It’s time! Sort of. It’s time to go over 3.8 Patch Notes. The actual patch – aka Content Update – is set to arrive in the morning (Pacific business hours) of June 27th.

You’ve got two ways to consume this content. Either by watching the video below, which highlights the changes, or reading through this entire blog, which goes more in-depth with bug fixes, reasonings, etc. HAVE AT IT!

System Changes:

Fixed an issue preventing several characters from cancelling normals into specials from too far away, which was most noticeable when hitting the outstretched limbs of opponents. These cancels will still not be possible from these ranges when striking armor.

Jago:

Crouching MK is now -2 on block (was +1)

Crouching LK is now -1 on block (was +1)

(During a frame data review, the team decided that these two moves were too strong to carry advantage on block when paired with the rest of the character’s toolkit.)

Sabrewulf:

Fixed a bug preventing Riptor Flame Carpets from hitting Sabrewulf when landing from Leaping Slash, despite the hitboxes clearly touching.

Glacius:

Fixed a bug where a Shadow Hail following a normal canceled into a Shadow Hail would not become breakable.

Thunder:

Hornbreaker no longer deals chip damage, and its counterhit damage was reduced to normal levels (was 50% higher than most counterhits) (We aren’t sure why this move has dealt chip damage since Season 1 launch, but it isn’t something we feel Thunder needs, so it has been removed.)

(The team feels that Thunder is much harder to harass on wakeup than his offensive strength demands, so the next few changes below are meant to making waking up as Thunder much more thoughtful. Keep in mind that Thunder has an Armored Shadow Counter to fall back on as well.)

(We aren’t sure why this move has dealt chip damage since Season 1 launch, but it isn’t something we feel Thunder needs, so it has been removed.) (The team feels that Thunder is much harder to harass on wakeup than his offensive strength demands, so the next few changes below are meant to making waking up as Thunder much more thoughtful. Keep in mind that Thunder has an Armored Shadow Counter to fall back on as well.) Murder of Crows Forward Dash is now vulnerable to throws for its full duration

Light, Medium, and Heavy Sammamish are now vulnerable to throws for the first 8 frames

Light, Medium, and Heavy Ankle Slicer are now vulnerable to throws for the full duration of the move

Light, Medium, and Heavy Ankle Slicer are now vulnerable to lows for the first 2 frames before its low crush ability becomes active.

(Summary of the above; Thunder is now much more vulnerable to meaty throws and lows and will need to choose his options a bit more thoughtfully.)

(Summary of the above; Thunder is now much more vulnerable to meaty throws and lows and will need to choose his options a bit more thoughtfully.) Sammamish Followups have had their trade priority adjusted. Surprise Knee trades as a Light Attack (was Special) Dropkick trades as a Medium Attack (was Special) Skyfall trades as a Heavy Attack (was Special) (These moves needed to count as specials so that Spinal could absorb them. He will still be able to do so, but their trade priority has been downgraded to that of typical jumping attacks. This should make them much more reliable to anti air across the entire cast.)

Cancelling the landing of Skyfall into Murder of Crows dash is now only possible on Frame 7 of the landing. It used to be available on or after frame 7. There is still a nice buffer so that if you input it early, it will come out on frame 7. (Thunder players will need to commit to the dash earlier now, giving them much less time to confirm hit or block and then decide.)

(Thunder players will need to commit to the dash earlier now, giving them much less time to confirm hit or block and then decide.) Cancelling Murder of Crows Dash Forward and Dash Back into special moves is now an Instinct trait. If you use a Murder of Crows Dash outside of instinct mode (with the Call of Sky buff): MoC Forward Dash can be cancelled into a special on frame 20, the same frame as his non buffed dash. (Was 15) MoC Back Dash cannot be cancelled into a special until recovery is completed, the same as his non buffed backdash. Nothing has changed about the special cancel windows during Instinct mode. (Being able to access his instinct outside of instinct is pretty powerful, but we really feel like Thunder players need this to navigate some of the zoning in the game (especially after lowering the priority of his Sammamish followups). We decided to, instead, remove his ability to cancel the dashes into specials when outside of instinct, making the dash a bit more about positioning or correcting mistakes than it is about creating an opening.)

