We know a lot of you are excited about Gauntlets and Golem coming out soon, so we thought we’d distract you with a ton of goodness in this patch! We’ve got a new explosive gamemode called Dodgebomb, the first purchasable KO effect ever, UI support for map striking in custom lobbies, new skins, balance improvements, and bug squashing!

New Skins, and KO Effects!

Party Time KO Effect – Knockouts used to be a cause for celebration. Now they are a celebration.
Shadowstalker Diana – It’s the monsters who should be afraid of the dark.
Supreme Ruler Vraxx – His Galactic Excellency, Eternal Glorious Conqueror, Peerless Great General, Alien of Deeds.

• Knockout Effects category has been added to the store!
• Removed Salute Taunt from the Store (Thank you to everyone who purchased the Salute taunt to support Stack Up!)

New Gamemode – Dodgebomb!

There is only one rule to Dodgebomb: Dodge the bombs. Also we’ve heard that ground pounds have a distinct tactical use in this perilous game of explosions, platforms, and glorious KOs. Good luck have fun!

• Added a mini Game mode “Dodgebomb” to the game.

Map Choosing (stage striking) in Custom Lobbies

Map striking is a standard component of most online tournaments, and now there is official UI support for it in game. In your lobby settings you will now be able to choose what type of map striking to use. We’re looking forward to seeing this used during weekend tournaments and getting your feedback so we can continue to improve this feature!

• Map striking option now available in custom lobbies under ‘Map Choosing’
• Three variants of striking are available
  • Turns Striking – Players alternate striking until one map remains
  • Snake Striking – Players alternate banning maps until one map remains. First pick eliminates 1 map, remaining picks eliminate 2 maps until the final map is selected.
  • Open Striking – Players can determine their own striking method and order during the striking process.
• Spectators now get to watch the map choosing process.

UI Improvements

• Lore button has been moved into the top bar on the main menu
• Bug report has been moved from the main menu screen into the options drop down in the corner menu bar
• Match preview screen will now center all the player previews
• Jhala’s bot name has been changed from “Jhalbot” to “Jhalatron.”
• Diana’s bot name has been changed from “Diborg” to “Diandroid” (credit: Dobrein).
• When viewing the purchase prompt for a Legend, Skin, or Color in the store, the legend now waits for the window to finish opening before playing the select animation.
• Damage Done and Damage Taken are now shown on the podium (damage done only counts non-team/self damage).

Gameplay

• Decreased the window for performing a ledge cancel with a heavy attack by 50% in order to decrease the frequency with which accidental ledge cancels occur when trying to do a quick ground pound off the side of The Great Hall or Twilight Grove. Light attacks are unaffected.

Controller Support

• Fixed PC support for Mayflash Arcade Stick
• PC support for Genius MaxFire G-08XU

Art / Animation

• Tweaked a shoulder in Koji’s character select animation so that it would connect with his arm better in his Tengu skin
• Adjusted swooshes on Sword Neutral to better show when power is not hitting.
• Removed the swoosh on an early frame of the Spear Down Light that was not hitboxed to help clarify when it was hitting better
• Adjusted impact SFX for Bow Down Air and Bow Down Light to better show when power is hitting.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bug causing taunts to not correctly play their animations in the store when changing pages
• Fixed a bug where all bots in custom online games would get set to easy difficulty after the game started, regardless of what difficulty they were set to at the character select screen.
• Fixed a bug where spectating a friend who is spectating returns a privacy error when it shouldn’t.

Balance

Smaller balance patch this week so we can devote more time to getting the Gauntlets ready for launch next week!

Unarmed

The Down Air has become a little too dominant in Unarmed play. While priority stays as strong in the direction of travel, we’ve dialed down how far the Hitboxes extend in other directions to make it require some extra precision.

• Unarmed Down Air: Reduced how far Hitboxes extend above and behind the user to focus threat on the forward leg.

Lance

Lance can get into situations where it relies too heavily on a single air attack. We’ve added a small pause when throwing out Neutral Airs to control space, and have slowed the Down Air’s startup in exchange for some extra stun advantage into the ground kit, especially for lower Dex Legends. We’re also increasing the distance traveled when Dodge Canceling the Down and Neutral Lights, both to incentivise mixing up ground approaches and test whether buffing Dodge Cancel approaches has any noticeable impact on aggressive play.

• Lance Neutral Light: Carries forward momentum farther into the Hit Window when Dodge Canceled.
• Lance Down Light: Carries forward momentum farther into the Hit Window when Dodge Canceled.
• Lance Neutral Air: Increased Recover Time on miss from 7 Fixed 15 Variable to 9 Fixed 15 Variable.
• Lance Down Air: Increased Time to Hit from 11 to 12; On ground hit – Increased Stun Time from 17 to a range between 19 and 18, changed Recover Time from 14 Variable to 9 Fixed.

