Year 7: Swords of Injustice Season 3

## Deceit

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