We are updating Underlords today with the Outlanders, a new Alliance, a speedy game mode, a new new player experience, and a partridge in a pear tree. If you'd like to see the pretty version of these update notes, check out our sparkly Outlanders website.
Let’s get started, shall we?
The Outlanders and the Spirit Alliance
White Spire has five new heroes in town, and the Underlords can't wait to get them fighting for their crews. Snapfire and Void Spirit are new to both Dota 2 and Underlords, while the three Spirits are just tagging along to keep their long lost Spirit cousin company.
Snapfire - Snapfire is a Dragon Inventor. She provides ranged support for the crew and will periodically fire a shotgun blast and slow enemy attack rate. If the Dragon Alliance is active, her lizard mount fires globs of fire at the enemy.
Void Spirit - Void Spirit is a Spirit Warlock and is the Ace of Spirits. He is a melee attacker and his Dissimilate ability allows him to create portals and perform sneak attacks on opponents. Void Spirit’s Ace ability makes charged Spirits deal 100% more damage.
Spirit Alliance - Void Spirit didn’t head to White Spire on his own. He brought a few cousins with him: Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, and Earth Spirit. When three of the spirits are on the board together and charged, they fire off the Triangular Delta Slam. This damages all enemy heroes within and applies each spirit’s elemental effects.
Knockout Mode
We’ve added a new fast-paced game mode called Knockout. In Knockout, every player begins by choosing a starting crew of 5 heroes. It only takes two heroes to combine, and players level up automatically every other round. Each player has 4 strikes (losses) before they get knocked out and games last an average of 10 minutes. Players are matched up in a pseudo bracket and will only be fighting against other players with the same or similar health. Full game rules in the patch notes below.
We are starting with Knockout Casual and will soon be adding Ranked. And of course we taught our bots how to play Knockout, so players will be able to get some quick bot games in. The team has been having way too much fun playtesting this internally and we’re excited to get in the queue with the rest of the community!
New Player Experience
As we get closer to shipping Season 1, we want to make sure the onboarding flow is as smooth as possible for new Underlords. With this update we’ve added a new tutorial in which Ricky Ravenhook quickly teaches new players the basic concepts in Underlords.
This tutorial only gets triggered for players who have played less than three games of Underlords and only shows up once. If you’d like to run the tutorial manually, it can be found as a game mode under “Bot Match”.
Mobile UI
The team continues to make updates and improvements to the in-game UI. This update comes with a significant design pass to the both PC and Mobile UI, making things more legible, tappable / clickable, and visually balanced for all players regardless of device. This work is ongoing, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.
Full Patch Notes
GENERAL
- Updated new player experience - tutorial starts automatically for players who have played less than three games of Underlords.
- Significant design pass to the both PC and Mobile UI, making things more legible, tappable / clickable, and visually balanced.
- The Janitor took off some time from a busy Dota update to sweep out more crashes.
- Added many more 2-star and 3-star visual upgrades for heroes.
- Improved queue times for parties.
KNOCKOUT
- New game mode, available for bots and for casual online matches.
- At the beginning of the game, choose from three starter crews of five heroes, drawn from two Alliances. These two Alliances will be completed to the first tier. Don't like your three choices? You get one reroll.
- Players start at level 5 and automatically level up on even rounds.
- Players get to choose an item on odd rounds and on the starter-crew round.
- Only two of the same hero are needed to rank up.
- Only one Underlord Talent is pickable (the Ultimate).
- Four strikes (losses) and you’re out.
- Round pairs are made based on player health - players with the same or similar health will be matched up when possible.
- No interest on your bank and no extra gold from streaks.
- Average 10 minute games.
HERO CHANGES
Earth Spirit:
- Newly added.
- Alliances: Spirit Warrior
- Tier: 3
- Ability: Geomagnetic Grip - Earth Spirit summons a Stone Remnant off the map and pulls it towards his current target. Enemies struck by the incoming Stone Remnant are silenced for 3 seconds and take [100/150/200] damage.
- Ability: Earth Elemental - Passive - When Earth Spirit executes a Delta Slam, he silences affected enemy units for 3 seconds.
Ember Spirit:
- Newly added.
