A message from Slugbait:

Seasons greetings everyone. For this end of the year patch, I've focused almost entirely on additional quality of life features in the game client. There are also some map tweaks and a couple of minor changes.

We hope everyone is having a happy holiday. Next year Pox Nora will be entering its twentieth year. It's old, I'm old. We're all old here. As always, I appreciate you all.

~slugbait

Client

Game UI
* The tile info above the lower hud now shows location effects such as Dead Magic Zone, Unstable Ground, Hallowed Ground, and many others. Please call attention in the discord to any effects that are not visible that it would be useful to have in this list.
* Fixed an issue with the name of equipment on a champion being potentially cropped on the Rune Details window.

Lobby
* After leaving a game, you will now be returned to the screen that you were in before entering the game (i.e., ranked play, custom games).
* Fixed an issue that could cause the client to get stuck in a "Validating Deck" state when entering the ranked or custom games screens before the deck information had been loaded from the server.
* Fixed an issue in which the incorrect art was being used for newer foil runes in the rune/deck manager.
* Fixed an issue in which the incorrect unit sprite was displayed on the rune details window when viewing a rune in the rune/deck manager.

Art & Effects
* Added an enhanced foil effect to many foil runes. This is a work in progress as the image mask has to be created manually. Additional foil runes will be given this enhanced effect over time.
* Added hundreds more pieces of high resolution rune art.
* Improved a performance issue that could cause low framerates when many units with Immobile (e.g., mission 2 of the Madness in the Mountains campaign). Please note that this issue still exists and will require some further refactors for performance improvements, but it should be better.
* Added a new effect and sound for the ability Desecrate Earth.

Controller Support
* Pressing R3 (right stick in) on a controller while in game will now toggle the combat log.

Steam Integration
* Added support for Rich Presence in the steam friends list. This will show when you are in a match, playing a campaign game, etc.

Maps

* Removed Brood Pits from the ranked map pool.
* Made adjustments to the ranked maps for Shores of Maljara and Lost City.

Balance Changes

Faction Effects
* The faction effect for Ironfist Stronghold now refunds 4%/8% for deployed spell runes (was 8%/16%). The refund for relics and equipment is unchanged.

Abilities

* Fixed a game error that could occur when the ability Dark Healing was triggered when a unit was leaving play
* Pride of Ailur changed to: This champion has Brushwalker. When this champion attacks another champion with an attack that costs at least 1 AP, the closest valid friendly champion within 8 spaces with Soul of Ailur gains 1 AP and gains +1 DEF for 6 turns (to a max of +2 DEF).
* Soul of Ailur changed to: This champion has Brushwalker. When this champion attacks another champion with an attack that costs at least 1 AP, the closest valid friendly champion within 8 spaces with Pride of Ailur gains 1 AP and gains +2 DMG for 6 turns (to a max of +4 DMG).
* Swallow Whole changed to: Target small non-Elite enemy champion is removed from play and loses 8 HP at the beginning of each turn. While this effect is active, this champion gains Lumbering, Planar Bound and Font Ignorance. After 2 turns or if this champion leaves play or loses this ability, any champions with HP remaining are deployed in the nearest available space.
* Fixed an issue in which the ability Weaken Spells was reducing loss of life from spells.

Champions

Ironfist Stronghold (2)

Council Elder
* Removed base ability Inquisition
* Removed base ability Stun
* Added base ability Imposing Aura
* Upgrade Path 1 changed to: Smite the Unholy 2, Dispelling Blows*, Righteous Shield (was Smite the Unholy 2, Dispelling Blows*, Immunity: Magical)
* Upgrade Path 2 changed to: Death Sentence, Adaptive*, Imposing Aura (was Imposing Aura, Righteous Shield*, Death Sentence)
* Nora Cost changed from 74 to 70 (70-72)

Truthseeker
* Upgrade Path 1 changed to: Zeal: Speed*, Provision: Offense, Resolute (was Zeal: Speed*, Provision: Offense, Adaptive)

Relics

* The ability Dimension Shift from the relic Dimension Door can now be targeted on unsafe terrain (i.e., Lava).

Spells

* Fight in Formation changed to: Area Effect 2: Draksar gain Hold the Line and Blood Bond 1 for 6 turns. If they have Hold the Line, they gain Shield Allies instead. While under the effect of Fight In Formation, the cooldown of Hold the Line is reset whenever an enemy champion dies.
* Huntmaster's Charm changed to: When this spell is cast on a Boghopper Huntmaster, a Pygmy Hippo without upgrades is summoned adjacent to the unit. When this spell is cast on a Pygmy Hippo, it loses Huntmaster Bound and gains +1 SPD, +2 DMG and +20 MAX HP. When this spell is cast on any other champion, that unit gains +1 DMG and +5 MAX HP. These effects do not stack.
* Impervious changed to: Target champion is Impervious for 2 turns and gains Skirmisher for 3 turns.
* Impervious's Nora cost changed from 35 to 30 (CD 6)