Blasters

The Down Air receives a small decrease in damage to offset its frequency of string follow ups. The Side Light is getting pushed farther forward to make the ground options more distinct in threat, and is getting some increased Recover Time on miss in exchange for its increased range.

• Blasters Down Air: Decreased Damage from 22 to 19.
• Blasters Side Light: Hitbox moved farther forward but remains the same size; Increased Recover Time on miss from 12 Fixed 7 Variable to 12 Fixed 10 Variable.

Spear

The Spear is pulling slightly ahead of its peers in performance. We’re pulling back on some of the power and safety of its close-range tools to help shape the Spear as a weapon that’s more dangerous at the pointy end.

• Spear Neutral Air: Decreased Damage from 18 to 14.
• Spear Down Light: Increased Recover Time on miss from 1 Fixed 27 Variable to 5 Fixed 26 Variable.

Axe

The Axe’s changes this time are focused on fixing a few cases that feel off when playing against it. The Side Air’s stacked hitboxes have been pulled in slightly to prevent some cases of hitting targets entirely behind it, and a little of the punishing Recover on miss has been shaved off. The way the Recovery was set up before to spike on the final five frames of the Hit Window would often feel random. We’re changing the direction of Force to rely on the target’s positioning, which introduces more opportunity to spike but should make it more intentional. Force on the later frames has also been reduced.

• Axe Side Air: Decreased how far Hitboxes extend inward toward user; Decreased Recover Time on miss from 4 Fixed 29 Variable to 4 Fixed 26 Variable.
• Axe Recovery: Direction of Force is now based on where the target is in relation to the user rather than which frame connects; Decreased Force on the last 5 frames of the Hit Window from a range between 38 and 30 to a range between 34 and 26.

Gnash

Our recent change removing the instant Recover Time on Gnash’s Down Hammer removed some situational uses for the move beyond what was needed for balance. We’ve added back the former time in the event of a hit.

• Gnash Down Hammer: When ending in the air, decreased Recover Time on hit from 14 to 2.

Sir Roland

Roland’s Side Sword is getting a small bump to its short Recover Time.

• Roland Side Sword: Increased Recover Time from 13 to 14.

Sentinel

Sentinel’s Down Hammer has an unusually high Force for a retreat signature, especially one with its long range.

• Sentinel Down Hammer: Decreased Variable Force from 59 to 56; Decreased Fixed Force from 75 to 70.

Teros

Teros’s Side Axe is often a source of frustration for those not familiar with the power behind the attack, so we’ve dialed it down slightly.  

• Teros Side Axe: Decreased Variable Force from 65 to 63.

Orion

Orion’s Side Lance has felt a little too weak for some time now, despite being the longest-range Lance dash. We’ve compressed the duration of the move to reach the higher priority frames sooner and hold them longer, and given a boost of speed toward the end of the charge.

• Orion Side Lance: Reduced Hit Window during charge from 25 to 20; Increased Hit Window of final thrust from 7 to 10; Increase speed from a range between 52 and 69 to a range between 52 and 88.

Drop Fixes

• Fixed some bugs where a multihit power from underneath a soft platform would bounce rather than carrying correctly. Should fix several drop cases including Ulgrim Neutral Axe. (Credit Andaya_)
• Spear Neutral Light: Fixed a case where target could be dropped at high speed in the opposite direction. (Credit TheBleachShadow, Twilightbh)
• Blasters Neutral Light: Fixed some cases where target could be dropped before the final hit. (Credit Ephi)
• Vraxx Side Blasters: Fixed some cases where target could be dropped before the final hit.
• Lucien Side Katars: Fixed some cases where target could be dropped before the final hit.

New Legend Rotation

This week’s rotation features Ada, Jhala, Lucien, Orion, Teros, and Ulgrim!

Ada
Weapons: Blasters & Spear
Stats: 6/7/3/6
Details: http://wiki.brawlhalla.com/w/Ada

Jhala
Weapons: Sword & Axe
Stats: 7/7/3/5
Details: http://wiki.brawlhalla.com/w/jhala

Lucien
Weapons: Katars & Blasters
Stats: 3/5/6/8
Details: http://wiki.brawlhalla.com/w/Lucien

Orion
Weapons: Rocket Lance & Spear
Stats:4/6/6/6
Details: http://wiki.brawlhalla.com/w/Orion

Teros
Weapons: Axe & Hammer
Stats:8/3/6/5
Details: http://wiki.brawlhalla.com/w/Teros

Ulgrim
Weapons: Rocket Lance & Axe
Stats: 6/3/7/6
Details: http://wiki.brawlhalla.com/w/Ulgrim