Year Of The Harbinger Season 1

## Vortiger

**Year of the Harbinger: Season 1**, named "Vortiger," is the ninth season of the ongoing Faction War. This season offered a single hero from the Knight faction, two Hero improvements, and a long awaited rework.

Mt. Ignis’ eruption sent shockwaves through the lands. From out of this chaos rises a dark sect long forgotten. The Black Priors were once dark warriors of Apollyon and the Blackstone Legion. After the collapse of the Blackstone, the Black Priors disappeared. Some say they were wiped out, others say they fled the lands. But now, as new chaos shakes the lands, the Black Priors re-emerge. Led by their grim leader, Vortiger, these warriors, unbound by chivalry, promise victory to the Knights... by any means necessary.

## Features

### Heroes Reworks

* Shugoki
* Peacekeeper
* Warlord

## Updates

### Major Hero Updates

With the launch of Year 3 Season 1, the Peacekeeper and Warlord received touch-ups to their kit, while Shugoki received an entire rework. These changes not only refreshed the experience for each Hero but aimed to better the overall balance of the game.

### New Cosmetics

With every season comes new cosmetics. Each faction received their own winter-themed mask set.

### Skill Rating & New Matchmaking

The developers announced trying a new method when it comes to matchmaking in an attempt to get players matched in fairer fights.

To improve the matchmaking accuracy, the methodology in calculating Player Skill was updated. Now, only the win/loss will be taken into account, with all the layers linked to the player end match score (Kills, Renown, etc) removed. This change is in effect for all modes, both ranked and unranked.

### New Rewards

New Arcade rewards have been added, one for regular Quests and one for the Weekly Quests. Trial Rewards have been updated to include the Wu Lin Heroes and Black Prior; players who already finished them will automatically received the Rewards for them.

### Ladder Combat

Sliding down on another Hero now does not deal damage. It will only knock them off, still dealing fall damage where applicable. This was implemented as damage was applied inconsistently and ladder conflict was seen by the developers as an invalid form of combat.

## Midseason Changes

During the midseason changes, a number of improvements were initiated.

* Heroes received reworks.
	+ Shinobi's Slide Tackle starts up later to allow opponents to dodge the move more easily. He can now feint the third strike of his Zone Attack.
	+ Jiang Jun's Soothing Mist has been nerfed in cooldown and healing, together with the reduction of damage to his Finishers and Zone Attack.
	+ Black Prior received a few adjustments to make him less frustrating to fight against, such as decreasing his Finisher's damage and increasing the recovery time of his Tenebris Rising and Full Block Stance exit.
* In Arcade, Harbor is playable, and there are two new objectives on top of Elimination: Survive (stay alive for a duration) and Kill Target (you only need to kill the Leader).
* Mask Outfits have been named "Illustrious" due to the upcoming Outfits during the Black Prior's Riposte event.
* Revenge cannot be gained when fighting one opponent. As a result, Revenge gain has been increased.
* Feats and Perks were touched upon for a better experience with them.
* A number of bug fixes for Heroes, Maps and more.