PTR Patch Notes – June 17, 2026

About the Public Test Realm (PTR)

The PTR is a server for players to participate in testing upcoming systems and content. It is NOT a full game experience. For the full early access game, please use the commercial Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen client.

On the PTR, players will encounter bugs and incomplete content and/or systems. Server availability is not guaranteed. Additionally, character and/or server resets may occur without notice.

Please provide your bug reports and feedback on the Official Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen Discord, where PTR feedback channels have been created.

In this Update

This update includes several fixes for server memory allocation problems that were leading to zone crashes during Week 6 testing. We appreciate the patience of our testers as we worked to track down the root cause of these issues.

This update also includes changes for Dire Lord Blood Debt, as well as the introduction of Mastery for the Shaman class. In addition, the update includes several bug fixes, class ability tuning adjustments, and itemization adjustments.

Blood Debt Adjustments and the Reintroduction of Essence

The Blood Debt mechanic for Dire Lords is being refined based on data and feedback gathered over the past several weeks. As a mechanic, Blood Debt was intended to allow Dire Lords to be competitive as tanks when compared to Paladins and Warriors, both of whom can use shields. However, the previous version of Blood Debt was too effective at smoothing incoming damage, effectively allowing Dire Lords to survive in situations where other tank classes would not have been able to do so.

We also heard feedback from many Dire Lord players who felt that the change from Essence to Blood Debt had removed some of the challenge and fun of using their class abilities. Players told us that they missed the resource management aspect of the class and felt that gameplay had become too simplistic with its removal.

With these things in mind:

We will be reintroducing the Essence mechanic for Dire Lords, but with some adjustments.

You will see the return of the Essence Bar in the next patch, and will see Essence accumulating, but the resource will not interact with your abilities yet. Essence and Blood Debt are two separate mechanics – the amount of Essence you have at any given time will affect several criteria: how much damage you take and how much damage you deal, among other things, and many of the Dire Lord’s abilities will increase or decrease the amount of Essence you have. However, Essence is still being fully implemented and will not be ready for testing or feedback until a future update.

In addition to Essence changes, Blood Debt is being adjusted so that 10% of damage taken by the Dire Lord (rather than 50%) will be allocated to Blood Debt and then applied back to the Dire Lord over a period of 10 seconds. This damage smoothing will not occur unless the Dire Lord is taking more than 10 points of damage from an attack, which means that the mechanic will happen more frequently in later levels where the Dire Lord is more likely to find themselves in challenging tanking situations. This is intended to help compensate for the benefits that Paladins and Warriors can receive from their shields in terms of managing incoming damage.

Shaman Mastery

This update introduces class mastery for the Shaman class. The two branches are as follows:

The Oracle branch focuses on the healing aspects of the class. A shaman who pursues this path will gain immense power to heal and protect their allies.

The Fateweaver branch focuses on the support aspects of the class. A shaman who pursues this path will gain additional abilities to enhance the power of their allies and weaken their opponents.

Several new abilities will be introduced at higher levels as part of class Mastery for the Shaman. In addition, as part of the introduction of Mastery, many existing Shaman abilities have been adjusted or reassigned to the two mastery branches.

Level Cap

The level cap for Week 7 will remain at level 20. Trainer NPCs for class abilities are available in all starting areas and in the village of Demith.

Week 7 Testing Focus

• Combat testing for levels 1-20
• Mastery User Interface
• Mastery options for Warrior, Paladin, Dire Lord, and Shaman
• Solo and Group adventuring gameplay throughout the game.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed some issues with corpse dragging that were contributing to server instability.
• Fixed a problem that would cause some ability/buff tooltips to show 0 for the amount of healing or damage in the ability.
• Note: Many ability tooltips are still in the process of being refined to show this information.
• Fixed a problem where the shield block percentage line wasn’t displayed on the Defense tab in the character sheet unless the player had a shield equipped when they first entered the zone.
• Fixed an issue where the skills list would stop updating after zoning.
• Fixed several problems related to server memory allocation that were leading to server instability and would cause zones to crash. Optimized memory allocation to help prevent similar issues in the future.

