Resistances Stack in Tiers, New Dream Resistance, and Armor Resistance Brands

Hi, it's Sookuma! This time, I've prepared an update that reworks the dungeon's resistance system and adds the new Dream element. I also took another look through the death logs players sent to the Death Gallery (no names or personal info, of course).

Before, wearing just a single piece of resistance gear would cut damage in half and block almost every status condition, but now resistances stack step by step into Tier 1 and Tier 2. Wearing two pieces of gear with the same resistance will make you feel way sturdier than before, but having just one piece means you can't let your guard down either. Let me walk you through what's working in your favor and what got a bit trickier!

Resistances Stack in Tiers: The Fun of Matching Gear

• Fire, Cold, Poison, and Shock damage are reduced based on resistance tiers. If you wear one piece of gear that grants that resistance, you reach Tier 1 and take half damage (50% reduction); if you wear two or more pieces, you reach Tier 2 and take only a quarter of the damage (75% reduction). Damage is rounded down, and you always take at least 1 damage (for 20 damage, that's 10 at Tier 1, and 5 at Tier 2). Even if a piece has a resistance in its name and a matching Brand attached to it, that single piece still only counts as Tier 1, and Tier 2 is the cap. Complete immunity where you take no damage at all is a privilege reserved for monsters, and Sookuma can only raise resistances up to Tier 2. The resistance line in the character window now displays your tiers, like 'Fire resistance Tier 2 · Mind resistance Tier 1'. You can also check the Tier 1 and Tier 2 values in the resistance descriptions of the shop comparison window.
• The chance to deflect status effects is also split by tier. Previously, having resistance gave a 90% chance to block status effects, but now it has changed to a 55% chance to deflect them at Tier 1 and an 80% chance at Tier 2. When you only wear one piece of gear, it deflects 55%—which is less than before, so you need to be more careful—but matching two pieces brings it up to 80%. You can also deflect Freeze effects like Squeak of the First Frost's Rime Breath with Cold resistance!
• Magic resistance has been changed to 'Mind resistance.' Mind resistance deflects mental status conditions like Confusion, Paralysis, and Rooted with a 55% chance at Tier 1 and an 80% chance at Tier 2. Equipment that previously granted magic resistance (Dreamsilk Longsword, Mothsilk Nightclothes, Moonmoth Cowl, Moonmoth Wingcloak, Bone Whistle Amulet, and Echo Bell Amulet) now grants Mind resistance. Here's a clip showing Numo, the Erased Scribe's Confusion taking effect on Floor 4 of the Main Dungeon without resistance, and then deflecting the Confusion with Mind resistance after putting on a Moonmoth Cowl.
• Beehive Mine wax skills that used to ignore resistance can now be deflected with Mind resistance. Skills that previously ignored resistance can now be deflected using Mind resistance. If you deflect Wax Queen Hanibera's Crown Bell (encasing in wax, 2 turns of Paralysis), you won't harden into wax (though the wax floor is still laid down), and you can also deflect Wax Golem's Sticky Wax (30% chance on basic attack to inflict Rooted for 2 turns).
• Celune, Star of the Ceiling's skills can also be deflected with Mind resistance. If you deflect Celune, Star of the Ceiling's Falling Star (which causes 1 turn of Paralysis on hit), you won't suffer Paralysis, though you'll still take the single hit of damage from the star. The star's damage is Dream element, so Dream resistance reduces it. In the Death Gallery, there was a run on Floor 1 of the Beehive Mine where a player was hit by Celune's Falling Star three times in a row, getting stunned for 1 turn each time (taking 23, 22, and 23 damage per star hit), followed by an 18 Melee hit that took them down from 52 HP—and back then, there was no resistance to stop that stun, nor any resistance to reduce the star's damage!
• The Lone-Sock Grudge's Stolen Step can also be deflected with Mind resistance. If you deflect The Lone-Sock Grudge's Stolen Step (1 turn of Paralysis), your steps won't be stolen and The Lone-Sock Grudge will flee. In the Death Gallery, there was a run on Floor 2 of the Main Dungeon where a player had their steps stolen four times by The Lone-Sock Grudge (1 turn of Paralysis each time) and collapsed without being able to move.
• Poison resistance no longer grants immunity, but reduces poison duration turns and damage instead. Previously, Poison resistance granted immunity to Poison and Bee Venom, but now that immunity is gone and you can actually be afflicted with poison, so you'll need to be more careful. In return, the remaining turns of Poison and Bee Venom are cut in half at Tier 1 and reduced to a quarter at Tier 2 (minimum 1 turn), and poison damage is also reduced by the same tiers. For example, 10 turns of Bee Venom are reduced to 5 turns at Tier 1, and 2 turns at Tier 2. Poison from Spike traps will also last for fewer turns, and damage from Miasma traps will be reduced as well.
• Named foes' elemental skills now carry their corresponding elemental attributes. Kin of Hearth-Ash's Hearth-Ash Wake deals Fire damage, and Nua the Stormwool Shepherd's Storm Cloud lightning deals Shock damage. Now you can take less damage from these using Fire resistance and Shock resistance!
• Sookuma's Chain Spark now deals Shock damage. Since Chain Spark now deals Shock damage and adheres to monsters' Shock matchups, it hits monsters living in water even harder!
• The potion of resistance's status display has been corrected to 'Damage Reduction.' The effect of reducing all damage taken by 30% for 14 turns remains unchanged, but to avoid confusion with resistance tiers, the old 'Elemental Resistance' display has been corrected to 'Damage Reduction' to match its actual effect!

