NEW HUNTER

Glikkin

Whether he’s sneaking into vaults for his latest score, or stealthily approaching an enemy before an attack, he usually disappears before anyone knows what has happened!

Hailing from the dark underbelly of Coruscant, Glikkin has been surrounded by crime since an early age. He grew up in an orphanage where the owners noticed his unique athletic and mental abilities, and trained him to be a thief to score for their benefit.

While other Hunters might rely on brute strength or overwhelming firepower, Glikkin uses a cunning set of abilities to turn the tide of battle in his favor. Glikkin attacks enemies with his Dual Vibroblades in a 3-hit combo.

Glikkin’s first two attacks deal melee damage and the final attack deals increased combo damage. Glikkin can use his STEALTH Ability to render himself invisible to enemy Hunters for a duration of time, allowing him to get close and unleash fury with his Dual Vibroblades which deal high damage. He can also use his SLASH AND DASH Ability to jolt into battle, slicing any enemies in his path, before disappearing back into the shadows.

But Glikkin isn’t just deadly in close quarters - he can also switch to his BLADE LAUNCHER to fire blades which can hit enemy Hunters from range with deadly precision. Finally, when Glikkin needs to make a quick exit and slow down enemies, he can use CALTROPS FIELD to fire a field of repulsor tech enhanced spiky caltrops that slows down and damages enemies if they move within it.

BATTLEFIELD UPDATES

New Battlefield: Coruscant Underworld

Glikkin will feel right at home in the Arena’s newest battlefield, Coruscant Underworld. Fight through back alleys, through the glare of LAAT/le patrol gunship searchlights, and across the sprawling walkways of a battlefield inspired by Coruscant’s lower levels. Keen eyes will notice some interesting points throughout the battlefield including Glikkin graffiti, crime scenes and speeders that you might recognize.

Battlefield Rotation Changes

Mos Espa Podrace and Ewok Village are among the longest running battlefields in Hunters, debuting way back in the first soft launch release. In the interest of keeping our rotation of maps feeling fresh and exciting, we have decided to withdraw these maps from Casual and Ranked rotations. This will allow contemporary maps to see more play in the roster.

INTRODUCING MODS

Mods are a new item in Star Wars: Hunters. Mods can be earned from The Main Event and in the Arena Pass, but can also be bought with a new currency called Chips.

Mods will change a Hunter’s combat stats and can be used to power up your Hunter or encourage different ways to play.

●      Mods come in 3 rarities: Rare, Epic, and Legendary

●      All Hunters will launch with 9 unique Mods, 3 for each rarity

●      Each Hunter can equip up to 3 Mods each

Mods can modify gameplay elements, such as a Hunters health, movement speed, reload duration, weapon spread, weapon recoil, damage and more.

●      Rare Mods will add a single improvement to a specific stat

Health, Damage, Recoil, Stamina, Damage Fall off Distance and more

●      Epic Mods can provide two smaller modifications to stats or they may provide a larger change but with an additional smaller tradeoff

Example: Your weapon deals more damage but has increased spread and recoil, making it harder to control and more suited to short range damage

●      Legendary Mods can also provide multiple strong modifications to stats or they provide multiple larger changes with tradeoffs

Example: Sacrifice a portion of health for a large damage increase.

Each Mod Slot (3 for each Hunter) will unlock under different requirements.

●      Mod Slot 1 = 10 matches played

●      Mod Slot 2 = Roster Rating 30

●      Mod Slot 3 = Roster Rating 150

From improving Rieve’s defenses during a match or doubling down on her damage, making Sentinels E-Web more accurate, or increasing his health at the sacrifice of speed; many different combinations and choices can be made for every Hunter. Improve their weaknesses or amplify their strengths, the choice is yours! We look forward to listening to your feedback on Mods!

Additional Mods will be added in future updates. As with Hunter balance, existing Mods will also be balanced from season to season.

INTRODUCING CHIPS

Chips are a new currency introduced for the Mods system. Chips are earned in multiple areas of the game: The Arena Pass, Events, and more.

If the same Mod is earned a second time it will automatically convert into Chips.

Chips can be used to purchase Mods from the Mods screen.

