riches III": activation cost: 1/2/3 → 2/3/4.

• "Tax Collectors" law: activation cost: 2/2 → 3/3.

• "Architect’s Mastery" law: activation cost: 2 → 3.

• "Execute Excellence" law: removed from the list of available laws.

• "Elite Griffins" law: now increases the Attack and Defense of Griffins in the player’s army by 2 / 4 instead of the bonus to Health.

• "Training: Melee Combat" law: activation cost: 3/3 → 4/4.

• "Training: Long Reach Combat" law: activation cost: 3/3 → 4/4.

• "Elite Cavalry" law: now increases the Attack and Defense of Cavalry in the player’s army by 3 / 6 instead of the bonus to ignoring the target’s Defense. The Speed bonus remains unchanged.

• "Elite Inquisitors" law: now increases the Health of Inquisitors in the player’s army by 15 / 30 instead of the bonus to ignoring the attacker’s Attack. The Speed bonus remains unchanged.

• "Encouragement" law: activation cost: 2/2 → 3/3.

• "Hero’s Blessing" law:

  • Number of upgrade levels: 1 → 3.

  • Activation cost: 3 → 4/2/2.

• "Elite Angels" law: Angels in the player’s army now ignore 10% / 20% of the target’s Defense and the attacker’s Attack instead of inheriting the hero’s stats.

• "Sacred Protection" law: activation cost: 4 → 5.

• Tier 1:

  • Skeleton:

    • Defense: 1 → 2

  • Skeleton Warrior:

    • Defense: 3 → 2

    • Initiative: 5 → 6

  • Skeleton Archer:

    • Defense: 1 → 2

• Tier 2:

  • Base growth in towns reduced: 19 → 18. The number of creatures in heroes’ starting armies has been adjusted accordingly.

  • Wight:

    • Health: 8 → 9

  • Wraith:

    • Health: 8 → 9

    • Speed: 7 → 6

    • The stack has lost the active ability "Howl of the Banshee", which it could use to force a stack to move.

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Gates of Afterlife", which allows the stack to summon Wights on an adjacent hex.

  • Phantasm:

    • Health: 8 → 9

    • Defense: 4 → 6

    • Initiative: 6 → 7

    • Speed: 7 → 6

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Howl of the Banshee".

The visuals and narrative of the upgraded versions of Undead Pets did not quite match the role they play, so as part of the review of alternative upgrades, we adjusted their skills to fix this shortcoming.

• Tier 3:

  • Base growth in towns reduced: 14 → 13. The number of creatures in heroes’ starting armies has been adjusted accordingly.

  • Undead Pet:

    • Initiative: 5 → 6

  • Barghest:

    • Defense: 6 → 4

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Double Strike".

    • The stack has lost the active ability "Call the Pack", which it could use to create temporary stacks.

  • Armored Hound:

    • Health: 18 → 14

    • Attack: 4 → 6

    • Defense: 8 → 10

    • Initiative: 5 → 6

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Call the Pack".

In gameplay, Graverobbers and their upgraded versions have held a rather shaky position due to their combat stats. Instead of simply increasing the stack’s raw power, we want to further strengthen their support potential, so we are giving them a new type of passive abilities that empower certain stacks.

• Tier 4:

  • Base growth in towns reduced: 10 → 9. The number of creatures in heroes’ starting armies has been adjusted accordingly.

  • Graverobber:

    • Attack: 11 → 7

    • Defense: 10 → 8

  • Merchant of Death:

    • Attack: 11 → 7

    • Defense: 10 → 8

    • Damage: 7-10 → 9-9

    • Initiative: 5 → 6

    • The stack has lost the active ability "Ensnare Memories", which it could use to summon Wights on an adjacent hex.

    • Number of Skeletons summoned by the "Dig Up Bones" ability: 3 × stack size → 2 × stack size.

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Throwing a Bone", which increases the Speed and Initiative of all allied Skeletons (and their upgraded versions).

  • Kennelmaster:

    • Attack: 14 → 7

    • Defense: 10 → 8

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Pack Leader", which increases the Speed and Initiative of all allied Undead Pets (and their upgraded versions).

• Tier 5:

  • Lich:

    • Attack: 12 → 14

    • Defense: 12 → 13

    • Damage: 13-16 → 12-15

  • Pestilent Lich:

    • Attack: 12 → 14

    • Defense: 12 → 13

    • Damage: 16-16 → 15-15

    • Speed: 3 → 2

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Plague Aura", which increases the duration of negative effects applied to enemy creatures.

  • Sanguine Lich:

    • Attack: 12 → 14

    • Defense: 16 → 13

    • Damage: 13-16 → 12-15

    • Initiative: 4 → 5

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Last Spark", which destroys the target corpse and restores temporary mana to the hero.

• Tier 6:

  • Dread Knight:

    • Health: 80 → 85

    • Attack: 19 → 22

    • Damage: 12-14 → 12-16

  • Avatar of War:

    • Health: 80 → 85

    • Attack: 19 → 22

    • Defense: 20 → 18

    • Damage: 18-20 → 18-24

  • Hollow Reaper:

    • Health: 80 → 85

    • Attack: 25 → 22

    • Damage: 24-26 → 24-32

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Paralyzing Dread", which increases the chance of negative Morale triggering for all nearby enemies.

• Tier 7:

  • Vampire, Vampire Lord, Vampire Scholar: the strength of the "Vampirism" passive ability has been increased: 50% → 66.6%.

  • Vampire:

    • Attack: 22 → 26

    • Defense: 20 → 24

  • Vampire Lord:

    • Attack: 22 → 26

    • Defense: 26 → 28

  • Vampire Scholar:

    • Attack: 27 → 26

    • Defense: 20 → 24

    • Damage: 30-30 → 35-35

    • Speed: 5 → 6

• The construction cost of creature-producing buildings, as well as the number of the corresponding creatures that can be obtained as a reward from Pandora’s Boxes, have undergone various adjustments related to the review of stack value and rebalancing.

• Laws "Resource Riches I", "Resource Riches II", "Resource Riches III": activation cost: 1/2/3 → 2/3/4.

• "Tax Collectors" law: number of upgrade levels: 2 → 3.

• "Bloodthirst" law: Vampirism bonus for creatures in the army: 60% → 50%.

• "Elite Dread Knights" law: max damage bonus increased: 6/6 → 8/8.

• "Free Death" law: activation cost: 3/2/2 → 4/3/3.

• "Terra Mortis" law: activation cost: 5 → 6.

• "Return to the Soil" law:

  • Number of upgrade levels: 2 → 1.

  • Activation cost: 4 → 5.

• "Death’s Presence" law:

  • Number of upgrade levels: 2 → 1.

  • Activation cost: 4 → 5.

The Grove faction has undergone the biggest adjustments compared to other factions. There were quite a few problems in the design of its upgraded creatures: the gameplay of many upgraded stacks was practically the same, their role was unclear, and their abilities did not fit the image and narrative of the stacks very well. In addition, due to the risky gameplay in the early stages, when losing even a single unit could lead to extremely negative consequences, we are slightly strengthening the faction’s starting potential.

• Tier 1:

  • Base growth in towns increased: 13 → 15. The number of creatures in heroes’ starting armies has been adjusted accordingly.

  • Faun, Faun Archer, Faun Warrior: these stacks have received the new active ability "Outsider Eradication", which lets them perform an attack that deals more damage.

  • Faun:

    • Defense: 3 → 4

  • Faun Archer:

    • Attack: 4 → 8

    • Defense: 3 → 4

  • Faun Warrior:

    • Attack: 6 → 8

    • Defense: 6 → 8

• Tier 2:

  • Base growth in towns increased: 9 → 11. The number of creatures in heroes’ starting armies has been adjusted accordingly.

  • Hoplet:

    • Defense: 5 → 6

    • Damage: 4-8 → 4-6

    • Initiative: 6 → 7

    • Speed: 5 → 6

  • Dawn Hoplet:

    • Attack: 9 → 6

    • Defense: 5 → 6

    • Damage: 4-8 → 4-6

    • Initiative: 6 → 8

    • Luck: 2 → 1

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Whirlwind Strike".

