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Patch 1.4.14 Notes

As a summer of action packed majors and grassroots events comes to a close, we’re taking this opportunity to make some cool changes across the cast. Read on for the full notes below.

  • Notes with this label 1.4.14 hotfix were added in a hotfix on 8/26.
    • Holding special will no longer count as holding jump during a wall cling.
    • The purple kill effect now ignores Kragg’s pillar and rock (necessary for optimization).

    • Dspecial cancel can now drift during the initial flip if Zetterburn’s horizontal speed is low enough.
      This allows you to gain speed after momentum is killed by hitting a wall, but does not affect normal Dspecial cancel.

    • Orcane can now drift during the endlag of non-teleport Uspecial.
    • Dspecial cooldown between dropping the puddle and spawning bubbles reduced from 60 > 30.
    • Uspecial now has a minimum speed boost on startup.
      Orcahop is exactly the same, but using Uspecial without upward momentum is much better.

    • Fstrong sourspot KB scaling decreased from 1.1 > 1.0.
    • Fstrong hitboxes moved to match the visual.
    • Fstrong sweetspot size increased from 10×10 > 12×12.
      This makes sure the sourspot doesn’t reach farther forward than the sweetspot.

    • Rockless Nspecial KB Scaling increased from 0.4 > 0.55.
    • Rockless Nspecial endlag reduced from 6 > 4.

    • Super clone will now switch to evade mode when his target is invincible.
    • Non-super clones will now be destroyed when the real Forsburn is hit (unless it has already started exploding with Dspecial).

    • Fair hit lockout reduced from 4 > 0.
    • Fspecial ledge snap threshold increased from 13px > 20px.
    • Aerial Fspecial dash speed increased from 12 > 14.
    • Uspecial speed boost when holding left or right after rising increased from 2 > 3.
    • Aerial Dspecial’s endlag can now be cancelled into Fspecial.
    • 1.4.14 hotfix Aerial Dspecial can no longer be cancelled into Fspecial after being parried.
    • 1.4.14 hotfix Fspecial that starts on the ground but ends in the air will now have the shorter endlag that aerial Fspecial usually has. This makes sure that Maypul’s momentum is conserved like a normal aerial Fspecial.
      During Fspecial, Maypul is counted as “on the ground” if she is anywhere within 32px above the ground. This is to make it so instant aerial Fspecial doesn’t have less endlag than grounded Fspecial.

    • While moving horizontally, Uspecial snaps to ledges within 16px.
    • Double jump, airdodge, and walljump are no longer refreshed when touching the ground while moving with Uspecial or in between the two movements.

    • Pressing down while reopening Uspecial will no longer lock you out of fastfalling the next time you cancel Uspecial.
    • Ori can now drift during the startup of Dspecial.
    • When Spirit Flame does no knockback, it will no longer overheat an enemy Sein or remove Shovel Knight’s dynamo charge.

    • You can now hold backward to throw the bubble behind you during grounded Dspecial.

    • Ftilt and Jab-special swapped. Pressing special after jab 2 will now do a tail swipe that spawns a petal wave, creating grass behind it. Ftilt now shoots a low-angle seed.
    • Dtilt hit 1 (both hitboxes) knockback matched to hit 2 (so that hitting an extended hurtbox with hit 1 and missing with hit 2 won’t be so punishing).
    • Fstrong post-charge frames decreased from 12 > 8 (full startup: 18 > 14).
    • Fstrong multihits hitpause decreased from 4 > 2.
    • Uspecial bite Base KB decreased from 10 > 9.
    • Uspecial bite KB scaling increased from 0.85 > 1.05.
    • Fspecial active frames increased from 3 > 4 (makes it less likely to pass through someone moving toward you while also making it easier to parry for the opponent).

    • Fstrong endlag increased from 18 > 20 (27 > 30 on whiff).
    • Air acceleration while charging strong attacks reduced from x1.0 > x0.5.
    • Dspecial mine now makes a sound when hit out of the air.

    • Ghost Glove endlag when shooting more than 2 projectiles increased from 12 > 24.
    • Uspecial non-sweetspot damage reduced from 6 per hit, total 18 > 5 per hit, total 15.
    • Uair repeating hits active frames increased from 2 > 4 (no more empty frames between them).
    • 1.4.14 hotfix Ghost Glove endlag is now calculated correctly.

    Let us know what you think in the comments.

    New Netcode Open Beta is Available now on Steam!

    The time has come! The new netcode that we have spent parts of the last two years working on is now available on Steam. The feature is not ready to go live yet, but we want your help to stomp out all the bugs and put the finishing touches on all the new features.

