Year 7: Swords of Injustice

## Swords of Injustice

> *"Fire burns, but the smoke never clears. The blade cleaves, but never sheathes. Again, the seeds of war ever quicken..."*
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> *"Atrocity befalls Heathmoor. Beliefs shall be tested. The old order is shaken. Virtue shackled. And honor's battlecry silenced. So, it falls to you."*
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> *"Balance the scales. Take up your weapon and fight the Swords of Injustice."*
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Swords of Injustice is the seventh year of For Honor and refers to all changes and new heroes that will be brought about this year, during Seasons 25-28, starting with Heresy.

Year 7 will introduce two new heroes, one in midseasons of Y7 season 2 and another in Y7 season 4, together with new event content, updated maps, extensive Hero reworks and other cosmetic goods.

## Overview

In Year 7, the world of For Honor gazes upon the injustice that has spread throughout Heathmoor. And each season will cover a different chapter of Injustice, starting with "Heresy."

* During the Heresy season, Inquisitor Yinchen wishes to uproot all heresy, but finds out that the order she pledged to was no less sinful.
* During the Vengeance season, Conquistador Vela journeyed to the land far West, bringing back treasures together with a vengeful prisoner.
* During the Deceit season, the Ghost Festival is held by the Wu Lin, who are truly offering spirits to the White Bone Spirit. The mythic Monkey King Wukong comes crashing in to thrawt this despicable plan.
* During the Treason season, the Horkos sweeps into Viking territory, with one village facing a dilemma when the Chimera-aligned chieftan is murdered by his brother, Oathbreaker Maddox, who decided survival above loyalty.

## Heroes

Like previous years, Year 7 will have four new Seasons, each with its own theme, rewards, and activities.

Just like the previous few years, two new warriors will arrive in Heathmoor. An Outlander will arrive during Year 7 Season 2 while a Viking will make their appearance during Year 7 Season 4. As to why they make an appearance now, time will tell. You will be able to purchase these Heroes upon release or unlock the new Heroes with steel as usual.

Customization will also slow down a bit, granting half of the roster Armor Variations each season, switching between Knights and Samurai, and Vikings, Wu Lin and Outlanders. In return, Gladiator, Shinobi and Highlander will receive their fifth Armor set during the midseasons of the coming seasons, starting with Gladiator in the first season, Shinobi in the second and Highlander in the third.

Hero Fests will also make a return, this time featuring up to six Heroes per season, up from four last year.

## Hero Skin

Along with existing offers such as new unique battle passes each season, themed armor and weapon variations, content of the week, For Honor will continue releasing a Hero Skin per season.

Hero Skins are an option in the hero appearance customization tab where players will be able to select any Hero Skins that are available to the hero that they are looking to customize.

Hero Skins are top-to-bottom designs that affect every element of a hero’s appearance harmoniously. With these full-set designs we can push the boundaries of all the elements composing the hero’s customization and push the fantasy of their identity even more. This includes armor, weapon, body type, skin, facial features in novel ways, and we cannot wait to show you what it looks like!

When equipped, the Hero Skin will override the customization and body type you already have on your hero while Perks will remain unchanged. This extends to not just the Armor, but also the Weapon visual. You cannot dismantle Hero Skins but some customization elements can still be changed, specifically the Color Palettes and Materials. As such, Hero Skins can offer what could not be given by the traditional customization system, such as moving armor parts.

The Hero Skin is an additional option for the player to customize their hero. It is important to mention that the traditional customization system remains.

The Hero Skins can be purchased anytime with Steel or in stores upon their release.

## And More

TBA

* Season 1
* Season 2
* Season 3
* Season 4

## Information

### **Rating(s)**

Mature

> *"I joined the inquistion with a righteous heart, hoping to stop the fanatics and their twisted faith. Our mission was to purge the heresy. But I was misled. Only the guilty were meant to die. Only those old enough to reach the noose should ever swing from it. This war of faith is madness: a plague on Heathmoor. I will carve out the rot!"*
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> *The rise of injustice begins in blind faith. Who will you stand with?*
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> *"There are no saints here. Only butchers. False idols and empty promises! And your salvation..."*
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**Swords of Injustice Season 1**, named "Heresy," is the twenty-fifth season of the ongoing Faction War.

With plans set in motion, the Horkos establish an Inquisition to hunt for those who are unfaithful heretics. While at first she thought her goals aligned with the Inquisitors, Inquisitor Yinchen soon found out that they were no more savage than the ones they were slaying. Thus, she ventured off on her own, branded a traitor, so that she can take the relics away from all and everyone.

## Overview

The relics were supposed to unite Heathmoor. Instead, madmen began to rave about their legends as divine revelation. Soon every place of worship came to be occupied by the fanatical Servants of the Stake. Whispers spread of the dark deeds committed in the name of their twisted faith. In answer, the Relic Inquisition was formed. Their mission: purge all heresy.

Yinchen joined the Inquisition with a righteous heart. A Pirate, she had seen firsthand how civilizations fall to false idols. Executing Fanatics was the price for peace. But the Inquisition was not content to merely pluck weeds – and Yinchen found herself party to mass butcherings worse than anything the Servants had done.

Now Inquisitor Yinchen cries mutiny. To end the war of faith, she must fight not one army, but two.

## Features

### Heresy of the Relics

Join the fray as you secure the heretical idols from the past year. Again placing the Dominion gamemode on a non-Dominion map, your team needs to capture Zones that will offer a buff to the team who owns it. To which faiths will you ascribe yourself to?

Located in the Secluded Keep map, the cult has assembled the three Relics of the Chalice, the Bracelet and the Dagger. Holding their zone will respectively offer a shield buff, a vision buff and an attack buff. As a team, capture the points to assemble points, much like Dominion. There is no minion lane, thus no minions to help aide either side, so fight to the death around these Relics. Who will come in periodically though is Inquisitor Yinchen, who will pose as a neutral boss entity that will roam the map, primarily targeting the team with the most capture points.

The event will run from March 16th to April 6th.

### Hero Skins

This first season offers a new Hero Skin to the next Hero: the Pirate. What is offered is the visuals of Inquisitor Yinchen. Originally joining the Inquisition with good intentions, she finds out that they are no more heretical than the heretics. As such, she believes that the relics that spawned this whole catastrophe need to be removed.

### Hero Update

Some changes will be coming to the live game at the start of the season, with the dodge/dodge attack changes and the Jormungandr rework finally coming to live from the Testing Grounds. More changes will be made during the midseason.

