Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Role-playing (RPG), Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Adventure, Indie
Minion Masters
Version 1.26 - Big changes and Patch update
Minion Masters!
The team has been closely looking at the game for a while now and, leading up to 2.0 we’ve been preparing some major changes that we believe can help some ongoing issues with the gameplay.
We're still a fair bit away from that, but we want to get started with these things as we may need time to reconfigure balance to reach a good spot. Additionally, we believe this will result in a healthier meta. Some of the things we've noticed are that the game seems to have become incredibly reliant on spells and controlling/defending until Mana Frenzy (particularly in 2v2).
We've looked at a bunch of changes that we believe will help sort out some of those issues as well as make the game more dynamic and action-packed.
Why everything at once?
We want to do all of these changes in one major patch, as we believe many of them will change the meta quite a bit. So we think it is preferable to shake the bag one big time and then concentrate on fixing the issues, rather than continuously making changes that will destabilize the balance repeatedly.
What is our approach from this point on?
We certainly expect the meta to be unpredictable with all these changes. We therefore also expect that we will have to do a lot of adjustments. Some will occur in the patches to come in the next few months, others we will have to do through hotfixes. As usual, it fully depends on the severity of the issue whether we chose to hotfix or not, but we will keep an eye on things and are prepared to hotfix where necessary.
The overarching goal is then to spend the remaining time before 2.0 to stabilize the meta and find the best balance for Minion Masters Remastered.
Changes
Game Speed Changes
Mana generation increased
1v1 Changes
Starting mana generation increased; ~+10%
Time to get to max generation decreased; 5 min → 3 min and 20 sec
2v2 Changes
Starting mana generation increased; ~+15%
Maximum mana generation increased; ~+10%
Time to get to max generation decreased; 5 min → 3 min and 20 sec
XP generation rescaled
Passive XP gain increased; ~+20%
Bridge XP gain increased; ~+10%
Balance Changes to adjust (more details in the Patch Notes)
Movement speed change (Slowest minions)
Demon Warrior
Accursed Ascension
The Mancers
Call to Arms
Dragon Nest
Morellia Book
Apep Totem
Nyrvirs Breath
Why are we doing this?
We've tried to change the spread of cards (or rather mana cost ranges) that are being used in previous patches. We feel we've been successful in this with the bi-product that the game has been slowed down. With these changes we're hoping to speed it up again, retaining the good action-packed feel which was the nature of what Minion Masters is. Our general goal is for most games to be around 3~5 minutes and we believe this is a good step in that direction.
With this change, we know the balance won't be perfect right away and we'll need a bit of time to watch the new meta develop and adjust as we go. We see this as an opportunity to change some things that we view as problematic and can aim for an entirely new - and hopefully improved - meta.
Flying No Longer Grabs The Bridges
Flying Minions will no longer be able to convert a bridge to your team.
Why are we doing this?
We believe that cheap flying Minions have too many functions. They are great at defending, cycling, and grabbing bridges. The bridge grabbing part is not healthy for the game as it neutralizes the use of Melee Minions and can potentially dominate the bridges for cheap. With this change, we aim to make flying Minions focus more on their fighting capabilities as strong counters to Melee. Adding them to your deck can be a great defensive tool, however, you won't strengthen your ability to control the bridges
We expect that some of the flying cards, particularly the cheap ones, will need some further adjustments to find a good balance. We've done some changes in preparation, but we're fully anticipating more will be needed once this update hits the servers. We will be keeping an eye on it and will adjust accordingly in the coming months.
General Damaging Spells Nerf
Most damaging spells will have their mana cost increased by 1. We may opt to instead reduce the efficiency of certain spells, keeping them at their cost, but in general, all spells that are related to damaging or controlling Minions will receive substantial nerfs. (more details in the Patch Notes).
Why are we doing this? The game has become too centred around spells, we've even seen the game being referred to as Spell Masters on several occasions. We agree with this sentiment and want to put more focus on Minion versus Minion interactions, and give Spells a more supportive role.
Master Reworks
A Complete King Puff Rework
King Puff has long been a restrictive element for certain designs. While we do like the idea that he is restricted to a certain subset we believe he was too restricted while also gaining too much, in turn making the cards also restricted to him.
Mordar Tombstones reworked for less coin-flippy results We believe that the difference between Mordar getting a good resurrection and just missing it, is too stark, making matches against him feel either super easy or practically unbeatable. With this, we hope to bring him to a more healthy spot.
Diona Rebalanced to remove randomness and removed bridge control from traps It can be frustrating to watch your opponent pick up the healing potion several times in a row, we decided to remove that and make her perk more deterministic. Furthermore, we think that Diona has been too focused on a heavy bridge-control style, and we want to make her more versatile.
Apep Totem rework is on a timer in order to avoid it becoming overpowered in cycle decks, particularly with the new mana rules.
Why are we doing this?
Many cards and mechanics have been added to the game and many changes have happened, certain Master designs no longer feel like they fit in quite the right way. These changes are aimed to increase the fun and reduce frustrating elements.
Balance Changes
Along with the Big changes that are coming into Minion Masters (read here for more information) we also have a LOT MORE balance changes and 2 more cards entering the Arena! Join us now Masters as we unleash all these changes into the Arena!
