Harness the Elements: Adding Elemental Damage in Dungeon Exiles 0.2.1!

Hello everyone! Today, I have Dungeon Exiles 0.2.1 for you to feast on! So in this patch, I've added Elemental Damage that both the players and enemies can deal. As part of this, I've updated the floating damage numbers system to communicate each damage type clearly and I've added new items and level-up passive skills that interact with elemental damage. Lastly, I've made some balance changes and reworked the Knight into the Warrior class. So, let's get into it!

What's new?

The Warrior Class

In Dungeon Exiles 0.2.1 the Knight has been reworked into the Warrior class. Mechanically they are identical, they have the same stats and the same ability, however, this change of theme has opened up new options for the class fantasy as you'll see very soon.

Elemental Damage

In Dungeon Exiles 0.2.1 characters can now inflict Elemental Damage and the combat UI has been updated so you can see all damage types. In the above screenshot, the Rogue is dealing 5 Physical, 1 Fire, 1 and Nature damage.

New-Level up Passives

Warrior

The Warrior has gained Avatar of Fire which will allow you to deal extra Fire Damage equal to your Strength after using an ability

Rogue

Rogues can now envenom their blades to deal extra Nature Damage on hit. Do note this only applies to your Attacks, so it won't cause the damage of Deadly Poison (the Rogue's ability) to deal extra damage.

Mage

Mages can now ascend to a Battlemage and inflict Lightning Damage on Hit after casting a Spell. Note that, numerically, it is weaker than the Warrior's Avatar of Fire, however, the Mage casts far more frequently than the Warrior hence the lower power level.

New Items

In Dungeon Exiles 0.2.1 you'll be able to find the Arcanist's Flamesword and Winter Cloak (starting in the Second Floor). These items both have Elemental-themed effects:

Updated Character Stats Panel

In Dungeon Exiles 0.2.1 the Character Stats Panel has been changed. You are now able to scroll to view all of your stats so that the panel no longer takes up a large chunk of the screen.

Final Boss Rework

So Cyromancer Valthorin has been rebalanced to be a bit fairer. So originally in the fight, upon reaching full Mana Valthorin would summon Okor, Frost Incarnate who is a powerful and hard-hitting ice golem. While Okor was alive, Valthorin would hail the player with Icebolts. Once Okor died, Valthorin would finish casting his Icebolt and would then attempt to revive Okor.

This mechanic felt too punishing for some players, so I've reworked the boss fight. Valthorin will still summon Okor upon reaching full Mana, however once Okor has died, Valthorin will not attempt to revive Okor. To compensate, both Valthorin and Okor have had their stats rebalanced.

Balance Changes:

Class Changes:

• Attunement (Gain 2 Mana On Critical Strike) has been removed. Perhaps in the future, a similar stat can exist but currently, it is far too powerful with the Rogue.
• Titanic Strength (Gain Physical Attack Damage equal to 1.5% of your Maximum Health) has been changed to be Warrior exclusive.

Enemy Changes:

• Cyromancer Valthorin's Icebolt now deals 15-20 Cold Damage (up from 12-16) and has had his Health reduced to 180 (from 255).
• Okor, Frost Incarnate has had his Physical Damage reduced to 30-35 (from 30-40) and now deals 5-10 Cold Damage. and had his Health increased to 450 (from 300).

What's next?

So the main thing I want to look at adding next are buffs. I've already started to implement them with conditional things like Avatar of Fire and Battlemage, however, I want to make an extensible buff system so I can add more interesting things. Like, stacking buffs when meeting a condition for example. As part of this, I would like to have accompanying UI elements so players can see their active buffs and their durations. However, UI elements would come later, as my focus right now is just on the implementation.

Next, I want to improve the visuals of the game. I want to revisit the Floor One enemies and improve their appearance, but also in the future, I want to add animations to the game, such as idle animations for the characters just to make it more visually interesting.

Closing Words

Feel free to download Dungeon Exiles 0.2.1 for free and give it a try! If you have any feedback please let me know. You can also follow me on Twitter (@GronkinsArt) for more behind-the-scenes and WIPs for Dungeon Exiles.  But yeah, thank you for reading and hopefully, I'll catch you in the next devlog. Until then, peace!