  • Dusk Hoplet:

    • Attack: 7 → 8

    • Defense: 7 → 8

    • Damage: 4-8 → 4-6

    • Initiative: 9 → 8

    • Speed: 5 → 7

    • Morale: 2 → 1

• Tier 3:

  • Vine Iriyad:

    • Attack: 6 → 7

    • Defense: 11 → 13

    • Damage: 5-7 → 6-9

    • Initiative: 2 → 3

  • Fungal Iriyad:

    • Attack: 6 → 7

    • Defense: 11 → 13

    • Damage: 4-8 → 6-9

    • Initiative: 3 → 4

    • Speed: 4 → 3

  • Crystal Iriyad:

    • Attack: 6 → 7

    • Defense: 11 → 13

    • Damage: 5-7 → 6-9

    • Initiative: 3 → 4

• Tier 4:

  • Naiad:

    • Health: 40 → 50

    • Attack: 11 → 12

    • Damage: 10-14 → 12-14

    • Initiative: 5 → 6

    • Speed: 5 → 4

  • Vernal Naiad:

    • Health: 40 → 50

    • Attack: 11 → 20

    • Defense: 14 → 12

    • Damage: 14-18 → 14-16

    • Speed: 6 → 4

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Whirlpool", which allows it to pull enemies toward a selected point.

  • Brumal Naiad:

    • Health: 40 → 50

    • Attack: 15 → 12

    • Defense: 10 → 18

    • Damage: 14-18 → 12-14

    • Initiative: 6 → 8

    • Speed: 5 → 4

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Hypothermia", which reduces the enemy hero’s stats until the end of the round.

• Tier 5:

  • Herbomancer:

    • Attack: 12 → 14

    • Defense: 14 → 16

    • Damage: 15-18 → 14-18

    • Initiative: 6 → 5

  • Sporemancer:

    • Attack: 16 → 18

    • Defense: 18 → 16

    • Damage: 15-18 → 18-18

    • Initiative: 8 → 7

    • The stack has lost the active ability "Protective Roots", which it could use to make an allied stack immune to magic damage.

    • The stack’s active ability "Swarm of Bees" has been replaced with the new, stronger "Bees Invasion" ability, which now deals damage and applies an effect to all enemies within one hex of the target.

    • The stack’s passive ability "Mushroom Magic" now reduces the mana cost of the allied hero’s spells by 3 instead of 2.

  • Murmurmancer:

    • Attack: 12 → 14

    • Defense: 14 → 16

    • Damage: 18-18 → 14-18

    • Initiative: 8 → 6

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Protective Roots".

• Tier 6:

  • Qilin:

    • Health: 130 → 120

    • Attack: 22 → 23

    • Defense: 20 → 23

    • Damage: 24-30 → 24-33

    • Speed: 6 → 7

    • Luck: 2 → 0

  • Thunder Qilin:

    • Health: 130 → 120

    • Attack: 22 → 23

    • Defense: 20 → 23

    • Damage: 30-36 → 30-39

    • Luck: 2 → 0

    • The stack has lost the passive ability "Cloud Nine", which generated Focus Points at the beginning of each round.

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Scintillating Scales", which increases the magic damage taken by all nearby enemies.

  • Mist Qilin:

    • Health: 130 → 120

    • Attack: 24 → 23

    • Defense: 22 → 23

    • Damage: 27-36 → 24-33

    • Initiative: 13 → 10

    • Luck: 2 → 0

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Cloud Nine".

    • The stack has lost the passive ability "Scintillating Scales".

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Opportunity Attack", which allows it to always attack enemies passing nearby.

    • The stack’s active ability "Mist Form" has been reworked: it now reduces incoming damage to one point instead of by a certain percentage.

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Forest Haze", which prevents the target enemy stack from shooting.

• Tier 7:

  • Phoenix:

    • Attack: 28 → 31

  • Flaming Phoenix:

    • Attack: 36 → 35

    • Defense: 27 → 26

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Flaming Agony", which makes it deal damage to all nearby stacks upon its death.

  • Energy Phoenix:

    • Attack: 28 → 30

    • Defense: 39 → 32

• The construction cost of creature-producing buildings, as well as the number of the corresponding creatures that can be obtained as a reward from Pandora’s Boxes, have undergone various adjustments related to the review of stack value and rebalancing.

• Laws "Resource Riches I", "Resource Riches II", "Resource Riches III": activation cost: 1/2/3 → 2/3/4.

• Building the "Blooming Pond" no longer requires a "Mage Guild".

• "Elite Fauns" law: now allows Fauns in the player’s army to counterattack twice: once before the enemy’s attack and once after.

• "Forest Magic" law: activation cost: 4/4 → 3/3.

• "Focus" law: activation cost: 3 → 2.

• "Live roots" law: activation cost: 6 → 5.

• "Elite Mancers" law: now allows Herbomancers in the player’s army to use abilities without ending their turn.

• "Elite Qilins" law: now increases the Attack and Defense of Qilins in the player’s army by 3 / 6 instead of the bonus to Damage.

We continue to work on Hive stacks to make playing this faction more engaging while preserving its key feature — an aggressive and risky playstyle. Some of the changes described below should allow the Hive to dominate the enemy even more, improving its effectiveness in battle. Others will allow the Hive to adapt to a more cautious playstyle, which should lead to the same result — fewer losses in regular battles. In addition, the faction’s gameplay was too dependent on randomness, and by adjusting creature stats and laws, we want to make it more predictable for the player.

• Fire Larva:

  • Health: 16 → 20

  • Base explosion damage of the passive ability on death: 15 → 10.

  • Explosion damage when using active abilities: 30 → 15.

  • The stack has received the new passive ability "Castes", which increases the power of Larvae depending on the class of the hero whose army they are in. With might heroes, they deal 50% more damage. With magic heroes, their explosion deals 50% more damage.

• Tier 1:

  • Parasite:

    • Health: 7 → 8

  • Warden Parasite:

    • Health: 9 → 10

    • Defense: 6 → 3

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Strike and Return", which allows the stack to return to its starting position after attacking.

  • Ravager Parasite:

    • Health: 7 → 8

    • Attack: 6 → 5

    • The stack’s passive ability "Topple the Strong!" now deals +6% damage (instead of +3%) to higher-tier enemies for each tier of difference.

• Tier 2:

  • Harvester Locust:

    • Defense: 4 → 6

• Tier 3:

  • Hornet:

    • Attack: 7 → 8

    • Defense: 10 → 9

    • Damage: 4-9 → 4-12

    • Initiative: 10 → 9

  • Chanter:

    • Attack: 7 → 8

    • Defense: 10 → 9

    • Damage: 4-9 → 4-12

    • Initiative: 4 → 11

    • Speed: 11 → 8

  • Stinger:

    • Attack: 7 → 8

    • Defense: 10 → 9

    • Damage: 4-9 → 4-12

    • Initiative: 12 → 9

    • Speed: 9 → 10

We decided to significantly expand the capabilities of upgraded Scorpions and clearly define their roles. The defensive upgrade has taken on the role of a support stack that will empower other Hive stacks, opening up new opportunities for the faction. The alternative upgrade serves as a fighter and has been strengthened accordingly.

• Tier 4:

  • Scorpion:

    • Attack: 12 → 14

    • Defense: 12 → 14

    • Damage: 10-12 → 10-14

  • Volcanic Scorpion:

    • Attack: 12 → 14

    • Damage: 10-12 → 10-14

    • Luck: 2 → 1

    • All "Adaptation" active abilities have been reworked. They now affect all allied stacks with half the effectiveness.

  • Spelaean Scorpion:

    • Attack: 14 → 16

    • Defense: 12 → 16

    • Damage: 12-14 → 14-18

    • Initiative: 6 → 7

    • Speed: 4 → 5

    • Morale: 2 → 1

• Tier 5:

  • Reaver:

    • Attack: 18 → 22

    • Speed: 6 → 7

    • Morale: 1 → 0

  • Menacing Reaver:

    • Attack: 18 → 22

    • Defense: 18 → 12

    • Damage: 20-30 → 20-40

    • Speed: 7 → 8

    • Morale: 3 → 0

    • The stack has lost the active ability "Rapid Assault", which allowed it to attack an enemy without receiving a counterattack.

