As is the case with any tournament, not every match had the opportunity to be played on a broadcast station at the recently concluded NorCal Regionals 2016. A number of great sets from pools and even top 32 were played out off-stream.
Luckily, attendees were more than willing to capture these matches themselves. JoseR is one such person, and he’s provided a huge playlist for those of you wanting more action from this Capcom Pro Tour premier event.
The footage highlights some matches from NorCal Regionals vaunted “death pool” for on-site registrants, which included iPeru, MOV, Poongko, F3|Alucard, and more. These are joined by replays from the top 32, featuring players such as RZR|Xian, Kazunoko, QAN|Xiaohai, l|NuckleDu, MCZ|Mago, EG|Momochi, RZR|Fuudo, MJS|Haitani, YP|Filipinoman, Snake Eyez, EG|PR Balrog, and more.
We’ve shared a few of these videos below, but be sure to check out the full playlist for more.
The folks at NetherRealm Studios dropped a surprise Mortal Kombat X update this morning on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This ver.1.13 patch brings with it a number of changes, both general and character-specific. As is often the case, the Kombat Pack 2 newcomers were the targets of many adjustments, especially Triborg, who saw frame data changed across every variation.
In addition to balance tweaking, the update also fixes a number of bugs, and certain parry X-Rays will no longer be broken by multiple attacks hitting at once. Check out the full list of changes below and let us know what you think.
Mortal Kombat X 03/29 Patch Notes
General Gameplay Fixes
There is no longer an addition frame of input delay when simulate online delay is on and should now better match online play
Removed several camera, sound, and particle glitches due to rollback
Removed several possible online desyncs
If a breaker is initiated while the attacker is below ground it will no longer animate faster than normal
Some knockdown reactions now longer reset the buffered combo damage scaling used by unavoidable off the ground situations
Fixed a bug which could cause controller configuration options to be reset for a round after a rollback in an online match
The timer in survivor koth now starts at 150 seconds
Corrected some brutalities which had some issues with rollback
Made some corrections to movelist frame data
Some hotfix changes from the previous patch are now being applied correctly
AI tweaks for the Kombat Pack 2 characters
Multiple attacks hitting on the same frame should no longer sometimes break though Sonya’s, Subzero’s, Triborg’s (Cyber Sub-Zero) X-Ray parry
Character-Specific Fixes
Alien – Adjusted the collision of Towards+BK to no longer miss against some duck blocking characters
Alien – Away+BK is no longer high attack immune for during its active frames
Alien – Addressed an issue that was causing the opponents wakeup attacks to sometimes come out the wrong way after ending a combo in Tail Flip
Alien – Adjusted Tail Flip to address it sometimes missing against some characters if they were duck blocking
Alien (Acidic) – Can no longer win a round from poison damage
Alien (Acidic) – Acid Blood is now +1 on hit (down from +11)
Alien (Acidic) – Erosive Blood is now +8 on hit (down from +38)
Alien (Konjurer) – Fixed a bug that caused Facehugger to sometimes remove Kung Lao’s hat for the rest of a round
Alien (Tarkatan) – Reduced the meter gain on executing the Tarkatan Rush special moves
Alien (Tarkatan) – Adjusted Away+BP to reduce it missing against some characters if they were duck blocking
Alien (Tarkatan) – Straight Slice no longer builds meter on block
Alien (Tarkatan) – Added 5 recovery frames on delayed Straight Slice on block
Alien (Tarkatan) – Added 10 recovery frames on delayed Nail And Impale on block
Bo’ Rai Cho – Adjusted Towards+FK to no longer miss against some duck blocking characters
Bo’ Rai Cho – Reduced the stun length of Fart Cloud & Crop Duster by 39 frames
Bo’ Rai Cho (Bartitsu) – Chaining Down+BK after a jump punch does the correct Bartitsu attack
Bo’ Rai Cho (Bartitsu) – Adjusted the hit regions on Away+FK,FP+FK to hit more consistently after Away+FK hits from max range
Bo’ Rai Cho (Dragon Breath) – Added 10 miss recovery frames to Ground Blaze and it now has 2 active frames (down from 5)
Bo’ Rai Cho (Dragon Breath) – Doing Ground Fire or Ground Blaze while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Bo’ Rai Cho (Drunken Master) – Drinking no longer removes the full screen effects for Reptile’s (Nimble) Basilisk or Basilisk Runner and Jason’s (Relentless) Pursuit or Dark Pursuit
Bo’ Rai Cho (Drunken Master) – Adjusted the hit regions on Away+FK,FP+FK to hit more consistently after Away+FK hits from max range
Bo’ Rai Cho (Drunken Master) – Doing Drink or Chug while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Ferra/Torr (Lackey) – Colossal Crush will now correctly combo from a hit
Jason – When Killing Machine is disabled after blocking an opponent’s X-Ray attack there will no longer be lingering effects and sounds
Jason (Relentless) – The opponent can no longer execute a run from a buffered command while Pursuit or Dark Pursuit was up
Jason (Unstoppable) – Having a round end on Kano’s (Commando) Low or High Kounter will no longer skip to slowdown sequence which was removing the player’s ability to not have Resurrection trigger
Johnny Cage – Tweaked the 2nd hit of Nutcracker to remove some instances where it could miss from a some duck blocking characters from a certain distance
Kano – Camera can no longer get out of sync if a rollback happened when Kano is hit out of the beginning of Black Dragon Ball
Kitana – Slightly increased the range of Down+FK
Kitana (Mournful) – Adjusted Glaive Return timing on hit to combo more consistently from mid screen to full screen
Kotal Kahn – Adjusted the hit region of FP,FP to hit a little more consistently
Leatherface – Towards+BP is now +8 on hit (down from 13)
Leatherface – Towards+FK is now +15 on hit (down from 20)
Leatherface – Towards+BK is now +5 on hit (down from 15)
Leatherface (Butcher) – Skull Smash & Skull Fracture now have 8 startup frames (up from 6)
Leatherface (Butcher) – BP,BP is now +11 on hit (down from 21)
Leatherface (Butcher) – Towards+BP is now +12 on hit (down from 22)
Leatherface (Killer) – Killing someone with Psycho Rush’s Meter Burn will no longer sometimes skip the Finish Him sequence
Liu Kang (Flame Fist) – Adjusted repel regions of Windmill Punch & Windmill Flurry so the last hit is harder to low profile on block removing his option to 2in1 cancel it on block
Quan Chi (Sorcerer) – Having the armor trigger from Dark Curse while in a stun reaction will no keep his blocking disabled
Quan Chi (Sorcerer) – Added code to Dark Curse to not add armor if he being juggled in a reaction. This is currently not active because it would likely be more detrimental in most cases
Sonya (Special Forces) – Fixed being able to 2in1 cancel Drone summon into Drone attack commands
Tanya – Adjusted BP,BK to hit duck blocking opponents more consistently
Tremor – Added 5 recovery frames to Rock Shower
Triborg – FP is now +12 on hit (down from 19)
Triborg – FP,FP is now +9 on hit (down from 19)
Triborg – FP,FP,FP is now +15 on hit (down from 17)
Triborg – Towards+FP is now +13 on hit (down from 20)
Triborg – BP is now +14 on hit (down from 19)
Triborg – Towards+FK is now +15 on hit (down from 20)
Triborg – BP,FP is now +17 on hit (down from 24)
Triborg – BP,FP,FK is now -1 on block (down from -6)
Triborg – FK is now +12 on hit (down from 29)
Triborg – Away+FK now has 15 startup frames (up from 11)
Triborg – Down+FK is now +12 on hit (down from 18)
Triborg – BK is now +12 on hit (down from 17)
Triborg (Cyber Sub-Zero) – Towards+BP will no longer sometimes be missing it’s hit regions when canceled into from a run
Triborg (Cyber Sub-Zero) – Ice Ball now has 26 startup frames (up from 21)
Triborg (Cyber Sub-Zero) – reduced the stun frames on Ice Ball by 13
Triborg (Cyber Sub-Zero) – doing Drone summon while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Triborg (Cyber Sub-Zero) – doing Dive Kick while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Triborg (Cyrax) – Shrapnel-Port now has armor, does 5 more damage, and causes a different reaction on the 2nd hit
Triborg (Cyrax) – reduced the stun frames on Net & Advanced Net by 30
Triborg (Cyrax) – doing Bomb or Hover Bomb while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Triborg (Cyrax) – Net and Advanced Net will now miss-fire out if a Bomb or Hover Bomb has hit in the same combo
Triborg (Cyrax) – Hover Bomb will now miss-fire after 3 Hover Bombs have hit in the same combo
Triborg (Cyrax) – Bomb will now miss-fire after 3 Bombs have hit in the same combo
Triborg (Cyrax) – adjusted BP,FP,BP to prevent all 4 hits from being forced to be blocked against some characters
Triborg (Smoke) – will no longer be invisible for some frames when 2in1 cancelling Away+BP,FP or Towards+BP,FP into some background interactions
Triborg (Smoke) – reduced the initial damage of Smoke Cloud & Smoke Bomb by 2 and increased the drop damage by 2
Triborg (Smoke) – doing Dissipate and Evaporate while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Triborg (Smoke) – Doing Fade-Port and Smoke-Port while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Triborg (Smoke) – Smoke Bomb is now +5 on block (down from +8)
Killer Instinct Season 3 has officially launched, but this updated version of the game isn’t the only thing the folks at Iron Galaxy Studios have in store for players. In a new post on Ultra-Combo, the team discusses the upcoming Shadow Lords mode, which we saw teased in the launch trailer. In their words, Shadow Lords is “part ladder, part arcade mode, part story mode, and part roguelike, all rolled up into one unique experience.”
