» Category: Patch Notes

Rivals of Aether Balance Patch 2.1.4.0

By SBS — October 11, 2022

Hold onto your elements, we’re coming to you with our biggest patch of the year! This patch has been ambitious from the get-go and features changes for ALL 18 characters. We gathered ideas from our community at large, beta team, and balance suggestions attained over the course of the last two RCS seasons. In this patch, some characters have only a handful of tune-ups while other characters are receiving larger adjustments or attack reworks based on the game’s current meta. There will likely be a handful of smaller patches after this one, especially to adjust the four newcomers. But there are no more patches planned at this magnitude for Rivals of Aether. There’s a lot to digest so let’s jump in now!

  • Walltechs are now always considered to be in the air, even if you’re touching the ground.
    • This means grounded characters hit next to a wall can do a jump out of tech without going through jumpsquat frames.
  • Parrying an aerial move now adds their whiffed landing lag to the stun time.
    • This will make it so aerials that are parried as the player lands go through a more natural amount of parry stun, instead of counting 40 frames from the moment they land.)
  • Getting parried during wallcling now ends the wallcling and removes your walljump.
    • This will make Ori’s that have Sein parried during wallcling drop into pratfall as intended.
  • Bug Fix: Hurtboxes no longer display any time the player is invincible, even during attacks.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where hitpause on trades would differ depending on port priority.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where characters would get stuck on a ledge when being sent upwards.

Zetterburn has been a gem in competitive play, making several appearances at our biggest and most competitive stages and showing that even the best players in the world should fear The Fire’s Roar. We feel that Zetterburn is in a pretty nice spot overall and we’ve decided to fixate on some of the more niche situations that just required a small tune-up.

  • Forward Tilt 1: Hitpause scaling reduced, 10 + 1.0 > 10 + 0.5
  • Forward Tilt 2: Hitpause scaling increased, 6 + 0.5 > 6 + 1.0
    • The increased hitpause should allow players to react better when only struck by hit two.
  • Down Strong: Hit 2 angle changed, 361 > 40
    • Removing the 361 angle means the non-fire attack will consistently send at 40 degrees, instead of occasionally at 45 degrees without fire when an opponent is in the air.
  • Up Special: Added a hitbox on his environmental collision box that only hits projectiles.
    • This stops rare situations where Zetterburn gets stuck without breaking rock at very specific angles and collisions.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed an issue where parrying Zetterburn’s Down Special on specific frames would still spawn the fire puddle.

 

Forsburn is quite the deception character, with a lot of players being deceived to believe that he’s bad! It goes without saying but we’ve watched in awe as CakeAssault has absolutely DOMINATED the Rivals world as solo Forsburn, proving himself to be the undisputed best player in the world. Despite CakeAssault’s success, we really do not believe the character is stronger than the rest of the cast – Cake is just that much better than all of you. We’ve decided to mostly leave Mr. Deception untouched, with some love given to clone behavior in doubles and a very small buff to Super Clone – maybe we’ll see it on the big stage one day next to Cake!

  • Forward Special: Super Clone can now survive projectiles that deal less than 8%.
  • Clone AI now targets the original Forsburn that created it if there is no living opponent to target.
  • Bug Fix: Clone AI now ignores dead and respawning players when finding targets.

Clairen has been in and out of the spotlight throughout the years, with several Clairen mains from AZ, FL, and EU making big waves on numerous occasions. Clairen is in a solid spot in the meta, having clear weaknesses to whiff-punishing and ledge traps, while boasting clear strengths in her punishes and edgeguards. We’ve had quite a bit of hands on experience, feedback, and live streams to help us understand what makes her tick. While most of Clairen’s overall kit is being left alone, her neutral air is getting a nice QoL buff to better break projectiles, and her down special is getting a big rework to make it a more useful tool in all match-ups. Finally, her jab is getting the ability to cancel into tilts, a change that all three single-hit jab characters have received this patch.

  • Jab: Can now be cancelled into tilts starting on frame 11.
    • Previously, Clairen could would be actionable on frame 12 when hitting opponents, so this is more of a buff on whiff while normalizing her jab with the rest of the cast regarding the ability to cancel lag into tilts.
  • Neutral Air: All hitboxes can now break projectiles.
    • Previously, Clairen neutral air would only break projectiles on tipper, meaning any overlap with the sour hitboxes would cause Clairen to get hit. This change allows for Clairen to break projectiles in a way that makes visual sense, while still having off frames that leave her partially vulnerable.
  • Down Special: Parrying the field hitboxes no longer places Clairen into parry stun.
    • While this had interesting counterplay, we don’t want Clairen getting punished for landing a successful high-commitment counter.
  • Down Special: The last field hitbox upon a successful counter now causes plasma stun.
    • The values match Clairen forward tilt tipper stun – 10 + 0.7
  • Down Special: Counter field now reflects projectiles. It still destroys projectiles if they start inside the bubble or have been reflected twice.
    • Opponents who parry a reflected projectile do not gain invulnerability.

Orcane has been a funny little guy since the game’s inception, being called “perfect” at one point, and can we blame Dan? Yes. Yes we can. Over time we’ve seen players such as DolphinBrick and now Xaro pilot the character to consistently new heights, making a home in the Top 5 of our annual RCS rankings, even peaking at number 1 in our 2020 season. We’ve taken a microscope to Orcane this patch and have identified a few imperfections to polish, while also tackling some of the more eyebrow raising situations like bubble edgeguards and his down strong recovery time.

  • Forward Tilt: KB scaling increased, 7 + 0.6 > 7 + 0.7
  • Forward Tilt: Damage increased, 9 > 10
  • Forward Air: Bubblebutt hit-lockout increased, 3 > 8
    • This should help avoid accidental bubble saves on higher damaged opponents while traveling at rapid velocities.
  • Down Strong: Recovery increased, 21 > 23 (32 -> 35 with whifflag)
    • This makes down strong on and off puddle identical in their recovery values.
  • Down Special: Activating the puddle puts neutral special on cooldown for 30 frames.
    • This should make looping edgeguards with bubbles on ledge more difficult and should encourage more expressive ledge trapping scenarios for Orcane.

Etalus is another character with inconsistent tournament representation. We’ve seen him push the best players in the world to the brink, seeming unstoppable with proper momentum. We’ve taken notice of his offstage struggles and have given him a potentially nasty tool for recovery and combo extensions that we will be keeping a close eye on as the meta develops.

  • Up Special: Minimum actionable speed decreased, -8 > -11.5
    • This allows Etalus to act sooner out of up special, giving him more protection when recovering and more possibilities when comboing or edgeguarding.
  • Bug Fix: Etalus can now hitfall aerials during up special rising momentum.
  • Bug Fix: Up Special’s hurtbox is now properly aligned.
  • Bug Fix: Aerial neutral Special’s hurtbox is now properly aligned.

Ranno has been a frequent hopper in our top player collection, having as many as 10 different competitors using him in Season 4. We’ve noticed a particularly chilling meta developing as of late, where multiple bubble uses offstage can help Ranno save himself more often than we would like. We’ve decided to add more counterplay to placed bubbles and take a shot at forward air’s frame data in order to make the move slightly more committal offstage.

  • Fair: Startup increased, 6 > 7
  • Down Air: Hits 2 and 3 now have a max falling speed of 2.
    • If Ranno lands hit 1 of down air and whiffs the rest, he won’t fall as far, causing less self destructs as a result.
  • Neutral Special: Added a visual effect to losing darts from parries.
  • Down Special: Opponents hitting the bubble will now send it 1.5x as far, and lock it out from being controlled by down special for 60 frames.
    • This should give Ranno’s offstage recovery more counterplay, while allowing the same control over his bubble when left alone by the opponent.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that removed landing lag if only hits one or two of down air were connected.

Wrastor is just so cool that we wanted to polish up some of his less appealing quirks so we could bring him closer to Orcane levels of perfection. Most changes here stem from odd situations or wishlist QoL changes from the community.

