Year of the Covenants Season 1

## Asunder

> *"Years have passed. In these times of abundance, all celebrate: games and lavish banquets... masquerades and initiation rites. But some things never change - the thrill of battle, the thirst for glory!"*
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> *"The march of war cannot be halted. The urge to fight is stronger than ever. Who will be your enemy?"*
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**Year of the Covenants: Season 1**, named "Asunder," is the seventeenth season of the ongoing Faction War. After the Battle of the Eclipse, the Chimera Alliance and Order of Horkos have gone their own ways to recuperate from the loses they have faced. They have enacted celebrations in their own sanctuaries to bring upon an initiation of new warriors.

## Overview

> The Horkos vs. Chimera rivalry has grown in ferocity and tensions rise as we enter a new year. It only takes a spark to start a rebellion...but what will it take to end it?
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After the Battle of the Eclipse, the Chimera Alliance and Order of Horkos fought relentlessly for years. As Heathmoor's population declined, people everywhere began to make 'Covenants', secret pacts to share intel and resources, with either Horkos or Chimera warriors. Covenants could be used to gain allies outside their faction, while rooting out the evil among their own. Sealing a Covenant was also a symbolic way to make a statement about the future. Would someone embrace the warmongering views of the Horkos, following strict codes and rituals to keep the strongest in their rightful place? Or would they rather fight for Chimera's ideals of solidarity and peace?

## Features

### Horkos Masquerade

Start out the season by joining the Horkos festivity known as "the Horkos Masquerade." With two teams pit against each other, prove yourself as the stronger wolf worthy of joining the Order's cause. Be careful though, while the gamemode may be familiar, it is the Carousel of Horkos where there stands one single Zhanhu known as the "Horkos Challenger" who will burn all that stands in his way, including using the Zhanhu's special Scorching Deluge feat to cover the grounds in fire. Whichever team kills the Challenger will be gifted with fire damage until the end of the round.

For more details on the event and gamemode, check out the dedicated Horkos Masquerade article page.

### Warden Refresh

Changes from the previous Testing Grounds for the Warden have finally gone live. Summarizing what changes have been made to Warden, Shoulder Bash has had some changes to unhealthy elements that it had, such as its highly defensive initiation from Back Dodge. Warden was highly reliant on these aspects of Shoulder Bash to remain viable in fights. In trade, parts of the Warden's kit has become more usable in 1v1s and 1vX situations, together with allowing Warden to access Shoulder Bash from any non-Shoulder Bash attack instead of only off of Light Attacks.

#### Changes

The following are all the changes that have been made to the Warden's kit, together with developer notes offered with each group of changes.

* Shoulder Bash:
	+ Warden's Shoulder Bash now cannot be initiated from a Back Dodge. It can still be performed from a Side or Forward Dodge.
	+ Forward movement when Shoulder Bash is feinted has become uniform, having the Warden move forward a little even if feinted from Full Charge. Before, early feints had no forward movement, while Full Charge had a lot of forward movement.
	+ Shoulder Bash in chains can now be initiated after any non-Shoulder Bash Attack (Light/Heavy attacks, Valiant Breakthrough, Rushing Slash and Zone Attack), from only being initiated after a Light Attack.

*Developer’s comment: These changes should help Shoulder Bash both feel fairer and flow better. Warden now has to be on the offensive to use Shoulder Bash and rewards using every part of the kit instead of relying on only part of the kit.*
* Heavy Attacks
	+ Side Heavy Attacks (both Openers and Finishers) have flatter and/or larger trajectories that allow Warden to hit more enemies.
	+ Heavy Finishers have had their speeds standardized to be 900ms (from 1000ms for Top Heavy, from 800ms for Side Heavy). Side Heavy Finishers are now Unblockable, just like the Top Heavy Finisher.
	+ Side Heavy Finishers now have a bit more forward momentum when performed.
	+ Heavy Finishers' damage slightly reduced from their Testing Grounds iteration.
	+ Light Attacks now chain to Heavy Finishers at 100ms during their recoveries (down from 200ms).

