Electronic Arts and Bioware have officially released Anthem Cataclysm via a brand new update. According to the release notes, update 1.3.0 brings new story missions and enables the Cataclysm event. Moreover, it packs numerous weapon balance tweaks, and fixes various bugs/issues.

Going into more detail, players will battle in Cataclysm Vara Brom and her forces in a dangerous new game mode that evolves over time. Players will have to work together as they battle against the dangerous environment and time itself, unlock secrets, and master the Cataclysm to earn all new rewards and rank up the leaderboard. The Cataclysm is available on the Start of Expedition screen for all players who have completed the “Incursion” mission.

The game’s Alliance System now includes Guild members in addition to Friends when calculating Social Rewards. Furthermore, Bioware has introduced a new system called Inversions, which changes the way your Javelin interacts with the environment to various degrees. Moreover, the developers have removed Luck from all items and replaced it with bonus armor.

Bioware has also adjusted the game’s difficulty system. For instance, it ha reduced the amount of health for non-boss enemies inside Grandmaster 2 by 50%, and Stronghold bosses by 65%, and reduced the amount of shields for all enemies by 20%.

As always, Origin will download this latest update for Anthem the next time you launch its client, and you can find its complete changelog below.

Anthem Cataclysm Update 1.3.0 Release Notes

FEATURES

New Story Missions – Track Dr. Harken and unravel the mystery of the Cataclysm. Available to all players who have completed the “Incursion” mission in the main storyline.
Cataclysm – Battle Vara Brom and her forces in a dangerous new game mode that evolves over time. Teamwork is heavily encouraged as you battle against the dangerous environment and time itself, unlock secrets, and master the Cataclysm to earn all new rewards and rank up the leaderboard. The Cataclysm is available on the Start of Expedition screen for all players who have completed the “Incursion” mission.

• Inversions – Sets of gameplay modifiers that impact how you face the challenges of the Cataclysm.
• Leaderboards – Finishing content in the Cataclysm mode adds to your score. Your score is updated to the leaderboard at the end of your run.
• Seasonal Currency – Complete challenges and content to earn Minor and Major Crystals. Spend that currency on the rewards in the Seasonal Store.
• Seasonal Store – A new store that features time-limited rewards for purchase with the seasonal currency.

ALLIANCE SYSTEM CHANGES

• The Alliance System now includes Guild members in addition to Friends when calculating Social Rewards. (You’ll be able to create, join and chat with guild members in a new guild mobile app.)

Inversions – With patch 1.3.0 we’ve introduced a new system called Inversions, which changes the way your Javelin interacts with the environment to various degrees. Some Inversions will hinder you, some will help. Ultimately, they should fundamentally change your experience within the Cataclysm and encourage some diversification to your playstyle. Here is a full list of the Inversions you can expect (two inversions will be active each week during the duration of the Cataclysm event):

• Ultimate Boost
  • Ultimate meter from kills is increased.
• Turbo Gear
  • Gear recharge rate is increased.
• Lightning Rod
  • Close-range kills chain lightning to nearby enemies.
• Close Encounters
  • Shotguns and Machine Pistols deal increased damage.
• Precision Operator
  • Snipers and Marksman Rifles deal increased damage.
• Immunity Pack
  • Ammo pickups grant brief immunity to damage.
• On the Edge
  • At low armor, damage dealt increases.
• Soldier’s Reward
  • Killing an enemy restores a small amount of shields.
• From the Skies
  • Heat build-up while hovering is decreased.
• Air Support
  • Defeating an enemy while hovering grants increased damage while on the ground for a short time; stacks up to 5 times.
• Broken Magazine
  • Weapons have no spare ammo, but enemies drop ammo more often.
• Running on Empty
  • Firing the last shot in a weapon’s clip increases all damage for a short time.

LUCK CHANGE

• Luck has been removed from all items and replaced with bonus armor. As a result, drop rates from Easy through Grandmaster 1 difficulty modes will be as if they had previously equipped maximumLuck before the update. Legendary and Masterwork drop rates in Grandmaster 2  and Grandmaster 3 difficulties have increased for all players, including those who equipped maximum Luck previously.

LEGENDARY CONTRACT CHEST CHANGE

• Stronghold Chests have been added to the end of each Legendary Contract.

