Year 6: Lost Horizons Season 2

## Curse of the Scarab

> *"In a far corner of the world, legends speak of a bracelet, passed down from one pharaoh to the next. It was said the bracelet could restore life; erased from history, faded from memory. Now, I have fount it! With the bracelet, I bring glory to Valkenheim once more! Yet in it's wake, darkness spreads! What have I unleashed!?"*
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> *"Death made manifest. There is no glory here. No victory! What have I unleashed!?"*
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**Lost Horizon Season 2**, named "Curse of the Scarab," is the twenty-second season of the ongoing Faction War. After years of seeing his village suffer from misfortune, a fearless Raider leader, Bolthorn Raven-Hands, embarked on a quest to restore his clan's glory. He searched far and wide for a cure to his people's suffering, eventually happening on the distant lands of the pharaohs. There, he found the greatest of prizes, a relic said to harness powers that promise prosperity: the Scarab Bracelet. Now, gaze upon what is the actual "cursed" power that the bracelet holds, and how it affected this great Viking lord and his people in the years to come.

## Overview

> In the wake of the Great Cataclysm, a terrible curse descends over Heathmoor thanks to the unwitting actions of the Raider, Bolthorn. Who will save the people from this terrible fate?
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In the aftermath of the Great Cataclysm, the fearless Raider, Bolthorn Raven-Hands, embarked on a quest to restore his clan’s glory. Long had his people known hardship, and he journeyed to distant lands in search of treasure that might ease their suffering. No prize was so great as the Scarab Bracelet. The crowning jewel of a lost civilization, the relic’s magic promised to fill Valkenheim’s tables with meat and mead once more. And so, Bolthorn betrayed a friend to steal it.

On his return, an odd sickness took hold of the Viking. Fell omens seemed to stalk his every step. Strange weather ravaged Valkenheim and the land’s meagre harvest withered. The phenomena spread across Heathmoor, its people falling like grass before the scythe. Doomed to deliver death rather than salvation, Bolthorn tried to cast off the Scarab Bracelet to no avail. It had found a new home.

## Features

### Justice of the Pharaohs

To save his struggling clan, the Raider, Bolthorn Raven-Hands, journeyed to the ruins of a desert kingdom and stole the Scarab Bracelet. The relic was said to bring long life and prosperity to the Pharaohs – but, unknown to Bolthorn, the jewel doomed any mortal who would disturb it. Now Heathmoor is in the grips of the Scarab’s Curse, devastated by famine, disease, and sights once thought impossible. The common soldier has been annihilated. Although the battle for Dominion still rages, the ranks have been thinned to Heroes alone.

Only from June 16 to July 7, participate in the season's launch event, Justice of the Pharaohs. The gamemode takes the Dominion gamemode to the River Fort map, but because of the extreme conditions of the Scarab's Curse, only the greatest of warriors live to see battle. As a result, minions do not spawn, and instead, the midlane is now a third point of competition for the Heroes to secure. As a result, both sides have to work that bit more on their own as they cannot rely on the help of their file-and-rank soldiers to help push part of the battle.

For more details on the event and gamemode, check out the dedicated Justice of the Pharaoh article page.

### Hero Skins

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> Although he carried the signature axe of a Raider, Jarl Bolthorn gained a reputation among his people by killing his enemies with his bare hands. Such was the reason they took to calling him “Raven-Hands.” A brutal ruler dedicated to his people, Bolthorn grew tired of his clan’s constant losses. Each passing year, he saw his people grapple with natural catastrophes, dastardly invasions, brutal wars and dwindling resources. Seeking to put an end to their constant plight, Bolthorn left his throne, swearing he would one day return with the means of salvation.
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> For years, the Viking explored territories west of Heathmoor. In the vastness of the desert, he stumbled upon an old temple, half-buried in the sand. There, he found the Scarab Bracelet, a magical artifact that once belonged to a great civilization. Bolthorn brought the relic back to his people -- but an ancient curse laid dormant in the bracelet. Now his people suffer more than ever before, and Bolthorn is cursed to walk the lands of his dying home as the bracelet’s dark magic slowly takes hold of him.
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This second season offers a new Hero Skin to the next Hero on the list: the Raider. What is offered is the visuals of Bolthorn the Cursed, the very Raider who brought a plague onto his own people.