Fixing a bug that could cause his lv4 triplax ender to drop.

Lowered lower body vulnerable box on the landing from Sammamish so that Riptor Flame Carpet could hit.

Fulgore:

Can no longer pip cancel if the opponent is performing a shadow counter (We’ve all know this ability was too strong, but we didn’t want to adjust the entire pip cancel system just to make this behavior less common. Without getting super technical, the team didn’t really have a way to prevent this that didn’t break other parts of the character until recently, so we’ve finally made it so that you cannot use pip cancels to stop Shadow Counters. Pip cancels behave normally in all other situations.)

(We’ve all know this ability was too strong, but we didn’t want to adjust the entire pip cancel system just to make this behavior less common. Without getting super technical, the team didn’t really have a way to prevent this that didn’t break other parts of the character until recently, so we’ve finally made it so that you cannot use pip cancels to stop Shadow Counters. Pip cancels behave normally in all other situations.) Medium Laser is now -3 on block (was 0), +2 on hit (was +5) and has 3 additional frames of recovery on whiff (A two hitting low that left Fulgore at a great range at 0 was a bit too good for one of the game’s best zoners.)

(A two hitting low that left Fulgore at a great range at 0 was a bit too good for one of the game’s best zoners.) Crouching MK is now -2 on block (was 0)

Crouching LK is now -1 on block (was +1)

(During a frame data review, the team decided that these two moves were too strong to carry advantage on block when paired with the rest of the character’s toolkit.)

Lv2 charge of all strengths of Blade Charge inflict 1 less frames of blockstun

Lv3 (max) charge of all strengths of Blade Charge inflict 2 less frames of blockstun

(A little more frame data review convinced us to reduce the advantage on charged up Blade Charges just a bit. The move remains very high priority and intimidating.)

Medium Cyber Uppercut is now lower body vulnerable on frame 1, and upperbody vulnerable on frame 5 (Was fully invulnerable until frame 8)

Heavy Cyber Uppercut is now lower body vulnerable on frame 1, and upperbody vulnerable on frame 3 (Was fully invulnerable until frame 8)

(Upon review, the team wanted Fulgore to have to use his single-hit uppercut for invulnerability, and felt that having full invulnerability on the multi-hit versions was just too strong in matchups against Armored characters. If you attack low, Fulgore will now have to use a light uppercut. Medium and Heavy versions retain upperbody invulnerability, though for a shorter time, and still make great anti air attacks.)

Teleports start playing their invisibility VFX 4 frames sooner, causing them to end 4 frames sooner (We’ve heard your requests to make his teleport more visible, but this is the best we could do with the resources available to us at the time. It won’t make a world of difference, but it is something.)

(We’ve heard your requests to make his teleport more visible, but this is the best we could do with the resources available to us at the time. It won’t make a world of difference, but it is something.) Fixed a bug preventing charged blade dash from being breakable after an opener or normal because it counted as part of the previous move.

TJ Combo:

Fixed an issue preventing his Punching Bag moves from becoming breakable if the first hit whiffed.

Fixing a bug causing his Opener Shadow Flying Knee to count as part of the previous move, making followups unbreakable.

Fixed a bug preventing TJ from being able to block low on the 1st frame after activating Instinct.

Fixed a bug preventing TJ from being able to exit Backstep early with low block, even though he could with high block.

Maya:

Fixing a bug causing her backdash to have 4 additional frames of invulnerability.

Kan Ra:

Fixed a bug preventing Kan-Ra from canceling normals into specials against armored opponents.

Fixed a bug preventing Kan-Ra from canceling crouching HK into specials.

Aganos:

Making first hit of shadow counter bigger to avoid situations where pushboxes keep it from hitting.

Fixed a bug preventing Natural Disaster from triggering its 2nd hit on counter hit.

Fixed an issue where far HK could still wall splat during combos, breaking any ender you cancel into.

Hisako:

Fixed a bug where catching low attacks with the instinct mode catch counter would result in performing the high catch counter attack, which would whiff some lows attacks.

