Patch 022

**Early Access Patch 022: The HIGH SPEED Update - June 11, 2019**

Our fifth Major Update is here, so get ready to pick up the pace in a big way! As always, we'll be monitoring feedback and making follow-up changes for several days before switching focus to our next big update -- which will introduce the next biome after Elysium! Check our Roadmap for details.

## Highlights

* Hermes: the god of swiftness arrives to give you a serious boost!
* New Foes: beware the Soul Catcher and the Flame Wheels up in Elysium!
* New Chambers: step inside dangerous, new Elysium environments!
* New & Updated Boons: look for new powers from the god of war, plus many balance changes!
* Updated 'Trial of the Gods': spurning any of the Olympians is a bigger deal!
* New Music: fight your heart out to Thanatos' theme, 'Last Words'!

## General Gameplay

* Updated input buffering on basic moves (should result in a smoother feel, with fewer dropped inputs)
* Enhanced Poms of Power found in Erebus now increase Boon level \*2 (rather than changing rarity)
* Power Shot damage bonuses now additive instead of multiplicative
* Damage Reduction effects such as Different League (Aphrodite) now additive instead of multiplicative
* Lava in Asphodel deals less damage to foes

## Weapons & Powers

* Cast: shots now bounce off when blocked by shield-bearing foes, so ammo can be retrieved
* Stygian Blade: chop attack now can more reliably hit enemy projectiles; Nova special's blast speed lined up with visual effect (rather than hitting instantly)
* Heart-Seeking Bow: Volley special can stagger foes
* Adamant Rail: reduced scatter while firing

## Boons & Blessings

* Added Hermes, God of Swiftness, with a variety of his unique Boons
* Re-balanced Attack, Special, and Cast damage bonuses for each Olympian
* Reduced effect of Boons that help build up Wrath Gauge
* Artemis no longer offers Exit Wounds and Quick Reload if your Cast is not compatible
* Static Discharge (Zeus): increased Jolted effect damage
* Thunder-God's Fury (Zeus): increased damage
* Tidal Dash (Poseidon): increased damage radius; now can briefly stagger foes
* Typhoon's Fury (Poseidon): increased damage
* Breaking Wave (Poseidon): increased damage
* Razor Shoals (Poseidon): increased damage
* Ocean's Bounty (Poseidon): re-scaled bonuses from higher rarity levels
* Sea Storm (Poseidon + Zeus): increased damage
* Last Stand (Athena): reduced healing effect
* Divine Protection (Athena): shield effect no longer consumed when successfully blocking attacks
* Wave of Despair (Aphrodite): reduced area of effect
* Shatter Shot (Aphrodite): reworked; increased range, now deals a single instance of damage per foe
* True Shot (Artemis): can no longer be blocked by shield-bearing foes
* Burst Shot (Artemis): now affects Cast Boons from other Olympians
* Quick Reload (Artemis): reduced effect
* Barbs of the Master Huntress (Artemis): can no longer be blocked by shield-bearing foes
* Black Metal (Ares): reduced area-of-effect bonus
* War-God's Thirst (Ares): reduced damage
* Curse of Eternity (Ares): cut from game
* Battle Rage (Ares): newly added!
* Vicious Cycle (Ares): newly added!
* Curse of Longing (Ares \* Aphrodite): restored this previously-cut Boon; reduced successive damage
* Merciful End (Ares \* Athena): newly added!
* Bad Influence (Dionysus): increased damage
* Black Out (Dionysus): increased damage
* After Party (Dionysus): healing effect now scales with life total; no longer upgradeable using Poms
* Wine-God's Stupor (Dionysus): increased damage
* Stabbing (Chaos): reduced self-damage
* Atrophic (Chaos): now reduces health as well as life total
* Enshrouded (Chaos): now counts down in each Chamber (not just each Encounter)

## Daedalus Hammer Upgrades

* Piercing effects can no longer be blocked by shield-bearing foes
* Piercing Fire (Rail) and Explosive Fire (Rail) now mutually exclusive
* Instant Nova (Blade): replaced with Double Nova
* Explosive Shot (Bow): reduced charge-time penalty
* Sudden Rush (Shield): now also removes Bull Rush knock-away effect
* Explosive Return (Shield): reduced damage

