Long time no Kast! The Kombat Kast returns today looking over our newest addition to the roster, Nightwolf, as well as going over balance changes in the upcoming patch. Info on all of that down below.
After introductions, we got confirmation of the balance patch going live today (I'm sure you'll see another post about it shortly). We got into some EVO talk from, with Stephanie discussing what she thought about the competition and Tyler and Derek giving some more general thoughts. Then it was right into Nightwolf:
So the goal with him this time around is to give a little more background into the character, like the origins of his power and who he was before he became "Nightwolf". I'm guessing this is stuff that will pop up more in his arcade ending and intros. Stephanie described him as a "reactionary" character, somebody who responds and makes decision based on what the opponent is doing, whether it be parries or pokes or whatever else.
He uses a mix of an actual axe, a spirit axe, and a club made from the stock of a rifle in his strings (historical throwback). He's got a lot of mids, he's got staggers, and he's got some classic throwbacks to his earlier appearances (like his double stomp low starter). As mentioned in some videos earlier this week, Nightwolf has 2 krushing blows on each of his throws, something that is going to make him a serious threat already.
For base-kit specials, his classic shoulder charge has been buffed from previous games into a mid. He gets his spirit bow which you can spend meter to shoot multiple times or spend meter to cancel out of. His reflect is also in the base kit, which can only reflect one projectile (multi-shot moves will blow it up).
In one tournament variation, he gets an upward sweep move that acts as a really good combo starter with a ton of carry potential when meter burned. With that same variation, he can use the Spirit of Kiba (a Defenders of the Realm throwback) that buffs his damage. You can amplify it to gain armor and not immediately lose the buff due to a projectile or stray poke as well.
In his other tournament variation, he gets new strings that give him some additional throw options, one of which has a new KB. On top of that, he can amplify his reflect to teleport, which you can do after reflecting a projectile. With his added command throws, he gets tic throws out the wazoo, off of all of his low pokes as well as a string.
Some custom stuff they showed off included a forward advancing roll you can use to get in on your opponent and meter burn to pop up. The eagle move we saw in the trailer apparently prevents the opponent from spending meter if they get hit by it, so really good move there.
Next up, we traded in Derek for Paulo, who hit us with those sweet, sweet patch notes. The list was too big for them to go over in entirety, but they hit the major stuff on stream. Some universal changes included health changes for the top tiers and bottom tiers, to try and make the gaps more fair. They also included "hitbox changes" across the board, so some characters may be looking great from that alone. Moving to characters:
Cassie Cage:
-Bigger gap on amplified shadow kick
Cetrion:
-You can cancel out of her ground pound move
-New KB off of her crushing rock move, has to be done at max range
Frost:
-B1 is faster
Kano:
-his acid throw has more range and has a bigger hitbox. Can also be amplified to leave a DoT spot on the ground
-Kano ball does more damage, up-ball is easier to do
Erron Black:
-Fatal blow is slower
-You can now jump over his MB Overhead boot lunge
Kitana:
-her Edenian Fans move is how a mid (fans circling around her)
Kotal Kahn:
-Kitty Cat Kahn's moves are safer
Shao Kahn:
-His F24 is plus on block
Noob Saibot:
-low slide can be amplified for a second hit, makes his 10 shadow move KB easier to do
Kollector:
-Can do more strings on whiff now
D'vorah:
-New KB off of her throw in Arachnophobia
Jade:
-Can amplify her pole vault move for a shadow kick
Scorpion:
-TELEPORT IS A HIGH
Raiden:
-his static discharge move now buffs damage and frames on certain strings, on top of the old effect
Some design changes to the UI, and some changes to item descriptions (gives more information for where things are, beyond just "in the Krypt" "in the Towers of Time"). They didn't go into detail, the patch notes are apparently very in-depth, so go read those in the thread that definitely popped up while I was writing this. On top of this, they added a Johnny Cage announcer pack, to be one through the Race for Time and Towers now have difficulty ratings. They also modified how the rewards work for towers: if you complete a tower, you will get something for the character you are playing, as well as whatever the reward is.
So yeah, that's that. We had birthday shoutouts, and the belt battle went to Tyler 2-0 playing Nightwolf against Derek's Jacqui. Patch should be live now, so go download it.
