Patch Notes 9.6

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Wintery December arrived, and with it the new patch for GWENT.

Update 9.6 introduces 12 new cards, with fan favourites like King Radovid V.

While the card drop is definitely the highlight this time, there is also the usual slew of balance changes, quality of life improvements and fixes. You can read about all of the details below.
Changes
  • Change of the path to access Reward Book and Draft. Reward Book is accessed in the Main Menu. Draft access has been moved to the Play Menu.
  • The Drain keyword now ignores Armor.
New Features
  • Introduced a new icon for non-Charge Order abilities.
  • Added option to skip steps of removing/adding packages in Draft.
  • New trees in the Reward Book connected to the December card drop.
Neutral
  • Olgierd: Immortal: Ability changed to: This card's power cannot be changed by other cards or abilities.
  • Vesemir: Mentor: Now also boosts self.
Monsters
  • New unit: Arachas Queen. Insectoid, 6 power, 10 provision cost. Deploy: Consume an allied unit. If it's an Insectoid, Spawn and play Arachas Nest. Deathwish: Spawn a base copy of the Consumed unit on this row.
  • New unit: Regis: Reborn. Vampire, 1 power, 13 provision cost. Deploy: Drain an enemy unit by 3. At the end of your turn, while in hand or deck, if there is an enemy unit with Bleeding, increase own base power by 1.
  • Abaya: Can now also trigger the Deathwish ability of gold units.
  • Brewess: Can now also gain Charges while in play.
  • Gael: Provision cost changed from 7 to 6.
  • Katakan: Ability changed to: Zeal. Order: Spawn an Ekimmara on this row. Cooldown: 4 Reduce the Cooldown by 1 whenever Bleeding is applied to an enemy unit.
  • Weavess: Incantation: Has a new part of ability: Zeal. Order: Consume an allied unit.
  • Yaga: Provision cost changed from 13 to 12.
  • Alp: Power changed from 3 to 4
  • Nekurat: Power changed from 3 to 4
  • Fleder: Power changed from 5 to 4. Provision cost changed from 5 to 6. Ability changed to: When Bleeding is applied to an enemy unit, boost self by the amount applied. Counter: 1 Refresh the Counter at the beginning of your turn.
  • Incubus: Power changed from 5 to 6.
  • Maerolorn: Provision cost changed from 5 to 4.
Skellige
  • New unit: Cerys: Fearless. Human - Warrior, 4 power, 10 provision cost. After you've dealt damage to allied units 9 times, Summon self from your deck to your Ranged row. Zeal. Order: Fully Heal an allied unit and damage another allied unit by the amount healed. Cooldown: 1
  • New unit: King Bran. Human - Warrior, 5 power, 11 provision cost. Veteran. Deploy: Boost self by 0. Increase the value by 1 whenever excess damage is dealt to enemy units. At the start of the game, trigger the Veteran ability of your units.
  • Onslaught: Ability changed to: Order: Damage an enemy unit by 3. Charge: 2. Whenever an enemy unit becomes damaged, give 1 Armor to all Pirates and Ships in your hand.
  • Artis: Provision cost changed from 12 to 11.
  • Coral: Provision cost changed from 8 to 9.
  • Fucusya: Provision cost changed from 13 to 14.
  • Dimun Corsair: Power changed from 3 to 4. Provision cost changed from 5 to 4. Ability changed to: Zeal. Order: Remove up to 2 Armor from an allied unit and boost self by the same amount. Cooldown: 2. Whenever you play a Ship, decrease Cooldown by 1.
  • Dimun Warship: Now Summons the highest-power bronze pirate from your graveyard upon Deathwish.
Northern Realms
  • New unit: King Henselt. Human - Soldier, 3 power, 1 Armor, 13 provision cost. Deploy: Play a Crew unit from your deck. Whenever an adjacent unit's Cooldown decreases, boost self by the same amount.
  • New unit: King Radovid V. Human - Soldier, 6 power, 10 provision cost. Deploy: If the base version of your leader ability has more than 1 Charge, give it an additional Charge. Order: Repeat the Deploy ability.
