Fall Balance Patch Notes - 1.5.0

Overview

  • For this patch we wanted to target some moves we thought weren’t living up to the hype

  • That being said the most work has been done on a very fine level, primarily dealing with frame data and hit properties. You’ll find that the reworks will not majorly impact the playstyle of most characters, instead either altering the risk, reward, or execution of certain moves.

  • The Big House:

  • UI Changes:

    • Healthbars now mirror again

    • Combo Counters are back

  • Misc Polish and Fixes:

    • Debug Keys no longer instantly repeat when pressed

  • Steam Achievements:

    • We’ve added 3 Steam achievements to the game


  • Biggest Changes:

    • AnG has some QoL changes to bring certain things in line with the rest of the cast, as well as better benefit the swap-heavy playstyle.

    • Urdah has a reworked Side Special (last one, we promise)

    • She also has some move tuning to lean further into grabs and less into massive active moves

    • Velora has slightly modified hitboxes to encourage new players to post a little less in their dojo

    • Ashani has a notable nerf to Up Special

    • Kidd has a couple fine tune changes to combo links and some minor physics changes.

    • Reina has had a pass on Aerial Whifflag, and has been increased to be comparable to Weishan or Kidd

    • Reina also has a nerf to Air Acceleration in Chain Stance that was supposed to be in 1.0, but didn’t make it in due to an oversight

      • Keeping an eye on this

  • Several designated “poke” moves have been given increased Shield Push Multipliers across the cast

  • Made adjustments to a few buffer systems, which should help some instances of moves buffering the wrong direction. This should be most noticeable out of rush and jumpsquat.

  • Fixed several issues with crossup offset on high-movement attacks

  • Fixed some inconsistencies across the cast with attack and grab timings out of Rush

  • Added blastzone intangibility to the startup of every recovery move that didnt have it

  • Added blastzone intangibility to the beginning of air rushes

General

  • Projectiles can once again be pushblocked

    • Undone because it caused more bugs than it fixed

    • Note: pushblocking a projectile applies force to the opponent, not the projectile.

Afi

  • Up Strike

    • First Active Frame: f13 →f10

    • Last Active Frame: f15 → f17

    • Early active frames of Strong and Weak hits increased in height to better match the VFX

    • Strong

      • Knockback Growth: 60 → 72

      • Can zoom with a little charge

    • Weak

      • Angle: 80 → 60

  • Forward Air

    • Landing Lag: 13f → 10f

    • Fixed issue that caused it to appear green on shield

  • Up Air

    • Has a slight downward force when firing projectile. Scales with charge

    • Max projectile size increased at full charge

  • Down Strike

    • Last Active Frame: f11 → f13

    • Slightly pulled in forward hitbox to reduce disjoint.

    • Added Combo Only hitbox to head for easier use in combos

    • Shield Push Mod: 4 → -4

      • Merry Crossups

      • Pushblocking will still keep Afi in front

  • Neutral Air

    • Ground Only hit divided into Strong and Weak versions to better match Air to Air hits.

    • Cleaned up Hitstun Mutlipliers on all hits. All increased and normalized to 0.9x.

    • Strong

      • Shield Stun: 10f→11f

    • Weak

      • Shield Stun: 8f→7f

  • Up Special

    • Reworked into an article to better match the fireblast vfx

Galu

  • Down Strike

    • Startup: f14→f12

    • Endlag reduced by 8f

    • Shield Push Mod: 1 → -4 (Shield Pull)

  • Forward Strike

    • Reduced Range to better match the animation

    • Endlag reduced by 7f

    • Down Angle

      • Shield Push Mod: 1 → 2

    • Up Angle

      • Shield Push Mod: 1 → 0.5

  • Up Strike

    • Slightly increased size and moved forward to better match VFX

  • Down Air

    • Tweaked animation slightly to give it some more oomph

    • Strong

      • Activity Increased by 2f

  • Neutral Air

    • Ground Only hit divided into Strong and Weak versions to better match Air to Air hits.

