HELLO GAMERS
It is now Season 6 so we got a bit of a shakeup to things in the patch notes today.
Along with some pretty big changes aimed at mixing up the meta, we also got a sick new skin for the gamers who reach gold, some new battlepass levels, some new missions with new emotes, and the winners of the community emote contest!! So even MORE emotes!!!!
Today’s balance changes were also brought in part of my randomly selected micropatch volunteer squad: lyarri, Cardsmith, and Wallaby Gangsta. Shouts out to them.
Alright, let us begin!!
SEASON RESET
NEW SEASON! We’re now in Season 6! Crazy how it be like that. It feels like only yesterday it was season 0 and Rune was new. Speaking of new - we got new missions, a new skin, new emotes, all that jazz. I’m a big fan of the Finii skin tbh.
Ranked Rewards:
- Aqua Cannon goal explosion
- (This isn't a seasonal reward btw, this is a forever thing that you'll unlock once you hit challenger any time in the future.)
- If you hit challenger and didn’t get this, make a ticket.
- Top "x" titles
- ex: Top 5, Top 10, Top 25, etc
- Finii Recolor
- “Dark Circus Finii”
- For anyone who reaches Gold!
- An emote for reaching Platinum
- An emote for playing a bunch of games
- 25 Ranked Games to be exact
- New Battlepass Levels
- Also please note that after a certain Battlepass level, you can no longer purchase additional levels with Ody points.
EMOTE CONTEST
I recently held an emote contest and received hundereds of submissions! There were SO MANY good submissions!!! There were also tons of dumb ones……. looking at you who just submitted a 512x512 PNG of my own face. Since there were so many good ones, I had trouble just picking two. SO my compatriot that helps me run @PlayOmega_JP and I picked FIVE winners! (Which I also had trouble picking…)They are:
- Shocked Dubu by エグゾテックOTP
- Homerun Mako by zelfeani
- Heh Finii by SpaceZino5
- Smug Juno by WhyOwhat
- Finii Wheeze by Grey Edge
Yeah I picked 2 Finii so what shut up
I’ll be giving out codes to the creators so they can use them and give them out to their friends first, but the emotes will be made availiable by redemption code shortly.
Unfortunately, due to a bug, they won’t be displayed on consoles. If someone on console uses it or sees it, it will just display the default thumbs up. Sorry about that, but we are looking into it!
MAP ROTATION
I’ve been doing weekly map rotations (Monday map madness) and posting them in the Discord. Because of that, no map rotations in patch notes this time.
STRIKERS
We made a big pass at a lot of Strikers. Some big changes and even a couple “fundamental” shifts for some Strikers in particular. There are a couple big swings at stuff here so I’ll be monitoring it closely and will swiftly make some adjustments if something becomes too insane one way or the other.
Asher
Asher has been a staple of competitive play for eons. She holds it down, drags you out of the arena like a crying baby, checkmates like no other, and her secondary even files your taxes. This should tone down more unhealthy aspects of her kit and cement her identity as a lockdown beast.
- Base Stats
- Power :: 115 → 110
- Barrier Beam [PRIMARY]
- Self slow :: 30% → 60%
- Breakthrough [SECONDARY]
- Knockback Reduction :: 30% → 0%
- Buff Duration :: 5s → 2.5s
- Cooldown: 14.5s → 13.5s
Atlas
Atlas, as an astral being, is all about spacing minigames… so let him participate in them! He's not a basketball version of a Blue Lock AI, he should be an ACTIVE participant.
- Astral Projection [PRIMARY]
- Lifetime :: .7 → .6 (Effective range :: 480 → 420)
Drek'ar
Drek'ar is losing some awakenings in this patch. He’s already a bit of a menace in solo queue so we’re being a little cautious. His ability to threaten molten bolt snipes is also being buffed while keeping the damage the same overall if you're spamming the button off cooldown.
- Molten Bolt [SPECIAL]
- Cooldown :: 35s → 30s
- Damage per tick :: 20 → 17
- Power ratio per tick :: 10% → 8.5%
Era
The era of Era has been gone for a long time. She still sees some niche play, but this adjustment should make her beams more consistent and allow her to win more interactions in high speed games. She can become rather bewitching quickly, and this change is somewhat experimental, so I’ll be keeping an eye on her to make sure she's not flying too far past the other speedy midfielders.
- Bewitching Beam [PRIMARY]
- Pre-cast lockout time :: 0.4 → 0.2s
Estelle
Blink lasering, known to some as the ‘quangle’, is a little too easy and rewarding and Estelle’s flex potential in all three roles is quite high. This little touch should reduce her flexibility a bit without impacting her midfield power fantasy of finding the perfect stunning snipe.
- Rose Warp [SECONDARY]
- Damage and Knockback :: 140 → 120
Finii
Finii is already quite good. A small nerf on the lowest cooldown secondary in the game should ensure she's not too overwhelming in the context of the other goalie changes happening while still letting her get up to some mischief.
