Design Notes

April 26, 2024

This Weekend: Summon the Arcana

Battle to Unlock Darkon's Class, New Rewards, and more

This weekend, our Spring updates continue with more rewards, wicked rares, and Darkon's new class!  Log in now and begin to battle to collect ALL THE GEAR in Darkon's Garden, Astravia, and the new /Arcana map.

New Game Update

• New Class: Darkon's Arcana Invoker end-game class
• Rewards of Madness: new gear for all players in the Garden + other Astravian zones
• Treasure Chest: Urban Dragon Warrior set + Battlegear of Madness
• Featured Gear: Urban Dragon Warrior set, Fa's Bunny Gear + more

Weekend Daily Gifts & Boosts

• Server Boost: double Class Points, Gold, Reputation, and XP boost
• Saturday: permanent Undead Pwny Pet, member-only BattlePet, & guard
• Sunday: Wings of Debris from La in /astraviajudge

How to Obtain the Class

If you are at least level 80, Arcana Invoker can be unlocked by obtaining 22 different Arcana related items and turning in their respective quests. There are two ways to obtain these items:

1. Create each one in a merge shop using new and existing items.
2. Merge Darkon and/or King Drago Insignias for Arcana's Debris, which can then be used to create the Arcana items. 

Each Arcana's Debris will cost either 1 Darkon or King Drago Insignia, and if you are only using Arcana's Debris to obtain the class, you will need a total of 80.

Note: The farming methods aren't mutually exclusive. If you want to get some of the Arcana items through merge shop farming but others with Arcana's Debris, go right ahead!

Arcana Invoker Details

Arcana Invoker is an endgame two target farming and solo DPS class that revolves around summoning all 22 aspects of the Arcana, starting with The Fool, then ending with The World.

Arcana Invoker will be acquired at rank 1, like other classes. Previously, we thought it could be acquired at rank 5, but an issue is currently preventing this. The class will not have a rank 4 passive in the traditional sense, but its rank 10 passive provides more effects than the average one to make up for it.

Class Shop

• Arcana Invoker Class + Armor
• Arcana Voyager
• Arcana Conduit + Mask helms
• Arcana Wings
• Arcana Particle pet 
• Arcana Fragment ground rune
• Anagenesis Sword (single + dual-wield)
• The Chariot's Claw
• The Chariot's Gauntlet (single + dual-wield)

Rewards of Madness

As a show of gratitude for your service, the Arcana guides you on their own personal journey - one that will lead to transformation, and harnessing the power of the Primordial. You'll need to be level 80 to begin farming the Arcana Invoker Class, but we've dark new gear for EVERY hero this weekend! Battle monsters in the /Garden, /Astravia, and /Astraviajudge for wicked reward drops.

Plus, find even more Darkon-themed reward drops next Friday... along with a badge for creating the Arcana Invoker Class.

Astravia Merge Shop

• Astravian Urban Duelist armor
• Astravian Urban Duelist Morph + Visage
• Urban Duelist Rebel Katana (single + dual-wield)
• Reversed Urban Duelist Katana (single + dual-wield)
• Urban Duelist Rebel Katana / Sheath (single + dual-wield)
• Urban Duelist Rebel Sheath / Katana (single + dual-wield)

Creature 72 in /Garden Drops

• Fa's Bunny Ears (0 AC)
• Darkon's Bunny Ears (0 AC)

Fa in /Garden Drops

• Epic Gamer Sword (0 AC)
• Epic Gamer Sword + Cape (0 AC)

Mercenary in /Astravia Drops

• Sheathed Urban Duelist Katanas (0 AC)
• Urban Duelist Katana and Sheath (0 AC)
• Sheathed Urban Duelist Katana (0 AC)

Drago's Spy in /Astravia Drops

• Astravian Urban Duelist Hair+ Locks (0 AC)

Ti in /Astravia Drop

• Mutated Rebirth Spear (0 AC, 1%)

Civilian in /Shinkansen Drops

• Urban Youth's Hair + Locks (0 AC)
• Urban Youth's Horns + Horned Locks (0 AC, member)

Limited Time Sets + Treasure Chest Gear

To help you bring the pain to any enemies you encounter in battle, Tyronius, Crulon, and Darkon crafted a series of incredibly wicked items for you to collect and equip! Each is available to buy for AdventureCoins for a limited time; read on for more details!

Color-Customizable Kyoki DragonSlayer Set

• Kyoki DragonSlayer armor
• Morph+ Helmet
• Rasen + Jisshi Keitai capes
• Rasen Jimen ground rune
• Kurutta Katana (single + dual-wield)
• Osotori Kama (single + dual-wield)

Fa's Bunny Girl Attire

• Fa's Bunny Girl armor
• Fa's Bunny Visage
• Darkon's Bunny Morph

The seasonal Fa's Bunny Girl armor + male/female morph helms will be available in the Featured Gear Shop until May 30th. 0 AC seasonal non-morph helms will drop from Creature 72 in the /Garden then, too. They will all return next April 1st.

This set was originally designed by fellow AQWorlds player Aze and recreated in Flash by Darkon. It was an awesome idea and we were thrilled to get to bring his design to life.

Urban Dragon Warrior Set

• Urban Dragon Warrior armor
• Helm, Visor, Helm + Locks, Glaring Helm
• Trihorn Urban Dragon Morph + Visage
• Awakened Urban Dragon Morph + Visage
• Sheathed Hongbaoshi Blade
• Red Iron Dragonforge Blade (single + dual-wield)
• Hongbaoshi Blade (single + dual-wield)
• Red Iron DragonForge Dagger

Note: A 0 AC version of the above set is also permanently available from Twilly's Treasure Chest. The rare, ala carte version leaves May 30th.

Events + Gear Leaving Soon

May 1st

• Bio-War Cultist set
• Kitsune Kukol'nyy Katana + Guard

May 3rd

• Harlequin Fool + other April Fools rares
• April Holiday events (Grenwog, April Fools, GardenQuest, etc)
• seasonal April Event Hub + Holiday drops

December 15, 2022

2023 Calendar Class: Paladin Chronomancer

Unlock the exclusive class when you get the 2023 Calendar

When you get the 2023 Calendar from HeroMart, you'll unlock in-game rewards inside AQ3D, AdventureQuest, DragonFable, EpicDuel, and the Paladin Chronomancer Class / Armor set in AQWorlds.

This year’s calendar class combines the damage mitigation themes of a Paladin with the classic Chronomancer Temporal Rift combo to create a defensive support class that can also output an occasional burst of damage!

Paladin Chronomancer Details

Description: Recommended enhancements: Healer, Wizard. With their mighty hammer and shield in hand, Paladin Chronomancers lead the charge into battle, vowing to protect all who fight alongside them.

Mana Regen: Paladin Chronomancers gain mana when they:
* Strike a enemy in combat (more effective on crits)
* Are struck by an enemy in combat
* Are under the effect of Spirits Within (restores 30 mana over 5 seconds)

Skill Breakdown

Hammer of Virtue

Rank needed: 1 / Auto Attack
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: Physical
Range: Melee
Cooldown: 2.5 seconds

Swing your hammer down on your target to deliver a mighty blow. Damage dealt is based on your current health. Can’t crit.

Radiant Rift

Rank needed: 1
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: Magical
Range: Melee
Mana Cost: 5
Cooldown: 3 seconds

Open a time portal that emits a wave of holy magic. Deals damage and applies Temporal Rift to yourself for 30 seconds, stacks to 4 and is used for your other abilities. Also applies Ascendancy and Reprisal to your target, reducing their Dodge, Crit Chance, outgoing damage, and defense by 10% for 10 seconds, stacks to 5. If Indomitable is active, applies Radiant Light, a DoT based on your current HP, lasts 8 seconds and doesn't refresh.

Holy Vow

Rank needed: 2
Target: Friendly
Max Targets: 6
Type: Magical
Range: Infinite
Mana Cost: 40
Cooldown: 5 seconds

Use your holy magic to conjure a protective ward. Heals you and your allies based on the number of Temporal Rift stacks you have while applying Holy Shield, increasing physical and magical defense by 25% for 10 seconds. If Guardian Angel is active, it is consumed to apply Intervention, a massive HoT for 5 seconds.

Divine Intervention

Rank needed: 3
Target: Friendly
Max Targets: 6
Type: Magical
Range: Infinite
Mana Cost: 20
Cooldown: 40 seconds

The light emanates from within you. Massively heals you and your allies while applying Indomitable, increasing your Endurance by 500% for 5 seconds. Applies Guardian Angel to you and your allies for 15 seconds. The next use of Holy Vow consumes it to apply Intervention for 5 seconds, a massive HoT. Always crits. 