All of these elements combine to create a game mode where players recruit characters to use against Gargos before he takes over the world–pretty standard stuff, but how do roguelikes fit in? According to Iron Galaxy, Shadow Lords will include a crafting system, as well as items and elements which carry over through multiple runs. The exact nature of these items and effects remains unknown, but a comparison to the progression systems in Rogue Legacy or The Binding of Isaac may not be too far off.
We aren’t sure when Shadow Lords mode will be making its way to our Xbox Ones and PCs, but we do know it will be during Killer Instinct’s current season. For more information, you can follow the link below.
Just one week off from the insanity that was Final Round, we found ourselves at yet another Capcom Pro Tour final this past weekend. This time around, the stage was set on the complete opposite end of the country at NorCal Regionals in Sacramento, California. After an entertaining main tournament, we were left with some familiar (and, in some cases, unexpected) faces in the top eight lineup.
The first set got things started in a major way with Mad Catz’ Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi, fresh off a second place finish at Final Round, matching up against Northern California native Julio Fuentes. Tokido needs little introduction to viewers; he more or less invented Akuma in Street Fighter IV and was a regular sight in tournament finals. With no demon to play in Street Fighter IV, Tokido has defaulted to Ryu, who many regard as one of the title’s stronger characters. Julio, on the other hand, was a bit more obscure until recent performances. While he had some success in using Yun in the previous installment, he’s found himself in a more threatening position after a finishing second at Winter Brawl X.
Both players’ game plans were made immediately clear. Julio never bothered to hide the fact that he’s willing to hold forward on the joystick until he is directly a threat, and he continually used this aggressive spacing to get a lead in the first round. By capturing the pace, Julio was able to go all out, but Tokido responded by reacting in very specific ways. If you pay attention to replays, you’ll notice his Ryu make some minute spacing adjustments without using many buttons. It’s worth noting how reserved Tokido was, calmly gathering the information Julio gave him while minimizing risk. Once he was equipped with a full super bar, Tokido then decided to take a couple risks, paying off in a massive combo that secured the round.
At this point, Tokido had an advantage with little compromise and a solid grasp of Julio’s gameplan. At the start of round two, Ryu immediately went into solar plexus to catch a run forward, a call out that earned Tokido a huge reward and, eventually, the first game. In game two, Julio again opened aggressively. While he would find a hit, Tokido mashed out of pressure with low forward, blocking the follow-up roundhouse and immediately punishing for an added advantage.
Julio continued to earn hits and opportunities, but adjustments to his overall gameplan just weren’t there. He was punished for throwing out roundhouse on multiple occasions, and his attempts to throw bait with the shimmy maneuver were similarly countered. Over the course of their set, you may have noticed Tokido using a combination of crouching medium punch, jump back, and reversal throw. The first two were more than likely a result option selects (jump back light kick on defense is a tell-tale sign), and these defensive techniques require more specific answers than what Julio was providing. After being completely shut down with few mid-match changes to his strategy, Julio fell to Tokido without managing to take a single game.
In the next game of the winners bracket, Razer’s Seon-woo “Infiltration” Lee sat down to square off against Liquid’s Du “Nuckledu” Dang. These players have a long history in the Street Fighter IV series, with both able to boast strong records of success in those games. Seeing Infiltration here came as no surprise after his dominating win at Final Round, and many pegged him to win NorCal Regionals as well. Nuckledu’s appearance wasn’t a shock either thanks to frequent strong placings throughout previous Capcom Pro Tour seasons. Still, anybody playing against Infiltration at this stage is in for an uphill battle.
The first game of this Nash mirror started off with an explosion of movement before quickly turning into an absolute slugfest. This is a style of play Nuckledu is familiar with, but Infiltration didn’t hesitate to stack damage when his opponent overextended throughout the first game. Overall, it was hard to pin down where exactly these players wanted to be. This quick pace continued into game two, though a bit of restraint and patience on Nuckledu’s part earned him a first round victory. And despite eating a super early in round two, he continued to play a much more solid game. This competent play led to a huge opening where Nuckledu expended all his resources in an attempt to kill, but Infiltration survived, managed to squeeze out the round, and exploded in the tiebreaker to counter Nuckledu’s slower approach.
Recovering from a loss like that can be difficult. Nuckledu stopped for a moment to collect himself, then launched right back in without showing any signs of weakness. Again, the neutral tug-of-war swung back and forth. A strong sequence would give Nuckledu the upper hand early on, and he continued to maintain the overall pace of the match, an incredible feat in the face of Infiltration’s movement. A round-winning opening appeared and the crowd went wild, but the mental cracks began to show as Nuckledu dropped the combo with an unsafe special move. The combo was dropped with an unsafe special move, and Infiltration easily punished, taking advantage of further mistakes to move on in the bracket.
The night then moved down to the losers bracket. Marn, against all odds, had found his way out of the death pool, and then into top eight, earlier that evening. His next opponent was an old teammate: Evil Geniuses’ Ricki Ortiz. Her appearance in the finals bracket was expected thanks to her long history with the Street Fighter series and the many tournament accolades she’s earned along the way. It’s a real treat to see her going back Chun-Li, the character that helped put her on the map during the days of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, but the R. Mika powerhouse seated beside her was still a huge question mark.
The style in which Ricki approaches most matchups–controlling neutral and keeping the opponent from gaining momentum–seemed like the way to go against Mika. Despite early openings, Ricki was able to mash out successfully. She clearly had no desire to see Mika start rolling, and did whatever she could to stop it by staying in control. In round two, Ricki’s strategy looked solid, but a few critical missteps allowed Mika to get a win. Marn followed that victory with a dominating sequence in the third round, built off huge risks in the footsie game. Although Mika doesn’t have the strongest footsie tools, Marn was happy to throw out unsafe special moves in search of hits. But just as fast as Marn gained momentum, Ricki would swing that energy in her direction with a massive punish.
Heading into the second game, it looked as if Ricki had the answers to deal with Marn’s wakeup, but then R. Mika happened. Marn’s approach–looking for single hits into death–paid off as he pushed Ricki to the corner with another explosive opening. Still, Ricki looked in control; she was getting more openings, she played well, and took rounds. The damage, however, wasn’t there. Despite notching up another round, a single failed punish put Marn back into the game.
Ricki continued to look in complete control, but slipped up, again falling into the Mika blender and allowing Marn to mount another comeback. She continued to jab defensively with some success, but at that point it looked like Marn simply didn’t care. The damage from the light punches didn’t matter when he could continue forcing Ricki into oppressive situations. Game three opened with Marn finding multiple counterhits against Ricki and launching into a devastating series of mixups. Ricki looked rattled; she couldn’t find large enough openings while Marn was destroying her with every stray hit. She ultimately ended up back in the vortex, failing to stop Marn from continuing his tear into the bracket with another unexpected win.
If Nuckledu looked shook fighting Infiltration, he didn’t immediately show it when he sat down to fight Marn. As is the story with many of Marn’s matches, Mika was shutdown almost entirely in game one, leading to a decisive early lead for Nuckledu, only for Marn to open up the next game with a perfect. As he secured the game on a hard read, the camera panned to show Marn laughing like a cartoon super villain, which is never a good sign for his opponents. Marn entered the next round with no regards to personal safety, using Mika’s armored specials to fish hits. Nuckledu’s life bar melted under the pressure, and Marn ended the game playing with his food.
