Patch 018

Early Access Patch 018: The BEEFY Update - May 7, 2019

Our fourth Major Update has arrived, letting you rise higher into the Underworld than ever before! This one is packed, so \_ A) \_we hope you enjoy it! and \_B) \_we'll be monitoring feedback and making follow-up changes for a number of days before switching focus to our next big update.

## Highlights

* Elysium: rise up to an all-new biome of the Underworld, rife with new perils and mysteries
* Theseus & the Minotaur: they await you in the afterlife of heroes... who else will you find up there?
* Redesigned Dash: outmaneuver your foes like never before with this newly revised core ability
* Improved UI: all-new Boon Info display lets you track an even greater number of power-ups
* New Foes: confront the Exalted and the Nemean Chariot, among other Elysian foes
* New Boons: look for new God Boons, including all-new 'Exchange' choices
* New Story Events: including ~1,000 new voice lines! The most added in an update since launch

## General Gameplay

* Added the third main biome after Asphodel (good luck up there)
* Boons and other power-up rewards now show up relatively more often as Chamber Reward options
* You can now find and use more than one Daedalus Hammer per escape attempt
* Reworked damage scaling from multiple Boons; effects are generally additive rather than multiplicative
* Olympians will sometimes offer an Exchange of Boons; Exchanges always have a higher power level
* Added Heroic rarity level for Boons, greater than Epic (note: used with 'Exchange' Boons)
* Poms of Power now yield diminishing returns when repeatedly applied to the same Boons
* Infernal Troves requiring Skeleton Keys are rarer but yield greater rewards
* Infernal Gates appear slightly more often

## Weapons & Powers

* Dash: redesigned for a more fluid feel
* Wrath: reduced meter gain from dealing and receiving damage; meter no longer gained from pillars
* Stygian Blade: slightly reduced recovery time of Nova special
* Heart-Seeking Bow: standard shot now staggers foes on-hit; increased stagger duration of Power Shot; reduced recovery time of Volley special
* Shield of Chaos: increased attack damage; increased knockback for Bull Rush; you are now invulnerable while using Bull Rush
* Eternal Spear: reduced damage of Throw special; removed recovery time if you retrieve a thrown Spear by moving to it; slightly increased range of Spin Attack to match the visual
* Adamant Rail: increased speed and reduced recovery of Bombard special; attack projectile hit box slightly increased (making it more effective against foes' projectile attacks)

## Olympian Boons

* Boons affecting your Dash are all updated based on the new properties
* Status Curses: each Olympian now has their own status effect; some descriptions have been updated
* Static Discharge (Zeus): newly added!
* Thunder-God's Fury (Zeus): slightly increased damage and range
* Freak Accident (Zeus x Artemis): newly added!
* Sea-God's Rage (Poseidon): increased damage, duration, and maneuverability
* Razor Shoals (Poseidon): slightly reduced damage
* Blinding Flash (Athena): newly added!
* Titan Toppler (Athena): no longer freezes you in place for a moment
* Sure Footing (Athena): increased damage resistance
* Deadly Reversal (Athena x Artemis): reduced chance of Critical damage
* Hunter's Mark (Artemis): newly added!
* Exit Wounds (Artemis): increased damage
* Barbs of the Master Huntress (Artemis): shots pierce obstacles; increased long-range damage
* Deadly Reversal (Artemis x Athena): reduced duration of guaranteed-Critical buff
* Heartbreak Strike (Aphrodite): increased duration of Weak effect on this and her other Boons
* Dying Lament (Aphrodite): increased radius of effect
* War-God's Thirst (Ares): increased damage and added immunity to knockback effects
* Positive Outlook (Dionysus): reduced damage resistance

## Daedalus Hammer Upgrades

* Empowering Nova (Blade): slightly reduced duration of Critical buff
* Sudden Sunder (Blade): redesigned as Instant Nova; much faster but no longer blinks forward
* Piercing Barrage (Bow): reduced armor damage (to compensate for increased rate of fire)
* Explosive Shot (Bow): increased damage; increased duration of charge-up (making it slightly slower)
* Defensive Aura (Shield): removed from game
* Dark Barrier (Shield): removed from game
* Assault Flight (Shield): removed from game
* Minotaur Rush (Shield): redesigned; now gives your Bull Rush a Power Shot opportunity
* Pulverizing Blow (Shield): redesigned; now hits twice
* Dashing Wallop (Shield): newly added!
* Explosive Return (Shield): newly added!
* Armor Shredder (Shield): newly added!
* Mirage Flight (Shield): returns to you faster; updated visuals
* Sudden Rush (Shield): increased duration of charge-up
* Vicious Skewer (Spear): reduced chance of Critical damage
* Exploding Launcher (Spear): increased attack speed
* Triple Bomb (Rail): reduced recovery time
* Explosive Fire (Rail): newly added!
* Heavy Slug (Rail): newly added!
* Invigorating Blast (Rail): newly added!

