Mars and Zeus join the field in latest Auto Chess update

Drodo Studios has released another eagerly anticipated update to Auto Chess, and it features two new heroes and a new species.

Last week, Auto Chess’ developers teased the release of two new heroes in a Twitter post. The silhouettes of the new characters depicted Mars and Zeus.

As expected, the new patch brought in the two heroes. Mars is a God Warrior with 650/1300/2600 health and five armor. However, he has zero attack damage. This is because he is a pure defensive hero who doesn’t make normal attacks.

Mars uses a shield to block physical damage from the front and his sides. The reduction from the front is 30/50/70% while the sides have 15%/25%/35% reduction. Shield Strike, which is similar to cleave, triggers every five seconds and deals 200/300/400 damage.

Zeus is a God Mage. His Thundergod’s Wrath ability will strike all enemy pieces on the player’s board. There is a 50% chance of hitting each piece and it’s guaranteed to hit at least one target. The magic damage deals 300/400/500 plus 20%/30%/40% of the chess piece’s current health.

The new God species gives a 50% cooldown reduction perk to hero abilities. If Mars and Zeus are both on the board, the combination will grant the player a 75% reduction cooldown. This can pair well with heroes that have high damage area of effect abilities, such as Razor and Shadow Fiend.

However, the perk only activates if there are no other species synergies in the player’s chess pool. Class synergies such as Warriors, Mage, Knight, Assassin, and Druid do not cancel out the God perk the way other species synergies do.

Aside from the new heroes, the patch included significant changes to existing heroes and synergies.

Low popularity heroes Riki, Sand King, and Slark were temporarily removed from the game. This resulted in perk adjustments for Assassins, Beasts, and Nagas.

Assassins’ Coup de Grace critical strike chance was changed from 15%/15%/15% to 15%/20% and its damage to 350%/450%. Beasts’ Power of the Wild bonus attack damage was changed to 10%/20%, while Nagas’ Scale Armor bonus magic resistance was changed to 40%.

The magic resistance reduction of Mages was lowered from 40%/40% to 35%/45%.

Another notable change is Treant Protector’s cost being increased by one gold. Its base health was also increased by 100, and its base attack damage was increased by 10.

The Drodo Island chess boards were also revamped. Each board now has a distinctive look, with changes being especially clear around the benches.