Year of the Covenants Season 4

## Frozen Shores

> *"What does one find at the end of a storm? Relief, as weary eyes look up to clear skies. Comfort, as friends find each other again and celebrate. Pride even, for surviving the storm is no easy feat. It almost sounds like a dream, doesn't it? A fleeting dream for the waters never stay still for long, because after the storm comes a rogue wave."*
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**Year of the Covenants: Season 4**, named "Frozen Shores," is the twentieth season of the ongoing Faction War. Warriors celebrate as the storm passes, however their celebration is too early. A new gust of wind approaches, bringing with it what will become the coldest winter anyone has ever faced... new sea routes bring in unfamiliar guests who ride in on red-sailed ships to the coast of Heathmoor. What will these mysterious visitors bring to the Faction War...?

## Overview

> *"Winter has fallen upon Heathmoor. The drought, the Tempest: the elements took their toll on us. But we are still here!"*
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> *"Now, we count our blessings! We turn to each other! We celebrate!"*
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The people of Heathmoor were afflicted with rising waters and a devastating storm that flooded the landscape. Thankfully, the storm passed, and though the skies began to clear, a cold winter settled in. The high waters froze, and snow covered the terrain. Ships were stuck in the ice, which only added to the odd serenity that had befallen Heathmoor.

After so many hardships, so many battles and natural catastrophes, the people took this small respite as an opportunity to reconnect. After being separated for so long, friends and families were reunited once again, and everyone took the time to count their blessings, and celebrate. But amid the festivities, something unforeseen came from the frozen sea. A large ship with red sails reached the harbor, the herald of uncertainty - an intrigue.

## Features

### Frost Wind Celebrations

Starting the cold winter season is the jolly holidays, as the Frost Wind festivities make yet another return! Ice Brawlers will be available, this time with a cheering crowd. Loot a new set of holiday prizes from both the battlefield and the Event Pass. Enjoy the cheerful season by performing friendly Shared Emotes, from high fives to hugs to kisses-on-cheeks!

Be wary though, sprinkled about the event will be hints to the incoming stranger who has arrived off the shores. New faces have appeared as pirates and brigands who know how to lift the spirits, for they may be the key as to who is this new... Hero.

The event will last from the 9th until the 30th, ending right as the Testing Grounds start. Learn more about the specifics behind the Frost Wind Celebrations here.

### Gameplay Balance

Below is a list of gameplay changes made at the start of the season. Some of these changes were tested in the Testing Grounds in the last season, while others are news to all players.

The season starts with the long awaited rework for Shinobi from the Testing Grounds, which comes with a few additional tweaks that will be marked in *italics*. Paired with the ninja warrior are changes for Orochi, Raider and Shugoki, who had become dominant during the last season. Aside from those, feat and Hero changes have been made in order to offer a balanced experience for players.