* Dodge/Dodge Attack changes:
	+ Side Dodge Heavy Attacks will now count as a Light attack when parried. Exceptions to this will be the feintable Dodge Heavies, which are Jiang Jun, Tiandi, and Warmonger.
	+ Most Side Dodge Attacks can now be delayed from 200-400ms into a dodge. Exception being for Jiang Jun, Warden, and Warmonger whose Dodge Attacks will be 300-500ms into the dodge; Tiandi's will be 100-300ms into the dodge for Tiger Dodge and 200-300ms for Dragon Dodge; Zhanhu's Side Dodge attacks were adjusted in a later patch to be a static 400ms due to their intended quick speed.
	+ Side Dodge Bashes will be now be 600ms minimum, and no longer chain on-miss as they become vulnerable to Guardbreaks.
	+ Heroes that are designated with either Reflex Guard or Superior Block Dodges will no longer have regular Block while dodging. Heroes will regain their defense 100ms after they are able to swap their Guard.
		- Heroes who had Normal Block Dodge had their Block Dodge removed. Heroes affected by this are Black Prior, Tiandi and Medjay.
	+ Superior Block windows standardized, as Kensei and Conqueror now has Superior Block windows on their Dodge from 100ms to 300ms.
	+ Heroes no longer lose Invulnerability while dodging into walls, Heroes and other object.
* Jormungandr Rework is coming live, pushing them from a Stamina Bully to a Displacement Bully:
	+ Stamina-based gameplay removed. Moves no longer Unbalance opponents who are Exhausted, nor will they deal Stamina damage. Jotunn Gift now deals direct damage.
	+ Venomous Sting: New move, Heavy during a guardbreak to push opponent in a direction of your choice. Can wallsplat.
	+ Ouroboros Might: New move, Zone after any attack except Venemous Sting, Hamarr Slam and another Ouroboros Might. Feintable attack that counts as an Opener and has Hyper Armor.
	+ Top Heavy Finisher now pushes opponent back, while Heavy Finishers overall push opponents farther back.
	+ Heavy attacks now deal less damage, in compensation of the higher frequency of wallsplats.
	+ Jotunn Farewell now has a new animation, and will always unbalance opponents. Slower but can be feinted.
	+ Hamarr Slam is no longer Uninterruptible, and has less damage.
	+ Jotunn Farewell's old animation has been repurposed for Jotunn Surge instead. Jotunn Surge now is a Front Dodge Guardbreak input, and no longer chains on-miss.
	+ New animations for Light openers, changing them to be swings instead of pokes. Their trajectory and momentum has also been improved.
	+ New animation for Jotunn Grudge, although it's properties are overall the same.
	+ Light Finishers no longer Undodgeable.
	+ Serpent Smite is slightly faster, with Uninterruptible Stance adjusted to still be 400ms before impact.
	+ Improved chain link timings for most Opener moves.
* Afeera bugfixes to rememdy further unintended behavior:
	+ Gravity's Pull (Unique T1) no longer guarantees Speeding Comet (Unique T3).
	+ Increased chain link after Oracle's Rush to no longer guarantee Khassaki Kick on hit or block.
	+ Increased chain link timing for most attacks to Khassaki Kick to let opponents to swap guards and still dodge the Kick.

For specific details on the changes made, see the patch notes for the season here (TBA).

### Testing Grounds

A new round of Testing Grounds arrives, and with it, it offer an update for Lawbringer and Nuxia.

* Lawbringer:
	+ Chains are now free to be any three-hit chain, meaning he can perform light after light.
	+ Heavy Openers can be followed up by a guaranteed Light follow-up. Guaranteed Light follow-ups now chain to Finishers.
	+ Mid-chain bash given a new animation. Slower and feintable.
	+ Long Arm changed so that it is not guardbreak vulnerable.
	+ Impale is now an Opener, but leads into a chain attack with reduced damage. No longer wallsplats if not fully held to a wall.
	+ Chain and Finisher Heavies now possess Uninterruptible Stance. Top Heavies, except for the Parry Riposte, does not stun anymore.
	+ Light Parry Riposte deals more damage. All Enhanced Lights are not Enhanced anymore.
	+ Zone Attack is now an Opener, but now has normal recoveries.
* Nuxia:
	+ Traps will now come out 100ms later to make them unreactable.
	+ More will be done to Nuxia's kit in future TGs depending on the success of the above change. If the Traps work, her kit will be reworked with Traps in mind. If not, the Traps will not be the focus of her rework.

### Hero Fest

The mini-events known as "Hero Fests" continue this season. Aside from giving a spotlight to the particular Hero by making them free-to-use for that week, they will be cheaper to purchase by 33%, have two Symbols and one Emblem sticker assigned to them that will be obtained upon log in, and finally a unique Execution for them.

Hero Fests will now occur three times per title update, up from two of last year. This means each season will offer six Heroes a fest per season, resulting in 24 Heroes receiving it a year.

The first three Heroes to receive this Fest this season will be Lawbringer on April 6th, Pirate on April 13th and Nobushi on April 20th.

### 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 fanatic cults and the unruly idolization spreading through Heathmoor.
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Bring your customization to a whole new level with some heretical 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 a Unique Execution where you blast off your foe with a cannon with That's Cannon, and a special Signature showing your (rather poor) ability to get out of hairy situations through Escape Artist. 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.

## Midseason Changes

On April 28th is the midseason changes, offering new armor variations for the Samurai and Knights, a new armor line for Gladiator, a free event pass for the Death by Metal event, the Return of a Realistic gamemode and more. There will be three more Hero Fests and one last return of the Herald of Chimera gamemode on June 1st.

### Seasonal Customization

> *When the Servants of the Stake began to attack, the Inquisition was formed to eradicate these twisted Fanatics and destroy the relics. Warriors were chosen to become Inquisitors, and new weapons and armors were forged for them and their followers to wield in battle. With these items, the Inquisition’s will can be enforced, by any means necessary. The blood of the Fanatics will spill, and the might of the one true Horkos will rule above all.*
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With the midseason title update comes a new set of armor variations for the Knights and Samurai. These new armor visuals offers a bleak and heretical look for each Hero, cladding them in dark metals and gold that makes it unclear if one is the inquisition... or the fanatics.

On top of this, Gladiator has received two new armor sets to form their newest line of armor, mimicking the looks of a fisher, fitting to their use of the trident.

### Gameplay Changes

Below is a list of changes that will be implemented at the start of the midseason. These changes look at the top two Heroes, bumping them down so that they are not too powerful, along with offering minor tweaks to other heroes either for quality of life purposes or to enhance the experience of playing a Hero as the game moves forward in balance.

