Hello again, Adventurers, and welcome back to the second Developer Diary for our upcoming DLC: Sands of Ulminin.

The Desert of Ulminin

In the desert of Ulminin, we can find many new enemies (more than twenty!), among them two new intelligent enemy races, the herons and the felines.

The desert map is divided into three parts. In the northern part of the map, we can find the herons. They were once the predominant race in the desert long ago, until they had to abandon the lands of the south. Now they can be found taking care of the pyramids in the north. Along the center of the map is a large canyon where the fennecs, beetles and scolopendras livewe showed them in the previous dev diary! And last, in the southern areas, there is a large oasis and the Great Pyramid of Ulmininthis is where the felines live! Speaking of the Great Pyramidit is the Sub-Zone for this map, so you will be able to enter it and explore! The great pyramid suddenly appeared one day in the sands of the desert and nobody really knows its purpose. Eventually, the pyramid opened and that is when the omniscient Basthet made herself known. The felines of Ulminin worship Basthet as a goddess and every so often make a special offering to obtain her blessing.

Two new heroes!

In this expansion DLC, we introduce two new heroes with a special new mechanic, and that is that these new heroes are multi-classes! Each hero has two classes, being able to craft and use cards of both classes at the same time. In addition, these new heroes always get four cards in each Combat Reward or Divination, two of each type from their classes. The new heroines are; Laia the Paladin (PAW-ladin?) who is a Healer-Warrior multi-class, and Navalea the Fallen, a Warrior-Mage multi-class.

Laia the Paladin

For generations, the felines of Ulminin, in order to maintain Basthet's blessing, have the ritualistic custom of offering her a young girl when her paladin dies. Laia was chosen to be the next paladin and was raised and trained by Basthet. Basthet promised her that one day she would be released from her duties and prophesied that she would find a group of adventurers who would prove worthy of her. Laia is a healer who is proficient in the way of the warrior and she specializes in a new aura, Zeal.

Navalea the Fallen

Navalea, the first paladin of Basthet, broke her oath when she joined her people in the war against the Archons. When she returned from the war, Basthet cursed her and had her locked away forever. Believing she was wrongfully imprisoned, her hatred grew for centuries, corrupting her body and soul until one day her imprisonment ended, and a group of adventurers helped her. Navalea is a warrior who is proficient in the way of the mage and she specializes in a new curse, Scourge.

Two new Auras/Curses

With this new DLC, we are adding 2 new status effects: Zeal and Scourge. Zeal is an aura that greatly increases your resistances, and gives a bonus to healing yourself with Sanctify. Zeal also increases the amount of damage you deal if you have Burn charges on yourself! Scourge is a curse that increases the damage the target receives from Dark explosions. It also deals damage based on the number of Chill charges on a target, and will spread the targets Dark charges to any enemies beside it. Although it is true that the two new heroines are the ones who have easier access to these new auras/curses, the other classes also have new cards to use. But beware! Many of the foes youll encounter in Ulminin will also be able to use these abilities!
We hope that with the introduction of these two new heroines and Scourge and Zeal, the possibilities of making themed adventuring groups will grow exponentially!

And much more!

In addition to adding more than 20 new cards for heroes, weve also made changes and introduced new mechanics (such as damage based on Speed) to many of the existing cards! More than 30 new items have been added for you to collect and equip your parties with! New features such as being able to spend supplies to rank up heroes that are already rank 10 or higher when you have the town upgrades fully unlocked! Or quality-of-life things like a random hero selection button, to test your might with a random group of heroes! Thats all, folks! Were getting close to completing the DLC. Right now were working on the final polish and will be getting everything wrapped up. No date to confirm just yet, but you know that as soon as we have a date set we will let you know! For now, we hope you enjoy this look at whats to come. As always, if you have any comments, feedback, or want to hang out with our community and find folks to adventure with in Across the Obelisk, join our Discord! Much love, - The ATO Team