Patch Notes v1.19

FIGHTER REWORKS

KENSEI

Top Heavy Finisher Cancel

• Cancels to side attacks now happen 200ms later.
• All Light Finishers now have Uninterruptible Stance.
• Cancel to Dodge now only happens at the same timing as the Side Cancels and Feint timing.
• Can now be cancelled into Guard Break.
• Top Heavy Finisher has a new animation.

Developer Comments: By changing the timing of the cancels, we will reduce the huge gap between "will it be a side attack or will they actually let the Unblockable fly". Now opponents should have 200ms less to figure out what the proper defense is.

The Light Finishers now all gain Uninterruptible Stance, to make more trading situations favor the Kensei.

Before, the Dodge was really important because there were a lot of attacks that could easily guess the Kensei’s mix up. While we’ve made a change to the Dodge so that the timing is no longer variable, this timing should be good enough to use Forward Dodge to catch opponents who are Rolling away.

The new animation was used because we wanted the Cancels to look better and having the jump made this difficult (but fear not, this animation lives on! See “NEW MOVE Nature’s Wrath” below).

All 3 Top Heavies in the Chain can now be Side Cancelled

• Side Cancels:

  • 1st  Top Heavy can now be cancelled into 1st Side Attacks, Dodge and the new Melee move “Pommel Strike”.
  • 2nd Top Heavy can now be cancelled into 2nd Side Attacks, Dodge and Guard Break.

• Timing Changes:

  • 1st Top Heavy strike is now 1000ms (was 700ms).
  • 2nd Top Heavy strike is now 1000ms (was 700ms).
  • 1st Side Light, when cancelled from 1st Top Heavy, has a strike of 500ms (the regular 1st Light strikes from idle are still 600ms).
  • 2nd Side Light, when cancelled from 2nd Top Heavy, has a strike of 500ms (the regular 2nd Light strikes are still 600ms).
  • 3rd Light strikes are now 500ms (were 600ms on Top, and 700ms on Side before). This applies to the cancelled versions and regular versions.

• Priority Changes:

  • For the recoveries of Light Attacks, switched the input priority so that it checks for Heavy Input first. This means it should be slightly easier to perform a “Heavy into Light Cancel” than it would have been before when it looked for Light Input first.
  • Dodge Cancels can now only be performed while Kensei has Stamina.

• Damage:

  • 1st Side Lights are now 12 damage (were 20 damage).
  • 2nd Side Lights are now 16 damage (were 20 damage).
  • 3rd Side Lights are now 20 damage (were 25 damage).
  • 1st Top Heavy is now 40 damage (was 30 damage).
  • 2nd Top Heavy is now 40 damage (was 20 damage).

Developer Comments: Kensei’s identity is based around the Top Heavy Finisher and its mix ups – so we have extended this concept to now "mix up" throughout the chain. This should allow Kensei to attack opponents more successfully. These Top Heavies were made into longer attacks to make these inputs easy for Kensei players, and make the cancelled attacks clear-but-difficult for opponents to deal with.

NEW MOVE**: “Pommel Strike”

• 1st Top Heavy can now be cancelled into an Unblockable "Pommel Strike".

Developer Comments: This Melee move is meant to crack turtlers. This lets the Kensei players have a solution to people who are dedicated to blocking everything.

We put it only in the 1st Top Heavy Mix-ups, so that they're not so accessible that the Kensei’s can spam these safely.

New Chains

• Heavy, Light, Light chain added.
• Heavy, Light, Heavy chain added.
• Heavy, Heavy, Light chain added.
• Light, Heavy, Light chain added.

Developer Comments: These new chains all still follow the “3 hit chain” concept, and mean that the Kensei’s can perform any combination of Lights and Heavies for 3 hits.

*Remember that the “Light Finishers” gained “Uninterruptible Stance” and are faster than they were, so there should be situations in which they are a good option. *

(Note that these chains use the same attacks as seen in the existing chains. They’re not new attacks, they’re new branching’s, and are meant to give the Kensei’s more room to be creative in how they put pressure on their opponents).

Heavy Hit/Block Reactions

• 1st Top Heavy, now causes "Heavy Hit/Block Reaction" (was Medium).
• 2nd Heavy in the Chain, from any direction, now causes "Heavy Hit/Block Reaction" (was Medium).

Developer Comments: This means that the opponent will spend more time in “Hit/Block Recovery”. *This means that, for example, if you hit with a 2nd Heavy and then go to the “Top Heavy Finisher”, they cannot launch a 500ms attack in time to counter the Top Heavy Finisher. *

But if your 2nd Heavy is blocked, they have a little more time to counter your “Top Heavy Finisher” with a 500ms attack, but you still can trade with the “Side Light Finisher”, “Side Heavy Finisher”, or beat it with a “Dodge Superior Block”.

“Swift Strike”

• “Swift Strike” now causes "Heavy Hit/Block Reaction" (was Medium.)
• “Swift Strike” is now performed with the Heavy Input Button.
• “Swift Strike” is now considered a Heavy Attack, allows Executions, cost 12 Stamina (was 6), and a suffer Heavy Parry penalty.

Developer Comments: This means that the opponent will spend more time in “Hit/Block Recovery”, making the Top Heavy Finisher mix up safer. You can still go to your Light Finisher or Heavy Finisher afterwards.

“Helm Splitter”

• “Helm Splitter” is now considered a "Light" attack again, and is interrupted when blocked.
• “Helm Splitter” damage is now reduced to 17 (from 20).