Fixed an issue causing her jump arc to change permanently after performing a wall jump.

Aria:

Fixed a bug preventing you from doing another Shadow Explosive Arc linker after a Shadow Explosive Arc linker.

Shadow Jago:

Dark Reckoning (Overhead) is now -2 on block (was -3). (This move can no longer be punished by 3-frame moves, making it safer to throw out during your offense.)

Kim Wu:

Fixing a bug causing her Opener Shadow Dragon Kick to count as part of the previous move, making followups unbreakable.

Tusk:

Reduced the height of the Air and Air Shadow Skull Splitter explosions hitboxes by 40%

Reduced the damage of the Air Skull Splitter explosions by 40%

(After the buffs, this move is overperforming for Tusk and letting him trivialize some of his harder situations. These changes will make getting hit by this less damaging, and making jumping over it to punish Tusk more reasonable.)

Rash:

Shadow Big Bad Boot now has 6 frames of startup time (was 3 frames) (This move was simply too fast for its size. This change makes it so that most of the cast can now safe-jump Rash with a proper setup)

(This move was simply too fast for its size. This change makes it so that most of the cast can now safe-jump Rash with a proper setup) Crouching HK is now -6 on block (was -4)

Standing HK is now -3 on block (was -2)

Crouching HP is now -3 on block (was -2)

Standing MP is now 0 on block (was -5) and +1 on hit (was -4)

Standing HP is now +2 on block (was 0) and +6 on hit (was +2)

(Frame data review left Rash with a few important changes. Standing HK, Crouching HK, and Crouching HP are all a bit worse on block now. Standing MP and Standing HP are much more useful in blockstrings to compensate for the shorter range or hitting twice, and get some more advantage on hit as well. Standing HP can now link into some things it could not before.)

Arbiter:

Crouching MK slight range increase (Increasing the range of Arbiter’s only low threat makes his overhead game that much more frightening.)

(Increasing the range of Arbiter’s only low threat makes his overhead game that much more frightening.) Crouching HP becomes active 1 frame earlier

Crouching HP head vulnerable box is slightly lower to the ground

Crouching HP arm vulnerable box now appears on frame 16 (was 10)

(These three changes improve his crouching HP anti air considerably)

(These three changes improve his crouching HP anti air considerably) Fixed a bug causing his standing HP to build tiny amounts of meter. It now builds meter like other single hit heavy buttons do. (This fix is huge for Arbiter, who uses his standing punch buttons to zone midscreen and can turn meter into health at any time.)

(This fix is huge for Arbiter, who uses his standing punch buttons to zone midscreen and can turn meter into health at any time.) Fixed a bug where Arbiter’s counter breaker would whiff on many characters in the corner as player 2.

Fixed a bug where the Sticky Grenade could hit the opponent out of the command throw ender.

Mira:

Fixing a bug causing her backdash to have 4 additional frames of invulnerability.

Fixed a bug causing Heavy Trephine Linker to consume less blood if done by holding Light Attack instead of Medium Attack. Both methods now remove the intended 20 health.

Gargos:

Jumping HK has 5 additional frames of startup time.

The attack box on Jumping HK has been adjusted so that many character can crouch under it if they are closer to Gargos. The attack box at the farthest distance of the attack remains as tall as it was, however.

(This move is one of the reasons that, outside of being cornered, Gargos isn’t struggling at mid range as much as we’d like him to. Giving many characters the ability to crouch this move at these ranges greatly decreases Gargos’ ability to move his opponent backward, forcing him to move himself backward instead.)

(This move is one of the reasons that, outside of being cornered, Gargos isn’t struggling at mid range as much as we’d like him to. Giving many characters the ability to crouch this move at these ranges greatly decreases Gargos’ ability to move his opponent backward, forcing him to move himself backward instead.) Minions no longer deal chip damage when they attack or use special moves. Throwing a minion still causes chip damage. (This is meant to reduce frustration when waiting for opportunities to punish minions.)

(This is meant to reduce frustration when waiting for opportunities to punish minions.) Crouching MP is now +1 on block (was +3)

Pushback on hit and block of Crouching MP increased.