Best Plan, No Plan! - Season 2
A new season has arrived to Minion Masters! Tons of new rewards, including 2 cards, a Legendary Skin, bonus cards, and more!
New cards added to the game
<*>The Season Pass will end on 4th of August.
Master changes
King Puff Rework
Basic Attack - Added:
The King's Birthday - Celebrate the king's birthday every 40 seconds. Reduce the cooldown by half the cost of every 4 - 6 Mana Card you play.
Perk 1: Gain a one-use copy of Trick Swap every time the kings birthday is celebrated. (You can only have one trick swap at a time)
Trick Swap: Swap minions on the bridges. Stun swapped enemies for 4 seconds.
Perk 2: When the king's birthday has celebrated a Rage Puff and a Shield Puff appears in your arena (One in each lane, on fixed positions).
Rage Puff - If picked up by a friendly minion give it and up to 4 nearby friendly minions Rage
Shield Puff - If picked up by a friendly minion give it and up to 4 nearby friendly minions Shield.
Perk 3 - changed to:"Summon a Knight Puff for each friendly Minion affected by Trick Swap (Max 5)
Tombstone ress minion with % health-related to charging up (Tombstone needs 25% charge to be able to resurrect a unit)
Tombstone now takes 20 seconds to charge
Morellia
Book cooldown 30->25 seconds
Valorian <*>Damage 45->40
Stormbringer
Attack cooldown 4->3.8 seconds
Apep
Gain totem on timer, 25 seconds
Balance changes
Dragon pack
voidborn wound, cost reduction(1)
Mal'shar
now also teleports himself on kill (2-second cooldown)
Nether Bat
count 2 -> 3
Divine warrior
now has taunt
Dragon nest
Cost 4->5
Call to arms
cost 5->6
Speed changes 3->4
Boom buggy
Snake Druid
Speed Changes 2->3
Living Statue
Priestess
Colossus
Troubadour
Red Golem
Blue Golem
Jahun
Mar’dred
Ritual of Servitude
cost 5->6
Demon Warrior
5->6 stacks
Mancers
200 -> 170hp
Accursed Ascension
70->80 stacks
bats bats bats
cost 4->5
Caged Prowler
Activation time from 20 to 16 seconds
Building Lifetime from 30 to 24 seconds
Propeller Scrats
Count 3->4
Movement speed 7->9
Haunting hugger
attack cooldown 2.5-1.8 seconds Cost 2->1
Frostfeathers
damage 10->12
Scrap Yard
Base scraps 100 -> 60
Fireball
cost 4->5
chain lightning
cost 4->5
shock rock
damage 40->25
Daggerfall
cost 3->4
beam of DOOM
face damage 300->150
Vortex
cost 2->3
resonating blast crystal
cost 3->4 Delay .8 seconds -> 1.2 seconds
Scrattilery
cost 5->6
Smite
damage 200->150
corpse explosion
cost 3->4
Magma storm
cost 5->6
mountain shaper
cost 6->7
poison strike
cost 3->4
T.A.A.S
cost 2->3
Ion grenade
delay for first hit: 0.5s -> 1.0s
cost 2->3
Gamblers Ball
cost 3->4 change per sacrifice 20 -> 34%
black hole
cost 2->3
Nyrvirs breath
cost 6 -> 7
Stun blast
cost 3->4
Arcane bolt
cost 2->3
Stun Shrine
cost 3->4
Grasping thorns
cost 2->3
Wheel of Doom
wheel speed: 1000->800
Ardera
Selfdamage is now true damage
Avea
Selfdamage is now true damage
Zealots
Selfdamage is now true damage
Impatient
Autoplays if you would flood mana
Mana Surge
50%->33% attack speed increase
Best Plan, No Plan! Expansion
Minion Masters!
A little fishy told me that the new expansion of Minion Masters is nearly here….woop! We’re thrilled to announce the new expansion “Best Plan, No Plan!” with 2 new cards and a ton of balance changes; “Drum roll” so without further ado let’s get Scrating!
Best Plan, No Plan! - Season 1
A new expansion has arrived to Minion Masters!
Tons of new rewards, including 2 cards, a Legendary Skin, bonus cards, and more!
New cards added to the game:
The Season Pass will end on June 30th.
Card Balance
Xiao Long
Jump cooldown: 1.5s -> 2s
Jing Long
Jump cooldown: 1.5s -> 2s
Dev Comment: The longs have been dominating the meta a bit too much, this change should increase counterplay without affecting their strength too much.
Vulture Prime:
Shield cost: 50 -> 25 scraps
Dev Comment: Vulture Prime needs a bit of a buff, having shields more often makes it less punishing to play it when you have enough tech, and makes it harder to remove
Mal'Shar:
Stealth given from Mal'Shar only works once, (can be given to the same minion multiple times, if it is used first)
Dev Comment: We have seen a lot of Mal'shar Mordar decks, where Cleavers, Colossi and Mar'dreds get invisibility, and it is very frustrating to fight, especially considering certain timings between invisibility and attack speeds are a bit finicky . By making the stealth one time it is less about getting it on big minions that are super difficult to counter it and more about allowing a unit to reset in peace. We do realize this is a nerf for mal'shar and he might need something after this, but this is not the kind of deck we like to have in the game.