Developer Comments: We made this Uninterrupted on Block way back in Patch 1.08.01, with the hope that it would let the Kensei’s reach the “Top Heavy Unblockable”. It didn’t make the Kensei much stronger in 1v1 as hoped – instead it seems only really useful in group fights. With a stronger “Top Heavy Unblockable” mix up, we think we can make this interrupted when blocked again.

NEW MOVE:“Nature’s Wrath”

• Performed by pressing "Dodge Forward into Heavy".
  • Visualized as overhead strike (using the old “Top Heavy Finisher” animation).
  • This attack is blockable.
  • Strike is 800ms.
  • Strike does 20 damage.
  • Huge forward movement.

Developer Comments: This move is meant to catch opponents who attempt to roll away from the “Top Heavy Unblockable” mixup.

This is much slower than “Helm Splitter”, so it being Uninterrupted on Block should not be overly punishing in group fights.

Dodge

• Forward dodge's Superior Block phase now starts from 100ms to the end of the dodge, and now is always in the Top Stance.

• Right dodge's Superior Block phase now starts from 100ms to the end of the dodge, and now is always in the Right Stance.

• Left dodge's Superior Block phase now starts from 100ms to the end of the dodge, and now is always in the Left Stance.

  • (At the end of your Dodge, you keep the stance you were forced into by the dodge.)
  • (Backward dodge still keeps your stance in the direction it was for the whole dodge.)

• Can perform your dodge attacks after Superior Blocking an attack (even if it’s late in the dodge).

• Helm Splitter now can only be launched starting at 100ms (was starting at 300ms).

• Grasping Pounce now can only be launched starting at 100ms (was starting at 0ms).

Developer Comments: Before, the Kensei’s could get a Superior Block while dodging - but it was extremely hard to perform, because it meant they had to spend time to Stance Change to the correct stance, and then Dodge. This change is meant to make this much easier to perform.

The longer time of the Superior Block will also mean that opponents, who try to counter your “Top Unblockable Heavy” with their top light attack, are going to be beaten by your “Forward Dodge Cancel” into “Grasping Pounce” and punished.

The change to make the forward dodge attacks start later is to avoid ‘Rewind’ problems, and to better control the Kensei's range for Guard Break. When it was at 0ms, it allowed slightly more range to a Guard Break than expected, leading to "the best way for Kensei to do a regular Guard Break is to actually press Forward + Dodge + Guard Break extremely quickly", which is not intended.

Zone Attack

• Zone Attack has been reworked into a 3-strike attack. The first strike is 500ms, from Left Stance, hitting your locked target – and then flows into a similar version of the old zone attack for the second and third strikes.
• Zone Attack no longer has Uninterruptible Stance.
• All strikes now have increased knockback when in Revenge.

Developer Comments: The Kensei’s Zone Attack struggled to find a role before – it was too slow and weak to be good in a due, and the weird hit areas and timings made it extremely difficult to use effectively in group fights.

*Since it now starts with a fast side attack, it should find a use in duels, and with the increased knockback and ability to hit forward first, we would like it to be able to find a role in group fights as well. *

*The loss of Uninterruptible Stance was made to avoid trading in duels, but if you use it in a group fight you can use the Revenge's Uninterruptible Stance and be more effective in clearing opponents around you. *

(Note: the first strike does 20 damage, it’s a 500ms attack, and doesn’t pay a stance change time cost to launch, so it should make up for the nerf to the light attacks’ damage.)

“Rushing Sweep”

• Removed the bump after the Strike.

Throw

• [Bug Fix] Throwing an opponent into another opponent now causes the same bumped reaction as any other heroes' throws do.

CONQUEROR***

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Charged Heavy

• Charged Heavies are now Unblockable.

  • There is no "Uncharged", "Level 1 Charged" and "Fully Charged" version anymore - it's either fully charged or it's a regular heavy. A pink flash will show when it's fully charged.
  • The "Charged Finisher" has been removed.

• Fully charging takes 900ms.

• Top Heavy Unblockable is 800ms, and does 44 damage.

• Side Heavy Unblockable is 700ms, and does 33 damage.

• The Stance Change while charging is now 100ms (was 300ms).

• Conqueror can no longer launch a Light Attack while charging.

• Has Immunity to Guard Break starting at 100ms into the strike.

Developer Comments: *Charged Heavy Opener was in a very strange spot before - it was easy to reach because it had Conqueror's passive Superior Block defense, but was easy for the opponent to block too. So now, we added risk by taking away the defense and added reward by making it Unblockable. *

*We removed the Light option to streamline what this hero is about - conceptually, we're trying to position the Conqueror to have significantly different feelings while in the various states - regular mode, charging mode, full-block mode - and making fighting against them in these states have clearly different feelings. *

We removed the various levels of charging because it's now extremely clear if the Conqueror has charged his attack and what his options are, whereas before it was all exactly the same.

Superior Block Reworked

• Conqueror no longer has passive Superior Block. It has been replaced with the same Regular Block properties as the rest of the roster.
• Conqueror retains Superior block on
  • Heavy Openers,
  • Fully Charged Heavy Openers,
  • Front and Side Dodges,
  • Full Block Stance (see next entry below).

Developer Comments: Conqueror has enjoyed the ability to Block and follow with a free Guard Break against many characters' heavy attacks.

