New beta speculation

[Kacpert25]

Now that we've finally released the skill trees, I'd like to talk about what we can expect in the next update.

So Klei wrote that there will be 2 more updates of From Beyond Arc. In the last update there will definitely be the once mentioned rift bosses, but what could be in the penultimate update?
Well, considering that if it weren't for the extension of the beta, the next update would probably be in March.
And who was added in March in the last two years?

Spoiler

Werepig

In March 2023, Nightmare Werepig was added, which belongs to the shadow side.

In March 2024, Scrappy Werepig was added, which uses Wagstaff's items.

There was the shadow side, there was the Wagstaff side, so now there's only the lunar side left, which means there will be Lunar Werepig.

So now that I've outlined what might be in the next beta, I'd like to give some ideas on how a Lunar Werepig could look and work.

Lunar Werepig would be a boss that could only start spawning after activating Lunar Rift, and thus have planar armor and damage.
Before the rift was activated, the spawns of the other two versions would have worked the same as they do now. I.e. after beating Nightmare Werepig, Scrappy Werepig would respawn after 10 days, and after beating Scrappy, Nightmare would also respawn after 10 days.
Whereas when Lunar Werepig is available, the respawn of the other versions will be as follows: Nightmare => Scrappy => Lunar => Nightmare.
Of course, so that you don't have to wait 30 days to beat Werepig, the respawn time of all versions would be reduced again. From 10 days to 6/7 days.

Lunar Werepig as he would be a post rift boss, would be trapped by brightshade roots this time.
When he is freed, he will tear out the roots that bind him, and these will become his armor and weapon.
The roots as weapons will be used as whips wrapped around the Lunar Werepig's wrists.
Then with the whips, Lunar Werepig will also have long-range attacks.
Perhaps he would then have the ability to deal damage after someone hits him since he would be wrapped in brightshade vines, which also have that ability.

Lunar Werepig - Concept Art:

Spoiler

The fight could involve chopping down roots with a pick/axe or shadow maul, temporarily rendering the Lunar Werepig weaponless.

I don't know if it's possible from a game code perspective, but it would be interesting if Lunar Werepig had some planar attacks and some normal attacks. Root attacks would deal planar damage, while fist attacks would deal normal damage.

So, that's all I wanted to say, thank you for reading this post.

[shaurun]

I hope the updates will cover some lore, not just extra NW boss.

[BalkanCockroach]

Wagstaff is the lunar side... 

[Kacpert25]

6 minutes ago, BalkanCockroach said:

Wagstaff is the lunar side... 

Yes, but not quite. He steals some resources from it side and gives access to it, but also has his own separate side.

[Mike23Ua]

The lunar variant is scrappy Werepig, and besides…. The next update was said to be in freaking September, I’m going to find other games to play while I wait for something new to do in DST, because sorry but no… Wendy, Walter and Wortox skill trees won’t keep me entertained till September.

Ive been enjoying Wizardry Variants Daphne, I may try to see if I can’t find more games like that or something.

[Kacpert25]

1 minute ago, Mike23Ua said:

The lunar variant is scrappy Werepig, and besides…. The next update was said to be in freaking September, I’m going to find other games to play while I wait for something new to do in DST, because sorry but no… Wendy, Walter and Wortox skill trees won’t keep me entertained till September.

Ive been enjoying Wizardry Variants Daphne, I may try to see if I can’t find more games like that or something.

No, it's not. Scrappy Werepig is not lunar aligned. Besides, they wrote that the arc will end in September, not that the next update will be this month.

[BalkanCockroach]

Charlie: Shadow

Wagstaff: Lunar

Should they make a Charlie Werepig too?

[aidankocherhans]

24 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

The lunar variant is scrappy Werepig, and besides…. The next update was said to be in freaking September, I’m going to find other games to play while I wait for something new to do in DST, because sorry but no… Wendy, Walter and Wortox skill trees won’t keep me entertained till September.

Ive been enjoying Wizardry Variants Daphne, I may try to see if I can’t find more games like that or something.

That's when the current story arc ends, not when the next update is. There will be 2 more major updates in this arc

[Wormboi]

In the last october they show some hits that we getting new wagstaff items.

 

[Anis5240]

I honestly don't ever expect klei to do the supposed 5 updates this year, especially with FB arc supposedly being done in September. Like, y'all really see this BS?