Divine Retribution

Rank needed: 5
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: Magical
Range: Melee
Mana Cost: 10
Cooldown: 20 seconds

Unleash the full might of your holy magic. If Temporal Rift is active, deal damage to your target based on the amount you've dealt in up to the past 10 seconds while it was active. Damage scales with each stack of Temporal Rift and consumes those stacks. Applies Divine Reckoning for 10 seconds, a DoT that does more damage the lower your MP is. Also applies Spirits Within, restoring 30 mana over 5 seconds. Undead targets are also stunned for 3 seconds. Can’t crit.

Passives

Vigorous

Rank needed: 4
Type: Passive
Endurance increased by 50%.

Dauntless

Rank needed: 4
Type: Passive
Hit Chance increased by 10% and Defense increased by 20%. 

Sacred Blessing

Rank needed: 10
Type: Passive
Haste increased by 10% and Healing Power increased by 10%.

Conclusion

Paladin Chronomancer is a relatively simple to use class that brings some very unique properties to the table. While its damage output may not be as high as previous calendar classes, it makes up for it with its incredible survivability tools that are sure to get you and your teammates through the thick of battle.

The core gameplay of the class revolves around stacking Temporal Rift with Radiant Rift to eventually deliver a powerful blow with Divine Retribution. As Divine Retribution’s damage is based on the amount of damage dealt while under the effect of Temporal Rift, you’ll want to be outputting as much damage as possible before using it, that’s where Hammer of Virtue comes in.

Hammer of Virtue is a one of a kind auto attack as its damage is based on the amount of HP you have, rather than your weapon damage. This means that the more HP you have, the more damage the skill does, but the same goes the other way, so if you’re close to death, you’ll end up doing less damage. However, there are plenty of ways to keep your HP topped off. Holy Vow is a low cooldown heal that restores a good chunk of HP at the cost of using a lot of mana (more on this later), while Divine Intervention is a high cooldown, party-wide full heal that also grants you a whopping 500% Endurance buff, which as you may have guessed, significantly increases the damage of Hammer of Virtue for a short period of time while also causing Radiant Rift to apply an HP based DoT for even more damage!

On the support side of things, Radiant Rift applies some significant debuffs to your enemy to severely reduce their damage output, while Holy Vow heals your party members and applies a strong defense buff. But Divine Intervention is where the class really shines. Not only does it grant you a large Endurance buff, it also applies the Guardian Angel aura to you and your party members. While Guardian Angel is active, your next use of Holy Vow consumes it to apply one of the most POWERFUL HoT effects in the game to everyone, so powerful that it could be considered effective temporary invincibility (as long as you don’t get one shot).

How you decide to use Paladin Chronomancer is up to you. Will you use Divine Intervention on cooldown to maximize your Hammer of Virtue and Divine Retribution damage, or will you save it for when your party members are in dire need of healing? Will you continually use Holy Vow to reduce your mana to the point where Divine Retribution’s DoT reaches its strongest, or will you save it for when you’re at max stacks of Temporal Rift and you want to get the largest heals possible? Whether you choose to focus on dealing more damage or healing your teammates, Paladin Chronomancer will get the job done!

February 25, 2014

BladeMaster Class

Dage's Early Birthday Present!

Everybody (except a pirate) loves a Ninja. Every team has a master of stealth. G.I. Joe has Snake Eyes. Cobra has Storm Shadow. The Autobots (G1) have Mirage. The Thundercats have Tigra. AE has Thyton and the Undead Legion has the BladeMaster. 

This is the NEW CLASS coming TOMORROW in the first wave of Dage's Birthday Shop. 

Dage's actual birthday isn't until Sunday but Dage wanted to release this early so you would have time to rank it up before the day arrives. But what is a BladeMaster without his or her blades? 

Pictured above, from left to right, you can see:

• The BladeMaster Fauchard (sword, 50,000 gold, Legend Only)
• The BladeMaster Katana (sword, 250 AC)
• The BladeMaster Sword (sword, 50,000 gold for everyone)
• The BladeMaster Dual Weapons (Dagger, one in each hand, 300 AC)

There are 2 ways to get the class:

• BladeMaster Class (2000 ACs)
• BladeMaster Class (2000 Legion Tokens)

Dage wanted a way for his dedicated followers to get the class through blood, sweat and tears. Both versions of the class and the weapons are all going RARE, but that won't be for at least a month so you have time to get those Legion Tokens. 

But let's stop kidding ourselves. We're all here to see what the class has to offer other than a pretty face. Balancing testing classes and writing class breakdowns were always some of my favorite parts of the job while I was working on AQW, so I'm very happy to be able to do it again in my week filling in for the vacationing Alina. Without further ado, I present the...

BLADEMASTER CLASS SKILLS BREAKDOWN

Dage had a lot to say about the development of this class. He wanted it to be stealthy and roguelike but unquestionably strong considering its rare nature. It is definitely a powerhouse and if you use it right, you're pretty close to unstoppable. 

Normally I suggest a build and encourage you to play around and find a build that works for you but, this time, If you're not using Thief Enhancements then you are wasting your own time. The class THRIVES on Dodge so all you want is Dexterity. 

Some of the skills are fast and others are slow but what you want to balance here it your MANA usage to really master this class. You'll see what I'm talking about .

 NUKITSUKE

1.75 second cooldown

A blade strike from the hilt, fast enough to hit before your opponent gets a chance to act..

Did you catch that? This is your autoattack but it goes off every 1.75 secs, not the standard 2 secs. Being built on the rogue MANA regen model, you get MANA back with every auto attack, so this keeps the MANA flowing in at a faster rate than any other class that does this. 

 BLADEFURY

15 MANA, 9 second cooldown

Unleash a fury of steel striking at up to 4 targets.

This is your only AoE (area of effect) attack. You have to have them grouped pretty tightly but this can pull 4 enemies onto you at once. Sounds like a bad idea? WRONG.

Again, this model of class generates MANA from every auto attack, but also from every Dodge that you manage to pull off. You also get Health back every time you dodge. If your build is sufficiently Dex heavy, then you will be dodging at least 4 enemies at a time with this skill, giving you life and the juice you need to keep stabbing monster face from every direction.

This is not the strongest attack but can help whittle down the group at a friendly pace. Don't want to kill them too fast or you lose your MANA/HP generators. 

 UKE NEGASHI

20 MANA, 25 second cooldown

A technique used to deflect incoming attacks and strike back at your target. Grants Evasion increasing dodge by 20% and critical strike chance by 10%.

Another slow cooldown but this power will become your bread and butter. 20% Dodge, on top of what you're already generating means more survivability, more MANA and more HP for you. 10% bonus crit means more damage AND more MANA since Crits generate additional MANA. 

IT'S MANAFEST 2014 UP IN HERE! 

 SEVER

25 MANA, 9 second cooldown

Deals moderate damage and disables your opponents ability to fight back significantly reducing all damage they deal for the next 5 seconds.

Decent damage here. This will probably end up being your main damage skill due to the cooldown, which means it will probably be where most of your MANA goes, so watch it. In addition to doing decent damage, it also nerfs your enemy's damage for 5 seconds adding even more to your survivability.  

 KEEN REFLEXES & TECHNIQUE

Rank 4 passives

Increases critical strike damage 20% and dodge chance by 15%

Increases dexterity by 10%

20% more Crit Damage which just goes straight into butt-kicking and 15% more Dodge which means more survivability, more MANA and more HP for you. 10% more Dex means the same. 

 NUKIUCHI

35 MANA, 10 second cooldown

Attempt to split your target in two with a powerful strike. Has a chance to stun your target for 2 seconds.

Here's your Nuke. This is a HEAVY damage attack. It eats a lot of MANA and has a pretty short cooldown for such a powerful attack so you'll be tempted to spam it, but you'll run out of juice very quickly doing that. Use it wisely, wait until the moment is right to strike. It also has a 50% chance to stun your target for 2 seconds which is just icing as far as I'm concerned. 

 TANDEN

Rank 10 passive

Increases dexterity and damage done by 10%

Does exactly what it says. More Dex and all the goodness that it brings with it and even more damage. 

Seems like this class would be a monster is PvP but I didn't get a chance to try it there personally so I'll be interested to hear your feedback. Between the dodge, the enemy damage debuff and a 50% stun chance there is NO reason that any BladeMaster should EVER die unless they want to go AFK to make a sandwich mid-fight. Even then, I'd say this beast has a pretty good chance of staying alive on autopilot until you come back, sandwich in hand. 

