What's this? A new update for Element TD 2? That's right, we're back with some significant changes! We've got performance improvements, quality of life, a bunch of balance updates, and a new difficulty to test your skills against. Read on for the full notes! [hr][/hr] [h2][b]Improvements[/b][/h2] [h3][b]General[/b][/h3][list] [*] Spatial Hash applied. In short, this results in major performance improvements, especially on the CPU end. [*] Singleplayer games no longer need to connect online to submit to leaderboard. As a result, we've removed the "online" checkbox in singleplayer entirely, because it's no longer necessary. [*] Legendary difficulty added (250% HP, 15x Score) [*] Czech and Italian localization updated [*] When a player leaves in co-op, their towers are no longer sold and instead ownership is transferred [*] There is now a ready button before first wave start in all modes except Ranked [*] Ranked match desync detector relaxed a bit [*] Ranked has been adjusted from Very Hard to Insane Difficulty [/list] [h3][b]Bug Fixes[/b][/h3][list] [*] Disconnected from Steam message no longer blocks the game by spamming [*] Fixed Tesla Tree connections broken on load checkpoint [*] Fixed bug with achievements for mission 7 and 9 in campaign [*] Fixed Corrosion and Incantation not being impacted by Diminishing Returns [*] Fixed a bug with Nuclear tower where % of HP damage was calculated based on each creep itself not the target creep [/list] [hr][/hr] [h2][b]Balance Changes[/b][/h2] [h3][b]Global[/b][/h3] Most towers are receiving range buffs across the board, increasing their overall usability. [b]Essence[/b] picks are indirectly buffed from [b]Level 4 Singles[/b] being cheaper and (mostly) more powerful. You have more starting gold, and [b]Level 3 Elementals[/b] are a little easier to kill. On the nerf side of things, [b]6 Element[/b] has remained a dominant build due to the potency of stacking all their support towers ([b]Triples & Quads[/b]), as well as [b]Periodic[/b] being exceedingly powerful. We've made some adjustments there. [list] [*] Interest rate pick bonus reduced from 0.65% to 0.6% [*] Diminishing Returns increased from 12% to 13% [*] Diminishing Returns stack cap increased from 6 to 7 [*] The following Quads now contribute to Diminishing Returns: Phantom Zone, Rage, Nuclear, Shredder, Gravity Cannon, Singularity [*] Periodic and Level 4 Single Element total cost reduced from 16000 to 13750 [*] 750 range towers increased to 850 range [*] 900 range towers increased to 1000 range [*] 1150 range towers remain the same [*] 1500 range towers reduced to 1450 range [*] Some towers that were previously 1500 range are now 1750 range. These are listed in tower notes below. [*] Starting gold increased from 250 to 300 [*] Mazing bonus starting gold increased from 350 to 375 [*] Ranked starting gold increased from 1300 to 1500 [*] Extra Short starting gold increased from 7000 to 7500 [*] Boss Hunt starting gold increased from 120000 to 130000 [*] Elemental Level 3 Base HP reduced from 22500 to 20000 [*] Elemental HP wave multiplier increased from x1.5 to x1.515 [*] Healing creep heal rate reduced from 30% to 25% [/list] [h3][b]Base Towers[/b][/h3][list] [*] Arrow tower range increased from 900 to 1150 [*] Arrow tower damage increased from 60 to 62 [*] Periodic tower damage reduced from 52000 to 39000 [/list] [h3][b]Single Element Towers[/b][/h3][list] [*] Light increased from 1500 to 1750 range [*] Darkness increased from 1150 to 1450 range [*] Level 4 Water tower damage increased from 35640 to 38880 [*] Level 4 Fire tower damage increased from 14040 to 17280 [*] Level 4 Fire tower bonus damage increased from 468 to 576 [*] Level 4 Nature tower damage increased from 37620 to 47880 [*] Level 4 Earth tower shockwave damage reduced from 17640 to 15120 [*] Level 4 Light tower damage increased from 56160 to 70200 [*] Level 4 Light tower consecutive bonus damage increased from 1404 to 1620 [*] Level 4 Darkness tower damage increased from 129600 to 151200 [/list] [h3][b]Dual Element Towers[/b][/h3][list] [*] Geyser tower ability AoE increased from 300 to 300 / 350 / 400 [*] Lightning tower bounce damage retained increased from 85% / 88% / 91% to 85% / 90% / 95% [*] Infernal tower given 75 AoE [*] Ice tower damage reduced from 850 / 3400 / 13600 to 700 / 2800 / 11200 [*] Howitzer tower range increased from 1500 to 1750 [*] Howitzer tower damage reduced from 190 / 760 / 3080 to 175 / 700 / 2800 [*] Well, Blacksmith, and Trickery range increased from 900 to 1150 [/list] [h3][b]Triple Element Towers[/b][/h3] Mostly buffs here. Except [b]Money Tower[/b]. It no longer grants additional gold over time.