* Shinobi:
	+ *Shinobi's health has been standardized to 120, up from 110.*
	+ Ranged Attacks from neutral, together with Ranged Guardbreak, has been removed. Ranged Heavy Attack is now considered a bash (non-parryable) follow-up after Kicks, including Front Kick, Side Kick and Teleport Kick.
		- **Developer’s comment**: Shinobi had access to tools that bypassed For Honor’s Art of Battle; at-will ranged attacks caused issues in group fights with invisible indicators and off-screen attacks. With these changes, Shinobi’s Ranged Attack is now only accessible as a guaranteed attack off some of the hero’s Kick attacks, which should reduce the frustration experienced when facing Shinobi. We’re pushing the hero in a different direction, with a more slippery, agile and mixup intensive kit which fits better with what heroes are capable of generally doing.
	+ Increased the range for normal Chain Openers, while granting more forward movement for Light Attacks.
	+ Sickle Rain now refers to Shinobi's Heavy Finishers. Top Sickle Rain now is Unblockable while Side Heavy Finisher is now Undodgeable. Input timing on Sickle Rain is less strict. While the move no longer applies Bleed damage, drains Stamina or ignores Pinning rules, it now deals direct Health damage equal to 20 + 3 per follow-up Stab (29 damage total).
		- **Developer’s comment**: With the removal of Ranged Guardbreak (which was the main way Shinobi landed Sickle Rain), we’ve adjusted the move as well as where it can be accessed from so that it lands more frequently.
	+ Chains has been adjust, as Sickle Rain can now be performed after Light Finishers and Combo Lights. Heavy->Light->Heavy and Light->Light->Heavy.
	+ *New Option: Front Dodge Heavy, a 700ms feintable Heavy Attack that is a Chain Opener, performed 100-500ms into a Front Dodge or Front Double Dodge.*
	+ Front Roll: Now can target-swap, has extra forward movement and has I-frames (although no Guardbreak Invulnerable anymore). It can chains into Sickle Rain, *while also leading into Double Dodge at same timing as Flip Kick and Sickle Rain*.
		- **Developer’s comment**: These changes ensure that Shinobi has a mixup available when performing Front Roll, with Flip Kick or Side Sickle Rain, opponents will need to make a read as to how to approach this situation. We’ve also improved the properties of Front Roll; since it now has generous iframes, it can be used more often with less risk of being punished.
	+ Flip Kick now leads to a new guaranteed combo Heavy Attack.
	+ Sprint Attack changed from a sliding attack to a flipping kick, no longer causing knockdowns. New Sprint Attack can chain into a guaranteed combo Heavy Attack.
		- **Developer’s comment**: This new Sprint Attack is both less frustrating to play against and also adds another layer of mixups to Shinobi by letting them push forward with the Combo Heavy Attack.
	+ New Option: Combo Heavy Attack, which can be performed after Flip Kick and Sprint Attack. Chains into Sickle Rain.
		- **Developer’s comment**: This new option lets Shinobi deal reliable damage after two of their Melee options, and opens up new venues to go to Sickle Rain.
	+ Back Flip is a bit slower and is no longer Guardbreak Invulnerable, but has I-frames and can be used after more moves (hit/block/miss). Does not chain to Ranged Attacks, but *can now chain into Flip Kick, Chain Lights, Heavy Finishers or a Double Dodge*.
		- **Developer’s comment**: This new iteration of Back Flip should help Shinobi use Back Flip to counter attacks more efficiently with branchings to Flip Kick and extended iframes.
	+ Double Dodge can no longer be performed backwards. Costs 6 Stamina to perform, down from 24 Stamina.
		- **Developer’s comment**: Shinobi was able to create too much distance too quickly with back Double Dodge; with this change, Shinobi can still use Double Dodge to create horizontal space with their opponents, but shouldn’t become impossible to reach.
	+ Deflect's Teleport is no longer automatic, now requiring a Guardbreak input during the Deflect; Teleport no longer deals Bleed damage, instead inflicting direct Health damage. Deflect can now be followed up with Sickle Rain. Teleport Kick is no longer guaranteed after a Teleport, but its follow-up Ranged Heavy Attack is now always guaranteed.
		- **Developer’s comment**: This change makes Shinobi more in-line with other heroes that can Deflect and removes automatic Teleport to make sure players have a choice to perform the action or not, depending on the situation. In regards to the Sickle Rain follow-up and Teleport Kick changes, Shinobi was dealing too much damage after a Deflect; with this, the hero is more in line with his new identity where a landed Deflect now enables a mixup with Teleport Kick and Undodgeable Sickle Rain.
	+ Shadow Strike no longer applies Bleed damage, instead dealing direct Health damage. *Now can chain into Teleport Kick or Sickle Rain.* Input window has been extended to not be so strict.
	+ *Zone Attack's Stamina cost has been reduced to 15-15-10 down from 17-17-21. Can now backflip during Zone Attack's Feint window. Third strike deals less knockback, and can chain into Sickle Rain.*
		- **Developer’s comment**: These changes to Zone Attack should help make it more usable; it can now initiate mixups with Back Flip, can chain to Sickle Rain, and has a much lower stamina cost.
* Orochi:
	+ Dust Devil (Forward Bash) no longer can have its recovery canceled into a Dodge when it misses.
	+ Dodge Cancel timing after a miss slightly adjusted, down to 100-300ms from 100-333ms.
	+ Lightning Strike (Forward Dodge Light) is no longer Undodgeable, and had its input window reduced to 200-400ms into a Forward Dodge, from 200-500ms.
		- **Developer’s comment**: If you dodge the Orochi’s Dust Devil, the Orochi can no longer dodge cancel the recovery, so you can now easily punish a whiffed Kick. This nerf, combined with the dodge timing nerfs, and the nerfs to Kiai + Smoke Bomb + Slip Through that you’ll see later in these Patch Notes, should combine to reduce the frustration of fighting an Orochi.
* Raider:
	+ Reduced Health Pool to 130 from 140.
	+ Reduced damage on a number of moves: Soft Feint Storming Tap, Top Heavy Chain and Finisher Attacks, and Raider's Fury.
	+ Removed Stamina damage and stun from Knee Attack when hitting a wall with Stampede Charge.
		- **Developer’s comment**: Generally, Raider’s damage was overtuned, so here we reduce it across a number of major attacks. Similarly, we removed the Stamina Damage from the sprint melee (and forward throw) to reduce the frequency that a Raider puts a victim OOS. These should reduce Raider’s overall effectiveness.
* Shugoki:
	+ Side Dodge Headbutt Miss to Heavy Finisher has been increased slightly to allow it ot be easier to punish on whiff.
	+ Demon Ball Recovery is now 1200ms from 1300ms, while the Victim's Bind duration has been reduced to 1800ms from 2100ms.
		- **Developer’s comment**: This should remove the Demon Ball > Demon’s Embrace combo that was possible when facing a wall, which will therefore reduce Shugoki’s damage output in these situations.
	+ Damage reduced on most of Shugoki's Heavy attacks: Charged Heavy Openers, Uncharged Heavy Finishers and Charged Heavy Finishers.
		- **Developer’s comment**: Generally, Shugoki’s damage was overtuned, so here we reduce it across a number of major attacks.
* Feat Changes:
	+ Kiai's cooldown has been raised to 105 seconds from 90.
	+ Slip-Through's logic has been changed. Now only applies damage to the next attack after a dodge, instead to all attacks within a 1.5 second window. Damage buff lowered to 30% from 40%, and the cooldown has been raised to 3 seconds from 1.
	+ Short Tempered's damage bonus has been reduced to 15% from 20%.

