DLC "Elves of Amberwald" + Free major update (Apocalypse 2.0) patch notes!
Hello Heroes!
Today's the day: Elves of Amberwald is available! And, as we previously announced, we're releasing a FREE update that brings a complete rework of the Apocalypse system, the essence rerolls, and a LOT of balancing.
And now... You've been waiting for it: the BIG changelog for this new version!
CHANGELOG
tl;dr:
Addition of the "Elves of Amberwald DLC"
Apocalypse 2.0
Essence rerolls
Weapons Balancing
Perks Balancing
Bugfixes & QoL
GENERAL
Apocalypse 2.0
Completely reworked the Apocalypse system: players can freely activate whichever Apocalypse modifiers they want, each of them increasing the Apocalypse Level by a certain amount.
Multiple new Apocalypse modifiers have been added, and some of them have multiple degrees of difficulty the player can choose from.
Players unlock the Apocalypse system with a base pool of modifiers. New modifiers can be unlocked by beating a map on Apocalypse Levels 6, 16 and 32. Players who had already beaten apocalypse levels will start with a certain level of progression, depending on the highest apocalypse level they beat.
A new menu, dedicated to selecting apocalypses, has been added.
The description of achievements concerning Apocalypse levels have been updated to match the new system
New achievements have been added for beating maps with 12 different modifiers and beating any map with 16 different modifiers.
Essence Rerolls
After completing all other base game Favors, players can now unlock “Essence Rerolls”, allowing them to reroll Perks, Level Ups and Item Rewards in exchange for Tainted Essence.
Other
The bonus experience granted to the killer of an enemy is now called “Killer Bonus”. This is used to clarify what perks affecting the Killer Bonus actually do.
Obstacles present at map start (like Lampposts and Rocks) do not block construction on adjacent tiles anymore.
Dwarves can now also be tossed using catapults
Dwarves now have a minimum Move Points limit of 4 and a maximum limit of 12
Reduced the amount of Action Points spent needed to unlock DLC Weapon variants (applies to Elves of Amberwald AND Dwarves of Runenberg).
After unlocking medals, a medals-only slot is added to the shop.
BALANCING
WEAPONS
Physical weapons
Axe
Base Damage at level 0: 65-97 -> 69-105
Great Axe
Base Damage at level 0: 82-123 -> 82-136
Rage (Skill 3):
Buff: +25% Damage (2 Turns), up to +35% -> +30% Damage (2 Turns), up to +40% at level 5
Old Effect: Unlocks the Cheer skill, allowing to Buff the Damage of an ally. (1-10 Range, +15% Damage) -> New Effect: At the start of the Heroes’ turn, the Hero automatically casts Cheer on the closest allied Hero, buffing their Damage. (1-15 Range, +15% Damage)
Cherry Picking
Reliability bonus: +40% -> +75%
Fatality
Perk effects changed.
Old effect : Unlocks the Fatality skill, allowing to Execute any enemy in melee range under 10 Health. This threshold is increased by 3 for each Level of the Hero. -> New Effect: Unlocks the Fatality skill, allowing to Execute any enemy in melee range under 15 Health. This threshold is increased by 1 for every 1% Physical Damage after 100%.
Steady Aim
Skill Range bonus: +1 -> +2
Perseverance
Perk effects changed.
Old Effect: Every 2 attacks from the Hero dodged by at least one unit: Restore 1 Action Point. +5% Accuracy (2 Turns) -> New Effect: Once per turn, when an attack from the Hero is dodged by at least one unit: Restore 2 Action Points. +10% Accuracy (2 Turns).
Tier 2
Crippling Punch
Now has an additional effect:
Every 1 enemies killed using Crippling Punch, its base damage is increased by 1. The amount of enemies to kill to get bonus damage is increased by 1 every 100 bonus damage obtained.
Defensive Training
Description changed to clarify the effects of the perk. The effects remain unchanged.
New Description : Enemies killed by defenses now grant the Killer Bonus to this Hero.
Tier 3
Initiator
Removed the –10% Damage malus.
Longer Weapons
Perk effects changed.
