KI getting a 10th anniversary release and balance patch

[Eji1700]

Short version: Base game is F2P with a rotating fighter each week, $30 unlocks everything ever made for the game, and they're re balancing a few things. Xbox/PC only it seems (but is in Steam). Still not sure when it will release.

Details:

https://www.ultra-combo.com/ki-10th-anniversary/

Patch Notes:

https://www.ultra-combo.com/patch-notes-3-10-upcoming/

The best fighting game guide ever made:

The Complete Killer Instinct Guide

ki.infil.net

As someone more than underwhelmed with MK1 (although I do hope they can do something neat with it) this is awesome news. KI is easily one of the best fighters I've ever played, and a re-release dealing with some of the more obnoxious stuff (fulgore/aria) and hopefully boosting the playerbase is absolutely something I want to mess with. I recommend it all the time so this would be a perfect time to jump in.

 

[Jynks]

Not on ps5.. So pass. Exclusives suck.

 

[Marinjuana]

Very exciting! Gonna start playing this game more

 

[Revy]

Very exciting! Gonna start playing this game more

If you're down to learn, hit me up.
Steam & Xbox: RevyXV

Edit: This goes to everyone by the way. Not just @Marinjuana.

 

[Juxtapose]

Xbox/PC only it seems (but is in Steam).

Steam is getting it too.

Not on ps5.. So pass. Exclusives suck.

It's on PC, both Microsoft Store and Steam.

 

[Revy]

It's also on sale on Steam & Microsoft Store at the moment.

I'd just like a release date now.

Besides Kan-Ra not getting nerfs, Omen not getting enough nerfs & Riptor not getting buffs I'm pretty happy with the patch notes. The main thing I hated when I watched the stream was the new character select portraits, it looked so bad. They didn't even look like the characters they're supposed to be portraying.

Steam is getting it too. It's on PC, both Microsoft Store and Steam.

I have KI for both as it makes it easier to invite & play people depending on who I'm playing with like if @Marinjuana got it on Steam, I'd use the Steam version because it's easier to invite rather than declining folks until we match up with one another. There's no cross-progression which kinda sucks (as I have almost 11 Level 50 characters on my main account on Xbox & 6 on my ranked account).

 

[Revy]

Oh shit I should mention:

Ranked play doesn't have crossplay between Steam & Microsoft Store, it's ft1 until you are in Gold or Killer where it becomes ft3 unless you're playing Bronze & Silver players. If you play enough while in Killer & make it into the Top 32 Killers - at the end off the month you will get a star attached to your name permanently & if you made Killer you start off next month in Gold.

If you were a fan of the original games, you can get the original announcer (Chris Sutherford) if you wish by unlocking it when you reach Level 4 (Level 25 for ARIA). You just have to go to Options - Audio then switch New to Old.

Sometimes I can take a few minutes to get in (didn't have to wait at all on Microsoft Store version) as it will say "SYNCING INTO ULTRATECH SERVERS" "Checking Downloadable Content and Syncing Shadows". Go to the bathroom, check your fightstick/controller or maybe get something to drink.

If you want to properly learn the game, play the Dojo. Killer Instinct has one of the best tutorials in all of fighting games & will help improve your fundamentals & become a better fighting game player. If you're struggling with Combo Breakers, go do Combo Breaker Practice. Most of this game is understanding what Openers, Linkers, Manuals, Auto Doubles & Enders along with all the types of breakers/counters are & knowing what strength each move in the game is so you can break/counter it. Some professional Killer Instinct players like Domi, refuse to do Combo Breakers, Shadow Counters & such so it's not the end-all-be-all.

 

[Juxtapose]

I'd just like a release date now.

They stated it's in the final phases of testing, so I'd imagine in a few weeks.

Besides Kan-Ra not getting nerfs,

Keep in mind, Kan-ra is considered bottom 2 in the game. I'd be surprised if he got NERFed. Sadira is considered the worst character in the game (and she's still good, of course), and she didn't really get any puffs either. The walk speed likely won't do much since she's extremely air-based. We'll see once things go live, of course.