The following is a list of further gameplay balance changes and bug fixes made to other aspects of the game:

* Smoke Bomb has been changed to be an AoE blast that Stuns enemies for 5 seconds. No long applies the following benefits:
	+ Prevented enemies from Locking onto other Players
	+ Prevented the use of Interactions (Revive, Zipline, switches, etc)
	+ Prevented Enemy Players from contesting a point
	+ Prevented Soldiers and Pikemen from attacking
	+ Granting the Caster a 10% Speed Boost for 10 seconds
	+ Granting the Stealth Modifier to allies in the AoE
	+ Cleansing "Scout" and "Marked for Death" effects for the Caster
		- **Developer’s comment**: Smoke Bomb had a huge variety of properties that lead to many strange, buggy, or frustrating interactions. Especially notable is that it had a negative effect on our control scheme, where the Lock and Parry rules changed while under the effects of a Smoke Bomb. As we recognize For Honor is pioneering in group fight-based melee genre, it’s unproductive to have something so directly and frequently damaging to our control scheme. For this reason, we’ve cut out everything that was never going to work, such as loss of Lock rules, inability to Parry, and the weird editing of the Capture Point rules.
		- We’ve only retained the visual Stun effect on launch of the feat, to keep the fantasy of dropping a Smoke Bomb, but still allowing players to fight through the smoke.
* Fixed a bug which caused Warlord, when changing Stance, to be stuck waiting 300ms before being able to enter Full Block Stance.
* Fixed an issue where dodging Demon Embrace would neither apply a Revenge Tag or feed Revenge. Also fixed an issue where Shugoki would pass through floors when performing Demon Embrace in stairs versus an enemy that is activating Revenge.
* Fixed an issue that caused Jiang Jun to slide on left stick direction input during attack opener miss recoveries.
* Fixed a bug where, after reaching maximum Kill Streak (Godlike after 7 kills), players would not be given extra rewards on further kills. Now, Kill Streaks after reaching the maximum will grant the same bonus as the maximum Kill Streak.
* Fixed an issue where Female Hitokiri's right thumb is awry.
* Fixed a number of issues related to Executions:
	+ Removed excessive camera shake present on Berserker's "Move It Along" and Orochi's "Seijuro's Finesse" executions.
	+ Amended a point-of-view issue with Shugoki's "Shugoki Smash@" execution.
	+ Fixed timing issues for when the opponent's head pops off during Highlander's "Intent to Behead" execution.
* Fixed the pressence of grey texture on Shinobi's Death's Shadow and Satsuki Helm.
* Fixed an issue where the fauld on the back of the Kyoshin's Shuten Alternate chest would lose physics.
* Fixed an issue where Jiang Jun's Tianjin Blade changes color with skin color.
* Fixed an issue in which the secondary color displayed incorrectly on Wugimai chest piece.
* Fixed an issue where Warden's neck is visible through the Horkos Phantom Effect.
* Fixed an issue where the "Vithar Chest" on female Raider had a patch of skin that didn't change color under the chest wrap.