  • Forward Tilt: Jumpcancelling now only requires landing the last hit on a player; hitting articles (such as rock or flower) with any hit of forward tilt, will allow Wrastor to use the same jump cancel window.
    • This should normalize Wrastor’s tilt behavior since he can already jump cancel off articles using up and down tilt.
  • Up Tilt: Cut off the top of the leg hurtbox during startup.
    • This should remove weird cases where his hurtbox would leave him vulnerable above platforms for a few frames before his attack comes out.
  • Up Tilt: Spike hitbox width and height increased, 8 x 8 > 10 x 10
  • Up Tilt: Spike hitbox lowered by 1 pixel.
    • Both changes to the spike hitbox should let him break cancel when standing on top of rock.
  • Up Air: Hitbox 2 now comes out at the same frame as hitbox 1.
    • This will allow his hurtbox and hitboxes to overlap, causing trades in niche but surprising situations that he would previously lose. Hit two comes out one frame sooner and has lower priority than hit one.
  • Forward Strong: Moved sweetspot forward by two pixels: 85 > 87
    • This means the sourspot no longer sticks out slightly further than the sweetspot.
  • Down Strong: Can now be cancelled into up special during the existing jumpcancel window.
    • This change mimics a recent quality of life improvement that Ori’s down air received in a previous patch.
  • Neutral Special: Normalized hitstun multiplier of all hitboxes, 0.65/1.0 > 1.0/1.0
  • Down Special: Aerial endlag can now be walljump cancelled.
    • This brings the move in line with other specials in the game and should prevent accidental self destructs, while still keeping Wrastor in a committed state for the entire active frames of the move.
  • Down Special: Hitting articles now has 5 frames of hitpause.
    • This fixes situations where Wrastor could break Kragg’s pillar, then accidentally walljump during its destruction.

Much like Forsburn, Absa has been a staple in our Grand Finals at Majors for several years thanks to another top player, Penguin. We’ve taken aim at a few of her larger hitboxes, and have added an emphasis on spacing (no more back-tilts!) and timing. Overall, Absa should not feel too much pain at higher levels, while some of the easier or accidental hits will be more difficult to land without the precision Absa should have.

  • Forward Tilt: Reduced hitbox width by 12 pixels and moved it forward by 6 pixels.
    • The new hitbox should reach a similar distance in front of Absa, while removing the portion that hits inside and often catches opponents positioned behind her.
  • Dash Attack: Hit 2 damage reduced, 8 > 6 (Total damage 11 > 9)
  • Up Air: Reduced size of the sweetspot, 80 x 80 > 64 x 64
  • Up Air: Added 4 sourspots to the tips of the lightning bolt effect. The new hitboxes are lower priority than the sweetspot but have identical stats except for the following: KB: 7 + 1.2 > 6 + 1.0, Hitstun scaling: 1.0 > 0.9
    • Overall, up air is slightly larger, but the sweetspot has been shrunk and it will be difficult to drift into the powerful hitbox after the first frame, making timing even more important.
  • Cloud: Cloud pop hitbox size reduced and positioning adjusted, 95 x 94 > 87 x 87
  • Cloud: Cloud now despawns when Absa loses a stock.

Elliana easily fits the description of “glass cannon,” with her rough disadvantage state and seemingly touch-of-death punish game. In this patch, we decided to target some of her more reliable bread and butter setups like up tilt, forward air, and confirms into up strong. We’d like some of these setups to be a little tighter on spacing, timing, and DI follow-ups. On the other hand, while we were under the hood, we decided to let you kick around the mine like a hacky sack, so be sure to make some cool clips while you’re taking the new ride for a spin!

  • Jab: Endlag can now be cancelled into tilts starting on frame 8.
    • This normalizes her jab with the rest of the cast regarding the ability to cancel lag into tilts.
  • Up Tilt: Increased endlag scaling with heat used, 9-18 > 9-24
    • This should emphasize the use of high heat up tilt as an outright kill move, while keeping lower heat usage as a combo tool.
  • Down Tilt: Hitting a grounded mine with the first kick of down tilt now pops it straight up into the air.
    • This allows for more mine setups and air juggles.
  • Down Tilt: Hit one extra hitpause removed, 6 > 0
    • The extra hitpause was to help it connect better with hit two, but with the following patch notes, it is no longer needed.
  • Down Tilt: Hit 2 width increased, 44 > 64. The hitbox has also been moved inward, 48 > 45
  • Down Tilt: Hit 2 now has an additional square hitbox covering most of her center. This hitbox has the same stats as the existing Hit 2.
  • Forward Air: Final hit KB scaling increased, 6 + 0.4 > 6 + 0.55
    • This should make DI out at higher percents much more effective at avoiding an overheat follow-up.
  • Up Air: Reduced hitstun scaling, 1.0 > 0.9
    • This should make chaining several up airs into each other slightly more difficult for the Elliana.
  • Up Strong: Sourspot KB decreased, 7 + 1.0 > 6 + 0.9
    • This should make stocks taken off the top require better spacing, with an emphasis on the main explosion hitbox.
  • Down Special: Sticking a mine on a parried opponent no longer auto-arms it.
    • This forces Elliana to get more creative with parry punishes, which are already one of the best ways to set up a long string or kill confirm.
  • Down Special: Hitting a destructible article (like Sylvanos’ flowers or Olympia’s gem) now instantly detonates it.
  • Down Special: Adjusted angles that mine can be hit by Elliana to allow for more control during juggles.
    • With the addition of Elliana’s new down tilt mechanic, we thought it would be fun if she had more control over where the mine gets sent. Previously the range of angles were preset based on the strength of the hitbox.

Kragg has been the rock of the Rivals Esports scene. Always there, always ready. As of late, we’ve noticed a dramatic shift in his gameplan at all levels that focuses a large portion of his combo game into the use of neutral air. Neutral air allows for unreactable DI mix-ups that confirm into pretty early kills. In this patch, we decided to take aim at the over-centralization of neutral air, and take another crack at hurting Kragg’s offstage stalling capabilities with pillar.

  • Up Tilt: Removed part of the hurtbox on his arm during active frames.
    • The new hurtbox will no longer poke above standard height platforms, decreasing trades when sharking opponents from the stage.
  • Neutral Air: Damage changed on each hit: 6, 6, 6, 6 > 4, 4, 4, 8
    • This gives more power to the later hit while making quick hitfalls on the first few hits less powerful.
  • Neutral Air 1: Moved hitbox closer to Kragg’s center
  • Neutral Air 2: Moved hitbox closer to Kragg’s center and reduced size: 70 x 70 > 60 x 60
    • These hitbox adjustments should give Kragg a similar reward for landing early neutral air hits, while making them a little closer to his body and more difficult to land.
  • Pillar: Re-landing on an unoccupied pillar now increases the time it falls by 5 frames in a linear fashion (First it falls for 20 frames, then 25, then 30, and so on).
    • This should make extended stalling offstage a less potent tool for Kragg.
  • Pillar: Projectiles hitting the top of pillar will no longer break it when near the bottom blastzone.
    • Some extra pillar protection should offset some of the pain received in the stalling nerf.
  • Bug Fix: Projectiles parried by Kragg will not break his own pillar.
  • Bug Fix: Cancelling rock pull on the final frame can no longer buffer a parry.
  • Bug Fix: Down special spikes now stop spawning if Kragg is in pratfall.
    • This scenario usually occurs when pillar is destroyed beneath him during the move.

Maypul has been a character in the limelight lately due to superstar, Soulrifle211, bursting onto the scene with his electric gameplay and furious punish game. While Maypul’s normal attacks are in a good place, we recognize that Lily does a bit too much, being able to both protect Maypul and set up for strong kill confirms. We’ve reduced the speed of placing Lily and the duration of wraps done by Lily while also making the watcher’s mark easier to remove to help make wraps and tether situations require a bit more planning from the Maypul.

  • Lily: Plant startup increased, 20 > 28
  • Lily: Despawn time reduced, 10 > 8 seconds
  • Lily: Mark is now removed on whoever triggers her attack, even if it does not wrap or get parried.
    • This should make the counterplay to becoming marked more interesting. Maypul must now consider the opponent’s status when planting Lily since opponents can now remove mark in more ways than landing a committal parry.
  • Lily: Wrap time now scales with distance from Maypul. (At 0 pixels it’s * 0.75, then goes up to 1.0 at half a screen.)
    • This reduces the reward on point blank Lily wraps which previously had noticeably better followups than Maypul’s more committal Strong Attacks.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where planting Lily would not trigger Ranno poison damage.

Sylvanos is widely known for his ability to tech chase and rack up damage in an instant, while also making up for any trouble killing with methodical stage control and juggles against opponents in perpetual disadvantage. The goal of this patch is to chip away at some of his damage output and tech chasing ability, while giving his kill moves a bit of love.

  • Up Tilt: Damage decreased, 2/3/5 > 2/2/4
  • Up Tilt: Endlag increased, 12 > 13 (18 > 20 with whifflag)
    • Up tilt “blenders” should require a bit tighter timing now, while also outputting a bit less damage during the loops.
  • Forward Tilt: Projectile initial damage decreased, 6 > 4 (Total damage for all hits 10 > 8)
  • Forward Strong: Increased hitstun multiplier on hits 1 and 2: 1.2 > 1.5
    • This should make it less likely for opponents to fall out of the move.
  • Down Strong: KB scaling increased, 7 + 1.0 > 7 + 1.05
  • Neutral Special: Projectile initial damage decreased, 6 > 4 (Total damage for all hits 10 > 8)
  • Forward Special: Airborne seed projectiles can now be destroyed to cancel off of them.
    • This should be a fun buff that could open up some more unique combo routes and finishers.
  • Up Special: Burrow KB adjusted, 7 + 0.2 > 8 + 0.15
    • As one of Sylvanos’ most potent kill options, we wanted to give it a bit more love against the entire cast, since the previous version was noticeably less scary against heavy characters.
  • Down Special: Damage increased, 2 > 4
  • Down Special: Adjusted grass so it can no longer disappear while waiting for down special’s howl to reach it.
  • Bug Fix: Sylvanos now immediately regains his airdodge and doublejump when appearing on stage after a burrow.
    • The situations affected by this bug fix came up most often when Orcane bubbles would hit him as he emerged from burrow.

