Lords and Ladies, the time has come to introduce a brand new feature - Stoneheart Castle.

We have created this guide for players who want to learn all about the feature. Here you’ll be able to find out about all the key mechanics and learn how to implement this new gameplay into your strategies. Don’t forget to share this information with your friends and fellow League members.

Stoneheart Castle is a feature that unlocks a huge range of new content and functionality. You will be able to unlock a second Castle, construct new Buildings, get new types of Units, use new Resources, engage exciting new PvE locations, and much more.

Let’s take a closer look at how your Stoneheart Castle works and how you can access it.

Accessing the feature

Stoneheart Castle will only be available to players who have met all the requirements.

1. Reach Level 60

2. Win at a Level 40 Battleground

3. Discover the “Dragon’s Egg” Lost Art

4. Discover the “Black Star” Lost Art

5. Discover the “Level 5-10 Fortifications” Lost Art

After you have met all of the above requirements, you will need to click the button that opens Stoneheart Castle. This is found in the Requirements window.

This action will trigger quests that introduce the feature and some of its mechanics. In the “Quests” window you will also see a new list of tasks that will guide you through some of the more complex features, such as:

- Constructing and upgrading Stoneheart Buildings

- Discovering and upgrading Stoneheart Lost Arts

- Activating Stoneheart Unit Abilities

- Engaging Stoneheart Battlegrounds

You will gain access to the following mechanics when you have unlocked this feature:

1. Stoneheart Castle. You will be able to switch between your first Castle and your Stoneheart Castle by clicking a new button on your Castle interface.

2. New Buildings. You will be able to construct and upgrade a variety of Stoneheart Buildings. Some of these are for your new Stoneheart Units and associated Resources, while others will benefit your first Castle as well. You can boost all construction processes at the Stoneheart Castle using Sapphires or Stoneheart Boosts. You’ll also be able to construct Resource production and storage buildings for Food, Iron, and Gold.

3. Stoneheart Lost Arts. Stoneheart Lost Arts can be found in the same window as your regular Lost Arts. Stoneheart Lost Arts increase the power of your Stoneheart Units, Stoneheart Castle economy, and provide other bonuses as well. You must collect the relevant Stoneheart Scrolls in order to start discovering Stoneheart Lost Arts.

4. Stoneheart Units. Stoneheart Units are special Units that will be available immediately after you have unlocked your Stoneheart Castle. They are special for two reasons: firstly, they are effective in both Offensive and Defensive battles. Secondly, they have special Abilities that – when activated – provide significant combat bonuses.

5. New Battlegrounds. Stoneheart Battlegrounds and Stoneheart Quests are new PvE locations that can only be completed using Stoneheart Units. Similar to Battlegrounds and Saga Quests, winning at Stoneheart Battlegrounds will earn you powerful Rewards. These include Units, Resources, and Scrolls.

6. Adamantine. Adamantine is a new Resource that is required for training Stoneheart Units, constructing and upgrading Stoneheart Buildings, and discovering and upgrading Stoneheart Lost Arts. You can produce Adamantine by building up to 6 Adamantine Forges in your Stoneheart Castle. You can also use the Adamantine Fountain, which will increase Adamantine production. To store Adamantine you need to build Adamantine Vaults. You can also get Adamantine for winning at Stoneheart Battlegrounds or by purchasing it at the Black Market.

7. New League Achievements. With the release of Stoneheart Castle, your League has new League Achievements to complete. These will require your League’s members to contribute points by training Stoneheart Units and winning at Stoneheart Battlegrounds.

Stoneheart Castle

So, let’s imagine – you have access to your Stoneheart Castle and you’re ready to receive all the benefits this update brings. So, what now?

The first thing to do is explore your new surroundings. Here is what you need to know about your new Stoneheart Castle:

1. Your Stoneheart Castle does not have its own coordinates. It will not appear on the Map.

2. The Fortifications at your Stoneheart Castle increase the Defense Bonus of your first Castle as well.

3. You can switch between your Castle and your Stoneheart Castle from the navigation panel on the right-hand side of your screen, or from the Map.