WEAPONS

• Patch 1.3.0 and the Cataclysm introduces us to some new powerful sources of energy for creatures in the world, gear, and of course weapons. As part of the Cataclysm we wanted to amp up our in-game weapons and add some unique spin to their behaviors and gameplay mechanics – With that in mind, we’ve introduced three new classes of weapons with three new Masterwork/Legendary only variants:

• Pulse Accelerators use seal technology to generate destructive energy.
  • “Bad Omen” – Charges to fire a burst of energy projectiles.
  • “Rain Maker” – Fires an energy burst that explodes into smaller projectiles.
  • “Grave Digger” – Fires an increasingly powerful stream of energy.
• Volt Casters use seal technology to focus ambient electricity
  • “Jarra’s Wrath” – Blasts a short-range lightning arc.
  • “Lightning Rod” – Calls down lightning on a specific location.
  • “Flashfire” – Fires a lightning attack that jumps from enemy to enemy.
• Blade Slingers charge a circular projectile with dynamic force.
  • “Razorwing” – Launches a heavy blade that bounces between targets.
  • “Riza’s Ripper” – Fires a barbed blade that inflicts ongoing shrapnel damage.
  • “Shard Storm” – Launches experimental crystal projectiles across the immediate area.
• Added new Match Consumables for Pulse Accelerators, Volt Casters and Blade Slingers

DIFFICULTY CHANGES

• We’ve reduced the amount of health for non-boss enemies inside Grandmaster 2 by 50%, and Stronghold bosses by 65%.
• Reduced the amount of shields for all enemies inside Grandmaster 2 by 35%.
• Reduced the amount of health for non-boss enemies instead Grandmaster 3 by 50%, and Stronghold bosses by 75%.
• Reduced the amount of shields for all enemies by 20%

NOTE: These health changes do not affect our “Apex” creatures, as they had previously been adjusted.

GEAR

• With this patch we’re starting to introduce additional Masterworks for each of the gear slots on each Javelin to better improve end-game build diversity and introduce new mechanics.
• Colossus:
  • “Again and Again” – Upgraded Siege Artillery
    • Combo Effect: Explosive. Detonates another explosion briefly after the first.
  • “Venom Storm” – Upgraded Burst Mortar
    • Combo Effect: Explosive. Fires a volley of acidic rounds.
• Interceptor:
  • “Tesilar Trap” – Upgraded Cluster Mine
    • Deploys a bundle of proximity mines. Mines deal electric damage and electrify targets.
  • “Spectre’s Flash” – Upgraded Wraith Strike
    • Projects ghost to target. Detonates Aura Combos.
• Ranger:
  • “Relentless Pursuit” – Upgraded Pulse Blast
    • Combo Effect: Impact. Hitting an enemy causes Energy Pulse to bounce to additional enemies.
  • “Arctic Tomb” – Upgrade Frost Grenade
    • Freezes target in place. Defeating frozen enemies will also freeze nearby enemies.
• Storm:
  • “Steam Vent” – Upgraded Glacial Spear
    • Combo Effect: Chain. Deals both ice and fire damage.
  • “Eternal Squall” – Upgraded Lightning Strike
    • Combo Effect: Chain. Leaves a field that deals electric damage for a short time.

SUPPORT ITEMS

• With update 1.3.0 you can finally complete the full set of Masterwork or Legendary gear. No more single lingering Epic Support Gear items ruining your complete collection! With this update, we’ve introduced two new Masterwork Support Gear pieces for each Javelin – centered around teamwork and buffing your allies as you fight your way through the Cataclysm.
• Colossus:
  • “Berserker’s Cry” – Upgraded Battle Cry
    • Forces enemies to attack the Colossus, and reduces enemy resistance to damage. Additionally increases melee ability..
  • “Surging Shield” – Upgraded Shield Pulse
    • Fortified effect reduces incoming damage. Additionally regenerates shields through damage while the effect persists.
• Interceptor:
  • “Voice of Courage” – Upgraded Rally Cry
    • Breaks you and allies free of all status effects. Additionally revives downed squadmates who are nearby.
  • “Slayer’s Furor” – Upgraded Target Beacon:
    • Locks onto a target, reducing their resistances and jumping to another target if defeated.  Also immediately marks additional enemies around the target.
• Ranger:
  • “Vanguard’s Rampart” – Upgraded Bulwark Point:
    • Deploys a spherical shield. Additionally provides temporary charges for you and your allies’ Grenades, Ordnance Launchers, Assault Systems, and Blast Seals.
  • “Tarsis’ Last Stand” – Upgraded Muster Point
    • Deploys a field that augments allies inside, increasing gun damage. In addition to gun damage, all damage is increased while inside the muster point.
• Storm:
  • “Howling Veil” – Upgraded Wind Wall
    • Creates a wall of wind to block projectiles. Additionally, enemies take damage when they hit the wall.
  • “Anthem’s Grace” – Upgraded Quickening Field:
    • Zone of power increases gear recharge rate. Additionally increases gear damage while in the field.

