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Paladins – Shadows Patch Notes | Introducing Vatu, the Shadow!

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Paladins – Shadows Patch Notes | Introducing Vatu, the Shadow!

Introduction

Introducing the newest addition to the realm of Paladins: Vatu, the Shadow. This enigmatic champion brings a whole new level of darkness and mystery to the battlefield. Vatu's origins are as elusive as the shadow he wields as a weapon. He is the embodiment of fear, lurking in the corners of dimly-lit rooms. With his sharp Kunai and powerful shadow magic, he is a force to be reckoned with. Vatu's allegiance lies with the Thousand Hands guild, where he takes care of their problems in exchange for work and money. However, his true motivation lies in protecting his Ska'Drin people. With a ruthless efficiency and a strict code of ethics, Vatu is a Flank champion like no other. His deadly capabilities and unwavering determination make him a formidable opponent. Beware, for once you catch a glimpse of his piercing eyes in the darkness, it is already too late. In this set of patch notes, we will delve into the exciting changes and updates that Vatu brings to the game. Get ready to embrace the shadows and experience Paladins in a whole new light.

NEW CHAMPION: VATU, THE SHADOW

Behind every door of the mind is the fear of the darkness in the corner of a dimly-lit room. It is the unknown — the terror without a form, but with a name: the Shadow. Vatu’s origins are shrouded in the same shadow he uses as a weapon. He is the knife in the night, ending an eternal conflict – he is the untimely death, never confirmed as accidental. He and the Thousand Hands guild have an understanding: they provide him with work and money, and he takes care of their problems. The only thing clear in his actions are his desire to protect his Ska’Drin people and his deadly capability to do so. Wielding sharp Kunai and mysterious shadow magic, Vatu takes care of business with a ruthless efficiency matched only by his strict code of ethics. His are not the eyes you want to see staring back at you from the darkness, for by that time it is already too late.

OVERVIEW

[Role]
  • Flank
[Health]
  • 1900
[WEAPON] KUNAI
Launch 3 Kunai in an arc from your hands every 0.9s, dealing 300 damage per kunai. Has a max Ammo count of 5 and is fully effective up to 75 units.
[ALT-FIRE] SHADOW BOMBS
Throw out 3 explosive projectiles that stick to their target and explode after 0.3s. Each explosive deals 10 damage on hit and an additional 200 damage in a radius of 10 units on explosion. Has a range of 150 units before auto-exploding in the air.
[ABILITY 1] AMBUSH
Teleport next to your target, dealing 200 damage. This ability can be re-fired a second time within 4s on a different target. Damage hits in a 20-unit radius and is fully effective up to 10 units. Teleport has a range of 85 units.
[ABILITY 2] DASH
Quickly dash 40 units in the direction you are moving, reducing the damage you take by 60% during the dash. Has 3 charges.
[ULTIMATE] NIGHTFALL
Activate to start charging up. Reactivate to dash forward extremely quickly through enemies, dealing 800 damage and stunning enemies hit for 1.25s. Distance increases with charge duration. You are immune to Crowd Control while charging. Minimum charge is 0.5s, maximum charge is 2s, and will automatically fire after 3s. Cannot be canceled.

TALENTS

[Default] Omnipresence Your Ambush gains an additional charge and can now be used on allies. [Level 2] Unerring Increase the explosion radius of Shadow Bombs by 5 units and they now home to enemies. [Level 8] Enveloping Shadows Reduce the Cooldown of your basic abilities by 15% after hitting an enemy with at least one Kunai. This can activate only once per throw.

CARDS

   

SHADOW BOMBS

  • Assassin’s Tools
    • Reduce the damage you take by 6|6% for 2s after activating Shadow Bombs.
  • Outnumbered
    • Generate 1|1 Ammo after hitting at least one enemy with Shadow Bombs.
  • Shadow’s Gaze
    • Heal for 40|40 for after activating Shadow Bombs.
  • Shattered Worlds
    • Reduce the Cooldown of Shadow Bombs by 8|8 after earning a Killing Blow or Elimination.
   

AMBUSH

  • Gathering Shadow
    • Reduce the damage you take by 5|5% for 2s after Ambush ends. This applies to each Ambush in the chain.
  • Infiltration
    • Heal for 70|70 after activating Ambush. This applies to each Ambush in the chain.
  • Retribution
    • Increase the Radius and Effective Radius of the damage from Ambush by 15|15%.
  • Shadow’s Perch
    • Increase the range of Ambush by 10|10%.
   