The ability to get a guaranteed Guard Breaks off a simple Block was too good - the Conqueror risked nothing and got a huge benefit. It also shut down many opponents from being able to use heavies. While we take away the passive Superior Block, by having it on the states listed above, the feeling of being a Heavy should remain, but now Conqueror will take some risks to get those benefits.

NEW MOVE: “Shield Uppercut”

• All Heavies can be cancelled into the new move "Shield Uppercut".

• Shield Uppercut is a:

  • 800ms attack.
  • Unblockable Melee.
  • Does 10 Stamina damage .
  • Has Immunity to Guard Break starting at 100ms into the strike.
  • “Shield Uppercut” can do damage if the feat “Shield Basher” is active.

• Hit Recovery is 700ms (was 800ms), and you get Stance Change / Default Defense at 600ms.

• Miss Recovery is now 700ms (was 600ms), and you get Stance Change / Default Defense at 600ms.

Developer Comments: Conqueror's Charged Heavies are easily dodged - but with this Melee as a Cancel option, it should help punish people who you correctly predict will do a side dodge. Hitting with this move guarantees a follow-up of a Light Attack.

Chains

• Chains have been reworked. Now Conqueror can follow up any:
  • Light can be followed with any Light, Heavy or Shield Bash Mix Up
  • Heavy can be followed with any Light, Heavy or Shield Bash Mix Up
  • Shield Bash can be followed with any Light or Heavy

Developer Comments: Conqueror had a real problem where if you hit with a Basic Light Opener, you could only do another Light, but that hardly ever worked. Also, if Conqueror hit with a Heavy, you had to do either do a Shield Bash Mix Up or Heavy…but these had basically the same long timing.

Consequently, Conquerors mostly only took their guaranteed damage after a Shield Bash, but then stopped attacking. We don't want you to have to stop attacking because of how unlikely your options are to work – so we improved the chain rules to help Conquerors sustain their attack.

Light Attacks

• Top Basic Light Attack's strike is now 500ms (was 600ms).
• Light Infinite Strikes are now 500ms (were 600ms).
• All Light Attacks do 15 damage (were 12).

Full Block Stance Cancel

• Removed Full Block Stance cancel from all Light strikes.

Developer Comments: Cancelling the fastest attacks was causing Flicker and rollback issues, so this is why we removed it from the Light strikes. We kept the ability to enter Full Block Stance from the Heavy attacks, and from Light and Heavy recoveries.

Full Block Stance

• When successfully Blocking an attack from Full Block Stance, Conqueror can now connect to new move “Flail Uppercut”.
• Conqueror no longer can Shield Bash Riposte, Dodge, or basic Attack during Full Block Stance, or Full Block Stance Exit.
• Conqueror can Zone Attack from Full Block Stance.
• Full Block Stance defense is now considered Superior (was Regular).
• Full Block Stance Entry is now 300ms (was 200ms).
• Full Block Stance Exit is now 200ms (was 400ms).
• Stamina cost for entering Full Block Stance is now 20 (was 6).
• Stamina regen cooldown after Full Block Stance has been removed (was 4.0s).
• Stamina cost for blocking an attack from Full Block Stance has been made 0, no longer regen stamina during these blocks, and Conqueror no longer is unbalanced when blocking and going out of stamina.

Developer Comments: In keeping with the general philosophy of risk/reward on this character, now if you block something from Full Block Stance, you can punish them with a “Flail Uppercut” (see “Flail Uppercut” below). The intention is that this is now something you use to punish predicted attacks with rather than a safe way to turtle*.*

NEW MOVE: “Flail Uppercut” (replacing Shield Bash Riposte)

• “Flail Uppercut” replaces Shield Bash Reposte.
• “Flail Uppercut’s” strike is 500ms (Shield Bash Riposte was 800ms).
• Uses Heavy input.
• Does 30 damage.
• Can execute.

Developer Comments: This move is intended to be guaranteed after successfully predicting an attack from Full Block Stance.

We feel that since the Conqueror is taking a risk with Full Block Stance, Conqueror deserves to land good damage as the reward. Shield Bash Riposte did not do a good job to help Conqueror counter-attack so Flail Uppercut has been build specifically for that purpose.

Shield Bash Mix Up

• After a hit, branching to Light Attack is now at 400ms (was at 0ms).
• After a hit, branching to Heavy Attack and Full Block Stance are now at 400ms (were at 300ms).
• Shield Bash Mix Up is slightly better at tracking opponents who dodge sideways.
• Hit area reduced horizontally.
• Shield Bash now does 10 stamina damage (was 20).
• Immune to Guard Breaks property now starts at 100ms.            
• Hit Recovery is now 700ms (was 800ms), and you get Stance Change / Default Defense at 600ms (before you could perform any action at 600ms).
• Miss Recovery is now 700ms (was 600ms), and you get Stance Change / Default Defense at 600ms (before you could perform any action at 400ms). You do get the ability to launch Light Attack, Heavy Attack, and Full Block Stance at 300ms.

Developer Comments: After the Shield Bash Mix Up, you are still guaranteed the Light Attack - but no longer guaranteed the Heavy Attack unless you hit them into a wall.

Note that all the Shield Bashes on the Conqueror now do 10 stamina damage - this is to move Conqueror away from sapping the opponent's stamina, as the Conqueror is now better positioned as a mix of hard-hitting offense, and predictive defense with good punishes – rather than trying to be a stamina bully.

