Paragon's Monolith Visual Update will go live later this week

The Monolith Visual Update to Epic's third-person MOBA Paragon was initially slated to be out in August, but was pushed back a couple of weeks before its release. "We want more time with the map running in-game to make sure it is up to the highest performance, stability, and gameplay balance standards," the studio said at the time. "This extra time will allow the internal team to playtest, bug fix, and optimize the map so you have a solid experience when you play." 

Last week, Epic announced a new rollout date of September 21, and today the full patch notes are out. Highlights include:

  • Stonewood Rampage skin: The Amyyrn Forest may appear beautiful, but it is home to the most wild and terrible creatures in all of Zechin. Feel the power of unbridled nature with Stonewood Rampage, available in the store.
  • End Game Celebration: The end game celebration is coming back to Agora. Defeat your enemies and revel in their core exploding when you claim victory. This feature will receive more updates in the future.
  • Auto-run: A long awaited feature is finally here. Use auto-run to get to lane as you check your stat build and plan strategies with your team. Auto-run can be canceled by movement input, activating an ability/card, or using cancel. Default binding: Num Lock (PC) and Team Comms/L1 (PS4).

The Monolith Visual Update also makes balance changes and bug fixes to numerous heroes, and provides a "full visual rework" to the map, including an opened skybox allowing characters to jump through and over gaps in some walls. The update also makes gems easier to obtain, makes a large number of changes to cards, the UI and various "game systems," and improves the AI performance. The patch notes in full are available at epicgames.com.  

The update is the latest in a series of major updates—near-complete overhauls, really—that Epic has made to Paragon since its early access release in 2016. As we noted in our recent feature on the extreme changes the game has undergone, the original Monolith update that arrived in December of last year changed "virtually everything," with patch notes that "read less like an update and more like a manual for a new game."

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.