Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Role-playing (RPG), Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Adventure, Indie
Minion Masters
Version 1.30
Minion Masters!
Oh daaaaaamn, did you know that we’re turning 5 years old on the 2nd of December!!!
Patch 1.30 is finally upon us and we’re thrilled to introduce, 2 new cards, balance changes, and a bunch of bugs have been squished!
Malediction - Season 3
All remaining Adventures are now free
To celebrate our 5th anniversary of Minion Masters we’re introducing a new King Puff Birthday Skin. All players can get it for free through the free Battle Pass!
Free birthday gift in shop only today (ends tomorrow afternoon)
All DLC's on sale with Steam Autumn Sale
Don't miss BadAsAFish80's patch rundown for patch 1.30
Dragons Nest Dev comments: Dragon nest is not quite where we want it to be, so we are giving it a buff, and then we will see where it ends up and how much more we might have to do.
Mana: 5 > 4
Growthburst Shroom Dev comments: Almost all Growthburst shroom cards are underperforming, so a small general growth burst buff should get them a bit more in line.
25% > 30%
Scrat Tunnels & Nova scrat Dev comments Impatient has not worked out as we had liked, so we are removing it, except from Impatient Statue.
Removed impatient
Kurrrnath Dev comments: Kurrrnath is a bit too weak right now, making him a bit tankier will hopefully get him to last a bit longer and let him protect against spells.
Health 350 > 400
Rabid prowler Dev comments: Simplifying Rabid prowler, making it somewhat easier to pull off as well.
Call slitherbound removed
Sacrifice 2 > 1
Crystal Sentry
Health 275 > 300
Ardera
Burn 6% -> 4%
Void altar
Health 500 > 550
Bannerman Dev comments: Bannerman is a bit too weak, letting him shield more units should get him a bit more value.
Targets Shielded 5 > 7
King Puff Dev comments: The king birthday cooldown had a far bigger impact than we had expected, so we toned it down a bit.
Birthday cooldown 50 > 45
Propeller Scrat
Attack speed cooldown 0.9 -> 0.8s
Sugilite Shield Dev comments: Sugilite shield is being rebalanced to a 1 mana spell, It does not shield against masters. So hopefully this can become an interactive spell, but we will keep a close eye to see if it is too strong with these stats.
Removed Mana Freeze
Duration 5 > 4
Adjusted
Infray Dev comments: Infray has been a bit too strong for a while, specifically the 3x infray version. By reducing it to 2x we hope to tone down the power a bit without removing the multi-infray decks completely.
Copies 3 > 2
Gambler's Ball Dev comments: Gamblers ball is currently neither a gamble nor a used card. We want to go back to the gambling aspects of the card, knowing that it will not be popular in the more competitive parts of the player base, but hopefully creating fun moments for the more casual and wacky players among us.
Instead, Sacrifice (3): Cast this spell twice
Masters Dev comments: After seeing how the game went, and the feedback on the master attack change we decided to remove the true damage part, but keep them special. This means things like sugilite shield will still be penetrated, but shields and barrels will be useful against master attacks once more.
Removed True Damage
Mordar Dev comments: Mordar Has been a very difficult master to find a sweet spot for, with his very strong perks…. If you can pull them off. With the % health nerf we did previously he has only played with wreckinator and Lord fanriel, which is not a state, or a deck we like to see be a big thing. The main way he has been able to pull them off is by having multiple tombstones, making it extremely difficult to block both of them. By swapping perk 2 and 3 we hope to make it a bit more about the tombstone fight so that we can make it more consistent in the future after we see the impact of this change.
Swapped perk 2 and 3
Nerfed
Plasma Marines Dev Comments: Plasma Marines have dominated the low cost ranged unit meta together with crossbow dudes since the start of the game, with a small re-balance which nerfs them a bit and focuses more on their fast attack speed we hope to get more space for low cost ranged units, without making them all too strong.
Damage 15->10
Attack Speed cooldown 0.9 > 0.7
Grenadier Dev comments: Grenadier has been too strong for a while now, and combined with nerfing some swarm we hope to get him to a healthier spot in the meta.
Attack Speed cooldown 2 > 2.2
Skeletons Dev Comments: Skeletons…. Skeletons…. Skeletons….. They are everywhere, both in accursed decks and outside of them. But they are a bit too good at what they do, so by lowering their damage a bit we hope to make them a bit more of a damage sponge, and less of a direct threat, opening up for more interaction.
Damage 25 >20
Elite Swarmer Dev Comments: Elite Swarmer is too good at what it does, so a small nerf should get him to a healthier spot.
Health 250 > 225
S.T.INT Dev comments: S.T.INTs is a (too) good unit, but we see a lot of wasting tech on its ability, so we want to make it more of a decision if you want to spend the tech, or waste it all.
