Predecessor Patch v0.4 | Predecessor

Predecessor Patch v0.4

Patch v.0.4 is on it's way! Let's see what's coming.

Patch Notes 23 feb 2023

Summary

Patch releasing February 21st, 2023.

Are you ready to make some noise?!

It's time to talk about Patch v0.4 dropping this Tuesday, February 21st. With it of course comes our headline act and the next Hero to join our roster - Shinbi.

That’s not all however! This patch introduces major changes to Fangtooth and introduces Primal Fangtooth, a dangerous new version of everyone’s favourite deadly dino! This big brute provides a temporary buff to make games more dynamic whilst also providing teams more counterplay against early Fangtooth leads.

We’re also ready to open the doors to the new in-game shop, your one-stop shop for browsing awesome skins that you can spend your Platinum on.

The first version of our Player vs AI mode is also going live in this patch! You can play solo or with a party of friends, taking on Predecessor’s Artificial Intelligence. This mode is beginner friendly and will be expanded on in the future, so get stuck in and hone your skills or learn a new Hero!

On top of all of this we’re also making some slight balance changes to address some outliers, adjusting Omnivamp items and providing some support to Muriel.

Between the deadly roars of Fangteeth (Fangtooths? Fangsteeth? Fangles?) and Shinbi’s dazzling performances, the battlefield is about to sound very different.

Grab your tickets and let’s go, it’s time for The Shinbi Tour!

- alex, Lead Game Designer

Check out our video overview for patch v0.4 below!

A new hero appears

It’s time for the performance of a lifetime!

Shinbi’s sellout tour of Predecessor begins shortly - and you’ve got front row tickets! This viral pop star lights up the stage with captivating shows, playing deadly tunes that summon powerful wolves during her gigs. She never disappoints her fans!

SHINBI ABILITIES:

Passive: Biting Melody
Basic attacks deal an additional 10 (+12% Magical Power) magical damage on-hit. Periodically, Biting Melody deals 4x damage. Damaging an Enemy Hero with an ability decreases the cooldown by 1 second.

Primary Ability [Q]: Line Tempo
CD: 6/5.5/5/4.5/4
Cost: 30
Effect: Summon a Spirit Wolf that lunges in a straight line, passing through all Enemy targets and dealing 65/95/125/155/185 (+60% Magical Power) magical damage.

Secondary Ability [E]: Circle Rhythm
CD: 15/13.5/12/10.5/9
Cost: 60/65/70/75/80
Effect: Summon four Spirit Wolves that circle Shinbi for 3 seconds, granting a 40/60/80/100/120 (+35% Magical Power) shield for the same duration and after the wolves expire.
The wolves deal 12/19/26/33/40 (+12% Magical Power) magical damage per second to nearby enemies.

Alternate Ability [RMB]: Rushing Beat
CD: 18/17/16/15/14
Cost: 80
Effect: Dash forward a fixed distance dealing 40/60/80/100/120 (+40% Magical Power) magical damage to all enemies Shinbi passes through.

Major improvements

Rushing Beat can be retriggered within 3 seconds of casting to dash a second time.

Ultimate Ability [R]: All-Kill!
CD: 120/100/80
Cost: 100
Effects:
Passive: Dealing damage to Enemy Heroes with Abilities applies Track for 8 seconds, stacking up to 8 times.
Active: Summon a pack of Spirit Wolves to attack the Target with the most Track Stacks, dealing 50/85/120 (+18% Magical Power) magical damage per Spirit Wolf.

Store

The in-game store is now open! You can find it by clicking the store tab in the main menu.
Here, you can spend any Platinum you’ve earned or purchased on skins, or top up your Platinum balance by purchasing more in your local currency. At the time of launch the store will have 12 skins that can be purchased, but more will be added in future patches.

FANGTOOTH UPDATE

Fangtooth:

Fangtooth has had a massive overhaul bringing new layers of depth to spice up the late game of Predecessor! The passive buffs remain mostly the same, but now cap out at 3.

Fangtooth still grants the following three passive buffs based on quantity killed:

  1. Jungle Buff Duration | +50% (capped at 30 seconds)
  2. Out of Combat Movement Speed | +8%.
  3. Increase Physical Power, Magical Power, Physical Armor, Magical Armor | +8%.

After this, no more passive buffs can be obtained.

Once three total Fangteeth have been killed in a single game however, the new Primal Fangtooth will begin to spawn!

Primal Fangtooth:

This new variant of Fangtooth spawns after three Fangteeth have been defeated in total by both teams. It will continue to grant the passive buffs on every take (up to the 3rd), but will also grant a new temporary buff called Primordial Blaze! This should help shift the strength of Fangtooth from constant permanent advantages, to something a team needs to use within a set window. It also helps create stronger chances for a comeback - the team that is behind can still access this powerful buff rather than being forced to crawl back up the permanent buff chain.

