Soul-Boards

[leaderfirestar]

Noteworthy Game Mechanic Stuff:

 - Targeting vs Reflect precedence

• This is more of a bug fix, but the order in which reflects happen vs onTarget has been fixed. Now, onTarget will happen before reflects, whereas previously, it was incorrectly happening after. Let's look at an example
  
• Say you have a Kenpachi who used "Taunt" while his "Bloodlust" is active. Now, skills reflected to him will not increase his damage reduction (it did before)
  
• As another example with kenpachi, let's say you put an ally Apacci's "Bala Deflection" on Kenpachi while his "Bloodlust" is active. The order in which things happen now will increase his damage reduction, then reflect the skill.
  
• Those are just examples, be sure to look out for how this could impact other interactions!
  

- Destructible Defense Priority

• Destructible defense now consistently is destroyed in the order in which it was used (first used, first destroyed).
  
• Though there are few instances where this matters, those who have noticed it destroying in the wrong order may now rest easy
  

 - Energy System

• I've seen many people complaining that the energy system is inconsistent in terms of energy spread. I will look at it between now and next patch and do some testing. In the games I played this patch, I didn't run into any issues, and as such I am not convinced
  
• If I notice there are real issues, I will make tweaks to it. I won't discuss the details of what's changed, but I will let you all know if a change is made
  

Buffs:

 - Ayasegawa Yumichika

• "Split and Deviate, Ruri'iro Kujaku" cooldown lowered to 0 turns
  
• "Energy Steal" cooldown lowered to 0 turns
  
• These are reverting changes I made during the drain meta to make him less oppressive to face. Now that that strategy is not viable anymore, I'm reverting them to see where he floats to
  

 - Bankai Ikkaku

• "Charging Twister" gains 10 permanent bonus damage for "Final Release" per turn for 3 turns. The effect to gain extra from being damaged remains unchanged
  
• I'm curious to see how this impacts him. His winrate was <30% going into this balance, and I think this will help him to stack up damage a bit easier. His "Final Release" still removes all bonus damage when used, so hopefully this doesn't break him
  

 - Demoura Zodd

• "Concentrated Wave" will reactivate within 2 turns of being used when the first new harmful energy/strategic skill is used on him (up from 1 turn)
  
• Since the change to when energy is gained during the turn, Zodd's first and second skills have been the worst in his kit. I'm experimenting with his second skill here to see how much impact (if any) it has on his performance
  

 - Otoribashi Rojuro

• "Sonata #11: Sixteen Day-Old Moon Rose" now gains 1 energy for every "Kinshara Mark" consumed, no longer removes energy
  
• It takes him a minute to get these stacks onto people anyway, and my hope is this doesn't break him, but rather make it worth using. I'm going to keep a close eye on him this next patch though
  

 - Saru

• "Spiraling Strike" damage increased to 20
  

 - Yachiru Kusajishi

• "Dangerous Stare" becomes "Surprising Reiatsu" for 2 turns, up from 1 turn
  
• As she's been, stunning her prevents her from having a chance to spike. This gives her another turn to shoot her shot
  

Nerfs:

 - Bankai Kenpachi

• "Bankai, Nozarashi" no longer grants destructible defense
  
• For act I of putting this team in the ground, I am removing/reverting the destructible defense to make Bankai Kenpachi back into the glass cannon he was supposed to be.
  

 - Butterfly Aizen

• "Destructive Spell #90: Black Coffin" and "Black Coffin: Full Enchant" are now Energy, Control
  
• Act II means another nerf for Aizen. Turning his stun into an action sort of helped, but due to his "Impossible Regeneration," making a stun stick on him was still a trick to pull off. Since control skills end when they are disconnected from the caster, this is the better route to bringing balance to this nightmare. I'm aware that he becomes closer to base Aizen because of this change, but I'm intent on bringing this character's winrate below 60% for the first time since his release. The teams he's been in have been nerfed, he's been nerfed, and he's still performing this well. Blame his team all you want, but to remain this big of a problem is the result of the strength of his kit
  

 -  Koutotsu

• "The Precipice World" heal effect changed to heal a flat 10 health
  
• Act III, and hopefully the finale (though believe me, I will continue to nerf this team if it remains as strong as it has been) is reducing the returns on the heal received. You're faced with a pretty damning decision against this team: "Do I kill the damage dealers? Or focus on the Koutotsu so the damage dealers don't roll me? If you choose the Koutotsu, then you get stunned/spiked into oblivion. If you choose one of the damage dealers, they get to dish out damage and heal for all of it because of Koutotsu. The "Time-Space Distortion" is still strong as well, and if this nerf isn't enough, I will go for that skill again
  