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the Essence of the Undead Legend will also be in the shop, as usual at the normal 2 MILLION gold pricetag. 

Enjoy and Happy Birthday Dage The Evil! 

MORE BIRTHDAY MADNESS FRIDAY

Friday Dage's Birthday Shop will be getting even more items!

• NEW Legion Pet with Legion Token Quests (Quests for owner only, 2000 AC)
• Legion Dragonrider Armor (800 ACs)

Dage mentioned that he might (or might not) add some items next week too, depending on his time. 

This Friday we also have our brand new Mardi Gras/Carnival event coming. Time to see if you've got the voodoo in you.

February 06, 2014

New Class: Jouster

Gallop towards victory!

On the fateful day of February 7, 2014, the world’s best MMO is getting a brand new class: the Jouster!

Jump upon your faithful steed and sprint into battle as you obliterate the opposition with your killer Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity stats.

Obtain the Jouster Class

There are a few ways you can become a super awesome Jouster.

1. Win the Jouster ARMOR from the Wheel of Doom or the Wheel of Destiny
   1. Type /join doom in the chat bar for Wheel of Doom
   2. Type /join destiny in the chat bar for Wheel of Destiny
2. Complete Quests with the Jouster Armor to unlock Jouster Class
3. Win the Jouster CLASS in the Wheel of Doom/Wheel of Destiny
4. Get the Jouster CLASS in the Wheel of Doom/Destiny Merge shop
5. Invent a time traveling machine, give Artix Entertainment the rights to patent your invention, get hired by the AQWorlds team, and get the Jouster Class for FREE! (Yes, we're serious) 

Jouster Skills

It takes A LOT of skill to ride (and stay on!) a mechanical steed in the midst of battle. As you level up your Jouster Class, you shall learn the following abilities:

	Joust Auto Attack 2 second cooldown A not so basic attack taught to all Jousters. Deals bonus damage on your First Strike... CHAAARGE! Has a chance to stun off balance targets.
	Thrust Rank 1 13 mana 5 second cooldown A moderate attack that can puncture your targets armor with enough momentum or knock your opponent off balance with enough precision.
	Magnetized Precision Rank 2 15 mana 14 second cooldown Deals light damage and for the next 6 seconds your accuracy is greatly increased. If your opponent is already punctured he will begin to bleed for damage over time. Gives your thrust attacks the ability to knock your opponent off balance, greatly reducing their chance to dodge.
	Auto Repair Rank 3 32 mana 17 second cooldown Repairs your mechanical parts restoring a moderate amount of health.
	Deflection Rank 4 Passive Increases your chance to dodge by 10%
	Stalwart Rank 4 Passive Increases endurance 15%.
	Charge Rank 5 39 mana 29 second cooldown A battle cry granting the jouster a boost in momentum. Increases haste and while greatly increasing the damage of your First Strike in combat. Also gives your thrust attacks the ability to puncture your opponents armor increasing damage they take from all sources.
	Lance Rank 10 Passive Joust attacks have a chance to give you “First Strike” in which for 6 seconds all joust and thrust attacks are as powerful as your first strike.

Jouster arrives 2/7/14!

Assuming you’re reading this today (and not using your prototype time machine), then you can become the Jouster Class starting tomorrow night!

You are a great person and a great hero—and you deserve a Class that’s equally as great! I cannot wait to fight alongside you as Lore’s greatest Jouster!

Battle On!

xoxo Beleen!

January 14, 2014

Spoiler Alert: Ultra Elemental Class

Sneak Peek at the newest Class arriving Friday

Normal is good… Evolved is better… and Ultra is the BEST! The Ultra Elemental Class is arriving this Friday, January 17, 2014. It is the first new class of the New Year, and it is probably the last Class you will EVER want to master!

The Ultra Elemental Class is unlike any other. You must harness each Elemental Orb Cape to prove yourself worthy of becoming the Ultra Elemental. Each Orb Cape offers special boosts when equipped:

• Water Orb: Class Points boost
  extra damage against Chaos and Elemental monsters
• Fire Orb: XP boost
  extra damage against Chaos and Elemental monsters
• Wind Orb: Gold boost, extra damage against Chaos and Elemental monsters
• Earth Orb: Reputation boost
  extra damage against Chaos and Elemental monsters
• Energy Orb: Class Points boost
  extra damage against Chaos and Dragon monsters
• Ice Orb: XP boost
  extra damage against Chaos and Dragon monsters
• Light Orb: Reputation boost
  extra damage against Chaos and Undead monsters
• Dark Orb: Gold boost
  extra damage against Chaos and Human monsters

AC versions of the capes will be available from Draven Stormbringer in Battleon for AdventureCoins. Legends can quest for some of the Orb Capes (certain levels of Faction Rep will be required) and buy others with gold.

Once all Capes are in your possession, you shall turn them into Draven Stormbringer in Battleon who will grant you access to the Ultra Elemental Class Shop. This shop contains:

• Ultra Elemental Class: 0 AdventureCoins
• ALL Elemental Orb Capes: 0 AdventureCoins
• Exclusive Chaos Orb: ????????

The Ultra Elemental Class is undergoing hardcore skill training at the moment (HA, and I thought CrossFit was challenging!). Due to my sneaky-sneak abilities (and not knowing what "keep this a secret" means), I managed to catch a glimpse of the Ultra Elemental’s Skills before Dumoose chased me off.

• Elemental Fusion: Strike your opponent with the elements you currently have charged. Different effects based on which elemental magics are combined.
• Blaze: Deals a burst of fire damage and charges your next Elemental Fusion with Fire Magic.
• Stoneskin: Reduces all incoming damage for a duration. Charges your next Elemental Fusion with Earth Magic.
• Chain Lightning: Strike multiple opponents for increasing damage for each jump. Bounces up to 5 times. Charges your next Elemental Fusion with Energy Magic.
• Command of Darkness (passive): Strength increased by 10%
• Command of Light (passive): Intellect Increased by 10%
• Blizzard: All Elemental Fusions have a chance to unleash a fusion of Wind and Ice. The blizzard will lower your opponents haste significantly for 5 seconds.

These skills are subject to change before Friday, so don’t hold everything up there verbatim. I just wanted to share with you what I found because… well… that’s what spoiler alerts are all about!

I know you’re looking forward to mastering the Ultra Elemental Class. So make sure you log in this Friday night to be one of the first Ultra Elementals in Lore!

xoxo Beleen

December 12, 2013

Glacial Warlord Class

Unleash a Blizzard of Cold-Hearted Attacks!

At long last… a Class that matches your bitter cold soul: the Glacial Warlord!

Glacial Warlords refuse to rely on luck or shady tactics, commanding the battlefield with massive Strength and powerful blows. Beware the Glacial Warrior whose armor is decorated with his opponent's crushed skulls.

The Glacial Warlord is reserved for those who wish to dominate the battlefield with unsurpassed Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance, often arming themselves with Fighter and Lucky Enhancements.

Glacial Warlords gain mana when they:

• Strike an enemy in combat (more effective on crits)
• Are struck by an enemy in combat

Glacial Warlord’s Skills

	Powerful Blows Rank Needed: 1 Mana: 0 Cooldown: 3.25 seconds Type: Physical The Glacial Warlord's attacks strike with his full force taking longer per attack but dealing more damage than anyone else on the battlefield.
	Pummel Rank Needed: 1 Mana: 12 Cooldown: 3 seconds Strike your opponent for light damage and gain a Frozen Heart Stack up to 5. Each stack of Frozen Heart increases your crit chance, haste and damage taken.
	Chilling Blow Rank Needed: 2 Mana: 38 Cooldown: 13 seconds A stunning attack (4 seconds) that also reduces your opponent's haste for 15 seconds. Frozen Heart stacks increase amount of haste reduction on your target. Resets Frozen Heart Stacks.
	Frostbite Rank Needed: 3 Mana: 22 Cooldown: 19 seconds Deals light damage and makes your opponent vulnerable to physical damage for 20 seconds. Frozen Heart stacks increase your targets vulnerability. Resets Frozen Heart Stacks.
	Strong Arm Rank Needed: 4 Type: Passive Strength increased by 30% and Luck decreased by 30%.
	Heavy Armor Expertise Rank Needed: 4 Type: Passive Physical Damage received reduced by 30%.
	Warcry Rank Needed: 5 Mana: 20 Cooldown: 15 seconds An invigorating shout healing the Glacial Warlord and his soldiers. Heals you and up to 6 allies if Frozen Heart is NOT present. If Frozen Heart is present, only heals you, plus an increased amount over time. Does NOT reset Frozen Heart Stacks.
	Skull Crusher Rank Needed: 10 Type: Passive The force of each Powerful Blow has a chance to crush your opponent's skull dealing massive damage.

