Valor Expedition: Bladeshatter

Dear grinders,

Time flies when you're having fun. The fifth Expedition is here to entertain you once more!

After battling through the lava pits of Moltarus, facing Velora in her spider's den, listening to... uh... fighting Conqueron, and taking on Ogandor in his ice cave, it is now time to prepare yourself for Vaelkor, Lord of Blades.

Do you have the courage to step into his arena and test your reflexes and skills to the max?

We feel this is the most challenging Colossus fight we've created so far, but it's also great fun! One mistake can quickly turn the arena into chaos, requiring more and more focus as the fight progresses. Lose that focus, and death is inevitable.

Battle preparations

In the previous Expedition, players were only able to battle Ogandor using Titanforged gear. While it delivered one hell of a fight, it also created quite a bit of uproar.

We're not here to scare you away, so Titanforged gear was a fun experiment, but it is now buried deep in the ice alongside the remains of Ogandor.

That means that for Vaelkor, you can bring your own hard-earned equipment.

No restrictions. Bring whatever you feel is best.

We still advise using potions and experimenting with your armor perks. If you only have Epic gear, we wish you all the best. Maybe this is the reason you've been looking for to finally upgrade!

This also means that players with best-in-slot gear will have a much easier time. That said, we're pretty sure plenty of you will still die.

Entry

While dying in previous Expeditions only took away your dignity, it will now also consume your key.

That's right. This Expedition introduces the Colossus Key.

No more Waygate Orbs. You'll need to get your hands on a key before you can enter the fight and if you don't succeed, you'll need to obtain another key to try again!

Where to find the keys

There are various ways to obtain Colossus Keys. You'll find them as rewards from Weekly Goals and inside several containers:

• Guardian's Warchest; 1 guaranteed key
• Nightmare Vault; 2 guaranteed keys
• Frostfall Vault; 2 guaranteed keys
• Shatterfest Orb; 5 guaranteed keys
• Golden Grind Chest; chance to contain a key

The keys are tradable, so if luck isn't on your side, you can always try the Emporium.

On top of that, everyone with an active Expedition Pass will receive 1 free key every week, including 5 when you activate the expedition!

The fight

To give players a little heads-up on what to expect, here's a quick overview of Vaelkor's abilities.

Prime Blade

A rotating blade that spins around the arena and bounces off the edges. Deals damage on hit. This damage cannot be reduced by armor perks, artifacts, or potions.

When hit, the Prime Blade splits into additional Split Blades. Split Blades despawn after 20 seconds.

Solar Piercer

Move away from the boss. Detonates after 5 seconds. Minimum damage taken is 500.

Moon Piercer

Move away from the boss. Detonates after 5 seconds. Minimum damage taken is 500.

Doomsday Preppin'

Get to the green safe zone within 5 seconds to avoid a fatal blow.

Lock 'n Load

The player is targeted by a laser. Keep moving and avoid the radioactive puddles. Spawns minions.

Vaelkor's Mark

A debuff applied every 11 seconds. Lose health and energy if not cleansed in time.

Enrage

Deals 100% increased damage. Prime Blade moves 50% faster and Split Blades don't despawn.

Valorbound Chest

There's some really cool stuff in this one. It's limited, so be sure to get there in time to grab one. We know this is unfortunate for players living in different time zones, but we prefer a fixed supply to make sure we don't oversaturate the market.

If you can get your hands on one, you'll find the following guaranteed:

• Collectible Bladeshatter Halo (M) cosmetic headgear or Blade Matrix (M) cosmetic backgear
• 10 Colossus Keys
• 10 Frostfall Supremacy Keys
• 25 Descending Hellfire Keys
• 500,000 Gold Coins

Then there's a 50% chance to find a Collectible Champion's Charm (T).

You can exchange the Champion's Charm + Primeforge Shard (T) for a Primeforge Shard (Apex).

Imbuing your weapon with a Primeforge Shard (Apex) allows you to apply one +15% effect of your choice to your weapon!

Be sure not to miss out!

Valor Contracts

Instead of 10 contracts per week, we've reduced the number to 5 contracts for each tier.

Because we've halved the number of contracts, we've doubled the Arcane Fragment cost to purchase them.

Replacement costs have also changed:

• Bronze Contract; 1,000 Gold Coins
• Silver Contract; 2x Arcane Fragment (U)
• Gold Contract; 3x Arcane Fragment (U)

Leveling up

Each week, you can complete:

• 5x Bronze; 250 XP (50 XP each)
• 5x Silver; 500 XP (100 XP each)
• 5x Gold; 1,000 XP (200 XP each)

That's a grand total of 1,750 XP per week.

Because of this, we've unified the amount of XP required to level up each Expedition tier.

Every tier now requires 1,750 XP and rewards a Valorbound Mark.

Tier 17, the final tier, will reward the Valorbound Seal.

Valor Tokens

Only Bronze and Silver Contracts can be purchased with Valor Tokens.

This means you'll need Arcane Fragment (E) to get your hands on Gold Contracts.

Bronze Contracts now cost 30 Valor Tokens, while Silver Contracts cost 60 Valor Tokens.

The Valor Token Cache, which you'll still receive for defeating Vaelkor once per week, contains 60 Valor Tokens.

It's up to you whether you want to use the cache yourself or sell it!

Note: We've also adjusted Content Creator rewards to reflect the new prices, but we're working on some major changes to the Content Creator system which we aim to release soon.

New Expedition Artifacts and Weapons

This Expedition, the artifacts are focused around Minor and Major Attacks. These chain artifacts are extremely powerful (it will be a challenge to keep creating awesome new artifacts to top these ones, haha).

