News

European Rivals Championship Series – S5

RCS Season 5 Comes to Europe

Following our recent announcement of the North American RCS, and coming fresh off the heels of a record breaking tournament series in the ROCS it is time to bring back the beloved Rivals Championship Series to Europe and Australia!

We’re going Infamous for Season 5!

Format and Schedule

Similar to the North American Series, the European RCS will play host to four elemental themed Majors followed by a Finals event over the course of five months with similar incentives detailed below.

We understand that some will miss the frequency of events and the lower stress environments provided by the ROCS qualifiers, so we have something in store for those looking for more chances to play with lower stakes. Each month leading up to our January finals will play host to weightless weekly events every Friday in the European Rivals of Aether Discord. These events will begin giving out rewards in September, so be sure to hop in the Discord for more information!

Here is our official schedule:

Event Date Region
Fire Major September 13th Online (EU)
Air Major October 11th Online (EU)
Earth Major November 15th Online (EU)
Water Major December 13th Online (EU)
RCS Finals TBA Online (EU)

More information introducing events to Europe and North America can be found in our recent News updates.

Monthly Themes

Season 5 continues to evolve as we introduce elemental themed months with a plethora of prizes for competitors and spectators alike! Starting in September, each month leading up to our January finals will have a special theme that will affect how the community interacts with the series including special bundles from our newly updated shop, a chance to acquire brand new and previously retired champion DLC skins, and even unique prize opportunities for competitors participating in each major and the less competitive weekly events hosted through the European Rivals Discord.

When each month’s major event comes around, we highly encourage players to record every character used on their tournament runs. The highest placing competitor to exclusively use rivals matching the month’s elemental theme will receive an item from the Season 5 RCS shop. If a player happens to WIN the monthly major using only Rivals matching the month’s elemental theme, they will be awarded a special controller from us by our friends at Controller Chaos.

The season opens with Fire, so start practicing your Zetterburn!

European Season 5 Reward Structure

As mentioned above, there will be special rewards for the highest placing player(s) using only rivals matching each month’s elemental theme, but that’s not all. Each month will have a prize pool of up to $100 and our finals will have a prize pool of up to $500, all funded by new and updated goals in our shop. On the DLC front, we are bringing out a Brand New Name Color and Trim, which will be awarded to every player in the top 32, by points, after the Water Major in December.

Finally, this season we are happy to introduce Champion Skins for the remainder of the cast (including our guests!) in addition to chances to earn every single one of our previous Champion Skins as well! Check out the details below.

September – The Month of Flame

  • All participants that make it to phase 2 of the Fire Major will receive a brand new Champion Clairen Premium Skin.
  • All participants in the Fire Major will receive a Champion Zetterburn Premium Skin.
  • Weekly tournaments ran through the European Rivals Discord will provide all first time participants with a Champion Forsburn Premium Skin.

October – The Month of Air

  • All participants that make it to phase 2 of the Air Major will receive a brand new Champion Elliana Premium Skin.
  • All participants in the Air Major will receive a Champion Wrastor Premium Skin.
  • Weekly tournaments ran through the European Rivals Discord will provide all first time participants with a Champion Absa Premium Skin.


November – The Month of Earth

  • All participants that make it to phase 2 of the Earth Major will receive the extremely rare Champion Maypul Premium Skin.
  • All participants in the Earth Major will receive a Champion Kragg Premium Skin.
  • Weekly tournaments ran through the European Rivals Discord will provide all first time participants with a Champion Sylvanos Premium Skin.


December – The Month of Water

  • All participants that make it to phase 2 of the Water Major will receive a Champion Ranno Premium Skin.
  • All participants in the Water Major will receive a Champion Etalus Premium Skin.
  • Weekly tournaments ran through the European Rivals Discord will provide all first time participants with a Champion Orcane Premium Skin.


January – Finals

For the RCS Finals we plan on spreading the wealth of our collective prize pool. Prize money will be distributed to players beyond just our champion! The exact payout structure will depend on numerous factors, but we pride ourselves on spreading compendium money to a reasonable extent at each of our RCS Finals, and that won’t change here!

