News

This patch is a big one with tons of balance and “quality of life” changes. In addition, it also happens to fall on one of our favorite days of the year. Read on for all of the changes included in patch 1.4.9.

• Walljump is now restored on death.
• Characters in a state where they can’t tech can also no longer ledge cancel.
  This change is to help moves like Zetterburn Down Strong link into the final hit, since it could easily force the opponent to ledge cancel the first hit.
• Airdodging upward within 4 frames of double jumping will restore your double jump (the same way that Up Special does).
  This allows tap jump users to airdodge upward without wasting their double jump.
• Turnaround special window length increased from 8 > 16 (Turnaround special is performed by hard-pressing backward then pressing special within this window).
• Ceiling teching added.
• Missing a ceiling tech will now send you downward at half of your original upward speed (previous it set your vertical speed to zero).
• During the hitpause of the purple kill effect, moving platforms can no longer move the hit player.
• Added DI assistance:
  • For weak moves (under 10 KB) that send between 20 and 70 degrees, holding straight outward will perform perfect DI out.
  • For strong moves (over 10 KB) that send between 20 and 70 degrees, holding straight inward will perform perfect DI in.
  • For moves that send between 250 and 290 degrees, holding straight inward will perform perfect DI in.
  • If your DI direction is within 10 degrees of full inward or outward DI, it will become full-strength DI.

  This change is meant to allow keyboard players and newer players to get the correct DI more easily.

• Two new CPU DI options added in training mode: Left and Right (works well with the new DI assistance mechanic).
• Players will now instantly respawn in training mode.
• Press F2 while in the main menu or any character select screen to revert all keyboard controls to default.
• Starring online replays from the results screen now functions properly.
• Dev mode updated to version 0.6: Lots of dev mode bug fixes. Don’t ask us what they are specifically.

• Hold dodge during Up Special’s startup to Orcahop even when you have a puddle out.
• Ftilt endlag decreased from 9 > 8 (14 > 12 on whiff).
• Utilt sweetspot damage increased from 5 > 6.
• Dstrong back hit damage increased from 8 > 9 (to match front hit).
• Puddle Forward Strong and Up Strong now reach as far inward as the non-puddle versions.

• Tilts can no longer be jump cancelled after being parried.
• Dash Attack will now go into parry stun correctly if it ends in the air.
• Wrastor’s neutral air has been redesigned to be a 2 hit move. The first hit sends at a low angle with low hitstun. The second hit lingers for a while and has relatively strong knockback that decays drastically over time, allowing for varied usage depending on how you land it. Linking the first hit into the second hit is easier with the help of slipstream, especially at higher percents.
• Fspecial can now be destroyed by attacks. The slipstream is also destroyed and the move goes on 50% of its normal cooldown (for reference, parrying Fspecial puts it on 75% of its normal cooldown).
• Fspecial cooldown now applied 1 frame earlier (prevents Wrastor from getting the half-cooldown if interrupted on the frame that the projectile comes out).
• Fspecial cooldown icon added to the bottom HUD.
• Grounded Dspecial endlag on whiff: 21 > 28.
• Uspecial last few frames of hurtbox fixed.
• Pratfall aerial drift acceleration: .5 > .4.

• Dash Attack can no longer be cancelled into jab/tilts after being parried (required hitting another player/object at the same time as getting parried).
• Fstrong damage: 10 > 18.
• Ustrong damage: 4, 10 > 6, 16.
• Fair damage: 10 > 11.
• Press dodge during the first 5 frames of Nspecial to use rockless Nspecial.
• Grounded Rockless Nspecial hurtbox fixed.
• Going into pratfall from pillar breaking under you will now cap your horizontal speed (prevents extreme speed boosts from interrupting moves like Ori’s Dstrong).
• Fspecial will no longer lose its hitbox when getting hit the frame before transitioning from ground to air or vice versa.
• All players will now go into a 30 frame landing lag state when falling from a broken pillar, just like Kragg.
• Ranno, Elliana, and Shovel Knight Uspecial landing windows are no longer immune to pratfall after a pillar breaks under them.

• Fstrong and Ustrong can no longer be cancelled into jab/tilts after being parried (required hitting another player/object at the same time as getting parried).
• Fspecial cooldown icon added to the bottom HUD.
• Buddies will no longer follow Forsburn when he has a clone out or is behind smoke.

• Uspecial can no longer drop through platforms after being parried.
• Lily will no longer detect respawning players.

• Cloud kicks now start to lose power after 7 frames until the end of hitpause (total KB loss is -1.5 BKB over 5 frames).
• Charged Nspecial is no longer destroyed by the plasma field (it already hit through it, so this is mostly just a visual change).

