October 13th, 2023 Update Patch Notes
The Onmyoji Arena October 13th, 2023 Update sees Season 23, S23 Battle Pass, and adjustments to ranked matches arrives.
New Season Starts
Season 23 will start after maintenance on October 13th, 2023. Please check the details below:
Your initial tier in Season 23 will be based on your final tier from Season 22 according to the season rules.
After Season 23 starts, players who have participated in at least 60 5v5 matches or 80 Fun Mode matches and had average penalty rate (penalized matches / total matches) of less than 0.025/match in Season 22 will be granted a Season 22 Art of War skin Clear Skies Patrol for Hakuzosu. During Season 23, players who meet the requirements of claiming a rank skin can claim the Season 23 Virtue of War skin Serenity Mountain for Kidomaru.
Starting from Season 23, the all-new Art of War Contract system will be in force. Players who meet the requirements during Season 23 can claim Yamausagi’s Art of War skin Regular Winner on the Art of War Contract screen.
After Season 23 starts, the season’s match data will be added to the Season Memento.
S23 Battle Pass
S23 Battle Pass is on! It will end on January 11th, 2024. For this cycle, new Battle Pass exclusive skins, Season Skin: Superior, Return Effects, Broadcast Themes, Sakurako skin, as well as other rewards have been added. Previous seasons’ Battle Pass skins can now be redeemed in the Battle Pass Shop! Attractive skins from S13 and earlier are now available for redemption. The redemption pool will be continuously updated.
If you spend 380 Jade, you can unlock all the Battle Pass content and instantly claim all Battle Pass rewards for your current pass level. The rewards for this season include Return Cursed Seal, Seal Effect, Item Special Effects, Broadcast Theme: Winter Falls, S23 Rank Skin: Superior – Autumn Fest, and Hououga’s new skin Winter Falls. If you spend 660 Jade, you can unlock Battle Pass and get the S23 Battle Pass – Precious avatar frame, level up your Battle Pass by 20 levels, instantly obtain Hououga’s new skin, and claim the early access privilege for the S23 Rank Skin: Superior!
Adjustments to Ranked Matches
Tier System Upgrade
Ranked matches are more competitive and goal-oriented. The Service Team has noticed certain issues with the current ranked match system:
The tier system for ranked matches, which should serve as a benchmark for gaming proficiency, no longer accurately reflects it. Additionally, some tier names are complex in terms of classification and presentation, and are therefore hard to understand for players. Some names fail to clearly convey the distinctions between different tiers.
So the service team has adjusted and upgraded the tier system for ranked matches to assist players in better comprehending the differences between tiers.
Firstly, we have removed the previous tiers of Gold, Elite, and Master, and introduced these new tiers: Templar, Grand Onmyoji, and Supreme Onmyoji. Now the tiers for ranked matches, from lowest to highest, are as follows: Bronze, Silver, Platinum, Diamond, Templar, Challenger, Superstar, Grand Onmyoji, and Supreme Onmyoji.
Starting from tier Grand Onmyoji, Soul Fire will accumulate. Additionally, every week, players who achieve tier Grand Onmyoji with 25 or more Soul Fire and are ranked within the top 999 on the server will be awarded the title of Supreme Onmyoji. This title will refresh every Monday at 5:00 AM.
Furthermore, for players who just came to Heian-kyo but are already experienced fighters, the newbie period might seem unnecessarily long. To ensure that both experienced players and real beginners who genuinely need time to familiarize themselves with the Heian-Kyo battlefield can have a good time in the game, we have reduced the number of Fire required for promotion for the first five tiers. We hope this adjustment will help players reach tiers that match their proficiency more efficiently.
Matchmaking Mechanism Adjustments
Regarding the current matchmaking rules, we have noticed the following issues:
Firstly, as players reach certain tiers, they can no longer team up with their friends to participate in ranked matches. Secondly, for players who have reached higher tiers, teaming up with players from significantly lower tiers often leads to suboptimal gaming experiences for both of them.
Therefore, with this adjustment, we hope to relax the team restrictions and make it easier for everyone to enjoy the fun of playing ranked matches with friends.