To reward players for consistently placing well throughout the season, we are bringing back a familiar prize introduced during the ROCS. The top 12 players, by points, of the four elemental Majors with be automatically advanced into the second phase of bracket!

  • All participants in the Finals will receive a Champion Ori Premium Skin.
  • All participants that make it to phase 2 of the Finals will receive a Champion Shovel Knight Premium Skin.

Links!

We are aware that this post has a lot of information to digest, so please refer to all relevant links in this one convenient spot!

Registration is now OPEN for all events!

Rivals Championship Series – Season 5

What’s Up With the RCS?

Earlier this year we announced our 5th RCS season, but due to COVID-19 concerns, each event has since been canceled. During the initial months of uncertainty, we launched a temporary substitute, the ROCS. With a more clear outlook on 2020, it is clear that the return of offline majors will not be happening anytime soon. As such, following the recent success of our online circuit, and with our Definitive Edition on the horizon, we feel that it is time to bring back the beloved Rivals Championship Series along with our heavily requested seasonal shop.

We’re going Infamous for Season 5!

Format and Schedule

While the ROCS saw unweighted bi-weekly events culminating into its final event, RCS Season 5 will consist of one major online event per month over the course of four months, each carrying their own competitive weight. Each event will consist of high caliber incentives, sure to draw in players everywhere.

We understand that some will miss the frequency of events and the lower stress environments provided by the ROCS qualifiers, so we have something in store for those looking for more chances to play with lower stakes. Each month leading up to our January finals will play host to weightless weekly events every Friday in our Official Discord. These events will begin in September, so be sure to keep an eye out for more information!

Here is our official schedule:

Event Date Region
Fire Major September 12th Online (NA)
Air Major October 10th Online (NA)
Earth Major November 14th Online (NA)
Water Major December 12th Online (NA)
RCS Finals TBA Online (NA)

More information introducing events to Europe and Australia is TBA.

Monthly Themes

Season 5 continues to evolve as we introduce elemental themed months with a plethora of prizes for competitors and spectators alike! Starting in September, each month leading up to our January finals will have a special theme that will affect how the community interacts with the series including special bundles from our newly updated shop, a chance to acquire brand new and previously retired champion DLC skins, and even unique prize opportunities for competitors participating in each major and our less competitive weekly events hosted through our Official Discord.

When each month’s major event comes around, we highly encourage players to record every character used on their tournament runs. The highest placing competitor to exclusively use rivals matching the month’s elemental theme will receive an item from the Season 5 RCS shop. If a player happens to WIN the monthly major using only Rivals matching the month’s elemental theme, they will be awarded a special controller from us by our friends at Controller Chaos.

The season opens with Fire, so start practicing your Zetterburn!

North American Season 5 Reward Structure

As mentioned above, there will be special rewards for the highest placing player(s) using only rivals matching each month’s elemental theme, but that’s not all. Each month will have a prize pool of up to $500 and our finals will have an uncapped prize pool, all funded by our shop. On the DLC front, we are bringing out a Brand New Name Color and Trim, which will be awarded to every player in the top 64, by points, after the Water Major in December.

Finally, this season we are happy to introduce Champion Skins for the remainder of the cast (including our guests!) in addition to chances to earn every single one of our previous Champion Skins as well! Check out the details below.

September – The Month of Flame

  • All participants that make it to phase 2 of the Fire Major will receive a brand new Champion Clairen Premium Skin.
  • All participants in the Fire Major will receive a Champion Zetterburn Premium Skin.
  • Weekly Discord tournaments will provide all first time participants with a Champion Forsburn Premium Skin.

October – The Month of Air

  • All participants that make it to phase 2 of the Air Major will receive a brand new Champion Elliana Premium Skin.
  • All participants in the Air Major will receive a Champion Wrastor Premium Skin.
  • Weekly Discord tournaments will provide all first time participants with a Champion Absa Premium Skin.


November – The Month of Earth

  • All participants that make it to phase 2 of the Earth Major will receive the extremely rare Champion Maypul Premium Skin.
  • All participants in the Earth Major will receive a Champion Kragg Premium Skin.
  • Weekly Discord tournaments will provide all first time participants with a Champion Sylvanos Premium Skin.


