Design Notes

November 29, 2024

Phantom Chronomancer Class

Reap Your Rewards

Introducing the Phantom Chronomancer class, the newest addition to AdventureQuest Worlds! Unlock the class, armor set, and character page badge when you get the 2025 Poster calendar. You can pre-order your 2025 Calendar NOW from HeroMart. A version will be added to the in-game HeroMart map in the later half of 2025 for HeroPoints or AdventureCoins.

This year's calendar class combines time and death to create a dodge based calendar class that can dish out large amounts of damage.

Phantom Chronomancer Details

Description
Recommended enhancement: Wizard. When a Chronomancer refuses to die a natural death, a Phantom Chronomancer pays them a visit, carrying out their execution by draining them of their temporal powers.

Stat Model
Power Caster

Mana Regen
The Phantom Chronomancer gains mana when they:

  • Strike an enemy in combat (more effective on crits)
  • Are struck by an enemy in combat

Combat Skills

The Clock is Ticking

Rank needed: 1 / Auto Attack
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: 40% - 280% Magical as Physical, static
Range: Medium
Cooldown: 1.8 seconds

Swing your scythe at your opponent, dealing unavoidable damage while applying No Escape From Death, reducing their Dodge by 30%, outgoing damage by 20%, and Crit Chance by 15% for 20 seconds. Damage dealt is based on the number of Seconds to Midnight stacks you have. 

An Auto Attack, but with a Scythe (and some hefty target debuffs)!

Reaping Rift

Rank needed: 1
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: 40% Magical
Range: Medium
Mana Cost: 4
Cooldown: 3 seconds

Harvest your opponent's time to use against them. Applies Temporal Rift for 10 seconds, which stacks to 4 and is used by your other abilities.

If Death Sentence is active, it's consumed to apply Guillotine, reducing your opponent's Physical and Magical Resistance by 45% for 12 seconds.

The calendar class special, Temporal Rift. Stack this up, and you'll be doing lots of damage in no time. This skill also has an added effect of debuffing your target's resistance stats when certain conditions are met.

The Clock Strikes at Midnight

Rank needed: 2
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: 55% - 385% Magical, static
Range: Long
Mana Cost: 10
Cooldown: 3 seconds

Begin the countdown to your opponent's demise. Applies Seconds to Midnight for 12 seconds, increasing the damage of each successive hit of this skill, up to 4 times. 

If Death Sentence is active, it's consumed to apply Impalement, increasing your outgoing damage by 20% for 12 seconds.

A fairly straightforward skill. The more you use it, the more damage it deals to contribute to your rift collapse skill. If Death Sentence is up, you'll also receive a nice boost to your damage output!

Final Hours

Rank needed: 3
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: 290% Physical as Magical, static
Range: Long
Mana Cost: 45
Cooldown: 3 seconds

An unavoidable attack that signals the end for your opponent. If you don't have Temporal Rift, you Enshroud your presence, increasing your Dodge by 40% while healing you over time for 10 seconds.

If you have 4 stacks of Seconds to Midnight, applies Death Sentence, increasing your Crit Chance by 30% for 3 seconds.

A very expensive skill mana cost wise, but arguably your most important one. Firstly, using this skill while you don't have Temporal Rift grants you 40% Dodge, which is enough to max out your Dodge when paired with certain enhancement traits, and an HoT which is this class' only source of healing. Secondly, when you have 4 stacks of Seconds to Midnight and use this skill, you'll get the Death Sentence aura, which can either be used to increase the likelihood of your rift collapse skill critting, or can be consumed with Reaping Rift or Seconds to Midnight to apply a powerful effect, allowing for even more damage to be done. If you have enough mana to spare, you can benefit from multiple effects at the same time! 

Time of Death

Rank needed: 5
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: 8% - 24% recorded damage as Magical
Range: Long
Mana Cost: 0
Cooldown: 12 seconds

Carry out your opponent's execution, dealing damage based on the amount you've dealt in the last 10 seconds while Temporal Rift was active. Damage scales with each stack of Temporal Rift and consumes those stacks. Removes Seconds to Midnight and Death Sentence.

