New Hero: Black Bolt
Black Bolt has joined the Hero roster of Marvel Heroes 2016!
Experiencing terrigenesis before he was born, Blackagar Boltagon was granted frighteningly destructive powers. With a voice strong enough to destroy whole worlds, his parents would isolate and teach him to control his abilities. Finding silent companionship in one of his few visitors, Medusalith Amaquelin, the two’s romance would blossom into marriage.
But when Blackagar used his voice to protect the city, many lives of the Inhumans’ leading council were lost - including his parents. Blackagar reluctantly inherited the mantle of King of the Inhumans with Medusalith at his side. Though he justly serves the people of Attilan through the wise words of his council, he chooses his own words to protect Attilan from those who would put the Inhumans in danger.
Hero Power Animation Changes
With this update, we have made some significant change to the overall animation speed and timing of Hero powers.
Many Hero powers have been changed so that you will now be able to cancel an animation earlier than before. Powers will also now perform their animations faster on average, particularly as your Hero’s attack speed stat increases. Overall, you should notice a significant increase in Hero responsiveness and much fewer cases where your Hero is “stuck” after performing a power before you regain control and can perform another action.
As a part of this change, Hero powers that had their timings changed also had their damage tuning updated to account for how much more quickly you can use those powers. You may notice that tooltip damage on some powers has decreased slightly, as the inherent damage-per-second of those powers will have increased by virtue of being able to be performed faster than before.
In the Hero Changes section below, you will find a list of all Hero powers that have been modified as a part of these changes.
Take your favorite Hero out into battle and let us know what you think of these changes on the forums!
Summon Power & Itemization Changes
As part of this update, we have changed how all Summon power and summoned allies operate in terms of how they scale with damage bonuses and itemization.
- All summoned allies now transfer their owners offensive stats to themselves for the purposes of scaling. This includes stats such as Critical Hit Rating, Critical Damage Rating, Brutal Strike Rating, Brutal Strike Damage, Damage Rating, etc.
- Summoned allies will also gain the benefit of the highest typed damage bonuses between Energy, Mental or Physical. This applies to both typed damage rating and percent-based bonuses that apply to specific damage types. This will allow you to still scale your summoned allies’ damage further even if they use a different damage type than the damage type you would use to increase your Hero’s own powers.
- A new "Summon" keyword has been created and applied to all summon powers. This exists in itemization now precisely as other keywords, such as Melee, Area, etc. The previous Summoned Ally Damage stat on items has been removed and replaced with affixes using this keyword (so items will now have "+x damage rating for Summon powers" for example). Summon powers will scale off this keyword only and not off other keyword affixes, such as "damage rating for Melee powers".
- Powers that previously scaled off Summoned Ally Damage now instead have an affix that treats them as if they had the Summon keyword. This means rather than inheriting say 25% of Summoned Ally Damage as a built in damage bonus, they now inherit 100% of your summon damage rating/base damage (which stacks the usual way with other items).
- Base damage, duration, health and cooldowns for all Summon-based powers has been reviewed re-tuned as a part of these changes. You may notice that your base tooltip damage on many Summon powers has decreased, as these powers now have significantly more potential to scale with your Hero’s offensive bonuses than they did previously.
- As Summoned Ally Damage has been replaced with the new stat listed above, there is "Base Damage to Summon Powers" in its place on powers & talents, which operates the same as all other keyworded damage rating & base damage sources.
Story Chapter Updates
The following Story Chapters have all received significant updates:
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
Each of these Chapters has been overhauled with new areas, missions, events and Super Villain Showdowns!
In addition, the Sinister Lab Terminal has been updated to match the new Sinister Lab area in Chapter 7.
Slot 1-5 Item Changes
With this patch we’ve updated the Common through Cosmic tier versions of slot 1-5 items to roll with new properties:
- Slot 1 and 5 items for all heroes now roll with Damage Rating as a built-in affix, and slots 2 / 3 / 4 now roll with Health as a built-in affix. These stats do not have roll ranges - they have fixed values based on their Item Level.
- Common (white) tier items do not roll with any additional affixes, however use the new fixed scaling based on Item Grade.
- Uncommon (green) tier slot 1-4 items roll with a common random affix, just as before this patch. Slot 5 rolls with a proc effect from a new pool for slot 1-5 items, similar to procs on other items such as Uniques.
