Heya Survivors! :cozyroe: It's time for a long awaited update in Soulstone Survivors. Thank you for being patient with us while we've worked to put this together! Today we bring you one of the most significant updates to the game yet! Path of Ascension.

Here is what is waiting for you:

• New Feature: Character Skill Tree!:

  
  You can now find character-specific nodes in the Skill Tree, which can be unlocked using skill points earned from Prestige levels, with loads of new types of skill tree effects and over 200 new nodes to learn. This update brings the skill trees for the following characters: Barbarian, Pyromancer, Hound Master, Spellblade, Arcane Weaver, Sentinel, and Paladin, with the remaining characters coming in the next update!
  

• Void Hunter Ascension:

  
  Unlock and upgrade entirely new character-exclusive mechanics through the new Character Skill Tree, ascending your powers to new levels.
  This update includes the ascension powers for the following characters: Barbarian, Pyromancer, Hound Master, Spellblade, Arcane Weaver, Sentinel, and Paladin, with the remaining characters coming in the next update!
  
  
  

• 7 New craftable weapons:

  
  In this update, we have introduced new craftable weapons for the following characters! Barbarian Bloodgod's Legacy Hound Master Dragonfire Scattergun
  Pyromancer Damnatus, Spire of Shadows Spellblade Scorching Edge
  Arcane WeaverGlacies, Rod of Eternal Ice Sentinel Noxious Longbow
  Paladin Dawnbreaker's Mace
  

• 14 new active skills:

  
  Along with the new craftable weapons, we have added new active skills! Barbarian Heavy Strike, Ground Slam Hound Master Bolt Barrage, Cyclone Shot Pyromancer Dark Swarm, Gathering Shadows Spellblade Firestorm, Fiery Blades Arcane Weaver Frost Beam, Ice Shield SentinelNoxious Shot, Venomous Volley Paladin Fissure Strike, Staggering Blow
  
  

• 21 new runes:

  
  These new special runes are unlocked through the Skill Tree of each character and can offer different ways to customize your characters for every match.
  

• New Enemies:

  
  The Caves of Dhal Zhog enemies have been completely revamped, and it now has 19 new enemies between regular and elite versions, along with an entirely new soundtrack!
  
  

• New Corrupted Void Hunters:

  
  The 7 remaining Corrupted Void Hunters joined the fray, and now if you have the Overwhelming Corruption curses active, you may find the Hound Master, the Beastmaster, the Necromancer, the Legionnaire, the Pyromancer, the Sentinel, or the Assassin.

• New Feature - Auto Aim

  
  Now you can toggle auto-aim from the options menu so that all skills that normally need to be aimed are automatically fired at the closest enemy.

Additional changes have been made to Skills & Runes, along with some additional features that we pushed for this update. Details will be listed below!

Miscellaneous updates:



• Skills that buff you will now show a duration effect in their skill icons, so it is easier to track their durations;
• Skills that summon minions will now show the amount of minions active in their skill icons, so it is easier to track how many minions you have;
• You can now rotate your character in the main menu of the game;
• Rich presence support is added. The game should be visible in Discord activity status, provided youve got the game activity enabled in your user settings.

Runes Changes:



• Focus Fire rune is now Epic. It costs 3 runic power ( up from 2). Additionally, we have increased their damage by 60%( up from 40%) and have reduced the area by 30% ( up from 20%);
• We have increased the damage from Executioner rune by 4% per different negative effect ( down from 5%);
• Generalist rune is now Epic, costs 3 Runic Power (up from 2), increases damage by 4% per different skill tag (down from 5%);
• All "Inclination" type runes (extra chance to get skills of a certain type) are now Uncommon and cost 1 runic power (down from 3);
• All "Mastery" type runes (extra skills available from a certain type) now add up to 8 skills of the type specified (up from 6);
• Reroll Mastery rune is now Uncommon, costs 1 runic power ( down from 3), and gives you 1 extra reroll for every 10 levels (up from every 5 levels);
• Surefooted rune is now Uncommon, costs 1 runic power ( down from 2), but still has the same effects, reducing damage taken by 15% and the force of pushback effects;

Skill Changes:



• Exorcism now heals the caster for 3 if you hit 4 or more enemies, instead of 0.5 per enemy hit;
• Arcane Spark damage increasedfrom 160 to 200 ;
• Chromatic Bolt negative effect strength increased by approximately 25%;
• Chromatic Bolt cooldown reduced from 7 to 5.5 seconds;
• Magic Missiles damage increased from 30 to 45;
• Spreadshot damage increased from 40 to 55;
• Spreadshot cooldown reduced from 1.2 to 1.1 seconds;
• Spreadshot range increased by 25%;
• Ricochet Shot damage increased from 100 to 180;
• Ricochet Shot cooldown reduced from 5 to 4 seconds;
• Disengage damage increased from 450 to 500;
• Chaos Bolt's maximum damage increased from 240 to 280;
• Chaos Bolt's negative effect strength increased by approximately 25%;
• Chaos Bolts range increased by 20%;
• Frost Bolts damage increased from 300 to 340;
• Frost Bolts cooldown was reduced from 1 to 0.9 seconds;
• Bladed Chakram damage increased from 120 to 200; / Stacks to apply 5 -> 4 / Total Damage 90 -> 130
• Bladed Chakram rot damage increased from 450 to 520;
• Shoot damage increased from 50 to 80;
• Shoot now applies 2 stacks of Fragility, up from 1;
• Buckshot damage increased from 100 to 140;
• Buckshot cooldown reduced from 2 to 1.8;
• Shadow Bolt cooldown reduced from 8 to 6.5;
• Shadow Bolt now fires 8 projectiles, up from 7;
• Bombardment damage increased from 220 to 250;
• Plague Rats rot damage was reduced from 600 to 480;
• Carnage damage was reduced from 350 to 300;
• Carnage cooldown increased from 5 to 5.5; / Stacks to apply 5 -> 4 / Total Damage 100 -> 110
• Carnage bleed damage was reduced from 500 to 440;

General Changes and Fixes:



• Added new sound effects when collecting experience orbs;
• Skills will now be highlighted in your skill bar when highlighting power-ups for specific skills;
• Added a General option for the game to pause when it loses focus (such as when alt-tabbing);
• Fixed issue where sometimes the player would not be able to craft a weapon even when they had all the required materials and resources;
• Fixed issue where dashing with certain characters in certain positions would cause flashes in the screen;
• Fixed issue where the range calculation for certain projectiles made them travel much further away than they should, for skills such as Chromatic Bolt;
• Fixed issue where the DPS of skills in the ending screen could be bugged by picking and removing multiple instances of the same skill;
• Fixed issue where in a very specific scenario, you could potentially get 2 of the same synergy power-ups;
• Fixed issue where Weapons Expert would not properly give you the secondary skill of a weapon;
• Fixed issue where meteors could keep falling even after you finished the level;
• Fixed issue where the Skip Active Skills checkbox would not persist if enabled during any type of endless cycle;
• Fixed tooltip issue with damage for summoned units such as Plague Rats and Frenzied Bunnies;
• Fixed issues where certain destructible scenario objects could persist in very specific situations;
• Fixed issue where healing that healed 0 health would still show a number;
• Fixed issue where the Summon Ballista would not bring the ballista closer to you when re-summoned;
• Fixed tooltip of Sugar Rush, which was not properly adjusting the values;
• Fixed issue where Prestige would appear as if counted twice in the ending screen in certain situations;
• Fixed multiple minor UI issues around the game;