After the tier name adjustments, players from tier Grand Onmyoji can only form five-player teams with players from Tier Superstar. They cannot team up with players from other tiers. Players from tier Grand Onmyoji with 21 or more Fire can only team up with 2 other players from tier Grand Onmyoji. And to ensure high-quality matches for proficient players, players with the title of Supreme Onmyoji can only solo queue.
Additionally, in aspects such as pre-game bans and the fog, there is a need for more reasonable and balanced mechanisms to ensure a more enjoyable gaming experience for everyone. Therefore, the pre-game ban mechanism will also be available for tier Challenger after the tier name adjustments.
Furthermore, the Service Team believes that the fog is quite competitive but also complex. Therefore, the availability of the fog will be delayed by an entire tier, which means it will be in force for tier Grand Onmyoji and tier Supreme Onmyoji after the tier name adjustments. We hope that extending the available period for non-fog matches will alleviate players’ pressure in promotions.
Tier Rewards Upgrade
To ensure that players feel a sense of achievement and satisfaction as they rise up through the ranks, we will provide first-time tier achievement rewards and season rewards. In addition to the current avatar frame rewards, this adjustment will introduce more awesome rewards.
Starting from S23, when players achieve a new major tier for the first time, they will receive corresponding first-time tier achievement rewards.
At the end of S23, season rewards will be issued to players based on their highest tier achieved during the season.
Art of War Contract
Since Season 1, a new Art of War skin has been introduced every season. Players who adhere to match etiquette during each season can obtain the Art of War skin for free. The intention of this reward was to develop and solidify a battlefield etiquette culture. However, the actual situation has somewhat deviated from our expectations: many players see acquiring Art of War skins as a short-term goal rather than a long-term incentive to observe battlefield etiquette, and violations still occur frequently.
In order to create a good gaming environment, we have decided to adjust the original etiquette system and introduce a brand-new Art of War Contract system. The core idea of this adjustment is: players who observe battlefield etiquette will receive more rewards, while those who do not will pay a price. Details of the adjustments are as follows:
The quality of basic Art of War skins (i.e. Art of War skins obtainable from Basic Tier War Pass) to be introduced in the future will be upgraded to the equivalence of Epic quality with a new Art of War tag. The requirements for obtaining this skin remain unchanged: Completing 60 ranked/casual matches or 80 fun mode matches with an average penalty rate below 0.025. In the following season, we will also introduce an upgraded version of the Art of War skin (obtainable from Dignified War Pass). The production standard of Art of War skins obtainable from Dignified War Pass will be higher than the dyed skins available from previous Battle Passes. The requirements for obtaining the Dignified War Pass will be more stringent.
New Etiquette Level mechanism: Players can earn Etiquette Points by completing violation-free matches. Obtaining Etiquette Points enhances their Etiquette Level. Each level-up yields a special item named Promise Jade. Each piece of Promise Jade can be used to exchange for an Art of War skin that you do not own.
New Violation Penalties: Upon in-match violations, the system will disable the availability of all Art of War skins owned by the offending player for a period of time, and reduce Etiquette Points earned per match (penalty commensurate with the player’s current violation level). Each violation will be recorded, and persistent violations will incur increasingly severe penalties.
Comprehensive rules of the above can be viewed on homepage – Art of War. And for players who have already acquired past Art of War skins, the following compensations will be issued:
- Before the Art of War Contract system goes live, Art of War skins purchased with Pass Coins will be reimbursed according to the original prices. Those acquired through Treasure Chests will be reimbursed at 1400 Pass Coins per set. The compensations will be issued by mail.
- Before the Art of War Contract system goes live, Art of War skins obtained through achieving season etiquette requirements will retain their original season skin tags.
- According to the number of Art of War skins obtained before the Art of War Contract system goes live, corresponding Etiquette Levels will be compensated: Each skin owned boosts the level by one, and you also get to keep the skins. (level-ups in this manner will not yield Promise Jade).
