Dev Note #94: 3.9 Update Preview #1 - Servant Balance

MEME

Greetings Heirs, 3.9 Update is just a week ahead. We will be discussing Servant Balance in the first Update Preview. ========================================================= Potential Improvement ========================================================= In the last Dev Note, we briefly talked about Potential changes in 3.9 Update. Today, we will go over details on original Potentials that will be improved and new Potentials that we are adding. ⭕New Special Potential #4 Added We believe that currently one of the issues with Heir of Light is difficulty of taking down Tank class servants due to their high HP and DEF. One of the actions we took to address this issue was adding new servant Aria in 3.8 Update. Also, we added Special Potential #4 that reduces the DEF of a target by n% for the duration of a Combo Skill upon using Combo Skill to some servants with ATK-Based or DEF-Based skills. With this update, we will be adding new Potential to ATK-Based and DEF-Based DPS servants that reduce the DEF of a target by n% for the duration of the Combo Skill when the Combo Skill is activated by Secondary Mark. With this Potential, we expect ATK-Based and DEF-Based DPS servants to be able to do stronger attacks by reducing enemy DEF. (Max percentage of DEF reduction is 35% for S tier Potential.) Furthermore, we will be buffing the Potential that reduces the DEF of a target by n% for the duration of a Combo Skill when attacking a frozen enemy with a combo skill because it is quite difficult to utilize the Potential due to "freeze" condition. The max amount of DEF reduction on S tier Potential will be increased from 36% to 40% ⭕Change to Normal Potential It was very difficult for a DPS servant to do meaningful damage due to Potential that "Increases Crit Rate Resist upon being hit by a DPS" unless the DPS servant is a DEF-Ignoring DPS servant. Therefore, we will be buffing Potential that increases Crit Rate Accuracy in PvP from max 12.5% to 20%. Also, as we promised, we will be removing "Increase Stun Resist Rate in PvP" and "Increase shield ignore rate when attacking an enemy of certain class" Potentials so that Heirs can acquire the Potential that they want more easily. Furthermore, we will be buffing "Increases enemy shield ignore rate upon attack" Potential from max 5% to 15% so that it can replace "Increase shield ignore rate when attacking an enemy of a certain class" Potential. (Servants that already have Potentials that are being removed will keep the Potentials until they change Potential.) ========================================================= New Single-Hit Avatars for Servants Without Single-Hit Combo Skill ========================================================= Many Heirs have been giving feedback about Combo Skill Hit-Count of servants that don't have any Avatar yet. It is true that the lacking options of Combo Skill Hit Count hindered the flexibility of servants in various contents. Unfortunately, we had to push back plans of Avatars for original servants without any Avatar because there were other occasions that we wanted to create new Avatars for. (Summer Event, Halloween Event, New Character Release) Therefore, we decided to create Avatars that focus solely on changing the Hit-Count of Combo Skills. Therefore, we will be adding Fairy Avatar for servants without Single Hit option for Combo Skill. Fairy Avatar only changes Hit-Count of Combo Skill, maintaining the servant's Combo Skill animation and Mark.Therefore, Fairy Avatar will be available for a cheaper price than other Avatars. With this update, we will be adding Fairy Avatar for Ezebell, Archangel, and Valkyrja. (Unfortunately, we couldn't make Fairy Avatar for John Wick and Sofia due to copyright issue.) In the next 3.10 Update, we will be adding Fairy Avatar for servants without Multi-Hit option for Combo Skill. ([A] Heylel, Sphinx, and Bastille) ========================================================= Archangel Multi-Hit Change ========================================================= Originally, we did not have plan of creating Avatar for Archangel, a Summoners War Collaboration character. However, we realized that Archangel's iffy Hit-Count on Combo Skill is hindering usage of Archangel despite his potential. As we add Fairy Avatar for Single Hit Combo Skill, we will be increasing Hit-Count of Archangel's Combo Skill to 4 Hits, making him a servant with Multi-Hit Combo Skill as a default. (Archangel will become stronger against servants with potentials that limit the damage received at once.) ========================================================= Team Passive Improvement ========================================================= Based on the feedback from the community, we will be buffing numerical values of Team Passive of new servants that cannot be farmed. Light [A] Sphinx: [PvP] Allies ATK Increase 45% -> 57% Dark [A] Sphinx: [Dungeon] Allies ATK Increase 45% -> 57% Light Ezebell: [World Raid] Allies DEF Increase 45% -> 57% ========================================================= Caesar Introduction ========================================================= While we usually do not include introduction of a new servant in Servant Balance Dev Note, we decided to go over some details about our new servant Caesar. specifically focusing on the balance aspect of Caesar. 1. Fire/Forest/Dark Caesar is a Tank class servant, and Water/Light Caesar is a Healer class servant. 2. The Primary Mark is Sunrise. The Secondary Mark is Sunset. 3. Caesar is the first Tank servant in 8 months since we released Lucrecia. We wanted to make sure that this new Tank servant has significant presence in Heir of Light. As the Leader of the Undertakers, he is capable of reducing damage against DEF-Ignoring DPS servants. On the other hand, Caesar is weak against ATK-Based or DEF-Based attacks. Heirs can do significant amount of damage against Caesar utilizing this characteristics and proper DEF debuffs. 4. Healer Caesar has Revive in his Combo Skill. With his Relation Effect, he will be able to block enemy Mildred's passive skill effect. That is it for 3.9 Update Preview. Please feel free to leave any questions in the comment. Thank you.