Ability cost (outlander tech) 50 >75 tech
Stonebjorn Dev comments: To solve the problem of Stonebjorn tanking against masters forever and to give a bit more counterplay we have removed Stonebjorns blocking from buildings (which includes the base). This should mostly affect masters, but will give a bit more damage to the turrets in the game.
Only reduces damage from Spells and Minions
Bug Fixes
Spawning four pebbles can cause two of them to overlap
Wrecked walker still requires tech if it costs 0 mana - Thank you Jackeaa
Sometimes tech was not generated when Morellia’s book of the dead is activated - Thank you Jackeaa
Dab emote was in low rez - Thanks BadAsAFish80
Fixed a tooltip issue with Kurrrnath - Thanks BadAsAFish80
Fixed an issue with being stuck in the loading screen for adventures with Caeleth
Release notes for 1.29
Minion Masters!
Patch 1.29 is swarming into the Arenas and with it, a ton of balance changes, two new cards, and a bunch of bugs have been squished!
Cards Added:
All masters attacks have now special and true damage:
There were a couple of interactions in the game we disliked and wanted to solve, most notable:
Sugilite shield protecting from master damage (we will look at a buff for sugilite shield in future patches)
Stonebjorn tanking some masters for extremely long
Confusion about Ravager being ranged
Incubus jumping into your face (we will look if incubus needs a buff in future patches)
Divine shield (chaining) in front of the masters
This change should solve all of these, and appropriate buffs to cards involved will be looked at once we see how big the impact is.
Balance Changes
Stormbringer Dev comments: To make up for the global damage being true damage we make stormbringers attack slower.
Attack cooldown 3.8s -> 4.0s
King puff Dev comments: King puff is extremely strong atm, we want to lower his strength potential, but give him more flexibility in return.
birthday cooldown -> 50 seconds
Added 7 mana cards to his threshold
Guardian Dev comments: Guardian has been a card that we had to balance several times and then became unbalanced again when new crystal cards came out. With this change, we hope to make guardian chaining more counterable and futureproof the card.
Protectection 100 -> 75%
Haunting Hugger Dev comments: Haunting hugger is a card currently only used to get some fast stacks for ascension and is basically useless outside of that. By giving him more damage, but lowering his attack speed we hope to give him more defense potency by killing units faster but without increasing his strength too much.
Attack cooldown 1.8s-> 2.5s
Damage 50 -> 100
Chisma boomstick Dev comments: There were some weird interactions of Chisma attacking a unit and then running straight into that unit in fear. We have changed this so that it runs away from whatever unit it was attacking instead of running away from the enemy's base. We also donated him a small buff within the explosion radius as he felt a bit too weak.
Runs away from the target
Explosion Radius 4->5
Call to Arms Dev comments: Call to arms has needed a rework for a long time, and with Sapphire Pebbles, it really became paramount to do it now. With this change, we hope to solve both the issue of buildings giving a lot of value before transforming and then still getting full value from transforming (i.e. an almost dead crossbow guild transforming into a warrior) and solving the problem of the limitations we have in buildings. With this change, we can create cheap buildings as long as they do not have a lot of health. The exception is wall, but considering wall is limited to one copy AND call to arms + wall is still not more valuable than two warriors are, it is an exception that should not be a problem
Cost 6->4
Now spawns different Empyrean units based on the remaining health (always spawns a warrior at base):
100 or less -> spear thrower
200 or less -> legionnaire
201 or more -> warrior
Gor’ Rakk Gate Dev comments: Gor’ Rakk Gate is not in a good place, and swarmers are easily the worst option in the gate, opening for tons of damage from spells, while also not being the best option to kill something, nor do face damage. With three elite swarmers, we hope to make it less risky, while giving an option to get a fair amount of tankiness with some damage on the field for a low price (outside of health).
These cards now cycle through their options rather than being random. The starting point is random, but after that, it is consistently the same cycle.
We want to remove the randomness to the point that it can decide a game’s outcome (win or lose). With this change, we hope to make them more consistent, while keeping the fun of the alternating gameplay that they offer.
Border Patrol Dev comments: Border Patrol has been bad and underplayed for a long time, and we hope that by making it cheaper more people will make use of the card.
Shield no longer costs 1 Mana freeze
Zeppelin Bomber Dev comments: We really wanna give this Zeppelin a small umpf because let’s be honest, it does really need a bit of love.
Added: Scrat Swarm: Gain Haste
Empowered SoulStealer Dev comments: Empowered Soulstealer has been rather weak, by giving him a stronger baseline he should feel better on the Arena.