◆ Primordial Blaze ➢ Damage dealt to Enemy Targets will be set aflame, dealing (+2 per minute of game time) true damage per second over 4 seconds.
➢ This damage is increased by 50% against Enemy Heroes below 25% maximum health.
➢ This damage is capped at 80 True Damage per second (120 against targets below 25% maximum health).

◆ Buff Duration: ➢ 2 minutes (120s), which always leads to 2 and a half minutes (150s) due to first Fangtooth buff granting +30s.

PLAYER VS AI - BETA

The future is now! AI is here!

Queue up solo or team up with friends to take on a brand new game mode. The difficulty level is geared towards beginner players, so it’s a good place to start when introducing your friends to the game or trying out new builds and Heroes.

Please keep in mind that this game mode is currently a beta feature and is being continuously developed, so there may be bugs and issues.

GADGET BASE SKIN CHANGE

We’ve made the decision to change Gadget’s base skin to her Shellshock skin. We feel this provides the Hero with more character and a more battle ready aesthetic. Her original base skin may return in a future patch as a skin.

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

◆ Total Damage to Heroes will now be displayed at the top of the other Damage to Heroes stats. ◆ Heroes can now be rotated in the Hero Screen & Post Match Screen. ◆ Updated Gadget’s recommended items. ◆ Visual effects for Sentry have been updated. ◆ Visual effects for Heroes dying have been updated. ◆ Client/server delay on Ranged Basic Attacks has been reduced by 50%. ◆ Impact Decals have been updated for most abilities. ◆ Gideon’s sound effects have been updated. ◆ Visual effects for Lane Guidance Indicators have been updated. ◆ Multiple Map improvements to help increase performance. ◆ Fey’s jumping and landing sound effects have been improved.

Balance changes

HEROES:

Crunch: Crunch is finding himself in a decent spot following his previous nerfs, however his level 6 spike is still a bit too defining relative to his early and late game. With that in mind we’re moving strength from his mid game to these areas with some damage number shifts.

Gideon: With Truesilver being picked up early, Gideon is able to safely engage with his Ultimate and has felt a bit too safe and durable doing so. We’re bumping down his health a little bit to make the play pattern a little more high risk.

Muriel: Muriel has felt a little unloved recently, so we’re granting her some larger buffs and power shifts to help players access her more exciting moments. We’re increasing the overall values of her shields at the cost of a little cooldown so that she can prevent higher levels of burst from taking down her teammates.

Narbash: Since his recent buff, the Orc has been seeing far too much success in his early game when that Beatdrop hits. We’re looking to decrease the power of his early sustain to prevent non-interactive trades and create larger windows to punish his aggression.

Rampage: Rampage has become an oppressive mid game force due to his innate durability and high damage output. We’re looking to take his mid to late game damage down, particularly with Rumble, to decrease his DPS and allow other Heroes a chance to fight back before he pummels them into the dirt.

Revenant: Revenant has started to trade out his cowboy hat for a wizard hat, creating a playstyle with little counterplay due to his powerful lock-on burst. We’re going to shift a bit of power away from here to prevent the full magical power builds from snowballing too hard.

Riktor: Riktor remains at the top of the Support food chain alongside Narbash. We’re going to punish those missed hooks a little more so that he doesn’t feel like he can fish as easily without punishment.

Sevarog: With Siphon’s base damage increasing, we can nudge the physical power scaling down as it will still continue to outpace his basic attacks. We’re also looking to tackle this reaper's early game sustain as the S Factor changes solidified his early game and made him a bit too safe whilst he claims the souls of your minions.

ITEMS

Tier 2

Divine Wreath:
Now you can stack Wreaths to your heart's content.

Tier 3:

Nightfall:
For Nightfall we’re moving its power into its consistent damage and putting the sustain into its passive. This will prevent players picking it up for easy additional omnivamp rather than playing for its isolation condition.

Mutilator:
Mutilator continues to Mutilate. We’re continuing to decrease Omnivamp here and put the power into its Haste instead.

Tectonic Mallet:
Likewise, Tectonic has felt a bit out of place with the omnivamp, so we’re shifting it away and specializing it more into that bruiser magical armor option it was designed to be.

Wellspring:
Wellspring has not been working as intended. With these fixes, the item should feel far more impactful and help support players keep their teammates alive, even if they do not have access to heals or shields.

Bug fixes

That's all this week!

Let us know what you think of these changes over on Twitter, the official Subreddit or our Discord server!