Gauntlets — Behind the Weapon That Turns Your Body Into an Instrument of War

Sword, bow, and staff dominated the field. Spear and magic orb arrived as the first new weapons after launch. Now it's the Gauntlets' turn — and the reason behind the choice says a lot about what the team wanted to deliver.

Where previous weapons used unique ranges or defended fixed positions, the Gauntlets propose something different: turning the character's own body into a weapon. The intent is to deliver the raw, intuitive sensation of direct impact — and to maximize it, the design bet on a completely new playstyle that rapidly penetrates the middle of the enemy formation and controls the flow of combat without hesitation, even at the cost of taking risks.

The core of the Gauntlets, in the team's own words, is the relentless sequential combat flow. The weapon peaks when skills flow naturally like water — and that is when it reveals its true value.

The biggest difference from all other weapons is Eclipse of Blood: activating it raises attack power and combat speed. The weapon's appearance changes into a form of fierce claws — and the combat experience changes with it. It is visually distinct, tactically distinct.

In basic mode, the Gauntlets perform the role of melee tank on the vanguard — confronting enemies directly, sustaining the front line. The moment Eclipse of Blood is activated, the aspect of the battle changes completely.

With enhanced mobility, the player rapidly penetrates the enemy's rear, disrupts the formation, and transforms into an offensive dealer who relentlessly pressures priority targets. The duality is real: the same weapon does both, and the choice belongs to the adventurer.

The team summarizes the core principle in one phrase: clear action contrast. For adventurers to intuitively feel two completely opposite pulls — both visually and systemically — the Gauntlets needed to be distinct in each mode.

In basic mode, the focus was on skill connection and the sensation of heavy impact: each attack has defined weight, the effect is clear. The player feels stability even amid the chaos of the front line. When entering Eclipse of Blood, the expression changes completely: maximized speed, lighter and sharper effects, continuous attacks concentrated in a short window. Two visual languages in a single weapon.

The team is straightforward about the learning curve: the Gauntlets are easy to start, but deep to master. Peak performance varies infinitely depending on skill level.

Basic mode was designed to offer efficiency above a certain threshold without special operational load — any adventurer can pick up the weapon and contribute. But in Eclipse of Blood, the demand rises: optimizing skill connection within a limited time requires instant judgment and focus.

The team does not expect this to be a barrier for the T&L community — and goes further: they expect players to be quickly drawn into the combo patterns, not intimidated by them.

The most valuable behind-the-scenes from the interview is the internal pivot anecdote. The Gauntlets were conceived from the start with two opposing combat styles — but the path to Eclipse of Blood was not straight.

In the early stages, the team examined an authentic boxing style. Tests showed a good sense of speed, but something was missing: the unique destructive aggression the Gauntlets needed to have wasn't there. The conclusion was that it fell short — and the style was discarded.

Then came the intense internal discussion: bold change of direction, complete redesign of planning, significant increase in rework. The entire team united around a single goal: never present anything less than their best to the players. From that was born the current Eclipse of Blood.

The biggest technical challenge of development was not the weapon itself — it was fitting it into T&L's unique dual-weapon system.

It wasn't enough to adjust the Gauntlets' performance in isolation: it was necessary to carefully calibrate the synergy and balance that occur when combined with each existing weapon. Beyond that, the weapon must harmonize organically with growth systems like skill specializations and weapon mastery.

The number of variables to calculate was considerable. The team describes the process as adding the Gauntlets' unique creative fun on top of a complex system — and that is the most intense challenge they faced.