Sealing Runes and a New Wardrobe for Every Enemy

A new beat in The Ash Foundry raid, a world full of enemies who finally look like different people, and skill-tree ranks that make your jutsu stronger.

Sealing runes in The Ash Foundry

Once the Ash-metal Dragon falls and Hayate takes to the air, sealing runes flare on one of the plateaus. Stand in them and he is dragged out of the sky.

• The runes flare at 85% of his health. Miss them and they return at 65%, then 45%: three chances in all.
• You have 15 seconds to answer. There are two white rings, and both must be held at the same moment. Solo runs get a single ring.
• He is pinned for 10 seconds, grounded and stunned, and takes double damage for the whole hold.
• Catch one and that beat is spent for the run. Miss all three and he stays in the air.

Every enemy is a different person

Every hostile ninja used to be the same figure in a different shirt: 24 pieces of clothing shared between all 319 of them, and not a cloak, coat, mask, hat or set of armour among them. All 319 have been re-dressed, and no two look alike.

• You can tell what is coming. A Highwayman wears a wide straw hat and a long road coat. A renegade masked operative is covered head to toe with no face showing. A Ruffian fights in fishnet with his fists taped. A Missing-Nin still wears his old village flak jacket with the plate scratched out. A Mercenary wears plate and arm guards and no headband at all.
• Every region has its own colours: sand and bone around the desert village, slate and deep blue around the mist village, rust and stone around the stone village, lacquer red in Tea country.
• Village ninja wear their rank. In the cloud and stone villages, a chuunin carries more gear than a plain shinobi, and a jounin more again.
• 18 new hairstyles (from 7 to 27), three new bodies and a 21-colour hair palette, all from art that had been sitting unused.
• Nothing moved. Every enemy is exactly where it was, at the level it was.

Skill-tree ranks buy power

• Every jutsu rank now adds +8% damage, healing or buff strength instead of cooldown.
• The Lv45 and Lv60 capstones now grant a bonus; they used to give nothing but the unlock.
• Skill cards show the ranked numbers, and ranks are evened out inside a Shinobi Clash so everyone still fights on equal footing.

Combat

• Line of sight matters. Jutsu that need a target lock now need a clear line to the target. Untargeted area jutsu are unchanged.
• The needle-ring jutsu is no longer invisible, and the possession jutsu now roots the caster while possessing.

Clash, Arena and crafting

• Battle Buffs on the ground now show which buff they are, in the world and on the maps.
• Clash Gates now open at nine different sites, about a third of them in the fields south of the forest village.
• Squadmates matched against each other in the Arena can now fight.
• Material tooltips say where a material actually drops, and the pouch shows your progress toward the material medal.

Fixes and quality of life

• The death screen no longer sticks after you respawn if you died and levelled up at the same moment.
• Night is gone: more daylight and a brighter world.
• Your portrait no longer shows your character without clothes until you re-equip something.
• The Join the Discord button no longer closes your game, and the blacksmith is usable on a phone.