Hello, Adventurers.   This is Developer H.   It has been a while since I last greeted you through a developer note. I hope all our Adventurers are doing well. In this note, I’d like to introduce to our Adventurers information on the new Delezie Raid. As a large-scale raid that will mark the climax of DFO’s Sunken Depths season and featuring Apostle Delezie—the source of the Malefic Energy that our Adventurers have battled against for the past few years—we know expectations for this new Apostle Raid are high.   With that, I’ll get straight to the point by starting off with the introductory synopsis.

 

 

Delezie Raid Synopsis

 

Previously...

Tattered yet still afloat, Inae, the City of Promise, has been saved from the Maleficent invasion through the combined efforts of the Adventurer and their allies.

 

After having defended the airship city, you must now mount a full-scale counterattack to strike at the heart of the enemy forces, the Fount of Tribulation, once and for all.

 

The Maleficence Raiders and Bluehawks, once at odds with one another, now join hands to stop the forces of plague along with the support of the Moon Hunters, Death's Sentinels, and White Ocean reinforcements.

 

These unlikely allies band together under the banner of protecting the fate of not only the region of Sunken Depths, but perhaps that of the entire world.

 

Now...

The Five Maleficents of Tribulation gather troops and increase their own power from a source of toxic origin.

 

The dark forces of the 6th Apostle now move in unison, maneuvering with strategy and intent.

 

You and the allied forces must choose your battlefield in the great war ahead and utilize tactical assaults to ambush the patrolling of the enemies, all the while uncovering the secrets as to the schemes of the Maleficents.

 

Here, you must fight the Maleficent army on multiple battlefronts throughout Sunken Depths and put an end to the accursed fate of the manifesting blight, the immortal 6th Apostle, Delezie, before the plague devours all.

 

 

Delezie Raid Content

 

Now, let's get into the actual details regarding the Delezie Raid.

First, the 6th Apostle, Delezie of Plague Raid content will be added on APR 21. This raid will be available from Thursday through Monday, and consists of Delezie: First Act and Delezie: Last Act.

 

Before we delve too deep into the actual content, I would like to briefly revisit the raid open days we previously announced since it was just mentioned.

 

When we first planned the raid schedule, our goal was to keep the play window slightly shorter than in other services, rather than opening it for the full five days. We believed a more limited schedule would help concentrate participation and create a stronger sense of focus around raid play.

 

However, as more weekly content was added such as the recent World Boss, we came to the conclusion that offering one fewer day than other services could feel unfair rather than beneficial. For that reason, we decided to expand the raid schedule to five days.

 

In making that decision, we also had to consider long-term service synchronization. With the weekly reset set to Tuesday at 09:00 UTC, we determined that operating the raid on a Thursday through Monday schedule was the most appropriate approach, not only for consistency with other services, but also in light of the direction of future content updates.

 

Because this decision involved broader system considerations as well, we ask for your understanding that we were unable to expand the raid period to Wednesday through Monday as many Adventurers had requested.

 

With that, let's return to our introduction of the Delezie Raid.

 

Delezie: First Act, which is available in both Solo and Matching modes, requires 63,257 Fame to enter, with the recommended Fame set at 63,257.

 

When entered through matching, the recommended raid size is 12 players. Delezie: Last Act likewise requires 63,257 Fame to enter, but has a recommended Fame of 77,399, with a recommended raid size of 12 players as well.

 

As with other content that offers multiple difficulty settings, all three difficulty levels in this raid share the same reward count. Once rewards are claimed, the corresponding weekly reward count will be consumed.

 

This raid also introduces a new feature.

Crank up the challenge!

 

To give parties more precise control over combat intensity based on the kind of challenge they want, we have added an HP Ratio setting when creating a party. This can be adjusted from 0% to 500% in 50% increments, and monster HP will increase according to the selected setting.

 

We hope this allows each raid group to take on the encounter in a way that best matches its own level of experience and goals.

 

Are you up to the challenge?

In particular, the Raid Challenge Event that begins alongside the raid’s release will offer special honorary rewards to the Top 20 raid groups that achieve the earliest clears at HP Ratio 200% or higher, and we hope many of you will take part. 

 

During combat, you will also encounter mechanics that are unique to the Delezie Raid itself.

 

First, Plague Reversal can be activated with the dungeon special key Tab once its dedicated gauge has been fully charged. It becomes especially powerful when used while a monster’s eyes are glowing red. If Plague Reversal is activated while the monster is in a groggy state, that monster will take 25% increased damage for 10 seconds, and this effect can stack.

 

In addition, through the Summon Saint Horn feature, the party leader can use the (') raid special key to quickly move to a desired location.

 

If a party successfully predicts and secures a monster’s destination in advance, an Ambush effect will be triggered. Entering battle through Ambush grants a groggy window and resets the cooldowns of all skills (except Awakening skills), allowing for a much more aggressive approach to the encounter.

