Changelog

Changes to the game, by version, with exact numbers. Changes under Unreleased are not yet part of a numbered version.

Unreleased

Added

The Games tab has 6 filters (was 3): All, Ranked, Casual, Anon, Team and Free-for-all. Casual shows unrated matches between signed-in players, with no guests or bots. Team and Free-for-all show those custom match formats.
Anonymous players now have a random, unique name such as Anon-Comet-4821, shown at the top of the page and on your matches. It cannot be changed; sign in to play under a name of your own.
Anonymous players have a simple profile (open your name at the top of the page): your records, damage, healing and kills, and links to your recent matches. Anyone with the link can open it, and it disappears when you sign in, because your history moves to your account.
Profiles show whether the player is online now, playing a match, or when they were last connected.
Create a custom lobby replaces Create a lobby game. Choose the format: 1 v 1, 2 v 2, 3 v 3, 4 v 4, or a free-for-all of 3 to 8 fighters where every fighter plays alone and the last one standing wins. Choose the arena: Standard (100% by 100%), Double height (100% wide, 200% high), Double width (200% wide, 100% high) or Double size (200% by 200%). Choose public (listed in the lobby) or private (only with the link).
A lobby with more than two fighters is a room with a seat for each fighter. You and the people who join take seats, move between teams while a seat is free and leave when you like. The host adds bots to open seats, removes seats, or fills every open seat with bots and starts at once. The match starts when the last seat is filled. Builds stay hidden until the match starts.
Custom lobbies are unrated: no rating change, but coins and experience are earned by team result as in other matches. Quick pairing and challenge links keep rated games.
Team and free-for-all matches show every fighter in a tile beside the arena, with each team in its own color (your team orange). The result shows the winning team or fighter and lists everyone by team. Rematch opens a private lobby with the same teams, arena and bots.
The arena can be taller, wider or twice as large; fighters start spread along its long side (two teams) or on a ring around the center (free-for-all). In sudden death the arena shrinks to a size that grows with the number of fighters on the larger team.

Changed

Health bars above the orbs have a thin light outline so their full length stays visible during a fight.
The arena no longer shows the message explaining that live matches cannot be paused.
Info shows the public class, weapon, ability and stat guide immediately, and keeps it readable if the latest game data cannot be loaded.
The home page introduces OrbVora's automatic browser duels and links directly to the battle guide. Rankings explains the 5 rated games needed to enter the Elo leaderboard.
Shared public page links include an OrbVora preview picture and a description of the page.
Arena fighters have 2 ability slots at Peasant and Soldier (was 3). Reaching Knight at 400 Elo permanently adds 1 ability slot (was 0), for 3 total.
On phones and tablets the arena reads like a fighting game: both fighters' health bars sit side by side above the arena, the right fighter's mirrored so each drains toward the middle. Each fighter's ability rail sits under its own half of the arena, tinted in that fighter's color.
On phones the match header is one short row (a back arrow, the title and a pulsing Live badge), so the health bars and the arena start near the top of the screen.
Replay controls are symbols: play or pause, restart, a position bar with the time (for example 0:12 / 0:31) and a speed picker (0.1×, 0.5×, 1×, 2×, 4×). On phones they sit right under the arena.
On phones the result shows Rematch as a full-width button above Watch replay and Home, and the fighter names stay in place while the numbers scroll sideways.
The welcome on your first visit is a quick tutorial of three steps: a little arena shows that battles play themselves, four symbols show what makes a build (weapon, stats, abilities, traits), and the last step shows your own ball with Play now and Set up your ball. Skip works on every step, and Info still replays it.

Fixed

A private challenge link or lobby stays open for 15 minutes even when you leave the page to share it (it used to close 30 seconds after your phone put the page to sleep). Come back to OrbVora and your link is on the Play page again. Listed lobbies still close about 30 seconds after you leave, and the live connection reconnects at once when you return to the page.
Once a match is decided, the arena no longer counts down to a sudden death that never comes ("Sudden death in 1" could show behind the result).
On phones the home page showed the other ways to play twice: as a row of buttons and behind the ··· button. Only the ··· button shows them now.
A rated match's result no longer hides the coins you earned when its rating change is slow to arrive.
The home page counts everyone online, guests included, as "3 online" (was "3 players online").