Become the Glacial Warlord!

Buy any of the following packages to unlock the full Glacial Warlord armor set:

• 3 month membership 
• 6 month membership 
• 12 month membership 
• 2000 AdventureCoins
• 5000 AdventureCoins 
• 12000 AdventureCoins

Do you have what it takes to become the most feared Glacial Warlord in all of Lore? Help support your favorite online adventure game and get the COOLEST class AQWorlds has ever released!

Battle on, intrepid Warlords!

xoxo Beleen

July 31, 2013

Nulgath Strikes Back!

Brand New Archfiend Class arrives Friday

When anyone whispers the name “Nulgath,” shivers run down my spine, my hair stands on end, and ermahgerd goose bumps consume my body.

So you can only image how terrified I was when the AQWorlds team told me that we’re releasing a Nulgath Class on Friday: the color custom Archfiend Class!

One can always tell when an Archfiend has dominated the battlefield. A wake of devastation and destruction follows the Archfiend, as if it personally signed its name on every fallen victim!

Drawing its vicious power from the Abyss, every spell the Archfiend casts has a chance to leech life from his opponent. The Archfiend has no compassion for those weaker than him—and, in this case, encompasses just about everyone and everything.

Due to his ruthless tactics and thirst for war, Nulgath was exiled into the OverSoul Abyss last year…but from the looks of things, Nulgath has returned once more to Lore. When the sun sets this Friday evening, the Archfiend will rise, engulfing all who wish to deliver massive damage to the battlefield!

Rumor has it that anyone can become an Archfiend Class with a 2,000 AdventureCoins donation. Upgraded Legends always have the upper hand, though; Nulgath will make Legends an Archfiend in exchange for his Fiend Tokens. How many? …Nulgath hasn’t told us yet, because he is pure Evil and wants to keep us all in suspense!   

Speaking of suspense…

Nulgath is keeping the Archfiend’s Class Skills and Abilities a secret… for now. Our magnificent potions master, Alina, is currently concocting a truth serum to put in Nulgath’s goblet. If successful, Alina will retrieve the list of attacks from the head Archfiend himself.

We wish you the best of luck, Alina!

And I wish all of you the best of luck in your ongoing adventures… even if you DO become an Archfiend on Friday evening… *shiver*

xoxo Beleen

July 18, 2013

Legendary Hero Class

We need a (Legendary) Hero!

So. You say you’re a Legend in Lore. But can you prove it? Starting this Friday, if you upgrade your account, you'll unlock the Legendary Hero Class, then you absolutely ARE a Legend!

Legendary Heroes stand for all that is good, just, and righteous, protecting the entire world of Lore from Chaos Lords, ferocious beasts, and… bankruptcy!

This unique Class was a special gift to ALL upgraded Legends (formerly known as “Members”) who support—or have supported—AQWorlds. If you are a Legend, or upgraded your Membership at least once, check your email inbox for a special thank-you letter from Artix himself. Then, log into AQWorlds for your free boosts and Adventure Coins. Return tomorrow and begin to master the Legendary Hero Class!   

You know, it’s because of our wonderful Legends that the AQWorlds team can continue delivering brand-new releases for you and your friends to enjoy. You guys and gals totally rule =D

The Legendary Hero Class can now be found on the Lorepedia. Learn all about the Legendary Hero’s Base Stats, Skills, and Passive Abilities! Just click the pic above.

How To Get the Legendary Hero Class!

Starting tomorrow, talk to Ragnar in Battleon (he'll be back!) to open the Legend-Only Legendary Hero Shop! NEXT week, anyone who has EVER upgraded their account will find the Legendary Hero badge in their Book of Lore and can access the 0AC Class AND armor from that shop!

Testers will continue balancing the Class until release tomorrow. Any stat numbers you see are subject to change!

Now take flight into the fight as the Legendary Hero Class!

xoxo Beleen

May 01, 2013

Blood Titan Class Skills

The Blood Titan Arrives Friday!

"There is power in blood. Coming from a long line of titans, your blood is especially potent. You have mastered the ability of calling on the power running through your veins to bring devastation to your foes. " 
- Scroll of Nine Deaths

How, When and Where To get Your Blood Titan Class

The class arrives Friday and there will be 2 ways to get it. 

1. Members can farm for 450 Blood Titan Tokens then but the class from the merge shop which will be on the Shi Mar character who will be found in /join bloodtitan. The farmable version will be 0ACs for free storage in your bank. 
   
   
2. Everyone else will be able to buy the Class from the Class shop found in your Dragon Menu (Shops Section) or your Book of Lore for the standard price of 2000 ACs. 

I'm A Member. How Do I Get Tokens? 

Right now there is only one way to get Blood Titan Tokens. They are drops off of the Blood Titan and Ultra Blood Titan monsters in /join bloodtitan. Friday we will be adding another way to farm tokens too. Members will be able to complete repeatable quests on the Shi Mar character which will reward you with anywhere from 1 to 25 tokens at random! 

BLOOD TITAN CLASS SKILLS BREAKDOWN

This class is VERY tanky. It can do some damage but the concept behind it is survivability. It was built to last. The skill concepts come from one of our very useful balance testers, Dmage12 (thanks!). If you feel like your main class is too squishy, like your fights don't last mong enough or your guild needs a serious tank for boss fights then this the class for you. It has all the power and elegance of an 18 wheeler driving through a Walmart. 

This class is built on the Warrior mana regen model so the more damage you take the more mana you get. I would strongly suggest using Warrior Enhancements, but as always I'm interested to see what builds you guys come up with in the game and on the forums. 

 AUTO ATTACK

2 second cooldown

A strong attack known only to disciplined fighters.

K'POWZA!

 LIFE DRINKER 

12 mana, 3 second cooldown

This attack causes light to moderate damage based on the difference between your MAX and CURRENT HP. The Weaker you are, the harder you hit. Also saps some of your foe's life and and heals you. 

VERY fast, Low mana cost = spammable heal. You will be using this a LOT. It's so cheap that you probably won't think that you'd run out of mana (especially since this is the only skill that uses mana) but you use it enough that you might want to keep an eye on that. 

Also, keep in mind the the lower your life is the bigger the damage you do and the bigger the heal gets. 

 BLOOD FURY

10% total HP, 10 second cooldown

Consume some of your own life essence (HP) to do moderate damage to your foe as well as briefly increasing your damage and speed. 

A moderate damage attack with a decent buff to your DAMAGE and HASTE. The thing to note is that this and all the other BT skills from this point consume HP instead of mana.  

 CRIMSON SHIELD

20% total HP, 12 second cooldown

Consumes a fifth of your life to greatly increase your damage resistance for 8 seconds. If you have a monster targeted it will also force them to attack  only you for 5 seconds. 

This is a GREAT skill, period.

It takes a good chunk of your life and does no damage to your enemy but gives you a TITANIC 75% damage resist buff for 8 seconds.

Think about that for a second.

You're reducing a 2K crit against you to only 500 HP! In addition to that it has a Taunt effect that grabs monster (not Player) aggro for 5 seconds! That means that you smack the monster in the face and keep him off of your less durable friends and guildmates. This skill is what makes BT a true tank.  

 FORTIFIED BLOOD & BLOOD VOLUME

Rank 4 passives

Damage resist Increased by 10%

Endurance increased by 10%

A base 10% damage resist added across the board and 10% Endruance boost means more HP for you to eat. 

 BLOOD THIEF

33% total HP, 16 second cooldown

This high damage attack consumes a third of your life and greatly reduces your target's damage resistance and speed, while increasing your damage resistance and damage output for 10 seconds.

If you kill yourself by eating too much of your own HP (you can kill yourself with this class), this is the skill that you will use to do it. It does a decent amount of damage, makes the target extra squishy (Let your team know when you're about to use it so they can pour on their nukes while its weakened) and slows them down while making you stronger AND increasing your damage resist another 35%!

Let's get mathmatical. If you use Crimson Shield (75% Damage Resist) and this skill (35% Damage Resist) plus your 10% Damage Resist from Fortified Blood, you get a grand total of 120% Damage resist. That means that in the short span of time when you have both powers active you will get HEALED from enemies attacks! It will look a little like this.