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Swift Strike".

  • Maniacal Reaver:

    • Attack: 18 → 22

    • Initiative: 12 → 11

    • Speed: 6 → 7

    • Morale: 2 → 0

• Tier 6:

  • Waurms:

    • Attack: 21 → 20

    • Defense: 21 → 20

    • Damage: 21-23 → 20-24

    • Luck: 1 → 2

    • The "Corpse Eater" passive ability has been weakened: the amount of health restored has been reduced: 120 → 100.

  • Devourer:

    • Attack: 21 → 20

    • Defense: 21 → 20

    • Damage: 27-29 → 24-28

    • Initiative: 7 → 8

    • Luck: 3 → 2

    • The kill threshold of the "Devour" active ability has been reduced: 40% → 30%.

  • Pyroboros:

    • Attack: 21 → 20

    • Defense: 21 → 20

    • Damage: 21-23 → 20-24

    • Initiative: 8 → 7

    • Speed: 8 → 10

    • The stack has lost the passive ability "Corpse Eater", which allowed it to restore health by devouring corpses.

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Mana Eater", which allows it to restore temporary mana to the hero by devouring corpses.

• Tier 7:

  • Hive Queen:

    • Attack: 25 → 30

    • Defense: 25 → 30

    • Bonus to the stack’s Attack and Defense when the enemy army contains Temple and Necropolis creatures reduced: 25% → 20%.

  • Hive Mother:

    • Attack: 25 → 30

    • Defense: 25 → 30

    • Bonus to the stack’s Attack and Defense when the enemy army contains Temple and Necropolis creatures reduced: 25% → 20%.

  • Hive Huntress:

    • Attack: 25 → 30

    • Defense: 25 → 30

    • Damage: 70-70 → 60-60

    • Initiative: 8 → 9

    • Bonus to the stack’s Attack and Defense when the enemy army contains Temple and Necropolis creatures reduced: 25% → 20%.

    • The stack’s passive ability "Squash the Weak!" now deals +6% damage (instead of +3%) to lower-tier enemies for each tier of difference.

• Building the "Paper Nest" now requires the "Neglected Housing" and the "Carrion Lair".

• The construction cost of creature-producing buildings, as well as the number of the corresponding creatures that can be obtained as a reward from Pandora’s Boxes, have undergone various adjustments related to the review of stack value and rebalancing.

• Laws "Resource Riches I", "Resource Riches II", "Resource Riches III": activation cost: 1/2/3 → 2/3/4.

• "Elite Parasites" law: now increases the max damage of Parasites in the player’s army by 1 / 2 instead of the bonus to Health.

• "Elite Hornets" law: now increases the min damage of Hornets in the player’s army by 2 / 4 instead of the bonus to Initiative.

• "Elite Scorpions" law: now reduces the cooldown of Scorpions’ abilities in the player’s army by 1 / 2 rounds instead of the bonuses to Luck and Morale.

• "Elite Waurmos" law: now increases the Initiative of Waurmos in the player’s army by 1 / 2 instead of the bonuses to Luck and Morale.

• "Elite Hive Queens" law: now increases the Attack, Defense, and Damage of Hive Queens in the player’s army by 3 / 6, as well as their Speed and Initiative by 1 / 1, instead of the bonuses to Damage and Health.

• "Great Conquest" law: once again affects all creatures, not just Hive creatures.

The law that allows Larvae to provoke enemies was originally added to the faction to help minimize casualties in battles where no ranged units were available. However, the effect itself proved incredibly powerful and drew negative feedback from some players.

Now, with a new skill that helps reduce casualties being added to the game, the Hive will have another way to keep its army combat-ready for longer. Therefore, we are weakening the provocation effect:

• "Hive Offsprings II" law: Larvae now provoke enemies only during the first round after hatching.

• Tier 1:

  • Stinging Ra’Shoth:

    • Attack: 5 → 6

    • Defense: 5 → 6

• Tier 2:

  • Cultist:

    • Attack: 5 → 6

    • Defense: 4 → 5

  • Binder:

    • Attack: 5 → 6

    • Defense: 7 → 8

  • Votary:

    • Attack: 9 → 8

    • Defense: 4 → 5

    • Damage: 4-8 → 4-6

    • Speed: 4 → 5

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Rift Conductor", which increases the Initiative of all allied Ra’Shoth, Grand Shoth, and Abyssal Envoys (and their upgraded versions).

• Tier 3:

  • Aga’Shoth Rider:

    • Health: 20 → 25

    • Attack: 7 → 8

    • Defense: 7 → 8

    • Damage: 5-7 → 6-8

    • Initiative: 6 → 5

  • Aga’Shoth Tamer:

    • Health: 20 → 25

    • Defense: 8 → 11

    • Damage: 5-7 → 6-8

    • Initiative: 9 → 8

  • Aga’Shoth Mat’ha:

    • Attack: 7 → 10

    • Defense: 7 → 8

    • Damage: 5-7 → 6-8

    • Speed: 6 → 5

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Raid", which increases the Speed of all allied Ra’Shoth, Grand Shoth, and Abyssal Envoys (and their upgraded versions).

• Tier 4:

  • Grand Shoth:

    • Attack: 11 → 12

    • Defense: 11 → 12

    • Damage: 10-13 → 12-14

    • Speed: 5 → 6

  • Unspeakable Shoth:

    • Attack: 11 → 14

    • Defense: 11 → 14

    • Damage: 10-13 → 12-14

  • Unthinkable Shoth:

    • Attack: 11 → 12

    • Defense: 11 → 12

    • Damage: 10-13 → 14-14

    • Initiative: 13 → 12

    • Speed: 6 → 7

• Tier 5:

  • Concubus, Mistress of Chains, and Bewitcher: these stacks have received the new passive ability "Seduction", thanks to which they always take minimum damage.

  • Concubus:

    • Health: 60 → 55

    • Attack: 16 → 15

    • Defense: 13 → 14

    • Damage: 14-20 → 16-20

  • Mistress of Chains:

    • Health: 60 → 55

    • Attack: 20 → 19

    • Defense: 13 → 14

    • Damage: 14-20 → 16-20

    • The stack’s passive ability "Earn Your Magic, Dear" now increases the mana cost of the enemy hero’s spells by 3 instead of 2.

  • Bewitcher:

    • Health: 60 → 55

    • Attack: 16 → 15

    • Defense: 13 → 18

    • Damage: 20-20 → 16-20

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Flog Idle Mind", thanks to which the stack’s attacks deal additional damage depending on the army’s current Focus.

• Tier 6:

  • Arbitrator:

    • Attack: 20 → 24

    • Defense: 20 → 23

    • Damage: 18-22 → 18-24

  • Rift Arbitrator:

    • Attack: 26 → 24

    • Defense: 28 → 29

    • Damage: 18-22 → 18-24

  • Bloated Arbitrator:

    • Defense: 22 → 24

    • Damage: 22-26 → 22-28

• Building the "Involuntary Summons" now requires the "Great Library" instead of the "Mage Guild".

• The construction cost of creature-producing buildings, as well as the number of the corresponding creatures that can be obtained as a reward from Pandora’s Boxes, have undergone various adjustments related to the review of stack value and rebalancing.

• Laws "Resource Riches I", "Resource Riches II", "Resource Riches III": activation cost: 1/2/3 → 2/3/4.

• "Elite Cultists" law: now increases the Health of Cultists in the player’s army by 5 instead of the bonus to Damage.

• "Elite Aga’Shoth Riders" law: now increases the Damage of Aga’Shoth Riders in the player’s army by 2 instead of the bonus to Health.

• "Elite Concubi" law: Attack and Defense bonuses increased: 4 → 6.

• "Unstoppable" elite hero class: bonus to hero stats: 10 → 8.

