Changelog/2021/March 30

Hey Everyone!

SkyBlock has now been updated to version 0.11.3. This update brings the long awaited Master Mode for dungeons, as well as quite a good bit of Balancing changes. Please make sure you read up the entire thread, as there is a lot to take in!

NOTE: Master Mode will remain closed for a few hours as we iron out a few issues.

► Master Mode
Following the defeat of Necron and the completion of Floor 7, the next challenge in the Catacombs comes in the form of Master Mode.

Master Mode starts back at Floor 1 (not including the entrance), but with an increase in difficulty that follows Floor 7.

For this release, Master Mode floor 1 to 5 will be available. Since Master mode isn't new floors, it won't contain any new items (for now), however Catacomb Experience is drastically increased, as well as loot drop rate.

► Quality of Life changes
Along with this update, we're introducing a small batch of Quality of Life changes.


 * Removed Dungeoneering from skill level average
 * The Quest Log now shows Fishing and Dungeons fairy souls
 * You now get 50% of your mana back on death
 * You can now click on the forge notification to warp to the Dwarven Mines' forge area.
 * From now on all current Catacombs floor will grant more Catacombs exp based on how many times you previously beaten that floor, up to 150% extra exp granted on Floors 1 to 5, up to 100% on Floor 6 and up to 50% extra on Floor 7. This is not applied for Master Mode at this time.
 * In the Catacombs skill menu, we now show the total damage bonus for each Catacombs level

► Dungeons Class Balance
The first part of the balance changes are with classes themselves. We're hoping those classes will see more use after these changes.

Tank Class changes
Added a new passive ability: Absorb

Now 80% of the damage players take nearby a tank will be redirected to their tanks. This change increases the usefulness of the tank class by a lot, but requires the tanks to put all their eggs in a beefier basket.

On top of that the Seismic Wave cooldown is now reduced from 60 seconds to 15. Do note that this means the Earth Shard and Super Heavy Armor passives will have a reduced effect on the cooldowns too.

The Tank ultimate has been changed to reduce incoming damage by 70%, for 20 seconds.

Healer Class changes
Healers are now able to click any of their teammates to apply a tether between them. As long as they remain in range of their tethered teammate they will heal them for .5% of their (the healers) HP every second. And every 5 melee hits on enemy mobs will heal them both for an extra 1% of their max health.

Healers also have a new passive ability that drops power orbs on the floor. For every enemy the Healers participate in killing, there is a low chance a special orb drops on the floor.

There are 3 types of orbs and each can be picked up by any teammate for quick heal for 30% of their maximum health, as well as a short damage or defense buff.

Berserker Class changes
The bloodlust passive of berserkers now has an extra effect. For every hit the Berserker lands on an enemy, subsequent hits will be stronger, making berserkers much better at taking down single target enemies.

► Balance Changes
Brace yourselves, there is a lot to go through

Dungeon Weapons

 * Bonemerang: Base damage decreased to 270 (from 320)

This weapon is too powerful for a drop from the fourth floor of the catacombs, but archers still deserve powerful tools, therefore the following items will receive buffs:


 * Last Breath: Base damage increased to 200 (from 180)
 * Last Breath: An additional 50 Critical Damage has been added
 * Last Breath Ability changed to removes 10% of defense per hit, up to 50% reduction max.
 * Mosquito Bow: Base strength increased to 151 (from 101)
 * Mosquito Bow: Base crit damage increased to 39 (from 9)


 * Valkyrie: Base strength increased to 145 (from 120)
 * Astraea: Base damage increased to 270 (from 260)
 * Astraea: Base defense increased to 250 (from 210)
 * Astraea: An additional 20 true defense has been added
 * Astraea: An additional 1 extra defense per catacombs level has been added
 * Scylla: Base damage increased to 270 (from 260)
 * Hyperion: intelligence decreased to 350 (from 400)
 * Hyperion changed to gain 1 damage per catacombs level (was granting 2 due to a bug)
 * Hyperion: Now correctly grants Combat EXP (finally!)
 * Wither Impact now correctly grants Combat EXP
 * Wither Impact/Implosion: Radius decreased to 6 blocks (from 10)

''We had discussed with players about the radius of the explosion being too small at 6. However, during testing we found out 6 was still a pretty good range and decided to go for it. We'll monitor for the next few weeks to see if it feels too small, but honestly 10 and even 8 was still way too big.''

