Bounty weekend in Sword’s Edge incoming, with a bounty captain from… Dhrak-Zum? I wonder if this is intentional, up to now new bounty captains always matched the weekly event kingdom. 
I wonder if they pushed the schedule back a week for some reason, but the troop had already been slated?
They definitely pushed a schedule, they added arena weekend to the weekend rotation.
I did cast it many time during bounty → especialy in a way that wouldn’t destroy any green and would destroy some skulls enemies wouldn’t get that way.
or if there was a line where i could destroy 5-6 green gems… usually that changed into multiple skull matches + some explosions
bit RNG troop, but for bounty it’s ok (doubt it will be usefull anywhere outside)
1 Like
King Minos
Trait #3: Maze Master
Give 50% Mana to all Tauros Allies when battle begins.
Not only it’s a complete copy of Shaman 3rd trait, but it’s a differently worded copy of that trait…
Horrible.
9 Likes
Please be a placeholder!
1 Like
Lots of new spoilers, mixed bag in my opinion.
-
New pets scheduled Feb 17th, mostly Cosmetic. Good luck collectors.
Dec 09, 2020: Hot Head, Khetar, Undead Buff
Dec 23, 2020: Shelf on an Elf Holidays 2020, Glacial Peaks, Cosmetic
Dec 28, 2020: Quetzantini Campaign, Suncrest, Cosmetic
Jan 08, 2021 (39 days away, time flies): Dinotaur, Wild Plains, Faction Pet
Jan 27, 2021: Ozzie Australia Day 2021, Drifting Sands, Cosmetic
Feb 03, 2021: Gobblekin, Zaejin, Goblin Buff
Feb 10, 2021: Lucky Ox, Shentang, Cosmetic (Chinese New Year, probably)
Feb 17, 2021: Love Panda Valentine’s Day 2021, Shentang, Cosmetic -
Weapons! Mostly Good? Maybe Not? The more I think, the less I like
Duskbringer Mana cost has been nerfed from 24 mana to 25 mana.
Easy to say I don’t agree with it.
It was released while I typed this out. Well…
All of the next 6 Doomed Weapons have been changed drastically. Since the previous iteration was very lackluster, this is more interesting in general. I don't know if they're viable though.
Doomed Staff:
From:
Spell Description: Deal [Magic + 8] scatter damage, +5 per Tempering level. Curse all Red Enemies and Enchant all Red Allies. If the Enemy has a Doom, gain 5 Magic.
To:
Spell Description: Create 4 Yellow Gems, +1 Gem per Tempering level. Give [Magic + 1] Armor to all Red Allies. If the Enemy has a Doom, eliminate all Armor from a random Enemy.
18 Red Mana
I think there is 3 downsides with this weapon:
- You need 18 mana of one color to make up to 14 gems of a different color. Its a lot to ask for outside of 50% starts…
- Most times, the enemy doesn’t have a Doom, leaving the most impactful part of the weapon useless. (and its not even guaranteed to help against Dooms either). Is a mono color weapon making gems of another color enough?
- You need +10 to make these weapons useful… and they haven’t given us ways to get more scrolls for all of their doomed type weapons.
All have deal 5 scatter damage, gain 1 magic, create a weapon color storm, and drain 2 mana from weapon color enemies
Red: makes Yellow
Gives 1 mana to all allies
Brown: makes Purple
Barrier myself
Blue: makes Green
Submerge myself
Yellow: makes Red
Bless myself
Purple: makes Brown
Enchant myself
Green: makes Blue
Cleanse myself
The Nightfall Blade
Deal [Magic + 3] damage to the last Enemy. If they are Poisoned, inflict 4 Stacks of Bleed.
14 Mana (not sure if placeholder or final)
Blue, Purple
Legendary
Zhul’Kari, Dec 21, 2020
Maybe they can buff other troops/weapons to have 4 stacks now… well, we can dream.
Blade of Morning
Remove all Purple Gems. Create Yellow Gems, equal to Purple gems removed. Give [Magic + 1] Life to an Ally, boosted by Yellow Gems now on the Board. [2x]
14 Mana (Could be placeholder)
Red (Placeholder)
Legendary
Suncrest, Jan 25, 2021
Depending on your board state, you can shrink the number of colors on the board, then create a good amount of purple gems. Extra Life is icing. Could be useful, depending on affixes (not available)
The Engineer's Drill (Really not impressed)
Explode [Magic + 1] Brown Gems. Grant a random Status Effect to all Mech Allies. Then summon a Mech Troop.
