Early Access Patch V0.14 | Predecessor

Early Access Patch V0.14

Stay your blades, Champions, Kwang is almost here!

Patch Notes Jan 12, 2024

Hotfixes

V0.14.2 (23/01/2024)

V0.14.1 (23/01/2024)

Introduction

Happy New Year, Champions!

It’s 2024 and time for our first major update of the year. Who better then to help us see in the year of the dragon than the legendary swordmaster himself, Kwang!

That’s not all though, as we’ve got the usual bunch of important Hero and Item balance changes alongside a fresh collection of new skins in the store.

V0.14 is also the penultimate major content release of Season 3. We’re excited to share more about V0.15 and our next original Hero very soon, so watch this space for more!

Let’s get to it!

A New Hero Joins The Fight

Raise the Heavenly Blade, with Kwang!

The master of the sacred sword is back!

Kwang is a durable and strategic fighter, locking down his opponents before electrifying them with his legendary sword skills.

Abilities:

Strike of the Heavens [Passive]:

Effect: When Kwang damages Enemies with abilities his Heavenly Blade becomes Energized with electricity for 5s, stacking up to 3 times.

Whilst Energized, Kwang’s next basic attack strikes lightning from above dealing 10 (+4 per level) (+10% Magical Power) magical damage to the Target and nearby Enemies.

If Strike of the Heavens damages an Enemy Hero, Kwang reduces his basic ability cooldowns by 0.5s.

Slice [Basic Attack]:

BAT: 1.15

Effect: Melee basic attack dealing 55 (+80% Bonus Physical Power) physical damage.

Judgement of the Heavens [Primary]:

CD: 16/15.25/14.5/13.75/13

Cost: 50/55/60/65/70

Effect: Kwang throws the Heavenly Blade up to 1650 units away, dealing 70/95/120/145/170 (+30% Magical Power) magical damage to nearby Enemies upon landing.

Enemies hit by the Blade will be Tethered to it for 1.5s. Recalling the Blade early will break the Tether.

Surge of the Heavens [Secondary]:

CD: 14/12.5/11/9.5/8

Cost: 70

Effect: Kwang dashes forward dealing 55/80/105/130/155 (+35% Magical Power) to all Enemies he passes through.

When the Blade is in the world, if Kwang dashes within 300 units of its radius he will summon it back to his hand with a crash of lightning, dealing the damage to all nearby Enemy Units and Knocking them Up for 0.75s.

Light of the Heavens [Alternate]:

CD: 13/12//11/10/9

Cost: 50 Effect: Light strikes the Heavenly Blade, dealing damage to nearby Enemy Units.

While holding the Blade, it deals 70/110/150/190/230 (+40% Magical Power) magical damage and grants Kwang a 80/115/150/185/220 (+40% Magical Power) Shield for 3s.

If the Blade is in the world, it deals 70/120/170/220/270 (+40% Magical Power) true damage instead.

Fury of the Heavens [Ultimate]:

CD: 120/100/80

Cost: 100

Effect: Kwang strikes with the Heavenly Blade, dealing 200/320/440 (+80% Magical Power) magical damage to all nearby Enemies and applying a 40/50/60% Slow for 2s.

If the Blade is in the world, Kwang will teleport to it before striking.

Store Update

Kwang | Heavenly Focus

Take the time to reflect on the true meaning of strength with the meditative Kwang Heavenly Focus skin [ rare]!

The Fey | Autumn Keeper

Cause your enemies to Fall before you, with The Fey Autumn Keeper skin [ common]!

Riktor | Diesel

Fuel up with the gas-guzzling Riktor Diesel skin [ common]!

Winterfest 2023 Skins - Last Chance

Due to a bug that prevented PlayStation users from purchasing Platinum*, we’ve extended the sale of Winterfest Skins in the in-game store until January 19th! Head to the store now to pick up a festive treat!

*Purchasing Platinum on PlayStation should be re-enabled as of January 12th, 2023.

PlayStation Closed Beta

There’s just a few short weeks left to take part in the Predecessor PlayStation Closed Beta!

Not got your key? Click here to instantly receive a key via email or join our Discord to claim up to 5 keys for you and your friends!

Other Improvements

Hero Changes

A quick bug fix for Crunch to address a pesky hitbox issue.

Forward Crunch [Alternate]:- [ Bugfix] Damage Hitbox will no longer randomly persist until death.

From a purely aesthetic perspective, Howtizer’s Make It Rain can often feel like it stops firing its missiles too early, while also dumping out its damage in a short amount of time. To provide further room for counter play (and to make it even cooler) we’re increasing the number of missiles required to hit in order to achieve its full damage potential. Off the back of the reduced burst we can give some love back to Howi’s R2000 Missile which can sometimes struggle to keep pace with the bread & butter abilities of other Mages.

R2000 Missile [Primary]:- Magical Power Scaling increased from 70% to 75%.

Make It Rain [Ultimate]:- Missile Count increased from 12 to 16.

Kallari’s Crippling Dagger buffs from her previous set of changes provided her with an increase in pace and tempo in the earlier stages of the match. To help alleviate some of the new pressure and uptime she possesses when stalking the map we’re reducing how long she can stay Camouflaged.

General:- Base Mana increased from 275 to 290.

Kira’s Purge ability can feel a little underwhelming in the damage department at rank 1 and is receiving a little more damage in this patch as a result. And for those of you that may have been unaware, Purge does in fact apply On-Hit Effects, which is now accurately reflected in the ability’s description.

Purge [Ultimate]:- Damage increased from 180/270/360 to 200/280/360.

