Hexcaster

0.13.0

• Skills reworked from Brad's skill list:
  • Passive is now The Pactkeeper: specters last 15s (was 12s), and the Patron stays as long as you keep killing hexed enemies (+1.5s per hexed kill, elite +3s, boss +6s; was 0.5/1/2s)
  • Hexblade (was Pact Blade): while the Patron is out, hits release eldritch arcs that chain between enemies
  • Eldritch Blast now looks like a green lunar spike, fires a single bolt, and bursts in a much bigger explosion while the Patron is out (instead of firing extra bolts)
  • Misty Step bursts on landing while the Patron is out, Hexing everything nearby
  • Hexblade's Influence is the new name for the special
• New skills (all available from the start; pick them on the loadout screen):
  • Hexbreaker (primary): twin kite shields. Jab, jab, then a slam that sends a Hexing cone of force forward, hurling enemies away (longer and wider while the Patron is out)
  • Eldritch Storm (secondary): 10 small seeking bolts for 25% each that split up across the enemies in front of you and Hex them (16 while the Patron is out)
  • The Patron's Grasp (secondary): a void tendril that Hexes and pulls the target to you (bosses pull you to them). Patron: it tears through every enemy in its path
  • Armor of Agathys (utility): a 20% barrier; while it holds, attackers take 100% damage back and are slowed and Hexed. Patron: double barrier and damage
• Every skill now has a Patron bonus; Hexblade's Influence's is a 50% bigger burst and double Withering
• Every hexed death heals you 1%, whoever landed the kill (was 3%, only on your own kills)
• New look: a cleaner, simpler colour scheme: purple armour, dull purple leather and a black suit. The helmet's visor no longer turns see-through
• Lighter model: the body has about a third of the triangles it had (29.6k → 10.4k) and the short sword about a quarter fewer, with the same look
• New character-select portrait in the style of the vanilla survivors
• Items now show on Hexcaster. Every item and equipment display is placed on his body (converted from Commando's placements to fit his skeleton and size), instead of the broken placeholder displays
• Performance: less work on every hit in the game, the blade trail and Patron's Favor bar no longer do work every frame when idle, and fewer per-frame memory allocations
• Balance: damage toned down. Short sword chops 160% → 130%, sweep 450% → 360%, Hexblade's Curse 300% → 220%, Withering 60%/s → 35%/s, Patron strikes 600% → 420%, Patron bonus per specter +25% → +15%
• Eldritch Blast reworked: 2 charges, casts about 30% faster, faster bolt; damage per bolt 400% → 225%
• New skill icons for all five skills, and a Hexcaster character-select portrait (replacing the template's placeholders)
• Rewritten descriptions: proper character-select tips and lore, a fuller Hex keyword, Hex keyword tooltips on the short sword and Eldritch Blast, and tidier numbers in the text
• Removed leftover template and retired code (the template's sword, gun, roll and bomb skills, the old Hex special, Arms of Hadar), so less is loaded at startup
• Existing configs get the new numbers automatically (only the settings this patch changed)

0.12.1

• README: added an AI disclosure, a work-in-progress note and updated credits
• Text now calls Hexcaster's weapon a short sword

0.12.0

• The Patron now roams the battlefield on its own, flying from enemy to enemy (hexed ones first) and diving at them, instead of hovering over your shoulder
• Every hexed kill while the Patron is out keeps it around longer (+0.5s, elite +1s, boss +2s, up to 30s left)
• Hexblade's Curse now also makes hexed enemies near you wither for 8s (60% damage per second, no procs)
• New Hex and Cursebrand icons
• All of Hexcaster's effects are now eldritch green
• New animations: motion-captured run, jump, primary slashes and Eldritch Blast cast, plus smoother hand-made animations (overlap, arcs, easing, follow-through)
• Run animation plays a little slower for longer-looking strides (config: "Run animation speed"); movement speed is unchanged
• The config file is now com.Bradthefae.Hexcaster.cfg. Your old com.bradb.Hexcaster.cfg settings are copied over automatically the first time

0.11.0

• New special: Hexblade's Curse replaces Arms of Hadar. It's a 20m curse-burst that Hexes everything it hits, followed by 6s of Cursebrand (every hit Hexes, and hexed deaths spread to 3 enemies)
• Balance: Hex 8s → 6s, heal on hexed kill 4% → 3%, Hex jump range 15m → 20m. Specters 15s → 12s at 50% strength (was 60%). Favor per hexed kill 10 → 6 (elite 20 → 12, boss 30 → 25), per short sword hit 2 → 1.5, per special hit 0.5 → 2, drain 4/s → 5/s
• Existing config files get the new balance numbers automatically (once)

0.10.1

• Fixed recoloured effects drawing opaque dark smears instead of fading out
• Fixed particle error spam from the lobby portal

0.10.0

• Patron's Favor, Accursed Specters and the Patron
• Eldritch Blast fires extra bolts while the Patron is out; Misty Step can swap places with a specter

Earlier

• Custom model, short sword, animations, lobby portal intro