Old Effect: +2 Skill Range. -15% Reliability. -> New Effect: +2 Skill Range. When attacking a unit at a distance of 5 tiles or less, the attack gets: Unreliable x1,5.
One by One
Damage bonus per killed enemy: 4% -> 7%
Damage bonus per killed enemy (melee): 6% -> 10%
Damage cap: 60% -> 80%
Damage lost on hitting a non-isolated unit: -6% -> -4%
Quantity vs Quality
Perk reworked.
Name changed to “Quality over Quantity”
New Effect: All of the Hero’s Propagation Bounces is transformed into Propagation Damage (conversion rate: 800%). Increases Maximum Propagation Damage to 150%
Resupply
Perk reworked.
Name changed to “Manual Control”
New Effect: When the Hero is next to a Catapult, Ballista or Trap, unlocks a special skill allowing to use the effects of that defense.
Runic Gift
Is now a Tier 4 Perk
Sadist
Is now a Tier 4 Perk.
Shorter Weapons
Perk effects changed.
Old Effect: -1 Skill Range. +15% Accuracy. +20% Reliability -> New Effect: -2 Skill Range. When attacking a unit at a distance of 2 to 6 tiles, the attack gets: Undodgeable.
Toxic Leech
Range: 5 -> 6
Health Restored: 2 -> 3
Tier 4
Bully
Is now a Tier 3 Perk
Critical Power malus: -15% -> -10%
Epidemic
Perk reworked. Old Effect: When applying Poison to a unit, also apply Contagion (2 Turns). -> New Effect : Every 3 enemies Poisoned, apply: 30 Poison (2 Turns) and Contagion (2 Turns) to the closest enemy without Contagion in a range of 10.
Field Study
Now has an additional effect:
Increases Maximum Skill Range to 16.
Mana Shield
Is now a Tier 3 Perk
Specialist
Damage Bonus: +50% -> +40%
Additional uses on skills: +1 -> +2
Additional uses now only apply to main hand weapon skills
Tier 5
Don’t Panic
Perk effects changed.
Old Effect: When attacking a tile located inside the Haven, the attack gets: +10% Accuracy. +30% Perk Damage. -> New Effect: When attacking a tile located inside the Haven, the attack gets: Vision. Cannot damage friendly buildings. +10% Accuracy. +30% Perk Damage.
Surgical Strike
Perk reworked.
Name changed to “Surgical Strikes”
New Effect: After attacking and killing an enemy unit that was at full Health and at a range of 5 or more, the Hero's next skill costs Move Points instead of Action Points, at 1.5x the original cost (rounded up).
While the Hero has 3 Move Points or less, Skills will cost Action Points, but the effects of the perk will not be consumed when using a skill.
Dwarves Perks
Bodycount Contest (Dwarves of Runenberg DLC)
Description changed to clarify the effects of the perk. The effects remain unchanged. New Description : As long as there is a Hero in a range of 12: Killing an enemy grants +120% Killer Bonus.
In Elves of Amberwald, you will fight in the sacred forest of Amberwald alongside Elves against hordes of monsters, including an exclusive boss that was never seen before...
A new map to defend: Amberwald
A new race is joining the fight: Elves!
3 new weapons: Claws, Boomerang, Sacred Flower
New defenses: Seeds
We also want to thank our amazing beta testers who broke played the DLC a few weeks ago and gave us invaluable feedback!
FREE PATCH - Apocalypse 2.0
That one was a HUGE work for us. We basically broke the current apocalypse system and created a new system that we're calling the "Apocalypse 2.0"
This new system will allow you to tailor the apocalypse level on any map, providing a personalized challenge. No more one-size-fits-all—adjust the difficulty as you see fit!
Apocalypse 2.0 will be released alongside the DLC 2 on April 22nd.
FREE PATCH - BASE GAME BALANCING
One of the most requested change to bring to The Last Spell was some base game balancing. As you can imagine, this is a lot of work, but we felt that it was necessary.
