Design Notes

December 01, 2023

Become a Cryo Chronomancer

Upgrade to unlock all the exclusive armor sets

Cold-hearted Cryo Chronomancers freeze time, and their enemies, to absolute zero. They cross the galaxies conquering worlds, claiming desirable time and space for their Empire. Get all 22 pieces of the color-customizable Cryo Chronomancer set and a character page badge when you buy any AdventureCoin or Membership pack of $10 USD or more!

After you purchase an account upgrade, select a bonus set of your choice from a list of options in your Account Manager.

Pack Details

Choose the new upgrade bonus set to unlock all the gear from the set's badge shop in your Book of Lore. The set includes:

• 2 color-customizable armors
• 5 helms
• 4 capes
• Cryostasis Cube pet
• Cryo Chronomancer's Dome ground rune
• 9 weapons
• and a character page badge

Once you've chosen the new pack on the Account Manager page, log in and open your Book of Lore. You'll find the badge shop in the Other Achievements tab.

12000 AC or 12 month membership package rewards:

• ALL the new upgrade bonus pack gear
• 7 Rep/XP/Gold/Class Points boosts
• 10 Wheel of Doom Tickets (worth 2,000 ACs!)
• and a character page badge

Boosts and Doom Tickets will be added directly to your inventory.

2k and 5k AC or 1, 3, or 6 month membership package rewards:

• ALL the new upgrade bonus pack gear
• 5 Rep/XP/Gold/Class Points boosts
• and a character page badge

December 04, 2023

HeroMart Poster Winners Announced! 🎉 🎨

The HeroMart Poster Contest was a HUGE success!

The time has finally come to unveil the extraordinary talent within our amazing community. Drumroll, please...

We are thrilled to announce the incredible winners of the HeroMart Poster Design Contest! The level of talent displayed in all the entries was truly outstanding, making the judging process challenging yet awe-inspiring. We are blown away by the incredible talent that poured into each submission, and we cannot believe how exceptionally gifted you all are 🤩

Without further ado, let's celebrate our amazingly talented artists! 

🥇 1st Place Winner: Rod_X

!!! This is absolutely incredible, Rod_X! Your art brought back so many nostalgic memories of playing AQWorlds for the first time. Seeing those classic Class trainers illustrated so beautifully on a big poster like that landed you the coveted 1st Place prize! Congratulations, Rod_X! Not only will you receive 10,000 Artix Points and the “Contest Winner” character badge in AQW, but your art will also be made into a glorious 24” x 36” Poster for everyone to enjoy at HeroMart.com. Oh, and of course we’ll be mailing you a stack of your posters since you’re going to be famous someday soon!! Amaaaaaaaazing work, Rod_X!

Head on over to Artix.com to see all our other amazing winners (and a super slow page load speed because we have like 25 winners)!

Battle on,
Beleen and the entire Artix Entertainment team who are still reeling over how incredible our community is <3 

December 01, 2023

Holiday AdventureCoin Bonus

Get 50% more ACs with any Membership or AC Pack

The holidays are here! Get 50% more FREE bonus AdventureCoins with any Adventure or Membership package for a limited time! So if you want to get a gift for that special someone (or yourself) this is a great time to do it! 

Keep an eye on the Design Notes, because we've got a bounty of rare items heading your way this Holiday Season!

• This week + next Friday: Black Friday collection rares
• Monday, November 27: new Cyber Monday rares
• Frostval + New Years gear

Get 60,000 ACs while our Summer Bonus is on!

During our Summer AC bonus, get 60,000 ACs for $99.95 (that's 20,000 ACs more than normal!) and unlock your choice of upgrade bonus pack, 15x Rep, Gold, Class Points, and XP server boosts, and the Mythic Item of Digital Awesomeness (IoDA). 

Wait...AdventureCoin Bonus?!

That's right! Several times each year, we have bonus AdventureCoin offers (example: Summer, Back to School, and during the holidays). Bonus amounts and dates may change from year to year, so keep an eye on the Design Notes and social media for more news of future bonuses.

Mythic Item of Digital Awesomeness?!

The Mythic Item of Digital Awesomeness (or MIoDA for short) is a miscellaneous item you will get by purchasing the 40k AdventureCoin pakage. Like the other IoDA items, it allows you to choose any item in the game when you redeem it through your Account Manager.