 

Show off your Delezie-hunting skills!

 

We will also be adding the Hall of Valor alongside this raid. The Hall of Valor will display the records of the Top 100 raid groups with the fastest clear times each week, and we hope it will serve as another meaningful goal for Adventurers who enjoy competing for records.

 

 

Rewards

 

As for rewards, we have prepared this raid so that Adventurers can experience new avenues of growth for both weapons and armor.

 

First off, Delezie Legacy Weapons can be obtained at a certain rate upon clearing Delezie: Last Act.

 

These weapons are designed not simply as one-time rewards, but as gear that continues to offer a sense of progression after acquisition through a dedicated Release System. While existing Primeval Legacy Weapons filled a role where they were the "pinnacle" of progression, Delezie Legacy Weapons are structured to continue expanding their stats even after they are obtained, making them equipment more focused on the long-term.

 

In addition, sufficiently upgraded Primeval Legacy Weapons can be promoted through the Delezie Upgrade System into the higher-tier Primeval Legacy of Plague Weapons. We also plan to support related conversion features so that Adventurers can more flexibly align them with their desired weapon type.

 

Armor has likewise been structured so that existing equipment can naturally carry forward into a higher tier of progression.

 

Using materials obtained from raid clears, Adventurers will be able to upgrade existing Set Epic Armor and Unique Epic Armor into Scourge Set Epic Armor and Scourge Unique Epic Armor, respectively. Scourge equipment has been prepared as a superior tier with greater progression value than existing gear.

 

In the case of Set Epic Armor in particular, upgrades will be saved by individual armor slot, so that even if you later change sets, you will not need to repeatedly upgrade the same slot again.

 

Through this, we aimed to reduce the burden of experimenting with different set combinations while ensuring that the rewards from raid play add up noticeably and meaningfully.

 

The materials earned from raid clear rewards have also been designed for broad use across multiple progression paths.

 

Darkblight is used for core weapon progression, including Primeval Star and Legacy Weapon tuning, as well as Legacy Weapon upgrades and unlocking.

 

Plague Seeds can be used to purchase Legacy conversion-related items, upgrade Epic Armor, and also for the crafting of Exalted Sub Equipment and the Potency System.

 

In addition, [Delezie of Plague] Auction Coins will allow Adventurers to participate in auction rewards as well, creating a wider range of reward opportunities beyond simply obtaining equipment directly.

 

Along with Delezie equipment upgrades, this raid will introduce a new Exalted Equipment as well. We hope this item will provide both symbolic value as well as room for further growth going forward.

 

To add a bit more regarding Delezie equipment, we have seen concerns from Adventurers following the recent Sky of a Thousand Seas (SoaTS) season update in Korea, particularly around future content visibility, inflated stats, and the possibility that this could weaken motivation to progress through Delezie equipment.

 

To reassure you on this point, the weapons and armor obtained and upgraded through the Delezie Raid will not be replaced at the start of the new season.

 

The weapon and armor upgrades available through the Delezie Raid will continue to remain relevant throughout the SoaTS season as well. Please keep in mind that these upgrades will be necessary in order to enter the various SoaTS season content quickly and smoothly.

 

Ultimately, the reward structure of the Delezie Raid is not limited to simply adding new equipment. It has been designed as a unified progression flow that connects acquisition, post-acquisition unlocking, higher-tier growth through upgrades, expanded value for existing equipment, and layered material-based progression paths. Through the Delezie Raid, we hope Adventurers will enjoy not only the immediate excitement of obtaining new rewards, but also the long-term satisfaction of steadily refining and completing their growth over time.

 

 

Mist Assimilation

 

To support Adventurers who may feel hesitant about entering the new raid or who find the Fame requirement difficult to reach, we will also be introducing a new system called Mist Assimilation.

An account-wide system that's useful regardless of one's expertise in DFO!

 

By playing Sunken Depths content with a Level 115 character, you will earn Mist Assimilation EXP. This EXP is shared across all characters within your Explorer Club, and each time a certain amount is accumulated, your Mist Assimilation stage will increase, allowing progression to expand on an account-wide basis.

 

The Mist Assimilation system has been designed not as progression limited to a single character, but as an account-wide structure in which all play experience across your entire Explorer Club contributes to growth. Through this approach, we aim to ensure that the value of repeated play accumulates in a more stable and meaningful way, while also easing some of the burden that can come with developing alternate characters or catching up later. In turn, we hope this will allow Adventurers to make use of multiple characters with greater flexibility.

 

 

Dark Templar Renewal

 

Now moving on to character updates, the Dark Templar renewal will also be added alongside the Delezie Raid.

 

When Dark Templar was first introduced, the class was designed around strong holding capabilities and utility-focused skills, offering a style of play that emphasized action and control.