To tease you about them:
Weapons balancing
Perks balancing
Dwarves Perks balancing
QoL & Bugfix
Apocalypse 2.0 and the base game balancing will be released alongside the DLC as a free update, so all players will have something to look forward to!
New Mode: Boss Rush!!
You asked for it, we listened!
We know a lot of you were asking for building rotation! … Well, that one is hopeless…
But, we know a lot of you were also asking for a playable version of the tutorial map. You know, the one called Runenlicht. No, was it Lakewald ? No, no, something with “Gl…”, Glentberg ? Gloomfein ? Goldenburg ? Lakeborg ? Rumenberg ? Amperwattz ? Ah, here, found it, Swampfurt! Regardless, the base version of Swampfurt was a bit too short for some of you.
We present to you: Swampfurt 2.0
Before today, no one could actually protect Swampfurt (except maybe a wall of 40 Ballistae). After the 2nd night, the Magic Circle would die no matter what, and players would meet the two mysterious beings for the very first time, and then they were never supposed to go back.
We know a lot of you were frustrated that you can’t go back to Swampfurt later in the game. Well, we made the decision of allowing you to revisit Swampfurt in a VERY special way that you’ll probably (maybe, hopefully)~cheese with hand crosbows~~ love. love.
We thought:
Players want to go back to Swampfurt
Players loved the bosses of the game
Players abuse the corpse strat love corpse piles and want 80% of the map to be Haven tiles
So, why not have both?
Introducing… A boss rush in Swampfurt!!
That’s right, all the bosses you all learned to love (and kill) are joining the party!
Harpies
Cetusias
The Dryad
The Archivists
The two final bosses
And since we know fighting each boss separately is a bit too easy for you, we’ve prepared a VERY special night, but we’ll leave you the pleasure of discovering it by yourself :eyes:
……
And now… APRIL’S FO…
…
…
You thought this was just an innocent April’s fools fake blogpost and that we didn’t actually do it, right? Well, just try to go to the special “NEWSWAMPFURT” branch, and you will see…
How to switch branches?
Head over to:
TLS in your Steam Library
Settings
Properties
Betas
Copy/paste this code in Betas to get access to the DLC branch: looflirpassoB
!!WARNING: ABOUT THE SAVES!!
This will be on a separate branch. That means that you will NOT be able to use your save as it is currently for this branch. To use your current save:
In your local files, head over to %Appdata%/../LocalLow/Ishtar Games/The Last Spell/Save/Steam/[YOURSTEAMID]/
Go to the profile you want to use
Duplicate the "AppSave.bin", and rename the new file to "AppSaveBeta.bin"
ONLY USE A DUPLICATE OF YOUR FILE. DO NOT DIRECTLY RENAME YOUR SAVE FILE, or you will NOT be able to re-use it on the main branch after.
Happy fighting!
DLC 2 Blogpost: discover the new map, Amberwald!
Hello Heroes!
We hope you’re okay! :) Spring is here, which means we’re VERY close to announcing the release date of the new DLC, along with the Steam page, and… the actual release. We thank you for your patience, it will be worth it ;)
So, regarding the DLC, we already talked about the new weapons, the new race… what else? Ah that’s right: the new map. THE one place where those damned mages will still be struggling to summon that last spell. (No, this will unfortunately not be a beach DLC where heroes are just having fun on the beach as they play volleyball with the clawers). Let’s talk about Amberwald, the 8th map that we’re making for The Last Spell!
Amberwald
As an elven-themed DLC, you will fight in the forest of Amberwald. Located not too far from Glenwald (yeah, we miss those dryads too), this sacred forest is a biiit special. Directly connected to the Elves, they say that this forest has a very mysterious amber. What does that mean?
The main theme, as you may have guessed, was that this map needed to have a “forest” theme, but different than Glenwald. You will notice huge roots that are running beneath your Heroes' feet. Some say those roots have a deep and ancient connection to the magic that lies in the forest. The mages may be risking it all, but that may be their safest bet to cast the Last Spell.
Sprouts
Amberwald is alive... It knows your Heroes (and the mages) need to save the world from the Apocalypse, and will help you with all its centuries-old powers. At night, the forest wakes up and will defend against anyone trying to attack it or the people inside.