* Valkyrie has been outperforming most Heroes ever since her rework, thus has been given some balance changes to tune her down. The following changes, primarily her Shield Tackle ones, seek to maintain her unreactable offense while making them less safe than they are currently.
	+ Shield Tackle Strike now deals 18 damage, from 20.
	+ Shield Tackle now moves slightly less forward.
	+ Shield Tackle no longer chains on-miss.
	+ Chained Heavies and Heavy Finishers now deal slightly less damage.
	+ First strike of Zone Attack is now 600ms, up from 500ms.
	+ Adjusted Zone Attack's weapon trajectories to have less reach and fixed their start and end positions.
* Much like Valkyrie, Tiandi has also been highly performing ever since their rework. Changes to their kit focuses on making them less frustrating to fight against.
	+ Light Finishers and Top Tiger Dodge (Forward Dodge Light) now deals slightly less damage.
	+ Dragon Kick now has slightly more recovery on-miss.
	+ Dragon Kick Follow-up and Heavy Finishers deal less damage.
	+ The first hit of Zone Attack now causes a Medium hit reaction instead of a Heavy hit reaction.
	+ Opener Lights and Heavies, together with all Tiger and Dragon Dodge Attacks, now chain to Light and Heavy Finishers from 200ms to 300ms into their miss recovery. Before, in most instances, these attacks chained as early as 100ms into their miss recovery.
* The miss recovery for Heavy Finishers for Kensei, Shugoki and Shaman have been reduced to 700ms, from 1000ms or more depending on the Hero.
* Shugoki's Chain Heavy Finishers now possess early Hyper Armor, kicking in 100ms into the attack. This change does not affect the Charged Heavy from neutral.
* Centurion's Zone Attack now costs 9 Stamina per strike, down from 12, and have better trajectory.
* Weapon trajectory has been adjusted on Warmonger's Side Heavy Attacks and Gryphon Side Light and Heavy Attacks.

To see a more detailed overview of these changes, see the official patch notes here.

### Death by Metal

"Test Your Metal" makes a return after three years, in the form of "Death by Metal." The Inquisition has placed the Heretics in a "trial to the death" to please their captors. Some are forced to dress up as past legends, while others attempt to embody their very idol.

This event will last from April 27th until May 18th. For more information on the gamemode, check out the dedicated page for the mode here.

### Hero Fest

The mini-events known as "Hero Fests" continue this season. Aside from giving a spotlight to the particular Hero by making them free-to-use for that week, they will be cheaper to purchase by 33%, have two Symbols and one Emblem sticker assigned to them that will be obtained upon log in, and finally a unique Execution for them.

Hero Fests will now occur three times per title update, up from two of last year. This means each season will offer six Heroes a fest per season, resulting in 24 Heroes receiving it a year.

The second set of three Heroes to receive this Fest this season will be Berzerker, Orochi and Conqueror, on May 18th, May 25th and June 8th.

### Returning Playlist

Realistic Duels makes a return from May 18th to the 25th, offering the special pure black colour pallete.

### Heralds of Chimera

This gamemode makes it triumphant final return before officially retiring, much like the Carousel of Horkos last season. This event will span from June 1st until the 8th.

### Other Changes

Below is a list of bug fixes and changes made during this season:

* Fixed an issue that allowed Raider to perform a Chain Zone when Out of Stamina by unlocking.
* Fixed an issue that caused Nobushi dodges forward into Viper's Retreat to perfom a Light Attack in some situations.
* Fixed an issue that caused Aramusha's weapon trail visual effect to be out of sync with the attack animation when performing a Left Side Deadly Feint from a Right Side Heavy Finisher.
* Fixed an issue that caused Tiandi Palm Strike to switch Guard to Top after a whiff, along with causing guard swap duration to be longer than intended.
* Fixed an issue that caused Gryphon to be missing Top Bad Block animation.
* Fixed an issue that caused Nuxia "Glass Waltz" to dash erratically in the direction of the player's movement.
* Fixed an issue that caused Kyoshin executions sound effects to be sometimes missing in Breach VS AI.
* Fixed issues in regards to effects either not being applied correctly or not being obtainable on some Heroes.
* Fixed a number of armor sets not properly applying skin tone, patterns or material colours.
* Fixed physics on a number of armor sets.
* Fixed Warden's execution A Moment of Silence which was missing blood visual effects.

## Gallery

### Video

For Honor- Year 7 Season 1 - Heresy Launch Trailer

## Trivia

* During the Death by Metal event, a Warmonger by the name of Vela appeared as one of the NPCs fought. She had specifically replaced Syntribos among the four Warmongers who appeared during the Rise of The Warmongers event (Astrea, Syntribos, Smaragos, and Asbetos). A few theorized that she would be of importance later.
	+ With the start of the Vengeance season, the theories were proven right as Vela is showcased as the Warmonger who ventured to foreign lands, bringing back treasures as Conquistador Vela.

## Information

### **Rating(s)**

Mature

> *"Fare thee well, distant shores, lands of pain and sorrow. A portrait colored gold, brushed by foes foul and free. Oh, what menace did prowl, struck down under bright sun. Lives taken, wonders broken, that riches cross the sea. A vain triumph come home, wealth collected in blood."*
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> *Behold and celebrate those who would monger... war. So falls decency, a prize for all to see. Eagle hearts take flight; blood runs at first light!*
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**Swords of Injustice Season 2**, named "Vengeance," is the twenty-sixth season of the ongoing Faction War. One of the Inquisitor known as Vela has set out to foreign lands under the command of Astrea. There, she found an empire filled with riches and exotic goods, all worth plundering. Such plunder was what she returned to Heathmoor with, together with one single prisoner. However, are the stories of grand conquest, told by Vela and her crew, actually true or are they embellishments that hide a coming storm...?

## Overview

> Sent across the sea to explore the New World, Conquistador Vela has returned to Heathmoor with the stolen riches of a fallen civilization.
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Whispers of a New World recently reached the Horkos. The brutal explorer Conquistador Vela set sail with a fleet to investigate. What she found exceeded all rumors: vast cities of gold, the precious metal plentiful as mud. But this civilization would not suffer invasion so easily. They challenged the Conquistadors to fight at a set time and a place – an odd custom Vela pretended to agree to, before she ambushed them.

Now the Horkos return in triumph. Obscene amounts of gold and treasure fill Vela's Castle. But her greatest prize of all is the enemy combatant she's captured: the strongest warrior from the New World. Many Horkos lives were lost in taking the prisoner. Kept caged and hidden, this spectacular fighter will soon be unveiled before Astrea for a public execution.

Until then, the Horkos celebrate.

## Features

### The Stolen Empire

The Conquistadors have returned from their journey to the New World with vast hoards of gold. The Horkos war machine now funded beyond belief, warriors gather inside Conquistador Vela’s castle to celebrate the boundless might of their order. Revelries, feasts and festivities await, where all will marvel at a most prized trophy: a caged warrior from the stolen empire.

Partake in the launch of the season to earn rewards from the Event Pass and unlock unique event loot. Available only from June 15th to July 6th.

