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[Dev Blog #24] Season 2´s new skills!

6K View2022-12-09

Greetings, Hunters of Torchlight!

It's always been an ultimate goal of Torchlight: Infinite to offer more build possibilities to our players, and skills are a crucial part of it. Now that the skill development for Season 2 is almost complete, we would like to share some updates about them.

Five new Main Skills will be launched in Season 2, which will start in January.

Haunting Abomination

Skill Tags: #Spell #Erosion #Area #Persistence #Terra

Haunting Abomination is a brand new Terra Spell Skill. Unlike other Terra Skills, Haunting Abomination needs to be released on the designated enemy and inflict Erosion Damage to it before a vile area can be created around the enemy. Enemies within the area take constant damage for a period of time.

The effect of subsequent damage is based on the first Hit Damage, so the first Hit Damage is especially important and needs special attention when developing.

Blazing Bullet

Skill Tags: #Attack #Fire #Area #Ranged #Projectile #Horizontal

As its name suggests, Blazing Bullet is a projectile skill that specializes in penetrating enemies. The projectile of this skill causes an area explosion when penetrating an enemy, and the range of the explosion expands based on the number of remaining penetration attempts.

At the same time, every time the projectile penetrates an enemy, the skill will get an additional damage bonus. So the number of penetrations is also a key development goal.

Thunder Slash

Skill Tags: #Attack #Lightning #Area #Melee #Slash Strike

A typical Slash Strike skill. The Sweep Slash deals damage in a cone-shaped area, and the Steep Strike focuses on a straight line in front. When using Slash Strike, triggering a certain amount of Multistrikes can give you 1 Steep Strike. The bonus to Sweep Slash chance can be converted into Multistrike chance, so it may be a good choice to build Thunder Slash's BD around "Multistrike".

Howling Gale

Skill Tags: #Spell #Channel #Physical #Area #DoT

When you continue to channel Howling Gale, a gust of wind will be generated to attack enemies within range. More channeled stacks equal longer skill duration, wider skill area, higher attack frequency, and faster movement speed.

In the PC version, the gale will be generated at the position of the mouse cursor, and it follows the movement of the cursor when channeling, hitting wherever you aim at. The experience will be slightly different on mobile, where the gale will automatically search for enemies. Regardless of which platform you use, the gale will move toward the enemy by itself when the channeling ends.

Moon Strike

Skill Tags: #Attack #Area #DoT #Melee #Slash Strike

Moon Strike is also a Slash Strike skill that offers two attack forms: Sweep Slash and Steep Strike. The skill enters a special buff state after 6 Sweep Slashes. You can make continuous Steep Strikes while the state lasts. Duration of the buff state can be extended by consuming a certain percentage of the Max Mana, and the Mana Cost of this skill is calculated in the percentage of the Max Mana.

This is what sets the Moon Strike apart from other Slash Strike skills. Just like the werewolf will burst with infinite power during a full moon, we hope that Hunters can also find pleasure from the explosive power of Moon Strike.

Therefore, the development of the skill basically revolves around this special state. So try to make the state last longer and ensure the supply of Mana to maintain the explosive Steep Strikes.

In addition, the skill has two special rules: it adds additional Physical Damage by 100% of the skill Mana Cost, and the Spell Damage bonus and additional bonus also affect the Attack Damage of this skill. It'll be up to the Hunters to experiment on how to develop these two rules.

After covering the new skills, let's talk about skill adjustments at the end. Everyone must be keen to know about what balance adjustment we will be making to Whirlwind.

Whirlwind

Whirlwind was a well-deserved popular skill in Season 1, and while Hunters also picked up many other skills later in the season, Whirlwind was definitely the most popular choice in the early stage.

As a Slash Strike skill, the old Whirlwind enjoyed a lot of advantages: It allowed attack while moving and had a 360-degree range of attack... Those two features alone made it the first choice for most Hunters. But it didn't offer rich development in Slash Strike.

To balance the essential experience of Whirlwind and strengthen its Slash Strike features, we have made the following adjustments:

Now the overall Base Area of Whirlwind has been tuned down, the default Max Channeled Stacks for Whirlwind is 8 stacks. When Whirlwind reaches the Max Channeled Stacks, the 360-degree Wind Blade is not always performed. Instead, based on the Slash Strike Chance, a Wind Blade with higher damage will be released to the nearest enemy. The minimum channeled stacks remain essential for the new Whirlwind, and the chance for Steep Strikes has become more important.

That's all the information we would like to share with you about the skills of the new season. But this is not all. We have also adjusted and balanced many old skills in their stats and other aspects. We will keep you updated on those changes through a detailed update log before the start of Season 2.

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