#Proposal for the Development of the Leviathan Mode

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unborn jackal
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Dear team and community,

In just about a month, we’re expecting the launch of Leviathan — a long-awaited mode with huge potential. However, in recent weeks, growing uncertainty has surrounded its core mechanics and direction. I'd like to help clarify some points and share a few concrete suggestions. I hope the team can respond with more transparency and direction soon.

1️⃣ Experience should be exclusive to Leviathan
I suggest that Illuvials gain experience only through the Leviathan mode.
This would drive traffic directly into the mode, significantly boosting its activity and increasing the demand for powerful Illuvials.

2️⃣ Experience should come in the form of “books” or “tomes”
Instead of automatically applying experience, I propose that it be granted in the form of consumable items — books or tomes — that players can use on any Illuvial of their choosing.
This avoids common issues like “useless” Illuvials stuck at level 61+ and underleveled Tier 0s. It also gives players more agency and strategy in building their teams.

3️⃣ Stability is key for long-term investments
Many of us view Illuvium not just as a game, but as a platform for serious investment.
The official website clearly states:

  • Levels affect Illuvial power in Leviathan

  • The maximum bonus from leveling is +25% power

This must be treated as a fixed and unchangeable rule.
As someone who has invested time and money into leveling Illuvials, I expect that investment to be reliable and protected. Game design shouldn't be compromised just because some players weren’t willing to put in the effort — especially when we’ve had ample time to prepare.

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4️⃣ Respect players who pay with time or money
Leviathan should follow a simple rule: You either pay with your time, or with your money.

Currently, even if a player wants to invest heavily and buy the strongest Illuvials, they can’t just go to Illuvidex — they also need to find others to level them up. This creates friction: waiting, social interaction (not always desirable), risk of scams, and service underpricing.

Suggested Solution:
When the team has capacity, I recommend adding experience tomes as premium items in the Battle Pass.
It should be expensive — but fair. If someone wants to take an Illuvial from level 1 to 60 in a minute, let them — as long as they pay a premium for it.

This would also bring value back to the project through increased Battle Pass sales.

✅ Final Thoughts

Leviathan is a cornerstone mode that can become the driving force behind the entire game. But to achieve that, we need stability and clear, consistent rules — not constant changes based on short-term feedback or pressure from casual players.

Let’s build something we can all trust.
That’s how we retain active players, and that’s how we attract serious investors.

steep holly
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I agree with all the suggestions, thank you for the ideas. The contributions of players who dedicate a lot of time to the game should be recorded by the team, and I kindly request that the team address any doubts about Leviathan as soon as possible 🙏

south cosmos
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Hi

  1. How about XP from OW?

  2. I like the idea of XP items from gauntlet

  3. I agree that investors need certainty, but im not sure we should fix the size of bonus from stats.

  4. Yes, i agree on offering XP for sale

jolly fractal
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i totally agree, except for point3.
Stability is good, but i rather like to see it in the philosophy than in fixed numbers.
Stats/lvl-impact is one big lever the team has, to balance gameplay in a good state.

With philosophy i'm mostly talking about skill expression : p2w-power.
like what are we aiming for? Is it more about gaining some extra% with level and stats so there might be a small metashift compared to f2p mode?
Or are we heading towards the direction of whale spectacle, where a casual gamer with a whale collection will have the opportunity to flex his bag and obliterate a pro player playing with a casual collection.

The introduction numbers of 50% impact were clearly headed towards whale spectactle.
The nerf to 25% still let that door open i feel. (haven't really had the opportunity to test it tho, since everyone playing ranked.)
But if if it goes down to like 10%, the lvl/stat impact almost gets meaningless and is more fun to play arround for pro players.

jolly fractal
unborn jackal
unborn jackal
south cosmos
jolly fractal
south cosmos
unborn jackal
# jolly fractal 1. Would like to see that illuvials gain experience whenever they are used. I my...

Hidden downside:
Let’s imagine the situation of a seriously leveled-up player.