0.1.0 — 2026-10-06

Balance

Berserker gives +5% damage, +5% movement speed and +10% weapon spin for every 20% of health missing (was +10% damage, +10% movement speed and +10% weapon spin). The bonus fades again when the fighter heals.
Ironhide takes 20% less damage (was 25%) and makes the fighter 15% heavier (was 20%). It still lowers movement speed and weapon spin by 20%.
The arena grows 5% per rank of the highest peak rank in the match (was 10%): two Peasants 100%, a Soldier and a Peasant 105%, two Knights 110%, up to 170% with a Primordial.
The Rogue's Envenom replaces Ambush: every hit gives the enemy one stack of poison.
Weight is a new combat stat, derived from Vitality and Strength. A heavier fighter receives less knockback and pushes harder when bodies collide.

Added

OrbVora 0.1.0 is the first public version, at orbvora.com. You can play as a guest or sign in.
The privacy notice (Info, Privacy) says what OrbVora stores about guests and players, who can see it, how long it is kept, and how to delete your account.
The Level ranking on the Rankings page is live: players are ordered by level, then by total experience, and each row shows the level, the experience and the player's Elo.
Poison. Each stack lasts 1 s and drains 0.25% of maximum health per second. Each stack also lowers the target's movement speed by 5%, weapon spin by 5% and damage by 2% (multiplied per stack, up to 20 stacks). The drain has no stack limit and ignores armor. Stacks drop one at a time: two stacks last 2 s.
Bleeding. Blade hits cause stacks of bleeding with a chance that depends on the weapon, shown as "Has a … chance of causing bleeding": low (5% for 1 stack): Halberd and Battleaxe; normal (10% for 1 stack, 2% for 2): Sword, Daggers, Gladius, Longsword, Claymore and Axe; high (20% for 1 stack, 5% for 2): Katana. Spear, Hammer and ranged weapons do not cause bleeding. Each stack lasts 2 s, drains 1% of maximum health per second and raises the damage the target takes by 5% (multiplied per stack, up to 20 stacks). Dexterity raises the chance slightly.
Poison resistance and bleed resistance come from Vitality and Strength, with diminishing returns and a maximum of 80%. Resistance weakens the drain and the debuff; it does not shorten the stacks.
The fighter tile shows the number of stacks. In rule texts, the words poison and bleeding open their own info with the numbers of one stack where hovering is possible (the Fighter builder and the Info pages).
Rank power for the arena fighter:
- Stat points by rank: Peasant 10, Soldier 11, Knight 12, Baron 13, Viscount 14, Count 15, Marquess 17, Duke 19, Archduke 20, King 22, High King 25, Emperor 27, Demigod 30, God 35, Primordial 40.
- Count, King, Emperor and God each add one ability slot. Duke and Demigod each add one trait slot.
- Abilities that match your class gain +10% at Peasant, plus 2% more for every rank above it.
- Rated Elo changes depend on the rank of both players. If the opponent's rank is higher than yours by N, a gain is multiplied by 2^N and a loss is divided by 2^N. If it is lower by N, a gain is divided by 2^N and a loss is multiplied by 2^N. N counts at most 4 ranks.
- Quick pairing prefers players of the same rank and accepts one more rank of gap for every 4 s waited.
Four more arena ranks: Archduke (4,000 Elo), High King (7,500), Demigod (17,500) and Primordial (50,000). Emperor needs 10,000 Elo and God 25,000. Each promotion gives one free arena stat point.
Reaching a rank permanently unlocks its new classes, weapons, abilities and traits. The next rank's content appears as a locked preview; later ranks stay hidden. Content you could already use stays available.
Necromancer class (Archduke): +5 Intelligence and +2 Vitality. Every 10 s it raises a small green undead: a Warrior with a sword, 50% of your stats and 60% of your size.
Eternal class (Primordial): +30 to all five stats and no class special.
Sixteen more weapons, including heavy melee weapons, javelins, magic projectiles and firearms.
Sudden death: after 60 s the arena shrinks toward the center, and all damage doubles every 30 s until one side wins. The arena is 15% bigger (600 units) than before. The last 5 s before each change are counted down.
Arena full screen: on desktop, a button in the lower right of the arena puts the arena in full screen and back.
Match chat tells you when your opponent disconnected, for example "Bob disconnected.", after their connection has been gone for 8 s. A page reload is not announced, and the notice is not saved with the chat history.
Awakenings: a stat gains a trait at totals of 10, 20, 30, 50, 75, 100 and 150. Awakenings stack. The stat hover shows each unlocked awakening and the requirement of the next.
Achievements: 31 normal and 10 hidden. Each belongs to an Elo rank and shows its requirement once your peak rating reaches that rank. Hidden achievements stay secret until earned. Rewards include base stats, flat health, armor and stat points. Everyone's earned achievements were reset when this set replaced the old one.
Levels and experience for players: level 0 at the start. Casual matches give experience, and the amount grows with your Elo.
World fighter level rewards: one stat point every level, one base point on every attribute every 5 levels, ability slots at levels 1, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 36 and 50, trait slots at 3, 9, 27 and 81, a class choice at 5, and subclass choices at 15 and 45.
World weapons are items with a base type, a modifier such as Bronze or Iron, and a level. New players start with a Bronze Sword.
Coin wallets in iron, copper, silver, gold and platinum (1,000 gold make 1 platinum). Player matches pay Elo-scaled rewards and bot matches pay fixed rewards.
Elo ratings start at 100. Quick pairing pairs players with players (rated) and guests with guests, or with a clearly labeled bot after 8 s.
Social tab for signed-in players: friend list, friend requests, and private messages between friends with unread counts.
Global chat for signed-in players, with the same length and rate limits as match chat.
Match chat between the two players of a match, during the fight and for a while after it, with a per-player mute.
The home page shows how many players are online and how many matches are being fought.
Player accounts without passwords: sign in with a one-time email code or link, or with Google. What you played as a guest moves to your account.
Original music and sound effects, with a sound panel for master, music and effects volume.
Impact frames on critical hits, clashes, knockouts and the heaviest body hits, capped at two per second and replaced by a still ring when reduced motion is on.
Result window after a match with Watch replay, Rematch and Home.