### Hero Update

Some changes will be coming to the live game at the start of the season, updating the kits for the new Hero Pirate, along with bringing to life the reworks for Conqueror and Shaolin. On top of this, the feat Bloodlust has been touched on to make it less powerful but more reliable.

* Pirate: *We've been monitoring multiple sources of feedback as well as internal data concerning Pirate and found the hero to be overperforming in some situations, so we're making some adjustments to curb down some of the stronger aspects of the hero while also fixing some other issues.*
	+ Side Dodge Attacks are now slightly slower, from 533ms to 600ms.
	+ Pinning Pistol Blast (the non-guaranteed Pistol Blast) and Walk the Plank now have less forward range.
	+ Walk the Plank's Knee variant (knockback variant) now has 200ms more recovery to prevent an infinite mix-up in certain situations.
	+ Pistol Blast from Walk the Plank now has normal Stamina costs, down from 15 to 6, but also feeds Revenge properly, up from 5 to 30.
* Bloodlust: *Bloodlust has been a strong choice as a Tier 2 feat for a long time; the large increase in attack and defense makeS the feat the top contender in many situations, especially when other feats at Tier 3 and 4 benefit from the attack boost quite a bit. This is the case for Pirate and Valkyrie where getting Bloodlust to trigger into a Trick Shot or a Fire Flask end up in a complete wipe of the opposing team; we've decided to lower Bloodlust's effectiveness but also lower its cooldown to compensate. This should lower Bloodlust's effectiveness, especially when combined with other feats, but also make it slightly more available.*
	+ Bloodlust now grants +20% Damage Increase and Damage Reduction, down from 50% for both.
	+ Bloodlust's cooldown is now 20 seconds, down from 30 seconds.
* Conqueror Revamp: *Conqueror was problematic in that the hero's defense was very high but lacked proper offense outside of Shield Bash; we've focused on making the hero more viable in both 1v1 and group fight scenarios.*
	+ Full Block Stance: *Conqueror’s Full Block Stance was difficult to use; it was accessible only from certain states, drained stamina when blocking and gave Conqueror less Revenge while blocking attacks. We’ve adjusted the move so that it can now be used as a recovery cancel to catch opponents performing dodge attacks, as well as gave it better follow-ups to use based on the situation (group fight or 1v1).*
		- Can now be used to cancel the recovery of any attack. Still can soft feint any move that can feint.
		- Now does not drain Stamina, instead regenerating as normal briefly after entering the stance or upon blocking an attack. Blocking no longer drains Stamina.
		- No longer can cancel into Zone Attack.
		- Now leads into new follow-ups, noted below.
	+ Zone Attack: *Conqueror’s Zone Attack was too defensive; players could use it in response to attacks at parry timing and either block the attack or hit the feint to Guard Break or light attack. In addition, holding Zone Attack was only truly useful due to the Superior Block function, and made Conqueror especially too strong and annoying in the minion lane. We’ve removed these properties but also improved how Zone Attack performs by making it do more damage, making it initiate chains and giving it better hitboxes to hit people around the hero better.*
		- Now is a single-hit move, and cannot be held. As a result, now deals damage in-line with other Zones ( from 8 to 15) and can initiate chains.
		- No longer has Superior Block.
	+ Bashes: *We’ve removed the ability for Conqueror’s Shield Bash to drain and pause stamina to make the attack fairer; previously, Conqueror could keep opponents out of stamina for a long period of time with Shield Bash. This is no longer the case. To compensate, Shield Bash now has better, dedicated follow-ups for both 1v1 and outnumbered situations, and the chained version can now be feinted for better mix-ups in 1v1.*
