HELLO STRIKERS IS THIS THING ON
Today, my friends, I want to present to you a micropatch. Now this isn't just any micropatch, this is what I am affectionately calling the LAN patch.
Why the LAN patch you ask?
Well that's simple - we have like 3 fat LANs right in a row.
Check them out and try to go to one if you can, they are pretty fun.
Toronto, ON - Leafer Penalty (Jun 27th-28th): https://www.start.gg/tournament/lanada-leafer-penalty/details
Denver, CO - Reach The Summit 2 (July 11th-12th): https://www.start.gg/tournament/reach-the-summit-2-1/details
Hamburg, GE - Weather the Storm (July 24th-25th): https://www.start.gg/tournament/weather-the-storm/details
So yeah, because of those, I don't want to shake things up too much since you freaks have been practicing on the patch for a bit. So we'll be hitting you with just a few tweaks today to ensure the game is in the best possible state going into these events. Mainly:
A tweak to how getting cooldown refunds from striking the core works
Balance adjustments to help reign in some overperforming strikers and give a boost to some underperformers
An awakening rotation to shake things up a bit
As per always, we'll be keeping a close eye on how these changes affect the game. If you have any feedback, please feel free to join the Discord if you aren't there already!
Be sure to go to a LAN if you can too btw if I haven't mentioned it. It'll be fun.
SYSTEM CHANGES
Strike Cooldown Refund
We've been pretty happy with the subtle-but-impactful change the implementation of the CDR refund has had on the game. However, it can sometimes feel like high-value abilities are ready to use a bit too quickly. As such, we are capping the amount of refund you can get for any one ability at 0.5s per strike.
Striking the CORE reduces your ability cooldowns by 2.5% → 2.5%, capped at 0.5s
This will reduce the cooldown refund given to any ability with an effective total cooldown time greater than 20 seconds, including most characters' SPECIAL abilities, and should result in abilities with longer cooldowns taking a tiny bit longer to come back online after they are used.
STRIKERS
Asher
We're making a few small tweaks to her kit to make it a tiny bit harder to get value out of her without precise positioning and aim.
Barrier Beam [PRIMARY]
Sweetspot damage :: 175 → 170
Sweetspot damage power scaling :: 87.5% → 85%
Sweetspot knockback :: 175 → 170
Sweetspot knockback power scaling :: 87.5% → 85%
Sourspot damage modifier :: 60% of sweetspot damage → 50% of sweetspot damage
Sourspot knockback modifier :: 60% of sweetspot damage → 50% of sweetspot damage
Shield size reduced by about 10% on opponents' side of the field
Atlas
He didn't fall off.
Astral Projection [PRIMARY]
Cooldown :: 9s → 10s
Damage :: 180 → 120
Damage power scaling :: 80% → 60%
Knockback :: 180 → 170
Knockback power scaling :: 80% → 85%
Drek'ar
Drek'ar has been able to spam all of his abilities just a bit too often. This plus the new strike cooldown refund cap, which affects his primary in addition to his special, should help to keep him in line. We're also trying out making his special's damage over time (DoT) effect just do a flat amount of damage, rather than scaling up in damage if he gets more power.
Lock and Load [PRIMARY]
Cooldown :: 10.5s → 11s
Xeno Cloak [SECONDARY]
Cooldown :: 11s → 12s
Bonus speed :: 52.5% → 47.5%
Molten Bolt [SPECIAL]
Cooldown :: 24 → 27
DoT effect damage power scaling :: 8.5% → 0%
Juliette
Giving everyone's favorite rookie with five years of experience a very slight drop in her tankiness. Honestly good point is she still a rookie?
Base Stats
Stagger growth :: 425 → 375
Kai
They have been calling him King Kai from DBZ many people are saying this.
Gigablast [SPECIAL]
Cooldown :: 23s → 24s
Kazan
We're giving him a bit more mobility and corespeed in his open form to help him compete with the other forward options.
Top Spin [OPEN PRIMARY]
Final hit core knockback :: 1390 → 1420
Maddening Descent [OPEN SECONDARY]
Range :: 320 → 380
Core knockback :: 1387.5 → 1460
Core knockback power scaling :: 203.75% → 215%
Luna
Especially with Specialized Training returning, Luna's ability to spam fat C.R.A.T.E.Rs at people needs to be tuned down a bit.
