Ironmace has begun Early Access Season 8 for Dark and Darker. All character levels, items, stashes, inventory, reward tokens, karma, quests, affinity, and triumph levels have been reset for the start of the season. The season brings a new second floor to the Goblin Caves called Firedeep. Firedeep is a lava-filled dungeon with molten rivers, collapsing stones, and environmental heat hazards that change how parties approach exploration and fights.
Core systems receive broad updates. The movement and combat systems have been reworked to make actions flow more smoothly, with an eye toward rewarding reading and reacting in fights rather than obscure mechanics. The game economy has been overhauled to support a wider range of play styles and to rebalance risk and reward across dungeon floors. Adventure Rank is now unified across PvE, Normal, and High-Roller modes so progress carries between those categories.
Class additions include new perks and skills for the Fighter and Barbarian. Notable entries include Disarm, Whirlwind, and a Grappling Hook. Dwarves are also added this season, and a new seasonal DLC pack of cosmetics is available. Season launch features an extended three-week Solo Self Found event. The Trading Post and Marketplace will remain closed until February 20, 2026. A Twitch Drops campaign runs from January 30 to February 19, 2026. Arenas will open early for a short preseason on January 30, 2026 limited to Epic-grade items and without gear loss, the official Arena season begins on February 20, 2026.
Players can claim an “EAS 8 Welcome Delivery” pack from the Expressman’s Post Express service tab at season start. Ironmace said it expects an initial period of frequent balancing and adjustments and requested player feedback during the early season.
Patch Notes Early Access Season #8
Hello Adventurers,
Welcome to EA Season #8. All character levels, items, stashes, inventory, reward tokens, karma, quests, affinity, and triumph levels have been reset. This season brings several large new features.
- Enter the Firedeep – Dark and Darker Season 8 descends into the depths with Firedeep, the newly revealed second floor of the Goblin Caves. This lava-filled dungeon is shaped by molten rivers, collapsing stones, and crushing heat that turns every expedition into a fight for survival.
- Core Movement and Combat Improvements – We’ve substantially adjusted the core movement system so your actions should flow more freely. You’ll notice an improvement to the overall smoothness of movement and combat actions to make skill expression in the game more intuitive. We want the tides of battles to turn based on properly reading and responding to combat situations rather than getting the upper hand by utilizing obscure arbitrary mechanics.
- Overhauled Game Economy – This season introduces an expansive overhaul to the overall game economy with the main goal of supporting more play styles, improving the overall Risk/Reward balance, creating more POIs, and making it feel like you can still make progress even in the face of failure.
- New Perks and Skills for the Fighter and Barbarian – We’ve added all new skills and perks for the Fighter and the Barbarian class including Disarm, Whirlwind, and a Grappling Hook!
- Dwarves – Nuff said.
- Unified Adventure Rank – Adventurer Rank progress is now unified across the PvE, Normal, and High-Roller modes. Level up your Adventure Rank to unlock dangerous dungeon campaigns and earn great season rewards!
- New Seasonal DLC pack – Check out an amazing bundle of brand-new cosmetic items to help you endure the heat of the Firedeep!
Due to the massive amount of changes we foresee a period of continual adjustments early on in the season to get the balance to feel just right. We will remain vigilant and look forward to your feedback during this period.
We have also decided to start this season with an extended three-week ‘Solo Self Found’ event based on the positive response from the previous season. This means that the Trading Post and Marketplace will not open until February 20, 2026. In the lead up to that date, we will be running a Twitch Drops Campaign from January 30 to February 19, 2026. Due to the large number of combat changes, we’ll be opening the Arenas early, for a short preseason starting on January 30, 2026 and use the resulting data to help fine-tune the balance before the launch of the official Arena season starting on February 20, 2026. The Arenas will be limited to ‘Epic’ grade items and you will not lose your gear upon a loss.
Finally, be sure to collect your ‘EAS 8 Welcome Delivery’ pack from the Expressman’s ‘Post Express’ service tab to help you start the season off with a bang. We thank you and see you in the dungeons!