Ori has been making a consistent appearance in Top 8s for years now, using speed and Sein to outmaneuver opponents. Most of our changes are aimed at reducing scenarios where there is little counterplay, while also reducing some of the more silly things Ori can surprise people with – now you will take 33% less damage when failing to DI out of parasol taps!

  • Jab 1: Jab 1 is now techable for airborne opponents, and forces flinch on grounded opponents.
    • This normalizes jab one behavior with the rest of the cast.
  • Up Tilt: Endlag increased, 10 > 11 (15 > 17 with whifflag)
  • Down Tilt: Endlag reduced, 16 > 14 (24 > 21 with whifflag)
    • We decided to redistribute power among tilts, which should make Ori players less reliant on up tilt, while making down tilt see more usage.
  • Up Strong (Tag team): KB reduced, 9 + 1.05 > 7 + 1.1
    • Tag team up strong has become Ori’s main parry punish, doing a bit too much heavy lifting as the opponents get pulled to the final hitbox before a strong finisher can net stocks at low percents.
  • Neutral Special: Edited the windup of Sein’s spirit flame to be more visible against bright backgrounds.
  • Neutral Special: Sein cancels charging and goes into cooldown if Ori parries.
    • This removes situations where ori could have an active hitbox while also parrying for extra safety.
  • Up Special: Reopen damage decreased, 3 > 2
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug with buffered hitfall during up special causing the floating window to descend rapidly.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed an up special momentum bug where pressing down while in hitpause to cancel the feather wouldn’t limit vertical speed.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed opponents getting ledge cancels while being carried by tag team forward strong.
    • This is tied to the above ledgesnapping fix in the General section.

Shovel Knight is one of the more puzzling characters in the community, not seeing a lot of high level use, but being extremely effective when he does. Players like Soulrifle211, Seggo, and Mentos have piloted Shovel Knight with great success over the last few years, showing off a lot of his more dangerous capabilities. We believe that while Shovel Knight is in a pretty good spot in life with a new game and everything, we believe he is also in a good spot in Rivals and is only seeing minor adjustments.

  • Jab: Endlag can now be cancelled into tilts starting on frame 8.
    • This normalizes his jab with the rest of the cast regarding the ability to cancel lag into tilts.
  • Down Air: Can now bounce off of Lily (making her bite) and Absa’s cloud (pushing it down slightly).
  • Ghost Gloves: Reflected gloves turn transcendent, causing them to break new gloves and hit Shovel Knight.
    • This change will make a parry on ghost gloves more effective, since he could previously just block the reflected projectile and run away by throwing another out.
  • Down Special: Anchor’s hitbox is now visible in training mode.
  • Shop: Now displays an item’s price as 0 if it has already been bought.
    • If multiple Shovel Knights are in the shop, items will only display as 0 if each player puchased them.

While we have previously set our sights on toning down some of Mollo’s tools, this patch is aimed at normalizing some hitbox sizes and stats. Most of our changes to Mollo have consistency and gamefeel for players and opponents in mind, with a few power balances here and there.

  • Techroll: speed reduced, 11 > 9
    • This will bring Mollo’s distance traveled during a techroll from the longest in the cast to the same distance as Shovel Knight and Forsburn.
  • Bombs: Firecracker hitboxes are now transcendent like the rest of his bombs.
  • Bombs: Increased the minimum speed bonk hitboxes will ignore players at, 6 > 8
    • This should reduce scenarios where Mollo wants to hit with a bomb during a combo, but it passes through. Now they have to be moving a bit faster before they ignore the bonk.
  • Bombs: Parrying your own bomb no longer grants invulnerability (it will protect from the rest of the firecracker’s hitboxes though).
  • Bombs: Parrying your own bomb no longer removes status effects like leaf marks or poison.
    • The parry mechanics kept Mollo safe in higher risk situations, allowing for a get out of jail free card anytime he held onto a bomb for too long. Removing these options will still allow Mollo to drop his own bombs, just with less of a reward for doing so.
  • Bombs: Finisher damage reduced, 22 > 20
  • Bombs: Hitting bombs no longer counts as a whiffed move. (For workshop folk, it sets has_hit to true.)
    • Since players are encouraged to strike his bombs, it did not feel right to count those moves as whiffs. Now Mollo and his opponents will be rewarded with their strikes by having the same endlag they would have when hitting an opponent.
  • Bombs: Hitting an article (like Sylvanos flowers or Olympia gem) now makes the bomb bounce as if it hit a player.
  • Bombs: All bombs now work in an allied Clairen’s plasma field.
    • This makes bombs function like other projectiles in doubles when a Clairen is on screen.
  • Forward Tilt: KB scaling increased, 10 + 0.3 > 10 + 0.45
  • Dash Attack 1: Removed the reversed KB decay.
  • Dash Attack 1: Increased KB scaling, 8 + 0 > 8 + 0.4
    • The changes to dash attack should make higher percents more difficult for Mollo to get a simple tech chase on.
  • Neutral Air 1: Hitbox sizes reduced, 80 x 54 > 70 x 50
  • Neutral Air 2: Hitbox sizes reduced, 100 x 70 > 90 x 50
  • Up Strong: Pre-charge startup increased, 8 > 10 (Release lag is still 3)
  • Up Strong: Now has lower-priority hitboxes on his chest that copy the explosion hitboxes, but aims towards where the final explosion is to help the move connect better against grounded opponents.
    • In this patch we wanted to give Mollo a more reliable set of strong attacks, but recognized the startup on up strong was a tad low for how large and rewarding the up strong hitboxes can be.
  • Down Strong: Pre-charge startup increased, 6 > 8 (Release lag is still 4)
  • Down Strong: Getting parried now disables sliding out of it.
  • Down Strong: Added whifflag to the standing hitbox.
    • Whifflag is not applied to the slide out window, to prevent him from moving further out since distance is tied to the total frames of the move.
  • Forward Special: Getting hit before the explosion comes out now cancels the explosion.
    • This makes the move consistent with moves like Etalus icicles and Absa forward special placement.
  • Forward Special: The muzzle flash hitbox now only hits projectiles, not players.
    • This should allow opponents to call out the move from the front of Mollo in more scenarios, instead of successfully avoiding the explosion and getting caught by the muzzle. A frequent scenario that occurred was a player dashing in as Mollo started side special, dodging the large explosion only to be knocked back by the muzzle hitbox. This hitbox could also be used to stall and kill opponents at low percents in the side blastzones.
  • Forward Special: Reduced horizontal tilt influence on the reticle, 4 > 1
    • This makes the reticle travel at a much more consistent speed, making counterplay such as parries more consistent.
  • Forward Special: The reticle now takes longer to start moving forwards, 15 > 20 frames (same as the startup)
    • This allows the reticle to spawn closer to Mollo, removing a gap where the explosion would not reach in front of Mollo, but the old muzzle hitbox would generally cover.
  • Forward Special: Hitting a bomb with the explosion no longer gives the bomb a bonk hitbox
    • This fixes an issue where players would parry the forward special but instead land a parry on a new bonk hitbox, allowing Mollo to avoid parry stun.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed enemies getting stuck via ledge-snapping when getting hit by forward strong.
    • This is tied to the above ledge-snapping fix in the General section.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a late button press causing Jab 3 to start even when the button was only pressed twice.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bombs not auto-aiming and changing ownership on parrying the bonk hitbox.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bombs clipping off the side of stage corners.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where Mollo could get bonked by his own bomb on the first frame he pulls it out (Frame six of neutral special).
  • Bug Fix: Forward Special’s hurtbox in the bomb-toss variant is now properly aligned.

Much like our approach to Mollo, our balance pass on Hodan this time around had a heavy focus on tweaking some things that could leave players wondering how an interaction happened, whether that be hitbox size, lack of knockback decay, or even launch angles. We’ve also seen some advances to Hodan’s meta that have really begun to optimize his recovery, so we’ve worked to distribute that wealth by giving side special some love and removing some of the safety Hodan gets from aerial neutral special.