Classes

Cleric

• The first rank of Dawnfire is now available at Level 4. The level requirements and effects of the other abilities in the ability line are unchanged.
• Purify will now cleanse either one poison effect or one disease effect (instead of one of each)
• The mana cost of Rebuke has been reduced, and the damage of the spell has been increased for all ranks of the spell.
• The range of Rebuke has been reduced to 25 meters.
• The damage of Sturdy Strike has been increased. Higher ranks of the ability received greater increases than lower ranks.
• The Inspire Allies ability has been renamed to Exhortation. The effects and level requirements for this ability line are unchanged.
• The ability Manifest: Tome of Sacred Vows has been removed and may no longer be used.
• The Conviction ability has been removed and may no longer be used. Note: This ability may be reintroduced in a future update.
• The mana cost and cast time of Ward Undeath has been reduced, and the damage has been increased for all ranks of the ability.

Dire Lord

• Blood Debt will now trigger if the Dire Lord takes more than 10 points of damage in a single hit. 10% of the incoming damage will become Blood Debt. Blood Debt will be reapplied to the player in the form of a damage-over-time effect over 10 seconds.
• As Blood Debt accumulates, the Dire Lord will gain Essence. Higher Essence will cause the Dire Lord to both deal more damage and take more damage. In future updates, Dire Lords will be able to spend Essence to activate or empower some of their abilities.
• Please see the section at the top of these patch notes for a more detailed explanation of these changes.
• Phantom Recoil should now cause targets afflicted by Provoking Phantoms to suffer some curse damage when they attack the Dire Lord
• You must now be Level 10 to unlock the Edge of Midnight ability through Mastery.

Druid

• The Ignite and Vine Lash abilities now share a cooldown.
• The first rank of Vine Lash is now available at level 4. The level requirements of the other abilities in the ability line are unchanged.
• The damage of Vine Lash has been increased for all ranks of the ability.
• The damage of Ignite has been increased for all ranks of the ability.
• The level requirement for Stone of the Pass has been increased to level 16.
• The level requirement for Stone of Silence has been increased to level 26.
• The Verdanfire Spikes ability has been removed and may no longer be used.
• The mana cost for Verdanfire Bolt has been reduced, and the damage has been increased for all ranks of the ability.

Enchanter

• The Enchanter version of Erudite Mind will no longer stack with the Wizard and Summoner versions of the ability.
• It is no longer possible to charm an NPC that is in combat with another group or with a player outside of the Enchanter’s group.

Paladin

• Fixed another bug that was causing Hastened Verdict to not apply its benefits properly.
• Knight’s Valor II should now properly reduce the cast time of Oathflame with Oath of Valor triggers.
• The effect of Ember of Mercy has been updated to refund 100 Wrath to the Paladin when Oathflame consumes a charge of Blessed Flame, instead of directly reducing the cast cost of the ability.
• Updated the level requirements for unlocking Lightguard and Wrathful Aegis so that Paladins cannot unlock the abilities before they can actually use them.
• Updated the range for Sanctified Perimeter to match the full range of Wrathful Aegis. This should allow the effects of this Mastery option to apply more consistently in combat.
• Wrathful Rebuke should now properly cause Divine Shock to generate additional Wrath when used.
• You must now be level 10 and have unlocked Blessed Flame in order to unlock the Hallowed Flame ability.

Ranger

• Different ranks of Predator’s Fury should now properly share the same cooldown.

Rogue

• In response to overwhelming player feedback regarding the previous change to the ability, Blackjack Kick will once again generate 1 point of Opportunity when used.

