Major Assassin’s Creed Valhalla update detailed ahead of Season 2 launch

Ubisoft has detailed a major Assassin’s Creed Valhalla update, which launches this Tuesday ahead of Season 2’s debut on March 18.

Title update 1.2.0 (see full patch notes below) adds in-game support for Season 2, titled Ostara, which arrives with a new festival available from March 18 until April 8.

Ubisoft says the Ostara festival will feature “a bloomy Ravensthorpe, some unique side activities (such as egg hunts), and special rewards”.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Guides:

• Wrath of the Druids - Children of Danu locations

Tuesday’s update introduces the ability to change gear and weapon appearance within the same category of items at Gunnar’s blacksmith in Ravensthorpe for 50 silver.

It also adds three new skills (Fearless Leaper, Raven’s Loot, Loot Food), a close camera option, and addresses over 130 issues, which are listed below.

Scheduled for release at 5am PT/8am ET/12pm GMT/11pm AEDT, the update weighs in at approximately 17.97 GB on Xbox Series X/S, 12.81 GB on Xbox One, 12.28 GB on PS5, 12.6 GB on PS4, and 15.85 GB on PC.

Each Assassin’s Creed Valhalla season will last for three months and include in-game events, new settlement buildings and games modes.

A pair of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla story expansions are also coming later this year. Launching in spring 2021, Wrath of the Druids will see players travel to Ireland to uncover the mysteries of an ancient druidic cult.

The Siege of Paris expansion, which retells the Viking invasion of France in 845 AD, will follow in the summer of 2021.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla update 1.2.0

Ostara Festival

We added in-game support for the Ostara Festival.

• The Ostara Festival will be available from March 18 to April 8. It will feature a bloomy Ravensthorpe, some unique side activities (such as egg hunts), and special rewards.
• We’ll provide more details about the Ostara Season content in the First Look article coming March 18.

Change Appearance / Transmog

We added Change Appearance aka Transmog to the game.

• Change your gear and weapon appearance within the same category of items at Gunnar’s blacksmith in Ravensthorpe for 50 silver. “This piece was already exceptionally beautiful, but if there’s anyone who could improve it, it’s me!” —Gunnar
• Changed items will be marked with a star in the inventory.

New Skills

• Fearless Leaper = When activated, the leap attack damage has a larger area of effect and can be done at any height.
• Raven’s Loot = Your raven gathers loot from targets killed with ranged attacks.
• Loot Food = Eivor now has a higher chance of looting food from dead bodies.

Close Camera Option

We added a close camera option to the game.

• Once toggled, it will activate a closer camera during regular gameplay.
• The camera will zoom out during combat encounters.
• The option can be toggled in the Gameplay menu.

GAME IMPROVEMENTS

Miscellaneous

• There will now be more cats throughout England. The best clutter.
• Foxes should no longer spawn inside Lunden.
• Addressed an issue that downgraded Ubisoft Connect Rewards (i.e. Spartan bow, Moonlight Axe).
• Improved character physics behavior when running up the stairs. Clothes no longer go brrr.
• Small boats will now catch fire when throwing torches at them.

Balancing

• Addressed an issue that caused Skadi’s Blade’s perk to remain inactive when conditions are met.
• Addressed an issue that caused the boar master’s melee attack not to build up fire damage on the player.
• Addressed an issue that caused Petra’s Arc perk to remain inactive above 90% HP.
• Addressed an issue that caused the Huntsman rune to be activated when conditions are not met.
• Addressed an issue that allowed players to break the heavy runic attack of Kjotve with light attacks during the third phase.
• Addressed an issue that prevented Guaranteed Assassination from working and reduced damage dealt after acquiring the Shoulder Bash ability.

