April 19, 2017

Patch 2.57

Welcome to Patch 2.57! In this patch we’re adding a big number of balance changes now that the balance lock for CEO Dreamland is over. On top of that, we’ve been going back and improving a number of animations from the early days of Closed Beta. We’ve also added new skins, new sidekick, new Brawl of the Week, new free Legend Rotation and more in this patch. Enjoy!

Mallhalla

Bodvar Legend Skin: Bodvar-Mania! – Time to run wild on this tournament, brother!
Sidekick: Onisan – Demon magic bringing you back from the brink. What could go wrong?
Scythe Skin: The Jade Price – The cost paid in full by your opponents.

New Brawl of the Week!

1v1
5 Stocks
300% Damage

Animation Improvements

To get ready for the PS4 launch, we are going through and revisiting animations. Our goal is to bring older animations more in line with the many changes that have happened to the game, and add performance improvements where we can along the way. You can expect more changes like this as we move towards PS4 release later this summer.

Memory and CPU performance improvements for all Blaster animations.
Several minor animation tweaks to Axe’s base kit moves to improve smoothness of recoveries
Faded highlights in Brynn’s Axe signatures sooner to better line up with hit window timing
Fixed minor popping in the torso in Axe’s turn animation
Fixed a bug causing Brynn’s D Axe animation to not play the correct transition when landing on the ground
Fixed minor poppiness in the beginning of Azoth’s Neutral Axe signature animation
Teros’ Neutral Axe animation updated. (This also ushers in new balance changes listed in the balance section of the notes.)

User Interface

Main menu option layout has been changed. “Brawl of the Week” has been moved out into its own option and the “Play” button now directs the user to a smaller list of casual queues.
You can now set Max Damage Multipler to 300% in custom game lobbies.

Modified Test Features

Wall Slip Changes

Based on the feedback from last week, it sounds like a hidden trigger condition for Wall Slip wouldn’t be well received. We’ve switched back to a simpler condition with a full reset on combat as many of you suggested.

This week uses jump count instead of wall touches to make the condition less gameable and less prone to false positives on maps like King’s Pass.

We recommend finding a friend and playing games in Custom where someone plays the role of the wall camper to test that the system is making enough of a difference. We’re concerned that the ease of resetting the counter gives too few opportunities to punish.

After performing any combination of 15 air jumps, wall jumps, or Recovery powers without landing on the ground, the player will immediately Wall Slip.
Aerial jumps, Recovery, and Dodge are disabled while in a Wall Slip state.
Wall Slip and its counter are fully reset if the player hits or is hit by another player.
Gadgets and thrown weapons do not count for the purposes of resetting Wall Slip.
Warnings appear when 9, 12, and all 15 jumps have been consumed. (“!”, “!!”, and “!!!”)

Controller Support

Added PC support for CSL Gamepad for Android.

Balance

This patch we are focusing on opening up areas for counterplay in the neutral game against weapons with string openers that are overly safe on miss. We have increased the potential reward on hit for underperforming weapons, as well as improvements to the Signatures of underperforming Legends.

Hammer

We have slightly increased the reward on the Hammer’s unique vertical options, as the increased movement speed has made them more difficult to land.

Hammer Down Air: Increased Force from 35 Variable/50 Fixed to 42 Variable/50 Fixed.
Hammer Recovery: Increased Damage from 15 to 16.

Spear

We have opened up some gaps in the Spear’s neutral game for better counterplay. The Neutral Light and Down Light could provide zoning that was overly difficult to advance against, so these attacks have received more Recover Time on miss.

Spear Neutral Light: Split Recovery time into Recovery on hit at 16 Variable/2 Fixed and Recovery on miss at 16 Variable/4 Fixed.
Spear Down Light: Increased Recovery time on miss from 25 Variable/5 Fixed to 25 Variable/7 Fixed.

Rocket Lance

The Rocket Lance could also provide an relatively safe string of attacks on whiff, so we have added a minor amount of Recover Time on miss to the Down Air and Side Air. Part of this power has been shifted to the ground kit in the form of increased damage for the Side Light.

Rocket Lance Side Light: Increased Damage from 10 to 12.
Rocket Lance Side Air: Increased Recovery on miss from 13 Variable/0 Fixed to 13 Variable/1 Fixed.
Rocket Lance Down Air: Increased Recovery on miss from 22 Variable/1 Fixed to 22 Variable/3 Fixed.

Blasters

Much like the Spear, the Blasters could provide zoning that was overly safe on miss, so we have removed the safety from a couple of the most missed attacks, as well as reduced the reward on another. Players should find an easier time punishing overly defensive Blasters play.

Blasters Side Light: Decreased Damage from 20 to 18.
Blasters Side Air: Increased Recovery on miss from 28 Variable/2 Fixed to 28 Variable/3 Fixed; Decreased the ability the accelerate backwards during the power from 70% to 65%.
Blasters Down Air: Increased Recovery on miss from 25 Variable/0 Fixed to 25 Variable/2 Fixed.

Katars

Katars users will find increased Stun on some of their most popular approach options, allowing for more consistent followups once they have broken through the opponent’s defense.

Katars Side Light: Increased Stun from 20 to 22.
Katars Down Air: Increased Stun of final hit on the ground from 10 to 11; Increased Stun of final hit in the air from 13 to 14.

Axe

The Axe has had some power shifted from Damage in favor of more consistent setups from Side Light. The Force and angle of knockback have both been decreased to allow several follow-up options for most damage ranges, most notably leaving the opponent in prime position for a Down Air.