  • Spirits: You can now pick up any other Hodan’s spirits.
    • Have fun in the ditto!
  • Sweatwhirls: Parried whirls can no longer be grabbed.
  • Sweatwhirls: Grabbed whirls will dissipate if you stop attacking before throwing it (ex: walljump).
  • Jab: First hitbox active frames reduced, 6 > 4
  • Jab: Multi-hit hitbox active times reduced, 8 > 4 (Multihits one and two now start on frames 13 and 21)
    • The changes to jab should give the opponent openings to contest the move without trading. He was previously difficult to contest safely from anywhere other than below him.
  • Up Tilt (Charged): Sweatboxes now have angle flipper 6.
    • This will cause opponents behind Hodan to be sent backwards instead of in front of him, making follow-ups on poorly spaced up tilts more difficult.
  • Dash Attack: Early hit base hitpause increased, 7 > 8
  • Forward Strong 1: Hitpause Scaling increased, 0.5 > 0.75
  • Forward Strong 1: Knockback and scaling increased, 7.5 + 1.0 > 8.0 + 1.05
  • Forward Strong 1: Width reduced from the hitbox’s back side, 96 > 72.
  • Forward Strong 2: Hitpause Scaling reduced, 0.75 > 0.5
    • These changes should make forward strong feel more natural when hit, while giving some love to the kill power and removing situations where players get caught from behind Hodan.
  • Up Strong: Cut off the top of the hurtbox so it doesn’t extend above platforms.
  • Down Strong (Parried): Inner hitbox KB Scaling increased to match the non-parried version, 8.5 + 1.05 > 8.5 + 1.15
  • Down Strong (Charged): Parry window reduced by 1 frame.
  • Neutral Special: Non-empowered hitboxes now lose to all projectiles.
    • This move has crept up in the meta and has proven to be a pretty safe recovery option due to the hitbox size. This change will give opponents some more counterplay to a recovering Hodan.
  • Forward Special (Uncharged): Endlag reduced, 28 > 23
  • Forward Special (Uncharged): Added a 10 frame cooldown.
    • These changes should make recovering with forward special into up special feel a little better, while keeping projectile spam in line.
  • Up Special (Uncharged): Late hit now has KB decay, 7 – 5
  • Up Special (Charged): Late hit now has KB decay, 8 – 6
    • Decaying knockback should make getting hit by the end of the move feel more natural given its speed.
  • Up Special (Charged): Increased hitpause scaling of the sweetspot to match uncharged version, 0.45 > 0.75
  • Bug Fix: Fixed the early hit of charged up special not having hit lockout as previous patch notes stated.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where hitfall was disabled until landing if down special was cancelled.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed the splash hitbox of neutral air not coming out if the physical hitbox hits late enough.
  • Bug Fix: Landing during neutral air now destroys the aerial hitboxes.

We’re pretty happy with Pomme’s normal attacks, but we feel they get overshadowed by her notes and her infamous bodyguard, Vince. In this patch we’ve attempted to slightly rework how specials can be used by making notes more focused on mid combo usage and by giving Vince the ability to be destroyed like a good bodyguard.

  • Float: Getting parried now instantly ends your float.
  • Dash Attack 1: Larger hitbox moved up by 5 pixels.
    • This matches the animation better and will scoop player below the stage less often.
  • Up Strong: Damages reduced. Sweetspot: 16 > 14, Sourspot: 12 > 10
  • Down Strong: Spike hitbox now has lower priority than the strong hitbox.
    • This hitbox was mostly meant for offstage opponents and break cancels on rock. The swap in priority makes it so players partially through platforms still get launched by the strong hitbox.
  • Down Strong: Cleaned up the endlag animation.
  • Neutral Special: Reflected notes are now transcendent and break new notes thrown by Pomme.
    • Previously this was only true for notes thrown in her song field.
  • Neutral Special: Increased note summon time, 12 > 15 (the time it takes for the final note to spawn is 41 > 50)
  • Neutral Special: You can no longer manually throw notes while they’re being auto-fired.
    • This should drastically affect projectile spam during recoveries while steering players toward the intended use of notes as combo resets.
  • Forward Special: Vince can now be knocked away if struck by projectiles or melee hitboxes unless he is fully charged. Fully charging makes him inVINCEible.
  • Forward Special: Vince now only destroys non-transcendent projectiles.
  • Forward Special: Vince blocking a projectile counts as it hitting something.
    • This will activate things like Sylvanos flower projectiles.
  • Forward Special: Vince now moves up when hitting ledges, up to 16 pixels.
  • Up Special: Multi-hit hitboxes are now flipper 2. (Sends towards Pomme’s center.)
  • Down Special: Now has an off-screen HUD indicator.
  • Bug Fix: Pomme will now lose her notes when crouch canceling attacks, and when being hit by Orcane’s bubbles.
  • Bug Fix: Pomme is now considered to be in the air when doing a grounded float.
    • This fixes issues like being frozen by Etalus ice while floating.

Olympia, much like Pomme, is in a pretty good spot and is receiving a bit of fine-tuning on her specials, with focus on her gem and crystallization interactions.

  • Crystalize: Super armoring through a Crystalizing attack will “store” it on you, immediately shattering when your attack ends. If you’re hit after super armor ends then it triggers the full crystallization.
  • Crystalize: Getting hit by a Mollo flashbang while crystalized now acts as if you were super armored (30 frames of hitpause that transitions into full crystalization when it ends).
  • Jab 1: Reduced active frames, 5 > 3
    • We also adjusted window timings to match the animation.
  • Back Air: KB decay reduced, 6 – 4 > 6 – 5
    • This should make the decay more predictable on a move with few active frames.
  • Forward Strong: Late hit damage reduced, 17 > 14
  • Gem: Gem no longer has an invincibility period when forming.
  • Gem: SK can now bounce off of gem with down air.
  • Gem: Sylvanos can now cancel off of gem with forward special.
  • Gem: Kragg’s Rock now bounces off of gem.
    • These changes should bring Olympia’s gem more in line with other articles in the game regarding interactions with specific special situations in game.
  • Neutral Special: Hitting non-player articles (such as Sylvanos flower) now creates a gem.
  • Forward Special: Damage now scales with charge, 10 > 6 – 16
  • Bug Fix: Down Special aerial dashcancel now refreshes on death.
    • Now you can dash right off the respawn platform!
  • Bug Fix: Fixed the doublejump cancel on forward special sometimes losing height if you’re up against a wall.
  • Bug Fix: Crystalize breaking will no longer create a hitbox if it was broken by being hit by another attack.
    • This change prevents people from getting saved from death by crystalize
  • Bug Fix: Pressing special to create a gem now only works if you’re still using neutral special.
    • Creating a gem after the attack is no longer needed since the projectile creates one on-hit now.

Categories: News, Patch notes | Comments: 19

Patch 2.1.3.2 – Workshop Dev Features, Bugfixes, and Rollback Improvements

By George — June 27, 2022

We’ve got a decent sized patch today that’s mostly under the hood upgrades and features for our workshop creators to make even more awesome characters, stages, and buddies. There’s also a few updates that everyone can enjoy, mainly the live release of an improvement to rollback performance and stability that’s been in the works for a few months. This should be noticeable for players with poor connections or those who experienced rollback specific crashes. Abyss mode fans will also be pleased with the four newcomers getting a host of fixes to get their runes in better working order.

We also wanted to take this opportunity to shout out the new community Workshop Manual wiki project at: https://rivalswsmanual.miraheze.org/

Some of the most knowledgeable creators in the workshop community are behind the project, and are looking for more contributors to help this community resource grow. Their goal is to include additional resources and examples that go beyond the tables and charts that our technical manual provides:

This wiki-manual aims to be a community-updated hopefully-up-to-date version of the official one present in the Rivals of Aether website. In here, we have (or we will have) compiled up resources you may need in your journey to creating your own custom Workshop content, such as characters, stages, and buddies. The sky’s the limit!

This manual is currently work-in-progress, but anyone can contribute! If you’d like to help out, check out the Wiki Rules! If you have any questions, feel free to ask with the “Discussion” feature of the wiki!

Patch 2.1.3.2 Hotfixes

A small collection of hotfixes (and a new feature) that were released for patch 2.1.3.2 on 7/7/22.

  • Workshop items can now have ssl=”1″ in their config.ini to set it as an SSL item.
  • Fixed results_pre_draw.gml crashing if you use sprite_get on the first frame.
  • Fixed css_draw_portrait.gml not setting portrait_x/y on the winner.
  • css_update.gml no longer runs if any submenus are open (i.e. not displaying the actual charselect portrait).
  • Fixed Zetterburn’s Steampunk taunt not working.
  • Added the fonts folder to the whitelist when uploading a workshop item.
  • Fixed attack_end not affecting custom articles.
  • Fixed dev mode making characters tiny and inverted.
  • Fixed dev mode not creating files for the newcomers.
  • Fixed dev mode not giving hitboxes to newcomers.
  • Mollo’s O rune now resets on death. (Mostly to stop it beeping if you die during co-op abyss.).