IRONMACE
Bugfixes:
- Fixed an issue where lobby skins would load slowly.
- Fixed an issue where the character body could change size when dying.
- Fixed an issue where shapeshifting could fail despite having available transformation space nearby.
- Fixed an issue where the Druid’s Panther form could fail to crouch immediately after jumping.
- Fixed an issue where certain debuff effect would not be applied properly for an attack hit due to a guard.
- Fixed an issue where floating plants would appear in The Blue Maelstrom.
- Fixed an issue where Faustian Bargain monsters would not die in The Frost Mountain and The Blue Maelstrom maps.
- Fixed an issue where underwater monsters could stop attacking players.
- Fixed an issue where a visual effect on the ground created by the Spectral Knight’s attack would not properly reset.
- Fixed an issue where swapping Spell Books between the inventory and slots could cause the Spell Book in hand to remain closed when not casting spells.
- Fixed an issue where the light from Oil Lanterns and Aquaglow Lanterns could leak through walls.
- Fixed an issue where the physical healing effect of the bandage would not be applied if an item with a physical healing effect was equipped.
- Fixed an issue with the scroll bar in the Quest Log.
Game Updates:
- Improved Gamepad support.
- A new EAS8 Seasonal DLC Pack is available for purchase to all adventurers.
- The Twitch Drop campaign will run from January 30th to February 19, 2026.
- New perks and skills added for the Fighter and Barbarian.
- All game modes have been re-organized.
- New progression systems and gating conditions have been added to the game modes.
- Adventure Mode renamed to PvE mode and the High-Roller Adventure mode has been removed.
- The Adventure Rank system is now accessible to ‘Squire’ status account and progress is synchronized across the PvE, Normal, and High-Roller modes. However, Adventure Rank EXP (AP) beyond Wanderer I can only be earned in the High-Roller dungeons.
- The Dark Swarm has been removed from all High-Roller dungeons. The Dark Swarm mechanic will only appear in the Squire to Riches mode.
- Squire to Riches and Arena modes have been moved to a special ‘Battle Mode’ category.
- The Firedeep has been added to the Goblin Caves.
- An additional escape elevator has been added to the Goblin Caves.
- The size of the Ruins level on The Forgotten Castle has been significantly expanded. This size increase will first be tested on the PvE, Normal, and High-Roller dungeons. If the response goes well, we plan to expand the larger Ruins map to the Squire to Riches mode in the future.
- Special mystery modules have been introduced on the ‘Crypts’ level for The Forgotten Castle.
- Updated several static escapes so they can be re-activated even after someone uses it to escape.
- The escape stairway has been modified to allow multiple adventurers to escape for a limited time when activated.
- The escape drawbridge on the Ruins has been modified to automatically rise again after it has been lowered.
- Improved the in-game map with an updated map legend. The in-game map displays the sacrificial altars, ways to go down, and the static escape locations. The in-game map will also display the location of the random escape portals as they appear in the game.
- Added new status icons to indicate the combat status.
- Improved the Area of Effect for monster attacks when they appear on angled ground.
- Improved the death animation of the Ghost King.
- The Sling, a throwable weapon usable by Clerics and Druids, has been added.
- Added a Quiver item to hold arrows.
- Shield sounds updated to reflect their material.
- Improved the animation when throwing a lantern.
- The Hand Cannon can now appear for purchase in the shop.
- Updated the Hand Cannon so the item grade can be determined by its appearance.
- Updated the appearance of several heavy armor pieces.
- Rings and Pendants no longer drop in the dungeons. These accessory items must now be crafted at the Goldsmith.
- The Sash item is now available as a base gear through the Squire. The base sash items becomes unlocked from the Squire once you obtain at least 25 affinity with the Tailor. Sash customization has now been converted to item skins and will utilize the cosmetics system.
- The Marketplace and Trading Post will not be available until February 20, 2026.
- The ‘Miner’ has been added to the merchants.
