Omega Strikers News

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Our fattest update yet, this patch features a TON of stuff. A CRAZY new striker, two crazy new maps, a new Striker Pass, new skins, and of course, AN ENTIRE VISUAL NOVEL. RIGHT THERE. IN THE GAME.
With great changes comes great patch notes, so let's jump right into it. There's A LOT.


[h2]VISUAL NOVEL[/h2]
Yeah, you read that correctly. There's an ENTIRE VISUAL NOVEL now in Omega Strikers for Summer Splash.
Head to the beach with Asher, Juno, Estelle, X, Juliette, or Dubu! Progress through the event, hang out with your new friends, get to know them better, and unlock new stuff in game! There's even missions for you to complete, some of which will even grant you fresh new titles and emotes!
[h2]MAPS AND MODES[/h2]
[h3][NEW] Inky's Splash Zone[/h3]

• 
  We have a brand new map that's incredibly interactive and breaks the boundaries of our previous designs! It's always summer at Inky's Splash Zone, always wild, and everyone is always prone to getting SOAKED. When you take down a barrier on this map, the corner without the barrier turns into a KO zone and gives your team access to a water blaster that'll knock enemies into the deep end.

[h3][NEW] Gates of Obscura[/h3]

• 
  The Gates of Obscura take us in a different direction than the fun-loving Splash Zone. Here, we'll explore the depths of the void and source of Rune's power. The portals on the map will possibly get you turned-around and upside-down, but once you master them, you can melt the brains of your enemies and dominate the map. There's crazy new angles on this map and things will get even spicier in Overtime, so keep your head on a swivel.

[h3]Maps Rotation[/h3]
Like Awakenings, we'll now rotate maps in and out on occasion to highlight new options and improve the meta.

• Rotated Out: Ahten City and Demon Dais will have their places taken by the new maps: Inky's Splash Zone and Gates of Obscura.
  
• Maps' Chance to Roll: Historically it's been completely equal, but for the first weekend, Inky's Splash Zone will have a higher chance to appear! We'll probably highlight Gates of Obscura down the road as well!
  

[h2]UI / Systems[/h2]

• 
  Recast abilities now have a slightly different icon background color when they're reactivatable. Applies to:
  
  • 
    Ai.Mi's PRIMARY
    
  • 
    Era's SPECIAL
    
  • 
    Finii's SPECIAL
    
  • 
    Rasmus's SECONDARY
    
  • 
    Vyce's SECONDARY
    
  • 
    X's STRIKE

[h2]Ranked[/h2]

• 
  It's (soft) reset time! Congratulations on your climb for this season. We hope you climbed to where you wanted and didn't tilt into oblivion. Let's see what new heights you can soar to in Season 2!
  
  • 
    Almost everyone will end up in silver or below, with the highest ranks (challenger and above) resetting to gold or platinum.

[h2]Skins/Content[/h2]
Yeah there's A LOT OF NEW SKINS. Some in the shop, some in the Striker Pass!

• 
  Summer Splash
  
  • 
    Asher
    
  • 
    Juno
    
  • 
    Estelle
    
  • 
    X
    
  • 
    Dubu
    
  • 
    Juliette
• 
  Spirit Warden Zentaro
  
  • 
    Blackheart Spirit Warden Zentaro
    
  • 
    Ghostwood Spirit Warden Zentaro
• 
  Red Rose Estelle
  
• 
  Cat Butler Kai

[h2]Striker Pass[/h2]

• 
  There's a new Striker Pass in the shop, full of tons of new goodies!
  
  • Grindable XP has been reduced by about 25% compared to the Season 1 pass
    

[h2]STRIKERS[/h2]
[h3]ALL STRIKERS[/h3]
We've seen some higher lethality overall during the early stages of matches than we'd like. We're giving strikers a bit more breathing room before the brawl becomes overwhelming.

• 
  Base Stagger :: 1125 → 1200

[h3][NEW] Kazan[/h3]
Say hello to our little frenzied enforcer. Kazan is... crazy, but he's got a soft side for family. Much like his personality, he has a wild and unique playstyle where he utilizes his umbrella in a variety of different ways - swapping forms, leaping about the map, and comboing his abilities together to be our most mechanically challenging Striker to date. He's here to lend Clarion Corp a little extra muscle in exchange for their help curing his big Sis.