It's not huge heal but you ARE actually getting HP back from being attacked. Now THAT is a tank! 

 TITANIC BLOODLINE

Rank 10 passive

Once in a great while, you tap the full potential of your powerful blood and greatly increase your damage output, damage resistance and haste for a short time. 

Does exactly what it says. For a short time you become SUPERTANK! 

When playing this class you will be tempted to try and full heal yourself. It's important to remember that this is notht eh point of the class. The point is to NOT reach 0 health which is distinctly different. 

Enjoy! 

March 28, 2013

Darkblood StormKing Class

The Thunderforge Rep Class Arrives Tomorrow!

The Darkblood have always lived in Thunderforge. The evil race has thrived beneath the never-ending thunderstorms that cover the region. Centuries before the city of Falguard was built, the tribes of Darkblood regularly went to war over the resources in the region. They kept coming up with new and inventive ways to destroy each other until finally one of the Darkblood elders found a way to magically bind the power and fury of Thunderforge's storms and use their might as weapons. 

The Darkblood StormKing as born.

It takes a rare type of person to become a StormKing (the term also applies to females, there are no StormQueens). You have to have an affinity for magic, a close connection to the natural world and the will to enslave nature itelf to obey your commands. 

How, When and Where To get Your StormKing Class

Tomorrow the Darkblood StormKing Class is being released. It will be in the Thunderforge Rep Shop in Falguard as well as in the Class Shop (Menu Shops Button, Ragnar NPC in Battleon or your Book of Lore). The reputation version, of course, requires rank 10 ThunderForge Rep and a healthy amount of gold and the AC version costs 2000 ACs. There are also a number of helms for males and females that match the set but these are only available in the Thunderforge Rep shop (Several Member Options, a few non-member and all require rank 10 rep). 

DARKBLOOD STORMKING CLASS SKILLS BREAKDOWN

The class is a straight up caster so you will want the biggest and best Wizard Enh you can possibly grab. We've also done some tweaking with the way that this class works... since it's 100% caster we decided to make it's AUTO ATTACK damage dependant on Int too. In my case (level 50 with FULL Wiz Enh), this has resulted in DOUBLING my AA damage over most other classes. While that is fun and exciting it made balancing this class extra tough. 

The mana costs may APPEAR a little high but with Mage Regen Model (mana back on hitting an enemy with an inversley proportional relationship to your HP) and Thunderclap you should be able to balance your mana flow if you don't button mash. 

This is a thinking players class. You need to pay attention to play it well but once you master it you will be able to farm mobs, bosses or dominate in PvP. 

 AUTO ATTACK

2 second cooldown

A strong attack known only to disciplined fighters.

Remember. This class's AA Damage is tied to its INT so make sure that ALL of your gear is full of Wizard ENH and you won't be sorry. 

 STORM CALL

20 mana, 3 second cooldown

You bring the power of the storm to bear against your enemy. Using this skill on enemies with Shocked applied will heal you until Shocked fades. You will regain mana when you use this skill on enemies who have Thunderstruck applied to them. 

This already a decently strong attack without the special powers that come from Shocked or Thunderstruck. We'll cover those next. 

 SKYFIRE

40 mana, 12 second cooldown

You channel the power of pure lightning through your hands and strike up to 3 enemies at once. Applies Shocked to all enemies hit. Shocked lasts for 10 seconds, will replace Thunderstruck and reduces affected enemies damage output.

I know what you're thinking but the mana and cooldown are NOT typos, although until you unlock the next skill you might want to equip some mana potions, just in case. This is one half of your heal skill. After you cast this be sure to take note which enemies you hit or miss, and focus on the ones you hit. 

Once you hit an enemy they will have Shocked on them for 10 seconds. If you use Storm Call to hit a Shocked enemy you will get back a healthy amount of HP, and you can usually hit them 3 times before shocked fades. At level 50 with the right enh you will get back nearly 400 HP per hit, or 1200 in the 10 second duration.

On top of all of that this is also a very decent attack with a slight enemy debuff, which is always fun. 

 THUNDERCLAP

40 mana, 12 second cooldown

You devastate your enemies with mighty boom of thunder, hitting up to 3 enemies at once and has a chance to stun them. Applies Thunderstruck to all enemies hit. Thunderstruck lasts for 10 second and will replace Shocked.

This is your other farming skill and it has a 50% chance of stunning anything that it hits (up to 3 monsters). It also applies Thunderstruck to anyone it hits. Again, you want to pay attention to who gets hit because when you use Storm Call on a Thunderstruck enemy, you get mana back on every hit (more than the mana you spend of Storm Call) until Thunderstruck fades. 

This is where being smart really comes in. You will really have to be present and ware of the battle to decide if you want to hit them with Skyfire or Thunderclap. Sometimes, you need HP, sometimes mana and sometimes. Sometimes you could really use a stun and sometimes you just need to deal decent damage to the mob you've pulled. 

Remember that a target can be Thunderstruck or Shocked, but never both at the same time. Choices, choices. 

 RAGING GALE & TEMPEST

Rank 4 passives

Damage Output Increased by 10%

Critical chance increased by 10%

More damage is always good but the increased crit is rally the gem here. Read on to understand why. 

 BALL LIGHTNING

90 mana, 12 second cooldown

Fires a Ball Lightning, The rarest form of naturally occurring lightning, at your enemy. This attack has an increased chance to crit and will do additional damage to any enemy who has either Shocked or Thunderstruck applied. 

Yup, it pretty much drains all of your mana, and the cooldown is only 12 seconds so, again, you will need to decide when to use this and not just try and spam your nuke. PLAY SMART. In addition to being a decently high damage attack this skill has a naturally higher chance to crit, on top of the 10% crit boost you get from Tempest. You stand a pretty good chance of critting which will produce some nice, juicy orange numbers. 

On top of THAT, you also get a damage boost from anything that is Shocked or Thunderstruck. It means that you will sacrifice at least one hit of Storm Call meaning you're giving up one shot of the secondary effect. Keep that in mind. 

 CRACKING SKY

Rank 10 passive

Once in a great while, you tap into the pure fury of Thunderforge's perpetual storm and deal massive damage to your enemy. 

Randomly hit your target for HUGE numbers, as other skills in the past have done. It's not something you can count on but it IS a nice treat when it happens. 

I probably made StormKing sound a lot more complicated than it actually is, but you guys were asking for a class that could farm or go solo against bosses with a lot of interplay between the skills and we did our best ti give you that. Have fun with it. 

February 14, 2013

Alpha Omega Class

Tomorrow We Honor EpicDuel's OMEGA!

It's been months in development but the long wait is over and EpicDuel has launched their OMEGA release! They re-wrote more than half of their battle engine and turning the game on it's head. They have revamped everything from character creation to the very battle system that forms the core of the game. 

Titan says it's been a roller coaster ride. People were excited at the announcement but it took far longer than expected so people got anxious and cranky, then it was released and people were FLIPPING OUT then started to notice a few bugs that were missed in testing. Soon ED plans to release it's second balancing patch and people are again excited to see what changes are coming to this game of blades, blood and bones. 

In honor of their achievement, we are releasing the Alpha Omega Class tomorrow! The art was designed by ED's own Nightwraith and if you ask me it's one of the most impressive armors that we've seen in AQW. 

Where Do I get It?

There will be a few ways that you will be able to get the class when we release it tomorrow. 

1. Members can earn the class by trading in 300 Combat Trophies from Bludrut Brawl to Ragnar in Battleon. He will have a new merge shop for classes as of tomorrow.
   
   
2. Anyone can simply purchase the class for 1000 ACs (half-price from our normal classes) from Ragnar in Battleon, or from the Class Shop in your Book of Lore. 

Now, let's get our hands dirty. 

ALPHA OMEGA CLASS BREAKDOWN

First, don't let the name Alpha Omega mislead you. This is NOT a re-release of Alpha Pirate (as some people seem to think) and has nothing to do with the Alpha Testing Phase of any of AE's games. Alpha is the beginning. Omega is the ultimate end. This class was designed to finish any battle that it starts and it's as simple as that. 

The skills for this class were originally inspired by the skills of the Mercenary from Epic Duel, and evolved from there. Our balance testers have said that it can take a lot of punishment but have no problem dishing it out in one-on-one battles. They have also said that it feels like one of the most well-rounded and multi-purpose classes we've released in a while. 

The balance testers also say that LUCK Enhancements work best with this class, even though it's built on the Warrior mana regen model and does physical damage. Got a better build? Let us know on the forums!

