Northgard Battlegrounds/Patch changes
Northgard Battlegrounds is a demo until early access opens on 27 October 2026, and its numbers move from one build to the next. This page lists every announced balance change since the demo opened, piece by piece: the old value, the new one, and what the change does on a board.
Every new value is checked against the game files (build 0.78.27d, read 20 October 2026). Where an announced number and the files disagree, the files win, and the row is marked Not in the build until a build carries it.
Each row reads old value, then new value. Green means the change helps the piece, red means it costs the piece, and gold means the effect itself changed, such as a bonus that now counts a different tag. Values written 5/10/15 are levels 1, 2 and 3. Action Speed is actions per second, so 0.7 going to 0.5 is a slower unit.
The badge on each card sums up its rows: Buffed when every row helps, Nerfed when every row costs, Mixed when it is some of each, Reworked when an effect changed. Pieces our builds use list those builds, and every structure and card links to its full entry.
The Wolf clan joins the demo, and a balance pass trims the Health, Tower and Thorns pieces that led after 0.77.111d, plus the top-performing Mystical units.
Playable clans
Berserker's Rage, Action Speed per neighbouring MeleeEgil and the Wolf clan are now playable. Two of Wolf's three skills read Melee neighbours, so its boards pack melee camps together. Berserker's Rage was raised before release: the earlier files held 10/15/20%.
Health
ArmorA quarter off Einherjar Health and a third off their Armor, the second nerf in a week. The revive is untouched, so each Einherjar still stands up once, but both lives are shorter.
In our builds: Einherjar + Bifrost
Health for neighbouring units, next to a ForestMost of the 0.77.111d raise is gone: 60% at level 1 before that patch, 100% after it, 75% now. Units beside it next to a Forest still gain a lot, so it stays in the Einherjar and Naglfar builds.
In our builds: Einherjar + Bifrost, Krown bank
Crit Chance
Frost per neighbouring DivineCrit Chance per neighbouring DivineThe Draconic Jötunn now gains Crit Chance from Divine neighbours instead of Frost, from a lower base. With two Divine pieces beside it, a level 3 Skull is back to 45 Crit Chance; with none it sits at 15.
In our builds: Raven economy, Mystical monsters
Liv's Action SpeedLiv acts about 11% less often, so every crit-based build on Raven deals a little less. Her growth after each battle is unchanged.
In our builds: Raven economy
Health for neighbouring Melee, per TowerPart of the cut to Tower boards. Each Tower in the settlement now adds less to the melee units beside a Watch Tower.
Thorns for neighbouring Melee, per TerrainHealth for neighbouring units, on Fertile groundBoth halves of Naströnd shrink. Its Thorns line feeds the Thorns boards this patch set out to slow.
Range
CleaveA buff: Son of Hrymr now reaches as far as the other large units and cleaves more at levels 2 and 3, which helps the Krown bank build.
In our builds: Raven economy, Krown bank
CleaveOne Cleave off every level. The Eldthur keeps its 0.77.111d Health, speed and Burn.
In our builds: Raven economy, Mystical monsters, Kobold economy
CleaveOne Cleave off every level, one of the trims to high-rarity Mystical units.
In our builds: Mystical monsters, Einherjar + Bifrost
Burn per boltA small cut to each bolt's Burn. The bolt count and the extra bolts per neighbouring Warband are unchanged.
Damage for neighbouring RangedAnnounced as a bug fix: the old value was more than intended.
In our builds: Raven economy
Crit Chance per neighbouring WarbandNot in the announcement, but the files at release hold the higher value.
White Wolf HealthWhite Wolf DamageNot in the announcement either: the White Wolves came out a quarter stronger than in the earlier files.
Armor per DivineMystical units get 40% less Armor from each Divine piece.
Damage per DivineMystical units get 30% less Damage from each Divine piece.
Health per KnowledgeThe Health part drops by more than half; the Damage and Crit Chance per Knowledge stay.
CleaveHalf the Cleave on the Ranged target; the Frost stays at 25.
CleaveThe warchief keeps the Damage and Crit Chance but loses most of the Cleave.
Damage each time it is hitA third less Damage gained per hit taken.
Burn for every TowerPart of the cut to Tower boards.
No balance numbers changed. Runs got one more life, and Free Play matchmaking was reworked.