### Hero Skin

This second season offers a new Hero Skin to the next Hero: the Warmonger. What is offered is the visuals of Conquistador Vela. Tasked with a crucial mission by Astrea herself, she sailed to the New World, where she found an empire of gold. Through deception, ruthlessness and barbarity, Vela decimated this civilization, and took its unbelievable treasures for herself. Now, she returns to Heathmoor as a Horkos hero, living proof that the strength of their Order knows no bounds.

### Hero Update

Some changes will be coming to the live game at the start of the season, primarily small changes for Nuxia, Warden and Hitokiri, and some quality of life changes:

* Nuxia Traps now are slightly faster, from 400ms to 300ms, while the transition timing from their respective attack into trap has been changed to accompany this change (attack-to-trap timing is 100ms later).
	+ **Developer's Notes**: *Nuxia's changes to her Trap timings were found to be successful in the Y7S1 Testing Grounds, so now we integrate her changes into the Live game. The Testing Grounds showed that with these timings, players were unable to react to Traps, so this should be a strong boost to her core move set.*
* Warden's Side Heavy Finishers are faster and have better and flatter hitboxes to hit external opponents. Shoulder bash can also be initiated into the Front Dodge as early as 100ms, down from 300ms.
	+ **Developer's Notes**: *Warden has been underperforming for a while, especially in group fights and at initiating offense in 1v1 scenarios. With these changes, the hero should be better equipped to hit opponents around them, as well as having a better way to get into Shoulder Bash from a front dodge.*
* Hitokiri has received a few changes to make their Opener Heavy perform better.
	+ Opener Heavies now possess Hyper Armor as early as 500ms into an Uncharged attack, and have a minimum charge time of 300ms (down from 400ms), making an Uncharged Heavy Opener 700ms down from 800ms. As a result, an Uncharged Heavy Opener deals slightly less damage.
	+ Zone Attack now has a better trajectory to match the weapon's visual.
	+ Chain timing from a Heavy Opener into a Chain Heavy has been adjusted to 200-400ms from 366-400ms.
	+ **Developer's Notes**: *Hitokiri has also been underperforming, and so we're doing some changes to help the hero get into their offense better. With Uninterruptible Stance on their Heavy Openers, we are hoping that Hitokiri is in a slightly better position as the hero should be safer when using these attacks to initiate offense. Their shorter minimum charge time should also help in making these attacks more potent. We've also adjusted the chain link timing after Heavy Attacks so that Hitokiri's chain offense comes out at a more reasonable timing, giving the hero better pressure. Finally, Hitokiri's Zone Attack should have better reach and hit opponents around better.*
* Aramashu's Blade Blockade has had its stamina cost adjusted: now costs 10 Stamina overall, instead of costing 5 on a successful block and 15 on an unsuccessful block (attempting a block when there is no incoming attack).
	+ **Developer's Notes**: *Aramusha's Blade Blockade had an extra penalty on whiff that made it extra punishing, but also rewarded using the move as a recovery cancel too rewarding, so we decided to switch around the stamina costs a bit. Overall, this is a buff for the hero on miss, but a nerf on successful blocks, which should even out over time.*
* Jormungandr can now perform Ouroboros Might (chain Zone) while out-of-lock. (not actually in the patch, will be fixed in a later patch)
* Training Mode change: Added a new option for opponent Bots in the Training Arena, called "No Block". Intent is to allow players to freely attack bots without them accidentally blocking due to having their guard in the designated direction (most applicable to Hero bots with static guard).

For more concise information about patch notes, see here.

### Testing Grounds

A new round of Testing Grounds arrives, and with it, it offer a second round for Lawbringer while offering changes to Legion Kick bashes.

* Lawbringer has received some additional changes to his kit from the last Testing Grounds. Below, changes marked in *italics* are new.
	+ Chains are now free to be any three-hit chain, meaning he can perform light after light.
	+ Heavy Openers can be followed up by a guaranteed Light follow-up. Guaranteed Light follow-ups now chain to Finishers.
	+ Mid-chain bash given a new animation (*has been made smoother compared to last Testing Ground*). Slower and feintable.
	+ Long Arm changed so that it is not guardbreak vulnerable.
		- *No longer drains or pauses Stamina.*
		- *No longer can be initiated during Guardbreak.*
	+ *Impale changes reverted. The changes was as follows: Imaple is now an Opener, but leads into a chain attack with reduced damage. No longer wallsplats if not fully held to a wall.*
		- *Impale after Parry is now slower, so is only guaranteed on Light Parry.*
	+ Chain Heavies now possess Uninterruptible Stance. Top Heavies do not stun anymore.
		- *Stun on Blind Justice (Top Heavy Parry Punish) removed. Damage also reduced.*
		- *Heavy Finishers have had their Uninterruptible Stance reverted.*
		- *Damage on Chain and Finisher Heavies reduced.*
	+ All Enhanced Lights are not Enhanced anymore.
	+ Zone Attack is now an Opener, but now has normal recoveries.
	+ *Light Riposte (Light Parry Punish) damage increase reverted.*
	+ *Back Throw range reduced.*
	+ *Parry branch to Heavy Ripostes increased.*
* All Heroes with Legion Kicks (500ms forward dodge bash) will have their timings adjusted. The speed changes are not representative of who will get the changes and at what speed, as the Heroes who received the changes are just meant to be benchmarks for data collection. Categories are as follows: non-feintable Bashes, feintable Bashes, and Bashes on Heroes without any other Forward Dodge Attack All categories of Bashes have been adjusted to be 466ms, 433ms, and 400ms to test which would be adequate for each category.
	+ Non-feintable Bashes:
		- Gryphon and Shugoki's Bash are now 466ms.
		- Centurion and Kyoshin's Bash are now 433ms.
		- Jiang Jun and Gladiator's Bash is now 400ms.
	+ Feintable Bashes:
		- Zhanhu's Bash is now 466ms.
		- Shinobi's Bash is now 433ms.
		- Jormungandr's Bash is now 400ms.
	+ Bashes without any other dodge attack:
		- Conqueror's Bash is now 466ms. However, branching into the Bash during the dodge has been increased to 300ms from 100ms.
		- Lawbringer's Bash is now 433ms.

For more details about this Testing Ground, see this page, together with the previous TG iteration of Lawbringer.

### Hero Fest

The mini-events known as "Hero Fests" continue this season. Aside from giving a spotlight to the particular Hero by making them free-to-use for that week, they will be cheaper to purchase by 33%, have two Symbols and one Emblem sticker assigned to them that will be obtained upon log in, and finally a unique Execution for them.

Hero Fests will now occur three times per title update, up from two of last year. This means each season will offer six Heroes a fest per season, resulting in 24 Heroes receiving it a year.

The first three Heroes to receive this Fest this season will be Warlord on July 6th, Valkyrie on the 13th and Gryphon on the 20th. TBA.

