Cobalt Protocol Patch Notes

Mode Introduction

Welcome to Cobalt Protocol, the fast-paced battle-oriented 4v4 game mode.

Main Gameplay Changes

The Route/Catalog UI is not available.
All test subjects start the game at level 9, with all masteries starting at level 6.
Players earn XP over time.
Despite being a team mode, there is no “downed” state.
For balance, cooldowns of ultimate(R) skills have been scaled per character/weapon.
Heal Packs fully recharge throw and shuriken weapons, on top of granting HP and SP recovery.
Equipment cannot be dropped onto the ground.

Game Preparation: Test Subject Draft

For each player, the game randomly selects one test subject they own (or on the free rotation) and another test subject from the full roster. Those two test subjects are added to their team’s draft pool for a total of 8 different test subjects per pool, per team.
- To celebrate the release of Cobalt Protocol, Free Rotation will be expanded to 20 characters for the next 2 weeks.
The draft pool is shared within each team. Select your desired test subject by clicking on their portrait. To prevent players from “spamming” character selects, there’s a 2s cooldown after you select a test subject before you can select another.
After n seconds, teams will swap draft pools, meaning that the 4 unselected test subjects from your team’s pool will now be available to the enemy team (and vice versa). If you pass over a character, the enemy team will get a chance to pick that character instead!

Equipment Draft

1: Main Tag (Item's key attribute)

2: Sub-Tag (Item's main characteristics)

3: Random Item (Earn bonus credits)

Phase System

PHASE	Time (Seconds)	Info
0 (Preparation)	30	Game Preparation
1	120	2v2
2	270	4v4 - Omega Arrives
3	600	4v4 - Gamma Arrives
4 (Sudden Death)	30	A short sudden death phase where the team that loses points first is defeated. Revival is restricted and Defense Turrets are deactivated.

Cobalt Wild Animal Data

	Credit Bounty (Self)	Credit Bounty (Team)	Item Drops
Drone (NEW)	3	0
Mutant Wild Dogs	6	3
Mutant Wolves	5	2
Mutant Boars	10	5
Mutant Bears	30	15	Enhanced Shield Pack
Omega	60	30	Enhanced Heal Pack
Gamma (NEW)	120	60	???

Life Points

Each team starts with 40 Life Points.
To deduct the enemy team’s Life Points, take the actions described in the table below.
The game ends when a team’s Life Point total is depleted to 0. The team whose Life Points get depleted first is defeated.

Actions	Deducted Life Points from Enemy Team
Kill an enemy test subject	1 Point
Capture and retain control of a captured Power Beacon	(Per 45s of time controlled) PHASE 1: 2 Points / PHASE 2/3/4: 1 Point
Slay Gamma	6 Points

Earning Credits

Credits are earned through the following:
- Time-based Income
- Test Subject Kill
- Test Subject Kill Assist
- Killing Spree
- Killing Spree Shutdowns
- Hunting Wild Animals

Infusions

Infusions can be purchased at the Synthesizer, and can be thought of as Cobalt Protocol-exclusive Augments.
Each player can purchase and equip up to 3 Infusions. Most Infusions can be upgraded, but some provide unique passive abilities that cannot be upgraded.