Starting stacks 3->4
Demon Warrior and Avea Dev comments: Cards with a quest are really awkward to get from a random card like a blind date or walking blind date, as they can basically never complete their quest, so cards with a quest will generally be excluded from the random pool.
Removed from randompool
Avea Dev comments: Similar to Demon warrior it is generally a bad idea to triple Avea and to prevent confusion from people getting 3 to get the quest done faster, only to realize that is not how it works we limit Avea to 1 copy, which should have basically no gameplay effect.
CardCount 3->1
Stormy Dev comments: Stormy is a bit weak atm, and rarely gets its 2 hits off. By giving Stormy a bit more hp, it should be a bit more consistent.
Health 125->150
Coax the Diplomancer Dev comments: We have heard a lot of complaints about the Diplomancer, and when we looked at the stats we noticed that at high ranks coax was doing average to cards there, but in low and medium ranks coax was performing a lot better. By limiting the max value the Diplomancer can get with 1 minion (10 seconds) while also making sure he can get a minimum amount of value if played well we hope we solve the problem of the Diplomancer taking 1 big minion and hypnotised minion continuously destroying whatever is being flooded in while still keeping him as a viable card.
By reducing the health of the Diplomancer a bit as well we open him up a bit more for removal, making it a choice of fighting him with minions, or “overspending” on spells if you do not have the perfect cards.
Health 400 ->350
Hypnosis: while attacking -> 10s once per minion.
Bug fixes
Fixed an issue with Hellfire not being removed when t.a.a.s. dies - Thanks Anno
Fixed an issue with Akinlep and Morellia mistakenly removing cards from decks - Thanks The Mike 1979
Fixed a visual bug with Adera attacking friendly units - Thanks me
Fixed an issue with the Musketeer sprinting when hypnotize is used - Thanks Last_Elf
Fixed Nyrvir’s description to better indicate attack range when initiating an attack - Thanks me
Fixed an issue with Eeeek the sneak’s abilities in the patch match screen looking like Doomapocalypse’s abilities.
Fixed an issue with the Wrecked walker spending tech even with 0 mana - Thanks Jackeea
Fixed an issue wíth the Stonebjorn having excessively long spawn time.
Minion Masters - Remastered update
Masters!
We're thrilled to announce how the team has been progressing with Minion Masters - Remastered! Check out all the details in this blog.
We also have a shiny new trailer to share with you and we hope you enjoy it!
[previewyoutube="7dT4zBBXzuA;full"]
New Expansion Malediction! All patch notes regarding version 1.28
Minion Masters!
Scrats…. Are… WHERE DID THEY GO? Oh no… does this mean the Scrat invasion is over?!
Masters, brace yourselves because the Scrat invasion is done and dusted but we have a new season screeching into Minion Masters and this time it’s going to be darker and scarier than ever!
We’re super stoked to introduce our newest expansion … Malediction!
Cards Added
With this new expansion be prepared to enjoy new cards, balance changes and the reintroduction of Wild Cards!
Wild Cards will be now re-introduced but under certain conditions:
Wild Cards will still remain unavailable in 1v1
Wild Cards will be reintroduced in 2v2
Introducing a “Copies Allowed” stat which will define the number of copies allowed for every card to 1, 2 or 3.
For more information about the reintroduction of Wild Cards, check out our blog post here
Balance Changes!
Spirits
Maximum Health Gain 300 > 400
Minimum Health Gain 0 > 50
Crossbow Guild
Production time 4.5 > 4
Swarmer Totem
Production time 6.5 > 5.7
Dev notes: The old production of buildings have not been performing well since their health/duration reduction, so a bit more value over time should help them become more relevant.
Priestess
Speed 3 > 2
Dev notes: We like how the priestess is no longer an infinite healing source that stays with the army at all times, but she leaves the army a bit too fast. Setting her speed to two should allow her to stay with the army unless there is a prolonged fight.
Fireball Dragon Ball Magma Storm Grasping Thorns T.A.A.S/H3LL-F1R3
Damage 170 > 180
Dev notes: Since the increase of spell cost, a lot of the minions that could barely survive a fireball-threshold became a bit too good at surviving spells. Hence, we moved the threshold to 180, making it a smaller buff mostly being relevant for these specific units (it also makes it easier to remember the numbers, as both daggerfall and these spells end with 80).
Smite
Damage 150 > 180
Dev notes: Smite could use a buff, so we moved it into the fireball thresholds.
Ardent Aegis
Delay 4 > 3.5
Healing 250 > 275
Dev notes: Ardent aegis needs a buff, so making it a bit more consistent and stronger should help.
Rampage
Cast Delay 2 > 1
Dev notes: Rampage is mostly outshined by Volco/Ragers rage, and most use cases are preemptive, so no real reason for this delay. We’re reducing it to allow for a bit more flexibility.