- Added a new ‘Workshop’ section added to the Merchant’s tab to hint at the upcoming feature for this season.
- The Merchant list has been updated so that Merchants will always appear in a fixed order, regardless of language settings. Event-based Merchants have been weighted to appear near the end of the list to reduce disruption.
- Added a new QoL feature that allows you to buy back items from the merchants. The merchant feature temporary stores your most recently sold transaction allowing you a chance buy back any accidental sales.
- The price of the Redstone shards have been adjusted from $2->$1. The price of the items in the shop have also been adjusted to reflect the new value of the Redstone/Bluestone shards.
- We have doubled the amount of Redstone and Bluestone shards in the wallets of all players during this update to ensure they still have the same purchasing power as before the adjustment.
- We have also doubled the amount of Bluestone shards you can earn this season from 5->10 to ensure players can earn the same value of items from the shop through the Triumph Level system.
Balance Updates:
General
- This season introduces an expansive overhaul to the overall game economy with the main goal of supporting a larger range of risk-taking, improving the overall Risk/Reward balance of each level, creating more POIs, and making it feel like you can still make progress even in the face of failure. This also include making it easier to grow and handle your riches and giving you more places to invest or bet your resources.
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- Updated the loot drop rates for all floors and game modes. The general loot for the first floor of each level will feel similar to EAS7. However the loot from high value POIs on the first floor should feel much better. The lower you go into the dungeons, the bigger bump you should see in loot quality. We are starting a little conservatively, but plan to continually adjust the loot as we introduce more interesting risky mechanics throughout the season.
- Increased the Gold Coin stack from 10->25 per slot.
- Reduced the fee to unlock additional stashes.
- Players can now obtain up to 10 Bluestone Shards per season.
- Greatly improved the loot from the Secret Key rooms.
- Secret Keys are now found in the chests on the floor, or has a high chance to be dropped from the floor Boss.
- Improved the overall loot quality from the Hoards and Golden Chests but have reduced the instances that appear on each floor.
- Updated the amount of gold the merchants will pay for your loot from the dungeons, especially trinkets, gems, and quest/craft items. The Collector will also pay a pretty penny for some of the very rarest collectible items.
- The gold value of gear remains unchanged from the previous season, however we are planning to release the ‘Workshop’ feature early this season, so you can get the most value from your equipment.
- In the meantime the gem socketing enchantments have been improved to give you more options to improve your current gear.
- A unification of the game rules for the PvE, Normal, and High-Roller dungeons. These games modes will they no longer use a Dark Swarm or have a random amount of static escapes/ways down. Instead we have opted to balance the risk and tension of each dungeon using a combination of set and random escapes/way down and controlling their frequency and placement.
- Please note that while we properly tune the settings for the new rules, the frequency and placement of POIs, you will notice much less randomness for the random dungeons.
- The Goblin Merchant will recover items based on your affinity to him. For the PvE Dungeons he will always return your lost loot when possible. For the Normal and HR Dungeons you’ll need to increase your affinity improve your changes of a goblin recovery. You’ll start at zero but each bump in affinity will improve your odds of getting back lost gear.
- The quests have been rebalanced to better match the progression of the new game mode unlocks. The Quests return to the weekly gating system where new chapters are added each week. This is to better control the unlocking of merchant benefits and the pace of the economy.
- This season also looks to substantially adjust the core movement system so your actions should flow more freely. You’ll notice an improvement to the overall smoothness of movement and combat actions to make skill expression in the game more intuitive. We want the tides of battles to turn based on properly reading and responding to combat situations rather than getting the upper hand by utilizing obscure arbitrary mechanics.
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- A combo skill system has been added, allowing skills to be used during the melee combo attack windows and during defensive reactions.
- All weapons except Bows and Crossbows are now able to parry attacks.
- The guard system has been improved so that holding right-click during a guard reactions will continue blocking.
- Reduced the move speed reduction when moving backwards.
- Reduced the move speed reduction when sheathing and drawing weapons.