For more details, see the patch notes here.

### Testing Grounds

The Testing Grounds will be back once more at the end of December, from December 30th to January 6th, where it will bring back the Dominion changes that were explored in the last Test Grounds together with giving Conqueror improvements.

Changes to the Dominion gamemode from the first Testing Grounds were mostly success, but a second round in the Testing Grounds was deemed necessary before the changes could go live. In addition, there will be changes tested for Conqeuror, who has been another Hero who featured moves and abilities that were hindering his ability to be a balanced Hero. Many of the changes given to the flailing Hero will hopefully put him in line with other of the reworked Heroes in being fun to not only play as, but also to play against.

While the points offered by zones have reached a perfect split, points granted were lowered across the board, causing less players to reach their Tier 4 Feat during a match. As a result, the following changes will be carried over from the previous Testing Ground iteration, with new additions during this phase of Testing Grounds marked in *itallics*:

* Renown gain is now uniform for all classes (much like Breach) instead of being on a per-class basis. As an example, Assassins will no more receive the short end of the stick for trying to kill minions or boosting a Zone compared to other Hero classes.
	+ Renown earned from Zones has been particularly changed, where contesting a Zone (36/min) offers more Renown compared to Boosting a Zone (30/min). This should help reward all Heroes for being aggressive by attacking enemy Zones than being passive by sitting on an allied Zone.
* Hero Kill bonuses have been removed except for Revenge (kill a Hero who has killed you), Streak Breaker (Kill a Hero with a 3+ Kill Streak) and Comeback (Kill a Hero after having died 3+ times); This should make Hero Kill renown gain less confusing. Because of the removal of Hero Kill bonus, base Renown gain for killing a Hero has been increased to compensate, from 8-11 to 20 across all classes.
* Defending a Zone no longer grants Renown, so that failing to capture an opposing Zone is not as risky anymore.
* Feat Acquisition level has been changed to be much more evenly distributed: from 58-155-265-335 to *50-120-210-320* (was 60-130-230-360 during the last TG).
* Zone Capture has been changed so more Heroes does not mean faster capture speed; capture speed increase from Feats and Perks still work. This should help make Zone Capturing a much greater commitment and allow for more counterplay. This should also make it less efficient for full teams to roam the map and capture Zones incredibly fast.
	+ Zone Capture Speed is now *4.5 seconds* (was 5.5 seconds during the last TG), from varying depending on how many allies were on the point.
* Hard Points earned by Zones has received changes to reduce how much is gained from a controlled midlane; an unboosted side Zones will now grant 0.9/sec (54/min) while both a Boosted Zone and Captured minion lane now offers 1.5/sec (90/min).
* "Team Renown" has been renamed to "Team Points" to distinguish between Renown earned by players and Points earned for the team.
* *New UI element, where Renown gain is no more displayed in the chat activity bar, but instead in its own section right above the Renown bar. This should help declutter the chat bar while also making it easier for players to see what Renown they had just earned.*

