The Lilith Games produced AFK Arena is set to dole out another patch, which will feature changes to game mechanics and heroes along with quality of life improvements to be made. As a result of patch 1.57, the servers will have a downtime of 2 hours on the 6th of February from 1800 to 2000 hours UTC.

Among many changes, the surprise that AFK Arena has inculcated in this patch is the introduction of a new hero. Named Respen the Windchild, the hero will be available to play from February 2, 2021 at 0000 Hours UTC.

Respen is a new Elemental Ranger, with AFK Arena correcting the wrongly displayed Mage icon on his Hero Abilities Chart. Respen’s abilities revolve around his passive ability to generate Wind Swallows every few seconds and it sure does look like the elemental will pack quite a punch in this turn-based-RPG upon its introduction.

Apart from Respen, changes have been announced for other Heroes as well. The likes of Numisu and Estrilda have seen changes made to the description of their respective abilities ‘Rejuvenating Totem’ and ‘Ridicule’, with their actual effectiveness not being touched. On the other hand, Belinda, Zolrath, Oden and Grezhul have all had their abilities corrected to either meet the description or to ensure they deal ideal damage to the proper creatures. 

Grezhul’s ‘Demonic Assault’ ability will no longer wrongly deal damage to invulnerable targets.  Oden will have its Attack Rating and Haste increased on every occasion the hero has its eye opened instead of only seeing it increase when the Eye was activated the first time as part of its ‘Eye of Evil’ ability.

Zolrath’s Signature Ability ‘Prey’ will now deal damage to Albedo even when she is in an enraged state, even after it has reached Level 30. When a user activates Level ‘Blessing’ on Belinda, it will now reflect the same level of increase in its Attack Rating and Crit Rating as mentioned in the description of the ability.

A couple of adventures have been added to the ‘Voyage of Wonders’ feature as well, with this upcoming patch. While ‘Fields of Ice’ will be available to play from February 8, 2021, ‘Blighted Highlands’ will hit the servers on the 24th of February. Another adventure called ‘Frozen Ground’ has been added to the Trials of God feature, with players having the ability to unlock the same upon completing the same adventure present within the Wandering Balloon along with completing Stage 32-30 of the said campaign.

The newly introduced Frozen Ground adventure as part of the Trials of God will also yield users the new Mage Exclusive Artifact, ‘Warden of the Arcane’, upon completion of the said campaign. 

There have been three changes made in and around the Oak Inns as well in Patch 1.57. The maximum possible number of Oak Inn buildings have been increased to seven while users can now open gifts from friends while in the Oak Inn lobby itself. Users who possess Mythic 9-piece furniture sets will now have the prospect of selling any excess Mythic furniture through the ‘StoreRoom’.

T1 and T2 Gears with no Factional Bonus attributes attached to them can now either be used as enchantment resources or be consumed to receive stones of the same caliber. 

The Championship stage has also received an update, which will come in effect from the next season. The number of teams required in the Legends’ Championship will increase according to the seasons played in their respective regions. 

Other items like ‘Dimensional Keys’ have been added to allow users to amalgamate Dimensional Heroes in the same formation with their fused counterparts. The said item can be acquired by users through ‘The Obsidian Flinch’ constellation, which is another addendum to AFK Arena’s Field of Stars. Once acquired, players can equip ‘Dimensional Keys’ from the ‘Soul Fusion’ page in the game.

While the corrections made to heroes and the introduction of items are fine, users have been left dismayed by the lack of love shown towards the Lightbearers, with AFK Arena adding another Elemental hero in game with Respen. Although, the 1200 diamonds announced as compensation for the downtime might help heal those wounds.

That being said, Respen The Windchild has been well-received, with its first look drawing a lot of admirers and it will be intriguing to see just how popular of a pick or unlock the Elemental Ranger will be once it hits the servers.