Jadespark Watchers:
Growthburst shrooms 2->1
Dev Comment: Jadespark Watchers is being played a lot, and performing well, It required a nerf, this hopefully will have the effect of letting it get less buffed monkeys.
Tantrum throwers:
count 2->1 cost 3->2
Dev Comment: Tantrum Throwers has been one of the best performing cards for a long time, with this suggestion from the ptr it will hopefully be a bit more in line, and it offers more 2 mana bridge grab options.
Scrap Yard:
Consumes all Tech you have, produces 100+1.5x the scrap you consumed, in 5 ticks 5 seconds apart
Dev Comment: Because of the ability to load Tech before placing the Scrap Yard and therefore getting the value from Scrap Yard at the beginning of its lifetime Scrap Yard became pretty oppressive, hopefully with this change there are more counter opportunities, while a well defended Scrap Yard is a bit stronger to make up for that.
Valorian:
basic attack damage 40->45
Empyrean cards no longer affect damage
Dev Comment: We heard a lot of feedback of the deck-building mechanic of valorian both being unnecessary as synergizes with empyreans without it, and it being too constricting, not allowing a lot of decks. Hopefully with this change we can nerf valorian a bit as he is overperforming, but also allow for more variety in decks.
Master Cards: We have switched up a few things around. Below is a list of all those changes:
Searing Light is now an ability
Burn the Bridges is now an ability
Blast Entry is now an ability
Trick Swap is now an ability
More Dakka is now an ability
Shadow Dance and One Punch Blast are both now abilities
Dev Comment: This really is a minor change all things considered. The main reason for the change is for consistency with how we wanted R3-KT to function; we realized that there really isn't a meaningful distinction between what he is doing and what many of the other masters were already doing. So unless there is a good reason for a master's unique card to be a spell, it's now an ability instead. It allows us to consider master impact on spell interactions differently for future design, and serves as a tiny but immediate nerf to Jing and Xiao Long.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue attacking when attacking stealthed units - Thanks isokoala & Destroy666 C67
Fixed an issue with stealth units being visible on spawn - Thanks Jackeea
Fixed an issue with Jolo failing to dodge while at 100% - Thanks DeathShoottOneyOoney & N!k0la
Fixed an issue with Settsu not taking damage from jumping on reboomer - Thanks BadAsAFish80
Fixed an issue with Spawn of Fury targeting - Thanks Jackk
Fixed an issue with Mountain Gale’s slow being permanent - Thanks BadAsAFish80 & Jackk
Fixed spell descriptions updating to reflect targeting behavior
Fixed an issue with Lash doing the wrong damage - Thanks Yayann, Destroy666 C67 & You fools
Fixed an issue with Valorian normal skin occasionally having a green vfx - Thanks BadAsAFish80
Added R3KT and Valorian to Free Rotation Masters
Fixed an issue with the red golem looking like the blue golem at 1500 hp - Thanks Jackeea
Fixed the Red Golem preview
Fixed an issue with Draft receiving master choices timing out
Fixed R4Z:0R avatar being misnamed as vulture prime
Fixed an issue with Haunting Hugger causing ranged units to attack nothing repeatedly again - Thanks me
Fixed an issue Red Golem Animations being sometimes broken
Fixed an issue with Once Bitten targeting - Thanks TiddleyKong & Jackk.
Fixed a bug with Rockin' Roler’s damage - Thanks for the callout Yayann.
Fixed a bug with Rabid Prowler’s description incorrectly listing a wrong sacrifice requirement..
Fixed an issue with Hypno+Musketeer death prediction - Thanks DeathShoottOneyOoney.
Fixed an issue with TAAS card cloning - Thanks Tenebra, Jackeea & isokoala.
Fixed an issue with enemy master’s perks in 2v2 streamer mode UI. - Thanks BadAsAFish80
We want to thank you for your continued support and all the players that help us make this game an amazing experience for everyone!
The 3rd season of Outlandish Operations is here!!! Scrap Yard and R4Z:0R Squadron joins the Minion Masters universe along with a host of balance changes and bug fixes.
Ready…. Steady…… GO!
Outlandish Operations - Season Pass #3
A new Season Pass has arrived to Minion Masters!
Tons of new rewards, including 2 cards, a Legendary Skin, bonus cards, and more!
Added to the game:
The Season Pass will end on June 3rd.
Card Balance
Version 1.23 Patch Notes
Version 1.23 Minion Masters!
Outlander reinforcements have arrived! R3KT finally joins the Minion Masters universe along with a host of balance changes and bug fixes.
Don’t worry, even though it’s April Fools’ Day, all these changes are 100% real. FDM told me, and he wouldn’t lie to me.
Outlandish Operations - Season Pass #2
A new Season Pass has arrived to Minion Masters!
Tons of new rewards, including 2 cards, a Legendary Skin, bonus cards, and more!
Added to the game:
The Season Pass will end on the May 6th.