Changed

"Use the class recommended build" now also takes you to the last step (Stats, step 5 of 5), where you can check the build and save it. Before, it only applied the build and stayed on the Class step.
Weapon Info windows show the bleeding chance last, after the weapon stats.
On phones, the Fighter builder no longer shows the numbered step bar (1 Class, 2 Weapon, ...) or your rank above the selection; your rank is already in the top bar. Use Back and Next to move between steps: the bar between them shows the current step.
On phones, waiting for an opponent (quick pairing, a lobby game or a challenge) opens a sheet over the page with the Cancel button and, for games, the challenge link. Wider screens still show it in the page.
On phones, the bottom bar always has five sections (Play, Fighter, World, Rankings, Info). For signed-in players the global chat button is a tab on the left edge of the screen, like the Social tab on the right.
On phones, the Fighter builder no longer repeats the step name above the selection. The bar between Back and Next shows it ("2 of 5" above "Weapon"), which leaves more room for the item list, the info block and the stat points.
On phones, the Fighter builder shows the classes, weapons, abilities and traits as one vertical list on the right, with the explanation of the item beside it in a block that keeps the same size for every item. The stat points step fits the screen without scrolling, down to 360x640.
Weapons no longer list bleeding as a special. They say "Has a low / a / a high chance of causing bleeding" instead, and hovering that phrase shows the chances. Halberd drops from 10% to 5% (1 stack, no chance for 2) and Battleaxe from 10% to 5% (1 stack, no chance for 2); Katana rises from 10% to 20% for 1 stack and from 2% to 5% for 2.
Numbers in all Info windows are highlighted in bold, including percentages, damage, timings, stat formulas, ranks, coins and level rewards.
On phones, the Fighter page shows the rotating ball, an Arena/World switch and the All stats button. All stats lists your name, class, weapon, abilities, traits and base stats, followed by every derived stat. The note about saving on this device is no longer shown on phones.
The World page tells guests that this part of the game is only available to signed-in players, with buttons to sign up or sign in and to go to the arena.
The Players page is now Rankings, at /rankings. The old /players address redirects there.
On phones, the Play page shows Quick pairing with a button beside it (at most 20% of the row). The button opens a sheet with Create a lobby game, Challenge a friend and Play a bot.
The arena's match chat is wider, with the message box and Send button on one row at the bottom, level with the foot of the arena.
The battle log shows only in replays, under the opponent's tile, instead of during live matches.
Info is split into one page per topic.
The experience popover shows only the rewards for the next level, one per line.
Weapons are named Sword, Spear, Daggers and Bow.
Match tiles link the name and orb to the player's profile, and hovering a tile shows the fighter's class, weapon, abilities, traits and stats.

Fixed

A guest who opened the link of a player's lobby game and pressed Accept saw "Something went wrong". Guests can now accept it, and the match is unrated. The lobby list itself still shows guests only guests' games and players only players' games.
Filled stat segments stay inside their own segment instead of coloring part of the next one.
Fight results appear over the arena in full screen, and replay and close work while full screen stays on.
The World fighter page showed every class, ability and trait as unlocked. They now follow your peak arena rank, and the server rejects locked picks.