    How do I get it?

    The New Netcode Open Beta can be accessed on Steam. Find Rivals of Aether in your Steam Library then Right Click it to bring up the option menu. From there:

    • (1). Select Properties. Once that opens, navigate to the Betas Tab.
    • (2). Then open the Dropdown menu and select nectode_branch – New Netcode Beta.
    • (3). Finally once it is selected, you can close the menu.
    • (4). After you select this branch, you should see that Rivals has an update queued. If you do not see that, then close Steam and reopen it until Rivals of Aether has an update. When you open the game, you will know you are on the right branch if you see the New Netcode Open Beta Loading Screen.

    How can I help?

    You can get started by joining the Official Rivals of Aether Discord. Once you join, you’ll want to navigate to the #new-netcode channel. From there you can discuss the beta with other players or find players to play with and against.

    If you run into bugs, you’ll want to navigate to the #bug-submission channel. There you can easily submit bugs with the help of BeetleBot. You can use this command generator form to get your bugs in a bot-friendly format.

    If your bug gets approved, then you can track it on our Rivals Netcode Open Beta Trello. On this Trello, you’ll be able to track our fixes and see what is coming in the next update and what is marked as fixed already. With your help, we can make the online experience as amazing as possible!

    What Features are in this Open Beta?

    The new netcode has many improvements over what Rivals of Aether currently has. The biggest change is that online multiplayer is increasing from the previous two player limit. Let’s go through the changes one by one.

    First of all, Ranked Matches have been reworked from the December 2018 Update. The first improvement is that the matchmaking has been updated. It will now match you with players in the same tier as you. (example: Bronze to Bronze. Gold to Gold. etc.) After a short period of time, it will expand to one tier above and one tier below you but you can’t match with someone past that.

    We like the star system and ranking up from the 2018 update, but we didn’t like how it discourages people from playing their secondaries when they reach a high ranking because you are more likely to lose on your secondary. So we have made a ranking system for each character including random. Ranking up each character will be part of the fun! Each tier will have a different reward. Rank up to Silver to get the first Emote for your character. Rank up to Gold to get your character’s Ranked Skin!

    Ranked remains a best 2 out of 3. And yes, you can still counter-pick. But you can only change to a character within the same tier or lower than the character that you queued up with initially. Stars will be awarded to the character that won the last game in the set and losses will be awarded to the character that started the search.

    Next, Casual Matches have been updated and overhauled now that lobbies have increased past our previous 2 player limit. Casual Matchmaking allows for you to search for three types of Casual Matches – 1v1, 2v2 and Free-for-All. You can even queue up for all three options at once! Casual Matches remain best 2 out of 3. When playing Free-for-All, the set ends when one player reaches 2 wins, so can continue past 3 matches. Both Casual 2v2 and Casual Free-for-All require four players in order to for the set to begin. If one player leaves then the remaining players search for a replacement and start a new set after finding one.

    Next up, Friendly Matches have been improved as well. The biggest change is the lobby size has increased not just to 4 players but you can have even more spectators. This allows players to spectate even 2v2 matches or do rotations while their friends play. You can also turn on Teams in Friendly Matches at any time as long as all players in the lobby agree. Friendly Lobbies will be the place to go to get either casual or competitive matches with your friends.

    Next up we have improved the Online Settings for online play. The biggest change is that Regions now determine your matchmaking settings. By default, all regions will be able to be matched with you, but you can turn off any region other than your own. Be warned, lowering your region options can greatly increase your search times!

    Next we have added a new feature called Wi-fi Mode. If you have played Rivals of Aether extensively, you will notice that the New Netcode has better ping and smoother connections than the past. However, this can cause issues if you have an erratic connection such as a wireless connection. If you experience lag spikes, you can turn on Wi-fi Mode in the settings which should have your connection function similarly to the old Netcode. When the setting is on, your input lag will increase but the connection should be more stable and be less susceptible to lag spikes. Only turn on Wi-fi Mode if you are having issues with lag spikes as it will increase your input lag when playing online.

    Where’s Rollback?!

    If you have been following the development of Rivals, you would know over 2 years ago, we announced that we were working on rollback netcode. If you are unfamiliar with rollback netcode, you can read more about it here. Since then, we have been working on redoing the netcode in tandem with all our other development. We made a ton of progress thanks to YellowAfterlife, Ampersandbear and Juju Adams. You can thank them for all the improvements you see in the above section. We did make a lot of progress toward getting rollback working with Rivals. We got the game state to be saving and loading correctly without desyncing. But we weren’t close to having the save and load times small enough to run smoothly. The game was running around 1-2 frames per second initially.