[list] [*] Ethereal tower damage increased from 900 / 3600 to 950 / 3800 [*] Ethereal tower bonus damage increased from 75 / 300 to 95 / 380 [*] Wisp tower damage increased from 750 / 3000 to 850 / 3400 [*] Haste tower max speed increased from 5.5 / 6.5 to 6 / 7 [*] Golem tower attack downtime reduced from 4 to 3.5 seconds [*] Money tower passive gold generation removed [*] Money tower damage multiplier increased from 20% / 40% to 25% / 50% [*] Runic tower damage reduced from 1125 / 4500 to 925 / 3700 [*] Flamethrower tower Napalm damage increased from 210 / 840 to 230 / 920 [/list] [h3][b]Triple Element Support Towers[/b][/h3] Many of these towers were close if not matching effectiveness in damage to the [b]Triple Element Damage Towers[/b]. This contributed heavily to [b]6 Element[/b] dominance. As a result, we've severely reduced their damage.[list] [*] Corrosion tower damage reduced from 140 / 560 to 90 / 360 [*] Incantation tower damage reduced from 475 / 1900 to 375 / 1500 [*] Jinx tower damage reduced from 1100 / 4400 to 750 / 3000 [*] Muck tower damage reduced from 900 / 3600 to 600 / 2400 [*] Nova tower damage reduced from 500 / 2000 to 350 / 1400 [*] Nova tower slow duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds [*] Polar tower damage reduced from 1000 / 4000 to 700 / 2800 [*] Root tower damage reduced from 90 / 360 to 50 / 200 [*] Root tower AoE increased from 200 to 300 [*] Windstorm tower damage reduced from 725 / 2900 to 400 / 1600 [*] Windstorm tower slow duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds [/list] [h3][b]Quad Element Towers[/b][/h3] As mentioned earlier, numerous [b]Support Quads[/b] now contribute to Diminishing Returns. Some have received buffs; others nerfs. On the whole, [b]Damage Quads[/b] are buffed. This should result in [b]6 Element[/b] no longer being overwhelmingly powerful while retaining their usability in [b]4 Element[/b] and [b]5 Element[/b] builds.[list] [*] Archdruid tower AoE increased from 300 to 400 [*] Archdruid damage multiplier increased from 5% to 7% [*] Crystal Spire spirit range increased from 600 to 650 [*] Crystal Spire spirit count increased from 9 to 10 [*] Doom max damage increased from 25200 to 27000 damage [*] Gravity Cannon slow down duration increased from 0.5 seconds to 0.75 seconds [*] Gravity Cannon damage reduced from 12400 to 9000 [*] Life Altar damage reduced from 8500 to 8000 [*] Life Altar duration reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds [*] Life altar no longer affects illusions [*] Nuclear tower damage reduced from 10000 to 8000 [*] Nuclear tower % of HP damage increased from 0.25% to 0.3% per second [*] Nuclear tower base damage per second reduced from 6000 to 3000 [*] Obelisk base explosion damage fixed (was incorrectly set to 0 but should be 4000) [*] Obelisk tower damage reduced from 4500 to 4000 [*] Phantom Zone damage reduced from 16000 to 14000 [*] Plague tower stack damage increased from 675 to 700 [*] Rage damage multiplier increased from 20% to 25% [*] Railgun ability damage increased from 62500 to 70000 [*] Railgun passive charge increased from 25 to 40 [*] Tesla now receives an additional 1000 damage per tower in the chain [*] Nuclear tower slow increased from 30% to 35% [*] Shredder damage reduced from 13000 to 10000 [*] Shredder tower creep HP after split reduced from 60% to 55% [*] Singularity damage increased from 13000 to 13200 [*] Tsunami tower ability damage reduced from 23000 / 55000 / 95000 / 145000 to 22000 / 52000 / 90000 / 135000 [/list] As per usual, with a balance update, [b]Leaderboards[/b] have been reset. Additionally, [b]Ranked Season 7[/b] has begun! [hr][/hr] We hope you enjoy this latest update to the game. Try out all kinds of new strategies, and see how much better the game performs (especially in [b]Co-op[/b]). Let us know what you think of the update on [url=https://discord.gg/W7FWK8w]our Discord[/url]! After this update, we have one more major update planned, which will cover long-term server support. You can read about those details [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1018830/view/4205876369762836448]here[/url]. [hr][/hr] Lastly, [b]Element TD 2[/b] is on sale for the [b]Steam Summer Sale 2024[/b]! Let your friends (and enemies) know they can pick up both the base game and the [b]Mazing DLC[/b] for 50%!