		- No longer has access to Shield Uppercut.
		- Bashes no longer drain stamina or pause stamina regeneration.
		- Shield Bash mix-up (chain bash) can now be feinted, or soft feinted into Full Block Stance.
		- Now leads into new follow-ups, noted below.
	+ Bash/Superior Block Follow-ups: *Flail Uppercut has changed its input through the Testing Grounds, and now ends up back on the Heavy button. It is now also available after performing Shield Bash (both from Dodge and in Chains) to give Conqueror a better followup to Shield Bashes, giving the hero more opportunities to execute opponents and better damage output in 1v1 situations. On top of Flail Uppecut, we’re introducing a new move to Conqueror to help the hero perform better in outnumbered situations - Scutage Collection can be used both after any Superior Block (including Full Block Stance and when Dodging) as well as after any Shield Bash; this lets Conqueror hit nearby opponents when surrounded (instead of being stuck with only Flail Uppercut).*
		- New follow-ups upon performing a successful Superior Block either through Superior Block Dodges or Full Block Stance, or after performing a Shield Bash. Both moves count as Openers, but cannot chain into a Shield Bash Mixup.
		- Flail Uppercut now is performed using the Heavy input. Dealing 13 damage from 20, and can execute. However, it is now not Undodgeable, and can situationally be Parried.
		- Scutage Collection is a new move, performed using the Light input. Deals 13 damage and hits in a 360-degree trajectory.
	+ Chain Attacks: *Conqueror’s Chained Heavy attacks did not prove to be threatening enough; by giving them the Unblockable property, they gain much more pressure. Their ability to be feinted now also lets Conqueror do feint-to-Guard Break to beat dodges and rolls, and their improved trajectories should help Conqueror perform better in outnumbered situations. We’ve also standardized the damage on Conqueror’s top and side uncharged versions so they are in-line with other heroes. We’ve also removed the Superior Block property from this move; this property used to let Conqueror option select attacks. Further, the Unblockable heavies are meant to put more of Conqueror’s focus onto using the flail itself for offense.*
		- Heavy Openers now deal increased damage, up to 27/24 damage from 24/22 on top and side respectively.
		- Superior Block property has been removed on all Heavies, including Charged Heavy (noted below).
		- Heavy Chain Attacks can now be feinted, just like all other Heroes.
		- Chain Heavy Attacks are slightly faster and now are all Unblockable. However, damage has been reduced to 22 on all sides.
	+ Charged Heavy: *While some aspects of the Charged Heavy did not make it through the Testing Ground, a few changes have past through the cracks, allowing the move to be better incorporated into Conqueror's kit and allowing the Hero to be more Offensive than Defensive.*
		- Charged Heavy Attacks, much like the Full Block Stance, now do not consume Stamina while charging, only costing Stamina once released.
		- Charged Heavy Attack now acts as a Heavy Opener, thus can lead into chain Lights and Heavies or into Shield Bash Mix Up.
		- Now does not possess a guard during the charge or when released. Damage reduced to 28 from 32/30 on top and side respectively, while charge speed has been sped up to 600ms from 1000ms. The move itself is slightly faster now.
		- Due to the removal of Shield Uppercut, Conqueror can now perform a Guardbreak while charging Charged Heavy.
* Shaolin Revamp: *Shaolin’s revamp focuses on improving the hero’s flow, as well as getting better openers and more ways to get into Qi Stance.*
