Dungeon Defenders II

A major highlight of this period was the launch of the new Hero: The Templar on June 23, 2026. This knight, imbued with divine power and arcane magic, introduced unique abilities and defenses, significantly expanding gameplay options. Alongside this, players gained access to two new maps—Promenade Golden Dawn and Nightfall—and a new boss fight against the Airship & Goblin Mech, enriching the game's content.

• New Content:
  • New Boss Fight: Players faced the Airship & Goblin Mech on Promenade Golden Dawn.
  • New Elemental Rumble Elements: Introduced Golden and Poison Elementals with distinct damage characteristics.
  • New Pets: Added Griffin, Evil Griffin, and Tiny Goblin Mech to the game.
  • New Skins: Featured skins included Golden Knight Dryad and Fallen Knight Cyborg among others.

• Gameplay Changes:
  • Reworked Onslaught Loot Progression: The loot progression system was revamped to be based on the current floor number instead of Power-Rating, enhancing player experience.

• Balance Adjustments:
  • Jester Changes: Various abilities and shards for the Jester received damage increases.
  • Cooldown for Malthius' Heal Ability: Implemented a 5-second cooldown to balance gameplay.
  • Maximum Drop Enhancement Level Capped: Capped to prevent maxed-out upgrades in Onslaught.

• Quality of Life Improvements:
  • Equip Shards from Vault: Players could now equip shards directly from their shard vault, streamlining shard management.
  • Public/Private Toggle Mid-Match: Hosts gained the ability to toggle match types without needing to restart.
  • Find My Item Feature: Introduced a new tool for locating items across all containers, enhancing inventory management.

Dungeon Defenders II introduced a wealth of new content in Year 9, highlighted by the launch of Carnival Town, a new map featuring the Evil Jester as a boss fight, and the introduction of The Jester Hero on December 9, 2025. This update also brought significant new gameplay elements, including new pets, skins, and enhancements for existing heroes.

• New Heroes: The game welcomed two new heroes, The Cyborg on July 7, 2025, and The Jester on December 9, 2025, each with unique abilities.
  • Cyborg Abilities: Included powerful skills like Supernova and Drone Overdrive.
  • Jester Abilities: Featured various whimsical attacks and defenses such as Crystal Hammer and Party Popper.

• New Map & Boss: The Carnival Town map debuted with the Evil Jester boss fight, providing new challenges for players.

• Gameplay Enhancements: Numerous new gameplay mechanics were introduced, including new towers and pets.
  • Cyborg Towers: Introduced structures like the Physical Wall and Biometric Scanner.
  • New Pets: Players could acquire new pets such as the Unicorn and Angry Cutie.

• Balance Changes: The game underwent significant balance adjustments, including nerfs to various towers and buffs to the Jester's abilities.
  • PDS Nerf: The damage multiplier for the Plasma Defense System was reduced significantly.
  • Jester Damage Increases: Various Jester abilities saw increased damage scaling.

• Seasonal Events: Notable events returned, including the Festival of Hearts, Winter Event, and Harvest Moon Festival, each offering unique rewards and activities.

Defenders of Etheria launched on March 17, 2025, introducing a new cooperative, rogue-lite bullet-heaven game set in the Dungeon Defenders universe. This year also saw the addition of the Frostweaver hero and a wealth of new content, including unique gameplay modes and armor sets.

• New Game Mode: The Elemental Rumble mode was introduced, featuring rotating maps and elemental enemies, enhancing the game's diversity.
  • Frostbound Arena Map: A new map tailored for the Frostbound season was added.
  • Weekly Map Rotation: Five maps rotated weekly in the Elemental Rumble mode.
• New Hero & Abilities: The Frostweaver hero debuted with unique abilities, alongside new Frostweaver shards that enhance gameplay.
• Seasonal Passes: The Frostbound Defender Pass launched, offering costumes, titles, and rewards, followed by the Galactic Guardians Defender Pass in May with additional skins and pets.
• New Pets & Items: Players gained access to various new pets, such as the UFO Corgi, and items like Dragon Fruit, enhancing gameplay and pet progression.
• Gameplay Features: New mechanics were introduced, including upgrade and recruit options after missions, allowing players to enhance their heroes and equipment.

The launch of five new DLC bundles on April 26, 2024, marked a significant content addition for Dungeon Defenders II, offering players various gems and goodies for a one-time purchase. Additionally, the game saw the introduction of new towers, skins, and a character, enhancing gameplay diversity and customization options.