Daggerfall Stunlancers
Now have Call Slitherbound (1)
Dev notes: These cards could use a small buff, and it also buffs slither in general that has been a tad weak lately.
Bladestar
Damage 100 > 130
Dev notes: Bladestar is a tad hard to use, so more damage should make it more consistent.
Avea
Quest Threshold 5 > 4
Dev notes: As promised, an Avea buff.It's quite possible it's not enough yet, but we want to see if getting her to relevance earlier. We’ll be closely looking at how she performs in case she needs a bigger tune-up.
Healing Fireball
Cast Delay 2 > 1.5
Dev notes: Healing fireball missed its target a bit too often, making it a very binary spell. Letting it hit a bit more often should help with the balance of the spell.
Chain Lightning
Bounces 10 > 12
Dev notes: Chain lightning needs a buff. To differentiate it more from fireball it gets more bounces, letting it be better against spread out swarms and hit more important targets more often, while still being less good against higher hp units and really clumped up units.
Defenso Chopper
Health 500 > 450
Dev notes: Defenso chopper is a tad overpowered, it’s doing pretty well against the swarm. But it gets a lot of value against mid ranged thus making it a frustrating card to play against.
Wrecked Walker
Mana Cost 1 > 2
Health 100 -> 150
Outlander Tech: Spend 40 scrap to reduce cost by 1
Dev notes: As some feared, a 1 mana bridge grab turned out to be a bit too good. We are adding a small scrap cost to it, otherwise it’s become a 2 mana bridge grab/small tank. This allows for good usage in decks that have scraps leftover, while limiting the power in non-scrap decks.
Howling moon
Now does true damage
Azali
Mana Cost 8 > 9
Dev notes: Azali is a staple card in 2v2 far more than she should be. We don't want to kill her, but we do want to reduce a bit of her power. By increasing her cost, her army should be a bit smaller, and you should have more mana to kill her, without completely killing the dream of the Azali swarm commander.
Werewolf
Attack cooldown 0.9 -> 1.0 seconds
Dev note: Once bitten and lone wolf are a bit too strong, while howling moon and Wolf among sheep are too weak. Therefore, we are reverting a small buff to werewolves so that we can see where all the cards land. We’ll probably be planning a buff to both howling moon and WaS next patch once we have a better idea where they land with these stats.
All the below Cards will have the “No-Wild Card rule” thus only permitting using one of each of these cards in any deck:
Bats Bats Bats
Black Hole
Blood Imps
Brothers of Light
Brutish Betrayer
Clear Skies
Crossbow Guild
Demon Warrior
Dragon Nest - Removed Mythic
Fanriel
Gambler's ball
Groggy Woodsman
Jing Long
Lone Ranger
Lone Wolf
Mana Puff Madness
Mountainshaper
Netherstep
Nyrvir’s Breath
Once Bitten
Red Golem
Ritual Of Servitude
Rock Rivals
Scrap Yard
Scrat Tunnel
Shen Shock Stick
Styxi
Sugilite Shield
Thelec
Void Altar
Wall
Xiao Long
Zap Shrine
All the cards below are going to be restricted to one Wild Card allowing for a total of two of each card in the deck:
Arcane Ring
Ardera
Bridge Buddies
Combustion
Guardian
Jadespark Watchers
Leiliel
Unholy Ground
Wizard Puff
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue with Vortex not getting a damage increase
Fixed an issue with minions trying to attack others across the gap, which made Veilstalker
behave incorrectly - Thank you Pom
Fixed an issue with the emergency reposition tunnel spell being used in places where
buildings are normally not allowed
Fixed an issue with the red golem at exactly 1500 health not acting as intended
Fixed an issue with Fanriel Stormcharge interacting incorrectly with the protection by Guardian - Thank you InCole
Fixed an issue with Hypnotized Shield Guard of Light dashing across the map - Thank you chimaerok
Fixed an issue with Boom Buggy not attacking properly - Thank you Matt
Fixed an issue in 2v2’s showing +2 marksmanship buff from teammate Stormbringer’s perk 2 on unit placement preview - Thank you Pom
Fixed an issue with Veilstalker Crystalline Dashing outside the arena - Thank you Matt
Fixed an issue with different Volco skins being a different sizes
Fixed an issue with the wrong Morellia using books - Thank you Pom
Fixed an issue with Veilstalker jumping on stealthed units
Fixed an issue with Veilstalker’s ability interacting incorrectly with root and stun
Removed scrat tunnels from the random pool
Fixed an issue with Miloween not getting extra sparks from certain spells
Fixed an issue with Lychanthropy leaving poison clouds. - Thank you Pom
Don't forget our Social and Community Channels!!! Follow us and let's talk about everything there is Minion Masters!