Other Equipment Changes

 * Midas Staff: Base damage decreased at 0 coins from 16000 to 6000. However maxed Midas Staff still scales to 32000.
 * Soul Whip now changed to deal 50% of its damage on the 4th subsequent mob that it hits, and the damage is then halved for every subsequent mob hit.
 * Dark Goggles/Shadow Goggles/Wither Goggles: The Ability damage will now be additive instead of multiplicative.
 * In general, this will provide a decreased damage output. Sorry not sorry.
 * Reaper Mask/Wither Relic/Silk Edge/Frozen Blaze: Rarity increased from epic to legendary
 * Tarantula Helmet: Radioactive can no longer exceed 1000 strength and 100 crit damage

''As a tool for fighting tarantula bosses, the tarantula helmet worked well but it was used outside of its purpose to a devastating extent in dungeons and by endgame players. This change will mostly keep tarantula helmet as it currently is but greatly reduce its effectiveness in unintended situations.''


 * Skeleton Pet: Skeletal Defense (third perk) changed to a 5-second cooldown (was 15)
 * Skeleton Pet: Damage dealt decreased by half

''Skeleton pet is currently under-used and this perk, in particular, stood out. By reducing the cooldown to 1/3 of the original time and only reducing the damage by half, the overall damage gained from it is increased but more importantly, it makes the skeleton better at protecting its master and will more frequently fire at enemies.''


 * Tiger Pet: Base ferocity increased to 0.25 per level, max 25 (from 10)
 * Tiger Pet: Merciless Swipe nerfed to 50% more ferocity (from 100% at legendary-epic, will be decreased to 15% for a common and 33% for an uncommon/rare)

''Tiger Pet was in an overpowered position where, because it acted as an additional buff, on top of already strong ferocity items, it became better than other pets like the ender dragon or golem for damage. We want to keep it as a useful pet for early players but reduce the impact it has on endgame sets so that tiger can fulfill its purpose as a relatively affordable pet without displacing the more expensive ones.''


 * Lion Pet: An additional 5 ferocity has been added as a base stat
 * Lion Pet: First pounce changed to: Increases the effectiveness of first strike/triple strike and combo by 100% (75% for a rare pet)
 * Lion Pet: King of the Jungle changed to: Gain 15% more damage to mobs who have attacked you

''Lion pet was disappointing as a damage pet and was only used for its first hit bonus. This should increase it's viability.''


 * Spirit Pet: will work even when the pet isn't selected
 * Spirit Pet: The Spirit Leap perk is now changed to Half Life, which reduces the score penalty on the first death, every dungeon run.

''The Spirit pet was good but very situational, and "I died" isn't exactly a situation anyone wants to plan for. This change allows the spirit pet to see some more use.''


 * Fixed some arrows not properly applying poisons for Hurricane Bow, Runaan’s Bow, Venom Touch

''A bug fix? No that's totally a balance change, I swear.''

► Boss Changes
Currently most bosses in the game have a "damage soft cap", meaning that after X damage, players only deal 10% of the remaining damage. We are changing this mechanic on a few Bosses:


 * Arachne
 * The Magma Boss
 * The Ender Dragons
 * The Endstone Protector
 * The Headless Horseman

On all of these bosses, the soft cap will be changed to multiple soft caps, ending with a hard damage cap based on their Max Health.

Any damage below 0.4% of their total health remains the same.

Damage between 0.4% and 0.6% is reduced by 90%,

Damage between 0.6% and 0.8% is reduced by 99%

Damage between 0.8% and 1% is reduced by 99,9%.

Damage above 1% of their health is reduced by 100%.

It is a pretty drastic change but when it comes to public fights, where newer players and veterans are fighting together, we believe boss fights will be more exciting when the damage of everyone is more reasonable. This change should still allow for skill expression and maintain veterans at the top of the damage charts, while being more fun globally.

