Paladins – Absolution Patch Notes | Azaan, The Eternal: Unleashing the Flames of Justice!

Introduction

Introducing the latest addition to the realm, Azaan, The Eternal. Once a powerful king of a forgotten kingdom, Azaan has witnessed the rise and fall of countless reigns. Born from the fiery depths of the Pyre, he embodies the essence of persistence and is entrusted with the crucial task of safeguarding the realm from the corrupting influence of the Abyss. Encountering the ancient Pyre Lord is a rare occurrence, as few have survived to tell the tale. Those who have faced Azaan know that his purifying flames spare no one, indiscriminately seeking to obliterate the Abyss. However, recent events have disrupted the delicate balance, causing the Abyss to encroach upon the realm. In response, The Eternal descends from the heavens, issuing a final warning to the realm: confront the Abyss or face the consequences, by any means necessary. In terms of gameplay, Azaan assumes the role of a formidable frontline champion, boasting a health pool of 4500. His passive ability, IRE, adds an extra layer of strategic depth to his playstyle. Get ready to experience the power and resilience of Azaan as he takes on the daunting task of restoring harmony to the realm.

NEW CHAMPION: AZAAN, THE ETERNAL

Once the king of a long-forgotten kingdom, the Eternal has existed to see countless reigns end. Forged in the crucible of the Pyre’s flames as the embodiment of all that Persists, Azaan is tasked with maintaining the existence of a Realm kept free from Abyssal influence. Few still alive have ever had cause to engage with the one of the oldest of the Pyre Lords, but those who have know that his purifying flames care not for friend or foe, only for the complete eradication of the Abyss. Events in the Realm have upset the balance, leading to the Abyss’ influence creeping ever closer, and so the Eternal descends from on high to deliver a final warning to the Realm: deal with the Abyss, or have it be dealt with, by any means deemed necessary.

OVERVIEW

[Role]

• Frontline

[Health]

• 4500

TALENTS

CARDS – WEAPON/ARMOR

CARDS – RECKONING

CARDS – SANCTUARY

CARDS – CONVICTION

COSMETICS

Forgemaster (Limited)

• Unlocked through Season Pass 2021
• This skin will become unobtainable after Season Pass 2021 has finished.

Kingdom’s End

• Can be purchased for 60,000 Gold or 300 Crystals (Season Pass 2021 holders will automatically unlock this skin)

Golden Azaan

• Obtained by Reaching Mastery level 50 with Azaan

MVP POSES

Default Forceful Landing – Available with Season Pass 2021 & Trials of the Realm

EMOTES

Default Adjudicator – Available with Season Pass 2021

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DARK DEPTHS EVENT PASS

Venture many leagues under the waves with our latest Event Pass – Dark Depths! Instantly unlock the Azure Depths loading frame for purchasing, and unlock a total of 24 levels of rewards as you play! Players can also purchase a Buy All option to get all content in the Dark Depths Event Pass instantly!

REWARDS

Instant Unlock

• 50% Experience & Gold Boost
• Azure Depths Loading Frame

Level 6 Unlock – Marauder Tyra

Level 12 Unlock – Sea Queen Saati

Level 18 Unlock – Royal Mark Tyra

Level 24 Unlock – Crimson Tide Saati

OTHER EVENT PASS EXCLUSIVE UNLOCKS

Static Spray – Shallow End (Level 3) Emotes – Birds of a Feather (Level 8) Animated Spray – Big Bite Brody (Level 13) (Free) 3D Spray – Bang! (Level 14) Death Stamp -Jojo (Level 19) Avatar – Sea Queen’s Gaze (Level 21) 3D Spray – Depths of Despair (Level 22) 3D Spray – 20,000 Leagues (Level 22)

TRIALS OF THE REALM

New Trials and rewards await you with the release of the patch! Complete these challenges each week to unlock a variety of cosmetics, currency, and XP rewards.

TRIALS SCHEDULE

• Temple Isles – Unlocks November 10th
• Eastern Reaches – Unlocks November 17th
• Trade Row – Unlocks November 24th
• Abyss – Unlocks December 1st
• Crosswind Hold – Unlocks December 8th
• Warder’s Watch – Unlocks December 15th
• Aico Tundra – Unlocks December 22nd
• Lunar Coast – Unlocks December 29th

UNLOCKS

• 300 Crystals
• 120,000 Gold
• 6x Event Pass Levels
• Event Pass Team Boosters
• Skin Boosters

Week 1 – Tiberius MVP (Engaged) Week 2 – Do the Wave (3D Spray) Week 3 – Azaan MVP (Forceful Landing) Week 4 – Eye Captain (Avatar) Week 5 – Better (Avatar) Week 6 – Lurking (Animated Avatar) & Above the Waves (Spray) Week 7 – Mass of Tentacles (Title) Week 8 – 60,000 Gold

LIMITED TIME MODES

The Absolution patch will feature 5 unique and 3 previously popular modes that rotate throughout the patch cycle. Each week there will be a different limited-time mode available, from midnight Friday until 8 am on Monday, EST. Here’s are some quick previews of what to expect next: Believe It

• Come on down to Believe It, featuring a team of Kogas with increased movement speed and a team of Vatus with increased projectile speed, alongside increased ultimate charge across both teams.