Axe Side Light: Decreased Force from 9 Variable/70 Fixed to 3 Variable/50 Fixed; Adjusted angle of knockback for more consistent follow-up attacks; Decreased Damage from 13 to 12.
Axe Down Light: Decreased Damage from 15 to 14.

Bow

The Bow has had some power shifted from its ground kit into its air kit, affording a slightly earlier knockouts with the Neutral Air. We have increased the Force of the Neutral Air as the comparatively low Stun it has caused this attack to score a knockout later than most other similar powers.

Bow Neutral Light: Decreased Damage from 17 to 15.
Bow Neutral Air: Increased Force from 32 Variable/87 Fixed to 34 Variable/84 Fixed.

Gauntlets

The Gauntlets have received some extra Recovery Time on miss, since their main approach options were overly safe in the neutral game.

Gauntlets Side Light: Increased Recovery on miss from 20 Variable/1 Fixed to 20 Variable/3 Fixed.
Gauntlets Down Light: Increased Recovery on miss from 16 Variable/0 Fixed to 16 Variable/1 Fixed.

Scythe

We have reduced the safety of the Scythe’s main aerial openers, as well as improved the hitboxing which opens up the area immediately around the Scythe user. We have also decreased the reward on the active input ender of the Side Light, given its main use as a string starter when using the default ender.

Scythe Side Light: Decreased Force on the active input ender from 41 Variable/40 Fixed to 37 Variable/40 Fixed.
Scythe Neutral Air: Increased Recovery on miss from 20 Variable/2 Fixed to 20 Variable/3 Fixed; Improved hitboxing to reduce stacked coverage on the user’s hurtbox and more closely follow the special effects.
Scythe Down Air: Increased Recovery time on miss from 24 Variable/2 Fixed to 24 Variable/3 Fixed; Improved hitboxing to reduce stacked coverage on the user’s hurtbox and more closely follow the special effects.

Asuri

Like Asuri’s Side Sword, we’re giving her Neutral Sword variable behavior based on momentum for some extra versatility as an approach option.

Asuri Neutral Sword: Will now travel further based on momentum when starting the attack.

Azoth

Azoth receives a little bit of extra reach and height to his Down Axe to make it easier to land and to threaten more of the space up to the Side Axe’s minimum range.

Azoth Down Axe: Increased size by 5%.

Brynn

Unlike most Signatures that end in the air, Brynn’s often hover in place, making them easier to punish. We’ve cut down the Recover Time on her Neutral Spear slightly.

Brynn Neutral Spear: Reduced Recover Time from 26 to 24.

Ember

Ember’s Neutral Bow was conservative with its hitboxing and didn’t fully cover the raven’s path. We’re giving the increased coverage a try as it opens up a few new interactions with the bow kit.

Ember Neutral Bow: Added hitboxing to the last animation frame of the raven’s path, this extends the hit window from 8 to 11.

Jhala

We’ve sped up Jhala’s Neutral Sword in a couple of ways in order to reach its normal threat faster and for more of its Hit Window.

Jhala Neutral Sword: Decreased Time to Hit from 16 to 15; Hitboxes bloom from the raised sword to the radial burst after 2 frames, sped up from 3.

Mirage

Mirage loses some Force on her Side Scythe this week, bringing the rewards more in line with the reduced risk from her shifting Hurtbox shape.

Mirage Side Scythe: Reduced Force from 57 Variable/70 Fixed to 54 Variable/60 Fixed.

Mordex

The leap height of Mordex’s Side Fists requires more time to punish than comparable Signatures. We’ve dialed up the Recover Time and changed the movement arc after the Hit Window slightly to keep behavior for when Mordex leaves Recover consistent.

Mordex Side Fists: Increased Recover Time from 25 to 29; Adjusted movement after the Hit Window so that Recover Time still ends the frame Mordex touches the ground.

Nix

Nix’s Down Scythe is getting a reduction in Force to bring it more in line with similar signatures and to give a clearer tradeoff between Side and Down Scythe.

Nix Down Scythe: Reduced Force from 54 Variable/72 Fixed to 51 Variable/72 Fixed.

Thatch

The Force on Thatch’s Side Blasters has been nudged up to push its rewards farther apart from the safer Neutral Blasters.

Thatch Side Blasters: Increased Force from 55 Variable/63 Fixed to 57 Variable/63 Fixed

Teros

Teros Neutral Axe had a lot of disagreements between animation and hitboxing that were overdue for cleaning up. It’s gotten an animation rework and rehitboxing to fix these issues on both ends. We’ve also sped the power up slightly, as it’s one of the slower antiair signatures.

Teros Neutral Axe: Decreased Time to Hit from 19 to 18; Updated hitboxing and hurtboxing to better match animation; Increased delay between first and second swing from 16 to 18.

Ulgrim

Ulgrim’s Neutral Axe is rewarding but slow as an antiair. We’re speeding it up slightly.

Ulgrim Neutral Axe: Decreased Time to Hit from 18 to 17.

New Legend Rotation

This week’s Legend Rotation features Diana, Jhala, Kor, Queen Nai, Mordex, and Ulgrim.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug where canceling a dodge into a wall could still grant dodge invulnerability from thrown weapons.
Fixed multikeyboard bug that could cause input buffering under heavy usage conditions.
Fixed bug causing certain assets to not correctly display on the error screen.