The main meta comp will be around level 60+.

That means they’ll keep getting almost useless XP for already maxed-out Illuvials.

But they won’t get any XP for something like Doka Earth stage 3, because they rarely play it.

XP books/tomes give the player a choice — to level up Titanor from 61 to 63, or level up Doka Earth from 58 to 60.

jolly fractal
# unborn jackal Hidden downside: Let’s imagine the situation of a seriously leveled-up player. ...

i totally get where you coming from.
min maxing exp and still be free in gameplay decisions.

I see it more in a general leviathan direction for the next decade, rather than just setting it up for gauntlet.
With the natural flow of your ranger/illuvials gaining experience when they do actions you let your Illuvials/ranger grow with play time.
In a short term, you might not see it as worthwhile to gain experience for level 60 illuvials, but looking at it at a pov of using that character over years... you certainly would love your lvl 130 Titanor.

And in the end, if you really wana level your doka, just buy those exp-consumables

jolly fractal
unborn jackal
regal ferry
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Thank you @unborn jackal. Healthy thoughts that i saw last time. Confirm but want to add thought about rewards for levi mode. 200 ilv is nothing for this mode, unfortunately.

unborn jackal
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@abstract rover Good day, my friend,

First of all, I want to thank you and the entire team for the incredible work you've done in developing the Gauntlet mode — transforming it from a simple autobattler into a truly engaging and challenging game.

The progress has been enormous, and we haven't even received the new weapon system and drone augmentations yet. I’m sure things will only get better.

However, I would like to draw your attention to the Leviathan mode. Time is flying, and the competitions for this mode are approaching quickly. Yet, there are still debates about Illuvial levels in this mode.

Previously, the team’s stance was absolutely clear to me. As mentioned earlier, it was a "whale arena." Now, it seems like they are trying to turn it into a poor imitation of Gauntlet Ranked.

Step by step, the line is being blurred. Honestly, in my opinion, this mode has already been partially ruined by the weakening of Illuvial stats. Now, they are trying to erase the line entirely by questioning the impact of Illuvial levels.

My friend, I know how effectively and thoroughly you can communicate with the community, and I truly appreciate that. I kindly ask you to provide clarity on this matter. The more information we receive, the better it will be for everyone.

What will happen to Illuvial experience? What about levels? How will they impact the game? Will levels affect Illuvial power from day one? Is there a chance to stop the degradation (casualization) of Leviathan, or will it continue to turn into a copy of Ranked?

We would love to see Leviathan as it was originally presented to us — a whale arena. Max levels. Max stats. Highest skill. Big rewards.

The F2P mode, where no one is bullied, already exists. In that mode, only skill matters. Could we stop weakening the P2W mode, as it has always been?

past kindle
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Careful with 2) and 1), one could spin up tons of bots and make XP very obsolete very quickly, I'd rather give the minting of those "tomes" to IZ

Yes it's gated by ownership, but XP flipping would be made valueless through botting which makes XP valueless

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I'd also like to park an idea here which I made in another thread: giving value to pure ownership on top of current value to traits and XP

E.g. currently:

  • 25% power potential from traits
  • 25% power potential from XP

turns to

  • 25% power potential from traits -> Health, Attack Damage, OP, Attack Speed, Resistances, Movement Speed
  • 25% power potential from XP -> Health, Attack Damage, OP only
  • 10% power boost from owning vs not owning (value up for discussion, can be 5% up to 25%) -> target vars up for discussion

Both linear

This makes it much easier for players to dip their toes into Leviathan but won't let them outperform the hard work the Leviathan playerbase has put in, increasing overall playerbase and gives value to low-trait "garbage", I hate ownership being called garbage because they are marginally better than "free" illuvials

abstract rover
unborn jackal
# past kindle I'd also like to park an idea here which I made in another thread: giving value ...

Hi, thank you for your opinion.