Conqueror has been a defunct Hero with too much defensive focus that not only made them annoying to fight against, but also frustrating to play as them. As long as the Hero maintained their inability to engage in offense outside their Bashes and their reliance on a multitude of Defensive mechanics, other elements of their kit could not be dealt with or updated to a more modernized kit. As such, the Fight Team Devs looked into three aspects for the Hero:

* Improve the Hero's 1v1 potential with better chain offense and charging options.
* Improve 1vX potential with a focus on the defensive possibilities of Full Block Stance.
* Reduce Frustration of facing the Hero and playing as them.

Below are the changes that will be explored in the Testing Ground for Conqueror:

* Charge Heavy:
	+ Can now be accessed mid-chain whenever a Heavy can be performed, much like Hitokiri.
	+ When performed in-chain, a not fully charged Heavy will perform a chain Heavy Attack.
	+ Full Charge time reduced to 600ms from 900ms.
	+ While charging, Conqueror will lose the ability to block, but also won't consume or pause Stamina anymore.
	+ Can no longer cancel into a Dodge or soft feint into Shield Bash during the Charging State.
	+ Once fully charged, the Charging State can be cancelled into a Guardbreak or Dodge with their respective input.
	+ Fully Charged Heavy is now all 700ms (was 800ms on Top) and deals 32 damage (was 30 damage on Sides). Has better forward movement.
* Chain Heavies:
	+ Heavies can now be feinted normally, but cannot soft feint into Shield Uppercut.
	+ Miss, Hit and Regular Block Recoveries standardized to 800ms.
	+ Side trajectories improved.
	+ Opener Heavies (including Charged Heavy) no longer possess Superior Block during the Strike.
	+ Chain Heavies are now Undodgeable and have increased forward movement.
* Zone Attack:
	+ No longer has Full Block.
	+ No longer can be held, as it is now a single hit attack with improved range.
	+ Slightly faster at 600ms from 700ms, and deals 15 damage from 8.
	+ Counts as a Chain Opener.
* Chain Shield Bash (in-chain Bash):
	+ Much faster, down to 500ms from 800ms.
	+ No longer wall splats, nor can it chain on miss.
	+ Costs 10 Stamina, down from 20.
	+ No longer deals Stamina damage or pause Stamina regen.
	+ Now properly counts as a Chain Opener, thus can lead into a Chained Heavy or Flail Uppercut (see below).
* Flail Uppercut:
	+ On a Shield Bash or Chain Shield Bash, input Light attack to perform Flail Uppercut.
	+ Deals 12 damage, is 500ms, Unblockable and Uninterruptible, and leads into a Chain Light or Chain Heavy (cannot initiated Chain Shield Bash).
* Full Block Stance:
	+ No Stamina Cost for blocking attacks in Stance.
	+ Remaining in the Stance no longer pause Stamina regen.
	+ Cannot perform Zone Attack from Full Block Stance.
	+ Full Block Stance and its recovery can be cancelled with a Dodge.
	+ All attacks' recoveris can be cancelled into Full Block Stance at 200ms.
* Scutage Collection (new move):
	+ Replaces Shield Uppercut from Full Block Stance.
	+ Pressy Heavy or Zone after blocking an attack either with Full Block Stance or the Dodge's Superior Block property to initiate Scutage Collection.
	+ Has Full Block, is Unblockable and deals 20 Damage. Scutage Collection is a Chain Opener.
* Light Attacks:
	+ Recovery after Miss standardized to 800ms from 900ms.
	+ Performing two Lights from the same side no longer leads to a slower Light Attack.
	+ Increased forward movement in chains.
* Shield Bash:
	+ Input for Forward Shield Bash delayed to 200-500ms from 100-500ms.
	+ No longer deals Stamina Damage or pauses Stamina regen.

