The Highguard whiplash continues as yet another massive patch is announced: a new shapeshifting hero, sky palace map, wolf mounts, and 3v3-only ranked mode are coming tomorrow

The times, they are a-changin' for Highguard once more, as studio Wildlight has announced yet another jam-packed update that'll add a new hero, new map, new mount, and ranked mode – plus some key design changes – tomorrow, February 6.

Per the official patch notes, Highguard's Episode 2 update, as they're calling it, will add the game's first new Warden: the shapeshifting monster-slayer Ekon, who has the ability to turn into a vicious direwolf that can track down mounted foes using his Dread ability, which reveals the heartbeats of wounded enemies. Speaking of wolves, all players can pick up the objectively better wolf mount for free as soon as the update goes live. Woof.

Skydrift is the new map, and it'll be available in both the original 3v3 Raid mode and the newly permanent 5v5. As the name suggests, this map hosts battling raiders from way up in the clouds, but even more curiously, it'll introduce vertical traversal through Sky Jumpers, which shoot you up into different levels of the map and, eventually, a palace above the clouds. I'm already getting nauseous.

Ranked mode is also coming in tomorrow's patch, and as many players had hoped, it's limited to 3v3 rounds. "We believe 3v3 is the more tactical structure of the game and fits best for comp," Wildlight says, noting it's always looking at feedback, which is sure as hell true. There are seven levels of Ranked for players to climb their way through, and rewards at the end of each episode commensurate with each player's rank, but really, there's only one reward that matters, to me anyway: the new wolf mount's shadow wolf skin, which you can get by playing 10 Ranked matches. A comprehensive list of rules and scoring specifics can be found in the linked patch notes above, if you're interested in the nitty gritty.

Wildlight is also taking some feedback on-board concerning Highguard's Gear Up phase, which is the beginning part of each match where players explore the map and loot points of interest for gear. Gear Up has been a pretty common pain point for players, and I usually find myself pretty directionless in this phase, so Wildlight is making some changes.

In a separate Twitter page specifically about changes coming to Gear Up, Wildlight says internal playtests were more intense than what players are experiencing. The developers tended to gravitate toward loot-filled points of interest and get into battles, whereas "many players harvest more and utilize the shop as the primary means of gearing up rather than using Vesper and Trader Flynn to fill in what they weren't able to loot."

Basically, it sounds like Highguard players don't care enough about the loot that's in points of interest, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the Gear Up phase, so Wildlight is "increasing the quality of loot found at Points of Interest." Furthermore, for dumb old goobers like me who "have struggled to understand what to do in this phase," Wildlight is adding waypoint markers and map updates to better emphasize where you're supposed to go during Gear Up.

There's also a long list of much more granular quality of life updates you can read about in the patch notes above, but I reckon what we've already discussed is more than enough Highguard for one day. After all, who's to say there won't be another transformative update for the game tomorrow?

Here are some Highguard tips whether you're just getting started or you're ready to climb through Ranked.