Dev Diary - A Dream of Spring - Looking Back at the Champion Tuning Passes
Greetings House Leaders,
Over the past few months, we’ve made extensive adjustments to Champions and Factions in an effort to bring the game into a more balanced state with a stronger foundation. To all who weathered this long season of change - through buffs, nerfs, and reworks - we offer our deepest gratitude.
Now we invite you to take a breath with us. Let’s reflect on how far we’ve come - and share what you can expect as we move into this next chapter.
The Prince That Was Promised
It’s still too early to declare victory, but with the bulk of our tuning behind us, we’re shifting to a steadier rhythm. Going forward, we’ll reserve balance changes for Champions who are clearly out of line, and instead rely on new Champion releases to bolster playstyles and fill strategic gaps.
Our goal throughout this tuning effort has been simple: ensure that every playstyle, Faction and Champion has a clear identity - with distinct strengths and weaknesses that make them feel unique and worth mastering. For some, like the Greyjoys, this required a total reimagining of their playstyle. Others, like the Starks, retained their identity but underwent a major overhaul to their core keyword effect. And in cases like the Greens, more measured adjustments were enough to bring them into balance.
Ultimately, we want every faction to feel fun to play - and viable across most modes. While a competitive meta will always emerge, especially in Raids, we aim to ensure that your favorite Champions always have a path to success.
With that in mind, here’s a quick roundup of the major Factions and how they’ve settled now that our tuning journey is complete:
Baratheon
Strengths: Strong puzzle board synergy and consistent access to the SCOUTED keyword.
Weaknesses: Lack of other control effects like STUN or DECEIVE makes them vulnerable to enemy strategies. Most battles turn into a DPS race.
Bolton
Strengths: Brutal anti-aggression tools. Their BLEED punishes fast teams and those that rely on predictable timing.
Weaknesses: BLEED can be removed or ignored. TAUNT-heavy tanks can soak the effect and reduce its impact.
Free Cities
Strengths: Blazing speed and relentless aggression.
Weaknesses: They don’t scale over time. When other factions hit their late-game spikes, Free Cities can’t keep pace.
The Greens
Strengths: Explosive early burst, thanks to BIRTHRIGHT.
Weaknesses: Once BIRTHRIGHT expires, they’re among the weakest Champions in the game.
Greyjoy
Strengths: Devastating combos and elite buff/debuff removal.
Weaknesses: Coordination is key. If their setup is disrupted or an ally falls, their whole game plan can fall apart.
Lannister
Strengths: Highly versatile with strong control tools and access to unique mechanics like PACIFY and DECEIVE.
Weaknesses: Their power is gated behind Coins. Without Treasury resources, their effects are much harder to access.
Night’s Watch
Strengths: Excellent at absorbing damage with powerful SHIELDS and debuff removal.
Weaknesses: Teams that chip away at them before they can build up their defenses will break through the wall.
Stark
Strengths: Great disruption and huge mid-game power spikes once enemies become BRITTLE from ICE stacks.
Weaknesses: They’re weak before ICE reaches 5 stacks. Their early game can be sluggish without setup.
Targaryen
Strengths: The most powerful Faction in late-game scenarios due to their devastating FIRE stacking.
Weaknesses: Their strength is gated behind survival. If they can’t last, they can’t shine.
Sellswords
Factionless Champions often lack synergy with Faction mechanics like ICE or FIRE, but we want each of them to bring something unique to the table.
That’s why we’ve begun giving our “sellswords” specific roles - such as dragon-slaying in Alliance Legendary Assault - or utility that can elevate any team. For example, Champions like the Ice Warden were improved, despite already being strong, simply because they offer something no one else does.
Going forward, we’ll continue to explore ways for factionless champions to carve out their own identities - heroes for hire who can fill critical gaps in your roster.
What’s West of Westeros - Looking Toward the Future
As we sail past the horizon of our major tuning efforts, our gaze now turns to what lies ahead.
In the future, if a Faction is missing a key role or synergy, we’ll aim to fill that gap through new Champions, rather than further adjusting existing ones. This lets us preserve the identities you've come to know while expanding the options available to your roster.
With balance efforts largely complete, our focus will shift toward enhancing Summoning, game modes, delivering new content, and refining the Faction Bonus system to support more diverse team-building without sacrificing power. We’re looking to loosen up team-building requirements to allow players to make better use of their rosters and experiment more.
And yes - what you've been asking for most is finally on the way.
Send the ravens. Muster the banners. Ready your Alliance.
A new chapter is coming - and we can’t wait to share it with you this Summer.
– BattleKitty, The Game of Thrones: Legends Design Director