The Weekly Grind - Jan 20, 2026
Welcome back to The Weekly Grind. Let’s get to it! What’s going on? Update 0.29.6 dropped today, focusing on bug fixes as we prepare for Spring Pop-Off on Feb 10, 2026. If you haven’t yet, check the patch notes for details on what the team worked on for this update. Coming up, the team is working on the next update with more fixes - and once we’ve got a client candidate locked, we’ll share timelines on when it will deploy and what will be included. Spring Pop-Off will start Feb 10, and we’ll have details coming through the week before to get you ready for the last in-game event for Season 2. Our T-Shirt UGC contest has ended, winners have been selected, and we’ll be working with them and the studio to get their designs in-game. We’ll share designs in the coming weeks once they’re finalized. We were so stoked on the community’s participation and awesome submissions, so we’re working on plans for our next community UGC contest. Weekly Calendar The Weekly Grind returns (that’s today) Update 0.29.6 is live Skate. Community ImpervaTEK Video Contest starting Jan 23, 2026 Coming Up Spring Pop-Off Details skate. "Show Us Your Fit" Screenshot Contest Update 0.29.7 Season 3 details Reminder: Check out the blog for more details and how you can contribute to these skateboarding charitable organizations to help support and continue growing skateboarding globally - and get some in-game gear as a special thank you from the organizations. More content from the skate. community! As usual, we wanted to share a few pieces of content that caught our eye. Remember: if you want to possibly be featured in The Weekly Grind, make sure to share yours (screenshots, videos, clips) via skate.reel. Pool parties hit different on the top of a skyrise, Credit: Lostgirl Reppin’ some new gear in Gullcrest Community Park, Credit: Kenji Part of The Weekly Grind will be dedicated to sharing current Known Issues the team is tracking for bugs & issues, any active deployments/fixes, and next steps. Fixed on January 20 in Update 0.29.6: Players are unable to progress through tutorial challenges while subtitles are turned off. The score multiplier takes a lot longer to drain on a loaded game server than an empty one. After exiting Skatepedia, traffic, pedestrians and other players could disappear. Fixed an issue where crackling or distorted audio could happen while using voice over IP. And more… Make sure to check the full 0.29.6 Patch Notes for all fixes from the Jan 20, 2026 update. Known Issues Still Being Investigated: Players are claiming missing Founders and Deluxe items. Players gradually become invisible after a certain period of gameplay. During the Stop, Quick Drop, and Roll Mission, the fliptrick over cars criterion doesn't seem to track until after you complete all of the other criteria. Often during the tutorial, if you wipeout during the Ollie Course, Vee's line about being off board will loop infinitely. Workaround: Restarting skate. has been reported to fix this issue. Exported videos are longer than their displayed in-game length. There is an additional stuttering issue present when using the replay editor in-game, noticeable as skipped frames. Sometimes, putting the game on fullscreen and leaving it minimized for three or four minutes will prevent the player from re-opening it until the game is restarted. Often, the Team Up, Throw Down mission does not end until the player untracks and retracks the mission. The player needs to press the Back button twice for the missions menu to close. The Throwdowns queue timer freezes after all other players leave the queue. When logging out in a community park and logging in again, the tasks won´t count. Rarely, when interacting with a player and joining their party, you will accidentally join another player’s party. The speech-to-text feature does not transcribe the words correctly. Rarely, the Back button has no functionality, and the player cannot exit the Replay Editor.