Raumpage

• Wreak havoc across the realm with all players as Raum, featuring decreased CDs across your abilities, and 150% more inhand damage dealt for 5 seconds when you hit someone with your ultimate.

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CUSTOMIZATIONS

Leviathan Yagorath

• Available for Direct Purchase and in Volcanic Islands Chest on November 10th, 2021

Brody the Shark (Mount)

• Available for Direct Purchase and in Volcanic Islands Chest on November 10th, 2021

Salt Io

• Available as Bounty Store Event Pass Exclusive. Also for Direct Purchase and in Good Vibes Chest on November 24th, 2021

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Announcer Pack: Amelia Watson

We have partnered with hololive to bring an Amelia Watson announcer pack into Paladins! In celebration of Amelia Watson achieving 1M subscribers on YouTube, players can earn this announcer pack for free during the Absolution patch by playing 5 matches.

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Dan the Bros Avatar Set

We have collaborated with Community Artist @DanTheBros to bring some avatars of some of your favorite Champions to you in the Absolution Update. Each Avatar will cost 7500 gold to aquire. Keep an eye out for more of your favorite Champions in future updates!

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Community Content

Snuggle Up (Avatar) – Through special weekend reward in December 2021 Making Memories (Spray) – Special drop tbd during Hi-Rez Showcase 2022

CHESTS

Volcanic Islands

Price – 400 Release – November 10th, 2021 Contents:

• Leviathan Yagorath
• Brody the Shark Mount
• Heatsink Raum
• Mayhem Vatu
• Firebrand Tyra
• Lifeguard Tiberius
• Shore Patrol Koga
• Mermaid Ying
• Mernos Jenos
• Solfire Furia

Good Vibes

Price – 400 Release – November 24th, 2021 Contents:

• Salt Io
• Raeve Maeve
• Remix Pepper
• Remix Seris
• Digitized Inara
• Digitized Bomb King
• Genesis Imani
• Ska’drin Ash
• Sparkling Stallion Mount

Into the Vault

Price – 400 Release – December 18th, 2021 Contents: Infiltrator Strix Crime Fighter Sha Lin Covert Ops Lex Omega Koga Star Silver Kinessa Kunoichi Skye

GENERAL UPDATES

Developer Commentary: For this patch, we tried to look at some general quality-of-life features to hopefully make the experience smoother in a variety of ways. ”Brazil” Server Region Renamed to “Latin America South” This was a community request, and one we agreed with. This server is meant to cater to the entire region, but the name only reflected one part of that. Trials Progress in EOML Our UI team has been hard at work to get notifications (or “toasts”) into the end-of-match lobby so you can track your progress on Trials Challenges at the end of your match.

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BALANCE

Haven

• Reduced the scaling {6|12|18}% ➡️ {5.5|11|16.5}%

Developer Commentary: The relationship between Haven and Veteran was too in favor of Haven after the combination of Haven and Blast Shields. This change and the Veteran change should make Veteran a more attractive option by comparison.

Veteran

• Reduced the cost {250|500|750} ➡️ {200|400|600}

Bomb King

• Abilities
  • Detonate
    • Increased size of explosion 11 units ➡️ 12.5 units

Developer Commentary: We noticed Bomb King underperforming slightly. This change benefits his base kit and brings additional value to Royal Subjects.

Fernando

• Cards
  • Towering Barrier
    • Added text to clarify that this card provides benefits when using the Aegis talent.

Developer Commentary: This benefit was already happening, but we wanted to make clear to players that running this card was a valid option when using Aegis.

Grohk

• Talents
  • Spirit’s Domain
    • Increased Healing 700 ➡️ 750
    • NEW: Now also increases max Ammo capacity by 15%.

Developer Commentary: Grohk is viewed as a Champion whose Healing capabilities still fall short of expectations. Additional Healing and additional base Ammo (and therefore more Healing capability) aim to close that gap between expectation and reality.

