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Friday, May 22, 2026
Book 3: The Queen's Left Hand
Hey there, heroes!

This week, we have a new side quest available from Circe in Book 3 Swordhaven, written by Lorekeeper!

Circe needs some assistance with her latest mission to help Queen Victoria! And since you're such good friends, of course you're going to lend a hand!

Head over to Book 3 Swordhaven and speak to Circe to play this week's release: The Queen's Left Hand! Note: This quest requires completion of Book 3.

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Also this week, a new cosmetic helm is available for purchase!

The Ancient Ceremonial Helm of Wolves can be purchased from the DC Cosmetics shop for 300 Dragon Coins!

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The DragonSlayer rework has had a major overhaul! The new reworked DragonSlayer now has a different playstyle that's all about finding short, precise burts of damage after protecting yourself from an attack, rather than resolving a long damage combo. There are a lot of big changes, so make sure to read carefully!

First, Counters are no longer gained from all Defends. Counters are now gained if you are hit OR defend against a hit while you have a Counter effect active (Avoiding a hit does not count):

• Instinctual Counter from the Widget
  
• Prepared Counter from Counter Stance
  
• Bracing Counter from Chilling Slash
  
• Slayer's Counter from Dragonslayer

When you Counter, you'll gain 1 Analysis, and also gain Counterattack for 1 turn: +50 Bonus, +100 Boost, and +200 Crit! All skills have had their old Counter empowerments either removed or added to the default effect of the skills (or moved around!)

Other passive changes:

• Stat threshold for +50% base damage has been increased from total level +/- Level/10 to +/- 20 (i.e. from 9 to 20 diff at level 90). You still need at least Level + 10 trained in both stats, however.
  
• Weighted Armor
  • Now grants +10% direct damage reduction (changed from 5% all damage reduction)
    
  • Debuff reduced from -50 Avd/-25 Def to -30 Avd only. Since Counters are no longer gained from any Defends, the need to reduce the effectiveness of external Defense is no longer necessary.
• Instinct/Instinctual Counter
  • Passive effect reduced from +3X% all damage reduction (max 15%) to +2X% direct damage reduction (max 10%). Combined with the Weighted Armor change, you'll have the same net DR%, but more has been shifted to the passive from Instinct.
    
  • Instinctual Counter effect increased from +100 Def/-100 Avd to +120 Def/-120 Avd.
• Analysis
  • Counter renamed to Counterattack, and is no longer affected by buff detection abilities.
    
  • Counterattack changed from +50 Bonus/Crit to +50 Bonus, +100 Boost, and +200 Crit.

Skills have also been changed a lot, too!

• Attack
  • Base damage increased from 1x100% to 1x120%.
• Counter Stance
  • Turn 1 values increased from +160 Def/-160 Avd to +250 Def/-250 Avd/
    
  • CD increased from 0 to 1.
    
  • Maximum effectiveness now takes 6 turns between usages instead of 5: +0/10/40/90/160/250 (max).
• Draconic Combo
  • -Crit effects increased across the board. (These effects will still replace each other, however)
    
  • Strike: 3 turns of -25 Crit -> 6 turns of -25 Crit.
    
  • Flurry: 3 turns of -25 Crit -> 5 turns of -35 Crit.
    
  • Dive: 3/5 turns of -25 Crit -> 4 turns of -45 Crit.
• Draconic Blaze
  • CD reduced from 7 to 5.
    
  • Base damage reduced from 5x30% (150%) to 5x20% (100%).
    
  • DoT damage changed from 5 turns x 50% to 3 turns x 80% (3 turns x 100% for Reptilians/Dragons)
• Ire of Scales
  • Base damage reduced from 1x150% to 1x100% (the 50% base damage is made up for by the class stat passive)
• Wyvern Scout
  • Old effects removed, now grants 3 turns of immunity to most enemy effects.
• Phantasm of Akriloth
  • Base damage increased from 4x75% (300%) o 4x100% (400%).
    
  • Now always applies 6 turns of +50 Health to the enemy.
    
  • This attack no longer has innate +100 Bonus.
• Slayer's Stand
  • Now always grants +230 Avd (from net +180 to +200)
    
  • This attack no longer has innate +100 Bonus.
• Hone Blade
  • Effect increased from +5X% Crit damage (max +25%) to +(15+5X)% Crit damage (max +40%).
    
  • Effect now always lasts for 10 turns instead of 8/10.
• Slayer's Cleave
  • CD reduced from 12 to 10.
    
  • Now always heals 20% of max HP instead of 10% per successful hit.
    
  • No longer applies Armor Coating (moved to Wyvern Scout).
• Slayer's Keen Eye
  • Effect now always grants +100 Bonus for 6 turns.
    
  • This attack now always has innate +200 Bonus/Crit.
• Dragonbane
  • Skill position swapped with Chiling Slash.
    