As with the Grove faction, Dungeon stacks were very similar to each other. However, unlike the Grove, the Dungeon faced another problem — few ways to spend Focus. The changes described below are designed to solve these problems and bring alternative upgrades more in line with their narrative and image.

• Tier 1:

  • Troglodyte:

    • Health: 8 → 9

  • Infernal Troglodyte:

    • Health: 8 → 9

    • Defense: 6 → 5

  • Toxic Troglodyte:

    • Health: 8 → 9

    • Attack: 5 → 4

• Tier 2:

  • Guile Infiltrator:

    • Initiative: 6 → 8

    • Speed: 7 → 5

    • Luck: 2 → 1

    • The stack has lost the active ability "Shadowstrike", which allowed it to attack any enemy on the battlefield while ignoring its Defense.

    • The stack has lost the passive ability "Staggering Hits", which prevented the target of its attack from counterattacking until the end of the round.

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Sharper Blade", which increases its Luck with each attack.

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Liquidation", which instantly kills the attacked enemy if, after the attack, its stack size is below a certain value.

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Swift Strike".

  • Bleak Infiltrator:

    • Initiative: 9 → 6

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Shadowstrike".

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Staggering Hits".

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Ambush", which allows it to hide in the shadows and be untargetable at the start of the battle and at the start of each round until its turn comes.

• Tier 3:

  • Onyx Dancer, Jasper Dancer, and Aureate Dancer: these stacks have received the new active ability "Blade Dance", which allows them to attack twice until the end of the round.

  • Onyx Dancer:

    • Defense: 8 → 7

    • Speed: 2 → 3

  • Jasper Dancer:

    • Defense: 8 → 9

    • Initiative: 5 → 6

    • Speed: 4 → 5

  • Aureate Dancer:

    • Attack: 8 → 9

    • Defense: 8 → 7

    • Initiative: 7 → 6

• Tier 4:

  • Minotaur, Minotaur Lord, and Minotaur Vanguard: these stacks have received the new active ability "Minotaur’s Onslaught", which allows them to push the target back with their next attack, if possible.

  • Minotaur:

    • Attack: 11 → 12

    • Defense: 11 → 12

    • Damage: 12-14 → 12-16

  • Minotaur Lord:

    • Attack: 11 → 12

    • Defense: 15 → 16

    • Damage: 12-14 → 12-16

  • Minotaur Vanguard:

    • Attack: 15 → 14

    • Defense: 11 → 14

    • Damage: 14-16 → 12-16

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Balthazar’s Tramp", which reduces the Speed of all nearby enemies for several rounds.

• Tier 5:

  • Medusa:

    • Attack: 15 → 18

    • Defense: 14 → 16

    • Damage: 11-15 → 14-19

  • Medusa Sculptor:

    • Attack: 20 → 18

    • Defense: 18 → 16

    • Damage: 15-15 → 14-19

    • Initiative: 5 → 6

    • The stack has received the new passive ability "Marble Arrows", which reduces the target’s Initiative on attack.

  • Medusa Queen:

    • Attack: 17 → 23

    • Defense: 14 → 16

    • Damage: 11-15 → 14-19

    • Initiative: 8 → 7

    • The stack has lost the passive ability "Marble Arrows".

    • The stack has received the new active ability "Hail of Arrows", which allows it to select several hexes and bring down a rain of arrows on each of them, dealing damage to all enemies near the targets.

• Tier 6:

  • Hydra:

    • Health: 130 → 120

    • Defense: 22 → 27

    • Damage: 25-28 → 25-30

  • Chthonic Hydra:

    • Health: 160 → 150

    • Defense: 30 → 32

    • Damage: 25-28 → 25-30

  • Infernal Hydra:

    • Health: 130 → 120

    • Attack: 30 → 29

    • Defense: 26 → 27

    • Damage: 30-38 → 30-35

• Tier 7:

  • Cave Dragon:

    • Health: 275 → 300

    • Attack: 29 → 32

    • Defense: 25 → 28

  • Black Dragon:

    • Health: 350 → 375

    • Attack: 29 → 32

  • Ashen Dragon:

    • Health: 300 → 325

    • Attack: 37 → 36

    • Defense: 25 → 28

• The construction cost of creature-producing buildings, as well as the number of the corresponding creatures that can be obtained as a reward from Pandora’s Boxes, have undergone various adjustments related to the review of stack value and rebalancing.

• Laws "Resource Riches I", "Resource Riches II", "Resource Riches III": activation cost: 1/2/3 → 2/3/4.

• "Elite Infiltrators" law: now increases the max damage of Infiltrators in the player’s army by 1 / 2 instead of the bonus to Health.

• "Elite Dancers" law: now increases the Luck and Morale of Dancers in the player’s army by 1 / 2 instead of the bonus to Attack and Defense.

• "Elite Minotaurs" law: now increases the Attack and Defense of Minotaurs in the player’s army by 2 / 4 instead of the bonus to Damage. The Initiative and Speed bonuses remain unchanged.

• "Elite Medusae" law: now increases only the Attack of Medusae in the player’s army by 4 / 8 instead of the bonuses to Attack and Defense. The Initiative bonus remains unchanged.

• "Elite Hydras" law: now increases the Defense of Hydras in the player’s army by 4 / 8 instead of the bonuses to Health. The Speed bonus remains unchanged.

• "Balthazar’s Bodyguard" elite hero class: bonus to hero’s Attack: 100% → 40%.

• "Silvertongue’s Envoy" elite hero class: bonus to hero’s Defense: 100% → 40%.

• "Amelchia’s Heir" elite hero class: bonus to hero’s Spell Power: 100% → 40%.

• Tier 1:

  • Pixie:

    • Health: 6 → 4

    • Attack: 3 → 2

    • Defense: 3 → 2

• Tier 2:

  • Ghoul:

    • Attack: 9 → 7

    • Defense: 7 → 5

    • Damage: 4-8 → 4-6

• Tier 3:

  • Animated Armor:

    • Defense: 8 → 7

    • Damage: 5-12 → 6-12

• Tier 4:

  • Starchild:

    • Attack: 13 → 12

• Tier 5:

  • Added a new neutral enemy — Mummy.

  • Giant Toad:

    • Attack: 19 → 16

• Tier 6:

  • Couatl:

    • Health: 95 → 100

• Tier 7:

  • Added a new neutral enemy — Kitsune.

• The number of these creatures that can be obtained as a reward from Pandora’s Boxes has undergone various adjustments related to the review of stack value and rebalancing.

• Pandora’s Boxes have been substantially reworked: all of them now let the player choose a reward.

  • Pandora’s Boxes that previously gave hero experience now let you choose between hero experience, Law Points, or Astrology Points. The value of such objects has been increased by 25%.

  • Pandora’s Boxes that previously gave gold now let you choose between gold, resources, or Alchemical Dust. The value of such objects has been increased by 20%.

  • Pandora’s Boxes that previously gave creatures remain unchanged: the player can still choose any upgrade version.

  • Pandora’s Boxes that previously gave stats have been reworked. They are now divided into two groups: "combat" and "magic".

    • Combat Pandora’s Boxes let you choose between increasing the hero’s Attack by 4/6, increasing the hero’s Defense by 4/6, or a one-time restoration of 20/30% Movement Points.

    • Magic Pandora’s Boxes let you choose between increasing the hero’s Spell Power by 4/6, increasing the hero’s Knowledge by 4/6, or a one-time restoration of 20/30% mana.

    • In addition, the value of such objects is now significantly lower than before.

  • Pandora’s Boxes that previously gave spells have been merged. Instead of separate objects that gave all spells of a specific magic school or a specific tier, now:

    • There are five Pandora’s Boxes in the game — one for each spell tier.

    • Each box lets you choose which magic school’s spells the hero will learn.

    • The hero learns the spells even without Wisdom or the magic school skills.

    • In addition, the value of such objects is significantly lower than before.

• Guards in Creature Bank-type objects have been significantly adjusted:

  • "Point of Balance", guard stack size: 4 / 8 / 11 / 14 → 6 / 11 / 15 / 18.