Lian

• Abilities
  • Valor
    • Reduced range 500 ➡️ 425
  • Grace
    • Reduced range 500 ➡️ 425
• Cards
  • Inheritance
    • Reduce your active Cooldowns by {10|10}% after earning an Elimination.
      • Now only reduces your Cooldowns after earning a Killing Blow, instead of Elimination.
  • Swift Jade
    • Reduce the Cooldown of Grace by {0.5|0.5}s for each enemy hit with Valor.
      • Now has a 4s internal Cooldown before it can provide its benefits again.

Developer Commentary: The current overwhelming sentiment is that Alacrity gets too much value for the effort, and is not fun to play against. These nerfs target some of the biggest culprits of that frustration.

Rei

• Abilities
  • Chain Heal
    • Now prioritizes targets based on the target’s percentage of maximum Health, rather than a flat Health value.
  • Vivify
    • Reduced the Healing done 100% ➡️ 75%
• Cards
  • Refreshing Break
    • Grant 0.4|0.4% Ultimate Charge to each player to which Chain Heal bounces.
    • Reduced Ultimate charge gain {0.4|0.4}% ➡️ {0.35|0.35}%
  • Midnight Stroll
    • Reduce the damage done by any enemy you are linked to with Spirit Link by {5|5}%.
    • Reduced scaling {5|5}% ➡️ {4|4}%

Developer Commentary: Rei’s is a unique Support who brings different tools to the table. Feedback on Chain Heal was that it was meeting expectations for its behavior, which should be helped by the Heal priority change. Vivify is a powerful moment in a Rei’s gameplay, but it was too impactful in some situations. Bringing down its Healing effectiveness is a step towards finding a balance between Rei and her opponents, particularly in 1on1 scenarios. Her card changes address some of the most played and most winning points of frustration in player interactions with her.

Sha Lin

• Abilities
  • Rapid Shot
    • Reduced the Movement Speed penalty 20% ➡️ 10%
    • Increased damage per shot 600 ➡️ 625

Developer Commentary: Sha Lin has been underperforming across all populations. We’re going to keep an eye on him as we make incremental shifts to bring him closer in line with where we expect him to be.

Vatu

• Abilties
  • Kunai
    • Reduced damage 300 per Kunai ➡️ 280 per Kunai
• Talent
  • Enveloping Shadows
    • Reduced scaling 12% -> 10%

Developer Commentary: Though Vatu varies in performance in different populations, he is overperforming on average and is one of the most-banned Champions in Ranked. These changes should help bring him more in line with where he ought to be.

BUG FIXES

Recently on October 7th, 2021 the Evil Mojo team released a hotfix addressing issues in the Trickshot Update. Any of the issues below marked (Hotfix) were what went into that hotfix and are already live.

CHAMPION BUG FIXES

Atlas

• (Hotfix) Fixed an issue with the text display of Atlas’ Unstable Fissure talent.

Dredge

• (Hotfix) Fixed an issue where Bare Bones Dredge had the incorrect weapon inspect animation.

Grover

• (Hotfix) Fixed an issue where Grover’s Crippling Throw ability with the Deep Roots talent equipped was not respecting Immunity to Crowd Control.
• (Hotfix) Fixed an issue where Grover’s Crippling Throw ability was displaying Root VFX on enemies hit with it while the Deep Roots talent was not equipped.

Imani

• (Hotfix) Fixed air control issues with Imani while she was mounted

Makoa

• (Hotfix) Fixed an issue where Makoa’s “Wait” VGS command was playing his “You’re Welcome” voice line

Saati

• (Hotfix) Fixed various issues with Saati’s descriptions being out of date with regards to PTS balance changes.
• (Hotfix) Fixed an issue where players could not equip Saati’s Mastery Title.
• (Hotfix) Fixed a rare crashing issue related to Saati’s Dead Ringer ability with the Improvised talent equipped.

Skye

• (Hotfix) Fixed an issue where the Devilish skin’s Smoke Bomb ability did not display a radius for the ability.

GENERAL BUG FIXES

• (Hotfix) Fixed various performance issues on the Stone Keep map to fix issues with crashing, frame rate drops, and visual errors on consoles and lower-end PCs on the reworked Stone Keep (Day) and Stone Keep (Night) maps.
• (Hotfix) Fixed some map collision issues on the Stone Keep (Day) and Stone Keep (Night) maps.
• (Hotfix) Fixed an issue where we called the Haunted Willo avatar “Willow”. We’re sorry, WilloQuarterBot.
• (Hotfix) Fixed various minor description errors in the End of Match Lobby.
• Fixed various map collision issues on the following maps: Brightmarsh, Splitstone Quarry, Jaguar Falls, Ascension Peak, Frozen Guard, Stone Keep (Day) and Stone Keep (Night)

