Beastieball News

This weekend we held a BIGMOON BASH where all Beasties were allowed! It's been a couple months since the last balance patch, so coaches have had lots of time to learn the current meta and optimize their teams. Let's see who was able to bring it all together and come out on top this time around!

[h2]👑 Top-Scoring Players[/h2]

1. Bolimar (The Crimson Angels) | Bash Score: 3060
2. Wavewhyse* (The Stellar Tides) | Bash Score: 3052
3. Erin (The Nefarious Pants) | Bash Score: 2952
4. Darc Tech (The Arcane Robots) | Bash Score: 2904
   • Boolerex (The Big Flowers) | Bash Score: 2904
5. N/A
6. AirMan121 (The Bugs) | Bash Score: 2852
7. Phoenix (The Flaming Birds) | Bash Score: 2800
8. MochaTeehee (The Hello Fishes) | Bash Score: 2752
9. Arc Tech (The Arcane Machines) | Bash Score: 2744
10. Score (The Jamming Ballers) | Bash Score: 2740
11. Juninha (The Valiant Hearts) | Bash Score: 2728
12. Mabel (The Cowardly Lions) | Bash Score: 2664
13. Pyryn (The Earthbound Echoes) | Bash Score: 2640
14. Dino (The Wayward Pirates) | Bash Score: 2628
15. Sabrewoif (The Inglorious Shamblers) | Bash Score: 2620
16. Triangle (The Future All-stars) | Bash Score: 2616
17. Mateobow (The Violet Waves) | Bash Score: 2612
18. rwn (The Little Stars) | Bash Score: 2596
19. HP (The Jolly Jokers) | Bash Score: 2544
20. Juninho (The Valiant Storms) | Bash Score: 2532
21. Arcwell (The Sad Cats) | Bash Score: 2504
22. Byrd (The Soggy Dreamers) | Bash Score: 2468

The median Bash Score this time was 1988. Exactly the same as the last Bash, amazingly!
A big congratulations to all the top-scoring players!

[h2]📊 Beastie Usage Stats![/h2]
As has become tradition, we've collected a ton of data on Beastie usage during this event and we're happy to share that data with you for further investigation!
[h3]> Check out the STATS here![/h3]

[h2]🙇 Thank you!!![/h2]
As always, I deeply appreciate the care and passion that players put into their teams and gameplay. You all inspire us... and give us lots of juicy balance data to investigate and theorize on! We're in the process of putting together the next major balance patch, which will begin testing in experimental VERY SOON. Look out for that!

Another BIGMOON BASH is beginning soon in Beastieball! During Bigmoon Bashes, coaches can challenge each other in open matchmaking for a limited time.

When: Friday, November 28, 2025 04:00 PST to Sunday, November 30, 2025 04:00 PST
Theme: NONE! All Beasties are allowed!

During the event you'll have a Bash Rank, which will improve based on your performance. After it's over, you'll receive in-game rewards based on your participation, such as Social Battery and Sports Points.

Players of all skill level are invited! All you need to do to participate is to play the game on that day and join the Bash on SportNet! SportNet is typically unlocked within the first 2 hours of your adventure, after beating your first Ranked boss. And if you aren't confident in your own Beastie team, you can use a randomly generated one instead - just go to Team Setup and set "Random Team" as your current team.

[h3]Official Game Rules:[/h3]
First to 2 Points wins
Standard time limit on move selection
No Undos allowed
No duplicate Beastie species allowed
Relationship Combos are disabled
All Beasties are set to Level 50

Update: This testing phase is over and the experimental branch is now reverted to match with the default branch. Thank you everyone for testing and for your comments! We'll take some time to consider the new mechanics and decide what's next for Sadness in a future experimental testing phase.

We're testing a brand new status effect on the experimental branch and we've love your input on it!

This is a temporary test available only for PC users and only for a limited time. The experimental branch has no other balance changes except the addition of new mechanics detailed below. We aren't looking to adjust the current balance patch based on this test phase; instead we want to focus on the new mechanics and how they impact the meta of the game.

Notably, this is more experimental than any past experimental balance patch we've done. We may or may not introduce this status effect in the next balance patch, or any future patch, depending on the feedback at this stage.


[h3]👻 Effects of Sadness[/h3]

• A Beastie that's SAD won't feel the effect of 🔺BOOSTs and won't be able to restore stamina.
  
• SAD counts up after every offense turn much like SWEATY, but it goes away when the Beastie TAGS OUT.
  
• If a Beastie feels 4 SAD (or more), they will be overcome with sadness and instantly lose 100 STAMINA.
• If a Beastie that's SAD tries to feel JAZZED, the feelings neutralize each other. JAZZED won't be applied, but SAD will be cured. The reverse is also true; if a Beastie that's JAZZED has SAD applied to them, the SAD will not be applied but the JAZZED will be removed.
  
