Jack White
The Clown Prince of Crime
Why did you gimp the Joker, a character that struggled in the first game?
Why did you butcher the hitbox on his J2?
Why did you you remove all his OTGs?
Why did you slow down the gas canister and gut its frame advantage on meter burn?
Why did you remove the acid flower, his only reliable wake up?
Why did you make him less + on so many things and slow down his specials?
The worst part about all these nerfs (and I'm sure there's more) is that at the same time, nothing went into address his glaring problems from the first game.
Why does he still have a useless trait? Who at NRS honestly thinks faster jumps/walk speed is a good enough effect to justify having to activate the trait 3 times? Almost every other character gets a better effect just for pressing trait once. Why does the Joker need to work so hard to get such a mediocre ability? This trait needs a total rework, it's trash.
Why do his combo strings still have gap issues? 212 and f23 in particular still don't work right. Some whiffing issues were dealt with, but a host of other issues cropped up in its place.
Why does he still get boxed out by zoning? Sure, there are characters in every fighting game that lose to certain types of play styles, but with the Joker, it's ridiculous. Fighting a good Dr. Fate shouldn't feel hopeless most of the time. He needs good anti-zoning tools on the level of Catwoman and Black Canary since his whole play style is based on getting in people's face.
Why is his neutral still so terrible? In order for Joker to get big damage he has to either land a mid or a jump in. He has no reliable low starters or overheads that can be meter burned. That is horrendous, especially when compounded with the fact that he was nerfed overall. The fact that he has this issue while also having no decent advancing normals is crippling. He's bad at dealing with zoning, but even when he gets in he's horrendous at opening up the opponent outside the corner. This makes zero sense.
What makes all these balancing issues so glaring is that in comparison to most of the cast, they're ridiculous. Why does Joker need to have his j2 nerfed, but Batman gets to keep his? Why does Joker need to lose his wakeup move, but Dr. Fate gets to have a safe full screen knocking anti airing invincible wake-up? Why does Harley get an entirely new and useful trait, while Joker's trait changes misses the point of why his trait was so bad in the first place? It wasn't just that it was too hard to get the HA's in the first game, it's that the HA's themselves are a useless bonus even at 3.
To sum up, as Alioune puts it:
Joker currently "gets outzoned by the same characters that rush him down. No wakeup reversal, no trait and no advancing normal= RIP in this game"
PS: MB gun is mostly useless because of its horrendous hit box. It's hard to combo into and even if you land the combo, the reward isn't so great. There's no reason this move shouldn't be a mid. Literally the only good addition was the joybuzzer since it's great at bullying opponents who mindlessly do wakeup attacks, but the fact that it has no low variation is a glaring weakness.
EDIT: Added section on string gaps as per @StevoSuprem0 's request.
Why did you butcher the hitbox on his J2?
Why did you you remove all his OTGs?
Why did you slow down the gas canister and gut its frame advantage on meter burn?
Why did you remove the acid flower, his only reliable wake up?
Why did you make him less + on so many things and slow down his specials?
The worst part about all these nerfs (and I'm sure there's more) is that at the same time, nothing went into address his glaring problems from the first game.
Why does he still have a useless trait? Who at NRS honestly thinks faster jumps/walk speed is a good enough effect to justify having to activate the trait 3 times? Almost every other character gets a better effect just for pressing trait once. Why does the Joker need to work so hard to get such a mediocre ability? This trait needs a total rework, it's trash.
Why do his combo strings still have gap issues? 212 and f23 in particular still don't work right. Some whiffing issues were dealt with, but a host of other issues cropped up in its place.
Why does he still get boxed out by zoning? Sure, there are characters in every fighting game that lose to certain types of play styles, but with the Joker, it's ridiculous. Fighting a good Dr. Fate shouldn't feel hopeless most of the time. He needs good anti-zoning tools on the level of Catwoman and Black Canary since his whole play style is based on getting in people's face.
Why is his neutral still so terrible? In order for Joker to get big damage he has to either land a mid or a jump in. He has no reliable low starters or overheads that can be meter burned. That is horrendous, especially when compounded with the fact that he was nerfed overall. The fact that he has this issue while also having no decent advancing normals is crippling. He's bad at dealing with zoning, but even when he gets in he's horrendous at opening up the opponent outside the corner. This makes zero sense.
What makes all these balancing issues so glaring is that in comparison to most of the cast, they're ridiculous. Why does Joker need to have his j2 nerfed, but Batman gets to keep his? Why does Joker need to lose his wakeup move, but Dr. Fate gets to have a safe full screen knocking anti airing invincible wake-up? Why does Harley get an entirely new and useful trait, while Joker's trait changes misses the point of why his trait was so bad in the first place? It wasn't just that it was too hard to get the HA's in the first game, it's that the HA's themselves are a useless bonus even at 3.
To sum up, as Alioune puts it:
Joker currently "gets outzoned by the same characters that rush him down. No wakeup reversal, no trait and no advancing normal= RIP in this game"
PS: MB gun is mostly useless because of its horrendous hit box. It's hard to combo into and even if you land the combo, the reward isn't so great. There's no reason this move shouldn't be a mid. Literally the only good addition was the joybuzzer since it's great at bullying opponents who mindlessly do wakeup attacks, but the fact that it has no low variation is a glaring weakness.
EDIT: Added section on string gaps as per @StevoSuprem0 's request.
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