  • Improved rollback performance and stability!
  • Buddies now run the scripts init.gml and draw_hud.gml. They will draw hud over their characters.
  • Added the hitbox property HG_VISUAL_EFFECT_DISTANCE which lets you adjust how far away from the player hit FX spawn.
  • Added the following scripts to characters: css_init.gml, css_update.gml, results_pre_draw.gml, results_post_draw.gml, results_portrait_draw.gml.
  • Also noteworthy is that the css scripts now have the variable cursor_id, referring to the cursor that player is controlling.
  • Custom articles now have the variable is_hittable, which lets them run article#_hit.gml when a hitbox touches it. (This includes the players’ own hitboxes!)
  • Custom articles also have the variables hittable_hitpause_mult, enemy_hitboxID, hit_player_obj, hit_dir, hit_player, and the arrays can_be_hit and attack_can_hit to support being hittable.
  • Added the variable small_djump to characters. Setting this to true uses the smaller double jump VFX Wrastor uses.
  • Added custom wait animation support, using the variables wait_time, wait_length and wait_sprite.
  • The random generator now uses a different seed per match.
  • Fixed a memory leak with storing custom hit FX.
  • Fixed camera_obj’s coordinates not updating.
  • The Stage Editor now has a “Take Full Screenshot” option. With this you’ll be able to save a screenshot of the entire stage’s layout to “full_layout.png” in the stage’s folder.
  • The screen in Neo Julesvale now grabs colors from a reference sprite. (Technical change, but it means texture mods can change the screen colors).
  • css_update.gml now has the variable suppress_cursor, which disables most CSS functionality every frame it’s set to `true`, which lets workshop characters have custom menu options without the color change or playtest functions getting in the way.
  • Custom (monospace) fonts are now supported. You can now add a fonts folder to your character with a .ini file of the font properties, and it will use a specified sprite from the sprites folder.
  • Added support for a select sound. Adding charselect.ogg to your character’s main folder will play it on load.
  • You can now press Backspace on keyboard or Back/Select on controllers while selecting a workshop character in the CSS to search for characters with specific names.
  • New functions: get_synced_var() and set_synced_var(). This will set a global variable each player has that persists between menus and matches, as well as being saved in replays.
  • New function: article_destroy(). This lets you destroy any base cast article using its ID, and sets destroyed in custom articles to true.
  • New function: set_ui_element(). This wraps up all existing sprite/sound functions into one (such as set_victory_bg). This function can now also set hud.png, hud_hurt.png and offscreen.png.
  • New functions: get_hitstun_formula(), get_hitpause_formula() and get_kb_formula(). These functions use the same formulas used in hitbox collision, letting you simulate those parts of a hit.
  • New function: get_player_name(). Returns the player’s current nametag, or a simple “P1”, “P2”, etc. if not.

📕 The new functions can be viewed here in the Workshop Technical Manual:

  • Rune B: Reworked to be less niche, even though the original roman cancel mechanic made a great pun for Mollo. It now turns him into a meteor when dodging with a bomb.
  • Rune D: Now works on Up and Down throws.
  • Rune G: Fixed a crash caused by being hit by its second hitbox.
  • Rune J: Fixed the missiles not moving.
  • Rune N: Fixed being able to buffer a regular strong when you should be throwing your next queued bomb.

  • Rune A: Fixed the visual effect not appearing when charged by a spirit.
  • Rune N: Changed description to be clearer.
  • Rune O: Nair’s splash hitbox now sets fire.

  • Rune D: Fixed collision and alignment issues with the alternate songfield.
  • Rune E: Pomme herself no longer falls slowly in the songfield.
  • Rune I: It now buffs attack types on hit instead of on perform. Also added a visual effect to see which attack type is buffed.

  • Rune L: Landmine crystals no longer trigger when Olympia herself gets close to them, meaning crystals spawned via other methods will stay dormant.

Categories: News, Patch notes | Comments: 2

Rivals of Aether Balance Patch 2.1.3.0

By SBS — May 12, 2022

We’ve been tackling balance for our newcomers over the last few months, and have recently seen Mollo break into the Top 8 of Low Tide City – the first Major to fully legalize our new friends. Now, with the first event of RCS Season 7 on the horizon, we are back with one final tune-up before GoTE 4TheKids 7!

Last patch aimed to really dig deep and focus on fine-tuning our new friends. This time, we handpicked a few changes for each of our four newest characters that would have the biggest impact possible for what could be considered a mini-patch. As stated before, we still plan to have a full roster patch containing changes for our earlier 14 characters later this year, so consider this a pit stop on the way to our next big checkpoint.

As we head into the summer, we plan on focusing more on Abyss mode, replays, and Workshop quality of life as our balance patches become a bit more surgical and critical bugs become less frequent. So stay tuned for more as the year progresses.

Alright, let’s check it out!

Mollo has really begun to settle into his role of an all-around threat.  Our goal for this patch is to fix some critical counterplay related to his bombs, while also reducing some of the power in his stronger normals. This patch should bring a balance to the risk/reward associated with Mollo’s bombs.

  • GENERAL BOMBS
    • When parried, all bomb explosions now put Mollo in parry stun.
      • Initially, we were worried that parrying bomb explosions would be a bit too easy. We’ve found that Mollos tend to mix things up pretty well, with the majority of bomb explosion parries coming on easier to time moves like Down Special and Forward Special. This change adds some extra risk to these high reward options, and even adds counterplay to Mollo parrying his own bomb, since an opponent reading this option will put him in parry stun rather than allowing him to get I-frames.
    • Parrying firecracker’s explosion no longer sends the bomb itself back to Mollo.
      • The change to parry stun would cause the firecracker to hit Mollo out of his stun, making the explosion parry less rewarding for opponents.
    • Bug Fix: Getting hit while charging a throw will no longer drop the bomb.
      • A Mollo starting a bomb throw should still be holding onto it, making the act of charging a throw a little more risky. Now, Mollo won’t drop his bomb when an opponent sneaks in there just in time.
    • Bug Fix: If a held bomb primes while in hitstun, it will now explode at the end of hitstun.
      • Previously, bombs would only explode in Mollo’s hand if he was struck with a cooked bomb in hand. This lead to a lot of situations where the bomb would flash right after a hit, and neither player would be sure if the explosion would trigger. This change also adds intended risks for a Mollo holding onto bombs a little too long. Getting caught in a combo with one in hand should be even more dangerous now.
    • Bug Fix: Bombs can now be hit multiple times per airtime.
      • Players should now be able to use multi-hits on bombs and juggle them to their hearts content.
    • Bug Fix: Fixed parried bomb trajectories so they should now more accurately launch toward the Mollo that threw them.
  • FIRECRACKER
    • Early damage decreased, 2 > 1
    • Final damage decreased, 4 > 3
      • Firecracker already does a good job holding opponents in place and controlling space. We wanted to tone down the overall damage that Mollo secured from it, which coincidentally helps him take less damage while using Firecracker as a recovery tool.
  • JAB
    • Jab 1 startup increased, 3 > 5
    • Jab 1 cancel frame increased, 3 > 7
    • Jab 1 active frames decreased, 3 > 2
    • Jab 2 cancel frame increased, 6 > 8
    • Jab 3 endlag increased, 4 > 7
      • Last patch removed whifflag from the early hits of jab. This change meant the endlag of jab on hit and whiff were now a bit lower than they should be. The new endlag values, and updated startup values should make Mollo’s jabs fit in a bit better with where we want him to be.
  • UP AIR
    • Up Air 1 startup increased, 5 > 8
    • Up Air 1 hitstun multiplier decreased, 1 > 0.8
    • Up Air 1 KB scaling removed, 0.1 > 0
    • Up Air 2 KB scaling decreased, 0.9 > 0.7
      • Up air had some pretty powerful kill potential when combined with Mollo’s extra jump and low startup. This change should make chaining super low percent kills more difficult, while adding more counterplay to Up Air 1 juggles and allowing the move to connect to the second hit better at higher percents.
  • DOWN AIR
    • Startup increased, 8 > 10
    • Grounded sweetspot angle changed, 280 > 270
    • Aerial sweetspot angle changed, 290 > 270
        • Mollo down air was a bit less of a risk than we wanted for a move with lingering active frames. The extra startup should make Mollo players commit more to the option, while the new spike angle will help with counter-play at the ledge, allowing opponents more opportunities to wall-tech.

We have a few in-depth bugs that we are working on fixing behind the scenes, but for now we’ve adjusted a few of Hodan’s aerials and tackled one of the most frustrating bugs for Hodan mains at the moment.