[lowercase skye]

Scrappy Werepig is a part of the junkyard which gets you the scrap and potatoes for crafting moonstorm equipment/the experiment that summons the Celestial Champion. Most other crafts with scrap also take an enlightened shard to power them. Skill Tree alignments are usually split up between Charlie rewarding the survivor with a shadow ability and Wagstaff awarding the survivor with a lunar ability. Also there's the whole thing of the Scrappy Werepig gaining the CC's laser attack once you defeat that boss. Even if he's not explicitly lunar-aligned, Scrappy Werepig is definitely supposed to be the equivalent of the Nightmare Werepig for the Lunar questline.

[_mylilsunshine_]

i'm gonna need more ways to beat up mr. dead beat krab and help ms. pearl and hang out with her

[chloraei]

I’m hoping the portal in the archives actually comes into play. Considering we need to go there to craft the three lunar boss items, I think it would be appropriate to add something new to the space to give us more reasons to return.

[DegenerateFurry]

33 minutes ago, chloraei said:

I’m hoping the portal in the archives actually comes into play. Considering we need to go there to craft the three lunar boss items, I think it would be appropriate to add something new to the space to give us more reasons to return.

Oh, we can only hope. That thing's been sitting there untouched for so long that I'd be surprised if Klei hasn't outright forgotten it exists. 

[Pcwer]

We really don't need a third Werepig, I'd prefer if we got either a different minor boss or a new biome/structure to explore.

 

10 hours ago, Anis5240 said:

I honestly don't ever expect klei to do the supposed 5 updates this year, especially with FB arc supposedly being done in September. Like, y'all really see this BS?

Why are you so negative all the time? Five really isn't that much, you've just been primed to think they will take long because of the ANOMALY that was this last skilltree update.

[WilsonHiggs]

8 minutes ago, Pcwer said:

We really don't need a third Werepig, I'd prefer if we got either a different minor boss or a new biome/structure to explore.

They want to make more fights to the point of players chosing in which forms we fight the boss

I think the concept is really cool and i hope they dont abandon it

15 hours ago, BalkanCockroach said:

Wagstaff is the lunar side... 

Yes but daywalker could have a fight in which he was lunar powers instead of using wagstaff junk

[Pcwer]

27 minutes ago, WilsonHiggs said:

They want to make more fights to the point of players chosing in which forms we fight the boss

I think the concept is really cool and i hope they dont abandon it

But so far the werepigs have been entirely linear. You need to kill Nightmare Werepig to fight Scrappy.

[WilsonHiggs]

2 minutes ago, Pcwer said:

But so far the werepigs have been entirely linear. You need to kill Nightmare Werepig to fight Scrappy.

Because there are 2 fights yet(?)

[Pcwer]

4 minutes ago, WilsonHiggs said:

Because there are 2 fights yet(?)

What makes you think that if they added a third we'd get a choice, and he wouldn't be locked behind scrappy werepig.

[WilsonHiggs]

9 minutes ago, Pcwer said:

What makes you think that if they added a third we'd get a choice, and he wouldn't be locked behind scrappy werepig.

Nothing because 3 are still few

What i said about the paths was something a developer said not something i brought out of my cute ass xD

[Valase]

maybe we will be able to finaly kill the Werepig, only to get a possessed version!

[Larael]

11 minutes ago, Valase said:

maybe we will be able to finaly kill the Werepig, only to get a possessed version!

That idea has been on my mind for a while. There are three bosses we can't kill (fuelweaver, crab king, and Werepig).

Is this for a greater purpose or maybe is enough killing (constant fauna) for now? 

[kehun]

21 minutes ago, Larael said:

That idea has been on my mind for a while. There are three bosses we can't kill (fuelweaver, crab king, and Werepig).

