DragonSword Tarte Guide: Lightning Shock, Documented

Game version checked: 1.0.12 (10 September 2026 patch). Built from Hound13's Steam patch notes and announcements plus the community wiki, named inline.

Our roster page lists Tarte with one line: "Kit not documented in any primary source." That was accurate when it was written. It is no longer accurate, and this page exists to say what changed.

What patch 1.0.11 revealed

Patch 1.0.11 (3 September 2026) gives Tarte three lines in its Balance section — the joint-largest entry in that pass:

Tarte - Improved so that the final attack fires when releasing the hold of [Lightning Shock] skill - Adjusted damage and Shock application values for each hold stage of [Lightning Shock] - When switching to another hero while using [Lightning Shock], the skill now plays out to completion

Every previously blank field on our roster table is answered there.

Her ailment is Shock. Not inferred from a trailer, not read off a community tier list — stated by the developer in a balance note. That matters for team building, because our ailment coverage page records Shock as one of only two elements this site can confirm actually bypasses an enemy immunity, and it previously had a single applier: Ornette. Tarte is the second.

Her skill is a charged hold with stages. "Each hold stage" is the key phrase — [Lightning Shock] is not a press-and-forget cast but a multi-tier charge where both damage and Shock application scale with how long you hold. That is a distinct playstyle from anyone else documented on this roster.

And the hold now survives a switch. Before 1.0.11, tagging out mid-hold apparently cancelled the skill. Now it plays to completion. In a game whose whole combat identity is Switching Signals — see the combat guide — a charge skill that dies on switch is a charge skill you cannot use as a setup tool. This one change turns her from a hero who has to stay in to one who can arm a Signal and leave.

Why she got the attention

Hound13's 28 August patch preview names the six heroes in the 1.0.11 pass: "Hero balance (Tarte, Lute, Aria, Roxy, Astria, Kalsion)." She is listed first.

That is not proof of anything on its own, but it lines up with what Hound13 said about how they pick targets, in the 14 August All Day Live Q&A:

A. We regularly review character usage data. Underused characters are prioritized for balance adjustments.

and

A. We plan regular balance passes based on data. Major hero reworks would be less frequent.

A hero nobody could find information about, receiving the largest entry in a balance pass aimed at underused characters, is a coherent story. Treat it as the most likely reading rather than a confirmed one — not confirmed: that Tarte was specifically flagged as underused.

The earlier clue

Patch 1.0.10 (20 August 2026) already carried her name, in the list of skills whose camera rotation sensitivity was removed:

Removed camera rotation sensitivity changes when using specific hero skills […] Tarte [Lightning Shock]

So [Lightning Shock] had been named two weeks before the balance pass, sitting in a list alongside Alex's [Defensive Stance], Aria's [Air Bomb], Castella's [Howling], Dana's [Snow Step], Johnny's [Fatal Sting] and Ornette's [Holy Cross]. Camera sensitivity changes are the kind of effect a game applies to a held or aimed action, which is consistent with the charge mechanic 1.0.11 then described.

Where she sits

Her faction is the Organa Order — Theresia, Ornette, Sion and Tarte, per the community wiki. Hound13's July hero-quest teaser for Flowers of the Afterlife asks "Why have the Johnny Mercenaries joined forces with the Organa Order?", which places the Order in the main story rather than as a side faction.

The Organa grouping is unusually strong on paper now: Theresia brings Bleed and Stun, Ornette brings Electrocution and Knockdown, and Tarte brings Shock. Not confirmed: whether Ornette's Electrocution and Tarte's Shock arm the same Signal. Hound13 uses both words and has never published a mapping, exactly as it does with Fire and Burn. If they are distinct, the Order covers four ailments across three bodies; if they are the same, it doubles up.

The unlock is still a blank

Our config/heroes.json classifies Tarte as undocumented — neither a confirmed story unlock nor a confirmed Exchange purchase. Nothing found in Hound13's announcements, the patch notes through 1.0.12, or the community wiki resolves that. The unlock planner notes the same gap. Since every Exchange hero costs the same single Fate's Invitation, the answer changes nothing about cost — only about whether you have to buy her at all.

What this page still cannot tell you

Her weapon, her Karma trait, her Awakening effects, her Signal Skill names, her second Active Skill, how many hold stages [Lightning Shock] has, and what the adjusted values actually are. Hound13 published the direction of the change, not the numbers. This is a hero who went from zero documented facts to four in a single patch — which is a reason to re-check her after the next one, not a reason to claim more than the notes say.