In Street Fighter, most players will give you a list of don’ts. You don’t jump at players recklessly. You don’t want to whiff buttons directly in the face of your opponent. You don’t throw out unsafe specials in neutral. Marn took that list and threw it in the trash. And why wouldn’t he? Nuckledu was reacting poorly to every mixup situation, giving Marn huge rewards for landing them. By throwing in reckless “don’ts” after showing situations that could be more easily answered, Marn created a minefield. Going from Infiltration’s meticulous play to Marn’s mindgames made for a nightmare bracket that Nuckledu was unfortunately forced to live out. The cracks deepened and, in a sign of complete defeat, he threw out a random super. While it went unpunished, it was all we needed to understand the young player’s headspace. Marn continued in the bracket, and Nuckledu went home.
Elsewhere in losers bracket, Evil Geniuses’ Justin Wong was squaring off Majestic’s Tatsuya Haitani. Justin needs no further introduction, but Haitani was an interesting name to see in contention. He’s been around the Japanese scene for as long as anybody can remember, having earned his god title during the glory days of Vampire Savior. Street Fighter IV was not as kind to him, but Street Fighter V might be right up his alley. Haitani’s early results show that he’s one of the strongest Japanese players at the moment, and he recently placed fourth at Final Round. That weekend, these two players faced off during top 16 with Haitani coming out the victor, and Justin now had his shot at the runback. While naysayers want to paint him as washed up after falling off during the tail end of the Street Fighter IV era, this match gave him an opportunity to prove he has what it takes to be a dominant force again.
With Justin’s Karin pairing up against Haitani’s Necalli, many likely would have pegged this matchup as a highly offensive affair with the high damage available to both characters. Interestingly enough, Justin didn’t seem to want to go that route, opting instead to get all of his damage out of poking. He chose ranges and walked in such a way that made it difficult for Necalli to use his normal closers, and it worked. Necalli couldn’t find enough openings to keep momentum going. In game two, Justin fished for something riskier and ate a perfect for his trouble, Haitani proving Necalli was still a threat. Justin defaulted back to the methodical approach, establishing that he didn’t need to over commit to remain aggressive. Justin’s manipulation of space here was top notch, using neutral jumps and varied button presses to mitigate Haitani’s guessing and punish ability.
Unfortunately, all it took for Haitaini to demolish Justin’s hard work was a single Necalli super, but the American competitor didn’t seem phased going into the next game, returning to his spacing plan and implementing it to near perfection. Justin’s defense here really needs to be commended. Despite finding himself on the wrong side of Necalli, he used a wide range of defensive options to bail himself out. The sign of a strong player will always be how much they can balance their various options as needed, and Justin did just that as he secured a lead in game count. In game four, Justin sought to put himself in a match point situation again before tragedy struck. The timer was ticking as both players found themselves close in health. Justin had a slight lead with 10 seconds left and attempted to timer scam, only to backdash into Necalli’s V-Skill at the last second to lose. Any player would have struggled to maintain after a loss like that, and Haitani took advantage of a slight fold in Justin’s gameplay to earn another game.
Even after this heartbreaking loss, Justin kept his eyes on his original gameplan. Slight adjustments on offense forced Haitani into different positions, which ultimately paid off in victory. Apart from staying alive in the bracket, this win also had important implications on the entire Capcom Pro Tour, as it was the first time an American had defeated a foreign player in top eight. Overcoming the strongest Asian players has looked impossible in the later stages of recent events; nevertheless, Justin pulled it off. He moved on to face a fellow American, Julio, in order to advance. Julio showed some flashy Ken combos and demonstrated monstrous damage, but fell into a pattern similar to the one during his match against Tokido. Justin had the defense and the spacing to not have to engage in those critical guesses too often, resulting in another win.
Now, Justin had to face the demon of the bracket, and he knew this demon well. Marn and Justin go back a long ways, with intertwining careers that have seen both as part of the same organizations and teams on more than one occasion. They shared a very friendly exchange before getting into the match. Marn immediately tried his Mika tactics, only to run into a brick wall. Justin’s play spoke of how long and how often he had put up with these shenanigans in the past.
Simply put, Marn got bodied so hard that, if you went for a bathroom break between matches, you probably missed it. But to be fair, if Marn was going to get blown up anywhere in the bracket, it would have been here. Forgetting their familiarity from years and years of competition, Justin’s play is built from the ground up to beat players like Marn, mitigating their randomness with the sheer solidity of his strategy. One merciless beating later, and Marn is eliminated. We can postpone the end of the world…for now.
After a lengthy visit to the losers bracket, the time had come for the winners finals match. Tokido versus Infiltration was an often predicted runback from last weekend’s Final Round event as both players are absolute powerhouses who have looked unstoppable in the early days of Street Fighter V competition. That being said, Infiltration won the previous weekend without dropping a single set. Either Tokido would beat him here or Infiltration would become the undisputed king of the young game.
What ended up being immediately apparent was Tokido had changed his approach to a slower, reactive game focused on footsies. Infiltration took some early hits to give Tokido a slight lead, but the following barrage of Bazooka Knees showed that Infiltration already had a backup plan that wasn’t on display at Final Round. And remember all those defensive options Tokido had up his belt in previous matches? A lot of them were being thrown out with delayed timing, which, despite their strength, leads to a critical weakness against slower, higher reward moves. In an effort to sniff them out, Infiltration stuck to throwing out delayed crouching fierces as throw bait, and was ultimately rewarded with a massive counterhit into huge damage. More important than the damage, Infiltration might as well have looked at Tokido and said, “I know what you are doing and you will stop doing it.”
Tokido’s gameplan had to be reworked. The defensive options he relied on earlier, option selects or not, had to change. In the neutral game, he couldn’t find solid spacing to commit to a gameplan as Infiltration adjusted it constantly. Late in a round, Infiltration again had success with a delayed button press as his throw bait. The next time Tokido found himself in a throw or strike guess, he attempted reversal grab, prompting Infiltration to walk back and check what the options were coming out, rewarding him with more damage and information.
This entire time, Tokido’s Ryu looked like he was doing a lot of things right; he landed good combos and had his fair share of successful moments. The thing is, whenever Infiltration was at an advantage, he was able to throw something new at Tokido and win the round. It was far from impossible as Tokido managed to squeeze out a game by simply not being put in those bad situations, and game four came down to the final round before Infiltration found what he was looking for the entire set. Nash was in position to throw, took a step back, and then connected with a stand fierce confirm into super. Infiltration’s conditioning of Tokido up to this point was an unbelievable blow that cemented the fact that he is simply too far ahead of the competition right now. As if to point out what he just did, he proceeded to throw Tokido three times in a row to win the set.
Through a combination of using every neutral tool possible to keep players off their footing and an understanding of how players want to react on defense, Infiltration sat in grand finals. Tokido now had to face Justin Wong in losers finals for his chance at redemption. Justin’s plan to play a more poke heavy and aggravating game with Karin got him this far, so there was no reason to doubt he wouldn’t stick to it.
There was one factor at play here worth noting right off the bat. All of the top eight matches were on a big stage for everybody to watch, including the competitors. Both Justin and Tokido had a lot of footage to pick over that day, but somebody was always going to get better information out of this. Infiltration’s method of picking apart Tokido was something Justin had to have noticed, as he carried those techniques into his own matchup. In the first game, he baited Tokido to check for mashing in a similar way to Infiltration. Game one went to Justin off a walk back throw bait, well into the round after offense had been established. A lot of Justin’s damage also came from the harassment based poke game he used against Haitani. Tokido stuck to his stronger Ryu tactics against Justin without seeing the consistent reward needed to win.
Tokido started to adjust in game two, using light buttons to keep checking Justin’s pokes. When Justin started walking for throw baits, Tokido simply blocked for extended periods of time, but it still wasn’t enough to deal with Justin’s impeccable footsies. Poke damage continued to add up, and Tokido was forced to put himself into bad situations. In the meantime, Justin used V-Skill often in order to have V-Trigger ready, and although his V-Trigger use was rather subdued, he received the information that Tokido wanted to act between the first and second rekka. To close out game two, Justin went into the neutral punch follow-up for the small gap, leading to a game-ending hit and a 2-0 lead.