Last but not least, the rift collapse skill. The more damage you deal while under the effect of Temporal Rift, the more damage this skill does. When you use this skill, it consumes your Temporal Rift and Seconds to Midnight stacks, so if you want to want to balance your Dodge chance upkeep with your damage output, you might want to use this skill sooner than later.

Passive Skills

Sharpened Scythe 

Rank needed: 4
Type: Passive
Hit Chance and Crit Chance increased by 10%.

A Swift Death

Rank needed: 4
Type: Passive
Haste and Dodge increased by 20%.

Harvested Time

Rank needed: 10
Type: Passive
Outgoing magic damage increased by 25%.

Conclusion

Phantom Chronomancer has a fairly straightforward playstyle that involves balancing your dodge upkeep with your damage output. When you max out your Temporal Rift and Seconds to Midnight stacks, you can use Time of Death out the door to deal a fair amount of damage and refresh your Dodge buff reliably, or you can build your Time of Death damage even higher by applying your Guillotine and Impalement auras first, but at a severe cost to mana while also risking your dodge upkeep.

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October 09, 2024

Martial Artist Class Skill Preview

16th Birthday Class Skills Preview

We're kicking (and punching) off AQW's 16th Birthday Event with the release of the new Martial Artist class!

Martial Artist is a late game single target dodge class that utilizes three fighting stances based on some of our most iconic monsters, the Frogzard, Gorillaphant, and Dragon. The stance you take changes the effect of your other skills, meaning there is more than one way to play the class!

How to Unlock the Class

There are two ways to unlock Martial Artist:

  • Seek out The Master in /hakuvillage, who will only pass on his techniques if you defeat enough Frogzards, Gorillaphants, and Dragons. How many? That will be up to The Master to decide.
  • Talk to Quibble Coinbiter. The rare, color-customizable Master Martial Artist will be available in his Birthday Rares Shop and collection chest.

Important Details:

  • You need to be at least level 65 to begin the quests to unlock. 
  • Playing around 3 hours a week, it would take a level 65 Hero roughly 4 weeks to unlock the class.
    (Or about 20 days if you do every day's daily quest.)

Your trainer is a very old, very wise, very... overzealous old Master. What he wants you to do maaaaaaaaaaaaaaay not be the most *cough* practical. Do what he asks to begin with, and see where the quests take you. There are many ways a clever hero can achieve their goal and while still adhering to the letter of The Master's requests.

Martial Artist Class Updates (October 18th)

Many of you took to different social media sites this past week to express your disappointment regarding the newly released Martial Artist class. We hear you loud and clear, and are making some much needed changes based on your feedback.

  • The Good News: We just released this year's birthday class; Martial Artist, which uses a (mostly) unique Auto Attack function!
  • The Not So Good News: Martial Artist's Auto Attack function is heavily reliant on server connectivity, meaning players with higher server response times are seeing noticeably poorer performance than those with lower response times. Additionally, many of you feel that the class requires way too many skill inputs. 

In order to keep a level playing field between players in different regions while also reducing the amount of times buttons need to be pressed, we shifted Martial Artist from its connection-based, manual Auto Attack, to a standard Auto Attack. This means that the way the class plays has been significantly changed, but its overall performance levels remain roughly the same, while still keeping a higher skill ceiling than most classes.

Read more details on the Class Changes in the Balance Patch Notes here. Once again, a big thank you to all who left their feedback on Martial Artist. We hope you have a much more enjoyable experience with the new version of the class! 

Martial Artist Details

Description: Recommended enhancement - Lucky
Stat Model: Dodge Melee
Mana Regen: All skills (except Pummel) regain 100 mana when used (affected by Mana Consumption).

Combat Skills

Pummel

Rank needed: 1 / Default Attack
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: 105% Physical
Range: Melee
Mana Cost: 50
Cooldown: 0.5 seconds

Strike your target with a powerful punch. Applies different effects based on your current Stance. Can't miss. Must be pressed in order to use.

A non-automatic auto attack! This skill won't fire off unless you manually press it. Your punches apply different effects based on the Stance you're in, but you can only punch TWO times max before needing to swap Stances (unless a certain aura is active). This is also the only skill on Martial Artist that deals damage to your target, so be sure to keep using it or else you won't get anywhere!