DASH

  • Contemplation
    • Heal for 100|-7.5 every 0.5s for 0.5|0.5s after activating Dash. This effect stacks.
  • Deadly Dash
    • Generate 7% Ultimate charge after activating Dash once every 60|-8s.
  • Extraction
    • Increase your Movement Speed by 5|5% for 2s after Dash ends.
  • Nightwatcher
    • Reduce the Cooldown of Dash by 0.5|0.5s after hitting at least one enemy with Shadow Bombs.
   

WEAPON / ARMOR

  • Final Sight
    • Reset the Cooldown of Ambush after falling to or below 10|10% Health.
  • Memento Vivere
    • Increase your maximum Health by 40|40.
  • Shadow Garrote
    • Generate 5|5% Ultimate charge after hitting an enemy with your Ultimate.
  • Tranquility
    • Increase your base jump height by 30|30%.

COSMETICS

Duty – LIMITED
  • Unlocked through Season Pass 2021
  • This skin will become unobtainable after Season Pass 2021 has finished.
Sorrow
  • Available for 200 Crystals or 60,000 Gold
Golden Vatu
  • Obtained by Reaching Mastery level 50 with Vatu
Emotes
    • Default
  • Meditation
    • Available with 2021 Season Pass
MVP Poses
    • Default
  • Poised
    • Available with 2021 Season Pass

BEACH BASH EVENT PASS

Hit the waves with our latest Event Pass – Beach Bash! Instantly unlock Shore Patrol Octavia for purchasing, and unlock 24 levels of rewards as you play and complete Trials of the Realm. Players can also purchase a Buy All option to get all content in the Beach Bass Event Pass instantly! Instant Unlocks (Exclusive to Event Pass Purchasers)
  • Beachside Octavia
  • 50% Experience and Gold Boost
Level 12 – Ripjaw Buck Level 18 – Great Orange Buck (FREE) Level 24 – Freedom Fighter Octavia

OTHER EVENT PASS EXCLUSIVE UNLOCKS

Sprays   3D Sprays   Avatars   MVP Poses
    • Cuddles, Io
Emotes
    • Walk Without Rhythm, Atlas
Death Card

TRIALS OF THE REALM

New Trials and rewards await you with the release of the Shadows patch! Complete these challenges each week to unlock a variety of cosmetics, currency, and XP rewards. Trials Schedule
  • Temple Isles – Unlocks May 26th
  • Eastern Reaches – Unlocks June 2nd
  • Trade Row – Unlocks June 9th
  • Abyss – Unlocks June 16th
  • Crosswind Hold – Unlocks June 23rd
  • Warder’s Watch – Unlocks June 30th
  • Aico Tundra – Unlocks July 17th
  • Lunar Coast – Unlocks July 24th

UNLOCKS

General
  • 300 Crystals
  • 120,000 Gold
  • 6x Event Pass Levels
  • Event Pass Team Boosters
  • Skin Boosters
Emotes
    • Risen, Corvus
MVP Poses
    • Guns Out, Ruckus
Announcer Packs
    • Vora
Avatar
    • Sun, Sand, and Salt
Static Spray
    • My Muse
3D Sprays
    • Feeding Frenzy
      • Fishbowl

JAGUAR FALLS – VISUAL UPDATE

Developer Commentary: The underlying design and architecture are basically the same as the original but the materials, rocks and vegetation are much improved. We’ve added metallic gold through the map to add a feeling of opulence and ancient wealth. We’ve also added a new Jaguar statue to the map at the head of the waterfall along the back wall of the map. It’s large, imposing and should serve as a landmark from quite a distance. All the water and waterfalls in the map have also been updated to use the textures and material treatments used for water in Bazaar and beyond. This includes an updated waterfall material created for this map by our VFX lead. As for lighting, we’ve tried to make the tree canopy atop the buildings much denser, which has resulted in deeper shadows throughout Jaguar Falls, giving the map a more tropical, jungle-like feel. Torchlights and dappled sunlight have been added or enhanced to keep the level readable for gameplay while retaining the moody atmosphere. We hope you enjoy this updated take on one of our classic maps!

