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Rivals Esports – Challengers Approaching at G6

The Rivals Championship Series finals are approaching fast at Genesis 6! Tune in from Frebruary 1st – 3rd to see the best players from around the world go head to head over 3 days of competition. With the title of the Season 3 Champion and over $12,000 on the line, this event is a must see for Rivals fans.

If you’d like to join these players (and many more) there’s still time to sign up. Register or find out more about the event at smash.gg/G6

Patch 1.4.5 – A Very Turbo Christmas

With only a few days left until Christmas, we decided to give everyone an early gift this patch. Along with some gameplay and balance changes we’re introducing a brand new way to play – Turbo Mode. Read on to find out more about our last update in 2018.

Turbo Mode

Turbo Mode is a fun new gameplay type you can choose to enable locally or online. Once you activate Turbo Mode, each Rival becomes super charged and gains the ability to cancel any hit into another action.

While this change may seem simple, it opens up a wild world of of creative and fast-paced gameplay:

We can’t wait to see what you come up with, so make sure you help us find your best clips by sharing them with the tag #RivalsOfAether.

  • TURBO MODE ADDED!
      • Turbo allows characters to cancel any attack into any other action on hit.
      • In Turbo Mode:
        • SDI distance increases by 1 pixel each time you get hit.
        • SDI distance bonus resets after 30 frames of not being hit.
        • After 10 consecutive hits, all SDI multipliers less than x1 will be ignored (such as Absa Fstrong multihits) and SDI will function as if you’re aerial, allowing you to SDI off the ground.
  • DI Lines now work in frame advance and replays for all controller types and CPUs.
  • CPU SDI option added in training mode.
  • Input Display now available in training and replay modes.
  • Dev Mode updated to version 0.4 because of new hitbox properties.

  • Up Special multihits SDI multiplier decreased from x1 > x0.5.
  • Up Special multihits hitstun modifier increased from 1.5 > 2.0.
  • Up Special no longer has 1 less frame of flinch state.

  • Bug Fix: Down Special spikes no longer move double speed on moving platforms.
  • Bug Fix: Kragg will no longer have his vertical momentum halted by Spirit Flame after using Forward Special.
  • Window for Aerial Down Special to transition into grounded Down Special on landing: 12 > 8 (Makes doing the grounded headbutt a little easier)

With Maypul, we wanted to address her campy options by allowing parrying projectiles to remove the Watcher’s Mark. We also took a hard look at the Up Special platform cancels and made it a more intended feature. We updated the Non Tether Up Special to have two hitboxes allowing us to keep the cool cancels while controlling the knockback so we can make it more of a read than a guaranteed tool.

  • Parrying ANY move now removes Watcher’s Mark.
  • Up Special can no longer be platform-cancelled during hitpause.
  • Wrapping an opponent with a strong attack starts a 3 frame lockout where they can’t be wrapped again. The lockout timer doesn’t start counting down until they break free from the wrap.
  • Update: Non Tether Up Special now has a 1 frame hitbox before the rising hitbox that has less scaling than the rising hit. Uspecial can only be cancelled between the 2 hits. Side effects:
    • Uspecial total damage: 8 > 10
    • Uspecial startup: 10 > 9
    • Uspecial hitpause increased
      Up Special cancel into Up Air was a guaranteed combo that required no reaction/prediction to the opponent’s DI. Now it still combos, but you must react/predict the opponent’s DI if they mix it up between fully left/right.
  • Bug Fix: Down Air’s root no longer moves double speed on moving platforms.
  • Bug Fix: Down Air hurtbox fixed.

  • Absa no longer receives a boost when using Neutral Special in Clairen’s Plasma Field.

  • Up Air SDI modifier decreased from 1.0 > 0.0.
  • Bug Fix: Down Air SFX corrected.

With Ranno, we wanted to make some Quality of Life changes while redistributing power from his kit. Ranno has some awesome attacks but in the air, Neutral Air and Back Air overshine the others. We are buffing Up Air and Down Air while removing some power from Neutral Air and Back Air to make his potential combo trees more varied. We are also making Forward Tilt and Up Tilt more reliable.

  • Forward Tilt 1 now has 6 frames of “Extra Hitpause” which is Hitpause that extends after the attacker’s hitpause is over. This should allow it to link more reliably.
  • Up Tilt has a new hitbox inside the swing to stop the attack from having a large deadzone. This hitbox has the same properties as the sour spot.
  • Up Air hitboxes are now larger.
  • Down Air hitboxes are now larger.
  • Down Air Hit 3 Hitstun Modifier reduced from 1.0 to 0.9 to reduce Down Air chains on the wide characters.
  • Back Air active frames decreased from 16 > 8.
  • Neutral Air initial base knockback decreased from 7 > 6.
  • Back Air endlag increased from 13 > 16 on hit (20 > 24 on whiff).

  • Bug Fix: Clairen can no longer counter inactive Elliana steam bubbles.
  • Dash attack non-tipper hitboxes can now reverse (angle flipper 0 > 6).