How to Claim your MIoDA Prize

Make sure you have a confirmed email address attached to your game account, and then follow these steps:

1. Decide on the item you want
2. Log into your Account Manager
3. Click on the "Awesome Prizes" link on the sidebar
4. You'll see a list of the IoDA tokens you have available
5. Choose from a list of ALL the eligible item rewards  
6. You'll be taken to a verification page to confirm your choice

December 01, 2023

Frostval Returns this Weekend

Winter Wolf Boss Battle, Achievement Tracker Rewards and more

Frostval is a time of joy, hope and defending Lore from the cold-hearted monsters wrecking Frostvale's halls.  Log in this weekend to bring the Season's Beatings as you battle through all our winter holiday events, unlock new rewards in /eventhub and more!

New game release

• Wolf of the North Winds Boss Battle in /wolflake
• Seasonal Frostval events return
• December holiday hub town in /eventhub
• Cryo Chronomancer Upgrade Bonus set
• Ice + Dessert Elemental Chronomancer sets in the Featured Gear Shop
• Class Balance Patch Notes

Events + Gear Leaving

• December 8: Harvest Fest 2023 + Black Friday 2023 rares

Weekend Daily Gifts & Boosts

• Server Boost: double EXP
• Resource Boost: Celestial Dungeon items
• Saturday: Festive Badger pet from Amarok in /wolflake
• Sunday: Winter Woodlands bow from Amarok in /wolflake

Winter Wolf Boss Battle

In the cold unforgiving Northlands wastes, a legendary wolf preys upon those foolish enough to hunt alone. Now Amarok, the North Wind, is stalking Valencia. She needs your help to fight it off atop a frozen lake of souls. Begin the battle now in /wolflake!

Journey to Frostvale

Once again the Frost Moglins of Frostvale are opening the snow-covered gates of their town to all of Lore to help you celebrate. If this is your first year with AQW then you get to play through all of the previous adventures. If you've battled alongside us for a while, then return to the Northlands and relive those super-cool memories.

Battle through fifteen years of holiday adventures in:

• Frostvale Adventures: /frostvale, /icecave, /snowpath, /factory, /frost, /snowglobe
• Into the Northlands: /northlands, /mountfrost, /kingcoal, /northlandlight
• Garaja's Ice Palace: /goldenruins
• Frozen Heart: /icevolcano, /icecavern
• The WorldEnder: /icerise, /battlefield, /frostdeep, /snowyvale, /icewindpass, 
• Frostval the Evil: /darkwinter, /ultrafrostfang
• The Cryomancer: /frozenruins, /icerisepast, /northstar, /wintersheart, /frozentower
• Cryostorm: /frostspectre, /cryostorm, /cryowar 
• Coldwind Valley: /coldwindvalley
• Frozen in Time: /frostvalpast, /frostvalpresent, /frostvalfuture, /frostvalnext, /frostvalperil
• Conflagration: /icedungeon, /howardshill, /winterhorror
• Frostval Treasures: /mountotzi, /otziwar

Holiday Reward Boss: Kitty Yu Yule

If you played the Throne of Darkness Saga, you may recognize Ziri's pet, Kitty Boo Boo! She's been possessed by the Yu Yule Cat, a spirit of Frostval that steals children who didn't receive any presents or treats. Now YULE need to stop this holiday horror before she decides to make YOU a Frostval snack!

Battle Kitty Yu Yule in the /yulecat map to collect reward drops:

• Northlands BeastHunter armor
• 2 Northlands Hunter helms
• Furred Hunter's Cape
• Northlands Hunter Blade (single and dual-wield)
• Kitty's Last Lunch polearm
• Festive Wand mace
• Kitty Yu Yule + Ziri's Holiday Horror house guards
• Festive Flying Piggy + Holiday Party Piggy house guards

Defeat Helsdottir the Ancient

Head to /helsgrove to take on Helsdottir the Ancient, a holiday boss monster designed by Despera, one of the winners of our 2021 Frostval Boss Monster Design contest. His boss art and rewards were so popular, we began working with Despera regularly, and he's created some of the most well-loved armor sets of 2022. 

Defeat Helsdottir in /helsgrove for a chance to get the following items:

• Helsgrove Guardian Armor
• Chibi Krampus Queen hairs
• Antler and Scarf helms
• Guardian Baton weapons
• and more!

Gear up for GIANT Gift Grab

Test your mettle (and metal!) against the biggest gifts of them all: Giefury* and his darker, deadlier self, GieFURIOUS! 

