Fans of Super Evil Megacorp’s mobile MOBA, Vainglory (Free), will be happy to hear that Version 1.8 featuring the newest heroine Skye has finally launched. While the new character is certainly the biggest feature of the update, there are also a bunch of other changes that are worth discussion.
We’ve been reporting on Skye for a while now, so it’s a welcome sight to finally her debut in the Halcyon Fold. In terms of specific abilities, Skye is a mid-range sniper inside a mech with the ability to stay on the fringes of combat or go in for a kill. Considering her vehicle of choice, it’s no wonder that all her abilities are mech/technology based. Her heroic perk (Target Lock) locks onto the most recent hero attacked and grants speed bonuses. Forward Barrage and Suri Strike do damage to her locked on target in various ways while her ultimate, Death from Above, can be aimed in several different fashions depending on how close or far away the target zone is from her locked target. Skye is going to require a lot of precise movement and aiming to provide results and the developers are already calling her a ‘high skill high reward’ hero.
In addition to Skye, Version 1.8 also launches four new skins, including one for Vox. In terms of gameplay systems, the game’s Karma System has been significantly revamped and simplified (now players only have Great, Good or Bad Karma) with more of an emphasis on recent and current behavior. Also, the beginnings of Vainglory Seasons are starting to appear with the launch of the Trophy Room and the start of preseason (which leads up to the October Season 1).
As usual, there’s also a load of changes to both the battleground itself as well as the heroes already there. One of the more interesting things I saw in the change log is that Vain crystal will now regenerate health after 5 seconds of not taking damage, with the intent of giving players on the cusp of losing more alternatives than simply turtling. In addition, turret defense has received a significant change, with turrets having less armor early in the game and significantly more in late game. In terms of hero changes, Rona got some serious changes to help with her durability, Ardan, Joule, and Petal got minor buffs while Vox got a minor nerf. Finally, an annoying bug with Taka not dealing mortal strikes after a Kaiten has been fixed. A few items were changed as well.
As is custom now, Skye is currently only available via ICE unlock for the first week. Meanwhile, if you’re interested in getting into detail on the latest heroine addition and all the hero/item changes, check out the update log here. Otherwise, stay tuned as we take Skye for spin (I’ll be streaming her as soon as I can) and watch out for a beginner’s guide in the near future.