December – The Month of Water

  • All participants that make it to phase 2 of the Water Major will receive a Champion Ranno Premium Skin.
  • All participants in the Water Major will receive a Champion Etalus Premium Skin.
  • Weekly Discord tournaments will provide all first time participants with a Champion Orcane Premium Skin.


January – Finals

For the RCS Finals we plan on spreading the wealth of our collective prize pool. Prize money will be distributed to players beyond just our champion! The exact payout structure will depend on numerous factors, but we pride ourselves on spreading compendium money to a reasonable extent at each of our RCS Finals, and that won’t change here!

To reward players for consistently placing well throughout the season, we are bringing back a familiar prize introduced during the ROCS. The top 32 players, by points, of the four elemental Majors with be automatically advanced into the second phase of bracket!

  • All participants in the Finals will receive a Champion Ori Premium Skin.
  • All participants that make it to phase 2 of the Finals will receive a Champion Shovel Knight Premium Skin.

Links!

We are aware that this post has a lot of information to digest, so please refer to all relevant links in this one convenient spot!

Registration is now OPEN for all events!

Rivals Online Championship Series Wrap-Up

April 2020 marked the beginning of our first ever dedicated online championship series. While extraordinary circumstances brought our major focus to the online world, competition quickly began to heat up with the North American, European, and Australian regions lifting up a select few titans to top each event.

Each region hosted six of their own bi-weekly qualifiers, with competitors earning points toward distinguished prizes and advancements in their respective final events. Players also earned exclusive Premium Skins just for attending, along with others for Top 8 placements. Following our halfway marker for ROCS qualifiers, our friends at Hit Box were kind enough to sponsor the circuit, providing prizes for competitors and spectators alike.

Over the course of 3 months, old kings were met with a new wave of players challenging and, at times, even usurping their thrones. The ROCS was shown to be a contentious and consistent proving ground for the best players in the world to continue high level competition on a massive scale.

Uncertainty on the horizon regarding local majors fueled a blossoming online community to rise up together with the ROCS while players began hosting and entering their own events to satiate the Summer hunger that Rivals is known for.

When all was said and done, over 3,000 cumulative attendees tested their might through the ROCS qualifiers and eventual finals.

A few notable attendance stats over the past few months illustrate a promising future for a potential second circuit:

  • North America boasted a record breaking 477 attendees in their final event on July 11th.
  • Europe and Australia broke previous attendance records multiple times, including at their final events on July 12th and July 15th.

VODS and Replays

If you missed any of the action and would like to catch up, North America and Europe featured streams of each of their seven events with replays that can be found on our YouTube channel.

Final Standings

While many players demonstrated exemplary play, ultimately only one from each region could claim the grand prize. Penguin, Fireicey, and Jet each topped the charts in points and claimed first place in their respective final events. Each of these three players won themselves a Smash Box from our sponsors at Hit Box, and a nice cash prize from the Rivals team to go with it.

Here are the final placements from each region. You can learn more about our events on our league page:

NORTH AMERICA

EUROPE

AUSTRALIA

While the league points themselves are a representation of the best players from each region, only those with 100 points or more stood above the rest and collected a special DLC as a badge of honor for online matchmaking.

Previously, unique name colors have been reserved for Early Access players, Beta Testers, and Developers; so it seems fitting that this elite prize has only been awarded to the Top 6 players of each region. The DLC will feature a special color for their online name, an intimidating red trim to replace their ranking badge, and a special badge to show off in online lobbies and online matchmaking games.

If you meet these players online, be ready for a fight.

Patch 1.4.25 Notes

Now that the flurry of events from the Rivals Online Championship Series has concluded, we’re taking the opportunity to make some changes across the cast.

  • Added angle flipper 10. This sends in the direction that the player is moving.
  • When set to “Run” the training mode AI will now turn around when hitting a wall.
  • Extended parry stun minimum value increased from 50 frames > 60 frames. Maximum value is still 100 frames.
    • Dan: This change is to avoid situations where you parry a projectile that has extended parry lag point blank and opponents are able to act faster than either player anticipates. The number change only increased the minimum value and not the maximum value.

