Revenge of the Neutrals Series: Earthroc Pebbles

Rock and Roll this October! When the mythical power of Sylvia was awaken.. So did something else.

Pebbles Alt Avatar: Earthroc Pebbles

The south of Caldavar is littered with the remains of monasteries and forgotten architecture long lost to the sands of time. From the remains of an ancient Temple of Sol, hidden in the dense forests on the way to Sang-La, emerges Earthroc Pebbles: a titan of the jungle -- brought to life by Sylvia -- who has survived the erosion of millennia.

Get Crushed!

In Stores now!

Circe the Deceiver - The Dread Goddess

Circe watched the horizons grow bright with an unnatural glow. Storms of ash swept over her island and massive structures made of stone and shattered glass floated on the tides. Charred corpses washed ashore by the hundreds. As Circe had foreseen in the explorer’s mind, the waters surrounding her island fell away, evaporated by the unholy flames that spread beneath boiling black clouds. After thousands of years a prisoner, Circe walked off her island toward what remained of mankind, for her island was now the entire world...

 Circe the Deceiver

* Entrapment - Target a location to throw an orb in that direction. The first enemy hero hit by the orb is dealt 60,120,180,240 Magic Damage and Immobilized for 1.5/2.0/2.5/3.0 Seconds. Once Entrapment ends, it will jump to another nearby enemy dealing the same damage and immobilize.

* Doppelganger - Target a hero to create an illusion of them under your control for 15/20/25/30 seconds. The Illusion receives 350% damage and deals 33% damage. If cast upon an enemy, applies a 20% Movement Speed Slow to them for 2 seconds.

* Deceive - Activate to immediately stealth and leave an illusion behind for 4/6/8/10 seconds.

* Twisted Visage - Target an enemy hero to channel for 2 seconds. After channeling completes, you become a copy of the enemy hero including items and abilities for 15 seconds. While in this form, you deal 70/85/100% damage.

 Poison Circe

The Deceiver takes many forms, and her appearance known as Poison Circe is rumored to have been born in the Garden of Eden, a land she considered her own before those two interlopers arrived. Since then her toxic charade has been the downfall of many utopias. 

Iron Maiden

When the ship's wreckage washed ashore on Circe's island prison in the 8th century, the one item that held her fascination seemed to be a sort of man-sized jail cell lined with iron spikes. She mimicked its form and function and eagerly awaited the opportunity to enjoy it with a human. The next sailors who set foot on her sands did not savor it nearly as much as she did.

No Man's Mercy

In Stores Now!

Patch 3.2.4 - Revenge of the Neutrals

The wrath of Mother Nature has caused the spirits of the calling in the Wild to have gone astray! Seeing that the Forest of Caldavar have been trampled on and the peace have been disturbed, the Guardians have risen again once to reclaim what is rightfully theirs!

Circe the Deciever

* Circe is a support hero who specializes in deceiving the enemy through the use of illusions and clone mechanics. Her ultimate allows her to copy an enemies items and abilities:

* Entrapment - Target a location to throw an orb in that direction. The first enemy hero hit by the orb is dealt 60,120,180,240 Magic Damage and Immobilized for 1.5/2.0/2.5/3.0 Seconds. Once Entrapment ends, it will jump to another nearby enemy dealing the same damage and immobilize.

* Doppelganger - Target a hero to create an illusion of them under your control for 15/20/25/30 seconds. The Illusion receives 350% damage and deals 33% damage. If cast upon an enemy, applies a 20% Movement Speed Slow to them for 2 seconds.

* Deceive - Activate to immediately stealth and leave an illusion behind for 4/6/8/10 seconds.

* Twisted Visage - Target an enemy hero to channel for 2 seconds. After channeling completes, you become a copy of the enemy hero including items and abilities for 15 seconds. While in this form, you deal 70/85/100% damage.

* This Hero will be released with 2 avatars. One is a Premium Alt Avatar and the other is a Debut Edition. Debut Edition Alt Avatars are sold for a limited period of time after the release of a hero. They are not exclusively limited to that period of time and may reappear within the store at a later time.

Added new Circe the Deceiver Premium Edition Alt Avatar: Poison Circe 

The Deceiver takes many forms, and her appearance known as Poison Circe is rumored to have been born in the Garden of Eden, a land she considered her own before those two interlopers arrived. Since then her toxic charade has been the downfall of many utopias. 

 Added new Circe the Deceiver Debut Alt Avatar: Iron Maiden 

When the ship's wreckage washed ashore on Circe's island prison in the 8th century, the one item that held her fascination seemed to be a sort of man-sized jail cell lined with iron spikes. She mimicked its form and function and eagerly awaited the opportunity to enjoy it with a human. The next sailors who set foot on her sands did not savor it nearly as much as she did. 

