It feels like forever ago that we welcomed a new hero to Arena of Valor. In actuality, it’s only been around three weeks. Longer than we’re typically used to, but not exactly game-breaking in any way.
That changed today with the introduction of Y’bneth. A hero prematurely teased during the launch of the August update, the Ancient Watcher has finally arrived. But there’s more to this week’s roundup than just a hulking tree. Let’s dive in.
Y’bneth Uproots The Competition
We may have said there’s more to this week’s roundup than just Y’bneth, but we’re focusing on it first. It’s the most interesting thing to happen upon the game this week, and we’re going to get it out of the way.
Y’bneth arrived today in the usual new character fashion – with a default and alternate skin available as part of a bundle. You’re free to pick up the Tank hero separately for the usual 18,888 Gold, but you’ll save a buck or two if you’re going to voucher route and want a double helping of tree for now.
On the battlefield, Y’bneth is a defensive powerhouse that we expect to shake up the meta. With a passive that grants it drastic regen in the brush, its assortment of leaps, slow-downs, and an ultimate that turns it into a literally invincible siege tank with healing properties will surely make for some great plays in the competitive space.
Stat-wise, it’s incredibly balanced across the board, but a few good tank items and smart plays will turn this tall tree into a grand oak. The alternate skin even gives Y’bneth some little shorts!
Steampunk Veera Seduces in More Ways Than One!
Though she already has a bunch of skins, I honestly can’t remember the last time Veera got a new one. For a hero that has never once left the free rotation pool, that’s about all the love she gets from the development team.
Steampunk Veera, on the other hand, managed to score an official YouTube video earlier this week. It’s the most we’ve seen of the succubus for quite some time. Though you won’t see her much in the upper ranks, Veera is similar to Valhien in that she’s easy to play and can dish out some impressive damage at the same time.
A Steampunk skin might give more skilled players another reason to check her out and reevaluate her potential, but we can see it just encouraging newcomers to stick with the one-trick mage.
As ever, this is a limited skin that could vanish without much notice. Get your Victorian fix fast!
Valor Series Cosplay Workshop Project Decided
Last week saw Tencent, AT&T, and popular professional cosplayer VickyBunnyAngel team up to create a cosplay set to wow Valor Series attendees at the Playoffs in South America in early November. The polls have closed, and the character and skin we’ll be seeing Vicky portray at the event later in the year is non-other than Technoblade Butterfly!
Somehow remaining one of the most out of this world outfits in the entire fantasy mobile MOBA, Technoblade Butterfly beat out both default Mina and Bloodraid Airi as potential cosplay projects. And who knows – maybe Vicky will enjoy the game and process enough to take on another down the line.
With the character and skin decided, keep an eye on the Valor Series YouTube channel for periodic episodes of THE COSPLAY WORKSHOP.
Fun fact: The first video in the series is the most watched video on the channel of the last three months.
Arena of Valor Nintendo Switch Edition Release Date Confirmed
In true Tencent fashion, a September release date for Arena of Valor Nintendo Switch Edition is about as close to October as we could get. In weeks, anyway. It was only fitting we’d leave this little news nugget for last, right?
As the release date made rounds on the Japanese Nintendo eShop, the lack of information across the world sowed the seeds of a potential delay.
Thankfully, that’s not the case. Tencent finally confirmed that Arena of Valor Nintendo Switch Edition will launch worldwide on September 25, and those with mobile accounts can look forward to earning a cool 10,000 Gold per unlocked hero on their main accounts when they make the jump to the Nintendo Switch game.
Terms and conditions aren’t inherently clear just yet – like whether it’s 10,000 Gold per hero bought with Vouchers etc, – but something is better than nothing in any case. If you’re a high-level player seriously looking to jump over to the Nintendo Switch version (or double up), you shouldn’t have too much trouble picking up your favorite heroes and arcana when the game goes live. Just make sure to keep some spare, as the Nintendo Switch roster is bound to be fairly limited in comparison to the mobile version.
And don’t worry about the newly implemented Nintendo Switch Online service. You won’t need that to play Arena of Valor Nintendo Switch Edition. It’s entirely free aside from obvious microtransactions (if you can really call them that).
