Paladins – Heart of Darkness Patch Notes | Lillith, the Heartless!

Introduction

Introducing the newest addition to the realm, Lillith, the Heartless. In a world where eternal life comes at a price, Lillith's journey takes a dark turn as she embraces the forbidden. Once a loyal defender of the Magistrate, Lillith's life takes a drastic turn after a devastating encounter with Resistance fighters. Left for dead, she is offered a powerful gift by the Abyss, forever changing her fate. Now, Lillith lurks in the shadows, wielding her deadly Heart of Crimson. With her unnaturally long life and sharp intellect, she moves swiftly, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. Her weapon, a mysterious Cube, unleashes charged bolts that deal a devastating blow to her enemies. Additionally, Lillith possesses the ability to hex foes or allies, inflicting damage over time or providing healing support. Prepare to witness Lillith's reign unfold as she seeks to reclaim the bounteous gifts bestowed upon her. No one will be able to deny her presence in the realm. Get ready to experience a new level of strategy and power with this formidable support champion.

NEW CHAMPION: LILLITH, THE HEARTLESS

What is the value of eternal life? At what point does the cost become too great? Lillith, through ill-fortune and fear, has found herself on the path of this defiled discovery. Once a staunch defender of the Magistrate, Lillith was a confidant and friend of Lian; even becoming a border-lord in the far-off lands over which Lian holds dominion. Yet, this proud life would not last forever. Gravely wounded in a border incursion by Resistance fighters, Lillith painstakingly crawled away from the battlefield, cursing those who brought her to death’s door. What Lillith didn’t know – what she couldn’t have imagined, was that the Abyss would reach out to her and offer her a gift…an offer that was too powerful to refuse. Now, Lilith reigns from her dark corners of the Realm. Aided by her unnaturally long life and keen mind, Lillith dashes from shadow to shadow with her deadly Heart of Crimson: a sinister weapon that swells with unnatural power whenever it tastes the blood of her enemies. Lillith works towards a Realm blessed by the bounteous gifts once bestowed on her… ones that nobody will be allowed to deny.

OVERVIEW

Role

• Support

Health

• 750 + 2500

TALENTS

CARDS – ARMOR / WEAPONS

CARDS – BLOOD HEX

CARDS – DEATH WINGS

CARDS – SWARM!

COSMETICS

Sun Born Lillith(Limited)

• Unlocked through Season Pass 2022
• This skin will become unobtainable after Season Pass 2022 has finished.

Wicked Hex Lillith

• Unlocked through Season Pass 2022
• Can be purchased directly for 300c/60,000g

Golden Lillith

• Reach level 50 with Lillith

EMOTES

Default Machinations – Available with 2022 Season Pass

MVP POSES

Default Transfixed – Available with 2022 Season Pass

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LOST FUTURE EVENT PASS

Save time itself from an even darker future in our latest Event Pass – Lost Futures! Instantly unlock the Corrupted Atlas skin 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 Lost Future Event Pass instantly!

REWARDS

Instant Unlock

• 50% Experience & Gold Boost
• Corrupted Atlas

Level 7 Unlock

• Corrupted Io

Level 21 Unlock

• Vile Atlas

Level 24 Unlock

• Frozen Moon Io

OTHER EVENT PASS EXCLUSIVE UNLOCKS

Level 3 Unlock

• Static Spray – Lost Future

Level 5 Unlock

• Loading Frame – The Maw Hungers

Level 6 Unlock

• Static Avatar – Dark Embrace Io

Level 8 Unlock

• Animated Spray – Swallowed Whole

Level 12 Unlock

• Animated Avatar – Eyes of the Beholder

Level 13 Unlock

• 3D Spray – Terrible Fate

Level 14 Unlock

• Animated Spray – No Escape

Level 17 Unlock

• Static Avatar – Dark Embrace Pip

Level 23 Unlock

• 3D Spray – Shattered Moon

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TRIALS OF THE REALM

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

UNLOCKS

• 150 Crystals
• 100,000 Gold
• Bounty Coins
• Event Pass Team Boosters
• Skin Boosters
• A new Title
• Flair and Style Chests
• Gold Chest

Menu Theme – AmaLee Death Card – The Heartless Announcer Pack – Lian

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LIMITED TIME MODES

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

Bloody Feast

• Lillith v Lillith – Create bloody chaos in this Lillth v Lillith only mode. All damage is increased, Blood Moon recharge rate is increased, and Lillith’s Blood Ammo is never ending. Paint the town red in this chaotic Limited Timed Mode.