	+ Qi Stance & Sun Sweep: *We’ve focused on making sure that Qi Stance attacks were more consistent, flowed better with Sweep and lets players perform more Qi Stance attacks than before. The new Sweep can always return to Qi Stance when players correctly read their opponents’ actions, Qi Stance Lights can now be used to initiate the Sweep in a more consistent manner and Qi Stance Top Heavy being Undodgeable means it will be more difficult to get random blocks when attempting to dodge Sun Kick.*
		- Can now cancel Qi Stance with a Dodge.
		- Both Qi Light and Qi Heavy have been streamlined. Qi Lights are now all 500ms and Enhanced, with Top Qi Light not stunning anymore. Qi Heavies are now all 700ms and Undodgeable.
		- Sun Kick can chain on miss, while Sun Kick Strike is now 400ms from 300ms. However, Sun Kick no longer chains into Sweep or Smash.
		- Qi Lights, Qi Heavies and Sun Kick Strike now chain to Sweep, renamed as Sun Sweep. Sun Sweep is 800ms and can now be feinted. It also no longer unbalances allies.
		- After a Sun Sweep, hit or miss, you can perform Sun Sweep Heavy Followup, which is similar to Sun Kick Smash. This Heavy Follow-up is 700ms, deals 24 damage and enters Chains, which allows it to enter Relentless or re-enter Qi Stance.
	+ Side Shadowstep: *Shaolin’s side dodge attacks often felt stranded; while they are good dodge attacks, Shaolin’s flow stopped when performing these attacks. They now can both initiate chains and enter Qi Stance, giving Shaolin better flow and more opportunities to go on the offensive.*
		- Now performs as a Chain Heavy Opener, thus can enter Relentless or Qi Stance.
	+ Flying Monkey Variant: *Shaolin needed a reliable opener to both enter Qi Stance and engage in group fight situations – this move should help Shaolin perform much better in 1v1 situations where it should be easier to enter Qi Stance with this opener.*
		- New Bash move from Forward Dodge. Functions similarly to Sprint Attack Bash, but is 500ms.
		- Flying Monkey and Flying Monkey Variant now guarantees a Light Opener (both Top Light or Death Point Strike). Can performing Light or Heavy Openers as follow-ups even on-miss.
	+ Chain Attacks: *Top Light should now be able to be used more reliably as an soft opener, while the Side Light openers have been updated to have their damage more front-loaded and deal slightly more damage with 2 hits than previously. Also, Shaolin’s Side Heavy Attacks should now more reliably hit external opponents and give Shaolin more pressure in outnumbered situations.*
		- Top Light Opener is now Enhanced.
		- Side Light Opener now deals 10 damage from 5. Death Point Strike now deals 10-4-4 damage from 5-5-7. Death Point Strike's input is much more lenient now.
		- Attack range has been increased on all Heavy Chains. Non-Finisher Heavy Attacks have had their recoveries normalized.
		- Heavy Finishers have been slowed down to 800ms from 600ms.
	+ Zone Attack: *We’ve changed how Shaolin’s Zone Attack functions. Previously, if the 2nd hit landed or was blocked, the 3rd hit was guaranteed to land – we wanted to update this functionality to make it clearer for both Shaolin and their opponents to deal with the attack. All 3 hits are now dodgeable or parryable, but to compensate we’ve increased the damage, improved the trajectories and let the move change targets in between hits for better minion clear and better performance in outnumbered situations.*
		- Zone Attack's second and third hit now are 800ms and 900m, from 500ms and 400ms respectively. As a result, third hit is not guaranteed anymore if second hit lands. Damage for the two attacks has also been increased as a result of them being slowed down.
		- Stamina cost is now distributed evenly (20 each for all hits) instead of front-loading the cost at 60.
		- Each hit can now change targets.