The New 'Dream' Element and Dream Resistance

• Magic attacks that previously had no specific element have been classified under the 'Dream' element. Wax Hornet's Magic bolt, Sleep Wisp's Drain, Hum the Resonant Conch's Reverberation, the magic attacks of named foes (such as Celune, Star of the Ceiling, Numo, the Erased Scribe, and The Tide-Lantern Oracle Crab), and the arrows of magic-class Ghosts all now carry the Dream element.
• A new 'Dream resistance' has been added to reduce Dream element damage. Just like other elements, Dream resistance reduces damage by 50% at Tier 1 and 75% at Tier 2, and it does not deflect status effects (for instance, 10 damage from Magic bolt is reduced to 5 at Tier 1 and 2 at Tier 2). Sleep Wisp's Drain will also only siphon health based on the reduced damage. However, while magic resistance gear previously cut the damage of Magic bolt and Drain in half, keep in mind that Mind resistance no longer reduces them—only Dream resistance can now! The Stareye Ring now grants Dream resistance instead of Cold resistance. The Hawkeye Ring no longer grants Cold resistance, so if you want to ward off the cold, you'll need to use a Moonlight Amulet or gear with the Coldproof Brand.
• Sookuma's star magic now carries the Dream element, complete with new visuals and matchups. Starfall Rain (its Proficiency remains Air Magic) and the Scroll of Starburst have been changed to the Dream element. However, Nightmare monsters like Dreamfolk and Echofolk take less Dream damage (0.75x), and Starfall Rain no longer exploits the lightning weakness of monsters living in water, which can work against you. Its casting visuals have also changed: instead of lightning striking every targeted tile, Starfall Rain's own Shooting stars (stars with pink tails) fall diagonally, bursting on the monsters in those tiles with sparks scattering above them; no lightning sparks fly off monsters anymore, and the sound of the Scroll of Starburst plays instead of thunder!

Nine Resistance Brands Imbued into Armor

• Six resistance Brands have been added to imbue armor with resistances. The Fireproof (Fire resistance), Coldproof (Cold resistance), Poisonproof (Poison resistance), Insulated (Shock resistance), Serene (Mind resistance), and Awakened (Dream resistance) Brands have been introduced. They can appear on body, head, cloak, ring, amulet, and shield pieces, each granting Tier 1 of that resistance. Tooltips now display descriptions like 'Fireproof - Grants Fire resistance Tier 1. Reduces Fire damage taken by 50% at Tier 1 and 75% at Tier 2.' and the item details in the inventory window show the resistances granted by that gear on a single line, like 'Granted resistance · Fire resistance Tier 1 / Cold resistance Tier 1'. On the bottom right of the icon, you'll see new marks: a flame, droplet, lightning, eye, or crescent moon over a shield, as well as an icy shield shape.
• Three new pair resistance Brands have been added, each granting two resistances at Tier 1. These are the Frostfire (Fire resistance + Cold resistance), Neutralizing (Poison resistance + Shock resistance), and Clarity (Mind resistance + Dream resistance) Brands, and a single Brand grants both resistances at Tier 1 each. The rules are the same as other resistance Brands, so wearing one piece of gear grants Tier 1 to each of those two resistances, and wearing multiple pieces raises each resistance up to Tier 2. Tooltips display the tier and description for both resistances together, and the mark on the bottom right of the icon is shaped like a shield split in half, colored with the two elemental colors.
• With armor Brand types expanding to thirteen, the existing Brands have become rarer. There are now thirteen armor Brands, and when a Brand appears, the existing ten (Protection, Agility, Regeneration, willful, and the six single resistance Brands) each have about an 8.7% chance to be chosen, while the three pair resistance Brands each have about a 4.3% chance (pair Brands have half the weight of single Brands). As a result, the existing four (Protection, Agility, Regeneration, and willful) have had their chances drop from 25% in the previous demo to about 8.7%, making them harder to find. The chance of a piece having a Brand in the first place (16% + 2% per floor) remains unchanged.

Other Changes

• Exiting a Portal dungeon now places you on the entrance tile you entered from. When you exit a Portal dungeon (Dream Sewers or Dream Bazaar), you'll now stand on the entrance tile you originally entered through. Previously, you would be placed on the stairs going down on that floor (or on the mine door if it was the floor with the Beehive Mine entrance), which caused a frequently reported bug where pressing SPACE once would immediately drop you down a floor. This fix also applies if you save and resume inside a Portal dungeon, or when the Dream Bazaar closes over time.
• Portals that close over time no longer disappear and remain as closed doors. When a Portal that closes over time (Dream Bazaar) closes (when time runs out or after you visit it once), it will no longer disappear, and a barred closed door remains on that tile instead. Stepping on that tile displays 'Closed Dream Bazaar portal - will not open again', and you can't enter again. It stays that way even if you save and resume or revisit the floor.
• The text on the logo card has been changed to 'KUMA STUDIO.' The text on the Kuma Studio logo card shown when launching the game has been changed to 'KUMA STUDIO' across all languages.

Next Update Preview: Complete God Overhaul

For the next update, I'm preparing a complete god overhaul that I'm still working hard on. I'm reworking the powers and Pacts of the five gods you can serve in the demo right now (Dreamguide Maze, Beeking Diligence, Redfang, Ember, and Gambler All-In)—Pacts will increase significantly, and you'll also get a second saint power to choose once you become a Saint. Gambler All-In will use a power to draw a hand from All-In's card deck, which is a mix of good and bad luck cards. The numbers and dates aren't set yet, so I'll let you know again once they are!

Gear up sturdily for the dungeon with our new resistance system, and feel free to share your thoughts anytime on the Steam discussion forums!