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Hey all,
Here is my full set of rebalance notes for every single hero in the game, as well as a few general changes that I feel are necessary. A couple of these ideas I've seen from others, but I'll keep them in just because the added attention can be beneficial. If you haven't assumed already, this is going to be a VERY long post, so bear with it if you're interested in hearing what I've got for you. I welcome every bit of feedback, positive and negative. Just don't be unnecessarily critical.
GENERAL CHANGES
- Less time for input delays across the board. This will both make slightly more lag-present connections less frustrating to deal with, and make light-spam intensive characters less reliant on it to deal damage.
- Stamina costs for a majority of the heroes be reduced across the board to make a more aggressive playstyle possible, as certain heroes such as Shugoki will go OOS (out of stamina) with one parried heavy or missed attack.
- As a general note, many changes in this document aim to reduce the reliance on unblockables which guarantee damage, and instead are unblockables that provide utility (such as the stun effect) and chain into combo finishers or begin combos.
- Revenge has a cap of 40% of the full amount during a 1v1 fight. It can only be increased higher than that if a second opponent attacks you, and this time where revenge is able to build higher than 40% is 4 seconds after the moment the second opponent moves a certain distance away from you. If you are attacked by a second opponent while they are outside of this distance (i.e. certain feats or shinobi ranged attacks) the time is reset back to 4 seconds before revenge is capped at 40%. Should you have higher than 40% of your revenge bar upon a second opponent leaving and the timer reaching its 4 second duration, it will slowly decay down to the 40% maximum for 1v1. I am uncertain how the Revenge Attacks feat will affect this. My assumption is that it will raise the cap up to 75% and your attacks will slightly fill your revenge meter. This change is intended to make revenge more of a defensive tool than an offensive one. Nothing is worse than fighting in a 1v1 and having your opponent gain his revenge just as he is about to die and forcing you to play around his revenge activation. Capping the amount of revenge able to be gained in a 1v1 prevents it from being used altogether in 1v1 fights, but doesn’t handicap you should another opponent join the fight, as you will then gain revenge faster.
SHUGOKI
- More chains, with all heavies in chains being able to be fully charged to become unblockable.
- Replace passive hyper armor with a “stronger” hyper armor on all heavies. This hyper armor (shortened to HA) is completely uninterrupted even by unblockable moves such as centurion’s kick, Shinobi’s kick, Highlander’s kick, etc.
- Headbutt is now a “chain replacement” move (shortened to CR) for the second hit in all his chains. This move replaces the second hit in a 3 hit chain with the current version of the headbutt which stuns the opponent and drains a considerable amount of stamina and is directly chainable into either a light finisher (new combo) or a heavy finisher (which can be held for unblockable). This move can be charged for a heavier headbutt. The uncharged version doesn't move the opponent much or drain a ton of stamina, and is guaranteed on light and heavy hits. The fully charged headbutt is only guaranteed on a partially charged heavy hit, but drains a lot of stamina, can wallsplat as well as ledge, and still can combo into a finisher.
- Replace Demon’s Embrace (hug) with a “body slam” move. This winds up slightly faster than the hug, is uninterruptible until contact or a miss, and knocks down all allied and enemy heroes in his path. If he lands the move, it deals 20 damage to the opponent and fully drains their stamina. If he misses, he loses his uninterruptible property and loses all of his stamina.
- No bonus damage taken without HA, since his passive HA is gone.
LAWBRINGER
- Heavy damage increased across the board, with side heavies doing 35 damage and top heavies doing 40 damage.
- Parry counter which grabs the opponent’s face and slams them into the ground, dealing 8 damage, stunning the target, and dealing stamina damage. This is considered a “soft” crowd control (referred to as CC) and is interrupted by both allies and enemy attacks, similar to Shaman’s bite attack.
- Long arm is now feintable, but no longer tracks sideways dodges.
- Shove on block and dodge-shove is removed. Instead, shove functions as a CR for the second hit in any combo which causes a short stun effect, drains a small amount of stamina, and can be chained directly into any finisher.
