After 13 months in Early Access, we're proud to announce that Element TD 2 has officially released! With it, the price has increased from $9.99 to $14.99, along with a host of new content and features. We also have a fancy new launch trailer, courtesies of community member Wade. Check it out here:

And now onto the longest patch notes to date. Here's the full release notes for Version 1.00!

Chapter 4

• Chapter 4 of the Campaign is here, with 7 more missions to cap it out! The maps are bigger, the challenges are harder, and it packs some diabolical surprises, including:

  • Adaptive Creeps: Each wave, these become highly resistant to one of your elements. Whatever tower tops the damage tracker for the wave, Adaptive Creeps will take 25% damage from that tower's element on the next wave.

  • Spawners: Every 15 seconds, it spawns 3 small creeps with 15% HP each. There is no cap on the number of creeps these can spawn, so kill them fast!

  • And 3 New Bosses!

• New Upgrade Column in the Loadout. These are passive upgrades that can help bolster your defenses. Requires beating Chapter 2 before you gain access to them.

  • Income: At the end of each wave, gain 5% / 10% / 15% end-of-wave bonus.

  • Extra Lives: Start with 10% / 20% / 30% more lives.

  • Range Bonus: All towers gain 10% / 20% / 30% more range, but they cost 5% / 10% / 15% more gold.

  • AoE Bonus: All AoE towers gain 10% / 20% / 30% more AoE, but they cost 5% / 10% / 15% more gold.

  • Essence: Gain 1 / 2 / 3 Essence to be used for building Level 4 Single Element or Periodic Towers

• New Achievements for Chapter 4:

  • Trebuchets Only: Clear Mission 22 on Hard using only Towers with 1250 Range or more (including Range upgrades)

  • Splash Defense: Clear Mission 23 on Normal using only towers with 200 AoE or more

  • Triad of Light: Clear Mission 24 on Normal using only Light, Water, and Nature Elements

  • Set of Annihilation: Clear Mission 25 on Hard without building a single tower during the last wave

  • Triad of Darkness: Clear Mission 26 on Normal using only Darkness, Fire, and Earth Elements

  • Full Support: Clear Mission 27 on Normal using only Buff, Slow, and Damage Amp Towers

  • Portal Master: Clear Mission 28 on Very Hard without using Infernal Towers

  • Wizard Prime: Clear all Mission in Chapter 4

  • Annihilator: Get 4 Stars on every Chapter 4 Mission

  • Master of Elements: Clear all 28 Missions in the Campaign

You can reach some pretty silly ranges on certain towers now, thanks to the new upgrades.

Features

• 4th Co-op Map added: Tundra!

• In Campaign, you can now pick up where you last left off, thanks to a new Continue button!

  • How it works is whenever you reach a Checkpoint (aka every Wave Break), it'll save your progress for that mission, letting you quit the game and later continue where you last left off.

  • However, you can only hold onto one Checkpoint at a time, so if you try changing to a different mission, it'll warn you that it'll erase your previous Checkpoint.

• In Campaign, there is now a Hint Box in the bottom-left corner, which you can toggle on/off. This gives extra insights on the game and tips for specific missions.

• New Cosmetics:

• New Builder: Master Captain

• New Builder: Titan

• New Builder: An Actual Duck

• New Builder: ???

• New Hat: Super Galaxy

• New Trail: Nebula

• New Trail: Elemental Master

• Additionally, some of the high level Cosmetics can now be unlocked by completing certain Achievements. You'll still need to buy them with Shop Points though.

Introducing Tundra, the 4th Co-op Map! And one of the new missions in Chapter 4.

Improvements

• When hosting a Multiplayer lobby, the default map is now set to Random Map.

• Added a Random Map option to Co-op Mode.

• In Singleplayer, the game now remembers the last Mission you were playing, as well as what difficulty.

• War Mode now gives you a primer about how the game works during the loading screen.

• UI shrunk by about 10%.

• Maps now have actual borders and skyboxes instead of the darkness of Fog of War

• Switched Tropical Variant out with the second version that shows up in the Campaign, which is a far more interesting map.

• Winter Variant is back to 2-Path by default, but its short path moves at 80% speed

• Adjusted Advanced Paths for:

  • Wasteland now speeds up creeps by 20%

  • Desert paths are asymmetrical

  • Autumn paths are asymmetrical

  • Winter paths are asymmetrical

  • Forest Variant third path no longer pingpongs. Instead, it goes to its own portal at 75% speed.

  • Winter Variant short path is reversed and moves at full speed

• In No Sell Mode, you can now cancel building/upgrading. But once it finishes, you're locked in.

• Right-clicking on the Mini-map no longer moves your camera

• Geyser bounce has been slowed and looks considerably smoother

• Earth, Fire, Bloom & Money Towers now have status icons that track their bonuses.

