# NEW PATCH, NEW STAGES, TONS OF BALANCE CHANGES #
# RESTART STEAM FOR THE UPDATE IF IT DOESN'T AUTO UPDATE #
## i would like to start this patch by saying most of the character changes are indeed nerfs, but i genuinely don't believe in completely gutting characters or what makes them unique/cool/fun/good. these nerfs just start aligning the characters with my original vision of who they were. not every balance update will be nerfs, i promise. this one is just pretty vital for the enjoyment of actually fighting against the characters and having proper advantage states. try not to think of this as direct hits on your character, because every character is getting hit. instead of "why does pluto hate me" frame your question as "what is it really like to fight against what i'm doing to my opponent?" because if no one wants to fight you....eventually the fighting game will die lol ##
## IMPORTANT, NOT IN THIS PATCH BUT COMING BEFORE THE TOURNAMENT ON SATURDAY##
- bug fix where projectiles cause zero hitstun if you are no longer in the endlag of your projectile attack
- one more very slight rend nerf, to neutral special, making it less spammable in neutral
- burst icon to properly display if players have used their once per stock burst
- win screen animations to properly display who won if the game goes to time
## STAGES ##
- added "castle" stage
- added "yomi" stage ahead of ninja's release, which will hopefully be within 2 weeks
## BUGS ##
- fixed an issue where inputting a jump on lower framerates would also instantly burn your double jump
- fixed jabs becoming an infinite if you held the c-stick in any direction while mashing jab
## GAMEPLAY ##
- you can now "bidou" out of wavedash
- when holding left or right out of landing lag, you will now run instead of walk. looking into doing this during more states as well, but this should help for now.
## EUREKA ##
- eureka is meant to be a rushdown brawler, and her small hitboxes are a great way to minimize her ability to just run over the competition, but her recovery at the moment is just too strong. if you manage to win the ground game against eureka, you should feel rewarded with edguard opportunities. as the eureka, you should feel less comfortable after being hit off stage, which is meant to be a weak point for her. this one nerf edges closer to that ideal design without ruining her combo potential, and i think this is enough for now to make fighting eureka more bearable.
- UP SPECIAL (orb/teleport) limited to 2 uses per air time instead of 4. walljumping returns you to 2 uses. (throwing the orb counts as a use, teleporting counts as a use).
- jab 1 and 2 are now a true combo so players cannot parry between hits (unless the move is stale)
## KNOCKT ##
- knockt mains if you're mad at me for this just know it's not my fault, blame the knockts who ran away and camped and flew away forever and refused to play the game and ran the timer to zero lol. i tried to buff physical tools to balance out the fact that i am gutting his run and hide capabilities
- knockt is absolutely meant to throw projectiles at you. he is always going to throw projectiles at you. however, i want to reduce knockt's ridiculous circle camp potential and the ability to basically win any fight by just controlling space and running away forever. these changes aim to incentivize knockt to interact with opponents more and diminish his absurd stage control. nerfing recovery while buffing consistency of his main physical kill tool (forward air) means maybe every knockt ditto won't go to time.
- UP SPECIAL: (this change might be tuned A LOT over the course of today, so don't freak out if it's too crazy for the first couple of hours) recovery now has a fuel gauge. when the gauge hits zero you will automatically be dropped by the bird. this gauge begins refueling once you've touched the ground, and refuels faster when you hit opponents with physical attacks. this change makes his recovery even more vulnerable (which is where he is meant to be at his weakest), but more importantly, prevents him from spamming up special to essentially get out of every bad situation. using this move outside of its intended recovery purpose is now a calculated risk, because if you're hit off stage without proper refueling, you will have significantly less resources to get back to the stage. up special is now replenished after a wall jump, giving you some more mixups during recovery, but it doesn't replenish the fuel gauge, and you can't wall jump during up special, you have to cancel it or use another special first.
- DOWN SPECIAL (birdbomb) hitbox size reduced while on the ground. it's also no longer centered. it hits higher above the bomb, but not as far down, preventing full control of platforms when the bomb was placed at the center of a platform.
- attached and detached birdbomb hitboxes are now projectiles, meaning you can airdash through them, providing counterplay while the bomb is attatched, but still giving knockt the overall advantage in the situation
- reduce bird lifetime to 3 seconds
- increase bird cooldown to 3 seconds
- forward air: more autolink potential and less frames between hits 1 and 2. both hits should connect more consistently now, and you can quick cancel it off of a short hop, increasing combo potential
- down smash: sends at a more horizontal angle, but has more endlag
- forward smash: reduced endlag
- jab 1 and 2 are now a true combo so players cannot parry between hits (unless the move is stale)
- jab 2 can no longer be DI'd, meaning it will more consistently combo into jab 3
## REND ##
- there are basically no changes to rend's advantage state or combo mechanics. these changes aim to keep rend's massive sword swings as huge threats, but tone them down a little if you miss, preventing players from mindlessly spamming neutral special, neutral air, and back air without the full threat of punishment.
- JAB: set hitstun, and slightly more endlag on whiff, preventing the move from being combo'd into anything other than tilts, as intended
- UP SPECIAL: removed crazy hitbox that killed at like 40% sorry rend mains
- NEUTRAL AIR: whiffed landing lag increased from 10 to 12
- BACK AIR: whiffed landing lag increased from 12 to 14
- FORWARD TILT and DOWN TILT: hitbox size reduction so it no longer reaches as far behind him
- as stated above, i am nerfing neutral special, but i want to get it right and make sure the move is still one of the best moves in the game, while also being less spammable. this change will happen before the tournament.
ninja soon, online update soon with public lobby lists, private lobbies, steam friend lobbies, and better connection / fix for players who can't play online. still working on better binds for training mode on controller, also may have a new collaboration....or two...in the works :))