• Jab 3 damage: 6 > 8.
• Fair armor will no longer have whiff landing lag after armoring through an attack.
• Armored strong attacks only gain super armor if half-charged or more. At less than half charge, they gain weak armor that gets stronger as it charges (starts at 10, ends at 25. Fair armor is 12 for reference).
• Armored Fstrong startup changed (6 pre-charge + 12 post-charge > 8 pre-charge + 9 post-charge).
• Armored Ustrong startup changed (6 pre-charge + 12 post-charge > 8 pre-charge + 10 post-charge).
• Armored Dstrong startup changed (6 pre-charge + 8 post-charge > 8 pre-charge + 6 post-charge).
  These changes make the super armor come out later, since the armor doesn’t start until post-charge.
• Armored Fstrong damage: 2 + 16 > 4 + 14.
• Armored Dstrong final hit damage: 12 > 16.
  Previously, armored strong attack damage was inconsistent when compared to the unarmored versions. Now, the damage is always unchanged for the linking hit and 4% stronger on the final hit.
• Armored Dstrong sourspot is no longer techable (matches non-armored version).
• Dspecial walljump is now possible with tap jump.
• Grounded Dspecial startup: 5 > 13.
• Window between rising hit and falling hit: 24 > 16 (does not apply when Dspecial is used in the air).
• Dspecial rising hit base knockback: 10 > 8.
• Dspecial rising hit hitstun modifier now scales from x1 to x2 over the span of the active frames.
• Dspecial rising hit can no longer be crouch canceled.
• Dspecial falling hit height: 70 > 80 (reaches further upward).
  Hitting with the later frames of Dspecial rising hit was punishable on hit every time (because of low hitstun and too large of a window between the hits). These changes make it link into the final hit more reliably on bad DI, while also making it safe on hit.
• Parrying Dspecial’s shockwave is now treated as parrying a projectile, meaning you can cancel the endlag of the parry.

• Jab combo damage: 2, 2, 4 > 3, 3, 6.
• Dtilt angle flipper removed.
• Dtilt is now a 3-hit multihit.
• Fair damage: 3, 4 > 4, 5.
• Uair damage: 6, 4 > 7, 5.
• Dair damage: 8, 9 > 10, 12.
• Ori no longer gains extra double jumps when cancelling Dair with Uspecial.
• Spirit Flame no longer causes parry stun when parried.
• Charged Flame sweetspot removed.
• Sein now overheats if he’s charging Charged Flame when Ori is hit.
• Fspecial can now charge for the full charge duration instead of stopping 1 frame short (increases damage at max charge by 1 and slightly changes the max throw speed and angle).

• Ftilt damage: 3, 3 > 4, 4.
• Utilt damage: 7 > 9.
• Dtilt damage: 5 > 7.
• Fstrong damage: 4, 8 > 8, 12.
• Ustrong damage: 6, 7, 8 > 8, 10, 13.
• Dstrong damage: 8, 9, 10 > 10, 11, 14.
• Fair damage: 7, 7, 7 > 7, 8, 9.
• Bair damage: 5, 7 > 6, 8.
• Grounded Dspecial endlag window: 24 > 15.
• Dspecial meditation now kills all momentum immediately on startup.
• Dspecial meditation gravity reduced.
• Dspecial meditation now stalls momentum completely for a short duration the first time it’s used in the air.

• Fstrong damage: 8, 10 > 9, 13.
• Ustrong damage: 7, 8, 11 > 7, 8, 13.
• Dstrong damage: 8, 10 > 9, 13.
• On hit, Fspecial can now be cancelled into attacks even when aerial (previously could only be cancelled into jump or airdodge).
• Whenever Fspecial is cancellable into attacks, it can now be cancelled into specials.
• Successful Dspecials remove Maypul’s mark and Elliana’s mine.
• Dspecial cooldown icon added to the bottom HUD.

• Jab 2 hitbox extended 10px inward to match jab 1’s inward range.
• Jab 3 and 4 endlag: 27 > 18 (Jab 5, 6, etc endlag is still 27).
• Jab Special can now be used after jab 1 or jab 2.
• Utilt multihits angle: 75 > 70 (Makes them connect more reliably into the final hit).
• Fstrong hits 1 and 2 hitstun modifier: 1.0 > 1.2.
• Ustrong damage: 8, 9, 10 > 10, 14, 18.
• Uair hit 2 scaling: .65 > .7.
• Dair damage: 6, 8 > 7, 10.
• Grass on cooldown is no longer destroyed when a nearby flower is destroyed.
• Flowers can now be placed right next to walls.
• When the ground below a flower disappears, it now only snaps to ground within 32px instead of 100px.
• Hitting a flower now deals half of the normal hitpause.
• Fspecial can now eat his own flowers (not enemy flowers) and cancel the move as if it hit a player for the next 20 frames.
• Grounded Uspecial now instantly digs if special is held. Tapping special still makes Sylvanos leap into the air.