  • "Colosseum", guard stack size: 7 / 14 / 20 / 25 → 11 / 20 / 27 / 32.

  • "Ritual Pyre", guard stack size: 4 / 8 / 11 / 14 → 7 / 12 / 16 / 19.

  • "Tomb of Vigilance", guard stack size: 14 / 28 / 40 / 50 → 20 / 38 / 52 / 62.

  • "Boreal Call", guard stack size: 11 / 22 / 32 / 40 → 16 / 28 / 38 / 46.

  • "Carrion Pile", guard stack size: 19 / 38 / 55 / 69 → 30 / 55 / 75 / 90.

  • "Petrified Memorial", guard stack size: 5 / 10 / 14 / 18 → 7 / 13 / 18 / 22.

  • The guards of the first two versions of each listed object no longer include upgraded stacks. The number of upgraded stacks in other versions of the objects has been adjusted.

• "Chimerologist": creature conversion penalty reduced: 15% → 10%.

• "Mearea’s Altar": the object’s inner guard has been increased by 1 Couatl. It is now split into stacks of 1 Couatl each instead of a single stack.

• "Trophy Hunter’s Den": The internal guards are split into stacks of 2 Dragon Slayers each and start the battle positioned around the player’s army rather than directly opposite it.

• "Overgrown Vori Ruins": the amount of Alchemical Dust received as a reward for defeating the inner guard has been halved. The object’s inner guard has been adjusted: it has become stronger, and the guardians are now always split into three stacks on the battlefield.

• Added a new object for templates with a tournament system or a decisive battle — "Hell Light Spire". It allows registering the hero who last visited the object for the duel. The presence of this object depends on the map or template and does not guarantee a change in the match rules.

• On templates and maps with a tournament system or a decisive battle, the hero selected for battle is now displayed. You can find this information in the tooltip of each player, including opponents.

• Slightly reduced the chance that groups of 3 or more objects are generated under the protection of a single guard.

• On the Blitz, Chosen One, Exodus Classic, Exodus, Helltide, Infinity, Jebus Cross, Jebus Tournament, Massacre, Outcast Tournament, and Symmetry templates, "Siegecraft" can no longer be offered to a hero when leveling up.

• The "Diplomatic Gifts", "Ambassador’s Sash", and "Diplomat’s Robe" artifacts can no longer be generated on random templates and maps. These artifacts will return to the game with the rework of the "Diplomacy" skill.

• Many templates have received minor adjustments improving object generation.

• Added the new Jebus Arena template — a variation of the Jebus Cross template (160x160) without a central town and with the ability to challenge an opponent to battle using the "Hell Light Arena".

• Template size increased: 160x160 → 176x176.

• The central zone of the template has been significantly reworked:

  • Secondary central towns are no longer tied to the main exits from the side areas — they are placed randomly throughout the center.

  • Instead of secondary towns, "Remote Footholds" are now located at the main exits from the zones.

  • Base creature growth in dwellings reduced from double to single.

• The side zones are now connected by a portal for quick travel between them.

• Creature growth in dwellings in the side zones reduced from triple to double.

• Despite the addition of the new object, the condition for selecting a hero for battle remains the same — the starting hero takes part in tournament battles.

• Final battles on the template now take place one day earlier.

• Slightly adjusted the balance value of zones on the map.

• The central town has been removed from each player’s treasury zone. The remaining towns are now distributed more evenly within the zone, and the "Remote Footholds" of the central zone are generated near these towns.

• Objects in a treasury zone are now guaranteed not to match the faction of the player who owns that treasury.

• Pandora’s Boxes with creatures have been returned to treasury zones in small numbers, and the possible number of Pandora’s Boxes with spells has been increased.

• Increased the number of artifacts in treasury zones.

• Changed the template format: it is now a best-of-three tournament format with continuous simultaneous turns.

• The central zone has been split into two isolated parts.

• Final battles on the template take place on the following in-game days:

  • Day 2 of Week 2;

  • Day 6 of Week 2;

  • Day 3 of Week 3.

• Due to the rework of Pandora’s Boxes that increase hero stats, their limits and spawn chances on the template have been adjusted.

• The guard strength of the "Mountain Monastery" object on the template has been tripled.

• The guard strength of creature dwelling objects in the starting zone has been doubled.

• Pandora’s Boxes that increase hero stats or grant the hero spells can now appear in small numbers in the first desert zone.

• The second desert zone now always contains at least one "Dragon Utopia", one "Research Laboratory", and one "Overgrown Vori Ruins" object, and their maximum number per zone is limited to 2/2/1 respectively.

In this update, we are reducing the number of templates available in each mode. Some of these templates are guaranteed to appear during the pick phase, which reduces the chance of encountering other templates. So for now we are removing the least popular templates to make room for more popular ones and increase their chance of appearing in the pick.

• The map rotation in this mode has been updated:

  • Old pool: Jebus Cross, Jebus Tournament, Universe, Infinity, Last Fortress, Arcade.

  • New pool: Jebus Cross, Jebus Tournament, Universe, Infinity, Arcade.

  • Jebus Cross and Jebus Tournament are always included in the pool.

• The map rotation in this mode has been updated:

  • Old pool: Exodus, Outcast Tournament, Vendetta, Helltide, Sprint, Blitz.

  • New pool: Exodus, Outcast Tournament, Helltide, Sprint, Mix.

  • Exodus is always included in the pool.

  • Mix is a new template focused on developing towns of several factions at once, with best-of-three tournament battles.

• Adjusted the base number of points awarded for a win and deducted for a loss:

  • Players now lose 40 points for a loss in any division.

  • Players now receive 40 points for a win in the Iron, Bronze, and Silver divisions.

  • Players now receive 35 points for a win in the Gold division.

  • Players now receive 30 points for a win in the Platinum division.

  • Players now receive 25 points for a win in the Diamond division.

  • Players now receive 20 points for a win in the Master division.

• Changed the number of restarts available to players:

  • There are no restarts in the Iron and Bronze divisions.

  • Two restart points are available in the Master division.

  • One restart point is available in all other divisions.

• Reduced the maximum rating spread depending on the player’s division.

• At the stack selection stage, players can now be offered stacks they have already picked in previous stages.

• The size of creature stacks offered for selection has been increased by 15–20%.

• Adjustments to heroes’ starting stat bonuses:

  • The following heroes have received a +1 stat bonus: John Johnson; Pip; Octavia; Aunt Daliar; Vim; Echolily; Grellekh the Betrayer; Kwinri.

  • The following heroes have received a +2 stat bonus: Gingertail; Tölketh.

  • Stat bonus reduced from +3 to +2: Nadir; Adahn; Blackhorn; Curson, Duke of Rage; Mila; Oriax.

  • Stat bonus reduced from +4 to +2: Tavi; Enatee.

• Abilities that kill +1 unit no longer trigger on obstacles.

• Units summoned onto a "Firewall" or traps no longer die immediately.

• Unit corpses now disappear if another unit, killed with a knockback effect, dies on top of them.

• Abilities marked "only the strongest active effect applies" (for example, on Cavalry) no longer take enemies into account.

• Wait can no longer be activated during a stack’s action animation.

• Initiative bonuses (for example, "Early Start") now apply to waiting units.

• The minimum and maximum Morale and Luck values of some creatures are now within the correct ranges.

• Added the missing description of the Kittenhorns’ passive ability, which enhances the Diplomacy effect of the hero whose army they are in.

• The effect of the Minotaurs’ passive ability "Adrenaline Surge" now has the correct duration.

• The effect of the Medusae’s passive ability "Marble Arrows" now stacks correctly.

• The effect of the Reavers’ active ability "Beelzebub’s Blessing" now has the correct duration.

• Bonuses of the "increases the duration of applied effects" type no longer increase the duration of Scorpions’ adaptations.

• Fixed the description of the "Ranged Attack" passive ability of Worldwatchers and Halflings.

• The Grolls’ ability "Rrr, Jump!" no longer deals damage to allies.

• The Sentinels of Glory’s ability "Doreath’s Way" no longer shows that it will deal damage to allies.