• New Defender Pass Features: Launched on October 25, 2023, the Defender Pass introduced new skins, titles, and a pass system with challenges and rewards.
  • New towers added included the Spectral Knight, Sonic Bat, Gargoyle Statue, and Werewolf Commander.
  • The Hunter, a new vampire hunter character, joined the roster with unique abilities and weapons.
• New Gamemode - Endless Survival: Released on August 8, 2023, this mode allowed players to select a map and survive against increasingly challenging waves of enemies.
• New Abilities and Shards: Introduced on June 16, 2024, the Chi Aura ability heals allies and cripples enemies, while new shards for the Initiate class provided additional gameplay depth.
• Balance Changes: A significant stat squish on October 25, 2023, reduced all damage and health values by 10x to prevent overflow, while a rework of the Crippling Chi Wave improved its functionality on June 16, 2024.
• Seasonal Events: The Winter Wonderland event returned on December 12, 2023, transforming the tavern and town with festive decorations and daily rewards, while a Double XP event ran from March 14 to March 21, 2024.

Dungeon Defenders II launched the Hidden Caverns region on March 28, 2023, introducing two new maps, unique enemies, and the Chaos X difficulty tier featuring a miniboss. This update also brought the Engineer hero, who specializes in building and combat, along with a wealth of new pets and skins.

• New Region: Hidden Caverns launched with two new maps and enemies.
• New Difficulty: Chaos X added with unique challenges and a miniboss.
• New Hero: The Engineer was introduced with unique abilities and passive skills.
• New Maps: Tornado Highlands, Tornado Valley, and Tornado Canyon were added, featuring new drops and a new boss, the Genie King.
• New Pets: New pets like Earthen Dragon and Cyberdragon were introduced, enhancing gameplay options.
• Hero Reworks: Significant updates were made to the Initiate, Adept, Mystic, Series EV2, and Lavamancer heroes, improving their abilities and towers.

Dungeon Defenders Going Rogue announced its introduction on March 29, 2022, marking a significant addition to the game's content. Alongside this, the new boss The Phoenix and the new map Embermount Volcano launched on February 16, 2022, providing fresh challenges for players. The update also introduced Chaos IX, a new difficulty tier featuring more powerful enemies.

• New Hero - The Countess: Launched on February 16, 2022, The Countess brings siege weaponry and dragon-themed abilities to the game.
• New Content: A variety of new maps, including Embermount and Embermount Volcano, were released, along with new enemies like the Elder Wyvern and Ancient Wyvern, which enhance gameplay dynamics.
  • New Maps: Embermount and Embermount Volcano introduced challenging environments and unique boss encounters.
  • New Enemies: Elder Wyvern and Ancient Wyvern were added, serving as minibosses that empower nearby foes.
• Gameplay Feature - Runes: A new feature called Runes was introduced in Dungeon Defenders Awakened, enhancing player strategies.
• Balance Changes: Multiple balance adjustments were made, including changes to Chaos IX mastery caps and an increase in pet damage.
  • Hero Balance Adjustments: Various adjustments were made to hero abilities and defenses to improve gameplay balance.
• Seasonal Event - Winterfest: The Winterfest event returned on December 14, 2021, bringing a festive atmosphere with daily present drops.

Dungeon Defenders II saw the introduction of Ol' Peepers on March 25, 2021, a new character that grants players daily login gifts, alongside a suite of new hero bundles and skin bundles on April 7, 2021. This period also marked significant balance changes, including adjustments to elemental combos and various hero buffs and nerfs.

• New content:
  • Ol' Peepers: A character who provides daily login rewards and gifts.
  • Crystalline Betsy: A new pet available in The Wyvern Den Prime Incursion.
  • New Shards: Introduced the Lava Warrior and Boosted Beam shards, enhancing gameplay mechanics.
  • Hypno Tower Skin Bundle: New skins for all towers and defenses.
  • Hero Bundles: Included the All Heroes Bundle and various skin bundles.

• Balance changes:
  • Elemental Combo Adjustments: Changes to Fire and Oil combos for increased damage taken, and modifications to Ice and Earth combos.
  • Hero Adjustments: Specific buffs and nerfs were applied to heroes like Abyss Lord and Barbarian.
  • General Balance Changes: Adjustments made to mods and pets, including scaling with Gear Score.

• Quality of life improvements:
  • Persistent Tower Option: Enabled players to summon, upgrade, and sell towers with a single button activation.
  • End of Etherian Polar Vortex: The seasonal event concluded, resulting in a snowless Tavern and Town Hub.