Quests, World Events, and Side Activities

• Addressed an issue in In Absence of an Ealdorman that prevented players from completing the quest when the brooch was already collected. Everyone liked that.
• Addressed an issue in In Absence of an Ealdorman that prevented a cutscene from playing.
• Addressed an issue in Clues and Riddles that prevented players from completing the quest as it does not validate after the ritual.
• Addressed an issue in The Demon Odor at the Tithe that prevented the NPC from spawning.
• Addressed an issue in Bleeding the Leech that caused the NPC to remain stuck in a defeated state.
• Addressed an issue in Razing Earnningstone due to Galinn not speaking.
• Addressed an issue in A Brother’s Keeper that prevented a cutscene from playing.
• Addressed an issue in Glory Regained that prevented players from proceeding with the quest.
• Addressed an issue in An Island of Eels that prevented players from completing the quest as it was moved to completed quests. Put that thing back where it came from or so help me.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from pledging to any region on the Alliance map.
• Addressed an issue in Pilgrimage to St. Albanas that prevented players from talking to the NPC.
• Addressed an issue in the Lamb Chops world event where players could not complete the event if Merec died.
• Addressed an issue in A Wise Friend where Randvi would not appear outside the long house.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from completing the Asgard arc after completing Binding Fate.
• Addressed an issue in Pilgrimage to St. Albanes where Birstan could get stuck, preventing players from completing the quest.
• Addressed an issue in In Dreams that prevented players from completing the Drink the potion to return to Asgard objective.
• Addressed an issue in the Crushed Dreams world event that caused the wife to be dead.
• Addressed an issue in Honor has Two Edges that prevented players from interacting with Faravid at the camp.
• Addressed an issue in Degolas the Beautiful world event due to Degolas not leaving the water.
• Addressed an issue in In the Absence of an Ealdorman that prevented the objective marker from appearing.
• Addressed an issue in Heavy is the Head that caused Ivarr to no longer move. Yes, he’s Boneless, but…
• Addressed an issue in The Sword of Saint George that prevented the quest from updating after killing the champion and not being acquired.
• Addressed an issue that prevented the Cordelia boss fight from starting.
• Addressed an issue that caused a Eurvicscire wealth to disappear after completing Honor Has Two Edges.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from interacting with Eydis after assigning the Jomsviking.
• Addressed an issue in Reap What Was Sown that caused Sigurd to clap with one hand next to Ubba.
• Addressed an issue in Extended Family that allowed the boss to jump over the arena border and not being defeatable as a result.
• Addressed an issue in Well-Traveled that caused players to be stuck when interacting with the reflector.
• Addressed an issue that caused players to sink to the bottom of the ocean when jumping from the long ship without having learned the Leap of Faith. Altaïr knows the feels.
• Addressed an issue in The Walls of Templebrough that prevented players from talking to Sigurd.
• Addressed an issue that caused the man-eating animal contract to be missing a quest objective.
• Addressed an issue that results in Kjotve not taking damage using the hidden blade.
• Addressed an issue in An Efficient Cremation that prevented the world event from completing when the man was killed for the first time after burning the bodies.
• Addressed an issue that caused the aim to snap away during the Builder boss fight using K&M.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from completing The Pardoner’s Tale as the NPC is missing.
• Addressed an issue in Glory Regained that prevented players from proceeding with the quest after reaching the Regroup with Soma objective.
• Addressed an issue in Road to Hamartia that caused Halfdan to not follow the player.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from pledging to Snotinghamscire or Hamtunscire as both options were greyed out.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from collecting the Book of Knowledge in Oxenefordscire.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from confirming the kill against Thor the Fishmonger.
• Addressed an issue that prevented the order member, Beneseck of Bath, from spawning.
• Addressed an issue that caused Legendary Animals to spawn outside the playable area.
• Addressed an issue that caused Randvi not to cross the bridge exiting the settlement. It seems the wind calls her to the other side.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from interacting with one of the three keys needed for a Jorvik wealth chest after planting Explosive Corpse on the body.
• Addressed an issue that caused Suttungr to be missing weak points in phase 2 of the fight.
• Addressed an issue in When the Stone Falls that prevented the quest from being completed if the player fast travels during the quest.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from completing Edmund’s Arrow as the NPC is missing.
• Addressed an issue that caused a section of Asgard’s intro to be missing.

Graphics, Audio, and Animation

• Addressed various graphics, lighting, or texture issues.
• Addressed various clipping issues.
• Addressed various character or NPC animation issues.
• Addressed an issue that allowed players to unequip a weapon mid-animation, causing animation issues.
• Addressed an issue that caused an impact on character detail settings when World Detail graphics settings were adjusted.
• Addressed an issue that caused the game not to restart after resetting Graphics mode.
• Addressed an issue where guards wouldn’t recheck already investigated hiding spots when Eivor whistles from them.

