Monster exclusion zones are now active around origin cities and village cores. Spawns no longer occur inside settlement boundaries, and the buffer zone around cities is meaningfully wider than before — you won’t be fighting skeletons in the town square anymore.
Outside the safe zone, tiered spawn rings change how difficulty scales with distance. Easier monsters cluster near home. As you move further from your origin city, the rings shift toward harder creature types and larger group sizes. This makes early exploration safer and rewards pushing further out once you’re equipped for it.
Your companion party stats now scale from your power level as the party leader. A companion’s effective combat capability is tied to how strong you are — bringing underleveled allies into a dungeon you’ve outgrown no longer means babysitting fragile NPCs. Conversely, companions stay relevant longer as you progress rather than becoming liabilities.
Dungeon encounters have been rebalanced across all biomes. Creature density, elite placement, and boss room scaling have all been adjusted to feel appropriate for the biome’s position in the world — jungle dungeons hit differently than tundra ones now.
See the updated companions guide for how the new leader power scaling interacts with culture aggression modifiers and role base stats.