Frogzard's Crushing Jaw

Rank needed: 1
Target: Self
Max Targets: 1
Range: Melee
Mana Cost: -100
Cooldown: 4 seconds

Assume a Frogzard Stance, causing Pummel to reduce your target's Damage Resistance by 5%, stacks to 6. Frogzard based Stances also heal you over time while active. If you already have another non mixed Stance active, it's consumed and the applied effect changes:

  • Gorillaphant: 8% outgoing damage, stacks to 6
  • Dragon: -10% Hit Chance and Crit Chance, stacks to 2

Effects last 20 seconds.

The Frogzard Stance is all about reducing your target's defenses. While in a Frogzard based Stance, you'll passively heal and your Pummel will reduce one of your target's defensive stats. If you already have another Stance active, instead of entering Frogzard Stance, you'll enter a Mixed-Stance, which causes Pummel to apply an effect based on that Stance instead. Any active Mixed-Stances are overtaken when a Stance skill is used, so you can easily alternate between Stances whenever you want.

Gorillaphant Beatdown

Rank needed: 2
Target: Self
Max Target: 1
Range: Melee
Mana Cost: -100
Cooldown: 4 seconds

Assume a Gorillaphant Stance, causing your Punches to increase your Crit Damage by 15%, stacks to 6. Gorillaphant based Stances also increase your Crit Chance by 50% while active. If you already have another non mixed Stance active, it's consumed and the applied effect changes:

  • Frogzard: -5% Physical Resistance, stacks to 6
  • Dragon: -15% outgoing damage and Haste, stacks to 2

Effects last 20 seconds.

The Gorillaphant Stance is all about dealing damage. While in a Gorillaphant based Stance, you'll have an increased chance to crit and your Pummel will increase your damage based stats.

Soaring Dragon

Rank needed: 3
Target: Self
Max Targets: 1
Range: Melee
Mana Cost: -100
Cooldown: 10 seconds

Assume a Dragon Stance, causing your Punches to apply Spinning Dragon to your target, reducing their next hit to 0. Dragon based Stances also increase your Damage Resistance by 30% while active. If you already have another non mixed Stance active, it's consumed and the applied effect changes:

  • Frogzard: -5% DoT Resist and DoT, stacks to 6
  • Gorillaphant: 8% physical damage, stacks to 6

Effects last 20 seconds.

The Dragon Stance is all about mitigating your target's damage. While in a Dragon based Stance, your Damage Resistance is increased and your Pummel will reduce one of your target's offensive based stats, with the most notable debuffs being Spinning Dragon, which reduces the next hit your target deals to 0, and you can apply it twice in a row if you delay your punches! 

Concentration

Rank needed: 5
Target: Self
Max Targets: 1
Type: -250% Physical
Range: Melee
Mana Cost: -100
Cooldown: 40 seconds

Concentrate, healing yourself and applying Fully Focused for 7 seconds. While active, Fully Focused reduces Mana Costs by 100%, but each strike from Pummel increases your Mana Costs by 10%.

It has a long cooldown, but it's worth it. After receiving what should be a full heal, you can use Pummel (almost) as much as you want, allowing you to quickly stack your Stances' Pummel effects while also just dishing out a whole bunch of damage. 

Passive Skills

Swift Strikes

Rank needed: 4
Type: Passive
Haste increased by 30%.

Evasive Instincts

Rank needed: 4
Type: Passive
Dodge increased by 30%.

Endurance Training

Rank needed: 10
Type: Passive
END increased by 20%.


Conclusion

Martial Artist is a rather complex, but rewarding class that requires a constant swapping of Stances in order to apply a wide variety of effects and deal large amounts of damage. Each stance has its own use, but when combined, the full potential of Martial Artist can be brought out. Generally, starting a fight with Dragon Stance allows you to set up by first debuffing your target's offensive power, which allows for an easier application of either Frogzard or Gorillaphant based Stances, but if you're feeling dangerous, you can always start with a damage oriented Stance instead. 

As this class requires some strategy and more button inputs than the average class, especially due to its manual auto attack, we want the class' performance to reflect the effort and difficulty it takes to use, so it might perform a bit better than other classes in its category once perfected. 

Can you master the Martial Artist? Hard training pays off, and it's no different in this case.

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