    • Cleaned up Hitstun Mutlipliers on all hits. All increased and normalized to 0.9x.

  • Forward Air

    • Angle: 63 → 55

    • Hitstun Multiplier: 0.8 → 0.9

Ashani

  • Air Rush

    • Fixed an issue where Neutral Air Rush would not reset X Force

  • Up Special

    • Slightly Decreased the size of the highest hitbox

    • Removed the lowest hitbox (Left Foot)

    • This should make this move easier to contest from directly above or below, but it still has very large sides.

    • Fixed a bug that let this move always auto-cancel

    • Slightly decreased length of stall at the apex

    • DP

      • This move was known to frequently crossup form the front

      • Increased Crossup Offset significantly.

  • Side Special

    • Air

      • Adjust hitboxes to better match impact frames

  • Neutral Air

    • Reduced hitbox size to better match the animation

    • Reduced shield push for a better single/double hit mix on block

    • Slightly increased crossup offset on both hits

  • Back Air

    • Shield Push Multiplier: 1.0 → 1.25

Ezzie

  • EXPERIMENTAL: Ezzie must now hold the rush button to float.

  • Side Special

    • Window for drift: f11 → f13. This should make it easier to input intentionally.

  • More changes in the pipeline, just not included in this patch. Expect a mid-season or end of season patch with some much-needed changes.

Kidd

  • Overview

    • We feel Kidd is in a good spot as a hyper aggressive threat, but also felt some of the movement and input required to link moves was a awkward feeling compared to the rest of the cast.

    • We are experimenting with slightly more bkb to make early band combos a little more lenient

    • We are tuning his jump heights to better line up with the height his moves generally send at. Experimenting with a higher double jump to help his vertically challenged strings, but of course, only once per air time

    • Like Ezzie, we are trying out a better input for float


  • EXPERIMENTAL: Kidd must now hold the rush button to float.

  • Physics

    • Jump heights modified to better fit the flow of his combo game

    • Full Hop is slightly shorter

    • Super Jump and Double Jump Heights slightly increased

  • Jab 1

    • Startup increased by 1 frame

    • Hitbox length reduced

    • Shield Push Modifier: 1 → -8

      • This give it very slight pull. The idea is that it should make jab 2 whiff less on block

  • Neutral Special

    • Increased Startup by 1f to separate the 0 and 3 pip input a little more

    • Cleaned up reverse windows

      • 0 Pip and all Ground versions can now all be reversed

      • There is a bug that allows some versions to double reverse. Looking in to a fix, no solutions yet.

    • Air

      • Slightly increased the length of the lowered gravity to fix an issue that caused easy accidental SDs.

  • Side Special

    • Empty sSp can cancel into uSp slightly earlier than other actions.

    • This should prevent sSp being very poor as an early recovery

  • Neutral Air

    • Base Knockback: 50 → 45

    • Knockback Growth: 55 → 50

    • Fixed an oversight where the middle hit had a really high DI mod

      • Middle Hit

        • DI Mod: 1.3 → 1.0

  • Forward Air

    • Disabled Reverse Hitboxes

  • Back Air

    • Sour

      • Base Knockback: 35 → 40

  • Up Air

    • Slightly adjusted animation to match hitbox better. Frame Data unchanged

    • Fixed an oversight that made the weak hit reversed

    • Weak

      • Base Knockback: 30 → 40

      • Angle: 100 → 80

    • Strong

      • Base Knockback: 45 → 55

      • Knockback Growth: 75 → 70

Raymer

  • Raymer didn’t get a lot of love this patch, but we have some plans in the works for some interesting new tools

  • Back Air

    • Shield Push Multiplier: 1 → 1.5

Reina

  • General

    • We think that while Reina is close to an appropriate top-tier, we also feel like certain elements don’t mesh well in the online format.

