Use your favourite features in-game with our Desktop AppMak's Season 5 Expansion has finally been revealed, bringing us some exciting new tools built around the Enchanted and Flying sub-themes.
It appears that Stelle's influence extends even further, as we'll soon be able to explore the new mechanic even within the existing Heroes we already know. Let's dive in!
Credit to Littlemonk (Jì Haǐ) for the full Expansion reveal, along with the item images presented below.
Atmospheric Sampler is essentially a 
Piggles Board for Enchanted (and Flying) items. What makes it interesting is that it's not restricted by an item tag, allowing it to work with a wide variety of builds.
Additionally, it doesn't specify "another item", meaning it should be possible for these items to Charge themselves. This could definitely be abused in setups that utilize only one active Enchanted item.
It definitely has the ability to become a powerful engine within the right shell, though given the limited amount of Flying items Mak has, I expect it to mostly fall alongside enchantments.
At the very minimum, it'll be worth picking up even just as a Reagent spawner. While its Gold-tier baseline holds it back from being a true Economy item, it doesn't hurt to get free value later on.
Cloud Wisp is a big deal for Mak. Reagents as a mechanic are already very strong as they give Mak the potential to high roll into some crazy combos. Adding Haste to the mix is insane, especially with its Bronze-tier accessibility.
I very much expect to see this upshifted to at least Silver-tier, as getting easy access to Haste enchants is absurdly powerful. The right combination can absolutely make or break a build, and with many rerolls (
Catalysts) available, odds are pretty good that you'll find something you like.
Distilled Sunlight takes Reagents to their absolute extreme. Shiny enchantments have always been much rarer than others, and for a good reason. They typically provide Multicast as a baseline, and in some cases create double the output of a different effect.
Now Mak is going to have direct access within his own item pool. Even at Gold-tier it's insane, as it's possible to find multiples during the same run. I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually gets upshifted to Diamond, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Flying Potion is basically a faster alternative to 
Energy Potion, except it only works on Flying items. Speaking strictly in a vacuum, this item seems quite strong.
However, at this current time I feel like there's not enough support for Mak to realistically build the Flying archetype. Assuming we get more tools in the future, Flying Potion will likely become very solid.
Frozen Horror is a wacky but flavorful item. As a Freeze item this is arguably one of the strongest effects we've seen, as a two-item Freeze on a three second Cooldown is insane.
However, this is of course limited by its Ammo. Plus, its Self-Poison trigger sets a clear timer on the game even if you're able to Reload it. Though if you can expand its base capacity, it's absurdly strong.
Beyond the item itself, the most exciting factor is its "when this is transformed" effect, as this (almost) guarantees a Medium-sized Icy item; another extremely rare commodity.
The possibilities of Frozen Horror are wild, and I expect it'll be viable whether you Transform it or not.
Gravstone seems extremely niche in its effect. While it's one of the few ways Mak has access to Flying, it's pretty specific due to its tags, plus requires ample space on board.
The Regen is also pretty irrelevant when items like 
Life Conduit exist (among many others). It's perhaps something to explore in the future, but for the time being, I'm skeptical at best.
Ionized Lightning adds a Deadly Reagent to the game, but in all honestly, this is likely more of a nerf as it dilutes the overall Reagent pool. While there are a handful of decent use cases, for the most part, Small Deadly Enchanted items tend to be much weaker. A fine inclusion, but often not exciting.
Orly gives Mak access to a 
Korxena Crest-like effect. The key difference is that the Flying aspect makes it more restrictive, but in turn, it offers a much higher boost to Crit Chance.
Alongside the guaranteed Crit package such as 
Bottled Lightning and 
Letter Opener, this seems pretty useful, especially as Flying gives access to Slow/Freeze protection.
On top of that, other builds may decide to pick it up during Day 1-2, as it's one of Mak's very few Friends. Even if you don't intend to actually use it, this at least ups the options when it comes to the fulfilling the Tiny Furry Monster event.
Skyspirit Ashes is another splashy Enchantment host, but this time at Large! Aside from manually enchanting items ourselves, it's not every day that we get to reroll Large Enchanted items.
I don't imagine it'll ever be used for its board effect, although I suppose it could be an alright placeholder in builds that only care about 1-2 items.
Skyterror has a pretty cool design which allows it to scale its Burn or Damage, while dealing the other. It's part of the start/stop Flying archetype, but as stated above, there just isn't much support within Mak's own item pool.
Perhaps we'll have ample access via specialty vendors, allowing Mak to utilize many of Stelle's package. Or maybe there's some neutral items are reasonable accessible.
We'll ultimately have to wait and see, but unless there's significantly more support, I don't expect we'll see much of Skyterror just yet.