Living Hardwood Sprouts
They can grow into Living Hardwood, an indestructible wooden wall blocking Vision. When it grows, it will kill any monster on the tile.
Living Thornwood Sprouts
They can grow into Living Thornwood, an indestructible wall of thorny wood, blocking Vision and attacking monsters. Also, when it grows, it will kill any monster on the tile.
Amber-Infused Sprout This is the last type of sprout and is very special. It reacts to the mages casting the Last Spell. It will protect your heroes when they’re in its area. Also, rumor has it that if you protect them long enough, they will help you in a very different way when you need it the most…
Introduction of new Seeds
In the new DLC, you will also be introduced to new seeds! They will be a new defense mechanic that will help you turn the tide of the battle.
Snake Seeds. Those seeds will have 2 different effects:
Poison: all units surrounding the seed will be poisoned
Contagion: when the unit dies, the negative alterations (including poison) will be applied to 2 adjacent units
Falcon Seeds can be used at night to deal damage to isolated enemies:
Multi-hit X3
Isolation: more damage to isolated enemies!
Undodgeable
And the skill doesn’t require a direct line of sight to the target!
Abalone Seeds purge enemies of their bonuses and leave them vulnerable:
Will decrease their resistance for a given duration
Will remove all positive alterations
And doesn’t require a direct line of sight to the target!
Also, the range for this one is huge!
One final note: the seeds is a brand new defense for the game, and will also be available for other maps!
An Epic Conclusion
As usual, the last night of this map will be a very special one with a new boss mechanic that makes for an epic finale. This time, we’re introducing the Gangrenous Fleshclouds, that will challenge your wits to destroy your magic circle. ALERT: SPOILER! So only clic on it if you’re not afraid of a spoiler about its design ;)
Fun fact: the concept for the boss of Amberwald is actually heavily inspired from a very early and unused (until now) concept for The Last Spell that was made in… 2019!
What better way to destroy a forest than… from the sky? We won’t tell you too much about the boss in itself, but just know that they’ll stop at nothing to attack your magic circle, and there will be lots of them. However, don’t think for one second that the forest will let itself be destroyed without fighting back. Protecting the sprouts during the nights before will definitely be worth it.
Aaaand that’s it for today! I think we talked about all major stuff that will be in the DLC!
Next blogpost will very likely be the release date announcement! And we still need to talk about the free patch that will bring the much anticipated Apocalypse 2.0 as well as some balancing on the base game that we know you’ve been asking for a long time. (we will buff the hand crossbow (it’s a joke, please don’t hurt us)).
A The Last Spell themed plush - We want YOUR opinion!
Hello Heroes!
Spring is finally here! Which means... The new DLC for The Last Spell will VERY SOON be here!
In the meantime, we need YOUR opinion on a very important question...
A Plush for The Last Spell?!
Having a plush for The Last Spell would be VERY cool, wouldn't it?
However, we want to make a plush that not only we like, but that is also exciting for the community.
This is why we're asking YOU: what kind of plush would you like to have in your room, as it watches you get annihilated in Glinftein?
We have narrowed down to 5 choices:
A mage
One of the goddesses
A clawer
A boomer
Cetusia (not a 7m plush though)
If you want to vote and discuss with other players, please head to our Discord server
Thank you!!
New game announced: Dead in Antares
Hello Heroes!
We hope you're okay!
Before we worked on The Last Spell, our previous game was Dead in Vinland, that we released in 2018 (nearly 8 years ago!). Dead in Vinland was a mix of survival and management mechanics with RPG features, and we could never have made The Last Spell without Dead in Vinland.
Working on The Last Spell has been amazing for us developers, but we didn't want to abandon our belloved "Dead in" series, as making a third game (in space!) was always in our plans. And last night, we've announced a new game in the series: Dead in Antares
Dead in Antares is a turn-based survival management game with RPG elements, set on an alien planet. Lead a crew of survivors sent on a mission to save humanity. Manage their needs, strengthen their teamwork, and explore this mysterious world to find a way back home.