• The Mist Qilins’ ability "Cloud Nine" no longer grants bonuses after the stack dies.

• The bonus to an additional counterattack from the "Riposte" spell now starts working at spell level 3 instead of level 2.

• The "Doreath’s Tide" spell now dispels the petrification effect.

• The damage in the description of the "Umbral Grip" spell is now calculated correctly.

• When using the "Reality Distortion" spell, damage is no longer multiplied by the number of hits twice.

• The "Recruitment" skill can now appear in Global Map objects that teach heroes new skills.

• The descriptions of the "Hive Integration" and "Hive Reception" laws now specify that they only affect Hive creatures.

• The "Two-faced Mask" artifact can no longer be bought at the Marketplace.

• Player nicknames in the game results text (victory/defeat) are now displayed correctly.

• The interface can no longer be hidden while the game is loading.

• The cursor in the main menu no longer changes to the system cursor when the interface is hidden.

• Automatically closing the battle results no longer closes dialogues in some missions and scenarios.

• Hiding the interface no longer triggers in text fields.

• The list of available screen resolutions now updates when changing monitors.

• Battle and map animation speed settings are no longer reset on restart.

• The damage tooltip under the effect of the "Taunt" spell is now displayed correctly.

• The tooltip for potential damage to allies is now displayed when using the Lich Dragons’ "Bone Armageddon" and the Starchildren’s "Starfall" abilities.

• The victory/defeat window is no longer partially displayed in the settings window.

• Hero stat tooltips in battle are no longer displayed during the Tactics Phase.

• Restart can now be used after desynchronization.

• Players who have just joined are now displayed in the active slot settings drop-down list in the lobby.

• In a multiplayer game, one player can no longer close another player’s Esc window by pressing Esc.

• In a multiplayer game, one player can no longer close another player’s restart confirmation window.

• Fixed a rare freeze when clicking the "Custom Game" button in the main menu.

• Reloading a save now works correctly if some of the opponents have been eliminated.

• The subskills of the "Summon Avatar" skill now work correctly in Arena mode.

• The hotkey for opening the Battle Log no longer works during the Pick/Ban stage.

• The mana value can no longer be negative.

• Fixed some character portraits in campaign dialogue windows.

• "Garner Hills". In old saves, the dialogue with the rider beyond the bridge no longer repeats endlessly if the player bribed him or showed him the "Last Coin" artifact.

• "Never-ending Conflict". The "Capture the escaped priestesses" quest from the necromancers in the upper left corner of the map can no longer be taken if the player is already doing the escaped priestesses’ quest "Free the priestesses at the altar".

• "Burning Hearts". The Stargazer now gives a reward for correctly answering all 4 of his riddles.

• "Gorges of Discord". In old saves, the final dialogue is no longer cut short by the victory screen.

• "Deal with a Vampire". After completing the dead knight’s quest, the game no longer gets stuck if you place a second hero at his new spawn point.
  ⚠️ This fix does not apply to old saves made inside the mission.

• "Saving the Knight". The rightmost "Twilight Bloom" object now grants an artifact as a reward, as stated in its tooltip.
  ⚠️ This fix does not apply to old saves made inside the mission.

• "Saving the Knight". Fixed numerous bugs in the troglodyte’s quest.
  ⚠️ This fix does not apply to old saves made inside the mission.

• "Renegade" / "Corruption". The reward behind the hydras in the sand biome can no longer be collected without fighting them.
  ⚠️ This fix does not apply to old saves made inside the mission.

• "Alvar Diruil". Fixed a bug that allowed attacking the town with one of the remaining heroes and, upon winning, breaking all further scripted logic.
  ⚠️ This fix does not apply to old saves made inside the mission.

Thank you for helping us make Olden Era better. See you on the battlefield!

With love,

💙 Unfrozen Team

This hotfix addresses several issues with tournament battles, including cases where they failed to load or start. We have also made various localization fixes.

We would also wish to ask if you would consider taking a moment to leave a Steam review — it would be amazing support for our team and for Olden Era, as it makes it easier for others to discover the game.

v. 0.81.04

New Additions

• Added an indicator showing when interaction with heroes or objects is unavailable.

• Added 4 new emojis ːsteamhappyː

Lobby & Templates

• Fixed a bug where the tournament battle would fail to load if the first tournament date was set to day one of the game. The first day can no longer be selected for tournament scheduling, as intended.

• Fixed a bug where a tournament battle would not start when the battles are scheduled one after another.

• Fixed the display of the Alliance count in templates.

Arena

• Fixed overlapping tooltips for "Spatial Snare" during Arena draft.

Combat

• Fixed a bug where units affected by the "Fatal Decay" spell were unable to attack in melee.

Localization

• Added missing Hungarian localization.

• Fixed the translation of the "Redraw" button in Arena mode across several languages.

• Fixed the Russian localization where "Knowledge" was by accident replaced with "Attack".

• Fixed the display of the "Number of Players" column in the template selection window in the lobby.

Stability & Network

• Fixed a bug where game startup from an online lobby could fail under slow or unstable connections.

• Fixed a bug where a player's turn would freeze if they interacted with a "Tomb of a Nameless Hero" or "Four Scholars Shrine" while an opponent was simultaneously entering their town or a combat.

Thanks for your reports — keep sending in bug reports, it helps us make the game better!

With love,

💙 Unfrozen Team

Autumn is in full swing, and its winds of change bring you long-awaited news — and a fresh patch! Join Ana from Heroes Take Turns in our new video as she dives into all the details of the Roadmap Patch: Alliances, the Advanced Random Map Generator, and plenty of great improvements. The patch is live now!

We're covering the highlights right here too — let's go!

Before we get into it, we'd like to ask you for one small favour. Leave us a Steam review! We read them regularly — they're one of the most important ways for us to understand how you feel about the game. Reviews also help other players discover Olden Era. If you haven't left one yet, we'd greatly appreciate it!

Let's start with the biggest and most requested addition: Alliances! Team and co-op play have finally arrived in Olden Era. Now you can team up with friends or family and conquer maps side by side — in both PvE and PvP!

We spent a long time on this feature, as it required significant changes to the UI and core game mechanics. We wanted it to be as polished as possible and incorporate as much of your feedback as we could — including always-on simultaneous turns. No more waiting for your ally to finish their move: you act in parallel and push toward victory in real time.

You'll be able to trade resources and request them from one another — a feature new to the series. Freely exchange armies between heroes and pass artifacts back and forth. All of this is also available via "Remote Footholds" and the "Pocket Dimension" spell.

And if just one of you meets the map's victory conditions — you both win! As the game grows, more scenarios, maps, and templates will support Alliances. Some existing maps will also get an option to play as allies. More advanced features may be added based on community feedback.

To play in an Alliance with friends — whether co-op against AI or team vs. team (e.g. 2v2) — create a lobby in the Multiplayer menu and invite your friends!

If you'd like to play in an Alliance with an AI ally against other AI opponents, you can launch a game via Quick Start using one of 5 new templates pre-configured for Alliance play.

Or you can customise things further via Custom Game — choose any existing template or the "Broken Alliance" map.

Speaking of templates, let's look at our next feature: the Advanced Random Map Generator.

As we've mentioned before, our generator has been in active development for five years — essentially since the very beginning of the project. It offers a wide range of features and a great deal of flexibility, and we consider it the most advanced random map generator in the series.

Since Early Access launched, we've offered players over 50 random map templates covering a wide variety of playstyles — so everyone can find an experience that suits their preferences.

Overall, we're quite happy with the template-based system. On one hand, it still provides random generation and virtually endless replayability. On the other hand, each template introduces a certain degree of predictability through a predefined set of rules.

However, after analyzing your feedback, we found that many fans of more casual PvE gameplay prefer full unpredictability. A lot of you told us directly: "We're not interested in predictable templates. Let everything on the map be generated completely at random! For us, the fun of exploration and unpredictability is far more important than balance."

In response, we created a separate, customisable mode for the random map generator aimed specifically at players who enjoy PvE matches against AI on fully randomised maps. This mode is designed to deliver a less predictable, much more chaotic experience with a stronger emphasis on exploration, discovery, and unexpected situations.