INTRODUCING ROSTER RATING

The previous player level system (capped at 50) has been replaced with an uncapped symbol of your Hunter’s skill and experience! Roster Rating is the sum of all your unlocked Hunters’ levels. Unlock and level up your Hunters to boost your Roster Rating and show that you have the ultimate roster of Hunter champions!

GAME MODES

Grandstand

This Season sees the introduction of a new way to play: Grandstand.

Players will join each other to form Squads as usual to battle for victory in a new PVE experience. Players can choose their difficulty: Easy, Medium, or Hard. In higher difficulties, the enemies will get some behavioral improvements as well as some balance changes to ensure they challenge even the best players and most modded Hunter!

Play Grandstand during the Main Event which will be available as part of Chain Events in which higher difficulties will yield greater event progress.

Snipe & Sneak

Glikkin and Diago square off in this Season's new addition to the Holo-Arcade: Snipe & Sneak!

Our two Hunters fill out opposing teams with slightly rebalanced kits, battling it out in Squad Brawl. Will Glikkin's vibroblades prevail in a gunfight, or will Diago's Heightened Senses see Glikkin coming?

Trophy Chase

Players will now be able to use ziplines whilst carrying TR0-F33.

This wasn't previously the case as we kept behavior in line with Huttball, where ziplines serve primarily as ways for players to get back into the action. In Trophy Chase, ziplines are used to provide interesting navigational options in various battlefields, including our most recent addition, Coruscant Underworld. This meant that carriers were left in dead ends or funnelled down corridors in various locations and we’ve chosen to decouple the behavior between modes in favour of richer navigation.

BALANCE UPDATE

Like last Season, we have a list of balance changes we’d like to call out, and our thinking as to why we’ve made these changes.

Imara Vex

Fire Rate

• Faster Fire Rate: Decreased from 0.19s to 0.15s

Weapon Spread and Recoil

• Weapon Spread has been decreased on the first set of shots but has increased overall

• Weapon Recoil has increased by 10%

Missile Launcher

• Explosion Damage: Level 1-6 - Increased from 20 to 40. Maximum Damage stays the same

Developer Note: Imara Vex deals solid consistent damage for long engagements but her overall burst potential can be improved. Vex’s weapon has been given a sizable fire rate buff but is slightly harder to control if all ammunition is fired in a single set of shots. This makes her weapon more focused towards control, with quick bursts of fire being the key to success. Alongside this, we have increased the splash damage of Imara’s rocket, now making it more effective when attacking a group of opponents.

Pilbush

Health

• Reduced from 225 to 200

Weapon

• Reload Time: Increased from 1.25s to 1.35s

Overload Ability

• Duration: Decreased from 5s to 4.5s for Levels 3-6

• Fire Rate: Levels 1-5 - decreased from 15% to 10% fire rate increase

• Fire Rate: Level 6 - Decreased from 25% to 20%

Wistie Throw

• Slow: Level 1-2 - Decreased from 50% to 40%

• Slow: Level 3-6 - Decreased from 60% to 50%

Developer Note: Pilbush brings a lot of high octane fun and chaos to the Arena with her mobility and explosive damage. Her ability to fight up close and at a distance makes her extremely powerful, especially in combination with her Overload Ability. We have reduced several minor aspects of her kit to bring her closer to other Hunters from the same Class.

Nox

Poisoned Spread Shot

• Cooldown - Reduced from 8s to 6s

• Draw Time: Level 1-2 - Reduced from 1.4s to 0.9s

• Draw Time: Level 1-2 - Reduced from 1.3s to 0.8s

• Draw Time: Level 6 - Reduced from 1.2s to 0.7s

• Damage - Reduced by 10 damage per arrow across all levels (30 Damage per Arrow to 20 Damage Per Arrow at Level 6)

Developer Note: These changes allow for Nox to use her Poisoned Spread Shot in ability combinations more frequently. It should be a vital part of her kit but the draw time and cooldown impact its effectiveness. While the overall damage has been lowered, the ability itself should be more viable in the Arena.

J-3DI

Deflect Stamina

• With Stamina now being used by Mods the max level Stamina stats for this ability are now the base stats. Stamina will not be increased through ability levels, only deflected damage.