Shield Bash

• Forward Dodge now branches to Shield Bash from 100ms-500ms (was 300ms-500ms).

• Forward Dodge now branches to Full Block Stance from 600ms (was 800ms).

• Forward Dodge can now branch to attack options, including Guard Break, from 600ms (was 800ms).

• After a hit, all branching’s start at 100ms (some were at 0ms, some 300ms, some 600ms).

• Light Attack is still guaranteed after a Shield Bash.

• Hit area reduced horizontally.

• Shield Bash now does 10 stamina damage (was 20).      

• Reduced Shield Bash attack range on Front Dodge to 1.25m (from 1.5m), and from Side Dodge to 1.25m (from 2.0m).

• Increased forward movement by 1.0m.

• Shield Bash knockback reduced by 0.8m, to reduce the situations in which you whiff the following Light attack.

• Hit Recovery is now 700ms (was 800ms), and you get Stance Change / Default Defense at 600ms (before you could perform any action at 600ms).

• Miss Recovery is now 700ms (was 600ms), and you get Stance Change / Default Defense at 600ms (before you could perform any action at 400ms).

Developer Comments: Light Attack is still a guaranteed follow-up if the Shield Bash hit. Heavy Attack is no longer guaranteed.

Movement changes should result in no significant change in function – we reduce part and increase another part so that it visually looks better, but reaches the same distance.

Charging Shield Crush

• The Hit recovery is now 300ms longer.
• The Hit recovery no longer forces Conqueror into Out Of Lock.
• The Hit area reduced horizontally.
• Charging Shield Crush now does 10 stamina damage (was 0).
• Charging Shield Crush now moves the opponent 0.5m further backward.

Developer Comments: Before, the Conqueror was able to hit the opponent, but because the opponent was in the Get Up animation, the opponent does not react to the hit. The opponent could then get an Uncounterable Guard Break on the Conqueror.

Now, the Conqueror doesn't get any guaranteed damage after a Charging Shield Crush. With the new timing, opponents will be up in time to block. We want this move to be good in group fights, and in certain situations where the opponent is near a ledge, but not something Conquerors would want to rely on in duels.

Top Heavy

• Top Heavy is now 33 damage (was 25).

Developer Comments: Top Heavy is longer than Side Heavies and so isn't guaranteed on Guard Break or after a Flail Uppercut. To help the Conqueror earn the ‘Hard Hitter’ moniker, we also increase the damage on this Top Heavy opener.

Zone Attack

• When activated from Full Block Stance, we removed a 100ms gap on startup where the Conqueror had no defense.
• Conqueror now can be Parried properly on the 2nd or later hit.
• Conqueror is no longer interrupted by blocking a minion strike.

Developer Comments: Since this is considered Superior Block during the attack, the Zone Attack isn't stopped when blocking an incoming attack. Opponents are expected to beat it with an Unblockable, a Melee, or just walk up and Parry it on their Left side.

BERSERKER

Light Opener and Heavy Opener

• Light Opener and Heavy Opener gain Uninterruptible Stance if used immediately after a Feint.
• Side Light Openers are now 400ms if used immediately after a Feint.
• Top Light Opener is now 500ms if used immediately after a Feint.
• Light Openers’ damage reduced to 15 (from 17).

Developer Comments: At high level, Berserker needs to mix Feints into the Chains. But Feinting means the Berserker would lose the Uninterruptible Stance benefit, and often end up taking a hit. Now, if you attack immediately after Feinting, your basic Light and basic Heavy will have Uninterruptible Stance. This should allow Berserker more opportunity to trades in mid-chains, if the opponent misreads, and allows him to continue applying pressure.

Heavy Finishers

• 3rd Side Heavy Finishers are now Unblockable.
• 3rd Side Heavy Finishers now do 45 damage (were 30).
• 2nd Top Heavy Finisher is now Unblockable.
• 2nd Top Heavy Finisher now does 30 damage (was 55).

Developer Comments: Berserker has a hard time cracking dedicated turtlers, especially Warlords and Conquerors. This change will let Berserker force the opponent to act or be hit.

We have adjusted the damage so the Top Heavy Finisher is lower damage than the Side Heavy Finishers, because they are deeper in the chain and harder to get to.

Dance of the Paired Blades

• Infinite Light attacks from 2nd strike onward durations are now 400ms (were 500ms).
• Infinite Light attacks from 2nd strike onward now do 15 damage (were 12).
• Infinite Heavy attacks from 2nd strike onward now do 25 damage (were 20).

Developer Comments: We want these lights to be hard to block, since blocking one ends the chain, and it's currently too easy. Speeding this up will make it tougher, and give a bit more contrast between choosing a Light or a Heavy. Note that this speed increase or damage buff does not apply to the chains openers - just to attacks inside the chain.

Bear Mauler

• 2nd Heavy attacks now do 35 damage (were 20).

Developer Comments: The Berserker’s chained attacks generally felt extremely weak. It was strange that Berserkers who did what they are built for, taking risks and relentlessly attacking, didn’t have a reasonable reward.

Head Slicer

• Now has Uninterruptible Stance starting at 100ms (was 300ms).

Developer Comments: Head Slicer is successful when used to dodge forward and trade with an attacker, so this is meant to make that a little easier.

Deflect (and “Brute Force”)

• Now requires the player to press the Guard Break Button during the Deflect to perform “Brute Force” (the new name for the quick Guard Break).
• If no input is pressed, the Berserker will not attempt the quick Guard Break.

