Patch 2.9.6 is not just a small event update.

Yes, we are getting new event content, an additional daily task, Survival Guide updates, and some rule adjustments. But for battle setups, the most interesting part is clearly the new Legendary skill Thorn Armor and the rework to Great Tengu.

At first glance, Thorn Armor looks like a simple defensive skill.

But once you read the full description and then look at Great Tengu’s updated skill, it starts to look like the game is pushing a new Counterattack frontline setup.

And honestly, this could become very annoying to fight against.

But that is not the only interesting part of Patch 2.9.6.

Deepsea Venture also looks a lot more interesting than it first seemed, especially after we got more in-game information after the server maintenance. At first, we did not really know what kind of event it would be. But after seeing the event preview and the Mermaid Shop, it started to feel very familiar.

Almost like the old Sparks of Galaxy feeling is coming back.

⚜️Quick Patch Overview

Patch 2.9.6 brings several changes and additions:

🔹 New Deepsea Venture event

🔹 New daily mission type: Affinity Gifting

🔹 New Survival Guide chapters

🔹 Squad Survival Tournament for Season 1 and Season 2

🔹 New Legendary Skill: Thorn Armor

🔹 Immortal info interface optimization

🔹 Alliance Championship result viewing optimization

🔹 Battle of Asteria rule optimization

🔹 Great Tengu skill adjustment

The biggest parts for me are:

Thorn Armor + Great Tengu for battle setups.

And Deepsea Venture for event rewards, especially Holy and Shadow progression.

So let’s start with the battle side first.

⚜️New Legendary Skill: Thorn Armor

The new Legendary skill is called Thorn Armor.

According to the patch note, after entering battle, all allied units gain Thorn Protection.

This reduces Physical Damage received by:

6% + 2% per level

Since Legendary skills go up to level 8, that should mean:

🔹 Level 1: 6%

🔹 Level 2: 8%

🔹 Level 3: 10%

🔹 Level 4: 12%

🔹 Level 5: 14%

🔹 Level 6: 16%

🔹 Level 7: 18%

🔹 Level 8: 20%

So at max level, Thorn Armor should reduce Physical Damage received by 20%.

That already makes it useful against physical damage teams.

But the second part is where the skill becomes more interesting.

When a target gains Counterattack, it also gains Reflective Thorn Armor.

This reflects damage back to the attacker by:

6% + 2% per level

So at level 8, that should also be 20% reflected damage.

The patch note also mentions that this reflected damage happens before damage calculation/reduction, which could be important. But we still need real in-game testing before saying exactly how strong this becomes in battle.

⚜️Thorns Armor Explained

Thorn Armor has two layers.

The first layer is simple:

1️⃣ Your whole team takes less Physical Damage.

2️⃣ The second layer only works when a unit has Counterattack.

So:

🔹 No Counterattack = only Physical Damage reduction

🔹 With Counterattack = Physical Damage reduction + reflected damage

That means Thorn Armor is not just a normal defensive skill.

It becomes much better when your setup can give Counterattack.

And that brings us directly to Great Tengu.

⚜️Great Tengu: Unbreakable Pact

Great Tengu’s skill, Unbreakable Pact, now has a much clearer identity.

The skill has both a passive and active part.

The passive effect activates when Great Tengu is hit by normal attacks. Every time this happens, he increases his own Physical Damage.

At max level, this Physical Damage increase reaches:

🔹 8% Physical Damage increase

🔹 Stacks up to 20 times

That means Great Tengu can become stronger the more he gets hit.

The active effect removes all debuffs from allied units.

If the targets have no debuffs, it also restores HP once.

At max level, the Recovery Rate reaches:

🔹 500% Recovery Rate

But the most important part is the new Counterattack effect.

After casting Unbreakable Pact, Great Tengu grants Counterattack to front-row Immortals for 6 seconds, 9 seconds if you equip his Exclusive Artifact.

When those front-row Immortals receive normal attacks, they deal Physical Damage back to the attacker.

At max level, this Counterattack damage reaches:

🔹 150% Counter Damage Rate

⚜️Thorn Armor + Great Tengu

This is where the synergy starts.

Thorn Armor needs Counterattack to activate its reflection effect.

Great Tengu gives Counterattack to the front row.