 AUTO ATTACK

2 second cooldown

A strong attack known only to disciplined fighters.

 DOUBLE STRIKE

15 mana, 1 second cooldown

Instantly attack twice, dealing extra damage.

Very simple. Anything you punch in the face get a bonus punch in the face ABSOLUTELY FREE! 

 FIELD MEDIC

30 mana, 6 second cooldown

Heals a friendly target for a large amount immediately, and up to 3 additional nearby targets for a smaller amount. Applies Radiance to the first target, healing for an additional amount over 16 seconds, and restoring some mana to the caster when the target takes damage..

It's not a HUGE heal but it's a nice life-saver and you CAN cast it on yourself. It also buffs your mana for as long as the heal's effect, Glow, stays on you. 

 MAUL

30 mana, 10 second cooldown

Strike and weaken an enemy by stunning them for 4 seconds.

Does damage and carries a guaranteed stun, which is always nice. Especially in PvP. 

 BLOOD SAPPER & OMEGA DEFENDER

Rank 4 passives

Damage Output Increased by 10%

Damage Resist increased by 10%

Hit harder and take less damage. Warrior based combat at its finest. 

 BUNKER BUSTER

30 mana, 15 second cooldown

1 hit guaranteed to crit.

A guaranteed crit, every time. This skill is why I liked to play around with the ENH. If you already have one guarentted crit then ideally you want to make it stronger with STR but it's not the only skill that can crit and critical heals are REALLY NICE. Depends on your play style. 

 NANO ENHANCER

Rank 10 passive

Increases Haste by a 10%

I think this is the first time that we've had a rank 10 passive that was a flat stat boost like the rank 4's usually are, but rather than waiting for a 1/500 chance for a massive damage to go off, spead up all attacks and reduce all cooldowns making you do more damage overall. Again, you'll have to let us know what you think. 

So there you have it. The class comes tomorrow along with ED's Valentines Event which features, amongst other things, 2 BRAND NEW CORES to play with so you probably want to check that one once you're done with AQW's release! 

November 09, 2012

TimeKiller Class

Time To Kill Some Time

The 2013 AE Calendar has arrived on HeroMart.com!

This year we went in a new direction by printing the calendar on a single poster sized sheet and when the year is over you can flip it to the backside where the image takes up the whole page!

It's a kind of Where's Waldo of AE. Diozz managed to work NPCs from AQW, AQ Classic, DragonFable, Mechquest and Epicduel into one single amazing image! Dage spent days painstakingly painting the image and we double checked the dates this year so I'm sorry to report that there is no bonus November 31st in the new one.

The Calendar comes with a special Mech head in MQ, the TimeKiller armor in DragonFable and in AQW you get the TimeKiller Class, TimeKiller Hat, TimeReaper Hood, TimeReaper Scythe, the Very Big Ben Cape and TimeKiller Character Page Badge!

and now it's time for a breakdown...

TIMEKILLER CLASS SKILLS BREAKDOWN

The TimeKiller is a rare breed of hunter who travel the breadth of space and time hunting your prey. Are you a bounty hunter? Do you hunt the most dangerous monsters in history? Do you track down history's greatest treasures? When you have a very long life and enough power to travel through time at will, you have to set your own goals.

TimeReapers are a rare breed of TimeKiller. They have lived long enough to grow bored of collecting histories greatest artifacts and hunting extinct species. They have taken to tracking down and hunting the most dangers prey... other TimeKillers.

Either way, it's an interesting way to kill some time.

The class is a single target class based on the ROGUE mana regen model so you will get mana back on hits and crits but ALSO get slightly healed on a dodge. Only 1 of the skills help you dodge so don't expect that to happen too often unless you use a build based on Dex like all Thief Enh, but some of the attacks are physical and some are magical so I suggest a full Hybrid Enh build.

AUTO ATTACK

2 second cooldown

A basic attack, taught to all adventurers.

STRETCH TIME

15 mana, 4 second cooldown

Every time you use this ability to attack an enemy for moderate damage, it slows their local time more and more making them attack more slowly with every hit. Stacks up to 4 times.

It's a stacking haste debuff and a very low cost, low cooldown moderate damage ability.

RELIVE THE PAST

20 mana, 8 second cooldown

Causes moderate damage, and forces your enemy to relive the attack over and over again taking damage over time.

You hit them for moderate damage and forces them to relive the pain in the form of a DoT (damage over time). Starting to catch on? There is a very stong TIME theme to each of the TK's skills.

COMPRESS TIME

30 mana, 20 second cooldown

Surrounds yourself or an ally in a bubble of compressed time. The target will heal, regain mana and attack more quickly for 10 seconds.

This is an interesting skill. Accompanied by Pyromancer's shield skill animation, this skill causes you to heal rapidly (in the form of a decent HoT or Heal Over Time) and causes you to regenerate your mana faster. The interesting thing about this skill is that you can use it on yourself by default or click on another player and use it on them. VERY good in guild combat situations. It's costly but worth every sencond of waiting and every point of mana spent.

I think it's the first skill in the game that allows you to assist another player with mana regen. It will make you a good friend to have.

SPEED PERCEPTION & QUICK REACTIONS

Rank 4 passives

Increase Dodge by 10%

Reduce Damage Taken by 10%

As your control over time grows, so do your abilities. You can't move faster but you can make everything else move more slowly.

STOP TIME

45 mana, 20 second cooldown

Causes High Damage and locks your enemy in time leaving them frozen as time flows around them normally for a short time.

It's a High Damage Skill AND a four second stun. Four seconds may not seen like a lot but with Compress time it gives you just enough time to catch your breath and dive back into the battle for another round. Also a very good lead-off skill in PvP vor Obvious reasons.

ANCESTOR'S FAVOR

Rank 10 passive

Rarely causes up to three monsters around you to get frozen in time while your local time is compressed causing you to attack more quickly for a short time.

This was a fun workaround. We can;t actually stun more than one enemy target at the time so this actually casts a dramatic reduction in haste for ten seconds, which increasing your own haste. You're basicly the Flash.

It's a pretty fun class. There's not a lot of interaction so it's not very complex, and while I like classes that take some brain power to use, It's nice to play one that is just simple. clean and efficent.

THE SPAN Comes Later Tonight

Don't forget to check out tonight's Span release as Iadoa continues to lose his mind to Drakath's chaorrupting influence.

41 days until Just Another Day

March 15, 2012

The Astronaut & The Leprechaun

Let's Get Rid Of J6

At least for a while. The Metro news group and SXC (Space Expedition Curacao) are currently running a contest and the winner will win a trip to SPACE!

We all want to send J6 where he belongs and if they let him bring a pencil we've asked him to do a drawing for us while he's up there. He would be the first video game developer to go into space and when he gets back we could give everyone this item that he creates while floating above the Earth!

We're asking EVERYONE to help and it's really easy.

1. Click on THIS LINK.
2. Click the little VOTE BUTTON that looks like this.
   
   

That's it! Right now it appears that he is in 2nd place (you can check how well "Send J6 Where He Belongs" is going right HERE). Feel free to post this on your FaceBook and Twitter and tell everyone that you know.

NOTE: You can vote once PER DAY so be sure to vote for him every day until the voting is closed!

I want to emphasize that this is NOT an in-game event. If we pull this off, it will happen IN REAL LIFE! The actual Lead Artist for AQW will be actually going into actual space!

Together, we can lift J6 up amongst the stars.

For around an hour.

EVOLVED LEPRECHAUN CLASS SKILL SET

Lucky Day arrives this weekend and the Shamrock Fair will be in town. The fair will have all the fun fair games and seasonal rares from last year plus a few new rares this year. We are also adding the new Evolved Leprechaun Class to the game.

Before I get into the skills, let me answer a few questions that are being asked about this class.

• Will this class be rare? It will be a SEASONAL RARE (but with no tag) so it will return every year, much like the Evolved Clawsuit Class.
  
  
• Do I have to have the original Leprechaun Class to get this class? No. For those of you who DID grab the original class back in 2009, it will make getting the new class much simpler but it's isn't necessary.
  
  
• How will I get the class? There are three ways that you will be able to get the class...
  
  
  1. You will be able to purchase the class for ACs from Mog O'Rahilly in the Shamrock Fair or from Itzachi in Battleon, but only until the Shamrock Fair closes.
     
     
  2. You will be able to EARN it with a combination of Golden Tickets earned from Fair games and some farming quests which Mog O'Rahilly will give you. It won't be easy but if you're dedicated then you will be able to earn the class before the Fair closes.
     