• 
  PRESS THE POINT (STRIKE)
  
  • 
    Knock the Core with a LIGHT hit that has greater force generated by the point of the umbrella.
• 
  THE SLIP [SECONDARY]
  
  • 
    Dash a short distance, passing by all targets.
• 
  CARRIED AWAY [POPPED SECONDARY]
  
  • 
    Float up in the air, becoming Elusive. Elusive targets are invulnerable and untargetable.
• 
  CROOKED LEVERAGE [PRIMARY]
  
  • 
    Hook all enemies in a line towards you.
• 
  TOP SPIN [POPPED PRIMARY]
  
  • 
    LIGHTLY hit all enemies in a line, pushing them towards the top of the umbrella. The umbrella will then spin rapidly, dealing multiple LIGHT hits leading up to a final, more powerful flourish..
• 
  POP/RETRACT [SPECIAL]
  
  • 
    Pop open or Retract the umbrella, unlocking a different set of abilities per form.
    Maddening Descent: While floating from Carried Away, reactivate to dive downwards and slam all nearby enemies.
    Pop-Up: During The Slip, popping the umbrella will hit all nearby enemies and stop the dash.

[h3]Finii [/h3]
Finii is not really winiing so we're reducing her Special cooldown. While we expect this to be an overall buff, we do have bugfixes that will also make the BIG FINISH slightly more fair for opponents to play around.

• 
  BIG FINISH [SPECIAL]
  
  • 
    Cooldown :: 35s → 30s
    
  • 
    The Core now can escape Big Finish noticeably easier especially when Energy Burst is used
    
  • 
    [BUGFIX] No longer slows or vacuums enemies who are EVASIVE
    
  • 
    [BUGFIX] Finii ultimate no longer incorrectly holds on to the core when being hit with Energy Burst
    
  • 
    [BUGFIX] Implemented a likely fix to a rare bug where Finii ultimate would crash custom games.
    
    • 
      If this still occurs, please let us know.

[h3]Juno[/h3]
We're giving Juno more control over Blobbos, especially for chained hits. The commands to Blobbos have to be made within a tighter window, but Blobbos will also hold the Core for a tad longer while waiting for Juno's command.

• 
  STRIKE WITH FRIENDS (STRIKE PASSIVE)
  
  • 
    Blobbos hold time :: .15s → .25s
    
  • 
    Blobbos speed (as a % of Juno's) :: 90% → 100%
    
  • 
    Strike override (Juno's command to direct Blobbo's) linger duration :: .75s → .25s
    
  • 
    [NEW] :: Juno's Strike cooldown refreshes when a Blobbo uses Juno's strike override direction
• 
  BLOB BOUNCE [SECONDARY]
  
  • 
    [BUGFIX] Juno can now consistently strike the Core underneath her while she's jumping

[h3]Luna[/h3]
Her inventiveness has her more prepared than the average Striker to explore new maps!

• 
  B.O.O.S.T. [SECONDARY]
  
  • 
    [NEW] Now extends duration when teleporting (relevant for Gates of Obscura)

[h3]Asher[/h3]
Trying to fix more bugs on one of our more... bug prone Strikers.

• 
  [BUGFIX] Can now cast primary during her secondary without the ability cancelling
  
• 
  [BUGFIX] Primary shield has had some bug fixes to prevent the core from going through it. Again.

[h3]GEAR AND AWAKENINGS[/h3]
[h3]Hotshot[/h3]
Even with recent buffs, Hotshot is still more like warmshot. We're touching it up to really push the pace.

• 
  Core Hit amplifier :: 12% → 15%
  
• 
  [BUGFIX] Description updated to include the maximum refund amount

[h3]Momentum Boots[/h3]
Momentum Boots have been dominating the goalie gear slot for a while. By taking the Speed down a notch, they'll grant less coverage of the goal arc.

• 
  Movement Speed per Stack :: 1.75% → 1.5%
  
• 
  Max Movement Speed over 10 seconds :: 22.5% → 20%

[h3]Primetime[/h3]
The time has been prime for too long. We're taking serious swings because it was simply the best for too many characters.