STAGES

  • Spirit Tree side blastzones expanded by 32px.
    • Dan: This change is to decrease the extremely early KOs we are seeing off the side platforms.
  • Spirit Tree top blastzone expanded by 8px.
    • Dan: This change is to bring Spirit Tree’s ceiling closer to other stages so it is not as contentious of a counter-pick.
  • Bug Fix: Aether Rock Wall pillars will no longer move while the game is paused.

  • Charged Nspecial knockback scaling increased from 0.2 > 0.4.
    • Dan: This change is to give Charged Nspecial some more use since we hardly see it except for the extended disjoint that it has over a standard Nspecial.
  • Uspecial final hit now has angle flipper 10 which is a new angle flipper that sends in the direction the player is moving.
    • Dan: This change is to remove janky and accidental KOs with Uspecial and also remove super safe KOs when near the edges. Zetterburn players will have to commit to off stage KOs which could result in their own deaths if aimed away from the wall. This change also makes using it at the end of a combo to KO off the top more consistent.

  • Bubbles now have extended parry stun.
    • Dan: Long have we suffered from bubble spam. We have protected our prized water creature for long enough. Bubbles had standard parry stun before this patch but now with the new Extended Parry length, players will be able to punish Orcane similar to other projectile parries.
  • Bug Fix: Puddle Dstrong reaches 1px higher to avoid strange interactions with opponents on Spirit Tree’s platforms.

  • Nair endlag increased from 8 > 12 on hit (12 > 18 on whiff).
    • Dan: With how floaty Wrastor is, he was able to whiff a Nair off stage and still be in a good position to intercept a recovery with a different option. This change makes it harder for Wrastor to whiff and still get his punish. It also makes comboing with 2nd hit Nair less potent while off stage.
  • Ustrong hurtbox now includes Wrastor’s head.
    • Dan: Wrastor Ustrong was a little too disjointed when missing his head from both the startup and especially the charged frames. Now you can hit him in the head!
  • Bug Fix: Ustrong sweetspot moved slightly to match the art (1px forward, 3px down).
  • Bug Fix: Uspecial sweetspot visual moved slightly to match the hitbox (6px forward).

  • Initial dash speed increased from 5.75 > 6.25.
    • Dan: Kragg slow. We make Kragg faster.
  • Bug Fix: Jab 3 reaches 1px higher to avoid strange interactions with opponents on Spirit Tree’s platforms.

  • Ftilt linking hits damage increased from 2 > 3, final hit damage increased from 4 > 5 (total damage: 8 > 11).
    • Dan: While it creates smoke, Ftilt is Forsburn’s least interesting tilt to hit an opponent with. It doesn’t combo as well as his other tilts and dealt the least damage. (9 for the others) By bumping up it’s damage, we will hopefully see it mixed into more Forsburn’s combo games. 
  • The first time you teleport into smoke, your double jump is restored.
    • Dan: Forsburn has struggled off stage now that top players are used to his smoke and clone antics. This change gives Forsburn players a more reliable use of neutral special off stage while still keeping a counter since other players can challenge his smoke by attacking off stage or throwing projectiles.
  • Super clone now performs a weaker combust when exploding. Sourspot has 6 base knockback, 0.7 Scaling. Sweetspot has 7 base knockback, 0.9 scaling.
    • Dan: This change is to bring some more use to super clone since we rarely see it at a high level. The new combust is the same size as Forburn’s combust which is much larger than the standard clone combust.
  • Bug Fix: When the real Forsburn is hit by bubbles, his clone will be destroyed.

  • Fair base knockback decreased from 6 > 5.5 and knockback scaling increased from 0.5 > 0.65.
    • Dan: This change is to allow Maypul to close stocks with Forward Air more reliably when her opponent is above 100% while not changing the combo flow of Forward Air below 100% too much.
  • Uspecial can now break projectiles.
    • Dan: Some Uspecials like the start of Zetterburns cannot destroy projectiles intentionally. Maypul’s Uppercut had this property but since the hitbox is only above her and not blocking the front of her body, she does not require it.