*Developer’s comment: Warden should now be able to use Heavy attacks more effectively; the increased speed on the Top Heavy Finisher makes it harder to interrupt and Side Heavy Attacks (both Openers and Finishers) are stronger both in group fights as well as the minion lane.*
* Zone Attack
	+ Zone Attack's recovery is now 500ms (down from 1000ms).
	+ Zone Attack now has more forward momentum when performed.

*Developer’s comment: Warden’s Zone Attack no longer needs to commit to an additional attack to be useful; the extra forward movement also helps in group fights to catch opponents that might be further away.*
* Feats
	+ Replaced “Thick Blood” on Warden (and Nuxia) with “Thrilling Comeback." Thrilling Comeback is a passive Feat that heals the Hero for 20 Health upon entering Revenge.

*Developer’s comment: Player feedback from the Year 4 Season 4 Testing Grounds correctly noted that Thick Blood on Warden negatively affected the viability of Testing Grounds Peacekeeper and Nobushi – as it nullifies their bleed entirely. Here, by changing the effect of Thick Blood entirely, we remove the unhealthy aspect of being able to shut down bleed heroes’ kits for free, as well as the bad feeling of taking Thick Blood but not queuing into any bleed heroes. With the new Thrilling Comeback, it retains the passive feature of making you live a bit longer, but now is globally useful with a much healthier design.*

### Post-Masquerade Testing Grounds

Immediately after the Horkos Masquerade, another Testing Grounds will be initiated, providing changes for six Heroes (Gladiator, Berserker, Aramusha, Hitokiri, Jiang Jun, Zhanhu) together with the return of the test changes for Shugoki. Starts April 1st, lasting until the 8th. These changes to these Heroes are meant to look at Heroes who have lower viability than desired and are in need of new or reworked tools to be able to function better.

Below are the summarized changes offered to the Heroes:

* Shugoki: Make him less frustrating to play against, while giving him ganking tools and better 1v1 pressure.
	+ Demon's Embrace (Hug) has been changed to the old input of Back + GB, along with not being an option anymore as a soft feint from any Heavy. It no long has armor, deals less damage, heals less, and gives stamina back to the target, but has been slightly sped up.
	+ Charge of the Oni has been changed to be similar to Shinobi's Super Sprint, but has lost its Hyper Armor and the ability to knock aside Heroes.
	+ Has new dodge attacks in the form of Dodge into Headbutt and a Forward Dodge Heavy.
	+ Headbutt itself now deals direct damage instead of Stamina damage, along with not stunning or pausing the target's stamina anymore.
	+ Light Attacks are not armored anymore.
* Aramusha: Improve the viability of Blade Blockade, as well as giving the hero an opener and ways to deal with bashes.
	+ Blade Blockade's follow-ups has been changed to a guaranteed wide sweep heavy, a quick top light, or the original kick. Ring the Bell has been removed as a follow-up choice. Blade Blockade can also be used to cancel attack recoveries (on hit, miss, and even block).
	+ Ring the Bell (Blade Blockade Light option) is now a soft feint for opener Heavies and Forward Dodge Heavy, using the GB input.
	+ Forward Dodge Heavy is now uni-directional, opting for the Top Heavy option, which now has reduced armor but increased range. Side options have been repurposed for new Side Dodge Heavies.
	+ Attack Chains can now be chained between right and left side, allowing chains to be performed as long as they are not from the same direction.
* Berserker: Mostly quality of life changes, centered around making Dodge Attacks more effective.
	+ Top Light Opener has been sped up to be in line with its Side Light Opener counterparts.
	+ Light Dodge Attacks are now enhanced. Forward Dodge Attacks, including Sprint Attack, now have more forward momentum.
* Jiang Jun: Changes to his Stamina consumption as well as his Guardbreak punishes and his Heavy Finishers to make him stronger in 1v1.
	+ Heavy Openers are 100ms faster. Heavy Finishers can also be soft feinted into GB.
	+ Side Heavies' Stamina consumption has been changed to the standard 12, as "no stamina consumption on block or parry" has become a universal trait on attacks since the CCU.
	+ Zone Attack from Sifu's Poise is now Unblockable.
	+ Forward Dodge Heavy has been separated into two Forward Dodge Moves, with Forward Dodge Heavy becoming faster but unfeintable. Shin Kick has become its own move as a Forward Dodge Bash.
	+ Dou Shi's Choke (Parry GB) now does not guarantee Jiang Jun a follow-up attack, but still guarantees allied attacks.
	+ Undocumented: Dodge Attacks can now have their recovery canceled into Sifu's Poise.
* Hitokiri: Improvements to flow into chains and ways to deal with bashes.
	+ Can now enter chains through Sprint Attack, Zone Attack and Forward Dodge Heavy.
	+ Rei Kick has more range. Rei Sweep now can be followed-up with a Chained Heavy on hit.
	+ Chained Heavies now have Hyper Armor 400ms before impact, more forward momentum and have a larger trajectory.
	+ New Side Dodge Heavy that hits from opposite side and enters chains.
* Zhanhu: Better neutral pressure, getting more chances to Dodge Cancel recoveries as well as improving the Side Dodge attacks.
	+ All attacks now can have their recoveries canceled into a Dodge (or Dodge Attack).
	+ All Dodge Attacks are now Enhanced if they were not before. Side Dodge Attacks now count as a Heavy when parried.
	+ Subduing Counterblow (Superior Block Bash) removed from Superior Block options, and is now a Forward Dodge Bash that chains to Openers.
	+ On Superior Block, the Dodge Attack becomes Unblockable and have increased damage.
	+ Right Side Heavy Finisher has had its hitbox fixed so that it has a similar hitbox as Left Side Heavy Finisher.
* Gladiator: Improved chaining ability and Dodge Attacks.
	+ Fuscina Ictus (Toe Stab), Zone Attack and Sucker Punches now chain to Heavy Finishers and Skewer.
	+ Side Dodge Attack now have more range and i-frames during start-up. Forward Dodge Light has more momentum.
	+ Fuscina Ictus now deals a bit more damage and won't prevent allies from executing a Hero hit by the attack.
	+ Skewer's Stamina cost has been lowered, but doesn't guarantee a follow-up attack for Gladiator.

After the Testing Grounds period, the changes will be reviewed by the Fight Team, together with survey responses by the players. Based on the feedback, the changes will be implemented at a later date.

### 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 Horkos Festivities, along with sophisticated yet deadly designs that reflect the state of the Horkos' desire to put the strong above the weak.
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With more resources at their disposal, the makers of Horkos were able to craft some of the most refined weapons and draperies one could find in Heathmoor. A scribe who attended one of the Masquerades described the style of the Horkos warriors as 'sophisticated yet violent, gorgeous yet terrifying'. If one took a closer look at the bright colors and smiling masks of Horkos, they would discern a disturbing truth beneath the lavish surface.

Bring your customization to a whole new level with some Horkos flair for your character's look through the 100 Tiers of rewards available for all heroes, all worth over a million Steel! For the premium tier, there is included the first Pair emote in the game: the Chest bump. 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.

### Other Changes

New instrument emotes have been added to the game, featuring the Chimera music box and zither, together with the Horkos Bagpipes and Violin. It is anticipated that more instruments will becoming in the future as the tambourine is showcased in the Horkos Masquerade.

A number of new executions have been added prior to the start of the Season. "Resounding Death" has you ring a handbell, smashing your opponent intermittently to make sure they are truly dead. "Deadly Hare" has you bring out what seems to be a harmless rabbit, only for it to jump at your opponent, biting their head off. "The Great Beyond" has you summon a portal, only for you to kick your victim into it, having them gone from this plane of existence. "Sylvan Detachment" has you perform a powerful double-punch, punching the astral form out of them.