- Heavy finishers are ALL unblockable.
- Top heavy unblockable finishers can be soft feinted into an uninterruptible zone attack (preferably using the old “make way” animation. It was way cooler.
- Side heavy unblockable finishers can be soft feinted into a top heavy unblockable finisher (which cannot be soft feinted but can be regular feinted).
- A slow dodge attack (similar to Jiang Jun but without superior dodge property) which is considered a heavy and can be soft feinted into a shove which can be directly chained into a finisher.
- Chains are slightly faster
- Heavy openers have HA
WARLORD
- Parry counter which grapples the opponent to the ground (similar to my proposed Lawbringer parry counter) but which does no damage and is considered a “hard” CC, which is not interrupted by ally or enemy attacks. During this time, both the Warlord and the target take 50% damage from all sources.
- Crashing charge now requires more sprinting time and no longer guarantees the full headsplitter leap combo if they are OOS. Instead, the target has HA as he is standing up after being hit by the initial strike of the leap and is able to dodge the headbutt.
- The side heavy out of the All block stance is now undodgeable (if it isn’t already). When used directly upon blocking an attack, this move becomes unblockable and deals 5-10 bonus damage.
- Gains all 2 hit chains and some 3 hit chains. Hyper armor on heavies kicks in 100ms faster.
- Slow dodge attacks that begin chains.
- Headbutt is now a chain starter rather than just guaranteeing the weak light attack, but it causes the stun effect for a short time.
- All block stance can be used to cancel any heavy, similar to Conquerer.
PEACEKEEPER
- Damage can either stay the same or slightly be buffed, depending on how strong you believe these changes are
- Dodge attacks can be held slightly for different parry timings, and they begin chains.
- More 3 hit chains
- The bleed stab cancels don’t end chains and can be used from any heavy attack in chains
- Bleed stab cancels can be done from any direction
- Slight damage increase on bleed stabs
OROCHI
- Light finishers are no longer interrupted by block (includes the light after a heavy or storm rush) meaning it can be chained into a dodge to continue the combo
- Side heavies to mor damage than top, are slower than top, but can be cancelled with a dodge (similar to berserker)
- More changes definitely should be made to increase his ability to open up opponents without the excessive use of light attacks.
WARDEN
- Shoulder bash no longer tracks as effectively, can’t be held for as long but hyper armor kicks in faster. This change is intended to make is more of a “read” to dodge it as in its current state, the shoulder bash can be used to take a hit and slam them for 40 damage top heavy or cancel it whenever.
- Shoulder bash can no longer be cancelled after a certain amount of time. This change prevents Wardens from using shoulder bash excessively and abusing the safety of the move if they see an opponent who is going to punish them.
- Heavies can be soft feinted into guard break
- Dodge attack that functions like Highlander’s spin from Celtic Curse, begins chains as a heavy
- All basic 2 hit chains with one or two 3 hit chains
- Parry counter that drains a moderate amount of stamina and knocks the opponent down if they are drained into OOS. Guarantees side lights normally, animation suggestion is a slam with the sword’s hilt into the face.
RAIDER (LEGENDARY)
- Side dodge attacks can be either the top stunning tap, or a side light which is undodgeable and both start chains.
- Zone can be soft feinted into top light stunning tap OR a top heavy
- Parry counter which is a short stampeding charge (as if you guard broke them and ran with them for maybe 1-1.5 seconds). Functions normally as if you got a guard break and did the charge.
- Stampeding charge is not interrupted by enemy attacks, but not ally attacks.
- Heavy finishers are now unblockable
- Light finishers and their recoveries can be cancelled with a dodge.
KENSEI
-I honestly believe that Kensei is in a fairly good spot right now balance-wise. In comparison to the Wu Lin heroes, he may need just a TINY bit more, but we’ll see.
