Year of Reckoning Season 4

## Mayhem

> *"Some believe they're fighting for power, for justice, or even for peace. Truth is these are just fancy words not worth dying for."*
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> *"Me? I'm just grateful I can still fight and breathe, but I've seen many of you out there who are not that lucky."*
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> *"So if you think you don't have a say in all this mess, if you're in too much pain to carry on, or if I've failed you before..."*
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> *"Let me tell you this: I've come back to make things right. I will stand and I will fight for you."*
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**Year of Reckoning Season 4**, named "Mayhem," is the sixteenth season of the ongoing Faction War. The momentum of the Rebellion is on the rise, but the rebels realize they need a leader who can truly unite them all to fight against the Horkos. The one who had been chosen was an old errant Knight who is now known as the Gryphon. Peace may have been a distant dream before, but now there is a new hope in the mayhem to come in the Battle of the Eclipse.

## Overview

> *"The hour draws near. All that corrupts, all that resists - dominance or freedom, a path of endless war, a journey towards unity."*
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> *"Peace is poison. Peace is salvation. Fight for what you believe in and write history."*
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With the help of Ilma, a legendary Blacksmith, many warriors across Heathmoor were able to regain fortresses and discover some of the Draconite's true powers. Yet all these rebellions needed someone to unite them in this pivotal moment. Someone who knew the enemy better than anyone else, because he was once part of them. Someone who had learned from his past mistakes and was now ready to make things right.

After a failed attempt at bringing peace in Heathmoor, the one who was once called Holden Cross was now simply known as 'Gryphon'. He had forgone his former name and faction years ago. He became a mercenary to fight for those who could not bear the toll of war anymore, no matter which faction they belonged to. Under his guidance, rebels from all factions formed the Chimera Alliance, a full-blown army with the means to defy the Order of Horkos and stop their Corruption.

## Features

### New Hero: the Gryphon

> *"Some may know him by other names, but today, he has another."*
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Holden Cross makes his return to Heathmoor under a new guise, known by some as "the Gryphon." Although at first he wished to remain in the shadows at the advent of the Horkos, Cross found the conviction to do right and be the leader of the Rebellion so that Heathmoor could have peace. He does not simply fight for ideals such as peace or power, but for those who saw the good in him. He comes armed with the Bardiche together with his own way of using Draconite to help his allies.

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

See more about the Gryphon on their designated page here.

### Testing Grounds

Testing Grounds is back again, providing the chance to experiment with Heroes who need an update to their moveset. This time around, the changes made have been made to help certain Heroes who have a limited number of roles that they can play in gamemodes. The four Heroes that have been chosen are Warden, Peacekeeper, Nobushi and Shugoki. The test will only be around for one week, at the start of the season of December 10th to the 17th, and a survey will be sent out later to which feedback given through it will determine which of these changes will be pushed into the Live Game.

The following is a brief list of rebalance changes that will be made for each hero, prefaced with the intention of the changes:

* For **Warden**, changes will be made in regards to fully charged Shoulder Bash feints and Back Dodge Shoulder Bash, as well as making the hero more viable in 1v1 and 1vX situations.
	+ Shoulder Bash cannot be accessed from back dodges, and won't offer additional forward momentum when feinted.
	+ Shoulder Bash can now be accessed from any of Warden's attacks, instead of only from dodges and after lights. Cannot chain Shoulder Bash into itself.
	+ Side Heavy trajectories have been improved, together with all Heavy Finishers being 900ms (Current: top is 1000ms, sides are 800ms) and Unblockable.
	+ Zone Attack's recovery reduced to 500ms; forward momentum increased.
* **Peacekeeper’s** changes will revolve around giving her more mobility in group fights, as well as adding a new synergy point for her Bleeds. Improvements to her base damage will be made to help her defeat her opponents more swiftly.
	+ Heavy Attacks and Dodge Attacks have had their damage increased by 5. Bleed damage unaffected.
	+ When locked onto a Bleeding target, Heavy Finishers and the second attack of Zone Attack become Unblockable.
	+ Dagger Cancel's recovery can be canceled with Dodge. Otherwise, recovery timing is unchanged.
	+ Zone Attack's first attack now counts as a Heavy attack, just like all Zone Attacks.
	+ Zone Attack's feint timing has been normalized to not be early in the animation. Zone Attack can also be soft feinted to Guardbreak or Dodge.
	+ The input for Riposting Stab (Deflect attack) has been changed to Heavy instead of Light.
* **Shugoki** will receive changes aimed at some of his Armored moves, together with adding two new moves in his arsenal to counter opponents who roll away from him together with dealing with bashes.
	+ Hyper Armor on Lights and Demon's Embrace have been removed.
	+ Demon's Embrace has had its recovery reduced to 1500ms from 2000ms. Shugoki can also start blocking as early as 1200ms into the recovery.
	+ New Move: Dodge Forward Heavy to catch back rollers.
	+ New Move: Side Dodge Bash to counter other Heroes who have a Bash.
* Finally, with **Nobushi**, improvements will be made to her flow so that she is effective in 1v1 as well as in the minion lane.
	+ Hidden Stance and 1st hit of Zone Attack now only cost half as much Stamina.
	+ Heavy Finishers (including Heavy Attacks from Hidden Stance) are now Undodgeable.
	+ Zone Attack's feint timing has been normalized to not be early in the animation. Zone Attack can now be soft feinted into Kick, Heavy Finisher or Dodge.
	+ Dodge Attacks (Cobra Strike and Sidewinder) now count as Heavy Openers, thus leading to Heavy Finishers.