• Stamina: Level 6 - 230 at Level 6 is now Level 1

• Deflect Multiplier - 30% at Level 6 is now Level 1 and can be improved to 55% at Level 6

Developer Note: With the introduction of Mods in Season 5, with Stamina playing a key role in their design for J-3DI, we have revisited his Deflect Ability Upgrade path. To that end all of J-3DI’s Level 6 Stamina attributes will now become his base. In its place, J-3DI will begin with a 30% Deflected Damage increase and this will increase by 5% each ability level, finishing with 55% increased deflected damage.

Rieve

Deflect Stamina

• With Stamina now being used by Mods the max level Stamina stats for this ability are now the base stats. Stamina will not be increased through ability levels, only deflected damage.

• Stamina Regeneration Speed: Level 6 - 80/s at Level 6 is now Level 1

• Stamina Regeneration Delay: Level 6 - 2s at Level 6 is now Level 1

• Deflect Multiplier - 30% at Level 6 is now Level 1 and can be improved to 55% at Level 6

Developer Note: With the introduction of Mods in Season 5, with Stamina playing a key role in their design for Rieve, we have revisited her Deflect Ability Upgrade path. To that end, all of Rieve’s Level 6 Stamina attributes will now become her base. In its place, Rieve will begin with a 30% Deflected Damage increase and this will increase by 5% each ability level, finishing with 55% increased deflected damage.

Slingshot

Scatterboom

• Damage: Level 1-2 - Damage per rocket decreased from 15 to 14

• Damage: Level 3-4 - Damage per rocket decreased from 16 to 15

• Damage: Level 5-6 - Damage per rocket decreased from 17 to 16

Explosive Shield

• Damage: Level 1-2 - Explosion damage decreased from 40 to 30

• Damage: Level 3-4 - Explosion damage decreased from 45 to 35

• Damage: Level 5-6 - Explosion damage decreased from 50 to 40

Trickshot

• Cooldown - Reduced from 6s to 5s

• Minimum Damage - Now begins at 40 and eventually level up to 50 (50% of maximum damage)

• Duration for Maximum Damage: Level 1-5 - Increased from 1.5s to 2.0s

• Duration for Maximum Damage: Level 6 - Increased from 1s to 1.5s

Developer Note: Slingshot is a very effective Tank with mobility, survivability and strong burst damage with Scatterboom and Trickshot. All these abilities can be activated near instantaneously and can out burst a lot of Damage Hunters. These changes should bring Slingshot more inline with other Tanks while also allowing his Trickshot Ability to be used more frequently for mobility purposes.

Charr

Regen Booster

• Duration: Level 1-2 - Reduced from 2s to 1.75s

• Duration: Level 3-4 - Reduced from 2.25s to 2s

• Duration: Level 5-6 - Reduced from 2.5s to 2.25s

• Damage to Healing Cap: Reduced from 200 to 175

• Damage to Healing Cap: Level 6 - Reduced from 225 to 200

Snare Trap

• Damage: Level 1-2 - Increased from 10 to 20

• Damage: Level 3-4 - Increased from 10 to 25

• Damage: Level 5-6 - Increased from 10 to 30

• Trap Duration: Duration - Now scales from 2s > 3s to 1.75s > 2.25s over the 6 levels

Tether

• Damage: Level 1-6 - Previously this ability had no tick damage but now deals 4 damage per tick when an enemy is tethered

Developer Note: Charr is a strong frontline Tank, able to shrug off most hits with his Regen Booster - this balance change still keeps it effective when engaging in combat. While the overall damage-to-healing duration has decreased, this in turn means the self healing this ability grants is applied quicker, placing more emphasis on skill to use this ability at the right moment. As for his Snare Trap, we felt upping its damage was a fair trade off for a shorter duration. We felt this duration could be quite punishing and on most occasions ended up in a guaranteed elimination for Charr or his teammates.

K-A0S

Shoulder Mounted Blaster

• Time between each shot within a burst - Increased from 0.1s to 0.13s

• Reload Duration - Increased from 1.56s to 1.78s

Developer Note: Since her release, we have seen K-A0S be able to deal high damage to her enemies, from the fast burst rate of her Shoulder Mounted Blaster, coupled with the weapons damage. By reducing the time between bursts, it’ll take more skill for K-A0S players to land all 5 bursts on their target, and the longer reload duration gives the weapon more downtime.