14 Mana
Blue, Green
Adana, Jan 29, 2021
Same color mana as Jar of Eyes, explodes the same colors as Jar of Eyes, though Jar of Eyes explodes only magic/2. Does that even matter though? Jar of Eyes still explodes the entire board of Brown. Not impressed with having a near duplicate weapon. Explode a different color or something.
Some Ultra Rare weapons being made, nothing really exciting
Minos' Cleaver
Explode a row or column. Deal {1] damage to the first Enemy. Then jumble the Enemy team.
14 Mana
Red, Green
I miss viable faction weapons like Writhing Staff. This… exists. I guess this is ok if you want to jumble the enemy team.
Wild Cleaver
Explode [Magic + 1] Green Gems. Grant a random Status Effect to all Wild Plains Allies. Then summon a Wild Plains Troop.
Probably the least exciting new exploder. Is everyone Kingdom and Troop type getting one? I guess that’s how they’re filling their weapon quota…
2 Likes
Troop spoilers:
-
Ankhnum: 1x boost ratio to 2x
Night Spider (Ultra-Rare)
Does whatever a Night Spider can…
Arcane: Venom
Base Rarity: Ultra-Rare
Troop Type: Beast, Rogue
Troop Role: Generator
Midnight Poison
Create 3 Blue Gems and 3 Purple Gems, boosted by Rogue Allies. Poison a random Enemy. [3x]
Mana Color: Green, Purple
Mana Cost: 13
Trait #1: Rogue Bond
Allied Rogues gain 2 Life.
Trait #2: Venomous
Poison enemies when doing Skull damage.
Trait #3: Stealthy
Cannot be targeted by spells (unless there are no other targets).
Will anyone actually use it? probably not. However, it can make up to 15 purple gems and 15 blue gems which is a lot. Stonehammer makes a mix of 22 gems for reference. Self-loops on the purple and has half mana start with Captain Macaw, which is blue.
NUTCRKR 1225 (Legendary)
He’s suite.
Friday
Dec 25, 2020
Arcane: Shield
Base Rarity: Legendary
Troop Type: Mech, Knight
Troop Role: Generator
Crack Those Nuts
Eliminate all Armor from an Enemy. Explode all Gems of the Enemy’s Colors. Then explode all Stone Blocks.
Mana Color: Blue, Brown
Mana Cost: 16
Trait #1: Mech Shield
Allied Mechs gain 2 Armor.
Trait #2: Impervious
Immune to all Status Effects, Devour, and Mana Burn.
Trait #3: Armor Supply
Give 4 Armor to all Mechs when matching 4 or more Gems.
If the Ghost Queen was a Halloween treat on the Adventure Board, this may be the same thing for Christmas.
It eliminates all armor from an Enemy and explodes gems. Strong looping combo. Then explode all Stone Blocks. is quite an interesting additional effect. Too bad Stone Blocks aren’t in the main gameplay. Would this explode first, fix the board, then explode the Stone Blocks? Could a player even rig the board with Stone Blocks to do anything?
It needs its art, so the next Update has to be before Christmas. They wouldn’t want a new Update during Christmas either, so maybe a week or two before.
3rd Trait is good for this troop. Part of me wishes this had Aegis Armor so I can slot it upfront like a Gorgotha. Still I think this troop is very useable and I do like it a lot, though I would like to see it as a front slot viable troop.
The Labyrinth faction troops: probably the most uninspired faction yet
Horned Guardian
Some days you’re the pigeon, some days you’re the statue.
Arcane: Beast
Base Rarity: Rare
Troop Type: Tauros, Construct
Troop Role: Defender
Guard the Maze
Gain [Magic + 1] Armor and Barrier. Then knock a random Enemy to the back.
Mana Color: Green, Red
Mana Cost: 11
Trait #1: Deep Shield
Gain 9 Armor when attacking Delves.
Trait #2: Thick Head
Immunity to Stun.