For specific details on the changes made, see the patch notes for the season here and here.

### Testing Grounds

A new round of Testing Grounds will make its course during the last week of the Seasonal Event, bringing changes to how Guardbreak Vulnerability works so that players can keep on fighting even in outnumbered situations.
Dominion changes will come to the live game. Below is a list of the changes made to Dominion as a result of the previous Testing Grounds:

#### What are we trying to solve?

As the game evolves, heroes get rebalanced, and other system-level changes occur, the driving forces behind our direction is "We want heroes to attack more". This has been shown in a lot of our revamps - we're giving more and more heroes aggressive tools, touching up on stamina and improving their flow.

One of the issues that we are facing more and more as move along this path is the fact that players are not always incentivized to use chained attacks when outnumbered. Some heroes, like Jiang Jun, perform admirably there due to fast, wide-sweeping attacks, but there is a limit to this; we want heroes with slower attacks to not be punished hard for using them.

Guardbreak Vulnerability here is problematic: in a 1v2 situation, it is overly risky to throw attacks because it is very likely one of your opponents will land a Guardbreak during any of your attack recoveries. To top it off, Finisher recoveries are currently very Guardbreak vulnerable, making Finishers even riskier than other attacks to use when outnumbered.

#### What is our solution?

As we've debated over this, one clear, clean solution came to us: recoveries should be immune to guardbreak. This makes it so you simply do not get interrupted by a Guardbreak (and then a Heavy attack, and potentially even more if your opponent has an ally nearby!) during ANY recovery, including when attacks are missed. This lets players attack more with less fear of reprisal. It does not mean that you'll never get interrupted (Light and Heavy attacks exist, after all!) but it does make it much safer to use a wider variety of attacks in multiple situations.

#### Did we consider other solutions?

We did look into many other variants of this solution. One of them was making all recoveries except Miss recoveries be Guardbreak immune; while this had potential, the major issue we found is that it is not always clear when an attack is missed, is hit or is blocked; our system works in a way that we only consider the result of your locked target when determining the result of an attack, and as such attacks that did hit or were blocked by others externally but did not hit the locked target do not count as a hit or a block but rather as a miss. Situations like this occur quite frequently, and the status of Guardbreak invulnerability becomes difficult to read from a player perspective.

Another one we investigated was not making recoveries fully immune but rather make Guardbreak attempts teachable; this would have partly solved the problem as it does lower the vulnerability of throwing attacks, but had the major downside that players were still interrupted in the middle of their chains quite often, which is one part of what we're trying to solve.

#### What will be in this Testing Grounds?

* Most Attack Recoveries are now immune to Guardbreaks until the Hero regains the ability to block.
	+ "Immune to Guardbreaks": Guardbreak attempts will bounce off the opponent and not interrupt them at all, similar to when one tries to Guardbreak an attack too late during its start-up.
	+ There are some exceptions for especially slow recovery attacks such as Shaman's Pounce, Shugoki's hug, etc.
	+ When a hero regains the ability to block during a recovery, Guardbreak attempts will land, but are techable (as in, they can be Counter Guardbroken).
* All chained attacks are fully immune to Guardbreak, removing the small start-up vulnerability that they had.
* Every bash that had a recovery of less than 766ms on miss now has 766ms of miss recovery to ensure that Dodge Attacks will always beat Bashes.
* Some Heroes will receive changes to their kits in recognition of the changes being made:
	+ Highlander will receive new Side Dodge attacks while in Defensive Stance, performed by pressing the Heavy button to ensure the hero can beat bashes.
	+ Jiang Jun can now enter Sifu Stance at the same time as the hero can block during Hit/Block hit reactions, similar to Aramusha. This is to ensure that the hero can beat bashes.
* We must note that this change only applies to attack recoveries; Full Block Stances, as well as Dodges, are unaffected, and remain guardbreak vulnerable as they currently are, including when they are used as Recovery Cancels.
	+ Aramusha, for example, keeps the Guardbreak vulnerability when using Blade Blockade, even when it is used to cancel the recovery of an attack, so that there is an additional drawback to using this cancel.

#### Closing

This is a large system-wide change that we've been working on for quite some time. It involves changing a lot of data on our side, and it is possible that some bugs crept in. If you do notice something inconsistent, do not be afraid to report it; we will investigate all the reports and apply fixes as needed.

As usual, we'll be monitoring all the usual sources for feedback - positive or negative, all feedback is good feedback!

See you on the battlefield, warriors!

### Hero Fest

The mini-events known as "Hero Fests" continue this season. Aside from giving a spotlight to the particular Hero by making them free-to-use for that week, they will be cheaper to purchase by 33%, have two Symbols and one Emblem sticker assigned to them that will be obtained upon log in, and finally a unique Execution for them.