  • NEUTRAL AIR
    •  All hitboxes now have flipper 6 (horizontal knockback sends away from player).
      • This change should allow some more interesting counterplay to Hodan’s main and splash hitboxes of the move. Now, opponents behind Hodan will be launched away from him in the opposite direction than if they were in front of him. Having the ability to DI another direction should add depth to both counter-play and to Hodan’s combo tree.
  • BACK AIR
    • Back Air 1 hitstun multiplier reduced, 1 > 0.6
      • Hodan’s Back Air 1 had a similar issue as Olympia and Mollo Neutral Airs in previous patches. The hitstun multiplier reduction should make looping the first hit into itself less rewarding at middle percents on most characters, while still having a reliable link into hit 2 should he not hitfall.
  • DOWN SPECIAL
    • Bug Fix: Fixed an issue where cancelling Dspecial and hitting someone on the same frame still puts you into pratfall.

Pomme’s meta is starting to take form pretty quickly now. Her frame data across the board is pretty strong, and her specials still have some ironing out to do. We like her aerial game as it is, but recognize her grounded normals can be a little silly. In this patch we’ve taken a swing at her frame data for jab and every tilt, with slight hitbox adjustments on jabs 1 and 2. Another huge focus for Pomme this patch is her camping ability with notes. Reduced hitstun and higher commitment should help level the playing field for now.

  • JAB
    • Jab 1 startup increased, 2 > 4
    • Jab 1 width decreased, 75 > 50
    • Jab 1 X increased, 25 > 38
    • Jab 2 width decreased, 83 > 57
    • Jab 2 X increased, 25 > 38
      • Pomme’s jab was tied for fastest in the game, with a hitbox that snatched up players standing behind her a bit too often for our liking. Her new frame data is toned down a bit, with hitboxes that do a better job at focusing on players directly in front of her.
  • UP TILT
    • Startup increased, 4 > 6
  • DOWN TILT
    • Startup increased, 3 > 4
    • Endlag increased, 9 > 11
  • FORWARD TILT

    • Startup increased, 6 > 7
      • We hit Pomme’s tilts across the board to level out some of her weaknesses. Her access to float and fast aerials seemed a bit too strong when combined with some of the best grounded options in the game.
  • NEUTRAL SPECIAL
    • Note hitstun multiplier decreased, 1.2 > 0.8
    • Summoning notes now cancels float. Notes may still be thrown while floating.
    • Parrying Pomme now destroys notes around her.
  • GENERAL
    • Reduced double jump protection when floating, 8 > 3

Olympia is still fighting the good fight, so we decided to fix up a weird interaction and also add a few nice QoL changes to her neutral special.

  • UP TILT
    • Up Tilt’s stomp hitboxes have been simplified: The smaller one (with 1.1 kb scaling) has been removed, and the larger one (with 0.7 scaling) can now hit aerial players.
      • Some strange interactions resulting from grounded spikes could occasionally cause deaths across the map. While it was a little funny, this change should balance that out without changing too much of the move’s functionality.
  • NEUTRAL SPECIAL
    • Neutral special projectile Y lowered, -50 > -40
      • Olympia’s gem throw looked a bit off visually while also allowing some bigger characters to duck right underneath it. The new height should normalize it with other projectiles in the game with the added bonus of allowing more grounded hitboxes to hit a gem spawned from a default height.
    • Added an off-screen indicator for gem field.
      • This QoL change should help Olympia mains keep track of gems in the fringe cases where they may have spawned in the blastzone.

  • Olympia’s J rune now also extends crystalized time by 1.5x.
  • Olympia’s O rune reworked: it now teleports to the gem when breaking it by holding Special.
  • Olympia’s L rune reworked: Crystal spikes are now landmines that last a couple seconds and trigger when an opponent steps on it.
  • Fixed Ori’s O rune having a large sprite.
  • Fixed Hodan’s A rune hurting Hodan like it would with opponents.
  • Fixed Hodan’s B rune not spawning anything.
  • Fixed Hodan’s L rune only working when facing right.
  • Adjusted Hodan’s M rune to only activate sweatspirits that are idle, and fixed a lingering hitbox on them.
  • Changed Hodan’s O rune to act more consistently to Zetter’s fire-consuming attacks.
  • Mollo’s thunder bomb (via the I rune) is reworked to actually do something unique instead of just having a weird flipper. (it summons lightning!)
  • Nerfed Mollo’s salvo bomb (via rune J) so it’s not as unfun to play against.
  • Fixed Mollo’s G rune not applying the changed bomb type to his first equipped bomb.
  • Fixed Mollo’s D rune not doing anything.

Categories: News, Patch notes | Comments: 4

Patch 2.1.2.1 Out Now on Switch!

By SBS — April 20, 2022

Our major update for the Workshop Four-Pack is out now on Nintendo Switch. In addition to the latest bugfixes, this update also includes the latest balance updates for the four newcomers. Check out the balance changes for versions 2.1.1.0 and 2.1.2.0 that have been added to Switch from previously released updates for PC.

Switch Bugfixes and Improvements

    • Entering Abyss mode after reaching level 10 with a character will no longer crash the game.
    • Fixed a crash that could occur when adding/removing joycons or other controllers in the console menu.
    • The stats menu should no longer cause a crash when scrolled through.
    • Portrait and other various menu and victory art has been updated to correct odd shader behavior and/or stray pixels.
    • Multiple tutorial improvements made for the four newcomers. Improved descriptions, controls, and reduced difficulty of some steps.
    • Fixed multiple rune and gameplay related issues in Abyss mode.
    • Fixed odd animations when moonwalking as Olympia, Pomme, Mollo, or Hodan.
    • Fixed Olympia, Pomme, Mollo, and Hodan not getting an animation when you unlock their milestone.
    • The Random Stage button should now be able to choose from any stage skins you’ve unlocked.
    • Closed up a gap in collision boxes on Neo Blazing Rail that let players go under the main ground.
    • Fixed dash dancing desyncing replays.
    • Multiple small visual bugs in menus and gameplay have been fixed.
    • Fixed Kragg’s pillar persisting under the bottom blastzone.
    • Addressed various other bugs.


Mollo balance changes included in this Switch patch can be found at 2.1.1.0 and 2.1.2.0.

    • Adjusted how Mollo bombs blow up in his hand, which also fixed a crash. (The fuse does not tick down during hitpause if it triggers this way, so moves that modify hitpause afterwards like Bash don’t desync the bomb’s timer.)
    • Bomb and explosion readability has been improved.
    • Super armor now armors through Mollo’s flashbang, but will be put into the same amount of hitpause as the flashbang normally does.
    • Bug Fix: Fixed the Flashbanged double-visioned effect not displaying correctly.
    • Bug Fix: Fixed various issues with Ori bashing Mollo bombs.


Hodan balance changes included in this Switch patch can be found at 2.1.1.0 and 2.1.2.0.

    • Increased BKB of Hodan’s Ustrong grab hitboxes: 0.1 -> 4. While this doesn’t really affect the move’s balance (slam hitboxes have their own BKB), this fixes crouch-cancelling it on platforms.
    • Things that destroy projectiles (Vince/flowers/etc.) will now destroy sweatwhirls instead of only destroying their hitbox.
    • Fixed Hodan keeping a grabbed sweatwhirl after respawning.
    • Fixed Hodan’s O rune not being able to consume fire on some strongs.


Pomme balance changes included in this Switch patch can be found at 2.1.1.0 and 2.1.2.0.

    • Bug Fix: Updated Pomme’s portrait colors to match shaders better. (Also got rid of a red pixel on her custom color sprite.)


Olympia balance changes included in this Switch patch can be found at 2.1.1.0 and 2.1.2.0.

    • Olympia’s crystal now has an additional color option in the custom colors menu.
    • Adjusted Olympia’s tutorial so hitting bair into another aerial should be easier.
    • Bug Fix: Olympia’s walljump should no longer cause a crash.
    • Bug Fix: Olympia’s crystalized effect should now use consistent colors instead of blinking between swapped colors.
    • Bug Fix: Mollo’s flashbang no longer causes Olympia to zoom offstage if she armors a flashbang.
    • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug allowing Ori to bash Olympia’s Crystal repeatedly.

     

Categories: Announcement, Community, Development, News, Patch notes | Comments: 6

Rivals of Aether Balance Patch 2.1.2.0

By SBS — March 16, 2022

After over a full month since the release of our four free newcomers, we are back once again with another round of balance changes!

Last patch aimed to clean up some obvious troublemakers and mechanics. This time we intend to really dig deep and focus on fine-tuning our new friends. This is not by any means our final balance patch, but this will be our last balance touch-up before Genesis 8 and Low Tide City in April. Players looking for changes for our earlier 14 characters can get excited for our next balance patch coming later this year, where we plan to continue work on our newcomers while giving some elbow grease to some of our other favorite Rivals!