MELEE ITEMS

• With this update, we added a significant level of build diversity by changing one of the main ways that Javelins prime and detonate combos. To do this, we are introducing new melee gear pieces that are equippable, have stats, and change the way you play. This will allow you to assemble new gear combinations not previously possible. We’ve also introduced new Masterwork and Legendary versions of these items.
• With this change we have also fundamentally changed the way that melee damage scales. Previously, melee damage started at a base value and then automatically increased in power based on the average gear score of the player. This had the effect of emulating an item of the average rarity and level for players, plus some average assumed inscription bonuses (and Masterwork effects if they are the appropriate level).  Now that melee is it’s own actual item, it no longer uses this automatic scaling, but uses actual real scaling for the item and the bonuses that occur on that item. This means that if players want to get their melee damage back to what it was, they need to get a melee weapon of the appropriate rarity with similar inscription rolls. However, because Melee is an actual item now, there is a much higher ceiling potential than there previously was, as our “assumed” inscription bonuses were in the middle of the possible bonus range. Some important additional notes:
  • We now include both melee damage bonus and weapon damage bonus as modifying melee weapon damage (not melee gear piece damage for Interceptors), so there are more total damage sources that boost your melee than previously existed. This should result in higher additive bonuses than were previously applied, which will help offset some of the lowered base damage.
  • In addition (based on PTS feedback and iteration), we have increased the base damage value of all melee gear by 50%. Increasing the base value is a multiplicative change.

• Colossus:
  • Seismic Glove
    • Heavy glove that can be smashed into the ground, causing damage in a large area.
  • “Earthshaker” – Upgraded Seismic Glove
    • Heavy glove that can be smashed into the ground, causing damage in a large area. Sends out a shockwave that damages enemies in front of you.
  • Inferno Glove
    • Flaming glove that can be smashed into the ground, burning enemies in a large area.
  • “Meteor Smash” – Upgraded Inferno Glove
    • Flaming glove that can be smashed into the ground, burning enemies in a large area. Cracks the earth, igniting flames around your feet that burn nearby enemies.
• Interceptor:
  • “Twin Blades”
    • Double-bladed daggers that allow for fast attacks which can be chained together.
  • “Blades of Warding” – Upgraded Twin Blades:
    • Double-bladed daggers that allow for fast attacks which can be chained together. Hitting an enemy grants 10% increased damage resistance for 10 seconds. Stacks to 5.
  • Venomous Blades
    • Double-bladed daggers that poison their target.
  • “Deathstalker Blades” – Upgraded Venomous Blades
    • Double-bladed daggers that poison their target. Deals additional damage against enemies below 50% health.
• Ranger:
  • Shock Mace
    • Electrically charged mace that shocks enemies.
  • “Transmuting Volt” – Upgraded Shock Mace
    • Electrically charged mace that shocks enemies. Hitting an enemy adds 3 Ultimate charges.
  • Seismic Mace
    • Heavy hitting mace that deals high damage.
  • “Rampager” – Upgraded Seismic Mace
    • Heavy-hitting mace that deals high damage. Hitting an enemy grants 10% increased damage for 10 seconds. Stacks to 5.
• Storm:
  • Explosive Strike
    • Hits enemies with an explosive strike, dealing high damage.
  • “Searing Blast” – Upgraded Explosive Strike
    • Hits enemies with an explosive strike, dealing high damage. Sends out a fireball that seeks enemies.
  • Shocking Strike
    • Hits enemies with an electrically charged strike, shocking them.
  • “Lightning Surge” – Upgraded Shocking Strike
    • Hits enemies with an electrically charged strike, shocking them. Hitting an enemy restores 40% shields.

Bug Fixes

General Fixes & Improvements:

• Fixed a number of challenges that had the incorrect descriptions.
• The door into the final boss room of The Sunken has been raised slightly in order to provide an easier step up to the frame around it once the door is closed.
• Updated visual effects to improve visibility of Masterwork and Legendary loot drops.
• The following legendary missions will now count for progress towards “Daily: Legendary Missions”:
  • Legendary: Mysterious Beginnings
  • Legendary: Dear Diary
  • Legendary: Vanishing Act
• Fixed an issue to allow players to replay Mysterious Beginnings from the End of Expedition screen.
• Marelda’s conversation will now properly complete without ending abruptly.
• Telling Dax to use cartography skills will now be properly recognized.

Forge Fixes & Improvements:

• • Fixed a number of issues that could cause a crash when in the forge.
  • Fixed a crash that could happen when swapping gear in the forge.
  • Fixed an issue where renaming a loadout changed equipped armor parts.
  • Fixed an issue where the gear score in the forge would be incorrect after swapping a piece of gear.
  • Removed the loading screen when leaving the forge at end of expedition. (Should now fade to black briefly).
  • Fixed the stats on some gear that were appearing incorrectly.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the pilot’s javelin to not appear correctly after making appearance changes.
  • Fixed an issue that would cause a pilot’s javelin to not appear correctly in the launch bay.
  • Fix issue with being able to equip the wrong gear on javelins.
  • Edited a number of item descriptions for clearer understanding.
    • For example: Instead of saying, “reduces recoil by -20%,” (an unintentional double negative produced by directly displaying the value from the underlying gameplay system), we will now say “reduces recoil by 20%.”