Hero Fests will occur twice per title update, which results in four Heroes receiving a Fest per season, resulting in sixteen Hero fests occurring per year.

The first Hero to receive this Fest this season will be Hitokiri from July 7 to July 14, followed by Centurion from July 21 to July 28.

### Battle Pass

> Another battlepass is here. Through the hundred tiers, get access to the new collections of items that you'll be able to unlock as you progress through the free or premium pass. Battle Pass and season content will be themed around the ancient past of the pharaohs, but also the very curse brought by Bolthorn and the mystical Scarab Bracelet.
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To bring glory back to his clan, Bolthorn Raven-Hands ventured west, far from Heathmoor. Exploring lands of desert and sand, the Viking found the ruins of a fallen civilization forgotten by time. Along with the mystical Scarab Bracelet, Bolthorn has brought back ancient weapons as mighty gifts for his people, with the promise that the distant past will help them shape their future.

Bring your customization to a whole new level with some ancient flair for your character's look through the 100 Tiers of rewards available for all heroes, all worth over a million Steel! For the premium tier, there is included a special Execution where you incase your foe within the magical Jasmine Box, along with a Signature where you bust out of a sarcophagus. As this pass is seasonal, progression through the Pass will reset at the end of the season.

#### Free & Premium Pass

The Season Pass has two ranks: the Free Pass and the Premium Pass. All players will have access to the Free Pass, earning rewards which include embossings, ornaments, an emblem outline, color swatches, paint patterns and more. Rewards are earned every few tiers.

The Premium Pass on the other hand offers the bulk of rewards, such as new signatures, new weapons, new executions, new effects, and more. Premium Pass owners will still receive rewards from the Free Pass. The Premium Pass also offers +10% Battle Points, the points necessary to progress through the Battle Pass tiers.

As both Pass' progression are shared, a player is able to upgrade to a Premium Pass and receive all rewards they would have gotten if they had purchased the Premium Pass from the start.

#### Notes

Take note that the purpose of the Battle Pass is to guarantee rewards for players, compared to how all rewards were based around random drops post-match or scavenger crates. The Battle Pass however will not replace any current system of cosmetics and loot gain, such as the above mentioned random drops, any event loot or the content of the week.

Content of the Battle Pass, even for the Premium Pass, will only be character customization items and consumables, preventing a pay-to-win model. All tiers are also visible to Free Pass owners, so there are no hidden rewards. However, the exclusive rewards in the Premium Pass may become unobtainable at the end of the season.

Progression through the tiers of either Passes can be hastened with Steel, skipping either 1, 5 or 20 tiers at once. The price for hastening progress is static through the tiers and between both ranks of Battle Passes.

### Other Changes

Due to the influence of Bolthorn bringing home the Scarab Bracelet and unleashing a curse on the land, River Fort is ever scarred by his endeavor. Bolthorn had brought home Egyptian treasures, which appear as large pillars or chests of treasure. However, the curse has brought both sand and frogs to the field, along with making the water around red like blood.

## Midseason Changes

During the midseason change on July 28th, couple of improvements were initiated. Find more information about this midseason change here.

### New Hero: Medjay

In the wake of the terrible curse that Bolthorn has brought upon Heathmoor, the Medjay has arrived to bring true salvation and take back what was rightfully his! Their kingdom lost to the sands, these elite warriors carry the burden of their culture as its last survivors. To make sure they can survive any peril that come their way and protect those who are in need, the Medjay have adopted a new fighting style, splitting their fan axe polearm into twin axes. Even as they step foot in the foreign lands of Heathmoor, integrity and honor rests at the core of their hearts.

He can be purchased for immediate access with monetary currency in the Medjay Hero Offer bundle, or purchased seperately with in-game currency two weeks later. Purchasing him through the bundle not only gives access to the Medjay, but also offers an exclusive elite outfit, an exclusive ornament, 3 Scavenger Crates and 7 days of Champion Status.

