Soul-Boards

[MrSloth]

Balance 2.29 - The Ururu Nerf is Here!

Hey everyone, it's me, Sloth!

Updates have slowed a bit because of the big S-A project being worked on. While this update isn't big in quantity, I do think it's big in quality, and expect the ladder to shake up quite a bit from it. The focus on this balance update is increasing the variety found on the ladder.

I suppose we should start with the biggest update first -



Nerfs:

   

Ururu - Crushing Kick now has a CD of 1, up 1, from 0

A lot of people have been asking for an Ururu nerf, because she just keeps Crushing it, but for a while, we've been Kicking it down the road. She's intentionally the strongest character in the game, meant to let new players have an out against strong teams more experienced players have access to. She's a floodgate, holding back degenerate stall metas. After a lot of consideration, we have decided it's finally time to see what the ladder looks like with her nerfed. We're keeping a close eye on this one.

Don Kanonji - Golden Kanonball now deals 40 damage, down 5, from 45

Don is also an oppressive character new players have access to, and it doesn't help that so many other yellow rei users just fall short. This isn't a huge nerf, but it does make him a bit worse against characters with damage reduction/destructible defense, which I believe should be his weakness. A two turn stun on top of a spike is still plenty strong, and I expect his numbers will only go down slightly from this.

Aikawa Love - Vizard Mask - Love now lasts 2 turns, down 1, from 3

Love is in a weird spot. He's either in the 40s or the 60s when it comes to win percentage, and any update to him, be it a buff or a nerf, seems to be overkill. I don't think this is any exception. I think a lot of his power is in Tengumaru Swing's strength against AoE, but I wanted to keep that. This makes it so Hollow Rip Off isn't quite as big of a guarantee when his mask is up, while still making the mask a decent payoff.

Ryujin Jakka - Reduce Everything To Ash now costs an additional random

Affliction teams always end up being the dominating force whenever the ladder seems balanced. This may "kill the character forever", but I think it's time the ladder moved on from easily stackable Affliction damage (and easily stackable damage increase effects in general). 

BUFFS

    

Kurotsuchi Nemu - Sacrifice will now go off cooldown if it doesn't counter a skill

The intent of this buff is to make Nemu a more important target to focus during the game. We'll keep an eye on her to see if this buff is too much. 

Wabisuke - Intercept now has a CD of 1, down 1, from 2

Wabisuke is one of the most buffed characters in the game (since his release), and he still needs a lot of help. He's been one of the worst performing characters for a long time. I'm hoping this gives him a stronger identity as a good counter character with an execute, though he may need even more after this.

Isshin Shiba - Burn, Engetsu will now deal 5 damage to Isshin, down 5, from 10

I think the main point against this character is that the cost isn't worth the reward. Taking 20 damage to do 40 would be exciting if all the damage was on the same person, and it all was up front. As it stands, he's just taking too big of a hit from his own attacks.

Kurosaki Masaki - Echt Blut Vene will now heal for 20 health per stack, up 10, from 10.

This is meant to increase her survivability and further solidify her as a bait and attack kind of character. I'm hoping the buff doesn't ring hollow, I quincy it doing some real good.

Lloyd Lloyd - Cross Barrier now costs 2 random instead of 1 blue 1 random

The purpose of this is to more easily get the Shapeshift payoff. Paying 2 random for 20 aoe destructible defense is a pretty solid deal. I first thought this buff would be too good, but after further Reflection, I think it's fine.