LIMITED TIME MODES

Play Paladins in new and exciting ways with a variety of Limited Time Modes (LTMs)! The Shadows patch will feature 8 unique modes that rotate throughout the patch cycle. Each week there will be one limited time mode available, from Friday to Sunday. Here’s a quick preview on what to expect: Hide & Seek
  • Who shot first? Everyone plays this Team Deathmatch as Strix with unlimited Stealth charge, increased damage & movement speed, and reduced cooldown.
Knockaround
  • Try and stay grounded as Ash or Bomb King on Throne. Normal abilities and inhands deal reduced damage, but cooldowns are reduced and knockbacks have 50% increased effectiveness.
Developer Commentary: This is the first in a multi-step plan over the next year for players to engage with Paladins in new ways. For now, we’ve created resources that allow us to continue creating unique LTMs for our players without a large amount of developer overhead, and in the future we will be exploring the following:
  • Continued development of LTM resources (expect more than these initial 8!).
  • Updating our Custom Game modes and exposing some of these features to players. We want to create a toolbox so you all can create your own custom games with friends, blending custom game modifiers and in-house rules.
  • Larger investment LTMs that significantly change how you engage with Paladins (i.e. Dragon’s Call).
  • Investigating* old game modes such as Dragon’s Call and Payload as LTMs.
Developer Commentary: I would like to set some clear expectations with you all – we cannot promise a return of these modes at this time, there are only plans to investigate the work required to bring them back. We are aware that many players have fond memories of Payload, but it only accounted for a small percentage of matches when it was removed years ago. We want to make sure we are spending our resources on the best things for Paladins as a whole, so If an excessive amount of work is required, we may choose to focus those resources on other items in this list.

CUSTOMIZATIONS

Lifeguard Tiberius
  • Available from the Summer Fun chest
Lady Liberty Inara
  • Available from the Cookout chest
Wings of Liberty Mount
  • Available from the Cookout chest
Golden Ying
  • Available from Level 50 Mastery
Golden Talus
  • Available from Level 50 Mastery

CHESTS

Summer Fun – NEW Price
  • 400 Crystals
Release Date:
  • June 9
Contents:
  • Lifeguard Tiberius
  • Shore Patrol Lian
  • Shore Patrol Fernando
  • Mermaid Ying
  • Sun Kissed Cassie
  • Longboard Lex
  • Buck Wild
  • Cottontail Seris
Lost Treasures – New Price
  • 400 Crystals
Release Date:
  • June 23
Contents:
  • Crypt Guardian Raum
  • Emerald Bandit Maeve
  • Sphinx Soldier Tiberius
  • Soul Briar Grover
  • Gunslinger Tyra
  • Bounty Hunter Lex
Cookout – NEW Price
  • 400 Crystals
Release Date:
  • June 9
Contents:
  • Lady Liberty Inara
  • Wings of Liberty Mount
  • Merican Mustang
  • Ameri-Khan
  • Freegle Drogoz

RANKED UPDATES

Developer Commentary: We are pushing back the next Ranked Split to the following patch. This will be a large mid-season balance update that will see Talent reworks, ability & card balance, and Item Store changes. Matchmaking Updates (AOC) Normal Wait 240s ➡️ 480s
  • This is the time the matchmaker takes to try and find an ideal match for players. It looks for players of similar ranks, and tries to find a balanced match between player MMRs.
Overtime: 90s ➡️ 300s
  • After the normal wait time, the matchmaker extends its boundaries to allow players of a wider skill gap into a match. This helps ensure players at multiple standard deviations away from the top of the bell curve can still get matches depending on their server and time of day.
Developer Commentary: We believe these updates to Ranked queue times should reduce the number of unbalanced matches players run into, especially at higher ranks. On average, all players will be in the ranked queue for longer periods of time, with higher ranks likely seeing the largest increase. Ranked Map Rotation (AOC) We are making some updates to the Ranked map rotation. Previously, we had 10 Active maps in rotation with 4 reserved maps. Moving forward, there will be 12 Active Maps in rotation with 2 reserved. Active Maps
  • Splitstone Quarry
  • Stone Keep
  • Jaguar Falls
  • Warder’s Gate
  • Frozen Guard
  • Ascension Peak
  • Timber Mill
  • Serpent Beach
  • +Brightmarsh
  • +Bazaar
  • +Fish Market
  • +Shattered Desert
Reserved Maps
  • -Ice Mines
  • -Frog Isle