- Rare (blue) tier slot 1-4 items roll with 2 common random affixes. Slot 5 items of this rarity roll with one common random affix and a proc effect.
- Epic (purple) tier slot 1-4 items also roll with 2 common random affixes, however their roll range is higher than the Rare tier. Slot 5 Epic items roll with one stronger common affix and a proc effect.
- Cosmic (yellow) tier slot 1, 2, and 4 items will spawn with 3 common affixes of similar quality to Epic rarity items. Slots 3 and 5 roll with a 2 common affixes of similar quality to Epic and a proc effect.
Item Grade Drop Chance
With this patch, when playing in Heroic or Cosmic difficulty, slot 1-5 items (including Uniques) will now have a chance to drop at improved Item Grades:
- Heroic Difficulty - Slot 1-5 items have a chance to drop at Item Grade 66
- Cosmic Difficulty - Slot 1-5 items have a chance to drop at Item Grade 66 or 69
Unique Item Changes
- Black Panther's Wakandan Ceremonial Necklace - proc has been changed to a Fighting bonus.
- Colossus' Bands of Cyttorak - proc has been changed from Fighting & Speed to Durability & Strength. Additionally, the Armor cost reduction has been changed to Movement Speed increase on Area Powers.
- Sinister's Bioengineered Cuirass - Intelligence affix changed to Critical Damage Rating.
- Octobot Controller - Intelligence affix changed to Critical Damage Rating and Summon Damage Rating.
- Cerebra Helmet Interface - part of the Intelligence affix changed to Critical Damage Rating and Summon Damage Rating.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Supply Drop Changes
S.H.I.E.L.D. Supply Drop crates can now award some new items:
- Specific Challenge Bonus tokens
- Cosmic Fragments
- Unique Medallions
- Event-specific Items
In addition, we’ve lowered chance of receiving Ring slot items, and lowered the chance to receive Eternity Splinters but increased the number of Eternity Splinters received to 10 when they are awarded. Increased the chance to receive stacks of Relics, and Relics will now always drop in multiples of 5.
Visual Updates
With this patch, a number of Hero costumes have received visual updates:
- Captain America The Captain Costume
- Gambit Classic 90s Costume
- Ghost Rider Original Costume
- Ghost Rider Modern
- Hulk Planet Hulk Costume
- Punisher Modern Costume
- Psylocke Classic Costume
- Scarlet Witch Modern Costume
- Squirrel Girl Modern Costume
- Storm Modern Costume
- Thor Modern Costume
- Spider-Man Back in Black Costume
In addition, Ultron’s Drones have also received a visual update when wearing Ultron’s Age of Ultron Costume to better match his own appearance!
Adam Warlock Vendor Changes
With this update, we are moving the unlock method for new Heroes and Team-Ups solely to the Hero and Team-Up Roster. As such, the Adam Warlock vendor in Avenger’s Tower will no longer sell Hero or Team-Up unlock tokens in his inventory.
In terms of functionality, there are no changes to how Heroes and Team-Ups can be unlocked - you will still be able to unlock Heroes and Team-Ups for both Eternity Splinters and Gs, just as before. This change is only to prevent any confusion as to how Heroes and Team-Ups are unlocked. Going forward, all Heroes and Team-Ups will be purchased either from the in-game store, or directly from the Hero & Team-Up Rosters using the “Unlock” button, where you can choose to unlock that hero with Eternity Splinters or Gs.
Adam Warlock’s inventory is otherwise unchanged and will continue to offer his other Eternity Splinter wares, such as the Random Hero Unlock.
Hero Changes
Angela
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Rage of Xiphos
- Know My Name and Weep
- Ichor’s Wrath
- Stunning Ichors
Ant-Man
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Bio-Electric Blast
- Little Car Throw
- Inch-High Good-Bye
- Friends in Low Places
- Red Hots
- Fistful of Ants
- Drone Strike
- Wall O’ Ants
- For the Colony!
Bug Fixes:
- Ant-Man will no longer lose Damage Reduction from Clothes Makes the Man upon entering combat.
Beast
- Frenzied Lunge will now display how to achieve Bestial Frenzy.
