For Honor adds Harbor map and the Black Prior hero
Prior offence
Last year saw For Honor reborn to stand with Ubisoft stablemate Rainbow Six Siege, and today marks the third-person team brawler's first major update of 2019. A war-torn harbor map is available for all to play around, but the most interesting half of this update is the Black Prior hero, available in both boy and girl forms. A dark knight that straddles the gap between Visigoth and Modern Goth, liking black leather, looking moody, they fight in ways that their more chivalrous friends probably tut disapprovingly of. Take a peek at both the map and character below.
Maybe it's because the series has leaned so hard into naval combat lately, but the Harbor map reminds me of something out of Assassin's Creed. It's playable in Dominion, Elimination, Skirmish, Brawl and Duel modes, so it should see a decent bit of use over the coming months. While I've yet to play around on it yet, the Harbor map looks to have good sight-lines but complex routes required to get from point A to B. Plus, plenty of opportunities to just get pushed or thrown into the drink, which is always funny.
For all their gothy brooding, the Black Prior is a defensive, supportive class. They've got a special block stance which can be used to auto-counter anything short of a Guard Break attack, and a defensive slash which can be used as a feint. Their biggest special abilities are a ranged heal (at the expense of your own health), and a squad armour buff. The Black Prior are the first of four planned classes for this year, with a Samurai coming next, followed by a Viking and wrapping up with a new Wu Lin by year's end, according to Ubi's 2019 roadmap.
This update also includes a major rework of the Shugoki, the club-wielding absolute unit of the Samurai faction. Before they were always best as a reactive class, but their defensive buff has been swapped out for many of their attacks becoming uninterruptible. To use standard fighting game parlance, they've got super-armour on a lot of normals now. On top of that, their bear-hug Demon's Embrace throw gains more combo potential, heals them and completely refills their stamina. They've been changed from a passive to very offensive class - you can see the full patch notes here.
The Vortiger update is live now. The Harbor map is open to all and in rotation now, while the Black Prior is unlocked through play.