Trait #3: Stoneskin
Reduce damage from Skulls by 50%.
Can’t even do its job as a generic first slot since it’ll get knocked around.
Rhinotaur
He always gets his point across… in the end.
Arcane: Forest
Base Rarity: Ultra-Rare
Troop Type: Tauros, Wildfolk
Troop Role: Generator
Maddening Charge
Explode either a row or Column. Then knock the last Enemy to the front.
Mana Color: Green, Brown
Mana Cost: 13
Trait #1: Deep Vitality
Gain 9 Life when attacking Delves.
Trait #2: Bloodlust
Become Enraged when enemy dies.
Trait #3: Thick Hide
Reduce damage from Skulls by 20%.
Exploding a Row or a Column at random provides very little mana and the randomness of the explosion will cause backfires. Weak.
Mechataur
You can’t ride this mechanical bull.
Arcane: Storm
Base Rarity: Epic
Troop Type: Tauros, Mech
Troop Role: Warrior
Grinding Bellow
Deal [Magic + 3] splash damage to an Enemy, boosted my Armor. There are independent 30% chances to Silence each affected Enemy. [3:1]
Mana Color: Red, Yellow
Mana Cost: 13
Trait #1: Deep Shield
Gain 9 Armor when attacking Delves.
Trait #2: Invention
Gain 2 Armor on 4 or 5 Gem matches.
Trait #3: Armored
Reduce damage from Skulls by 25%.
The only real damage source. 180 armor with a boost ratio of 3:1 is only 60 extra damage and the only real way to boost this troops armor in this faction is a 2nd trait that gives 2 armor on 4/5 match.
Anyone get the feeling that paying for potions will win this faction for you?
King Minos
A formida-bull foe.
Arcane: Swamp
Base Rarity: Legendary
Troop Type: Tauros
Aerial Charge
Deal [Magic + 4] heavy splash damage to an Enemy. Stun all Enemies affected. Then jumble of the Enemy team.
Mana Color: Blue, Green
Mana Cost: 16
Trait #1: Deep Vitality
Gain 9 Life when attacking Delves.
Trait #2: Greedy
Gain 2 bonus Gold on 4 or 5 Gem matches.
Trait #3: Maze Master
Give 50% Mana to all Tauros Allies when battle begins.
Neritar put it best earlier:
The troop itself is very disappointing. The effect is a weak version of Tian Yi or the hero’s Orc King’s Club with a jumble the enemy team. This faction feels so rushed.
Kharybdis (Legendary)
Arcane: Blood
Base Rarity: Legendary
Troop Type: Beast, Giant
Troop Role: Assassin
Pincer of Doom
Deal [Magic + 4] damage to the first Enemy and last Enemy. There are independent 10% chance to devour the Enemies, boosted bt +2% for each Submerged Ally and Enemy. [2x]
Mana Color: Blue, Red
Mana Cost: 17
Trait #1: Aquatic
Submerge myself when I take damage.
Trait #2: Armored
Reduce damage from Skulls by 25%.
Trait #3: Titanic
Gain 10 Life when matching 4 or more Gems.
The bt typo needs to be fixed. It has a double devour chance like Doomclaw, but its % is so low that its not worth it. You can only reliably get 16% at most, which is super underpowered. (3 submerges, 4th one should fall off on cast). Most teams don’t run Submerge, so using this troop to counter submerge is silly (and overpriced on mana cost). May as well use Mosasaurus instead.
@Neritar Help! they duplicated the 3rd trait
Behemoth’s 3rd Trait:
Trait #3: Immense
Gain 10 Life on 4 or 5 Gem matches.
Kharybdis’s 3rd Trait:
Trait #3: Titanic
Gain 10 Life when matching 4 or more Gems.
**Quetzalma** (Mythic)
Arcane: Light & Plains
Base Rarity: Mythic
Troop Type: Divine, Stryx
Troop Role: Mage
Daybreak
Deal [Magic + 20] scatter damage, boosted by a chosen Gem Color (except Yellow). Then create 10 Yellow Gems and remove all Gems of the chosen Color. [3x]
Mana Color: Green, Yellow, Purple
Mana Cost: 24
Trait #1: Stryx Bond
Allied Stryx gain 2 Life.
