Dark and Darker Hotfix #130 Details Solo and Trio Arena Queues

Arena Season #4 begins October 30, with item retention based on account-wide eligibility rather than a single character.

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Dark and Darker adventurers carry a torch, sword, and staff beneath a full moon.

Arena Season #4 begins October 30 with separate queues for solo competitors and premade teams of three. In its Hotfix #130 announcement, IRONMACE also changes Arena item retention so qualifying gear found or crafted by any character on an account can be kept after a loss.

That retention rule is no longer tied to the character entering Arena. The tooltip will mark an item’s “Found by” or “Crafted by” name in green when it belongs to a character on the same account, including a deleted character. The new queues are Individual Arena, which can only be entered solo, and Party Arena, which requires a pre-formed party of three.

Team-killing penalties will carry longer matchmaking restrictions. The first restriction increases from 7 to 15 minutes, the second from 10 to 35, the third from 19 to 95, and the fourth from 34 to 195 minutes.

Boss encounters also get a pair of readability changes. Bosses will switch targets less often when several players attack together, and the high and low versions of the Cave Troll’s charging instant-kill attack will have more distinct wind-up poses. The general balance changes increase bosses’ maximum aggro while reducing the aggro they gain from proximity.

After Hotfix #129’s weapon-damage adjustments, this patch turns to class abilities. Rogue Dual Wield bonus damage scaling drops from 1.0 to 0.5, and Sorcerer Lightning Bolt damage scaling falls from 1.0 to 0.5. Bard’s Din of Darkness and Piercing Shrill reach 6m instead of 5m, but their damage now falls with distance and is reduced against targets behind obstacles.

Dark and Darker Early Access Hotfix #130 Patch Notes

Bugfixes

Fixed an issue where equipped gear could be lost when reconnecting after being disconnected while loading into a dungeon.
Fixed an issue where equipped gear could be lost when reconnecting right after departing from the Tavern.
Fixed an issue where the Bard’s selected song HUD could switch to the first song when putting away an instrument.
Fixed an issue where Bolt of Darkness projectiles cast by a Warlock beyond a certain distance could be invisible when Visual Effects Quality was set to Low.
Fixed an issue where some spells, such as Water Bolt, cast by a Sorcerer with Spell Sculpting equipped could appear at different sizes on the caster’s screen and on other players’ screens.
Fixed an issue where a party member’s portrait could remain on the remaining party members’ screens after that member left the Tavern for the lobby.
Fixed an issue where players could grab the rope at rope exits, such as in the Cave Hideout B module of the Goblin Caves, before the exit opened and escape as soon as it opened.
Fixed an issue where sound could fail to play during scripted events in various dungeons, such as the Wendigo appearing in the Frost Maw module and the pillars descending in the Sinking Pillars module of The Frost Mountain – Ice Abyss.
Fixed an issue where the drawbridge escape icon could appear cut off on the full map of The Forgotten Castle – Ruins.
Fixed an issue where some monster attack effects could play faster than intended.
Fixed an issue where players who did not touch the orbs could be instantly killed when the Banshee used its orb pattern.
Fixed an issue where bosses could suddenly switch their target to a distant player during combat.
Fixed an issue where the icons for escape stairs and the Altar of Sacrifice could disappear from the map after being used.
Fixed an issue where pinging a “Use Item” objective in the quest window could display a raw text string in chat instead of the item name.
Fixed an issue where the Expressman’s Dungeon Express tab could show the “Deselect All” button instead of “Select All” when no items were selected.
Fixed an issue where, after completing one item trade, the receiving player could be unable to inspect the other player’s items in the next trade and could not proceed.
Fixed an issue where the untradable icon could remain displayed on items in the stash and equipment window after leaving the Marketplace.
Fixed an issue where switching between Party Arena and Individual Arena in Recent Matches on the Leaderboard could show the participants of a match from the other mode.
Fixed an issue in Custom Play Arena where players carrying items of Legendary rarity or higher could be unable to enter regardless of the room’s rarity limit.
Fixed an issue where the player count status text in Custom Play could fail to show in green or red depending on whether the requirement was met.

Game Updates

Optimized inventory previews and party portraits to improve performance.
Bosses now switch targets less often when multiple players attack them together.
The wind-up poses for the high and low versions of the Cave Troll’s charging instant-kill attack are now more clearly distinguishable.
While hiding in a Wood Barrel, your view now shows the inside of the barrel, and the camera can only rotate left and right.
Self-found and self-crafted items that are kept after losing in the Arena are now determined by account instead of by character, so items found or crafted by other characters on the same account are also kept upon defeat.
If the name shown in an item tooltip’s “Found by” or “Crafted by” line belongs to a character on your account (including deleted characters), it is now displayed in green, making it easier to tell which items will be kept after losing in the Arena.
Arena has been changed to Individual Arena and Party Arena, which can now only be entered solo or with a pre-formed party of three, respectively.
Increased the matchmaking restriction time for players penalized as Team Killers. (1st: 7 → 15 minutes, 2nd: 10 → 35 minutes, 3rd: 19 → 95 minutes, 4th: 34 → 195 minutes)
The “Any Party Size” option has been removed from the Party Finder filter, and a region setting has been added.
The confirmation pop-up for submitting items of Unique rarity or higher to quests now appears only for weapons, armor, and accessories.
A notification indicator now appears when you receive a friend request.
The ban list and leave buttons on the Custom Play screen are now grouped together and labeled with text.

Balance Updates

General

Increased the maximum aggro for bosses and reduced the aggro gained from proximity.
Adjusted the drop tables for some monsters and corpse objects.
Arcane Essence now drops 2 at a time instead of 1.

Classes

Rogue

Reduced the attribute scaling of Dual Wield bonus damage from 1.0 to 0.5, so the bonus damage is applied only once across both hands.

Bard

The range of Din of Darkness and Piercing Shrill has been increased from 5m to 6m, damage now gradually decreases from 50% of the range to 25% at maximum range, and targets blocked by obstacles take only 50% damage.

Sorcerer

Reduced Lightning Bolt damage scaling from 1.0 to 0.5.

Items

Clerics can now equip the Solaris Cuirass.

How do you think separate solo and premade-trio queues will change Arena matches? Stay connected for more on the new Arena format and item-retention rules through X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.

An unforgiving hardcore fantasy FPS dungeon PvPvE adventure. Band together with your friends and use your courage, wits, and cunning to uncover mythical treasures, defeat gruesome monsters, while staying one step ahead of the other devious treasure-hunters.