If you want to know more about it, we wrote a little blogpost to introduce you to the game: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2511800/view/508448342467937205
And for those worried about The Last Spell: we're working on both games at Ishtar Games (one team is working on TLS, and one team is working on DiA, so nothing changes on that side ;)
If you liked The Last Spell, you will definitely find a lot to love in Dead in Antares. A sense of doom and gloom, lots of UIs, RPG mechanics, challenging but not unfair... Sounds familiar, doesn't i? ;)
So definitely add it to your wishlist!
Take care! <3
DLC 2 Blogpost: New Weapons!
Hello warriors!
The release of the new DLC is approaching, slowly but surely… (this spring!)
A very closed beta is taking place as we speak to get some feedback before the release. We’re very happy, because most of the design choices are proving to be a success with players! And we still got some time to make some tweaks to make sure everything is ready for the release.
Today, our main focus will be about WEAPONS. In this Elven DLC, there are 3 new weapons that you’re going to be able to use! They bring even more strategy to the game. (but we know SOME of you will just play the map with punches only, so…).
Claws
Claws are a 2-handed melee weapon focused on isolating targets and killing them. Their weapon perk, Blood Drinker, allows the Weapon to temporarily gain Multi-hit on all attacks after hitting a certain number of isolated units.
Tearing Grasp is a flippable skill, a new feature introduced in this DLC. It can hit up to 2 targets for a single Action Point, allowing you to create isolated targets or activate Blood Drinker.
Sharpen Claws is a simple buff that gives Physical Damage and Reliability. Reliability is important on Claws, as the damage range of this weapon is very high.
Shadow Steps is a Maneuver skill that allows you to move wherever you want in a certain range, and also deal heavy damage to a target.
Piercing Claws is an AoE skill that is great for creating isolated targets, but can also be insanely strong when combined with the Multi-hit of Blood Drinker.
Boomerang
The Boomerang is a one-handed ranged weapon focused on stunning enemies. Its weapon perk, Strong Throw, will send bonus attacks -named "Ricochets"- at stunned enemies after each Boomerang skill you cast.
Precise Targeting is a multi-hit skill that has a chance to stun enemies. This attack easily lets you stun multiple enemies to activate Strong Throw.
Crescent Swing is an AoE attack that can hit and stun many enemies for a low cost, but has a very specific shape, making it harder to use. To compensate, the skill has Vision, allowing you to hit enemies behind Trees or other Obstacles.
Painful Spin is a large AoE attack that can stun even more enemies, allowing to clear through a mass of enemies at once, and trigger many Ricochets. However, it can only be cast in cardinal directions, making positioning key when using this skill.
Sacred Flower
The Sacred Flower is a two-handed magic weapon focused on poison. Its weapon perk, Blight Blossom, builds up stacks of Plague every time the Hero uses Sacred Flower skills. Plague stacks grant bonus magic damage, but also increas the damage of Cleansing Spores. But be careful : if the Hero is hit by an attack while having Plague stacks, they will cast a botched version of Cleansing Spores, poisoning the Hero.
Death Flower is a single target skill that also poisons 3 adjacent targets. It can quickly poison many enemies.
Cleansing Spores is an ability with multiple effects : it applies poison to enemies in a large AoE, depending on how many plague stacks you have, but also removes any negative alterations on the Hero and removes any stacks of plague.
Contagious Pollen is both a mobility skill, and the first weapon skill in the game that can apply contagion. Since the Sacred Flower has a relatively low skill range, you can use it to get into the midst of battle, but also to get out of it and not trigger Blight Blossom by getting hit.
Petal Storm is a very large damaging AoE spell. It also removes any debuffs from the enemies it hits, which can be very useful against some enemies. Thanks to its very high AP and Mana cost, you can use this skill to build up a lot of Plague stacks at once, if you have the resources to do so.
We hope you’ll find fun and creative ways to use those new weapons!
The new weapons will be available in the DLC 2 of The Last Spell, coming out this spring!
Sign up for the closed Beta of the upcoming DLC for The Last Spell
Hello Heroes!