Frostjaw too

[Sunset_Liddel]

12 hours ago, chloraei said:

I’m hoping the portal in the archives actually comes into play. Considering we need to go there to craft the three lunar boss items, I think it would be appropriate to add something new to the space to give us more reasons to return.

i wonder if the portals could be used for a new forge/gorge like event? its been a while since the last one

[Biskit]

First, I want to clarify that the followings, don't necessarily contradict OP's ideas. They may work alongside a solution that addresses the concerns I'm about to raise.
Here's my concern:

On 3/8/2025 at 9:22 PM, Kacpert25 said:

Lunar Werepig would be a boss that could only start spawning after activating Lunar Rift

Unfortunately, the game is currently unbalanced and heavily biased towards early rewards for shadow side, with Nightmare Werepig dropping the Pure item of the shadow
side, "Pure Horror", as early as day 1, giving an early and significant advantage to the shadow side of multiple characters, giving easy and early access to their shadow powers, after only defeating 1 boss, without activating any rifts. As a result, their Lunar side is unfairly disadvantaged. Some Lunar skills even completely nullified in the early to mid-game. This incentivizes playstyles of choosing shadow side early-mid game and switching to the Lunar side later via the Celestial Portal.
Examples are:
- Wurt's Dreaded Mudslinger
- Wendy's new Cursed Vexation elixir
- Winona's Pure Horror Generators and Shadow Strike
- Shadow Plinth Kit, leading to: Walter's new Pure Horror Rounds
- Wigfrid's Dark Lament
- also worth mentioning Maxwell and Wanda greatly benefiting from Dreadstone Helm and Armor
- other potential character specialties with their upcoming skill trees

Yet, on the other hand, the Lunar side’s Pure item, "Pure Brilliance", requires a series of very lengthy steps: Pearl quests, Moonstone, Archives, Pearled Crab King, Moonstorms, defeating the final Lunar Boss, Celestial Champion, activating rifts, something irreversible and hardcore, and finally, only after a considerable amount of time Pure Brilliance can be obtained.
(obviously with the exception of Wilson's Lunar transmutation perk, which still requires everything up to Moonstorms, and likely Wickerbottom's End is Nigh. Locked behind 1 specific skill of a specific character, which already requires defeating Celestial Champion mind you!)

There is widespread agreement that there must be an early-mid game, pre-rift way to obtain Pure Brilliance, a Lunar alternative to Nightmare Werepig, which hopefully can be achieved after only one, yet challenging boss fight.
And a progression like this, even as a pre-rift Lunar Werepig, would mean 3 bosses, with shadow boss already being first:

On 3/8/2025 at 9:22 PM, Kacpert25 said:

Nightmare => Scrappy => Lunar

Which is absolutely not a solution, with Shadow side already being way ahead and early, and Lunar side requiring a very long time and effort.
I personally would also prefer not to make Scrappy Werepig or Crab King to be the solution to early access to Pure Brilliance. Still very unfair game, with shadow side being easily ahead. Frostjaw not that much, but it's still very painful to locate.

[As a side note to OP's idea, I would like to also mention, in regard of having a 3rd Werepig variant: it complicates the Werepig boss cycle, especially when playing with multiple people or in community servers. It's already quite hard to figure this out with 2 variants. For example 1 day after someone has defeated either Nightmare or Scrappy Werepig, there is no way to know which is next on the cycle without having intel. Adding a 3rd to this cycle would make this even way worse, complicated and very conflicting. Nightmare Werepig's spawn is already random and can have even quite a few different spawn locations.]

TL;DR: Pure Brilliance should be accessible pre-rift in the early to mid-game. My suggestion:
A new unique & challenging Lunar Boss (not Werepig-related, as explained) that spawns on Lunar Satellite islands, an underused location with barely any purpose. Which also encourages people even further to look for Lunar Island, which is not as hard and random as locating Frostjaw.
This Boss would be obviously Lunar-Aligned, drop few Pure Brilliance, and potentially:
- requires high lunacy requirement (similar to low sanity requirement of Nightmare Werepig)
- drops Blueprints for some new Lunar Aligned gear set, similar to Dreadstone set with planar defense: pre rift special armor with immunity to minor Gestalts that repairs by sacrificing blood slowly (As the Moon wants to possess the body), and repairs faster the more sane, with no repair if insane
- Rare Blueprints for things such as: random Wagstaff Gear, or new Moon Glass Walls, Pillars, Gear
- some special drops that will make it worth killing multiple times, maybe 1 Restrained Static (Which helps Wigfrid) or 1 Enlightened shard or another unique drop that can be used or replace something in the whole Celestial Champion quests
- this new boss can potentially be related to and do something with some unused/unfinished things in the Ancient Archives, such as Sealed Portal, after being defeated.