• SAD is blocked by RHYTHM much like SWEATY and NERVOUS.

[h3]🏃 Plays[/h3]
See the FAQ for info on how to access new plays.

• (Updated!) Numbshot - Mind attack, 65 POW. Target feels 1 SAD.
  
• (NEW!) Gloom - DEFENSE. Target feels 1 SAD.
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • (TBD)
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Orgella, Mistic, Wottle, Plumask, Squimage, Diabloceras
      
• (NEW!) Soliloquy - DEFENSE. Every fielded Beastie feels 1 SAD.
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • (TBD)
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Plumask, Hopra, Conjarr
      

[h3]📜 Theory and Intentions[/h3]
[p]This follows along with other recent balance patch changes in trying to generally slow down the pace of the game at high levels and create more space for mid-ground Beasties that aren't hyper-specialized for offense or defense. SAD creates more effective counter-play to damage-boosting and self-healing playstyles then we've ever added. If it works as intended, then it should further flatten out the effectiveness of different playstyles so that more matches hit the sweet spot of being competitive, tactical and interesting without ending in a hyperfast landslide or lasting forever.[/p][p]We've been testing and theorizing on this status effect behind the scenes since before our initial release into Early Access. We hesitated to add for a long time because we wanted to ensure it felt unique among all the other tools in the game, while still being impactful enough to matter in team building. It's actually something we thought would fit well to introduce when we add more Beasties for the eventual Far Out DLC; our main concern at this stage is that with the current count of Beasties, there's already such a density of mechanics and interactions that squeezing even one more in may make the game feel bloated and overcomplex. But we've developed Sadness to the point where we feel it has a potentially good place within the current meta and for such a major mechanic we want to have ample playtesting time with it so that we can confidently expand on it with future designs.[/p]


[h3]Is there any risk to my existing save data if I test this?[/h3]
No, there should not be. The only difference on the experimental branch is the addition of new mechanics. So your Beasties should not lose any data if you open your save on the new branch. If you are using new plays which are introduced on the experimental branch, they will be removed upon switching back to the default branch, but no other changes will occur.

[h3]How do I access the experimental branch?[/h3]
Right click Beastieball in your Steam library > Select "Properties" > Go to the "Betas" tab > Select "experimental" from the dropdown menu.

[h3]How can I access Sadness on the experimental branch?[/h3]
In this test build, all plays with the new Sad effect cost 0 SP to teach to Beasties via tutoring at the Academy. If you have Tower Tourney unlocked in the academy, you can access the tutoring menu by talking to Alessia > Select "Points Shop" > Select "Beastie Tutoring..."

[h3]How should I test Sadness?[/h3]
Build teams using the new plays and effects! The best places to test are in Tower Tourney or against other players in the SportNet "Find a Match!" menu.

[h3]How does playtesting on the experimental branch interact with players on the default branch?[/h3]
This experimental test is on a different balance patch than the default game. This has these effects:

• Players on different balance patches can't connect to the same private lobby and won't appear to each other in the "Find a Match!" menu.
  
• You can upload Away Teams and Rank Defense teams using experimental plays; however, if a player on a different balance patch downloads those teams, the plays will be removed or replaced automatically, so your Beasties may appear to be missing plays.

[h3]How should I provide feedback?[/h3]
Our favorite space for community discussion is our official Discord! We have a space there designated for discussion of SAD.

You can also submit your thoughts via the in-game feedback report button (F8), or post on Steam forums.

This weekend we held a BIGMOON BASH featuring spooky Beasties! Coaches had to use one of theme Beasties on their team (Collarva/Wormask/Plumask, Yueffowl/Albrax or Skulkapi) and their individual results were tallied up to determine which Beastie family would reign supreme. So, who was the Bash Champion this time around?
[h2]🏆 Final Results![/h2]


By a narrow margin The Albrax guild is the winner! We saw the results fluctuating wildly throughout the Bash - 24 hours in, Albrax had the worst winrate and was in last place. But it goes to show, every game counts! Albrax players rallied hard at the end and brought their score up just enough to ultimately win this spooky contest.