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Psychic Implosion
- Grappling-Hook Swing
- Grappling-Hook Slam
Black Cat
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Foe Fillet
- Land On Your Feet
- Cat Nap
- Cat Scratch Fever
- Explosive Trap
- Gas Trap
- Sticky Trap
- Taser Trap
- Whip Crack
- C’Mere Kitty
- Put ‘Em Down
Black Panther
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Vibranium Trap
- Mobile Mine Field
- Knockdown Sweep
- Unseen Predator
- Savage Strike
Black Widow
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Coup De Grace
- Sweepkick
- Deadly Kick
- Rolling Grenades
- Anti-Personnel Grenades
- Timed Explosive
- Micro-Drones
- Shock Field
- Widow’s Kiss
Blade
- Steady Regimen talent now doubles the stat benefits of The Serum in addition to doubling its duration. This should help it be more attractive compared to the other talents in the row.
- Vampire Hunter talent Critical and Brutal chances reduced to 2% (down from 3%). This talent was providing too much power in a single talent choice, even with its downside.
- Vibranium Batteries talent now increases UV Grenade damage by 15% in addition to its other effects. This should help make it more competitive with the other talents in the row.
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Glaive Orbit
- Unleash Glaive
- Party Crasher
- UV Grenade
- Stake Through the Heart
- Stake Thrower
- Toxin-Loaded Gauntlets
- Hyper-Toxin Grenade
- Killing Strokes
- My Namesake
Cable
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Vortex Grenade
- Concussion Blast
- Psimitar Slam
- Telekinetic Overload
- Psychokinetic Barrier
Captain America
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Vibranium Bash
- Meteor Kick
- Airborne Assault
- Shield Bash
- Shield Toss
- Torqued Shield Throw
- Star-Spangled Strike
Captain Marvel
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Crashdown Strike
- Cosmic Challenge
- Ground Shattering Smash
- Photonic Wave
- Evasive Blast
- Intense Light
- Glimpse of Binary
- Photonic Bomb
Colossus
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Titanic Slam
- Demolition Stomp
- Fissure
- Crushing Smite
- Titan Throw
- Call Kurt
- Heroic Challenge
- Colossal Roar
- Fastball Special
Cyclops
- Beam Refraction talent icon changed to be more thematic.
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Optic Devastation
- Strike Team - Iceman
- All-New Strike Team - Magneto
- All-New Strike Team - Emma Frost
- Strike Team - Jean
- Ruby-Quartz Prisms
- Eye in the Sky
- Strike Team - Beast
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where the hotspot created by Strike Team - Iceman displayed a health bar if the Overhead Pet Health Bars option was enabled.
Daredevil
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Rebounding Club
- Whirling Club
- Jumping Strike
- Sliding Strike
- Devil’s Due
- Tornado Kick
Deadpool
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Real Armor Buster
- Lil’ Deadpool
- Hulk Hand Arrow
- Bang Boom Pow
- Slam Jam
- KABOOM!
Bug Fixes:
- Smells Like Victory talent will now properly decay stacks when changing regions.
- Real Armor Buster power tooltip now correctly lists the 100% Critical Hit chance when Guns, Glorious Guns talent is enabled.
- Fixed an exploit which allowed Deadpool to keep his Stacks from Smells Like Victory after the talent was deselected.
Doctor Doom
- Technical Tyrant has been adjusted to be a forward-facing cone, rather than a power that fires in two separate directions.
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- The Gauntlet
- Beneath Doom’s Boot
- Latverian Air Defense
- Crumble, Fools
- Pierce the Veil
- Unthinkable
- Conjured Barrage
- Orb of Doom
- Worthless Cretin
- Eldritch Reckoning
- Technical Tyrant
Doctor Strange
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Seven Suns of Cinnibus
- Crimson Bands of Cyttorak
- Flames of the Faltine
- Daggers of Daveroth
- Icy Tendrils of Ikthalon
- Demons of Denak
- Vapors of Valtorr
- Winds of Watoomb
- Shield of the Seraphim
- Seal of the Vishanti
- Images of Ikonn
- Eye of Agamotto
- Fangs of Farallah
- Bolts of Balthakk
Elektra
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Blossom of Death
- Behind You
- Shadowstrike
- Clear the Air
- Silent Scream
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where Relentless Assassin was causing cooldowns to end whenever you removed Marked For Death, instead of only when you defeated a Marked enemy.
