Patch 2.3

**Patch 2.3** is one of the Patches in the game Orcs Must Die! Unchained. It is also known as Endless Summer.

## Patch notes

### Overview

It’s patch time again! Lots of exciting changes this time around, and by that I mean the most exciting change of all time: ENDLESS MODE! It’s up to 5 players, co-op, holding out against unending hordes of minion waves. So sit back and kick up your defense heels.

There’s also a new game mechanic being added (to custom games only right now), Neutral Objectives. Both teams fight to capture points to unlock the coveted boss slots!

Here’s some other stuff:

* Fire DoTs now stack if they are from different types of sources!
* Bot Hogarth!
* Lots of bug fixes. Seriously. Lots.
* Play Screen Overhaul!
* Hero Select Screen Overhaul!
* New Smolder and Hogarth skins!
* Changed the names of Game Modes!

### Game Changes

* Our classic 5v5 game mode has been renamed to ‘Siege’. You can now play Siege (5 humans vs. 5 humans) or Siege Co-op (5 humans vs. 5 bots)
* Endless has also been added as a game choice, which will be 5 humans.
* All three game choices have separate queues.

### Heroes

#### General

* In-Game Level cap increased to 10, with requisite health and damage increases. You do not get an extra Weaver tier at level 10.
* Simplified targeting reticles for all characters.
* All heroes except Stinkeye have had their health reduced by 20%, Stinkeye has had his health reduced by 15%. This to comepensate for other balance changes.
* Heroes at Battle Level 1 now grant half the experience for dying, compared to a Hero dying at Battle Level 10.

#### Blackpaw

* “Leap!” distance and jump speed reduced by 20%

#### Cygnus

* Rift Shards now have rift lightning by default.
* Rift Shards no longer accelerate mana and healing when not taking damage. They now restore health and mana when the Rift Shard is not attacking.
* Rift Shard bug fixes.

#### Dobbin

* “Mineshaft Shortcut” ability tunnel health reduced by 33.3%.
* Constructing a “Mineshaft Shortcut” ability tunnel no longer requires you to be out of combat, but is canceled upon taking damage.

#### Gabriella

* Bug Fix: “By My Command” now always fires off.
* “By My Command” area has been reduced to match visuals.

#### Midnight

* Vital Strike” ability damage increased to 20% of the target’s health, up from 15%.
* “Vital Strike” ability can only hit one target at a time.

#### Smolder

* Bug Fix: “Heart of Flame” ability now gives its intended 15% movement speed bonus.
* “Heart of Flame” ability no longer gives fire immunity.
* “Channeling Dragons” ability can now be used while jumping.
* Unique Trap: Naptha trap now reduces fire resistance by 30 points, down from 80.

#### Stinkeye

* Demotivation Weaver upgrade now increases Totem of Speed slow by 20%.
* Totem base health increased by 25%.

### Maps

We are constantly working to make the art, lighting, and performance better in the maps, through a zillion little fixes and adjustments that we don’t always list. Here’s the main stuff

#### Cliffside Clash

* Added Neutral Objective spaces to the map
* Removed the awkward jump along cliffside escapes
* Performance improvements

#### Highlands

* Duplicated into a second version specifically for Endless mode.

#### Unchained Fortress

* Art updates
* Adjusted War Camp positioning
* Performance improvements

### General gameplay changes

* Fire DoTs now stack, UNLESS they are from the same source. So two brimstone traps will not stack, but a Brimstone trap DoT and a Fire Arrow Wall trap DoT will.
* Early game respawn times have been reduced to 5s.
* Traits have been tweaked.
* Kill credit is calculated differently. Who gets an assist in what situation versus who gets the kill now has an additional absolute scaling factor based on level of the victim.
* XP for player kills is now dependent on each player’s relative level.
* Channeled abilities have had an fx and functionality overhaul. Abilities like teleport ring and Dobbin’s “Mineshaft Shortcut”, that take a moment to fully realize, now have a new visual bar indicating progress. They also all work the same in terms of how they can be interrupted or restarted.
* Rift Healing is an area heal, instead of the health-lightning.
* Chat swear filter has been fixed to no longer censor partial words.

### PVP Gameplay

#### Neutral objectives

* This is only available in custom games right now.
* There are two neutral objective spots on the map. During certain waves, these spaces unlock and can be captured by teams.
* Teams can capture and re-capture points until one team has control of both points at the same time.
* Once one team has control of both points, the boss slot in a War Camp unlocks. That team may now slot a Boss Card, which will spawn the next wave.

### PVE Gameplay

#### Endless mode

Let’s talk a little bit about this now. In Endless, you can team up with up to four other players, online or in a party. It sets you up in a fortress and you must build traps to defend against waves of minions that will be headed to your rift. This is a lot like old school Orcs Must Die!

* All players will spawn in, and will be given a short period of time to set up their initial trap box.
* When players are ready, they press ‘G’ to ready up, and once all players are ready, the wave launches.
* KILL ALL THE THINGS!
* Unchained Meter!

