Surprise! Highguard has another "heaping pile of fresh, free content" for you, including a new warden, map, a ranked mode, mount, and a variety of QoL tweaks, too.
The new free-to-play PvP raid shooter hailing from some of the creators of Respawn's Apex Legends and Titanfall only released a couple of weeks ago, but that hasn't stopped developer Wildlight from dropping a second "major update" in as many weeks, this time introducing Episode 2.
New warden Ekon is described as a legendary monster-slayer who shapeshifts into a powerful direwolf to track and hunt his prey. The last of a long line of ancient magic wielders known as the Wildwalkers, once thought extinct, Ekon jumps into action when his mentor, and closest thing to family, goes missing in the lost land of Highguard.
His passive ability, Dread, reveals the heartbeat of wounded enemies, and their heartbeats will continue to be visible until they are dead or regen their health. His tactical, Wolf Spirit, lets you hunt the nearest enemy and apply Dread — even across long distances and through walls and rocks — and ultimate ability Wolf Form sees him turn into a powerful direwolf that can track and hunt mounted enemies.
As for the new map Skydrift? Coming to the 3v3 and now permanent 5v5 rotation, wardens can navigate through hollowed-out caverns once home to great winged-beasts, spar off against one another in an ancient ring of stone, and ride across huge chain bridges and through "remarkable Sky Jumpers to reach Skydrifts highest point — a palace above the clouds." The full notes are included below.
Highguard Episode 2 Patch Notes — Out February 6
A NEW WARDEN ARRIVES — EKON
A legendary monster-slayer who shapeshifts into a powerful direwolf to track and hunt his prey. Ekon is the last of a long line of ancient magic wielders known as the Wildwalkers, once thought extinct. When his mentor, and closest thing to family, goes missing in the lost land of Highguard, there is no monster or warden this great predator will allow to stand in his way.
Dread (Passive)
Reveal the heartbeat of wounded enemies. Once an enemy Warden is low health, they are highlighted in pulsing beats until they are dead, or their health regenerates.
Wolf Spirit (Tactical)
Unleash a spirit wolf to hunt the nearest enemy and apply Dread. This Wolf Spirit travels long distances, moving straight through rocks and structures to find its prey. If seen in time, it can be shot down. This ability can be cast in human form, or in Wolf form.
Fearsome Howl (Ultimate)
Apply Dread to all enemies across the map and increase your movement speed. This ability can be cast in human form, or in Wolf form.
Wolf Form
Ekon doesn’t ride an animal into battle, he becomes one — transforming into a powerful direwolf that tracks, hunts, and runs down mounted enemies. While in this form, Ekon’s speed is unmatched by other mounts. Through a full third-person point of view, the direwolf can see around cover. When moving in for an attack, weapons are laid down in favor of Ekon’s deadly bite attack, which will dash forward and bite a prey before immediately transforming back to human form to finish off the job. Attacking without a target will allow Ekon to perform a small air dash to traverse maps more athletically. In addition, while in Wolf Form, Ekon can track an enemy’s scent that they leave in their path. Ekon can use all of his other powers while in Wolf Form.
A NEW LOCATION IS DISCOVERED — SKYDRIFT
Far west of Headwall, beyond the vast, uncharted lands of Highguard where the maps go blank and expeditions go missing lies the fabled lost city of Skydrift recently awakened.
Wardens can navigate through hollowed out caverns once home to great winged-beasts, spar off against one another in an ancient ring of stone, and ride across colossal chain bridges and through remarkable Sky Jumpers to reach Skydrifts highest point – a palace above the clouds.
Skydrift is added to the map rotation in 3v3 and 5v5.
THE STAKES HAVE NEVER BEEN HIGHER — RANKED MODE
Gain Ranked Points (RP), earn point modifiers and climb the ranks to claim your rewards. Go from Bronze (Hare) to Grandmaster (Leviathan) if you’ve got what it takes! Visit the Headwall menu in game to see more information.
Ranked Structure
Fairness
Scoring System
We think if you win big, you should score big.
Victory has 3 versions, before the modifiers are applied.
For defeat:
Other modifiers:
Imbalance Protection
Requirements
Maps
Rewards
A NEW BEAST HAS BEEN TAMED — WOLF MOUNT
WOLF
Loyal pack hunter of the wild. The new wolf mount is free to all players.
GEAR UP PHASE UPDATES
One consistent point of feedback we’ve heard is that the Gear Phase needs improvements.
We’re tackling that in 4 ways for the launch of Episode 2, and we’ll continue to work on that phase in the future.
Better POI Loot
Red Weapon Chests in POIs now contain Masterwork weapons.Masterwork weapons have improved stats within their rarity. Blue Masterworks are better than Blues, but still less quality than Purple. Players can still loot upgraded weapons outside of POIs, but the Masterwork versions of weapons each round are only found in POIs.
Ultimate Chargers
These items are found in white barrels in POIs, but we’ve seen that players are having a hard time identifying that. In order to make that clear, white barrels that contain Ultimate Chargers now have an obvious gold glow.
Waypoint Markers
When you leave your base in the gear phase, waypoint icons will guide players towards the Points of Interest. They’re also pingable so players can communicate intent without voice comms.
The map will also communicate that POIs contain Masterwork Weapons and Ultimate Chargers.
Speed Gates
Speed Gates are always on when a player is near them, instead of only when a Shieldbreaker is present. This should allow players to get back to fights after respawning,
QUALITY OF LIFE & NEW FEATURES
As we continue to improve the game through feedback, bug fixing and small features, we will document them here. When necessary, we’ll use “dev notes” to give context on why we made a specific change.
Stats 1.0
Players want stats! For Episode 2 we have added a Stats menu to Headwall.
The stats tracked here are mostly retroactive from Episode 1.
Raid Attack and Defense success stats are new for Episode 2, as we are just now starting to track these stats.
We will continue to expand this feature in future episodes.
New Orange Weapon Mods:
We will continue to mix up orange weapon mods. For Episode 2, we are adding variety and not removing anything.
Technical Updates
Gameplay Updates:
Lobby/Menu Updates:
Weapon Updates:
Vanguard
Longhorn
Viper – Impact Rounds
Item Updates:
Character Updates:
Slade
Redmane
Mara
Una
Atticus
Quest:
The Quest is designed to be a set of difficult challenges to complete over the course of an Episode for some free rewards and bragging rights. Because Episode 1 was only 2 weeks long, we decided to keep the Episode 1 Quest active through Episode 2. We’ll be back in Episode 3 with more challenges and more rewards.
Bug Fixes:
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