SPROCKET REWORK

 Learning all he can about his fellow Hunters over the last few Seasons, Sprocket reinvents himself in the Arena! Still the wide-eyes inventor he has always been, but now packing much more firepower.

New Sprocket Ability Kit

Weapon: Blaster Remotes

• Sprocket controls a pair of fast firing, medium range blaster remotes.

Talent: Turbocharged

• Sprocket gains increased movement speed when placed onto critical health.

Ability 1: Healing Droids

• Sprocket releases droids to heal an ally and himself, granting a burst of healing to the target & Heal over Time to both.

Ability 2: Turret

• Sprocket deploys a turret which automatically targets the nearest enemy.

Ultimate: Ultra Turret

• Sprocket assembles a huge turret which fires explosive blaster bolts at enemies.

Sprocket's Targeting Droid, Drone Defense, and Med Beacon abilities have been replaced with an improved Healing Droid ability. Sprocket can now distribute two separate droids to allies who need healing from a much greater distance, which also heals himself!

Sprocket can now place a smaller compact Turret as an ability that fires at his enemies, allowing Sprocket to play from vantage points and the high ground, able to heal and damage from distance.

Sprockets Ultimate Turret has now been improved, swapping out the blaster bolts for high powered Explosive Bolts! Able to damage multiple enemies within its radius.

This change pushes Sprocket to be more powerful at distance. Taking advantage of high grounds and strong sightlines supporting his team with blaster fire, turret fire and long range healing.

GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS

Numerous Hunter updates have been made to improve the responsiveness and readability of gameplay:

●      The reduction in jump height and distance when jumping multiple times consecutively has been updated to activate sooner. After 3 consecutive jumps the jump button can not be interacted with for 1.25 seconds.

●      Diago can now act sooner after using his Ultimate.

●      Diago can now act sooner after using Heightened Senses.

●      Imara Vex's Grapple now occurs instantly on button down.

●      Imara Vex now stands up more quickly upon finishing her Ultimate.

●      Improved camera behavior when using J-3DI's Faux Pull.

●      J-3DI can now jump during his Ultimate.

●      Nox can now jump whilst charging a bow shot, without interrupting the bow charge.

●      Nox can now clamber, zipline, double jump or ultimate whilst charging a bow shot. These actions will interrupt the bow charge.

●      Fixed issue with Nox not being able to smoothly chain shots.

●      Sentinel's Barrel Slam now occurs instantly on button down.

●      Zaina's Bacta Bomb now occurs instantly on button down.

●      Zaina's Bacta Bomb can now be used whilst combat rolling.

●      Zaina's Bacta Bomb is now thrown much faster.

●      Slingshot's Scatterboom is now more responsive when tapped quickly.

●      Various Hunter movement animations tweaked to reduce jitter.

●      Hunters now have a subtle lean animation when turning.

This also includes some audio changes:

●      Utooni's Surprise! Passive Ability now has beeping warning audio, letting you know it is time to run away!

●      Incoming damage hit marker audio has been added, to better inform you that you are being attacked.

●      Added a critical health sting and loop, so you know when you are in danger and should probably get to cover.

●      Increased audibility of combat sounds at long distances.

●      Reduced volume of environmental sounds, as well as ally footsteps, weapon fire and abilities, to improve audibility of enemies.

Additionally:

●      Deactivating a shield (K-A0S, Sentinel, Slingshot) no longer cancels poison damage from Skora and Nox.

●      Repeatedly toggling K-A0S' Bulwark no longer allows her to melee attack faster than intended.

NEW COSMETICS

There are 192 new pieces of Cosmetic content going out in Season 5!

 These include Costumes and Weapon Wraps, Stickers, Avatars, Victory Poses, and Emotes.

 Not all of this content will be available immediately and will be released throughout the Season via the Arena Pass, Arena Vaults, Bundles, and Events.