As a token of our gratitude for your support, the Service Team has prepared some gifts, which will be sent to all players after the maintenance on October 13th. The rewards include 3888 coins, Decoy Fire x1, Feather x6, and Mid-level Favor Pack x5.
Latest Events
Wishes Come True
Event Period: October 13th after maintenance to November 12th, 2023.
During the event, complete Wishes Come True quests to flip 4 skin cards (all of Epic quality). After October 25th, players can choose 1 out of the 4 Epic skins and get it for free.
Treasure Chest
Event Period: October 13th after maintenance to October 26th, 2023.
Complete quests to collect Feathers (permanent) during the event. Feathers can be used to exchange for free skins (highest quality: Epic).
Daily Collectibles
Event Period: October 13th after maintenance to October 17th, 2023.
During the event, top up a specific amount of Jade every day for bonus rewards. Completing any top-up quest a day is considered 1 participation, and you can participate up to 5 times during the event.
Camp of Night Arrows
Event Period: October 13th after maintenance to November 16th, 2023.
During the event, select a Shikigami to unlock recruitment quests. During the recruitment period, you can try out the Shikigami and some of their skins for free. Complete quests for bonus rewards: permanent Shikigami, personalized voice trial cards, skin discounts, etc. Don’t miss out!
Demon Encounter
Takiyasha Hime
Ability 1: Whirlwind Moon – Strengthened:
Expanded the range of the outer ring; Blade hitting an enemy Shikigami additionally grants 4 stacks of New Moon Blessing.
Zashiki
Ability 2: Fortune Chain – Strengthened:
Up to 3 enemy Shikigami can be linked at the same time.
Kaoru
Ultimate: Come On, Owly! – Strengthened:
Can hold multiple charges. On cast, Kaoru also gains Owly’s Protection.
Demon Encounter Balance Adjustments
Bukkuman’s Ability 3 Shadow Paintings: Scroll generation delay reduced from 1.2s to 1s.
Izaya’s Ultimate Ability Ceaseless Cycle: Damage increased from 350/500/650 (+70% Ability Power) to 350/500/650 (+110% Ability Power).
Kinnara’s Passive Tune: The flying speed of the summoned spirit bird increased from 1000 to 1400.
Aori’s Ability 3 Arachnean Circle: The base percentage of damage dealt per second increased from 24%/27%/30%/33%/36% to 30%/34%/38%/42%/46%.
Ubume’s Ultimate Ability Hack and Slash: Slash damage reduced from 50/110/170 (+30% bonus attack) to 40/88/136 (+24% bonus attack); damage from the last slash reduced from 50/110/170 (+30% bonus attack)(+10%/12.5%/15% target’s HP loss) to 40/88/136 (+24% bonus attack)(+8%/10%/12% target’s HP loss).
Taishakuten’s Ability 3 Ten Great Virtues: Cooldown increased from 18/17.5/17/16.5/16 seconds to 24/23/22/21/20 seconds.
Battlefield Adjustments
Mechanisms of EXP & Coin Gains for Jungle Shikigami
Current early-game lane farming proves more lucrative for junglers than sticking to the jungle, prompting some junglers to opt for this strategy, which impinges on other teammates’ growth and might lead to conflict. We hope to create a battlefield friendly to all positions. So we have made some adjustments to the mechanisms of early-game EXP and coin gains for junglers, and slightly increased the rewards from jungle monsters in the early game.
New Subdue restrictions: In the first 6 minutes of a match, if a jungler equipped with Subdue is nearby when a minion is defeated, the EXP and coins dropped will not be shared by the jungler, but rewarded to the laning Shikigami in full amount. The jungler separately obtains 15% of EXP and coins. Income rules for other positions remain unchanged. If the percentage of a jungler’s income obtained from laning is unreasonably high, their EXP and coin gains from minions will be reduced to 15%.
Jungle monster EXP adjustment: Slightly increased the EXP gained from jungle monsters in the early game.
Jungle Weapon Adjustments and New Auto-upgrade Mechanism for Subdue
We have noticed the limited options for junglers’ equipment and the fact that jungle weapons are unsuitable for some Shikigami. Moreover, jungle weapons are not powerful enough in the mid-to-late game, but replacing them with other items would mean losing the upgraded effects of Subdue. So we’ve made changes in the new season.