The easiest way to visualize this is to imagine your first Castle now has a second floor. These two Castles work as a single Unit. This means all the bonuses currently applied to your first Castle will apply to your Stoneheart Castle, and vice versa.

Stoneheart Buildings

When you first unlock your Stoneheart Castle, there will be one Building already constructed – an Adamantine Vault (Level 1).

You can see all the bonuses a Stoneheart Building provides by clicking on it, then opening the Building’s “Info” window. From there, you can see what the Building does at each upgrade level.

You can earn individual Achievements by constructing and upgrading Stoneheart Buildings.

All bonuses that influence your Construction Speed apply in both your first Castle and your Stoneheart Castle.

You must upgrade at least one of your Craftsmen to a Master Craftsman in order to construct your first Stoneheart Buildings. Master Craftsmen can work on Buildings in both your first Castle and in your Stoneheart Castle. You can upgrade the first Craftsman for free. Upgrading more Craftsmen will require Sapphires.

Please note that you can only upgrade Craftsmen who are not currently working on any Construction or Upgrades. You can have a maximum of 2 Master Craftsmen at your Castle.

Here is the list of Stoneheart Buildings:

1. Adamantine Forge. Allows you to produce Adamantine.

2. Adamantine Vault. Allows you to store Adamantine.

3. Adamantine Fountain. Increases your overall Adamantine production with each upgrade level.

4. Stoneheart Armory. Allows you to train Purgators, Beast Riders, Living Armor, and Gargoyles.

5. Stoneheart Fortifications.

Stoneheart Units

Stoneheart Units are special Units that you can train after unlocking your Stoneheart Castle and building the Stoneheart Armory. There are 4 new Units types in total: Purgators (Infantry), Beast Riders (Cavalry), Living Armor (Occult), and Gargoyles (Bestiary).

Stoneheart Units are suitable for use in both Offensive and Defensive engagements and will gain a 20% stat advantage in battles against non-Stoneheart Units. Their base Offense and Defense statistics are equal, although the Lost Arts for each Unit type allow you to tweak their statistics according to your strategy.

Stoneheart Units can be trained at Stoneheart Armory, but you must discover the Stoneheart Lost Art for each Unit first. Training Stoneheart Units requires both Adamantine and Soulstones. You can also receive Stoneheart Units as Rewards for winning at Stoneheart Battlegrounds and by completing Stoneheart Saga Quests.

You can boost your Stoneheart Unit Training Queue by using both Regular Boosts and Sapphires.

If your Stoneheart Units are defeated in battle, you’ll be able to revive a certain percentage of them in the Infirmary, or in the “Healer” tab at the Black Market. The percentage of Stoneheart Units that can be revived using Sapphires depends on the “Infirmary Rate” Lost Art for each Unit (this will be explained in more detail later) and the Level of your Infirmary. You can also revive a percentage of Stoneheart Units for free. These will appear in the “Revive Units for Free” section in the Stoneheart tab of the Infirmary.

Stoneheart Unit Abilities

Stoneheart Unit Abilities dramatically improve your chances in both Offensive and Defensive battles. Each Stoneheart Unit has two Abilities – one for Offensive and one for Defensive engagements – although each Ability has specified battle types in which it can be activated.

The probability of a Stoneheart Unit Ability affecting the battle depends on its Activation Chance. The higher the Activation Chance, the more likely it is that the Ability will be activated. In general, the higher the number of the same Stoneheart Unit type you send, the more likely it is that their Unit Ability will be activated.

You can increase the probability of an Ability being activated by upgrading the relevant “Activation Chance” Stoneheart Lost Art.

The Activation Chance of every Ability will be displayed in the Unit selection window before a battle, or at the Keep (for Abilities that can be activated during battles to defend your Castle).

The Activation Chance window looks like this:

Here is a summary of the Stoneheart Abilities available.