CONQUERER
- Shield bash must be initiated later during a dodge, but its speed is the same. This change is to prevent the immediate startup of the forward dodge shield bash, which is very difficult to react to reliably.
- Timing on the heavy soft feinted shield uppercut is adjusted to allow for an opponent to punish the move if they dodge it properly. Punish could either be a guard break or a light.
- Combo heavies can be held and charged
- Holding a charged heavy can be cancelled with a dodge (these have superior block as usual)
- Charged heavies are uninterruptible and unblockable and do more damage (40?)
- These changes generally make shield bash a less viable option and the rest of his moveset stronger. This is intended to make conquerer the “heavy hitter” he was designed to be: focusing on relentless quick lights and infinite chained heavies which can, at any moment be held for an uninterrupible, unblockable, soft-feintable heavy. Will this make him significantly stronger? Maybe. But I’m willing to make him better than necessary to avoid the shield bash spam meta that this character is known for.
VALKYRIE
-For the most part, she’s in an OK spot. Not as good as Kensei, as her mixups all rely on her shield crush. I personally am not very skilled with Valkyrie so someone else may have better suggestions than myself.
NOBUSHI
- Hidden stance is now vulnerable to guard break, similar to Jiang Jun’s Sifu’s stance. Currently, Hidden stance is an unbelievably powerful defensive tool. My goal is to make it have some form of counter play, as currently many characters do not have access to undodgeable attacks which counter the move.
- Hidden stance does not need to be held as long to use an attack, but does have a time limit on how long it can be held. This change is meant to make it more of a reactionary tool. By speeding up the ability to attack or use the kick out of hidden stance, it is slightly harder to react to.
- More chains, and combo lights from different directions are slightly faster.
- The block>back dodge recovery can be cancelled by hidden stance or chained directly into a zone.
- Zone attack’s recovery can be cancelled by hidden stance if the second hit is feinted.
- Zone attack’s second hit requires an additional input but the bleed hit can be initiated from any direction
- Dodge heavies have superior dodge property on startup
- Dodge heavy combos into kick faster
GLADIATOR
- Zone is no longer cancellable if the first punch misses
- Dodge lights are no longer interrupted by block
- Dodge lights and sucker punches can be immediately chained into skewer or toe stab
- Skewer can be soft feinted into a side heavy finisher
- Toe stab no longer makes the target back up for as long, and provides them HA from other unblockable moves that move the target around during its duration and slightly after. This change is intended to prevent two Gladiators or a Gladiator and another character from chaining toe stabs together by timing them properly, completely preventing the opponent from having an opportunity to act.
BERSERKER
- I think he needs to not gain HA on his feint into lights. Having the feinted lights be faster than normal is already making it more difficult to defend against, giving it HA is a bit much in my personal opinion.
- He could have another deflect option other than a guard break, as it makes him seem a bit stale in comparison to other assassins when it comes to deflects. It may be one of the best deflects, but I don't know how it fits his character as opposed to a huge slash or something.
- With the changes to delay inputs, Berserker would be a little less difficult to fight against. Because the main method of punishing him is to parry his lights, it will never be easy. However, he is still a fairly strong character especially because of his recoveries being cancellable into dodge.
SHINOBI
- More chains involving the ranged attacks
- Parrying ranged heavies no longer throws the shinobi to the ground in front of where he is, and now pulls him roughly half the distance toward you and makes him have the same vulnerability as a light parry. This change is to incentivize use of the ranged attacks, as he is the only one who has them and should flow in and out of range in order to make the most use out of them rather than making them heavily telegraphed and easily punished.
- Sprinting kick no longer guarantees any damage from the Shinobi and does not affect targets in revenge.
- The heavy finisher CC (that causes large damage and bleeds) is now interruptible by both allies and enemies. This change is to normalize Shinobi with Shaman, whose major CC move is interrupted by both allies and enemies. Giving a hard CC to an assassin just doesn’t feel right to me.
