Welcome Back Valorians!

In our last blog  we revealed Valorplate Shards – a brand new feature that lets you truly live out your ultimate Valorplate power fantasies!  

Valorplate Shards are powerful new abilities that are thematically tied to each Valorplate, setting their playstyles apart in fresh and exciting ways.

We’ve been thrilled to see the excitement and discussion from the initial reveal which is why we’re happy to be back with a new blog post to cover some of the more nuanced mechanics behind Valorplate Shards.

The best part about the Valorplate Shards? You’re not locked into just one option! While players may want to gravitate towards only using the strongest options to optimize their builds, they will also be able to mix and match their favorite two shards to create unique and godlike synergies. We want players to be able to express themselves and find their own unique playstyle preference by being able to use multiple Shards.

The other major feature we are introducing today is the ability to power-up your Valorplate through its Shards. As you progress in your journey through Aperion, obtaining and then upgrading all Valorplate Shards will also affect the strength of the Valorplates themselves. Here’s how it will work: 

After obtaining all four Shards for a Valorplate, it will become an Ascendant Valorplate and unlock a second passive ability – giving it a new useful power in combat.

Obtaining the Shards is just the beginning, as each individual Shard can be upgraded five times to increase its power! Fully upgrading all 4 Shards for a Valorplate will unleash its full potential as it becomes an Exalted Valorplate, unlocking a third and final passive ability.

As a reminder, please note the information (the numbers, visuals, or descriptions) are not final and subject to change before the update goes live. 

Now let’s take a look at this blog’s set of Valorplate Shards and new passive abilities!

 

Phoenix

Valorplate Shards

Way of the Phoenix

• When reduced to 0 Health, restore X Health to you and nearby allies and unleash a shockwave that blinds neary enemies and deals X fire damage (Cooldown: X minutes)

Soul of the Inferno

• Whenever you inflict Ignite, gain a Flame Charge that grants X Weapon Technique Fire damage (Max: X charges)
• X Weapon Technique Fire damage while you have at least X Flame Charges

Wildfire Strike

• Whenever you hit an Ignited enemy with a Charged Heavy Attack, consume Ignite, then Ignite surrounding enemies for X of the consumed damage

Breath of Fire

• X of Ignite damage you deal is stored in your Vengeance Meter (Max: X damage)
• Whenever you perform a Petrifying Slam while your Vengeance Meter is full, expend your Vengeance Meter to project a cone of flame that deals Fire damage equal to the amount expended

Passive Abilities

• Polarity Attacks deal Fire damage and inflicts Ignite
• [Ascendant] X chance to enter Rampage whenever you inflict Ignite
• [Exalted] X Ignite power while your Life Stone charges are full

 

Aegishorn

 

Valorplate Shards

Beetle Technique

• You can now Parry enemy Red Power Attacks
• Gain X Overhealth whenever you Parry a Red Power Attack

Aegis Strike

• Whenever you Block or Parry, X of the damage prevented is stored in your Vengeance Meter (Max: X damage)
• Double the damage stored when you Parry
• Whenever you perform a Shield Bash while your Vengeance Meter is at least 50% full, expend your Vengeance Meter to deal damage to enemies in a straight line equal to the amount expended

Stasis Banner

• Apply Stasis to all enemies inside your Banner Aura every X seconds
• Gain X Overhealth whenever you hit an enemy in Stasis

Way of the Shell

• X Weapon Technique damage while you have more than X Overhealth

Passive Abilities

• You take 5% less damage
• [Ascendant] X Overhealth Retention
• [Exalted] While above X Overhealth, your attacks cannot be interrupted

 

Vertigo

 

Valorplate Shards

Way of the Storm

• Whenever you Breach a Shocked enemy, they become electrified
• An electrified enemy is periodically dealt X Air damage and arcs Chain Lightning to another nearby enemy
• Chain Lightning deals X Air damage, inflicts Shock, and arcs to additional nearby enemies
• This damage is increased by X per Shock stack on the electrified enemy

Arc Technique

• Whenever you perform a Deathblow or Soulshatter an enemy, there is a X chance that Chain Lightning arcs to a nearby enemy
• Chain Lightning deals X Air damage, inflicts Shock, and arcs to additional nearby enemies
• Increase the chance to create Chain Lightning by X per Shock stack on the defeated enemy

Call Lightning

• Whenever you hit a Shocked enemy with a Charged Heavy Attack, consume Shock and summon a lightning bolt that deals Air damage equal to X of the consumed damage dealt
• The lightning bolt Blinds nearby enemies

Shock Strike

• Whenever you inflict Shock, gain a Lightning Charge (Max: X charges)
• Whenever you hit an enemy with a Spectral Blow, expend all Lightning Charges and deal X Air Damage to nearby enemies for each charge expended

Passive Abilities

• Petrifying Slam deals Air damage and inflicts Shock
• [Ascendant] X chance wherever you inflict Shock to apply an extra stack
• [Exalted] X Shock power, X Shock duration

 

Bulwark

 

Valorplate Shards

Crushing Blow

• You can overcharge your Charged Heavy Attack, costing up to X Health over X seconds
• The overcharged attack deals up to X additional Physical damage and applies the Mark of Fragility

Bloodrage Technique

• During Rampage, gain X Physical damage and X Bleed power
• During Rampage, Weapon Techniques and Polarity Attacks deal Physical damage and inflict Bleed

Will of the Unbroken

• While Polarized, gain X damage per second and lose X Health per second
• Whenever you consume Bleed while Polarized, restore Health equal to X of the damage dealt
• If your Health drops below X, you are no longer Polarized

Way of the Bull

• Whenever you perform a fully-charged Sundering Slam, consume Bleed and gain X Physical damage for X seconds for each enemy that lost Bleed stacks

Passive Abilities

• Petrifying Slam deals Physical damage and inflicts Bleed
• [Ascendant] Your Timing Attacks consume Bleed
• [Exalted] X Bleed power, X Bleed duration

 

We hope you enjoy theorycrafting new builds with the set of Valorplate Shards shared in this blog. We hope you join us on Reddit to discuss these upcoming changes with our community!

There’s also one last exciting piece of news we want to share with our community and some larger details on the update itself. We are happy to confirm that this update will be called the ‘Exalted Update’ and will be free to every user of Godfall, regardless of the version you own (Challenger, Base game, Deluxe, or Ascended). Additionally, we are currently targeting a deployment of this update in April! 

We still have one more blog lined up to reveal the final details on Valorplate Shards, including how to unlock them so stay tuned for more information! We’re thrilled and humbled to have the community along for the ride and we can’t wait to reveal more details in the near future. 

Sincerely,

Daniel Nordlander

Game Director, Counterplay Games