How so and is that good or bad for Ares?
It's weird, because the way the match up plays got a lot different, but it didn't actually end up better or worse.
Basically before the patch Ares basically zoned Arrow out. Ares would basically throw a lot of fireballs and axes and Arrow would have to deal with it. Once Arrow got in his d1~arrow pressure was really effective(Ares can't reliably poke out), he could crouch and punish Ares 22 string(this was a big deal because Ares had nothing else that was remotely fast and mid hitting), and once he got a knockdown he could cross up j3 all day and Ares wake ups couldn't do anything about it.
With the change to Arrow's hitbox Ares can no longer sustain zoning without meter. Every non-mb fireball you throw is a risk and if he gets a life lead he can turtle and zone pretty effectively.
On the other hand the new teleport lets Ares get up mostly for free and the new 22 string gives Ares a bunch of pressure that works pretty well on Arrow(GA doesn't have things like air mobility, tons of armor, strong long range footsies, or a floaty hitbox that make it hard for Ares to get his close range game going).
The new teleport also makes it much easier for Ares to stay out of the corner, which is huge, and also helps his runaway. But Arrow can punish teleport(even the far ones) if he's holding an arrow out as Ares teleports because it auto corrects instantly. It leads to a lot of interesting mind games because it gives GA reason to hold an arrow out without firing(which gives Ares space to move or zone back) and means Ares can't teleport all over the screen building meter for free.
I'd say the match up is much more balanced now. Not in the sense that one character had an advantage, but in that both characters have a lot more options and it's no longer a classic keep-away style match up where character 1 always wants to be in one place, character 2 wants to be in another place, and the momentum swings wildly based on who's established their spacing. The patch gave both characters choices about how to play the match up
I still try to play a more zoning oriented style in the match up, but it's difficult to say that that's the way that Ares should play that match up and I'm not sure that I'd even say Ares outzones GA. There are definitely times when Ares has to go in.
My meter usage is another thing in particular that I noticed has changed drastically. Now my meter goes almost entirely to mb fireballs, whereas before I spent half of my meter push blocking any time he touched me and I was near a corner.
Shouts outs to
Red Reaper, he's the first GA I've played since the patch and he's really solid.
) but next time I'm over there we should get another set it