Conquest Missing Asset Loop
Morning folks, The team is aware of and investigating the Conquest issue. We've determined that its due to a missing asset for one of the backgrounds, which is why it doesn't happen each attempt you go into a Conquest attempt. This will hopefully be fixed in this weeks update. Once fixed, I will discuss with the team about some form of compensation. Thank you.Skate. 0.29.6 Patch Notes
0.29.6 Patch Notes|All Platforms|Live on January 20 No Maintenance/Downtime; Update will start rolling out Jan 20, 2026 at 9AM PT. If in-game, you will need to relog to get the client update. Bug Fixes Fixed an issue where your progression could be halted if subtitles were turned off. Fixed an issue where resolution could be unintentionally reduced to 480p. Fixed an issue on PlayStation 5 where the resolution could be stuck at 640p. Fixed an issue where the score multiplier clock and real time didn’t match because of server load. Fixed an issue where sound effects were missing for other skaters. Fixed an issue where the Accessibility menu failed to display while loading into skate for your first time. Fixed an issue where you could place more Quick Drop items than allowed. Developer’s Note: This fix was implemented to prevent instances where more Quick Drop items than intended are placed in San Van, causing performance issues for all skaters. Fixed a lighting issue that misrepresented the appearance of other skaters in San Van. Fixed an issue where your board wasn’t visible in menus after entering and exiting skate.Pass. Fixed an issue where other skaters, traffic, or pedestrians could disappear after using skatepedia. Fixed a few incorrectly placed Gesture visual effects. Fixed an issue where incorrect messaging was displayed when exporting videos. Fixed multiple thumbnails that did not accurately represent their items. Fixed an issue where crackling or distorted audio could happen while using voice over IP. Fixed various stability and performance issues.Datacron Release Adjustment
Hello Holotable Heroes, My apologies for the lack of post about this, chalking it up to the holiday hangover. The release cadence of Datacrons has always been a bit awkward with Conquests, and Eras have put a spotlight onto that. To better align our content in a more cohesive way, we have tweaked the timing for Datacrons. Instead of releasing every other month and lasting for 4 months, Datacrons will now release each month and last for 3 months. To account for this increased release schedule, we will be lowering the complexity of each set with the goal of it being a net neutral amount of information to keep in your brains. We will monitor the impact of these adjustments and as always, your feedback is important to the team, so please share with us your thoughts as you interact with these adjustments. Edit information added: Starting with Set 26, Reroll costs for Datacron between Level 4 and 6 have been halved. We have reduced the amount of factions per set from 4 to 2, which should make it easier for you to get the affixes you’re going after
BATTLEFIELD 6 GAME UPDATE 1.1.3.5
With Update 1.1.3.5, we’re delivering a smaller set of focused improvements aimed at polish and consistency across Battlefield 6. This update enhances melee responsiveness, refines jet combat, improves ladder interactions, and resolves UI and HUD issues in Multiplayer and REDSEC, alongside fixes for Battle Royale and Gauntlet stability. The update will be available on Tuesday, January 20, at 9 AM UTC (1 AM PDT, 4 AM EDT, 10 AM CET). Major Updates for 1.1.3.5 Improved responsiveness, consistency, and sprint behavior for melee attacks, including knives and the sledgehammer. Updated jet combat balance by reducing jet cannon effectiveness against other air vehicles. Updated and refined the UI and HUD across Multiplayer and REDSEC, improving armor bar visibility, reticle presentation, and menu navigation. CHANGELOG VEHICLES: Fixed an issue where vehicles could explode when a takedown was performed on an enemy soldier lying on top of them. Reduced jet cannon damage against other jets and helicopters, requiring approximately 40% more hits to destroy enemy air targets. WEAPONS: Bipod attachments no longer display as always providing a hipfire accuracy bonus, as this bonus only applies while the bipod is deployed. Fixed an issue where the GRIM 1.50x optic on the DB-12 cost fewer loadout points than intended (15 instead of 25). Fixed an issue where the RPKM iron sights would shoot low when using the short barrel. Fixed an issue where the TR-7 Light Barrel incorrectly improved muzzle velocity. Fixed bipod mount input behaviour for Alternate, Lefty Alternate, Southpaw, and Legacy Southpaw presets so the bipod