Highguard gets new Warden, ranked mode, map, mount, and more in Episode 2 update

Highguard's first big bit of content is here. Wildlight Entertainment wasted no time in bringing us Episode 2 of the game's first season, dropping a new map, Warden, mode, mount, and more for us to explore when it launches later today.

The new Warden is the headliner, as Ekon seeks to change the game's meta in a big way. His passive allows him to see wounded enemies highlighted when travelling around, keeping them in his sights until they're dead or their health comes back. He also can unleash a wolf spirit to hunt down an enemy, applying his Dread passive which allows him to track them. His ultimate does the same thing but to every enemy across the map, increasing your movement speed. Oh, also, Ekon doesn't need a mount when he rides into battle, as he becomes one via his Wolf Form, which he can cast his abilities in as well.

It shouldn't surprise anyone, then, that the new mount for Highguard is a massive wolf. Elsewhere, the new map sees us ditch the ground for the skies, as we explore Skydrift. With large chains connecting islands in the sky, this precarious map should offer a lot of diversity to the locations we already have.

Ranked is coming in Episode 2 as well, but only for the game's 3v3 mode. As this was the intended game mode to start with, this shouldn't surprise anyone, but with the popularity of 5v5 you'd hope that mode would get its own ranked offerings soon.

Coinciding with the update announcement, we also got a new story cinematic, which you can check out below: