13 events: every night is different

Until now, one night in Ignisfall felt a lot like the next. The horde grew, the bosses came, and the only surprises were a sudden horde and a dark storm. This update changes that: there are now 13 in-run events, and every run draws 3 to 5 of them.

How the draw works

When a run starts, the night picks its events from the land you chose. They arrive at different times, one at a time, with a breather between them, so they shape the run without piling up. A daily or weekly challenge has a fixed seed, so everyone playing it faces the same events.

Some events are threats that turn the horde against you, some are omens that bend the rules for a while, and some are opportunities: a deal you can take, if you dare.

Born of their land

Each land now has an event of its own, one you will never see anywhere else:

• Blood Rain in the Ashen Wilds: the sky bleeds, the horde runs faster and heals, but kills drop blood orbs and your life steal doubles.
• Marsh Fog in the Drowned Marsh: only their eyes show. Your aim cannot find what the fog hides, until area and fire spells burn it away.
• Requiem Bells in the Bone Catacombs: the bells toll and the dead rise once more as frail skeletons, unless Shadow damage or Hex keeps them down.

You will meet your land's event in most runs, but not all of them.

Wherever the night falls

Ten more can happen in any land. A few of our favourites:

• Blood Moon: every monster near you becomes an elite for a minute, worth far more XP and gold. It only rises late in the night, and only in a handful of runs.
• Wildfire: a ring of fire closes around you. Inside it your damage doubles; step out and you burn.
• Cursed Altar: stand on the stone to claim a rare relic, and the curse rises for the rest of the run.
• Midnight Merchant: a stall opens in the dark for a few seconds. A heal, extra rerolls or a skill level, paid with the gold you carry.
• Ghost Caravan, Ember Rain, Eclipse and False Dawn complete the set, along with the returning Surprise Horde and Dark Storm.

No event can trap you: the ring of fire breaks when a boss comes, the altar and the merchant are never forced, and every event has a limit on how much it can pile on.

Seen, not only heard

Bosses used to rise far off screen with only a sound to warn you. Now every boss and every event gets a banner, and a marker at the edge of the screen points to where the boss rose, or to the altar, the stall or the caravan. A new accessibility setting, Visual sound cues, is on by default: an elite's war horn off screen and the curse rising also show on screen.

Also in this update

• The Ashen Wilds fight back from range. A new native, the Goblin Slinger, hurls burning coals where you are running, and the Demon now spits brimstone. Circling the horde is no longer enough.
• Bosses are a real fight. They take longer to bring down, a boss kill gives at most one level instead of a burst, and every boss drops a chest.
• Unlocks, one per run. Each hunter and land now has a feat of its own: win a hunt in the Ashen Wilds to open the Drowned Marsh, then win in the Marsh for the Bone Catacombs. At most one new hunter or land unlocks per run.
• The Armory's Preparation section is gone: with six hunters who each start their own way, picking a starting skill no longer made sense.

Thank you for following along. See you in the dark, and keep the fire lit.