Choose Any Ability

• Any Champion, any time. Choose any champion in this frenetic mode – all abilities have had their cooldowns reduced by 35% while Ultimate abilities have been disabled. Spam those abilities in this wild Limited Timed Mode.

Khan’s Despair

• Khan via Lian – Lian has had enough of Khan’s protection, but his regal armor is stronger than she knows. Khan’s health has been increased and his ability cooldowns have been reduced as well. Lian deals more damage and has increased Ultimate charge rate in this explosive Limited Timed Mode.

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CUSTOMIZATIONS

Golden Moji

• Unlocked by reaching Champion Level 50 with Moji

Golden Willo

• Unlocked by reaching Champion Level 50 with Willo

Dragonette Betty

• Available in the Arcane Powers Chest
• Can be purchased directly

Dunestrider Kinessa

• Available in the Diamond Trove Chest
• Can be purchased directly

CHESTS

• Arcane Powers Chest has been expanded to add Dragonette Betty
• Diamond Trove Chest has been expanded to add the following:
  • Dunestrider Kinessa
  • Ice Walker Inara
  • Eternal Retribution Koga
  • Eternal Conflict Lian
  • Eternal Guardian Khan
  • Eternal Fervor Jenos
  • Dark Retribution Koga
  • Dark Conflict Lian
  • Dark Guardian Khan
  • Dark Fervor Jenos

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  GENERAL UPDATES

  Dev Commentary

  • We’ve got a new Ranked Split, a new Siege: Beyond schism, and some long overdue enemy Bots in this upcoming patch! In addition, we’ve added some additional content to the Arcane Powers Chest and the Diamond Trove, and have increased rewards available via Earn Free Rewards! We hope you enjoy them, and definitely let us know what you think of the new variant of Siege: Beyond!

  New Champions added to Practice Queues

  • The following Champions have been added to the list of Bots:
    • Koga, Dredge, Atlas, Io, Raum, Tiberius, Corvus, Vora, Octavia, Vatu, Saati, Azaan, Betty la Bomba

  Increased “Free Rewards”

  • Starting in Lost Future, each video viewed will grant 100→150 Gold. The rotating rewards for every 5th view will change as well:
    • 5th  : Event Pass Booster -> 10 Crystals
    • 10th: 10 Bounty Coins → Flair & Style Chest
    • 15th: 10 Bounty Coins → 20 Bounty Coins
    • 20th: unchanged
    • 25th: 10 Bounty Coins → 20 Bounty Coins
    • 30th: 10 Bounty Coins → 5 Crystals
    • 35th: Event Pass Booster → 20 bounty Coins
  • We’re also enabling a one-time quest to earn at least one Free Reward – so there’s never been a better time to try it out!

  Siege Beyond

  • Welcome to the latest variant of Paladins: Siege Beyond! Similar to the previous schism, the upcoming one will be a new mode where the community can try to give feedback on new experimental mechanics in Paladins before they affect existing game modes. As per the previous one, these changes will not affect Siege: Core, Ranked, or any other game modes, only the new Siege: Beyond.
  • Where our first Schism in Paladins affected the Item Store, the second will be focused on the cart and how it is pushed! Barik has been working on a new Cart design, and it could well be a game changer! All the factions have adopted it, but like many new technologies, there /may/ still be some bugs to work out.