Shaman

• Added the Headwinds ability, with the first rank available at Level 8.
• Bane of Fire is now unlocked via Mastery with the first rank available at level 6. Once unlocked, additional ranks automatically become available at Level 14, 22, 30, 38, and 46.
• Rushing Waters is now unlocked via Mastery with the first rank available at Level 10. Once unlocked, additional ranks automatically become available at Level 16, 22, 28, 34, 40, and 46.
• Scorched Fog is now unlocked via Mastery with the first rank available at Level 10. Once unlocked, additional ranks automatically become available at Level 18, 26, 36, and 44.
• Echo of the Rainlands is now unlocked via Mastery with the first rank available at Level 12. Once unlocked, additional ranks automatically become available at Level 20, 28, 36, and 44.
• Primordial Curse is now unlocked via Mastery with the first rank available at Level 12. Once unlocked, additional ranks automatically become available at Level 20, 28, 36, 44, and 50.
• Speed of the Skymane is now unlocked via Mastery with the first rank available at Level 14. Once unlocked, additional ranks automatically become available at Level 24, 36, and 44.
• Shackle of Blindness is now unlocked via Mastery with the first rank available at Level 20. Once unlocked, additional ranks automatically become available at Level 28, 38, and 48.
• Hurry the Past is now unlocked via Mastery and is available at Level 30.
• Added the Interlocking Stones ability, which is unlocked via Mastery and is available at Level 30.
• Added the Primal Rage ability, which is unlocked via Mastery and is available at Level 30.
• Part the Veil is now unlocked via Mastery and is available at Level 40.
• Added the Ancient Avatar ability, which is unlocked via Mastery and is available at Level 40.

Summoner

• The Summoner version of Erudite Mind will no longer stack with the Enchanter or Wizard versions of the ability.

Warrior

• Rupture II should now apply the correct bleed effect to your opponent.
• Fixed another bug that was preventing the haste effect from Furious Howl from being applied to the Warrior.
• Guarded II and Guarded III should now apply the correct benefits to Armor when triggered by using Quell.
• Removed references to Battle Points from several Mastery options for Shield Block, as Shield Block no longer consumes Battle Points to begin with.
• Rolling Storm I and Rolling Storm II should now correctly apply their benefits to the Storm ability.
• Shield Bash now actually requires the warrior to have a shield equipped before it can be used, instead of just assuming that they would have a shield equipped.
• The effect of Critical Recovery should now properly expire after 5 seconds instead of persisting indefinitely. Is it really a recovery if it never ends?
• Updated and clarified the description for the Hammering Blow mastery unlock.

Wizard

• The Wizard version of Erudite Mind will no longer stack with the Enchanter or Summoner versions of the ability.

Itemization

• Corrected damage values on some low-level dropped weapons, and removed some unbalancing stats from some of these items.
• Removed procs from some low-level weapons and adjusted stat values to compensate.

Mastery System

• Fixed a hitch in the first-time opening cinematic for the Mastery UI.
• Improved server responsiveness when unlocking Mastery nodes.
• Mastery points should now correctly refund to the player when significant changes are made to mastery arrays in an update.
• Significantly improved performance while the player has the UI open.
• Updated the tooltip value for the mastery quadrant point requirements to display the name of the class branch for that quadrant instead of just “right” or “left”.

Quadrant names are as follows for each class:

• Warrior – Bastion (Left) and Warlord (Right)
• Paladin – Justicar (Left) and Devout (Right)
• Dire Lord – Nightmare (Left) and Carnage (Right)
• Shaman – Oracle (Left) and Fateweaver (Right)
• Cleric – Righteous (Left) and Judgement (Right)
• Druid – Preserver (Left) and Storm Herald (Right)

Labels for these quadrant names will be added to the User Interface in a future update.

NPCs

• NPC Bash no longer applies the rallied buff to the player.
• In a victory for mana conservationists everywhere, NPCs are now less likely to waste mana by needlessly attempting to use Replenish on other NPCs that are at full health.

World

• Fixed a location in Black Rose Keep where players could get stuck.