    • Targeting the startup on her moves, so that she is worse in a scramble

    • Adjusting jump heights to weaken the effectiveness of shorthop aerials, however this also opens up new combinations of double aerials or auto-cancels

    • Took a pass on Air Whifflag for aerials. We felt some of her aerials should have similar risks to that of Wei, Torment, or Kidd when being thrown out offstage. Don’t let the numbers scare you, its low-impact for the good players out there.

    • Fixed more issues with chain moves having very small DI windows. All Chain moves should properly have ~6 frames of hit pause at minimum

      • Affected moves: dSt, fSt, Jab, uAir

  • Physics

    • Fixed an oversight that did not properly give Chain Stance lower Air Acceleration

      • Effective Air Accel: 38m/s → 25m/s

      • Blade Air Accel unchanged

    • Increased short hop height in both stances significantly

    • EXPERIMENTAL: Decreased Combo Weight to be closer to that of Zhurong or Raymer

    • Decreased Weight: 105 → 95

  • Side Special

    • Air

      • Dissatisfied with this move taking over the role Kunai was supposed to play. Reduced horizontal kill power significantly.

      • Knockback Growth: 70 → 60

      • Angle: 45 → 65

      • Fixed a bug that would allow the move to turn around much later than intended.

  • Neutral Special

    • Startup: f15 → f17

    • We still believe that proper TDI is the solution to making this link difficult for Reina. In the mean time, enjoy one more frame of travel time!

    • Attacks are now 2 frames after

  • Up Special

    • Shrank hitboxes to be less disjointed

    • Startup increased by 1 frame to better match the animation

    • Throw

      • DI Modifier: 1.5 → 2.5

      • Hitstun Capped at 25f

Chain

  • Chain Up Strike

    • Slightly increased the reliability of the launcher, but decreased the total width of the spike hitbox

    • Launcher

      • Angle: 110 → 100

      • DI Modifier: 1 → 0.8

    • Spike

      • Rotated animation slightly; hitbox width reduced by about 30%

  • Chain Down Strike

    • Startup increased by 3f

  • Chain Forward Air

    • Shield Pushblock Mod: -7 → -6

    • Shield Stun: 13f → 11f

      • Stun scales more with charge

    • Attacker Only Hitpause: 2 → 4

    • Auto Cancel Window: f40 → f44

      • This should make the AC window tighter on full hop usage. It’s about a 4f leniency on earliest input, up from 8f.

    • Air Endlag: +4f

      • Note: This is not Landing Lag, this only applies to fully airborne

    • Air Whifflag: +4f

  • Chain Neutral Air

    • Landing Lag reverted back to 10f (from 7f)

    • Air Endlag: +3f

    • Air Whifflag: +3f

  • Chain Up Air

    • Startup increased by 2f

    • Air Endlag: +2f

    • Air Whifflag: +6f

  • Chain Down Air

    • Landing Whifflag: +1f → +6f

    • Air Whifflag: +4f

  • Chain Back Air

    • Startup: f9 → f11

    • Air Endlag: +4f

    • Air Whifflag: +4f → +6f

Blade

  • Blade Jab

    • Reduced window to self-loop for less delayed-timing mixes

    • Loop Cancel Window: 5f-25f → 5f-18f

  • Blade Forward Strike

    • Startup increased by 3f

  • Blade Up Strike

    • Startup increased by 3f

  • Blade Forward Air

    • Air Whifflag increased by 3f to compensate for shorthop change

  • Blade Neutral Air

    • Air Whifflag: +5f

  • Blade Up Air

    • Knockback Growth: 60 → 70

  • Blade Down Air:

    • Air Whifflag: +8f

  • Blade Back Air:

    • Air Whifflag: +4f

Seth

  • Up Special (Air)

    • Adjusted animation timings, forces, vfx, and sfx to make the effect of the move clearer

    • Slightly adjusted the placement of the lightning hitboxes

    • Hitbox startup: f22 → f20

  • Forward Air

    • Slightly improved the size of the outermost hitbox

    • Shield Push Multiplier: 1.0 → 1.25

  • Back Air

    • Fixed a visual issue where tipper was Yellow on block instead of Red

  • Jab

    • Adjusted the animation so that Seth’s fist is now fully extended when the hitbox becomes active on f5.