mount now follows the melee button. Improved attack speed for knife melee attacks. Improved buffering behaviour for knife and sledgehammer attacks. Improved consistency of melee damage timing against enemies and the environment. Improved consistency of recoil modifiers when using a controller across different weapons. Improved how sprint is interrupted when performing melee attacks. Sprint is now only interrupted until the attack reaches its target, rather than for the full duration of the animation. In the Firing Range, target dummies can now take damage while in the process of getting back up. Shooting with a suppressor now emits a small muzzle flash when viewed from close range only. GADGETS: Fixed an issue where the GDPIS was not destroyed when targeted by the XFGM-6D Recon Drone, Defibrillators, or the Repair Tool. Fixed an issue where the Sniper Decoy did not properly hide scope glints from nearby snipers. Assault Ladder Fixed an issue where ladders positioned above the player could not be entered. Fixed an issue where soldiers could be launched unexpectedly when attempting to enter a ladder. Improved the soldier animations while climbing ladders. UI & HUD: Added a new option allowing players to customize the reticle colour inside weapon and gadget scopes. Fixed an issue where home screen focus navigation could become locked to the bulletin. Fixed cases where weapon menus displayed incorrect Reload Time stats for LMGs. Soldier lightning improvements to the front-end Improved front-end lighting to enhance the visual quality of soldier characters. The Reticle Colour option now correctly updates reticle colours for Thermal Scopes and other supported gadgets. VFX & Video: Adjusted explosion particle effects by lowering the shockwave force. REDSEC WEAPONS: Fixed an issue where jump landing movement speed reduction behaved inconsistently in REDSEC compared to other multiplayer experiences. MAP & MODES: Fixed an edge case in Gauntlet mode “Data Extraction” where the drone could disappear permanently if drives were deposited at the exact moment it landed. UI & HUD: Battle Royale Fixed an issue where the armor bar could disappear intermittently. Fixed an issue where the Airburst Incendiary Launcher icon appeared as a grenade in the loot feed. Gauntlet Fixed an issue where the armor bar could disappear after quickly editing a loadout. This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible.
Apex Legends: Latest Update - 01/14/2026
Hey legends, the team has pushed a number of fixes as a follow-up to the start of 27.1! Crypto: Crypto's drone is no longer displayed for a fraction of a second when deploying the drone on a zipline, balloon or Evac Tower. The appropriate ultimate icon is now displayed while in Crypto's drone view after selecting the Power Coupling upgrade. Crypto's hands no longer remain stuck in front of the camera after taking damage from a Caustic trap while in Drone view. Players are no longer able to spam the drone entering animation. Crypto's Ult now appropriately charges from scanning enemies, even if they remain within the scan. Octane: Stim Surge's animation now ends in alignment with the end of its effects - previously was misaligned when at low health with the Daredevil upgrade. Stim Surge's animation now ends in alignment with the end of its effects when taking damage in the ring. Base Stim model no longer overlaps with the Stim Surge Syringe. Players are no longer able to spam Octane's tactical when riding ziplines or ziprails with akimbo weapons equipped. Removed ghostly green bar that appeared when Octane performed two-handed actions while using Stim Surge. When activating Stim Surge while climbing, the correct model is displayed and players will no longer be locked out of using Stim Surge. Trident: Increased the volume of approaching Trident - it should be much more difficult to be caught by surprise. Caustics traps no longer attach to the Trident - it was way too deadly. Valkyrie no longer gets stuck in ultimate animation when interrupted by a Trident. New Player Pass: Level up animation now display the correct level. Various The post-game progress screen no longer displays old challenges. Various fixes/adjustments to Switch 2 shadow/lighting. Fixed a boot crash on some Nvidia machines.Amped Midseason Designer’s Notes
