# Dungeon Defenders II The Golden Crusade

- Product: Dungeon Defenders II (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/dungeon-defenders-ii)
- Vendor: Chromatic Games
- Date: 2026-06-23
- Original notes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/236110/view/669494515959075584
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/dungeon-defenders-ii/releases/2026-06-23-the-golden-crusade

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Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

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- **added** — Add new hero The Templar with abilities Shield Bash, Divine Judgment, Smite, and Aegis Shield
- **added** — Add Templar defenses Midas Trap, Golden Knight Armor, Anti-Air Cannon, and Divine Relic
- **added** — Add 26 new shards for the Templar hero
- **added** — Add new skins Golden Knight Dryad, Fallen Knight Cyborg, Golden Knight Gunwitch, and Fallen Knight Aquarion
- **added** — Add new flairs Crown of Light, Chain of Faith, and Aegis Ring
- **added** — Add new pets Griffin, Evil Griffin, and Tiny Goblin Mech
- **added** — Add new maps Promenade Golden Dawn and Nightfall
- **added** — Add new boss fight against Airship and Goblin Mech on Promenade Golden Dawn
- **added** — Add Golden Elemental and Golden Elite to Elemental Rumble
- **added** — Add Poison Elemental and Poison Elite to Elemental Rumble
- **added** — Add Golden Set gear with 2/4 and 4/4 bonuses
- **added** — Add Poison Set gear with 2/4 bonus
- **changed** — Optimize memory usage for consoles

Defenders, we are very excited to launch our biggest update for Dungeon Defenders 2: The Golden Crusade update. This update includes a new hero, new maps, a new boss fight, new elemental rumble elements, new pets, new skins, memory optimization for consoles and A LOT of quality of life / bug fixes.

##### **New Hero: The Templar**

A knight blessed with divine power and arcane magic, the Templar protects the innocent with his golden touch. His abilities combine devastating offense, protective auras, and restorative magic to turn the tide of battle.

##### **Abilities:**

- **Shield Bash:** Slam your shield with your sword, dealing damage in a frontal area. Enemies hit are Gilded, turning them to gold and causing them to take x% increased damage.

- **Divine Judgment:** The Templar slams the ground, dealing impact damage and leaving a zone of Divine Judgment that damages enemies over time. Allies inside the zone take % reduced damage.

- **Smite:** Calls down a pillar of mystical fire at a target location, dealing damage over time to enemies while healing nearby allies.

- **Aegis Shield:** Summons three golden shields around the Templar and nearby allies, granting damage reduction and healing over time.

##### **Defenses:**

- **Midas Trap (Trap):** A golden pressure rune that activates when stepped on. Enemies caught are transmuted into gold for a short duration, taking increased damage from all sources.

- **Golden Knight Armor (Blockade):** Summons a suit of enchanted golden armor animated by divine light. The Golden Knight boasts immense durability and delivers crushing blows to nearby enemies.

- **Anti-Air Cannon (Anti-Air Defense):** A heavy golden cannon designed to pierce the heavens. It only targets flying enemies, unleashing radiant blasts at extreme range.

- **Divine Relic (Damage):** A radiant relic that channels divine energy to smite enemies from above. It selects random enemies within range, striking them with beams of celestial fire.

##### **Shards:**

- **Aegis Safeguard:** While Aegis Shield is active, increase your armor by x%.

- **Shielded Smackdown:** While Aegis Shield is active, increase damage by x%.

- **Aegis Fortitude:** While Aegis Shield is active, gain x% damage reduction.

- **Aegis Aid:** Increases the healing of Aegis Shield by x%.

- **Harmonized Justice:** Increases the damage and healing of Judgment’s ground zone by x%.

- **Empowered Judgment:** Increases Judgment's damage by x%.

- **Golden Reckoning:** Increases Judgment’s damage against Gilded enemies by x%.

- **Divine Flow:** While inside Judgment, gain 25 mana every X seconds.

- **Divine Ward:** Increases the Templar's armor by 25%, causing enemy projectiles to deal x% of their original damage.

- **Gilded Bane:** +x% damage to golden enemies.

- **Holy Aura:** Blocking summons an aura that deals x% of your armor as damage to enemies.

- **Combat Conditioning:** Attacks grant +x Hero Damage and Armor per stack. Stacks up to 15 times. Resets completely after 3 seconds of not attacking.

- **Midas Might:** Increases Midas Shield’s damage by x%.

- **Lingering Luxury:** Midas Shield’s Gilded effect lasts X seconds longer.

- **Golden Volley:** Midas Shield throws 2 additional projectiles and lasts X seconds longer.

- **Precision Smite:** Increases Crit Chance of Smite by x% and increases Crit Damage by 50%.

- **Empowered Smite:** Increases Smite's damage by x%.

- **Executing Smite:** +x% Damage to Enemies below 50% health.

- **Air Burst:** When the Anti Air Cannon hits a target, it explodes dealing x% damage to nearby enemies.

- **Gilding Blow:** Anti Air Cannon has a x% chance on hit to stun target for X seconds.

- **Divine Surge:** Divine Relic has a x% chance to deal x% more damage.

- **Divine Precision:** Divine Relic gains 100% Crit Chance but reduces Damage by x%.

- **Enchanted Armor:** Imbues the Golden Knight armor, increasing health by 25% and making enemy projectiles deal x% of their original damage.

- **Golden Re

_[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/236110/view/669494515959075584]_