Infusion	Effect
Vigor I / ll / lll	Gain 15/25/40 Attack Power.
Fortitude I / ll / lll	Gain 15/25/40 Defense.
Celerity I / ll / lll	Gain 25%/30%/40% Attack Speed.
Haste I / ll / lll	Gain 0.15/0.25/0.35 Movement Speed.
Cooldown Reduction I / ll / lll	Increases Cooldown Reduction by 8%/12%/20%. Increases maximum Cooldown Reduction by 6%/8%/10%.
Omnivamp I / ll / lll	Gain 5%/10%/20% Omnisyphon.
Tenacity I / ll / lll	Gain 10%/20%/35% Tenacity.
Spot Weakness I / ll / lll	Gain 15%/25%/40% Critical Strike Chance.
Barricade I / ll / lll	Gain 10/20/35 Defense and 5%/8%/15% Omnisyphon when below 50% HP.
Hyperfocus I / ll / lll	Gain 10%/13%/16% Critical Strike Chance and 5%/8%/15% Critical Damage when below 50% HP.
Introversion I / ll / lll	If you haven't received combat damage in the last 5 seconds, recover 6%/9%/12% of your missing HP and SP per second.
Rise from the Ashes	Upon death, automatically revive with fully recovered HP and SP after 3 seconds.
Omnipotence I / ll / lll	Skill Amplification increased by 5%/10%/15%. Gain 4%/6%/10% additional Skill Amplification for each Infusion attached.
Miasma Fog I / ll / lll	Upon dying, all enemy test subjects within a 4m range become grounded for 5 seconds. Create a swamp that slows enemies in it by 20%/40%/60%.
Plasma Nova	1 second after casting your weapon skill, deal 850 cellular damage over 2.5 seconds to all enemy test subjects within 4m. (Cooldown: 30s)
Time Efficiency I / ll / lll	Casting your Ultimate (R) reduces the cooldown of your normal skills by 30%/50%/80%. (Cooldown: 30s) Casting a normal skill reduces the cooldown of this Infusion by 1 second.
Overwhelming Strength	Become Unstoppable for 3 seconds upon casting your Ultimate (R). (Cooldown:30s)
Overcharge I / ll / lll	For each Power Beacon under ally control, the effect of each Power Beacon gets increased by 8%/12%/20%.
Party Rocker I / ll / lll	Hitting an enemy with a skill causes them to dance for 0.7/1/1.5 seconds. (Cooldown: 30s)
Health Insurance	Heal Packs recover 30% more HP/SP and grants a 400 HP shield over 20 seconds.
Strike Force I / ll / lll	After using the Deploying Loop, gain 150%/150%/200% increased Movement Speed for 5/7/10 seconds. Casting a skill or performing a basic attack cancels this effect.
Suspicious Experiment	Get a random infusion.
Fissure	Dealing cellular damage (based on your max HP) to enemies behind the target of your basic attack. (Melee) 12% (Ranged) 8%
Scar Ripper I / ll / lll	Gain a stack (up to a maximum of 4 stacks) whenever you hit an enemy test subject with a basic attack. For each stack, your basic attacks deal 12/24/36 (Melee) or 8/16/24 (Ranged) additional cellular damage.
7N39	Armor Penetration increased by 10%.
Spirit Culling	Whenever you or your summons deal damage, recover SP equal to 100% of the damage dealt.
Dulled Blades	After receiving a Critical Strike, take 30% reduced damage from subsequent Critical Strikes for 5 seconds. (Cooldown: 15s)
Steadfast	Take 25% reduced damage when immobilized.
Thorn Shackles	Immobilizing a target increases all damage dealt to them by 12% for 5 seconds. (Cooldown: 15s)
Sadistic Nature I / ll / lll	Whenever you deal skill damage to an enemy test subject, drains some of their HP to recover your HP. (Cooldown 8s) (Melee) Damage 5%/8%/15% Current HP Recover 8%/12%/20% Current HP (Ranged) Damage 3%/5%/10% Current HP Recover 8%/10%/15% Current HP
Martyr I / ll / lll	Upon dying, create a blast after 1.5 seconds with a radius of 5m. All enemies hit are knocked airborne and are dealt 10%/20%/40% of their missing HP as cellular damage.
Gag Order	2 seconds after casting your weapon skill, enemy test subjects within 4m are silenced for 1.2 seconds. (Cooldown: 20s)
Money = Power I / ll / lll	Whenever you would earn any amount of Credits, instead earn that amount plus one. For every 40 Credits you own, deal 2/3/4% additional damage. (Up to 3/4/5 stacks)
???	???

Power Beacons

Power Beacons are mysterious devices found in the map of Cobalt Protocol. When captured, your allies are granted a buff that differs between each Beacon.
Retaining control over a Power Beacon for a period of time deducts the other team’s Life Points.

	Buff Granted to Controlling Team
Power Beacon-L	Attack Power 10 / 15 / 20
Power Beacon-R	Defense 10 / 15 / 20
Power Beacon-C	Movement Speed 0.1 / 0.12 / 0.14

Mode-Specific Balancing

Cobalt Protocol-specific scaling for each character-weapon combination. damage dealt, damage received, and other stats.
Scaling applied to damage dealt, damage received, shield effectiveness, recovery effectiveness, and ultimate (R) skill cooldown.

Character-Specific Changes for Cobalt Protocol

Some test subjects' skills, passives, or other quirks can’t function properly in Cobalt Protocol, so they’ll be changed as described in the table below:
The following issues are stuff that we're aware of and will be improved or fixed in the future.
Examples:
- Some characters (e.g. Daniel) have Passives that don’t make sense in the context of Cobalt Protocol.
- Silvia cannot gain fuel.
- Mai cannot acquire her exclusive equipment.
- Echion cannot acquire his legendary weapon. Etc

Character	Changes
Nadine	Starts with 50 Wild stacks. (Drones and Androids are machines, so Nadine won’t earn Wild stacks for slaying them.)
Hart	Starts with 3 Evolution points.
Xiukai	Starts with 100 Juggernaut Chef stacks.
Silvia	Starts with 15 Lumia Grand Prix stacks.
Daniel	Stat bonuses from Recluse(P) are constantly applied at a reduced ratio as follows: -Out of Combat Movement Speed increased by 10%. -When below 100% HP, gain 10 additional Attack Power.
Luke	Neat 'n Tidy(P) is capped at a maximum of 75 stacks.
Echion	Cannot draft a weapon during the starting equipment draft or through the Extra Equipment Draft. Instead, Echion starts with his VF Prosthetic, which gets upgraded with each point put into his Passive.
Priya	Cannot draft head armor during the starting equipment draft or through the Extra Equipment Draft. Instead, Priya’s headpiece gets upgraded with each point put into her Passive.
Alex	During the starting equipment draft, Alex gets an extra draft step where he can draft a secondary weapon.