Double Up Upgraded!!

Double Up is graduating from the Workshop with a slew of upgrades, from the often-requested custom lobbies to the new Teamwork Cannon and beyond! All of these upgrades go live with the release of Cyber City on April 2nd during patch 14.1. As for now, let’s cover what to expect, starting with gameplay! 

Gameplay Updated: Teamwork Cannon and Gifting

Out with the old Rune of Allegiance and in with the new Teamwork Cannon. The Teamwork Cannon will take up a dedicated slot on your bench and can be used at any time to send units to your ally (with a cooldown) or trade basic items and components (no cooldown). Unlike the Rune of Allegiance, the Teamwork Cannon will be able to send any unit of any cost at any point in the game. As a trade-off for one less bench slot, the Teamwork Cannon will recharge faster, allowing you to trade units more often for more stars! You’ll be able to trade a unit every four rounds, but this could change during PBE after ample testing; so let us know what you think of having a faster recharge on the Cannon.  

The Teamwork Cannon solves some readability issues the Rune of Allegiance had (often confused visually with other consumables), but also allows us to lean more into the teamwork side of our 2v2v2v2 game mode by allowing you to trade items. All item trades are one-for-one, and you can only trade item components and completed core items. All trades must be of equal value. 

Our other gameplay change is to the Gift Armory. Previously, loot gifted from these Armories cost the gifting player gold that went up as the power of the loot increased. This made econing ahead of these moments fairly important—it always felt bad when your partner was being stingy as they protected their econ over our dream-con: winning. Now, gifts will always be free, so your partner should always work with you to get the best in stock! 

One more minor gameplay change: There will no longer be a last 1 HP shield before elimination. Health pools will function as in standard, but shared. 

Of course, the core components of Double Up remain the same: you share a health pool with your partner, and you’ll be able to reinforce them if you’ve won your fight before them after a short beat. 

Around Game Improvements

Double Up Lobbies allow you to make your own lobby with up to seven other friends (or frenemies, we’re not judging), opening up a future full of friendly banter, reinforcements, and lobbies packed with guaranteed top-fours! Because Double Up is our most social game mode, we’re making it so there are NO RANKED RESTRICTIONS; nada. With that, we have a few rules for skill ranking. Full parties of eight will not change their skill ranking in any way upon completion of a game, whether that be LP or MMR. If a party has players who are both above and below Masters, the Masters+ players won't receive LP/MMR updates if they play in a lobby with anyone who is GOLD and lower.

We really want Tacticians to be able to enjoy our most social mode with their friends no matter what. This means lowering the barriers to ranked play while adding a couple of rules to protect the competitive integrity at the tippy-top for players who are trying to ascend the ranks. After launch, we'll be examining how our open and social-first framework impacts game quality, so be sure to give us your feedback as you rank up with your friends.  

Alongside a lobby full of friends, we’re giving your dynamic duo more ways to identify as the unstoppable synergy squad you are with an upgraded loading screen, new team UI health bars in-game, and the ability to reassemble your clutch crew into different squads by shuffling teams in lobby. 

Double Up’s recipe of reinforcements, shared health, and TFT wackiness made it a beloved mode for many players since its release. With Cyber City’s release, we’re graduating Double Up from its Workshop status alongside quality of life and gameplay improvements to give it just that extra bit of polish it needs. Thanks to everyone who’s been playing Double Up during its early years, and we hope you enjoy the mode for many more to come, starting with the full release on April 2nd!