This patch is about Fighters that hold the line and hit back. Draw-Fire walls now punish every attacker that connects, five legendary commanders get a clear identity, and four cards players called out get tuned. Around that, animation skins arrive, email sign-in is back with a friendlier code screen, and the card catalog learns to stack ability filters.
New
Animation skins arrive
Your Fighters can now wear animation skins that change how their attacks and heals look in combat. The launch set has 10 skins across four families: Frost Fang, Solar Cleave and Void Render for melee, Nebula Bloom, Ion Storm and Hex Sigil for magic, Plasma Lance and Starfall Arrow for ranged, and Bloom Pulse and Phoenix Mend for heals. Equip one per family in the new Animations tab of your Signal Deck, which you can open straight from the Skin Loadout button on the Play page. Every skin has a Preview button that plays it in a looping demo fight, so you see exactly what you get before you equip it. The skins you have equipped when a battle starts are the ones its replay shows. Ways to earn skins are coming next, until then every family plays its default effect.
Improved
Email sign-in is back, with a friendlier code screen
You can sign in with just an email address again. The code screen now shows which address your 6-digit code went to, with a Resend code button and a way back to fix a mistyped email, all without closing the window. The Email option also got a cleaner icon and a one-line hint, so it is obvious what it does before you click.
Sign up with Hive Keychain, no key pasting
Linking a Hive account while you sign up now goes through Hive Keychain. You approve a signature in the extension, so your keys stay with you and never touch the site. No Keychain yet? Skip the step and link your account later. The old field that asked you to paste your active key is gone.
Search and stack the ability filter in the card catalog
The card catalog's ability filter now works like the draft picker. Search abilities by name or by what they do, pick several at once, and see every card that carries any of them. Your picks stay in the link, so a filtered view survives a reload and is easy to share.
Lighter images on patch notes and the blog
Patch notes and blog images are now served at the right size for your screen, and our heaviest splash images were slimmed down, so those pages load faster. Animated images in posts now always play.
Fixed
Guild members show real activity
A guild's Members tab now shows when each member was really last active. Before, it only updated during a live connection, so active members could read as away for days. The Contribution column now focuses on Vault donations while the wider contribution system is being built.
Balance
9 changes 2 nerfs 3 buffs 3 reworksDraw-Fire Fighters hit back
Draw-Fire used to pull every enemy attack onto its Fighter and give nothing back, so fielding a Fighter that did something else was almost always the better call. Now every enemy attack that connects on a Draw-Fire Fighter takes 1 damage in return, whether it is melee, ranged or magic, and casters feel it straight on their health. If the Fighter already reflects damage with Recoil-Plate, Counter-Volley or Spell-Mirror, that reflect applies instead, so the two do not stack. The Mirror Plating ruleset doubles this retort too.
Player-feedback tuning
You told us which cards felt off, and we looked at why. Two Fighters that had no clear job get one, a commander that gave nothing now gives something, and a cheap commander that handed out too much tempo gets trimmed. Mana is unchanged on all four.
Five legendary commanders find their identity
Five legendary commanders were piles of stats without a plan. Each one trades its filler bonus for something that fits its affinity: an anti-status aura, a wall that strikes back, and three commanders that trade bulk for tempo. Mana is unchanged on all five.
Vashk, the Emberwither
Buff- Abilities
- Blight-Touch Blight-Touch, Plate-Break from Level 4
Vashk is an Epic, but Blight-Touch alone gave it one narrow trick, so it was rarely worth a slot over cheaper Fire picks. Adding Plate-Break from Level 4 lets it strip armor off the enemy front line, which turns it into a real answer to armored tanks at Gold league and above while keeping Blight-Touch as its identity.
The First Pilot
Buff- Level 1 abilities
- Slipstream Slipstream, Spearline
- Spearline unlock
- Level 4 Level 1
- New ability
- None Blink-Shift at Level 3
The First Pilot is a melee Fighter, but without Spearline until its last level it could not swing from second position, so it spent most fights waiting in the back row with no clear job. Spearline from Level 1 lets it attack from behind the tank right away, and Blink-Shift at Level 3 adds magic evasion so it survives long enough to do that job.
Nael, the Half-Woken
Buff- Commander effect
- None Health +1
Nael was a 3 mana commander that gave your team nothing, so a cheaper commander with a real effect beat it every time. A modest +1 Health for every Fighter finally gives Light players a reason to field it as an entry commander, while staying at 3 mana so it is a starter pick, not a power pick.
Vane, the Beacon
Nerf- Commander effect
- Speed +2, Health +1 Speed +1, Health +1
Vane is a Common entry commander, but a flat +2 Speed on every Fighter let a cheap fire team act first in almost every exchange, which is more tempo than a Common should hand out. Trimming it to +1 Speed keeps the fast, aggressive identity while bringing the effect back in line with every other commander's one-point modifiers, at the same 3 mana.
Aeli, Prime Coherence
Rework- Commander effect
- Enemy Magic -1, Health +1, Armor +3 Enemy Magic -1, Armor +3, grants Untouchable
Aeli already weakened enemy magic, but a plain Health bonus gave her no identity beyond being tanky. Granting Untouchable gives her team immunity to poison, stun and stat debuffs to go with her anti-magic aura, so she becomes a real counter to caster and status-heavy teams instead of a generic stat stick.
Wennas, the Eldest Bough
Rework- Commander effect
- Health +1, grants Recoil-Plate Health +1, Armor +1, grants Counterstrike
Wennas handed out Recoil-Plate, which only punishes attackers for a small fixed amount, so the Earth wall it led had no way to hit back meaningfully. Counterstrike gives each Fighter a chance to answer a melee hit with an immediate counterattack, and the extra point of Armor keeps them standing long enough to trade, giving Wennas a clear punish-the-attacker identity.
Sereth Vane
Rework- Commander effect
- Ranged +1, Health +1, grants Lift-Drive Ranged +1, Speed +1, grants Lift-Drive
Sereth Vane's Lift-Drive ranged team wants to strike first and stay out of reach, but the extra Health pulled it toward a slow defensive shape it was never built for. Replacing it with +1 Speed makes Sereth a fast flying sniper commander, so its Fighters act before the enemy and get more value from Lift-Drive evasion.
Oluna, the Tidemother
Adjusted- Commander effect
- Health +1, grants Null-Field Speed +1, grants Null-Field
Oluna's extra Health made her team slightly sturdier but did nothing for her anti-magic plan, so she read as a generic defensive pick. Swapping it for +1 Speed lets her Null-Field Fighters act before the casters they are built to shrug off, trading a little bulk for tempo.
Vhessa, the Eclipsed
Nerf- Commander effect
- Speed +1, Health +1, grants Flank Speed +1, grants Flank
Vhessa's kit is about speed and backline assassination, and the extra Health was filler that padded a team built to strike fast and fragile. Removing it keeps her Flank assassin identity intact and makes the choice to lead with her a real tempo commitment rather than a free defensive bonus.
Plus more than 20 commits of groundwork behind the scenes this cycle, for bigger features that are still on the way. Thanks for playing the alpha and telling us which cards felt wrong, this patch is built on that feedback.
Frequently asked
What changed in Patch 0.46.0?
Animation skins arrive with 10 launch skins, Draw-Fire Fighters now deal 1 damage back to every enemy attack that hits them, five legendary commanders were reworked, four cards were tuned from player feedback, email sign-in is back with a friendlier code screen, Hive Keychain replaces key pasting at sign-up, and the card catalog ability filter now supports search and multi-select.
Which cards changed?
Vashk, the Emberwither, The First Pilot, Nael, the Half-Woken and Vane, the Beacon were tuned. Aeli, Prime Coherence, Wennas, the Eldest Bough, Sereth Vane, Oluna, the Tidemother and Vhessa, the Eclipsed were reworked. Mana is unchanged on all nine.
Does Draw-Fire stack with Recoil-Plate or Spell-Mirror?
No. If the Fighter already reflects damage with Recoil-Plate, Counter-Volley or Spell-Mirror, that reflect applies instead of the Draw-Fire retort. The Mirror Plating ruleset doubles the retort.
How do I get animation skins?
Skins are equipped in the Animations tab of your Signal Deck, one per family. Ways to earn them are coming next. Until then every family plays its default combat effect.