Added new Ophelia Ultimate Alt Avatar: Sylvia

Daughter of Circe the Deceiver, mother of Ophelia, and bane of Maliken Grimm, the mystical shapeshifter Sylvia has emerged from the darkest forests of Caldavar to stand with her Beasts and her cherished bloodline against the Hellbourne. 

 * Upgrade her model throughout the game with the following items: 

* Weapon Horns: Codex / Stormspirit / Sol's Bulwark / Daemonic Breastplate 

* Head Horns: Puzzlebox / Tablet of Command / Abyssal Skull 

* Wings: Staff of the Master / Kuldra's Sheepstick / Barrier Idol / Shaman's Headdress 

* Stripes: Power Supply / Energizer 

* Legs: Boots / Upgraded Boots 

* Arms/Tail: Astrolabe / Ring of Sorcery / Nome's Wisdom / Sacrificial Stone 

* You can also modify her effects by owning the following avatars: 

* Snot Keeper (Gravekeeper) 

* Earthroc Pebbles 

* Ogre Blacksmith 

* Owning these three avatars will give Sylvia these effects: 

* Glowing tips on her horns (after she gets her horns) 

* Blood dripping from her claws (after she gets her claws) 

* A chiprel who follows her around 

Added new Gravekeeper Alt Avatar: Snot Keeper 

This crotchety old hermit has spent years away from society, choosing to pass the days with his tame pet Snotters instead. But now that the Legion and Hellbourne have refused to stay off his lawn, he's out for payback! 

 Added new Pebbles Alt Avatar: Earthroc Pebbles 

The south of Caldavar is littered with the remains of monasteries and forgotten architecture long lost to the sands of time. From the remains of an ancient Temple of Sol, hidden in the dense forests on the way to Sang-La, emerges Earthroc Pebbles: a titan of the jungle -- brought to life by Sylvia -- who has survived the erosion of millennia. 

Added new Blacksmith Alt Avatar: Ogre Blacksmith

Brilliant, but lacking common sense; lazy, but compelled to forge; the Ogre Blacksmith is a walking contradiction, and he likes being that way! If he didn’t also hate being that way, of course. Infusing elemental magic into his hammers, this tiny monster brings the pain to his enemies with a frozen blast. Or a fiery barrage. Or with a little luck, total annihilation… Not that he believes in luck, or anything.

Circe the Deceiver: Designer Insight

Circe, the Deceiver: Dev Blog

Hey everyone, Buro here! Earlier this week we released Malloc's blog post on how the concept of Circe the Deceiver was conceived, I would like to go into a bit more depth and detail about some of the design iterations that she went through prior to becoming the hero she is today.

Before Circe was put into SBT for testing, she went through quite a bit of iteration. With a concept as interesting as deceiving the enemy, we had to make many adjustments in achieving something that was fun to play, without adding a large amount of frustration to play against. This proved to be quite the challenge. As an example, one iteration of her ultimate was to change the appearance of all allied heroes to that of the deceiver for a duration so the enemy would not know who was who. This was a neat ability in concept, but turned out to be terribly frustrating for the opposing team -- removing interesting decisions for the enemy team while not providing any tangible satisfaction for the user.

Once Circe made it to SBT for testing, it was apparent her first and third abilities did not mesh well with the rest of the hero and needed to be looked at again. The original first ability was a single target stun that reduced the primary stat of the target hero. The stat reduction, while effective, didn't feel impactful at all in use and limited the options of whom you could effectively target. Since we wanted something that needed to feel good to the player to use we decided against this initial design.

After reworking the first ability, we turned our attention to the other outlier, Circe’s E. The third ability became something that we really enjoyed and will likely put on a future hero, but just didn't work with Circe's skill-set and overall feel. Here was the initial concept:

Shrouding Mist

-Target area to spawn a cloud of mist for a duration. Within the mist, allies are granted stealth with a fade time and all terrain walking.

After trying a few iterations of this concept, it turned out to not have enough synergy or effectiveness with Deceiver’s other abilities and was changed out for the ability - Deceive. This ability was suggested many times throughout the design of Circe and really fits well into the theme of the hero.

Circe's second and ultimate abilities have been essential in solidifying her unique role in HoN. Her (W), Doppelganger, allows her to deceive the enemy with illusions of other heroes and her (R), Twisted Visage creates those exciting and memorable moments that make Circe a truly fun hero.

Immediately when Circe hit SBT, there was a lot of great feedback about her ultimate and concerns regarding its balance, but above all, it was fun. We've since added the channel time requirement to the ability, a break range, as well as the damage reduction. Much feedback focused on Circe copying items, but in the end, we wanted to keep the fun aspects of the hero and went the route of reducing overall damage instead of removing that functionality. Even after doing all of that we will be keeping a close eye on the balance of this ability when it goes live.

I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the development process of Circe, the Deceiver. Look for her to deceive Newerth on September 25th!

