Steel and Spellfire

Every ability in the game has new effects, sounds and animation. Meteor finally lands like a meteor. The spear joins Guard, leaps fly for real, and you can now see how far someone has upgraded their gear.

Combat Effects

• Every ability in every combat style has its own effects and sound, from a dagger's Shadowstep to the biggest Arcana spells. Spells are no longer simple orbs: bolts, lances, chain lightning, novas, storms and runes each have their own look.
• Meteor tears open the sky, drops a burning rock onto a marker that fills as it falls, and leaves a smoking crater behind.
• Heals and buffs glow on the target and on the ground, with sigils, light columns and rising motes. Every buff, debuff and status effect has its own clear look on players and monsters.
• Shield Throw throws the shield you're actually holding, and Hatchet Toss throws your own axe.
• Ground markers are quieter and cleaner, so the abilities themselves do the talking. Your own aim, your allies' spells and enemy attacks each have their own colour, and enemy and boss attack markers darken as they fill so you can see exactly when they hit.
• Holy Fog rolls out as a soft healing mist that settles on the ground, with gentle heal glyphs rising from it. The censer's incense cloud uses the same mist.
• Bows, crossbows, wands, staffs and tomes are much quieter, with short clean shots instead of long ringing tails. A bow's basic shot no longer twangs.

Leaps and Blink

• Leaping Cleave and Vault fly a real arc high into the air, over monsters, fences and low walls, and both reach up to 12 m where you aim. You can't use them to climb onto anything taller than a normal jump.
• You can't be hit while you're in the air during a leap.
• Backstep Shot is a backflip that fires at the top of the flip.
• Blink teleports you up to 15 m to wherever you aim, with a new look. It won't take you through walls or onto rooftops.
• Leaps and Blink void an agility course run.

Spear, Halberd and Flail

• The spear is now a one-handed Guard weapon. It trains and requires Guard, and your shield now shows when you carry one.
• New spear trait, Spearwall: while you guard, the first enemy to step into your spear's reach is struck and stopped.
• Every spear ability has been reworked for spear and shield. Impale taunts, Set Spear is braced behind your shield, and Dragon's Reach protects allies behind you. Vault is now a true pole vault: you plant the spear's tip, flip over it, and land driving the point into the ground. Your hotbar keeps them.
• The halberd can now attack while guarding, at reduced damage, without lowering its guard.
• The halberd's Hook and the flail's Chain Lash reach 8 m and drag foes up to 6 m toward you.
• Pike Wall plants copies of your own halberd in front of you.
• Morning Star Storm spins much faster.

Arcana

• Ley Line is placed where you aim, as a circle.

Gear

• Upgraded gear now looks upgraded. Every weapon, shield and armour piece gains finer craftsmanship at +1, ornament at +2, and a masterwork flourish with a small glowing gem at +3.
• Leather armour now looks like the animal it's made from. Precision leather is sleek, fitted assassin gear. Warhide is savage barbarian armour hung with the bones, tusks, fangs, claws, horns and talons of the beasts you hunted for it.
• Runeblades are blades of living magic: crystal energy blades with glowing cores, orbiting rune rings and floating shards that grow grander with each tier.
• Found gear's claw marks no longer cover the +N tag, and the tooltip explains them.

Graphics

• Ambient occlusion no longer draws faint horizontal lines in fullscreen with MSAA, and now works with FXAA and SMAA too.