Demo Update — Stage 3 Rework, Hero Balance

Stage 3 Rework

• Layers — Each sanctum you pass takes the hall one layer deeper. The hall sinks into starlight, splits and rises, and at wave 36 a final portal opens at its center. Beyond it, you face Noctiel on The Sky Throne.
• Four new terrain features
• Broken Orrery — Strike it three times and three arms of light sweep the hall for 5 seconds, clearing nearby monsters.
• Backflowing Starlight — Strike it and it gathers light, then erupts, launching nearby monsters into the air and slamming them down.
• Sinking Slab — Break the three anchors on its edge and the whole slab drops, taking the monsters on it down with it.
• Ascension Plume — Strike it to raise a pillar of light for 8 seconds. Heroes inside regain 3% health per second and their skill cooldowns tick twice as fast.

Stage 3 story — Rewritten as one story the four heroes carry together. Learn why the hall is rising into the sky and who Noctiel really is, with new lines fully voiced in English and subtitled in 13 languages.

Hero Balance

We measured every skill of all four heroes by the same standard (single-target damage, area damage, reach, utility and time spent standing still), toned down skills that were too strong and raised the weak ones. True Name awakenings are much stronger for all four heroes, and Completion move effects are now tuned for each skill.

Dark Slayer

• Charge: damage 38 → 72, cooldown 14 → 10s, stun 1 → 1.5s. Arrival shockwave damage 45% → 90%, radius 2.6 → 3m, up to 4 → 6 targets
• Eclipse Execution: damage 100 → 108. Rune ④ now blinks you next to the last enemy the blade cut, landing slash 80% → 170%
• Shadow Rend: damage 55 → 57
• Energy Wave: rank 1 damage 60 → 43, cooldown 11 → 17.1s (similar at every rank)
• Moonlit Riposte: counter 160 → 120, sweep 80 → 60

Windrunner

• Piercing Shot: damage 62 → 104
• Snare Shot: damage 36 → 63, cooldown 8 → 7s
• Wind Leap: damage 34 → 95, cooldown 11 → 8s
• Explosive Arrow: damage 58 → 70 · Gale Burst: damage 28 → 40
• Arrow Rain: tick damage 12 → 5.9, cooldown 14 → 16s
• Cyclone Arrow: tick damage 14 → 7.5, final burst 60 → 33
• Volley: damage 42 → 28.5

Vanguard

• Quaking Stomp: damage 55 → 78 · Ki Wave: damage 110 → 148 · Soaring Charge: damage 70 → 99
• Grapple Throw: damage 90 → 153, cooldown 12 → 10s
• Adamant Guard: counter 60 → 170, cooldown 16 → 12s. Shorter to hold, and it blocks slightly more
• Ki Nova: damage 150 → 173
• Breaking Fist: damage 68 → 61 · Hundred Fists: per hit 12 → 8.4
• Whirlwind Kick: damage 48 → 29, cooldown 9 → 11s

Aether

• Stellar Lance: damage 130 → 206 · Phase Step: damage 86 → 122
• Shatterpoint: damage 120 → 40, cooldown 11 → 13s
• Relic Volley: damage 40 → 19.4, cooldown 7 → 8s
• Relic Orbit: damage 24 → 17.3
• Star Sanctuary: cooldown 24 → 36s

Changes

• Final boss enrage — The time left before the enrage now shows on the boss health bar from the start of the fight. An enraged boss hits five times harder and its fire keeps growing, so the enrage is effectively the end of the fight.
• Rewind notice — Now a small dial. The starting wave number rolls up inside it, with less text.
• Timed charge — The word over your head on a well-timed release is now PERFECT instead of JUST.
• Leaderboards — Party records now also show members who left early, dimmed and marked "Left early".
• Stage 2 story — Each hero now takes their own road to the gate. Stage story scenes no longer play in party games (except the dungeon).
• Stage 1 — Wave supplies are redrawn, the Keeper's request rewards now show on screen and in the buff row, and the Resonance Prism's beam now returns toward the player who struck it.

Fixes

• Party games could disconnect when the Steam lobby owner changed.
• Some missions and terrain features in Stages 1–3 did not work as intended (Trebuchet, Chained Rift, Broken Orrery, Ascension Plume, rescue missions and more).
• In Stage 3, story characters could appear twice, and monster bodies and props could float in the air.
• Fixed the minimap section name, Sinking Slab display and companion speech bubble position on party members' screens.