### 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 treasures brought back by the Conquistadors and the culture from where those riches originated from.
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>

The Conquistadors journeyed to the New World and decimated an entire civilization in the name of Horkos. Now they have returned to Heathmoor, bringing with them amounts of gold previously thought unimaginable to further fund their war efforts. The Conquistadors have also returned with weapons and armors they traded for before the pillaging, made from the idols and valuables of this powerful civilization.

Bring your customization to a whole new level with some flair of a stolen empire 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 a Unique Execution where you play hot potato with your foe, and a special Signature showing off your affinity with the beasts through XXX. 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.

### Onboarding Changes

Changes have been made to the Onboarding experience for new and existing players with the objective of streamlining and clarifying the Trials and providing a smoother bridge to the multiplayer gamemode.

* Major changes are:
	+ Essential knowledge is taught, and frustration elements are reduced throughout the Trials.
	+ Apprentice Trials and Warrior Trials are now both part of the Onboarding flow.
	+ All Trials are unlocked from the start so that they can be skipped if desired.
	+ Stamina Trial is cut, as it is instead taught contextually when needed.
	+ Scoring and Secondary Objectives are removed, removing unnecessary learning experiences such as "Guard Break after a Parry"
	+ Adding a PvAI Dominion match, with the intent of giving new players a way to get familiar with our main game mode, with the safety of fighting only Bots; added a "How To Play" Dominion page at the start of this PvAI match.
* Rewards:
	+ Collective reward remains the same.
	+ New players receive the rewards when all Trials are completed, including the PvAI Dominion match.
	+ Existing players will still be able to receive any remaining rewards when they have completed all the Trials. This should be much easier, as there is no need to complete difficult Secondary Objectives such as winning the 1v2 without getting hit).
	+ ***Developer's Notes:*** *Please note that all rewards can only be received once; if you previously received the Steel rewards you will not be eligible once again.*

## Midseason Changes

> "*Xihuala qui* (come to me). *Xihuala qui*. *Xihuala qui*! Let the hunt begin."
>
>

* New Hero - the Ocelotl
	+ Embody the Ocelotl and unleash your vengeance against those who challenge you with your Macuahuitl and Tepoztopilli. Stalk opponents, and when the time is right, strike them with overwhelming ferocity.
	+ The Ocelotl hail from the great Aztec Empire. Master hunters, their name means “Jaguar Warrior” in their native tongue of Nahuatl. The Ocelotl stalks their enemies with predator patience -- only to tear them to shreds in moments. Efficient and calculating, they wield a macuahuitl club and tepoztopilli spear to maul their prey as the situation warrants. They are ferocious fighters who never forget a grudge.
* New Armor sets for the Vikings, Wu Lin and Outlanders
	+ Aboard their ships, the Conquistadors returned to Heathmoor with inconceivable amounts of gold – so much so that the Order of Horkos is now swimming in riches. With more gold than they know what to do with, new weapons and armors have been forged, bearing the iconography of the civilization they raided. Not in honor of them, but as a sign of Horkos’ ultimate supremacy over land both old and new.
* New Armor Variation sets for the Shinobi
* New Event Pass coming with the Ocelotl
* Three more Hero Fests: Peacekeeper, Raider, Medjay
* Balance changes for Jormungandr, Centurion and Nuxia
* Shadows of the Hitokiri Event Throwback
* More TBA'd

## Gallery

### Images

Vengeance Decadent Shard 2.pngVengeance Decadent Shard 5.PNG
### Video

For Honor- Year 7 Season 2 - Vengeance Launch Trailer
## Trivia

* The new Hero being Meso-American was hinted early on, ever since the first Warrior's Den livestream of the Year 7 Season 1. It was hinted at via the presence of an Aztec death whistle prop, lined up with other For Honor props and decorations in the background of the livestreams.

## Information

### **Rating(s)**

Mature

> *"Welcome, honoured guests. Come pay tribute to the spirits of your ancestors! You know well the rules: stay indoors at night; fight not near water; avoid wandering shadows. But above all, never eat the offerings..."*
>
>

> *You are cordially invited... to your worst nightmare.*
>
>

> *"Pain is for the living! The toil of your mortal soul! Let me end this anguish! The show is about to begin! Superstition, fairy tales... how hungry can the dead be? "*
>
>

**Swords of Injustice Season 3**, named "Deceit," is the twenty-seventh season of the ongoing Faction War. With uncertainty and hunger in the air, warriors across Heathmoor are attracted to the festivities behind held this autumn by the Wu Lin, who pay their respects to their ancestors. In return, the Elite Wu Lin have chosen to invite all and everyone to their grand party, only asking that these guests follow rules to ward away the spirits of the dead. Temptation runs thick as party-goers gorge on the offerings, leading to apparent signs of sickness...

## Overview

> The Wu Lin's Ghost Rites begins, and an odd sickness starts to take hold of the Warriors that took the offerings.
>
>

Across Heathmoor, poor warriors left displaced by constant warring received invitations from members of the Wu Lin elite. The rich hosts were holding a Ghost Festival, a celebration to honor and entertain the spirits of their ancestors, and all warriors were summoned to the festivities.

But there were rules. Stay indoors at night. Fight not near water. And most importantly of all -- never eat the offerings for the dead. Such rules had long been a ward against wrathful spirits. Sadly, the delicious offerings proved much too alluring for the hungry warriors. A few guests indulged themselves, and soon, many more followed.

It was exactly what the hosts intended...

## Features

### Ghost Rites

The Wu Lin elite hold a Ghost Festival, an annual celebration meant to honor the spirits of their ancestors with offerings and performances. In a gesture of openness, the nobles invite poor warriors to the festivities. The warriors must strictly leave the food offerings to the departed but, desperate and starving, the warriors cannot help but eat them. As dusk falls, an odd sickness takes hold of the rule breakers... and they fear something has gone terribly wrong.

Partake in the launch of the season to earn rewards from the Event Pass and unlock unique event loot. Available only from September 14th to October 5th.

### Reflex Guard Removal

Reflex Guard's time has come to an end. It has been in the game since launch, and over time its presumed advantage (of attempting to hide the guard stance) became more and more outweighed by its disadvantages (failing to block attacks). So with this change, all Reflex Guard heroes now have the same Static Guard as regular heroes: so Assassins (and Shaolin) no longer have to refresh their guard between hits, and no longer have to worry about their guard disappearing for a small period of time when it expires. Note that these heroes keep everything else, including Deflects, and so this is purely a buff to every old Reflex Guard hero.