Offensive Abilities

1. Movement Invisibility (Purgators)

This Ability gives you the element of surprise. When activated, Units sent to enemies will be hidden for the first part of their journey.

When you upgrade the Lost Art for this Ability, you increase the percentage of Travel Time your Units remain invisible for. At the maximum Level, Units will be hidden for 90% of their journey.

This Ability can only be activated during Raids.

2. Rapid Movement (Beast Riders)

This Ability increases your army’s Speed. When activated, your entire army will move at the Speed indicated by the Ability’s Lost Art in the “Send Units” window.

The more you upgrade the Lost Art for this Ability, the faster your army will become (up to a maximum of 50km/h).

Rapid Movement can be activated during Offensive missions sent to other Castles, Hamlets, Beacons, and League Fortresses.

3. Catacomb Raid (Living Armor)

This Ability can improve your yield from Raids. When activated, you will be able to take Resources from enemy Catacombs.

Upgrading the Lost Art for this Ability reduces the amount of Resources your enemies can protect in their Catacombs. As such, the “bonus” indicated for this ability does not necessarily translate to how many Resources you can take.

Example 1: Your enemy has 12K of each Resource, and a Catacomb keeps 6K. If the bonus from “Catacomb Raid” is 2K, the Catacomb Capacity will be reduced to 4K for each Resource. This means you can raid 2K Gold, Food, and Iron.

This Ability can only be activated during Raids.

4. Enemy Defense Bonus Decrease (Gargoyles)

This Ability can help you do more damage to your enemies. When activated, their Castle or Beacon Defense Bonus will decrease by a certain percentage.

If you upgrade the Lost Art for this Ability to the maximum Level, you will decrease enemy Defense Bonuses by 75% (when the Ability is activated).

For example, if your enemy has +1000 Castle Defense, this will be reduced to +250. This will have a noticeable negative effect on their defensive forces.

Defensive Abilities

1. Defense Bonus Increase (Purgators)

This Ability can help you improve the performance of your Defensive Units. It increases the Defense Bonuses at your Castle and your League’s Beacons.

At the maximum Level, this Ability (when activated) will improve your Defense Bonuses by 50%.

For example, if your Castle Defense Bonus is +1000, with the Bonus it will become +1500.

2. Sorcery Shield (Beast Riders)

This Ability will help soften the blow of enemy Sorcery Spells. When activated, you will lose fewer Units when you are attacked with Sorcery Spells (Wrath of Weor). Upgrade the Lost Art for this Ability to increase the percentage of Units that will be saved.

When this Ability is activated at the maximum Level, you won’t lose any Units at all.

This Ability can be activated both at your own Castle and friendly Castles where you have stationed Reinforcements. However, keep in mind the restrictions with the latter case (see below).

3. Army Cloaking (Living Armor)

When activated, a percentage of your army will be hidden in enemy Spy Reports. Upgrade the Lost Art for this Ability to increase the percentage of Units that will be hidden.

At the maximum Level, all of your Units will be hidden.

In the situation of an enemy Spy managing to destroy some of your Spy Units, your remaining Spy Units will still be hidden in the Report.

4. Free Infirmary Rate (Gargoyles)

Under normal circumstances, only Units that were destroyed defending your Castle are sent to the Infirmary’s “Free” section. However, this Ability allows you to extend the Free Revival mechanic to other locations too.

Each upgrade Level increases the percentage of fallen Units that can be revived, to a maximum of 10%.

The Ability can be activated in Defensive battles at the following locations: friendly Castles with your Reinforcements, Beacons, Hamlets, and League Fortresses. Units that fall defending your Castle will still be sent to the Free Infirmary using the existing mechanics.

Notes: Ability Activation

Remember the following points when analyzing your Stoneheart Unit Abilities.

1. If an Ability is activated, it will apply to all Units in the battle, not just your Stoneheart Units.

2. Abilities cannot be activated in Stoneheart Battlegrounds and Stoneheart Quest Battlegrounds.

3. Some bonuses from the Buildings, Items, and Champions active in your Castle will not affect Stoneheart Units. However, bonuses from your Offense/Defense Enhancer Items and Dragon Arts Bonuses will benefit your Stoneheart Units as well.