Card Balance
Blood Imps/Brutish Betrayer
Return damage 50% -> 65%
Blood Imps and Brutish Betrayer have truly had a resurgence since the blood pact rework. We're happy to see them being played though we also understand they can be a tad coin flippy as things are. This is an attempt to mitigate their power a little, hopefully without completely breaking their value.
Border Patrol
Mana Freeze 2 -> 1
Add 1 mana freeze and gain shield
This card feels like it should be good, and we worry it might be a little underrated as things are now. So this change is an attempt to not make it stronger, but more consistent. You can now choose to play it without the shield (in case your opponent plays shield piercing spells) and retain that 1 mana for other things.
Dragon Whelp
Attack cooldown 1.1 -> 1.2
Pretty much all dragon cards are very strong at the moment, this is just an attempt to make them slightly less oppressive without destroying the cards
Flightless Dragons
Attack cooldown 1.1 -> 1.2
Pretty much all dragon cards are very strong at the moment, this is just an attempt to make them slightly less oppressive without destroying the cards
Hypnotize
Cost 4 -> 3
Duration 6 -> 5
Call Slitherbound 2 -> 1
The intention here is to make the card stronger and more viable to play as well as making it slightly less to frustrating to play against.
Jing Long
Shocking Re-Entry Damage 0 -> 40
Damage 20 -> 25
Jing Long is not performing very well, so here's an attempt to give him a little more consistent value
Nyrvir’s Breath
Damage 325 -> 180
Summon 4 skeletons over the duration
Duration 4 -> 3
Accursed Ascension -> +120 damage and +4 skeletons
This card has been a contentious one for a while and we've been looking at solutions for a bit but haven't found a concrete proposal until now. What this intends to do is to make it a fair bit weaker in the early game, so that it's true power can be felt after Ascension has been achieved. We've also decided to make the skeleton generation be more consistent. It's already a pretty strong swarm counter, there's really no reason it should also be even more empowered by swarm.
Pincer of Dread
Fix targeting issues
Target health highest -> closest
Delay 1 -> 0.5
We believe the only thing holding this card back is that it's very cumbersome to use. By making it easier to hit your intentioned target we believe it can potentially see a lot more play.
Rabid Prowler
Sacrifice 1 -> 2
Instead gain Berserker’s Rage
Dev Comment: This card sees very little play and this change is an attempt to give the card a little more umf, that might make it a good alternative to something like a Cleaver, especially in Slither/Sacrifice decks.
Resonating Blast Crystal
Damage 130 -> 100
Remove Mana Freeze 1
If you explode 2 crystals mana freeze 1
Resonating crystal blast is everywhere at the moment, it's both very strong and very versatile. This change should bring it a bit more in line with the other spells
Shield-Captain Avea
Damage 70-100
Deal 10% damage to self on attack
Yet another Avea change. We're slowly getting there :) - This brings her into the Burning Fist sub-faction and ties her to the Zealot's. One interesting thing this does is that it allows her to proc her own effect.
Shieldguard of Light
Damage 70 -> 80
It's been a while since this big boy was relevant. Let's give him a little push and see if he can stand up to the plate.
Whirly Scrat
Health 390 -> 350
Whirly has been one of the best performing cards for a long time, however now it's also become very popular. This is just a small change to bring it's power more in line with all the other cards.
Xiao Long
Get Jing Long Spell Dodge instead of shield
Damage 20 -> 25
This is honestly mostly to consolidate the two Long cards. We do feel the new dodge mechanic Jing Long introduced feels better than the shield, as it doesn't actually empower the minion vs anything other than spells. This does also mean that you can now activate Xiao with your own spells (as with Jing), however that opens him for a counter play from the opponent.
Master Balance
Ratbo
Also summons scrats on teammate’s minion cards
Spends 3 seconds to charge minigun from attack cooldown 1 - 0.3
Ratbo has the opposite problem to Stormbringer, in that he performs incredibly well in 1v1 but is very lackluster in 2v2. So we're essentially doing the opposite to the attempted Stormbringer fix in that we're allowing him to bank value off his teammate. This is to hopefully even out his value across the modes so that he can be more easily balanced in the future for all modes. We realize there's a bit of a consistency issue with these changes, however, we have chosen to sacrifice that for a more even balance across modes.
Valorian
Perk 1 heal 15 -> 18
It seems we may have over-nerfed Valorian a tad. We discussed simply reupping his basic attack damage, however landed on upping the heal effect a little instead. We feel this goes a little further into what makes him unique, and as the "Flying receives half healing" rule is now in effect it feels less dangerous.
Bugs
Fixed decoy trap not taunting both players in team play.
Fixed haunting hugger failing to generate accursed ascension progress on direct kills
Fixed vortex not pulling once flying units are out of gap. - Thanks Matt
Minion Masters has just been updated to include the Outlandish Operations update for free! Plus, act now before March 12 to get the new Outlander DLC for free.
Brand new Huge expansion - The Outlanders make their triumphant return to Minion Masters.
One man's junk is another man's treasure. This is why the scrapyard of fallen spacecraft debris and damaged drone parts is a veritable gold mine for the destitute Outlanders. The ingenious grow bolder as their newest inventions begin to take form.