Tweaks:

 - Ascended Aizen

• "Awakened Hogyoku" now targets the ally with the least health each turn
  
• "Erasure" no longer sets the active cooldown to 2 turns after triggering, and the base cooldown has been increased to 3 turns. Will end if Ascended Aizen dies
  
• "Immovable Object" can no longer be ignored
  
• Okay, let's (me) talk Ascended Aizen. In his state up to this point, if I made his stun unable to be ignored (with no other changes), he would be objectively terrible, as the only real synergy for him at this point was to pair with people who could ignore his stuns. This is due to the fact that his only skill capable of doing damage has had an artificial rate limit set on it. The original design sense behind him was to place a counter on someone, and let it increase its damage by having a turn that the enemy couldn't react, with the trade off that the enemy would get the next move. 
  
• I've chosen to ignore the other 2 characters who have been partnered with Aizen this balance. The 2 in question can do 100 damage for 5 energy over 2 turns. So can kira and momo, which is the bread and butter of teams for people who have just unlocked the lieutenants. Do you know why the meta team isn't kira, momo, ascended? It's because kira can't make his team ignore stuns. When you have no chance to react, a 5 energy, 2 turn combo becomes pretty doable. I'll keep an eye on how aizen performs here, but with his stun unable to be ignored, I think the issue will solve itself. I've been wrong before though!
  

Random Tip:
The order in which you use skills matters! Make sure you order them optimally when you pass your turn! You could be missing out on bonus damage!

Noteworthy Bug Fixes:

• Bankai Mayuri's "Poison Gas" now correctly damage invulnerable enemies
  
• Edrad Liones's "Volcanic Eruption" no longer damages allies, and targeting works correctly
  
• Fixed more issues with Yukio's "Save State Load"
  
• The heal and energy gain effects from Senna's "Blade of Recollection" are now correctly classified as harmful effects
  
• Dondochakka's "Summon Bawabawa" no longer revives dead enemies
  
• Fixed skills such as Shiba Kuukaku's "Fire Circle" where setting skills unable to be countered/reflecting would do the opposite in certain situations
  
• Segunda Ulquiorra's "Full Drive" now damages invulnerable enemies (much to Conner's dismay)
  
• Koga Kuchiki's "Spiritual Threads" now shows a count of how many skills were reflected. I'm aware this isn't a bug, but here it is anyway
  
• Hakuda Yamamoto no longer removes skills that cannot be remived with "Rip Off"
  
• Aizen Sousuke's "Absolute Hypnosis" correctly chooses a team position from the enemy team when doing damage
  
• Sogyo no Kotowari's "Tag: You're It!" correctly chooses a team position from the enemy team when targeting
  
• Sogyo no Kotowari no removes bufffs applied from harmful skills, even if the buff itself is helpful
  
• Percent Damage reduction works again
  
• Yylfordt Granz's "Reiatsu Blast" and "Gore, Del Toro" are correctly classified to interact with Coyote Starrk's "Analysis" and Hirako Shinji's "Inverted World"
  
• Kidou Urahara's "Fire-Play, Benihime" correctly reverts to "Bind, Benihime"
  
• Unohana Retsu's "Major Heal" can now be ignored
  
• Bankai Ikkaku can now be used to unlock the same characters as Ikkaku Madarame
  
• Sarugaki Hiyori's "Flying Kick" no longer damages allies who use a "normally harmful" skill on her (for example, Hisagi Shuhei's "Cross Slash")
  
• The bonus damage from Inoue Orihime's "Solitary Heavenly Cutting Shield" once again lasts for 2 turns
  
• Fullbringer Ichigo's "Ignition" only lasts 3 turns now
  
• Ulquiorra Cifer's "Rescue" will now check if the ally is ignoring helpful reflects before reflecting skills
  
• Pre-Ascension Aizen's "Redirect" will now check if the ally is ignoring helpful reflects before reflecting skills
  
• Ginjo Kugo no longer deals an extra turn of damage when targeted during "Xcution Counter"
  
• Hebi's "Hebi Block" now uses the correct icon