Combat Rebalance Pt. 2

Greetings Leaders,

Within DomiNations Update 12.19, coming next week, we’re taking our next steps into the Combat Rebalance Initiative of 2025. This pass adjusts some underused War Tactics. You’ll also find some adjustments to suppression effects, and Defenders spawning from factories being upgraded. We also made adjustments to the Glory Decay system.

 

Combat Rebalance Initiative pt. 2

This update features adjustments to underused War Tactics and adds new support for Assault Vehicles. Here to break down the changes is RAH-66!

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Hello again, Leaders! The time has come for another Combat Rebalance!

As a reminder, here are our goals for the Combat Rebalance Initiative as a whole:

1. Ensure there is a wide array of viable strategies that can be used to win battles.

2. Ensure defensive play is just as viable as offensive play.

3. Ensure every single unit, tactic and building has a distinct reason to be invested in and brought to battle.

As mentioned in our Preview post about a week ago, 12.19’s Combat Rebalance focuses on War Tactics. War Tactics are included in every army composition and strategy; however, some certainly outshine others. Tactics like Sabotage have been a staple in many attacking armies for a long time, but we’d like to give others the opportunity to shine just as brightly.

Barrage - An incredibly powerful War Tactic at the age it is introduced. It can instantly wipe out all but the toughest defenders and even deal moderate damage to buildings. However, as players Age Up, the Tactic becomes less effective, particularly as the defenders come into battle with Protect through outfitted Munitions.

Demolition - Highly potent when it is unlocked, but falls off as players Age Up. Demolition has a slightly better scaling throughout the Ages, with support provided in part by the Mongols Coalition. Yet this support does not remedy the Tactic outside of World War, and forces the Demolition user into utilizing that Coalition.

Decoys - When Decoys perform their job, they perform it well. This War Tactic is not in need of major changes, but we’d like to see what can be achieved with it when it receives a moderate boost.

Protect - Protect is a powerful tool for both offense and defense. Its reduction percent never grows, but its duration grows very quickly, and once players unlock all available buffs throughout the game, attackers can have a troop protected for the vast majority of a battle. This rings true for Defenders too. Attackers often find themselves completely walled off from progress by a sea of yellow shields, seeming to never expire.

Assault Vehicles - These units have never had a chance to properly shine, as one of the most important parts of a player’s army, the Museum, lacks any support for them at all. That’s all changing in release 12.19!

Here’s the list of everything we’ve prepared for you regarding this Combat Rebalance:

1. We are adjusting the following War Tactics in DomiNations

   1. Barrage
      1. Barrage's flat damage is not receiving any changes
      2. After Barrage's damage is applied, several rapid waves of damage occur, each dealing 5% of a Defender's hit points.
         1. A total of 8 waves occur over a 1-second timeframe
         2. The % max-hitpoints damage is not boosted by Recon Scan but is reduced by Protect
   2. Demolition
      1. Demolition now deals damage in a 1-radius area, instead of a single building.
         1. This allows Demolition to affect Defenders.
         2. Increasing its Damage
            
            

            Level 1 Damage	4,334
            Level 2 Damage	6,535
            Level 3 Damage	6,518
            Level 4 Damage	7,178
            Level 5 Damage	9,350
            Level 6 Damage	12,155
            Level 7 Damage	24,151
            Level 8 Damage	27,071

            
            
            
   3. Decoys
      1. Increased Decoys' duration from 12 to 15 Seconds
      2. Increased Maximum HP of each of the deployed Decoy Troops
         

         	Tank Decoy Hitpoints	Heavy Infantry Decoy Hitpoints	Total Hitpoints
         Level 1	6,120	2,040	14,280
         Level 2	7,668	2,566	20,448
         Level 3	9,720	3,240	25,920
         Level 4	12,294	4,098	32,784
         Level 5	21,870	7,920	58,320
         Level 6	27,000	9,000	72,000

         
         
         
   4. Protect
      1. Decreased the duration increase per level
         

         Level 1 Duration	6s
         Level 2 Duration	6.5s
         Level 3 Duration	7s
         Level 4 Duration	7.5s
         Level 5 Duration	8s
         Level 6 Duration	8.5s
         Level 7 Duration	9s
         Level 8 Duration	9.5s
         Level 9 Duration	10s

 

We are adjusting the following Troops in DomiNations

1. 1. Assault Vehicle

      1. No changes to the unit’s stats or functionality

      2. We are adding Assault Vehicle benefits to the available benefits when Crafting and Rerolling Artifacts

         1. Assault Vehicle Hitpoints (Peace) 1% / 6% /11%

         2. Assault Vehicle Damage (Peace) 1% / 6% /11%

         3. Assault Vehicle Hitpoints (War) 1% / 3% / 6%

         4. Assault Vehicle Damage (War) 1% / 3% /6%

         5. Invading Assault Vehicle Hitpoints (Peace) 1% / 6% /11%

         6. Invading Assault Vehicle Damage (Peace) 1% / 6% /11%

         7. Invading Assault Vehicle Hitpoints (War) 1% / 3% / 6%

         8. Invading Assault Vehicle Damage (War) 1% / 3% /6%

      3. Alongside this we will be running a temporary Config Event boosting the rates of Assault Vehicle benefits appearing in Crafting & Rerolling. This event will also increase the appearance rates of 11% Peace and 6% War benefits when crafting and rerolling!
         