  • Shield Wall: Provision bonus changed from 14 to 15.
  • Uprising: Provision bonus changed from 14 to 15.
  • Leticia Charbonneau: Her Order ability no longer affects her own Patience value when the ability is reset.
  • Raffard's Vengeance: Provision cost changed from 9 to 10.
Scoia'tael
  • New unit: Milva: Sharpshooter. Human, 2 power, 11 provision cost. Zeal. Order: Damage an enemy unit by 2. Deathblow: Shuffle self back to your deck. Whenever you move an enemy unit, Summon self from your deck to the opposite row, then damage it by 1.
  • New unit: Saskia: Commander. Dragon, 4 power, 13 provision cost. Immunity. Deploy: If you have at least 10 different primary categories in your starting deck, Summon a random bronze Scoia'tael unit with a primary category that is not on your side of the battlefield from your deck to this row. At the end of your turn, lower the Counter by 1. When the Counter reaches 0, reset it and repeat the Deploy ability. Counter: 3
  • Saov Ainmhi'dh: Now transforms into Saov Ainmhi'dh: Unity immediately upon entering the graveyard, rather than at the end of the same turn.
  • Abandoned Girl: Ability changed to: Order: Transform into a Young Dryad without changing power, and gain Vitality equal to the number of Dryads on this row.
  • Bountiful Harvest: Now lets you choose between all bronze Scoia'tael Elves.
  • Cat Witcher Saboteur: Now deals an additional 1 base damage.
  • Dryad Matron: Provision cost changed from 5 to 4.
Nilfgaard
  • New unit: Ardal aep Dahy. Human - Aristocrat, 7 power, 12 provision cost. Deploy (Ranged): If neither player has passed and your opponent's hand is not full, move a non-Doomed enemy unit with power up to the number of Tactics in your starting deck (0) to your opponent's hand, then draw a card.
  • New unit: Jan Calveit. Human - Aristocrat, 8 power, 10 provision cost. Deploy: Sort the cards in your deck from the highest to the lowest provision cost. At the start of the game, move self up by one position in the deck for each Tactic in your starting deck.
  • Artaud Terranova: Provision cost changed from 12 to 13.
  • Braathens: Provision cost changed from 10 to 11.
  • Fire Scorpion: Provision cost changed from 5 to 4. Armor changed from 1 to 0.
  • Venedal Elite: Power changed from 4 to 5.
Syndicate
  • New unit: Cyrus Engelkind Hemmelfart. Human - Firesworn, 3 power, 1 Armor, 12 provision cost. Profit 4. Deploy: Spawn and play Congregation. Fee 2: Destroy an allied Firesworn Token, then Summon a bronze Firesworn unit from your graveyard to the same position. Cooldown: 1
  • New unit: King of Beggars Human - Blindeyes, 4 power, 10 provision cost. Fee 1: Boost self by 1. While the deck, whenever you pay a Tribute, remove a Counter for each Coin paid. For each removed Counter, gain 1 Coin back. When Counter reaches 0, Summon self from deck to a random allied row. Counter: 9
  • Sacred Flame: Provision cost changed from 9 to 8.
  • Sir Skewertooth: Tribute cost changed from 3 to 2.
  • Halfling Safecracker: Power changed from 4 to 5.
  • Renegade Mage: Power changed from 3 to 4.
Game Fixes
  • Fixed an issue that was preventing users from launching the game after logging in on certain Android devices.
  • Playing Duchess' Informant and Emissary can now be cancelled, when you are selecting a target for their Deploy abilities.
  • Premium Vanadain will now correctly Spawn Premium copies of Waylay.
  • Olgierd: Immortal is no longer unable to lose Armor when taking damage that exceeds the Armor amount.
  • Saov Ainmhi'dh: Unity's provision cost has been corrected in order to match Saov Ainmhi'dh.
  • Players are able to correctly connect their GOG and Twitch accounts on PlayGWENT
 