    Thanks to YellowAfterlife and Juju, we were able to optimize the game a lot over a couple of months and managed to get the frame rate up to 55-60 FPS on PC. But this still wasn’t functional because we still needed the game to be able to run multiple game logic frames in a single frame in order to roll back and we were right up against the edge . The months were flying by and while we made great progress, the steps to get where we wanted were uncertain. We had to make a call if we were ever going to get the Definitive Edition actually released. The netcode revamp had already consumed a ton of development time. We decided to stop working on rollback and continue developing the new netcode using a lock-step solution similar to the old Rivals netcode.

    But it’s not all doom and gloom. The optimizations that we made really do improve the game and help it run on Switch much more smoothly. All those improvements are still on this branch. They might result in some new gameplay bugs that we don’t see on live, but we’ll get those stomped out during this open beta. Even without Rollback, the gameplay itself does feel way smoother on the New Netcode and I hope you all find good matches with low ping!

    Patch 1.4.13 Notes

    This patch includes some standard bug fixes and quality of life improvements, as well as balance changes that we wanted to see before the August events get into full swing. As always let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on social media.

    • Airdodging horizontally or downward toward the ledge while slightly under it (up to 16px) will now raise you onto the ledge, similar to wavelanding while slightly under a platform.
    • Shorthop and Fullhop buttons should now buffer correctly offline.
    • Moves that throw rock can no longer do so while the rock is already in hitpause.
    • Armoring through an attack will no longer restore your walljump.
    • Idle/crouching hurtboxes that reached 1px below platforms have been raised 1px.
    • While in grounded hitstun, characters will use their normal hurtbox instead of their hitstun hurtbox.
    • Transitioning from dtilt to crouch will no longer give you a standing hurtbox for 1 frame.
    • Purple kill effect now takes SDI modifiers into account.
    • Bug Re-Fix: During the hitpause of the purple kill effect, moving platforms can no longer move the hit player (When this was fixed in 1.4.9, it created a new bug. Upon fixing that bug, this one re-broke. Now both bugs should be fixed).
    • Parried projectiles that cause parry stun now only cap their owner’s speed when they aren’t in hitstun.

    • Fstrong’s hurtbox fixed.
    • Uspecial’s multihits can no longer cause the purple kill effect.

  • Dash attack hitbox size increased from 42 > 50.
  • Ftilt hitbox reaches 4px farther forward.
  • Utilt top hitbox width increased from 20 > 24.
  • Nair no longer halts all momentum when bouncing off the edge of a platform.
  • Nair hitbox size increased from 60 > 75.
  • Nair hurtbox shrunk during active frames.
  • Uair hitbox shape adjusted from circular > rounded rectangle.
  • Uair hitbox moved slightly forward.
  • Dair hitboxes made larger (50 > 60) and centered better to cover Orcane’s whole body.
  • Bubbles now destroy Elliana’s steam.
  • Orcane is perfect.
    • Uspecial sweestpot knockback angle changed from 361 > 45
      (Unchanged vs aerial opponents. Angle 40 > 45 vs grounded opponents).

    • Rock and pillar are no longer destroyed when a nearby character is hit by Ranno’s tongue.
    • Pillar breaking under invincible opponents will no longer remove their invincibility.
    • Pillar breaking under characters with respawn invincibility will no longer send them into pratfall.

    • Uspecial hit lockout reduced from 20 > 0.
    • Dspecial hurtbox adjusted to match sprite better.

    • Uair hit 1 can no longer cause the purple kill effect.
    • Uspecial can now be cancelled with a walljump at the same time it can be cancelled into a double jump (allows Etalus to buffer a walljump without wasting his double jump).
    • Fspecial that hits an existing patch of ice after Dspecial’s shockwave is triggered will no longer prevent the ice from exploding.

    • Default and crouching hurtbox shrunk horizontally by 10px in front of Ori.
    • Utilt startup decreased from 9 > 7.
    • Utilt hits 1 and 2 active frames increased from 4 > 6 (now there is no gap between the hitboxes).
    • Spirit Flame will no longer restore the opponent’s walljump if it does not cause hitstun.
    • Using a special attack during Charged Flame’s startup will no longer shorten the startup.