The jungle builds and middle & high-level jungle weapons will be removed. Jungle weapons will become an early-stage item providing Subdue upgrade options and will be removed from the equipment bar upon meeting certain conditions while retaining their effects. We hope these adjustments will allow junglers to acquire more suitable equipment earlier and ensure that their strength will not be limited in the mid-to-late game.
On another note, as the upgraded Subdue is quite powerful, this spell is usually reserved for contending for large monsters or teamfights, so often it cannot be used even with CD ready. Therefore, we’ve added a charging mechanism to Subdue to ensure its flexible usage.
Moreover, we have adjusted the initial magic resistance of jungle monsters and the damage of some items against jungle monsters to ensure tank and mage Shikigami’s jungle efficiency remains unaffected after the adjustments.
Jungle weapon adjustments: Removed Hunting Knife, Blank Lance, Fire King Lance, Imperial Lance, Unholy Halberd, Ice Jade Echo, Earth Jade Echo, and Righteous Jade Echo. Added Ice Jungle Knife, Collapsed Jungle Knife, and Demonic Jungle Knife: After killing 10 jungle monsters, Subdue automatically upgrades with corresponding effects. The jungle weapon will no longer take up an equipment slot, but the effects will be retained.
Adjustments to Subdue: Can hold up to two charges. Each usage follows a 10-second cooldown, with a 40-second recharging time.
Adjustments to jungle monster stats: The magic resistance of jungle monsters, Kirin, and Lantern Soul is reduced to 0.
Adjustments to items: The Skyfire effect of Rogue’s Gauntlet and Vaisravana Drum against jungle monsters is enhanced from 200% to 250%.
Adjustments to Large Neutral Monster Drops
Currently, slaying large neutral monsters like the Kraken and Sougenbi only provides EXP without coins. Hence for junglers, slaying large monsters feels like an unrewarding job because it would mean they give up their personal gain for the team. So this adjustment introduced coin rewards for Shikigami who participate in slaying large neutral monsters to ensure their personal gain is not compromised.
New: Upon defeating Sougenbi, Kraken, Shinkiro, and Namazu, nearby allies will evenly split 180 coins.
Adjustments: The base HP and HP growth of Sougenbi have been reduced.
Adjustments to Items for Ninja Shikigami
We also aim to enhance the usability and description clarity of the items for ninja Shikigami in the new season.
Firstly, triggering the effects of some ninja items is quite difficult. For instance, the effects of Kusarigama and Nature’s Glory must be triggered by performing basic attacks. Which means, ninja Shikigami who have purchased these items need to first use a basic attack in battle to activate the slowing effect, and after a set of combo moves, they have to use a basic attack again when the target enemy has low HP to fully exploit the item. Given that ninja Shikigami are normally adept at quick battles, and that their combo doesn’t necessarily involve basic attacks, these items tend to be less practical or only applicable to a minority of Shikigami.
In this update, we’ll make adjustments to the triggering mechanisms of some item effects so that they can be more compatible with ninja Shikigami. Additionally, the primary survival item for ninja Shikigami currently is Raja Warhammer, which is already an important and more suitable item for samurai Shikigami. This item grants control immunity that needs to be manually activated in battle. For fast-paced ninja Shikigami, deciding the perfect timing for control immunity in battle is quite challenging. So we will introduce a more suitable survival item specifically for ninja Shikigami in this update.
Moreover, the effect activation of some items is not very noticeable, which makes it hard for users to know whether an item’s special effect has been triggered or not. Therefore, we hope to adjust and enhance the visuals, sound effects, and text prompts upon item effect activation to more clearly showcase the role of different types of items. We’ve also noticed that some items have similar functions and subpar performance.
For example, the two aforementioned items (Kusarigama and Nature’s Glory) both offer a slowing effect and damage bonus. After this update, Kusarigama will provide a stronger speed boost and slowing effect when initiating a fight, while Nature’s Glory will focus on providing high damage bonuses. Another example would be Muramasa of Light, which provides unsatisfactory speed boosts and shield effects on kills. We will partly replace the effect with a more potent invisibility effect, thereby better helping ninja Shikigami disengage the fight after a kill or chase and perform follow-up attacks.
