At a glance

  • Adds the expansion-gated Priest, three subclasses, Scepter, Lantern, Survival Mode, Spirit Bosses, and Spirit Boons.
  • Splits new trinkets, sets, and pets between the paid Celestial Ruins expansion and the free base-game update.
  • Reduces critical scaling, doubles primary-stat Spell Power gain, and lowers Spell Mastery mana-cost growth.
  • Rebalances Primalist, Paladin, Wizard, Sword, Maul, and Staves options.
  • Strengthens elite armor and player-owned mercenaries while broadening Bleed and Stun interactions.

Player impact

Expansion owners gain a support-oriented class and a new post-game challenge loop. All players receive free collectibles and a balance pass that changes late-game critical builds, spell scaling, several weapons, enemy defenses, status effects, and mercenary durability.

Quick facts

What changed

Heroes of Hammerwatch II now has its first full expansion, Celestial Ruins, alongside a free update for the base game. The paid side is aimed at post-game characters and introduces the Priest, new weapons, Survival Mode, Spirit Boons, additional trinkets and sets, and two pets. The free side supplies its own trinkets, sets, and pets, plus a broad balance pass and two general fixes.

The Priest is a close-range spellcaster built around party survival, debuffs, and life steal. It can eventually specialize as Divine Light, a damage-oriented beam user; Crusader, a leader focused on boons and summoning; or Flagellant, a melee tank that returns damage through thorns. Purchasing the expansion unlocks the class immediately.

Two new weapons use Focus as their primary power stat. The Scepter attacks with Smite for direct damage. The Lantern projects a beam that damages enemies but heals allied heroes it strikes. That dual function gives the Priest’s equipment a clear support role without limiting it to healing.

Celestial Ruins itself is recommended for high-level players and becomes accessible after the chapel has been built, through the altar statues. Its Survival Mode has players defeat enemy waves to build Spirit Favor and summon a Spirit Boss. Five Spirit Bosses appear across new maps with scaling difficulty, loot, and Boons. Repeatedly defeating the same boss at higher difficulty ranks levels the associated Boon, adding abilities that a hero or class would not normally possess.

The collectible split matters. Five named trinkets, three sets, and five pets are included in the free update for everyone. Seven more trinkets, two sets, and the Candle and Wisp pets require Celestial Ruins. The announcement lists 12 new trinkets in total and five new sets assembled from combinations of new and older pieces.

Key changes

Expansion content

  • The Priest arrives with Divine Light, Crusader, and Flagellant specializations.
  • The Scepter deals damage through Smite, while the Lantern can damage enemies or heal allies.
  • Survival Mode adds five Spirit Bosses, new maps, scaling difficulty, loot, and Spirit Boons.
  • Celestial Ruins adds expansion-only trinkets, sets, and the Candle and Wisp pets.

Free content

  • Spiked Collar, Razor Amulet, Rosethorn Wand, Vitaerium, and Greater Ring of Alacrity are available to all players.
  • Thorny Carapace, Bloodletter’s Tools, and Emblems of Hermes are free sets.
  • Dog, Cat, Toucan, Raven, and Scarab pets are part of the free update.

Stats and spell balance

Critical Chance gains from Dexterity and Intelligence are reduced: the official examples move from 16.5% to 15% at 100 stat and from 27.5% to 25% at 500.

Critical Damage scaling is reduced more heavily, from 120% to 86% at 100 stat and from 447% to 335% at 500. In exchange, Spell Power gained from each class’s primary stat is doubled. The additional mana cost for Spell Masteries falls from 8% to 3% per level.

The developer says the purpose is to narrow the late-game gap between weapon and spell builds, reduce the influence of critical stats, and make primary attributes more relevant relative to gear and trinkets.

Classes and weapons

  • Primalist Tremor Strikes gains damage, and its Glacial or Tempest trigger chance increases.
  • Primalist Ancient Totems gains a larger area of effect.
  • Paladin Purging Flames persistent damage and Wizard Fireball damage increase.
  • Wizard Magic Missile loses 10 damage at maximum level.
  • Sword epic projectile damage falls from 100% to 66%.
  • Maul epic effects are strengthened, while Staves primary attacks gain 33% damage.

Enemies, status effects, and allies

Elite enemies gain more armor beginning at New Game Plus 1. Bleed can affect most bosses, and both Bleed and Stun can affect Wisps. Wisp resistance to their own element is halved, although the developer says it remains very high.

Player-owned mercenaries gain armor and health and scale better with New Game Plus. The developer describes this as an initial step toward making summons and hirelings more relevant later in progression.

Fixes

  • Missing sound effects for some Wisp attacks are restored.
  • Missing tags on certain player skills are fixed.

What this means for players

Expansion owners have a new post-game route built around escalating Survival missions and persistent Boon growth, plus a class that can support allies without giving up direct damage. Access is not immediate for every save: the Priest unlocks with purchase, but the Celestial Ruins area requires a built chapel and is recommended for high-level play.

Base-game players still receive material changes. Spell-focused builds gain stronger primary-stat scaling and cheaper Mastery growth, while critical scaling and the dominant Sword epic projectile are reduced. Mauls, Staves, several class skills, status-effect builds, and player-owned mercenaries receive targeted improvements.

The free collectibles also mean non-expansion players can pursue new trinket combinations and pets. The official source labels the entitlement split item by item, so expansion-only content should not be assumed to be part of the free patch.

Who is affected

Celestial Ruins purchasers, high-level characters with a built chapel, Priest players, cooperative groups, critical and spell builds, Primalist, Paladin, Wizard, Sword, Maul, and Staves users, New Game Plus players, Bleed or Stun builds, and players using mercenaries are explicitly affected.

Rollout and known limitations

The expansion and free update are presented as available now. The Priest unlocks immediately with an expansion purchase. The Celestial Ruins area requires the chapel to be built and is recommended for high-level players. The source does not state a save migration, separate platform schedule, rollback option, or known unresolved issue.

The developer also says more extensive class, weapon, summon, and hireling work is planned, but this article does not treat those future changes as part of the current release.

Editorial context

Steam Update Radar assessment: the paid expansion supplies the new progression loop, but the free balance pass materially changes the base game as well. The critical-stat reductions, doubled Spell Power scaling, and enemy-armor increase make this more than a content-only DLC launch.

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