     
  3. If you already have the original Leprechaun class from back in 2009, you will be able to earn it much faster using special quests designed just for you long time players, rare collectors and class fans. Don't worry, the original will only unlock these easier farming quests for you... you will NOT have to trade in your original Leppy.
     
     
• What do I need to do to earn the class? If you want to earn the class, it should be fairly simple compared to the reputation classes but still pretty challenging to do before the Shamrock Fair closes. (it will be up until April 16th, more than a month from Friday)
  
  You will need 2000 Golden Tickets from fair games, 20 Rainbow Shards and 12 Lucky Clovers. the Shards and Clovers you will earn from farming quests that Mog O'Rahilly gives.
  
  You will be able to earn the Tickets and Shards as quickly as you want but the Lucky Clovers you will only be able to earn by doing daily quests. Most people will be able to earn 1 a day but people with the original Leprechaun will earn 3 a day. They will also be able to earn the Shards at a much faster rate.
  
  Remember that ANYONE can earn tickets twice as fast by buying the Lucky hat from the sprites outside the fair.

Now, let's talk about this new and improved Leprechaun.

The class will be using the Evolved Leprechaun Armor art because... duh.

Again, we tried something new with this class. First off, it's on a rogue mana regen model which means it gets mana from every hit that connects and every dodge that you pull off. You will also get healed a little if you dodge but you won't be dodging a lot so don't count on that.

This class is specially designed to work with LUCKY Enhancements which I sell from the bathtub in Yulgar's inn. Every point of luck that you have ads more to your critical rating AND your damage modifier

The last thing that you should know about this is that it is DESIGNED to get critical hits often (as someone lucky would do). It has fairly low survivability with no heal and only one solid damage mitigation skill, but it can deal a TON of damage in a very short time. The idea is to do as much damage as you can as fast as you can, before you die.

If you don't want to die, find a healer or get some potions.

It's not great for farming as it has no AoE skills, and it's pretty decent at soloing because of the damage output but it's a beast in PvP. Petrify or no petrify, smart Vindicators will be running from you.

Another really nice thing about this class is, due to the fact that it does large damage consistently, rather than HUGE burst DPS occasionally, it's like a piranha chewing relentlessly through your opponent. And like a piranha, the more of you there are, the more deadly you are.

AMAS

2 second cooldown

A basic attack, taught to all adventurers.

The idea is to raise your crit and since your AA is your fastest skill, THIS skill will be your damage dealer. Once you add all your Crit buffs, you should see 600, 700, 800, 1200, 700, 800, 1000 floating off your enemies every 2 seconds.

SOILSIGH

20 mana, 20 second cooldown

Instantly cause 50% weapon damage, also applies Keen to you which increases your Crit Damage by 5% for 12 seconds.

Notice that it is not your Crit CHANCE but your Crit DAMAGE that gets buffed here. That means higher damage crits at your normal rate which should be pretty high if you have Lucky enh slotted.

AMHARACH

10 mana, 12 second cooldown

Deals damage based on how much time is left on Keen (less time means more damage) and reduces all incoming damage by 40% for 6 seconds

Here is a nice damage skill, faithful to the original Leprechaun Class design with an added damage mitigation bonus. You will have to decide if you want the higher damage from attacking when Keen is about to wear off or the 40% Damage reduction. In my experience the damage reduction was more worth it by far but when it's your class, it will be your call.

Swing and a miss!

TRODAI

20 mana, 20 second cooldown

Deals moderate damage, Also applies Stalic for 12 seconds which causes all attacks to do 110% damage, increases Crit Chance and Crit Damage by an additional 7% each.

This is where things start to get crazy. Once again you have the ability to increase your Crit Damage but also your chance to crit by 7% each. On top of that, it's a decent attack. When you unlock this skill, the fun really starts.

GASTA & GEARAIGH

Rank 4 passives

Increase Haste by 10%

Increase Crit by 10%

Even more crit chance and this one doesn't fade, plus an overall haste buff which you will appreciate as this class has some LONG cooldowns.

SLANAITHEOIR

30 mana, 40 second cooldown

Increases LUCK stat, haste, dodge, Crit Chance and Crit Damage for 15 seconds.

Once more, calling back to the original Leprechaun Class but with more suitable effects. Remember that this is a LUCK based class which affects Crit chance as well as overall damage so increasing your LUCK serves 2 purposes. On top of that you get ANOTHER boost to Crit chance as well as Crit Damage, an increase to Haste and to Dodge. This is a serious buff.

EIRINN GO BRASCH

Rank 10 passive

Rarely, your astounding luck allows you to do QUADRUPLE damage on all crits for 10 seconds.

 By now you will be feeling the power of the crit. Now imagine 10 full seconds of 4X crits on top of the fact that you're critting 90% of the time AND already doing extra crit damage if you apply your buffs right!

Summary

I think you'll have a LOT of fun with this class. It might make going back to other classes a little dull after seeing all those big, tasty, orange crit numbers flying around. It's also only the second time that we've had a Luck based class in-game but a lot of people really like playing a lucky warrior build for the crits. You people will enjoy this especially.

281 days until Just Another Day

March 01, 2012

Elemental Dracomancer

UPDATE!!!

AQ3D Name Camping Is OPEN!
 

If you were not aware, you can now go to ARTIX.COM and pre-registern your character name for our next big game which is now called AQ3D!

You need a few things if you want to grab YOUR character name before anyone else!

1. You need to have supported any AE game by PURCHASING SOMETHING.
   
2. You need to have that game account tied to your AE MASTER ACCOUNT!
3. You need the Unity 3D Web Player plug-in! (it's just a plug-in like Flash Player which lets you play AQW)

Note that the intro fly-through is done in the game engine and what you're looking at will be very close to what the game itself looks like when it's ready for launch!

Good luck!

CAMP YOUR AQ3D NAME NOW!

www.ARTIX.com

The Long Awaited (But Not Nearly Long Awaited As Grenadier Was) Etherstorm Class Arrives Tomorrow!

Before I say anything else about this class, I'd like to mention that THIS IS NOT the Dracomancer Class from AQ Classic. If that's what you're expecting, look elsewhere.

AQW is a different game with different art and different artists. Sometimes (like with the Battle Tested Axe Master armor) we strive to get as close as we can to the original but this is NOT one of those times.

This is the ELEMENTAL DRACOMANCER! Like all Dracomancers, it is bound in spirit and power to the ancient dragon race, but unlike standard Dracomancers, it is also tied to the four new Elemental Prime Dragons of Fire, Water, Earth and Wind.

ELEMENTAL DRACOMANCER CLASS SKILL SET

We've done a few new things with and for this class.

First, you are able to click on the HEAD, FOREARMS and CHEST STRAPS of the class and each will set on a transformation bringing you closer and closer to dragonkind.

• Click the Head: Your face alters and transforms into the head of a dragon! Its skin color is the same as your own and it's lower jaw will match your eye color. It looks a little funny with some of the hairs which stay loaded but we had to add it.
  
  
• Click the Forearms: Your hands transform into deadly dragon claws!
  
  
• Click the Chest Straps and you will sprout color custom dragon wings from your back. These will load on top of whatever back item you have but will not replace it so keep that in mind.

Next, we added some special skill animations for this class. The coolest of which is the fire breath animation!

A Dracomancer is a caster class, built on the mage mana regen which regains mana based on hits and crits and varied depending on your current HP. Like most caster classes you will want to load up on WIZARD Enhancements to get the most bang for your gold.

This class is REALLY straightforward. It is designed to be a solo class, with good survivability and a LOT of damage potential but no self-heal at all. But that's what potions are for.

AUTO ATTACK

2 second cooldown

A basic attack, taught to all adventurers.

Whack. Whack. Whack. Whack. Whack. Whack. Whack.

SSIKARI'S BREATH

25 mana, 4 second cooldown

Breathes fire on your target causing moderate and applying the DragonBurn state to them for Damage Over Time.

Yup, that's me puking a fountain of flame onto Wolfwing in testing. The animation makes this really fun to use but it's a pretty basic attack. Initial blast of flame causes moderate damage, DoT causes more. VERY short cooldown.

LLIATH'S TORRENT

25 mana, 6 second cooldown

Summon the Water Prime's power and hit your foe with a crushing jet of water which has a slight chance to stun your target.

This is another fairly basic attack with a new animation. It does half again as much damage as the last power with a slightly longer cooldown and has a chance to stun your target. Since it's not something you can count on, it's more of a nice bonus when it does happen.