Kusarigama: Effect adjustments
Kyokushin: Gains 4 movement speed per second, and when the movement speed bonus reaches 40, melee Shikigami’s next basic attack or ability cast slows the target by 99% for 1.5s.For carriers that are ranged Shikigami, the slow effect is reduced by half.
Display improvements: Improved the trail effect for movement speed increase and the hit sound effect.
Nature’s Glory: Effect adjustments
Watcher: Basic attacks and abilities against enemy Shikigami with less than 30% HP deal 45 (+22* current level) bonus physical damage. (This effect can only be triggered once every 10 seconds)
Display improvements: Improved the hit effect and sound effect.
Muramasa of Light: Effect adjustments
Light Assault: Participating in sealing an enemy Shikigami grants Invisibility and a 50% movement speed boost that weakens over time. The effect lasts 1.5s with a cooldown of 10s.
Dark Fang Yomotsu
Improved the display of the text prompt and sound effect for the bleeding effect.
Moon Shadow: Blade Shatterer (New item)
Total price: 2000
Recipe: Bronze Scale + Nether Scythe + Dragon Gun
Base stats: ATK +80, HP +265
Item effects:
Moon Shadow: Increases ability damage by 6–12% (reaches the maximum at Lv. 18).
Blade Shatterer: Gains a shield that can nullify enemy Shikigami’s ability once. The shield will refresh if no damage from enemy Shikigami is taken within 20s.
Onmyodo Adjustments
Currently, Onmyodo can provide extensive effects. While they can distinctly enhance Shikigami’s combat powers and bring changes in the mid and late game, they also complicate the match with too many enemy Onmyodo effects. For example, when facing an enemy unit with high burst damage, players need to not only keep an eye on the burst damage caused by Occult: Panther Maul in the early stage of a fight, but also watch out for the slay effect of Amulet: Death in the late stage.
With this adjustment, we aim to further amplify the importance of the core Onmyodo, enhancing its impact on match dynamics and Shikigami gameplay, with other Onmyodo serving a supporting role. Additionally, we’ll abolish the mechanism of unlocking Onmyodo via level-ups, modestly limiting the power of Onmyodo unlocked in mid-to-late game. For instance, the shield provided by Channel: Umbrella will be weakened, and the speed boost and applicability of Amulet: Wind Rider will be limited.
Structural adjustments to Onmyodo: Removed level-based activation restrictions.
Adjustments to core Onmyodo:
Occult: Panther Maul: Damage adjusted to 50+16*current level+25% Ability Power+50% bonus attack+3% target’s max HP.
Sorcery: Star: Attaining 10 stacks now also grants an extra 6% damage boost.
Occult: Haste: Speed boost adjusted to 40+1%*current level, with proportional adjustment as it weakens over time.
Summon: Purgatory: Damage adjusted to 30+10*current level+20% Ability Power+40% bonus attack; only triggers when attacking an enemy Shikigami.
Divination Sigil: Damage and shield adjusted to 15+5*current level+4% of bonus max HP.
Spirit Fish Protection: Armor and Magic Resist adjusted to 35+45% of bonus Armor and Magic Resist. Damage adjusted to 10+10*current level.
Occult: Pursuit: Attack speed adjusted to 60%+4*current level.
Amulet: Death (New): The triggering HP percentage adjusted to 6–8% (reaches the maximum at Lv. 18).
Adjustments to abilities, stats, and Onmyodo effects:
Onmyodo options adjusted: Must select one out of three from each of the following sets: 1. Kiai, Occult: Shadow Hunt, and Omen: Starlight; 2. Amulet: Wind Rider, Channel: Umbrella, and Channel: Butterflies; 3. Omen: Star Bind, Channel: Afterlife, and Occult: Purge Evil.
