• (Bugfix) Fixed portal near Forge preventing multiple players from using it in quick succession.
  
• (Design Change) Added a ramp in place of box jumping leading up to the upper floor from the Payload Path in the middle area of the map

• (Bugfix) Fixed portals near the center of map preventing multiple players from using it in quick succession.

• Reduced maximum general magnetism by 20%.
  
• Added general magnetism to the following Champions:
  • Ash
    
  • Bomb King
    
  • Cassie
    
  • Dredge
    
  • Drogoz
    
  • Evie
    
  • Inara
    
  • Maeve
    
  • Makoa
    
  • Mal’Damba
    
  • Pip
    
  • Seris
    
  • Sha Lin
    
  • Vatu
    
  • Vora
    
  • Willo
• Reduced bullet magnetism by 25% on the following Champions:
  • Koga
    
  • Lex
    
  • Talus
    
  • Tyra
    
  • Viktor
    
  • Vivian

In our continued investigation of Aim Assist, we’ve discovered a number of inconsistencies and problems with our current implementation. Back in the Dark Tides update (1.6), we implemented a new (for the time) Aim Assist system that made it easier to customize settings on a Champion-by-Champion basis while standardizing how Champions receive it. However, as the team evolved and changed over time, these specific practices and assumptions about the game became less and less true. One of these core assumptions was that projectile Champions do not benefit from AA, but this isn’t accurate. Characters as old as Grover and as new as Caspian have had Aim Assist magnetism (i.e. a pull towards a character’s center mass when your reticle is very close) while other projectile characters listed above have not. In order to improve on these systems in the future and carry forward that original goal of a standard players can rely on, we’re doing a large reset. All Champions will now have the same benefits from Aim Assist magnetism; however, the maximum strength of Aim Assist magnetism has been reduced by 20% across the board. In practice, Paladins will still feel good on controller and these specific Champions should feel better to play on controller.

Moving forward, our goals will be to measure specific pain point characters and adjust them up or down to provide a comfortable and fair play experience. We’re starting with the select group of Champions that are receiving focused bullet magnetism nerfs (i.e. how generous we are when their reticle is near the head of a target). Outside of these specific adjustments, we’ll continue to watch the ways controllers perform between PC and Console respectively to ensure that crossplay environments like Ranked are given more integrity and even play across the Champion roster. We plan to take a look at Aim Assist tracking next (e.g. how much the reticle follows targets in motion) since we know that has been a source of frustration as well. We’ll keep players updated on our progress!

• Increased health from 4250 ➡️ 4500

• Sanctuary
  • Reduced cooldown from 13s ➡️ 12s
• Conviction
  • Reduced cooldown from 10s ➡️ 9s
• Reckoning
  • Reduced cooldown from 10s ➡️ 9s

Azaan has persistently remained in the bottom percentile of our Frontlines, glory days long behind him. We’re giving him some general quality of life improvements to his cooldowns and health to give him a bit of a bump.

• Gotta Bounce
  • Removed penalty to Movement Speed.

• Poppy Bomb
  • Reclassified as a Movement Ability, now affected by Cripple.

• Updated all Default Decks

• Everywhere at Once
  • Cooldown: 5s permanently ➡️ 8s affected by CDR.
    
  • Now also gives Caspian 1 additional charge on Deadly Momentum.
    
  • Now also heals Caspian for 200 Health on hitting an enemy with the dash portion of the ability.
    
  • No longer grants Momentum stacks on hit.
• It's Got Some Heft
  • Reverted to original release version

Measured Cadence is by far Caspian's highest pick rate and win rate Talent, while his other two Talents share below average rates. So, we’re taking a shot at reverted It's Got Some Heft & improving Everywhere at Once as we continue to work on making our devilish rogue the most devious he can be. Everywhere at Once had a strong upside, permanently setting Deadly Momentum’s cooldown to a low value - but that wasn’t enough to justify the choice. It's difficult to ask Flanks to directly engage enemies with their ability generally saved for retreating, especially when the upside of 1 stack per hit wasn’t valuable enough to expend the cooldown. We’ve taken the Talent and moved some of the values around, keeping its identity relatively similar to previous where it encourages aggressive use of Deadly Momentum. With an additional charge and heal-on-hit, it gives Caspian an aggressive initiation tool without neutering his escape.

• Blast Shot
  • Removed Poison effect.

• Entropic Breach
  • Now also Heals Allies for 15% of maximum Health on initial target and 6.25% every .5s they remain in the area.