  • CD reduced from 8 to 5.
    
  • Base damage reduced from 2x90% (180%) to 2x50% (100%).
    
  • Effect reduced from 5 turns of -30 All/+40 Health to 3 turns of -10 All/+10 Health.
• Chilling Slash
  • Skill position swapped with Dragonbane.
    
  • Base damage reduced from 1x120% to 1x100%.
    
  • Bracing Counter effect changed from 2 turns of +100 Def/-100 Avd to 1 turn of +50% direct damage reduction. (Still counts as a Counter if you are hit or defend!).
    
  • -Crit effect increased from -60/-90 Crit to -100 Crit.
• Dragonslayer
  • CD reduced from 14 to 8.
    
  • Slayer's Counter effect changed from 2 turns of +150 Def/-150 Avd to 1 turn of +50% direct damage reduction. (Still counts as a Counter if you are hit or defend!).
    
  • -Crit effect increased from -50 Crit to -100 Crit.

As you can see, these are some major changes! Player feedback identified that hte class was both complicated and fragile, as missing one Counter would set back your next skill. This easily snowballed into further losses, with the end result being a class that had an unreliable and usually mediocre performance.

These changes completely change the playstyle, making Counters more consistent, and focusing on short bursts, fitting the theming of the class and design as a deliberate counterattacker. As always, things are subject to change, so feedback is welcome!

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Also this week, some engine fixes & updates!

• Fixed an issue where equipping or displaying a weapon could have your Default weapon remain shown in a bugged state, which could lead to a loading crash.
  
• Fixed an issue with helms where loading an outfit could incorrectly hide hair.
  
• Fixed an issue where helms would sometimes be Shown when they weren't.
  
• Added a new option that is on by default: Keep Outfits On
  • If you have a Dragon Amulet, Keep Outfits On will keep displayed gear Shown when you equip other items to the same slot.
    
  • If you do not have a Dragon Amulet, or Keep Outfits On is toggled off, equipping gear will also immediately Show it.
  
  
• Anything else I may have forgotten!

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And that's all for this week!

• At this point, Boost debuffs are more important than ever. Draconic combo feels like a good candidate for that.
  
• Analysis generation requires scrutiny now that it is more encouraged to deploy Instinctual Counter to even have any hint of longevity worthy of a class envisioned to be on the defense spectrum. Foundationally, seems okay. On paper, too slow still.

• Omission of BDP in the Weighted Armor passive – Enough words said.
  
• Enhanced concept of Counter(attack) – Tying it to specific effects being present player-side as the price to induce is a good means of control. Retains the Pirate like feel, which was something I noticed as if it is the latter's mechanical mirror the same way Ninja (enemy side long term scripted plays) and Paladin (player-side variation) are.
  
• On-demand Armor Coating – It had its risks to be implemented for players to use, but it would’ve served as a stable bridge to the weaknesses of BDP apart from anti-Crit plays. On larger numbers like those used now for DS’ BDP, would definitely have lasting consequences on the meta. But on the previous figures, would’ve compensated well.
  
• Mostly static effect durations – By mostly, referring to the fact that the only one that dances to the presence of Counterattack is Dragon Dive seemingly to remind players of the previous iteration. Other than that, provides the class stability, but barely.

• Revised defenses are too short – If the class’s idea remains to be a defensive leaning tactic, then the current numbers meant only very brief reprieves that satisfied the folly of generating large damage, resulting in meaninglessness in boss application and being a novelty choice for mob suppression. Even the Draconic Combos potentially lengthy Crit debuff is being wasted.
  
• Damage output not justified by short-term effects of Counterattack – An aftereffect of the above.
  
• Slower Counterattack accumulation – Again, just like above, and with secondary consequences. This would make the STR/INT hybridization, and Hone Blade’s gradual Crit damage buff less meaningful; and the secondary restriction to the DragonSlayer and Phantasm of Akriloth skills redundant.
  
• DrgonSlayer skill remains meme – Probably even worse than its previous form. At least the previous form’s way with Prepared Parry was more meaningful (Seriously though from the Discord peeps, was the PP skill “refreshing” really a bug? When I saw the initial semantics, I thought was just something rehashed from Eternal and previous iteration Draco Epoch being able to recharge their extra turns plus Ninja’s Lotus).

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Even then, will retain my stance that this version is not as fantastic as the previous. Feels more like a rehashed EPL with its own set of issues. While Defense's (BDP) shortcomings are still obvious (doubled effort to actually defend against a hit, becomes flimsy in high-Crit environments), it had its beauty. Despite my recomms above, I believe that a break even between this and the previous construct would have a marked positive.

After doing some quick tests involving Neo New DragonSlayer in the new quest and comparing it to other defensive classes that I used on the same quest (Pirate, Ninja, Paladin, EPL), here are the current findings.