BALANCE

Champions Androxus
  • Quick Draw (AOC)
    • Increase your maximum Ammo by {1|1}.
    • NEW: Hitting a player with Revolver Heals you for {scale=15|15}.
Furia
  • Talents
    • Exterminate
      • Reduced additional Damage 100% ➡️ 75%
Grohk
  • Abilities
    • Healing Totem
      • Cooldowns now occur simultaneously
Developer Note: Previously, Grohk could use both charges of Healing Totem one right after the other, but only one charge’s Cooldown would be ticking down at a time, with the second Cooldown waiting to start until the first finishes. Now, each charge of Healing Totem will start its Cooldown immediately on use, rather than waiting for the previous one to finish. Previously: 0:00 – Grohk uses a Healing Totem charge 0:02 – Grohk uses a second Healing Totem charge 0:10 – Grohk Gets his first Healing Totem charge back 0:20 – Grohk Gets his second Healing Totem charge back Now: 0:00 – Grohk uses a Healing Totem charge 0:02 – Grohk uses a second Healing Totem charge 0:10 – Grohk gets his first Healing Totem charge back 0:12 – Grohk gets his second Healing Totem charge back Grover
  • Abilities
    • Whirlwind
      • Activating Whirlwind will now expend 20% ultimate charge instantly, and then drain the remaining over its duration. Players will retain any remaining ultimate charge if they die, or cancel the ability before it finishes.
      • 100% Ultimate charge is still required for activation.
  • Talents
    • Deep Roots (AOC)
      • Reduced maximum bounces 5 ➡️ 3
Kinessa
  • Cards
    • True Grit (AOC)
      • Hitting an enemy with a fully-charged Sniper Mode shot Heals you for {100|100} ➡️ {50|50}.
Lex
  • Cards
    • The Hunted (AOC)
      • You gain {10|10}% ➡️ {5|5}% Lifesteal against your Retribution target.
Octavia
  • Marksman Rifle
    • Using Designated Sights
      • Reduced Damage 500 ➡️ 425
      • Reduced bullet spread and recoil
      • Reduced damage falloff at extended ranges
  • Hipfire
    • Increased Damage 200 ➡️ 250
    • Increased Accuracy 89%➡️ 94%
    • Increased damage falloff
Tiberius
  • Abilities
    • Heavy Blade (AOC)
      • Reduced Slow 50% ➡️ 30%
      • Reduced Slow duration 3s ➡️ 2s
Zhin
  • Talents
    • Guillotine
      • Reduced Damage 25% ➡️ 20%
      • Removed Ultimate charge rate increase.

BUG FIXES

Champions Grohk
  • Fixed an issue where Shock Pulse would bounce to other enemies off of an Ethereal target.
Grover
  • Fixed an issue where Crippling Throw with the Deep Roots talent would bounce to other enemies off of an Ethereal target.
Imani
  • Fixed an issue where Imani dying while her Ultimate was active displayed bad information in the Kill Feed.
  • Fixed an issue where Frost Bolts with the Splitting Ice talent would bounce to another enemy off of an Ethereal target.
Lex
  • Fixed an issue where Lex could not reroll a target he killed in a 1v1 game properly after they respawned.
  • Fixed an issue where The Law would not hit enemies in front of Lex if he was slightly obscured by cover.
Moji
  • Fixed an issue where the Greater Good card would not activate on use of her Familiar Spit when the enemy had the maximum number of Magic Marks if it killed the enemy.
Octavia
  • Fixed an issue where the reticle in all Marksman Rifle scopes was not completely centered on screen when using Designated Sights.
  • Fixed an issue where the Golden Marksman Rifle would not play Golden VFX when Octavia killed an enemy with that weapon equipped.
  • Fixed a typo in the Air Supremacy card text.
Yagorath
  • Fixed an issue where Khan throwing an Overpowered enemy at a Planted Form Yagorath would incorrectly knock back Yagorath.
  • Fixed an issue where Cooldown Reduction would not reduce the cooldown of Trail of Acid.
  • Fixed an issue where Corvus and Talus could teleport out of Devour with their respective teleporting abilities in certain circumstances.
General
  • Updated the Shooting Range Champion selection screen to allow for all 49 Champions to be selectable in the Shooting Range.
  • Fixed an issue where players could not load into the Match Lobby when queuing for the Test Maps in the Custom screen.
  • Fixed an issue where the Countdown time for region unlocks on the Trials screen did not display properly on Consoles.
  • Fixed an issue where selecting the Event Pass Level reward in Trials linked to the incorrect page with bad UI.

PTS CHANGES

Grover
  • Whirlwind
    • Initial Energy Cost 20 → 40
  • Deep Roots (Talent)
    • Reduced range 22 -> 19
  • Chopper (Card)
    • Reduced scaling 100/100 → 50/50
Grohk
  • Ultimate Charge Rate
    • Reduced charge rate contribution from damage by 20%
  • Spirit’s Grace (card)
    • Effect no longer stacks
    • Reduced Scaling 8/8

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