With copious amounts of information at his disposal, Justin went in hard to start the third game and quickly took the first round. But Tokido wasn’t giving up, and continued to make small adjustments and look for ways out. Both players ended up just a hit away from death, and Justin found a way in, landing a delayed button against Tokido’s mashing in a confident call out. This turned into a combo that should have secured the win, but Justin dropped it. Tokido lived and woke up to kill Justin with an uppercut into super. In one heartbreaking moment, Justin went from being in grand finals to crashing into his own nerves. The next round, Justin landed another huge combo into super to further his lead, but the super whiffed and Tokido fell out of the combo, responding with a full punish. Justin ended up losing an entire game to these huge drops, opening the door for a massive Tokido comeback. Even though he played incredibly smart with a huge lead, Justin managed to fall short of playing against Infiltration.
The question heading into grand finals was whether or not Tokido could figure out a way to break through the multitude of techniques Infiltration had waiting for him.
The answer to that question wound up being an emphatic, “Nope.” After the rollercoaster that was losers finals, Infiltration unceremoniously cut Tokido down with a decisive 3-0 victory in matches that looked similar to winners finals. The level of play was high and the matches were good, but there was no standing up to Infiltration. The strategies he prepared and the options he had loaded before even showing up to a match were so far ahead of everybody else it was unreal. He wasn’t even overusing a lot of the advanced techniques players were worried about, instead opting to show up with a huge book of answers. Whatever method he has come up with to piece together these strategies is going to be questioned and sought after even after somebody manages to defeat him.
With first-place finishes at the first two Capcom Pro Tour premier events, Infiltration walks away looking like an unstoppable monster. With only one player qualifying so far, competition to dethrone the current champion is going to be fierce, especially with a huge number of ranking points still up for grabs. The competition at qualifiers this year is already incredibly fierce, and we can’t wait to see what happens at the next one.
Aside from new character Alex, tomorrow’s Street Fighter V update is also scheduled to add an early version of the in-game store. This will allow players to spend their hard earned fight money on a number of items.
But what exactly can be bought in the game’s store? Well, the folks over at r/streetfightermods have been hard at work pulling these details from the update data.
In the video below, they highlight a number of character-specific Fighter Profile themes, alternate costumes (including story mode, premium, and pre-order outfits) alternate colors, and what appears to be backgrounds for custom titles, all of which will supposedly be up for purchase when the store launches.
Apart from this future content, Street Fighter V recently received a challenge mode, expanded lobbies, balance changes, and more in a previous update. Players can expect to get their hands on Alex and the content detailed above starting tomorrow, March 30.
After closing out last year strong with season two and an exciting World Cup event, Microsoft and Iron Galaxy Studios are ready to present a third chapter in Killer Instinct’s rebooted legacy. Like previous seasons, players can expect to receive new characters and skins alongside a variety of balance changes and visual upgrades.
At on the onset, Killer Instinct’s cast expands with guest and classic characters: Battletoads and Halo receive some representation thanks to Rash and the Arbiter, respectively, while Kim Wu and Tusk return from previous outings. Each character comes with a default and retro outfit, which can be customized with various accessories and colors to help players stand apart from their fellow competitors.
Down the line, season three will see the vampiric Mira and past antagonist Gargos join the party in April and May, with Gears of War’s General RAAM, another unannounced character, and additional modes set to launch over the summer.
Due to Killer Instinct’s incremental releases, there are a variety of packages players can purchase to catch up. These have been detailed below, along with content and pricing. Note that the PC version of the Supreme Edition bundle is $10 cheaper because it lacks the classic rereleases of its Xbox One counterpart.
Combo Breaker
Includes 8 new fighters including Rash, Arbiter, Kim Wu and Tusk
Xbox One: $19.99
Windows 10: $19.99
Ultra Edition
Includes VIP double XP booster, 8 retro costumes, accessory sets, bonus retro color 7 for all Season 3 characters, and 18,000 KI Gold
Xbox One: $39.99
Windows 10: $39.99
Supreme Edition
Includes every fighter from Seasons 1, 2 and 3, all content from all 3 Ultra Editions including costumes, accessories, 18,000 KI Gold, VIP double XP boosters, bonus colors for Season 3 characters, Killer Instinct Classic and Killer Instinct 2 Classic for Xbox One
Xbox One: $59.99
Windows 10: $49.99
Double Combo
Includes all 17 Killer Instinct characters from Season 1 / 2
Xbox One: $29.99
Windows 10: $29.99
And finally, balance changes! Killer Instinct Season 3 includes a huge list of adjustments, updating both the core mechanics and characters in an effort to provide the most competitive release to date. You’ll find the full list of tweaks in the box below.
Killer Instinct Season 3 balance changes
System Changes
Some characters now have attacks that inflict a new “Stagger” reaction on the opponent. Opponents are vulnerable to throws during Stagger, just like after a Wall Splat, and cannot escape early in any way. You can still tech throws here so long as you are not locked out, just like a Wall Splat.
Some characters now have attacks that can cause a new “Flip Out” reaction against airborne opponents. Instead of putting them into a juggle state, they flip and land on their feet, allowing you a surprise mixup opportunity.
If you do not hit your opponent with anything breakable during your combo at any point, your Ender will not cash out and will be breakable.
Opener->Ender now remove lockouts, so that Opener->Ender is always breakable.
Ground Combo Breakers cause Flipout and are between -1 and +2 (Previously they caused soft knockdown and were between +30 and +60). This also makes it impossible in all cases to combo off of a Ground Combo Breaker.
Air Combo Breakers now cause Blowout. This makes it impossible in all cases to combo off of an Air Combo Breaker.
You can no longer cancel into Instinct from a Combo Breaker.
Hits that blow out a combo are now Breakable and Counter Breakable.
Sweeps are now breakable and counter breakable. Forced quick-rise will occur if your opponent uses a counter breaker, leaving them punishable as expected.
Corrected an issue preventing you from ever being Timing-Locked-Out while in the air.
Most juggle moves add much less KV than before, opening up new juggle paths to much of the cast.
The KV penalty has been removed from Ground Bounce for increased juggle opportunities.
Unified Shadow Counter startup time across the entire cast. They start up in 8 frames now, making everyone’s better except Aganos’, which got 1 frame worse.
Increased the window during which a Shadow Counter can catch an incoming attack by 7 frames, and also added 10 additional frames of recovery on whiff.
Grounded Heavy Normal attacks now ignore Armor.
Increased the cancel windows from Linkers into Auto Doubles across all characters to match Jago and S2 standard, so that if you are too early for a manual, you get an auto double instead of nothing.
Normalized the frame advantage and buffer check on all characters after auto doubles. Light Doubles leave you +2, Medium Doubles leave you +3, and Heavy Doubles leave you +5. A 5 frame buffer window is on all characters, rather than just some, so that your next move is easier to time.
Normalized pre-jump frames to 4 across the cast.
The manual Hitstop penalty has been reduced from +4 frames to +3.
It is now possible to break a combo during Hitstop, instead of being forced to wait until the Hitstop has ended. In addition, Instinct Cancels must now allow 2 frames of Hitstop before occurring. These two changes together prevent Instinct-Cancel Unbreakables.
LK+MP is now available as an alternate input for Shadow Counter activation, Counter Breaker activation, and Medium Combo Breakers.
LK+HP is now available as an alternate input for Instinct Activation and Heavy Combo Breakers.
Throw breaking no longer causes 3 fully vulnerable frames on your opponent, and instead causes 3 projectile invulnerable frames.
Ender Damage tuning pass performed. You can expect better consistency in the relative damage output from different ender types. Generally, damage from worst to best goes: Meter Ender < Splat Ender < Launcher Ender < Exchange or Hardknockdown Ender < Damage Ender
Unlisted Character Changes – Many, many bugs have been fixed that are unlisted, but these do not effect game balance. They only get rid of odd, unwanted behavior. If a bug fix effected balance, for the most part, it is on this list.
Character Changes
Jago
Fixed a bug that allowed you to perform Shadow Tigers Fury the frame before landing after a blocked or hit Tigers Fury.
Reduced Laser Sword Ender damage by ~10%
Reduced Endokuken Ender damage by ~15%
Double Roundhouse (F+HK) starts up 1 frame slower so that you can’t use this heavy move as a medium manual.
Healing amount per hit during Instinct reduced by 25%.
Adjusted the crouching HK attack box so it better matches his foot. This makes it slightly easier to juggle with as well.
Throw canceled into a Shadow Move starts with less KV for increased juggle opportunities.
Normal attacks push the opponent back less in a juggle for increased juggle opportunities.
Medium and Heavy Laser Sword juggles launch higher and closer for increased juggle opportunities.