Content for the Testing Ground can either be accessed through the dedicated Testing Ground section on the War Map, or through the Custom Gamemode setting. See more information on the changes at the following linked blog on For Honor's official website here.

### New Armors and Weapons

> For Honor's Year 4 Season 4 Mayhem brings brand new emotes, executions, outfits and armor variation. With the rebellion show off a new age of armor that is more advanced than before.
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With more tools and resources at their disposal, the blacksmiths of Heathmoor have forged outstanding gear for the many heroes who will fight the great Battle of the Eclipse. More specifically, the Chimera Alliance has grown from a group of mercenaries wearing improvised armors to a great army that has now the means to stand on equal ground with the Order of Horkos.

Get access to the Pure Draconite rewards during Y4S4 Mayhem through the seasonal and battle pass rewards.

All Heroes have received a Rare weapon visual which reflects the sinister arrival of Tyranny. As for armor, all non-Year 1 Heroes have received variations of already existing sets. While Shaman has received an entirely new set of gear, the rest of the Year 1 Heroes will continue to receive their new sets in the future.

### Battle Pass

> The new battlepass is also 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 use of pure Draconite, along with avant-garde technology as the Rebellion push technology forward with cogs and gears.
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Pure Draconite has been used not only to fight the Corruption, but also to make technological advances. As warriors everywhere gather their strength for the first battle between Horkos and Chimera, blacksmiths and makers across Heathmoor are inventing Avant-Garde weaponry and mechanical devices to levels that were never seen before.

Through the technological advances by the Rebellion, bring together Pure Draconite and steampunk aesthetics with this set of items from the Battle Pass.

Due to the Year of Reckoning releasing only two Heroes, the Year Pass has been replaced with the seasonal Battle Pass. Bring your customization to a whole new level with 100 Tiers of rewards for all heroes, all worth over a million Steel! 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.

*Note*: Compared to last season, a few improvements have been made to the Battle Pass. Aside from increasing the amount of Steel and Salvage that was received per tier by tenfold, Battle Pass Gear can now be freely applied to other Gears regardless of rarity. This Battle Pass Gear change applies to past Battle Pass Gears too.

#### 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.

### Next-Gen Support

Additionally to the graphical improvements that were available since the launch of the PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Serie S, we are happy to introduce a 60 Frame Rate per Second on those consoles, so to recap:

* Available since the consoles launch
	+ 4k Resolution on PS5 and Xbox Series X, 1080p on Xbox Series S
	+ Increased Level of Detail
	+ Increased Shadow Resolution
	+ Screen Space Reflection
* Available with 2.24.0
	+ All the above
	+ 60 FPS on PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S

### Map Changes

Beachhead has received a map rework to improve gameplay in both Dominion and in the Duel & Brawl gamemodes.

* Lighting for the Knight variation of the map has been improved to be much more akin to at "Dawn" (still listed as Night).
	+ As some of the fire pits were placed around the map to provide more lighting, these obstructions have been removed where appropriate. This is most noticeable in Brawls.
* Entry into Zone C from the Attacker's spawn has received one more entrance in the form of a slope into the broken wall; one of the staircases of the indoor part of Zone C has also been blocked off to prevent stalling.
* The Attackers have also received one more way to reach Zone A through a path way along the wall along the ramparts.
* The drop platforms near Zone A has been fenced off to prevent drop attacks onto the minion lane. For Zone C, a new set of staircases lead from the middle of the minion lane up to the Zone; Zone C's drop zone has been raised to become a part of Zone C.
* Between the rampart to Zone A and the areas that used to be the drop zone for Zone C is a new bridge that provides direction rotation without requiring players to travel through the minion lane.
* Spikes on Zone A have been removed, with debris inside the zone reconfigured.
* Location of one of the Duel spots moved from Zone C to Defender's spawn.
* Due to the removal of fire pits in in the midlane, Brawl spawn location has been centered to be parallel to the Minion Lane, instead of being at an angle.