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I think it will take some time to get used to the Reward Book's new location.

Draft's as well, though depending on how much one plays it. And on that note... "Added option to skip steps of removing/adding packages in Draft." sounds good. Being forced to remove good packages or add non-synergising or "excess" ones hasn't been the best experience.

As for the cards and their changes, they will undoubtedly shift things around quite a bit. Time will tell just how much. :D
 
Seems really solid overall, I'm just worried about Radovid being incredibly broken with uprising. No one wants a yrden meta either.

Place your bets on whether they'll do the very rare week 1 hotfix to stop a card that's out of control.
 
It's about damn time vampires got some love, also see some well-deserved nerfs (nature's gift seems to be the only one to dodge it this time).

Must say I usually agree with most balancing changes in these patches, makes you feel like CDPR are in touch with their game and playerbase.
 
Will we be able to buy the new cards in a set with Premiums like the PoP drops or do we have to craft them?
 
Will we be able to buy the new cards in a set with Premiums like the PoP drops or do we have to craft them?
Good question...
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Wintery December arrived, and with it the new patch for GWENT.

Update 9.6 introduces 12 new cards, with fan favourites like King Radovid V.

While the card drop is definitely the highlight this time, there is also the usual slew of balance changes, quality of life improvements and fixes. You can read about all of the details below.
Changes
  • Change of the path to access Reward Book and Draft. Reward Book is accessed in the Main Menu. Draft access has been moved to the Play Menu.

  • The Drain keyword now ignores Armor.
New Features
  • Introduced a new icon for non-Charge Order abilities.
  • Added option to skip steps of removing/adding packages in Draft.
  • New trees in the Reward Book connected to the December card drop.
Neutral
  • Olgierd: Immortal: Ability changed to: This card's power cannot be changed by other cards or abilities.
  • Vesemir: Mentor: Now also boosts self.
Monsters
  • New unit: Arachas Queen. Insectoid, 6 power, 10 provision cost. Deploy: Consume an allied unit. If it's an Insectoid, Spawn and play Arachas Nest. Deathwish: Spawn a base copy of the Consumed unit on this row.
  • New unit: Regis: Reborn. Vampire, 1 power, 13 provision cost. Deploy: Drain an enemy unit by 3. At the end of your turn, while in hand or deck, if there is an enemy unit with Bleeding, increase own base power by 1.
  • Abaya: Can now also trigger the Deathwish ability of gold units.
  • Brewess: Can now also gain Charges while in play.
  • Gael: Provision cost changed from 7 to 6.
  • Katakan: Ability changed to: Zeal. Order: Spawn an Ekimmara on this row. Cooldown: 4 Reduce the Cooldown by 1 whenever Bleeding is applied to an enemy unit.
  • Weavess: Incantation: Has a new part of ability: Zeal. Order: Consume an allied unit.
  • Yaga: Provision cost changed from 13 to 12.
  • Alp: Power changed from 3 to 4
  • Fleder: Power changed from 5 to 4. Provision cost changed from 5 to 6. Ability changed to: When Bleeding is applied to an enemy unit, boost self by the amount applied. Counter: 1 Refresh the Counter at the beginning of your turn.
  • Incubus: Power changed from 5 to 6.
  • Maerolorn: Provision cost changed from 5 to 4.
Skellige
  • New unit: Cerys: Fearless. Human - Warrior, 4 power, 10 provision cost. After you've dealt damage to allied units 9 times, Summon self from your deck to your Ranged row. Zeal. Order: Fully Heal an allied unit and damage another allied unit by the amount healed. Cooldown: 1
  • New unit: King Bran. Human - Warrior, 5 power, 11 provision cost. Veteran. Deploy: Boost self by 0. Increase the value by 1 whenever excess damage is dealt to enemy units. At the start of the game, trigger the Veteran ability of your units.
  • Onslaught: Ability changed to: Order: Damage an enemy unit by 3. Charge: 2. Whenever an enemy unit becomes damaged, give 1 Armor to all Pirates and Ships in your hand.
  • Artis: Provision cost changed from 12 to 11.
  • Coral: Provision cost changed from 8 to 9.
  • Fucusya: Provision cost changed from 13 to 14.