  Schism 2 – Prototype Cart

  • In Siege: Beyond, the initial point is captured normally, and spawns a cart for the capturing team. That’s where things get interesting—the cart will now move forward of its own volition, gaining or losing speed based on how many allies and enemies are in range.
  • So how do the defenders stop the cart’s advance? By destroying it! The prototype is vulnerable to damage from weapons and skills, and after sustaining enough damage, will break down completely until repaired.
  • When a cart breaks down, the pushing team will need to repair it by controlling points (which the defenders can contest) to get the cart back up and running. Depending on how commandingly they do so, the new cart may offer additional advantages once it’s been repaired.
  • As per Siege: Core rules, advancing the cart to the enemy’s base will win the round and earn a point, and the first team to accumulate 5 points wins.

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  RANKED SPLIT UPDATES

  Ranked Split Reward

  • Static Avatar – Queen of the Night
  

  Commendation Reward

  • Animated Avatar – Seeker’s Gaze
  

  Map Rotation

  • Time to spice things up! For this ranked rotation, we will be swapping out Frozen Guard for Splitstone Quarry, and keep the new Warder’s Gate rework out to account for polish. This patch’s casual siege rotation has also been modified to accommodate this change. In other words, while all casual maps will remain playable, some map percentages have been lowered and increased in line with the current ranked rotation and community feedback.

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  BALANCE

  Developer Commentary: In an effort to constantly explore avenues to improve not only in-game content, but the entire Paladins experience, these notes are in a slightly different format than previously, including the current descriptions of most of the cards/talents/abilities being changed. Please let us know your thoughts on this format. Overview: This update has a mixture of overperforming Champions being brought more in line with the rest of the roster, quality-of-life changes for Champions frustrating to play as or against, and buffs or slight reworks to underutilized cards and talents. Some of these changes are a bit more extensive than others, especially when introducing different mechanics or gameplay experiences, but we look forward to gathering all your feedback during the PTS cycle and finding the right spot for this update.

  Azaan

  • General
    • Base Health
      • Reduced 4500 ➡️ 4250
  • Abilities
    • Ire (Passive)
      • Reduced max Damage Resistance at 100% from 15% ➡️ 12%
    • Conviction (Ability 2)
      • Reduced range 50 ➡️ 45
      • Reduced Stun duration
        • Non-talented
          • Against Sanctuary walls 1.7s ➡️ 1.5s
          • Against other surfaces 0.85s ➡️ 0.75s
        • Talented
          • Against Sanctuary Walls 2.55s ➡️ 2.35s
          • Against other surfaces 1.275 ➡️ 1.175
    • Reckoning (Altfire)
      • Reduced lift duration 0.3s ➡️ 0.25s
    • Deliverance (Ultimate)
      • Increased damage on landing 150 ➡️ 250
  • Developer Commentary: Azaan remains the Champion with the highest ban rate in ranked matches and a general sentiment of frustration playing against him. We hope to preserve the sense of agency Azaan players experience, while targeting his survivability at base and his utility to bring him into what we hope is a healthier spot to play against.

  Barik

  • Abilities
    • Barricade (Altfire)
      • Increased base Health 3750 ➡️ 4000
  • Talents
    • Tinkerin
      • Current: Modify your Blunderbuss to fire a single slug that deals 535 damage.
        • Increased damage 535 ➡️ 550

  Betty la Bomba

  • Abilities
    • Grenade Launcher (Inhand)
      • Added rate of fire to description
      • Added max Ammo to description
    • Explosive Personality (Ability 2)
      • Decreased damage per jump 300 ➡️ 235
    • Long Live the Queen (Ultimate)
      • Increased damage 1700 ➡️ 1900
      • Increased riding speed 70 ➡️ 80
      • Increased missile speed 70 ➡️ 80
      • Now locks you in place in the air during initial buildup
  • Talents
    • Gotta Bounce
      • Cooldown reduction 6s ➡️ 5s
  • Cards
    • Eureka Moment
      • Decreased amount of damage needed to generate Ammo {2500|-200} ➡️ {2000|-200}
    • Labor of Genius
      • Old: Increase the time before your Inhand Grenades explode by {10|10}%.
      • New: Hits with Grenade Launcher increase Reload Speed by 5% for {0.5|0.5}s, stacking up to 3 times. Additional hits refresh the duration.
  • Developer Commentary: We’ve heard the sentiment is that Betty la Bomba has a few aspects that are misaligned with the rest of her player experience. Namely, her Ultimate felt underwhelming, and her mobility can be frustrating to play against. Her Ultimate is receiving some quality of life buffs, including the ability to remain in the air where she uses it, whereas her mobility with Gotta Bounce is being brought down as well. Additionally, we’re tuning up some of her cards that didn’t quite perform as well as others.