C.R.A.T.E.R. [SPECIAL]
Cooldown :: 35s → 40s
Nao
Nao is in a really good spot right now, but we think she does a little bit too much incidental damage.
Proximity Drone [SECONDARY]
Damage :: 100 → 80
Damage power scaling :: 50% → 40%
Octavia
We're making it just a tiny bit easier to survive Bass Drop if you don't have any energy to evade with. Funnily enough, this might be the first time Bass Drop has ever been adjusted since she was launched. Perfect balance, surely.
Bass Drop [SPECIAL]
Knockback :: 140 → 137
Knockback power scaling :: 70% → 68.5%
Rasmus
While his secondary being more potent and "bursty" did give him some cool playmaking abilities, we have found overall that many players felt more comfortable with the longer-but-slower secondary, and are acting in accordance with that feedback.
Whiplash [SECONDARY]
Bonus speed :: 45% → 35%
Duration :: 1.5s → 2.25s
Recast window :: 1.55s → 2.28s
Vyce
We're tuning her stun back down a little bit, but also making sure she doesn't lose too much in the process. Given that Eject Button is also being buffed, we'll be keeping a close eye on her in the net to ensure she doesn't start running away with games left and right.
Thunderstruck [SECONDARY]
Cooldown :: 15s → 14s
Player stun duration :: 0.8s → 0.7s
X
We anticipate this awakening rotation being really good for X and are preemptively toning him down as a result.
Stats
Stagger growth :: 500 → 425
Bellringer [PRIMARY]
Damage :: 190 → 180
Damage power scaling :: 95% → 90%
Knockback :: 190 → 180
Knockback power scaling :: 95% → 90%
AWAKENINGS
Just a quick little rotation to keep things fresh for the upcoming LAN events.
Rotated out:
Extra Special
Catalyst
Monumentalist
Orb Dancer
One-Two Punch
Among Titans
Adrenaline Rush
Rotated in:
Specialized Training
Egoist
Prize Fighter
Orb Ponderer
Might of the Colossus
Stacks on Stacks
Knife's Edge
Knife's Edge
Now with 30% more edge! But 0% more knife!
Gain 30 Power and 30% → 50% Speed whenever you're within 250 → 175 range of the Arena's edge.
Might of the Colossus
Bringing it down a bit to help avoid it scaling too much with the amount of size in rotation.
Gain 15% Size and 0.6 → 0.5 Power per 1% bonus Size.
Orb Dancer
Moving back towards the old 10 orb requirement to fully stack from the olden days (anybody remember Well Fed?). Note that this one isn't in rotation for now, we're just changing both Orb awakenings at once.
Power Orbs increase Speed by 30% for 3s. After collecting 5 → 10 without being KOed, this effect is increased to 65%.
Orb Ponderer
As with most cooldown awakenings in the last two patches, we're decreasing the effectiveness of the cooldown reduction due to the addition of the strike cooldown system. It also gets the same 10 orb treatment as Dancer.
Power Orbs reduce active cooldowns by 17.5% → 10%. After collecting 5 → 10 without being KOed, this effect is increased to 30% → 20%.
Spark of Agility
Swapping up its base and its scaling to make it a bit weaker when you get more sparks without affecting its base speed bonus when you grab it on its own.
Gain 3% → 4% Speed, plus 4% → 3% per SPARK you have.
Spark of Focus
Slight tap to how much CDR you get per spark.
Gain 7 Cooldown Rate, plus 7 → 6 per SPARK you have.
GEAR
Looking to shake up the goalie meta a bit.
Eject Button
Most of the time, it was hard to commit to running a goalie with Eject Button over a more consistent defensive option. We're hoping to give them a bit more flexibility to play aggressively, making it easier to justify the trade-off.
Gain 50% DASH and BLINK range, 40% HASTE effectiveness, and 20% → 25% reduced SECONDARY cooldown. After casting your SECONDARY, recast it within 3.25s to BLINK back to the cast position.
