Hello, punishers! We are here to show you more details on the new skill system and the combat feel.
Skill Tree
So far the skill tree has 8 main categories: Melee Skills, Polearms Skills, Range Weapon Skills, Combat Art, Defensive Skills, Dark Magic, Restoration, and Ruling. Though still in a pretty early stage, the combination of skills can already define your play style greatly.
Here are a few interesting builds that we discovered during testing.
Melee only build: Put all points into a different type of melee weapons and fight like a pro.
Ranged/melee build: A more balanced build that is pretty versatile in all combat situations.
Melee/Mage build: Most of the magic in the game is not destructive. For example, frostbite can slows down the enemy, instead of killing them. So you will still need your melee weapons to finish them off.
Defensive and supporting build: Improve your abilities to parry, dodge, and deflect arrows while casting spells to support your minions is actually an interesting way of playing.
Ranged/Mage Build: Using only ranged weapons while casting spells is a pretty safe way of playing this game.
New Minion System
The new minion system is centered around the “Heros”. You will not be able to lead a large army of minions, but a few “Elite” heroes who are much more valuable and unique, compared to the average enemy troops. These elite minions can be captured after conquering certain territories or rewarded through the achievement system that will come in the future.
The minions can be upgraded with better defense and attack. And once leveled up, they can be upgraded into another tier. For example, from the Skeleton Elite Sharpshooter into the Skeleton Champion Sniper.
The succubus companions can also be brought into this system in future updates. They are of course the rarest and valuable species.
Simple minions can still be hired from the Tavern. They are much weaker, but expendable.
The Combat Party Selection Window.
Now you can choose your combat party before entering the battle. By default, you can only take 2 minions with you, but this limit can be increased by unlocking the “Ruling” skill.
Siege combat and defense combat.
Attacking an enemy stronghold meaning you will likely face a bombardment of enemy ranged attacks before you can get close enough to engage. The enemies will also take advantage of terrain and covers, making the combat much more difficult compare to fighting on flat ground. But luckily, you can also use ranged weapons or magic against them.
Once you have your own stronghold, you will have the same advantage over the enemies.
The Road System(Level Progression)
All the locations on the world map are connected to each other by the roads. You will need to clear the camps/strongholds that are blocking the road before you can move on to the next region. You can also attack enemy skirmishers roaming on the map to gain some extra levels and coins.
Strongholds and checkpoints.
To beat the game, you need to dominate all territories on the world map.
There are mainly two types of territories, the checkpoints, and the enemy strongholds. Checkpoints are smaller maps such as a ruin, a village, or a cave, etc. They will be destroyed once you have killed everyone inside. And enemy strongholds are bigger maps that contain a large number of enemies defending their base. They are much more difficult to deal with, but once conquered, they will provide you some extra benefits such as weekly gold tributes. But be careful that the enemy forces will actively try to take their territories back. In future updates, we will add features for the player to lightly upgrade the conquered territories and recruit garrisons to defend it.
Note: The previous version save files are not compatible with this update. Need to start a new game.