Paragon will enter Open Beta this summer, and Epic Games is slowly introducing new Heroes and balancing changes in preparation.
Draft Mode
Draft Mode places players in a lobby, where teams can strategically create the ideal team composition. Draft Mode also reveals the enemy’s team composition.
Gameplay Changes
Patch .27 is the biggest update Paragon has received so far, and it comes with a variety of rebalancing tweaks. The following are the most significant changes.
Ability Changes:
Regular Abilities may be leveled up four times, and Ultimate Abilities are leveled up three times. Players no longer have to put Ability points into their basic attack, which now passively scales each time the player levels up.Passive Ability effects were removed and reworked into the Heroes’ current Abilities. Casters have increased ability ranges, allowing them to deal damage or support their allies from safer distances.
Hero Rework - Kallari:
Kallari will remain in stealth until she attacks Blood Dagger is now Crippling Dagger, and it slows enemies rather than applying bleeding damageDeath Sentence reveals all enemy heroes and allows Kallari to teleport to them
Jungle Changes:
Camps don’t share Card PowerHarvesters don’t provide visionAttacking enemy Harvesters now yields 100% of AmberPrime Guardians grant global Card PowerCarrying the Prime Orb activates your Prime Card
Minions and Inhibitors:
Minion waves have been reduced to four minions, composed of three melee minions and one ranged minionInhibitors don't respawn after being destroyedSuper minion waves will have only one super minion in addition to the four regular minions
New Skins:
Inner Fire Feng MaoWasteland HowitzerSnakebite Murdock
Khaimera Hunts His Prey
In addition to the .27 changes, Epic has added Khaimera, a fighter and jungler-type hero, to Paragon. Khaimera’s playstyle involves ganking enemy heroes, and he does so by closing in on them and unleashing a flurry of melee blows, making him the ideal skirmisher.
Khaimera uses Ambush to leap towards enemy heroes, stunning them and dealing a small amount of Area-of-Effect damage. Unleash increases Khaimera’s attack speed for either five seconds or five attacks (whichever happens first). Spirit Regeneration is a passive skill that grants Khaimera stacks of additional health regeneration with each basic attack he lands. Stacks last five seconds, and when combined with Unleash, Khaimera can deal a considerable amount of damage while regaining health within a short time. Finally, his ultimate Ability, Cull, targets an enemy hero and roots them while dealing damage. Nearby heroes are pushed away and slowed.
Paragon is currently in Early Access for those who purchased Founders Packs, and Open Beta will begin on August 16.
Alexander Quejado is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware and Tom’s IT Pro. Follow Alexander Quejado on Twitter.