  Furia

  • Talents
    • Exterminate
      • Current: When Pyre Strike hits an enemy champion it stops moving until it ends and deals 75% more damage to enemies under it.
      • New: When Pyre Strike hits an enemy champion it stops moving until it ends and deals up to 100% more damage to enemies under it, increasing based on the number of hits they take.
  • Cards
    • Devout Dexterity
      • Current: Generate {1|1} Ammo after earning an Elimination.
      • New: Regenerate {1|1} Ammo every 0.5s for 1.5s after earning an Elimination
    • Light Forge
      • Current: Hitting Kindle Soul increases your Movement Speed by {8|8}% for 1s.
      • New: Hitting Kindle Soul increases you and your target’s Movement Speed by {scale=5|5}% for 1.5s.
  • Developer Commentary: Exterminate is a talent that can is very sensitive to balance, quickly shifting between too powerful to seemingly useless. This change is meant to reward players who ensure enemies are stuck in the beam of death, while preventing it from feeling like an overwhelmingly frustrating ability to play against. We also see a few underutilized cards changed to help them find a place in your loadouts.

  Grohk

  • Talents
    • Totemic Ward
      • New: Now also increases the radius of Healing Totem by 25%.

  Jenos

  • Talents
    • Binary Star
      • Increased rate of fire from 1 every 0.5s ➡️ 1 every 0.45s New: Now reduces your maximum Ammo to 10.
  • Cards
    • Penumbra
      • Reduced Lifesteal percentage {7|7} ➡️ {5|5}
    • Lorentz Configuration
      • Current: Increase your maximum Ammo by {2|2}.
      • New: Increase your maximum Ammo by {10|10}%.
  • Developer Commentary: These Jenos changes are a different take on reducing the pain points of Binary Star without players feeling it has lost its value as a talent.

  Khan

  • Abilities
    • Bulwark (Altfire)
      • Increased base Health 4250 ➡️ 4400
  • Talents
    • Lian’s Shield
      • New: Now also increases the base recharge rate of your shield by 20% (for a total of 120% of non-talented base)
  • Developer Commentary: Khan has had a difficult time standing toe to toe with other Champions’ ability to prevent damage with Shielding. These changes should bring him a little more in line with his competition, especially when running the Lian’s Shield talent.

  Kinessa

  • Talents
    • Eagle Eye
      • Current: Change Sniper Rifle to have increased Fire Rate, Charge Rate, and maneuverability while scoped, but reduce the damage per shot.
      • New: You can have two additional Oppressor Mines out at one time and you throw out two Mines per use of the ability instead of one.
  • Developer Commentary: We have heard from the majority of players who find the Eagle Eye’s rework has, overall, felt underwhelming. We will continue to seek out efficient ways of providing interesting or unique playstyles for Champions, and this rework places more of an emphasis on Kinessa’s capacity to toss out mines. We’ll keep an eye on this to make sure it’s not TOO Oppressive, though.

  Mal’damba

  • Abilities
    • Mending Spirits (Altfire)
      • Now refunds some Cooldown if you miss
  • Cards
    • Pungent Gourd
      • Current: Heal for {90|90} after activating Gourd.
      • New: Increase your Allies’ and your Movement Speed by {5|5}% while in your Gourd and for 0.5s after leaving it.
  • Developer Commentary: Missing Mending Spirits never felt good. However, investing significantly into Eerie Presence means losing out on other opportunities in the loadout. This change aims to alleviate some of the frustration of missing your Mending Spirits while also opening up an opportunity for a more diverse loadout. 