If you love surprises and templates haven't appealed to you, you can now set up your own random map! In the Advanced Random Map Generator, you can choose:

• your win conditions,

• the size of the map,

• whether it's free-for-all or an Alliances-based map,

• how rich the map will be,

• how many heroes you'll be able to command at once,

• whether the map will be symmetrical or asymmetrical.

Once you've configured the map, you'll move to the faction and hero selection screen — then straight into the game! The map will be fully randomly generated and won't draw from the existing template pool, so be ready for plenty of surprises. The template system isn't going anywhere — it stays available for everyone who prefers more predictable, balanced generation, and for PvP.

At launch, the new generator is focused primarily on PvE and is available in Quick Start only — please leave as much feedback as you can so we can make it even better! In the future, the random map settings will be expanded.

We also heard your feedback that template information has been lacking — in both PvE and PvP. Each template now features detailed info and a short description of what to expect. We'd love to hear your thoughts and refine this further based on your input!

While one part of our team was working on these major new features, another was fully dedicated to fine-tuning balance — including delivering on our Q3 Roadmap promises around hero skill balancing.

Here are the highlights of what we've already done in previous patches:

• Reworked the Necromancy logic and made its UI much clearer and more user-friendly.

• Made important balance adjustments to key Schism and Grove mechanics.

• Balanced a wide range of general hero skills.

If you missed the details or want to see the exact changes, you can read about them in Patch #8 and Patch #11.

We took your feedback on the save & load feature to heart — many of you said the old UI was confusing and hard to navigate. Saves are now organised as follows:

• Saves are split between Single Player and Multiplayer tabs.

• Each campaign run is its own category of saves named after your campaign profile.

• Each scenario or map run is sorted into its own category of saves.

• Challenges are now saved into their own category.

• All saves made prior to this patch will be found in an "Unsorted" category, split between Single Player and Multiplayer tabs.

The wheel has been in the game since launch, but it was hard to find and offered few options. So we gave it a thorough update: more emojis (from a simple GG to surprise and rage), now available not just on the global map but during combat as well. Let your friends and rivals know exactly what you think of their battlefield talents!

We've updated the matchmaking system: calibration is now fairer, and losses carry more weight at higher ranks than lower ones. Additionally, the rating gap between two opponents now further affects how many points you earn or lose.

With these changes, we've reset the leaderboard so you can compete for the top spots again! The rank reset will also help address some matchmaking pain points you've shared with us over these months.

In the future, more significant changes will be made to matchmaking in line with the Roadmap goals.

In our last patch we added the fan-favourite "Broken Alliance" map and the "Prisoners" scenario. We've received a lot of great feedback on both and are hard at work on new single-player adventures! We'll have more news in October!

We'll soon be releasing a major update. In it we'll rework the Temple faction skill, rebalance percentage-based damage bonuses, and add new artifacts and skills. Before its release, we'll launch a public beta branch so you can test the changes alongside us!

The balance patch will also bring new inhabitants to the adventure map. One of them is a majestic classic creature that fans of the series have known for a long time.

Joining them is a brand-new, nimble and mysterious arrival to the world of Enroth — well known across many fantasy settings!

As you can see, we're serious about keeping every promise we make. We'll always do our best, and if something gets in the way — we'll make sure to let you know. We're committed to looking after both PvE and PvP fans, even if some features take more time to deliver.

With the Q3 Roadmap goals complete, we've already begun work on the features and changes planned for the end of the year. We're also actively training AI opponents in new tricks and tactics to make PvE matches even more engaging. More details to come!

v. 0.81.02

• "Double attack" effects now correctly apply to the Onyx and Jasper Dancers' alternative attack.

• Traps now correctly trigger when stacks are forcibly moved onto them.

• Traps located within the area of the "Overwatch" effect now trigger correctly.

• Landing on a "Spatial Snare" trap no longer allows a stack to continue its turn when positive Morale activates.

• Applying Speed and Initiative buffs to summoned creatures now correctly recalculates turn order.

• Fixed a bug where the death of an Energy Phoenix at the end of a round could cause the first stack of the next round to skip its turn.

• Fixed two separate bugs that caused combat to freeze after an Energy Phoenix died at end of round — one involving "Reality Distortion" and one involving negative Morale triggering alongside that same effect.

• "Reality Distortion" now correctly deals damage at the end of the turn in the last round of its duration.

• Effects of the type "prevents health restoration" now block healing from all game mechanics without exception.

• The Mist Qilin is now correctly protected from Speed and Initiative reduction effects by its passive ability.

• The "Murderous Glee" passive now correctly triggers even if the stack previously killed an enemy with a counter-attack.

• "Naira's Kiss" now triggers even when a stack ends its turn after the timer expires. Its damage is also now correctly reduced by bonuses of the type "reduces all incoming damage."

• The "Buckler" artifact now correctly allows counter-attacks against enemies with "Swift Strike" if that property was gained during combat.

• A Phoenix resurrected via the "Immortal" passive can no longer use abilities before awakening.

• Stacks with the Ranged Attack property now behave correctly under the "Berserk" effect, creature passives trigger properly, and Iriyads no longer damage themselves.

• Abyssal Envoys under the "Will of the Abyss" ability no longer gain an extra turn when positive Morale triggers.

• Several game mechanics and effects that previously failed to trigger after the last enemy was killed now work correctly.

• The Infiltrator passive ability "Sharper Blade" now works correctly.

• The Infiltrator active ability "Shadowstrike" now correctly ignores the target's Defense.

• The Hive Queen passive ability "Squash the Weak!" now works correctly.

• The "Sorcery" skill now correctly enhances traps.

• "Pocket Dimension" can no longer be cast in locations the hero cannot reach.

• Fixed a bug with hero Xirr's specialization that caused him to be susceptible to negative effects in combat.

• Uses of Global Map Spells obtained from scrolls are now correctly tracked when transferring scrolls to another hero.

• The "Vortex Robe" artifact no longer triggers multiple times when interacting with multi-hit spells.

• A hotkey has been added for "destroying" an artifact.

• The AI in combat no longer ignores restrictions on hero ability usage.

• Fixed an AI freeze when attempting to capture a neutral city previously owned by a player who left or was defeated.

• Fixed an AI freeze when one of its heroes interacted with a portal whose exit point was occupied by another hero.

• In rare situations, the turn no longer freezes after a player is defeated.

• Fixed a rare bug where a game save would fail to load.

1. Alliance System

The Alliance system has been added, allowing players to team up and fight together against opponents. As part of an Alliance, players have access to the following:

• Simultaneous turns with no restrictions in online play. Allied players meeting on the map do not switch to sequential turns — they continue acting simultaneously.

• A temporary lock system for players and objects has been added to support this mechanic. For example, while a player is in combat, their ally cannot interact with their heroes. The lock is lifted immediately after combat ends.

• Allies share the fog of war and can see each other's planned movement paths.

• Allied heroes can freely interact with one another through the standard exchange window, where both players can give and take artifacts and armies.

• Players can send and request resources through a dedicated interface. The player list panel has been updated to display more notifications for easier trading.

• Via "Remote Footholds" and "Pocket Dimension", allies gain access to a shared Alliance storage for remote transfer of artifacts and armies.

• Several new templates specifically designed for Alliance play have been added to the game.

2. Save & Load UI Update

The save and load interface and file structure have been completely overhauled.

• Each match now has its own profile that stores its saves.

• Saves can be sorted by date, name, and in-game time.

• A save can now be loaded directly from this window without going through the lobby.

• Save information has been significantly expanded: the window now shows a minimap screenshot, hero roster, and other details.

• Saves are split into Single Player and Multiplayer tabs.

• Filters by save type have been added: Campaign, Template, Scenario, Map, Tutorial, Challenge, Other. The Multiplayer tab also includes a filter by connection type: All, Hotseat, Online.

• Bulk deletion of saves is now available.

3. Quick Start Update

The Quick Start interface has been significantly reworked:

• Templates and scenarios now display much more detailed information.