Don't you think that introducing the 10% for "ownership" will further blur the line between Leviathan and Ranked? Doesn't this seem like another step toward casualization?

Let’s compare using an example.

Player X is a whale. They’ve spent around $20,000 on their deck. They have a perfectly maxed-out Illuvial.

The power of their Illuvial is: 1 (default) + 0.25 for level + 0.25 for traits = 1.5.

Player Y bought a terrible deck for $200. Let’s assume they have half the traits and half the levels.

The power of their Illuvial is: 1 (default) + 0.125 for level + 0.125 for traits = 1.25.

Current situation: The difference between the whale who spent $20,000 and the player who spent a small amount is: 1.5 : 1.25 = 1.2.

So, the difference is 20%. Clearly, this is a small advantage given the investment, but that’s not the point. This aspect of the game is already flawed.

Let’s now look at what you propose.

We add the 10% ownership variable to both players.

Here’s what we get:

Whale X has 1.5 (as explained above) + 0.1 for ownership = 1.6.
Player Y with the cheap deck has 1.25 + 0.1 for ownership = 1.35.

So the difference between them now is: 1.6 : 1.35 = 1.1851...

To summarize: Your idea of giving value to "garbage" Illuvials casualizes Leviathan by about 1.49%.

Meaning: if the advantage between someone who has spent tens of thousands of dollars and a newcomer was about 20%, with your change, the advantage would be 18.51%.

Of course, these calculations are approximate.

jolly fractal
past kindle
past kindle
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Furthermore it's a function of how it looks for a new leviathan player, owning something bad barely being better than not owning, why would you make the step to own?

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But most seem very adamant on keeping the status quo in the context of Leviathan, let's just test the pre-season and see what happens

jolly fractal
jolly fractal
unborn jackal
# past kindle your math is correct, doesnt take into account the myriad of layers of exponenti...

Great that you value the interests of new players — it’s truly an important aspect.
It’s just unfortunate that this is being done at the cost of disappointing those who have already invested in their decks.

This isn’t whining — it’s simply stating the facts.

1️⃣ We spent significant amounts of money and countless hours building our decks.
Some might say, “Well, that was your choice.”
But that’s not entirely how it works.
We were shown a product — and we paid for that product.
I tested my Illuvials many times in Leviathan Ascendant against another player’s deck.
I was amazed by how powerful they were. That’s why I spent that money and months of effort.

2️⃣ Then we were hit with a sudden change: all of that advantage would be significantly nerfed.
The outrage was immense. People tried to defend their Illuvials, but it was pointless.
Fact is — we paid for a Ferrari, and received a Mercedes.

3️⃣ Now we’re seeing talks in chat that “maybe the advantage will drop further from 25% to 20%.”
That’s another harmful blow.

4️⃣ And now there’s talk of sacrificing another 1.5% advantage.
Yet another blow.

Perry, I just want to be honest with you.

We are the cash cows. Once we built our decks, we became expendable.
Now it’s time to milk the newcomers — by creating more favorable conditions for them.

Leviathan wasn’t a dead mode, like the haters claimed.
It’s being made dead — right before our eyes.
And that’s truly a shame.

past kindle
steep holly
# past kindle Furthermore it's a function of how it looks for a new leviathan player, owning s...

The Leviathan mode seems more like a place where experienced players (and also investors) showcase their strengths, doesn’t it?

That’s why the term “new” player feels a bit odd to me in this context… A new player would want to experience the game first, get familiar with it through the free to play aspects, and only after deciding to invest and aim for bigger goals, they would no longer be considered “new.”

So using the label “new” player in the context of Leviathan doesn’t really feel realistic to me.

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A new player from the outside wouldn’t come to Leviathan to compete against players who have been building their setups for months that wouldn’t be very smart.

I think this is where you have a big role to play in terms of marketing strategy.

If we want to make Leviathan more appealing and attract more people into the pool, creating a short cinematic-style video that shows how players will be facing off against setups filled with unique and top-level Illuvials could be a good idea.