For more details, see the dedicated article here.

### 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 swashbuckled strangers that have come to visit, together with their frozen collection of crossbones and mythical sea creature visuals.
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The rise of the waters during the Tempest and the subsequent winter allowed seafaring pirates passage to the frozen shores of Heathmoor. These pirates had no allegiance to any faction – they only cared about treasure. In their pursuit of wealth, they began trading with the people, offering warriors access to new weapons from across the sea.

Bring your customization to a whole new level with some buccaneer 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 the special signature emote Swashbuckling Entrance, the gone Fishing execution where you hook your opponent by their neck before slamming them onto the ground and the exclusive Frozen Priate emote effects. 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.

### Visual & Other Changes

As the ocean freezes over with icebergs and mist, a mysterious ghost ship can be seen in the far distance. The main menu, Hero select and face-off screen all showcase the Heroes standing on top of the ice, surrounded by a snowy weather that no one has seen before. The Warmap also reflects this as a thick blanket of snow encapsulates the entirety of the map.

A couple of maps have been particularly affected by the winter, together with pirates from the sea coming unwelcomed onto the frozen dry land. These maps are Harbor, River Fort and Gauntlet. Minions have taken upon the fashion of these pirate strangers, wearing garbs that would make them suitable for the high seas.

* The Knight minions are dressed as straight-laced pirates, with proper boots and a neat shirt under their jacket. They wear a bandanna on their head and an eyepatch over their eye, together with a finely trimmed beard.
* The Viking minions are dressed as muc rugged pirates, as they bare their chests to show off their tattoos. They wear a tricorn hat, and have a full-beard that is decorated with golden rings.
* The Samurai minions are dressed as Japanese style pirates, being entirely shirtless as they wear only their hakama pants. And while they are bald, they cover their mouth and neck with a clean cloth.

The new purple Material "Magenta" has made its way into availability, finally fulfilling all the colours of the rainbow for players to use on their Heroes' looks!

## Midseason Changes

Coming during the midseason will be new armor visuals, the new Hero's release and an accompanying seasonal event. Near the tail end of the season will be a number of throwback events.

### New Hero: Pirates

Amidst the frozen shores comes a rogue wave! The Pirate have sailed the bountiful seas in search of treasures, arriving to Heathmoor to see if anyone is willing to pay them enough for their services. Bold and passionate, and captain of their own fleet, they can fend for themselves as warriors with their mix of the cutlass and flintlock pistol. While gunpowder is not new to residents of Heathmoor, the firearms these seafarers bring are of a whole new class of its own.

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

See more about the Pirate on their designated page here.

### Pirates of the Aurora

With the release of the Hero comes a special season event under the aurora skies at Harbor. Take your time to learn about the new Hero's past through Lore Orders as you receive battle outfits, ornaments and effects through the Event Pass. The event will start right as the mid-season begins on January 27th, ending on February 17th three weeks later.
Learn more about the specifics behind this event here.

### Customization

The pirates that have arrived in Heathmoor call the waters they live on “home”. For a very long time, they traveled from one land to the next, trading with other cultures and accumulating ornaments and armors in their endless pursuit of wealth. They have now brought these items to the warriors of Heathmoor, who can outfit themselves with these treasures from afar.

### Balance Improvements

During the midseason change, couple of improvements were initiated. Find more detailed information about this midseason change here.

* Shinobi:
	+ Front/Side Dodge Kick miss recovery slightly longer.
	+ Back Flip now has I-frames and dodge frames starting 100ms into the move, instead of occurring instantaneously.
	+ Front Roll can now target swap.
	+ Attack Recoveries now can only be canceled from 200-300ms into Back Flip, compared to 200-400ms before.
	+ Kick Flip miss recovery cancel to Back Flip now has a stricter window of 400-500ms into the recovery, from 100-600ms.
	+ Flip Kick, Back Flip and Front Roll now have proper Stamina costs, from consuming no Stamina. Front Roll and Back Flip also no longer allow Stamina regeneration.
	+ Shooting Stars recovery is now a bit longer to no longer guarantee a front dodge kick).
	+ Teleport Kick no longer can be accessed by holding the Guardbreak input (now only checks for taps, not holds). Chain link to Teleport Kick is also now slightly longer so that opponents can still dodge the move even if they switch stances.