  • Dimun Corsair: Power changed from 3 to 4. Provision cost changed from 5 to 4. Ability changed to: Zeal. Order: Remove up to 2 Armor from an allied unit and boost self by the same amount. Cooldown: 2. Whenever you play a Ship, decrease Cooldown by 1.
  • Dimun Warship: Now Summons the highest-power bronze pirate from your graveyard upon Deathwish.
Northern Realms
  • New unit: King Henselt. Human - Soldier, 3 power, 1 Armor, 13 provision cost. Deploy: Play a Crew unit from your deck. Whenever an adjacent unit's Cooldown decreases, boost self by the same amount.
  • New unit: King Radovid V. Human - Soldier, 6 power, 10 provision cost. Deploy: If the base version of your leader ability has more than 1 Charge, give it an additional Charge. Order: Repeat the Deploy ability.
  • Shield Wall: Provision bonus changed from 14 to 15.
  • Uprising: Provision bonus changed from 14 to 15.
  • Leticia Charbonneau: Her Order ability no longer affects her own Patience value when the ability is reset.
  • Raffard's Vengeance: Provision cost changed from 9 to 10.
Scoia'tael
  • New unit: Milva: Sharpshooter. Human, 2 power, 11 provision cost. Zeal. Order: Damage an enemy unit by 2. Deathblow: Shuffle self back to your deck. Whenever you move an enemy unit, Summon self from your deck to the opposite row, then damage it by 1.
  • New unit: Saskia: Commander. Dragon, 4 power, 13 provision cost. Immunity. Deploy: If you have at least 10 different primary categories in your starting deck, Summon a random bronze Scoia'tael unit with a primary category that is not on your side of the battlefield from your deck to this row. At the end of your turn, lower the Counter by 1. When the Counter reaches 0, reset it and repeat the Deploy ability. Counter: 3
  • Saov Ainmhi'dh: Now transforms into Saov Ainmhi'dh: Unity immediately upon entering the graveyard, rather than at the end of the same turn.
  • Abandoned Girl: Ability changed to: Order: Transform into a Young Dryad without changing power, and gain Vitality equal to the number of Dryads on this row.
  • Bountiful Harvest: Now lets you choose between all bronze Scoia'tael Elves.
  • Cat Witcher Saboteur: Now deals an additional 1 base damage.
  • Dryad Matron: Provision cost changed from 5 to 4.
Nilfgaard
  • New unit: Ardal aep Dahy. Human - Aristocrat, 7 power, 12 provision cost. Deploy (Ranged): If neither player has passed and your opponent's hand is not full, move a non-Doomed enemy unit with power up to the number of Tactics in your starting deck (0) to your opponent's hand, then draw a card.
  • New unit: Jan Calveit. Human - Aristocrat, 8 power, 10 provision cost. Deploy: Sort the cards in your deck from the highest to the lowest provision cost. At the start of the game, move self up by one position in the deck for each Tactic in your starting deck.
  • Artaud Terranova: Provision cost changed from 12 to 13.
  • Braathens: Provision cost changed from 10 to 11.
  • Fire Scorpion: Provision cost changed from 5 to 4. Armor changed from 1 to 0.
  • Venedal Elite: Power changed from 4 to 5.
Syndicate
  • New unit: Cyrus Engelkind Hemmelfart. Human - Firesworn, 3 power, 1 Armor, 12 provision cost. Profit 4. Deploy: Spawn and play Congregation. Fee 2: Destroy an allied Firesworn Token, then Summon a bronze Firesworn unit from your graveyard to the same position. Cooldown: 1
  • New unit: King of Beggars Human - Blindeyes, 4 power, 10 provision cost. Fee 1: Boost self by 1. While the deck, whenever you pay a Tribute, remove a Counter for each Coin paid. For each removed Counter, gain 1 Coin back. When Counter reaches 0, Summon self from deck to a random allied row. Counter: 9
  • Sacred Flame: Provision cost changed from 9 to 8.
  • Sir Skewertooth: Tribute cost changed from 3 to 2.
  • Halfling Safecracker: Power changed from 4 to 5.
  • Renegade Mage: Power changed from 3 to 4.
Game Fixes
  • Fixed an issue that was preventing users from launching the game after logging in on certain Android devices.
  • Playing Duchess' Informant and Emissary can now be cancelled, when you are selecting a target for their Deploy abilities.
  • Premium Vanadain will now correctly Spawn Premium copies of Waylay.
  • Olgierd: Immortal is no longer unable to lose Armor when taking damage that exceeds the Armor amount.
  • Saov Ainmhi'dh: Unity's provision cost has been corrected in order to match Saov Ainmhi'dh.
  • Players are able to correctly connect their GOG and Twitch accounts on PlayGWENT
What time / date does the update drop?
 