If you want to properly learn the game, play the Dojo. Killer Instinct has one of the best tutorials in all of fighting games & will help improve your fundamentals & become a better fighting game player. If you're struggling with Combo Breakers, go do Combo Breaker Practice. Most of this game is understanding what Openers, Linkers, Manuals, Auto Doubles & Enders along with all the types of breakers/counters are & knowing what strength each move in the game is so you can break/counter it. Some professional Killer Instinct players like Domi, refuse to do Combo Breakers, Shadow Counters & such so it's not the end-all-be-all.

I also recommend using Combo Assist to start, as it'll help you with your combos. It simply makes inputs simpler in strings or Enders simpler as a forward button press. It does not actually provide a competitive advantage itself and there are tournament players who use it. Up to you if you want to turn it off later or not.

 

[kabelfritz]

i havent played that much KI, but i figured its the strongest combo strategy when you are able to randomize your own combos on the fly without confusing yourself?

 

[Eji1700]

i havent played that much KI, but i figured its the strongest combo strategy when you are able to randomize your own combos on the fly without confusing yourself?

Not really. There are some characters where that's a thing (cinder comes to mind with a zillion routes), but i'd say most aren't really like that.

The "core" of the combo system is (summarizing A LOT)-

1. Get a hit
2. Auto double (basically a normal)
3. Linker (basically a special move)
4. repeat 2-3 a few times
5. Ender (While each hit in the combo does damage, landing an ender cashes out the bonus damage the combo has built up and has extra effects like building meter or wall splats).

Both auto doubles and linker's can be done in L/M/H varieties. Auto doubles hit twice and are slower the stronger the button used, linkers hit 1/2/3 times depending on L/M/H. Obviously the H versions do more than the L, and they also build up more bonus damage. Worth noting you can basically always do a L/M/H after a previous move. It's not like a L linker will only combo into a L or M autodouble or whatever. All 3 options are always available.

For the defender to break, they have to use the same strength as the move you're hitting them with. Lights are so fast you have to guess, mediums are reactable if a bit difficult, and heavies are absolutely reactable. Especially with linkers where you can just count the hits.

So there's a lot of baiting your opponents into trying to guess wrong and break at the wrong point or with the wrong strength. If you fuck up a break, you enter a lockout state, and cannot break for the next few seconds, so your opponent gets to rack up the damage and go nuts.

The final piece of this is that while you're doing a combo, you can counter break by entering the breaker command. It will drop the combo if your opponent does nothing, but if they try to break in a short window after you do that, you get a counter breaker. This locks them out and resets the combo meter (basically how many hits a combo can get), and often leads to a shitload of damage (60% minimum usually, often more).

So in short, you could only use one combo the entire match and still force the opponent to guess/mix them up by varying the strength of the attacks. You don't need to memorize a million routes to try and make sure your combos finish. Just knowing a few basic combos adds enough variety to play.

Now there are things like manuals (rather than using an auto double you link a normal. These actually care about frame data but are much harder to break), and a bunch of other mechanics, but with what I just explained (which is way simpler than it sounds) you could easily climb the ranks.

 

[Revy]

Keep in mind, Kan-ra is considered bottom 2 in the game. I'd be surprised if he got NERFed. Sadira is considered the worst character in the game (and she's still good, of course), and she didn't really get any puffs either. The walk speed likely won't do much since she's extremely air-based. We'll see once things go live, of course.

Kan-Ra is definitely not Bottom 2. Worse than Kim Wu & Sadira? No & definitely not anywhere near low tier even Nicky has him right in the middle. He also regularly still makes Top 8 at tournaments, online & offline with players like ItzTyme2Dul, Freeky Jason & VenomBuster. He was left unchanged but that doesn't change the fact he's still extremely cheap & can be unbeatable if his conditions are met.

