Passtech Games shipped Ravenswatch's next hero on Monday, October 12, 2026. Kintarō, the Golden Boy of Japanese folklore, joins the Ravenswatch with his bear Kuma as a paid Hero DLC, and every player gets a free update alongside it that touches more than 50 Talents across the roster, adds custom matchmaking lobbies, and cleans up a long list of bugs. The update hit SteamDB at 08:09 UTC, which is 3:09 AM CT, and Passtech says it is live on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.
This guide sticks to Passtech's own patch notes on the official site and SteamDB, plus the Kintarō Steam store page and the Year 2 roadmap page for price and DLC contents. Every number below is copied from those notes. Where the notes do not give a value, we say so instead of guessing.
Before you update: your current run is gone
Read this first if you have a run sitting on a save point. Passtech's notes say:
- "Due to major content changes, any existing run in progress has been discarded."
- "Your overall progress has not been affected."
A small naming note: SteamDB titles this "Version 1.06," the notes header says "Patch Notes (1.6)," and Passtech's how-to section says "version 1.6.0." They are the same update.
Price and what is free
The split is simple. Kintarō is the only paid part. The Talent reworks, custom lobbies, balance changes and fixes all arrive for every owner whether or not you buy the hero. Passtech's Year 2 page lists the DLC at $7.99 / €7.99 / £6.49, and the Steam store showed $7.99 on October 12. On the same day the base game was 50% off on Steam at $12.49 (normally $24.99). Treat that as a snapshot, since Steam sales end without much warning.
Kintarō and Kuma: how the new hero works
Kintarō plays unlike anyone else on the roster because you are managing two bodies at once. The Steam description puts it plainly: "One Hero, Two Fighters." His Trait swaps between riding Kuma and fighting on foot beside him.
Mounted Stance has you steer Kuma and fight with the bear's moves. Dismounted Stance puts Kintarō on the ground with his giant axe while Kuma "automatically attacks nearby enemies." In dismounted play you can also steer Kuma directly with the right stick, or with the mouse plus A on keyboard and mouse, to position him "or keep him out of harm's way."
The shared health bar and Internal Damage
The rule that will decide most early Kintarō runs is on the store page, not in the patch notes. Kintarō and Kuma "share the same health bar, but they take damage differently." When Kuma is hit, that damage moves to Kintarō as Internal Damage. You recover it gradually by climbing back onto Kuma.
That gives the hero a rhythm the patch notes only hint at:
- Split up to deal damage, with Kuma auto-attacking while Kintarō swings the axe.
- Pull Kuma back when he is soaking hits in a crowd you cannot see clearly. Every hit on him is a hit on your health bar.
- Remount to recover after a messy fight. Riding is your sustain button as well as a stance.
Talents, Ultimates and unlockables
- 2 Ultimate abilities. The notes only name one in passing, Giant Carp Supplex, in the known issues list.
- 26 unlockable Talents.
- 7 fully voiced pages of Kintarō's Memoirs, the narrated story that follows him and Kuma across Reverie. The Steam page calls these 7 Memories.
- 4 unlockable Outfits: Explorer, Signature, Master and Hidden.
- 3 premium Outfits: Raven, Nightmare and Royal Counselor. The Steam page counts all seven outfits as part of the DLC.
- New dialogue with the other heroes and 3 new achievements on Steam only.
Talent reworks for the rest of the roster
The free half of the update is where existing players will feel the most change. Passtech says "+50 Talents have been tweaked, buffed, or replaced." The pattern across the design notes is consistent: fewer cooldown resets in Talents, more support for underused SPECIAL builds, and a few pullbacks on things that snowballed.
Scarlet: cooldown Talents out, combo and POWER builds in
Scarlet loses three Talents' worth of cooldown effects. Short Wick is replaced by Deadly Combo (POWER ends with an area attack for 40/50/60/70% damage), and Reload is replaced by Focus, which gives the human-form shotgun piercing shots at 350/437/525/612 damage and makes the wolf-form gust leave a tornado for 70/87/105/122 damage per second. Devourer becomes a repeatable quest that adds +0.4/0.5/0.6/0.7 damage per POWER kill in Wolf form.