(nature's gift seems to be the only one to dodge it this time).
I wouldn't exactly call this a much smaller nerf than the other ones.

"Bountiful Harvest: Now lets you choose between all bronze Scoia'tael Elves."

Will we be able to buy the new cards in a set with Premiums like the PoP drops or do we have to craft them?
I assume they offer a complete package for money like on the last 12 Card drop.
 
I cannot contain myself, I must comment on the most glaring issue imo.
We already had 3 (THREE) Regis cards which no one ever plays because they are so bad. And instead of buffing at least one of them into the range of playability... We get A 4TH Regis Card, lol? And it's basically just a vampire Gord (though vampires needed this).
Meanwhile Dagon doesn't even exist and Leshen is just a 9 power body in leader's ability. :(

The buff to Onslaught is pretty significant DAMN OP! I was already satisfied with that ability and had a deck using (a deck that has nothing to do with ships or pirates so now that deck is pretty much boned lol) it so...
Meanwhile Royal Inspiration is and was a worse leader (since 1 point in buffs is quite usually a lot less impactful then a 1 point in dmg which can kill off units or set up bloodthrist...) got no touch at all. ;( Pls give love to RI next time, it's sad.

"- Added option to skip steps of removing/adding packages in Draft."
This might just make Draft playable actually, even if still not enjoyable. :D

Also thanks for rescuing Katakan from the dark pit of worthlessness (still many cards down there but at least one got out so yay, lol).
 
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I wouldn't exactly call this a much smaller nerf than the other ones.
I admit I didn't fully get this one. If it's a nerf I assume the choices will still be randomised as they are now, in other words, smaller chance of sorceress spam? If so, then good, literally everyone got what they deserved : )
 
I admit I didn't fully get this one. If it's a nerf I assume the choices will still be randomised as they are now, in other words, smaller chance of sorceress spam? If so, then good, literally everyone got what they deserved : )
I think what it means is that now, you will be able to choose between all elves, no randomly.
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I think what it means is that now, you will be able to choose between all elves, no randomly.
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This about Bountiful Harvest?
You will still be given a choice of only 3 cards BUT now the pool of possible cards will include ALL ST Elves so it's much less consistent since you have no idea wth you will be getting with it, you might get the Hawker Healers now for example, so the chances of a Sorceress are much smaller.
 
I cannot contain myself, I must comment on the most glaring issue imo.
We already had 3 (THREE) Regis cards which no one ever plays because they are so bad. And instead of buffing at least one of them into the range of playability... We get A 4TH Regis Card, lol? And it's basically just a vampire Gord (though vampires needed this).

Except the provision cost on the new Regis is 13 compared to Gord's 7. Unless you use the few cards that extend the game past 16 turns, the best he can hope for is to boost his base to 16 plus 3 drain. That's 19 points for 13 provisions and all you need to do is make sure to have a bleeding opponent for every one of the first 15 turns of the game. Even with vampires, that can be a challenge.

Honestly, I'll be surprised if he manages to play as 13 for 13 on a regular basis. I think we'll see his provision cost drop to 10 (or lower) over the next few patches.
 
Except the provision cost on the new Regis is 13 compared to Gord's 7. Unless you use the few cards that extend the game past 16 turns, the best he can hope for is to boost his base to 16 plus 3 drain. That's 19 points for 13 provisions and all you need to do is make sure to have a bleeding opponent for every one of the first 15 turns of the game. Even with vampires, that can be a challenge.

Honestly, I'll be surprised if he manages to play as 13 for 13 on a regular basis. I think we'll see his provision cost drop to 10 (or lower) over the next few patches.
16 + 3 drain is 22 points, not 19, since drain buffs the unit by the amount of damage ("drain") it does to an enemy.
But I get your point, a Gord is 7 provisions so he is a waaaayyyy less risky/expensive option compared to a hefty 13 provision Regis, even though Regis has a significantly higher ceiling. But also remember that Regis is not vulnerable to a reset since he increases his base power.
 
Bountiful Harvest: Now lets you choose between all bronze Scoia'tael Elves.
There are 24 bronze Elves, quite a few not really good. I agree the issue with Sorceress into BH and vice vesa needed to be addresed, but 3 out of 24 is too much rng in my opinion.
 
I like most of the new cards and balance changes, hopefully the meta will get a proper shake-up.

MO
Arachas Queen - at first glance: "That looks fun!", on second glance: "Someone will figure out how to abuse this in some very unhealthy way." I like this card, but the "duplicate any unit" part rises some flags.
Fleder - isn't it a bit broken?

SK
Cerys - i'm still waiting for the "ressurection shenanigans" deck from beta.
Bran - i don't like this one, two great ideas are coliding in a mediocre way, so he's all about numbers - numbers good? = auto included, numbers bad? = trash. I think you should ditch the veteran interaction and put it on a different card that is going to "do more" with it. Bran would be better if he was focused solely on excess damage.
Onslaught - in the dev video onslaught had a bloodthirst passive, in patch notes it doesn't. So which one is correct?

ST
Milva - this will be FUN! I would just like to point out that in the art she's ambushing some NG soldiers by jumping in between them with a bow - That's not an ambush! That's suicide!
 
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