### Hero Update

Some changes will be coming to the live game at the start of the season, primarily small changes for Nuxia, Warden and Hitokiri, and some quality of life changes:

* Reflex Guard has been removed from all Assassin heroes as well as Shaolin. Heroes that had Reflex Guard now have Static Guard.
	+ **Developer's Comment**: *Reflex Guard's time has come to an end. It has been in the game since launch, and over time its presumed advantage (of attempting to hide the guard stance) became more and more outweighed by its disadvantages (failing to block attacks). So with this change, all Reflex Guard heroes now have the same Static Guard as regular heroes: so Assassins (and Shaolin) no longer have to refresh their guard between hits, and no longer have to worry about their guard disappearing for a small period of time when it expires. Note that these heroes keep everything else, including Deflects, and so this is purely a buff to every old Reflex Guard hero.*
* Lawbringer Revamp is live, bringing TG changes that address problematic issues, while leaving some behind in favor of beloved aspects of the Lawbringer's kit. Below are the changes made to this hefty warrior:
	+ All Stamina damage, Stamina pause and stun have been removed from Lawbringer's moveset.
	+ Forward and Side Dodge Shove's miss recovery now regains guard in the last 100ms of the recovery.
	+ Swift Justice (light after Top Heavy Finishers) can now be accessed after any Heavy Opener akin to a Guaranteed Light, if performed from the same side as the Heavy. Swift Justice now also leads into Finishers. Damage reduced to 4.
	+ Heavy Changes:
		- Chain Heavies now have Early Hyper Armor, with Chain Top Heavy being slightly faster.
		- Top Heavy Finisher is slightly faster, moves forward more and can be soft-feinted into a Guardbreak.
		- Damage on Heavy attacks have been reduced overall. Recovery values have been standardized.
	+ Parry Changes:
		- Impaling Riposte is now not guaranteed from a Heavy Parry, as it is slower to initiate, from 800ms to 1100ms.
		- Blind Justice deals less damage and now counts as a Chain Opener, leading into Swift Justice if desired.
		- Light Riposte functions similarly to Swift Justice, leading into Finishers.
	+ Zone Attack and Make Way now cost less Stamina and count as Chain Openers. Miss recovery standardized.
	+ Long Arm can no longer be used during Guardbreaks, but now guarantees a Heavy Opener.
	+ Quality of Life Changes:
		- Front Dodge now lasts 900ms, down from 1000ms. Ability to cancel a forward dodge with a Light or Heavy Opener has been named "Virtuous March."
		- Chain link timing to Heavy Finishers increased to 100ms to 300ms from 200ms to 300ms.
		- Side Light Finisher attack trajectories adjusted to better match weapon visuals.
		- Back Throw distance is reduced by 1.25m.
* Medjay's Staff Mode Chain and Finisher Heavies had their damage reduced. Staff Mode attack trajectories adjusted to match weapon.
	+ **Developer's Comment**: *Medjay's Staff mode was overperforming in a lot of instances; the damage was too high, and the attack trajectories for a lot of their attacks did not match the weapon visuals, which caused situations where strikes would hit external opponents when the weapons were not colliding. This should now be fixed, and there should be a visual consistency with the weapon visuals and their collision timings. We've also adjusted the size of the trajectories - in most cases these are now slightly smaller, again to match the weapon visuals better. We've also lowered damage so it is more in line with other attacks.*
* Orochi's Storm Rush no longer pins, and only leads into a Heavy Finisher now. In trade, Storm Rush's damage has been increased a bit.
	+ **Developer's Comment**: *Orochi's Storm Rush has problematic properties and enabled ganks that should not be possible. Specifically, it would both pin opponents that were in unpinnable states, its pins could also be pinned from other players, and the guaranteed lights after the pins put the opponent in a pinnable state, like every other normal attack in the game. We've made several changes to address these issues, but to compensate the fact that Storm Rush now effectively deals less damage due to the removal of guaranteed lights, we've buffed its damage output so it deals the same amount overall.*
* Hitokiri's Zone Attack Stamina cost reduced to 20 from 60.
* Pirate Changes seek to undo some of the over-nerfing faced during her post-release days.
	+ Heavy Finishers deal slightly more damage.
	+ Pistol Blast has better recoveries.
	+ Cavalier Dance (forward dodge heavy) is slightly faster (700ms, from 800ms), thus has Hyper Armor activate a bit earlier than before (433ms, from 500ms).
	+ Grand Cavalier is faster, at 533ms from 600ms.
		- **Developer's Comment**: *Pirate has been underperforming after a series of nerfs made to the hero in the past. We're readjusting the hero to raise her efficiency in fights, increasing damage from her Heavy Finishers slightly, speeding up her dodge attacks and adjusting the frame advantage of her Pistol Blasts so Pirate has one frame of frame advantage upon returning to neutral.*
* Bug Fixes:
	+ Fixed camera bugs for Black Prior when performing dodge attack into Bulwark Stance.
	+ Fixed issues with Ocelotl's Skull Smash not feeding proper revenge, blessing visuals being visible while dead, and Hunter's Stance not being able to cancel emotes.
	+ Fixed customization issues with Ocelotl's Remnant Chest and ornaments clipping.
	+ And more...

For more concise information about patch notes, see here.

### Testing Grounds

A new round of Testing Grounds arrives, and with it, it offer a moveset overhaul for the Highlander, granting him new tools to use in both Defensive and Offensive Stance, along with a new way of entering and maintaining Offensive Stance.

* TBA'd

For more details about this Testing Ground, see this page.

### Hero Fest

The mini-events known as "Hero Fests" continue this season. Aside from giving a spotlight to the particular Hero by making them free-to-use for that week, they will be cheaper to purchase by 33%, have two Symbols and one Emblem sticker assigned to them that will be obtained upon log in, and finally a unique Execution for them.

Hero Fests will now occur three times per title update, up from two of last year. This means each season will offer six Heroes a fest per season, resulting in 24 Heroes receiving it a year.

The first three Heroes to receive this Fest this season will be Kensei Shugoki Warden - date TBA.

### 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 hungry ghost festival, Chinese opera and the special tale about a certain monkey king.
>
>

The Ghost Festival has strict rules to follow: from leaving offerings untouched to a ban on fighting after dark. But the elite hosts have also ensured new weapons are readily available for all warriors in attendance. Once the guests finally give in to their hunger, the rule-breaking begins. As night falls, warriors pick up their new weapons, and fight whoever they come across.

Bring your customization to a whole new level with some flair of a stolen empire 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 a Unique Execution where you rake in your foe with Pigsy's signature weapon and a special Signature where you gaze upon an enjoyable shadow puppet show. 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.

