Take a look at all of the system mechanic changes as DBFZ powers up for Season 2!
Following the conclusion of this past weekend’s 2018/2019 Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour Finals at Red Bull: Final Summoning, Bandai Namco Entertainment announced the beginning of Season 2 for the team-based title. In addition to the FighterZ Pass 2, which includes Jiren, Videl, the Dragon Ball Super incarnation of Broly, SSGSS Gogeta, and two more mystery warriors yet to be announced, a new balance patch was applied to the game to alter some of its fundamental system mechanics. Though there were no character-specific changes made within this update, many aspects of the current meta have been altered — such as notably improved defensive options (with longer backdashes and increased Guard Cancel invincibility), reduced blue life in an attempt to quicken the pace of matches, enhancements to Sparking Blast to increase its potency as a comeback mechanic, adjusted damage scaling on supers, tweaked Dragon Rushes, as well as reduced meter gain. Even Shenron’s “Make Me Immortal!” and “Revive My Allies!” wishes will now restore larger amounts of health, giving players ever more incentive to collect those Dragon Balls during the course of battle. You can view the full list of changes below.
HEALTH RECOVERY UPON TAKING DAMAGE:
– Reduce the amount of recoverable health when damaged. (Excluding invincible moves)
KI GAUGE:
– Decrease the amount of Ki Gauge gained when receiving damage from Super Attacks and Meteor Attacks, and increase the amount of Ki Gauge gained when receiving damage from other attacks.
– For a short period of time after using the Ki Gauge, the overall amount of Ki Gauge gained is now reduced.
MID-AIR SMASH ATTACK:
– When the condition for a camera change is met, the camera effect will occur regardless of the height of the character’s position now.
INVINCIBLE SPECIAL MOVES:
– Z Assist and Ultimate Z Change will now be unusable during Invincible Special Moves aside from when it hits.
POWERED-UP SPECIAL MOVE:
– Reduce the amount of Recoverable Health when receiving damage from Power-up Special Moves. (Excluding invincible moves)
SUPER ATTACK:
– Reduce the amount of damage dealt when a move other than Ultimate Z Change connects after a Super Attack hits.
– It is now easier to successfully connect Ultimate Z Change after Super Attacks.
ALL METEOR ATTACKS:
– Increased the minimum damage of all Meteor Attacks.
SPARKING!:
– Sparking! can now be used while blocking. (Includes blocking in mid-air)
– While Sparking! is active, reduce the amount of recoverable health of the opponent when damage is dealt to them. (Excluding invincible moves)
– Increased the start up frames of Sparking! aside from when cancelled from an attack.
VANISH MOVE:
– Camera change is easier to occur when cancelled from an attack.
Z-REFLECT:
– You will be invincible to the opponent’s Sparking! activation after a successful Z-Reflect against an opponent’s attack.
ALL THROW MOVES, DRAGON RUSH:
– Specific throw moves and Dragon Rush cannot connect more than once within a combo.
DRAGON RUSH:
– Decreased the amount of Ki gauge gained and damage dealt.
– After a Dragon Rush during mid-combo, camera change will not occur for subsequent hits. (Mid-combo Dragon Rushes will now use up your Smash attack if it’s still available.)
MID-AIR DRAGON RUSH:
– The opponent will ground slide after a mid-air Dragon Rush during a combo.
GUARD CANCEL CHANGE:
– Invincible state will now last until coming into contact or in close vicinity with the opponent.
– Increased the recovery frames and landing recovery frames when blocked.
GROUND BACKSTEP:
– Increase the distance travelled.
SHENRON (REVIVE ALLIES):
– Increased the health of the revived ally.
SHENRON (MAKE ME IMMORTAL):
– Increased the health recovery rate.
GROUND RECOVERY:
– Reduced the collision from mid-air opponent. (It is now more difficult to get while Quick-Rising.)
DELAYED GROUND RECOVERY:
– Until completely down, you will now be able to perform the different ground recovery options.
DRAMATIC FINISH:
– Vanish Move will also trigger Dramatic Finish now.
For our readers who prefer a more visual guide to the alterations, rooflemonger’s got you covered with a video going through the most pertinent changes.
Sources: Bandai Namco Entertainment America website; rooflemonger (YouTube)