Entropic Breach has always been a bit unimpactful outside of the most specific moments, and Corvus often finds himself in a position where his team dies if he tries to properly utilize it. The Abyss has decided to grant him another boon, allowing him to heal his Allies within just as much as he harms his foes. Now, this Ultimate can more easily allow for some saves and pushes from your team and makes its presence on the battlefield more important.

• Blossom
  • Increased passive healing from 70 ➡️ 80
    
  • Increased active initial burst heal from 500 ➡️ 700

• Whirlwind
  • Now also provides 25% Movement Speed for 4s to allies affected.

• NEW: Wisps of Sylvanus
  • Blossom’s passive aura now also provides 15% Movement Speed.
    
  • Replaces Rampant Blooming.

• New Default Deck for Wisps of Sylvanus
  
• Gentle Breeze now also affects Grover

Grover finds himself at a crossroads, where on one side lies Talents rife with utility and the other lies Rampant Blooming being the only way for him to have impactful healing on his own. After a lot of thought, we wanted to try something new for him. Blossom is being brought back up to its potency felt previously but Rampant Blooming is no more, instead replaced by a Talent all about being an anchor for the team’s buffs. This means Grover’s healing is only augmented by Cards now, allowing us greater control of his output and allowing more room to balance him in a way that allows him to stay relevant across his Talents. Whirlwind is also gaining an even more powerful Movement Speed increase throughout its duration, offering him another reason to utilize his Ultimate in the late game regardless of Anti-Healing.

• Increased base movement speed from 355 ➡️ 370

• Spirit Traps
  • Reduced initial reveal distance from 100 ➡️ 40 units
    
  • Reduced full reveal distance from 40 ➡️ 20 units
    
  • Increased damage from 100 ➡️ 200
• Savage Tear
  • Increased bonus damage per stack of Curse from 20% ➡️ 30%

• Essence Drain
  • Reduced scaling from 2|2% to 1|1%

Kasumi is slowly sneaking into a place we’re happy with, but she’s still lacking some of the speed and burst many associate with our Flanks. We’ve brought her base movement speed up to the middle of her adoptive class, alongside a buff to Savage Tear to allow it to be weaved better into a combo while adjusting Essence Drain to compensate. The largest changes we are making are to Spirit Traps, increasing their damage and making them much harder to spot before you’re in the effective range. They now share the same detection distance as Stealthed enemies and once you fully see them, that’s a sign you’re in the blast zone!

• Sniper Rifle
  • Decreased charge time from 1.2s ➡️ 1.1s.

• NEW: Crystalline Battery
  • Oppressor Mines now target you to supercharge, healing you for 25 every .2s and providing 100% increased Jump Height. Carbine Mode gains 15% damage while supercharged.
    
  • Replaces Octopressor.

• New Default Deck for Crystalline Battery

Kinessa is still performing well above where she had prior to her refresh, but we’d like to continue to iron out pain points players feel as and against her. We’re bringing a little bit of speed back to the Sniper in exchange for removing Octopressor from her Talent lineup, replaced by a complete 180 on her usual gameplan with them. Now, they will empower her with a damage amp on her Carbine Mode, making her able to duel in medium ranges. We’ll continue to look into other changes on her as needed!

• Stamina
  • Koga now regains 1 Stamina for every 100 damage his Submachine Guns deal to Health.
    
  • Decreased passive Stamina regen from 9 per second ➡️ 6 per second.

• Hellkite Claws
  • Each subsequent pierce now deals 30% less damage, minimum of 200.

• Dragon Stance
  • Removed Movement Speed bonus
    
  • Reduced time to enter Dragon Stance from .425s ➡️ .22s
    
  • Reduced time to exit Dragon Stance from .85s ➡️ .44s

• NEW: Bullet Time
  • Supercharge your reflexes after using Shadow Step, increasing your fire rate and movement speed by 15% for 2s.
    
  • Replaces Adrenaline Junkie.

• Swift Hands
  • Reworked to “While in Dragon Stance, gain 4|4% Movement Speed.”
• Updated Adrenaline Junkie Default Deck
  • Now called Bullet Time
    
  • Replaced Trespasser 1 ➡️ Something to Prove 1

Koga has been ripping and tearing his way through matches, consistently performing very well compared to other Flanks. We’re tweaking him across the board to give us more design space going forward - as well as to alleviate some pain points when playing as and against him.