## Foes & Encounters

* Added a new mini-boss encounter variant in Elysium
* Trial of the Gods: enhanced foes blessed by spurned gods; the spurned god's Boon has reduced rarity
* Wretched Thug: increased Elite armor
* Wretched Witch: increased Elite armor
* Wretched Lout: increased Elite armor
* Skull-Crusher: attack can no longer be blocked
* Exalted Strongbow: removed duration variance from pre-attack
* Exalted Longspear: slightly reduced leap attack damage radius
* Exalted Greatshield: reduced health
* The Minotaur: starts fighting sooner once the encounter begins
* Theseus: adjusted his Poseidon Wrath variant; increased spin attack recovery time; Chariot reinforcements reduced to one at a time; other minor timing changes

## Keepsakes & Items

* Lambent Plume: newly added!
* Skull Earring: reduced active threshold
* Kiss of Styx (Well): increased shop cost
* Ranking up a Keepsake now refreshes its on-equip effect if it has one
* Minor rearrangements to the ordering of Keepsakes in the Display Case

## Pact of Punishment

* Vicious Torment: now also increases damage from inferno-bombs from Caustic (Chaos) effects

## Level Design & Environments

* Added two new Elysium chambers
* Adjusted spawn points and object positions in Asphodel 'river crossing' encounter
* Other minor fixes and improvements to various chambers

## Art & Visual FX

* Updated visual effects for weapon upgrades with an explosive property
* Updated attack animations for Heart-Seeking Bow; updated visual effects for its Power Shot
* Updated some Bone Hydra effects and animations
* Updated some Exalted visual effects and animations
* Updated artwork for Theseus' thrown spear
* Updated visual effects for Ares' Doom hitting foes
* Updated visual effects for Invigorating Blast (Daedalus - Rail)
* Updated main menu based on new Major Update
* Updated animation for ambient butterflies in Elysium
* Updated aspects of Hypnos portrait
* Other minor changes, additions, and improvements

## Menus & UI

* Updated text for various Boons; clarified some Status Curse tooltips
* Added more color variety to damage numbers (based on each god)
* Reduced duration of region text presentation when warping to new regions
* Improved controller D-pad navigation in some menus
* Other minor changes and improvements

## Music & SFX

* 'Last Words': added new music track to Thanatos encounters
* Added distinct sound when Infernal Troves unlock after encounters
* Added distinct sound when Wells of Charon unlock after encounters
* Updated sound for Wretched Pest mine-fling attack
* Updated sound for Ares' Doom hitting foes
* Updated sound from taking lava damage
* Improved timing on audio chime as Wrath effects are expiring
* Reduced how often hurt vocalizations play from boss foes
* Other minor changes, fixes, and mix improvements

## Voice & Narrative

* Added narrative events with several characters
* Added more Zagreus voice lines for various gameplay contexts
* Added Codex entries for Hermes, Soul Catcher, and Flame Wheels
* Updated requirements for some narrative events
* Fixes and tuning to some contextual voice events

## Miscellaneous

* Updated Development Roadmap to reflect our plans for our next Major Update, and beyond
* Reduced the delay before the Chamber Reward appears after the Minotaur mini-boss fight
* Improved feedback when manually picking the Eternal Spear after the Throw special
* Improved feedback when catching the Shield of Chaos after the Throw special
* Renamed Titan Toppler (Athena) to Divine Dash (it no longer reduces your mobility like it used to)
* Renamed Sick Status Curse to Poison
* Wrath effects and other effects on Zagreus should stop more reliably after defeating bosses
* Credits: Hermes added to Voice Cast

## Bug Fixes

* Fixes to some rare crashes
* Fixed a rare progression blocker in the Prince's Bedchambers when the Pact is first revealed
* Fixed a rare progression blocker with the Fallen Warrior
* Fixed an issue where True Shot (Artemis) could not deal backstab damage
* Fixed issues with some weapons not applying knock-away effects consistently
* Fixed an issue where you could reload the Adamant Rail while using Ares' or Poseidon's Wrath
* Fixed an issue where life total could be higher than expected after unequipping Old Spiked Collar
* Fixed an issue where Bone Hourglass could apply to some effects unexpectedly
* Fixed issues where some sound effects could loop indefinitely after encounters
* Fixed an issue that could cause music not to resume in some chambers
* Many other minor fixes

## Quote of the Patch

> Thanks to Hermes the guide, who gives all work
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> of our hands the grace and fame that it deserves,
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> no one alive can match me at household chores
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> The Odyssey (Homer; R. Fagles translation)

*Note: You should see v0.18276 in-game once you have the update.*