► Catacombs Changes
All the floors will now have their own requirements for entering based on catacombs level. On top of that, mobs loot from each floor will require the respective catacombs levels (boss loot requirements unchanged).


 * The Entrance will require Combat 15
 * Floor 1 will require Catacombs level 1
 * Floor 2 will require Catacombs level 3
 * Floor 3 will require Catacombs level 5
 * Floor 4 will require Catacombs level 9
 * Floor 5 will require Catacombs level 14
 * Floor 6 will require Catacombs level 19
 * Floor 7 will require Catacombs level 24

On top of that many changes are made to gear requirements and essence upgrade costs

Buckle up, there's quite a bit.


 * Young Dragon Armor: Catacombs requirements lowered to 15
 * Old Dragon Armor: Catacombs requirements lowered to 15
 * Strong Dragon Armor: Catacombs requirements lowered to 16
 * Protector Dragon Armor: Catacombs requirements lowered to 18
 * Wise Dragon Armor: Catacombs requirements lowered to 18
 * Unstable Dragon Armor: Catacombs requirements lowered to 15
 * Holy Dragon Armor: Catacombs requirements lowered to 15
 * Superior Dragon Armor: Catacombs requirements lowered to 19
 * Regular Dragon Armor essence costs reduced to
 * Helmet: Upgrade 40 and 20/30/50/100/150 Dragon Essence per star.
 * Chestplate: Upgrade 70 and 30/50/80/120/180 Dragon Essence per star.
 * Leggings: Upgrade 60 and 25/40/65/110/160 Dragon Essence per star.
 * Boots: Upgrade 35 and 20/30/40/90/140 Dragon Essence per star.
 * Superior Dragon costs also reduces proportionally.
 * Aspect of the Dragons Catacombs requirements lowered to 17, essence cost upgrade reduced to 150 and 50/100/200/300/400 Dragon Essence per star.
 * Midas Sword Catacombs requirements lowered to 17, essence cost upgrade reduced to 100 and 25/50/75/125/200 Gold Essence per star.
 * Midas Staff essence cost upgrade reduced to 100 and 50/100/150/200/250 Gold Essence per star.
 * Rogue Sword Catacombs requirements lowered to 1, essence cost upgrade reduced to 5 and 5/10/15/20/25 Gold Essence per star.
 * Hardened Diamond Armor Catacombs requirements lowered to 1, essence cost upgrade reduced to 10 and 5/10/15/20/25 Diamond Essence per star.
 * Perfect Catacombs requirements lowered to 7/8/9/10/11/12/14/15/17/18/19/21 respectively, essence cost upgrade reduced proportionally.
 * Frozen Blaze Armor Catacombs requirements lowered to 20, essence cost upgrade reduced proportionally.
 * Yeti Sword Catacombs requirements lowered to 22, essence cost upgrade reduced to 100 and 100/150/200/250/300 Ice Essence per star.
 * Leaping Sword Catacombs requirements lowered to 8, essence cost upgrade reduced to 20 and 5/10/15/20/25 Spider Essence per star.
 * Silk-Edge Sword Catacombs requirements lowered to 13, essence cost upgrade reduced to 20 and 5/10/15/20/25 Spider Essence per star.
 * Spider Boots Catacombs requirements lowered to 9, essence cost upgrade reduced to 20 and 10/15/20/25/30 Spider Essence per star.
 * Tarantula Armor Catacombs requirements lowered to 16, essence cost upgrade reduced proportionally.
 * Runaan’s Bow Catacombs requirements lowered to 8, essence cost upgrade reduced to 20 and 5/10/15/20/25 Spider Essence per star.
 * Scorpion Bow Catacombs requirements lowered to 10, essence cost upgrade reduced to 20 and 10/15/20/25/30 Spider Essence per star.
 * Mosquito Bow Catacombs requirements lowered to 13, essence cost upgrade reduced to 30 and 15/25/35/45/60 Spider Essence per star.
 * Revenant Falchion Catacombs requirements lowered to 15, essence cost upgrade reduced to 500 and 200/400/600/800/1000 Undead Essence per star.
 * Reaper Falchion Catacombs requirements lowered to 22, essence cost upgrade reduced to 500 and 200/400/600/800/1000 Undead Essence per star.
 * Axe of the Shredded Catacombs requirements lowered to 25, essence cost upgrade reduced to 500 and 200/400/600/800/1000 Undead Essence per star.
 * Pigman Sword Catacombs requirements lowered to 18, essence cost upgrade reduced to 200 and 100/200/300/400/500 Undead Essence per star.
 * Crystallized Heart Catacombs requirements lowered to 8, essence cost upgrade reduced to 100 and 30/45/60/75/90 Undead Essence per star.
 * Revived Heart Catacombs requirements lowered to 15, essence cost upgrade reduced to 100 and 30/45/60/75/90 Undead Essence per star.
 * Reaper Mask Catacombs requirements lowered to 24, essence cost upgrade reduced to 500 and 200/400/600/850/1200 Undead Essence per star.
 * Reaper Scythe Catacombs requirements lowered to 20, essence cost upgrade reduced to 200 and 100/300/500/700/900 Undead Essence per star.
 * Soul Whip Catacombs requirements lowered to 23, essence cost upgrade reduced to 300 and 200/300/400/500/600 Wither Essence per star.