Alright, time to dive in. Don’t forget to breathe.

Mollo is approaching an elevated existence. His role as an aggressive and unpredictable character who can rush down or zone while using everything at his disposal is being carved into the meta every day. Our main goal with our latest Mollo update was to add some more risk to his bombs while also taking aim at some trickier normals that eluded the spotlight during his onslaught of Finisher Bombs on release. We also adjusted his Waveland speed and distance to fit into his kit a bit more naturally.

  • GENERAL BOMBS
    • Added an aerial version of Down Throw with bombs.
      • Having Mollo do the same light toss in the air as on the ground didn’t feel right. We gave him a new down throw that allows for pressure from above without having to commit to an up special.
    • Adjusted bomb sprites to more clearly show when they have a bonk hitbox.
      • We recognized there were a few scenarios where players would expect to be able to parry bombs when they did not have an active hitbox, this visual update should make these scenarios much more clear.
    • Added HUD indicator to show whichever bomb Mollo is holding.
      • We wanted players to have an easier time recognizing what bomb the Mollo pulled in certain scenarios like recovery. This change should make it clear to every player which bomb the Mollo has chosen with a simple peek at the HUD.
    • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug causing delayed explosions of Firecracker when held by Mollo.
    • Bug Fix: Hitting a bomb downward while on the ground now properly bounces them upward.
  • FLASHBANG
    • Stun timer reduced 45 > 30
    • Hitstun multiplier reduced, 1.0 > 0.8
      • We recognized that the stun was a little too easy for Mollo to get a huge reward off of. This coupled with the recent buff to this bomb’s damage, we opted to make the window for stun follow-ups a little tighter.
    • Adjusted sprite to more clearly define it from a firecracker.
  • DEFAULT BOMB
    • KB angle, 70 > 80
      • Default bombs were a bit too difficult to DI based on there position relative to the player. A higher knockback angle makes bad DI less likely to KO off the top, but also makes follow-up combos from Mollo easier in the process. We want the Default Bombs to help Mollo secure kills more than outright taking stocks on their own.
  • FINISHER BOMB
    • Adjusted explosion hit FX layers of Finisher Bomb to primarily appear behind players.
      • This adds to a change last patch that allows players to see where they are in relation to the explosion, helping with DI on reaction.
  • JAB
    • Bug Fix: Removed whifflag.
    • Jab 1 recovery, 8 > 12
    • Jab 1 active frames, 3 > 2
    • Jab 2 recovery, 12 > 16
      • Jabs generally do not have whifflag, so with the removal of that mechanic we needed to normalize some of the values of Jab 1 and 2.
  • FORWARD TILT
    • Damage increased, 5 > 9
    • Endlag reduced, 18 > 14
    • Bug Fix: Added whifflag.
      • Forward Tilt felt a little weak for its intended use. The extra damage should help with that, while the reduced endlag combined with the addition of whifflag will help it feel the same on a miss and better on hit.
  • UP TILT
    • Damage increased, 6 > 8
      • Much like Forward Tilt, Up Tilt damage seemed just a bit low for its use as a get-off-me tool, so we gave it some love.
  • DOWN TILT
    • Removed Jump cancel.
    • BKB 6 > 7
      • Down tilt is a pretty powerful tool even without the jump cancel on hit. We wanted to keep the move feeling good while also giving it an increase in base knockback to make chaining into itself less common.
  • DASH ATTACK
    • Bombless endlag increased, 15 > 18.
      • The bombless Dash Attack is meant to push opponents off of Mollo rather than a strong combo tool. The extra endlag will still allow for some pressure with more strict follow-ups.
  • NEUTRAL AIR
    • Hit 1 damage decreased, 5 > 2
    • Hit 1 hitstun multiplier reduced, 1.0 > 0.5
      • The first hit of Neutral Air seemed to serve its purpose connecting into the rest of the move, but it allowed for some pretty crazy hitfall loops. The lower damage and lower hitstun modifier makes those loops more difficult to pull off while also making the connecting hits of the move more rewarding.
  • FORWARD AIR
    • Bug Fix: Whifflag now applies properly.
  • DOWN AIR
    • Hitpause on sour hitboxes reduced, 7 + 0.6 > 6 + 0.5
    • Hitpause on sweet hitboxes increased, 7 + 0.6 > 10 + 0.8
    • Sweetspot vs. grounded KB reduced, 7 + 0.7 > 5 + 0.7
      • The sweetspot knockback reduction vs grounded opponents should make grounded spikes easier to follow up on at combo percents.
    • Endlag increased, 8 > 12
    • Bug Fix: Whifflag now applies properly.
          • Down air is a pretty cool move that just needed some fine tuning. Startup remains the same but an endlag increase makes it a little more committal to use. The hitpause increase should make it more satisfying to land while giving opponents a better reactionary window to DI.

    FORWARD STRONG

    • Final hit size changed, 62 x 57 > 80 x 72
    • Hits 1 and 2 are no longer techable on the ground (can still be wall teched).
      • These changes should match Forward Strong’s art better and help with linking early hits into the final.

    NEUTRAL SPECIAL

    • Removed the extinguish move; nspecial now does nothing when holding a bomb.
      • Mollo’s ability to extinguish the bomb ran counter to our goal of making the bomb pull a commitment.

    DOWN STRONG

    • Wide hitbox height increased, 58 > 60.
    • Wide hitbox Y increased, -30 > -28.
      • We thought it would be cool if Mollo could break cancel off of rocks with his down strong.

    UP SPECIAL

    • Bug Fix: Adjusted final hurtboxes to align better with sprites.
  • DOWN SPECIAL
    • Tipper angle increased, 35 > 40
    • Tipper KB decreased, 11 + 1.1 > 9 + 1.05
    • Main KB decreased, 8.5 + 1.1 > 8 + 0.95
    • Drifting forward now launches Default Bomb and Flashbang instead of detonating instantly, to mimic Firecracker and Finisher behavior.
      • The community found a fun use for the finisher and firecracker bombs, allowing the bat to launch them forward when airborne and drifting forward. This change allows all bombs to work this way.
    • Bat now launches rocks instead of breaking them.
      • Batter up!
  • GENERAL
    • Waveland speed multiplier reduced, 1.5 > 1.25
    • Waveland time reduced, 9 > 8
      • Mollo’s Wavedash was one of the best in the game, which gave him a bit more of an advantage for his playstyle than we wanted. His overall distance on Wavedash has been reduced to better mesh with his unique mix of normals and projectiles.

Hodan’s charge mechanic changes from last patch seemed to have the effect we wanted. Players have begun exploring more of his kit, really opening up his playstyle in a way that fits his fun-loving personality. Most of our changes with this patch focus on game feel for players on both ends of the field, and the functionality of his specials – NO MORE BOSS HOGGIN, WE’VE SEEN ENOUGH!

  • JAB
    • Bug Fix: Rapid jab can now be done by holding Attack.
    • Bug Fix: Fixed not being parry stunned when doing a tilt cancel.
  • DASH ATTACK
    • Uncharged early hitpause increased, 7 > 8
    • Uncharged late hitpause increased, 5 > 6
    • Uncharged hitpause scaling increased, 0.25 > 0.6
    • Charged early hitpause increased, 7 > 11
    • Charged early hitpause scaling increased, 0.25 > 0.8
    • Charged late hitpause scaling increased, 0.45 > 0.8
      • These changes all aimed to make Dash Attack feel better to land and get hit by, while making reactionary DI a little easier for opponents.
    • Bug Fix: Charged Dash Attack can no longer fastfall offstage.
      • While the mechanic is kind of cool, we found it brought more frustration from accidental self destructs than it was worth. This bug fix also makes the behavior consistent with the uncharged variant, allowing for a tech called fastfall storage on platforms in case players still wanted to utilize the tech in specific situations. Fastfall storage is a pretty complicated tech, luckily our friend SNC has a document dedicated to it and related techs here.
  • FORWARD AIR
    • Adjusted charged hitbox 2 (and related spritework) to hit less inside and below Hodan, with some size shaved off the front and top as well.
      • Last patch we said that this move is meant to be big and strong. The intention of this change is to make lower recoveries a little more safe and to allow opponents to sneak behind the hitbox if the Hodan overshoots.
  • UP STRONG
    • Grabbing opponents gives their double jumps back.
      • Large disjointed moves that grab opponents out of the air can be pretty nasty, so we tend to give double jumps back to numb the pain. Ranno tongue being a similar example.
  • DOWN STRONG
    • Bug Fix: Removed whifflag from the parry window.
    • Bug Fix: Added a 1-frame gap between the parry window and attack.
      • There were some instances where the parry and hit would overlap, resulting in some weird knockback properties.
  • UP SPECIAL
    • Charged and uncharged Up Special now have 6 frames of hit lockout on their sweet spot.
      • This helps avoid situation where a sweat whirl can interrupt kills.
    • Throwing a spirit with Up Special now puts Fspecial on 20 frames of cooldown.
      • Rather than put Hodan into pratfall, we decided this would be a good way to limit Up Special stalling.
  • DOWN SPECIAL
    • Down Special now has a “slam” hitbox that can hit aerial opponents.
      • Previously, Hodan’s final hitbox would only hit grounded opponents, making the second half of the move relatively non-threatening if a player were to jump. This hitbox is intended to catch airborne opponents that would have otherwise barely dodged his bury.
    • Down Special mud wave hitbox width increased to better match the visual, 32 > 52
    • Bug Fix: Fixed mud wave hitboxes having inconsistent positions.
  • GENERAL
    • Sweatspirits are now destroyed when Hodan dies.
      • This makes Sweatspirits consistent with other stage control in the game that is removed when the character is KOed.
    • Bug Fix: Fixed sweat spirits displaying in front of players in some cases.
    • Bug Fix: Hodan no longer gains parry invincibility from parrying his own Forward Special sweatwhirls.