A quick description fix for Khaimera’s Unleash to better communicate how it interacts with On-Hit Effects.

Unleash [Primary]:- [ QoL] Added 75% On-Hit modifier to descriptions.

Morigesh’s general Mana pool and costs can leave her feeling unfairly starved for Mana, even when she commits to a Mana-based build. To remedy this we’re making some adjustments to her overall Mana economy, better allowing her to stay present on the map in the mid-game onwards.

General:- Base Mana Decreased from 410 to 395.

Rampage hasn’t been living up to his monika as king of the jungle lately, instead struggling to keep pace with the other Junglers. While there are many changes listed below, the general goal of these changes are to make our frog-like friend a little less reliant on his Ultimate ability in order to function, to reduce his overall reliance on Haste, to provide some diverging double-rock Haste breakpoints during his Ultimate between Tank and more Haste-heavy Bruiser builds, and to allow him greater flexibility in his skill order by taking some value out of his Boulder Toss.

To put it more simply, Rampage should feel slightly more autonomous, and not be quite as hard-bound to his Ultimate or Primary abilities.

General:- Base Mana increased from 270 to 300.

Riktor’s general durability throughout a match leaves him feeling overly oppressive with little room for a damage response when he’s playing aggressively. Some slight reductions in this durability are required to make Riktor think twice about his positioning and reduce his ability to play recklessly should his opponent hold their ground and fight.

General:- Armor Growth decreased from 5.3 to 5.

Another On-Hit Modifier description fix, this time for Serath’s Heaven’s Fury.

Heaven’s Fury [Primary]:- [ QoL] Added 60% On-Hit modifier to In-game Description.

One more missing On-Hit Modifier description fix. Last one, we promise!

Double Shot [Primary]:- [ QoL] Added 50% On-Hit modifier to In-game Description.

Wraith can be quite the polarising Hero. While he can definitely dominate the battlefield in the right scenario, the level of execution required to access this power is often too difficult to achieve consistently. To help address this, we’re adjusting Wraith’s overall Cooldowns and damage potential, providing him greater ability uptime and less Haste reliance in exchange for slightly less damage. Additionally, we’re bringing back his 100% Mana Refund on his Snipe to grant him greater freedom to use the ability, at the risk of a higher Mana investment should he miss.

Overall, these changes should leave Wraith feeling more versatile and enjoyable to play across all skill-brackets, providing him greater flexibility in Itemisation while still maintaining his high skill-ceiling and Mana risks should he miss too frequently.

Peekaboo! [Primary]- Damage decreased from 60/90/120/150/180 to 60/85/110/135/160

Surprise, Surprise! [Secondary]- Physical Penetration decreased from 10%/12.5%/15%/17.5%/20% to 8%/10%/12%/14%/16%.

Knock, Knock! [Alternative]- Damage increased from 30/60/90/120/150 to 50/75/100/125/150.

Item Changes

Obelisk still provides Heroes with too much inherent burst when stacked up in the late-game and is once again receiving a hit to the free damage it can provide to reduce the one-shot potential it offers its wielder.

Heal & Shield Power can be an incredibly valuable stat for Enchanters, compounding their strengths aggressively throughout a match. It being offered at 10% on Crests makes them less of a choice and more or a “must”, while also contributing to excessively high heals and shields as matches progress. As such, we’re reigning it in a little.

Dust Devil’s Passive allows for too much freedom in positioning due to its uptime, and can be easily maintained even with a break in the action. A hit to its duration is needed to better force its wielders to risk staying in the fight should they want to reap the benefits of its full effect.

Resolution is receiving a small overhaul. Its Darksteel Passive no longer acts as a Damage over Time (DoT) effect, but rather as On-Hit damage. This change will better allow it to stand strong as an On-Hit option, with respectable damage that is better suited for Mana-hungry Heroes, therefore opening up some new possibilities in build paths.

Stormbreaker’s interactions with On-Hit Modifiers were bugged, resulting in Chain Zap’s damage output being higher than intended. This is now fixed and will significantly reduce the item’s raw power on those Heroes that could abuse it best (ahem TwinBlast).

Some additional Mana is being granted to make Infernum feel better as a standalone Mana source.

The Axe still struggles to compete with other competing options such as Basilisk due to its lower Haste amount. A little extra Haste is being granted to make it feel better as a standalone source.

Boneseeker is getting a little extra Attack Speed to make it more attractive as a standalone source for any Hero that needs it.

To offset the strength gained from the previous round of changes to Caustica, we’re reducing its overall Magical Power to make it less effective against targets with low Magical Armour.

Megacosm’s identity as an anti-Tank option that provides consistent damage output for Mages was blurred by its ability to also offer effective amounts of burst damage against squishier targets. This made the item too strong of a catch-all.

In efforts to shift the item back to its original purpose, we have removed the burst component found in its Atomize effect, and created a new anti-Tank effect that amplifies the burn damage further against enemies that have larger health pools, allowing Megacosm’s burn to stay relevant to tankier targets, but no longer harming squishier targets as hard.

‘Totem is providing too much durability to Enchanters in spite of its already strong utility effects and desirable statline.

Wellspring’s Max Health Healing Effect provides far too much sustain and becomes incredibly hard to poke through when the item is bought early. We’re reducing this reduction to make it less of a burst heal, and in return provide more potential for uptime and reward for Supports that risk playing aggressively with their basic attacks.

A quick follow up adjustment to Unbroken Will to better cement its identity as a durable Tenacity and Anti-CC option for anyone struggling against a CC heavy team.

Bug Fixes