August 30, 2022
Forge Your Own Path
Combat fans, class enthusiasts, and min-maxers... this one's for you! This weekend, we've got another blacksmithing update! Back in July, Cysero’s Forge opened up with a selection of new enhancement traits, quests, and gameplay options. You told us you loved it, so to kick off September, we bring you Blacksmithing Update part 2 this Friday!
As a reminder, in part 1, we revamped the Blacksmithing faction with a new set of farming quests and allowed you to reach rank 10 Blacksmithing- previously unattainable. (Read about that update here.)
By increasing your rank, you unlock quests to permanently unlock access to new enhancement traits, which drastically change how your classes can perform. Now, two months later, we bring you a brand new set of traits along with a makeover to the /Forge room!
What’s New?
The first update to Blacksmithing largely focused on introducing options for soloing traits, with long cooldowns and little multi-target use. It also introduced a brand new category of gear traits- cape traits- allowing you to make your own builds.
This time, we’re rounding off the weapon enhancement traits with multi-target focused weapons traits, allowing you to bring your favorite farming classes up to speed as well! Additionally, we’re introducing helmet enhancements to further give you more building options. And finally, two more cape traits to add more variety.
As a reminder, weapon traits do not need to be unlocked consecutively- they can be unlocked in any order. This time, we’ll be more detailed in what you need to unlock the traits, and what you can expect.
Weapon Traits
Elysium / Weapon
Wizard pattern
- 100% chance to activate on third skill
- 0 second cooldown
- Deals 500 - 2250% Magic Damage to up to 2 targets, increasing the lower your mana is, always hits but cannot crit
Gain a stack of Elysian for every target struck, gaining a small but rapid HoT that stacks to 3, and rapidly regenerating 4 mana per second and increasing outgoing damage by 10%, lasting 8 seconds.
Requires:
- level 100
- rank 10 Blacksmithing
- have the Awe-scention quest completed
- Quest complete will require you turn in 20 Bones from the Void Realm, 3 Archfiend Essence Fragments, 1 Blademaster Sword Scroll, and The Divine Will (a new misc item)
Elysium is an endgame weapon trait that has strong synergy with multi-target classes. Designed to bring many older classes up to more modern speeds while not entirely eclipsing the most powerful classes, and not affecting progressing players, it allows you to play with some of your old favorite classes once more once you’ve reached the endgame.
Acheron / Weapon
Depths pattern
- 100% chance to activate on third skill
- 0 second cooldown
- Deals 80% Magic Damage to up to 2 targets, always hits and crits
Gain a stack of Stygian for every target struck, afflicting you with a rapid DoT based on max health that stacks to 30, but also granting you an additional 30% damage dealt and Hit Chance for 6 seconds. Stygian also prevents Safeguard and Arcane Shield from applying.
Requires:
- level 80
- rank 8 Blacksmithing,
- have the Shadows of War II questline completed
- have the Dark Box and Dark Key mini-saga completed
- Quest complete will require you to turn in the Power of Darkness, 20 Dark Potions, and The Mortal Coil (a new misc item)
Acheron is a more offensive but higher risk counterpart to Elysium. Most of the time, you’ll find yourself preferring the safer and risk-free Elysium, but Acheron has moments where it shines as well. Unlike any of the other enhancement traits, this one is only available to players who have the Dark Box and Dark Key from the treasure chest.
Because weapon traits are not sequential, we’re playing with the idea of using weapon traits (or variants of) as capstone and milestone rewards for specific gameplay branches such as this one. It intends to be uniquely and rewardingly different from Elysium, but not in a way that would upset balance if you did not have it.
Let us know what you think of this idea!
Cape Traits
Penitence / Cape
Forge pattern
- Increases your Defense by 25%, decreases your Damage over Time by 25%
Requires:
- level 90,
- rank 9 Blacksmithing
- have the previous cape traits unlocked
- Quest complete will require you to turn in 100 Sapphire Orbs, 13 Void Scales, 1 Boreal Cavalier Bardiche, and 1 Night Mare Scythe.
Lament / Cape
Forge pattern
- Increases your Critical Chance by 20%, decreases your Haste by 5%
Requires:
- level 90
- rank 9 Blacksmithing
- have the previous cape traits unlocked
- Quest complete will require you to turn in 3 Bloodless Hearts, 1 Doom Heart, 10 Flame Hearts, and 1 Heart of the Sun
Helmet Traits
And finally, the new helmet enhancements! They will need to be unlocked in sequential order, like the cape traits, and will also have drawbacks when equipped. Each of the helm enhancements are actually a unique pattern, and will focus on different aspects of Core Stats.
Vim, Ether / Helmet
Vim pattern
- Grants you large amounts of Dexterity and Luck in exchange for Endurance
- The Ether trait grants you -33% mana cost
Examen, Ether / Helmet
Examen pattern
- Grants you large amounts of Wisdom and Luck in exchange for Endurance
- The Ether trait grants you -33% mana cost
Anima, Clairvoyance / Helmet
Anima pattern
- Grants you a large amount of Strength in exchange for Endurance
- The Clairvoyance trait grants you +10% hit chance
Pneuma, Clairvoyance / Helmet
Pneuma pattern
- Grants you a large amount of Intelligence in exchange for Endurance
- The Clairvoyance trait grants you +10% hit chance.
Requires:
- level 70, have
- rank 7 Blacksmithing
- attain a rank 10 class for each of the enhancements: Rogue for Vim, Healer for Examen, Warrior for Anima, and Mage for Pneuma.
- Quest complete will require you to turn in either 250 Ethereal Essence (a new misc) for Vim and Examen, or 650 Ethereal Essence for Anima and Pneuma.
The Divine Will misc will come from the boss in /celestialpast, The Mortal Coil misc will come from Nulgath in his secret lair, and Ethereal Essence will drop from the monsters in the basem*nt floors of the Tower of Doom.
Future of Blacksmithing
After Blacksmithing Part 2, we’ll have a well rounded catalog of enhancements and enhancement traits that are integrated into gameplay progression and buildmaking. Since we’ve covered all the major bases, there likely won’t be any more large and sweeping updates to Blacksmithing in the future- just traits one at a time.
We hope that the steady gameplay updates like this one have brought enjoyable ways to experience the game without changing the spirit of the game, and can give you new build opportunities, goals to work towards, and fun experiences to be had.
They take more time and effort than most people would imagine, so I want to highlight the efforts and contributions of the different team members that made this possible.
The Makers:
- Design: Eht
- Map art: J6
- Implementation: Yoshino, Captain Rhubarb, Spider
- Testing + Feedback: Eht, Immortal Joe, Lettuce
Let us know what you think at @AQWClassTeamon Twitter, or on the Official Artix Games Discord!
War Reward Update
Congratulations! Thanks to your tireless effort and steadfast determination, this weekend's war was finished last night. Wars are designed to be a great place to farm and level up. The rewards are intentionally higher than normal events while the war is active, and we'll leave them that way until this Friday, when they'll drop down to their permanent levels.
Timestream Medals
- XP 5000 -> 4000
- gold 1500 -> 1000
- Prismatic Seams drop rate 30% -> 15%
Mega Timestream Medals
- XP 10000 -> 8000
- gold 2000 -> 1500
- Prismatic Seams drop rate 100% -> 50%
These aren't large reductions for the gold and XP. The main change is that the drops have been halved.
Tags: Alina,