Light Laser Sword and Jumping LP now cause Flip Out.
Shadow Endokuken is larger and has a larger hitbox.
New ability: Endokuken Charge! Can now hold the button to delay an Endokuken’s release.
Jago can dash cancel in either direction while charging up.
When fully charged, you release a Big Endokuken.
Big Endokukens can destroy some smaller projectiles, and also deals increased hitstun, blockstun, and damage.
You can charge up in Instinct, and you will release two Big Endokukens at full charge.
Sabrewulf
Feral Cancel has a 30 frame longer cooldown, and a new indicator when it is ready for use again.
Leaping Slash startup slowed down. This move now hits on frame 20 instead of frame 14.
Fixed a bug preventing Feral Cancel from carrying over breaker windows for a few frames from the previous move correctly.
Running Uppercut has 12 additional frames of recovery, but is still -2 on block and allows Wulf to break out early for all of the same juggles with the same timing. Attack box size reduced.
Eclipse damage reduced by ~15%
Shadow Eclipse Damage Reduced by ~35% (because you can juggle after it)
All Ender damage reduced by ~15%
Sabrewulf no longer gets any damage bonus during instinct. He still deals chip damage with normals, however.
The frame on which Wulf can cancel his dash into a special has moved from frame 14 to frame 16.
Eclipse and Shadow Eclipse no longer auto correct to turn around and face the opponent after a forward dash.
Crouching HP starts up 1 frame slower so that you cannot use this Heavy attack as a Medium manual.
Sabrewulf’s Medium Leaping Slash Linker now hits two times. The Heavy Leaping Slash and Heavy Hamstring Linkers now hit three times.
Eclipse and Shadow Eclipse inflict less blockstun, making them a bit easier to punish.
The LP, MP, HP target combo now works against airborne opponents.
Standing HK causes Stagger.
The final hit of Ragged Edge and Shadow Ragged Edge now causes a ground bounce against airborne opponents for increased juggle opportunities.
Crouching LK causes Flip Out.
MK and HK versions of Run move faster.
Hamstring’s slide travels farther.
New command move: Diving Slash! During Jump Up or Jump Forward, F+MK.
Cannot be done from a jump back.
Has very few active frames, but tends to leave Sabrewulf roughly even with his opponent.
Has the landing recovery of a normal jump attack, making it useful for repositioning.
Glacius
Fixed a bug that allowed Shadow Cold Shoulder Linker to be canceled after the 4th hit, but before the 5th
Cold Shoulder LT, MED and HVY are now -3, -5, and -8 on block. (Was -2, -3, and -5)
Jumping MK deals 3 frames less blockstun. Jumping HK deals 7 frames less blockstun.
Reduced Shatter Ender damage by ~20%
Reduced Hail Ender, Shoulder Ender, and Puddle Punch Ender damage by ~10%
Reduced Shadow Puddle Punch damage by ~10%
Reduced Shadow Shatter damage by ~20%
The “tell” on Shatter (beam of light) appears 4 frames earlier.
Shatter has 10 additional frames of recovery time, making it more in line with the command throw that it is.
Shatter and Shadow Shatter are now actual projectiles, so they will whiff projectile invulnerable characters and cannot be countered by Hisako.
Fixed a bug that prevented Shadow Hail from being used after ranged Shatter Linkers or ranged Auto Doubles.
Shatter is active for 2 frames longer, making it easier to tripguard with. Its total active time is now 4 frames.
Glacius can now dash! It is not good, but hey, you asked for it!
Liquidize can now cross under opponents in the corner.
Hail damage and meter gain reduced by ~50%.
Hail can survive off-camera for longer, which prevents hail left off screen from being destroyed, and opens up new setups and approaches when leaving hail behind Glacius.
New ability: Multi-Hail! Tap or Hold a different punch button while summoning hail to summon another hail.
This adds another 25 frames to the move, making it quite risky if you aren’t careful.
You can hold and release your multi-hail in any order.
Greatly enhances zoning and setup potential.
New ability: Instinct Power Up! New abilities available during Instinct!
During instinct, when wearing Ice Armor, Glacius’ Shadow Counter window lasts until the end of the animation. This old bug is making a return as a feature!
The defensive buff you always wanted!
During instinct, Liquidize moves much farther and faster.
During instinct, press HP+HK to perform the Homing Puddle Punch.
During instinct, press F+HP+HK to perform the Cross Up Puddle Punch.
Thunder
Ender functions and damage retuned to be in line with the rest of the game.
Ankle Slicer Ender no longer causes a hard knockdown and deals much less damage, but still gives a full size battery bonus.
Triplax Ender deals less damage, but more than Ankle Slicer, and still causes a Wall Splat.
Sammamish Ender deals less damage, but more than Ankle Slicer and Triplax, and now causes a Hard Knock Down if you don’t juggle after.
Call of Earth Ender no longer causes a hard knockdown and deals a bit less damage, but is still the damage ender.
Shadow Call of Earth damage decreased by ~15% (Deals 20% damage instead of 23%)
Jumping HP damage reduced by ~15%
Thunder is no longer allowed to cancel the landing recovery of a whiffed Sammamish into another special or shadow move.
Shadow Sammamish damage reduced by ~20%
Light Sammamish no longer allows Sammamish Followups
Light Sammamish now has full body invulnerability on startup instead of just upper body.
Call of Sky has 10 frame shorter recovery, adds “Murder of Crows” buff to Thunder 1 frame earlier, and can destroy incoming projectiles from frames 14 to 20.
Thunder can now cancel a hit or blocked Skyfall into Murder of Crows enhanced dash.
Fixed a bug preventing the duration of the Call of Sky buff from refreshing if you used Call of Sky again while the buff was still on.
Juggle properties of some moves adjusted for increased juggle opportunities.
Standing Light Kick causes Flip Out, and the hitbox has been improved to assist with juggling.
New Sammamish followups: Dropkick and Surprise Knee! After Sammamish –
HK – Skyfall – The same two foot stomp you know and love, but it now causes a ground bounce for a juggle opportunity.
MK – Dropkick – Causes a Hard Knockdown.
LK – Surprise Knee – Causes Flipout.
These can carry your trajectory in interesting ways. Experiment!
Dropkick and Surprise Knee have 15 frame landing recovery. They are punishable on block so use them wisely.
Sadira
Jumping HK damage reduced by ~15%
Can no longer use Webs during Enders, and performing an Ender will destroy any webs currently in play.
Shadow Recluse damage reduced ~20% (because you can juggle after it)
Instinct Web damage reduced by ~85%
Widow’s Bite projectile damage reduced by ~25%
The kick part of Heavy Widow’s Bite is now breakable.
Enders have been retuned in function and damage to add more variety to Sadira, but overall damage has been reduced.
New ender – QCB+P(Any) – Web Cling Ender (Damage Type, most damage)
QCF+HP – Demon Loop Ender (Launcher Type, least damage)
QCB+HK – Recluse Ender (Exchange / Hard Knockdown Type, middle damage – You can no longer juggle off this ender)
Corrected an issue preventing Sadira from building meter for herself or her opponent when using the F+HK Command Normal.
Reduced pushback of juggle normals to increase juggle potential.
Can now jump cancel Special Moves during Instinct on block. Previously this was only allowed on hit.
New Command Move: Salticidae – In Air, D+HK
On hit or block, this head stomp bounces Sadira into a double jump that she can control the left/right momentum of.
You can attack again after bouncing.
You can bounce as many times as your opponent will let you.
If you miss, you suffer long landing recovery.
Orchid
You can no longer call Instinct Cats during Enders.
You can now only cancel Shadow Uppercat into Air Throw if your opponent is in an air reaction state, preventing you from skipping the landing recovery of a whiffed or blocked Shadow Uppercat by whiffing an Air Throw attempt.
Ender damage adjustments.
Ich Ni San Ender damage greatly reduced (by ~35%), now does less than her Splat ender.
Knee Buster Ender damage reduced by ~5%
Shadow Uppercat Ender damage reduced by ~10% (because you can juggle after it)
Flick Flack Ender now causes a hard knockdown if you don’t juggle off of it.
Shadow Knee Slide is now -2 on block (was -6).
Air throw deals less KV for enhanced juggle opportunities.
When hitting an airborne opponent, Crouching HP re-launches and can be jump cancelled for increased juggle opportunities.
New air target combos for increased juggle opportunities.
LK > J.HP
MP > J.HK
The final hit of Flick Flack and Shadow Flick Flack will now ground bounce an airborne opponent for increased juggle opportunities.
