BALANCING CHANGES  

Anti-Gank Phase 3

In this update, we are adjusting the damage scaling on some hit-stun states and restoring some wall-splat behaviors.

Damage Scaling Adjustment on Hit-Stun States:

• The 2nd hit-stun state now gives 25% damage reduction on attacks from the same Attacker (down from 75%).

(Note: The 2nd hit-stun state on attacks from a different Attacker is unchanged. The 2nd hit-stun state still provides 75% damage reduction.)

The change to the 2nd hit-stun state allows players to perform multiple attacks in a row during a gank without suffering additional damage reduction.

EXAMPLE: if an ally hits the enemy, then Jormungandr lands Jotunn Farewell into Hamarr Slam, Hamarr Slam will now deal 21 damage (25% reduction) instead of 7 damage (75% reduction) even though it follows Jotunn Farewell.

This change also affects the following attack scenarios:

• Attacks that inflict damage both on initial impact and later in the pin treat both components equally by the 2nd hit-stun state.

EXAMPLE: If an ally hits the enemy, and then Ocelotl lands Hunter’s Snare, the impact of Hunter’s Snare will now deal 12 damage instead of 16, and 6 damage during the pin instead of 8 (25% reduction on both attacks instead of 75%).

• Wall-splats do not increment the hit-stun state of the Defender for the purposes of damage calculation.

EXAMPLE: If Lawbringer guardbreaks and throws an enemy into a wall for a wall-splat, then lands Top Heavy into Light Attack Combo, the following happens:

• The throw applies the 1st hit-stun state
• The wall-splat does not increment the hit-stun state
• The Heavy will deal a full 23 damage and apply the 2ndt hit-stun state
• The Light Attack Combo will deal 3 damage instead of 1 (25% reduction instead of 75%)

[Developer’s Comments]

Last year, we overhauled the hit-stun states to ensure combat was fair and rewarded good defensive play.
These changes reduced the damage from certain ganks, reduced the effectiveness of some wall-splats, and also reduced the pace of play beyond what we intended.

Wall-Splat Behaviors

After adjusting the hit-stun state damage scaling, we have restored certain wall-splat behaviors as follows:

• Attacks that can wall-splat will now cause a wall-splat even if the victim was already in 1st hit-stun state.
• 2nd hit-stun state wall-splats will provide 2nd hit-stun state defensive properties:
  • 25% damage reduction from the original Attacker that caused the wall-splat.
  • 75% damage reduction from other Attackers.
  • Additional hits do not cause any hit reaction.

[Developer’s Comments]

We had disabled these wall-splat behaviors in the past because they bypassed the existing hit-stun state rules and allowed for infinite combos.
Now that the hit-stun states have been adjusted, the wall-splat behaviors have been restored to allow players to be more creative with combos.

EXAMPLE: If an ally hits the enemy, then Warden lands a full-charge Shoulder Bash, the victim will now Wall-Stagger (2nd hit-stun). If Warden follows up with Side Light to Double Side Light, the Side Light will deal 10 damage (100%) because the initial wall-splat is not counted for damage reduction, but the Double Side Light will deal 4 damage (25% damage reduction instead of 75% reduction).

Juren

• No Friend of Mine (Tier 2 feat) has been adjusted as follows:
  • Cooldown increased to 90s (up from 60s)
  • Active duration reduced to 20s (down from 30s)
  • Shield duration set to 20s (was infinite)

[Developer’s Comments]
We toned down the feat in multiple areas, because it was too impactful at all levels of play. By shortening the activation time, Juren players will have to be a bit more careful as to when to activate it. We’ve also increased the cooldown and set a duration on the shield to reduce the potential for stalling by ensuring some downtime between activations.

Ocelotl

• Huntsman’s Spirit: Ocelotl is now visible to enemies during this state.

[Developer’s Comments]

Huntsman’s Spirit is designed to give Ocelotl the ability to rejoin the fight at a chosen location. Currently, without being visible, opponents are forced to make a blind guess between holding their ground or leaving to defend another Capture Point.
We want to keep this choice but make it an informed decision to allow for more counter-play, without taking away much from its strengths.

Pirate

• Cavalier Dance / Pistol Blast (all versions): Removed the ability to Dodge Recovery Cancel the hit/miss/block recoveries.

[Developer's Comments]

Cavalier Dance is a strong move: accessible from Dodges and Recovery Cancels; is Unblockable and feintable; and has uninterruptible stance. Being able to Dodge Recovery Cancel into itself gave players little reason to do other attacks in a team fight.
Similarly, we also removed Dodge Recovery Cancel from all versions of Pistol Blast because they can be chained in from Cavalier Dance
By removing the option to Dodge Recovery Cancel these moves, Pirate players will be forced to use other tools in their kits to apply pressure in battle, leading to a more varied and balanced game plan.

Tiandi

• Palm Strike / Dragon Kick: Removed the ability to Dodge Recovery Cancel the hit/miss/block recoveries.

[Developer’s Comments]

Palm Strike is currently too safe to use. By removing its ability to Dodge Recovery Cancel, Tiandi will have to commit to the action more, while still being protected from Dodge > Guardbreak by chaining on a miss. This puts the move more in line with other similar moves.
Dragon Kick is similarly too strong and too safe at the moment. The ability already leads to 20 damage (or ledges) and is feintable and can Dodge Recovery Cancel. It is too strong & too safe at the moment, so we are removing its ability to Dodge Recovery Cancel.

CONTROLLER SUPPORT

• Added support for the PS5 controller on PC.

UI

• Loading Tips: Players can now manually cycle through the loading tips while waiting for their game to finish loading.

BUG FIXES

Balancing

• Afeera: Fixed an issue that allowed Left Heavy Finishers (from Khassaki Kick and Astro Flip Kick) to bypass hit-stun rules in certain contexts.
• Warlord: Fixed an issue that allowed Crashing Shield Charge to bypass hit-stun rules in certain contexts.