With Heavensward’s 3.1 update coming soon, Square Enix is still in the process of dropping information on players regarding the specifics of what’s in the update. Today, they’ve unveiled more about the Lords of Verminion mini game as well as the trial details for The Minstrel’s Ballad: Thordan’s Reign.

To start, Lords of Verminion will be added to the Manderville Golden Saucer, and the game will feature all those minions that no one really has had a use for so far. The game will feature strategic gameplay as you command your minions while trying to destroy your opponent’s “Arcana Stones”.

Each minion will have a “type”, and the types function as a rock-paper-scissors relationship; Monsters are effective against Critters. Critters are effective against Poppets. And Poppets are effective against Monsters. There are also Gadget type minions, that are outside the triangle and have no advantage or disadvantage.

Minions will also have a cost which will limit the number and strength of your army. Stronger minions have a higher cost, obviously, and take more time to summon as well.

Aside from the Arcana Stones and the minions on the field, there will be other structures as well. The Gate is each side’s starting point, as well as where minions are summoned. If a live minion returns to their Gate, they can heal up. You can also destroy your opponent’s Gate.

Each side will also have a shield, which will boost the defense of their Arcana Stones, making them harder to destroy. Get rid of it, and their Stones will go down much faster.

Each team also has a Search Eye. These will show the location of each enemy minion on the field as long as they are active. If it gets destroyed, that team will only be able to see enemy minions that are close to their own.

In addition, and destroyed structure other than Arcana Stones will reset with full HP after a given amount of time.

You can check out more on Lords of Verminion here.

Also detailed was The Minstrel’s Ballad: Thordan’s Reign. The new trial coming in 3.1, this will be a harder version of The Singularity Reactor.

Spoilers here for those who haven’t completed up to the end of Heavensward!

Once again, the Wandering Minstrel has been inspired by your deeds in quelling Thordan and his Knights, and he seeks to tell the story once again for you. With his heroic embellishments, the memories of the incredible battle come surging back all at once, with incredible clarity…

The trial will require a minimum item level of 190 to enter, as well as completion of the Heavensward Main Quest Line. The developers have said that this trial will be as difficult as Ultima Weapon was when it was first released, for those of you that have been around that long. For those of you who haven’t…get ready for one hell of a fight.

Update 3.1 is coming on November 10th.