- Triple Take [SECONDARY]
- Cooldown :: 10s → 11s
Juliette
Juliette trained to be the best, but has been behind the pack for a while. Juliette ult is a cool scoring tool. It also does a lot of damage, so this is just a cautious approach.
- Flame Flurry [SPECIAL]
- Cooldown :: 35s → 30s
Juno
Some of Juno’s most important awakenings are leaving this patch, but her primary is one of the strongest buttons in the game, especially with the readdtion of hotshot. A small lovetap should make sure she isn't overwhelming.
- Friend Fling [PRIMARY]
- Cooldown :: 7s → 7.5s
Kazan
Trying not to get carried away, but Kazan was one of the worst performing brawlers. A little nudge up on a less hard to balance button.
- Carried Away [OPEN SECONDARY]
- Cooldown :: 16s → 15s
Luna
Luna can kill you from across the continent. We like her damage, but she was getting a little too quirked up with inventing some crazy kill confirms.
- W.H.A.M.M.Y. [PRIMARY]
- PVP Knockback :: 220 → 200
- B.O.O.S.T.
- PVP Knockback :: 200 → 165
Mako
Mako has an insane tempo. She has probably the best secondary in the game so the cooldown should match. She'll also be easier to hit when she has multiple dash awakenings, as well as being less overwhelming when you can't stop the beat.
- Drum and Base [SECONDARY]
- Cooldown :: 18s → 21s
- Self Slow :: 52.5% → 70%
- Max hold duration :: 4s → 3.5s
Nao
Nao has historically been strong at high levels of play but underperforms at lower levels. This is an experimental change aimed at making her less oppressive with a shot at making it easier to balance her at all levels.
- Sentry Drone [PRIMARY]
- Precast channel time :: 0s → 0.2s
- Proximity Drone [SECONDARY]
- Haste :: 50% → 30%
Octavia
Evading Octavia primary should be a great counterplay to keeping her flow state up. We wanna keep you in the flow but reduce her potential to keep you boomed.
- Sonic Boom [PRIMARY]
- Cooldown :: 7.5s → 10s
Rasmus
As captivating as his plays are, Rasmus is doing just a little too much damage while twirling his hook around. These changes are geared towards lowering his ability to KO without any damage awakenings. This change, like Nao and Era, is somewhat experimental as well so I will be monitoring it!
- Pendulum Swing [PRIMARY]
- Damage / Knockback :: 185 → 165
- Whiplash [SECONDARY]
- Damage / Knockback :: 160 → 120
- Death Touch [SPECIAL]
- Projectile to Creation change time ratio :: .085 → 0.95
- Deceleration per second :: 4.5 → 4.75
- (This means it will become a creation a little bit later after being thrown compared to before)
Rune
BANISH! but now 6 seconds less often! Rune is pretty good, but his main abilities are in a good place. This should help hit some of the less interactive interactions Rune enables (looking at you Vyce and Luna).
- Banish [SPECIAL]
- Cooldown :: 34s → 40s
Vyce
Vyce goalie? Pretty bad. Vyce midfield? Pretty solid. We’re interested to see where she lands after the awakening rotation, but we wanted to give more playmaking opportunities to the heavy metal Oni. We also had some AC/DC fans on the team.
- Thunderstruck [SECONDARY]
- Cooldown :: 13s → 11.5s
- Super Nova [SPECIAL]
- Knockback / Damage 160 → 155
X
X went a bit eXcessive on the energy drinks and had to take a break from the gym. This works out for us since he was looking to be a bit too strong (don’t tell him we said that). We also told him to hold back a little in the late game due to outrage from the media (have you seen what he did to that Dubu?!?!)
- Base Stats
- Power :: 120 → 115
- Bull Rush [SECONDARY]
- Power scaling :: 95% → 85%
AWAKENINGS
Our goal to shake up the meta remains true here, but we also had a sub-quest. Down with the almighty Cooldown Reduction! Like speed a few patches ago, cooldown reduction has remained a domineering stat and can feel extremely oppressive to play against. HOWEVER, I also recognize that spamming your skills all the time is simply FUN AS HELL. The power fantasy of “lots of buttons” shouldn’t disappear but players should have to be just a little bit more mindful about using a skill.
- Rotated out:
- Spark of Resilience
- Stagger Swagger
- Reverberation
- Rapid Fire
- Siege Machine
- Rotated in:
- Spark of Leadership [Nerfed]
- Reptile Remedy [Nerfed]
- Bulk Up
- Team Player [Nerfed]
- Hotshot [Nerfed]
Big Fish
Size and winning continues to be a bit too dynamic of a duo. Toning this down also matches the other size awakenings, so we’re hitting two birds with one fish.
- Gain 27.5% → 22.5% Size and 175 max Stagger.