• Utilt’s claw now has a persistent hitbox around it, instead of creating a hitbox when near a player.
  This means it can hit multiple players (while only grabbing one), break projectiles, will no longer whiff against fast-moving opponents, and has 1 extra active frame on the end.
• Utilt changed to a 2-part attack (like Etalus Uair).
• Utilt will now release all heat when firing the opponent. The move’s KB scaling scales from .6 to 1.1 based on how much heat was released. When overheated, it will always count as full heat. Hold the dodge button to not lose any heat.
• Utilt total damage: 7 > 12.
• Nair damage: 5, 6 > 6, 8.
• Bair damage: 5, 8 > 7, 11.
• Nspecial will now only get buffed if the fist itself hits the mine, not if only the explosion does (this was to fix a bug where shooting the mine with the fist would cause the explosion to only be buffed on its 2nd active frame, meaning it would hardly ever be buffed at the time it hit the opponent).
• Dspecial’s mine can no longer break Kragg’s pillar.
• Dying will no longer destroy mines that are currently exploding.
• Enemies will now be hit at the same frequency whether stuck in one or multiple steam clouds.
• Steam clouds now ignore players during the first 8 frames of hitstun.
• Steam clouds no longer produce a small explosion effect when hit (Shovel Knight can no longer bounce off steam clouds with Dair by clanking with the hitboxes either).
• Parried steam cloud will now be outlined with the color of the player who parried them.

• Jab endlag: 14 > 12 (21 > 18 on whiff).
• Jab hurtbox fixed when transitioning from Nair on landing.
• Dash Attack damage: 7 > 8.
• Dash Attack scaling: .5 > .4.
• Dash Attack angle: 50 > 60.
• Dash Attack sourspot added after the current active frames.
• Dash Attack endlag: 19 on hit, 29 on whiff > 15 on hit, 23 on whiff.
  Adding a sourspot naturally changed the endlag, but it was also shortened a bit beyond that.
• Dash Attack hurtbox fixed during the last few frames of recovery (Shovel head had a hurtbox).
• Ftilt angle: 36 > 361 (original angle was a typo).
• Ftilt/Fair damage: 4 > 5.
• Ftilt/Fair hitboxes extended 20px inward.
• Utilt can now hit treasure piles.
• Dtilt final hit damage: 6 > 8.
• Dtilt final hit angle: 80 > 90 (still hits rocks at angle 80).
• Dtilt hitstun modifier: 1.0 > 1.2.
• Uair sourspot scaling: .45 > .55.
• Dair’s non-spike hitbox is now stronger and has a lower angle for the first 2 frames of the move (to give Shovel Knight a much-needed DI mixup in the air).
• Dair endlag: 14 > 10 (21 > 15 on whiff).
• Dair now has a new hitbox that can only hit projectiles, protecting his body and making bouncing off projectiles much more consistent.
• Dair now bounces off Orcane’s bubbles.
• Ustrong sweetspot damage: 10 > 11.
• Ustrong has a new hitbox with the same properties as the sweetspot, effectively making the sweetspot slightly larger.
• Hitting an opponent with fully charged Ustrong will no longer send the rock in a strange direction.
• Hitting Kragg’s rock with Ustrong should now behave the same as hitting Shovel Knight’s rock.
• Dstrong final hits damage: 7, 4 > 10, 7.
• Dstrong final hits scaling: 1.2, 1.1 > 1.3, 1.2.
• Uspecial back hit sourspot KB: 8+.7 > 8+.8.
• Uspecial back hit sweetspot KB: 9+1.0 > 9+1.1.
• If the ground disappears from under him after landing with Uspecial, all endlag will be cancelled.
• Dspecial activation time (once settled in the bottom blastzone): 40 > 20.
• Treasure pile duration: 5 seconds > 10 seconds.
• Can only have one treasure pile active at once.
• Ghost Glove damage: 3 > 4.
• War Horn sweetspot damage: 10 > 12.
• Dynamo Mail now gets charged when bouncing off of anything with Dair, not just players.
• Purchasing an item makes it free the next time you want to repurchase it (this is not reflected in the shop menu, since all Shovel Knight players share the same shop menu).
• Moneybag final positions will now always rest above the main platform of the stage and within the camera’s natural bounds.