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PTS CHANGES

BUG FIXES

Azaan

• Fixed an issue where Azaan could not trigger stuns with his dash when aiming between two of his walls
• Fixed an issue where Azaan bot ulting could crash the game
• Azaan’s wall placement for height differences has been improved
• Fixed an issue where Azaan’s attacks did not apply cauterize correctly
• Fixed an issue on gamepad and console where Azaan would not reach full height correctly when his Ultimate was activated unless gamepad controls were touched.
• Fixed an issue where Azaan’s Ad Eternum & Tempering were granting infinite stacks of damage reduction
• Fixed an issue where Azaan’s ire bar was not displayed for gamepad players
• Fixed an issue where Tempering caused Azaan’s Conviction to receive an increased cooldown when above ire threshold
• Fixed an issue where Azaan’s abilities did not receive an augmentation if he was just past the ire threshold.
• Improved timing to the landing of Azaan’s ult and its locking of abilities
• Fixed several instances where Azaan had out-of-bounds exploits.

Octavia

• An exploit that allowed players to gain extra zoom with Octavia (and other ADS Champions) has been fixed

Trials of the Realm

• Fixed an issue where empty notifications would be displayed upon completion of a challenge.
• Fixed an issue where Trials would scroll in the wrong direction when using a gamepad
• Fixed an issue where the reward was not displayed correctly in the end of match lobby

BALANCE CHANGES

Haven

• Corrected text to reflect the change
  • “Reduce the Damage you take from Direct and Area of Effect attacks by {6\12\18} % → {5.5\11\16.5}”

Azaan

• Abilities
  • Judgement
    • Heavy hit
      • Reduced the postfire 1.3s -> 1.5s
  • Reckoning
    • Added a stun when hitting Yagorath
  • Conviction
    • Increased the damage on just hitting an enemy 100 -> 150
    • Increased the velocity multiplier after using Conviction so that players maintain some velocity after the ability ends
  • Sanctuary
    • Increased the benefit for using this above Ire threshold 1.25x -> 1.5x
  • Deliverance
    • Reduced the postfire on the Ultimate landing 2s -> 1.6s
• Cards
  • Ad Eternum
    • Reduced scaling {4|4} -> {3|3}
  • Grim Deliverance
    • Reduces scaling {10|10} -> {6|6}
  • Solemn Watch
    • Increased scaling {6|6} -> {7|7}
  • Duty is a Mountain
    • Increased scaling {0.2|0.2} -> {0.25|0.25}
• Talents
  • Tempering
    • Increase the bonus damage on Reckoning 50 -> 150
    • Increased the effect on Stun for Conviction
      • Into your own wall
        • 2.6s -> 3s
      • Into collision that is not your own wall
        • 1.3s -> 1.5s
      • Hitting Yagorath
        • 0.65s -> 0.7s
    • Sanctuary Ire threshold multiplier increase 1.5x -> 1.7x

GENERAL

• Free Rewards change
  • Players with available ads to view will be able to complete up to 35 views daily, and players who view fewer will resume the reward track where they left off.

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HOTFIX #1

Live on December 1st, 2021

BUG FIXES

• Fixed multiple acquisition issues when obtaining items/skins from Event Pass
• Fixed an issue where the Event Pass level indicated in chat does not properly reflect the users level
• Fixed an issue where Good Vibes chest had the I incorrectly capitalized
• Fixed an issue in Trials of the Realm where the lower UI was hard to read and had overlapping text
• Fixed various audio issues causing players not to hear it properly
• Fixed an issue where Azaan could cancel his ult after firing to skip postfire
• Fixed an issue where Raum’s Cataclysm does not destroy Azaan wall sections
• Fixed an issue using temp names instead of final for DantheBros Avatars
• Fixed an issue where unlocking Reaver Viktor in the Relics of War chest wouldn’t count against the chest total
• Fixed an issue where Tiberius heavy blade and charkrams did not interact with Azaan walls correctly
• Fixed an issue where Azaan could cancel his ultimate and use it again without any ultimate charge loss
• Fixed an issue where Vivian Sigma skin had Sigma used twice in the skin description
• Fixed an issue where unlocking the Pepper skin in the Good Vibes chest wouldn’t count against the chest total

  BALANCE CHANGES

  Azaan

  • Abilities
    • Conviction
      • Increased Cooldown 8s -> 10s
      • Increased Tempering-affected Conviction Cooldown 12s -> 15s
      • Decreased Velocity multiplier 0.7 -> 0.5
  • Cards
    • Solemn Watch
      • Decreased scaling 7|7% ->6|6%
    • Eternal Strife
      • Decreased scaling 100|100 -> 85|85