The final hit of Medium Ichi Ni San 3rd with now ground bounce an airborne opponent for increased juggle opportunities.
Some normal attack hitboxes improved to help when juggling opponents.
Standing Far HK knocks opponents vertically instead of away in a juggle.
Air Throw starts up 2 frames earlier and is active 2 frames longer. Attack box size increased making it easier to do in combos and more powerful in neutral.
Fully charged Shadow Ichi Ni San is now unblockable. Damage reduced ~20%
New Ability: Buster Slide! Orchid can now cancel the active frames of Knee Slide into a Knee Buster if the move has not hit yet.
New Ability: Ichi Nise! Orchid can now Dash Cancel forward while charging up Heavy Ichi Ni San 3rd.
Spinal
Fixed a bug that allowed Spinal to cancel his Crouching MK one frame before it actually hit the opponent if they were already in hitstun from something else. This fix removes the Skeleport Linker Cross Up Reset from the game.
Reduced Boneshaker Ender damage by ~10%
Jumping HP damage reduced by ~15%
Skull-less Searing Skull now causes a knockdown.
Knockdown duration after Front and Back throws reduced by 16 frames, making vortex setups less straightforward.
Lv4 Searing Skull Ender doesn’t launch as high, preventing any juggle from it.
Skull projectiles in flight are removed from play if Spinal takes a hit.
Skull projectiles deal less chip damage on block.
Curses reworked! Curses no longer steal Shadow/Instinct meter. Instead, they prevent the opponent from gaining Shadow/Instinct meter.
Hitting Spinal removes only the oldest curse, so you need to hit him multiple times to removed stacked curses.
Curses last 30 seconds instead of 5 to 8 seconds.
Shadow Searing Skull doesn’t knockdown, so you can use it mid combo and manual afterward. This allows you to capitalize more on the Instinct Curse’s new function.
Jumping MK (Divekick) inflicts 3 additional frames of blockstun, making it safe if you can get it to hit just before Spinal touches the ground.
New Instinct Mode: Agent of Chaos! Spinal’s Instinct mode has been reworked so that starving Spinal of his resources is a more viable strategy against him. However, this Instinct mode grants Spinal new ways to go absolutely wild.
Activation grants 3 skulls.
Skulls do not automatically regenerate at all, ever.
If you build skulls by any means other than Power Devour, you gain double skulls during instinct.
Skulls fired during instinct don’t disappear on block or walls or floor and bounce left/right or up/down. They are destroyed if:
They actually hit the opponent
They bounce off the opponent 3 times
Spinal gets hit
Firing a fifth Skull destroys the oldest one.
Spinal can Power Devour his own Skulls to re-absorb them into his supply.
Fulgore
Fixed a bug that allowed you to perform Shadow Cyber Uppercut the frame before landing after a blocked or hit Cyber Uppercut.
Added 2 frames of additional Hitstop and blockstop to F+HP command normal to make it a bit easier to Shadow Counter and Break.
Standing HK special cancel window reduced.
Attack box on Blade Charge and Shadow Blade Charge reaches lower, making harder for opponents to low-profile this move.
Standing HK now causes a Wall Splat.
Air Shadow Laser now causes a Hard Knockdown so that it is never punishable on hit.
Levels 1, 2, and 3 of the Eye Beam ender launch higher.
Overhead causes a ground bounce against airborne opponents.
New Target Combo! Crouching HK -> Crouching HP. Launches opponents for a juggle.
Move reconfigured: Eye-Beam Lens Fixed! Eye Beams have been overhauled;
Light Eye Beam still launches a single beam at the floor, but has 1 additional frame of recovery and pushes opponents back less.
Medium Eye Beam now launches two beams at the floor. It is +2 on block and +5 on hit. It has less pushback compared to the old Med Beam, but more than the Light version.
Both Lt and Med versions have increased juggle potential.
Heavy Eye Beam now launches a full screen horizontal beam on frame 24, and recovers in 51 total frames (used to be 13 and 26).
Heavy Eye Beam causes Stagger on hit. It is -7 on block. It deals increased damage and chip damage.
TJ Combo
The Linker version of Tremor has been removed. You can still use the Special version in juggles normally, but after an Opener or Auto Double, it will now trigger the Ender version just like any other Ender-Only special does in golden path combos.
Re-tuned Ender damage to be more in line with the rest of the cast.
Flying Knee Ender (Exchange) damage increased by ~10% and does the most damage of the non-Barrage Enders.
Vortex Ender (Launcher) damage reduced by ~10% and does the 2nd most damage of the non-Barrage Enders.
Powerline Ender (Splat) damage reduced by ~15% and does the 3rd most damage of the non-Barrage Enders.
Tremor Ender (Meter) damage reduced by ~20% and does the least amount of damage of the non-Barrage Enders.
TJ’s Tumble is now only upper body invulnerable, but still fully projectile invulnerable. He is vulnerable to lows and mids all the way through the roll. It is still also throw vulnerable.
Hitbox size reduced on Medium and Heavy Tremors.
The first few frames of TJ Tremor will no longer crush low attacks.
Shoot Toss starts up 4 frames slower.
You can no longer cancel Shadow Powerline into Spin Behind on block, but it still works on hit.
Shoot Toss KV reduced by 50% for increased Juggle and Combo opportunities.
Medium and Heavy Vortex hit 2 and 3 times respectively. All Vortex and Cyclone moves deal less KV for increased juggle opportunities. The amount of hits also helps the opponent know which strength to use for breaking Vortex and Cyclone. Medium and Heavy versions scoot forward a bit more than before on startup.
Fixed a bug causing opponents juggled by crouching normals to fall more heavily than if juggled by standing normals.
Shadow Vortex is now fully invulnerable until it becomes active.
Frame advantage on normals improved where possible to make him less negative if he doesn’t cancel, while still allowing a Shoot Toss to grab the opponent if they don’t jump.
Standing LK and Jumping LK cause Flipout.
New Air Target Combo: Jumping LP into LK, which causes Flipout.
Standing HP and Close Standing HP cause Stagger and leaves you plus enough to manual a Light or close Medium.
New Target Combos: TJ Combinations!
These work on Whiff to help with footsies, juggles, and mixups.
Far Standing MP > HP, causes Stagger
Far Standing MP > MK
Close Standing MP > HP, causes Stagger
Close Standing MP > MK
Crouching MP > HP, causes Stagger
Crouching MP > MK
Maya
Jumping HP and HK damage reduced by ~15%
Mantis is no longer available from a back jump. Neutral and forward jumps only.
Dagger Toss Light and Medium recovery is 6 frames longer.
Raised hitboxes of daggers slightly to make it easier for more characters to low profile to avoid them.
Dagger toss no longer deals chip damage on block.
Dagger Toss followups from Leap Kick are only available on hit or whiff. You cannot do these on block anymore.
Leap Kick Ender does not launch as high, forcing you to juggle a normal before you juggle with a Dagger Toss.
Maya’s Shadow Counter now uses Shadow Linker Leap Kick instead of Shadow Tumble Kick.
The second hit from Daggers (Dagger Spirit) cannot cause a combo to blowout.
All Linker damage increased to normal damage-and-scaling levels so that Maya gains Ender levels normally.
The 2 hits of opener Tumble Kick advance the damage scaling by 1 hit instead of 2, helping Maya build Ender levels normally.
Tumble Kick Ender damage increased ~20%
Widened cancel window on 2nd hit of Crouching MP target combo and Crouching HP to make these feel better.
Tumble Kick and Shadow Tumble Kick cause a Ground Bounce on the final hit against airborne opponents for increased juggle opportunities.
Normal and Dagger juggle properties have been adjusted to extend juggle opportunities.
Normal and Axe Kick Recapture hitbox sizes improved to enhance juggle opportunities.
Adjusted launch velocity on Shadow Leap Kick to make the Dagger Toss followup work as intended.
Mantis can cash out combos if a breakable window occurred. It deals more damage than before in a combo.
Double Dagger Strike launches opponents for a juggle.
Dagger/Pip Damage Ender is removed from the game and reworked into:
New ender: Dagger Assault Activation Ender! – QCF+HP
This Ender does extremely low damage and leaves the opponent standing.
After the attack portion of the ender, the daggers leave Maya’s hands and hover above the opponent’s head, attacking them automatically every few seconds.
The number of times they attack is based on the number of pips you had when you activated. (0 pips = 1 attack, 4 pips = 5 attacks)
These attacks can be blocked and don’t build up new pips.
