Patch Notes 2.53.1 – FOR HONOR

IMPROVEMENT

FIGHTERS

BALANCING CHANGES

Orochi

• Zephyr Slash is no longer enhanced, including on off-target opponents

• Top Heavy Finisher now deals 30 damage (down from 32)

• Side Heavy Finishers now have smaller weapon trajectories to better match their weapon

• Heavy Finishers now have less forward movement

• Chain Link Timing from Dust Devil to Heavy Finishers is now 100ms slower at a minimum

Dev Comment: Orochi has been overperforming at all levels of play. We're addressing some of the most critical issues for the hero at the moment, and will keep an eye on the hero as players adapt to the changes.

We're applying the change we made to Berserker's side dodge attacks to Orochi as well, seeing as the experiment seems to have been successful at knocking down Berserker's effectiveness in group fights.

We're also addressing Orochi's Heavy Finishers, which are some of his strongest points. We're lowering the damage of the Top Heavy Finisher as it tends to overperform and is very easy to access, and we're also lowering the trajectory size of the hero's Side Heavy Finishers as they cover too much ground. On top of these changes, we're also lowering the forward movement these moves have as they tend to cover too much ground and are too strong against external opponents.

Finally, we're slowing down the chain link timing from Dust Devil to Heavy Finishers so that Orochi can no longer get a guaranteed Side Heavy Finisher on opponents when target swapping after a Dust Devil.

We're keeping an eye on Orochi and will see where he ends up to address further issues should they pop up.

Warmonger

• Preying Claw now can be performed from 100ms to 500ms after a Front Dodge (was 300ms to 500ms)

Dev Comment: We've done this change for Warden in the past, and it ended up being very successful with Warden at giving the hero a better way to open up opponents. Warmonger currently has a more difficult time opening up, and we're making this change for the hero so enhance those capabilities.

Lawbringer

• Top Heavy Opener now deals 23 damage (up from 20)

• Zone Attack and Make Way now deal 16 damage (up from 15)

• Impaling Riposte and Impaling Charge now deal 3 damage (up from 1)

Dev Comment: We're adjusting a few of Lawbringer's damage numbers to make the hero more effective in a few situations and to give back utility to some specific punishes. Zone Attack and Make Way dealing 16 damage puts them more in line with other similar attacks, and gives Lawbringer a slightly better Heavy Parry Punish.

The changes to Top Heavy opener and Impaling Riposte specifically are meant to address a situation where Lawbringer would always get less damage by using Impaling Riposte after a Light Parry and getting a wall splat than using Blind Justice. At 26 minimum damage right now this means that Lawbringer is not as disadvantaged when using this option in the kit.

Berserker

• Chain Link timing between Zone Attack and Chained Light attack when buffered is now 266ms (was 100ms)

Dev Comment: Before this change, opponents had a single frame in which to time a parry attempt for the Chained Light attack after a Zone Attack. Now, the window to parry is more in-line with other heroes, and should give players a higher chance to parry the attack.

Varangian

• Throws now wallsplat from 700ms to 1500ms (was 1000ms to 1500ms)

Dev comment: Varangian had an issue where if you were close to a wall, a throw would wallsplat too late and Varangian was not able to get their correct Heavy Attack punish on the opponent. With this change, it should always be guaranteed.

Jiang jun:

• Can now enter Sifu's Poise at the same timing as Dodge is allowed during recoveries on hit

Dev comment: With this change, Jiang Jun can now effectively use Sifu's Poise then use Sifu's Swirl to punish fast bash attempts. This should give the hero better defensive capabilities, especially in 1v1 scenarios.

PHOTO MODE

• Added a Photo Mode in the barracks and in-game

Developer's Comment:* A Photo Mode is now available in the Barracks' Hero Overview and in-game (for solo content only). Photo Mode offers filters, frames and settings to edit the photo before saving it. It also offers, in-game only, two camera modes to move around to take the perfect shot.*

BUG FIXES

GENERAL

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where Feinting on the last possible frame caused a Feint of next inputted attack

FH-1836

FIGHTERS

Berserker

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where Berserker's Moveset Page showed incorrect properties on Head Slicer

Afeera

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where Afeera would sometimes fail to play sounds

CUSTOMIZATION

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue with Hitokiri Body Type 2's Miyoshino Chest laces area

FH-7353

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where paint patterns weren't centered on Warden's Corporis Chest

FH-7323

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where paint patterns weren't centered on Warden's Radiavi Chest

FH-7331

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue with Valkyrie's Pra Chest incorrectly showing the upper part of the Fulla Chest

FH-7284

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where color does not get applied on the upper portion of standards of Kyoshin's Shisei Chest

FH-7529

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue on Gladiator's Acuminis Chest

FH-7288

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue with paint patterns alignment on Lawbringer's Magnanimus Helm

MAP

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where Heroes could go out-of-world on Beachhead map at the wooden ramp to capture zone A

• [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where Heroes could die in Cathedral when running from capture zone C to capture zone B under certain conditions