• Sorting for templates and scenarios has been added.

• Tags have been added to help find templates and scenarios suited to your playstyle.

4. Fully Random Map Generator

Since Early Access launch, the game has featured a random map generator — but it only worked based on pre-made templates. This update adds a fully random map generator that creates a unique map from scratch based on your chosen settings. The feature is available in single-player Quick Start mode. First, choose the map's base settings:

• Game mode: multi-hero or single hero.

• Map size.

• Number of players.

• Alliances: if enabled, players are randomly assigned to teams (when possible).

• Overall zone richness and content density.

• Overall map difficulty.

• Symmetry: if enabled, the map will have a symmetrical structure. An asymmetrical map may be completely unpredictable.

• Win conditions.

Then, just like in regular Quick Start, you choose your faction, hero, and difficulty level — and begin the game.

5. Emoji Wheel & Notification System Update

The Emoji Wheel has been fully updated, along with improvements to the companion notification system:

• The Emoji Wheel is now available not only on the global map, but also in combat and in towns.

• Customization of the wheel's content has been significantly improved.

• New emojies have been added.

• The player list now displays notifications sent by other players, both in expanded and collapsed view.

6. Matchmaking System Update

Alongside the rating reset, we are introducing a number of important changes to the matchmaking system:

• An automated cheater detection algorithm and a low-priority system have been added.

• All players now start with a rating of 1000 regardless of the skill level chosen before calibration matches.

• The calibration process has been adjusted: wins during calibration now grant additional points independent of the base gain.

• The number of points gained and lost per match now depends on the player's current rank. The higher the rank, the fewer points earned for a win and the more lost for a defeat. For example, at the lowest rank a win grants 40 points and a loss costs 10. At the highest rank it's reversed: 10 for a win and 40 for a loss.

• The influence of rating difference between players on the final point totals has been significantly increased.

• The selected alternative camera position in combat is now saved between battles and applied immediately, not from the next battle onwards.

• Traps automatically created during a siege now take priority over other traps and cannot be destroyed by them.

• Bonuses that increase maximum HP no longer reduce the number of Fire Larvae summoned to the battlefield.

• The "Emerald Resonance Controller" artifact now also protects temporary creatures from banishment.

• The Temple law "Sacred Lands" has been replaced by "Sacred Protection," making friendly heroes immune to negative effects in combat and on the adventure map.

New to the series or a returning veteran? We have an Official Community Wiki[wiki.hoodedhorse.com] to help you master the art of war! Thanks to active community members, it has detailed breakdowns of unit stats, spell tiers, and other data for those who want to dig deeper. You, our community, are the gift that keeps on giving!

Stay informed and share your victories with the community! Follow us on Discord[discord.gg], Steam and Facebook[www.facebook.com] for the latest patch notes, community discussions, and chats with our team! We'd also like to give a shoutout to the unofficial community subreddit, where you're also welcome to share your thoughts! And of course, don't forget to leave a review — it means a lot to us!

With love,
💙 Unfrozen Team

Holiday season and summer may be close to being over, but the news from us aren’t!

Together with Ana from Heroes Take Turns, we’re back with another video where we discuss more of the upcoming PvE content and tease the Roadmap Patch!

We’ll also talk about this here. Let’s begin!

Before we move on, we’d also like to ask you for one small favour. If you’ve been enjoying Olden Era, please consider leaving us a Steam review! We read your reviews regularly, and they’re another important way for us to see how you feel about the game. They also help other players who may be interested in Olden Era, so if you haven’t left one yet, we’d greatly appreciate it!

As development remains fully active on our end, the frequency of patches with PvE content will go up, which should result in a wide array of maps and scenarios for you to try out. In the latest patch, on top of The Mysterious Island scenario, there were a lot of bug fixes and various changes — make sure you check them out!

We’d also like to take this moment to note that we understand not all changes may seem appealing at first — the Heroes community is an incredibly vast and varied group with various needs that sometimes can be at odds with one another, so sometimes what may be exciting to one group might not be as interesting to another. We will continue to listen to your feedback and implement it whenever possible, so please make sure you send it our way!

v. 0.80.49

Two completely new custom maps are coming: Prisoners and Broken Alliance. We have fine-tuned these maps even more in order to give you a fresh PvE experience.

In Broken Alliance — which will also be the first new custom map that’ll be playable in Custom Lobbies and in Hotseat — you will face off against your former allies as you paint the map in your faction’s colours. Crafted with great care by Papyjama himself, this nostalgic classic map is bound to invoke childhood memories among many players and create yet another core experience for those new to the series.

Please note! The Broken Alliance map is only available via the Custom Game or Hotseat (not the Quick Game).

The Prisoners scenario, on the other hand, is a rather novel story. You will act as a leader of the search party in order to locate the local outpost’s missing commanders that disappeared near the woods. As you venture deeper into the forest, you will discover strange happenings taking place — some more unnatural than others! Steel your nerves and arm yourselves as the only way to acquire more heroes in this scenario will be to find their prisons and free them.

This patch is coming today, on September 3rd.

However, there is more. Later this month we will release our Major Roadmap Patch which will feature the following:

• Alliances,

• New Advanced Random Map Generator Features,

• Improved Emoji Wheel,

• Changes to matchmaking system,

• Updates to the ranking system,

• Ranked reset,

• And other changes.

Additionally, a major balance patch will address various talking points that have been raised by the community. It will begin tackling the problem of the abundance of %-based damage & defense modifiers, including some major changes to Battle Magic and Battlecraft.

In that patch, a rework to the Temple’s faction skill will be introduced in the form of prayers. We’ve seen you agree that Temple’s power fantasy should be built around their faith in the Chalice, and that will be reflected through these new options.

We will also try to address Hive’s and Dungeon’s bleeding problems by adding a new skill that should help with that. This major balance patch will come in a special beta branch sometime after the Roadmap Patch.

Aside from balance changes, the update after the Roadmap Patch will also add new units to the game. We’re also deep into the major update to the way our Computer Opponents behave as we continue to expand their overall range of strategies. We will share more information about the improved Computer Opponents and new units later in the future.

As we don’t want to close this devlog on an empty tease, here’s a little something for you to take a look at! Remember, the Roadmap Patch will arrive later this month!

New to the series or a returning veteran? We have an Official Community Wiki[wiki.hoodedhorse.com] for you to master the art of war! Thanks to active community members, it has detailed breakdowns of unit stats, spell tiers, and other detailed data for those who wish to dig deeper. You, our community, are the gift that keeps on giving!

Stay informed and share your victories with the community! Follow us on Discord[discord.gg], Steam and Facebook[www.facebook.com] for the latest patch notes, community discussions and chit chat with our team! We would also like to take this opportunity to give a shoutout to the unofficial community subreddit, where you’re also welcome to share your thoughts!

With love,

💙 Unfrozen Team

Fixed a bug where restarting a multiplayer game could cause client desynchronization in certain situations.

This hotfix addresses an issue due to which some players' save files could not be loaded after the latest patch. In addition, we have fixed several other bugs and issues with templates that still remained.

We would also wish to ask If you would consider taking a moment to leave a Steam review, it would be amazing support for our team and for Olden Era as it makes it easier to discover the game by others.

v. 0.80.47

• Fixed a bug where certain save files failed to load following the previous update.

• Re-fixed an issue that caused hero detection and selection errors prior to the start of combat on tournament templates.

• Applied small technical fixes to improve overall network connection stability.

• Outcast Tournament: Fixed a missing guard strength multiplier in player starting areas.

• Jebus Tournament: Fixed rare instances where Pandora's Boxes containing creature armies could still generate in the central area.

• Fixed AI player logic that caused improper guard prioritization when attempting to break through passways to new areas.

• Fixed a bug where laws intended strictly for heroes of a specific faction mistakenly applied their effects to heroes of any other faction.

• Fixed an issue that caused the game to freeze when combining the "Refract and Reflect" and "Blasphemous Adoration" abilities.

Thanks for your reports — keep sending in bug reports, it helps us make the game better!

With love,

💙 Unfrozen Team