TLDR Designer’s Notes is a new update that will provide additional context to Legend and Weapon meta changes. We will discuss our vision for each Legend or Weapon, what challenges we’ve identified, and what changes we are making in pursuit of those goals. Designer’s notes are meant to supplement Patch Notes, not replace them. Below, we will discuss: Why we don’t always pick the lowest-pick, lowest-win Legends Changes to Octane, Newcastle, and Crypto Adjustments to Amps, R-301, Flatline, and Prowler INTRO Welcome to our first Designer’s Notes. Our goal is to openly discuss our intention and reasoning behind changes to various parts of Apex Legends for a given update. We’ll use this opportunity to give you the “why” around certain Legend and weapon changes and more details about the bigger picture meta. We are looking to provide transparency into our processes, spark discussion, and gather feedback from you all as we continue to work to make Apex the best it can be. Our aim with every game update is to shake up the meta to break any staleness, address pain points around balance, and reinvigorate the ranked climb. We do that by looking at the data from all the matches played across different skill bands and various in-game situations and by monitoring player feedback from our many community channels and online spaces. We are showing you the data here in an effort to be transparent and to further share the reasoning behind why we pick certain parts of the game to adjust. Give the blog a read through, play the game with your new knowledge in mind, and continue to discuss in community spaces. Your feedback is critical in helping us shape and sharpen Apex to be the best competitive game and battle royale it can be. METRIC DEFINITIONS Pick Rate - Measure of selection preference adjusting for legend availability (total selections / total times available to be selected) Legend Encounter Win Rate - Measure of legend fighting strength based on downs in fights (fights won / total fights) Share of Downs - Measure of weapon preference based on share of downs each weapon obtains (downs with weapon / total downs) Weapon Encounter Win Rate - Measure of weapon fighting strength based on downs in fights (fights won / total fights) LEGENDS WHY NOT LOWEST-PICK, LOWEST-WIN? You are likely aware of some Legends and weapons that have spent significant time at the bottom of the meta. For some of you, we see peaking frustrations when they happen to be your favorites. “So why aren’t they the priority for buffs each season?” It’s a good question! In these cases, the scope of the necessary changes is often so large that developing and testing requires more time than it would for smaller tweaks. For example we knew community conversations about Octane were bubbling at the start of last season - we had been actively working on his changes for a while and we just had to bite our tongue knowing that his buffs were just around the corner! Additionally, with a game the size of Apex Legends - 27 Legends, multiple game modes and maps, and an entire arsenal of weapons - every seemingly small tweak to a weapon or character can have many unexpected ripple effects throughout the game. This means we need to move as quickly as we can while keeping the bigger picture in mind, which results in varied but often longer timelines. OCTANE Octane is a fan-favorite that has dropped in popularity over the years. We’d love to see him reclaim a place in the hearts of our players, so we’re making changes to remind everyone why you fell in love with the adrenaline chaser in the first place! Octane’s pick rate is below average across all game modes and he sinks to near the bottom of the chart in Diamond/Masters. One of the main complaints about Octane we hear from our community is that, despite being fun for solo players, he lacks team utility. Additionally, Octane is often the character who runs ahead of the pack and looks for (and often finds) trouble; one small misstep can have dire consequences. As a result, our goals are first to increase individual survivability. Second, create more team utility allowing Octane to better help squadmates. The aim is making him a more viable pick in a variety of team comps. To help achieve these goals we’ve added some new base abilities, and new upgrades to Octane’s kit. CORE CHANGES In an effort to enable a layer of survivability we are introducing a new formulation of Stim: Stim Surge. When already Stimmed, activate Octane’s tactical a second time to enter Stim Surge, extending your Stim and granting you Fortified and a Passive Heal. Fortified: Reduced damage and no bullet slow Passive Healing: Your passive healing immediately re-engages, and continues to heal through damage UPGRADES To improve Octane’s team utility, we’re adding a branch of upgrades to boost squadmates who use your JumpPad: Squad Rush: Everyone who uses your JumpPad gains Stim on land Triple Jump: Gain a third jump from JumpPads While one branch is focused on increasing team utility, the other is centered around further improving his Stim. NEWCASTLE Newcastle was having the opposite problem of Octane: higher