Both Giefury and GIE-FURIOUS have seasonal gifts for you:

• Frostval Nutcracker armor (red variant)**
• Giefurious armor set + pet
• Giefurious House Guard
• Festive Frostval Elf + Merry Frostvale Outfit armor set
• Festive Battle Elf armor (member-only)
• Blue Frosty-val Doge helm

FrostScythe also drops an version of his armor set, crafted by the incomparable Aranx just to help you celebrate Frostval!

Let the SLAY bells ring! Head to the /Gifthulu map to battle a boss monster stocked with gifts galore. 

Tinsel Arrives Next Week in Battleon!

A snowstorm is hurling rapidly towards Battleon and Battleontown! I expect snow to blanket all of Battleon tomorrow. Until then, Major Moglin's quests in Frostvale will not be available. 

After everything else we've added this week, we need a little more time to finish the winter version of town. You should  see wintery battleon -- and Tinsel's Seasonal Frostval Gift Shop  -- early next week. My apologies for the delay!

December 01, 2023

Northern Wanderer Returns

Seasonal Set available from December 1st - 31st

Winter is coming (for many of you, it's already here!), and so are all our snow-covered, ice-laden, gift-bearing holiday events! To help ALL our heroes celebrate, this month's seasonal set features the Northern Wanderers - the Northern Wanderer and Fallen Wanderer armors.

Unlock the entire set: Buy pack on the website for $9.99 USD* then find all your gear in your Book of Lore badge shop.

Buy individual set items: Talk to Garek to get items from his shop in Battleon for AdventureCoins.

The Northern Wanderer gear includes:

• Northern Wanderer Armor
• Fallen Wanderer Armor
• 5 helms 
• 6 capes
• 3 weapons

* Unlocks an exclusive character page badge 

Seasonal Set Schedule

Each month, we'll feature a new set, available only during that month every year. 

Now Available: December's Elemental Chronomancer of the Ice

Get ready to wreck the halls for the holidays, and just in time to... get ELEMENTAL with the Chronomancer of Ice! Find our newest addition to the seasonal Elemental Chronomancer series in your Featured Gear Shop until December 31st. Plus, because this month is the start of our holiday event lineup, we're also bringing you the Elemental Chronomancer of Dessert!

The Elemental Chronomancer of Ice and Dessert sets each contain:

• 1 Armor
• 2 Helms**
• 1 Rune back cape
• 1 Ground rune
• 1 Polearm

The Rune back cape each month will be available for free players so you can collect them all! 

Seasonal Set Schedule

Each month, we'll feature a new set, available only during that month every year. 

* Have you noticed the Elemental Lords growing more involved in our world... and with your Hero? O_O
**You can click to show/hide the goggles and mask on each helm in the Darkness set.
*** And as an added bonus during the holidays... the Elemental Chronomancer of Dessert will also arrive. Because Twig's Plane of Breakfast is riddled with boulders of ice cream and rivers of hot fudge... just to help you stay in the /party mood.

November 30, 2023

2024 Calendar Class: Chrono ShadowSlayer

Unlock the exclusive class when you get the 2024 Calendar

Introducing Chrono ShadowSlayer class, the newest addition to AdventureQuest Worlds! Unlock the class, armor set, and character page badge when you get the 2024 "The Game is Undead" Poster calendar.You can pre-order your 2024 Calendar NOW from HeroMart. A version will be added to the in-game HeroMart map in the later half of 2024 for HeroPoints or AdventureCoins.

Skill Breakdown

Chrono ShadowSlayer class is a fast-firing, time-traveling, monster slaying gunslinger. Its skills revolve around its trusty six-chambered sidearm, loading special rounds to create powerful effects. They can debuff their opponents, increase their own stats, and finish their opponents off with a powerful chronomancy magic silver bullet!

Unlike other classes, they don’t have an autoattack. Instead, you fire empowered shots through your skills or rapid-fire all your rounds at your opponents. However, you must pay attention to your ammo, needing to reload every six shots. You’ll need to manage your effects and your ammunition well to use this class to its full potential.

Description: Recommended enhancements: Lucky, Thief.
Stat Model: Luck Hybrid
Mana Regen: Chrono ShadowSlayers load and fire special ammunition with their firearms.

Fire!