Developer Comments: Berserker's Deflect into Guard Break doesn't beat everything - it fails against actions that "force no reaction" on hit - and the case we were seeing most was against Shinobi's Top Light into Backflip. In this case, the Deflect into Guard Break would fail because the Shinobi won't play a hit reaction during the Backflip, and when the Guard Break failed it actually allowed the Shinobi to punish the Berserker. This is the worst likely case for Berserker at this time, but it's probable that over time, more scenarios could appear.

By changing the Deflect into Guard Break to now require a button press, we can retain Berserker's strong Deflect into Guard Break in most situations, but also allow Berserkers to elect not to perform the Guard Break portion in situations that would be dangerous (such as the Shinobi case, or group fights).

Zone Attack

• Now moves the Berserker 1m further forward (extra distance is spread across all strikes).
• 4th strike now causes a Light hit reaction (was Heavy hit reaction), and the connection to Infinite Light Attack afterwards was made 100ms later.
• When Zone Attack is parried, Berserker will now use the shorter “Heavy parried” reaction.

Developer Comments: Zone Attack had an issue where if your opponent dodged backwards, you'd spin while standing in place whiffing, and be completely vulnerable to attacks. Now, the extra distance allows the Berserker to have a better chance to catch up to a back-dodging opponent.

This change to the 4th strike’s timing is because we buffed the Infinite Light Attack speeds - without this change, Berserkers would be guaranteed to hit the Light Attack after the Zone Attack.

“Slashing Rush”

• “Slashing Rush” is now much easier to perform.
• When “Slashing Rush” is parried, Berserker will now use the shorter “Heavy parried” reaction.
• “Slashing Rush” can no longer Execute.
• “Slashing Rush” now costs 65 stamina (was 12 stamina).
• “Slashing Rush” no longer has extra stamina costs when missed or parried.

***Developer Comments: “***Slashing Rush” is basically like a backwards Zone Attack, and there were a lot of times where it seemed you wanted the backward version, but got the forward version accidentally. This felt bad and is now fixed.

The reason that “Slashing Rush” can no longer execute and has higher stamina costs is to unify it more with the forward Zone Attack – and if you’re using Slashing Rush you probably are using it to escape, and don’t want to get locked into the Execution Window.

“Head Crusher”

• “Head Crusher” no longer gets stuck in the run portion if the opponent is dodging backward.
• To lessen the cases where “Head Crusher” whiffs,
  • Short range leap now starts at 3.5m (was 4.0m).
  • Medium range leap now starts at 5.8m (was 7.0m).
  • Long range leap now starts at 7.8m (was 9.0m).

Developer Comments: Before the leap portion, there is a run portion that is meant to close distance - this run generally gets skipped because the opponent is close enough to start the leap. However, the leap could not start at all if the opponent was dodging backward, which caused the Berserker to run forward way too far and be vulnerable. Now, Berserker doesn't check if the opponent is dodging backward anymore, and will just start the leap if close enough.

The range reduction is to reduce the number of cases where the Berserker would whiff and land right in front of the target. While this does represent a slight range reduction, the improved likelihood of actually leaping at a time that this attack will hit the target should help the Berserker.

Out of Lock Attacks

• Out of Lock Attacks now have Uninterruptible Stance and Unblockable properties to match the functionality of the Locked attacks.

Throws

• Forward Throw now does 0 damage (was 8) and 20 stamina damage (was 40).
• Side and Back Throws now do 0 damage (were 8).
• Side and Back Throws still do the regular 20 stamina damage, same as all characters' throws.
• Side and Back Throws no longer Unbalance the opponent if the Throw itself reduces them to 0 stamina. It now only Unbalances if the opponent was at 0 stamina before the Throw (this now makes it consistent with other heroes’ throws).

Developer Comments: Currently, the Berserkers have an extremely powerful Out Of Stamina punish (Throw Forward, Side Heavy, Top Heavy Finisher). Since we gave the Berserker better tools for regular combat, and Berserkers aren’t built to manipulate the stamina of their opponent, we feel this is an area Berserker is currently unnecessarily strong and can handle a nerf.

Parry’s Counter-attack Light (“Skilled Slash”)

• Added Uninterruptible Stance to “Skilled Slash”.
• Moved “Skilled Slash” timing to 400ms after the Parry (was 300ms), for improved ease of input.

Developer Comments: Giving it Uninterruptible Stance is mostly meant to continue the Berserker theme onto this move, and make it slightly more advantageous in-group fights.

Block Reactions

• Removed an ability to counter-attack after blocking a light after 200ms. Now Berserker must wait for the end of the Block Stun before attacking, like every other character.

Developer Comments: Different block reaction timings have to be used with extreme caution – since this isn’t part of the Berserker theme, we standardize it*.*

Dodge Cancel

• Removed Dodge cancel from Light Attack Opener strikes.
• Removed Dodge cancel from Heavy Attacks starting from the 2nd in Dance of the Paired Blades.
• Gave Light Opener's miss recoveries the ability to branch to Zone Attack (as other miss recoveries already have).
• Dodge Cancels can now only be performed while Berserker has Stamina.

Developer Comments: The dodge cancels were removed because they were causing Flicker and rollback issues on the shortest attacks.

To compensate, we allow whiffed Light Openers to branch to Zone Attacks - an ability that Berserker already had on other attacks. This should allow the Berserker to continue to be unpredictable, while showing a clean and fair user interface to the opponent.