Thank you for your feedback and participation in the Wild Cards surveys we've conducted over the last few months. We believe, through your feedback, we've arrived at a final conclusion for Wild Cards.
It's clear to us that Wild Cards is a widely loved feature by the majority of our community and we are happy to announce the reintroduction of Wild Cards with Update 1.28.
There are, however, a few caveats.
Wild Card / No-Wild Card rule
First of all, we will only reactivate Wild Cards in the two Team Battle modes (2v2 Randoms and 2v2 Premades), retaining the No-Wild Cards rule in Battle Mode (1v1)
We're doing this because; while we're seeing overwhelming support for wildcards, there is also a large group that does not appreciate the feature. The majority of complaints regarding Wild Cards seem to be coming from the 1v1 segment and conversely, we're also seeing the majority of Wild Cards support coming from the 2v2 segment.
We, therefore, feel like this could be a "happy medium", in which all players might find a game mode/style that suits their liking.
Copies Allowed
Second, we're introducing a Wild Card stat, or "Copies Allowed" as it'll be known in the game.
This is being added to help us mitigate the "negative" side of Wild Cards allowing us to limit the worst and most frustrating combos. We understand that part of the fun with Wild Cards is to create explosive and exciting strategies and we're therefore not seeking to shut down any viable Wild Card strategy. We do, however, have a few combos and strategies that we wish to limit.
This stat also adds a design space that we haven't really had before as we can make certain cards without having to worry that they'd be exploitable via Wild Cards.
So we hope this stat can help us make Wild Cards a better experience for all, allowing the fun strategies while mitigating the "cheese" factor.
We are excited about the future and believe we've found the right solution going forward. However, we are also aware that all the recent changes we've been doing have been disruptive to the play experience and we want to thank you all for your patience with us, and for all your help. With this in mind, we plan to let this setup remain for a while. Naturally, we are still interested in, and appreciative of, all of your feedback. We will be monitoring the general community response to this new setup and we'll also do another survey round at some point when you've all had a chance to try it out, but we are not currently planning any changes for the near future.
Wild Cards - Update
Hello Masters,
With the Wild Cards decision still hanging in the unknown, we thought it was time to bring you an update. We've been analyzing the data from the last survey and have a few conclusions.
You can read more about those below here, but if you do not have time to read all of that we would like to ask you to please partake in this next Survey as well.
In this, we propose a few different ways to bring Wild Cards back that we hope can allow more players to have fun with the game, and we'd like your take on it.
👀 https://bit.ly/WCSURVEY3 👀
This survey will run for three days as well (until 1 PM GMT, Friday, Aug. 27th)
As for our findings from the last survey, read on:
Keeping Wild Cards is the more popular choice
Wild Carding 2 different cards seem to be where it's at
2v2 Randoms is the preferred mode for Wild Cards
We generally see the support for Wild Cards fall with higher Ranks. Most clearly we see it in the 1v1 game mode.
Conclusion
All of this leads us to believe that removing Wild Cards outright is not in the best interest of the game nor the majority of the players. However, we do believe that there's a big enough group that takes issue with the mechanic that it's still worth exploring some options. This is where the new survey comes into the picture.
Go to the survey to see our ideas, and while you are there; tell us what you think, why don't you? 😉
Wild Cards Survey #2
Hello Masters,
We've now all had the chance to try out Minion Masters as it would look without Wildcards for a while. We're very grateful for all the various feedback we've received from you all so far, but now it's time to get a more measured look at things. We would, therefore, like to do a survey to take the temperature and see what the sentiment is at this point in time. The survey will be open until Monday, Aug 23rd, at 1 PM GMT.
This is not the final chance for you to share your thoughts, but this survey will be a vital piece to help us reach a conclusion, so do make sure to take part.
We're working on some ideas we'd like to present to you all at a later date, but for now, we just want to know if people feel the game has become more or less enjoyable with the removal of wildcards.
https://bit.ly/WCSurvey2
Version 1.27
Minion Masters!
The scrat infestation is about to reach the end of the line! Prepare yourselves for a “Wild” Patch 1.27 zooming into with tons of changes, new cards and much much more!
Best Plan, No Plan! - Season 3
The final season of the Scrats has arrived!
With a ton of new changes, 2 new cards, let’s have a look at what’s in store this season for Minion Masters.
New cards added to the game.:
The Season Pass will end on September 8th.
Wildcards removal
At the beginning of July we casted a survey asking your final opinion about Wild Cards! After many years of contemplating, having a lot of conversations and understanding what our players want we will be removing Wild Cards from patch 1.27. We will be monitoring player feedback and gamehealth like a hawk during this patch and let you know what our final decision will be moving forward in patch 1.28. For more information you can check out the Wild Cards blog post.