 

However, as time passed and both the gameplay environment and overall meta evolved, the usefulness of many of its existing skills gradually declined. In that process, we also came to feel that some of the class’s original identity had become less distinct.

 

With this renewal, we have reworked the class’s existing skill concepts and visuals to more clearly express its identity as an order of knights devoted to Usir. At the same time, we have also adjusted skills that had seen limited practical use so that the class can perform more reliably in the current gameplay environment.

 

As part of this renewal, Punishment has been revamped, and a new Level 100 skill, Dies Irae, will also be added. This skill depicts an incarnation of Usir summoning the divine order and commencing a ritual that deals damage to enemies within range.

 

Through this renewal, we hope Dark Templar’s signature identity and combat feel will once again come through more clearly. We will continue refining the class so that it can offer a more complete and satisfying gameplay experience even within an evolving combat environment.

 

 

Character Changes

 

Buffer Renewal

We have also made structural improvements across the buffer classes as a whole.

 

To begin with, the per-level buff value increase for the Level 30 and Level 50 active skills, which previously differed by buffer class, has been standardized. We also revised the internal calculation formulas alongside this change in order to reduce the gaps in buff efficiency between different buffer classes.

 

For Male Crusader, raising a buff-focused Crusader previously came with a number of inconveniences when it came to solo play. To address this, we restructured the class so that the buff and battle skill trees are more clearly separated depending on whether Grace of Protection or Grace of Courage is learned. We also removed several conditional bonus effects that had been tied to learning Holy Ghost Mace on certain skills.

 

In addition, we adjusted the attack power scaling of the passives learned by buffer Crusaders so that solo play remains more comfortable even while Divine Invocation is active. We also removed Heaven's Melody and Heaven's Harmony, transferring their functionality into Sign of Protection, which allows the Crusader to have a more streamlined number of defensive buffs that had previously been excessively high compared with other buffer classes. The stack structure of Ascension has also been revised, reducing the amount of ramp-up time required before reaching full buff efficiency.

 

For Female Crusader, the buff effect of Grand Crashing Cross has been moved to Archangel's Blessing, and the duration of Archangel's Blessing has also been increased. Through this, we aimed to improve overall convenience in both applying and maintaining buffs.

 

For Enchantress, we wanted to reduce the inconvenience of having to manually identify the strongest party member and apply Favoritism every time in party play. To that end, we have added a feature that automatically applies Favoritism to the party member with the highest Fame upon entering a dungeon. At the same time, to preserve the existing play pattern of checking party members and choosing a target manually after entry, the automatically applied Favoritism does not trigger the skill’s cooldown.

 

We also improved another defining feature of Enchantress, the Awakening buff duration extension through Forest of Dolls, so that its duration can now be extended whenever an Awakening skill is used. In addition, at the moment an Awakening buff is cast, Destiny Puppet will now activate automatically once without consuming any doll stacks.

 

These improvements were made with the goal of preserving each buffer class’s unique identity and gameplay style while reducing the inconvenience and perceived performance gaps that players experienced in actual play. Going forward, we will continue reviewing these classes so that they can provide a smoother and more reliable buffer experience in both party play and solo play.

 

VP Improvements

In addition to the buffer classes, we have also made further improvements to the Skill Evolution (VP) of several other classes. In particular, when selecting an option that changes a skill’s base cooldown, the corresponding resource consumption for that skill will now be adjusted by the same ratio as well. Through this, we aimed to reduce the disconnect between an option’s intended effect and how it actually feels in play.

 

There are also several VP options that have been improved from a functional standpoint.

 

Spectre		Ranger (M)
Before	After	Before	After
[Shaker Blast] Can be used from the air. Certain motions deleted, depending on the casting location - Ground Mode finishing slash deleted - Aerial Mode spinning slash deleted - Total Atk. remains the same. Attack range +35%	[Shaker Blast] Changes to a skill that sweeps the surrounding area in place without leaping into the air. - Sweeps the area with the White Fang, and then slams down to finish. - Total Atk. remains the same. Changed to allow Sheathing Technique chaining. Can be canceled by Deep Dusk during the post-casting delay.	[Wild Shot] Cancel-chain skills to negate Stylish stack consumption. Allows Death Hawk grab during the multi-attack. Incoming damage -80% during the skill	[Wild Shot] If hit during Wild Shot, the currently learned Gun Guard is auto-activated. - Wild Shot can't be canceled. - Activated regardless of Gun Guard's cooldown status. Attack range +50%   [Gun Guard] Additional incoming damage decrease rate +50%

For example, when Spectre selects the Shooter Cocktail option, the action flow and follow-up chaining have been adjusted to connect more naturally. The goal was to improve its practical usability without disrupting the overall tempo of combat.