So when you use both together, the setup can work like this:

🔹 Thorn Armor gives all allies Physical Damage reduction

🔹 Great Tengu casts Unbreakable Pact

🔹 Great Tengu gives Counterattack to the front row

🔹 Thorn Armor then gives those Counterattack units Reflective Thorn Armor

🔹 Enemies hit your front row with normal attacks

🔹 Your front row counterattacks

🔹 Your front row also reflects part of the damage back

So enemies are basically getting punished for doing what they normally want to do: attack your frontline.

That is why this combo feels intentional. Great Tengu turns the frontline into a Counterattack wall, and Thorn Armor adds another layer of punishment on top of it.

⚜️Do You Need Great Tengu?

Not exactly.

You do not need Great Tengu for the first part of Thorn Armor.

The Physical Damage reduction works after entering battle.

But if you want the reflection part, then you need a source of Counterattack.

Right now, Great Tengu is the clearest partner because his skill gives Counterattack to the front row.

So the simple answer is:

🔹 Thorn Armor works without Great Tengu

🔹 But Thorn Armor becomes much better with Great Tengu

🔹 If Great Tengu is your only Counterattack source, then yes, you need him to activate the reflect part

Without Counterattack, Thorn Armor is still useful.

But with Counterattack, it becomes much more interesting.

⚜️Counterattack Is Not The Same As Reflect Damage

One thing I want to be careful with here is the difference between Counterattack and reflect damage. They sound similar, but in IK they are not always the same thing.

Some Immortals already have reflection-style effects. For example, King Arthur and El Cid can reflect damage in different ways.

But that does not mean they automatically trigger Thorn Armor’s second effect.

Thorn Armor does NOT say:

“When a unit reflects damage…”

It says the target must gain Counterattack.

That means Arthur and El Cid should not trigger Thorn Armor’s second effect by themselves. Their reflect effects are separate mechanics.

Great Tengu is different because his skill directly gives Counterattack to allied front-row Immortals for 6 seconds.

So for now, Great Tengu is the most obvious partner for Thorn Armor.

⚜️What About King Arthur and El Cid?

King Arthur is still interesting, but he works differently.

Arthur’s reflection comes from his own ultimate skill.

He does not need Counterattack to reflect damage.

Thorn Armor’s reflection needs Counterattack.

So the difference is:

🔹 Arthur = reflect comes from his own skill

🔹 Thorn Armor = reflect needs Counterattack

🔹 Great Tengu = gives Counterattack to front row

If Arthur also gains Counterattack from Great Tengu, then things could become interesting.

In theory, Arthur could have his own reflect effect and also trigger Thorn Armor’s reflect effect.

But we need testing before saying that both effects stack perfectly.

El Cid is similar. His skill can deal damage back when the front row is targeted by normal attacks, and his artifact can make that effect stronger. But unless the game actually treats that as the Counterattack status, it should not activate Thorn Armor’s second effect by itself.

IK has many skill interactions that depend on exact wording, so this is something players should test once Thorn Armor is available in-game.

⚜️Old Thorn Armor Concept vs New Version

Some players may remember an older Thorn Armor concept image that was shared before.

That older version looked different.

The old concept seemed to focus more directly on the front row. It had Physical Damage reduction, damage reflection, and even an extra Attack Speed reduction effect.

The new official patch note version is different.

Now Thorn Armor gives Physical Damage reduction to all allied units, but the reflection effect only activates when the target gains Counterattack.

So this is not exactly the same skill anymore.

The whole mechanism changed.

The new version is more clearly connected to Counterattack setups, especially with Great Tengu’s adjustment.

⚜️Is Thorn Armor Worth It?

My early opinion:

If you already use Great Tengu or plan to build around him, Thorn Armor looks very interesting.

The skill gives team-wide Physical Damage reduction and adds extra punishment when Counterattack is active.

That means it can help your frontline survive longer and make enemies pay for hitting them.

But if your setup has no Counterattack source, then you are only using half of the skill.

In that case, Thorn Armor may still be useful as Physical Damage reduction, but you are not getting the full value out of it.

So for now:

🔹 Great for Counterattack setups

🔹 Strong synergy with Great Tengu

🔹 Good against Physical Damage teams

🔹 Needs testing for reflect stacking

🔹 Needs testing with Arthur and El Cid

🔹 Less valuable if you cannot activate Counterattack

🔹 Probably not worth against strong magic teams

The skill looks good, but the real value depends on team formation.

