Infinity Kingdom Patch 2.8.5: Ares Joins, Still No Castle 60..

In this article, we cover all changes from Patch 2.8.5, including the arrival of Ares, new crafting features, minor system tweaks, and the latest skill adjustment.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• New Features
• Optimizations
• Balance Adjustments
• Maël’s Perspective
• Conclusion

Introduction

Patch 2.8.5 is here on July 10—and let’s be honest, many players were hoping for something bigger.

The long-awaited Castle Level 60 update is still missing in action.

So what do we get instead?

A new Chaos Immortal, some event and interface tweaks, and small balance adjustments.

Not bad but definitely a light patch, possibly a warm-up before the real update we’re all waiting for.

Let’s go over what’s new, what’s useful, and what’s… still missing.

New Features

1/ Ares, the God of Disorder

A new Chaos Immortal has arrived—Ares, a cavalry Immortal built for physical offense and disruption.

Skill: War Trample

Passive Effect : Increases Normal Attack Speed by 50%

Active Effect : Deals physical damage to all enemies, with a chance to apply Frighten, which:

• Prevents the target from gaining Control Immunity
• Reduces the effectiveness of Barriers by 30% for 6 seconds

Skill Scaling

Damage Rate: 150% → 500% (level 1 to 8)

Frighten Chance: 15% → 50% (level 1 to 8)

How to Obtain: Festival Events only. Just like Apollo and any other chaos Immortal, he will arrive in the Chaos Roulette in a couple of weeks.

Maël’s Opinion: Ares is built for aggression. The Attack Speed buff adds pressure over time, and his AoE Frighten effect could be key in countering tanky setups or disrupting Chaos mirror matches. But as with most Chaos Immortals, his value depends on synergy—and that Normal Attack Speed stat isn’t often central in Chaos builds. Still, he brings interesting tools to explore.

2/ Dragon Chest Key Crafting: A Small Change with Big Impact

A long-awaited quality-of-life update is here: you will now be able to combine lower-tier Dragon Chest Keys into higher-quality ones.

How It Works in Game:

Players defeat Gnome Bosses to earn Dragon Chests of various rarities:

Gray, Green, Blue, Purple, and Gold

These chests contain Dragon Crystals, used to upgrade your Dragon Portraits and Dragon Talents

Your Trove can store up to 3 Dragon Chests, which you must purify over time or open instantly using Dragon Chest Keys

What Changed?

Previously, players had to wait for specific key drops to match their chests

Now, you can craft higher-rarity keys by combining lower-rarity ones

(The exact crafting ratio hasn’t been officially shared yet)

Maël’s Opinion: This is one of those updates that doesn’t look flashy—but it changes everything. You no longer need to hoard low-tier keys with no clear use. I suspect the conversion rate will be high—possibly 10 to 1—but even then, it’s a great move for inventory efficiency and long-term progression. Best News of the Update in my opinion.

Optimizations

1/ Legion of Frostborne Entry Level Adjustments

• Season 1: Lv. 20+
• Season 2: Lv. 25+
• Conquest: Lv. 30+

Only applies to new war periods.

Maël’s Opinion: No particular comment at this stage. It might help gatekeep progression without punishing active lower-level players mid-season.

2/ Equipment Name Changes

• Epic (S2) → now Epic (S1)
• Epic+ (S2) → now Epic+ (S1)

Maël’s Opinion: This change should reduce confusion around crafting tiers—especially for new players and guides.

3/ Event Tweaks

• Treasure Hunter: Top daily hunter now highlighted. This change simply adds visual emphasis to the top player on the daily leaderboard.

Maël’s Opinion: It’s unclear how different this is from the existing daily and overall rankings, so the impact may be minimal. As for the new “top hunter” highlight… we’ll see. Right now, it just feels like an ego badge for whales. Not much to analyze until we see if it adds rewards or changes behavior.

• Golden Path: Immortal fragments now capped to five purchases per round. New exclusive artifact schematics will be added.

Maël’s Opinion: The Golden Path change feels more restrictive. The fragment cap could slow progress, especially for low spenders. On the flip side, the exclusive artifact schematics are a real draw—especially if they rotate between rare Immortals. That's a great addition. However, there's no precision which exclusive artifacts will be added. What would be the ones you'd like to see in the next Golden Path Shop? I think it will be Exclusive Artfact Selection chest for each element, except Holy, Shadow and Chaos obviously.

Balance Adjustments

1/ [Drastic Action] Skill Update

Triggers every 6s after battle starts with a 60% chance to:

• Reduce ALL enemies healing by 70%
• Deal physical damage 600% to the enemy with the highest HP lost.
• If target HP <70%, repeat the damage

Maël’s Opinion: Still solid. The HP check clause adds extra pressure on weakened enemies.

Maël’s Perspective

This patch doesn’t change the meta much.

It’s about:

• Introducing Ares (whose place in the Chaos lineup remains to be seen)
• Minor improvements to events and systems
• Some cleanup work for future seasons

What stands out is how Chaos keeps expanding, while other elements—especially free to play—feel left out in terms of new content or reworks.

Also, many players (myself included) have been eagerly watching for Castle Level 60. This patch doesn’t bring it. But maybe it’s the calm before the big one? It might and Dragon Keys crafting might just be a hint that C60 is coming alongside an increased volume of Dragon Crystals to upgrade to talents 9 and 10.

Conclusion

Patch 2.8.5 keeps things moving, but doesn’t shake the table. The player base has been vocal about waiting for a Castle 60 update, and while this patch doesn’t deliver it, it might just be a quiet step before a major leap.

Let’s hear your thoughts:

• Will you be investing in Ares or skipping this Festival?
• Do you think Drastic Action is still worth a slot in PvP?
• Are smaller patches like this helpful or just filler?
• How would you prepare for Castle 60… if it finally arrives? There's a guide here.

Drop your comments below and let’s keep the conversation going.

For more insights, check out my previous articles here or discover exciting content on my newly created YouTube Channel.

- download Infinity Kingdom now and script your legend.

Until next time — Maël, Press Officer | Server 243

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