So, having played for a while now, here’s what I would change if I were in control of balancing for v1.4:
System:
- Overall reduction of shield health.
- Shields may only take up to 50% damage in any one true block string. Any shield damage beyond 50% of overall shield health is ignored.
Changes are meant to prevent inescapable one-touch Guard Crush setups, but also reduce over-reliance on guard at the same time.
Blaziken:
- Overhaul the Blaze Kick to Flare Blitz string in the following way:
- Raise health costs for Enhanced Blaze Kick and Enhanced Flare Blitz.
- 6[A][X]: No changes.
- 6A[X]: Remove Pierce, lower blockstun to make it punishable.
- 6[A]X: Remove Pierce.
- 6AX: Remove Pierce.
- Lower health costs for Enhanced versions of Brave Bird, Sky Uppercut and Heat Wave.
These changes would encourage much less reliance on getting in close and becoming ‘BlazeKicken’ for free damage. Blaziken seemingly was meant to be high risk, high reward, but Blaze Kick and Flare Blitz don’t follow that philosophy. These changes would bring those moves in line with the rest.
Braixen:
- Moving Y buttons slow movement speed to 80% of normal while casting fireballs.
- Lower top of hitbox on Counter Attack.
Simple changes here. Braixen already has advantages the rest of the cast doesn’t, such as canceling into Supports, so he shouldn’t also be able to run at full speed while throwing stuff at you. CA change is to make getting above it a little easier.
Chandelure:
- Remove Pierce on all A button attacks when canceled into.
- Raise bottom of 8Y hitbox to whiff on all standing characters.
- Obvious Hex debuff glitch fix is obvious.
Being a zoning character should mean being scared of your opponent in close, but Chandelure really doesn’t have to worry too much at present. Shutting down successful CA guess with simple mashed buttons is a little extreme. 8Y is a godly anti-air attack, and should remain that way, but not while covering grounded opponents as well.
Charizard:
- Cap repeats of flight stance moves canceled back into flight stance at 5.
- Lower top of Seismic Toss grab box.
- Shorten duration of Fire Punch Counter properties.
- Lengthen recovery on j.X slightly.
Here’s an interesting one. Remaining airborne indefinitely is kinda breaking, but it needs to balance with mobility. Setting a cap on the number of times flight ‘stance’ can be returned to in any one string keeps the same combo potential, but lets the defender have a specific point where he will be rewarded for his patience. At present, Fire Punch is a “Don’t attack me ever” threat, and needs toned down slightly. Seismic Toss, for its damage, is surprisingly easy to land in tick setups, and this change would make it a little more escapable.
Garchomp:
- Shorten Stone Edge Counter duration.
- Lower top of Sand Tomb grab box.
- Remove ‘Soft Hits’ from Dig.
When the attack portion of Stone Edge took forever and a day to come out, having Counter properties as long as it does made sense; now, it’s a little too much.Sand Tomb, much like Seismic Toss above, is almost a guaranteed tick throw setup. Dig changes are to ensure that making the correct move (i.e. getting a hit) doesn’t get punished for no reason.
Gardevoir:
- Allow only one motion input during Counter Attack to direct it.
- Rework Calm Mind system:
- Remove Pierce from all current Piercing projectiles unless spending a Calm Mind charge on them.
- Add tracking to ForwardY in Field Phase.
- Add Pierce to Magical Leaf in Duel Phase.
- Add Pierce to Moonblast.
- Change Energy Ball projectile collision mechanics:
- If hit with an overpowering projectile, nullify without sending fragments.
- If hit with an equal strength projectile, send fragments on manual detonation path.
- If hit with a lower-priority projectile, current behavior (homing fragments).
This one’s big. My proposed changes would make Gardevoir a setup zoner who gets better the more she stays out, but wilts harder under pressure.
Presently, Calm Mind is only spent on 6X, and it spends all charges at once. Another issue is that Counter Pierce properties were assigned in a really silly way. Most of the changes here would be using available Calm Mind charges to augment attacks that currently Pierce to restore the ability. No Calm Mind charges, no Pierce… mostly. Currently, Duel Phase Magical Leaf takes ages to come out, and gives time to advance afterward, so this move having Pierce would be logical. Same deal with Moonblast in both phases. That neither of them do currently is, again, silly. Since these have such large windups, giving them Pierce without needing any Calm Minds stored up is a good idea.
