Highguard launched last month on January 26, after closing out The Game Awards back in December, and it’s already received some pretty hefty updates addressing player feedback for the free-to-play PvP FPS-raid game. That streak continues today with the release of Episode 2, which adds a heavily requested Ranked Mode, the game’s first new warden, a new map, and more.
Episode 2 is live in the game already, and those who boot up the gamewill meet Ekon, a “legendary monster-slayer who shapeshifts into a powerful direwolf to track and hunt his prey.” Ekon, who is pictured below, has a passive ability called Dread that reveals the heartbeat of wounded enemies, a tactical ability called Wolf Spirit that let him unleash a spirit wolf to hunt the nearest enemy and apply Dread to them, and an ultimate called Fearsome Howl, where Ekon applies Dread to all enemies across the map and increases his movement speed – it can be cast in human and wolf form (yes, Ekon can transform into a wolf).
As part of today’s update, developer Wildlight Entertainment has released a new story cinematic called “Skydrift” centered on Ekon and his place amongst the other Highguard wardens. Launching alongside Ekon is Skydrift, a new map for the game’s 3v3 and now-permanent 5v5 raid modes.
You can check out a look at Skydrift in the image at the top of this story, and you can watch the Skydrift cinematic story trailer below:
Perhaps the biggest addition to Highguard with the Episode 2 update is Ranked Mode, which allows players to earn Ranked Points, point modifiers, and more as they climb the ranks to gain unique rewards. You can go from bronze (Hare) to grandmaster (Leviathan) if you’re good enough. Ranked Mode will be available only in a 3v3 format, as Wildlight believes “3v3 is the more tactical structure of the game and fits best for comp,” according to its update on X.
All players will start at bronze 3 rank, and each rank has three divisions to climb through: bronze (Hare), silver (Goat), gold (Ape), platinum (Dire Wolf), diamond (Gryphon), master (Manticore), and grandmaster (Leviathan). At the end of each Episode, you will be rewarded based on your final rank achieved. You can also de-rank within a division during a Split, so be careful. More details about how this Ranked Mode works can be found here.
The Wolf mount has been added to the game as a rideable beast as part of Episode 2, and is free to all players. If you play 10 matches of Ranked Mode, you will earn the Shadow Wolf skin, which is pictured below.
Elsewhere in Episode 2, players can expect better POI loot, new Ultimate Charger items, waypoint markers, changes to Speed Gates, and quality-of-life updates like a new Stats menu, additional Orange Weapon Mods, and balance changes and improvements to gameplay and Highguard’s technical performance. All of that and more can be found in the Episode 2 patch notes here.
Highguard Episode 2 is now live.
For more about the game, read Game Informer’s review-in-progress of Highguard, and then check out the Highguard reveal trailer.
Are you hopping into Highguard today to check out Episode 2? Let us know in the comments below!
