Orange Mushroom's Blog

The winter showcase for the winter update, Maplestory Crown, took place yesterday! The main features were a new 6th job common skill for bossing, not one, not two, but three new bosses, and the Kinesis remaster!

The test server also opened up shortly afterwards, but I think this time, I’m going to skip the KMST post since the first official server patch is in a few days so there isn’t much time in-between. This post will just be an overview of what was revealed at the showcase.

2nd Common Core: Sol Hecate

• Sol Hecate is a summon skill that reacts to your own actions. It’s focused entirely on bossing, compared to the 1st common core Sol Janus which was focused on grinding.
• It will gain additional effects as you level it up.
  • Level 1: Sol Hecate: Styx – a 60 second cooldown attack that binds enemies for an additional 4 seconds (stacking with other binds). You can set it to automatically activate when you cast a specific skill. At level 10, this attack gets enhanced.
  • Level 20: Sol Hecate: Charon – a revive skill that allows you to ignore death then gives a 10 second iframe afterwards with a 10 minute cooldown (like Dark Knight’s Reincarnation).
  • Level 30: Sol Hecate: Phlegethon – a 2 minute cooldown burst attack.
• Since this is the first common skill that deals damage to bosses, the damage and number of hits will be set individually for each job to ensure it is balanced.

New Boss: Radiant Malefic Star

• The new boss, Radiant Malefic Star, is related to the new Apostle Ymir that appeared in the Epic Dungeon: Nightmare Paradise (not actually her, but a sort of clone).
• It is in a new side-area from Arteria, similar to Karotte and Hotel Arcs.
• It is a level 280 boss that can be fought in a party of 1~3 players.
• You will have to swap between reality and illusion and coordinate with your party members.
• It drops the new Brilliant Boss accessory: Entrancing Nightmare (ring).
  • The Brilliant Boss 4-set effect is +20 all stats, +500 HP/MP, +20 attack/magic attack, +5% critical damage.
• Normal Mode is between Extreme Suu and Normal Kaling (recommended ~200m CP).
• Hard Mode is between Hard Limbo and Hard Baldrix (recommended ~400m CP).

Astra Secondary Weapon

• This system is designed to help fill the gap between the Genesis and Destiny weapons.
• You can convert your existing secondary weapon into an Astra secondary weapon (becomes fully untradeable) by collecting Traces of Battle and Erion Fragments.
  • Traces of Battle are collected by defeating bosses (like Traces of Darkness for the Genesis liberation).
  • Erion Fragments can be acquired from boss drops (tradeable) and from Grandis daily quests (untradeable).
• You can upgrade the Astra secondary weapon up to 3 stages (maximum 15 -> 20 -> 30 stars).
• Your potential will be carried over.
• For more specific cases such as shields, MEE’d items, Dual Blade, Zero, it will be applied differently while focusing on fairness and preserving value.

New Boss: Jupiter

• The new boss, Jupiter, is the leader of the Ancient Gods, and is an end-game boss.
• It is a level 295 boss that can be fought in a party of 1~3 players.
• You must face off with him in 3 forms, varying with how much he has combined with the entity.
• It drops the new Brilliant Boss accessory: Original Sin of Pride (face accessory).
  • The Brilliant Boss 5-set effect is +20 all stats, +500 HP/MP, +20 attack/magic attack, +15% boss damage.
• Normal Mode is between Hard Adversary and Hard Limbo (recommended ~400m CP).
• Hard Mode is after Extreme Kaling.

New Area: Geardrock

• This is a new level 295 area that will conclude the Ancient Gods storyline.
• It is a secret underground desert where the Ancient God Gob used to craft weapons with a giant furnace called Chronos.
• You can get the Grand Authentic Symbol: Geardrock which gives +50% additional experience and +15% drop/meso rate when fully levelled up.

System Reorganizations

• Speeding Up Level 275+
  • Epic Dungeon experience rewards increased.
  • Monster Park Extreme experience increased for level 275+.
  • New Monster Park areas added (Shangri-La, Arteria, Carcion, Talahart).
  • Monster Park daily entry limits increased (2 free per day, 7 per day per character, 14 per day per world).

• Link Skills Level 3 Expansion
  • When you reach level 285 on a character, you will acquire the Proof of a Radiant Hero. You can use this item on one of your characters to increase that character’s Link Skill to level 3.
  • If you level up a Link Skill with no/low utility, it will also give an additional damage passive to that character only (e.g. level 3 Mercedes link gives Mercedes an extra 5% damage).

