Update log
Full Astral Ascent update
The complete published notes, normalized for clean reading and source attribution.
Extracted changes
- Balance
- Gameplay
⭐ Changes inspired by our community!
Major Features
- New Prowess SystemSignature Spell Prowesses have been reworked for all characters, ALL element-based (burn, freeze, poison, electric, neutral and their sub-effects except mana recovery, damage increase and critical rate) prowesses will not be available anymore - if you have a mid-run save from the previous version, you might encounter a bug where your Prowess choices will be empty, affecting the run. The issue will not carry over to further runs. New Signature Spell Specialization System is introduced: one extra slot for Signature Spell Prowesses is available, the first choice will be among 3 Specializations, affecting the Prowess Pool options in subsequent level-ups at the Guardian Statues. Each Specialization will give access to 6 sub-prowesses related to the main one. The player will not be able to use their rerolls on the Specialization choice, since it is fixed to only these 3 choices, and it would waste the rerolls for the run. Additionally, due to the addition of the extra slot for Signature Spell Prowesses, the Prowess replacement at Levels 9 to 12 will only allow the player to replace 1 Signature Spell Prowess, while the replacement for the Basic Attack Prowesses remains at 2. To compromise, the player will now be able to pick a Prowess or re-roll first before choosing which Prowess to replace. Additionally, they can choose to cancel and keep the chosen Prowess instead of being forced to replace it with an undesired one.
Added a new Shadow Clone enemy based on Arven. You can fight him in exploration rooms or when he is summoned by The Master, even if you do not own the Arven DLC.
Small Features
The order and conditions for unlocking Characters and NPCs in the garden have been improved for a smoother experience both to players who own the Yamat or Arven DLC and those who don't
Added a new bonus mechanic for Sun Pieces: after every run, one of the playable characters will have an orange outline and a Sun Piece icon above their head, playing this character on the next run will add 1 to the Sun Pieces multiplier, speeding up metaprogression in early game and providing more resources for rerolling in runs.
Balancing
Aura Adjustments: The Aura ""Brittle Ice III"" was incorrectly spawning 6 Ice Fragments instead of 5 when an enemy is inflicted with Frostbite, it did not match the spawn values of ""Icy Blow III"" which has the same effect. The Aura ""Heatseeker Shield"" was applying Fire Shield for 5 seconds, which did not match the duration of 6 seconds on other Fire Shield Astral Auras
community inspired ⭐ Added invincibility to Kiran's Spell ""Twin Dragon Uppercut"" on the first uppercut
The following Balance Adjustments have been made for the old Signature Spell Prowesses that are retained, both to provide stronger synergies with the new Prowesses, and to bring the characters closer in strength to each other: - The impact of Prowesses on the loot affinity system has been reduced significantly, as the new Prowesses introduced in this update are not element-based - The overall spawn rates of available Prowesses have been slightly adjusted to fit with the new pool size of each character - Ayla's ""Eagle Instinct"" Critical chance on Signature Spell: 20% => 50% - Ayla's ""Weakening Symbol"" Damage boost on Shadow Marked enemies: 10% => 25% - Ayla's ""Wind Symbol"" Velocity on Signature Spell duration: 3 seconds => 4 seconds - Kiran's ""Really Long Fist!"" Counter Range Increase: 50% => 60%
Source