(During frame data review, the team decided that this move was way too good for Gargos’ to have with the rest of his toolkit. We’ve reduced the advantage and increased the pushback, leaving it still one of his best buttons, but not something you can just press 5 times in a row without thought.)

(During frame data review, the team decided that this move was way too good for Gargos’ to have with the rest of his toolkit. We’ve reduced the advantage and increased the pushback, leaving it still one of his best buttons, but not something you can just press 5 times in a row without thought.) Ground Light Reckoning damage reduced 25%

Ground Medium Reckoning damage reduced 25%

All versions of Air Reckoning now deal the same amount of damage. That amount now matches the damage of Grounded Light Reckoning. This is a decrease of varying amounts on each version. Air Light Reckoning damage decreased by 25% Air Medium Reckoning damage decreased by 35% Air Heavy Reckoning damage reduced 45%

(We’ve reduced the damage on every version of Reckoning other than Heavy to help reign in Gargos unbreakable damage using Stagger into Command Grab.)

Minion’s vulnerable box size increases when overlapping the opponent, making them much easier to hit with normals. (This change is huge. If a minion is standing overtop of your character, most of your attack buttons should hit them now. Experiment.)

(This change is huge. If a minion is standing overtop of your character, most of your attack buttons should hit them now. Experiment.) Fixed a bug where Gargos would freeze for a moment if getting hit by a counter breaker while the fat minion was attacking.

Fixed a bug where Gargos would get stuck if counter hiiting the opponent using Air Medium Reckoning performed at a certain height.

Fixed a bug where characters would be too high off the ground after Gargos’s Izuna Drop was performed from Heavy Madness Grab.

General RAAM:

Light Emergence is now lower body invulnerable on frame 4 (was frame 8)

Light Emergence now hits farther behind RAAM

(These changes are designed to give this move more use both as a low crush, and as an anti teleport move)

Eyedol:

Fixed a bug causing the Warrior stance back throw to be untechable. (Yeah. This was bad. Sorry about that.)

Kilgore:

Exhaust Ender now builds some meter for Kilgore, but less than the usual battery ender.

Fixed a bug causing Shadow Missiles to no longer knockdown.

Fixed a bug causing Level 1 Missiles ender to no longer knockdown.

Shin Hisako:

Reduced Shin Air On Ryo Zan damage by ~25%

Now preventing Creepy Hands from grabbing someone if Shin Hisako is being flipped out.

Now destroying the spirit shot projectile if she is performing an ender to prevent it from making the ender drop.

Fixed a bug preventing counterhit properties from triggering on Shin Air On Ryo Zan, Awakened Soul, and Spirit Slice special moves.

Fixed a bug that allowed Shin Hisako to spawn creepy hands that never expire at the end of her Instinct Mode.

Fixed a bug that allowed her to attempt a counterbreaker during the startup of the Creepy Hands cutscene, breaking the stage boundaries.

Fixed a bug causing the 3rd hit of Light and Heavy rekka to do more damage than expected, and the 3rd hit of Medium rekka to do less than expected.

Fixed a bug that allowed her to counter break from the startup of creepy hands, which broke the stage boundaries.

Fixed a bug allowing Creepy Hands to grab Aria between rounds.

Fixed a bug preventing the Creepy Hands from being destroyed if their owner attempts a Counter Breaker.

Fixed a bug preventing Shadow Dash n Slash from working against cornered Aganos.

Fixed a bug causing standing MK to have no pushback.

Fixed an issue causing her jump arc to change permanently after performing a wall jump.

Fixed a bug causing Shadow Linker Shin ORZ to attack at the speed of Hisako’s version of the move instead of the sped up Shin Hisako version.

Fixed a bug causing Cinder’s burnouts to remain active after a combo breaker.

No Changes:

Sadira

Orchid

Spinal

Riptor

Omen

Cinder

As always, we’d appreciate you dropping by the forums and letting us know what you’d think! We’ll see you Tuesday morning. Until then…

FIGHT ON!

Discuss: https://forums.ultra-combo.com/t/3-8-patch-notes/21410