  Pip

  • General
    • Reduced head hitbox size by approximately 15%
  • Developer Commentary: “The time had finally come.” – Neco

  Saati

  • Abilities
    • Hand Cannon (Inhand)
      • Decreased damage per shot 550 ➡️  530
  • Pips (Passive)
    • Reduced recharge rate 1 per 2.5s ➡️ 1 per 2.65s
  • Blast Back (Ability 2)
    • Increased range 45 ➡️ 55
  • Developer Commentary: Saati is currently overperforming. Blast Back had a range that wasn’t initially consistent with the intended range on release, so this is addressing that issue, but an overall decrease in capability to use her abilities and a nerf to her damage output should bring her more in line with the rest of the roster.

  Seris

  • Abilities
    • Rend Soul (Ability 1)
      • Increased Cooldown 6s ➡️ 7s
      • Increase damage 80 ➡️ 90
      • Increase healing received 8% ➡️ 12%
    • Convergence (Ultimate)
      • Can now reactivate this ability to detonate it in mid-air
  • Talents
    • Agony:
      • The current effect is now applied at base.
      • New: For each stack of Soul Orb detonated by Rend Soul, your next Restore Soul ignores 5% of Antihealing (excluding Willo’s Dead Zone) up to 25% (5 stacks) for up to 8s.
  • Developer Commentary: Seris is a Champion who embodies Support for a variety of players, including those newer to Paladins. We want Seris to have her own niche and be viable at all levels, but not oppressive in the hands of the most skilled or so weak that she never sees play beyond a certain skill level. This particular change is one we very much need feedback on during the PTS cycle to help gauge her viability in general and with regards anti-antihealing.

  Strix

  • Abilities
    • Stealth (Ability 2)
      • Increased Stealth resource consumption per second 10 ➡️ 12

  Vatu

  • Abilities
    • Kunai (Inhand)
      • Increased effective range 75 ➡️ 90
      • Increased the minimum damage done at maximum range 50% ➡️ 65%

  Yagorath

  • General
    • Reduced base Health 6000 ➡️ 5750
  • Abilities
    • Devour (Ultimate)
      • This ability now has a minimum range of 50
      • This ability can no longer miss under normal circumstances
  • Developer Commentary: Another change that requires significant feedback from players is this change to Yagorath’s Ultimate. She is now required to be a minimum distance away from an enemy before she can use her Ultimate on them, but (under normal circumstances) if she sees the brackets indicating a valid target for her Ultimate and uses it, the ability will hit and the Ultimate will begin. We anticipate further numbers changes during PTS after this change.

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  BUG FIXES

  Champions

  • Azaan
    • Fixed an issue where Azaan’s Ultimate, Deliverance, would allow him to teleport to locations outside of the playable map space on certain maps.
  • Drogoz
    • Fixed an issue where Drogoz’s Fusillade talent was providing increased damage on indirect Weapon Shot hits.
  • Kinessa
    • Fixed an issue where Kinessa’s HUD overlay for her Sniper Mode ability was slightly off-center.
  • Strix
    • Fixed an issue where Strix’s HUD overlay for his Scope ability was slightly off-center.
  • VII
    • Fixed an issue where VII’s Grappling Hook ability would not activate properly if there was an ally between VII and the wall to which they were attempting to grapple.
    • Updated several of VII’s cards to fix typos and make their text more consistent with other cards in the game.
  • Vora
    • Fixed an issue where Vora’s Tendril ability would not activate properly if there was an ally between Vora and the wall to which they were attempting to grab.