Lives per runFree Play matchmakingA run now survives one more lost battle, in Ranked and in Free Play: the files start every run with 5 lives, and you still win a run with 10 PvP wins. The extra life gives a slow economy opening more room to come online before the run ends. No detail was given on the matchmaking change.
The big one. Aimed at late games decided by Kobold and Einherjar swarms: Cleave got stronger against crowds, both swarm units act slower, and most Mystical pieces gained.
Cleave radiusDamage of each Cleave hitEach Cleave stack lets an attack hit one more enemy. Those extra hits now deal half of the attack's damage, Poison, Burn and Frost included, and they reach enemies further from the target. A board of many small units now loses far more health to anything that cleaves. The in-game Cleave tooltip still says 25%; the setting in the files is 50%.
Rare structures in the Spring shopSpring PvE opponent
Shop odds, every seasonThe first four rounds are now a Common and Uncommon shop only, 85% and 15% in the files, so an early Jötunn Camp or Draugr Tombs can no longer appear before Summer. Spring's computer opponent is now a Fox Den. The odds of every other season moved too, with no numbers announced; the current odds per season sit on the Shop odds page.
HealthAction SpeedCleaveBurnThe largest buff in the patch: more Health, a quarter more actions per second, Cleave close to doubled and Burn where it had none. At level 3 its 10 Cleave lets one swing hit eleven enemies, each extra hit at half damage under the new rule, and the Burn rides along on those hits.
In our builds: Raven economy, Mystical monsters, Kobold economy
HealthDamageCleaveBuffed on every line. Wyverns now carry base Damage of their own, where they had 0, and two more Cleave at every level, which the bigger Cleave share makes count for more. One of the Mystical late-game pieces the patch set out to lift.
In our builds: Mystical monsters, Einherjar + Bifrost
Fertile: Poison per MysticalRocky: ArmorHealthCleaveUp on every line, and it cleaves now. Its bonus depends on the ground: Fertile gives Poison for each Mystical, Rocky gives flat Armor, which doubled. With one Cleave its Poison also reaches a second enemy at half strength.
In our builds: Mystical monsters
CleaveLevel 1 is unchanged; levels 2 and 3 gain one and two Cleave. Combined with the larger Cleave share, upgrading a Jötunn Camp now pays off more than it did, and three of our five builds run one.
In our builds: Raven economy, Mystical monsters, Kobold economy
Damage per neighbourAction SpeedDamageHealthCrit ChanceA big buff with one trade: wolves act a little slower, but they hit harder, live longer and now crit. The neighbour bonus counts Beast instead of Nature, and Wolf Den is itself tagged Beast, so two Wolf Dens side by side feed each other.
Kobold Action SpeedOne of the two swarm units the patch named. Kobolds start from 0.5 actions per second, down from 0.7, a cut of more than a quarter. The camp still gains +0.1/0.2/0.3 Action Speed for each Economy structure in your settlement, so the Kobold economy plan is the same; it climbs from a lower base.
In our builds: Kobold economy
Einherjar CleaveEinherjar Action SpeedThe other named swarm. Einherjar lose their Cleave and an eighth of their actions per second, so each one does less, while the new Cleave rule makes a crowd of them easier to cut down. The Stag plan keeps its numbers of Einherjar; what it lost is damage per Einherjar.
In our builds: Einherjar + Bifrost
Damage to each neighbouring UnitA quarter less Damage for each neighbouring unit structure. Every one of our five builds runs a Hunter's Lodge, so each lost a little damage here. It still gives the most when unit structures surround it on all sides.
In our builds: Mystical monsters, Einherjar + Bifrost, Kobold economy, Krown bank
Sentry Action SpeedSentries act a fifth less often. Sentry Camp keeps its Warband tag, so it still counts for Warband effects such as Bifrost's.
Tracker BurnTrackers lost their own Burn. The camp's bonus of +2/4/6 Burn for each neighbouring Terrain is still in the files, so a Tracker Camp set beside Mountains or Forests still burns; one in open ground no longer does.
In our builds: Mystical monsters, Einherjar + Bifrost
Healing per empty neighbourHealingMore base Healing, less from each empty tile around it. At level 1 two empty neighbours give 14 either way. With fewer the hut now heals more than before, with more it heals less, so packed boards gained and huts left in open ground lost a little.