 

Male Ranger has likewise been adjusted in a direction that strengthens both survivability and sustained offensive pressure. We sought to improve stability in dangerous situations while preserving the class’s signature combat rhythm, allowing for a more aggressive playstyle overall. That direction is also reflected in the updated VP option's name, Bullet Guard.

 

Elven Knight		Chimera
Before	After	Before	After
[Pulverize] When Harbinger of Life is used during the cast, both skills are activated simultaneously with a shock wave. - Chain Rush applied to Pulverize also is applied to Harbinger of Life when activated together. Shock wave range +20% Incoming damage -50% during the skill	[Pulverize] When Harbinger of Life is used during the cast, both skills are activated simultaneously with a shock wave. - Chain Rush applied to Pulverize also is applied to Harbinger of Life when activated together. Shock wave range +20% Incoming damage -50% during the skill Resets Harbinger of Life cooldown when cast.   [Harbinger of Life] Atk. -40%	[Hedgehog Dilemma] Increased Attack Speed Application Rate Changes to a Polearm Class skill. 20% of Atk. changed to Shock Atk. Pulls enemies toward the center when swords converge.	[Hedgehog Dilemma] Can be cast during Advanced skills. Changes to a Normal Type skill. Cooldown -55% Projectile Atk. is combined with the explosion Atk. 20% of total Atk. is changed to Shock Atk.

For Elven Knight, we preserved the strengths of the existing Destruction and Regeneration option while refining it so that its rotation and overall flow feel smoother in actual combat. Through this, we intended for the rewards of high skill expression to connect more naturally during gameplay. Of course, since Harbinger of Life can now have its cooldown reset, the option also comes with a reduction to that skill’s power.

 

Finally, Chimera has had its Zap Zzap Zap Bzzap option structure adjusted to support more agile and flexible gameplay. We refined it so that it can be used more naturally across a wider scope during combat, allowing for a pleasant sense of tempo during battle.

 

In addition to these changes, several other classes will also receive further improvements to their VP options. More detailed values and specific adjustments will be shared separately through the update notice.

 

Overall, our direction here was not simply to raise or lower the performance of specific options, but to make adjustments with both actual gameplay feel and practical usefulness in the current combat environment in mind.

 

 

Future Plans

 

So there you have it, the overall summary of the April 21st update! Of course, there are many other changes and improvements that will be added, so if you would like to see more, please refer to the full update notice that will be released next week!

 

With that said, I would also like to briefly go over the update schedule for what lies beyond April 21.

 

Roadmap

The major updates currently planned are as follows:

 

• June 2026 - Delezie: Accursed Update
• August 2026 - Sky of a Thousand Seas Update
• Second Half of 2026 - Apocalypse Update

 

More detailed release dates for each update will be shared through future broadcasts as those updates draw closer.

 

That almost wraps up everything we wanted to share in this developer’s note. Before we close, however, we would like to reveal one final piece of news that I believe many Adventurers will be interested to hear.

 

Surprise!

The “Fan-Made Avatars” previously released in DNF is currently scheduled to arrive in DFO with the May 26 update.

 

We have recently seen some feedback that the 11th Anniversary Part 2 felt somewhat less impactful than previous anniversary updates. We are truly sorry to hear that, and in the hope of making up for it, we plan to distribute this Avatar for free through an event.

 

We are aware that this somewhat compensatory reward will be coming well after the anniversary period. However, as many of you may already know, the ongoing work surrounding the Delezie Raid update made it difficult for us to add it to our game any sooner. As such, we will do our best to ensure that it can be delivered smoothly and without issue on May 26, which was the earliest timing we could schedule it within our original update plans.

 

In addition to the free distribution, the Avatar will also be made available for purchase, so Adventurers who would like to obtain multiple sets may wish to keep that in mind.

 

Speaking of Avatars, over the past several years we have relied on player surveys when selecting which Avatars to bring back for re-release. At this point, however, we believe those surveys have been conducted often enough, and we also recognize that survey results may not be the best representation of the community in all cases. As such, we would like to let our Adventurers know that we are carefully considering what selection method would be most appropriate for reruns moving forward.

 

One thing we can say with confidence is that, for the time being, we intend to discontinue the Avatar surveys when possible.

 

Before We Part...

 

And that  brings us to the end of today's Developer Notes!

 

The Delezie Raid is not being prepared simply as content with a higher level of difficulty. We are building it to encompass meaningful choices in how the raid is approached, broader paths for character progression, the excitement of record-based competition, and improvements to overall class feel in actual play.

 

As this is an Apostle Raid that Adventurers have been waiting for over a long period of time, we will continue refining it with great care all the way through release so that, throughout the experience, you can fully feel the oppressive, ominous presence of Delezie, the high stakes of the battle, and the satisfaction of overcoming the dreaded Apostle of Plague.

 

We hope you enjoy!

 

 

Sincerely,

Developer H