- Reduced the move speed reduction when attacking.
- Reduced the move speed reduction when taking damage.
- Reduced the move speed reduction when casting a spell.
- Adjusted the move speed reduction while in a defensive stance and guarding.
- Added a move speed reduction when performing actions in mid-air during a jump.
- Increased the move speed reduction upon landing from a jump.
- The Agility stat curve has been changed so that the Move Speed increase per point has been reduced from 0.75 to 0.5.
- The headshot multiplier has been reduced from 175% to 150%.
- The default perk and skill loadouts for each class have been adjusted to improve onboarding.
- The Headshot Damage Bonus is capped at 200%, and Demon Damage Reduction and Undead Damage Reduction are capped at 65%.
- New monsters have been added to Faustian Bargain, including the Frost Giant Shielder, Frost Giant Berserker, Skeleton Mage, Tidewalker Spearer, Tidewalker Clubfighter, Ice Kobold Archer, and Demon Dog.
- Improved the performance and usability of existing monsters in Faustian Bargain.
- The damage requirements for the Faustian Bargain daily quests have been changed from 25/100/500 to 25/50/100, and the Antiquated Coin rewards have been adjusted from 3/5/7 to 3/3/4.
Class
Fighter
- Added new ‘Veteran Instinct’ perk.
- Added new ‘Weapon Guard’ perk.
- Added new ‘Last Bastion’ perk.
- Added new ‘Pommel Strike’ skill.
- Added new ‘Fortified Ground’ skill.
- Added new ‘Disarm’ skill.
Barbarian
- Added new ‘Heavy Swing’ perk.
- Added new ‘Skull Splitter’ perk.
- Added new ‘Finishing Blow’ skill.
- Added new ‘Grappling Hook’ skill.
- Added new ‘Hurl Weapon’ skill.
- Added new ‘Whirlwind’ skill.
- The duration of the Achilles Strike effect has been changed from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
- Achilles Strike no longer applies to Lanterns.
Warlock
- Curse Mastery has been changed so that it can only restore health up to recoverable HP.
Cleric
- The movement speed reduction effect of Faithfulness has been reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.
Druid
- Shapeshift Mastery has been changed to reduce transformation time by 25% and reduce cooldowns by 25% when using Wild skills.
- Transformation time has been increased from 0.5 seconds to 1 second.
- Shapeshift stacks have been removed, allowing unlimited transformations.
- Enhanced Wildness has been changed from +5 Move Speed and +10 Armor Rating to +5% Physical Damage Bonus and +20 Armor Rating.
- Barkskin Armor’s Headshot Damage Reduction has been reduced from 15% to 10%.
Bear
- The Action Speed penalty while shapeshifting has been changed from -35% to -30%.
- Wild Fury now grants +20% Physical Damage Reduction and +20% Magical Damage Reduction.
- Wild Fury duration has been increased from 6 seconds to 8 seconds.
- Wild Fury cooldown has been increased from 28 seconds to 32 seconds.
Panther
- Movement Speed Bonus has been changed from 5% to +5 additional Move Speed.
- Rush charges have been increased from 1 to 2.
- Rush cooldown has been increased from 18 seconds to 24 seconds.
- Frenzy duration after using Rush has been reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
- Silence duration has been reduced from 1 second to 0.1 seconds.
Chicken
- Insect Predation cooldown has been increased from 28 seconds to 32 seconds.
- The healing curve multiplier of Insect Predation has been increased from 250% to 400%.
Penguin
- Water Cannon cast time has been reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1.25 seconds.
Sorcerer
- When selecting Time Distortion, it has been changed from instant cast to reducing cast time by 50% and increasing cooldown by 100%.
- Elemental Fury has been changed from increasing movement speed by 0.01% to increasing Magical Damage Bonus by 0.25%.
- Innate Talent’s cast speed bonus has been reduced from 15% to 10%.