Passtech's reason: Scarlet "had multiple effects in Talents that cleared or reduced cooldowns," and those overlap with Magical Objects that do the same thing. Distant Explosion bombs now pop on ground contact and no longer stun Scarlet, Evisceration bleed per combo point doubles to 16/20/24/28%, and Hunter's Souvenir lets you fire Shotgun ultimate charges back to back. One restriction to note: she can no longer shapeshift while a Master Nightmare is stunned.
Pied Piper: rats are allowed to die again
Stimulant Vibes used to stop Rats from dying inside the SPECIAL zone. Now they can die, with a 50/63/75/88% chance to respawn. Passtech's note: "By design, Rats are meant to die." That lets death effects like Explosive Rats proc, and Rat King now adds 100% damage to explosive Rats when it dies. Sound Barrier and Explosive Blast get small buffs.
Beowulf: SPECIAL builds get Maelstrom
Secondary Tremor is gone, replaced by Maelstrom: SPECIAL's final hit gains +24/30/36/42% damage per enemy already hit, up to +120/150/180/210%. Shield Charge and Sudden Growth get big damage bumps, and Battle Cry now gives nearby heroes Move Speed instead of removing the POWER cooldown.
Snow Queen: the SPECIAL build is finally real
Passtech admits SPECIAL builds for Snow Queen "have always been considered to be too weak." Ice Shards goes from 65 to 80 base damage, Ice Beam from 160% to 180/225/270/315%, Ice Spray to 32/40/48/56%, and Ice Cores now spawns two cores per enemy hit by POWER. Frost Queen trades its extra slow for 5 damage per second on CHILLED enemies. The cost: Ice Skating's minimum DEFENSE cooldown rises from 2 to 5 seconds.
Aladdin, Melusine and Geppetto
Aladdin swaps Cyclonic Appearance for Jinn Charge (DASH after POWER sends the Jinn through enemies for 25/31/37/43) and Dancing Blades for Spectral Blades (recall SPECIAL blades early for up to 44/55/66/77 area damage). Blades can be recalled sooner by default. Melusine doubles Shimmering Scales armor gain to +8/12/16/20 per second and swims faster. Geppetto's Master Puppet gets more Max Health and damage, Unstable Core arms in 3 seconds instead of 5, and Mecha Puppet drops to 180 HP but now explodes on death through Unstable Core.
Sun Wukong and Carmilla
Sun Wukong is the main nerf target. Thirst for Immortality now needs EPIC or better Magical Objects instead of RARE, because "it became easier to collect 7 rare+ Magical Objects very quickly" and the VITALITY reward snowballed. Focused Strikes drops from +12/16/20/24% to 8/10/12/14%. On the plus side, Way of Awakening needs 7 DEFENSE actions instead of 8 and Stick Twirl no longer breaks the attack combo.
Carmilla gets a new take on Seductive Provocation: a DASH with no direction seduces up to 4 non-boss enemies in front of her, applying WEAKENED and VULNERABLE for 6/7/9/10 seconds, now with Stun and Stagger, and the Dash is not consumed. Life Tap costs less health and gives more BLOOD with a longer 10 second cooldown, and it now triggers every TRAIT Talent. Bat Master damage is halved to +20/25/30/35% to keep it a utility pick.
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo gets broad buffs to underused Talents: Love Thread damage up, Black Roses cooldown cut from 75 to 60 seconds, Secret Weapon up to 4 blocks, and Panache tokens now give +20% ATTACK damage each. Ice Rose comes down slightly.
Juliet is the clearest nerf. Passtech calls her "clearly (and will probably still be!) the most successful character." Base HP drops from 100 to 90, Volcanic Shots now costs 3 AMMO per use instead of 1, and Lucky Shot POWER chance drops to 4/5/6/7%. Guns & Roses and Wedding Gift get small buffs to push AMMO management builds.
Melodies, activities and the map
The Godmother Melody now shows up in every Chapter instead of only Avalon. Morgan's Quests in Avalon are color coded, with King Arthur (Dullahan) behind a blue door and Mordred behind a purple door. Sinbad's opening lines for the Roc fight are shorter, because in Passtech's words "he was babbling a lot." Stingy Jack gets a bit tougher.
