Grim Reach 1.2.0 — Threads, Traps, Spellfire and Achievements

Grim Reach 1.2.0 — Threads, Traps, Spellfire and Achievements

Hunters,

Update 1.2.0 rebuilds three major parts of Grim Reach at once.

Magic now has a proper identity. Every element brings its own combat effect, crafted staves and wands span the full elemental range, and magic weapons finally scale with Intelligence. The old, largely unused Mana system has been replaced by Spell Reserve—a new value that grows with Wisdom and powers two distinct magic stances without being consumed by individual casts.

Hunting arrives as a brand-new skill, featuring baited traps that continue working while you are away and a complete bait progression tied directly into Fishing.

At the same time, the long-standing leather bottleneck in Crafting is gone. Five tiers of fibres and cloth now feed into the new Tailoring skill, giving robes and capes their own dedicated progression.

The update also introduces procedural combat effects for every weapon and element, three true equipment kits, a 29th Champion carrying a legendary greataxe, two new companions, 69 Steam achievements, and many smaller improvements and fixes.

Your existing saves remain fully compatible.

NEW SKILL: HUNTING

Set baited traps throughout zones you have already unlocked in combat and collect creature loot both online and offline.

Traps and Progression

• Trap slots unlock at Hunting levels 1, 5, 15, 30, 50 and 75.
• Every successful catch provides five loot rolls from a creature you have previously defeated.
• Your traps continue working while you are offline.
• Catch XP is equal to five times the creature’s combat XP.
• The first successful catch of each creature grants double XP.

Bait

Five tiers of bait have been added to Fishing:

• Worms — Fishing level 1
• Grubs — Fishing level 20
• Crabs — Fishing level 40
• Squid — Fishing level 60
• Glow Bait — Fishing level 80

Each Hunting zone requires bait matching its tier.

If a trap runs out of bait, it retains its assigned zone and waits. Hunting resumes automatically as soon as the correct bait becomes available in your inventory or bank.

New Hunting Companion: Leon, the Feared

Leon is a booted tomcat obtainable through Hunting.

• Drop rate: 1 in 8,000 per successful catch

NEW SKILL: TAILORING

Weaving, mage robes and capes have been moved out of Crafting and into the new Tailoring skill.

Fibres and Cloth

Five new fibre tiers can be gathered from new Foraging nodes and grown in New Haven:

• Nettle
• Flax
• Thornhemp
• Ghost Silk
• Starflax

These fibres can be woven into five corresponding tiers of cloth.

Every cloth armour set, from Apprentice robes to Voidweave, is now crafted entirely from cloth. Leather remains limited to ranged equipment and a small selection of capes.

Existing Crafting Progress

Your existing Crafting progress will be divided according to the items you have actually crafted:

• XP earned from robes, capes and cloth will be transferred to Tailoring.
• All remaining XP will stay in Crafting.
• Equipped items will remain equipped during the conversion.

A Word from Adhavar

I am sorry that this update splits your existing Crafting progress. Giving cloth equipment its own materials and progression is the better decision for the game as a whole, and it is better to make that change now rather than much later.

The Dimweave Set

The previously incomplete Dimweave set has been finished. Five newly painted pieces now form a complete second starter set for mages that requires no leather.

New Tailoring Companion: The Silkweaver

The Silkweaver can now be obtained through Tailoring.

MAGIC REWORK: ELEMENTAL IDENTITIES

Every magical element now has its own combat identity for both players and monsters.

Fire — Burn

Burning targets take 10% increased damage from all sources.

Frost — Chill and Freeze

The third consecutive Chill freezes the target for one attack. After being frozen, the target becomes immune to Freeze for 6 seconds.

Shock — Attack Delay and Arcing Critical Hits

Shock no longer causes attacks to be skipped.

Instead, each application delays the target’s next attack by 0.4 seconds, stacking up to a maximum delay of 1.2 seconds.

Critical Shock hits also arc for 30% additional damage.

Poison — Stacking Decay

Poison can now stack up to five times.

While poisoned, the target’s regeneration and lifesteal are reduced by 50%.

Void — Drain

Void damage applies the new Drain status, reducing the target’s damage dealt by 15%.

Arcane — Resonance

Each Arcane hit grants one stack of Resonance.

Every stack increases damage by 2%, up to a maximum of ten stacks.

Aether — Lightblessing

Every Aether spell:

• Restores 2% of your Ward
• Ignores 50% of the enemy’s Ward

MAGIC REWORK: SPELL RESERVE AND WISDOM

The old, unused Mana system has been replaced by Spell Reserve, a fixed combat stat similar to Armour.

Where Intelligence increases your magical damage, Wisdom now increases your Spell Reserve. It starts at 30 and gains another 10 points for every point of Wisdom, in addition to any Spell Reserve bonuses provided by your equipment.

Spell Reserve is not consumed when casting. Instead, it powers one of two renamed magic stances.