We’re moving Adrenaline Junkie into base at a weaker level to smooth out his game flow, since that Talent felt necessary more often than not to facilitate optimum Koga. Hellkite Claws have been a persistent damage tool since its buff, making it frustrating to fight against as Koga cleaves through an entire team. To keep its utility but reel in the obscene DPS it can pump out, each projectile will do less damage per penetrated enemy, making it less oppressive when engaging a group. Finally, we’ve added a new Talent in Bullet Time. This incentivizes aggressive use of Shadow Step during fights to boost your damage, but comes at the cost of a precious resource. Watch your timings and you’ll come out alive, just don’t get greedy!

• Increased Blood Health from 2500 ➡️ 2600

• Swarm
  • Duration increased from 5.75 ➡️ 6s
    
  • Blood cost reduced from 350/650 ➡️ 325/600
• Death Wings
  • Blood cost reduced from 280 ➡️ 250

• Reworked Cursed Accord Default Deck

• Cursed Accord
  • Reworked to: “Blood Hexed allies ignore damage resistance up to 10%. Heal an extra 250 Blood Health when a Blood Hexed ally eliminates an enemy.”
• Maelstrom of Carnage
  • Increased Blood Cost reduction from 25% ➡️ 40%.
    
  • Increased radius bonus from: 30% ➡️ 40%

Since her release, Lillith has had some serious ups and downs. Specifically downs looking at the past couple months, fighting tooth and claw for her current position as second worst support in the roster. Keen to rise from the dead, we’re giving her some love to most of her kit. With Blood cost reductions across the board, on top of a bit of extra Blood Health, Lillith will be able to stay in a fight and do her job for much longer. We’ve also reworked Cursed Accord, this time giving it a powerful effect of damage resistance penetration, turning her into a Champion supercharger that you’ll be smart to focus ASAP.

• Street Justice
  • Now also provides a 20% increased Ultimate charge rate.

• Mending Spirits
  • Reduced cooldown forgiveness on missed target from 1.75s ➡️ 1.25s

Mal’Damba has been finally performing at a level that feels befitting his reputation as an honest Support…maybe a bit too easily though. This change is aimed at raising the floor higher slightly by being harsher when players miss his heal while not hampering his optimal play.

• Royal Presence
  • Increased DoT from .175% ➡️ .2% of Max Health
    
  • Removed Poison lingering after targets exit the effect aura

• Marksman Rifle
  • Increased minimum hip-fire accuracy from .80 ➡️ .85
    
  • Increased maximum hip-fire accuracy from .85 ➡️ .95
    
  • Fixed an issue where Octavia’s fire rate was faster than intended.
    • Increased postfire delay from .15s ➡️ .2s
  • Reduced recoil & screen shake on fire from 3.5 ➡️ 1.0

• Commanding Leap
  • Now places a rally point on landing at base, providing 250 instant healing & 25 every .15s to yourself and allies within. Rally point lasts 1.5s.
• Distortion Field
  • Cooldown reduced from 18s ➡️ 16s.
    
  • Allies have 300% increased Jump Height when initiated from within the dome.
    
  • Enemies within also have their air speed reduced by 15%.

• NEW: Got Your Six
  • Increase the duration of Commanding Leap’s rally point by .25|.25s.
    
  • Replaces Clean Shots.
• NEW: Forward Operating Base
  • Allies within your Distortion Field now have 4|4% Crowd Control Reduction.
    
  • Replaces Priority Requisition.

• NEW: Paratrooper
  • Octavia now can float for 4s, gains 50% air control and deals 10% bonus weapon damage while in Commanding Leap.
    
  • Replaces Hell or High Water.

• New Default Deck for Paratrooper

Octavia misses seeing frequent deploys, so we wanted to revisit her kit and try to inject more fun into the average game for her. She’s by no means weak but generally a lot of players struggle to find something in her kit that excites them enough to play her, so these changes aim to shift her power in ways that allow her more to play with. Firstly, her Marksman Rifle has had a pass on how its gunplay feels. Her hipfire has been retuned to be much more manageable if you pace your shots, allowing more time outside of scope. When in scope, you’ll now suffer from significantly less screen shake & visual recoil which helps her feel like the trained shooter she is. Commanding Leap has Hell or High Water coming into base kit, making one of our simplest abilities into one that has a lot more utility and enhances her hybrid Damage-Support identity. Distortion Field is also finally living up to its name, distorting gravity for those inside. Everyone within will have gravity and jump height distorted, and enemies will suffer their Slow even while in air. Finally, her Cards and Talents have seen some adjustments to allow these additions to shine. Paratrooper turns a weak spot for her into a strength once more, giving a powerful amount of damage output when she leaps into action!