Elder Evil Ultimate Avatar: El Diablo Ravenor

 Long before, Ravenor ruled out to be a sadistic creature carved from the ashes of burnt souls in the fire pit conjured by the Daemon Lords themselves to take charge of all the torments in Hell. Made emotionless, he knows neither mercy nor empathy and takes pleasure in tormenting souls that were placed in Hell.

Ravenor Ultimate Alt Avatar: El Diablo

If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself! Furious at his Hellbourne minions for keeping the souls of the slaughtered Legion to themselves, the daemon king El Diablo surfaces in a tempest of fire and fury to punish the disobedient and collect the souls which are rightfully his.

Hell is empty and all the devils are here! In Hellbourne Now!

September Jackpot Specials! - More Rewards!

September Jackpot Specials! - More Rewards!

It's the Duel of Luck week! We have these exclusive items now that Gluttony is in the pool it's all time for greed and more wins! Check out the new Jackpot items!

 Elder Riftwalker

 Inti Jeraziah

 Primal Draconis

 Gluttony

Fist of Sol Taunt

--

Updated list of Rewards!

Click to Win!

*Notice: Jackpot opening hours are from 0100 - 2300hrs (+8GMT) daily.

Elder Evil Series: Hel

Hel was the Goddess of death and the Underworld in Norse mythology. She is often a misunderstood Goddess as many Goddesses of the Underworld are. She is said to be the daughter of Loki, a trickster God of the Norse, and a Giantess. Her body was seen as half dead and half alive. Some say that part of of her body was beautiful while the other was horrid like death.


Voodoo Jester Avatar: Hel 

There are some who consider the various realms of the underworld a punishment, but not Hel. She presides over her beloved deceased souls from her vast mansions, worshipped by countless servants and proud to be the mistress of the dead and diseased. She is also relieved her hideous appearance—half beautiful woman and half decaying crone—draws no attention in the realm of the dead. But that relief is soon to end, for her father Loki has summoned her to Newerth to bring about the end of days. At least she will have many more souls to welcome when she returns home.

 

Hel Has No Wrath! In Stores now!

Elder Evil Series: Ymir

Out of the primordial chaos was formed a primordial giant, Ymir. When he wasn’t feeding from the primeval cow, Auðumbla, he spawned children from his armpits and a six-headed jötunn from his feet. After Odin and his brothers killed Ymir, they fashioned entire worlds and oceans from the dead giant’s bones and blood. Odin even built a fence from those bones to keep the more monstrous denizens of the Nine Worlds from attacking the Earth

Ellonia Alt Avatar: Ymir

In the heart of the Ice Caves north of Hell's Keep, the frost giant Ymir stirs, roused from centuries of slumber by the opening of the Great Rift. As he ventures onto the battlefield, this titan of the frozen north intends to leave more in his wake than a trail of frigid footsteps.

Off to frost you go in Stores now!

Staff of The Master: Hero Buff Sale!

What's better than to check out the recent patch buff of the Staff of the Master?

We're having a sale on those avatars and hero that have gotten the buff!

Here they are:

Golden Centurion (Legionnaire): 

- Decapitate: Instantly refreshes all of your Abilities (not Items) when you sucessfully Execute a target

Reborn Disciple (Corrupted Disciple):

- Overload: Increased the frequency of the bolts from from every 0.8/0.7/0.6 seconds to every 0.7/0.6/0.5 seconds

- Overload: Each bolt will bounce twice to new targets

Queen Bee Monarch (Monarch):
- Cleansing Wind: Radius increased from 225 to 900
- Cleansing Wind: After a 3 second delay, fires a second Clensing Wind backwards

Death Metal Rhapsody (Rhapsody):

- Protective Melody: Duration increased from 4/5/6 to 5/6/7
- Protective Melody: You can now move at 150 Movespeed while channeling, but attacking, being disabled, casting another spell, or activating an item will end the spell

 MSIvy Slither (Slither):

- Poison Burst: In addition increasing the Damage done and reducing the cooldown, the Damage is now lethal

 Unum (Martyr):

- Hand in Hand: Heals both yourself and the target to full life

--

From 16 - 22 September only

* Daily Hero/Avatar Sales Differ

Elder Evil Series: Set

 Set  is a deity found in the mythology of ancient Egypt usually depicted as the traitor among the Egyptian gods, the official titles are the god of chaos, desert, storms and foreigners. Originally Set was held in high regard due to his status a desert divinity but over the course of time would become increasingly negative until she became the demonic figure she is recognised as in modern mythology. You can run, but you can't hide! She will find you no matter!

Dark Lady Alt Avatar: Set

* Summoned by the same corrupted disciples of Sol that brought Amun-Ra to Newerth, the goddess of darkness, Set, seeks to rain chaos and disorder upon those foolish enough to disturb the sandy throne of the sun god, tearing through Legion ranks unseen and untouched.