Focus Stance — Formerly Offensive

Grants 1% increased spell damage for every 30 Spell Reserve, up to a maximum of 15%.

Warding Stance — Formerly Defensive

Grants 1% increased Ward regeneration for every 20 Spell Reserve, up to a maximum of 30%.

This bonus is added on top of the stance’s existing 50% increased Ward regeneration.

Wisdom Rework

Wisdom now protects every combat style.

Each point of Wisdom reduces the duration and strength of enemy Burn, Frost, Shock, Poison, Bleed and Drain effects by 1%, up to a maximum reduction of 40%.

Existing Mana-related bonuses will be converted automatically:

• +1 Mana Regeneration becomes +10 Spell Reserve

MAGIC REWORK: SPELL FOCUS

Magic weapons now scale with your Intelligence through the new Spell Focus stat.

Depending on the weapon, Spell Focus provides approximately:

• +15% damage range at level 30
• +22% damage range at level 60
• +30% damage range at level 90

Magic weapon cards now display both their Spell Focus scaling rate and their actual damage range based on your current Intelligence.

MAGIC REWORK: THE ELEMENTAL LADDER

Crafted staves and wands no longer share the same Burn effect.

Every crafting tier now contains a rotating selection of:

• Fire
• Frost
• Shock
• Poison
• Arcane

Void joins the elemental ladder from Blacksteel onward, while Aether joins from Titanium onward.

This brings the complete elemental effect library into regular combat and gives crafted magic weapons distinct purposes throughout progression.

COMBAT EFFECTS OVERHAUL

Every weapon type and combat effect now uses procedural particles and animations.

New effects include:

• Glowing embers and spark trails
• Ice shards
• Branching chain lightning
• Poison bubbles
• Arcane runes
• Light-swallowing Void cores
• Golden Aether feathers
• Melee slash arcs
• Arrow flight
• Blood, ichor and bone dust
• Block sparks
• Companion abilities

Active status effects now remain visible on their target. The affected fighter briefly flares when the status is applied, followed by a quieter looping effect that remains until the status expires.

The Combat Effects option now offers three settings:

• Full
• Reduced
• Off

NEW SYSTEM: EQUIPMENT KITS

The three previous loadout templates are now true equipment kits.

Each kit holds its own equipped items, including tools. You can switch between them from the character sheet whenever you are outside combat.

Switching kits fully restores:

• Health
• Ward

Tooltips for inactive kits now also show which tools are stored inside them.

NEW CHAMPION: OSSRIC THE MARROWBOUND

Ossric the Marrowbound, the game’s 29th Champion, now stalks the Highlands.

He carries the legendary greataxe Esthar, Storm of Bones:

• Applies Bleed on hit
• Every fourth swing strikes twice

COMPANION CHANGES

Hunting and Farming provide fewer reward rolls than most other skills. Their companions therefore have higher drop chances:

• Leon, the Feared: 1 in 8,000 per successful Hunting catch
• Farming companion: 1 in 4,000 per harvest, increased from 1 in 15,000

Once obtained, companion cards now display the exact effects of their passive bonuses and combat abilities, including numerical values and timing.

NEW: 69 STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS

Grim Reach now features 69 Steam achievements covering the entire journey through the Reach.

Everything you have already achieved in-game will be reported to Steam the first time you load your save after installing the update. Existing players will not have to start from zero.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Champion unique items now display their special effects, such as lifesteal, directly on their item cards.
• The Item Wiki now lists the appropriate Champion as a source for Champion unique items.
• Multiple on-kill healing, Ward restoration and cooldown reduction effects now stack instead of only applying the strongest effect.
• Ward now regenerates outside combat at a rate of 5% per second, preventing magic users from starting every fight with zero Ward.
• If you are defeated during a queued fight or dungeon run, the queue no longer pauses. The remaining attempts for that entry are skipped, and the queue continues with the next entry both online and offline. The queue panel will tell you what was skipped.
• The combat log now identifies Shock arcs and Ward restored by Lightblessing.
• Weapon ability descriptions now display their actual application chances.
• Item cards now resize themselves according to their contents, preventing long stat lines from becoming compressed.
• Action Queue amount buttons—1, 25, X and Endless—now use the same iron frame as other interface buttons.
• Inactive equipment kit tooltips now list their stored tools.
• Autosaves now occur every 5 seconds.

FIXES

• Switching equipment kits no longer reports items stored in another kit as newly discovered, including enchanted items.
• Companions with missing passive descriptions, such as additional ammunition effects, now display the correct text.
• The Discord button has been removed, as there is currently no official server. Yet.
• Bug report drafts are now preserved after submitting a report.
• Shift-clicking inside the bank no longer selects interface text.
• Consumable item cards, including stews and tonics, now retain their frames correctly.

As always, if something feels wrong, please tell me here or use the bug report button in the options menu.

Thank you for playing.

— Adhavar