- Alliances: Spirit Assassin
- Tier: 2
- Ability: Sleight of Fist - Ember Spirit dashes around with blazing speed, attacking all enemies within [2/2/3] cells, then returning to his start location. Attacks deal [100/200/300] bonus damage.
- Ability: Fire Elemental - Passive - When Ember Spirit executes a Delta Slam, he sets affected enemy units on fire for 3 seconds.
Legion Commander:
- Ability: Elemental Charge - Passive - When Legion Commander executes a Delta Slam as part of the Spirit Alliance, she deals double damage.
Snapfire:
- Newly added.
- Alliances: Dragon Inventor
- Tier: 1
- Ability: Ol' Scatterblast - After 4 basic attacks Snapfire readies her shotgun, blasting an enemy within 2 cells for [150/250/350] damage in a cone 3 cells wide and slows the attack of affected units by [-15/-20/-25]%.
- Ability: Mortimer Kisses - Unlocked by Dragon Alliance - Mortimer spits [3/4/5] globs at enemies up to 5 cells away. Each glob deals [150/250/450] damage to all enemies within 1 cell of the impact and lights them on fire for [1/2/3] seconds.
Storm Spirit:
- Newly added.
- Alliances: Spirit Mage
- Tier: 2
- Ability: Ball Lightning - Storm Spirit becomes volatile electricity, charging across the battlefield and dealing [70/140/300] damage to each unit he passes through, plus [10/20/40] damage per cell he has traveled.
- Ability: Storm Elemental - Passive - When Storm Spirit executes a Delta Slam, he disarms affected enemy units for 3 seconds.
Void Spirit:
- Newly added.
- Alliances: Spirit Warlock
- Tier: Ace of Spirits
- Ace Effect: Charged Spirits deal 100% more attack damage.
- Ability: Dissimilate - Void Spirit enters the aether, disappearing and creating 3 portals. After 1.3 seconds he exits one of the portals and deals [200/300/400] damage to enemies within 1 cell and reducing their armor by [10/15/20] for 5 seconds.
- Ability: Void Elemental - Passive - When Void Spirit executes a Delta Slam, he breaks affected enemy units for 3 seconds.
Weaver:
- Weaver is now a Scrappy Elusive Insect.
ITEM CHANGES
Aegis of the Immortal:
- Disabled in Knockout.
Desperate Measures:
- Disabled in Knockout.
Embarrassment of Riches:
- Disabled in Knockout.
ALLIANCE CHANGES
Champion
- Fixed a bug with Champions not getting credit for all alliances.
- Fixed a bug with Champions not getting the increased health until partway through the fight.
- Lowered the health and damage bonus percent from 10 to 8%.
Spirit
- 1 Tier, three Spirits to complete
- Triangular Delta Slam - When a Spirit casts an ability they enter a charged state. When 3 Spirits are in a charged state they perform the forbidden technique of the triangular Delta Slam, each dealing 200 magic damage to all enemies caught inside and applying their elemental effects.
New Default Head: Puck lvl2
New Default Shoulder: Wraith King lvl1
New Default Head: Beastmaster lvl2
New Default Head: Slardar lvl2
New Default Arms: Shadow Fiend lvl3
New Default Arms: Pudge lvl2
New Default Head: Weaver lvl2
New Default Weapon: Legion Commander lvl2
New Default Arms: Treant Protector lvl2
New Default Body Head: Broodmother lvl2
New Default Arms: Faceless Void lvl2
New Default Shoulder: Witch Doctor lvl2
New Default Legs: Necrophos lvl2
New Default Weapon: Disruptor lvl2
New Default Head: Troll Warlord lvl2
New Default Ambient Effects: Earth Spirit's Ambient Effects
New Default Belt: Life Stealer lvl1
New Default Belt: Storm Spirit lvl1
New Default Belt: Ember Spirit lvl1
New Default Belt: Void Spirit lvl1
New Default Belt: Snapfire lvl1
tombstone_raise_zombies_new: Id reduced from 
extra_items: Added new attribute 
bonus_damage_on_low_life: Added new attribute 
prevent_next_fatal_life_loss: Added new attribute
Changed files in this update