Now let's take a look at the coaches who scored highest this time around!
[h2]👑 Top-Scoring Players[/h2]

1. Juninha (The Valiant Hearts) | Bash Score: 2856
2. ArtemTotem (The Shining Stars) | Bash Score: 2840
3. MochaTeehee (The Hello Fishes) | Bash Score: 2796
4. Arc Tech (The Arcane Machines) | Bash Score: 2764
5. • Sabrewoif (The Has-been Dinosaurs) | Bash Score: 2756
   • Phoenix (The Flaming Birds) | Bash Score: 2756
6. N/A
7. Zonk (The Violet Enigmas) | Bash Score: 2744
8. Erin (The Nefarious Pants) | Bash Score: 2740
9. Dino (The Wayward Pirates) | Bash Score: 2732
10. Bz (The 100 Enigmas) | Bash Score: 2724
11. • GFZA (The Fun Pizzas) | Bash Score: 2704
    • Boolerex (The Big Flowers) | Bash Score: 2704
    • Score (The Jamming Ballers) | Bash Score: 2704
12. N/A
13. N/A
14. Matt (The Big Rally) | Bash Score: 2664
15. Darc Tech (The Arcane Robots) | Bash Score: 2660
16. HP (The Jolly Jokers) | Bash Score: 2652
17. Stardust (The Starbound Dinosaurs) | Bash Score: 2644
18. WebBowser (The Questing Beasts) | Bash Score: 2640
19. 99dash (The Golden Blazes) | Bash Score: 2600
20. Choc (The Ultimate Dinosaurs) | Bash Score: 2592
21. Bolimar (The Crimson Angels) | Bash Score: 2580

The median Bash Score this time was 1988. This is slightly higher than the previous median, but notably this time we're seeing a narrower range of scores at the top ranks - many more players scored well on average, but everybody took a few losses, even in the topmost ranks. With such a tight race between the representative Beasties, it follows that the competition between coaches was just as tight!

A big congratulations to all the top-scoring players!

[h2]📊 Beastie Usage Stats![/h2]
As has become tradition, we've collected a ton of data on Beastie usage during this event and we're happy to share that data with you for further investigation!
[h3]> Check out the STATS here![/h3]

In addition to these usage stats, this time around I thought it might be fun to share a little more insight into how teams were built for the different guilds. Let's look at the most common partners for the theme Beasties!

Plumask

1. Fetcham - 26.8%
   
2. Froofulks - 23.7%
   
3. Hopra - 20.7%
   
4. Mistic - 16.6%
   
5. Surgus - 16.0%

With Plumask, we're seeing a lot of spirit attackers as partners. Typically with spirit-focused teams you'd expect to see Rally especially with Plumask's Stagecraft trait raising their defense in the crowd. But in practice, the top 4 of these 5 Beasties aren't actually Rally users! Perhaps spirit users are finding success just focusing on attackers without a lot of Rally support.

Albrax

1. Mistic - 21.7%
   
2. Crabaret - 21.0%
   
3. Trat - 20.8%
   
4. Armantis - 17.0%
   
5. (Tie!) Platypulse, Garood - 15.5%

We saw more diversity on Albrax teams, perhaps demonstrating the way Albrax fits well into many different compositions. There's definitely a bit more of a Mind-type bent here.

Skulkapi

1. Armantis - 29.2%
   
2. Wottle - 20.7%
   
3. Daredillo - 17.2%
   
4. Illugus - 16.0%
   
5. Supilero - 14.8%

Skulkapi definitely had a perfect pairing which players honed in on in Armantis, who loves to occupy the net and can take advantage of Skulkapi's lane guarding abilities to more consistently proc Power Forward. Across the board, we saw more bulky Beasties here... it seems Skulkapi players liked playing a bit more slow and steady. It nearly won them the race, but alas, not this time!

[h2]🙇 Thank you!!![/h2]
This upcoming week will include the one-year anniversary of Beastieball's early access launch! We're still in between major balance patches/milestones, so don't expect any big updates this week... but we do have a new little something we've been cooking up that advanced players will definitely be interested in. Look out for an announcement in the near future with something to test in the experimental branch!

This Bash was previously intended to take place a week earlier but was postponed so we could do some technical maintenance!

Another BIGMOON BASH is beginning soon in Beastieball! During Bigmoon Bashes, coaches can challenge each other in open matchmaking for a limited time. During the event you'll have a Bash Rank, which will improve based on your performance. After it's over, you'll receive in-game rewards based on your participation, such as Social Battery and Sports Points.

When: Friday, November 7 @ 4PM PST to Sunday, November 9 @ 4PM PST
Guild Beasties: Albrax (+Yueffowl), Plumask (+Collarva, Wormask), and Skulkapi!

To compete in the Bash, coaches must have exactly one of the theme Beasties on their team. Your games will count towards that team's score, and after the Bash a winning Beastie will be crowned! If you aren't confident in your own Beastie team, you can use a randomly generated one instead - just go to Team Setup and set "Random Team" as your current team.

Players of all skill level are invited! All you need to do to participate is to play the game on that day and join the Bash on SportNet! SportNet is typically unlocked within the first 2 hours of your adventure, after beating your first Ranked boss.
[h3]Official Game Rules:[/h3]

• First to 2 Points wins
  
• Standard time limit on move selection
  
• No Undos allowed
  
• No duplicate Beastie species allowed
  
• Relationship Combos are disabled
  
• All Beasties are set to Level 50