Slayer#
Slayer is a new combat skill. Talk to Edric Thorne in Alderwic for a task: a kind of NPC, a number to defeat and the area they live in. Every kill on task, in that area, gives Slayer XP, and every finished task gives Slayer points.
- Edric offers two tasks at a time. Swap the offer once for free, and abandon a task at any time without losing points.
- Each kill on task gives 10 Slayer XP per Hitpoints level of the NPC. Kills outside the task's area don't count, and chat tells you when that happens.
- Tasks pay 10, 15, 20 or 25 points by the NPC's combat level, and boss tasks pay double. Your 10th, 50th, 100th, 250th, 500th and 1,000th tasks pay a bonus, announced to your friends and clan.
- Partying: share your task with your party once. Your progress counts your share of the work, and party members not on the task get half XP as helpers.
- Spend points with Edric on a third task choice (400), task storage (300), boss tasks (200) and extending an NPC you like to fight (100 each). Points never buy XP, items or Silver Coins.
- The task tracker, compass and World Map show where your task lives.
- Titles: buy Hunter (25 tasks), Tracker (50), Beastbane (100), Ledger-sworn (250) and Slayer (500) with points, and pick the one you show in the Equipment tab. Alpha Testers get the Alpha Tester title.
Try it: Talk-to Edric Thorne in Alderwic and take your first task.
World#
Below the Crystal Mine lies the Crystal Depths, a new dungeon. The miners' lift in the mine's last chamber opens once you finish The Long Shift.
- Lamplit Miners, Shardbound and Pit Knights hold the Depths.
- Mine the Great Crystal Vein at Mining 51 for 98 XP and Crystal. Crystal now stacks to 100 (was 10).
- The Snuffer waits at the bottom: a combat 85 boss who puts out the lamps you fight by. Relight them, stay in their light when the lights go out, and stop his Wicks before they reach the flames. He drops the Lightless Crystal, which turns the Lampwarden's Lantern into the Lightless Lantern (Magic 66, special Lightless Lance), and very rarely the Little Snuffer pet.
- Clouds now soften the light instead of casting hard shade, and thin clouds let more sun through than storm cloud. Your eyes adjust as you move between sun and shade, a little faster into the light than out of it.
- Trees between the camera and your character fade more, so you see more through them.
- Clicking through timber supports, rocks and crates in dungeons now walks you to the floor behind them.
Try it: Finish The Long Shift with Old Hal, then take the lift from the Crystal Mine's last chamber.
Worn gear#
Crafted quality. Smithing, Crafting and Fletching gear can now come out Fine, Superior or Masterwork, each a step closer to the next tier but never reaching it. Your odds rise with your level over the recipe, and your first Masterwork of each item is guaranteed: the craft window shows how close you are. Masterworks are announced to your friends and clan.
- Armour passives: every plate, hide and robe piece has a fixed passive for its slot. Mix pieces to mix passives.
- Gear wear: from tier III up, gear slowly wears while you fight. It never wears when you die and never breaks mid-fight. Chat warns you when it runs low, and a chip by the minimap turns amber, then red.
- Repair yourself at an anvil, workbench or fletching bench with half the materials, or pay Benny Smith, the clothier or the fletcher. Orbs wear too: the Wizard recharges them, and the new Dark Wizard in Highmarsh, in the Great Swamp, recharges any orb, Blood included, and turns an orb to any element for a price.
- The Exchange takes items in full condition. The broker can repair and list in one step.
- Vesperite is now Tyrian: the ore, bars, gear and tools keep everything but the name.
- Robes, hats and capes in every cloth (Wool, Flax, Hemp, Stinkreed, Toetoe, Sunthread, Merino and Bogsilk) lose their Armour (was 1–12) and give 10% less mana regen, to make room for Bound Armour.
Spellbook#
- Bound Blade (Magic 1 to 81, ranks I to VII): a toggle that conjures a two-handed magic blade. Its special, Blink Strike, carries you up to 8 m to the target.
- Bound Armour (ranks I to VII): a toggle that holds back 30% of your mana for Armour, over robes or no armour. The MP bar shows how much is held.
- Scrolls for both are at the Wizard shop.
- Resurrect: every character knows it. Cast it on a fallen player's body: a 10-second channel for 80% of your max mana. They have 60 seconds to Rise, and come back at 25% HP, out of mana and Weakened (20% less damage) for 2 minutes.
- Mount: the Brown Horse spell is now one Mount spell. It rides the mount you pick in the Equipment tab, and your action bar keeps it.
Combat#
Bronze Glaive
Iron Glaive
Steel Glaive
Mithril Glaive
Ebony Glaive
Verdite Glaive
Tyrian Glaive
- Glaives: a new two-handed weapon from Bronze to Tyrian (Smithing 1, 11, 21, 31, 41, 61, 81; four bars and two logs). They use the average of your Strength and Dexterity and give half their XP to Dexterity. Special: Crippling Sweep, a 180° sweep for 150% damage that slows by 40% for 4 seconds.
- Passive mana regen is gone (was 0.5% of max MP every 5 seconds). Mana now comes from food, robes, orb hits and the new Mana Regen Potions (Alchemy 3, 23, 43 and 63, made with a herb and Crystal).
- Well Fed lasts 20 minutes from any food (was 5 minutes per step), and its HP and MP regen doubled: +8 HP and +2 MP per point every 5 seconds (was +4 and +1).
- Eating keeps going: a finished bite starts the next one of the same food while its whole heal still fits under your max HP. Player suggestion
- Bloodreap heals fully from its main target only; other targets heal at a quarter, and one swing heals at most 25% of your max HP (was no cap). Blood orbs no longer restore mana when they hit.