Enemy Fixes and Improvements:

• • Enemy Valkyrie attacks should register damage more accurately.
  • Fixed a number of animation issues that could occur to enemies in Temple of the Scar.
  • Fixed an issue where the Furies wouldn’t spawn in the Heart of Rage Stronghold.
  • High force gear now causes reactions on wyverns.
  • Fixed an issue where damage was not registering when shooting weak spots on the Fury shield.
  • Improved light intensity of Dominion grenades.
  • Fixed an issue in which Outlaw Outrage was using the incorrect encounter markers.

Javelin Fixes/Improvements:

• • Damage dealt to nearby enemies when the Colossus lands from a tall height now scales correctly, so it maintains its usefulness at higher levels.
  • The Storm can now cancel its air melee with a double jump, just like the other Javelins can.
  • Players who are downed and then fall into water will now float in the water instead of sinking all the way to the bottom
  • We fixed animations for the Emote Military Salute to reduce character sliding.
  • Colossus Specific Changes:
    • The Colossus will now utilize the same base values of Armor and Shields as the rest of the javelins, but has an inherent multiplying factor on all base values that generates the larger Armor and Shield pools. This change will better allow the Colossus to utilize Universal components without sacrificing an extraordinary amount of defense to do so.
      • Note: Because of this change, inside the forge, the base value of the Colossus specific components will go down significantly but the amount of armor added to the Colossus should remain roughly the same (since that lower base value is multiplied by the Colossus’s new inherent bonus).
    • Base Colossus Components Armor and Shields 250/125 ? 45/45
    • Base Colossus Armor Components Armor and Shields 300/250 ? 100/100
    • MSW/LEG Colossus Components Armor and Shields 730/290 ? 145/145
    • MSW/LEG Colossus MaxArmor Components Armor and Shields 876/580 ? 320/320
    • Base Colossus Health and Shields 900/450 ? 150/150
    • Colossus now get a multiplicative bonus to Armor that increases all Armor granted by 475%.
    • Colossus now get a multiplicative bonus to Shields that increase all Shield granted by 237.5%.

General UI Fixes and Improvements:

• • Fixed the squad list sometimes showing up instead of the friends list in the invite.
  • Fixed an issue where the friends list would not show up when a player’s Origin status was set to invisible.
  • Showing the Map in an expedition now centers it on the current player position.
  • Fixed an issue where swapping “Extended Special Arms Magazine” was causing the players HUD to display ammo count incorrectly.
  • Library and Cortex entries can now be properly marked as read and persist upon closing the UI.

Weapons/Gear Fixes and Improvements:

• • Death from Above muzzle fixed overexposed bright elements.
  • The Colossus component “Reinforced Hull” has been renamed to “High-Capacity Munitions” to better reflect its functionality.
  • The Colossus component “Grand Entrance” now triggers its explosion when falling from a shorter distance than before (the new distance is roughly equivalent to a double jump height).
  • Armor and Shield Value Changes:
    • Universal Components Armor and Shields 10/10 ? 45/45  (Plus Rarity Shift)
    • MSW/LEG Universal Components Armor and Shields 25/25 ? 145/145 (Plus Rarity Shift)
    • MSW/LEG Universal MaxArmor Component Health 150 ? 320 (Plus Rarity Shift)
    • MSW/LEG Universal MaxShield Component Health 150 ? 320 (Plus Rarity Shift)
  • Combo and Ultimate Bonus Changes:
    • Combo and Ultimate damage will now only gain damage bonuses from inscriptions if that inscription is specifically the Combo or Ultimate damage bonus inscription. Inscription bonuses that apply to a larger set of items (like Elemental Damage, or all Global damage) will not apply their bonuses.
      • Masterwork properties that apply a duration-based bonus (such as the bonus from the 10,000 Suns gear piece that increases all damage for a brief time) will still apply its bonus to Combos and Ultimates.
  • Masterwork Proc Effects
    • The damage value from Masterwork proc effects (such as Ralner’s Blaze or Thunderbolt of Yvenia) will now deal its damage based on the item level of the item that is proccing the effect, instead of the overall GearScore of the Javelin.
  • The following guns will now properly display their primer or detonator effect:
    • Primers:
      • Ralner’s Blaze
      • Sentinel’s Vengeance
      • Siege Breaker
    • Detonators:
      • Artinia’s Gambit
      • Truth of Tarsis
      • Fixed an issue in which Cryo Glaive and Absolute Zero could not fire its multiple charges if it was in the process of recharging.

John Papadopoulos

John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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