Wasn't that fun to read?

► General Changes and Bug Fixes
Got a few more things to go through here. We're almost done!


 * Lifesteal: now heals 0.5% of maximum health per hit per level (instead of being based on damage)
 * Syphon: now heals 0.2% of your maximum health per hit per 100 critical damage and an additional 0.1% per tier. For example, if I have syphon 3 and 500 crit damage, I will heal 0.4% per 100 so 2% of my maximum health per hit. It caps at 1000 critical damage.
 * Ferocity hits will no longer trigger lifesteal/syphon

''Those changes will very significantly nerf healing in the game. We had a few testing sessions in high dungeon floors to see the impact and players were still able to clear the floors with relative ease, but we will monitor the impact of those changes after release.''

''Making healing scale based on the damage of the players was a design mistake since players hit way harder than the amount of health they have themselves, and this change should have a positive balancing impact. Healers rejoice!''


 * All slayer bosses and mini bosses damages have been decreased
 * All mobs during the Diana event have been decreased
 * A few fishing bosses have been decreased

''We're aware that the old Lifesteal was essential to some strategies, specifically for slayer bosses. We've lowered the damage done by enemies and bosses in those situations to account for the changes. We have statistics from before and will be tracking after the patch to find out if players are doing okay against these bosses, and if we feel like players are having more difficulty than before, we'll adjust them accordingly.''


 * Fix a bug where you could party warp players into a dungeon even if they don’t meet the combat requirement
 * Fixed a rare case where you could "complete" a class milestone without having the requirements for it.

If you don’t meet the class milestone requirements, the bonus should no longer be "activated" and used up.


 * Mana above maximum mana will be removed
 * Wither Cloak sword will be disabled when switching armor sets
 * Wither Cloak sword ability will no longer deal damage
 * Withermancer Skulls now only exists for a maximum of 10 seconds
 * Rabbit Hat jump boost will no longer work on Floor 7 of the Catacombs
 * Lesser Orb of Healing will now work in dungeons
 * Removing some afk methods (only on public islands) NOTE: we said some, not all. No rioting please.
 * Fixed powder gain from Mithril Golem, Sky Mall, and Mining Pumpkins
 * Spirit Mask ability will now work in dungeons
 * Fel Sword now actually works. For real.
 * Class milestones will be removed from the Catacombs Entrance
 * Fixed a couple Catacombs rooms issues
 * Removed Jerrobrine

That's everything for this patch. That was a lot of reading (or typing if you're me).

Credits
@Relenter - Dungeon Class changes

@aPunch - Many Balance Changes

@william - Quality of Life changes

@Nitroholic_ - Master Mode and a few balance changes

@Sylent, @Bloozing, @RapidTheNerd, @Cham, @Citria, @Magicboys (QA Team) and HPC and a few nerds - Testing/QA

@sfarnham, @xHascox, @Jayavarmen and I - Game Design Team / Production

Remember that this list is not exhaustive. Developers on these lists are often working on multiple projects.