Directors Blog: A song of corrosion and shields

Today, I want to inform everyone about Anemone and Frontline getting some sorely needed buffs and upcoming combat mechanics changes to provide context and clarity. The first part of the devblog is a shorter version, then we head into the details and for eager theorycrafters like me, scroll even further for the numbers.

Summary

What is changing?
Releasing the next patch on May 12th.

• Anemone
  
  • Lower charge cost, stronger self‑repair, tougher against foes suffering Damage over Time.
    
  • New ability to grab Taunt when the target is already bleeding from three or more DoT effects.
    
  • We intend this to make Anemone a sturdier DoT specialist that synergizes better to tank within Gelecek.
    
  
  

• Frontline
  
  • Damage now scales with its own shield, and every hit stacks even more shielding.
    
  • Starts combat with a chunky shield, gains Shield Penetration on every attack, and gets a beefy defence boost while the shield holds.
    
  • We intend for Frontline to live up to his actual name, while still satisfyingly packing a punch.
    

The same patch will also tweak 2 core combat mechanics, Shield Bypass (to be replaced with Shield Penetration) and Ignore Defense (This will become a passive ability). Again, more details and specifics below.

If this where we say goodbye, I’m Ruxster, the Game Director at Solid Clouds, thanks for stopping by. For the rest of you, read further for a more detailed overview of things.

The Details

Why are we doing it?
Both units have fallen behind the meta curve. Rather than dial everyone else down, we are lifting these two up so that corrosive playstyles and shield‑centric tactics feel powerful again. We also acknowledge that these units are current battle pass and upcoming recruitment rush units. Ideally we would not be touching these units around this period. However in order to support the bigger picture evolution of combat, this became a necessity. Hence I am here today, to provide you with as much information as possible so that you can make informed decisions.

One of our core goals is to ensure you can play the way you want to play, and feel powerful and rewarded for doing so. But over time, we’ve seen certain strategies fall behind as others, notably direct damage as a byproduct of power creep, continue to outpace them. This growing imbalance limits the diversity of effective strategies, and that's something we intend to address. Expect more love for under‑represented strategies in future updates.

Our focus is dominantly on lifting underused strategies up, not bringing others down. We want to enhance the tools of playstyles that have fallen behind. I want to reassure you that we are being especially mindful to minimize any disruptions to your current farming teams.

In addition to this, factions across the Starborne universe should feel distinct in theme, mechanics, and playstyle. This is something we believe we can do better, so we're taking steps to bring that back.

What is next?

• Additional unit reworks are in the pipeline.
  
• We are working on changes to how Increasing and Decreasing critical damage operates. However in order to not disrupt your teams for upcoming global events (More info Friday), these shall be delayed until early June.
  
• Building upon these mechanical changes, you can then expect to see exciting new faction specific characteristics be introduced alongside our next major content update, Voidbringers. More info on that next week.
  
• This is the first step toward a stronger foundation for ships, strategies and factions alike that supports deeper, more varied content, new encounter types, and challenging new game modes in the near future.
  

And for the theory crafters, numbers as promised

Upcoming Unit Reworks:
We believe every unit should have a place within the game. Whether it be in vault runs, endgame pvp, or pushing bounty times to the limit. Anemone and Frontline are two units we believe to have fallen behind the curve, either as a limitation of their intended strategy or through being outscaled. So we are addressing them immediately. There are several other units on our radar that in the near future will also see some additional reworking.

Both unit reworks will be live next patch, currently scheduled for the 12th of May.

Anemone

Current Ability Set

• Active: This unit Deals 165% Damage, inflicts Out. Dot Damage Down II and Corrosion I, both for 2 turns.
  
• Charged: (4 charges) This Unit Deals 215% Damage and, if the enemy has a debuff, applies Provoke for 3 turns and inflicts Corrosion III on them for 2 turns.
  
• Passive: This unit receives 15% less Damage from debuffed enemies. When an enemy takes Damage from a Damage over Time effect, repair 10% of the damage dealt.
  