Emma Frost
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Telepathic Torment
- Sudden Dread
- Astral Whip
- Psychic Spear
- Diamond-Bladed Spin Kick
- The True Queen
- Frenzied Confusion
Gambit
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Bo Vault
- Street Sweep
- Grand Slam
- Batter Up
- Ace of Spades
- House of Cards
Bug Fixes:
- Batter Up no longer uses the same power icon as Bo Strike.
Ghost Rider
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Judgment
- Chain Flechette
- Damnation
- Inferno
- Flay
- Chain Snare
Green Goblin
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Hallucinogenic Pumpkin
- The Big One
Hawkeye
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Ronin Assault
- Shrieking Arrow
- Nerve Gas Arrow
- StarkTech Medical Arrow
- StarkTech Claymore Turret
- Crippling Kick
Hulk
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Gamma Strike
- Vicious Headbutt
- Cratering Stomp
- Meteor Strike
- Ultimate Destruction
- Knuckledusters
- Rubble Toss
- Avalanche Leap
Human Torch
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Skittering Blaze
- Flame Tornado
- Scattering Fireballs
- Scorching Wall
- Wave of Flames
Iceman
New Resource - Ice Armor
- Iceman now uses Ice Armor instead of a primary resource. Ice Armor functions similar to other Armor meters, reducing incoming damage and taking it to the Armor meter instead, until the meter is depleted. No power spends Ice Armor by default.
Power Changes
- All Deep Freeze powers now restore a percentage of total Ice Armor on activation.
- Frozen visuals for Iceman now include a larger, more noticeable particle of ice attached to the ground underneath each frozen target. This should help the effect be more noticeable in a fight.
- Snow Plow is now a Chill power. No longer causes a Shatter bonus.
- Chillblains now restores Ice Armor on hit.
- Ice Slick now has a 4 second cooldown. The visuals for this power have been updated to use more modern effects.
- Frozen Lance now always critically hits.
- Ice Beam and Snowblower's Start and End animation times have been removed to improve responsiveness.
- Snowblower now has an increased area of effect.
- Ice Golems have been redesigned - by default, they only attack in Melee. Activating the ability while Ice Golems are already active cause them to throw a large snowball in the targeted direction, taunt enemies, and activate a PBAoE snow storm around themselves for a short duration. The power now has a 10 second cooldown.
- Work of Art no longer scales as a Summon power by default, increasing its base damage and making it more attractive for non-Summon builds. The talent Chilling Constructs restores this functionality.
- Ice Block now restores 100% of maximum Ice Armor.
- Absolute Zero now restores 100% of maximum Ice Armor.
- Frozen Orb now has a cooldown and 2 charges. This has been on the borderline as a needed change for some time due to the visual obscurity and performance problems with Frozen Orb when over-spammed. Changing it now makes the most sense in the context of the changes to Deep Freeze with this update.
Talent Changes
- Iceman's Talents have been rearranged to better support his builds.
- Focused Beams - Now also affects Icicles, keeping that open as an option for Ranged players. The powers affected by this talent will update their tooltips with the additional damage bonus.
- Ice-Crafted Weapons - Now grants a 10% damage bonus to Melee attacks. Frozen Blades now deals bonus damage if you have recently Shattered, and restores Ice Armor on hit. Icy Arsenal is now a Cooldown Shatter power that can store up to 3 Charges. This change brings in more layer options for Melee Iceman players, who can now effectively use both Icy Arsenal and Frozen Blades together.
- Chilled to the Bone - Tooltip polished to reflect the effects of the talent. When Ice Beam is upgraded through this talent, it will have a slightly more impactful visual using an Ice Beam with each hand.
- Golem Mastery - No longer increases duration, but does cause Golems to be auto-summoned in combat, allowing players to opt out of the button press (and opt out of their snowball throw active - the choice is yours)
- Avalanche - Now causes Glacial Slam to spend all of your Ice Armor in exchange for bonus damage.
- Icy Aura - Removed. Replaced with the talent Frost Nova, which turns Flash Freeze into Frost Nova, a large melee area version of Flash Freeze.