Mana generation changes
We have been gathering feedback to reflect on the mana changes we made in 1.26, and combined with our own experience on the difference between 1.25 and 1.26 we feel that we're happy with how 1v1 mana is, but we want a slightly bigger curve over the match, and give players a bit more time to get into the game. While in 2v2 we feel we went a bit too far, especially in the late game, so we are removing the increase in max mana speed, and reduced the starting mana generation a bit.
This will mean that the main change compared to 1.25 is the faster ramping up towards Maximum mana generation, with a slight increase in starting mana generation in both 1v1 and 2v2.
1 v 1 Changes compared to 1.25
Starting mana generation increased; ~+10% > 5%
2 v 2 Changes compared to 1.25
Starting mana generation increased; ~+15% > 10%
Maximum mana generation increased; ~+10% > 0%
Master Changes:
Mordar Dev notes: Mordar has been getting resses from minions with almost certain value such as walking blind date, wizard puff and snipers too easily.By changing the threshold we hope to reduce the strength of this, while still preventing the heavy coin flippy value of the resses.
Tombstone minimum charge for resurrection 25->50% (so from 5 to 10 seconds)
Valorian Dev notes: Valorian has been the best master for a while now, and a big part of that has been getting consistent small values throughout the match by winning trades with the small heals. By reducing the amount of healing this value should be more in line with perks from other masters.
First perk Heal 18->13
Morellia Dev notes: Morellia has performed really well after the spell nerf, and despite the breath nerf and wildcard nerf we do think we want to reduce the amount of support Queen’s dragon can get a bit to make it a bit easier to deal with, especially in lower ranks.
Queen’s dragon (3rd perk): cost 8->9
Card Changes
Dragon Whelps Dev notes: Flightless has been a card in the top 5 best performing cards almost as long as the card has existed, by decreasing the attack cooldown to 1 second but increasing their mana cost by 1, we hope to get a more balanced version of this card, and all other dragons
Attack cooldown 1.2 -> 1s
Flightless Dragon Whelps
Mana cost 4->5
Affected the by the attack cooldown change
Sniper Scrat/ Bounty Sniper/ Sniper Squad Dev notes: With the spell nerf the snipers have gotten a lot more value making previous buffs superfluous.
Attack cooldown 3.5->4.0s
Warrior/Divine Warrior/ Zealots/ Avea Dev notes: Warrior is one of the best performing cards in a long time, while we do like warrior being a staple card that fits in most decks, there should be a bit more room for other cards in the same role.
Zealots has been a very strong meta card for a while as well and can use this nerf as well.
Divine warrior can perform her main duty as the divine wall a lot better now with the taunt, and should not feel this nerf too much.
Avea is a card we will keep our eyes on to see how she performs after this, to see if, and how much she needs a buff.
Health 400 -> 350
Lost legionnaires Dev notes: Lost legionnaires are giving a bit too much value with the Empyrean army, by giving shields they are a bit better at tanking hard hitting units, but destroy mid ranged units easier
Empyrean army: gain shield instead of rage
Stormy Dev notes: Stormy has been a troublesome card for a long time, especially in lower ranks, and when combined with spirits, shrooms and healing. By limiting the amount of extra health Stormy can get we hope to make her easier to handle. Giving her a spawn stun in exchange should keep the balance somewhat equal in the less extreme abusive situation.
ZenChi Flow changed to: Stun enemies in range area for 3 seconds
Werewolf
No longer transfer buffs when transforming
Attack cooldown 1.1-> 0.9 s
Howling Moon Dev notes: Howling moon has been pretty good at dealing with the really big units, and with the attack speed buff the wolves get we think the cost should go up one mana.
Cast 7->8
Lone wolf Dev notes: Lone wolf has been a bad card for a long time, by allowing her to keep her rage on transform, and combining that with the general werewolf attack speed buff she should become a bit stronger.
Cost 5 -> 4
Rework: Summons a warrior with Rage, if lone, summon a Werewolf with Rage.
Wall Dev notes: Wall is one of the reasons for the mana frenzy game we have been seeing for a long time. Having a 2 mana shut down a big push for a reasonably long time, in range of the masters is too much value, especially in 2v2. By making the wall less tanky, but more of a fighting building we hope to get it in a more healthy spot in the meta.
Health 700 > 400
Melee attackers take 50% damage in return
Stun Lancers Dev notes: Stun lancers have been really good at shutting down any push with 1 or 2 big units. By limiting their stun duration we hope the defence will be at least more interactive, if not plain harder.