• 
  Hit Amp :: 5% → 0%
  
• 
  Hit Reduction :: 0% → 10% (2% for Core)
  
• 
  Standard recast time between charges :: .5s → 1.5s
  
  • 
    Drek'Ar's recast timing is unchanged

[h3]Strike Shot[/h3]
Accidentally got shortened in 2.3, we're finally bringing it back to its previous glory.

• 
  [BUGFIX] No longer unintentionally shorter. Missile speed corrected as well.

[h3]Pummelers[/h3]

• 
  [BUGFIX] Speed buff is no longer lost when another haste effect is applied

[h3]Monumentalist [/h3]

• 
  [BUGFIX] Now correctly increases damage and knockback for:
  
  • 
    Ai.Mi special
    
  • 
    Finii Special
    
  • 
    Asher Special

[h3]Orbs[/h3]

• 
  A new set of Orb trainings can be found in Quickplay!

• 
  Ai.Mi Secondary no longer locks her out from using eject button slightly longer than intended
  
• 
  Dubu Special no longer sends the Core flying at mach 5 (it'll still go fast, but won't break the Core speed cap)
  
• 
  Rasmus's and Drek'ar's SECONDARIES are now appropriately tagged as BUFFS (previously just HASTES).
  
• 
  Heavy Impact should now work when an ability hits two friendly units
  
• 
  Tactical callouts probably work correctly now all the time. (Probably. We did some stuff and can't reproduce the bug any longer, but it may still occur. Let us know if it does.)
  
• 
  Fixed a bug that caused some players to experience some issues when entering overtime when playing in non-english languages
  
• 
  Emotes and tactical callouts should no longer get stuck above player's heads for the whole game.
  
• 
  Added missing tags on the following abilities: (gameplay unchanged)
  
  • 
    Added Melee Tag to Zentaro Special
    
  • 
    Added Buff tag to Rasmus Secondary
    
  • 
    Added buff tag to Drek'ar Secondary
• 
  Can now activate Night Market speed gates while elusive.
  
• 
  Fixed a bug causing Rasmus to lose Twin Drive benefits if his secondary was recast at the last second.
  
• 
  Kai Special now properly explodes when hitting targets at close range.
  
• 
  Fixed a rare bug that caused Juno to become stuck in her secondary.
  
• 
  Fixed a bug that caused some players to report extremely incorrect latency values, which resulted in poor server placement
  
• 
  Made some additional stability improvements to Dubu special to prevent the core from passing through it.
  
• Deadeye now correctly applies to all Secondary abilities

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Hey gang, it's your friends here at Odyssey Interactive with another micropatch for you all! As the name suggests, this patch is indeed micro! We've got some summery things in the mix on the way, so stay tuned for that!! For now. though, read these patch notes. It's required by law.

[h2]STRIKERS[/h2]
[h3]Dubu[/h3]
The boy is still dominating the net with no regard for human, or opposing giant hamster thing, life.

• 
  ROLLOUT [PRIMARY]
  
  • 
    Cooldown :: 8s → 9s

[h3]Era[/h3]
We created a new stagger grouping in the last micropatch for Kai, Juno, and Finii. Era should fit in this grouping better than the heavy weights she was previously with.

• 
  Stagger Growth over levels :: 500 → 425

[h3]Juno[/h3]
Juno doesn't excel at dishing out damage but she should excel at avoiding it. Giving her some more opportunities to be elusive.

• 
  BLOB BOUNCE [SECONDARY]
  
  • 
    Cooldown :: 10s → 9s

[h3]GEAR AND AWAKENINGS[/h3]
[h3]One-Two Punch[/h3]
One-Two Punch has notable high moments (like Juliette looking at you sideways) but despite some of its best users being great in the meta, it wasn't performing great on a whole. We're boosting its brawlin' effect a tiny bit but amping up its Core Hit a bigger bit so it can be used for goals or powerful passes too!

• 
  Hit amplifier for second hit within 2.5s :: 25% → 30%
  
• 
  Core Hit amplifier :: 5% → 15%

[h3]Rapid Fire[/h3]
Rapid Fire used to be a go-to pickup. Ole reliable. Nowadays, it's bland, overshadowed, and weaker than other options. We're bumping up the rapidity of the fire so it will get rapidly selected in drafts.