Pomme once again didn’t require too many updates in this balance patch. We did target some of her spammable options such as Dash Attack and Forward Air in addition to shaving some active frames off of a few strong attacks. Don’t fret though, we did give her Neutral Air some love along the way.

  • DASH ATTACK
    • Startup increased, 6 > 8
    • Endlag increased, 12 > 15
      • Her Dash Attack is one of her best burst options, but its previous state was overshadowing her other mechanics. Making the move more of a commitment should open up her kit exploration in a fun way.
    • Adjusted sound effects to be a bit more musical.
  • NEUTRAL AIR
    • Increased early hitbox size.
      • Her Neutral Air was a solid move. This change should make well timed instances of it more rewarding, while keeping the moves main functionality the same.
  • FORWARD AIR
    • Endlag increased, 15 > 19
    • Changed landing lag behavior after the hitbox becomes active. Landing lag will scale from 18 to normal landing time based on how late you land.
      • Pomme’s fair strength is in a healthy spot, but her float mechanic brings a bit of a unique challenge to reducing over-reliance on the move. Floating near the ground could allow for repeated Forward Aerials that would circumvent the move’s endlag in lieu of more favorable landing lag. This scaling change is similar to how Wrastor’s air strongs work.
  • STRONG ATTACKS

    • Up Strong hitbox lifetime decreased, 8 > 6
    • Down Strong hitbox lifetime decreased, 8 > 6
    • Adjusted whifflag to apply to more of the endlag, which should result in whifflag being ~2 frames longer.
      • Both Up and Down Strong had a bit longer of a lifetime than we would have liked. Her powerful sound waves are still pretty active, but now have a harder time hitting players when their techs end.
  • FORWARD SPECIAL
    • Vince now displays in front of players.
      • We wanted his role as a bodyguard to be a bit more pronounced, he will now show up in front of Pomme and other players. Maybe some creative Pomme mains can now use Vince to shield what they are doing?
  • GENERAL
    • Bug Fix: Jump and Double Jump sprites have been realigned to better match the hurtbox.

Olympia is still a Dan favorite. Someone spilled the beans and told him about the nerfs last patch and he was furious… I figured he couldn’t get any MORE angry so I’m doubling down with a bigger rock hammer (geologist joke! Haha!) this time. We took a good look at her normals and a few of her specials this time.

  • GENERAL
    • Hurtboxes now include the gauntlets on all attacks.
      • Originally we wanted her reinforced armored hand to avoid having hurtboxes on them, but based on her archetype, she does not need the added disjoint.
  • JAB
    • Bug Fix: Hit 1 no longer has whifflag.
  • FORWARD TILT
    • Hitbox active time reduced, 9 > 6 (FAF remains the same)
    • Hitbox size reduced.
      • The previous version was catching players off-guard by hitting a bit too far behind her, and lingering on frames where the move appeared to end. This change is more faithful to her animation.
  • UP TILT
    • Reduced the size of her second hitbox to cover less space directly in front of her.
      • This hitbox is intended as a get-off-me tool and anti-air, so it seemed appropriate to reduce the area it strikes in front of her.
  • DASH ATTACK
    • Removed jump cancel.
      • Be honest. Did you even know Olympia had a jump cancel on her dash attack? The jump cancel was only on the last 12 frames of the attack so didn’t affect a ton of situations as is. Rather than adding endlag to the overall move, this change only shaves frames off of the on-hit situations.
  • NEUTRAL AIR
    • Hit 1 hitstun multiplier reduced, 1.0 > 0.5
      • Because it has no hitstun scaling, Olympia’s Neutral Air 1 has been seeing a lot of use across all percents, acting as a looping tool at low percents, and a kill confirm at higher percents. This change should tighten up confirm windows and give some healthy counter-play to these situations.
  • FORWARD AIR
    • Main hitbox size decreased, 76 x 76 > 66 x 66
      • Olympia’s Forward Air has been filling it’s role as a combo tool and finisher very well. The hitbox reduction combined with additional vulnerability on her gauntlets should make contesting the move easier for opponents.
  • UP AIR
    • First hitbox hitstun multiplier changed, 1 > 0.85
    • Second hitbox hitstun multiplier changed, 1 > 0.85
    • Third (spike) hitbox angle flipper removed, 6 > 0
      • Last patch we attempted to make up air chains a little less painful by increasing her base knockback and landing lag. This attack is still a crutch for Olympia players so we decided to reduce hitstun opponents receive in order to allow for easier escape attempts from Olympia’s victims.
  • BACK AIR
    • Reduced main hitbox active time, 9 > 6
    • Reduced underside hitbox active time, 11 > 6
    • Adjusted window timings so active time is 14 > 6 and endlag is 2 > 10,
      • This means whifflag will apply more to the move.
    • Reduced main hitbox width, 70 > 60
    • Reduced underside hitbox size and position.
      • We felt that her disjoint on this move was a little strong, particularly below her. We want this move to be more of a horizontal menace, with less safety when landing directly on top of opponents.
  • FORWARD STRONG
    • Forward Strong is now split between an early strong hit lasting 3 frames, and a late hit beginning on frame 4. The early hit is unchanged from the previous version and the late hit has 12 base hitpause and 0.8 KB scaling. Each hitbox is new compared to the previous Forward Strong.
      • Olympia’s Forward Strong is a unique move that shatters her gauntlets. We wanted to keep the length of the move identical while making later frames a little less powerful.
  • NEUTRAL SPECIAL
    • Projectile Hitstun multiplier reduced, 1.0 > 0.5
      • The projectile throw itself is not intended to be her main strength on Neutral Special. This puts the projectile portion more in line with other projectiles of similar knockback.
    • Creating the gem (either automatically or manually) now puts Break Nspecial on 10 frames of cooldown.
      • This is meant to prevent accidentally buffering gem pops when trying to stop the projectile late.
    • Bug Fix: Bashed gem is now destroyed when it hits the ground.
  • FORWARD SPECIAL
    • Bug Fix: Fixed parry stun not applying if you hit someone or something after getting parried.
  • UP SPECIAL
    • Rapid hitbox size reduced, 72 x 72 > 60 x 60
    • Finisher body hitbox width decreased, 95 > 75
      • This change allows opponents to contest early hits of the move more safely, while also decreasing the size of her finishing hitbox that would terrorize airborne opponents.
    • Pratfall landing time increased, 11 > 18
      • The increased pratfall time should make going for ladders ending with up special a little more commital while still allowing for smart use of edge cancels on the way down to protect herself.
  • DOWN SPECIAL
    • Dodge cancel in the air now puts the move on cooldown until you land, walljump, or get hit.
      • Olympia’s Down Special was a bit too safe to use. Her dash cancel gives a big boost of speed and a smallwindow of invulnerability. Limiting the cancel to once per airtime will make the option a calculated choice rather than a repeated optimal strategy.
    • Increased early attack startup, 2 > 10
      • Releasing the move early was able to sneak through certain multi-hits, this should make the move lose to multi-hit attacks while keeping it as a good counter to single-hit attacks.
    • Bug Fix: Fixed armor being reapplied when releasing it.
    • Bug Fix: Fixed armor being reapplied in certain other situations.

  • Matches no longer desync when switching between rollback and non-rollback modes online.
  • Fixed Orcane’s explosive bubble rune crashing.
  • Fixed keyboard controls causing unintentional up/down hard presses while online.
  •  WORKSHOP
    • Added attack property AG_NO_PARRY_STUN.
    • Added newcomer names to get_char_info.

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