No longer stuns on every attack
Stunning Strike: first attack to a minion stuns for 5 seconds
Propeller Scrats/Horde Dev notes: The propellers were hit pretty hard by the removal of bridge grab and can use some more firepower. Now that King puff is gone we can allow a bit more flying units in a single pack as well, allowing the horde to shine a bit more hopefully.
Attack cooldown 1 -> 0.9
(Horde only) if rage, summon 2 -> 4 more
Leiliel's Vortex Dev notes: Other spells have been outshining Vortex for a bit now, and although we like that its no longer an auto-include card, we do think it can use a little bit extra power.
Damage 50->65
Zeppelin Bomber Dev notes: Zeppelin Bomber has been invisible for a long time now, so lets up the power a bit to give it some gameplay.
Attack cooldown 1.6->1.4s
Troubadour Dev notes: There has been a cheesy tactic of getting a Troubadour to face and black holing it to get almost entire uncontested hits on face. By reducing the damage but increasing the attack speed we remove that tactic while also improving how the Troubadour attacking a building looks.
Attack cooldown 4.5->1.5
damage 300 ->100
Frostfeather Flyby Dev notes: Frostfeather Flyby is one of the best spells in the game right now. We want to lean deeper into the idea of this being a spell using minions by making them move slower and have them get closer to their target. this way ranged units, especially aoe ranged units, and significantly reduce the damage if not stop it entirely.
Frosfeathers speed bonus 10 -> 7
Range 4 -> 2 (only for this spell, regular Frostfeathers are unaffected)
Sun Burn Dev notes: Sun burn is also one of the best performing spells, and needs a bit of a damage nerf to allow more units to survive it, while still keeping it as a great swarm counter/rage source.
Damage 100->80
Wolf Among Sheep Dev notes: Wolf Among Sheep is over performing and completely outshining legionnaires. By decreasing the wolf's power, we hope to differentiate the 2 cards more, and give both of them a spot to be played.
Legionnaires summoned 4 -> 3
Nyrvir Breath Dev notes: Being able to give bridge control, and countering entire pushes WHILE building up ascension was too much power. Giving that power after ascension, but delaying the perks of the masters in exchange should put Nyrvir’s breath more in line with other cards.
No longer spawns skeletons before accursed ascension, the after ascension Nyrvir’s Breath still
spawns 8 skeletons
Damage before ascension: 180-> 130
Damage after ascension: 300 -> 260
R4:Z0R Squadron
Tax per tick 4 -> 5
Atg
Health 250->225
Harbinger
Health 270 ->250
Herald
Health 270 ->250
Mechanic Changes
Spirits Dev notes: Spirits are too good on swarm and glass cannons, and too weak on bigger units. by limiting the amount of extra health a unit can get compared to their max health, but increasing the potential on bigger units we hope to make spirits a bit healthier, and less abusable.
Health Boost 200 > 50% of max health (Max 300) (remove flying variance)
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue with Sugilite Shield not blocking Settsu in field attacks - Thanks N!kola
Fixed an issue with Ghosts stealing units affected by Sugilite Shield - Thanks apexdreambreaker
Fixed an issue with the Fire Imp side of Void Brothers not showing range radius in the preview before placing - Thanks Last_elf
Fixed an issue with Netherstep turning Succubus grey - Thanks to Chimaerok
Fixed an issue where if you have Book open as Akinlep dies, you don’t lose Gong
Fixed an issue where you could see Valorian’s heal on stealthed units
Fixed Tantrum Throwers’ description
Fixed an issue with Stormy not being able to kill Jolo but chain lightning could
Fixed an issue where reporting a leaving teammate did not work
Fixed an issue with Marked only increasing damage on ranged units - Thanks DeathShoottOneyOoney
Increased the Battle Pass xp for each tier
Fixed an issue with Tech counter stuck at 100 in 2v2
Updated Morellia’s life steal description to show correct one - Thanks Credmo
Fixed an issue with Veilstalker and Netherstep being able to jump inside the Master tower
Fixed an issue with Shen’s shock stick’s description showing 40 damage
Updated Pincer of Dread’s description
Fixed an issue with Priestess being able to attack if hypnotized
Fixed a bug with Incubus being randomly feared - Thanks Me
Fixed spacing issues in text with Dragon Valorian Skin
Fixed Blast/Spirit Mancers not working if there is another Blast/Spirit Mancer located on the field
Fixed an issue with Veilstalker getting stuck - Thanks miguel14yt
Fixed an issue with Succubus becoming permanently stealthed - Thanks me
Fixed an issue with Nyrvir getting stuck - Thanks me
Fixed an issue with Blastmancer and Spiritmancer interfering with each other in unintended ways - Thanks MasterTommy96, Nightfall and Cosmic Vortex42
Increased maximum permitted load time in an attempt to reduce the number of timeout disconnects on xbox.