  • Bug Fix: Fstrong final hitbox lowered by 1px to avoid strange interactions with opponents on Spirit Tree’s platforms.

  • Bug Fix: Attacks that deal no knockback will no longer destroy Fspecial’s icicles if Fspecial is interrupted.

  • Poison stacks now belong to the specific Ranno that applied them. The oldest poison stacks are removed when hitting someone.
    • Dan: This is a big change to the engine that Trevor made that affects normal play very little. If there is only one Ranno in play then nothing changes. If there is more than one Ranno then this allows players to be poisoned by both Rannos with the oldest poison stacks getting removed.
  • Dying removes all poison stacks you’ve applied to opponents.
    • Dan: And here we have the reason for the change. We wanted to have Ranno match the other characters where his benefit is removed when he dies. But instead of having it so in a 2v2 or FFA, all poison stacks are removed whenever ANY Ranno dies, we had to make a system where players actually know who poisoned them so only that player’s poison stacks get removed.
  • Bug Fix: Bubble’s collision no longer expands when it pops.

  • Dspecial now removes burn and poison effects.
    • Dan: Clairen was tired of getting burned.

  • Utilt hits 1 and 2 angle flipper adjusted from 4 (horizontal knockback goes toward center of hitbox) > 9 (toward center of hitbox).
  • Utilt hits 1 and 2 base knockback increased from 5 > 7.
  • Utilt hits 2 and 3 now reach the ground.
    • Dan: These three changes are to reduce the likelihood of people falling out of Sylvanos Utilt without really trying. These changes make the attack much more reliable to finish with the final hit.
  • Bair Sweetspot knockback scaling decreased from 1.1 > 1.0.
    • Dan: Now that Bair is much easier to land reliably thanks to our previous changes, it is killing a little too early for our liking.
  • Bair can be aimed with the right stick (takes priority over the left stick aiming).
    • Dan: I know some people just want to aim their Bair angle with their right stick. Well now you can!
  • Uair frames between hit 1 and 2 reduced from 4 > 3.
    • Dan: This change is to reduce the likelihood of people falling out of Sylvanos Uair without really trying.
  • Fspecial endlag increased from 24 > 28.
    • Dan: Fspecial is an incredibly strong burst movement option and does so much for Sylvanos on hit. We needed to make it worse on whiff.
  • Fspecial can now cancel off of enemy flowers, Kragg’s rock, Shovel Knight’s rock, Kragg’s pillar, and Ranno’s bubble.
    • Dan: Now Sylvanos can hit more objects and fly around the stage! This change should help reduce the amount of times you are whiffing an Fspecial in certain matchups.
  • Grass now dies following the cooldown state after using Dspecial.
    • Dan: This is another big change. We want Sylvanos to be the stage control Rival. He is all about his turf. But we do want him to have to work to get the stage in his favor. This change should hopefully keep Sylvanos players moving around and actively reapplying their grass and flowers to keep the stage in their favor.
  • Grass cooldown state duration decreased from 5 seconds > 3 seconds.
    • Dan: Because the grass now goes away, we can shorten the cooldown state so players can start reapplying faster than they would have been able to.
  • Bug Fix: All grass is removed on death, including grass that is on cooldown.
  • Bug Fix: When Team Attack is off, teammates can no longer attack your flowers.
  • Bug Fix: Corrected some attacks that spawned the wrong particles on hit.

  • Elliana is now considered to be attacking when outside of her mech.
    • Trevor: Extended parry stun adds 10 frames to non-attacking opponents, so Elliana’s Uspecial would always have +10 parry stun frames without this change.