HIGHLANDER

“Celtic Curse”

• The Top Strike can now be Cancelled into Fast Flow to Top Offensive Form, by holding the Heavy Input Button - shows the pink flash of entry in Offensive Form.
• Slightly increased rotation of Top Strike to better track sprinting opponents.
• Improved ability to acquire targets that are sprinting at the Highlander.
• “Celtic Curse” can now switch targets when cancelling to the side attacks.

***Developer Comments: “***Celtic Curse” needs to be strong so that Highlander can initiate combat, and here the cancel into Offensive Form will make the real attacks much harder to identify, while protecting the Highlander from the Full Block Stance of Conqueror or Warlord.

Stamina

• Removed the stamina cooldown for entering Offensive Form.
• Can now regen stamina while dodging in Offensive Form.
• Reduced stamina cost of “Balor's Might” to 24 (from 30).

Developer Comments: The Highlander has been heavily limited by his stamina consumption and regen. Often, the Highlanders would do a lot of work to only get one hit in, then have to back off. Now, the Highlanders should be more able to sustain their offensive.

Note that while Offensive Form's Enhanced Lights still cost 3 stamina when cancelled from “Balor's Might”, when accessed directly they are reduced from 33 to 27.

Damage

• Increased damage on Offensive Form “Balor's Might” to 40 (from 30).
• Increased damage on Defensive Form Side Heavy Openers to 35 (from 25).
• Increased damage on Defensive Form Side Heavy Finishers to 35 (from 30).
• Increased damage on Defensive Form Top Heavy Opener to 45 (from 40).
• Increased damage on Defensive Form Top Heavy Finisher to 45 (from 40).

Developer Comments: Part of the Highlander's fantasy is to hit hard and now he finally can.

Defensive Form's 2nd Lights

• Uninterruptible Stance is now applied to Defensive Form's 2nd Lights, starting at 100ms.
• Interrupt Blocked reaction is reduced to 800ms (was 1100ms).

Developer Comments: This move no longer gives up a free Guard Break when blocked. Furthermore, the Uninterruptible Stance allows it to be used occasionally in-group fights.

“Caber Toss”

• Improved rotational tracking.
• Improved ability to move forward during the strike.

Developer Comments: ***“***Caber Toss” is now better able at catching players who are attempting to dodge. The intention is to improve the “Fomorian Kick” and “Caber Toss” mix-up, especially against back-dodges (and diagonally backward dodges).

Offensive Form Dodge

• Increased movement on Offensive Form's Forward Dodge by 0.25m.

Developer Comments: Small movement increase to help Highlander catch up to more opponents while holding the Offensive Form.

“Fomorian Kick”

• [Bug Fix] Removed a loop of “Kick into Forward Dodge, repeat”, by removing the 100ms early connection from kick-to-dodge.
• [Bug Fix] Reduced the knockback distance slightly on “Formorian Kick”, in order to reduce the situations in which you land the kick, but then whiff the Unblockable Heavy afterward.

Throw

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where Stance Change prevented Highlander from Fast Flowing into Offensive Form.

Execution

• [Bug Fix] The “No Mercy” execution now executes at 2200ms (was 4300ms)

SHAMAN

Predator’s Hunger

• Reduced the knockback of Predator’s Hunger by 0.5m.

Throw Left

• Left Throws no longer Unbalance the opponent if the Throw itself reduces them to 0 stamina. It now only Unbalances if the opponent was at 0 stamina before the Throw (this now makes it consistent with other heroes’ throws).

NOBUSHI

Zone Attack

• 1st strike: Reduced to 20 damage (from 33 damage).

2nd strike: 1 + 20 bleed damage (from 6 damage+ 20 Bleed damage).

Total = Reduced to 41 health damage (from 59 health damage).

• [Bug Fix] Added visual effect on Zone attack 2nd strike cancel.

Kick

• Kick startup reduced to 600ms (from 800ms).

  • On Heavy the branching to Kick was delayed by 100ms.

• Updated the attack range to 3.5m (from 4m).

• [Bug Fix] Reduced invulnerability to Guard Break by 400ms on Miss (was from 0 to 700ms, now from 0 to 300ms) and by 300ms on Hit (was from 0 to 600ms, now from 0 to 300ms).

Developer Comments: Now when the Nobushi misses her Kick, the opponent is able to Guard Break her.

• Removed the stamina cost on hit (10 stamina points).
• Kick trajectory has been updated.

Attack Post “Hidden Stance”

• “Hidden Stance” Top Light attack startup reduced to 500ms (from 600ms).
• “Hidden Stance” Top Heavy Feint:
  • [Bug Fix] Defense was missing during the last 100ms of the Feint. It is fixed.
  • [Bug Fix] Feints could be performed while Out of Stamina. It is fixed.

Side Light Finishers

• Side Light Finishers startup reduced to 600ms (from 700ms)

“Swift Recoil”

• “Swift Recoil” can now connect to the Viper’s Retreat (after 200ms)

Chains Top Light and Heavy

• [Bug Fix] Inside chains, the Nobushi can move horizontally during all her Top attack startup, which allows her to dodge the Block into Shove for example. It is fixed.

Developer Comments: Now the Nobushi cannot move on side direction during her chain top attacks, she only move forward as the other chains in the game.

Side Dodges

• Increased the Nobushi side dodge recoveries durations to 600ms (Before was 500ms).

