Riftbound - Demonlore Veterancy Patch v1.2.6B

Hello Adventurer!

Here is a new patch for Riftbound. Thanks again to everyone on the Steam forums and Discord for the incredible feedback!

This patch applies to the Demonlore update that is currently on the public test branch (check the forums for how to access it). The focus of the next patch will be improvements to miniboss (Infernal) balance.

Just a quick note, we have also included some extra patch notes below for the previous Demonlore update, because there were extra changes that you may not have noticed yet (such as Aqua Elemental now having a way to deal damage, and armor absorbing half damage).

From the Developers

The Veterancy System was included as an experimental feature that we thought would be interesting, and players have really been enjoying it! However, our first implementation was far from perfect, notably, most players felt that veterancy should be kept when you evolve a unit. The reason we didn't do this initially, is that we liked the added pressure of getting evolved units down really fast to try and get their veterancy up. Overall though, it just didn't feel right and didn't align with the whole idea of "evolving".

This patch has overhauled the veterancy system in a number of ways:

• Evolved units now inherit any veterancy buffs from lower evolutions (Tier 2 gets Tier 1 bonuses, Tier 3 gets Tier 1 + Tier 2 bonuses).

• Most bonuses are capped at 5 levels per Tier.

• Veterancy choices are now spread out based on the units veterancy level (for example you will no longer just get Damage, Damage, Damage, Damage for the first 10 levels).

• Veterancy choices are now conditional (critical damage wont show until you have critical chance).

• We have added a range of new choices.

What's Next?

We still have more to come after this patch. One of the main focuses will be improving balance and adjusting the mechanics of mini-bosses (Infernals), and there are a few fixes and things to clean up (such as some evolution upgrade choices showing in the new Summon mode that don't have any effect). From there we continue to add the new content listed in the roadmap!

❤️ Thanks!

A huge thanks to everyone that has been providing feedback. We are really happy with how the new Demonlore update has been received and are excited to proceed through the roadmap with you!

The best way you can support us is by leaving a review on Steam, as this gets more attention to our game on Steam, and will give us the flexibility to expand the game even more into the future.

Patch v1.2.6B

Please note that the Veterancy System has been changed. If you have a run in progress you can complete the run and you will keep any existing veterancy choices you have made, but your next veterancy choices will use the new system.

• Veterancy upgrades are now given to higher tier evolutions, and are now capped per tier. Overall, compared to pre-patch, this means fully upgrade Tier 1 units will do less damage, Tier 2 units will do the same damage, and Tier 3 can do more damage. For example, previously the Veterancy Damage upgrade could be given to a unit 10 times maximum but wasn’t passed to evolved units. That has been changed to 5 PER TIER and will pass to evolved units. So a Tier 1 Waterling can have up to 5 stacks of +damage, a Tier 2 Frost Elemental can also have 5 stacks of +damage (plus the 5 from Waterling), and a Tier 3 Ice Elemental can have 5 stacks of +damage (plus the 5 from Waterling and 5 from Frost).

• The Veterancy System has been changed so that some Veterancy bonuses only appear if you have chosen a prerequisite bonus, in addition to this, the bonuses have been spread out over to different level ranges of the unit (instead of just having +10% choice every time for example). Overall this allows us to internally create more interesting branching choices through the veterancy system.

• New Veterancy bonus choice +10% Damage, +5 Health Drain. How bad do you want that damage!

• New Veterancy bonus choice +1% Knockback Chance

• New Veterancy bonus choice +10% Knockback Strength

• Veterancy Damage, Veterancy Crit Chance, Veterancy Crit Damage changed from 10 stacks max, to 5/5/5 stacks max for Tier 1/2/3, and is now passed to evolved units.

• Veterancy +Crit Damage -Base Damage changed from 3 stacks max, to 1/1/1 stacks max for Tier 1/2/3, and is now passed to evolved units.

• Veterancy Pierce Bonus changed from 2 stacks max, to 1/1/1 stacks max for Tier 1/2/3, and is now passed to evolved units. Give how powerful this upgrade is, it now also reduces base damage by 15% if taken.

• Veterancy Health Regen changed from 10 stacks max to 3/3/3 stacks max for Tier 1/2/3, and is now passed to evolved units.

• Veterancy Evade Chance changed from 100 stacks max to 10/10/10 stacks max for Tier 1/2/3 and is now passed to evolved units. This choice is now also available for all elemental types.

• Updated the look of the veterancy choices popup, to now show the evolved units the choice will also effect.

• Updated the look of the veterancy list at the end of the spellbar with more information.

• The default difficulty for Roguelite mode has been changed from Tolerant (-1) to Neutral (0). The addition of Veterancy bonuses and consumables has made these difficulties slightly easier overall, so this is now an appropriate starting point.

Patch v1.2.5B

These are some key changes from the first Demonlore release, we haven't listed everything (like the obvious changes and new features) since the update completely overhauled the Roguelite mode.

• Aqua Elemental has been changed, in addition to buffing adjacent enemies it now also summons orbital orbs of frost that circle around, chilling and damaging enemies. The radius of the orbit is large enough to hit enemies more than one tile away.

• Snow Elemental has been changed, the attack now targets the furthest enemy in the lane. This allows you to use the Snow Elemental for different purposes to other attackers as a support unit.

• All Godlike Difficulty modes now start unlocked (previously you had to win difficulties above Neutral to unlock the next difficulty).

• Gem amounts rewarded for battles during a run have been increased from 15/30/40/50/60 to 25/40/55/70/100 for Standard/Dangerous/Deadly/Nightmare/Boss battles.

• Changed how enemies spawn in the first wave, so that champions and elites are not the first enemies that will appear in Wave 1

• Overhauled armor system to make it more unique and open up new opportunities with other sytems and features. Armor now receives 50% of any damage (Except True Damage which is still 100%). Enemy armor has been reduced by 50% across the board to account for this, but this change will benefit armor applied to the players units.

• Fire Mage enemy was a little weak, damage per bolt of fire has increased from 2 to 3.5

• Bomber Bat enemy was a little weak, damage from bombs increased from 15 to 25

• Before battle you now choose 2 tactics and 8 spells, previously you chose up to 10 spells.

• New procedural map generation which has been overhauled for better consistency in runs. The number of rewards is now determined by where it is on the map (how far you have travelled across the map, as opposed to how difficult the battle is), and battle difficulty is now the same for each column on the map.

• Tactics overhauled to a dedicated system that are on cooldowns and don't use "charges".

• Recall is now a tactics spell, cooldown changed from 0.5 to 10 seconds.

• Tactics can now be purchased from the Training Shop during a run.

• Consumable system has been overhauled to make in more meaningful over the run, and allow other features to be turned into consumables. You can access your bag of consumables from the left side of the spellbar during battle.

• Consumables can now be purchased from the Magic Shop during a run.

• Totems have been changed to consumables, allowing you to place them in battle.

• Circle Power Ups have been changed to consumables, allowing you to place them in battle.

• New Vine Traps consumable has been added (you also still find the Vine Traps upgrade).

• New Orb of Air, Orb of Earth, Orb of Fire and Orb of Water consumables have been added and are now used as the reward for the Wild Elementals encounter.

• Floating damage numbers are now white by default. Crits are yellow, enemy damage is red and true damage is purple.

⚡ If you enjoy the game please consider writing a Steam review, it really helps us small indie developers getting recognized in Steam. ❤️

Join Us!

We are very active devs, so you are more than welcome to join our discord or leave your feedback on the Steam forum with anything you would love to see in the future of the game. This is just the beginning of very exciting times ahead! Join discord here