* + This is a new mechanic. By getting combos (killing minions in conjunction with traps), your team fills the ‘Unchained Meter’. When this bar is full, you become UNCHAINED! Being Unchained increases your damage and reduces your cooldowns for a few seconds. It also gives you a bump of mana and health!
	+ Offense Heroes contribute more to the Unchained Meter, and will stay Unchained longer once it triggers!

* After a few waves, new War Camps will open, and send multiple lanes of enemies. Work together to fend off the hordes. The game is over if 25 Rift Points worth of minions make it into your Rift.
* If you die, you have the option to buy back in immediately with Coin earned in game!
* Leadership isn’t needed, so you won’t be earning any in this game mode.
* There are various special waves and sometimes bosses that will spawn.
* Your hero will level up to Battle Level 20… but the Weaver upgrades still stop at Level 8, just like in normal PvP.
* Endless is only available through matchmaking for right now, but party support will come later.
* Clearing Wave 12 in Endless Mode is considered a ‘win’ for Hero Victories!
* There is a leaderboard so you can see how your score compares!

#### Wall Blades

* Damage increased by 6%.
* Cooldown increased by 20%.

### Minions

* Damage of all non-hunter and non-boss minions reduced by 33%.
* Level 1 Soldiers and Bears, Level 3 Giants, and Level 4 Trolls will spawn slightly more spread out among the wave.

#### Hobgoblin Shamans

* Health increased to 300, up from 200.
* Heal increased to 120 health per second, up from 100.

#### Dwarf Shamanas

* Shield duration increasted to 4s, up from 3.5s.
* Health increased to 200, up from 150.

#### Medium Soldiers

* No longer have Control Effect resistance.

#### Ranged Minions

* Now shoot through allies.
* Now have a minimum range.

#### Order Mages

* No longer cancel their attack when damaged.
* Shots can now pass through barricades.

#### Bulgod

* Health increased to 3500, up from 2500.

#### Tiklik and Vitality

* Health increased to 2500, up from 2000.

#### Orfum

* Health reduced to 3000, down from 4150.

#### PVE

Introducing new minion types for Endless mode!

* Dwarf Grenadiers.
* Cyclops Mage.
* Forest Giants.
* New Boss! “Dread” is an armored orc that will only appear in PVE.
* New Boss! “Sarge” is a heavily armored soldier that will only appear in PVE.

### Guardians

* Guardians take 25% damage from players, down from 50%. (Players do less damage to Guardians.)
* Guardians now take additional damage as the match progresses.
* Guardian Armor aura increased to 150 units, up from 100.
* Guardian and gate health has been adjusted to compensate for damage changes.
* Various bug fixes.

### War Camps

* All War Camps have a default wave in them. Opening a second or third War Camp will automatically distribute the first wave if you don’t get cards slotted in time.

### Bots

* Bots now receive trickle XP.
* Bots correctly receive leadership.
* Bots are now chosen based on character in the character screen (Bot Ivy, Bot Sorceress, etc)- but when they load into a game, they display their old team names. (Tanithbot, Fishbot, etc). Sir Winston is Doughbot.
* We added a new bot! Everybody welcome Sir Lancebot, AKA Bot Hogarth.
* Improvements to Bot offense/retreat parameters.
* Bot Bloodspike (Fishbot) was removed from rotation.

### UI

* The lower left and lower right HUD elements have been swapped. Look for Weaver upgrades on the lower left!
* ‘Guardians Remaining’ for each team is now displayed.
* New Kill message splashes in the center of your screen.
* Removed ‘Incoming Wave’ messaging from center of screen.

#### Minimap

* Guardian Health is now shown on the minimap. The Guardian head fill color will deplete.
* Glyph Spaces are now displayed on the minimap.

#### Dashboard

* New Play Screen! This should help guide players to the types of games they desire playing. Cooperative games like Siege Co-op (5vBots) and Endless are listed under the ‘PvE’ tab, while competetive Siege (5v5) online play is located under the ‘PvP’ tab.
* New Hero Select Screen for all gametypes. You now select your Hero, then your deck, then your trait build and you must do all these things in order to lock in your Hero. No more accidentally forgetting one of the above!
* Team Chat is now built in to the visible space in all phases of Hero Select. No more having to show/hide the chat panel.
* All opponent information (including bot information) is hidden (no icons, no names, etc) when in the Hero Selet screen of any game.
* Dashboard bug fixes.

### Matchmaking

* Always tweaking. We want to make sure everyone gets the most sensible matches as fast as possible

### Visuals and Performance

* New setting for Texture Quality. Texture Quality can now be set to ‘low’ to improve performance.

### Store updates

* The New Smolder and Hogarth skins will be available in the Shop! Keep an eye out for “Beached Bod” Hogarth and “Kill-auea” Smolder!