From everyone at BetaDwarf, we thank you for being such a passionate and amazing community. Without you, all this could never have been a reality and for this, we are eternally humbled!
Wild Cards update
Wild Cards have been one of the most widely criticized features within Minion Masters over the years. With 2.0 coming we've decided it's time to take a good hard look at the feature and try to discern what the issues with it are but also what it contributes.
We want our players to continuously have fun and challenge themselves for years to come. For a long time, we've felt that Wild Cards added to that main goal, at least for most players.
We've heard the argument that it disturbs the overall balance of the game and we agree. It is undeniably harder to find and maintain a great game balance with Wild Cards making decks more unpredictable and extreme, adding to a more rock-paper-scissors experience.
So far we have maintained that the feature also allowed for more creativity in deck building and in most cases for more fun. It's no secret that Wild Cards somewhat limits design space when it comes to the more unique and bombastic designs. We've seen several of these cards become problematic over the years when wildcarded (I.e. Thelec, Wolf Among Sheep, Black Hole, Brutish Betrayer, Guardian, to name a few).
Earlier this week we ran a survey asking you all, what you think of the current state of Wild Cards. Through this survey we found that:
~60% of players like Wild Cards ~36% of players vote to keep Wild Cards as they are; ~31% ask for a change; while ~32% want them flat out removed. Generally, we see the call for removal mostly with high-rank players as around ~70% of the Remove votes came from players in Master rank or above. We also see that while the positive impact of Wild Cards is more widely spread than the negative, it does seem to be less intense. You can see the results of the survey here
What happens now?
Despite the majority of players telling us that Wild Cards are good for the game, we're going to go out on a limb. We believe that the time is right to try something else.
We wish to do a test in which we will remove Wild Cards from the game for a full season. That will be this upcoming season starting with Patch 1.27.
After that season ends we will be asking everyone again to see what your feelings are after having tried the game without Wild Cards for a bit. We'll naturally also be following your feedback on Discord, Reddit, and the Steam forum so do share your opinions as we go along.
Why Now?
When Wild Cards were added to the game, there were a total of 77 cards and deck choices were far more limited. Today is a vastly different scenario with more than 220 cards and several new mechanics. This also means that many cards have alternatives that perform similar duties in slightly different ways. For instance, instead of playing with a Cleaver, you could play with a Brother of the Burning Fist. Instead of Whirly, you could play with Fergus, Plasma Marines → Crystal Archers, Scrat Horde → Skeleton Horde, etc.
Therefore, we believe that the time is right to try and reevaluate this fundamental feature of the game. We believe that we have a broad enough variety of cards as well as several options for most functions that Wild Cards are no longer needed in order to create fun, interesting decks. At the same time, the incredible amount of combination possibilities is also making it substantially harder to fully consider Wild Cards with every balance patch. We now believe that the negatives outweigh the positives.
Version 1.26.50.75 Hotfix
Minion Masters!
Here you can read all changes related to the newest hotfix we have just released 1.26.50375.
Balance Changes
Priestess
Removed her attack.
Haunting Hugger
Cost 1 -> 2
Colossus
Health 1200 -> 1000
Nyrvir slumbers
cost 3 -> 4
Jahun
Health 1200 -> 1000
Mar'Dred
Health 1200 -> 1000
Living Statue
Health 1200 -> 1000
Troubadour
Health 1800 -> 1500
Red Golem
Health 1400 -> 1200
Damage 350 -> 300
Sunder
Damage to Master Tower 75/hit -> 25/hit
Bannerman
Cost 3 -> 4
Damage 15 -> 25
Wrecked Walker
Start hp 150 -> 100 (max hp unchanged)
Blood Pact
Self Damage 66% -> 75%
R4Z:0R Squadron
Attack Cooldown 0.4 -> 0.5
Pincer of Dread
Damage 170 -> 130
Only fear if it doesn't kill and the fear now only affects the unit that was targeted.
Swarmer Totem
Health 325 -> 250
Duration 50 -> 40
Production interval 7sec -> 6.5sec
Crossbow Guild
Health 450 -> 350
Duration 60 -> 45
Production interval 4.8sec -> 4.5sec
Divine Shield
Duration 6sec -> 5sec
Combustion
Damage on unit it is on is now true damage (self-inflicted damage is true)
Cost 2 -> 3
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue with Divine Warrior description not mentioning taunt
Taught King Puff how to spell Birthday
Fixed an issue with Tombstone resurrecting units with almost no health
Fixed an issue with Tombstone failing to revive, when a second Tombstone was recently played