• Removed the In Good Health Achievement from the game, as it no longer exists.

• Missions now give you a decent amount of XP when clearing them.

• When you clear a mission, it now displays a Mission Cleared message.

• Chapter 2 has been made roughly 10% easier

• The second half of Mission 11 has been redesigned, it should be much more fair than it was before

• The last wave of Mission 18 has also been toned down, particularly the boss

• Minor optimization improvements

As you load into a War Mode game, it now briefly tells you how it works.

Bug Fixes

• Attempt #63849 on fixing the Ranked Disconnect error.

  • We're pretty sure we nailed down the exact cause, and we've added some stopgaps that should prevent it. Should.

• Coincidentally, fixed the zombie lobby bug.

• Fixed a bug where, if you upgrade a tower, then cancel the upgrade, it'd reset your changed target priority.

• Fixed a bug where Fire Tower's damage could stop going up and get permanently stuck.

• Fixed a bug where Wisp Tower was doing 40% less damage than intended.

• Fixed a bug where the VFX of Fast Creeps would flash across the whole map on leak.

• Fixed a bug where winning a Co-op game counted as 2 Wins instead of 1.

• Fixed checkpoints not saving Damage Overview information.

• Fixed manual targeting not overriding your Focus Target setting.

• Fixed loading from a checkpoint turning Focus Target setting to off.

• Fixed loading from a checkpoint resetting statistics for Towers Built/Sold, Creeps Killed, and Total Interest statistics at the end of the mission.

• Fixed tooltips going off-screen,

• Fixed hover tooltips vanishing upon clearing the wave,

• Fixed Mission 10 Achievement being clearable on Normal Difficulty,

• Fixed Geyser's AoE displaying 300 AoE for its standard attack and 0 AoE for its ability (this was purely a UI issue)

• Fixed toggling Show VFX off not actually removing the Shoot/Hit effects. It should only be showing projectiles.

One of the new missions features a spiral heading down several tiers, with interlacing paths on the corners.

General Balance

• Income Upgrade extra creeps spawned reduced from 6 / 12 to 4 / 8. However, you now gain a 5% / 10% end-of-wave gold bonus.

• DIminishing Returns increased from 6% to 7% per stack

• Bulky HP Multiplier increased from x2.25 to x2.5

• Bulky creep spacing reduced from 1.5 to 0.75

  • For reference, all other waves have a spacing of 0.5

• Temporal now triggers its ability when it loses 25% of its Max HP and only jumps half the distance.

• Temporal now has a cooldown of 15 seconds, meaning it can trigger multiple times.

• Level 4 Singles & Periodic cost increased from 14000 to 15000.

  • However, their damage was increased by 20%.

• Wave Order adjusted again:

  • Wave 7 is Composite Fast

  • Wave 10 is Nature Temporal

  • Wave 12 is Water Bulky

  • Wave 13 is Earth Shield

  • Wave 14 is Composite Cursed

  • Wave 15 is Light Healing

  • Wave 17 is Earth Temporal

You can make a pretty decked out builder, thanks to all the Cosmetic options.

Tower Balance

• Arrow damage reduced from 70 to 60

• Cannon damage reduced from 80 to 75

• Light Level 4 damage increased from 36000 to 43200

• Darkness Level 4 damage increased from 100800 to 120960

• Water damage increased from 80 / 480 / 2880 / 28800 to 85 / 510 / 3060 / 36720

• Fire Level 4 damage increased from 11520 to 13824

  • Damage gain increased from 360 to 432

• Nature Level 4 damage increased from 28800 to 34560

• Earth adjusted:

  • Attack speed reduced from 1 to 0.66

  • Damage increased from 80 / 480 / 2880 / 28800 to 125 / 750 / 4500 / 54000

  • Shockwave damage increased from 45 / 270 / 1620 / 16200 to 60 / 360 / 2160 / 25920

• Atom consecutive damage bonus reduced from 15% to 10%

• Lightning damage increased from 140 / 560 / 2240 to 150 / 600 / 2400

  • Bounce range increased from 1200 to 1500

• Poison duration increased from 14 to 15 seconds

• Disease damage increased from 100 / 400 / 1600 to 110 / 440 / 1760

  • Damage formula no longer adds +1, meaning it no longer deals double damage vs. full health creeps. In general, it deals less damage than before, up until creeps are about 10% HP or less, at which point it does more.