“Cobra Strike”

• [Bug Fix] Nobushi Cobra Strike can hit an opponent without any visual contact when opponent succeed a dodge. It is fixed.

Developer Comments: The trajectories were updated to be closer to the “Cobra Strike” animations.

• [Bug Fix] Nobushi was unable to cancel the Cobra Strike’s Recovery into a forward Dodge. It is fixed.

Developer Comments: It was not allowed to make a forward dodge during the “Cobra Strike”, only side dodges were allowed. Now, the Nobushi can cancel “Cobra Strike” by a forward or a side dodge.

Sprint Attacks

• [Bug Fix] The Nobushi sprint light attack allows opponent to go through the guidance while the Sprint heavy doesn’t.

Developer Comments: So we did the opposite for the logic:

• Sprint Light no longer causes the opponent to be knocked off ledges.

• Sprint Heavy now causes the opponent to be knocked off ledges.*

• [Bug fix] The Nobushi can perform “Slithering Thrust” and “Coiling Slash” while out of stamina with the “Iron Lungs” feat active. It is fixed.

Developer Comments: N**ow the Nobushi has the same behavior as the other characters which share the same feat. She cannot perform her sprint attacks.

Light Attacks post “Hidden Stance”

• Reduced the damage to 8 damage (from 18).

Developer Comments: *Light attacks post **“***Hidden Stance” into Light (combo) now confirms 34 (instead of 44) damage.

“Sidewinder Form”

• Removed the ability to cancel “Sidewinder Form” recoveries by a back dodge. Can only be cancelled by a Front or a Side Dodge.

Developer Comments: Same behavior than the “Cobra Strike”, will avoid to be able to escape.

PARRY

General

• You can now Counter Guard Break if grabbed during a Parry Reaction.
• Parrying now moves you 1m forward (was 0m).
• Controller rumble on parry has been fixed.

Parried a Heavy Attack

• Heavy Parry Reaction is now 1500ms (was 1400ms), and now allows Stance Change during the last 100ms.
• If you Parry a Heavy, now you get 600ms frame advantage in which your opponent cannot block, parry or dodge.

Developer Comments: This means any hero can land a guaranteed Light Attack. Some heroes can also land certain other special moves.

Parried a Light Attack

• Light Parry Reaction is still 1800ms but now allows Stance Change during the last 100ms.
• If you Parry a Light, now you get 900ms frame advantage in which your opponent cannot block/parry/dodge.

Developer Comments: This means most heroes can land a guaranteed Heavy Attack. Some heroes can also land certain other special moves.

• Added a Visual and Audio Effects to parrying a Light Attack, to indicate that your opponent will be vulnerable for a longer period than if you parried a heavy.

Developer Comments: When Parry used to guarantee a Guard Break, it meant that the attacker had a negative expectation of the result: the amount of damage your original attack could inflict was usually less than the amount you risk to a parry, including scenarios such as:

• Thrown off a ledge (instant death)
• Wall-Stagger punish
• Out-Of-Stamina-Unbalance punish

Now, if you are parried you can Counter Guard Break. The opponent will still be given a window to strike you, so you’ll still take damage, but the amount is much more reasonable compared to what the original attack that was parried would have done.

We also think this will improve the pace of the Parry – before the Parry was usually followed by the Guard Break, which seemed to slow the pace of combat. Now, the Parry will be followed by an actual weapon-based attack and combat should feel a little more dynamic.

Character-Specific changes based on the New Parry Vulnerability Timings:

Berserker

• Removed early connections from Parry to Light Attack and Heavy attack.

Developer Comments: We left Berserker’s dedicated Parry follow-up “Skilled Slash” as it was. We removed the specific early connections to attack because Berserker always got a Top Heavy, and now Berserker only gets a Top Heavy after Parrying a Light. This is more in line with the rest of the cast’s options.

Highlander

• Fast-flow to Offensive Form from Parry now starts at 700ms into the Parry (was 600ms).

Developer Comments: This change is so that if the Highlander Parries a Heavy, it does NOT guarantee a “Fomorian Kick”. Instead, Highlanders should use their Light Attacks against Heavies. If the Highlander Parries a Light, “Balor’s Might” will be guaranteed.

Lawbringer

• Counterattack Heavy now starts at 500ms into the Parry (was 400ms).
• Counterattack Zone Attack now starts at 500ms into the Parry (was 400ms).

Developer Comments: Although there’s a change here, Lawbringer has exactly the same parry rewards as on before. These timing changes are just a consequence of the general Parry changes made above.

Orochi

• Reduced Top Light to 15 damage (from 17).
• Reduced Top Light 2nd Combo Strike to 7 damage (from 15).
• Increased “Wind Gust” to 35 damage (from 25).
• Increased “Riptide Strike” to 40 damage (from 30).

Developer Comments: The Orochi’s Top Light into Top Light Combo damage output is reduced to 22 (from 32), so that it is in line with the rest of the rosters punishes when parrying a Heavy. Orochi is compensated with better damage on the special counter-attack moves.

Shinobi

• Reduced backward movement during Parry Reaction to match other heroes.

Developer Comments: This is so heroes with low range attacks can still connect, such as Warlord’s Top Light.

Shugoki

• Reduced forward movement during parrying to 1m (from 2m), to match other heroes.
• Shugoki used to be able to act 700ms into the 800ms Parry. Now, Shugoki can launch Light, Heavy or Zone Attacks at 600ms, but must wait until 800ms to perform other moves like Dodge, Guard Break or “Demon Embrace”.