Trait #2: Song of Light
Summon a Lightstorm at the start of Battle.
Trait #3: Eternal Dawn
20% chance to resurrect myself with full Mana when I die.
Its basically another Yasmine’s Chosen only with more loop potential, but no status effects. Yasmine’s Chosen’s damage output falls off later in the game, so despite being very yellow friendly, its not very good at damage…
That 3rd trait… I don’t know what I think. Its useless when you’re winning. When the AI is losing, at 20% … it’ll trigger 5 times in a row. The player? probably doesn’t exist. It comes back and does… somewhat low to average damage?
If this came out two years ago, this would be exciting. Now, doing 100+ scatter damage is only about 25 damage to all enemies (split unevenly), when I could use Atlanta to hit over 40 damage to all enemies unconditionally. shrug
Its better than Zilopochtli, but does that mean anything?
The Sun (Legendary)
Draw The Sun
Give [(Magic / 2) + 1] Life to all Allies. There is a 6% chance of an extra turn for each Yellow Gem on the board. [0.17]
Mana Color: Yellow
Mana Cost: 6
Trait #1: Inscribed
Gain 1 Armor when an enemy casts a spell.
Trait #2: Revered
All allies gain 2 random Skill points.
Trait #3: Good Tarot
Grant a status effect to a random Ally when I cast a spell.
What a weird troop. Is that 6 mana cost a placeholder or its actual cost? since 6 yellow mana would actually be an interesting design. Spell isn’t significant, but extra turn chances are good and a random status effect to a random ally is also potentially useful. The Heirophant hero class specifies “Positive Status Effect”, so expect the 3rd trait text to change. Unless they mean it can give negative effects, which would be really weird for something called The Sun.
The Scourge of Honor (Mythic)
Arcane: Forest & Lava
Base Rarity: Mythic
Troop Type: Daemon, Wildfolk
Troop Role: Mage
Vermin Plague
Deal [Magic + 2] true damage to all Enemies. Gain 2 Mana back for each Cursed or Diseased Enemy. [2x]
Mana Color: Green, Red, Brown
Mana Cost: 24
Trait #1: Immortal
25% chance to resurrect after death.
Trait #2: Omen of Nature
Explode a Green Gem at the start of battle.
Trait #3: Rat Swarm
Curse and Disease a random Enemy when 4 or more Gems.
I see Curse and Disease together and already feel tired of the pairing. I look at the actual troops and its not as common together as I thought. (Nefertani does Curse and Disease on cast, Scarab of Nefertani does it to 1 enemy). We’ve gotten a lot of Curse related items lately and some Disease, so maybe that’s why I feel the way I do.
The troop will fill the quick clear low level delves on Tuesday role. Otherwise, Curse and Disease is boring. Wake me up when its Curse and Freeze, or something.
Trait #1: Immortal
25% chance to resurrect after death.
I almost missed that on the first pass. Infernal King’s 3rd trait is now a 1st trait. Oh boy.
- Misc stuff: 2 Leonis Empire troops that haven’t been started yet. (KP 20 to 22)
For me, the new Legendary troops are more interesting than the new Mythic troops. How does that work?
Edit: One more for the road.
Ogress (Bounty)
Knock, Knock. Who’s there?
Arcane: Forest
Base Rarity: Rare
Troop Type: Giant
Knock Knock!
Pull myself to the front and stun the first Enemy, then explode 1 random Gem, boosted by my Life. [0.1]
Mana Color: Green, Brown
Mana Cost: 12
Trait #1: Bountyhunter
Gain 2x - 6x to Bounty Score, based on my ascension.
Trait #2: Stoneskin
Reduce damage from Skulls by 50%.
Trait #3: I’ve Got A Door!
Summon a Fortress Gate when I die.
An ok Exploder (more durable than Ridgeback?) and a strange 3rd trait that summons a Fortress Gate on death lol. The stun is helpful too on skull cascades. I actually like it? maybe?