- Blizzard - Now causes Frozen Orb to be thrown to a targeted location and stay there for a fixed duration, rather than move around. The moving portion wasn't really working out (unpredictable and sometimes wonky AI movement), so giving more precise control may make this talent more attractive.
- Icebreaker - Gains the signature cooldown reduction component of Chain Reaction. Now additionally reduces the cooldown of Flash Freeze & Frost Nova.
- Chain Reaction - Removed. Replaced with the talent Crushing Cold, which replaces Glacial Slam with a new Ranged shatter power, Hail Drop. Additionally, Arctic Wave will gain a Ranged projectile component.
- Last Ditch Defenses - Now automatically triggers Ice Block when below 30% health, rather than triggering a revive effect. Maximum Health amount reduced, but Maximum Ice Armor added.
- Renewing Cold - Now converts Ice Slick into a Melee attack which automatically is placed below your feet.
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Ice Beam
- Flash Freeze
- Icicles
- Work of Art
- Glacial Wall
- Glacial Slam
- Icy Arsenal
Invisible Woman
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Suffocate
- Storm of Spheres
- Resonating Wave
- Force Pillar
- Wall of Force
Iron Fist
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Fury of Five Hundred Fists
- Like Unto Iron
- Leopard Claw
- Tiger Scratch
- Crane Kick
- Dragon Tail
- Serpent Fang
- Black-Black Poison Touch
Iron Man
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Unibeam
- Wrist Rocket
- The One-Off
- Voltaic Punch
- Jet-Assisted Slam
- Death From Above
- Coolant Blast
- Sonic Shockwave
- Repulsor Spray
- Missile Salvo
Jean Grey
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Psychokinetic Implosion
- Telekinetic Slam
- Crushing Telekinesis
- Psychic Lethargy
- Neural Network
- Neural Panic
- Tactical Destruction
- Mind Crush
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed issues where Jean would enter a bad state when activating Expel Phoenix Force while out of combat and then switching between Omega Telepath and Tempered Force while Expel Phoenix Force’s buff was still active.
Juggernaut
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Round of Applause
- Big Headbutt
- Earthquake
- Big Elbow Drop
- Sunday Punch
- Wrath of Cyttorak
- Barroom Brawling
Kitty Pryde
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Spitballs
- Dragon Breath
- Katana Slash
- Logan-Style
- Heartbreaker
- Shadow & Flame
- Disciplined Strike
- Watch Your Step
- Shadow & Flame - Second hit added when Lockheed is not active to match a new animation that does not include the 'duck' portion.
Loki
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Spirits of the Dead
- Searing Embers
- Permafrost Spikes
- Hardlight Spikes
- Asgardian Light
- Cold Snap
- Eternal Flame
- Eternal Darkness
- Otherworldly Blast
- Unyielding Power
- Illusionary Projection
- Lay Waste
- Incinerate
- Enthrall
- Soul Crush
- Arcane Binding
- Infernal Binding
- Meteoric Illusion
- Refracting Ruin
- Light Beam
Luke Cage
- Harlem Dropkick has been changed to Harlem Street Kick, with a new animation for better fluidity and responsiveness during combat.
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Cage Was Here
- Cage Fighting
- Sweet Christmas
- Dempsey Roll
Magik
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Sorcerous Eruption
- Step To Me
- Soul Sever
- Bone Wall
- Otherworldly Nova
Magneto
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Wrecking Ball
- Polarity Surge
- Electromagnetic Field
- Magnetic Eruption
- Blunt Instrument
- Metal Tempest
- Meat Grinder
- Imprison
- Impale With Iron
- Storm of Steel
- Magnetic Distortion
Moon Knight
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Cestus Uppercut
- Justice From Above
- Gruesome Frenzy
- Tripwire Bolas
Bug Fixes:
- Updated the tooltip flavor description for Launcher Frenzy
Mister Fantastic
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Giant Punch
- Mallet Fist
- Stretchy Spheroid
- Gravitation Emitter
Nightcrawler
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
Nova
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Nova Flare
- Falling Star
- Mega Punch
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where the dash effect of Cosmic Combo was not triggering Cosmic Shockwave.
Psylocke
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Falling Lotus Strike
- Kirisute Gomen
- Psionic Assault
- Psionic Bow
- Psycho-Blast
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where Finish The Job was not resetting the cooldown of Katana Typhoon if Dancing Katana was not active.