⚜️Deepsea Venture: Is Sparks of Galaxy Coming Back?

Now let’s talk about the other big part of Patch 2.9.6.

At first, we did not really have much to go on with Deepsea Venture.

The patch notes only showed that a new event was coming, but we did not really know what kind of event it would be or what rewards we could expect.

But after the server maintenance, we finally got a little more in-game information about what Deepsea Venture has in store for us.

And after looking at the event preview and the Mermaid Shop, I have to say this event looks a lot more interesting than I first thought.

At first, I thought Deepsea Venture could maybe be some kind of exploration event. Maybe something more interactive, maybe even something like an infinite wave mode where players test how far they can go.

But looking at the current information, I think I was wrong.

Deepsea Venture looks much closer to a reward-launching event.

And honestly, it reminds me a lot of Sparks of Galaxy.

⚜️How Deepsea Venture Seems To Work

Deepsea Venture uses Lustrous Pearls.

During the event, players launch Pearls and receive the reward from the slot where the Pearl lands.

The event also says that players can adjust the number of Pearls launched at once.

That sounds very familiar.

The event loop seems to be something like this:

Use Lustrous Pearls → land on rewards → collect Colorful Scales → spend Colorful Scales in the Mermaid Shop.

This is exactly why it feels similar to Sparks of Galaxy.

It does not look like a battle mode.

It looks like a reward event where the real value depends on how many Pearls and Colorful Scales players can get.

⚜️Why This Feels Like Sparks of Galaxy

A while ago, I wrote about Rune Factory and how it replaced Sparks of Galaxy in a way.

Rune Factory became a pretty good event, especially for players working on Chaos immortals. It gave Chaos players a more direct way to build their team.

But for players who cared more about Holy and Shadow, Rune Factory did not fully replace what Sparks of Galaxy used to give.

Sparks of Galaxy had that mixed reward feeling. You could work on rare immortal fragments, artifacts, dragon progress, speedups, resources, and other useful rewards.

That is what made the event feel valuable.

And now, when I look at Deepsea Venture, I get that same feeling again.

The biggest reason is the Mermaid Shop.

⚜️Mermaid Shop: Holy and Shadow Progression

The Mermaid Shop already shows several important Holy and Shadow immortal fragments.

From the shop preview, we can see fragments for:

🔹 Manco Cápac

🔹 Theodora

🔹 Khubilai Khan

🔹 Nebuchadnezzar II

🔹 Tutankhamun

🔹 Himiko

🔹 Bjorn

🔹 Tomyris

🔹 Siegfried

Each fragment pack costs 360 Colorful Scales, with a purchase limit of 5.

Each pack gives 10 fragments, so players can buy up to 50 fragments per immortal if they have enough event currency.

That is a big deal.

Holy and Shadow immortals are not easy to build. They are much harder to collect compared to normal elemental immortals. So any event that gives another path toward these immortals is worth paying attention to.

This is one of the reasons why I think Deepsea Venture might be important for many players.

It is not only another random event. It might actually become another way to slowly build Holy and Shadow teams.

⚜️Artifact Schematics Are Also Available

The Mermaid Shop is not only about immortal fragments.

It also includes artifact schematic fragments, such as:

🔹 Barricade of Light

🔹 Crown of the Empress

🔹 The Code of Yuan

🔹 The Ishtar Gate

🔹 Meteoric Dagger

🔹 The Golden Seal

🔹 Source of Terror

🔹 Ring of Spirit

🔹 Dark Dragon’s Blood

These cost 450 Colorful Scales for 5 schematic fragments, with a purchase limit of 5.

This makes Deepsea Venture feel even more like Sparks of Galaxy.

It is not just one reward type. It gives players a wider progression path: immortal fragments, artifact schematics, dragon rewards, speedups, and resources.

That kind of mixed reward system is exactly what made Sparks of Galaxy feel useful before.

⚜️Deepsea Venture Rewards

The event reward preview also shows several useful rewards:

🔹 Colorful Scales

🔹 Holy/Shadow Dragon Fragment Chest

🔹 Speedups

🔹 Resources

The Holy/Shadow Dragon Fragment Chest is especially interesting.