Following up the Forge changes that were made during the previous season, Part 2 of changes have been made to the map, introducing a new set of stairs that go between the upper Central Workshop and the midlane, together with a rework of the Capture Zone A (the Waterwheel) to improve access to the zone and widen the bridge. Lighting on the map has been improved to be brighter when the Weather is set to be in Ashfeld.

Minions have put on costumes in response to the celebrations happening, starting with wicked outfits as the Horkos Masquerade happens. Knights are serving as Jesters, Vikings are shamanic followers, while the Samurai are demonic oni warriors.

For UI elements, the size and opacity of revive/executed icons have been tweaked to make them less intrusive. The faction-colored territories on the World Map have also been made to be more transparent to make the seasonal and event realisation elements more visible.

Starting in Y5S1, changes are coming to the rewards warriors will receive at the conclusion of seasonal faction wars. The 3rd Place Faction will be rewarded Scavenger Crates and Salvage; the 2nd Place Faction will be additionally rewarded an XP Boost and a bit of Steel; the 1st Place Faction will be additional rewarded 3-day Champion Status.

Whenever a Hero is in the startup of a Guard Break, if that Hero is struck by a Guard Break it will now automatically perform a Guard Break Counter. This change was made in response to how players would try to Guard Break each other almost at the same time, requiring one player to press the Guard Break button once more to Counter Guard Break. Now, that won't be necessary as the player who gets Guard Broken in a simultaneous Guard Break situation will automatically Counter.

Ubisoft has teamed up with Content Creators to release a new series of guides and tutorials called For Honor Gameplans that cover For Honor basics. So far, there is a dedicated list of terminologies that can be seen here, together with a Hero Overview video series featuring Freeze as the narrator. More are planned to come in the coming months from other content creators!

## Midseason Changes

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

* Breach improvements have been implemented in recognition of the lowered health and damage of Heroes due to the CCU. In general, the health of Pikemen, Officers, the Guardian and the Commander have all been reduced. Pikemen's basic attacks, together with the Officer's Side Heavy attacks and the Commander's Special Top Heavy attack, have all had their damage reduced.
	+ **Dev Comments** : *Following the Core Combat Update from last year we now revised the health and damage values from all different NPCs in Breach. The previous values no longer fell in line with the damage output from Heroes. We know that Pikemen were a source of frustration for many and with their new health values, most Heroes with a Light-Heavy combo will be able to dispatch them quicker with less stamina consumption.*
* Improvements have been made to the Dominion gamemode's score widget. Clarity has been made to where the 1000 point mark is on the bar, together with applying a lock icon when a team cannot undo Breaking for their team.
* New armor visuals have been added for all Heroes (including Y1 Heroes), obtainable at varying Reputation levels depending on the Hero, between Rep 3 to Rep 7. All of the new armor visuals feature cleaner looking outfits of their default armor (except Warmonger whose set modifies the Syntribos set instead), together with more protection for all the warriors in the form of chainmail or studded leather.
* Four new emotes have been added, featuring the Horkos Music Box and Zither, and the Chimera Bagpipes and Violin!
* The start of the Chimera Banquet is here! Partake in the Heralds of Chimera gamemode, where one member of each team of 4 will be selected to be the "Herald." The Herald will have more health, and is the only one who will gain access to Feats. Killing the Herald will win the round in this best-of-7 gamemode!
	+ The Wu Lin event weapons that were missing from the Horkos Masquerade have been added to the loot pool for the Chimera Banquet event while the Horkos Masquerade event weapon visuals for other Heroes have become available to loot once again for the event.
* Fixed a number of animation/visual glitches, such as Tiandi's Dodge Attacks becoming glitched when performed too many times, and missing particle effects for Black Prior, along with other armor related glitches, such as parts of armor having physics effects where they shouldn't.
* In small patch update a week after the Midseason Update, changes were made to Gryphon's kit.
	+ Soul Cleaver (Side Dodge Heavy) its input window has been fixed to 300ms into the dodge from 300-500ms into the dodge.
		- ***Dev Comments:*** *This should make Side Dodge Attacks more predictable, as well as making it impossible to delay to dodge on most mix-ups, while still being a good dodge that leads to finishers.*
	+ Damage on Soul Cleaver and the Heavy follow-up to Veteran's Kick have been lowered.
	+ Gryphon's Shove has been changed to be a "Forward Dodge + Guardbreak" input from being a "Back + Guardbreak" input. The move starts 300ms into the Dodge and is now 500ms compared to the previous 600ms from neutral. Gryphon's Shove also cannot chain on-miss, and won't pause the opponent's Stamina.
		- ***Dev Comments:*** *The previous Back + Guard Break input of 600ms was unreactable for most players outside of high-level play. This meant that Gryphon's Shove was problematic (for different reasons) in both casual and high-level play. By making Gryphon's Shove a 500ms Dodge Forward Melee, combined with the additional minimum of 300ms spent in the Forward Dodge, the move becomes predictable for most players, while also being unreactable to players at all levels of play.*
		- *Gryphon's Shove should now function as a mix-up and opener that is less frustrating to face.*
	+ Draconite Mist (Tier 2 Exclusive Feat) and Draconite Bolt (Tier 3 Exclusive Feat) have had their healing nerfed. Their healing has been reduced and have a smaller effective radius. Draconite Bolt also deals less damage to the target and has a slower start-up.