When Dagger Assault ends, the daggers violently separate.
If Maya gets hit, Dagger Assault ends right away.
Dagger Assault does not carry over between rounds.
Kan-Ra
Jumping HP damage reduced by ~15%
Spike Ender (Launcher) damage reduced by ~5%
Swarm Ender (Special) damage reduced by ~10%
Shadow Clutch damage reduced by ~25%
It is no longer possible to attack on the way down after using Air Swarm.
Shadow Swarm now starts with a breath attack, just like the startup of normal Swarm. The projectile only spawns if you miss the breath part of the attack. Getting the projectile out takes much more time.
Swarm and Shadow Swarm projectile damage reduced by ~55%
Swarm hitbox size reduced by ~35%.
Swarms hit 5 times instead of 6, slightly reducing the amount of time you have to setup/juggle.
Swarm Breath blockstun re-tuned.
Light Version is -3 on block (was +7)
Medium Version is -2 on block (was +3)
Heavy Version is -1 on block (was -3)
Back+MP is now +1 on block instead of +6.
Added more blockstop to Close Swarm Startup and Back+MP to make using a Shadow Counter against them a bit easier.
The startup of Clutch has a more noticeable anticipation pose.
Sacrifice deals 200% more actual damage to Kan-Ra (15 damage, up from 5). Potential damage inflicted is unchanged.
It is no longer possible to Instinct Cancel the recovery of Sacrifice.
Far crouching HP launches airborne opponents up higher.
Lv4 Spike Ender launches higher.
DF+LK and DF+MK Scorpion Strike attacks now properly count as projectiles, making them unbreakable.
Crouching LP and Jumping LP cause Flipout.
Juggle versions of Clutch (that used to cause 1 juggle hit but were pretty useless) now cause Flipout and recover much faster.
Standing HK and Back+HP cause stagger and are extremely plus on hit, allowing for new opening, setup, and combo opportunities.
Tornado projectile always launches opponents toward Kan-Ra, and now does a little damage. It launches higher for a juggle opportunity.
New Ability: Monsoon! Hold the button when using Whirl over a Sand Trap to keep spinning and release a larger, more damaging Tornado projectile, which is unblockable at maximum charge.
Move re-tuned: Shadow Spike! Shadow Spike now releases a single, multi hit spike under your opponent instead of a series of Spikes. It then leaves an enhanced Shadow Sand Trap that attacks automatically with Scorpion Strikes every few seconds if an enemy is nearby.
This automatic functionality stops if Kan-Ra gets hit, creates another puddle, or uses Sacrifice.
Riptor
Jumping HK damage reduced by ~15%
Jumping HP damage reduced by ~40%
Shoulder Charge Ender (Splat) damage reduced by ~10%
Tail Flip Ender (Hard Knockdown) damage reduced by ~5%
Corrected a bug causing a few of her Enders to build her small amounts of meter.
Tail Flip and Air Tail Flip, both Light and Medium versions, slowed by 4 frames. Heavy versions slowed by 6 frames. Trajectories slightly adjusted for the new timings.
Tail Flip damage no longer changes based on strength used, and all damage has been reduced to match the damage of the Light version.
Tail Flip recovery has a taller Vulnerable box to make punishing it more intuitive.
Added KV to Clever Girl to compensate for the fact that Ground Bounce KV penalty has been removed from the game.
Close HP now counts as a projectile hitbox as expected.
Predator LP now tags as an Opener so that combos after the Wall Splat function as expected.
The ground version of Shadow Tail Flip will now get all five of its hits more reliably.
Can no longer cancel out of Clever Girl on frame 15 into Specials or Normals. Can now cancel out of Clever Girl early at frame 12 into Normals or Runs.
Reduced KV on Run Back HK and improved its launch trajectory to expand juggle opportunities.
Adjusted Run Back HK in Instinct to match the frame data of the normal version.
Run Back HP Flame Wall deals ~80% more damage.
The running portion of Shadow Shoulder Charge now has 1 hit of armor.
Jumping HK doesn’t bounce people away from you anymore, keeping them close enough for a followup attack.
Crouching HK on juggle doesn’t push opponent away as far.
Crouching HK is -5 on block instead of -15.
Fixed a bug preventing you from using Primal Linkers after manual normals.
Primal Linkers deal ~40% more damage to encourage using them in all levels of play.
Predator Mode dashes are now projectile invulnerable on her top half as intended. It should be much easier to Predator dash under projectiles now.
Run HK causes stagger instead of a knockdown.
Predator Dash HP (Flame Arc) causes stagger.
Standing LK causes Flipout, and has a slightly taller hitbox to assist with juggling.
New Move: Flame Mortar! – Press and hold 3P to launch Flame Balls in a high arc at the opponent’s location, up to 3 in a series.
Omen
Fixed a bug that prevented Omen from doing Auto Doubles, Linkers, or Manuals after the rapid press portion of Furious Flurry Med or Hvy hit the opponent.
Jumping Medium Attacks deal 3 frames less blockstun. Jumping Heavy Attacks deal 7 frames less blockstun.
Omen’s Rashakukens push him slightly farther back from the opponent near the corner.
Omen’s Rashakukens build slightly less meter on hit or block for Omen, and slightly more for his opponent.
All enders still gain meter, but the non-meter enders gain 25% less than before.
Shadow Furious Flurry Linker is now +1 on hit (was previously +11), and the manual timing is 5 frames later.
Opener Slide has less frame advantage on Hit and has had its manual timing windows re-tuned.
All Ender damage reduced by ~15%
Air Backdash slowed down by ~15%
Throw damage reduced by ~40%
Fixed a bug preventing Slide linkers from changing sides with larger characters in the corner.
The following moves have been given Attack Box improvements:
Crouching Heavy Punch
Crouching Medium Punch
Jumping Heavy Kick
Standing Heavy Kick
Standing Medium Kick
Standing Light Kick
Standing Close Light Kick
Standing Heavy Punch
Rashakuken’s random fireballs deal 4 additional frames of hitstun. Blockstun is unchanged.
Jumping HK damage increased by ~65%
Shadow Rashakuken and Shadow Orda Shield are no longer destroyed if Omen takes a hit.
Doubled the duration of Shadow Meter Lockout.
Enders can now build meter even if a Shadow Rashakuken or Shadow Orda Shield is active.
Jumping LP, Standing LK, and Standing Close LK all cause Flipout.
Demonic Despair is now invulnerable from startup until the grab.
Omen can cancel air dashes into attacks much earlier.
New ability: Turbulence! Omen can cancel air dashes into the opposite air dash direction by pressing Back or Forward a single time.
Aganos
Normal attacks give more meter to the opponent on hit and block.
During Instinct, a new Peacemaker respawns in 90 frames, up from 30 frames.
Peacemaker attack damage reduced by ~20%
Shadow Natural Disaster Linker damage reduced by ~30%
Shadow Pulverize Linker damage increased by ~20%
Damage on Natural Disaster and Pulverize Enders increased ~25%
Adjusted launch velocity on the held part of Shadow Natural Disaster and fixed an issue where the Counter Hit version didn’t match to make juggle timing more consistent.
Shadow Ruin startup now has 7 frames of strike invulnerability.
Close Standing MP has a slightly wider cancel window for feel.
Standing Far HP causes Stagger and is -5 on block (used to be -10).
Hitstop on LK, MP, and HP Auto Doubles have been reduced slightly to match the reaction speeds needed to break the matching-strength Doubles better.
It is no longer possible to shove Aganos’ body across the stage between rounds.
Chunk Up recovers 6 frames faster.
Wall Summon moves get the wall out 6 frames faster and recover 5 frames faster.
Aganos can rip a Peacemaker out of the wall behind him in 34 frames now (down from 53).
While holding a Peacemaker, the following non-peacemaker normals are now possible as command normals:
B+LP – Anti Air Flick, destroys your peacemaker
F+HP – Both close and far variants of Standing HP, lets you keep your peacemaker.
DF+HP – Crouching HP, lets you keep your peacemaker.
Aganos will keep his Peacemaker while being hit, but it will still crumble if he is knocked down, put into a juggle state, or blown out.
Thrown Peacemaker causes Stagger on hit.
New ability: Recycling! If Aganos tries to Chunk Up while holding a Peacemaker, he will shove the Peacemaker into his chest instead of pulling a fresh chunk from the floor, giving him a drastically shorter Chunk Up animation (Only 39 frames, compared to 69 frames on the original version).
