[h1] ---- Balance Changes ---- [/h1] [h1] Movement [/h1] [i] The majority of feedback we received on movement last patch was that air movement felt sluggish. This change should make air movement feel better while still giving grounded movement the advantage. [/i] [list] [*]Air stats are back to the old numbers, but turning in the air slower than it used to be. [*]Ground movement is still 10% faster and turning speed is unchanged. [*]Decreased velocity when tapping to get off the wall. [/list] [h1] Dodge [/h1] [i] We’re hoping that a two frame startup on dodge will continue to reduce rollbacks while also feeling more responsive. [/i] [list] [*] Dodge startup frames reduced from 3 to 2. [*] Dodge animation and sound will no longer play until you are invulnerable. [/list] [h1] Axe [/h1] [i] The Axe air game has been a frequent concern in recent patches. We're trying some on hit / on miss distinction for recovery times to give more opportunity for punishing misses while making follow ups a little faster after a hit. This will help Axe maintain its aggression but allow for better punish windows on whiff. [/i] [list] [*]Axe Down: Decreased Time to Hit. [*]Axe Air: Increased Recover Time on Miss; Decreased Recover Time on Hit; Increased Cooldown Time. [*]Axe Air Side: Increased Recover Time on Miss; Decreased Recover Time on Hit; Increased Cooldown Time. [*]Axe Air Down: Increased Recover Time on Miss; Decreased Recover Time on Hit; Increased Cooldown Time. [*]Axe Recovery: Increased Time to Hit; Increased distance traveled before swing. [/list] [h1] Blasters [/h1] [i] Our changes to the Blasters last patch received a very mixed response. A decent amount of that was relief, and we haven't given the side air back its old priority, but we agree that the Blasters were missing something as of 1.19: Flow. These changes should give Blasters a number of new options for following up attacks and give some love to aggressive players. [/i] [list] [*]Blasters Down Light: Horizontal momentum stops on hit to prevent drops. [*]Blasters Ground Pound: Reduced Cooldown Time. [*]Blasters Air Side: Removed first shot and added a new one that arcs further downward after the second. Shot timing is unchanged. Reduced Cooldown Time on hit to be the same as Cooldown on miss. [*]Blasters Air Down: Direction of Force angled slightly downward. Increased Recover Time on Miss; Decreased Recover Time on Hit. [*]Blasters Side: Decreased Force. [*]Blasters Down: Rehitboxed to better match animation - Decreased Hitbox Sizes and increased Hit Windows; Each shot combos into the next; Greatly decreased maximum Damage; Direction of Force on final shot pops target upwards; Decreased Force; Increased Recover Time on miss; Decreased Recover Time on hit. [/list] [h1] Hammer [/h1] [i] While a lot of balance attention has been focused on other weapons, Hammer continues to be an unstoppable force. The changes here shouldn't be too aggressive, mostly focusing on places where Hammer hitboxes could hit outside the animation and needed to be fixed anyway.[/i] [list] [*]Hammer Neutral Light: Decreased Hitbox sizes; Advances slightly forward during kicks; Reduced Hit Window on final swing. [*]Hammer Air Side: Reduced Hitbox sizes. [*]Hammer Air Down: Rehitboxed to better match animation; Added a short Cooldown Time. [/list] [h1] Lance [/h1] [i] Lance Recovery had some strange changes in behavior when used repeatedly in the air. It could be thrown out again much faster than expected, and would travel directly upward instead of at the diagonal angle the animation suggests, giving it an unpredictable threat. We've added some Cooldown and horizontal movement, as well as reducing some of the attack's heavy force. [/i] [list] [*]Lance Recovery: Slightly decreased Force; Increased Cooldown Time; Uses after the first have decreased Hit Window and have more forward and less upward movement. [/list] [h1] Katar [/h1] [i] We've distributed some power from Katar Neutral to the Side and Down, and generally increased the stun times to address some cases where you could be punished for landing an attack.[/i] [list] [*]Katar Neutral Light: Reduced Hitbox sizes, especially vertical linger on second swing. Increased Stun Time. [*]Katar Down Light: Slightly increased Hit Window; Slightly increased Distance Traveled; Slightly increased Stun Time. [*]Katar Side Light: Slightly reduced Recover Time; Increased Stun Time. [/list] [h1] Sword [/h1] [i] We like the intent of the earlier changes to Sword Recovery, but evenly distributing the damage means hits can be very weak if not started at point blank. These changes should make the Recovery a more reliable damage tool while taking away a little of its force. [/i] [list] [*]Sword Recovery: Increased Damage; Damage is distributed more toward the end of the move; Slightly reduced Force. [/list] [h1] Gnash [/h1] [i] Gnash has one of the higher winrates this patch, especially in lower ranks. We're moving some power from his extremely punishing Down Hammer to his lesser-used Neutral. [/i] [list] [*]Gnash Down Hammer: Reduced Force; Reduced Maximum Damage. [*]Gnash Neutral Hammer: Extended Hit Window and Re-hitboxed to follow the swing beneath Gnash. [*]Brought the tail end of effects on Gnash Neutral Hammer up a little so that it doesn't look like it should hit so far below him. [/list] [h1] Scarlet [/h1] [i] Despite being underpicked, Scarlet has been engineering high win rates for several patches. As such, some of her Hammer signatures have gotten a little slower this patch.[/i] [list] [*]Scarlet Hammer Side: Increased Time to Hit. [*]Scarlet Hammer Neutral: Increased Time to Hit. [/list] [h1] Sentinel [/h1] [i] Sentinel's Neutral Katar has a very unpredictable shape, making it difficult to punish from the side without being hit by a stray flash of electricity. We've made this threat a little less generous. [/i] [list] [*]Sentinel Neutral Katar: Reduced Hitbox width; Removed some lingering Hitboxes at end of power. [/list] [h1] Drops [/h1] [list] [*]Blasters Down Air: Fixed a case where target could be dropped before the final hit. Credit: iJaximus [*]Ada Spear Neutral: Fixed a case where target could be dropped before the final hit. Credit: iJaximus [*]Asuri Down Sword: Fixed a case where target could be dropped before the final hit. [*]Lucien Side Blasters: Fixed some cases where target could be dropped before the final hit. [*]Vraxx Side Blasters: Fixed a case where target could be dropped before the final hit. [/list]