- Fire Arrow cast time has been reduced from 1 second to 0.75 seconds, and its cooldown has been reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
- Water Bolt cast time has been reduced from 1 second to 0.75 seconds, and its cooldown has been reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
- Stone Skin cast time is now 0.75 seconds, and its cooldown has been reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
- Windblast cast time has been reduced from 1 second to 0.75 seconds, and its cooldown has been reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
- Flamestrike cast time has been reduced from 1.25 seconds to 1 second, and its cooldown has been reduced from 18 seconds to 15 seconds.
- Ice Spear cast time has been reduced from 1.25 seconds to 0.75 seconds, and its cooldown has been reduced from 18 seconds to 15 seconds.
- Glaciate cast time has been adjusted to 0.75 seconds, and its cooldown has been reduced from 18 seconds to 15 seconds.
- Eruption cast time has been reduced from 1.25 seconds to 1 second, and its cooldown has been reduced from 18 seconds to 15 seconds.
- Lightning Bolt cast time has been reduced from 1.25 seconds to 0.75 seconds, and its cooldown has been reduced from 21 seconds to 18 seconds.
- Fire Orb cast time has been reduced from 1.25 seconds to 0.75 seconds, and its cooldown has been reduced from 21 seconds to 18 seconds.
- Vortex cast time has been reduced from 1 second to 0.75 seconds, and its cooldown has been reduced from 21 seconds to 18 seconds.
- Levitation cast time has been reduced from 1.25 seconds to 1 second, and its cooldown has been reduced from 24 seconds to 21 seconds.
- Lightning Sphere cast time has been reduced from 1.25 seconds to 1 second, and its cooldown has been reduced from 24 seconds to 21 seconds.
- Summon Earth Elemental cast time is now 1 second, and its cooldown has been reduced from 27 seconds to 24 seconds.
Item
- Reduced the base (primitive) attribute values for most gear.
- The value range for most Random Modifiers has been increased.
- All Attributes, True Physical Damage, True Magical Damage, Max Health, Max Health Bonus, and Additional Move Speed have been removed from the Random Modifiers.
- Gem socketing can now grant primitive attributes as a Random Modifier.
- Unique-grade items now grant a single Random Modifier with up to three times the normal value range instead of multiple Random Modifiers.
- A bonus coefficient of 1.0 now applies to the Francisca Axe and Throwing Knife.
- The Francisca Axe now starts at 12 weapon damage and increases by 2 per tier.
- The Throwing Knife now starts at 10 weapon damage and increases by 2 per tier.
- The size of Heater Shield and Round Shield has been reduced by 5%.
- The Frost Amulet now provides Physical Power and Armor Penetration instead of True Physical Damage.
- The Phoenix Choker now provides Magical Power and Magic Penetration instead of True Magical Damage.
- The Max Health bonus of the Necklace of Peace has been reduced by 3.
- The Move Speed penalty of the Leather Lamellar has been changed from -7 to -6.
- The Move Speed penalty of the Northern Half Tunic has been changed from -8 to -7.
- The movement speed penalty of the Tri-Pelt Northern Full Tunic has been changed to match that of the Northern Full Tunic.
- The Move Speed penalty of the Cutlass has been changed from -25 to -23.
- The Move Speed penalty of the Buckler has been changed from -7 to -10.
- The Zweihander’s weapon damage has been increased by 2.
- Sterling-crafted weapons can now be crafted using silver powder without requiring a Poor-rarity weapon.
- Deathstep Boots now grant +2 Additional Move Speed and -5 Max Health instead of a 2% Move Speed Bonus and -2.5% Physical Damage Reduction.
- The Move Speed Bonus of Lightfoot Boots has been reduced by 2–3 across all rarities, and their Armor Rating has been fixed at 3.
- The Cloak of Darkness now grants 3% Spell Casting Speed instead of a Move Speed Bonus.
- The Fangs of Death Necklace now grants Headshot Damage Bonus.
- Bandage healing is now affected by Physical Healing Bonus.
- Bandage healing values by rarity have been changed from 15/19/24/30/37/45/54 to 15/18/22/26/30/35/40.
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