Season 12 of Naraka: Bladepoint is now live, bringing with it a new timed event, game mode, new progression system, and eventually a new character, Lyam Liu.
The new Naraka season is called “Tenacity”, and looks to offer a good mix of casual whimsy and competitive-focused changes to shake up the ranked meta, while also streamlining some long-standing pain-points to make things less daunting for new players and less time consuming for regulars.
First up, to celebrate the Songkran water festival, players can soak each other with water guns in true Thai New Year fashion, as the Swarm weapon turns into “Hydro-Swarm”. Completing the event will give players access to water fight themed legendary display emotes and runs until April 24.
Whether 24 Entertainment has made it massively OP to encourage you to use it like the other best weapons in Naraka remains to be seen.
Next, the new Hot Potato Counter mode tasks players with fighting for control over a ball inside the arena, attacking it instead of other players until it changes color to score points. It aims to offer a more casual setting to practice combos and hone the core mechanics of the rock-paper-scissors combat system without the life-or-death stakes of a full ranked match – which sounds like a great idea in a highly technical game like Naraka where learning new techniques under pressure can be tough.
Speaking of tough, Season 12 also brings in a major rework of Naraka’s Potential system, which lets you toggle between different character buffs to craft your own build. The revamped menu, which is still a starry sky of different nodes and buttons lest you think it’s been dumbed down, is split into four areas, each with their own major, medium and minor nodes: Solar nodes focus on Rage and Ultimates, Lunar nodes on Counters and Rescues, Omni nodes on the pace of combat, and Origin nodes on Materials and Currencies.
With those changes, even though there is still a lot to take in, you can already see how it’s easier to parse and focus on a specific area relating to the strengths and weaknesses of your preferred character or your role within your team.
Finally, alongside some new outfits for Matari, Tarka Ji and Zai, Naraka will also see a new character introduced “midway” through Season 12: Lyam Liu. Dubbed the “Maven Magnetist”, he has the ability to control metal, which hints at some interesting utility within the roster of best characters in Naraka.
After the recent arrival of Shayol Wei, who had some incredible defensive capabilities thanks to her turtle technique, Lyam Liu could be a similarly defensive character, literally blocking incoming attacks with metal. Or he could be more of a zoning character, placing roadblocks around the battlefield or trapping enemies within a metal prison – all of which would be very strong in a team scenario.
More details are expected to drop when Lyam Liu arrives at Season 12’s midpoint.