## Gallery

### Video

For Honor- Asunder Story Trailer - Ubisoft -NA-For Honor- Year 5 Season 1 Asunder Launch - Trailer - Ubisoft -NA-
## Trivia

* The new global executions released right before the season all are references:, particularly the British comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the superhero Marvel film Doctor Strange.
	+ The "Resounding Defeat" Execution is likely a reference to the use of bells during funerals or in times of someone's impending passing, such as the dead bell used in Scotland and England.
		- It may be a reference to the "Bring out your dead" scene from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where a cart master yells, "bring out your dead," as they pass through a village that has been hit by the plague. They strike a pot every time they chant this phrase, likely to call attention to the cart.
		- It may also be a reference to the "Walk of Atonement" scene shown in the Fantasy drama television series, Game of Thrones, where a confessed sinner walks bare in public as punishment, while a clergy walks with them ringing a bell to attract attention to the sinner.
	+ The "Deadly Hare" Execution is a reference to the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a fictional rabbit that is infamous for looking like a normal, harmless rabbit, only to be very violent when approached.
		- The execution includes a voiceover of "Get away, get way!" (changes based on the game's voice localization), mimicking the similar "Run away" line the characters in Monty Python shout after they have attempted to fight the rabbit but end up retreating from.
		- The Killer Rabbit, together with the Holy Hand Grenade that is said to be able to kill the Killer Rabbit, have become a staple in some pop culture media, as seen here.
	+ "The Great Beyond" execution may be a reference to portal created by sorcerers in the film Doctor Strange.
		- Uniquely, the portal sends the victim of this execution to an otherworldly plane, which is not visible to everyone else. The victim will attempt to run back to the portal, but disappear after a few steps. This is the first time the victim of an execution has a different "view" of the execution than the executioner.
	+ The "Sylvan Detachment" execution is a two-part reference.
		- The punch performed by the executioner is a Double Punch, popularly seen in action and Kung Fu films, where a person strikes their foe simultaneously with both of their fists, usually one to the upper chest and the other to the lower chest.
		- The executioned enemy having their astral form shot out of their body is likely a reference to a scene in the film Doctor Strange where the titular character experiences an out-of-body experience out of his physical body when the sorcerer The Ancient One performs a palm strike on an infuriated Dr. Strange.
* The new armor sets that came during the mid-season all feature an Awareness Ribbon somewhere on their attire. This may be in recognition to a post for "ForHonorVsCancer" (which had a follow-up video) and later "ForHonorVsSuicide," both posted late 2020 by For Honor content creator Kondus12.