Don't you know the Desert is her playground? In stores now!

Elder Evil Series: Hades

Hades is out for souls and he won't be stopping at just one!

Soulstealer Alt Avatar: Hades

* Hades drifts through the battle-ravaged landscape, propelled by the hands of spirits longing to return to Newerth, and angered by his brothers accepting defeated warriors into their realms after death. Those who he passes over are sent directly to the Underworld, their screams muffled beneath the crust of the living

Don't lose your soul.

Patch 3.2.3 - Elder Evil Series

Hell is empty and all the devils are here! The ancient evils has path it's way back to the Origins of which the deepest and darkest secrets of laid untouched in the Hellbourne's lair until now.

Ravenor Ultimate Alt Avatar: El Diablo

* If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself! Furious at his Hellbourne minions for keeping the souls of the slaughtered Legion to themselves, the daemon king El Diablo surfaces in a tempest of fire and fury to punish the disobedient and collect the souls which are rightfully his.

Dampeer Alt Avatar: Camazotz

* Reveling in the pools of blood that litter Caldavar's forests, Camazotz glides through the brush with a mouth full of fangs and a colony of hungry bats adorning his wings. Decorated with ancient Mayan markings, this god of death and ritual sacrifice yearns to glean the lifeforce from naive warriors by force, replacing their smile with his own.

Soulstealer Alt Avatar: Hades

* Hades drifts through the battle-ravaged landscape, propelled by the hands of spirits longing to return to Newerth, and angered by his brothers accepting defeated warriors into their realms after death. Those who he passes over are sent directly to the Underworld, their screams muffled beneath the crust of the living.

Voodoo Jester Avatar: Hel

* There are some who consider the various realms of the underworld a punishment, but not Hel. She presides over her beloved deceased souls from her vast mansions, worshipped by countless servants and proud to be the mistress of the dead and diseased. She is also relieved her hideous appearance—half beautiful woman and half decaying crone—draws no attention in the realm of the dead. But that relief is soon to end, for her father Loki has summoned her to Newerth to bring about the end of days. At least she will have many more souls to welcome when she returns home.

 Dark Lady Alt Avatar: Set

* Summoned by the same corrupted disciples of Sol that brought Amun-Ra to Newerth, the goddess of darkness, Set, seeks to rain chaos and disorder upon those foolish enough to disturb the sandy throne of the sun god, tearing through Legion ranks unseen and untouched.

Ellonia Alt Avatar: Ymir

* In the heart of the Ice Caves north of Hell's Keep, the frost giant Ymir stirs, roused from centuries of slumber by the opening of the Great Rift. As he ventures onto the battlefield, this titan of the frozen north intends to leave more in his wake than a trail of frigid footsteps.

Patch 3.2.3: The Staff (of the Master) is back!

Patch 3.2.3 is here and brings some new Staff of the Master effects as well as item and hero balance changes!

For this patch, we took a look at some of the late game and underused items in HoN. With the recent shift toward faster paced gameplay, these items needed to be re-adjusted to become more viable. We also added some new Ultimates to the list of abilities boosted by Staff of the Master. We will be continuing to look at these types of changes for future patches.

You will also notice a few significant hero changes that are in line with our direction previously stated in the blog post for the last patch: to tone down burst damage in the game in order to  increase the skill, interaction, and viability of other strategies within HoN without reducing the fast paced, action-packed gameplay that we enjoy so much.

See the patch notes for details on all of the changes, as well as be on the lookout for Circe the Deceiver in our next patch on 9/25/2013!

-Buro

Registration For HoN Tour SEA 2013 September Now Open!

Dear Players, 

We're glad to inform you that the registration for HoN Tour SEA 2013 September in take is now open! This 6 months long tournament amounting up to the biggest regional prize pool every in SEA eSports history will see a 4 cycle tournament format to complete HoN Tour SEA 2013, including a qualifying cycle and finals. There will be division of which players will be seeded into based on team play results. 

Tiers of HoN Tour SEA 2013: 

Division #2 - Bronze 

Division #1 - Silver 

G-League - Gold 

The SEA finals will only include Teams from SEA of which the winner will proceed to join in the International Finals will hold teams from NA/EU, CIS, Latin America. One full cycle is to be worth $18,000 USD. This will include all 3 divisions (Division #1, #2 & G League) Finals will be worth approx $14,000USD 

Important Dates: 
Registration will commence on the 9th of September 2013 and end on the 15th of September 2013.
16th September 2013 will be the drawing of brackets for confirmed/successfully registered teams.
17th September 2013 will be the start of the first match/cycle.

Gather up your team to register and be part of history with a chance to be crowned the best team in SEA and for a prize pool of MORE THAN $100,000 SGD! 

Click BELOW & Register NOW!