• Advance
  • Now can be fired while stationary to boost upward.

• Aerial Assault
  • Altered to “Advance now has 3 charges.”
• Flux Generator
  • Decreased bonus Shielding from 1500 ➡️ 1000

Ruckus is performing well at the higher levels of play, but outside of that space he’s struggled to be picked and utilized. Aerial Assault has always been something that makes Bolt feel better to pilot around in, so we’re shifting the best part of it into base to both help how Ruckus feels but also allow for more Talent diversity than he currently sees. Flux Generator, however, feels a bit too potent compared to the others without a nerf to its Shielding bonus so we’re proactively tuning that down as well.

• Internal Torment
  • Updated description to state she Reveals the target to her team.
• Forsake
  • Cooldown reduced from 3s ➡️ 2.5s

We’re still watching the short and long-term on both of these Talents before we look to shake Seris up again. Internal Torment is having its functionality clarified better (i.e. it already did this teamwide Reveal) and Forsake is receiving a small buff to its cooldown to give it a better chance at keeping up with other burst options across the Support class. We’ve been listening to the discussion around her across social platforms and will continue to iterate without taking away the approachability that has made her Paladins' most played Champion.

• Talon Rifle
  • Now ignores up to 10% of targets' damage resistance when fired from stealth.

• Roost
  • Increased charge rate bonus from 10% ➡️ 30% per level.

• Crack Shot
  • Pistol no longer fires 40% slower.

Snipers fill an important niche in FPS, serving as counter to aerial superiority and picking off stragglers of poor team coordination. That can be frustrating to fight against however, and so we’ve had to be careful over our patches when altering snipers. We’re taking a pass at Strix to fill out the fantasy of lying in wait and securing a high-value kill, while still keeping him fun to fight against with decent counter play.

Most significant of these changes is firing from Stealth now pierces up to 10% of damage resistance - giving Strix a way to alleviate one of his hardest counters at the cost of using his Stealth. While this may seem extreme, it elevates Veteran as a counter item, since if you don’t have DR, nothing changes in the engagement with Strix. Not to mention he’ll almost be guaranteed out of Stealth energy if he's constantly dipping into it for the piercing, so take that opportunity to sic your Flank on this defenseless fowl.

• Burst Mode
  • Increased damage from 150 ➡️ 160
    
  • Decreased effective range from 110 ➡️ 100
    
  • Decreased max range from 200 ➡️ 175
    
  • Decreased minimum damage after falloff from 50% ➡️ 40%

• Grappling Hook
  • Decreased range from 140 ➡️ 110 units
    
  • Decreased cooldown from 14s ➡️ 12s
    
  • Increased pull strength from 1325 ➡️ 1650
• Explosive Dodge
  • VII now has .25s of damage immunity when he starts to roll.

• NEW: Execute Article VII
  • Decree 77 now targets the closest enemy with laser lock-on. After .8s, your eye blasts them and deals 1000 damage in a 20-unit radius. Anyone hit is Executed if below 25% after.
    
  • Replaces Overcharged.

• New Default Deck for Execute Article VII
  
• Terror
  • Reworked to “Gain a 50|50 Shield for 4s after using Grappling Hook. ICD of 5s.”

Here we go again. VII has been a unique addition to the Flank class, and a perpetual challenge to balance in a way that feels fun for the player and fair for the opponents. We took a longer step back from his kit and are now reapproaching with a different outlook. Our goals with these changes is to simplify VII into the core of his identity: best in class movement, ambush-style engagement, and cooldown management. Burst Mode is being brought up in damage but down in range, bringing him closer to his peers when it comes to effective dueling range. (We’re aware this leaves Automatic in a weird spot, we plan to address this in a subsequent update). We’re also hitting the maximum range on his Grappling Hook, but allowing him more access to it. We’re also standardizing his pull speed at around Terror 3 to start, allowing us more control of how fast his peak movement is. Explosive Dodge is getting a unique effect inspired by Raum’s favorite game genre: immunity for a small window on dodge. This allows VII some neat tricks for those skilled enough to pull off timings.

We also went back to the drawing board on Overcharged, and after weighing the options have reimagined Decree 77 into a new, more thematic Talent. Execute Article VII allows him to access a Tribunal staple Execute via lasering down targets with his eye. Note that this Execute procs after the damage of the blast, meaning it can confirm into itself when used correctly. Terror, meanwhile, is being reworked to give VII some added survivability on hook, allowing him more options on which Cards he wants for sustain.