ranked lobbies were seeing the value in this heroic protector, but the broader community was not harnessing the value he can bring to a squad. In buffing Newcastle, our goals are to make him feel less sluggish, hoping it makes him more appealing to play to the broader community. To help achieve this goal we have incorporated the Swift Shield and Hero’s Hustle upgrades into his base kit, increasing his base movement speed and reducing movement penalties. CRYPTO Aside from potentially ALGS, Crypto has seen an extremely low pick rate across all skill bands for a long time. The biggest pain point we’ve identified is the feeling that he gets left behind by his team while performing his key function: flying his drone. Therefore, our main goal in buffing Crypto is to simply allow him to better keep up with his squadmates. As a result, we are speeding up Crypto’s interaction with his drone in a few key ways: Snappier drone launch, and quicker in/out time for drone Allowing him to pilot his drone while doing other things (i.e. zipline, opening a Mythic bin) New upgrades that keep him in the fight by allowing him to trailblaze to allies, or earn ult charge faster WEAPONS AMPS We are pleased with the design space of most of our Amps as they have been doing a great job of allowing players to adapt to situations and customize their playstyle. However, we identified that Infinite Ammo was lagging behind other amps so we wanted to give it a bit of a boost. While there are only so many ways to buff “infinite ammo” we elected to go the route of enabling compatibility with Care Package weapons (yes, that means the Kraber.) Adding Care Package weapons into the fold this way will have a much larger impact on the Amps usefulness compared to some of the other adjustments we could make. R-301 & FLATLINE Over the past few seasons, the R-301 and Flatline have taken a backseat to some of the more specialized weapons in the roster. They remain beloved classics but their power has not kept up. This has caused the R-301 and Flatline to fall behind in some of our key metrics like Encounter Win Rate. While making changes to these two staples, our goal is to close the gap in power to the rest of the roster and ensure they remain reliable classics. To achieve this we are increasing damage on both of these weapons by one. It may seem like a small change on the surface, but it will bring down their Time to Kill across multiple shield breakpoints. We’re excited to see if this reinvigorates the community’s love for the R-301 and Flatline. PROWLER At the beginning of Season 27 we equipped the Prowler with autofire burst capabilities. When we made that adjustment we also increased the delay between bursts in an effort to offset the power we thought we’d unlocked. Looking at the Prowler’s performance since, we realize we hit it a little too hard. Our goal in the followup changes to the Prowler is to bring it to a healthy balance now that the autofire burst has had time to settle into the meta. To do that, we’re reverting the burst fire delay changes we made at the beginning of Season 27. However, we still want to give the Prowler a little bit of a tune up and ensure the Selectfire Hop-Up’s Automatic Mode feels proportionately rewarding to unlock. That in mind, we’re increasing bullet damage while in full auto mode to 17 (up from 16). IN CLOSING We hope you found this helpful in further understanding the thought process behind the decisions we’re making to shift the seasonal meta of Apex Legends. For a comprehensive guide to the changes for 27.1 be sure to check the Patch Notes!Maul (Hate-Fueled)
UNIT NAME: Maul (Hate-Fueled) ALIGNMENT: Dark CATEGORIES: Dark Side, Attacker, Unaligned Force User HIDDEN CATEGORY: Large character ------ Twisted, broken, yet sustained by hatred. Those are the pillars in which Maul (affectionately known as “Spider Maul”) was born from. In reviewing our anniversary celebration plans, we knew this was the prime opportunity to bring this partially mechanical menace to the holotables. What team he was part of was a big point of discussion. We felt the Starkiller team made for a great home as that group inherently is a bit of a hodgepodge of different characters from all over the Galaxy. This also had the added benefit that we could more closely design Stranger and Maul together, making sure each brought unique mechanics that amplified the team’s overall power. The team had nervous glee at the idea of putting Starkiller, Stranger, and Maul all on the same team. We hope you enjoy using Maul as much as we enjoyed making him! Basic ability - Fractured Fury Deal Physical damage to target enemy and inflict a stack of Bleed (max 6), which can't be dispelled or resisted, until