The Bramble Stirs. Fights in Bramble Vale no longer all look alike.
- Encounters. Every fight is one of twelve encounters, each with its own squad, its own map objects and one twist, named on a banner as the fight opens: a Lone Brute, a Pack and Alpha, a Swarm and Caster, a Ranged Nest behind barrels, an Ambush, Silence the Caller, a Pebble Rush, Hold the Ford, Wildfire, Two Camps and Break Out, besides the classic Skirmish. You never meet the same one twice in a row.
- Goals. A chip over the board shows what wins: rout the strays, hold out to a round, or break out through the far edge once the bramble there parts.
- Four new strays, met only in fights: the Pebbling (a minion that piles on in numbers and sinks in water), the Gloomcap (spores, and spore pods that burst on both sides), the Thornhorn (can't be shoved; its straight charge hits anyone in the lane and leaves it Stuck against rock, a barrel or the edge) and the Skreel (it flies, swoops past you, and is grounded when soaked).
- Alphas. A crowned leader whose aura makes its pack hit harder; it howls to shield them and, from level 7, rallies them. Bring it down and the pack wavers.
- Morale. Strays can be shaken or flee. A runner shows its path: root it or knock it down to stop it. When every stray left is running, you win once the round turns, with full reward for the runners you caught.
- Arrivals. Rustling marks at the edge show where strays will come in next phase. Stand on one, or shove a barrel onto it, and that arrival is blocked. A lookout may call for more; stop it in time.
- Fairer, gentler enrage. From round 5 the strays' hits grow by 2 a round, up to 10. And no single stray hit takes a fighter at full health straight down.
- Your gear's guard now gives a starting shield in tactics fights.