    • Now uses Orcane’s crouching hurtbox (shorter and wider).
    • Utilt startup decreased from 10 > 8.
    • Nspecial no longer shares a cooldown with Dspecial.
    • All Nspecial needles will now reflect when one is parried.
    • Non-poisoned enemies caught by Fspecial will now be trapped in bubble for 20 frames (down from 40 frames. Bubble time on poisoned enemies unchanged).
    • Crash Fix for when the object that Fpsecial is tethering to disappears under specific circumstances.
    • Uspecial divekick will now properly go into pratfall when a pillar breaks under it.
    • Bubble is no longer moved when a nearby character is hit by Ranno’s tongue.

    • Both Dair hitboxes now use rounded rectangles instead of circular hitboxes.
    • Aerials no longer have extended landing lag when not on grass.
    • Flowers are no longer destroyed when a nearby character is hit by Ranno’s tongue.

    • Dspecial can no longer be detonated by Fspecial or Nspecial while they are caught in Ori’s Bash (prevents the situation where bashing Fspecial or Nspecial while stuck would allow Elliana to use Uspecial to instantly detonate the mine).
    • The mine spawned by Dspecial is now hittable while the hitbox is active. Hitting it will cause it to fly away from the attacker with speed relative to the base knockback of the attack. Mines cannot attach to the last person to hit them.
    • Crouch animation altered to match the hurtbox better (Dtilt slightly changed as well).
    • Utilt claw hitbox shrunk slightly vertically.
    • Utilt pre-launch frames increased from 18 > 24.
    • Utilt hit lockout decreased from 30 > 20.
      Utilt only has 10 frames of endlag, so previously there were 20 frames where Elliana was actionable but could not hit the opponent.
    • Parrying a single steam cloud for the first time now changes the ownership of ALL related steam clouds.
    • Max-charge strong attack heat loss value: 900 > 600 (for reference no-charge releases 150 heat).
    • Bug re-fix: Fspecial can no longer cause the purple kill effect while the enemy is stuck.
    • Uspecial will now properly go into pratfall when a pillar breaks under it.
    • Uspecial hitbox size: 180 > 130 (also centered better with animation).
    • Parrying Uspecial after Elliana is already finished rebuilding her mech will now properly send her into parry stun.
    • Dspecial explosion hitpause scaling: 1 > 0 (Explosion time is now consistent at all percents).

    • Uspecial will now properly go into pratfall when a pillar breaks under it.
    • Dstrong will no longer hit treasure piles every frame while diving.
    • Ghost Glove endlag decreased from 24 > 12.
    • Dtilt startup decreased from 8 > 6.

    Make Your Mark: Panda Etalus

    Events with the Make your Mark banner offer a prize like no other – a chance for the winner to get their very own skin in the game. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes on our latest one and are excited to finally reveal Panda Etalus. This skin is inspired by FullStream’s win at Genesis 6 and his team Panda Global.

    Because this is a full reskin (meaning every frame has been drawn over to give Etalus an adorable panda face), this skin is priced at $3.99 on Steam. We are splitting the revenue 50/50 with FullStream and hope to see him at many more events this year!

    NA RCS Season 3 Top 50: #10 – 1

    This week we’re counting down the Top 50 Players from season 3 of the North American Rivals Championship Series. For more information about this historical rankings and its process, check out our introduction and honorable mentions post from earlier in the week.

    Other Articles in this Series:

    NA RCS S3 #10 – Corkxx

    NA RCS S2 Rank: 39

    <.< Corkxx showed us just how good he really is this year with a fantastic showing at offline events. Win or lose, his aggressive Forsburn gets the crowd excited and is a treat to watch. Corkxx used his fast-paced play this year to take sets from Windows, MattyIce, Jesier, SBS and more. Unfortunately it looks like he'll be out of the country during most of season 4, but he's earned his spot here in the top 10 for us remember him by until he returns.

    NA RCS S3 #09 – MattyIce

    NA RCS S2 Rank: N/A

    Broken Alliance’s MattyIce is the only player in the top 10 that was completely unranked last year. Bursting into the national scene in season 3, the rest of the Rivals world quickly learned what everyone in Florida already knew – that MattyIce was sick. His unique style is satisfying to watch where he’ll often use lightning fast combos into aerial strong attack traps that spell the end for opponents with unfortunate DI. In addition to being a top player, MattyIce is also a community leader and organizer in his home region. We’re looking forward to seeing more of him in season 4, as even though he’s near the top it seems he still has room to rise.