- Kick can be used directly after backflip to catch forward dodges
- Ranged attacks can be feinted but cost large amounts of stamina
- Ranged guard breaks now actually give you a guard break indicator on screen if used while not locked on to the Shinobi. Currently, if you are targeting someone and the Shinobi is throwing a ranged guard break at you, there is no indicator for it. This change will flash a guard break indicator in the direction the Shinobi is.
CENTURION
- Charged heavies can now be soft feinted into a quick punch which guarantees a light if it lands, stuns the target for a short time, drains a bit of stamina, and can wallsplat. This ability resets chains if used in the middle of a chain or begins a new chain if it’s from an opener. He is also still able to soft feint into a guard break. This change is intended to force Centurions to play more aggressively. Currently, Centurion is extremely difficult to parry because he has multiple safe options from his heavy openers but nothing to open an opponent up besides catching a guard break attempt. Allowing him to go into a jab from the charging heavy gives him an option for opening up opponents but also allows for some measure of counter play as an opponent can dodge the jab for a small bit of damage if they are faster or predict it, or parry an attempted follow-up.
- More 3 hit chains, with any of the heavies being able to be charged into becoming unblockable.
- Unblockable heavies can be feinted even after the unblockable part begins, but CANNOT be soft feinted into a guard break or the jab.
ARAMUSHA
- Any attack can be cancelled by Blade Blockade.
- Blade Blockade’s stunning tap is replaced with a quick bleed stab that begins chains.
- Heavy finishers need a slight increase in damage (5?) to compensate for the increase in damage given to his normal side heavies in the recent patch.
- Forward dash side heavies are undodgeable
- Side dodge attacks (both Light and Heavy) that begin chains, the lights are undodgeable and the heavies are MUCH slower (like 800ms) but have HA.
SHAMAN
- Headbutt and bite can still be held before release, but cannot be feinted if any forward movement begins. This is to prevent Shaman from playing the feint game so heavily on a bleeding opponent, as the tracking is still just good enough to force a reaction. Making it more difficult to do so adds a bit more strategy to the character than just getting a free bite from any reaction.
- Headbutt, bite, and leaping heavy are no longer guaranteed after a throw. This is silly that she can guarantee both a long distance throw and an attack just for getting a guard break.
- Side dodge attacks now use the light attack input and are considered light attacks for parry purposes. With the amount of I-frames (frames in which the character cannot be harmed by normal means) on her dodge attacks, and the speed, I believe they should be considered light attacks.
- Leaping heavies and sprinting heavies should have their tracking and range reduced slightly. Currently the Shaman can attack someone VERY quickly from off screen. This change is intended to make it slightly more difficult for shaman to do so, but not necessarily hinder her already powerful ability to chase down targets.
- Heavy finishers can now be cancelled directly with a dodge of any kind.
Wu Lin heroes are for the most part very strong in comparison to the original cast, but I do not think they need a rework. I think they need slight adjustments to make them slightly less overpowering and frustrating to fight against.
TIANDI
- Dodge lights are no longer undodgeable. With the strength of his moveset, I do not believe he requires undodgeable attacks which are 400ms. Removing the undodgeable quality means that if you predict it, you can punish him for the attempt.
- The throwback kick has a longer recovery. This allows a player who reacts properly to the kick the opportunity to get a free guard break. Because Tiandi can cancel the kick, I believe the move should have some level of risk for anyone regardless of whether or not they have dodge attacks.
SHAOLIN
- His dodge heavies should not be undodgeable unless they are used for Qi stance. Same situation as Tiandi, I think his moveset is strong and fast enough and needs to revolve more around the Qi stance rather than simply being able to shut down a target from any sort of reliable defense.
- His kick from Qi stance needs to be 400ms rather than whatever it currently is. The move is extremely fast and in its current state you MUST predict the move, making it close to a 50/50 when you consider Shaolin’s other options out of Qi stance. Making it slightly more reactable may give defenders a better opportunity for punishes. If you choose not to do this, make his recovery much longer on a missed kick, allowing a free guard break. Make it a high risk move that is very fast if you really want to keep it that fast.