## Foes & Encounters

* Beware of a variety of all-new foes and traps in Elysium
* Removed Survival encounters from Asphodel
* Reduced how many types of elite foes can appear in Thanatos encounters
* Removed Elite Voidstones from Asphodel (look for them later on...)
* Reduced enemy counts in Asphodel 'river crossing' encounter
* Pest: mines thrown onto impassable terrain now harmlessly defuse instead of exploding
* Burn-Flinger: death weapon should be slightly easier to avoid
* Wave-Maker: slightly reduced projectile acceleration
* Megagorgon: removed short-range area attack
* Bone Hydra: further adjustment and improvements to attack telegraphing
* Alecto: reduced attack speed while enraged

## Mirror of Night

* Greater Reflex (Mirror): max rank reduced (as part of the Dash redesign; invested Darkness will be refunded)
* Privileged Status: newly added! deal greater damage by chaining godlike powers
* Shadow Presence: reduced max rank

## Keepsakes & Items

* Keepsakes can now rank up during escape attempts (not just in between)
* Broken Spearpoint: newly added!
* Tinge of Erebus (Well): reduced shop cost

## Pact of Punishment

* Updated Skeleton Key cost and ordering of options once the system is unlocked (as a result, the Pact should be able to more quickly and meaningfully enhance challenge)\_
* Shared Misery makes foes spawn faster as well as in greater numbers
* Tenebrous Veil now locks random choices

## Level Design & Environments

* Added Elysium chambers
* Updated newer Tartarus mini-boss chamber with more walkable space
* Chaos Gates now can spawn in the first chamber of Asphodel
* Other minor fixes and improvements to various chambers

## Art & Visual FX

* Added new Elysium environment set
* Updated main menu based on new Major Update
* Updated animations for Alecto
* Updated animations for Tisiphone
* Updated colors of Asphodel Witches to be distinct from those in Tartarus
* Updated colors of wave-shooting Bone Hydra head to be more distinct from the others
* Updated visual effects when interacting with Primordial Chaos
* Added visuals effects for new Status Curses and other new Boons
* Added visual effect for Second Wave (Poseidon)

## Menus & UI

* Updated and reset default Boon Info command; now toggles the screen on/off instead of requiring a press-and-hold (note: you may need to update your control mappings)
* Updated Victory Screen after successfully completing an escape attempt
* Improved low-health feedback on the life gauge
* Added feedback when Keepsakes rank up after encounters
* Added feedback when Pierced Butterfly (Thanatos) upgrades in power
* Added new feedback for when you are being targeted by certain ranged attacks
* Death Defiance charges granted by Athena have a special indicator
* Updated Boon icon backings to show rarity color more clearly
* Improved 'active Heat' feedback when using the Pact of Punishment
* Improved feedback for Boons affected by Tenebrous Veil (Pact)
* Improved feedback for recently ranked-up Keepsakes in the selection screen
* Improvements to Well of Charon formatting
* Improvements to boss life gauges
* Improvements to feedback on charmed foes
* Damage numbers from damage-over-time effects have distinct formatting
* Updated text for various Boons and interactions
* Other minor changes and improvements

## Music & SFX

* 'The King and the Bull': added new music track to Elysium
* Added many new sound effects
* Minor fixes and mix improvements

## Voice & Narrative

* Added narrative events with various characters
* Added Zagreus voice events for various gameplay contexts
* Added 'Remembrance' and Victory event variants
* Added Wrath voice events for when Olympians are displeased in 'Trial of the Gods' encounters
* Added Codex entries for new foes and characters
* Updated requirements from some narrative events
* Fixes and tuning to some contextual voice events

## Miscellaneous

* Updated Development Roadmap to reflect our plans for our next Major Update
* Improvements to Aim Assist tuning using controllers
* Gameplay timer now pauses while entering Chaos Gates and Infernal Gates
* Skelly's unlockables now become available after clearing Elysium (if you haven't revealed them yet)
* The Pact of Punishment is now unlocked after clearing Asphodel (if you haven't unlocked it yet)
* Gameplay performance optimizations for some system configurations
* Added lightning effects for Scintillating Feast (Zeus x Dionysus)
* The catch animation for the Shield's Throw special now plays more reliably
* Reduced frequency of the hint to use Wrath
* Improved D-pad scrolling in Mirror screen
* Updated some non-English language strings in menus
* Updated Voice Cast in Credits

## Bug Fixes

* Fixed various issues with Charm effects from Aphrodite
* Fixed issues with Last Stand and Deathless Stand (Athena) not applying to all Death Defiance effects
* Fixed an issue causing the Adamant Rail to have too much knockback from Tempest Strike (Poseidon)
* Fixed an issue where Sea-God's Rage (Poseidon) could be earned before a specific event
* Fixed an issue where Ocean's Bounty (Poseidon) did not affect rewards in Erebus
* Fixed incorrect prerequisite Boons for earning Second Wave (Poseidon)
* Fixed lingering visual FX issues with Razor Shoals (Poseidon)
* Fixed Engulfing Vortex (Ares) not upgrading his War-God's Thirst
* Fixed an issue where you could exit chambers while charging up the Shield's Bull Rush
* Fixed an issue where upgrades affecting Rail ammo supply did not update the UI right away
* Fixed issues where reduced healing from Grim Inevitability (Pact) did not always preview correctly
* Fixed issues with the Wrath Gauge sometimes not showing correct feedback when full
* Fixed issues with controller vibration occurring unintentionally in some contexts
* Fixed lava damage causing a physical impact sound
* Fixed a rare issue where the Codex update notification would not display when intended
* Fixed an issue with Tisiphone's AI when standing in the corner during the last phase of the fight
* Fixed an issue where opening the Codex near Thanatos did not always turn to the correct page
* Fixed an issue where Dusa could be gifted after flying off
* Many other minor fixes