the end of encounter. Gain a stack of Edge of Madness (max 100 stacks) until the end of the encounter, which can't be copied, dispelled, or prevented. Once per encounter, during his turn, Maul inflicts Fracture on target enemy until each of his allies has taken a turn or until he is defeated, which can't be copied, dispelled, evaded, or resisted. Bleed: -5% Speed and Tenacity, and lose 5% Health each turn; remove 1 stack when any Health is recovered Edge of Madness: -2% Defense per stack Fracture: Speed set to 0, can't gain buffs, bonus attacks, or bonus Turn Meter. Against Raid Bosses and Galactic Legends: -50% Speed (doesn't stack with Breach, Pinned, or Speed Down), can't gain buffs, and -30% counter chance Design Notes: This ability when coupled with the maximum invested version of his second Special ability is a potent combo that gives Maul and his team a way to selectively lock key targets down for a limited time. Fracture and Bleed are both excellent ways to synergize with the Stranger’s abilities. Inspiration: In this snapshot of Maul (from Lotho Minor when Savage finds him) his mind is a bit broken from the trauma of his duel against Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn. We wanted to capture that thematically with a fun nod to the Fracture debuff as a bonus. FAQ: Question: I really want to Fracture someone early, but should I really open with a Basic ability? Answer: Check out his second Special ability, “Howl of the Broken”. If you have the Zeta for it, Maul will call his Dark Side Attacker allies to assist, which includes himself! (he is his own favorite ally). This means you can open with Special02 to distribute debuffs and damage, and Maul (so long as he is not prevented from assisting) will followup with his Basic, Fracturing your target. Keep in mind he can only Fracture someone once per encounter, so choose your targets wisely. Special ability 1 - Relentless Malice (Cooldown 3) Deal Physical damage to target enemy four times and inflict a stack of Bleed (max 6), which can't be dispelled or resisted, until the end of encounter. If the target already has max stacks of Bleed, trigger their damage. If Maul has 30 or more stacks of Edge of Madness, reduce the cooldown of Howl of the Broken by 1. If Maul has 60 or more stacks of Edge of Madness, he deals an additional instance of True damage to target enemy equal to 30% of his Max Health. While in Territory Wars: Deal Physical damage an additional four times. Inflict an additional 5 stacks of Bleed (max 6), which can't be dispelled or resisted, until the end of encounter. If he has 30 or more stacks of Edge of Madness, reset the cooldown of Howl of the Broken instead. Design Notes: If you feel as though the best form of locking a target down is by defeating them, then this is the ability for you! This ability has very high damage potential against single targets. Since (when fully invested) Maul’s second Unique gives him the ability to ignore taunt effects during his first turn (spoilers, for further below, sorry), you could choose a key target to potentially defeat outright as Maul’s first move, saving your Fracture play we discussed in his Basic for a later point in the battle (though you’ll lose that juicy ignore taunt benefit after his first turn). Synergy: This ability greatly benefits from Maul’s Max Health value, so make sure you’re modding him appropriately. Inspiration: While his mind may be fractured, his body still has echoes of that deadly quickness we saw during his duel with Kenobi and Qui-Gon. We wanted to showcase that those metal spider boots aren’t just for show, they’re made for hurtin’. FAQ: Question: Why so many instances of damage, why not just one big number? Answer: Thematically we wanted to lean into his many metal legs, and mechanically this makes him extremely deadly against mechanics like the Gungan Shield Generator or B1 Droids which lose stacks based on instances of damage. Question: How do I deal with Bleed when I am facing Maul? Answer: Health recovery of any amount removes stacks of Bleed and is the best way to counter it. Protection recovery won’t remove stacks however. Special ability 2 - Howl of the Broken (Cooldown 4) Deal Physical damage, Daze, and inflict Healing Immunity for 2 turns on all enemies. Call all Dark Side Attacker allies to assist. Maul gains Critical Damage Up and Offense Up for 2 turns. If he has 50 or more stacks of Edge of Madness, inflict Fear on all enemies for 1 turn, which can't be copied, dispelled, or resisted. Remove 60% Turn Meter from all enemies and all Dark Side Attacker allies gain 60% Turn Meter. While in Territory Wars: If target enemy is inflicted with Bleed, inflict a stack of Bleed (max 6), which can't be