Stats options adjusted: Must select one out of three from each of the following sets: 1. HP, Armor, and Magic Resist; 2. Main attribute, Armor, and Magic Resist; 3. Armor & Magic Penetration Growth, Attack Speed, and Cooldown Growth.
Omen: Starlight: Increased cooldown from 15s to 20s.
Amulet: Wind Rider: Speed boost now takes effect before and 3 seconds into the fight. Adjusted speed boost to 30.
Channel: Umbrella: Reduced shield from 135+35% Ability Power+60% bonus attack+10*current level to 30+5*current level+20% Ability Power+30% bonus attack.
Omen: Star Bind: Damage reduced to 8*current level; slowing duration reduced to 1s.
Channel: Afterlife: HP steal boost reduced to 3%~10%.
Occult: Purge Evil: Deals 3%~9% more damage against Shikigami with more remaining HP than you. The damage bonus is proportional to the current HP difference, with a maximum increase of 9% at 60%.
Additional Adjustments
Level-up recovery adjustments
Currently, leveling up only restores HP. This has led to situations where some Shikigami struggle to pressure their opponents in lane due to MP shortage. To address this, we’ll also add MP recovery to level-up benefits.
New: Up to level 6, each level-up restores 36–56 MP. The effect enhances with level and peaks at level 6.
Adjustments to Spell Heal
The damage reduction effect and survivability support provided by Spell Heal are somewhat erratic and unclear. So we will increase the HP recovery while removing its damage reduction effect to make it a more reliable recovery option for marksman and mage Shikigami.
Adjustments: Removed the 3-second 15% damage reduction effect after using Heal, and increased HP recovery from 125+(25*current level) to 125+(33*current level).
Adjustments and Improvements
Upgraded the special visual display of Onikiri’s Exquisite skin Sky Void – Flurry of Knives in Shikigami Brawl.
Added a Map Introduction to the Ranked Match screen to help players quickly familiarize themselves with map features and the latest map tweaks.
Added selection animations for Shikigami and skins launched between February 24, 2023, to April 28, 2023. Due to voice actor scheduling, Jinmenju’s Chinese voicing and the English selection animation voicing for Kingyo’s skin A Dream of Stars are still pending and will be instantly added into the game upon completion.
This season, we’ve conducted a comprehensive review and upgrade on the camera moving effects for all Shikigami abilities. Additions have been made where needed, and existing camera moving effects have been further polished for smoother transitions. We’ve also fixed issues causing abnormal camera jitters. We hope these tweaks improve your ability casting experience.
When selecting Spells before a match, it is common to unintentionally replace Subdue with other Spells while applying an Okami Set. Thus, we revised the Spell replacement mechanism: if there is currently only one player on the team who has selected Subdue, Subdue will not be replaced when applying an Okami Set. Furthermore, a “Don’t forget to select Subdue!” quick message function has been added, which can be used to remind teammates during the selection stage. And in cases where there are more than one Subdue, there will be clear, noticeable prompts for non-jungle positions. We hope these changes enhance your gaming experience.
We’ve adjusted the enemy selection mechanism for dash abilities. Previously, there were only two options: “Dash toward enemy” and “Forward dash”. The former often resulted in unintentionally rushing toward the enemy when trying to retreat, while the latter sometimes led to a failure to move to the desired position due to joystick direction misalignment with the enemy location. To address these issues, we’ve added a “Smart Selection” option: if there is any enemy within the semicircle range the Shikigami is facing, you will dash toward the enemy; otherwise, you will dash forward. You can pre-set casting preferences for different Shikigami via Prepare – Home – Casting Settings.
Free Shikigami Lineup Adjustments
We will change the lineup of the limited-time free Shikigami at 5:00 AM on October 16th, 2023. The new free Shikigami will be Kubinashi, Hiyoribou, Aobozu, Hone Onna, Enenra, Kani Hime, Kyonshi Ani, and Kamaitachi.
Onmyoji who own the God of Fortune Month Pact will have the additional free Shikigami, Mannendake and Youko
Of these Shikigami, Kyonshi Ani and Kamaitachi have a difficulty of Hard. Onmyoji who have been in Heian-kyo for less than 7 days can’t use them in battle for free.