Deadeye
Not too long ago the “eye” requirement was reduced and Deadeye became a little too strong. We’re now reducing the “dead” part a bit to match.
- Hit 32.5% → 25% harder (6.5% to Core) against enemies at 525+ range.
Explosive Entrance
Easily the weakest of the dash awakenings, we’re trying to help Explosive Entrance out a little bit. Something something more explosive idk
- DASH range, BLINK range, and HASTE effects increased 70%. Your IMPACT abilities hit 13% → 15% harder (3.25% on Core).
Fight or Flight
FoF was just a little bit too oppresive to play against in most situations. So it’s getting toned down.
- Gain 15% → 12.5% Speed for 1.25s whenever you hit something or get hit. Refresh your SECONDARY ability whenever you stagger an enemy or become staggered.
Heavy Impact
The impacy of Heavy Impact was a bit too heavy. So we made it lighter! Also reduced CDR on the ability. If you are not really sure why, that’s because you didn’t read the top part so go back and read that.
- IMPACT abilities hit 20% → 15% harder (4% on Core). Whenever you hit 2 or more targets with a single ability, its cooldown is reduced by 30% → 22.5% (up to 3s → 2.25s).
Hotshot
“Ow ow ow ow” - das me touchin hotshot cause it was so hot.
- Striker abilities hit the Core 13% → 10% harder and refund 32.5% → 25% of the ability's cooldown (once per cast, max 3.25s → 2.5s)
Might of the Colossus
POV: I’m a midfielder and have the first pick. The enemy X has two size awakenings and I see Might of the Colossus. Guess I have to pick this to deny X from going insaneo mode. Denying this awakening sucks, but it’s the main one to deny from size builds. We’re increasing the size marginally to make it feel slightly better.
- Gain 12.5% → 15% Size and 0.60 Power per 1% bonus Size.
One-Two Punch
This should allow for a bit more counterplay without taking away any of that precious damage that we know and love.
- Hit 23% harder (12% to Core) against targets you've hit within 2s → 1.5s.
Reptile Remedy
Not a very “exciting” awakening, but Reptile Remedy had it’s place among the more potent awakenings. This should bring it down a tiny little bit.
- Gain 400 Stagger and heal 5% → 4% missing Stagger per second for 4 seconds whenever you strike the core.
Spark of Focus
HOLD UP IS THAT CDR IN MY GOOD CHRISTIAN ANTI-CDR PATCH?
- Gain 4 → 5 Cooldown Rate, plus 12 → 9 per SPARK you have.
Spark of Leadership
A historically divisive training, Spark of Leadership is back! Yay! Except it’s replacing another spark so it doesn’t hit that overbearing “Exodia” feel, despite being buffed itself.
- SPARK - Your Allies gain 30% -> 25% of your SPARK effects. Gain 4 → 6 Cooldown Rate, 120 → 130 Stagger, 6 → 8 Power, and 1% → 2% Speed.
Specialized Training
Are you a midfielder? Have you been removed from the map with eXcessive force recently? If yes, then this one’s for you!
- SPECIAL hits 40% → 35% harder (8% to Core) and heals 40% → 35% more.
Stacks on Stacks
A lot of us love going fast, me included, so we’re not removing that top speed. We’re just toning down the acceleration a little bit.
- Hits grant 5 → 4 stacks of Speed (0.07% per stack, 10.5% Speed at Max Stacks, 2 stacks for LIGHT hits). At 150 stacks, double the Speed per stack (21% Speed). Stacks reset when K.O.'d and between sets.
Stinger
IS THAT…. A STINGER BUFF?? SOUND THE ALARMS! Anyways yeah we buffed Stinger. It has been really bad for a while. In EVERY tier.
- Normal hits deal bonus damage equal to 9% → 11% (Light hits 3%) of enemies' max Stagger over 4s → 3.5s.
Team Player
I am a longtime Team Player enjoyer but I will be the first to acknowledge that it can be a little annoying to try to counter, especially when stuff gets movin real fast.
- Strikes hit the core 20% → 15% harder when aiming towards an ally. If that Ally strikes the core within 1.5 second(s) they will hit the core 22.5% → 12.5% harder, if they strike towards an Ally they can transfer this buff.
Timeless Creator
Timeless Creator doesn’t only increase the duration of Creations, but it also seems to increase the duration of games!!!!!!
- CREATIONS gain 70% → 60% duration and 35% size.
GEAR
Magnetized Soles
Mag Soles is still pretty good in every situation. Some slight tuning should get it closer to evening out the power level with Slicks.
- Crossing Midfield grants 21% → 20% Speed for 1.25s.
Momentum Boots
Momentum Boots has been bad for a while and goalies are role swapping in droves. Come back goalies! Look, a gift! We promise you don’t have to keep going strike shot!
- Gain 5% Speed plus up to 10% → 15% over 8s → 12s (1.25% Movement Speed per Stack). Getting hit resets the added effect.