Developer’s comments: This means Shugoki can punish a Heavy Parry with a Light into Headbutt, and punish a Light Parry with a Heavy Attack as before. Shugoki no longer needs to switch stance to make this happen (he did before).

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IMPROVEMENTS

BALANCING

Skill-based team balancing is now live!

• After matchmaking completion, a new balancing phase is added to the game before the players join the lobby.
• The teams will now be balanced towards the best composition through the players’ skill rating.
• Note: in this first implementation, the balance is only based on the players’ skill, not their renown (or other parameters).
• This will only affects new game sessions being created. Joining a game in progress or in the end lobby will not go through the team balancing phase.

Developers comment: This is a highly anticipated feature and we’re happy to introduce it to you. It will help greatly to balance the teams composition, improve the fun and quality of the matches. Please note that this is the first version. We are already working on additional team balancing improvements to push the quality even further.

Skirmish

• Skirmish now uses a pulse respawn mechanic.

Developers comment: This means that all dead players will respawn simultaneously every 10 seconds, with a minimum of 3 seconds. This should make it much easier for teams to regroup after losing team fights, which in turn should make the whole game mode fairer. To supplement this change, executions will no longer inflict a respawn duration penalty and will instead give more hard points based on the duration of the execution (Short: 15 pts, Medium: 35pts, Long: 50 pts). This should ultimately create shorter and more intense matches that feel more like what a Skirmish should be.

SPECIAL ORDERS RULE CHANGES

Community Orders

• Community orders rewards will only be given to players participating towards the order’s goal upon completion.
• Example: As a community, perform 10000 executions in Dominion matches. – The player has to execute at least one enemy in a Dominion match while the order is active to receive the rewards.

Developer Comments: In order to encourage everyone to partake in the community orders, we decided to reward only those whose effort directly contribute towards the common goal. This was part of the original intents of the feature and we felt unfair for the players that did not participate in the community order just log in and get the rewards. This mean only players who participated by directly increasing the community order goal during its duration will be eligible for the reward, should it be completed.

All actions taken before or after the completion of the order will not count as participation. All actions taken during the order that do not contribute towards the order’s goal will not count as participation.

FACTION WAR

Strategic Territories

• Strategic Territories are selected faction war territories giving a bonus to the Faction that controls them. The bonus given by the territory depends on its type.
• There are 3 types of Strategic Territories (Mill, Forge, Castle). Each type gives a different bonus and is represented by a specific model on the world map.
• Conquering an enemy Strategic Territory will transfer access to the Bonus to the new controlling Faction.
• At the beginning of each Campaign, each Faction controls an even number of each type of Strategic: 2 Mills, 1 Forge, 1 Castle each. The type & positioning of Strategic Territories will not change during the season.

Mill

• Each Mill controlled by a Faction gives a 5% bonus on the base XP at the end of matches. Base XP includes XP from Hero Actions, Match Completion, and XP Bonus if there’s any. Represented by a Windmill on the map.

Forge

• Each Forge controlled by a Faction increases the Loot Rate of gear by 7% at the end of matches. Represented by a Forge on the map.

Castle

• Each Castle Territory receives 10% more Troops from their controlling Faction. The bonus only applies to manually placed Troops, so Troops assigned by War Banner or by hand between matches. Each Castle Territory is independent and controlling multiple Castles territories does not increase their individual bonuses. Represented by a Faction-Themed Castle on the map.

Developer’s comments: We want to give a new level of strategy to the Faction War by adding Strategic Territories. They give concrete mid and long-term objectives, as well as rewards to player’s participation during the Campaign.

Mills & Forges give access to more resources, whereas Castles give important strategic footholds by making territories easier to defend. This is another step in improving the value and depth of the Faction War.

• [Improvement] Capital territories are now restricted to 1 territory per faction. All previous gain of capital territories are reverted to normal territories. Only remaining capital territory with statue cannot be taken.

Developers comment: Following the addition of the strategic territories, we reverted the capital territories gained with Faction War Season victories to make sure the map stays balanced and fair.

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue that caused Territories to receive Troops from the wrong Faction after a specific Battle resolution.

PROGRESSION UPDATE

New Reputation Levels

• Max reputation level increased from 40 to 50. Each reputation levels come with an outfit as rewards.

Developer Comments: With more people reaching the max reputation and new XP progression, we introduced more levels to bring a new objective to high-level players.

XP Boost

• Players can now trade salvage for XP Boosts. XP Boosts can be used before the match to grant extra XP for the player and their teammates at the end of a match. An XP boost provides a flat value of 250 extra XP for the player and 50 extra XP for every teammates.

Developer Comments: Since the different factions materials have been merged together, the community has been asking for another use of their salvage. We heard the claims and we believe that the XP Boost will not only help you with that but also with a faster progression. This allows players to control their progression; use high-level heroes salvaged gear to fuel low-level heroes progression and adds a social aspect with the shared boost.

• XP boost cost increments with each purchase to a ceiling. The XP boost cost resets every day.
• 1st activation      500 salvage
• 2nd activation     1000 salvage
• 3rd activation     3000 salvage
• 4th activation     8000 salvage
• 5th+ activation   15000 salvage

Developer Comments: We settled on an incremental price to make the XP boost accessible for a multitude of players while safeguarding against excessive usage, which would have created a groove in the player base’s progression speed.

*We want players with a low amount of salv