• Veracharger
  • Decreased minimum accuracy from .95 ➡️ .92
    
  • Increased accuracy lost per shot from .02 ➡️ .025
    
  • Reduced number of shots before accuracy decay from 5 ➡️ 3

While Talus remains mainly a Champion whose dominance is most felt on a controller, his weapon has a bit too much forgiveness regardless of input, especially during Overcharge. These changes are designed to ask Talus to be a bit more focused when aiming during the ability as well as spraying for longer durations without pausing. We’ll continue to look into his performance across inputs and platforms for further adjustments!

• Kunai
  • Reduced damage from 310 ➡️ 280
    
  • Increased fire rate from 1s ➡️ .9s
    
  • Reduced time for reload pre-load from .9s ➡️ .6s
    
  • Increased time for reload post-fire from 0 ➡️ .3s

• Dash
  • Removed DR

• Enveloping Shadows
  • Shifted to “Reduce the Cooldown of your basic abilities by 3% for each Kunai that hits an enemy.”
    
  • Removed ICD.

We heard loud and clear that the Kunai changes from Tidal Surge simply weren’t it for high level players, so we’re reverting those back to their previous values. As a part of this, we decided to adopt a popular community request for him to aid the fluidity of play: animation canceling his reload. This allows him to now use Shadow Bombs & Dash to finish reloading once he’s passed .6s of his reload time, raising the skill ceiling a little bit more for him. Speaking of raising his skill, we’ve removed the DR from his dash at base to push him to use Cards for his survivability. Finally, Enveloping Shadows is losing its ICD but now requires players to land more Kunai to reap the full reward of his cooldown reduction.

• Burst Mode
  • Decreased hipfire recoil from 1.75 ➡️ 1.25
    
  • Decreased accuracy loss on hipfire from .1 ➡️ .015

Burst Mode has a specific issue when it comes to useability on KB&M, so we’ve adjusting the hip fire to be significantly more controllable and allow those on the input a better experience on this Talent than previous obtainable.

• Light Machine Gun
  • Removed camera shake while Vivian is using Precision Sights.

The latest innovation in Deepwerks technology allows Vivian to use her optics to focus beyond any felt recoil from her Light Machine Gun, encouraging its use when you need an added bit of control to decimate your opponents.

• Tendril
  • Now has 2 charges at base.
    
  • Increased cooldown from 10s ➡️ 12s

• NEW: Parasitic Pull
  • Tendril can now target allies. Hitting allies with Tendril provides them double your Tendril Card effects. Hitting enemies with Tendril deals 225 damage over 1.25s.
    
  • Replaces Relentless Presence.
• New: Eclipsed Affection
  • Reduce Obliteration's Cooldown by 2s, and by 50% after earning an Elimination. When used at max Darkness stacks, deal an additional 100 bonus damage.
    
  • Replaces Deafening Silence.

• New Default Decks for Parasitic Pull & Eclipsed Affection

The Maw holds many emotions, and none are quite as potent as jealousy. Watching VII fling himself around has pushed Vora to embrace her corruption further, unlocking new potential. Tendril now will have 2 charges at base, allowing her more mobility at base without relying on her Ultimate. In addition, we’ve taken her two infrequently used Talents and replaced them with devastating new options. Parasitic Pull allows Vora to utilize her unique launch tech on allies as well, providing them strong Shields or DR from her Cards before diving onto opponents. Eclipsed Affection, meanwhile, allows Obliteration to chain together combos and Eliminations that will hopefully one day finally let her triumph over Io.

• Passive: Pixie Dust
  • Given a unique name & description
    
  • After 4 seconds of use, Willo’s fall speed reduction decreases from 90% to 75%.

• Blast Flower
  • Reduced maximum stacks from: 4 ➡️ 3.

Willo has experienced a resurgence in popularity (and win rate) now that she can hover above and rain fairy-death on her foes. She's having a little too much fun with this, and fighting her can be a frustrating experience, so we’re adding a caveat to incentivize her touching down every so often and offer an opportunity for counter-play. Similarly Blast Flower has been performing really well, too well, but we like the new popularity it has garnered. We’re giving it a slap on the wrist to bring down the overall power while keeping the playstyle intact.

• Fixed an issue where the Aim Assist Strength setting didn't affect tracking.

• Event Pass timers are currently stuck at 0. OG Street Style ends December 11th and Street Style: World Tour ends February 5th.
  
• The new skins A-pose when previewed in the Event Pass screen.
  
• The Event Pass panel in the Store is using the wrong art.