See more about the Medjay on their designated page here.

### Medjay's Deliverance

The Scarab Bracelet has left a trail of waste and death. Now hope comes from a distant desert.

Deliver Heathmoor from the Curse of the Scarab as Medjay, the guardian of the relic, and reap exclusive rewards only available during this event, from July 28 to August 18th.

### Seasonal Customization

*A long time ago, far from Heathmoor, a great civilization prospered in the desert. But after the Cataclysm, its towering monuments collapsed into ruin. Now, Bolthorn Raven-Hands has unearthed ancient armors and ornaments from the sand that once belonged to this great kingdom. In Heathmoor, they will once again be worn by mighty warriors, honoring a people that no longer exists.*

### UI & Menu

#### Match End Flow

Match End Flow has been streamlined. All screens shown after completing a match have been redesigned for improved legibility, clearer progression information, and with less disruptive animations so it is quicker to reach the options for the next match.\*

*Note: As of the making of this note, while the new Match End Flow is much more legible and clearer, the animations are locked behind a forced animation that overall has not reduced the time it takes to go through the menu.*

#### Parry Flash Option

A new option is available for Arena and Custom modes: "Deactivate Parry Flash Indicators." Players can now deactivate the Parry Flash Indicator, which usually flashes at the correct timing to Parry an attack, in the Arena as well as during Custom Games.

This option appears in the Arena under “Arena -> Arena Settings -> Parry Flash Indicator”, and in the Custom Game Match under “Custom Game -> Game Mode -> Parry Flash Indicator”

**Developer's Comment**: *Competitive players in the Dominion Series have been requesting this option for some time. Adding this option is meant to reduce the efficiency of players who have exceptional reaction times and to limit certain kinds of cheats.*

We specifically added this as an Option only in Custom Games and Arena so that competitive play can intentionally remove the parry flash to improve the level of offense in their games.

Normal matchmaking games continue to have the Parry Flash to help players learn the sense of timing to Parry attacks.

### Gameplay Changes

#### Out-of-Stamina (OoS) State

The Out-of-Stamina (OoS) State has been made to be less punishing, with the following changes.

* Stamina Pause no longer applies on players who are Out of Stamina
* Stamina is now fully refilled when getting up from the Unbalanced state\*
* *Note: As of the making of this note, Stamina Regen also applies to most moves that causes a knockdown, even if the target of the knockdown is not OoS. This is likely an unintended bug.*

**Developer's Comment**: *Previously, players in the OOS could conceivably be forced to stay in that state until killed. If your opponent had a quick Dodge Forward Bash attack, they could continually bash you to keep your stamina from ever refilling, while slowly killing you and limiting your options. By removing Stamina Pause while OOS, you should be able to get out of OOS more reliably, which should be less frustrating.*

*Similarly, we’ve now given back full Stamina whenever you get up from the Unbalanced state. The intent is that if you’ve been unbalanced, the opponent should have a single good opportunity for a punish, but not more than one. Out of Stamina punishes are typically the highest damaging punishes available – while we want players to have an opportunity for a big punish when their opponent overextends, the reward could be larger than intended when the opponent remained Out of Stamina and could be unbalanced for another large punish. This change should address this concern and make becoming Out of Stamina less frustrating.*

#### Targetable Feats on moving or Stealthed targets

An improvement has been made for projectile Feats when thrown at either moving targets or enemies who has the Stealth Feat active.

* Targetable Feats are no longer affected by Stealth while in-lock and should correctly track opponents who have the Stealth feat active. Still will not work if performing Targetable Feats from unlock state.
* Targetable Feats now track Dodging opponents better, especially Grenade-type feats, which could be thrown off-target by a large amount.
* Targetable Feats now track opponents who are sprinting on the same level, but will still not properly track enemies moving up or down elevations.

**Developer's Comment**: *We’re changing how Targetable Feats interact with Stealth and Dodging opponents to make the feats more consistent.*

When an opponent had Stealth active, Targetable Feats would miss at moments where they did not feel like they should (ie. Your opponent was walking sideways). This makes the Feats more consistent in their tracking of Stealth opponents and no longer have Stealth be a hard counter to Targetable Feats.