In our builds: Mystical monsters
Neighbour bonusArmorReworked. The bonus moved from Burn off Sacrificial neighbours to Frost off Divine neighbours, and the Skull gained Armor. A board built before 10-12 around Sacrificial pieces lost the bonus; the Skull now wants Divine structures such as Mjölnir, Yggdrasil or a Circle of Stone beside it.
In our builds: Raven economy, Mystical monsters
Thorns to neighbouring Melee, per TerrainFertile bonus to neighbouring UnitsThorns per Terrain more than doubled, and the Fertile bonus changed from Poison to a percent Health boost. The Thorns count every Terrain piece in your settlement, Mountains and Forests included, and go to the melee structures next to it.
Lightning boltsGap between bolts in a volleyBurnMore bolts, more Burn, and a much shorter gap between bolts inside one volley. The gap is not the tower's cooldown, but a long volley now ends sooner, so a high-level Mjölnir spends more of the fight firing.
Health to neighbouring Melee, per TowerDoubled. Neighbouring melee units gain the Health once for each Tower in your settlement, so it does the most beside melee camps on a board that also runs Defense Towers or a Mjölnir.
Damage per neighbouring CivilianDamageA small buff to both numbers. It still wants Civilian structures around it, so it sits inside an economy cluster of Woodcutters, Hunter's Lodges and Healer's Huts.
Krowns per empty colonised tileDoubled. It pays for colonised tiles you leave empty, so it suits a settlement with spare ground rather than a packed one.
Krowns per empty colonised tile
Knowledge tagKrowns per empty colonised tile doubled, next to its 1/2/3 Lore. The new Knowledge tag makes it count for Knowledge effects, such as Odin's Knowledge is Power, which the same patch cut in half.
In our builds: Kobold economy
Next to a Forest: Health to neighbouring UnitsHealing to each HealerBoth bonuses rose. Beside a Forest, its neighbouring units now gain 100/200/300% Health: the line the Einherjar + Bifrost and Krown bank builds lean on.
In our builds: Einherjar + Bifrost, Krown bank
TagsAnnounced, but not in the build: the files still tag Hörgr Knowledge, Divine, Melee and Unit, with no Mystical. Until a build carries the change, Hörgr counts for Divine effects such as the Skull of Hrungnir's Frost, not for Mystical ones.
Damage to neighbouring RangedAnnounced as a cut, but the files still give neighbouring ranged units 5/10/15 Damage, and the site uses the files' numbers. The line is checked again on every new build.
EffectReworked from a Warband speed card into a Melee Crit card, so it now lands on any melee unit, Warband or not.
In our builds: Raven economy
Crit ChanceFive more Crit Chance on its melee target, which now stacks with the reworked Flurry of Blows on the same kind of unit.
In our builds: Mystical monsters
CleaveDamage stays at +8; Cleave went from 2 to 1. Under the old rule its two extra hits dealt a quarter of the damage each, now its one extra hit deals half, so the total extra damage per attack is the same, put into one enemy instead of two.
In our builds: Raven economy, Einherjar + Bifrost
Second effectKeeps its 40 Armor; the short Stun became 10 Frost.
In our builds: Kobold economy
Per Knowledge: Damage / Health / CritHalved on all three stats. It counts Knowledge structures, and Sheep Fold joined them in the same patch, so a Knowledge board has one more piece to count.
In the card poolThor's Cleave card was taken out of the pool until the developers settle how Cleave should work, so it is not on our Fate card list.
No change matches both filters.
Patch 0.77.111d went after the two swarm plans by name. The Kobold economy build lost Kobold speed and some Hunter's Lodge damage, and the Einherjar + Bifrost build lost the Einherjar's Cleave and speed, while Cleave itself got better at cutting through crowds. Mystical monsters gained the most: Gates of Muspell, Wyvern Nest, Draugr Tombs and Jötunn Camp all went up, and the Skull of Hrungnir now takes its bonus from Divine neighbours. Below, each build with the pieces that changed; open a build for how those pieces fit together.
When the game gets a new build, its files are read again and compared field by field with the last read: every stat at every level, every tag, effect, Fate card and shop weight. Each value that moved gets a row here with the build it arrived in, whether a patch note mentions it or not, and the structure and card pages switch to the new numbers at the same time.
Changes that only alter how the game feels, such as matchmaking or bug fixes, are listed under Game rules when they touch a run's rules, like the extra life in patch 0.78.5d. For the current shop odds per season see the Shop odds calculator.