    • Increased base hitlag: 2f → 3f

Torment

  • Down Special

    • Fixed an issue with crossup offset. Should be more consistent to block

  • Up Special

    • Fixed an issue with crossup offset. Should be more consistent to block

Urdah

  • Forward Air

    • Shield Push Multiplier: 1.35 → 1.5

  • Neutral Air

    • Strong

      • Shield Push Multiplier: 1 → 0.75

      • Shield Stun: 11 → 9 (+4 → +2)

      • Max Bonus Shield Stun from Charge increased by +5. Maximum of +7 on block

  • Back Air

    • Fixed an issue that caused this move to have no landing lag during charge

  • Down Air

    • Landing Lag: 7f→ 12f

    • Shield Stun: 11f → 14f

      • Fixed bug that caused shield color to always appear red

  • Forward Strike

    • Trimmed 2 last active frames to better match the animation

  • Down Special

    • Ground

      • Cleaned up earliest hitboxes on combo hit

      • Startup of raw hit reduced by 1 frame to better match reach animation

      • Endlag reduced by 8 frames

    • Air

      • No longer acts differently for grounded and aerial opponents. Now will always proc into Backbreaker.

      • Toned down the backwards force applied as the Backbreaker throw begins

  • Side Special

    • We think that the last iteration was a decent idea, but not one for the current meta.Grab and travel reworked again to be closer to the old version.

    • The throw brings the opponent downwards and slams them into the ground.

    • The ground version will launch and the air version will force a tricky tech

    • Feint removed, replaced with a counter

    • Counter

      • Feint has been significantly reworked, and functions closer to a counter.

      • By pressing shield, you can counter during the travel. This is a smaller window than the previous feint.

      • Movement has been reduced but you still have some horizontal control.

      • Similar to parry, hitpause is greatly increased. The opponent still gets spark but they are behind in actionability

      • Upon a successful armor “counter”, Urdah becomes actionable instantly

  • Neutral Special

    • Blastzone throw

      • Damage: 6 → 15 (kb unchanged)

Velora

  • Jab

    • Attempt to fix overshooting links on block. Still overshoots at closest possible spacing

    • Jab 1

      • Shield Push Multiplier: 8 → 9

    • Jab 2

      • Shield Push Multiplier: 5 → 7

  • Forward Strike

    • Uncharged

      • Slightly increased hitbox height on first two active frames. Should be a very strong anti-air

      • Shield Push Multiplier: 2.3 → 1.5

  • Down Strike

    • Charged

      • Fixed an issue where damage would change based on charge time

      • Added a single frame of hitstun

  • Up Strike

    • Uncharged

      • Added training-wheels baby hitbox to upper torso

  • Down Air

    • Adjusted landing lag to vary the feel of her landing lag. Increased Landing lag by 2 frames, but compensated with -2 landing whiff lag

    • Charged

      • Fixed an issue where damage would change based on charge time

  • Back Air

    • Adjusted landing lag to vary the feel of her landing lag. Increased Landing lag by 3 frames, but compensated with -4 landing whiff lag

    • Tipper

      • Shield Push Multiplier: 1 → 1.5

    • Sour

      • Shield Push Multiplier: 1 → 0.5

  • Forward Air

    • Charged

      • Fixed a bug where the second hit would sometimes put opponents into a grounded stagger state.

  • Down Special

    • Increased Speed of targeting projectile by about 10%

  • Side Special

    • Removed first active frame so it better matches the animation of her holding the sword ahead of her. This is going to create a slight up close deadzone where she can be easily challenged

    • Dash endlag increased by 7 frames. Ending animation slightly changed

Weishan

  • Forward Air

    • Sweetspot

      • Shield Push Multiplier: 1.25 → 1.5

  • Side Special

    • EX

      • Added an endlag animation

      • Endlag effectively increased by about 10f

Zhurong

  • Forward Air:

    • Shield Push Multiplier: 1.75 → 2