## Midseason Changes

* Event - The Theater of Bones
	+ The rules of the Ghost Festival were broken by poor warriors. Now the malevolent White Bone Spirit has risen from the lower realm to snare their souls. In twisted celebration, the ghastly creature is hosting a theatrical performance where the trapped warriors are forced to take part in the story. Warriors will have to face the White Bone Spirit’s illusions, as she prepares to feed on their very souls. But the arrival of a surprise guest may change the fate of all…
	+ It's Halloween in Heathmoor! From October 26th to November 16th, warriors can take part in a limited time unique Halloween game mode event "Theater of Bones". Players will fight along side Monkey King Wukong to defeat the menacing White Bone Spirit and save her captives. Also available during this time period will be a free event pass filled with treats to be unlocked.
* New Armor sets for the Knights and Samurai.
	+ The Ghost Festival is a sacred event where guests are meant to honor their ancestors. Food offerings are laid out, shrines are built, and theatrical entertainment is provided for the departed. Many guests have dusted off old armor sets and weapons that once belonged to their predecessors -- a tribute to those that came before.
* New Armor Variation sets for the Highlander
* New Event Pass coming with Theater of Bones event.
* Three more Hero Fests: Shaolin, Zhanhu and Aramusha
* Balance changes to standardize all Legion Kicks, along with adjusting the dodge recovery cancel timing for Tiandi and Orochi.
* Sorting and filtering added to the customization menu, allowing players to find the customization they want by rarity, event, season, and more parameters.
* Zhanhu's Gambit Event Throwback
* More TBA'd

### Hero Skin

This third season offers a new Hero Skin to the next Hero: the Shaolin. What is offered is the visuals of Monkey King Wukong.

Every Wu Lin warrior is familiar with the tale of the mythical hero, Monkey King Wukong. Eons ago, Sun Wukong served in the realm of heaven as guardian of the heavenly peaches, magical fruit said to grant immortality. In a bout of rebellion against his masters, Wukong ate the peaches to become immortal – but he didn’t stop there. The Monkey King believed the power of heaven shouldn’t be kept only for those who lived high above all others. And so, Wukong broke out of heaven with the peaches of immortality.

Triumph over the deceitful White Bone Spirit with the Hero Skin of Wukong, the Monkey King, a full body customization of the Shaolin. Available in For Honor during the midseason of Y7S3: Deceit.

## Gallery

### Video

For Honor- Year 7 Season 3 - Deceit Launch Trailer
## Trivia

* Many aspects of this season, including The Ghost Rites, plays off the Hungry Ghost festival (also known just as the "Ghost Festival") which is celebrated throughout East and Southeast Asia. It commonly takes place during the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, which is roughly around mid-August to early September.
* Elements of Journey to the West is present during this season too.
	+ The main menu background puppets appear to be the main cast of Journey to the West:Tang Sanzang leading in front of his disciples of Sun Wukong (also known as the Monkey King), Zhu Bajie (also known as "Pigsy"), and Sha Wujing (also known as "Sandy").
	+ The Battle Pass illustrious effects are based on Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing.
	+ The Battle Pass execution is also based on the Nine-Toothed Rake which is Zhu Bajie's iconic weapon.
	+ The Battle Pass signature features shadow puppets portraying a fight between Sun Wukong and an enemy.
	+ The main villain of the season, the White Bone Spirit, a deceitful spirit that tried to lure Wukong's master, Tang Sanzang, through disguises so that she could eat his flesh. In the original story, Wukong is the only one who was able to see through her disguise (while being provoked with her last one), although the rest of the main cast did not believe him.
	+ A limited time execution comes in the form of "Ruyi Jingu Bang," the name of Wukong's iconic size-shifting staff.
		- At the start, the staff is brought out from around the user's ear, referencing how Wukong stores the staff by shrinking it to the size of a needle and tucking it behind one of his ears.
	+ Peaches are ever present throughout the season, the event and even in the trailers. While often depicted as Wukong's favourite fruit in pop culture media, peaches are moreso iconic to Journey to the West as the Peaches of Immortality are one of the main sources of many of his supernatural powers, such as immortality and flying.
	+ More TBA

## Information

### **Rating(s)**

Mature

> *"The enemy came in the night. They offered a choice: submit or die. Death. No oath is worth such fealty. We did what we had to. Some will look down on us. Brand us 'traitors.' Let them do so at the end of our blades."*
>
>

> *"Promises hold no sway over us. A Viking must remain loyal... to **themselves**. We are survivors."*
>
>

**Swords of Injustice Season 4**, named "Deceit," is the twenty-eigth season of the ongoing Faction War. Riding the waves of success, from the Inquisition to the pillaging of foreign lands to the sabotage of the Wu Lin festival, Horkos is on the move. They now raze the lands of Valkenheim, conquering village after village, by sheer force when necessary.

For the village of Moldar, a rift begins when the village chief's brother,Maddox, prefers to live another day than to die under what he perceived to be a pointless oath. As Maddox committed treason, killing the chief and all who remained loyal to Chimera, he handed the village to Horkos control. However, one survivor had been able to run: the chief's daughter, thus Maddox's niece...

## Overview

> When faced with the tyranny of the Horkos, one Viking village found itself at a cross between its Chimera-bound chief and the survivalist Highlander Maddox...
>
>

Exploiting the injustice sweeping Heathmoor, the Order of Horkos attacked Valkenheim. They soon laid siege to the village of Moldar. The small Viking town had no hope against the might of the enemy host, and so the Horkos gave them one choice: submit or die.

The leaders of Moldar came to blows over the decision. The village chieftain refused to break their oath to the Chimera Alliance, while his brother, the Highlander Maddox, argued they must join the enemy to survive. When the dread hour came, Maddox stabbed his leader in the back to ally with the Horkos.

It was treason. Heathmoor’s ultimate crime.

## Features

### Frost Wind Betrayal

The Viking village of Moldar has fallen. When Horkos forces invaded, the chieftain valiantly refused to break his oath to Chimera. But his trusted advisor Maddox thought such loyalty was madness. Refusing to condemn their people to slaughter, Maddox struck first: he killed the chieftain and assumed leadership of Moldar under a new banner. His own.

This year's Frost Wind celebrations were cut short by an act of treason. Partake in the launch of the season to earn rewards from the Event Pass and unlock unique event loot. Available only from December 7th to the 28th.

### Hero Skin

This fourth season offers a new Hero Skin to the next Hero: the Highlander. What is offered is the visuals of Oathbreaker Maddox. The Highlander Maddox wears the skin of a sabertoothed tiger to identify himself as was he is: a survivor. Once a warrior without a home, he was welcomed into the village of Moldar by the people as one of their own. There, he found a new family, and a place to belong. But when the Order of Horkos attacked, Maddox found himself torn. To prevent the slaughter of his people, he had to do the unthinkable. To survive, he had to break his oath to the Chimera Alliance – and to his family.

Become the betrayer of his kin with the Hero Skin of Oathbreaker Maddox, a full body customization of the Highlander. Available in For Honor at the start of Y7S3: Treason.

### Local Tone Mapping

Tone mapping is the process in which the game renders the visuals in a game, mask it with a brighter or darker hue before sending that to the player's screen. The intent of this process in games is to give consistent exposure even when playing in settings that are the dark indoors or the bright outdoors. However, tone mapping can run into problems when the visual that is being transferred has great contrast, such as being indoors but with a sun beaming in from a door or window. This leads to many details being lost or not properly scaled in brightness because the entire visual's average brightness is taken into account.

