Alright, Patch stuff:
Let's start with
;
Holy crap.
All 3 of these changes are super big, super generous. You can do a
lot of mean things out of jab2 at low-mid percents, including fair and sometimes
bair. Even more reliable on taller characters. Very good near ledge where DI away is not a great option. And it's now -5 on shield! Amazing!
Bair. Okay, look. You can SH bair + nair now, and wall-of-pair bair-> fair much easier too with those extra 2 frames. You can SH bair into a directional air dodge for safety. You can SH bair a shield and
Rest their response. But wait, there's still more! Landing bair isn't just safer, it now true combos into jab at very low %s! You know, that jab that now sets up into other stuff at low %s. It's terrifying.
And then d-throw as a combo throw. Don't fixate on gimmicks, I don't care if it's true or not against this or that DI at this or that % on DK. I care that in every matchup, I can d-throw them, jump at them, and
they have to react. Yes, they will always DI it optimally, but this move is now favorable enough in frame data to be just a very scary scenario that puff can put you in whenever she can't just pop you offstage.
What a great day for BassMage, the real winner of this patch.
is probably the 2nd biggest winner? Zelda Jab 1 is just... a great move to land now. True combos into the (stronger!) d-smash at generous percents, threatens
ZELDA FAIR (!!!) unless they block or pull out something super low frames, mixup with grab, hell even the rapid jab isrespectable damage now if you feel like opting out of the conditioning games. Dair buff is possibly one of the biggest "QoL" buffs we've seen, to the point of not really being such at all.
Wild that we got a set of Zelda buffs where u-smash buffs are the
least important.
changes are also fantastic. U-tilt and up-b were critical moves for Mac, and meaningful buffs to them (and they are meaningful!) is directly applying power to the part of Mac's kit that works. U-tilt being no longer unsafe on hit is A+, but it true comboing into jab, u-tilt, KO Punch, or up-b (!!!) in a wide variety of percentages is a
big deal. You still don't want it blocked, but it's a very rewarding move now.
Speaking of blocking, the f-smash buff is a hilarious way to deal with Mac's big shield problem. Now even the
slightest amount of shield fatigue means your shield is on embargo.
Mac's Counter going from 1.3x to 1.5x is great, not because Mac likes to Counter but because he has to--it's a move that Mac
does frequently use in games, and it's nice that your landing mixup can, uh, actually KO certain things now.
But the real magic is this neutral-b change. No, it's not the armor I wanted so much, but it's the next best thing, arguably better--it comes out around 10 frames sooner (!) and has much less endlag. Armoring is much more practical now, and the extra knockback is just a cherry on top. Buffering is a nice touch. Really curious how much of an impact this will have.
stuff is quite nice. The best sleeper move in the game just got better, but people will continue to overlook Super Sheet. The nado change is neat but obviously niche.
(It would matter more if it applied to the aerial version? Really? You don't say! Thanks Twitter.) I like that dair is more usable as her has some really spooky stuff out of grounded dair, but I dunno how much more accessible this makes it. The nair and uair buffs are modest but meaningful changes to Doc's existing gameplan fundamentals, which is a reliable way to bump him upwards.
buffs are okay, not huge. The QoL changes to f-smash and f-throw (lol) are, okay sure. D-tilt I honestly couldn't tell a difference. But buffing d-smash is a big deal that non-mains might overlook the significance off. Isabelle true-combos jab into d-smash at high %s as her most reliable kill option. At least, it would be, if d-smash wasn't a tad weak and sometimes miss entirely. But now both of those are addressed! Very nice.
buffs are modest, but in the right place and he was secretly already good soooooo... Up-b, uair, and d-smash are moves I use, sure. I'd like them to do more damage, sounds great.
stuff is super boring, but I guess in a way that works. "Uh, sure, just have some (even) better grab reward I guess." QoL changes to F-smash and fair are welcome, but don't oversell them.
I am not going to claim to understand. Does d-tilt being faster mean anything special? How often does he f-tilt KO? I need context, but it doesn't seem very significant.
Not sure if
's Luma tweaks count as a buff really, but I certainly
like both of them. Aerial side-b was so awkward before.