As you already know, the upcoming new DLC for The Last Spell is coming very soon, and we're looking for players to try it for our next Beta Test!
It will be a very closed beta, we're looking for ~50 players to playtest the upcoming DLC content and help us iron out the last details before release in the next few months.
We hope you’re alright! :) We’re VERY happy to finally have the very first blogpost about the upcoming DLC, and this time, it's all about NEW race for The Last Spell: elves! We’re now putting the last touches on this DLC, betatesting, localizing, and we will sooooon be ready to release it. We’re also incredibly excited by this DLC, as we will also have a free update for the much-anticipated Apocalypse 2.0, that some of you got to try last month!
We also want to thank you for the nice love and support you’ve all been giving us throughout the years. We read every single of your message, positive and negative, and we’re working hard on making the game even better! We hope you’ll like what we have planned for the future of The Last Spell.
Elves are just one part of the upcoming DLC for The Last Spell (releasing this spring!!), and they will be our very first focus!
Elves, the Protectors of Nature
In the world of The Last Spell, elves are NOT the social/fun ones. They would rather live with their dear forest and never hear about any other race or being. Legends say that elves used to be so strong, a few of them was all it took to annihilate an army of hundreds of humans trying to destroy their dear forest. That’s how strong they were.
When the Cataclysm happened, they all thought they could at least save their dear forest. After all, wasn’t it their mission in this world?
Naturally, some of the surviving elves tried to eradicate those monsters by themselves to restore the forest. Not that they didn’t know about the plan to cast the Last Spell. But they had no faith in those “useless, incompetent mages who can’t even defend themselves”, and quite a lot of them would rather have died than fighting alongside… “inferior races”. But when they saw the vision of the forest completely lifeless and corrupted, most of the surviving elves lost their reason. They got mad and ran into the mist in a vain hope they could still restore what was lost forever. Of course, they were never seen again.
So, the few elves that were still alive did something they did NOT want to do. But if it meant saving their forest, they were willing to do whatever it took. They reached out to humans and dwarves, and reluctantly asked for help. But don’t believe for one second that they’ve become team players or anything that sort. They will just be as arrogant as they used to be. You’ll meet Elves in the city of Amberwald for the very first time in DLC 2.
As you can see, elves are PROUD, FIERCE, and LOVE nature beyond reason. They will do whatever it takes to protect it. Nature is not just their homes. It’s part of them. They believe it’s alive, and must be protected at ALL COSTS.
One thing the elves hate is weakness. You know about survival of the fittest? Well, elves believe in survival of only the strongest. Weak ones shouldn’t have their place in this world.
But even the strongest of them might not be enough against those damned monsters…
New Perks
You know the drill, a new race means NEW PERKS! One thing we like to do for The Last Spell is making perks match the nature of their race. For the Elves, we kept in mind 3 main characteristics about them to define their perks:
They’re HUNTERS. They consider themselves to be the protectors of nature. And they WILL protect it, killing any soul that would have the audacity to think about hurting nature.
Deadly Ranger grants Critical or Critical Damage to a Hero depending on what weapons they have equipped, allowing Elves to become strong assassins.
They’re AGILE. Elves have high mobility, and dodging attacks is never an issue for those arrogant warriors.
Flicker Strike grants bonus damage to skills using Maneuver or Follow, depending on how far the target is. This encourages playing around mobility, which Elves already have a lot of.
They HATE anything that changes their dear nature. Venturing beyond the town walls strengthens them, making them deadly hunters. They THRIVE outside the city.
Into The Wild is the native perk of Elves, granting them a malus to damage when inside the Haven, but a bonus to Accuracy when outside the Haven.
Those are just a few of the perks that elves will be able to get in the upcoming DLC!
Are you looking forward to playing with the elves in The Last Spell?
Next time, we will tell you more about the mysterious new town: Amberwald, and its many secrets…
See you, Heroes! <3
Hotfix 1.1.6.4
Hello Heroes!
A new hotfix is available for The Last Spell!
Corrected the "Visionary" achievement to be sure it count all the used omens.