• Vapor damage increased from 170 / 680 / 2720 to 175 / 700 / 2800

• Solar damage-per-second reduced from 140 / 560 / 2240 to 125 / 500 / 2000

• Mushroom damage increased from 120 / 480 / 1920 to 125 / 500 / 2000

• Bloom adjusted:

  • Projectile speed increased by 20%

  • Damage increased from 500 / 2000 / 8000 to 550 / 2200 / 8800

  • While not attacking, it gains 30% Attack Speed per second, up to a max of 300%

  • While attacking, it loses 20% of its bonus Attack Speed per second

• Flooding damage increased from 375 / 1500 to 400 / 1600

  • Consecutive AoE gain reduced from 20 to 15

• Haste attack speed gain increased from 5% to 7%

  • Decay rate reduced from 50% to 30% of its bonus per second

• Money damage reduced from 3200 / 12800 to 3000 / 12000

  • Damage bonus now caps at x2 of its base damage. Note that this takes about 40,000 Unspent Gold, so this mainly only affects Teams/Co-op.

• Incantation base amp reduced from 10% / 20% to 8% / 16%

  • Solo amp search radius increased from 200 to 300 AoE

• Periodic damage increased from 45000 to 56000

RIP Atom TD 2. You will not be missed.

Campaign Balance

• Frost Aura Boss AoE reduced from 700 to 600

• Inferno Boss build locations now come back after 120 seconds instead of being permanently scarred

• Earth Spec 2 attack speed reduced from 0.66 to 0.33

  • Damage multiplier increased from x3 to x4

• Well Spec 1 attack speed bonus reduced from 10% / 30% / 90% to 8% / 24% / 72%

• Blacksmith Spec 1 damage bonus reduced from 10% / 30% / 90% to 8% / 24% / 72%

• Trickery Spec 1 clone damage reduced from 40% / 120% / 360% to 32% / 96% / 288%

• Infernal Spec 1 reduced from 125 to 100 AoE

• Geyser Spec 1 damage is reduced by 25% instead of 30%

• Geyser Spec 2 AoE reduced from 300 to 100

  • It wasn't supposed to be dealing 300% damage AND 300 AoE, that was unintentional

• Poison Spec 1 damage-per-second increased from 125 / 500 / 2000 to 150 / 600 / 2400

• Solar Spec 1 damage-per-second reduced from 90 / 360 / 1440 to 80 / 320 / 1280

• Solar Spec 2 damage-per-second reduced from 300 / 1500 / 6000 to 250 / 1000 / 4000

  • If you were using this before and wondering why Levels 2 and 3 melted everything before, I may have multiplied it wrong. I blame maths.

• Mushroom Spec 2 attack speed increased from 0.66 to 1

  • AoE reduced from 300 to 250

  • Damage multiplier reduced from x4 to x3

• Bloom Spec 1 range reduced from 750 to 600

• Bloom Spec 2 now increases max attack speed from 300% to 500%

• Disease Spec 1 damage reduced by 25% instead of 20%

• Atom Spec 2 consecutive damage gain reduced from 30% to 25%

• Impulse Spec 1 damage reduced by 20%

  • Range increased from 1750 to 1800

• Impulse Spec 2 damage increase is now 25% instead of 20%

• Windstorm Spec 1 duration increased from 12 to 15 seconds

• Windstorm Spec 2 AoE increased from 300 to 400

• Nova Spec 1 slow reduced from 16% / 32% to 10% / 20%

• Nova Spec 2 damage increased by 20%

• Jinx Spec 1 damage increase is 80% instead of 70%

• Flamethrower Spec 2 napalm duration increased from 10 to 15 seconds

• Incantation Spec 2 base damage amp changed from -40% / -80% to -30% / -60%

  • Solo damage amp increased from 40% / 80% to 60% / 120%

• Root Spec 1 damage reduced by 20%

• Root Spec 2 no longer doubles damage-per-second, it just doubles the slow

You know those April Fools notes from yesterday? As it turns out, one of those notes might have been true...

Ranked & Leaderboards

• First off, congratulations to Tobias, HerrDirektor, and Funkelinchen and wadebbqwall2 for topping the Ranked Leaderboards!

  • Double congrats to Tobias and HerrDirektor for being top two on both of them. You monsters.

• Now that we've officially released, Scoreboards & Ranked Leaderboards have been wiped. That said, we've tweaked some values for Ranked:

  • Starting MMR reduced from 500 to 300

  • Rank up thresholds reduced to actually achievable values: 400, 600, 800, 1000 and 1200

  • MMR Search Range reduced from 300 to 150.

  • In time, as the Ranked Leaderboards fill back up, we'll be looking into a proper scaling solution for this, as well as improvements to Ranked in general.

It's Forest, but not the one you know...

It's been a long journey since the start of Element TD 2. In the beginning, our vision was to make a faithful successor to original, but when we launched into Early Access, we found that alone wasn't enough. Over time, we've added an insane amount of content and features, including Co-op, New Maps & Modes, Achievements, Cosmetics, and even a full on Campaign. We've also seen tremendous growth in our community and our Discord Server.

All in all, we couldn't have done it without you, so this is a thank you to everyone that's supported us along the way. Enjoy the Official Release, and we hope you'll stick around for a while longer as we transition into Post-Release!