Sadira only got walk speed buffs because when they took away what made her top/high tier (along with her TOD) during Season 2 then nerfed her Instinct trap damage, they gave her more options instead also Kalypso isn't having a problem with doing well with her in the current meta of the game. I think Keits said that he wanted Sadira players to stop relying on her jump speed as it's so much faster & having a better walk speed would allow her to get in more safely.

 

[kabelfritz]

So there's a lot of baiting your opponents into trying to guess wrong and break at the wrong point or with the wrong strength.

thanks for the long answer. but isnt this^^ exactly where randomizing your combos comes into play?

 

[Gooberking]

thanks for the long answer. but isnt this^^ exactly where randomizing your combos comes into play?

Yes

I gave the game a good try a couple of years back. The combo system can be difficult to wrap your head around and I never really did. It's its own unique thing and you can't fully build muscle memory around something that isn't 100% identical every time. Having something too similar can make it harder since once you start on an input path, muscle memory will try to go down the worn path and not just be ok with making a runtime decision about branching.

KI is slick, and it has nothing to apologize for being different or having special set of skills you need to get or be good at in order to really play, but when I hear "It's easy. You'll get used to it" then go on long conversation on how simple it is, I kind of have a reaction as both someone that has played all kind of fighters over the years and gave KI a decent try (under 100 hours, so technically still super green).

Kudos to anyone that thinks that is simple, or doesn't have any real difficulty onboarding into the system, but it takes enormous effort for me to get input sequences into my head. It's gotten easier over the years, but I have to get set patterns that my fingers can just autopilot without much active thought. Three strengths of the same combo is basically three totally different combos for my muscle memory to get confused about. On top of everything going on, KI is fast. I never really knew what thing I was doing, it was just some vomited assortment of bits I'd learned that may or may not be a valid combo. Whatever was coming out of my hands was certainly never intentional.

The active thought side of my brain is a neurotic mess and I don't have that ability to adlib on the fly. I'll never be great in any game because of it, and it's elevated importance in KI was definitely something that required working through. None of this is meant to be a criticism or a discouragement, just a reality check. I don't think it's unfair to say "There is a challenge to this. It's not going to be for everyone". For a long time KI was my most closely watch game. It's a very cool game, and people get super excited about it and should be, but that doesn't mean it's easy to jump into; it's really awkward. I think the challenges are usually represented fairly, but combo introductions sometimes get reduced to "Here is this easy formula!" Personally, I need a specific sequence, not a formula. Maybe I just uniquely wasn't up to the challenge and it's not a problem for most people, but I assume I'm not the only person on the planet that would find it challenging.

 

[Eji1700]

thanks for the long answer. but isnt this^^ exactly where randomizing your combos comes into play?

It’s as easy as hitting medium instead of light

 

[kabelfritz]

It’s as easy as hitting medium instead of light

to me it was very confusing and i often messed up the linker timing after i tried to freeflow. but i wasnt good at that game anyway.

 

[kabelfritz]

Yes

I gave the game a good try a couple of years back. The combo system can be difficult to wrap your head around and I never really did. It's its own unique thing and you can't fully build muscle memory around something that isn't 100% identical every time. Having something too similar can make it harder since once you start on an input path, muscle memory will try to go down the worn path and not just be ok with making a runtime decision about branching.

KI is slick, and it has nothing to apologize for being different or having special set of skills you need to get or be good at in order to really play, but when I hear "It's easy. You'll get used to it" then go on long conversation on how simple it is, I kind of have a reaction as both someone that has played all kind of fighters over the years and gave KI a decent try (under 100 hours, so technically still super green).

Kudos to anyone that thinks that is simple, or doesn't have any real difficulty onboarding into the system, but it takes enormous effort for me to get input sequences into my head. It's gotten easier over the years, but I have to get set patterns that my fingers can just autopilot without much active thought. Three strengths of the same combo is basically three totally different combos for my muscle memory to get confused about. On top of everything going on, KI is fast. I never really knew what thing I was doing, it was just some vomited assortment of bits I'd learned that may or may not be a valid combo. Whatever was coming out of my hands was certainly never intentional.