  General

  • Fixed an issue where muting another player in game would not mute their voice chat. (This was fixed over the weekend in Live, so you don’t have to wait for the patch for this fix!)
  • Fixed an issue where small sections of the Spawn Room on Frozen Guard were not being treated as though they were within the Spawn Room.
  • Fixed an issue where the announcer would play their variant of “The match is about to begin” in Team Deathmatch after the match had already begun.
  • Fixed an issue where projectiles would fall through the cracks of the stairs near the dock on Brightmarsh.
  • Fixed an issue where the forcefield in front of Timber Mill’s upper Spawn Door would not disappear on Round Start.
  • Fixed an issue where Frozen Guard had an invisible wall alongside the payload push path that could not be fired through.
  • Fixed an issue where the “Equipped” text would not appear in certain circumstances on equippable items in the Match Lobby.
  • Fixed various UI issues with scrolling between different segments of the Event Pass track.
  • Fixed an issue where a skin’s preview voice lines would play when selecting non-skin items in the Event Pass track.
  • Fixed an issue where currency values would not fit in the Purchase button UI on the Crystal Purchase menu when using certain currencies.
  • Fixed an issue where Announcer Packs would play preview voice lines in other pages of the Accessories menu.

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PTS BALANCE CHANGES

Cassie

• Crossbow (Primary Fire)
  • Reduced projectile speed by 5%

Furia

• Exterminate (Talent)
  • Tweaked numbers to properly reflect the new balance change
    • Enemies gain 1 stack per hit, increasing damage taken by 0.2 per stack. Maximum 50 stacks. Starts at 50% increase.

Jenos

• Binary Star (Talent)
  • Increased fire rate 1 shot per 0.45s → 1 shot per 0.4s
• Astral Mark
  • Increased initial Healing 300 → 330
  • Increased Healing every 1s 200 → 220

Kinessa

• Oppression (Talent)
  • Oppressor Mines with this talent now have a maximum Lifetime of 6s

Lillith

• General
  • Decreased the contribution of Healing to Ultimate charge rate by 10%
• Heart of Crimson (Primary Fire)
  • Increased fire rate 1 shot per 1.15s → 1 shot per 1s
  • Increased the size of the projectile by ~15%
• Blood Hex
  • Increased Cooldown 2.5s → 4s
  • Decreased percentage of current Health done as damage to enemies per tick 2% → 1.75%
  • Increased maximum Healing per tick for marked allies 550 → 600
  • Reduced range 100 units → 85 units
• Swarm
  • Increased range 65 units → 85 units
  • Increased duration 3.75s → 4.25s
  • Reduced Healing for first stage 90 every 0.25s → 75 every 0.25s
  • Reduced Healing for second stage 125 every 0.25s → 105 every 0.25s
  • Reduced healing for third stage 180 every 0.25s → 160 every 0.25s
  • Increased cost 750 → 825
• Death Wings
  • Increased air control by 50%
  • Increased damage after reactivating this ability 175 → 225

Mal’Damba

• Mending Spirits
  • Clarifying the new automatic Cooldown reduction on miss
    • The Cooldown of Mending Spirits is reduced by 1.75s if you fail to hit an ally
• Cards
  • Eerie Presence
    • New:  Generate 0.25% Ultimate charge every 1s for {1|1}s after hitting an ally with Mending Spirits

Seris

• Agony (Talent)
  • Increased the duration of the buff on your next Restore Soul 8s → 10s
• Soul Collector (Talent)
  • Reduced maximum Stacks 15 → 12
• Rend Soul
  • Reduced duration of new base Stun on 4 stacks 1.5s → 1s
• Cards
  • Wickedness
    • Reduced Cooldown scaling {0.4|0.4} → {0.35|0.35}

Yagorath

• Sight Begets Strength (Talent)
  • Now increases the Cooldown of Primal Vision by 2s
• Devour (Ult)
  • Decreased time until target starts getting pulled 1.5s → 1.1s
  • Increased base pull speed 335 ft/s → 350 ft/s
  • Decreased time after reaching Yagorath until you are eaten 3s → 2.75s
  • Increased base Ultimate Health 3300 → 3500