Punisher
- All of Punisher's Grenade powers are now thrown. The Grenade Launcher formerly used for Flashbang and Volatile Nerve Gas has been removed by default, but the talent Grenade Belt is now known as "Arsenal: Grenade Launcher", and upgrades all Grenades to be fired from the Launcher instead.
- Rapid Reload is now located further down in the progress, and Full Auto is Frank's new level 1 starting power.
- Trusty Sidearms and No Mercy no longer reduce the cooldown of Rapid Reload.
- Magnum's attack speed has been increased. The power now always critically hits rather than using the Execute affix, and its base damage has been increased as a result. This change is to help differentiate the power more from Sniper Shot's mechanics and identity.
- Rocket-Propelled Grenade is once again a skillshot. With our changes to controls since this was changed to a targeted AoE (and the addition of other Punisher powers over the years), we feel this is the right time to fix this thematic issue - an RPG should be fired forward.
- Flamethrower now reduces incoming damage while channeled.
Talent Changes
- Punisher's Talents have been rearranged to better support his builds. Players should have no problem finding a ranged standard-gun only build, a mid-range Shotgun/Combat Knife build, a build focused on heavy weapons and explosives, or any combination in between. Talents that alter his weapon loadout now share a name "Arsenal" to better help define them.
- Submachine Guns - Animation for the SMG's altered to not fire quite so frequently, alternating bursts from each gun rather than stream bullets constantly. This will help reduce performance issues and floating number bloat when using this as the Ammo spender of choice. SMG's no longer pierce enemies, giving them a damage edge as a single target power. Punisher has a ton of AoE already, so this change is to help bump up his single target effectiveness.
- Light-Weight Magazine - Instead of reducing Ammo reload time, this talent now automatically triggers Rapid Reload (and all of its benefits) if you run out of Ammo, as long as it is off cooldown.
- High Capacity Magazine - By popular demand, this talent turns off the automatic reloading mechanic entirely - you only reload when Rapid Reload is actived, or while out of combat for a short duration
- Hollow-Point Rounds - Specifically calls out "Bullet" powers, which are now a displayed keyword. All of Punisher's non-explosive, non-Shotgun Powers are considered Bullet powers.
- Tactical Shotgun - Now increases Shell damage by 15% in addition to adding charges. 'Shell' is a keyword found on Punisher's Shotgun powers, existing in parity with the Bullet keyword
- Explosive Rounds - Removed. Replaced with "Tactical Breach", which reduces the amount of damage you take from Melee attackers, and after using Combat Roll, your next Shotgun blast deals additional damage and is a guaranteed critical hit.
- "Judas" Rounds - Removed. Replaced with Automatic Shotgun, which transforms Full Auto into a normal-ammo spending, area clearing Shotgun power. This can be used in tandem with the charge-counter Shotgun (either variation of it), to create a niche mid-range build. This talent also makes any enemy hit with a Shotgun become Vulnerable
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Sniper Shot
- Buckshot Blast
- Pineapple Grenade
- Rocket-propelled Grenade
- Volatile Nerve Gas
- Flashbang
- Explosive Escape
- Flechette Blast
- The Davy Crockett
- No Mercy
Rocket Raccoon
- Heavy Plasma Rifle - now increases Brutal Damage in addition to Critical Damage.
- H7 Fleetslayer - can now be used when out of Plasma Ammo, damage reduced.
- Shoot and Run - added movement keyword, damage reduced.
- M78 Plasma Launcher - cost reduced to 100 Plasma Ammo, effects no longer persists for 5s after exiting hotspot.
- Heavy Gauss Rifle - cost reduced to 125 Plasma Ammo (down from 200), damage reduced.
- C-12 Stun Grenade & Gravity Mine - can now spend partial Plasma Ammo instead of being locked out at very low Plasma Ammo levels.
- Hadron Enforcer - damage greatly increased.
- Upgraded Minigun Talent - now only increases attack speed by 1% per stack (damage is not changed).