7 Likes
Will all those jumbling arround it boss fights will probably be as annoying as Lyzshara’s Lair random effect troops. Another one, when RNG will be deciding factor…(or HUGE hoards to overcome them)
The Main Event: I almost didn’t see this, since there was almost no reason to look at the Kingdom tab…
Still no idea what it is about, but it has new banners and tribute chance…
| 8 | [DAILY_DEAL_11034_NAME] | War Cache | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | [DAILY_DEAL_11708_NAME] | War Hoard | |
| 10 | [DAILY_DEAL_WAR_COINS_DESCRIPTION] | Use War Coins to purchase and power-up Warbands. |
| 187 | [WARBANDS] | Warbands | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 188 | [WARBANDS_BOOOSTER_RANGE_N] | x%1 | |
| 189 | [WARBANDS_BOOOSTER_RANGE_N_N] | x%1-%2 | |
| 190 | [WARBANDS_BOOST_REWARDS] | Booster Packs will give 3 of the following rewards. | |
| 191 | [WARBANDS_BOOSTER_N_CHANCE] | %1% | |
| 192 | [WARBANDS_BOOSTER_RUNES] | Traitstones will be a color usable by one of the Warband Troops | |
| 193 | [WARBANDS_SHOP_BOOSTER] | This Booster Pack contains 3 random rewards to upgrade this Warband. | |
| 194 | [WARBANDS_SHOP_TEAM] | Unlock a new team ready to use in battle. | |
| 195 | [WARCOIN] | War Coin | |
| 196 | [WARCOIN_GAINED] | %1 War Coin | |
| 197 | [WARCOINS] | War Coins | |
| 198 | [WARCOINS_GAINED] | %1 War Coins | |
| Is that related to Shrines or is that separate? |
| 50 | [SHRINE_00] | Shrine of Cunning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 51 | [SHRINE_ACTIVE_NOT_FULL] | This offer is active! Win more %1 in battle to improve it’s value. | |
| 52 | [SHRINE_FULL_TIMED_HOURS] | Your Shrine is full! The offer will be active for %1h %2m | |
| 53 | [SHRINE_FULL_TIMED_MINUTES] | Your Shrine is full! The offer will be active for %1h %2m | |
| 54 | [SHRINE_OFFER_ACTIVATES_AT] | The offer activates when this Shrine has %1 %2 | |
| 55 | [SHRINE_STATUE_00] | Statue of Wealth |
| 108 | [TEMPLE] | Temple | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 109 | [TEMPLE_WIN_BATTLES] | Win battles to fill your shrine with resources and activate a special offer. |
Find out next time on Gem Ball Z! shrug
6 Likes
So a couple years ago (when they used to listen to feedback) they changed The Dragon Soul’s spell because of all the complaints (but strangely left Infernal Kings’ intact) now we have more incoming traits like this?
5 Likes
The duplicated traits scream “placeholder” to me. Possibly because they rely on effects that have yet to be implemented in the game’s code.
To me, I feel like they would just copy and paste the old traits if they were just placeholders. Here, they reworded it.
I still haven’t quite forgotten that they tried to use a level 1 talent as the Stormcaller 3rd trait…
5 Likes
If it were up to me I would get rid of all ‘summon on death’ traits in the entire game.
12 Likes
A couple of years ago I would have agreed with you. Nowadays I’m inclined to believe it’s yet another rushed content dump they couldn’t care less about. Just look at the Hairy Hoarder buff pet that could recently be bought for $50, official release still pending (and apparently no longer scheduled).
1 Like
The next update (big or small) is a guarantee to be before Christmas, because they need to put Christmas icon as a game icon for mobile (and it’s also a reason for a small update after Christmas/Halloween - to remove that icon, Sirrian described that system in one of the Q&A).
My personal guess is that update will be in 2 weeks, because:
4.7 was released on December 11, 2019,
4.2 was released on December 10, 2018,
3.2.5 was released on December 12, 2017,
2.2 was released on December 14, 2016
7 Likes
That + from marketing point of view. New content before Xmas = a gift from dev team to the community. 
They have banners!? Why do they have banners? Only kingdoms and factions have banners… This sounds like a big deal.
2 Likes
I’m not looking forward to epic troop having 500+ armor in the boss room and doing splash damage with a 3:1 boost ratio. With potions, barrier will save you. Without potions, that’s free damage to be taken…
Top priority kill… Hit it with anything you got and jumble enemy team to make him front liner and deal some skull damage to hit, before he can cast ? IDK… it will be annoying faction. More annoying than all those summoner ones…