DURADUN'S SCALES

-30 mana, 12 second cooldown

Gathers mana from nearby ley lines and increases your damage resistance by 70% for 6 seconds.

This is where things get interesting. Notice that the mana cost is not 30 mana, it's -30 mana. You RECEIEVE mana for using this skill. It doesn't do any damage at all but it provides 75% Damage reduction! Dragon's scales are the stuff of legend. They are able to withstand the worst punishment imaginable and for 6 seconds... so can you.

You will want to use this a LOT. There's no reason not to. It feeds you mana and makes you touch as nails! If you spam it every 12 seconds, then half the time you're fighting, you are only taking a quarter damage, even if you're stunned or petrified.

DRAGON'S KNOWLEDGE & DRAGON'S SPEED

Rank 4 passives

Increase Int by 10%

Increase Haste by 10%

Very fitting passives here. You get a passive INT buff which means more damage for you AND you can dish it out faster.

ASTIALO'S WINGS

50 mana, 15 second cooldown

You gain the speed of a flying dragon, causing moderate damage to your target. This power also DOUBLES your attack speed and cuts all mana costs in half for 8 seconds.

Another decent damage ability, but the buff is really what you want here. By doubling your haste and halving your mana cost, you are attacking at 2x speed but still using the same mana as you would if you were attacking normally. It's a little costly but this is one class where mana management is NOT a problem.

This class we DESIGNED so that at rank 10, you CAN click all the powers as fast as they pop. In fact, you SHOULD. With no heals, your only recourse is powering through enemies as fast as you can. I even recommend using the number keys instead of clicking the powers.

PRIMAL POWER

Rank 10 passive

Rarely, you get in touch with the united power of Desoloth and ALL of your attacks are crits for a short time.

You can't embrace the Primals without accepting that Desoloth is also an elemental dragon. You get in touch with the source of his nearly limitless power and EVERYTHING you do for a short time is a critical success.

The Big Picture

Let's look at the entire class, as a whole. No heals, great defenses and AMAZING potential for carnage. This class requires no finesse AT ALL. You don't need to watch your life unless you have potions to heal you. You don't need to watch your mana unless you are just amazingly bad at this class. There are no multis to concern you with when you should use a certain power.

This class was not designed as a mutli-purpose or PvP class like Grenadier. It was not designed for farmers like Darkside. This was designed with the solo player in mind.

Tomorrow you will be able to get this class from any of the Dravix Priests in Etherstorm in the Etherstorm Rep Shop or you can get it from Itzachi (along with the Member Only Skyguard Grenadier) in Battleon for 2000 ACs.

Tomorrow also marks the start of the Etherstorm War against (or for) Desoloth, the arrival of the Australia Day NPC and items wished for by the last ICHM winner and Dage The Evil's Birthday with lots of Dage-made goodies.

295 days until Just Another Day

February 27, 2012

Another Busy Week

It Never Ends!

We've got a LOT planned for this week but before I get into what's coming this week let's go over some old business...

Fishing Badge

The King Fisher Character Page Badge is now up on your character pages.

Of course, you must be a King Fisher with maxed out Fishing Rep to obtain this permanent pendant professing your piscatorial prowess.

Grenadier Buff

The Members who have Rank 10 Skyguard Reputation (and a few who weren't rank 10, actually) got to preview the Member Only Grenadier Class this weekend. The overall impressions were that it's a lot of fun and an interesting class build but they had problems with mana regen and felt that it was a touch under-powered, especially considering that it was the first Member Only class is a long time.

So this week we will be BUFFING Skyguard Grenadier. Here's what we are doing...

• Increasing DPS overall.
• Decreasing the mana cost for Flashbang, Sleeping Gas and Reactive Grenade by 5 mana each.
• Flashbang's base debuff will be changed to CRIT reduction instead of HIT reduction.
• Rank 4 Passive Adrenaline Rush will be changed to 8% Damage Reduction instead of 10% Dodge.

In testing Stratos was able to solo Ledgemayne and I was able to solo both Ledgermayne and Wolfwing with the fully ranked class so this class is no slouch already if you know how to use it and how to manage your mana, but this should make it REALLY nice.

By the time you read this the changes will already be in effect.

Don't forget that Itzachi, the class dealer in Battleon, will be selling this Member Only class for 2000 ACs starting this Friday if you would rather take the shortcut rather than ranking all the way to 10.

Leap Day Is Coming!

Every 4 years the calendar racks up a full day of time that was left over from all the other days. The solution to this problem is adding a day every 4th year. This is why we have a February 29th this Wednesday and Feb is normally a 28 day month.

We've decided that we want to help you leap forward too.

Starting some time on Wednesday, Feb 29th, we will be adding a Leap Day NPC to Battleon who will give you 4 simple quests. Each quest will reward you with a one-time free hour long BOOST for your XP, GOLD, REPUTATION or CLASS RANK.

You will have 24 hours from the time that we release this to get the Leap Day Boosts and then they will be gone. Plan ahead and remember that this only happens once every 4 years!

I CAN HAS AUSTRALIA DAY?!

This weekend I got to hang out with the winner of this round of the I CAN HAS MOD contest, HERZER HERRING!

She is from Australia and her wish is that we add an Australia Day NPC to the game who would sell Australian Themed Items!

As per her wish, Mick "Crocodile" Dundoo will be coming to Battleon this Friday selling a number of AUS themed items and house items which were almost entirely suggest by Herzer Herring.

As for the Golden Cheezburger, this one will work a little differently. She wished that it be changed into an rare Australian Themed HOUSE, based on the iconic Sydney Opera House! In order to get your house you will need to talk to Mick Dundoo and trade the Cheezburer in for the house.

You MUST have a Golden Cheezburger Deluxe to get this rare house and once Mick Dundoo leaves, you will never be able to get the house again!

There will also be other items like dual Bowie Knives (that's not two knives, mate... THIS is two knives!), a Rugby Uniform Armor in AUS Olympic colors of Green and Gold, A green and gold "Boomer"ang weapon, A Cricket Bat with the AUS flag on it,  Kangaroo and Barry the Platypus pets and some cool house items like an AUS flag for your wall and A Croc skin rug!

ALL OF THE ITEMS IN THE SHOPS WILL BE FOR EVERYONE! NON-MEMBERS and MEMBERS!

I mentioned the rare house over Twitter this weekend and it was met with an amazing amount of complaining. I was really surprised and a little hurt to see so many people griping about getting a completely free house based on the wish of a fellow player who did not want any recognition for herself (she didn't even want to be the NPC when I offered) but only a little recognition for the country she loves and calls her home. Thanks to everyone who saw this gift for what it is and accepted it with an excited smile.

After brainstorming item ideas for the shop we farmed Skyguard for a while and I showed her some of the cool mod powers she could use while she was a mod, like going to secret mod only maps and even going back in time to closed events (While we were time traveling I let her pick up Alpha Pirate for herself as well as some other rares from past areas).

She is a heck of a player, a loyal AQW Member & Supporter and a lot of fun to hang out with. Herzer Herring, it was a true pleasure getting to hang out with you. Thanks!

We will probably only do ONE MORE ROUND of I CAN HAS MOD and we will let you know as soon as that starts!

Etherstorm Goes Out With A Bang!

The Eterstorm Saga is closing starting with this weekend's war. The outcome of the entire area will be decided by the outcome of the war. You will be able to fight on the side of Good, Evil or even Desoloth.

This weekend we will ALSO be releasing the Elemental Dracomaner Class for Etherstorm Rank 10. There will be an AC version in Itzachi as well but after this class we will probably start doing what we did with Grenadier and letting the Rank 10 people have it a week before anyone else so they can get a head start on mastering the class.

We will be posting a skill breakdown and some images of the class later on this week.

Dage The Evil's Deathday Party!

Dage's birthday is March 2nd! There was a typo (not mine) in the 2012 AE calendar that said March 22'nd but it's actually this Friday!

He has decided to craft some custom items for his birthday!

Here is a full list of the birthday items. They are ALL ACs, and he priced them a little higher than average but hey, he's evil, whatcha gonna do?

1. Paragon Mini Pet: 2000 acs
2. Legion Vampire Armor: 1000 acs
3. Legion Vampire Helm: 100 acs
4. Vampire Bat Cape: 200 acs
5. Legion Vampire Scythe: 500 acs
6. Dark Caster Hair: 100 acs
7. Dage’s DeathKnight: 800 acs

The pet is NON-MEMBER and it is also NOT a Battle Pet but does grant the person who owns the pet access to special quests and special additional Dage Rewards.