• Level 11 Authentic Symbol Benefits
  • When an Authentic Symbol or Grand Authentic Symbol reaches level 11, it will give an additional 20% damage to that area’s boss (e.g. Cernium -> Chosen Seren, Hotel Arcs -> Kalos, and so on).
  • When an Authentic Symbol reaches level 11, it will give an additional 10% experience acquired.

• Destiny Weapon 2nd Growth
  • The 2nd growth quests are for First Adversary, Limbo, and Baldrix.
  • The 2nd growth will enhance the two Destiny Weapon skills.
  • The 2nd growth will let you enhance the Destiny Weapon up to 25 stars.

Challengers World Season 3

• Challengers World will return with additional changes.
  • Challengers World will only last 4 months.
  • The attendance check mission has been removed (so you don’t feel forced to stay the full duration of the event).
  • The level missions have been divided into separate missions for each level up to level 290 (e.g. level 275, 276, 277 and so on are separate missions now).
  • Challengers World rewards have been changed, with additional 6th job materials but less items like Meister Cubes.
  • Challengers World will have Shining Star Force every 2 weeks.
• The new Challengers Partner event lets you pair up with a friend to give each other experience and acquire additional rewards when bossing together.
• The new Challengers Duo event lets you share experience to your main world character when you grind on your Challengers World character.

• There will be a new seasonal boss, the Time Traveler Kai!
  • This is a Challengers World exclusive boss.
  • It can only be faced solo.
  • It is not included in the weekly 12 boss entry limit.
  • When you fight Kai, you can slow down time and speed up your skill cooldowns in a unique style of battle new to MapleStory.
  • It will drop meso bags, Pitched Boss Box, and Basic Sol Erda Fragment Boxes. Hard Mode will also drop Advanced Sol Erda Fragment Boxes and Ethernal Armor Boxes.
  • Normal Mode is between Hard Jin Hilla and Normal Seren.
  • Hard Mode is between Hard Seren and Easy Kaling.

Winter Events

• Hyper Burning MAX, Burning Beyond, and Item Burning will return.
• Item Burning has been upgraded to Item Burning Plus, where the Item Burning gear can go up to 22 stars! It is only available for newly created characters.
  • The boss missions have been expanded past level 250, and require you to defeat specific bosses as well as collect Challenger Tokens from defeating bosses (like Traces of Darkness for Genesis missions).
• The Genesis Pass will not be sold this time.

• The winter event is themed after Tallahart, where you can take a glimpse into the memories of Ancient Gods of the past.
• It has new rewards such as the Legendary Growth Potion (1 level up when used, up to level 279) and the Leap Growth Potion (1 level up when used, up to level 259).
• You can exchange 15 3x Coupons for 1 4x Coupon (not particulary efficient but for those players who end up not using most of their coupons by the end of the event).
• The Ellanos Chronicle event features a pet that you will fight with you while grinding. It will grow over the course of the event to fight more and give extra benefits (like the Evernia weekly Power of Time benefits).
• The Meso Shop has a new item, the Mechaberry Farm Entry Ticket. This is similar to the Strawberry Farm but it is for level 280+ characters.

• The Momentum Pass is for level 280+ characters. It is focused entirely on experience-related rewards such as VIP Sauna, Advanced EXP Vouchers, EXP Coupons, and Mechaberry Farm Entry Tickets.

Kinesis Remaster

• Kinesis’ concept was already unique so they didn’t change much, it was mainly structural changes that made the remaster necessary.
• PP (Psychic Points) have been removed, and the skills have been changed to be regular cooldowns.
• There will be special cosmetics for training a Kinesis.

Other Events

• The new character growth support Winter Survival missions will provide step-up mission rewards to new characters (not just Kinesis), similar to the Len release events.
• The Kinetic Beauty Express event will let you transfer the appearance of your current Kinesis to a new one.
• The Change Circulator is a new item that will change your current Ability lines to new ones based on job changes (e.g. in this patch, Kinesis will receive a Change Circulator that lets you change your current IA to new ones without having to reroll them, based on the current values).
• The Nickname Express event will let you transfer IGNs within your account.

