Steadfast Steward Update - 6th Build Live!

Welcome to the sixth Steadfast Steward’s experimental build! In order to test out these changes, head over to our public beta branches on Steam, Epic or GOG. 

For full details on what to expect from our Steadfast Steward’s Update and how to participate, please check out our Participation Details blog post, or see our intro post in the #general_info channel on our official Discord.

You may notice that these patch notes are more detailed than usual. We have included a number of ‘Developer Notes’ beside many of the entries here, to better express the intent behind the changes. By outlining our goals we hope that this will help measure if our intent is matching our implementation.

This update features work on the Runaway’s Orphan path.

HEROES

RUNAWAY

Wanderer

• Backdraft and Backdraft+ now ignore Block if the Runaway has Stealth

• Firestarter+ buff increased from 2 Burn to 3

• Ransack and Ransack+ no longer grant Stealth if the Runaway already has Stealth

• Ransack and Ransack+ no longer consume Combo if the Runaway already has Stealth

• Ransack+ DMG reduced from 4-8 to 4-7

  • Dev Note: Ransack is a utility-laden skill, so it's raw DMG is being proportionately reduced.

Arsonist

• Dragonfly+ Burn reduced from 4 to 3

• Firestarter and Firestarter+ now target a single enemy

• Firestarter and Firestarter+ now copy all Burn from the target

• Firestarter and Firestarter+ now transfer all Burn from the target's team to the Runaway

• Firestarter+ no longer grants a Speed token

• Hearthlight and Hearthlight+ now correctly consume Arsonist Buffs when used

Orphan

• This Path no longer has reduced HP

• This Path no longer buffs or debuffs Burn dealt based on rank

• This Path no longer buffs or debuffs DMG dealt based on rank

• After not moving for a round, the Orphan gains +1 Burn dealt

• After not moving for 2 rounds, the Orphan gains +1 Burn duration

• The Orphan loses these buffs when moving

• When moving, the Orphan gains +1 DMG stacking up to 2 times

• The Orphan loses this buff if she hasn't moved (or been moved by external sources) by the end of a round

  • Dev Note: The original intent of the Orphan Path was to facilitate movement and positioning choices but many people opted to play it with a park 'n spark approach instead, sitting her in the back and spamming Firefly. The Orphan's kit and buffs have been retooled to support choosing mobility or stability as needed so that both the original intent and the emergent playstyle are preserved while mitigating some of the old Path's issues with rank bonuses clashing with the needs of skills (e.g. Dragonfly having penalized Burn in rank 2). While some of the other Paths specialize in spreading Burn around, the Orphan is more capable of stacking it on single targets.

• Dragonfly is now a Path skill

• Dragonfly and Dragonfly+ do not have a chance to apply Combo

• Dragonfly and Dragonfly+ do not have Burn RES Piercing when Stealthed

• Dragonfly and Dragonfly+ add an additional, separate Burn 1 effect when used while Stealthed. This Burn is also affected by DOT modifiers such as Orphan Path buffs or trinkets.

• Dragonfly+ Burn reduced from 4 to 3

• Firefly is now a Path skill

• Firefly and Firefly+ do not interact with Combo

• Firefly and Firefly+ do not gain Burn RES Piercing when the Orphan has Stealth

• Firefly and Firefly+ add an additional, separate Burn 1 effect when used while Stealthed. This Burn is also affected by DOT modifiers such as Orphan Path buffs or trinkets.

• Firefly+ Burn reduced from 5 to 4

  • Dev Note: We wanted key Burn skills on this Path to have a unique Stealth buff that not only synergized with the Path buffs but other sources of DOT modification such as trinkets, Firestarter, or Physician's Cause of Death. Even a very small fire can quickly grow out of control under the right conditions. Having lost their Stealth Burn RES Piercing, we also opted to have Orphan inherit the Wanderer version of Hearthlight.

• Firestarter is no longer a Path skill

  • Dev Note: The current Wanderer version of the skill already synergizes well with other Path effects.

• Ransack is now a Path skill

• Ransack and Ransack+ do not consume Combo to grant Stealth

• Ransack and Ransack+ apply Combo

  • Dev Note: As great as Ransack is for generating Stealth, having both Stealth generators for this Path require movement would make it very difficult for the Runaway to benefit from both her Stealth Burn effects and the Burn buffs for having not moved at the same time. Consequently, Ransack has become a Combo generator instead of consumer and the secondary source of Stealth has been moved elsewhere on this Path. Between this and adjustments made to Searing Strike / Firefly, Orphan overall is generally less Combo-hungry and slightly more capable of providing it instead.

• Searing Strike is now a Path skill

• Searing Strike and Searing Strike+ launch ranks are 2 3

• Searing Strike and Searing Strike+ do not consume Combo

• Searing Strike and Searing Strike+ do not gain increased Burn when the Orphan has Stealth

• Searing Strike and Searing Strike+ add an additional, separate Burn 1 effect when used while Stealthed. This Burn is also affected by DOT modifiers such as Orphan Path buffs or trinkets.

  • Dev Note: Searing Strike's launch ranks have been adjusted to support both pairing with other skills that don't require movement to benefit from the Burn buffs or following up on movement to benefit from the DMG buffs. Like Dragonfly and Firefly, it has potential to stack added Burn on a single target from Stealth but it also has the best DMG range to benefit from +DMG, at the risk of losing the buff since this skill doesn't move you. If you can get somebody else to displace the Orphan afterwards, though, the buff can be retained.

• Smokescreen is now a Path skill

• Smokescreen and Smokescreen+ do not apply Combo

• Smokescreen and Smokescreen+ now consume Combo to grant the Runaway Stealth if she does not already have any

• Smokescreen applies 1 Weak

• Smokescreen+ applies 1 Weak instead of 1 Vulnerable

• Smokescreen grants 1 Stealth vs. Combo if the Orphan does not already have Stealth

• Smokescreen+ grants 2 Stealth vs. Combo if the Orphan does not already have Stealth

  • Dev Note: Smokescreen has been reworked for the Orphan to provide a way for her to gain Stealth without sacrificing the Burn buffs like Run and Hide would. In addition, the skill swaps the Vulnerable for Weak in order to double down on hampering the target's next attack; even if Blind fails the 50/50 roll, the Weak token will still cut the damage in half.

GAMEPLAY

• Spiked Barricade and Weapon Rack Debuff RES reduced from immune to 100%. Dev Note: This is primarily to fix blocking positive tokens. The effect that prevents these enemies from gaining positive tokens is a debuff which couldn't be applied if they are immune.