dispelled or resisted, on all enemies until the end of encounter. Increase the cooldowns of target enemy by 1, which can't be resisted. Design Notes: Compared to his other Special ability, this deals relatively light damage but it has a lot of power and synergies to lift up Maul and his allies. Bleed can be removed with heals, but Mr.Bond, how can you heal if you are… IMMUNE TO HEALING!? Which this ability provides for a cool 2 turn duration on all enemies. Additionally, using this when fully invested calls Dark Side Attacker allies to assist which includes himself and the Stranger, a deadly combo indeed. Synergy: This has a great deal of synergy with other Dark Side Attacker allies and is Maul’s primary battle control ability, letting him lock down whole teams for a limited time through Fear or Daze. Inspiration: While all of his abilities capture elements of his physical prowess and do have nods to his madness, we wanted an ability that also acknowledges he is still a potent force user and trained under one of the most powerful Sith alive. Combine that training with his unhinged state and you get this ability. FAQ: Question: Does Maul call himself to assist with this? Answer: Yes. If he didn’t, it should say “Call all other Dark Side…”. Question: Does the Turn Meter gain on his Omicron rely on removing that Turn Meter from enemies? So if an enemy is at 0% Turn Meter, do we still get 60%? Answer: It is not reliant on the Turn Meter removal, it is handled through two separate effects and checks. He removes Turn Meter if he can, and then simply gives 60% Turn Meter to his specific allies, but if for any reason the removal fails (maybe enemies can’t have their Turn Meter reduced for example), the gain would still trigger (unless Maul’s team has an effect which prevents bonus Turn Meter of course). Unique 01 - Hatred Sustains Whenever Maul takes damage, he gains 3 stacks of Edge of Madness (max 100) until the end of the encounter, which can't be copied, dispelled, or prevented, and he has a 5% chance to gain 75% Turn Meter. Maul can't be instantly defeated. While Maul is at certain Health thresholds, he gains cumulative effects: Web of Descent I (75% Health or less): +50% Offense; can't recover Health above 75% Web of Descent II (50% Health or less): +25 Speed; when he takes damage, he instead has a 10% chance to gain 75% Turn Meter; can't recover Health above 50% Web of Descent III (25% Health or less): +2,200% Defense and 100% Offense; when Maul hits this threshold, he gains bonus Protection (100%) for 2 turns and takes a bonus turn; can't recover Health above 25% While in Territory Wars: At the start of battle, Maul gains 30% Max Health and Offense, and 100 stacks of Edge of Madness (max 100) until the end of the encounter, which can't be copied, dispelled, or prevented. Whenever Maul is damaged, he instead has a 25% chance to gain 100% Turn Meter. Design Note: We wanted to lean into the idea that as Maul is damaged throughout a battle, he continually utilizes that damage to fuel his power but that can come with a lot of risks (the character feels too weak, the benefits aren’t impactful enough, etc), with this we’ve tried to give him a very high action economy with his various Turn Meter gains and giving clearly communicated benefits if he hits certain health thresholds. The hope here is that seeing Maul at 25% health is a scary experience if you’re facing him and an exciting one if you’re using him. Synergy: Especially if you mod Maul for Health, he should be able to somewhat safely exist in these less than 100% health thresholds. He should still feel extremely deadly even at full health, however. Inspiration: Throughout his appearances in the StarWars universe, Maul often finds himself in a proverbial corner as it were but still finds ways to turn situations to his advantage or to fight back in situations where weaker Force users could be defeated. We wanted to tap into that while also capturing the frenzied, manic nature of his broken self during this snapshot. It also opened up some interesting design space for us in risk vs reward. FAQ: Question: Will I need to keep track of the stat increases at his health thresholds? Answer: Each status icon that appears above his head should include all the cumulative benefits he has up to that point. So at Web of Descent II for example it would mention he has +25 Speed but the description should also include the +50% Offense info from Web of Descent I. This should make it easier to quickly look and see what benefits you have so far. Question: Do the chances for him receiving damage stack? At Web of Descent II for example, is it a 15% chance to gain 75% Turn Meter? Answer: No. We tried to clarify this in text by