***Developer's comment**: Now that we’ve had Shinobi go from Testing Grounds into Live, we now make a number of nerfs to Shinobi here based on its over-performance.*
*Firstly, we make the Front/Side Dodge Kick punishable on Miss.*
*Secondly, we reduce the window of opportunity to enter Back Flip so that Shinobi is not able to notice the opponent’s action and actively react in time to Back Flip when necessary.*
*Thirdly, we nerf the Stamina costs of certain moves to make Shinobis slow down their combat output, and introduce moments where they need to consider if they really want to spend the stamina.*
*Finally, we nerf Shooting Stars so that Shinobi’s aren’t comboing it into Front Dodge Kick.*
* Feats can now be buffered up to 300ms before they can be accessed.
	+ ***Developer's comment:*** *to improve input comfort, Feats now use the input buffer to hold your input for 300ms. This applies globally to all heroes.*

* + *Note that this does not mean you can use your Feat anytime, it just means that you don’t have to be out of your Recovery before pressing the Feat input – you can press it a bit early, and the system will hold this input until such a time as your character is allowed to launch the Feat, and do so. It should just make things a bit more comfortable.*
* Improved Material coloration system to grant more color precision.
	+ ***Developer's comment:*** *Material color would not look quite right when applied on colored surfaces such as wood or leather. The coloration of chosen material would offset depending on the color of the surface it was being applied to. New material system mutes the surface colors before applying material coloration, significantly boosting color accuracy. Accurate color control also leads to possibility of new, more subtle material colors.*
* Fixed animation issues for Nobushi, Warmonger, and Kyoshin.
* Fixed Shugoki's Demon's Embrace not consuming Stamina, and dodge inputs out of the Demon's Embrace.
* Fixed map issues on Sentinel where players could fall through the map on Capture Zone C.
* Fixed the Event Log still displaying, even though it is turned off in the settings.
* Fixed issues with Raider's character model and Centurion's blade position during certain executions.
* Fixed issues with Nobushi's character model when idle.
* Fixed a number of visual bugs, missing physics and material application and incorrect modelling on a number of armor sets.
* Fixed the Choucho's Metamorphosis effect not fitting on Hitokiri properly.
* Fixed Raider's "All of You" emote not properly being executed from the Top Right stance.

### New Customizations

The pirates that have arrived in Heathmoor call the waters they live on “home”. For a very long time, they traveled from one land to the next, trading with other cultures and accumulating ornaments and armors in their endless pursuit of wealth. They have now brought these items to the warriors of Heathmoor, who can outfit themselves with these treasures from afar.

Coming this midseason is an assortment of new armor visuals for each Hero, featuring the crossbones and ocean monsters that the Pirates have faced out away from land. Other expressive customization options have come ashore in the recent weeks, from the Pile of Treasure Signature, the Land Ho Emote, the Soulless Sailor and Feast of the Nian Illustrious Outfits, and the What Goes Around Universal Execution.

## Gallery

### Video

For Honor- Frozen Shores Story Trailer - Ubisoft -NA-For Honor- Year 5 Season 4 - Frozen Shores Launch Trailer - Ubisoft -NA-For Honor- Pirate Hero Reveal Trailer - Ubisoft -NA-
## Trivia

* As noted by Andrew Im during the pre-season Warrior's Den stream on December 2nd, a ship appears on the horizon in the maps that have been changed for the season (River Fort, Harbor, Gauntlet), shown to the right on the Gauntlet map. This ship very much likely belongs to the new Hero that will be coming during the midseason.
	+ The ship visually bears a strong resemblance to the Chinese Junk ships, particularly the junk rig sails it possesses. However, the ship does possess a figurehead on the front, which is not characteristic of Chinese ships (even if the figurehead is that of an Eastern dragon), but instead of Western naval ships of the 14th to 19th century.