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- M78 Plasma Launcher
- C-12 Stun Grenade
- Gravity Mine
- Hadron Enforcer
Rogue
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Extreme Drain
- Vaulting Uppercut
- Gloves Off
- Drain Life
- Draining Punch
- Crushing Blows
Stolen Powers:
- Angels' Flanked From Above
- Beta Ray Bill's Blood and Thunder
- Fist of N'astirh's Seismic Slam
- Black Panther's Knockdown Sweep
- Cable's Psychokinetic Barrier
- Clea's Flames of the Faltine
- Electro's Static Field
- Elektra's Shadow Strike
- Herald of Ash's Volcanic Eruption
- Frost Giant Glacial Lord's Cold Snap
- Havok's Plasma Wave
- Lady Hellfire's Curse of Hellfire
- Lord Brimstone's Infernal Meteor
- Jean Grey's Psychokinetic Implosion
- Jessica Jones' Urban Remodeling
- Jubilee's Bang
- Kitty Pryde's Ground Phase
- Kronan Arcanist's Arcane Torment
- Luke Cage's Dempsey Roll
- Magneto's Magnetic Attraction
- Mandarin's Electro-Blast
- Mindless Titan's Mindless Destruction
- Sisters of Magma's Mental Devastation
- MODOK's Psychic Shockwave
- Captain Marvel's Photonic Wave
- Robbie Reyes' Hell Rides
- Storm's Crashing Hail
- Surtur's Wrath of Muspelheim
- Thor's Godly Valor
- Toad's Tongue Lash
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where some powers were not correctly using Combo Points granted from Master Martial Artist.
Scarlet Witch
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Chaos Rift
- Hex Sphere
- Unmake Reality
- Ravenous Binding
- Obfuscation
- Iron Maiden
- Dark Hex
Bug Fixes:
- Scarlet Witch will no longer lose Damage Reduction from Reality Bending upon entering combat.
She-Hulk
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Move to Strike
- Assault
- Battery
- Bar Exam
- Final Verdict
- Objection!
- Closing Argument
- Bury in Paperwork
- Barrister Beatdown
Silver Surfer
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Subspace Rift
- Event Horizon
- Board Sweep
- Subspace Slipstream
- Temporal Recall
- Repulse
Spider-Man
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Web Spray
- Stick Around
- Amazing Smash
- Web Yank
- Web Sling
Squirrel Girl
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Nutcracker
- Dive Bomb
- Squirrelpocalypse
- Nutcracker - Second hit removed, power now only deals the single damage packet, which always brutally strikes.
Star-Lord
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Strafe
- Cryo Grenade
- Gravity Grenade
- Incendiary Cluster Bomb
- Backpedal
- Orbital Strike
- Air
- Fire
- Water
- Earth
- Elemental Blast
- Shockwave Grenade
- Incendiary Grenade
Storm
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
Taskmaster
- Legion Arrow has been updated to operate as a single arrow shot that has a 20% chance to fire 2 arrows, and a 10% chance to fire 3 arrows per activation. This should also improve the overall responsiveness of the power.
- Pendragon Slice has been updated as a multi-hit flurry of sword strikes, rather than a ranged shockwave projectile.
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Rebounding Shield
- Cyclone Club
- Shield Crush
- Legion Arrow
- Pendragon Slice
- Dance of Dane
- Web Cocoon
- Toxic Gas Arrow
- Web Net
- Meteor Kick
- Tornado Kick
- Coup de Grace
Thing
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Quit It, Hothead!
- Urban Landscaping
- Yancy Street Gang
- The Ol’ 1-2-3
- Unlimited Class Slam
- Downtown Discus
- Crackin’ Wise
Thor
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Hammer Smash
- Leaping Smite
- Lightning Storm
- Asgardian Smite
- Spinning Strike
- Ragnarok
- Have At Thee!
- Son of Odin
- Bring the Thunder
- Forked Lightning
Ultron
- Operation: Pull has received a new animation.