Even more exciting content is on the way with this update, including many gameplay and balance changes. We also have a new master being added to the game. He's not quite ready yet, but you can still get a preview of him in-game ;)
More Outlanders are finally here! Version 1.22 marks the start of the Outlandish Operations expansion, and we have some key bug fixes, and a lot of exciting content coming along with it… even a new master?!
Outlandish Operations - Season Pass #1
A new Season Pass has arrived to Minion Masters!
Tons of new rewards, including 2 cards, a Legendary Skin, bonus cards, and more!
Two new cards have been added to the game:
The Season Pass will end on the April Fools Day.
Card Balance
A.I.M Bot
Starts with shield
Outlander Tech - Spend 40 tech to gain marksmanship, spend 40 more to also gain haste
Bannerman
Health 150 -> 250
Throughout the last couple of years many cards have been introduced that makes Bannerman's value very precarious. Effects like Poison, Sun burn, vortex all negate the shields in one way or another. We don't want him to simply counter those spells as well, as we don't want him to be a one-size-fits-all solution. So instead we added to his value as a fighter by upping his tankiness substantially. This way he can contribute on his own, while his effect remains useful in certain matchups.
Bats, Bats, Bats
Cost 5 -> 4
Bats jump in the direction of the card that was played
This change is an attempt to make the value of Bats Bats Bats slightly less extreme, but instead a little more reliable. It should be possible to spread your bats out more, and hopefully not lose them all to one spell anymore. On the other hand, Bats are now weaker (see Nether Bat change) so it should be less scary to face the card without a spell counter.
Crystal Construct, Dormant Defenders, and Guardian
Damage 80 -> 100
Dormant Defenders
Cost 6 -> 7
Ghost Turret
Attack Cooldown 0.8 -> 1
Heal Puff
Health Per Second 25 -> 20
Illusory Cleaver
Damage 0 -> 100
Remove Voidborne Wound
Adding some consistent damage value to the illusions should make them worth their 2 mana cost. While they don't pose as big of a threat as their non-illusory counterparts they now need to be dealt with or they can amass quite a bit of value over time. On the other hand, they are very easy to deal with, so the value from the damage should not run amok.
Illusory Dragon Whelp
Damage 0 -> 15
Adding some consistent damage value to the illusions should make them worth their 2 mana cost. While they don't pose as big of a threat as their non-illusory counterparts they now need to be dealt with or they can amass quite a bit of value over time. On the other hand, they are very easy to deal with, so the value from the damage should not run amok.
Lord Fanriel the Stormcharger
Fix true damage issues
Damage 100 -> 130
When we introduced True Damage, we wasn't 100% sure what to expect in terms of power, and admittedly over-nerfed Fanriel quite a bit. With some fixes to True damage that makes it more consistent, though also weaker, we believe it's only right to give Fanriel some of his Oomf back. Netherbat
Title Change: Nether Bat -> Nether Bats
Damage 35 -> 20
Count 1 -> 2
On Spawn, netherstep forward in a v shape
Once Bitten
Cast Delay 0.5 -> 0
Scratillary
Damage Per Rocket 50 -> 45
Screaming Scrat
Explode when Barrel is broken
Explosion Damage 130 -> 100
S.T.int
Outlander Tech - Spend 50 tech to claim the furthest bridge on spawn.
Vortex
Damage 80 -> 50
Vortex continues to dominate all leaderboards and still has an incredibly high use rate. We're targeting damage this time as we feel the minion displacement and area denial capabilities are what make the card fun an unique to the game. So we'd rather remove some power and versatility in the straight removal aspect of which there are plenty of alternatives.
Zeppelin Bomber
Movement Speed 5 -> 7
Attack Cooldown 2 -> 1.6
Master Balance
Diona
Perk 2 - Only drops potions for enemies dying on your side and on the bridges
This change will likely split the waters a bit. The intend of this is to nerf Diona in the case where she's already winning and spends a lot of time in offence. But buff her in cases where she struggles. The idea is that potions dropped on the other side of the field in situations where you are behind or losing are almost always lost, and as such just add a hidden cooldown. With this change it should be more likely that you can pick up most if not all potions as they will always spawn in a place where you have at least some control. Stormbringer
Perk 2 - Only give Minions under your control Marksmanship
New master?!
Version 1.21 Patch Notes
Minion Masters!
We hope you have been enjoying the Uprising expansion! 1.21 adds the last two cards of the expansion into the game: Lash of Ah’Mun and Shroom Puff.
As you know, this means we will soon release info on our next expansion coming out in March! We can honestly say that we are super excited to share what the team has come up with for the next expansion; it’s really out there.
But for now, for 1.21 we have some balance changes, two new cards, and a variety of bug fixes coming your way.
On to the changes!
Uprising - Season Pass #3
A new Season Pass has arrived to Minion Masters!
Tons of new rewards, including 2 cards, a Legendary Skin, bonus cards, and more!
Two new cards have been added to the game:
Dark Fury Dryad Morellia has also been added to the game!
The Season Pass will end on the 4th of March.
