Balance Notes: Beta v 1.19.4

Balance Changes

Movement We’ve been working on ways to improve the viability of fighting against airborne opponents and rewarding players who play with skill on the ground. This change will speed up grounded play while making it easier to chase down opponents that spend most of their time in the air.

• You move faster on the ground than before and slower in the air,

• Turning in the air is slower.

Unarmed The Unarmed Ground pound: a favorite of aggressive edge guarders everywhere. Its hit box extended far below the animation and it could be recast almost instantly after use, making it incredibly powerful and very safe. Now that other changes are coming in to address wall camping, we felt confident about taming some of the Ground Pound's power.

• AdjustedUnarmed Ground PoundDecreased Hitbox size; Increased Cooldown Time.

Axe A minor tweak to the Axe's air game.

• AdjustedAxe RecoverySlightly increased Time to Hit.

Blasters While the Blaster's winrate is in the right place, its gameplay isn't. Many playstyles are over reliant on the Side Air, partially due to other moves in its kit having more risk than the Side Air. The Side Air has been changed up to be a slower and longer range move that can be more easily under spaced (partly due to the new dodge changes) while the rest of the air game has been adjusted to give better options in its place.

• AdjustedBlasters Side LightDecreased Force Scaling; Increased Stun; Direction of Force is more consistent.
• AdjustedBlasters Side AirMoved shots farther from the user's Hurtbox; Decreased Hitbox Size; Increased Time to Hit; Increased Damage; Decreased Force; Increased Stun Time; Decreased Recover Time on Hit; Increased Recover Time on Miss; Increased Cooldown.
• AdjustedBlasters Down AirSlightly Decreased Time to Hit; Sped up time between shots; Slightly Decreased Recover Time; Slightly decreased Damage; Slightly Increased Stun Time.
• AdjustedBlasters RecoveryIncreased Hitbox size.
• AdjustedBlasters Ground PoundGreatly decreased Recovery Time; Decreased Damage; Increased Force; Decreased Time to Hit; Decreased initial movement speed; Increased Cooldown Time.

Hammer Only minor changes for the Hammer this patch, to make Side Airs a little more punishable.

• AdjustedHammer Side AirIncreased Recover Time; Slightly increased Cooldown Time.

Lance Changes for the lance rework were a tough call this patch. It seemed to land in a decent place in standard play, but has a very high winrate among top-ranked players, likely due to its combo potential and intense rushdown. We'd like to avoid diminishing that aspect for now, so we are only lowing priority for some of its combo starters with long reach.

• AdjustedLance Neutral LightSlightly reduced Hitbox size on first swing.
• AdjustedLance SideSlightly reduced Hitbox sizes; Slightly decreased Hit Window.
• AdjustedLance Air SideDecreased Hitbox size; Slightly increased Cooldown Time; Slightly Decreased Damage.

Katars Lucien says everything is fine. Nothing to see here, move along. Spear Minor changes to increase the window for interrupting Down Light -> Side Air and Side Light -> Side Light if the first attack of either misses. Down Light gets some added Damage in exchange for the extra risk.

• AdjustedSpear Side LightSlightly increased Cooldown time between uses.
• AdjustedSpear Down LightSlightly Increased Recover Time on miss; Slightly increased Damage.

Legend Changes

Asuri Although Asuri is awesome and fun to play, she does