●  34 Costumes

●  34 Weapons Wraps

●  38 Avatars

●  50 Stickers

●  15 Victory Poses

●  21 Emotes

RANKED MODE, EVENT SHOP, AND EVENTS

Introducing “The Main Event”

●      THE MAIN EVENT: Welcome to the Main Event, the biggest, baddest, most brutal competition to come to the Arena. These events challenge players to compete against increasingly harder opponents in Easy, Medium and Hard Mode! Earn Mods and other rewards!

Pilbush added to Hunter’s Path

Pilbush has been officially added to the Hunter's Path as of Season 5! You can unlock her by earning Hunter Tokens through gameplay, or play with her now by purchasing her on the Hunters’ Path with Crystals or in the Pilbush Starter Pack .

New Ranked Season

An all new Ranked Season has arrived! Reach Kyber I to earn the Ferocious Fighter  Legendary Costume for Grozz! Compete with players from around the world for a spot on the leaderboards! Keep an eye out for our Ranked events throughout the Season to earn additional rewards for participating in Ranked Mode.

Clash Event

● KINGS OF CRIME: Season 5's new Hunter, Glikkin, will battle Utooni in this Season’s Clash Events! Players will be randomly assigned to Glikkin or Utooni’s team, and will need to complete challenges to earn unique rewards. Complete challenges to score points for your team. All players will receive a special Avatar for the winning teams at the end of each of these events!

Chain Event

● DARK SIDE DETECTIVE: Someone snuck into Rieve's prep pod and stole her most prized possession - her datatape diary! In it are her private confessions and she would be absolutely mortified if they got out. Help her solve the mystery of who stole it in this event!

Seasonal  Event

● BATTLEFIELD CRUSH: Diago knows that the battlefield is a place where love can bloom and he wants to show his devotion to his fans by putting his whole heart into every match! Complete challenges to earn rewards in this heart pounding event!

Other Events

● JOIN THE CREW: The Hunters have been sharing pirate stories from around the galaxy, including tales about Vane the Nikto pirate, Hondo Ohnaka, Gorian Shard, and even Pirate Queen Maz Kanata. Inspired by these tales, Grozz and Zaina decide to have a pirate adventure of their own! Join them in this new Event! Check out the store for more pirate inspired cosmetics for your favorite Hunters!

● MASTERY EVENTS: new training events for specific Hunters will run throughout season 5. Every player will get a different Hunter version each time this event runs, and the event they get will relate to that Hunter’s current Fame Level. Increase your Hunter Fame Levels to maximize rewards in these events!

Event Shop

Our Event Shop has been refreshed with new cosmetics for players to spend their Credits on! Check in regularly throughout the week to make sure you don’t miss out on any of our exciting cosmetics!

NEW QUESTS

Hunters are getting new “introductory quests”, which focus on mastering each of the Hunter’s gameplay and abilities. Whether you are a new player or already a master, these quests are a great way to get back to basics and show off what each Hunter can do.

HUNTER FAME GRANT UPDATE

Currently when applying a Fame Grant you have two options:

● 800 Fame (or any amount under 800)

● All Fame

In Season 5 we are introducing a quality of life update which should make levelling specific Hunters easier to apply. The two new options will be:

● The exact fame required to level up (or any amount under the required amount)

● All Fame

We hope this update improves your experience for applying fame across your Roster!

HUNTER FAME SCORING UPDATE

Hunter Fame tuning has been updated for Season 5.

For Hunter Fame the majority of the Fame rewarded is based on win/loss and additional scoring is granted for player performance (a mixture of Badges and Action Based Scoring). While winning and losing should have an impact on the overall Hunter Fame reward, we believe it is too punishing for players who engage and perform on the losing side. While on average the amount of Fame awarded per match should keep within a similar distribution, it will better award those players who engage and perform (eliminating, healing, playing the objective, supporting your team).

Match Based Outcome

Badge Fame Rewards

Action Based Scoring Cap

RANKED SCORING UPDATE

Ranked Scoring has been updated for Season 5.

Ranked is an important mode for players to show off their ability in matches against other opponents, working up the leagues to earn rewards. 

In the lower leagues we want losses to be less punishing. Instead of losses reducing overall progression, it will instead slow down progression. The table below shows the differences between the current tuning and updated tuning for Season 5.

The table above does not include the additional score you also receive from your individual performance.