Rank needed: 1 / Default Attack
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: 105% Hybrid as Physical
Range: Medium
Mana Cost: 15
Cooldown: 0.15 seconds

Fire as fast as you can pull the trigger! Your shots are so fast that they're unavoidable. Your cylinder holds 6 shots, needing to be reloaded when empty.

A non-automatic auto attack! This one you have to fire manually, or using your other skills. Depending on the ammunition you load, your shots can have different effects. Or, enter Gunslinger stance and fan the hammer to your heart’s content.

Reload

Rank needed: 1
Target: Self
Cooldown: 6 seconds

Load 6 shots into your revolver and refill your mana. Removes Tracer rounds and FMJ rounds.

If you have 4 or more stacks of Temporal Rift, consume them and enter Gunslinger Stance for 2 seconds, granting you free shots and generating Chaos Rifts, which block Temporal Rift and increase your Crit Damage by 20% per stack for 10 seconds.

Reload your firearm, clearing your loaded rounds and refreshing your mana. This move can punctuate your firing combos, but using it can leave you vulnerable. This skill is also how you enter Chaos Rift mode, which focuses on longer combos and fast-firing.

Tracer Rounds

Rank needed: 2
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: Status
Range: Medium
Mana Cost: 5
Cooldown: 3 seconds

Load Tracers and fire one, increasing your Defense by 20% and Dodge by 40% until you reload. Gain a Temporal Rift, stacking to 4 and lasting 10 seconds, and a HoT for 4 seconds based on max health. Replaces FMJ rounds.

Firing with Tracer rounds Paints your opponent, reducing their damage, Dodge, and Crit Chance by 6% per stack, up to 4 stacks, for 12 seconds.

Tracer rounds are your “defensive” option, allowing you to debuff your opponents and increase your own survivability. Fires a shot when you use it, and comes with a handy heal.

FMJ Rounds

Rank needed: 3
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: 147% Hybrid as Physical
Range: Medium
Mana Cost: 5
Cooldown: 1.5 seconds

Load Full Metal Jackets and fire an empowered shot, dealing additional damage and increasing your Physical Damage by 25% until you reload. Gain a Temporal Rift, stacking to 4 and lasting 10 seconds. Replaces Tracer rounds.

Firing with FMJ rounds shreds your opponent's defense by 6% per stack, up to 6 stacks, for 12 seconds.

FMJ rounds are your “offensive” option, increasing the damage your opponents take and dealing extra damage. Fires an empowered shot when you use it, doing bonus damage on top of the FMJ effect. Use this in conjunction with Tracer rounds to maintain your survivability while slowly expending ammunition.

Silver Bullet

Rank needed: 5
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: 15 - 45% recorded damage as Physical
Range: Long
Mana Cost: 5
Cooldown: 6 seconds

Fire a silver bullet, dealing powerful damage based on how much damage was dealt in the last 10 seconds while a Rift was present and emptying your rounds.

Your grand finale! This can do minor or massive damage depending on how much damage you’ve done while under a Rift aura. This class has two types of Rifts it can generate, in fact- playing around one or the other can allow you to explore different skill combos.

Passives

Reinforced Chamber

Rank needed: 4
Type: Passive

Your high-tech parts allow you to shoot faster and more powerful shots for +10% damage.

Sharpshooter

Rank needed: 4
Type: Passive

You pinpoint critical weaknesses with ease, granting you +10% Crit Chance.

Blessed Ammunition

Rank needed: 10
Type: Passive

+20% Luck.

Conclusion

Chrono ShadowSlayer has a few new mechanics- making it very different from most classes. You can rapid fire your ammo, or carefully fire boosted shots with your third and fourth skills. Don’t panic- you don’t need to break your fingers to play this class well! Slower but more powerful shots with your skills can be just as effective as rapid firing your ammo, letting you pick how you play. Or, switch between them both to make full use of the class’s mechanics.

Chrono ShadowSlayer does what you expect a Calendar class to do- hit fast and hit hard with rift nukes. Unlike other Calendar classes however, it boasts strong effects and powerful base damage, being less reliant on its rift collapses. Your two ammo types let you play defensively or offensively, or mix between them to manage both benefits at once while building your Rifts.

Once you obtain your Temporal Rifts, you can choose to spend them on your finisher right away or enter Gunslinger stance, changing your Rift types and taking on a more vulnerable but more offensive playstyle. Plan your combos carefully, balance between your styles, and you’ll find a very powerful class.