The active thought side of my brain is a neurotic mess and I don't have that ability to adlib on the fly. I'll never be great in any game because of it, and it's elevated importance in KI was definitely something that required working through. None of this is meant to be a criticism or a discouragement, just a reality check. I don't think it's unfair to say "There is a challenge to this. It's not going to be for everyone". For a long time KI was my most closely watch game. It's a very cool game, and people get super excited about it and should be, but that doesn't mean it's easy to jump into; it's really awkward. I think the challenges are usually represented fairly, but combo introductions sometimes get reduced to "Here is this easy formula!" Personally, I need a specific sequence, not a formula. Maybe I just uniquely wasn't up to the challenge and it's not a problem for most people, but I assume I'm not the only person on the planet that would find it challenging.

^^thats pretty much exactly how i feel

 

[Eji1700]

to me it was very confusing and i often messed up the linker timing after i tried to freeflow. but i wasnt good at that game anyway.

That’s kinda my point. You don’t need to.

Connect with a special or a normal, do a light or medium auto double, then do a light or medium linker, then do another auto, then an ender.
With just that, using the same moves every time, you have the mixup. The rest is powerful but that’s the basic bnb for everyone

 

[Gooberking]

It’s as easy as hitting medium instead of light

I find that [an] extremely difficult thing to do.

 

[Juxtapose]

Kan-Ra is definitely not Bottom 2.

Top player tier lists for the last half decade have placed him there. Keep in mind, the balance in the game is tight, and you'll see bottom tier's make top 8's regularly. This includes Sadira and Sabrewulf. While they still have to work harder, it's not the insane climb like, say, bottom tiers of Mortal Kombat (2011).

also Kalypso isn't having a problem with doing well with her in the current meta of the game.

That's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Samuel D. is generally considered the best Sadira today as far as I know. He does well, but absolutely has to work against, say the Thunders and Rashes out there.

to me it was very confusing and i often messed up the linker timing after i tried to freeflow. but i wasnt good at that game anyway.

If you haven't already, enable Combo Assist and see if that makes things simpler for you.

 

[kabelfritz]

If you haven't already, enable Combo Assist and see if that makes things simpler for you.

i felt like that took a lot of freedom and control away, didnt like it at all.

 

[Juxtapose]

i felt like that took a lot of freedom and control away, didnt like it at all.

Curious, how so? The only thing it does is remove the need for directional inputs for linkers and auto-doubles. It doesn't take away any freedom and makes control a smidge simpler.

Update:

You can read how Combo Assist works straight from the developer here. You can read about it via Infil's guide here.

 

[kabelfritz]

Curious, how so? The only thing it does is remove the need for directional inputs for linkers and auto-doubles. It doesn't take away any freedom and makes control a smidge simpler.

Update:

You can read how Combo Assist works straight from the developer here. You can read about it via Infil's guide here.

i was under the impression that i lose access to certain combo extensions because the game auto-picks for you. like linkers that switch sides or do other stuff thats more than just link and damage.

 

[Juxtapose]

i was under the impression that i lose access to certain combo extensions because the game auto-picks for you. like linkers that switch sides or do other stuff thats more than just link and damage.

A specific Special is picked for the punch and kick linker, yes, but you can simple override it. Combo Assist does not turn off inputs in strings, and doing inputs takes priority. So you can manually do any linker you want with it on. That's all explained in the articles I linked to.

 

[Juxtapose]

FYI all, I noticed yesterday that the game has been officially given the Optimized for Xbox Series X|S in my Game Library.

 

[Revy]

Well the Steam version screwed over a friend of mine as I share my account with him, he used to be able to play the full game but since they introduced the F2P version he’s restricted only to that one. We were about to play & he was like, “Why the fuck do I only have Eyedol?”

He wasn’t happy & I thought it was hilarious until I was kinda bummed about it too:
(English isn't his first language)