• Shop updates:
  • New Bundles: Introduced new hero and costume bundles, as well as a tower skin bundle.

Dungeon Defenders: Awakened launched its Closed Beta on November 29, 2019, introducing players to new weapons, pets, and extensive customization options. The update also marked the return of the Gifting Tree, allowing players to receive daily gifts, and the Holiday Season Event transformed the Town Hub into a festive winter wonderland.

• New Content: Several significant additions enriched gameplay.
  • Prime Incursions: A new highest tier of incursions launched, with the first two groups available on August 28, 2019, and additional groups releasing weekly.
  • Chaos VIII Weapons: Over 25 new weapons with fresh models were introduced through Prime Incursions.
  • Hyper Shards: Players earned Hyper Shards for completing Prime Incursions, enhancing progression.
  • Chaos VIII Ampoules: The drop rate for these items was increased to match the difficulty of Prime Incursions.
• Gameplay Changes: Notable adjustments improved player experience.
  • Return of Betsy: She appeared as a key enemy in the last Prime Incursion.
  • Cross Save Functionality: Players could transfer their save data between Steam and Nintendo Switch versions of Dungeon Defenders: Awakened.

• Shop Updates: Seasonal sales and new items were introduced.
  • Holiday Sale: A 50% discount on various in-game items occurred during the holiday season.
  • New Costume: The Ascended Initiate costume became available for purchase.

• Quality of Life: A preorder benefit allowed players to access the Closed Beta and receive the full game upon release.

Isle of Dread Expansion launched on September 26, 2018, introducing new maps, enemies, and features to Dungeon Defenders II. Alongside this major update, players received a new region and challenges on July 5, 2018, enhancing the game's content significantly.

• New Content:
  • Poison Elemental Damage was introduced on April 17, 2019, allowing players to apply new Poison Mods to their weapons for damage over time effects.
  • The Shard Shop launched on April 17, 2019, enabling players to purchase Shards directly, reducing the randomness in shard acquisition.
  • Material Conversion Feature was added on April 15, 2019, allowing players to convert higher quality materials into lower quality ones.

• Gameplay Enhancements:
  • The Replay From Wave Feature was implemented on September 26, 2018, allowing players to retry from the last wave after a failure, fostering strategic adjustments.
  • Onslaught Mode Changes were made on September 26, 2018, standardizing map floors and introducing new difficulty scaling and rewards.

• Balance Changes:
  • The Ancient Power System Adjustments on September 26, 2018, made the system more accessible and powerful.
  • Increased Drop Rate of Perfect Mods was announced on November 5, 2018, improving player chances of obtaining high-quality Mods.

• Seasonal Event:
  • The Winterfest Event took place on December 11, 2018, offering daily gifts and holiday-themed weapons to players.

Protean Shift Expansion launched on June 19, 2018, bringing significant new gameplay features and mechanics to Dungeon Defenders II. This was preceded by the Power of the Ancients expansion, which introduced new progression systems and challenges on December 12, 2017. Additionally, the game officially launched across platforms on June 20, 2017, transitioning to a free-to-play model.

• Major Content Drops:
  • Protean Shift Expansion: Launched on June 19, 2018, adding new gameplay systems.
  • Power of the Ancients Expansion: Released on December 12, 2017, featuring new progression and challenges.
  • Official Launch: The game officially launched on Xbox One, PC, and PS4 on June 20, 2017.

• New Game Modes:
  • Onslaught Mode: Introduced on December 12, 2017, featuring floor-based progression and unique enemy schedules.
  • Mastery Mode: Launched on October 11, 2017, offering access to all Chaos maps with challenges for rewards.
  • Adventures and Expeditions: Added on June 8, 2018, allowing players to choose specific side stories and maps for progression.

• New Systems:
  • Ancient Power System: Implemented on December 12, 2017, providing permanent account buffs and increased talent caps.
  • M.O.D.S. Feature: Introduced on June 8, 2018, allowing gear customization with various bonuses.
  • Gilded Shards Mechanic: Released on June 1, 2018, enabling increased upgrade levels for shards.

• Balance Changes:
  • Critical Damage System Overhaul: Implemented on June 8, 2018, changing how critical damage is calculated.
  • Multiplayer Enemy Health Scaling Adjustments: Adjusted on August 23, 2017, to improve balance in multiplayer sessions.

• Seasonal Events:
  • Prove Your Mastery Event: A seven-week event starting October 11, 2017, featuring leaderboards for Mastery challenges.