saying “instead”. So if he’s in a normal battle with no Web of Descent thresholds, he has just the 5% chance to gain 75%, and then when he hits Web of Descent II, he now has just the 10% chance to gain 75%. Question: Ok, but what about the Omicron? Does that stack? I just really love Turn Meter. Answer: No. The Omicron effect is a replacement for both his base and Web of Descent chances. So in Territory War with his Omicron, he’ll always (assuming nothing is stopping him from gaining bonus Turn Meter) have a 25% chance to gain 100% Turn Meter and won’t benefit from that aspect of Web of Descent II. Unique 02 - Always Remember, I am Fear At the start of battle, Maul gains 25% Max Health for each other Dark Side ally and 25% Offense for each other non-Dark Side ally, Hatred and 5 stacks of Anguish until the end of battle, which can't be copied, dispelled, or prevented. He loses all Protection and gains that much Max Health, and he takes reduced damage from percent Health damage effects. If there is an enemy Kenobi, Maul gains 20 stacks of Edge of Madness (stacking, max 100) until the end of the encounter. During Maul's first turn each encounter, he ignores taunt effects. Maul's attacks can't be evaded or countered and he is immune to Ability Block, Fear, and Redeemed. If there were no allied Galactic Legends at the start of battle, until the first time Maul is defeated: Enemies defeated by Dark Side allies can't be revived. If there is at least one other active ally, at the start of each character's turn, Mark the healthiest Unaligned Force User ally, which can't be dispelled or resisted, and they gain bonus Protection (30%) until the end of that turn. Hatred: +25% Critical Chance, +100% Defense, and +100% Offense; when defeated, revive with 100% Health and gain 100% Turn Meter Anguish: Takes damage at the start of their turn equal to 2% of their Max Health for each stack of Anguish and gains that much Offense until the end of their turn; this character can't be defeated by this damage Redeemed (comes from Juhani’s Omicron ability): +35 Speed; whenever this character uses an ability during their turn, all other allies with Redeemed assist; whenever this character gains a buff, dispel all debuffs on allies with Redeemed; whenever this character is damaged, all allies with Redeemed gain 15% Turn Meter; whenever this character is inflicted with a debuff, all allies with Redeemed recover 15% Protection Design Notes: Whereas his first Unique is almost entirely selfish and focuses on himself, this Unique sprinkles a bit more synergy for his allies. A lot of it still focuses on how Maul benefits, but the last block in particular can do a lot to keep his allies safe. Synergy: He’ll benefit the most from being paired with a Starkiller team because of the mixture of Dark Side and Light Side allies. Inspiration: When Maul is muttering to himself when Savage finds him, he (Maul) is trying to grasp fragments of his memory for lines taken from the Sith Code and give himself a lil’ pep talk. We felt this was really powerful for his character and tried to pair effects that worked for our needs mechanically but also nodded to this quote and moment. If you haven’t watched Clone Wars and Rebels, may we boldly recommend doing so! FAQ: Question: Why “non-Dark Side” allies? Hints are more neutral characters? Answer: It felt physically wrong to write Light Side synergy for Maul, honestly. We had it written as Light Side for awhile and it stuck out to many of us internally, so the language was adjusted but is still accurate. So, no, not a hint at more Neutral characters I am afraid. Question: Does the bonus Protection (30%) stack? Answer: It doesn’t, no. It does “refresh” when it is re-applied however, so if character A deals enough damage to remove 25% of that bonus Protection, and they end their turn and character B begins theirs, that bonus Protection on Maul will be back to 30%. Question: Why is Maul immune to Redeemed? Answer: We found with some internal testing that it was a bit of an undesirable experience for Maul to get this, and had situations where it actually weakened the Omicrons effectiveness since Maul would get it instead of Starkiller. We didn’t want to cheapen the investment you’ve made into that Juhani Omicron. It also has a bit of a fun thematic nod to Maul’s story as a whole. Question: Using Maul, if I defeat 2 characters before Maul is defeated, and then I defeat 1 character after he is defeated, can I revive all 3? Answer: Only enemies defeated before Maul was defeated can’t be revived. So in the above example, assuming you had a mass revive, you would only revive a single character of the three (the character defeated after Maul himself had been defeated).