After introductions, we got confirmation of the balance patch going live today (I'm sure you'll see another post about it shortly). We got into some EVO talk from, with Stephanie discussing what she thought about the competition and Tyler and Derek giving some more general thoughts. Then it was right into Nightwolf:
So the goal with him this time around is to give a little more background into the character, like the origins of his power and who he was before he became "Nightwolf". I'm guessing this is stuff that will pop up more in his arcade ending and intros. Stephanie described him as a "reactionary" character, somebody who responds and makes decision based on what the opponent is doing, whether it be parries or pokes or whatever else.
He uses a mix of an actual axe, a spirit axe, and a club made from the stock of a rifle in his strings (historical throwback). He's got a lot of mids, he's got staggers, and he's got some classic throwbacks to his earlier appearances (like his double stomp low starter). As mentioned in some videos earlier this week, Nightwolf has 2 krushing blows on each of his throws, something that is going to make him a serious threat already.
For base-kit specials, his classic shoulder charge has been buffed from previous games into a mid. He gets his spirit bow which you can spend meter to shoot multiple times or spend meter to cancel out of. His reflect is also in the base kit, which can only reflect one projectile (multi-shot moves will blow it up).
In one tournament variation, he gets an upward sweep move that acts as a really good combo starter with a ton of carry potential when meter burned. With that same variation, he can use the Spirit of Kiba (a Defenders of the Realm throwback) that buffs his damage. You can amplify it to gain armor and not immediately lose the buff due to a projectile or stray poke as well.
In his other tournament variation, he gets new strings that give him some additional throw options, one of which has a new KB. On top of that, he can amplify his reflect to teleport, which you can do after reflecting a projectile. With his added command throws, he gets tic throws out the wazoo, off of all of his low pokes as well as a string.
Some custom stuff they showed off included a forward advancing roll you can use to get in on your opponent and meter burn to pop up. The eagle move we saw in the trailer apparently prevents the opponent from spending meter if they get hit by it, so really good move there.
Next up, we traded in Derek for Paulo, who hit us with those sweet, sweet patch notes. The list was too big for them to go over in entirety, but they hit the major stuff on stream. Some universal changes included health changes for the top tiers and bottom tiers, to try and make the gaps more fair. They also included "hitbox changes" across the board, so some characters may be looking great from that alone. Moving to characters:
Cassie Cage:
-Bigger gap on amplified shadow kick
Cetrion:
-You can cancel out of her ground pound move
-New KB off of her crushing rock move, has to be done at max range
Frost:
-B1 is faster
Kano:
-his acid throw has more range and has a bigger hitbox. Can also be amplified to leave a DoT spot on the ground
-Kano ball does more damage, up-ball is easier to do
Erron Black:
-Fatal blow is slower
-You can now jump over his MB Overhead boot lunge
Kitana:
-her Edenian Fans move is how a mid (fans circling around her)
Kotal Kahn:
-Kitty Cat Kahn's moves are safer
Shao Kahn:
-His F24 is plus on block
Noob Saibot:
-low slide can be amplified for a second hit, makes his 10 shadow move KB easier to do
Kollector:
-Can do more strings on whiff now
D'vorah:
-New KB off of her throw in Arachnophobia
Jade:
-Can amplify her pole vault move for a shadow kick
Scorpion:
-TELEPORT IS A HIGH
Raiden:
-his static discharge move now buffs damage and frames on certain strings, on top of the old effect
Some design changes to the UI, and some changes to item descriptions (gives more information for where things are, beyond just "in the Krypt" "in the Towers of Time"). They didn't go into detail, the patch notes are apparently very in-depth, so go read those in the thread that definitely popped up while I was writing this. On top of this, they added a Johnny Cage announcer pack, to be one through the Race for Time and Towers now have difficulty ratings. They also modified how the rewards work for towers: if you complete a tower, you will get something for the character you are playing, as well as whatever the reward is.
So yeah, that's that. We had birthday shoutouts, and the belt battle went to Tyler 2-0 playing Nightwolf against Derek's Jacqui. Patch should be live now, so go download it.