IMPROVEMENT
FIGHTERS
BALANCING CHANGES

Global

• Throw victims are now fully invulnerable to Guard Break for the duration of the throw

Dev comment: Following a data review, we've noticed an inconsistency with throws; the throw victims sometimes became vulnerable to Guard Break during the throw, and while the Guard Break attempts were counterable, this still caused consistency issues and could lead to big damage during ganks. We've thus standardized this; victims of throws are now fully Guard Break invulnerable while they are in the thrown animation.

Orochi

• Storm Rush is no longer Undodgeable when performed from the Right or Left stances

Dev comment: We changed Storm Rush to be Undodgeable from all stances a while ago, and while it has proven to be successful in locking down opponents, it also creates a lot frustration for players. With this change, there is now an extra way to deal with Storm Rush, as well as making it more predictable in how it can be countered.

Varangian Guard

• Chain Link timing from Opener Light attacks to Finisher Light attacks are now 300ms (up from 200ms)
  
• Weapon trajectories have been adjusted to better match weapon visuals.
  
• The following attacks now have smaller weapon trajectories:
  
• Side Light Openers and Finishers
  
• Side Heavy Openers and Finishers
  
• Zone Attack
  
• Side Dodge Lights
  
• Side Heavies in Oathkeeper Stance
  
• Zone Attack in Oathkeeper Stance
  
• The following attacks have been adjusted to hit external opponents in front of the hero:
  
• Top Light Opener and Finisher
  
• Top Heavy Opener and Finisher
  
• Front Dodge Light
  
• Top Heavy in Oathkeeper Stance
  
• Light attacks in Oathkeeper Stance

Dev comment: Varangian Guard has been a source of frustration for players as their attacks tended to hit too far outside of their weapon swings. We've adjusted these so they match the weapon visuals better; they can still hit opponents around you, but should have less range. We've also adjusted a handful of attacks that could not hit opponents Varangian Guard was not locked on to but who were in front of the hero, which also did not match the weapon visuals.

We've also identified an issue where players could not dodge Light Finishers if chained after a Light Opener. We've adjusted this to make the hero follow our standard rules in this regard.

Hitokiri

• Weapon trajectories have been adjusted to better match weapon visuals

The following attacks now have smaller weapon trajectories

• Side Heavy Openers
  
• Side Chained Heavy attacks
  
• Charged Heavy attacks
  
• Zone Attack
  
• Side Dodge Attacks
  
• Running Attack
  
• The following attacks have been adjusted to hit external opponents in front of the hero:
  
• Light Openers
  
• Light Finishers
  
• Front Dodge Heavy

Dev comments: Hitokiri has been overperforming in our data at all skill levels. We're nerfing the hero's weapon trajectories as a first step, as this is a major source of frustration and strength at all skill levels. We're keeping an eye on the hero and will adjust if necessary in the future.

Kyoshin

• The following weapon trajectories have been adjusted to better match weapon visuals
  
• Light Openers and Finishers
  
• Heavy Openers and Finishers
  
• Zone Attack
  
• Running Attack
  
• Zone Attack
  
• Dodge Attacks
  
• Kaze Stance Light, Heavy, and Zone Attack
  
• Forced lateral movement has been removed from Light Openers
  
• Forward Movement on Top Heavy Opener is now more consistent with the forward movement on Side Heavy Openers

Dev comment: After a data review, we noticed that Kyoshin's weapon trajectories did not properly match the weapon visuals, and caused issues with the hero not hitting external opponents in various scenarios where they should. We've adjusted the majority of the hero's attacks so that these situations are minimized.

Lawbringer

• Side Dodge Shove
  
• Now has extra side movement following the direction of the dodge
  
• Now is invulnerable from 100ms to 300ms during the attack

Dev comments: Lawbringer previously did not have iframes during their side dodge Shove attacks; this was done to properly match motion and invulnerability and avoid attacks clipping through the hero too much. We've adjusted the side movement of the attack, and as such the attacks can now have proper iframes at the same timing as other heroes. This is a significant buff to Lawbringer which removes the necessity of delaying Shove during a side dodge to avoid getting hit by attacks.

Conqueror

• Side Dodge Shield Bash
  
• Now has extra side movement following the direction of the dodge
  
• Now is invulnerable from 100ms to 300ms during the attack

Dev comments: Similarly to Lawbringer, Conqueror had the same issue with Shield Bash on side dodges - we've also updated the movement as well as the iframes of the attacks so they are consistent with the rest of the cast.

Sohei

• Soul Tetsubo now feeds the correct amount of revenge

Dev comments: Sohei's Soul Tetsubo had a bug where the attack fed revenge as if it was a Bash attack. We've fixed the issue, and are keeping an eye on the hero as it is currently underperforming.

Ocelotl

• Skull Smash no longer chains on miss

Dev comments: Ocelotl has a unique niche as a "Blender" type of hero, where once their offense gets started, can be difficult to get out of. This presented a unique issue with Skull Smash specifically where the attack was too safe; Ocelotl could chain to a Zone Attack, which has Uninterruptible Stance, when the attack missed, and this skewed the risk/reward ratio too strongly in favor of Ocelotl. We've thus removed the ability to chain on miss entirely, making this strong feintable Bash more commitful in most scenarios.

Aramusha

• Ring the Bell can now be target swapped

Dev comments: Aramusha's ability to use Ring the Bell has been limited in that when facing multiple opponents it was difficult for the hero to mix up their attacks. With this change, the hero can now pressure opponents who he is not locked on to initially and respects our normal target swapping rules.

Shaman

• Wild Cat's Rage, Predator's Hunger and Predator's Mercy are now performed from 100ms to 500ms during Front and Back Dodges (was 200ms to 500ms)

Dev comment: Shaman's Front and Back Dodge attacks were a bit too delayed in their activation, and with this buff should now have more viability.

BUG FIXES

CUSTOMIZATION

[Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where Colors and patterns aren't applied correctly on Black Prior's Fervoris set
[Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where Sohei's Daishi Alternate Chest strips have inconstancy with color application
[Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where the Conqueror's Porete Chest hasn't patterns and symbols centered
[Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where Paint Patterns aren't centered on Warden's Radiavi Chest Standard and Back