Custom lobbies and co-op quality of life
For co-op players, Custom Lobbies may be the best part of the free update. Matchmaking now has a slider for 2, 3 or 4 players, and you only match with people who picked the same setting. If you prefer duo runs, you no longer need to back out of four-stack lobbies.
The rest of the multiplayer list:
- An option to show teammates' pings.
- A reworked HUD around heroes so your own character stands out from teammates.
- The Host is shown on the Results Screen.
- INTANGIBLE and BLOCKING status now displays above the hero.
- The Quick Guide now explains the Hourglass of Dreams and Overtime.
Known issues at launch
Passtech listed five known issues on day one. If something feels broken, check here before filing a bug:
- Xbox: Romeo & Juliet and Merlin have locked Talents because of an Xbox backend error with their DLCs. A fix is waiting on Microsoft's clearance and is expected "in the coming days."
- Kick timer is temporarily disabled because it could break lobbies.
- Scarlet's Signature and Hidden Outfits cannot be unlocked right now.
- Kuma can vanish if you use a Raven feather and then Kintarō's first Ultimate, Giant Carp Supplex. Teleporting or using SPECIAL brings him back.
- Kintarō's TRAIT interrupts the ATTACK and breaks the combo.
Should you buy Kintarō?
At $7.99 the decision is mostly about playstyle. The free update is the bigger change to the game as a whole, so you lose nothing by waiting on the hero.
- Buy now if you liked the Pied Piper's right-stick control or want a hero that plays differently from the rest of the roster. Two bodies, one health bar and a remount-to-heal loop is a new skill test in Ravenswatch.
- Wait if you mostly play on Xbox with Romeo, Juliet or Merlin, since their Talent lock is a known issue right now, or if you want Passtech to fix the TRAIT combo break first.
- Skip for now if you only play solo and dislike managing pets. Kuma's damage feeds into your health, so a careless bear is a fast way to lose a run.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the Ravenswatch Kintarō DLC release?
Monday, October 12, 2026. SteamDB logged the update at 08:09 UTC, which is 3:09 AM CT. Passtech says the DLC and free update are live on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.
How much does Kintarō cost in Ravenswatch?
Passtech lists the Hero DLC at $7.99, €7.99 or £6.49, and the Steam store showed $7.99 on launch day. The Talent reworks, custom lobbies and fixes are free for all owners.
Will the Ravenswatch 1.6 update delete my progress?
No. Passtech says your overall progress is not affected. Any run in progress is discarded because of the major content changes, so finish or abandon your current run before updating if you can.
How do you control Kuma in Ravenswatch?
In Dismounted Stance, Kuma attacks nearby enemies on his own, and you can steer him with the right stick on a controller, or point with the mouse and press A on keyboard and mouse.
How does Internal Damage work for Kintarō?
Kintarō and Kuma share one health bar. When Kuma is hit, that damage transfers to Kintarō as Internal Damage, which you recover gradually by climbing back onto Kuma, according to the Steam store page.
How many Talents and outfits does Kintarō have?
He has 26 unlockable Talents and 2 Ultimates. He also has 4 unlockable outfits (Explorer, Signature, Master and Hidden) plus 3 premium outfits (Raven, Nightmare and Royal Counselor).
Was Juliet nerfed in Ravenswatch 1.6?
Yes. Her base HP drops from 100 to 90, Volcanic Shots now uses 3 AMMO instead of 1, and Lucky Shot's POWER trigger chance falls from 6/8/10/12% to 4/5/6/7%. Passtech said she was the most successful character.
What are custom lobbies in Ravenswatch?
A matchmaking slider lets you choose 2, 3 or 4 players. You only match with players who chose the same setting, so duo and trio runs are easier to find.
Why are Romeo, Juliet and Merlin Talents locked on Xbox?
Passtech says an error in Xbox's backend is blocking proper connections to those DLCs. A fix is expected in the coming days once Microsoft clears the patch.
Why did Kuma disappear during my run?
It is a known issue. Using a Raven feather and then Kintarō's first Ultimate, Giant Carp Supplex, can make Kuma vanish. Teleporting or using the SPECIAL ability makes him reappear.