- Fireball spreads its main target's Scorch to everything the splash ignites. Player suggestion
- Exsanguinate's HP cost shows as a crimson hitsplat.
- Wildlife and trolls now hit by their combat level, and quick, nimble animals hit harder for their level. Expect every wildlife fight to feel a little different.
- Leash timer: most NPCs keep chasing for up to 10 seconds past their leash before they give up, never beyond twice its range. A brass strip under their HP bar drains while they do. Bosses and pets keep their hard leash.
Quests#
- The Long Shift: a new quest from Old Hal. Something is wrong at the bottom of the Crystal Mine. Needs Watch Iron, combat 25 and Slayer 5. Rewards 3,000 Mining XP, 1,000 Slayer XP and the way down.
- Quest-only drops go privately to players on that step, and quest guidance points to the NPC that drops them.
- The quest log shows each step's story line once you reach it.
- Hand-ins accept Fine and better pieces.
NPCs#
- Party bosses gain a full health bar for each fighter (was half), up to five, and every fighter gets their own loot roll and rare-drop guarantee (was one shared roll). The boss bar shows how many are fighting.
- The Lampwarden: HP 7,400 → 9,500 (combat 35 → 40).
- Varric: HP 9,400 → 6,768.
- Hespera the Bloodwitch: HP 14,300 → 21,450, and she casts Exsanguinate whenever it is ready.
- Ugrot opens with two warriors and calls healers and warriors at 75%, 50% and 25%. Hobgoblin Healers are half as tough everywhere (combat 21 → 18).
- Seep Spider venom: 30 → 45 per stack, lasting 120 seconds (was 60).
- Skeletons carry an Iron Pickaxe and can drop one.
- The Gobbler: required level 21 → 31, damage 300 → 275.
- Creature pets (Stag, Wild Bull, Forest Bear, Swamp Dragon, Green Dragon and Blue Dragon) drop twice as often.
- A new pet follows you if you have none out; otherwise it goes to your bag. Player suggestion
- The kill a rare drop is guaranteed by stays hidden until that NPC's Codex entry is Mastered. After a boss kill, chat names your next guaranteed drop.
- Dark Wizard: a new NPC in Highmarsh, in the Great Swamp, who recharges and enchants orbs.
Farming#
- Slaughter all spares named animals, with a new grown-males-only option, and slaughtering a named animal asks first. Player suggestion
- Pen and patch timers show game days and real time ("a day (1 h 10 min)"). Player suggestion
- Every pen has its own Farming badge on the map. Player suggestion
Bank#
- Right-click a bank slot to Lock it. Locked slots keep their place when you sort, can't be dragged, and keep a placeholder when you withdraw the last item.
- All but 1 on Withdraw, Deposit, Trade offers and Sell, when you hold two or more. Player suggestion
- Item cards show the real stack size ("Stacks to 1,000"). Player suggestion
Interface#
- New Effects tab in the side panel: every buff with its time left. Long buffs pulse amber in their last 5 minutes, and chat warns before Kindled ends. Player suggestion
- The loot window moves where you drag it and remembers the spot, lists every pile within 10 m, and stays open as you walk. Player suggestion
- Read notes and books in their own window, page by page.
- Exchange brokers have an Exchange right-click option. Player suggestion
- The skill calculator has an XP boost picker. Player suggestion
- A What's new button on the login and character screens, and a link in the launcher, open these notes.
- The Capture menu opens your Photos and Videos folders. Player suggestion
Settings#
- You: show your own Name, Combat Level and HP Bar, and pick its colour. Player suggestion
- Controls: NPC Attack on Left-click, When higher or Right-click. Spell Casting as Normal, Quick cast or With indicator (a range ring while you hold the key). Camera drag on any mouse button except Left, or a held key. A key bound twice turns red. Player suggestion
- World: Hold for herb patch bars, and new Pen Bars distances. Player suggestion
- Chat, control and Slayer tracker settings follow your account.
Chat#
- Chat stays visible: turn off the idle fade. Player suggestion
- Chat colours: pick a colour for Say, World, Boss shouts, Private, Party, Clan, Clan guest and System. Old lines recolour too. Player suggestion
- Chat background and idle background sliders. Player suggestion
Codex#
- Search the Bestiary by drop as well as name; a match shows the drop's icon on the card. Player suggestion
- The Codex opens on the last tab you used. Player suggestion
- Weekly board: Ask each time picks the skill when you claim. Player suggestion
- The collection log shows the kill each pet and rare first came on.
- The website's High Scores pets board counts each character's different pets.
Play in browser#
- Low memory: a new preset below Potato for devices with 4 GB of memory or less and tablets, picked for you on first run. Higher presets warn you on those devices.
- Full screen from Settings works in the browser.
- Updates only download the files that changed, with a progress bar.
Music#
- New songs: Deep Shift (the Crystal Depths), Snuffed (the Snuffer), Unrested (the Crypt and Ugrot), Verdite (the Old Greenvein Mine) and Cold Iron (Old Hal's mine). New boss stingers for the Lampwarden, the Snuffer and Ugrot.
Fixes#
- Launcher: an update that loses its connection resumes where it stopped instead of starting over.
- Browser: Mouse 4 and 5 no longer go Back or Forward out of the game.
- Chat: the resize grip no longer steals clicks from the last tab.
- Interface: the combat meter no longer covers the clock or the corpse plate, and follows the minimap when it's enlarged.
- World Map: missing icons are back on dungeon maps.
- Messages: "You need a …" lines no longer capitalise tool names mid-sentence.
- Codex: a quick second click on the weekly board can no longer pick a skill by mistake.
Questions or thoughts on this update? Talk about it on Discord ›