         

To highlight a few things, these changes accomplish:

• Reduces the potency of Protected units, allowing for more counterplay and raising the skill ceiling on both offense and defense.

• Allows Barrage to deal meaningful damage against high-hitpoint Defenders

• Provides attackers with new strategy options against highly condensed defensive bases and supports strategies weak to one particular building type.

• Allows Decoys to perform their role more effectively, leaving defenders vulnerable to attacks against them, particularly area of effect attacks.

• Adds incentive to adopt Assault Vehicles into the Army composition with support from the Museum.

We’re hoping these changes give you more flexibility with your Army compositions and lead to the discovery of even more attack strategies!

We’re also excited to preview that for the next Combat Rebalance, we’ll be reviewing our over-performing and under-performing Coalitions.

We continue to monitor the outcomes of the previous Combat Rebalance in 12.18, and will continue to do so for this upcoming release and all future Combat Rebalances.

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New Councilor - Julius Caesar (Royalty)

Our next Councilor, Julius Caesar, arrives in DomiNations!

Julius Caesar rose from a noble but politically unremarkable background to become one of Rome’s most consequential figures. His early roles—as priest, military officer, quaestor, and aedile—showcased his administrative skill and oratorical brilliance. Over nearly a decade, he waged a series of successful campaigns that expanded Rome’s borders and elevated him to unmatched fame. When the Senate, now aligned with Pompey, ordered him to relinquish command, Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in 49 BCE—a defiant act that ignited civil war. Emerging victorious, he returned to Rome as its undisputed leader. Though he maintained the illusion of republican governance, his growing dominance unsettled many senators. On March 15, 44 BCE—the Ides of March—Caesar was assassinated by a group of conspirators seeking to restore the Republic. Instead, his death unleashed further chaos, ultimately leading to the fall of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Roman Empire under his heir, Augustus. Caesar’s legacy endures as a masterful leader who forever reshaped the course of Western history.

In DomiNations, Julius Caesar’s benefits improve the MRL, Bazooka, and even Mortar Infantry in both War and Primary Halls! You can start recruiting Julius Caesar on 7/7/25.

DomiNations World Webstore Icon

For those with access to the DomiNations World Webstore, you’ll now find a new icon next to the in-game store icon on the main screen. The DomiNations World icon will take you directly to our Webstore, where you’ll find some of the best deals, including where you can pick up that discounted Estate if you haven’t already!

 

Additional Updates

• As a part of our ongoing adjustments to Tournament of Glory, Glory Decay will no longer decay players within the 160 Glory Threshold of their current Division to the Division below them.

• Demotions for those under 160 Glory during a Gauntlet will still take place.

• If you are actively participating in a Gauntlet and you make it to 1-star of a Division, we want to keep you in that Division for the next Gauntlet and not punish you for working so hard to make it there!

• Fixed an issue where some players would be kicked back to their main base after viewing Active Coalitions on bases in World War. This would cause the World War UI to appear on top of the regular UI.

• Updated University and Parliament descriptions to show generic Troop Names instead of Level-specific.

• We also updated instances of ‘Health’ & ‘Attack’ to ‘Hitpoints’ & ‘Damage’

• Adding clarity to some Troop specific benefits (ex. ‘Increases the hitpoints of Commandos when attacking’)

• We’ve now revised the descriptions of most of the bonuses listed in Parliament Laws & University Skills (Library was updated in 12.18) for better consistency and a clearer understanding on how the bonuses benefit your Troops!

• Fixed an issue where Supply Wagon Troop Tactic was missing its graphic if donated to Strongholds.

• Removed the Heavy Tank defenders that spawn from Factories while they’re upgrading

• This is to work in line with other Buildings that spawn Defender units, as they don’t spawn Defenders when the building is being upgraded.

• Reduced the suppression potency from Machinegun Towers & Night Witch Troop Tactic.

• Within the description for the suppression effect, these entities described a 30% and 33% suppression, but in implementation, they were inverted to 70% and 66% unintentionally. We’ve corrected how this applies in battle, and now the suppression effect is working at the intended and displayed 30% and 33%.