  • Update: Forward Special (Beast Dash) has been updated:
    • Forward Special is no longer jump cancellable on whiff.
    • You must hold the special button to continue travelling along grass.
    • Forward Special now has an IASA cancel on hit. Allowing Sylvanos to cancel into Jump, Attack, Special or Dodge upon hitting an opponent.
    • One goal of this change is to shift the power in Sylvanos’ Forward Special. We are removing some of its strength in Recovery (where Sylvanos is already strong) and distributing some power into low-mid percent combos.
    • We also wanted to distinguish Beast Dash from some of the other Dash Mechanics like Etalus Dash Attack, Shovel Knight Forward Special and Kragg Forward Special. By giving it an IASA cancel instead of a Jump Cancel, we can double down on Sylvanos having more grounded tools than some of the other characters.
  • Jab loop endlag decreased from 32 > 27.
  • Down Tilt sourspot damage decreased from 4 > 3 each.
  • Down Tilt sweetspot damage decreased from 6 > 5 each.
  • Bug Fix: Flowers no longer glitch when they are hit by projectiles while they have projectile immunity (first second of being planted).

  • Down Tilt 1 now has 6 frames of “Extra Hitpause” which is Hitpause that extends after the attacker’s hitpause is over. This should allow it to link more reliably.
  • Inactive steam bubbles are now partially transparent.

  • Bug Fix: Objects on platforms can no longer be transferred to the mobile gear (Flames, Puddle, Rock, Earth Spikes, Lily, Root, Ice, Grass, Flowers, Abandoned Mech, Steam Bomb, Treasure Rocks, Gems, etc).
  • Bug Fix: Down Special will no longer reel in treasure if the anchor moves to the ground (happens if you’re on a moving platform over the blastzone that moves to be over ground).

Rivals at Don’t Park on the Grass 2018

This year we’re thrilled to be a part of Don’t Park on the Grass, the Pacific Northwest’s largest event series right in Rivals’ hometown of Seattle. With the event coming up fast (just 2 weeks away), we wanted to put out a primer on what players, fans, and viewers can expect for Rivals of Aether at the event (in addition to a special pot bonus announcement).

Rivals Event Quick-hits
  • Brackets: Rivals Singles and Doubles
  • Prize Pool: Entrant fees + $2,000 Pot Bonus
  • Register: Don’t Park on the Grass 2018
  • Where: Seattle, WA
  • When: December 15 – 16, 2018

Schedule

Players from all over the country have rallied for this final local before the RCS Season 3 Finals. We’ll be holding 2 official brackets – Rivals Singles and Doubles. Registration closes on December 9th, 2018 at 11:59 PM PT so there’s still time to sign up if you want to participate.

We’ll also have our own stream and will be broadcasting all of the action according to the schedule below on twitch.tv/RivalsOfAether.

(12/10/18) Schedule Edit: Doubles pools will now lead directly into Doubles top 8 with no dinner break between. This better matches the flow of the Rivals events to the block timings of the overall event.

Prize Pool

We’re pleased to announce that we’re adding a $2,000 pot bonus to the prize pool for this event. The competition will already be fierce with 8/10 of our current top 10 attending, and what better way to raise the stakes for the last regular season event than increasing the prize that’s up for grabs.

The prize split will be:

Placement Percentage
1st 40%
2nd 20%
3rd 15%
4th 10%
5ths 5%
7ths 2.5%

Ruleset

Rivals at DPG will be run using the standard RCS ruleset with one addition:
‘The Forest Floor’ stage will be banned during the singles event unless both players in a set agree to select it.

Travel and Housing Resources

If you’re still figuring out if you want to attend and travel is a big factor (or are already going and need housing and other travel information) we highly recommend checking out the TAXI discord server. TAXI is a community run server made with the goal of having an organized space for players attending offline Rivals/RCS events to gather. Players can keep up-to-date with information and plan transportation, housing, and meetups amongst themselves.

Rivals Rep: Esports Icon Contest

Today marks the start of season 4 ranked ladder play. Ranked progression in Rivals of Aether has just been given a complete overhaul, so if you missed the news make sure to check out our latest patch notes for the full details.

To make the start of this season even more exciting we’re announcing the return of a fan-favorite special event, the Rivals Rep Icon Contest, where you can help your favorite featured team get a skin in the game!

Show your team pride

Along with all of the new ranked features introduced yesterday, six new select team icons have joined the fray:

Flash Point Hound Esports ManDown Esports MVGLeague Tuxedo Esports Vireo.pro

These icons are more than just cosmetic. For the next three weeks, each win you earn on the ranked ladder while wearing a team’s icon will count as a point for that team. At the end of the event, the team with the most points will get a skin themed around their organization added to the game. You can keep track of how your favorite team is doing right here:

Final Score

We’ll be counting each game win toward the final score, not just set wins. This means that even if you lose the battle you can still win the war. The event runs until 11:59PM (PT) on December 12th, so choose a team to support and head to the battlefield today.

Edit: This post originally said the competition ended midnight on December 12th, which was a clerical error ending the event one day earlier than intended. This has been corrected by extending the competition one extra day to make the length a full 3 weeks.

Happy Halloween from Aether

The moon rises… the air chills…. and suddenly you wish you hadn’t walked into this spooky graveyard on Halloween night. To the citizens of Aether, just dressing up isn’t enough!

All the way back to simpler times with Spookane, Halloween seasonal skins have always been fan favorites. This year with the full roster in play we finally get to see everyone being their best bad selves.

halloween-skins2018

Do you have a favorite? Vote below and let us know. We hope you enjoy using these seasonal skins in game.