***Developer's comment:** Beachhead was in much need for some drastic changes for some time. Attackers had too few options when it came to navigating towards both Capture Zone areas. The newly added slopes, stairs and ladders will now allow Attackers (as well as Defenders) to easily get to wherever they need to go. Another issue in the map was that Mid-Lane was subjected to too many drop attack opportunities throughout its entire length due to the one-way drops. With the new stairs and bridge we keep the navigational options while removing the frustration of getting drop-attacked too often. Finally, the spikes at Capture Zone A were a major point of frustration and were too gratuitous in their position. We strongly believe this change makes the area much healthier as an integral fighting space.*

### Frost Wind Parade

A week after the start of the season, the Gryphon himself will welcome you to the holiday season, wishing you a happy winter with the return of Ice Brawlers together with some nice holiday loot. Enjoy the fighting during the festivities as Gryphon chants before a Yule Log fire.

The winter parade won't last for long, as it will end on January 7th. Learn more about the Frost Wind Parade at its dedicated article here.

### Other Changes

New season content has all the "Death by..." Faction Executions granted to all Heroes instead of being Faction locked. There is also a flag-breaking Signature to show your rebellious attitude against the Horkos. Together with that comes the "Minified" Executions for All Heroes, where your Hero will minify your target into a small statue before performing an assortment of actions upon the small foe, such as collecting them, kicking them or even stomping them into oblivion.

The Revenge Gauge has been improved to display more information. If your enemy already has one Revenge Tag, their Revenge Gauge will blink to show that your next attack will increase the Gauge. The old Revenge Gauge in the bottom left screen has also been removed, as the information there was a duplicate of the gauge around players’ emblems. In response to these changes, the feats "Revenge Attack" and "Righteous Deflection" have been changed or adjusted:

* "Revenge Attack" (Your Attacks fills your Revenge Gauge) will be replaced by “Executioner’s Respite”: increases heals of executions by 50% of their base value.
	+ ***Developer’s comment:** Now that the Revenge status is visible by everyone, having a Feat that lets the owner alter their Revenge state by themselves made it look inconsistent and confusing. and it defeated the purpose of giving better information on players’ status. We've replaced the feat with a whole new effect for any Hero that uses it, which we hope will be useful to all of them.*
* “Righteous Deflection” has been adjusted to ensure it no longer affects Revenge gains. The other effects of the Feat remain unchanged.
	+ ***Developer’s comment:** For the same reason we have changed the “Revenge Attack” Feat, we made sure players cannot affect their Revenge status by themselves anymore with “Righteous Deflection”.*

Performing 2-Steps Verification will now reward players with 7 Days of Champion Status and “Horns of Eminence” Ornament. If a player has already activated the 2-Steps Verification in the past, the reward will automatically be delivered during their next login. Please note this reward can only be redeemed once. For any issues with the 2-Steps Verification, either consult the 2-Steps Verification FAQ page or contact Customer Support.

A slew of bug fix change have also been made, including the following:

* Fixed damage inconsistencies between in-lock and out-of-lock attacks for Warden, Conqueror and Lawbringer.
* Increased the recovery for Highlander's chained lights so that it does not have frame advantage, respecting CCU frame advantage rules.
* Added extra forward movement on Aramusha's Neutral Lights and Neutral Heavies to ensure they connect after a Parry.
* Fixed input inconsistencies that prevented a Hero from using a move after either a feint or a move they should be able to chain from. Some examples being the following:
	+ Nobushi unable to Counter-Guardbreak after feinting a Zone Attack.
	+ Nuxia's zone after a Light Opener or Chain attack.
* Fixed an issue that caused the "Berzerker" Feat to apply Visual Effect on the hand of the hero despite the buff having ended.
* Fixed an issue that caused the “Spear Storm” Feat area of effect to appear smaller than it is.
* Fixed a slew of customization issues, including model clipping, parts of armor not applying color or have stretched/squished patterns, and offset animations.

Read more on the dedicated patch notes page here for more information on other bug fixes.