Holy and Shadow dragons are slow to build, and progress for them is usually more limited compared to normal elemental dragons.

So if Deepsea Venture gives players both Holy/Shadow immortal progress and Holy/Shadow dragon progress, then this event could be very useful.

The shop already looks promising, but the real question is still the same:

How many Lustrous Pearls can we get?

How many Colorful Scales can we earn?

Will free-to-play players get enough currency to buy meaningful rewards?

Will the event feel generous, or will the shop only look good from the outside?

So I would not call Deepsea Venture amazing yet.

We need to see the actual income first.

But from what we can see now, the reward structure has real potential.

⚜️New Daily Mission: Affinity Gifting

Patch 2.9.6 also adds a new daily mission type:

Affinity Gifting

Daily Missions now include giving 1 affinity item daily.

This makes sense after the Immortal Affinity feature was added.

It gives players a reason to interact with Affinity every day instead of forgetting about it after the first few days.

It is a small change, but it helps make Affinity feel more connected to daily gameplay.

⚜️Survival Guide Update

The Survival Guide now includes new chapters with detailed descriptions for Immortal Attributes.

This should help players understand what different attributes do and how to improve them.

Infinity Kingdom has many stats and not all of them are clear for newer players.

So this is a nice quality-of-life update.

It probably will not change the meta directly, but it makes the game easier to understand.

⚜️Squad Survival Tournament

The Squad Survival Tournament will take place during Season 1 and Season 2.

It is split into two divisions, one for each season.

The rules remain unchanged, and specific start times will be announced through in-game notices.

This is mostly an event availability update, but it is still useful for players in those seasons.

⚜️Immortal Info Interface Optimization

The Immortal info interface now displays Affinity level when viewing Immortal information.

This is a simple but useful change.

Since Affinity is now part of daily missions, it makes sense that players can see the level more easily when checking their immortals.

⚜️Alliance Championship Match Result Optimization

Alliance Championship match results can now only be viewed after the countdown ends, regardless of whether an alliance participates or not.

This is not a huge change, but it makes the result viewing timing more consistent for everyone.

⚜️Battle of Asteria Rule Optimization

Battle of Asteria also received several rule changes.

After the update, all players’ personal challenge progress will reset to Difficulty Level 1.

Only Difficulty Level 1 is available at the start. Players can challenge levels one by one until they are defeated.

For later event runs, cleared difficulty levels will be locked. Players who have completed all levels can only challenge the maximum difficulty.

Progress rewards are granted for every 5 levels cleared for the first time at each difficulty. After that, rewards are distributed based on the highest difficulty reached when the event ends.

All difficulty progress also resets when a new server season starts, and the overall challenge difficulty adjusts to match the new season.

This sounds like Battle of Asteria is becoming more progression-based and less repetitive.

Instead of repeating the same early stages every time, players should move forward based on what they have already cleared.

That should make the event feel smoother, but we will need to see how it feels in practice.

⚜️My Final Thoughts

Patch 2.9.6 has more going on than it first seemed.

For battle setups, Thorn Armor and Great Tengu are clearly the most interesting part. Thorn Armor rewards Counterattack, and Great Tengu now gives Counterattack to the front row.

That makes it look like the game is trying to push a new Counterattack frontline idea.

It might not be broken, and it still needs testing, but it definitely gives Great Tengu a clearer purpose.

Then we have Deepsea Venture.

At first, I did not know what to expect from this event. But after seeing the event preview and the Mermaid Shop, it really looks like Deepsea Venture might bring back some of the old Sparks of Galaxy feeling.

Holy and Shadow immortal fragments are there.

Artifact schematic fragments are there.

Holy/Shadow dragon rewards are there.

That already makes the event worth watching.

The smaller updates are also nice, especially the Affinity daily mission, Survival Guide improvements, and Battle of Asteria changes.

For now, I think Patch 2.9.6 is a solid update.

But the real test will come when Deepsea Venture opens fully and players can see how many Colorful Scales they can actually earn.

If the reward income is fair, Deepsea Venture could become one of the better event additions we have had in a while.

And if Thorn Armor works well with Great Tengu, then Counterattack teams might become a lot more interesting too.

⚜️Game Download Links

🔹 Game Download Link

🔹 Korean Version Download Link

🔹 Taiwan and Hong Kong Download Link