JIANG JUN
- First off, fix the parry indicators on his heavy attacks. They are currently not synced properly with his animations and can be very confusing. You are already aware of this and so is everyone else.
- Combo lights after a missed attack need to be 500ms rather than 400ms. My personal opinion is that making more characters have 400ms attacks is not a good way to balance the game. The less of them, the better. Players on console already have problems with these, and on PC it isn’t way too much better.
- The parry counter choke should drain a bit less stamina. Being OOS against a Jiang Jun is unbelievably punishing. Being parried already drains a significant amount of stamina, but this choke almost guarantees that the target will be thrown to the ground OOS for a massive punish.
NUXIA
- Traps that miss can no longer be followed up by a light. This is intended to increase the amount of risk that is taken by attempting a trap.
- Heavies are 100ms faster. This is to increase the strength of the move by giving the opponent less time to react to whether or not the heavy will be a trap.
- Make her deflect unblockable. Currently it is able to be blocked even if she deflects you. This should never be the case and I’m sure you and everyone else is aware of it.
- Feat related – Caltrops damage should be reduced. For a tier 2 or 1 feat (whichever it is) it has an unbelieveably short cooldown and does massive damage to anyone who stands in it for more than a second.
UI CHANGES
- Allow us to use the menu during the opening of a round or match. This used to be an option but now it is gone for whatever reason.
- Change the location of where the player updates (i.e. X player has left the match) are so that they do not block the text chat window.
- Fix the disappearing chat window, if possible. This has been a common issue for quite a long time and I hope it is fixed.
PERK CHANGES
- I know that the perk system has been received fairly poorly due to a lack of impact on matches and it doesn’t represent a great form of character progression.
- Make ALL perks be available to ALL heroes and you can spend salvage to “swap” the perks on a specific piece of gear to match what you want. Your character must be the appropriate reputation level to unlock certain perk rarities and swap into them. This is intended to increase the diversity of build possibilities and allows you to generally balance the perks themselves since all characters will have access and your data (#DATA) will allow you to see whether one or more perks are the most impactful or popular.
- NO PERKS SHOULD BE TIED TO YOUR RENOWN LEVEL! This promotes snowballing as a better performing team will receive an even higher advantage from their perks than others.
- Maybe a bit more clarity in the menus regarding how the perk system works, especially to assist newer players. Currently, it is a bit convoluted and more complex looking than necessary. The menu itself could be changed to be a bit more clear on what perks you currently have equipped on all your pieces of gear.
- Many perks themselves need to be reworked, either because they have little to no impact at all, or just aren’t practical. “Crush them” is an example of this, as a blocked attack will drain the 20% damage buff and only increase the damage by a tiny amount as opposed to a fully landed attack.
FEAT CHANGES
- Keep in mind that this list does not encompass anywhere near the entire set that I believe needs an adjustment, it is simply what I have for now.
- Many heroes need their feats tuned up to match the quality of those on newer heroes. This could be because one is basically a better version of another feat (spear storm compared to catapult, especially now after the nerf) or something similar.
- I personally think certain feats could be specific additions or passive/activated improvements to a character’s kit. These could include adding HA to heavies temporarily, increasing block damage temporarily up to 80% of the original damage, causing an opponent who blocks your attack to lose some stamina, making bleed last longer and deal slightly more damage (PK, Nobu, Shaman), etc. There are a ton of options if you wanted to go this route, but they may be much more difficult to balance.
- Certain feats should tie in directly to benefit the character’s existing moveset or expand their options (such as Shaman’s bleeding ax throw, which can be unexpected and give her more aggressive options). This could be something for Lawbringer where all your stun effects from top heavies last twice as long, or something.
And that's what I've got for you today. I greatly appreciate anyone who bothered to read this whole post, and I'm honestly shocked it didn't hit a character limit or something. Let me know what you think about these ideas, as I would love to get input on them.
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