Explore mode: a real base is rebuilt as the battlefield — defend a starter squad against raider waves that close in from every edge, and loot the base to grow your army (the more you grab, the harder the raids).
Per-unit leveling: your units now earn XP from kills and level up, banking skill points you spend into Power, Vitality, Precision and Focus.
Unit inspector: click a portrait to open a unit's level, XP, live stats, gear and skills; enemies get a read-only inspector so you can size up what you're fighting.
Auto-Spec: toggle a unit to auto-spend its own skill points for hands-off progression.
Five new upgrade lanes in the between-round draft — Bleed (damage-scaling wounds), Frost (slows the horde), Storm (chain lightning), Ordnance (homing airburst missiles) and Reaper (kills heal and explode), each with a base, mid and capstone perk.
Elite affixes on Brutes: milestone Brutes now arrive Blazing (shots ignite), Glacial (shots slow, ice nova on death) or Overloading (lightning nova on death), each colour-tinted.
Enemy combat barks: red units now shout in-character lines reacting to the moment — a kill, a flank, a downed ally, low health — flavoured by their class.
Two new curses: Transcendence trades health for a recharging shield, Stone Flux grants far more health at the cost of speed and range.
Island biome: a new jungle-island arena with a real coastline and animated sea, added to the map rotation.
Two new global leaderboards: Most Damage in a single battle and Highest Rout Combo.
Every achievement now has its own badge icon.
🧼 Improved
Living skies and dressing: a drifting day/night sun, clouds, bird flocks, fireflies, scattered foliage and wind now bring the battlefields to life.
The board now grows to fit its map, so Explore bases can be far larger than a normal arena — camera, panning and pathfinding all rescale to match.
Refreshed prop art for bomber ordnance and metal/suit surfaces.
Portrait click now opens the unit inspector; Shift-click still quick-cycles stance.