Card Balance
Arcane Bolt
Mana Freeze 3 -> 2
Threshold 500 -> 450
Boom Buggy
Cooldown 5 -> 4.5
Delay 2 -> 1.5
Bridge Shrine
Health 350 -> 400
Crossbow Dudes
Attack Cooldown 1.8 -> 2
Dragon Ball
Summon a flightless dragon if not activated
Empowered Soul Stealer
On spawn gain 2 stacks and +1 for each sacrifice
Remove Call Slitherbound
Grasping Thorns
Cost 3 -> 2
Damage 200 -> 170
Lord Fanriel The Stormcharger
Damage 120 -> 100
Charge Damage 150 -> 100
Charge damage is now true damage
This introduces a new damage type, True Damage which is essentially just armor piercing. Certain things like Pincer of Dread already has this, though this is the first Minion to get this. Fanriel's design was always to force you to defend with big minions. This removes Shielded Crossbow Dudes and Armored Scrats as value answers to his charge.
Nether Bat
Nethersteps forward on spawn
These are attempts at making more 2 mana cards feel valuable to play, it may or may not workout, in which case we will keep working on them
Sewer Scrat
Basic attacks inflict 2 seconds of poison
Poison on hit duration 3 -> 2
These are attempts at making more 2 mana cards feel valuable to play, it may or may not workout, in which case we will keep working on them
Shen Stormstrike
Attack Stun Duration 2.5 -> 2
Zen Chi Flow Stun Duration 3 -> 2
Zen Chi Flow Stun Radius 4.5 -> 6
This is to unify the stuns a bit more so that they work the same. Also in the case of Zap shrine we wanted less of it's value to be in that first Zen-Chi Flow stun, but instead make the building provide slightly more reliable value afterwards.
Shield-Captain Avea
Shield Range 6 -> 8
Now counts toward the quest even if the target unit already has a shield.
Ting Teng Tung
Health 300 -> 270
Void Altar
Cost 9 -> 8
Zap Shrine
Zen Chi FLow Stun Duration 3 -> 2
Health 75 -> 100
This is to unify the stuns a bit more so that they work the same. Also in the case of Zap shrine we wanted less of it's value to be in that first Zen-Chi Flow stun, but instead make the building provide slightly more reliable value afterwards.
Healing Balance <*>Flying minions have healing reduced by half
Last patch we tried this with Valorian's perk 1 only, and we feel it worked out nicely. Now we're trying it to all healing on flying Minions, mostly to keep things consistent and hopefully easier to keep track of.
Master Balance
Volco
Perk 2 - Embers of Flame changed to all minions gain rage
Perk 3 - Embers changed to melee minions gain berserkers rage instead
This change gives him more diversity for his deckbuilding while still retaining incentive to go for aggression. In longer games Melee will still prevail for him, but now ranged minions should feel like less of a compromise to bring along to balance out the deck.
Bugs
Fixed Jing Long’s shock entry radius size being visible in preview
Fixed Jing Long’s card status icons referring to Xiao Long. Thanks me
Added the indicator for blood pact to Brutish Betrayer
Fixed Avea’s shields reacting fast enough to fireball to block the fireball’s damage on units around her
Fixed blood imp sound and animations. Thanks hinkyt25
Fixed the indicator for Pincer of Dread showing that it damages buildings
Fixed the master selection interface breaking in draft
Fixed a bug causing Sugilite Shield to block melee damage
Fixed Avea’s drop rates from tokens being too high. Thanks Huffchux, Brit Churchill and all the other people who reported this and got us to actually check the values.
Fixed the hitboxes for Laser Turret and Magma cannon to match their new models. Thanks Coconut Commander
Misc
Puff cards have been removed from Jungle Rumble
Edits - Added missing dev comments, missing grasping thorns change, and missing healing change for flying minions.
Version 1.20 Patch Notes
Minion Masters!
Did you enjoy the first season pass for the latest Uprising expansion? We hope you did, but now it’s time to go over the changes accompanying the second season pass.
For 1.20 we have some balance changes, two new cards, and a variety of bug fixes coming your way.
On to the changes!
Uprising - Season Pass #2
A new Season Pass has arrived to Minion Masters!
Tons of new rewards, including 2 cards, a Legendary Skin, bonus cards, and more!
Two new cards have been added to the game:
Shadow Viper has also been added to the game!
The Season Pass will end on the 4th of February.
Card Balance
Accursed Ascension
Threshold 60 -> 70
Accursed Ascension decks have been really strong for quite a while now. This is a small adjustment to delay the power spike moment a little. 10 mana is around half a cycle, and as it comes late game where mana generation is high, it shouldn't delay the ascension more than 15~20 seconds, for most ascension decks.
Arcane Ring
Damage Per Projectile 25 -> 30
Ardent Aegis
Remove Empyrean Army.
Healing only applies to Empyrean minions.
With the introduction of the new Brutish Betrayer, Ardent Aegis could have been an amazing combo card, too good, it was found during testing. Added to the fact that it was never meant to be a card that fit into an aggressive style, we decided to remove the Empyrean Army effect and instead make the healing only apply to Empyrean minions. As Empyrean Minions for the most part have Slow-Medium movement speed and the healing should therefore be used more to turn fights rather than to maximize direct tower damage.