Crown Improvements

• Voice Chat System
  • You can chat with your boss party in-game, with Maple ID and Discord integration.
• Buff Manager System
  • You can check all of the buffs available in-game, and buy any that you are missing straight from the UI if you have the corresponding currency.
  • If a buff can be purchased from the Auction House, clicking it will open the Auction House with the search term automatically filled in.
• Buff Item Reorganization
  • Seyram/Alleria/Collectir Elixir items’ expiry dates have been removed and they can now be put into storage.
  • The Level 250/275/300 Chair buffs have been turned into an Elixir item.
  • 30-minute duration weather effects have been added.
  • The Shining Moonlight Potion will now drop from endgame bosses.
• Soul Collection Reorganization
  • A new UI where you can register, craft, and disassemble Souls all at once.
  • You can check all of your Soul Shards and turn them into Souls in bulk.
• World Meso Unification
  • All of your characters within the same world will hold the same mesos, without having to put it into storage to transfer.
  • The maximum meso limit will be increased.
• V Matrix Reorganization
  • A complete reorganization for the V Matrix system, designed for new players.
  • Instead of opening Core Gemstones to get different Cores, you now open Core Gemstones to get V Points that you can use to directly enhance the skills that you want.
  • You don’t need to worry about getting the right skills, crafting the correct trios, etc.
• Gender Change Coupon
  • You can change your character’s gender.
  • The Free Style Coupon allowed players to wear any equipment but there’s certain parts of the game like some skill effects and voiceovers that are directly based on the character’s gender.
• Gameplay Reorganization
  • Hyper Stat preset change cost removed.
  • 6th job advancement quest difficulty alleviated.
  • Union rank up cost removed.

Guild Castle

• Guild Castle, which is already in overseas content, will come to KMS. It will have some changes to make it more suited to this server.
• The community aspect of guilds was a bit lacking so they wanted to add something like this.
• There are 6 rooms and you can hang out with your guild members, get special cosmetics, show off your Star Forcing on the stage, and play minigames.
• There will also be some overall guild improvements.
  • The regular guild skills will be leveled up automatically.
  • Guild’s Blessing will be changed into a passive.
  • The Guild BBS will be reorganized.

MapleStory Collection Cards

• New physical merchandise where you can open packs of collection cards (this set is based on the different jobs).
• You can scan a QR code on the back of each card to add it to your collection in-game to show off in your home and get various cosmetic rewards.

AI Custom Illustrations

• You can generate custom illustrations for your character through AI, to be used in quest dialogue windows.
• You can also add it to your character info window.
• It’s going to be a beta test period.

Maple Island

• Maple Island, the MapleStory theme park, will be opening at Lotte World in Seoul in April 2026.
• There will be rides, food, photo zones, and exclusive merchandise designed around MapleStory.
• In addition, the entire Jamsil neighbourhood, including Lotte World Tower and Lotte World Mall will be themed to MapleStory.

Road Map

• December 18:
  • Kinesis Remaster
  • Seasonal Boss – Kai
  • Crown Improvements
  • Level 275+ Speed Up
  • Level 3 Link Skills
  • Level 11 Authentic Symbol Benefits
  • Challengers World Season 3 & Challengers EXP Duo & Challengers Partner (~April 15)
  • Item Burning Plus (~April 22)
  • Hyper Burning MAX & Burning Beyond (~June 17)
  • Night of Illusions Event
  • Winter Survival Mission Event
• January 15
  • New Common Core – Sol Hecate
  • New Boss – Radiant Malefic Star
  • Astra Secondary Weapon
• February 12
  • New Boss – Jupiter
  • Destiny Weapon – 2nd Growth
  • New Guild Content – Guild Castle
  • New Area – Geardrock
• March-May?!
  • 23rd Anniversary
  • Maple Attack with Lotte

• The Crown showcase gifts can be claimed until December 31 at 11:59 PM.
  • CROWN Medal Voucher
  • CROWN Damage Skin (Unit)
  • CROWN Poster
  • 2 4x Experience Coupons (30 Minutes)
  • 2 Selective Mannequin/Slot Expansion Vouchers
  • 4 Selective Max Slot Expansion Coupons
  • 3 Selective Sol Erda/Sol Erda Fragment Vouchers
  • 10 VIP Boosters
  • 10 Maximum Growth Potions (must be used by December 17 at 11:59 PM)

They ended the showcase with a special video showing their appreciation to players for enjoying Maplestory for the past year.