River Raids

• Addressed various River Raids-related UI/HUD issues.
• Addressed a placement issue with Raid location descriptions using Arabic interface language.
• Addressed an issue that prevented River Raids content to be accessible after the Jomsviking Hall was built.
• Addressed an issue that caused the objective to be missing after building the Jomsviking Hall.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from reviving Jomsviking with M&K.
• Vagn will now randomly have dialogue during River Raids. Leans back.
• Addressed an issue that prevented river barricades to trigger.
• Addressed an issue that caused the River Raids completion on Vagn’s map to be inaccurate.
• Addressed some instances of issues with mast behaviors in specific ship hiding spots.
• Addressed an issue on the River Dee that resulted in the River Champion to be missing.
• Addressed an issue that caused the Sword of Saint George quest to be missing an objective.
• Addressed an issue that sometimes prevented the End Raid quick action from working.
• Addressed an issue that caused the objective from A River to Raid to be missing from the UI.
• Addressed an issue that allowed rivers to have more River Raid chests than keys.
• Addressed an issue that caused Naval chains to not regenerate when the player returns to Rivers.
• Addressed an issue that caused the character showcase not to update when assigning Jomsviking to the crew.
• Addressed an issue that allowed players to seemingly trigger a raid on the boat and once again on land when all Jomsvikings are dead.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from using rations after completing all River Raids quests.
• Addressed an issue that caused Jomsviking rank-ups not to be displayed correctly.
• Addressed an issue that sometimes prevented the River Alert Level to be displayed when returning to the long ship if the alert level increased.
• Addressed an issue that caused Jomsviking waiting to be hired to have a different rank in the hall than intended.
• Addressed an issue that would cause the Map clue not to be marked as collected on the River Exe map.
• Addressed an issue that caused Jomsviking to die while they are currently being revived.
• Addressed an issue that prevented the Celebration screen to appear when completing a Raid for the second time.
• Addressed an issue that could see the player spawn into a River Raid without their long ship
• Addressed an issue that resulted in a raid not to be completed upon gathering all cargos from the Severn Outpost.
• Addressed an issue that prevented Jomsviking to open the door in Erbistock (River Dee) after unlocking it to loot the chest.
• Addressed an issue that caused the mast not to be lowered if all Jomsviking are dead.
• Addressed various issues where the player could get stuck.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from progressing with River Raids when bringing Clues to Vagn, and then reloading the first autosave.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from returning to the settlement if any sensitive content option is applied while on any river.
• Addressed an issue on the River Dee that caused icons for chests and cargos to be missing from the compass.

Gameplay, Combat, and AI

• Addressed various NPC behaviour issues.
• Addressed an issue that caused Eivor to continue spinning longer than intended when using the Dane Axe Special Attack.
• Addressed an issue that caused enemies to wake up right away when they are being hit with a second sleep dart while sleeping.
• Addressed an issue that caused the hidden blade to be missing from Eivor. Not worthy KEKW.
• Addressed an issue that caused strange physics when throwing explosive pots.
• Addressed an issue that resulted in disguise speed to be limited using keyboard input.
• Addressed an issue that caused Eivor to moonwalk when mounting a horse that is approaching from behind the player.
• Addressed an issue that allowed players to obtain Nodens’ Arc through save/load actions.
• Addressed an issue that caused the player to still get blinded even though the flash missile was being thrown back to a zealot.
• Addressed an issue that allowed players to swap weapons while performing a heavy attack.
• Addressed an issue that caused archers to shoot arrows from strange angles.
• Addressed an issue that caused issues equipping weapons after blocking and dodging while using the battering ram.
• Addressed an issue that caused NPCs to perform the same activity for longer than intended.
• Addressed an issue that caused guards to climb on burning roofs. Just why?
• Addressed an issue that allowed unconscious NPCs to be inflammable. And I oops.
• Addressed an issue that caused oil jars to explode when assassinations were performed nearby. Say what dot gif.
• Addressed an issue that allowed players to chain Hidden Blade attacks several times unintentionally.

World

• Addressed various issues where the player could get stuck.
• Addressed an issue that could cause players to get stuck or are unable to move a shelf inside Saint Lewinna’s Church.
• Addressed various object placement issues across worlds.
• Addressed an issue where a key would sometimes remain stuck in the air when destroying the hazard in Jotunheim.
• Addressed an issue that allowed multiple settlement cosmetics to be applied simultaneously for one slot.
• Addressed an issue that caused dead pigs to return to a standing position after fast travelling. Mommy, pick me up I’m scared.

User Interface/HUD

• Addressed various UI/HUD issues.
• Addressed various localization issues.
• Addressed an issue that allowed the quick actions wheel to be accessible during the beginning of the game.
• (Stadia) Addressed an issue that prevented the Photo Mode cursor to be visible.
• Addressed an issue that caused HUD elements to disappear and the world map to be unavailable when talking to Ceolwulf at night while he is in bed.

System

• Addressed an issue that prevented players from exiting the white room when the game was still downloading.
• Addressed an issue that caused issues switching input from M&K to Gamepad.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from reaching 100% completion.
• Addressed an issue that caused the back button to have multiple functions in the Japanese version of the game.
• Addressed an issue that caused The Way of the Berserker to not be available in offline mode after being redeemed.
• Addressed an issue that caused ULC content not to be available in the game after purchasing it from the store.
• (PC) Addressed an issue that prevented Disorder of Ancients, Take My Hand, The Enemy of My Enemy, Overdesign II from unlocking.
• (PC) Addressed an issue with multi-monitor set ups that could cause issues while in borderless mode.
• (PC) Addressed an issue that caused MSI Voice Commands to stop working
• (PS4/PS5) Addressed an issue that caused the Share Play option to be no longer available.
• (PS4/PS5) Addressed an issue that prevented players from uploading saves to the game cloud.

Performance and Stability

• Improved performance and stability.
• Addressed an issue that could cause freezes when performing a dodge while holding an oil jar inside Burgred’s crypt.