  • Fair hit 2 no longer has tail invincibility.
    • Dan: Ori is not meant to have much disjoint. The character is extremely fast and has great frame data. This change is to remove the disjoint on Fair hit 2.
  • Charged Flame startup on release increased from 15 > 19.
    • Dan: With the increased startup, it becomes possible to parry Charged Flame on reaction.
  • A whiffed Charged Flame will now disable Sein for 1.5 seconds. Sein will not follow Ori, will not cool down from the Charged Flame, and cannot join Ori for team-up strong attacks during this time.
    • Dan: This is probably the biggest change of the update. The problem was that Ori is a great character alone and Charged Flame was adding too much protection and threat with little risk from the Ori player. There was no reason not to be using it all the time. We started with the question, “What can we do to punish a lazy or poorly used charged flame?” The first part of the change was the increased startup that you see above to make parrying it easier. But the second half is this change which punishes the Ori for whiffing Charged Flame by disabling Sein entirely for a short period. This will hopefully make players think twice before holding neutral special long enough to start a charge.
  • Bug Fix: Etalus Fspecial icicles will no longer shatter when you bash them straight horizontally.

  • Ftilt hitpause increased from 4 > 6.
  • Fair hitpause increased from 4 > 6.
    • Dan: This attack had very low hitpause which made it difficult to DI even if you knew you were about to get hit by it. We are still keeping the hitpause low but increasing it a touch.
  • Dair non-spike sweetspot base knockback decreased from 7 > 6.
    • Dan: While we enjoy Shovel Knight being a monster off stage, we want to make sure his options are varied and aren’t just one attack. This change is to peel a little bit of power away from the sweetspot. Now the sourspot and sweetspot have the same KB values, but different angles.
  • Dair non-spike sweetspot base hitpause increased from 8 > 10.
    • Dan: The hitpause increase is to give players a bit better chance to DI it and also help distinguish it farther from the sourspot.
  • Dair spike hitbox base hitpause increased from 8 > 10.
  • Dair spike hitbox hitpause scaling increased from 0.8 > 1.2.
    • Dan: These two changes are the same idea as the previous one. The hitpause increase is to give players a bit better change to DI it and realize they are getting hit by a stronger attack.
  • War Horn price decreased from 1200 > 1000.
  • Mobile Gear price decreased from 1400 > 1200.
  • Ghost Glove price increased from 1000 > 1400.
    • Dan: This is a change that reflects the current meta that we are seeing with many top players preferring Ghost Gloves across most matchups. We do love the laser fantasy of Ghost Gloves and do not want to remove the power spike players get from purchasing them. So instead, we are shifting the purchases to make that power spike later and make the other options more appealing due to cheaper costs. The goal is that in many matchups, the other options might be better upgrades now due to their cheaper costs.
  • Shovel Knight can only cancel Fspecial with the dodge button when using Infinidagger.
    • Dan: Shovel Knight being able to cancel regular Fspecial with the dodge button was an unneccesary mixup since he can already jump cancel it. The fact that you couldn’t prepare for any punish after he started it because of the three options led us to removing the dodge button for standard Fspecial but keeping it for a fully charged Fspecial.
  • Bug Fix: Chester will no longer follow Shovel Knight if his taunt is interrupted by an attack.

Community Safety Update

Our team has seen the heartbreaking series of confessions from brave people throughout the gaming and esports world, and it’s clear to us that we must take steps to protect our players and community.

As our first step to make our tournaments a safer place for all, we are implementing the following new policies at official in-person RCS events.

Though our team does not directly host any of the majors or conventions we take part of, we control our own play area and believe we can partner with organizers who share our vision for a safer community.

Online Safety

Most discussion in gaming communities takes place online, and Rivals is no exception. We would like to remind players to practice safe online behavior. Never send people online your full name, photographs, location, or other personal information.

If you feel threatened, uncomfortable, or pressured by other misbehavior within the community and are afraid to come forward directly we are now offering an Anonymous Tipline where players can share their experiences. This tipline can also be found in our informational discord links channel:

Our Code of Conduct

We would like to take this opportunity as well to remind participants of our tournament code of conduct found in the full Rivals Championship Series rules. We are reiterating these to ask that players please speak up when they see inappropriate behavior, as anything included here is absolutely not allowed at our events:

Help do your part to keep tournaments a good experience for everyone, and treat other players with respect and kindness.

While these are only our first steps to make our tournaments safer for all, we welcome your input and ideas on anything we could do to improve. Send your ideas as a player, parent, or spectator to [email protected].