4. When using Spirit Wardens to defend your Castle, only Divine Spirit Wardens can damage attacking Stoneheart Units.

5. League Members can create Building Requests for Stoneheart Buildings.

6. Stoneheart Units cannot gain any Unit XP yet, as they do not have Ranks. We are planning to implement this later in an update!

Stoneheart Lost Arts

We have created a brand new tree for Stoneheart Lost Arts. This tree will allow you to improve your Stoneheart Units and Stoneheart Castle economy.

Lost Arts are divided into 8 groups.

1. Stoneheart Unit (Purgator, Beast Rider, Living Armor, Gargoyle)

This type of Lost Art allows you to train Stoneheart Units. There are 4 Lost Arts of this type – one for each Unit.

2. Unit Offense/Defense (e.g. Purgator Offense, Gargoyle Defense)

Lost Arts of this type increase the Offensive or Defensive statistics of the Units they relate to. When upgraded to the maximum Level, they make a massive difference to the power of your Stoneheart Units – increasing their combat statistics by 60%.

3. Unit Revival Cost (e.g. Purgator Revival Cost, Beast Rider Revival Cost)

Stoneheart Units are valuable. Training them from scratch can be slow, and Resource intensive. Reviving your Stoneheart Units is essential to maintaining the strength of your army, and it’s faster than training new ones.

Each upgrade Level of this type of Lost Art reduces the cost of reviving a Stoneheart Unit by the indicated percentage. At the maximum Level, it could save you 30% of the Unit’s full value in Sapphires. It is then multiplied by the discount already provided by the Infirmary.

Example: The Sapphire value of a Stoneheart Unit is 100. Your Infirmary provides a 50% discount, and your “Revival Cost” Stoneheart Ability provides a 20% discount. The calculation is as follows:

100 Sapphires– 30% (Stoneheart bonus) = 70 Sapphires

70 Sapphires – 50% (Infirmary bonus) = 35 Sapphires

4. Infirmary Rate (e.g. Purgator Infirmary Rate, Living Armor Infirmary Rate)

This type of Lost Art increases the number of Stoneheart Units that will be sent to the Infirmary after they are destroyed in battle.

Upgrading this type of Lost Art to the maximum Level will increase its bonus to 100%. For example, If you upgrade the Purgator Infirmary Rate to Level 20 (the maximum Level), 100% of your fallen Purgators will be sent to the Infirmary, and can be revived for Sapphires.

5. Offensive/Defensive Special Abilities (e.g. Movement Invisibility, Defense Bonus Increase)

As mentioned earlier, each Stoneheart Unit has two abilities – one Offensive, one Defensive (view the Unit Information window for each Unit to find out more). The power from the bonuses of these Abilities depends on the Level of the relevant Lost Art.

Once you have unlocked a Unit type by discovering a required Stoneheart Lost Art, you will be able to begin increasing the power of their Ability bonuses. The higher the upgrade Level of the Lost Art, the more powerful the bonus is from an activated Ability.

6. Ability Activation Chance

Even the most powerful Stoneheart Unit Abilities are useless if they are not activated. You can improve the Activation Chance of each Ability in the Unit Selection window, usually by choosing a higher quantity of the specified Unit.

However, there is another way to improve Ability Activation Chance. By upgrading the Activation Chance Lost Art for each Ability, you will be able to significantly increase the probability that the Ability will be activated.

In addition to this, you will receive a permanent 5% and 15% Unit Offense/Defense Bonus at Lost Art Levels 15 and 20 respectively. Please note that this bonus will only affect the Stoneheart Unit to which the Ability belongs.

7. Stoneheart Fortifications

These Lost Arts allow you to build Stoneheart Fortifications in your Stoneheart Castle. The Level of the Defensive Building you can construct is equal to the upgrade Level of the Lost Art.