Similarly, some Targetable feats, such as Grenade-type feats, had a tracking issue when used against a Dodging opponent, where they would land in unexpected locations. With this change, they should land as expected at the opponent even if they Dodge.

Targetable Feats are still able to be Dodged, but the result of the feats should be more consistent with the anticipated behavior.

### Hero Fest

The Hero Fest returns, offering a mini-event to a Hero for a week. Aside from giving a spotlight to the particular Hero by making them free-to-use for that week, they will be cheaper to purchase by 33%, have two Symbols and one Emblem sticker assigned to them that will be obtained upon log in, and finally a unique Execution for them.

Hero Fests will occur twice per title update, which results in four Heroes receiving a Fest per season, resulting in sixteen Hero fests occurring per year.

The next two Heroes to receive this Fest will be Zhanhu and Shaman.

### Other Changes

Below is a list of additions changes made as part of the midseason update. More details can be seen here.

* Fixed an issue where some Heroes could not change guard after initiating a Guard Break.
* Warlord can now target switch Headsplitter Leap Alternate. His Light Finishers when performed Out-of-Lock now do not possess Superior Block properties.
* Fixed an issue where Heroes with unique Parry follow-ups could be used Out-of-Lock to perform Unparriable tech.
* Fixed a camera bug on Orochi's confirmed Light after a left side attack.
* Fixed an issue with Nobushi's Top Heavy from Hidden Stance having a shorter feint window than Side Heavies.
* Fixed an issue with Aramusha's Heavy Openers having inconsistent Guard Break vulnerability window, depending on guard direction. Also fixed an issue where Fury Unleashed could not cancel into Blade Blockade.
* Fixed an issue that caused the Pirate's Walk the Plank to not feed the correct Revenge value.
* Fixed an issue that caused the Short Tempered Feat to also provide Rock Steady effects while active.
* Fixed an issue where the Guardian or Commander would run or remain idle from Pirate's Pocket Bomb.
* Fixed an issue that caused the players to fall through the floor near the first capture point of Walled City.
* Fixed an issue that caused the Shaolin Bots to be unable perform Top Light Openers.
* Fixed an issue where Highlander Bots would have an invalid Feat distribution (specifically having multiple feats of the same tier).
* Fixed an issue that caused the Behind These Blue Eyes sound effect to continue playing after the emote has been interrupted.
* Fixed a number of missing physics and missing pieces on some armor pieces.
* Fixed an issue that caused the Requiescat in Pace Execution to have the Hidden Blade misaligned.
* Fixed an issue that caused the In-game Recommended Quality Presets to be inaccurate.
* And more...

## Gallery

### Video

For Honor- Year 6 Season 2 - Curse of the Scarab Launch Trailer
## Trivia

* The name "Bolthorn" comes from the jötunn of the same name. Also known as "Bölþorn" (old Norse for "Evil-thorn), he is credited for being one of the first jötnar in Norse mythology, and is the father (in some sources, the grandfather) of Bestla, mother of Odin, Vili and Vé. The Poetic Edda mentions that Bolthorn may also be the father of the wise being Mímir.
* During the July 14th update, two weeks prior to the midseason update, the main menu had a subtle change to the cosmetic background. Prior to the update, there were four Anubis statues lined up holding the iconic scepter to the deity, the sekhem scepter. After the update though, the scepters were all replaced with fan axes; the outer two statues hold double-sided fan axes, while the inner two statues hold two fan axes crossed over their chest. This difference can be seen in the main menu images in the above gallery.
	+ This is a reference to the upcoming Hero who has been teased to wield fan axes, with the statues possibly revealing that they can be wielded both as a two-sided polearm and as two separate axes. As of the midseason, this speculation has been confirmed to be true.
	+ After the release of the Medjay, the statues returned to holding the scepters.