Local Tone Mapping seeks to solve this issue by applying the tone mapping to local parts of the visual, thus reducing how much brightness contrast affects how the visual is tone mapped. This allows dark areas in an otherwise well lit visual to be brightened up properly, and for objects such as the sky or fires in an otherwise dark setting to not be blown out in brightness.

This option will be available to PS5, Xbox series X and PC at the launch of the season. Being off by default, it needs to be turned on.

### Hero Update

Some changes will be coming to the live game at the start of the season, primarily adjustments to the previous season's Legion Kick changes, along with Hitokiri.

* In the previous patch, we've sped up our 500ms front dodge bashes to be 433ms. This introduced an unfortunate interaction where these attacks could reliably be dodged on a single timing. We've made the following changes to ensure there is no singular dodge timing to beat these attacks:
	+ All 433ms Front Dodge Bashes now lose tracking 100ms later during the attack against dodging opponents.
		- *The changes to the way Front Dodge Bashes track opponents makes it to that delayed Front Dodge Bashes will now properly connect against early dodges. This should return to the type of play we had before the changes, where the intent was that opponents had to read between dodging early or late; due to how the changes were implemented, there was an issue where a single dodge timing could beat buffered bashes, delayed bashes and dodge to guardbreak; with these new timings, this type of situation should no longer happen.*
	+ Conqueror, Jormungandr and Zhanhu have had their Front Dodge recovery lowered by 100ms.
		- *To ensure this is also fixed on Conqueror, Jormungandr and Zhanhu, we've also lowered their recovery from Front Dodge so they can Guardbreak earlier and catch the outlier dodges that can effectively dodge both the buffered and delayed bashes.*
	+ Medjay's Throne Room Tackle now follow the standardization of 300-500ms input into front dodge, than being the exception of being able to input as early as 100ms.
	+ Tiandi's Palm Strike has had its input increased to 366-500ms into front dodge than the normal standardization.
		- *Finally, we've also applied a change to Medjay and Tiandi; Medjay's Throne Room Tackle was too oppressive at their new timings, while Tiandi's new timings meant that players had one less option to beat Tiandi when the hero performed a dodge cancel from Light attacks into Palm Strike. With this new change, players should be able to trade with Palm Strike by using a Light Attack.*
* Hitokiri has received some adjustments, making their kit more suited to using their Endless Myriad more, especially in teamfighter situations.
	+ Hitokiri's Meikai Rift (Light Finishers) no longer has Hyper Armor. Endless Myriad Heavies now gain Hyper Armor at 100ms, down from 300ms.
		- *Hitokiri used to have Uninterruptible Stance on Meikai Rift to be used as an early trading tool, but this proved to be awkward as the hero needed to end their chain and pressure to trade with opponents. As the hero's identity is to be a relentless attacker and have strong mixups, we've adjusted the position of the Uninterruptible Stance so Hitokiri is able to use their chained Heavies more effectively in outnumbered situations and be more difficult to peel.*
	+ Chain link timing for Meikai (Opener Light) into Rei Kick/Sweep has been increased a bit.
		- *With Hitokiri's chained Heavy attacks getting better Uninterruptible Stance timings, we changed this chain link timing to give opponents more options after the hero's Light Openers; they can now interrupt Rei Kick with a Light attack on a successful read.*
	+ Weapon trajectory on all heavy attacks increased to have better range.
		- *One of our goals for Hitokiri is to ensure players can effectively use the hero's Side Heavy attacks in outnumbered situations, in combination with Uninterruptible Stance. Their current values were underwhelming and made it too difficult to hit external opponents; with these adjustments, they should hit more reliably and give Hitokiri more offense-based defense in group fights.*
* While not a Hero Update, the White Bone Spirit armor has been officially added as a proper customization for the Zhanhu, being given its own name and preview visual where it didn't have so before. Clipping issues on the model have been addressed, especially on Body Type 1 which it was not intended to be molded to.
	+ The White Bone Spirit armor was only available during the previous season's Theater of Bones event gamemode. While originally not intended to be obtainable as it was meant to be the visual look of the event's antagonist, when it did find itself being available for loot during the event, the Developers decided to allow players to keep looting it until the end of the event.
	+ The armor set has been named "White **Bonus** Spirit" in allusion to the set not being intentionally available as season loot.
* Fixed issues in regards to dodge animations on certain heroes not matching the direction they are dodging.
* Fixed issues with Ocelotl teleporting opponents on a Ballista, causing them to die instantly in most cases.
* Fixed issues where event and hidden gears would appear as not obtained or locked.
* Fixed Jiang Jun reciting his Sifu's Swirl voiceline when exitting Sifu's Poise in any way.
* Fixed numerous customization issues.
* And more...

For more concise information about patch notes, see here.

### Testing Grounds

A new round of Testing Grounds arrives, and with it comes the return of Highlander's rework. Seeking to reinvent his stance without removing what had made him iconic, this second wave of Testing Ground seeks to better what was done in the previous round. Together with his rework comes changes to Peacekeeper to make her kit more viable for 4v4s, along with touch ups to Medjay's moveset to make him more balanced but also more flexible in switching between his Stances.

* TBA'd

For more details about this Testing Ground, see this page.

### Hero Fest

The mini-events known as "Hero Fests" continue this season. Aside from giving a spotlight to the particular Hero by making them free-to-use for that week, they will be cheaper to purchase by 33%, have two Symbols and one Emblem sticker assigned to them that will be obtained upon log in, and finally a unique Execution for them.

Hero Fests will now occur three times per title update, up from two of last year. This means each season will offer six Heroes a fest per season, resulting in 24 Heroes receiving it a year.

The first three Heroes to receive this Fest this season will be Highlander on January 4th, Warlord on the 11th and Warmonger on the 25th.

### 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 cold winter, sabertooth tigers and the Oathbreaker himself, Maddox.
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When Maddox broke his oath and killed his chieftain, the village of Moldar changed allegiance from Chimera to Horkos. Under the new leadership of Maddox, all those who have followed the Oathbreaker have taken up new weapons to wield in battle. With these, those who wield them show their new allegiance. But for their enemies, it means only one thing: these are the weapons of traitors.

Bring your customization to a whole new level with some flair of cold-winter betrayal 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 a Unique Execution carve the back of your opponent with axes before letting them explode into blood-wings and a special Signature where you saddle up... on a toy horse. 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.

## Gallery

### Video

For Honor- Year 7 Season 4 - Treason Launch Trailer
## Trivia

* The emote effects in the Frost Wind Betrayal Event pass is a reference to the Thin Red Path cinematic trailer.