New ability: More Recycling! Placing a wall with a Peacemaker in your hand turns the Peacemaker into a wall, instead of consuming a chunk.
Hisako
Added travel distance to Influence Linkers against Aganos only to ensure they never fail to hit him.
Possession used to act as an unblockable, ground only hit that triggered a grab animation, but it now functions properly as a grab and can be avoided with grab-invulnerable moves as expected.
Adjusted the size of the Vulnerable Boxes during fidgets to match the size of the Vulnerable Boxes during idle.
Low Vengeance Counter is no longer able to catch Mid attacks.
Added recovery to the landing of Air ORZ making it a bit worse on whiff. If you hit too high it’s possible to be punishable, but it is also possible to still be +3 or so.
Slowed startup of Med and Hvy Air ORZ (by 4 and 8 frames) and altered the way they move in the air a bit to compensate.
Improved the hitbox of Hvy Air ORZ so it hits higher up and crosses up easier, making it worth the extra startup.
Wrath meter no longer recharges while jumping.
Wrath regeneration speed is increased by 50%.
Close HP, Far HK, and Close HK all cause Stagger on counterhit and deal much more hitstun.
Standing LP and Jumping LP cause Flipout.
You can now jump cancel the third Heavy ORZ if you hit an airborne opponent, and using second Heavy ORZ to juggle into the 3rd hit is easier.
Hisako used to be able to cancel out of Descent on frame 48 into attacks only. Now she can cancel into movement as well, and on frame 42 instead.
New Shadow Move: Air Shadow On Ryo Zan! Hisako can perform a Shadow version of Air ORZ! This version hits rapidly and always recaptures air opponents, and staggers grounded opponents.
New Ability: Descent Cancel! Hisako can now cancel into Descent in any situation she could Wrath cancel for a Vengeance counter. This costs half Wrath just like the Vengeance cancel does.
Cinder
Fixed a bug that caused Cinder to teleport a great distance when canceling a Fired Up Inferno into a Shadow Fission.
Third Degree Chain Combos now count as 1 move toward the breakability rules no matter which move hits first or which moves whiff, so the “Domi Unbreakable” now becomes breakable on the third loop of this as expected.
The second and third Trailblazer followups (Afterburner) now always match the strength of the first Trailblazer in the sequence for breaker purposes.
Raised KV on Pyrobombs to 14 (from 12)
Added 3 frames of recovery to Fireflash. Fired Up Fireflash is now -6 if you block the pillar, and every character in the game can Shadow Counter the pillar for a full punish, or punish with any attack faster than 6 frames.
The third hit of Light Third Degree combo is +1 on block instead of +2. Canceling into Shadow Fission here is no longer a true blockstring.
Fireflash Ender (Damage) no longer causes a hard knockdown.
Pyrobomb Ender (Meter) damage reduced by ~10%
Trailblazer Ender (Splat) damage increased by ~5%
Air Heavy Trailblazer becomes active 2 frames earlier, and cannot land to create the ground crash until 3 frames later. This avoids a situation where the crash could hit without the Trailblazer, leading to an unbreakable hit.
Ground Medium Trailblazer inflicts 2 additional frames of blockstun.
Lowered KV added by Cinder’s throw to 20 (from 50)
Cinder can now throw Air Pyrobombs even after doing Air Trailblazer, leading to new juggles and setups.
Move re-imagined: Angled Inferno! Different Inferno strengths now attack at different angles. Light is up-forward, Medium is horizontal, and Heavy is down-forward.
You can hold the button to keep any version burning for a while longer.
Their frame data was re-tuned for their new function.
The Heavy version hits low!
New ability: Throw Cancel Burnout! While Fired Up, you can cancel your throw into a Level 1 Burnout with QCB+P or QCB+K. This spends your Fired Up state.
ARIA
Fixed a bug that could cause her projectiles to inherit the properties of her attacks, such as knockdowns or cash outs.
Slowed the attack speed of Explosive Arc Linkers so that the different strengths are more readable.
Widened the breakable window on Explosive Arc Linkers by 5 frames.
When Drones are called as an assist and get hit, they now take 2.5x damage, up from 2x.
Shotgun Knees are now more negative on block.
Light Version is -3 (was -1)
Medium Version is -5 (was -4)
Heavy Version is -10 (was -8)
Shadow Dissonance launches and causes a hard knockdown. It is possible to juggle after this move now.
Crescendo causes stagger (grounded Med and Hvy versions still launch).
Standing LK and Jumping LP cause Flipout.
Heavy Kick and Bombs deal less KV for increased juggle opportunities.
Heavy Kick Bombs don’t push opponents as far away on hit for increased juggle opportunities.
Juggle values on normal attacks adjusted for increased juggle opportunities.
Improvements to the attack boxes on Standing HK, Close Standing HK, and Crouching HK.
New Target Strings: Operatic Destruction!
Standing LK into Standing HK (does not combo)
Standing MP into Standing HK (does not combo)
Standing HP into Standing HK
Standing Close MP into Standing HK
Standing Close HP into Standing HK
New ability: Charge Up Bombs! Can now hold far standing HK to charge up the attack and release additional grenades.
You can dash cancel in either direction while charging up.
If you perform a target string into Standing HK, you can still charge up and dash cancel as desired, opening up new frame traps and offensive techniques.
Shadow Jago
Fixed a bug causing Shadow Shendokuken to hit one extra time when used in a ground combo.
Added additional recovery time to end of Slide Enders, preventing some unintended juggles and other bugs.
The earliest moment Shago can cancel out of his Dashes into moves has been moved back 5 frames.
Shendokuken projectiles deal 20% less damage on hit.
Shadow Slide is no longer throw invulnerable.
Fixed a really bad bug that allowed Shago to exit his backdash early on frame 20 (of 40) into a block. You should be able to develop Option Selects to punish this backdash now.
Surge Divekick has 6 frames of additional landing recovery, and is now -3 on block instead of +6 to +8.
Fixed a bug that allowed Shago to Instinct Cancel the landing of his Shadow Dark Fury Uppercut.
Shadow Divekick is now throw invulnerable on startup.
Shadow Divekick changed to a single hit that always recaptures, followed by four grounded hits.
This release will no doubt mark another resurgence in Killer Instinct competition, so don’t miss out if you plan to take part in tournaments over the coming months. If you’ve already had some time with the update, let us know what you think in the comments.
As companion pieces to his post-patch analyses for Sheik and Mewtwo, Team SoloMid’s Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios released three more reels dedicated to Nintendo’s recent Super Smash Bros. for Wii U update. In these new videos highlighting Cloud Strife, Metaknight, and Greninja, ZeRo aims to demystify these nuanced changes.
If you’re like me, you’re probably still wrapping your head around the fact that Nintendo actually buffed Greninja; not that the character was overpowered before, mind, but it has suffered its share of unexpected nerfs since the game’s release.
Could this mean we’ll be seeing an uptick in the occurrence of Greninja? We’ll have to wait and see.
When you’ve been around for a thousand years like Tusk, you’ve likely had time to do a little bit of everything, including accrue a truly impressive wardrobe. The folks at Iron Galaxy Studios recently gave those who tuned into their live stream a quick look at the duds they can expect to see Tusk wearing once Season 3 launches. Earlier today, they uploaded a full array of high-resolution images of these outfits for us to take our time and truly enjoy.
In addition to Tusk’s seriously sweet, loosely steampunk-inspired getup, the images offer a look at the recolor options available to both the modern and retro outfits. Check out the stills in the gallery below and let us know what you’ll be wearing while whacking enemies with your sword.
I’m not going to try to explain how these things happen, but someone has made it so that Alex is playable in Street Fighter V. Many of his assets were added to the game in today’s update, and now we have a tiny bit of footage showing off the moves he has at his disposal.
Below, you’ll see Alex throwing, stomping, and more, just don’t blink.
Killer Instinct is set to swing into its third season of content tomorrow, adding four playable characters, upgrading the visuals, balancing the gameplay, and a whole lot more. As such, the developers dropped a hype launch trailer highlighting its release.
While much of the information detailed above has been known for some time, it does provide a few exciting extras. Vampiric newcomer Mira will join the game in April, while big bad Gargos returns in May. Two final fighters are expected to launch in both June and July.
The video also shares a brief glimpse of the new Shadow Lords mode, but details are still scarce. It appears to employ a sort of overworld map, where players can take part in missions involving the game’s various characters, but we’ll have to wait for official word to learn more.
Killer Instinct Season 3 launches for Xbox One and Windows 10 tomorrow, March 29.
