Roll call! All characters currently in the game

I've realised I never really properly introduced the original six kobolds from the alpha, so here they are!

LALLI is a Soldier, the benchmark Fighter class that deals Physical damage to a single adjacent target. As a Soldier, he has both high DPS and good resilience to damage, without any real drawbacks save for his lack of specialisation; he is the standard against which all other things in the game are measured. Lalli's kit leans into his class's jack-of-all-trades bent; his active, Sudden Ferocity, both increases his Atk and drastically improves his natural life regeneration, while his passive, Desperation, causes his Attack Speed and HP regeneration to increase when his HP is below 50%. His extremely powerful regeneration makes him easy to keep alive, and he gets even stronger when in danger, so he's very forgiving to use for inexperienced players.

KERTU is a Shieldguard, the benchmark Armor class which possesses both extremely high Def and HP, but features minimal direct offense. While her Atk is only a bit below average, her attacks are very slow, so her damage output is poor compared to Lalli. Kertu's primary role is to hold enemies back from ranged units, and to draw aggro away from other melee units so she can soak attacks for them. Kertu isn't completely passive, however; when the time is right, she can use her active ability, Stand Your Ground, to boost her own Def and cause enemies that attack her to suffer retaliation damage based on her now sky-high Def, allowing her to quickly dispatch crowds of enemies by simply letting them break against her. Her passive, Obstinacy, grants her Physical Resistance after not moving for a period of time. She is a versatile unit who can soak large amounts of attacks without suffering any lasting damage, but has the option to go on the offensive when the opportunity presents itself.

MIEL is an Archer, a Sniper class which attacks rapidly and prioritises targets with lower Def. Her Atk is a bit lower than Lalli's, but her DPS is still very high for a ranged unit, and her targeting priority means she will focus on dispatching enemies she can damage most easily before chipping away at tougher foes. Miel's kit is very simple, focusing entirely on damage. Her active, Wild Shots, doubles her attack speed and slightly increases her Atk, drastically boosting her damage output overall; her passive, Happy Accident, is a simple but powerful crit passive which gives all of her attacks a small chance to deal quadrupled damage. Miel's extremely straightforward kit makes her very easy to use and she is second to none at getting rid of low Def targets from a safe distance.

ANTERO is an Arcanist, a basic Mage class which deals Magic damage to a single target at range. He attacks somewhat slowly, but his magic attacks ignore a large amount of enemy Def, making him ideal for taking down targets other units struggle to damage. Antero's kit leans into this role by rewarding him for repeatedly attacking a single tough enemy. His active, Aether Beam, dramatically shortens his attack interval to almost a tenth of its normal period, but causes his attacks to deal halved damage; this allows him to rapidly apply his passive, Focused Study, which inflicts increasingly severe Magic Vulnerability to targets as he hits them repeatedly, increasing the power of both Antero's own attacks and those of other Magic users such as Meri or Pipuri. Antero is well suited to dispatching tough, dangerous enemies that Lalli or Miel can struggle with, complementing Miel's proficiency in shredding trash.

The above four characters are "starting" characters; they will always be available for selection at the start of a run, regardless of other factors! They are designed to be simple to use and good at their core roles, without many gimmicks.

VEITTI is a Rogue, a Sneak class with very rapid attacks and a high chance to dodge incoming attacks. As a Sneak, he does not obstruct enemies, letting them pass straight by him; however, his DPS is very high, and his evasion allows him to stand in front of another melee unit and bait attacks away from them. His kit leans into this role; his passive, Dirty Deeds, lets him ignore a small amount of Def when attacking an enemy that's obstructed by another unit, while his active, Blindside, causes him to immediately attack all obstructed enemies in his range for doubled damage; if any are defeated, Veitti gains drastically increased attack speed and doubled effect from Dirty Deeds for a short time. Veitti makes up for his inability to halt enemies with a combination of stubborn durability and reliable single-target damage, rewarding those who can utilise his class's quirks.

AJATTA is a Wretch, a Psionic class that deals Psychic damage at short range and prioritises enemies at low max HP. Her Psychic attacks are abated strongly by Def, but will always deal at least half of their base damage, giving her a strong combination of piercing high Def and punishing low Def. Her active, Hideous Whisper, immediately inflicts Psychic Vulnerability to all targets in her range for a short time and attacks them; any left below half HP will be attacked again. By going for the kill against weakened targets, she feeds into her passive, Beckoning, which immediately deals a portion of Psychic damage to all enemies in Ajatta's range whenever she gets a kill. This can proc itself, and benefits from Hideous Whisper's Psychic weakness, potentially leading to explosive bursts of damage off of even a single kill. Ajatta is a powerful nuker that can instantly wipe out legions of enemies off of a single killing blow.

Since we're here, we may as well rattle off the 6 new characters which will be available in the upcoming FREE demo:

MERI, a Mystic who deals both Physical and Magic damage with her melee attacks, and can expand her Magic damage into an AoE, growing stronger for each enemy hit;

KULTA, a Sun Paladin who passively heals nearby friendly units, and has a rechargable shield that can block an attack and heals nearby allies even more upon breaking;

TERAVA, an Agent who weakens enemies with her attacks, and has a chance to further shred their Def with each hit;

TYKKI, a Bombard who deals AoE damage at long range, and can fire a devastating blast which powers up even further if he hasn't moved for a while;

PIPURI, an Enchanter who deals Magic damage and passively powers up the attacks of allies in her range, and causes their attacks to set targets ablaze;

and SAKKA, a Druid who chips away at all enemies in his range with Psychic damage, and has a chance to Shock them to cancel their attacks!

All characters now have fully freshened-up particle effects; along the way a couple new backend features were added which will be very helpful later. Next will be adding little numerical popups to attacks for feedback, which is something a friend asked for a bit ago!