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Encephalo Beam
- Operation: Irradiate
- Operation: Annihilate
- Operation: Swarm
- We Are Ultron
- Concussion Blasters
- Operation: Smash
- Operation: Slam
- Operation: Pull
Venom
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Predator’s Web
- Come to Venom
- Parasitic Tendrils
- Deadly Maw
- Hungry Maw
- Tendril Impale
- Writhing Tendrils
- Symbiotic Spikes
Vision
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Physical Disruption
- Hammer Punch
- High-Density Slam
- Healing Nanites
- Comeuppance
- Solar Flare
- Solar Overcharge
War Machine
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Bring the Heat
- A Rough Landing
- Less-Than-Lethal
- Plasma Cannon
- Spit Fire
- Clear the Room
- Hammer of War
Winter Soldier
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Pistol Takedown
- Unseen Death
- Underslung Grenade
- Explosive Sabotage
- Bionic Haymaker
- Dispatch
- Bionic Shockwave
- EMP Surge
- Concealed Combat
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where Winter Soldier’s row 3 talents were not unlocking at the correct level.
Wolverine
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
- Eviscerate
- Impale
- Savage Slash
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue with Exploit Weakness’s tooltip.
X-23
The following powers have had their forced animation times reduced and can be cancelled earlier:
Miscellaneous Changes & Bug Fixes
- Upgrade Rare to Epic Transformation recipe has been retired. Achievements related to this are now listed in X-traordinary Feats category.
- Cosmically Enhanced Ultron Encephalo Beam was more powerful than intended. All attributes has been reduced to 1-2.
- Fixed an issue where Cosmic Artifacts would still in some cases spawn without a Cosmic affix.
- Fixed an issue with The Book of Eibon that caused its fireballs to hit much harder than intended.
- Fixed an issue where Cosmic Essences could drop in regions set to difficulties lower than Cosmic.
- Fixed an issue where the Strength Attribute was not rolling correctly on Catalysts.
- Transfer Crafted Catalyst Affixes crafting recipe should no longer remove an item’s binding.
- Added Cosmic versions of The Book of Eibon, and The Book of Demonicus. You can get these from playing the Doctor Strange event on Cosmic Difficulty!
- Added the Cosmic and Regular versions of The Broken Crown artifact to the Edda Fire and Ice bosses, and the Cosmic and Regular versions of Spider-Clone Serum artifact to the Spider-Clone bosses in the Clone Saga missions in Industry City Patrol.
- Bosses in Cosmic Hightown Patrol will now drop less Cosmic slot 1-5 items to further reduce item clutter.
- Adjusted cooldowns of Bullseye’s boss powers to reduce his overall evasiveness.
- During the Incursion Events in Hightown Patrol, relevant enemies will stop spawning when the boss appears.
- The Days of Service log in reward for Day 99 (The Doomsaw Artifact) will be retroactively granted to all accounts that have already passed this log in day. This version of the item is not tradeable to other players.
- The Epic Battles Against the Kingpin Achievement has been re-enabled.
- Arch-Angel Team-Up’s Cheyarifim Blood power will now display the correct amount of health restored rather than 0.
- Fixed a typo in Jubilee Team-Up’s Light ‘Em Up power description.
- Defeating Doom and sufficient hostiles within the Castle Doom Terminal will now properly produce Bounty Reward chests.
- Bounty chests in the Castle Doom Terminal can drop boss artifacts for all minibosses that appear as well as cosmic boss artifacts in cosmic difficulty.
- Updated the A.I.M. Facility Terminal Bounty Chests to only be revealed upon defeating MODOK.
- To accommodate the new, smaller-sized Sinister Lab Terminal, its Bounty mission has been reduced to single Bounty chest.
- Grung the Mighty is no longer required to progress through the Deep Tunnels in chapter 6.
- Increased the distance of the directional arrow for the "Locate Missing Sentinel" objective of the "Dangerous Tech" chapter 6 story mission.
- The Danger Room Scenario "Test of Blood" will no longer cause infinite resource generation (specifically for heroes that use Cost Reduction in a different manner)
- Added Defender of the Realm achievement for those seeking to earn the coveted Sorcerer Supreme title.
Known Issues
- After defeating Mister Sinister in Chapter 7, the computer console that allows you to release Bishop is not displaying a visual indicator for what to interact with. Until this is fixed in a future update, you can still place the mouse cursor over the computer console just to the right of Bishop’s cell which can be interacted with to progress the mission (your minimap should still indicate roughly where this interactable console appears).
- The Wizard summon proc on Wizard's Id Machine currently does not spawn Wizard. He was recently found violating parole and is spending the week under house arrest. He'll be returning to his lesser-evil schemes next patch.
23/02/2017, 17h45