## Midseason

### Battle of the Eclipse

Gryphon leads the Chimera Alliance against Astrea and the Order of Horkos in the Battle of the Eclipse! Both teams battle to control the Forge and use its fully-powered Draconite Scythe to defeat the Draconite-empowered enemy leader. Join the fight in this limited-time Event Game Mode and collect exclusive Event rewards!

See more information about the event on its dedicated article page here.

### Hero Updates

Based on the testing done during the previous Testing Grounds, the Hero Updates for Peacekeeper and Nobushi were fast-tracked to the live game (together with a few additional changes which are italicized) as their changes were mostly met with positive feedback.

Changes to Peacekeeper, as was observed in the Testing Grounds, have been made to improve her mobility in a team fight, together with improving her synergy with Bleeds more. The changes that have gone live are as follows:

* Zone Attack's first strike now counts as a Heavy Attack, not bouncing off when blocked and having Heavy reaction when Parried. Second strike can now be soft-feinted into a Dodge or Guardbreak, and the feint timing has been standardized to not be too early into the attack. *Recovery upon landing the second strike has also been reduced to 700ms from 1000ms, granting her Frame Advantage.*
* Dagger Cancel's Recovery *has been lowered overall to 400ms (from 700ms)* and can now be canceled with a Dodge at 333ms.
* Heavy Attacks, including Dodge Heavies, now deal slightly more damage (*+2 damage across the board*).
* Heavy Finishers and second hit of Zone Attack now are Unblockable when locked onto a Bleeding Target.
* Riposting Stab (Deflect move) now is inputted with the Heavy input instead of the Light input.

Changes to Nobushi, as was observed in the Testing Grounds, have been made to improve her combat flow so that she performs better in 1v1s and in the midlane. The changes that have gone live are as follows:

* Heavy Finishers, including the Heavy Attacks from Hidden Stance, are now undodgeable.
* Cobra Strike (Dodge Lights) now counts as a Light Opener and can be followed-up with a Heavy Finisher instead of only chaining into a Chain Light.
* The second strike of Zone Attack can now be soft-feinted into Kick, Heavy Finishers or a Dodge, and the feint timing has been standardized to not be too early into the attack. Stamina costs has been rebalanced to cost 20 Stamina for both strikes and 10 on feints (before, was 40 on first strike and 20 on second strike with no feint cost).
* Sidewinder Form (Side Dodge Heavy) now counts as a Heavy Opener, allowing it to enter Death Rattle Form (Heavy Heavy chain). Recovery cancel timing has been reduced to 400ms (from 500ms).
* Hidden Stance now costs 12 Stamina (from 24 Stamina), while Lights (particularly the Top Light) from Hidden Stance are now not able apply backwards movement.
* *The first 166ms of Kick has become hidden, effectively making the indicators visible for 400ms.*

As for the other two Heroes who were tested, Warden and Shugoki, their updates will come at a later date. While Warden's changes needs a few changes before being released, the fight team will be working a little longer on Shugoki's improvements. This coincides with the fight team's desire to release Hero Updates during the next Season after the Testing Grounds and not any sooner, to give themselves more time to better process player feedback and decide how to act on it.

### Customization

Gryphon has received some new customizations that have added in the form of four new armor visual sets (eight if counting the Alternate variants), including full face-covering helmets for all of them! These sets are the Viking Peninent set, the East Asian Bodyguard set, and the gladiatorial Entertainer and Convict sets.

A new Bookmarking system has also been added. The Bookmarking system allows players to mark their favourite items when browsing customization menus; by marking any of these items with said Bookmark, the item will be brought up to the top of the customization menu (much like Event exclusive and Discounted items), making it much easier to find them. Take note that Bookmarking is not cross-Hero, so marking a favorite customization won't affect other Heroes who share the same customization option.

Bookmarking works for all customizations, as follows:

* Outfits
* Paint Patterns, Symbols and Embossings
* Ornaments, Materials and Color Palettes
* Armor and Weapon looks
* Executions, Emotes, Signatures and Effects

### Target Cycling

Target Cycling has been updated so that it facilitates combat in a teamfight that has more than two enemy Heroes better.

As a refresh on terminology, Target Cycling refers to the ability for a player to switch which target they are locked onto in Guard Mode against. Players would use their dedicated button for switching the target they fight again, pressing their Right Stick in for Console, and pressing Alt for PC. However, in either platforms, switching between targets was finicky due to the limited room it allowed when a player to engage with more than two enemies, mostly due to how Target Cycling before only switched between the two closest targets. This disallowed players from swapping to a desired target, especially if they were farther away.

