Overview: Battlefield of Eternity

by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

The Eternal Conflict is about to begin!  In addition to sweeping changes to a variety of Heroes, this patch will also include a new Battleground.

Known as the Battlefield of Eternity, this will be the first franchise specific themed map.  Not only does this new map do a great job of visually capturing the flavor of Diablo, it also includes completely new minions, mercenaries, and music all inspired by the Diablo universe.  This map doesn’t just look different from the other maps, it will also play differently due to a new type of objective and a dramatically different layout.

If you haven’t already, check out this video to see the new battleground first hand.

The Basics

The Eternal Conflict is the ongoing struggle between Heaven and Hell in Diablo.  The Battlefield of Eternity is a large two lane map that visually depicts this conflict thru the use of two distinct art sets in one map.  There is a large area between the two lanes that will become the center of the action once the objectives begin to spawn.

The Objective

The Battlefield of Eternity revolves around two Immortals.  There are four circles in the center of the map, laid out in a + type shape.  The Immortals will spawn periodically within these circles.  Which circles they spawn in is random, but the two Immortals will always be across from each other.  They will either be top/bottom or left/right.  The Immortals will never spawn in any type of top/right, left/bottom combination.

Once the Immortals spawn, the goal is to defeat the enemy’s Immortal before the opposing team can defeat yours.  Part way thru the fight, the Immortals will become immune and charge to the middle of the circles.  After a brief clash, the two Immortals will return to the circles.  Which circles they go to will once again be randomly determined.  The fight will then continue until one team defeats the other team’s Immortal.  The victorious Immortal will then fight for the winning team.

The winning Immortal will advance down whichever lane has the strongest enemy fortifications.  If your team has taken down the towers and a gate in the bottom lane, without doing any damage to the top lane, your Immortal would push in the top lane.  The strength of the victorious Immortal is determined by the amount of health that your Immortal had when the opposing Immortal was defeated.  The pushing Immortal will have a shield equal to this amount of health, and it will use ranged attacks as long as this shield exists.  Once the enemy team does enough damage to remove the shield, the Immortal will move into melee range and continue to fight until defeated.

This cycle will occur repeatedly throughout the battle.

The Mercenaries

As mentioned, this map features completely new mercenaries.  They not only look different, but they also have unique abilities.

There are two camps of Fallen Shaman, one outside of each team’s center gate.  Each camp features a shaman and three hounds.  They are similar to the bruisers that can be found on other maps, with one unique difference.  As Diablo players know, Fallen Shaman are summoners.  Any time a hound is killed, the shaman will summon a replacement.  The trick is to kill the shaman first so that you don’t face an endless pack of hounds.

There are also two camps of Khazra, one above the top lane and one below the bottom lane.  Khazra are spear chucking goat people, so they the Battlefield of Eternity version of siege giants.  The only real difference is that each camp of Khazra is a group of three, so they are slightly more difficult to defeat.

The Center

If a new objective and mercenaries weren’t enough to keep you on your toes, the single biggest change in game play on this map may be caused by the center area.  While the area itself is quite large, it is littered with a variety of obstructions to both movement and sight that make it very difficult to maneuver thru.  Navigate this area with care and bring a friend whenever possible.  In most cases, by the time you are able to see an enemy you will also be within range of attack from that enemy.  Abilities that grant additional vision will be especially helpful on this map.

As mentioned, the center area is where the Immortals spawn, so there will be no avoiding this area.  Even if you carefully choose your initial route to engage the Immortal, the fact that they switch positions half way thru the fight makes it so that you must repeatedly risk danger navigating this maze.

Map Rotation

Blizzard will be limiting the map rotation between June 30th and July 7th to increase the frequency that player will encounter this new map.  During that time, the map pool for all game modes will be limited to the Battlefield of Eternity, Sky Temple, Tomb of the Spider Queen, and Cursed Hollow.  The only exception is for custom games, which will still have access to all maps.  After July 7th, the full array of maps will once again be available for play in all game modes.

Embrace the Eternal Conflict and as always, good luck and have fun!