The Energy Ball changes are also to make it interact more logically with other projectile attacks. Current behavior is rather silly: gain a Calm Mind charge, and a projectile that can’t be nullified in any traditional manner without becoming a homing set of further projectiles? What was Namco smoking, and where can I get some?
Finally, being that Gardevoir’s CA can move, has a decent AA hitbox, and leads into nasty combos, it should require committing to a movement. No more moving backward, only to tag guard on the last hit to avoid punishment.
Gengar:
- Remove invincibility from Duel Phase 5X and 5[X] in Burst mode.
This is a single, minor change, but when weathering the storm that is Mega Gengar, any opportunity you have to put him into hitstun or punish a move shouldn’t be arbitrarily negated by ‘herp-derp-invincibility-lulz’.
Machamp:
- Shrink hitboxes on Counter Attack slightly.
CA with Machamp is already a decent move to put fear into an opponent, but an opponent that faces down that fear shouldn’t be knocked out of the sky so easily.
Mewtwo:
- Change Synergy cost on moves to make them meter-neutral on hit, including bonuses.
(i.e. Hyper Beam costs the amount of Synergy as a full hit that transitions into duel Phase, Psystrike costs the same amount as gained from hitting all attacks and Just Frame opportunities plus Field transition bonus, etc.)
- Remove ‘Soft Hits’ from Psystrike.
- Make Fire Punch to Ice Punch a true combo on standard hit.
- Raise Counter Attack hitbox slightly.
- Shrink Counter Attack horizontal hitbox slightly.
With double the ‘length’ of Synergy bar than the next-longest, having changed moves that reduce this resource to be meter-negative on hit was a little too much. At the same time, having them be meter-positive was also kinda silly. So the logical ground would be to be meter-neutral at best. Since there are a number of variables to meter gain, but only one that covers loss, the loss should be equal to the maximum possible gained. For those with lesser execution, or on those questionable hits, using these moves would average out to be slightly meter-negative.
With the ‘Elemental Punches’, it’s rather silly that a move the game teaches you in the tutorial does not combo. All the other combo-type moves taught by the game do, so this is more of a fix.
Soft Hit removal is for the same reasons as Garchomp.
Counter Attack is a tossup. It has a great horizontal hitbox, but if the opponent so much as lifts a toe off the ground, it whiffs. I should hit at least about as high as Garchomp’s CA, even if it loses some non-vertical area to do so.
Pikachu:
- Lengthen time between Counter Attack absorption and attack phases.
- Shrink Counter Attack hitbox slightly.
More CA changes to make them less relied-upon. This one is pretty much braindead to use, so it needs a couple small nerfs.
Pikachu Libre:
- Lower top of Electro Web hitbox.
Not much to say here. Just a little more tick grab weakening.
Sceptile:
- Clear Leech Seed traps if Sceptile is hit.
Either
- Shorten duration of Detect activation window
or
- Detect cloud only lowers Defense on clean hit.
Sceptile is clearly a mid-range fighter, who is okay at long range, but a little better in close, but Detect is just a bit too simple to abuse to both reset distance with, and set up for more damage. Removing one of those qualities will make him a little more bearable to deal with. Secondly, no character should be rewarded for being hit, so why does Leech Seed allow this?
Shadow Mewtwo:
- Raise Phase Shift Points on Miracle Eye Pillar hit.
- Revert Vortex HP cost to v1.2 levels,
BUT
- Remove Pierce from Vortex,
OR
- Shorten Vortex blockstun.
This is the controversial attack. Raising the HP cost on this was more of a band-aid of the the wound than anything else, so this is what a real fix should look like. Either one of the two changes would cause it to be more of a callout move than brainless free pressure; the only difference is how the move is to be handled on defense. Removing Pierce would allow the opponent to CA it, while remaining safe on shield, but making it unsafe on shield would allow the simpler ‘Hold R’ defense to win out. My preference would be for forcing a CA to punish it. The ‘Pillar Loop’ is silly,
Suicune:
- Increase visibility on 5X and 6X effects before attack begins.
- Increase recovery on 8X.
Small changes here. It’s hard to see where Suicune’s aiming his water pillars in Duel Phase, and better visibility should help. 8X recovers so fast that even proper CAs sometimes get blocked, and that’s a Bad Thing.
Weavile:
- Shorten freeze duration on Field Phase SideY ice traps.
Simply another change to prevent being rewarded on hit.