Now, Target Cycling has been upgraded so that instead of just "switching to the nearest target," the system will now cycle between all available targets when performing the Target Cycling. Take note that Cycling will only count targets that are either visible (in front of you) or nearby (including enemies behind), and the act of Cycling is time-sensitive, as you have 250ms between each press of the button to keep the Cycling engaged. If you attempt to switch targets past the 250ms rule, you will return to the original "next nearest target" rule for Cycling and cycle to the next closest target.

However, take note that **this new feature is off by default**. To enable this improved Target Cycling, go to the Options>Controls menu and ensure “Enable Cycle Targeting System” is checked. See details and videos about the Target Cycling improvements here.

### Map Overhaul

Forge has received changes, based on changes to the map that were already seen in the Tales of Rebellion 3 event. The Waterwheel's bridge on Zone A has been doubled in width (removing clutter that was around the ends of the bridges), while the Foundry in Zone C has had the map changes seen in Tales of Rebellion Part 3 applied, such as opening up the walls that faced the mine tracks and the inside workstations mostly being removed (although a few small islands remain) for less obstructions. The backside of Foundry where there is the elevated wooden platform has also been closed off, likely to deter stalling. The location of the Forge's Brawl fight has been moved from the Central Workshop area which featured overly tight corridors, to the outdoor space around the Mining Tracks.

Entry into Zones through the sides have been widened for both Sentinel's Tower Balcony (Capture Zone C) and River Fort's Overwatch Rampart (Capture Zone A). On Harbor, the ledge overlooking the sea at the Lookout (Capture Zone A) has been slightly reduced in width by having more wall to block the ledge.

### Other Changes

The following is a list of other changes and bug fixes that have been made during this Midseason patch:

* While locked onto an opponent, Guardbreak attempts with a minion or pikeman in the way will now bump them out of the way, greatly reducing the odds of accidentally Guardbreaking the the minion/pikeman by accident.
* Warmonger's Tier 1 Feat, Corruption Blade, has been adjusted once again to have a longer cooldown (75 seconds -> 90 seconds) and shorter active duration (15 seconds -> 8 seconds).
* All of Kensei's Zone Attack Strikes now cause Medium Hit Reactions instead of Light Hit Reactions, ensuring that their Zone Attack is no longer unsafe on hit or block.
* Fixed an issue that caused Gryphon, Aramusha and Lawbringer’s attacks to be parried by an external ally that was in the middle of a parry.
* Fixed a number of missing animations for certain attacks for Lawbringer and Nobushi.
* Fixed an issue that caused the Shaolin's Qi Stance Superior Block Lights, “Bounding Blossom” and “Astonishing Blossom,” to become parryable and lead to the regular punish timings after a successful Superior Block.
* Jiang Jun's Dou Shi's Choke will no longer unbalance opponents that become Out of Stamina due to the slap's Stamina damage at the end of the move.
* Fixed an issue that caused the Black Prior's “Bulwark Counter” to still deal 40 Stamina Damage after the CCU.
* Gryphon now has 300ms to input a Light Combo (guaranteed Light from the same side after a Light Opener) instead of 200ms. Also, when parrying an attack, Gryphon will no longer buffer the follow-up attack without any inputs from the player, making it easier to do nothing after a Parry if a players desires it.
* Fixed an issue that caused Level 2 and 3 Peacekeeper Bots and all Viking (except Berserker) Bots from appearing as random Bots in matches.
* Fixed an issue that caused players' NAT types to be showing up as "Unknown."
* Fixed an issue that could cause players to enter matchmaking with a group larger than the game mode limit, causing them to receive a joining error.
* Fixed an issue that caused Capture Points on the mini map to be displayed in neutral color when being captured. Now the capturing team color will be displayed.
* The Russian localization's description of the "Fresh Focus" gear perk has been fixed so that it no longer has missing information about the perk's functionality compared to the English version.
* Fixes made to various customization for Heroes, such as stretching, skin tone inconsistencies, clipping, lack of colour, and missing/mismatched textures.
* Improved the color of the Revenge Gauge in colorblind modes to ensure it can be properly distinguished from players’ emblems.
* Added an in-game warning for players reported for disruptive behavior.
* Steam Controller input will now display Xbox Controller UI Icons, consistent with all third party controllers. Note that the Steam Controller will still work as expected.

See here for more specific information on certain changes made during the midseason.

## Gallery

### Video

For Honor- Year 4 Season 4 Mayhem Launch - Trailer - Ubisoft -NA-For Honor- Mayhem Story Trailer - Ubisoft -NA-
## Trivia

* The main artwork for the season was illustrated by Theoretical Part, a duo of Russian illustrators.