One of the Expedition T17 rewards is a crossbow. This weapon fires slower than a longbow, but deals more damage. In the previous Expedition, players were able to pick melee claws.

At this point, all weapon classes (melee, ranged and magic) share the same Minor and Major Attacks. We've already laid the foundation for unique Minor and Major abilities per weapon type. We are aiming to release this during Expedition 5.

Note: For those reaching Prestige 20 and obtaining the Axiom of Continuance, GG, you broke the game!

Shattercore Blueprints

Currently, there is a supply of 50 Shattercore Blueprints. We've never explained this in previous blogs, but these Blueprints act as circulating items. The moment a player exchanges one, it is added back to the available pool.

We haven't reactivated them at the Shatterforge, as we may have them drop somewhere else for players to discover!

Arcane Fragments

Back in the day, there were a lot of collectibles without a use case. We converted them all into Arcane Fragments, which did have a clear use case.

After reviewing this system for quite some time, we believe it's better to retire the Legendary Arcane Fragment. This will create more demand for the other tiers, while also removing the need to 'desperately' search for additional use cases for AF (L).

The following changes have been made:

• All Arcane Fragment (L) are converted into 3x Arcane Fragment (E).
• You can now buy Primeforge Shards (L) directly from Eldran Axiomar for 500 Axiom Sigils, limited to 3 per week.
• Shattercore Contracts now cost 3x Arcane Fragment (E). We've removed the option to purchase them with AF (R) to keep the contract exclusive.

There are some ideas for AF (L) to make its return in the future, but the supporting mechanics are not in place yet.

New Upgrade Artifact

There's now a real beauty to hunt: Worldfinder

It won't come cheap, as you'll need two of each of the following items:

• Cartographer's Compass
• Oviriuth
• The Spyglass of Captain Moonscar

On top of that, you'll need 3,000,000 Gold Coins.

All collectible items used in the exchange will be burned and permanently removed from the total supply.

This new artifact will:

• Reveal the entire map
• Regenerate 1% base energy every second, up to 10,000 energy
• Grant 10% movement speed

Only 30 Worldfinders can be created, so if you fancy one, don't miss out!

Weekly Goals

We've added some RNG to the weekly goals. In the previous Expedition, you needed to complete any Transcendent map of your choice 50 times. Now, you'll be assigned one specific M- or T-map that you'll need to complete for the goal.

You'll also see some RNG in the Production Weekly Goal. It will ask you to gain either 50k, 150k, or 250k experience, with different rewards depending on the goal!

In the future, we can expand on this feature even further!

Echoes of Time

We've reworked the reward streak. The most important change is the Timemaster's Chest, which will now contain exclusive cosmetics tied to this Expedition.

Are you ready to collect them all?

Golden Grind Chests

The chests will drop during the first two weeks of the Expedition. You'll find one guaranteed in every adventure and have a 50% chance per floor in DN to find one.

We've updated their drop table, so make sure to check it out.

Do you sell or try your luck?!

Other changes

• Adjusted the content of various containers
• Removed the option to buy Shatterfest Orb from Nature's Gift to give the container more exclusivity (we are working on another mechanic that will allow players to use NGs if they don't want to exchange them for resources)

Release Notes

• Added 6 new music tracks for DN/DH levels that enhance the experience as you delve deeper - Thanks Nick Knightshade!
• The Frostfall Siege interaction now requires you to hold the button to engage.
• Vaelkor's health scales based on rarity in solo play.
• Weapon tooltips now show the accepted Primeforge shard tiers for each socket, with special exceptions for Mythical Valor Expedition and Transcendent weapons in socket 2, while existing effects and unlock requirements are still displayed.
• The Titanforged Token has been removed from the game.
• The Waygate Orb has been removed and replaced with the Colossus Key.
• Enjin Gems have been renamed to Marketplace Credits to help with confusion around their purpose.
• The town NPC system has been completely overhauled for a more dynamic and interactive experience.
• Updated Skeltor animations and added new spawn effects.
• Added support for crossbows.
• Cooldown durations for active offensive skills have been reduced.
• Fixed an issue with the Bladebound Ring's attack speed not functioning properly
• Updated the goal text for DN/DH to include level information.
• Gathering goals now count all interactions, including missed attempts.
• Updated experience requirements for expeditions to 1750 for each level and 29750 total.
• Adjusted replacement costs for contracts.
• Valor Expedition weekly goals have been updated.
• Arcane Fragment Legendary has been replaced with Epics.
• You can now purchase multiple items at once in both the Main Menu Shop and Rewards Shop.
• Players will now receive one Colossus key each week, in addition to receiving several upon activation of the Expedition Pass.
• Added system messages to notify players about weekly key rewards.
• Updated the Jack in the Box Outfit
• Adjusted the experience points displayed for completing colossus.
• Improved input handling for attacks, in particular minor and major, allowing you to queue as well as hold down the key, similar to standard attack.
• Adjusted Content Creator rewards to align with recent contract cost changes.
• Adjusted costs for replacing contracts.
• Swapped Arcane Fragment (L) for three Arcane Fragment (E).
• The items page has been redesigned to resemble the in-game encyclopedia.
• The mouse cursor has been enhanced for improved visibility in various environments, including snowy ones.
• Gamepad navigation has been improved, allowing 99% of features to be accessed without a cursor.
• Updated messaging for membership to highlight rarity.
• Added a clear warning for free players to know about rarity drops.
• Introducing a new native News experience for players.
• Players can now dismiss the scheduled updates message.