8. Adamantine Production

This Lost Art allows you to construct the Adamantine Fountain. This Building increases your Adamantine production by a certain percentage with each upgrade Level.

About Lost Arts

You can discover only one Lost Art or Stoneheart Lost Art at a time, unless you get an Additional Sage.

If you want to discover Lost Arts faster, you can reduce Lost Art Discovery Time using Stoneheart Boosts, or complete the process instantly with Sapphires.

Other important points:

- All bonuses that currently affect the speed of Lost Art Discovery will also apply to Stoneheart Lost Arts.

- Points for discovering Stoneheart Lost Arts will contribute to Achievements.

- Stoneheart Lost Arts do not affect the 7% Resource Production Bonus. This is still unlocked by discovering all the Lost Arts that do not require Soulstones.

- To discover Stoneheart Lost Arts you will need to collect the relevant Stoneheart Scrolls. You can get these in several ways:

- Log into the game. You will get 1 Stoneheart Scroll per day

- Purchase them from the Lost Art Info window. There is no limit for purchasing Stoneheart Scrolls

- Win them at Stoneheart Battlegrounds (you can get maximum 1 Stoneheart Scroll from Battlegrounds per day)

- Exchange for them at the House of Scrolls

- Receive them from another player

Stoneheart Battlegrounds

It has been a long time coming for some of our players, but we are excited to announce our brand new type of PvE Location – Stoneheart Battlegrounds.

Stoneheart Battlegrounds pit your Stoneheart Units against Balur's forces across Darkshine. The Units you will face are different to those found at regular Battlegrounds, so be sure to check their statistics to find out the most effective way of destroying them.

Only Stoneheart Units can fight at Stoneheart Battlegrounds, which means you will have to plan your strategy carefully. The way you get through Stoneheart Battlegrounds is almost the same as regular Battlegrounds. First, you must complete the highest available Level of Stoneheart Battleground, then after a certain number of Levels you must clear a Stoneheart Saga Quest. The latter will be the greatest challenge your Stoneheart Units will face.

Another similarity to regular Battlegrounds is the Reward system. While the highest level Locations will yield the greatest Rewards, there is also value in sending weaker Stoneheart Units to lower-level Battlegrounds. You may just end up with a more powerful army from what you win.

This is particularly important in the early stages of your interaction with the feature. There will be a fair amount of upgrading to do before you can train the most powerful Units by yourself.

As well as Stoneheart Units, you’ll receive Adamantine as a Reward for completing Stoneheart Battlegrounds. This Resource is essential for training Units, constructing and upgrading Stoneheart Buildings, and discovering Stoneheart Lost Arts.

Stoneheart Saga Quests

Your first Stoneheart Quest Battleground will be available to you as soon as you get access to your Stoneheart Castle. After this, new Stoneheart Quest Battlegrounds will be available after every 10 Levels of Offensive and Defensive Battlegrounds you complete. This means the second Stoneheart Quest Battleground will be available after you complete a Level 10 Stoneheart Battleground.

Adamantine

Adamantine is a brand new Resource in the game, unique to your Stoneheart Castle. You will need a reliable supply of Adamantine to make improvements to your Stoneheart Buildings and Lost Arts, as well as to train new Stoneheart Units.

You can obtain Adamantine in several ways:

- From Adamantine Forges

- As a Reward for completing Stoneheart Battlegrounds

- By purchasing Adamantine Packs at the Black Market

Stoneheart League Achievements

We have added two new League Achievements to reward Leagues that perform well with this new feature.

1. Stoneheart Legends. This Reward is for training Stoneheart Units.

2. Stoneheart Battleground Masters. This Reward is for attacking or defending Stoneheart Battlegrounds.

Lords and Ladies, we hope this guide was useful for you.

Remember, this is just the beginning of what’s coming up for your Stoneheart Castle. We’ll be adding exciting new improvements in the coming months.

We appreciate any feedback and suggestions that come from you, so if you have any comments or questions, let us know.

Good luck!