    NA RCS S3 #08 – ZeeBee

    NA RCS S2 Rank: 23

    While ZeeBee is always open to making the crowd laugh, his gameplay is no joke. His improvement from season 2 to season 3 was absolutely huge with him advancing from someone who could be called a solid player to a threat taking games off of the top 5 with regularity. His secondaries are quickly catching up to the speed and precision that his Kragg is known for, and if he can turn these wins into an everyday occurrence ZeeBee certainly has a bright future ahead of him.

    NA RCS S3 #07 – MSB

    NA RCS S2 Rank: 06

    MSB is a fan favorite and inspiration to every Kragg below him on this list. His fascinating tech, Rock tricks, and recovery add seasoning to a character that MSB has proven is anything but straightforward as he seems. Like everyone else in the top 10, MSB’s win record is extensive. However his trouble clinching consistent wins over the top 5 keeps him just outside this group even though he’s still making forward progress. As he continues to grow as a player, MSB has also grown greatly as a community leader and mentor bringing to life countless events both online and off in the Tristate area. We can’t wait for more popoffs in season 4.

    NA RCS S3 #06 – Bagel

    NA RCS S2 Rank: 17

    Bagel is a player who has risen above adversity to achieve a top 10 ranking this year. Battling from a region with few practice opportunities and tough travel arrangements, Bagel perseveres to put up results event after event. Though his gameplay isn’t overly fancy, his Etalus quickly becomes a problem for anyone who gives him an inch as shown with set wins over the likes of CakeAssault, Windows, MSB, Jesier and more. With just a bit more consistency in his placings Bagel certainly has the potential to be a top 5 player and one we’re excited to watch in season 4.

    NA RCS S3 #05 – DolphinBrick

    NA RCS S2 Rank: 05

    What MSB is to Kragg, Tuxedo Esports’ Dolphinbrick is to Orcane. One of the most skilled veterans to solo main a character over the years, he single-handedly keeps The Puddle Jumper on the map. DolphinBrick’s style is versatile but can be characterized with combo heavy play featuring tech chases and mixups that keep his opponents in a world of pain. His frequent attendance at events (placing in a whopping 12 over the season), along with his lovable personality make him a fan favorite. Lately we’ve heard rumors that after 3 years he’s finally looking for a tournament secondary, but we’re excited to see him in season 4 no matter who he brings to the stage.

    NA RCS S3 #04 – Windows

    NA RCS S2 Rank: 07

    Windows has always had lofty goals, and this year he once again levels up and solidifies his name in Rivals history with a top 5 ranking that is indisputable. His patient and punishing play go hand in hand with his character, and his consistency was only Rivaled by the 3 other players in the world on his level. Even more, his distinctive hot pink Wrastor seemed to be the only thing able to send CakeAssault to losers during much of season 3. This year Windows hopes to take his skills over to Ultimate as well as Rivals, so we’re excited to cheer him on in both events during season 4.

    NA RCS S3 #03 – Penguin

    NA RCS S2 Rank: 09

    Penguin is the youngest player in the top 10, which makes his resume this season where he holds the most placing of any player (16) even more impressive. He constantly makes Absa look like the fastest character in the game with his lightning quick movement, execution, and devastating combos that often go from 0 to death. Throughout season 3 his rise was an ever looming threat to the old guard as he got closer and closer each event to securing himself a first place. With Penguin participating in the grand finals of the last 6 offline events of the year it was only a matter of time before it came true at GT-X 2018 last fall. With his meteoric rise and the fact that it doesn’t look like he’s stopping any time soon, season 4 may be the year of the penguin.

    NA RCS S3 #02 – FullStream

    NA RCS S2 Rank: 01

    Panda Global’s FullStream continues to be a dominant force in the Rivals scene. Winning the season 3 finals at Genesis 6 makes him the only 2 time title holder in the series and this isn’t by a stroke of luck. He spent much of season 3 playing different characters at each tournament and consintently bringing them into the top 8 with ease. Rivals is FullStream’s first platform fighter, and thanks to FullStream’s success in Rivals he’s also turned his eyes to Smash. Keep an eye on this player in both games in season 4 as he always brings the hype.

    NA RCS S3 #01 – CakeAssault

    NA RCS S2 Rank: 02

    CakeAssault had another amazing year in Rivals with a simply staggering amount of first place finishes at national events. His Forsburn makes it seem like his opponents are playing a different, much slower game and he’s so good that this applies to literally everyone he plays against. His insanely consistent finishes were only broken twice this year, with a loss to Penguin at GT-X and a stumble at Genesis 6 to make it the only tournament where he didn’t play in grands. His dominant performance and top pedigree have earned him the crown and the right to take the number one on the top 50 players list for season 3.