Reworked Ability Set

• Active: This unit Deals 140% Damage, inflicts Out. Damage Down II and Corrosion I, for 2 turns.
  
• Charged: (3 charges) This Unit Deals 200% Damage and inflicts Corrosion III for 2 turns. If the primary target has 3 or more Damage over Time effects, Gain Taunt for 1 turn.
  
• Passive: This unit receives 25% less Direct Damage from enemies debuffed with Damage over Time effects. When an enemy takes Damage from a Damage over Time effect, repair 5% of this units Max HP.
  

FrontLine

Current Ability Set

• Active: This unit deals 190% Damage bypassing enemy shield and gains a shield equal to 10% of the Damage Dealt.
  
• Charged: (1 charge) This Unit deals 230% Damage bypassing enemy shields and gains a shield equal to 15% of the Damage Dealt.
  
• Passive: This unit gains Attack Up III for 2 turns after damaging an enemy with an affinity advantage bonus. When an enemy uses their charge skill, deal 80% Damage bypassing enemy shields once per round.
  

Reworked Ability Set

• Active: This unit deals 80% Damage with additional damage equal to 60% of its current shield. This unit gains a shield equal to 30% of the Damage Dealt.
  
• Charged: (4 charges) This Unit deals 160% Damage with additional damage equal to 120% of its current shield. This unit gains a shield equal to 40% of the Damage Dealt.
  
• Passive: This unit’s attacks have 20% Shield Penetration.
  This unit starts combat with a shield equal to 25% of its Max HP.
  While shielded, this unit has its defense increased by 2500. When an enemy uses their charged skill, this unit deals 80% damage and gains a shield equal to 30% of the damage dealt. This can occur once per round.
  
• Base Stats
  HP: 11535 → 21042
  DEF: 2924 → 3282
  Crit Rate: 16% → 12%
  Crit Power: 98% → 90%
  

As well as reworking several units, we are also modifying several combat mechanics.

Changes to Shield Bypass

The following changes will be implemented for FrontLine and all Non-obtainable NPC units' next patch, currently scheduled for the 12th of May. All other shield penetration changes for obtainable units shall be implemented in the following week, currently scheduled for 19th of May.

• Bypass Shield will be removed in its current implementation. It shall instead be rebranded as ‘Shield Penetration’.
  
• Shield penetration operates as a percentage based shield bypass. For example, a unit with 20% Shield Penetration that directly damages a unit with a shield, will deal 20% of its damage to the unit's HP, and 80% of its damage to the unit's Shield.
  
• All obtainable units that currently have bypass shields will see balance adjustments to compensate for this change, particularly in areas where shield bypass currently shines such as in the Eelun Naphula bounty.
  
• There will also be additional units that did not have bypass shields previously, that will now obtain varying percentages of shield penetration innately.
  
• Any unit with shield penetration will have it tied to their passive instead of abilities directly. This means that units with a reactive damage passive will also operate using the same shield penetration as the rest of their abilities.
  
• A complete list of units impacted by this change is as follows:
  
  • Liberator
    
  • Medved
    
  • Laska
    
  • Iridium
    
  • Opal
    
  • Xcellence
    
  • Frontline
    
  • Crucialis
    
  • Apex
    
  • Luxx
    
  • Malvex
    
  • LeSabre
    
  • Curator
    
  • Sustainer
    
  • Vindicator
    
  • Guardian
    
  • Provider
    

Changes to Ignore Defense:
The following changes will be implemented for next patch, currently scheduled for the 12th of May.

• All units that currently have Ignore Defense on their active or charge shall have it removed from their active and charge abilities.
  
• In its place, Ignore Defense shall now appear on a unit's passive directly.
  
• This means a unit with Ignore Defense innately as part of its skillset shall have this benefit applied globally (i.e, Judge will now ignore defense as part of his passive).
  
• Currently the only unit impacted by this is Judge. But this change adds clarity and consistency to our unit descriptors moving forward.
  

See you on Friday for some exciting information on the next Global Event, and then again next week to talk all things Voidbringers!

Ruxster
Player turned Game Director - Solid Clouds