Akinlep’s Gong of Pestilence
Cost 7 -> 6
AtG Drone x8
Health 275 -> 250
Black Hole
Duration 1.8 -> 2
Cast Delay 0.2 -> 0
This card has been through a lot of changes, and we believe it's close to a good spot. It does have a tendency to flip quite dramatically. As soon as it's viable it can pretty much take over the meta. So we're taking things slow and doing small changes here to see if we can get it to a place where it can provide slightly more consistent value without taking over games completely. Combined with the recent change to Leiliel's Vortex, which has taken over a lot of Black Hole's utility use cases, we believe this should make the card see more play in the future.
Brutish Betrayer
Remove Turncoat
Give Blood Connection - Your master loses health equal to half of the damage they take, even overkill damage.
We've been working a lot with turncoat and tried out different variations but we haven't been able to find a solution that we really loved. So we're now removing the mechanic completely (It still exists in Adventures). Instead we're choosing to consolidate the Voidborne faction slightly more by introducing the blood imp mechanic to more cards. We think this is an interesting mechanic to play around with and we believe it retains the spirit of the original card designs quite well, as it still emphasizes the aggressive play that signifies the Voidborne faction.
Crystal Sentry
Mana Cost 4 -> 3
Gain Mana Freeze - 1
Elite Swarmer
Health 225 -> 250
Gor’Rakk Gate
Cost 3 -> 4
Remove Turncoat
Give Blood Connection - Your masters loses health equal to half of the damage they take, even overkill damage.
We've been working a lot with turncoat and tried out different variations but we haven't been able to find a solution that we really loved. So we're now removing the mechanic completely (It still exists in Adventures). Instead we're choosing to consolidate the Voidborne faction slightly more by introducing the blood imp mechanic to more cards. We think this is an interesting mechanic to play around with and we believe it retains the spirit of the original card designs quite well, as it still emphasizes the aggressive play that signifies the Voidborne faction.
Grenadier
Attack Cooldown 2.1 -> 2
Attack Delay 0.6 -> 0.5
Jolo the hero scrat
Reworked his dodge mechanic, his dodge chance starts at 100% but decreases by 10% for each successful dodge.
Jungle Jumble
Mana 5 -> 4
Morgrul’s Ragers
Health 225 -> 250
Morgrul The Swarmer King
Health 225 -> 250
Mountainshaper
Stack Delay 5 -> 4
Princer of Dread
Now deals damage through shields.
Swarmer Totem
Health 350 -> 325
Wizard Puff
Damage 60 -> 70
Master Balance
Stormbringer
Marksmanship only applies to minions.
The heavy turret focused defensive strategy is very strong in particular with Stormbringer, as the added range removes many of the different buildings weaknesses. We believe there is a space for that playstyle in Minion Masters, but atm it's too strong and too uninteractive. With this change we believe these decks will have to supplement with more utility and/or aggressive cards to solve certain problems, and in doing so make the deck less hyper focused on pure defense.
Valorian
Perk 1 healing halved for flying minions.
We're quite happy with the spot Valorian currently has within the meta, however he has developed a niche for flying minions as his healing ability can make them very difficult to remove. Particularly with flying minions those few additional HP can mean a lot in those cases where it brings it just out of range for a removal spell. We don't want to remove this playstyle completely, but we do believe that the perk synergizes a little too well with flying minions. This should help mitigate that. As a footnote: we're currently considering making this a shared rule for all healing, a cross the board.
Bugs
Free token notification dot is removed.
Fixed an issue preventing searching in deckbuilding.
Fixed the refund symbol showing up on offers where the only duplicate item is cards.
Fixed caber tosser getting stuck. Thanks mezlat.
Fixed Mar'Dred constantly laughing.
Fixed Akinlep with cost reduction issue. Thanks StarDrifter.
Fixed Thelec failing to summon archers after summoning Akinlep. Thanks hinkyt25.
Made Improvements to Boom Buggy targeting. Thanks DeathShoottOneyOoney
Misc
Updated various avatars to reflect new card art.
Christmas decorations have been turned off.
Edits: added a balance change for Jolo the Hero Scrat, which was initially forgotten.
100% off DLC and new expansion - Uprising
100% OFF - WEEKEND DEAL
Get the new $15 Uprising DLC 100% off for only this weekend!
An Uprising has come to Minion Masters! The Slitherbound are in desperate need of help. You must fight to clear a path for their escape and keep them from the shackles which once bound them.
This new updated features new cards, a new Adventure, a new legendary skin and more.
Tons of new rewards, including 2 cards, a Legendary Skin, bonus cards, and more!
Two new cards have been added to the game:
Chain Gang
Akinlep's Gong Of Pestilence
Dryad Morellia has also been added to the game!
The Season Pass will end on the 7th of January.
New Adventure
Brand New Story - Fight against the mighty Apep
Play as a special Adventures version of Slither Beast
This is a 3 Chapter Adventure that costs 2,010 Rubies or 1,000 rubies for just chapter 1.
Completing the Chapter will get you some cool rewards!
The adventure AI has been improved so opponents use a wider variety of cards, including high-cost cards. This applies retroactively and will impact older adventures.
Replays for adventures are now available.
The Adventure releases on December 10th.
Economy Changes
As we mentioned in our latest blog post, there will be some changes to the Minion Masters economy coming in 1.19. For details, read our blog post here https://blog.betadwarf.com/2020/11/minion-masters-economy-changes-follow-up.html
Shop Changes
All master skins will be available for purchase from the master selection screen.
If you receive a duplicate cosmetic item or master, you will receive a reimbursement of gold.
Glory Changes
Season bonus glory will no longer apply to conquest. While it still improves season pass progress, we wanted to make sure that users that buy the season pass don't have an unfair advantage in their conquest runs compared to free-to-play players.
Card Balance
Ardera
Divine shield is now only given to Empyrean Minions
Armored Scrats
Count 4 -> 3
Barrel Shield Health 50 -> 60
Blood Imps
Now only deals 50% damage to its controller’s master
Call to Arms
Disables building abilities on transform
This will only affect two interactions: Ghost Turret and Crystal Construct. They will no longer produce a spirit or mana, respectively, when transformed into a Warrior.
Crossbow Dudes
Damage 15 -> 20
Attack Cooldown 1.4 -> 1.8
Crystal Arcanist
Health 45 -> 40
AoE Range 2.5 -> 3
Crystal Archers
Health 45 -> 40
Damage 25 -> 30
Dormant Defenders
Duration 20 -> 40
Illusory Cleaver
Illusion Damage 30 -> 50
Illusory Dragon Whelp
Illusion Damage 30 -> 50
Leiliel’s Vortex
No longer moves allied units.
Screaming Scrat
Cost 1 -> 2
Explosion Damage 30 -> 130
Explosion Delay 5 -> 4
Barrel Shield Health 50 -> 60
Last patch we brought this back to 1 mana, however we've since learned that was a mistake. It simply has too many uses to be balanced at 1 mana, and with the puff rework there was no doubt in our minds that Screaming Scrat would have become the #1 premiere 1 drop in 85% of decks. So we decided to bring it back to 2 mana but increase its power to hopefully find a good balance.
Shield Captain Avea
Shield Radius 4 -> 6
Slitherbound Darter
Damage 5 -> 8
Slitherbound Lancer
Damage 10 -> 15
Soul Stealer
Attack Cooldown 1.5 -> 1.6
Sunburn
Damages its controller’s units as well
Puffs Rework
Ever since we did the 1 mana overhaul some patches back, we've seen Puffs have an incredible resurgence in play rate. While we definitely do not mind puffs being popular at all, we did find it slightly concerning when we looked at their win rates. One problem we ran into is that their main power is their ability to grab the bridges, cheap, quick and reliably. This means we'd have to nerf their inherent power level to find a good spot, but we feel that would be the wrong direction for them, as the puffs aren't meant to be a bridge grabbing unit but rather fun and quirky utility Minions. So instead we decided to restrict their spawn path in order to further emphasize the mechanics that make the unique.
”Puff” is now a card type, not a faction. Puff cards can only be spawned by the master tower and do not trigger minion abilities like Ratbo’s first and third perks.
Puffs have always been a bit of a weird faction, and as they are mostly designed around quirky utility purposes, they are not necessarily cards that you would build decks around. This sort of goes against our idea of what a faction is, and as we don't produce a ton of puff cards, it would always be underrepresented. We decided it was because Puffs shouldn't be a faction but a card type. This allows us to impress certain rules on these cards, as well as put them into factions where they might actually contribute to deck building.
Disruptor Puff
Faction - Puff -> Outlander
Card Type - Minion -> Puff
First teleport proc delay 3 -> 2
Speed 5 -> 10
Heal Puff
Faction - Puff -> Zen Chi
Card Type - Minion -> Puff
Cost 2 -> 1
Mana Puff
Faction - Puff -> Crystal Elf
Card Type - Minion -> Puff
First mana proc delay 10 -> 4
Mana Puff Madness
Cost 2 -> 3
Squire Puff
Faction - Puff -> Empyrean
Card Type - Minion -> Puff
First shield proc delay 10 -> 4
Wizard Puff
Faction - Puff -> Crystal Elf
Card Type - Minion -> Puff
Attack Cooldown 1.6 -> 1.4
Master Balance
Valorian
Damage boost per Empyrean card in hand 5 -> 3
Volco
Damage 40 -> 50
Burn the Bridges Cost 2 -> 1
Bugs
Reworked the jump and charge animations to ensure Bahra’s beam doesn’t become disconnected from targets.
Updated Cursebearer’s description to reflect the intended interaction with transform effects.
Fixed a bug causing Wreckinator’s self-destruct mode to do more damage with rage.
Fixed Propeller HOrde not getting beserkers rage.
Barrel scrats no longer move faster than normal scrats after their shield is broken.
Changed ghost’s attack type to special so it no longer picks up Volco’s bridge perk.
Fixed a bug causing bats bats bats to spawn the incorrect number of bats if played by two players at the same time.
We fixed the amount of points won/lost in contender not scaling correctly.
Nyrvir’s Breath no longer creates skeletons after breath’s effect has ended.
Misc
Xbox users can now take advantage of Twitch integration. Note that if you previously connected an account, you will likely have to email support@betadwarf.com to switch to a new account.
Christmas decorations have been turned on.
We made some changes to unit collision. Units that are standing still will move out of the way of same-sized units that are moving.