• 
  PRIMARY cooldown reduction :: 33% → 40%

[h3]Stacks on Stacks[/h3]
The pancakes withstood the previous nerf and remained one of the best pickups in the game. We're toning down the reward for stacking up once again.

• 
  Speed per Stack :: .15% → .12% (30% Speed at Max Stacks → 24%)

[h3]Twin Drive[/h3]
Charges are real powerful! We're reducing the extra sweetness of Twin Drive to make up for it. Primetime is in our sights, but it needs more extreme work. That'll be in the coming larger patch.

• 
  SECONDARY cooldown reduction :: 10% → 5%

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We're here again with a buff and surprise filled micropatch, guaranteed fun for kids of all MMRs! While we love buffs as much as the next person, some evasive characters didn't escape our grasp this time around as they've been too stronk in the upper echelons of play and DESERVE the nerf bat. That being said, we hope you all have fun out there and stay tuned for some big changes on the horizon! (New season soon?? Pausechamp?)

[h2]STRIKERS[/h2]
[h3]Finii[/h3]
She's still more trick(y to play) than magic. We're giving her a few more attempts at sleight of hand and a sturdier frame to boot so she can stay on stage.

• 
  MISDIRECTION [PRIMARY]
  
  • 
    Cooldown :: 8s → 7s
• 
  Stagger Gain Over Levels :: 375 → 425

[h3]Juno[/h3]
When it comes to brawling and lethality, it's no surprise that Juno can't hang. Though, with a little help, she might be able to take it, SURVIVE, and let the Blobbos do their work.

• 
  Stagger Gain Over Levels :: 375 → 425

[h3]Kai[/h3]
Kai used to set the pace for goalies and forwards. These days, picking Kai forward might send you a bit backward. We're giving him some buffs that will hopefully make him blaze along more freely in the midfield.

• 
  BLAZING PACE [SECONDARY]
  
  • 
    HASTE Duration :: 3s → 4s
• 
  Stagger Gain Over Levels :: 375 → 425

[h3]Vyce[/h3]
Vyce has toed the line of nerfs since her release. She's been a staple of brawling based teams and is finally getting some of her most consistent damage tuned down to a lower chord. Where does that leave her on the tier list now? B flat? Sorry. Bad joke.

• 
  POWER CHORD [PRIMARY]
  
  • 
    PvP Knockback and Damage :: 185 (+92.5% Power) → 170 (+85% Power)
    
  • 
    Core Knockback :: 1350 (+185% Power) → 1320 (+170% Power)
    
  • 
    Chaining LIGHT Hits PvP Knockback and Damage :: 120 (+60% Power) → 110 (+55% Power)
    
  • 
    Chaining LIGHT Hits Core Knockback :: 878 (+120% Power) → 858 (+110% Power)

[h3]Zentaro[/h3]
Zentaro is the most banned Striker in the high elos, in part due to his blade just being literally everywhere. We're slowing down his tirade by increasing his cooldowns. He might miss a stuffing opportunity or two now.

• 
  SLASHING STRIKE (STRIKE PASSIVE)
  
  • 
    Number of hits required :: 10 → 12
    
    • 
      (This won't show up in-game but it's there. Source: just trust me bro)
• 
  ONI'S BLADE [SPECIAL]
  
  • 
    Cooldown :: 35 → 40

[h2]GEAR / AWAKENINGS[/h2]
As a general approach, we're buffing options that are more defensive or rooted in utility and nerfing those that contribute to damage. We also eyed some outliers that were clearly out of whack!
[h3]Big Fish[/h3]
Size is a really strong stat! Both Big Fish and Built Different continue to overperform, so we're pulling back specifically their size buffs (but leaving other bonuses in the game alone).

• 
  Size Gain :: 35% → 30%

[h3]Built Different[/h3]
Size is a really strong stat! Both Big Fish and Built Different continue to overperform, so we're pulling back specifically their size buffs (but leaving other bonuses in the game alone). (I just copied and pasted this from above lol)

• 
  Size Gain :: 35% → 30%

[h3]Catalyst [/h3]
Catalyst is underperforming a little bit on average, but it does have pop-off moments for multi-hitters which didn't feel all that appropriate. So we're giving it a bit of a... burf? The offensive pop-off moments should be less egregious, but it should be much better when you're actually tanking hits. Like a LOT BETTER. Maybe even twice as good? Quick maths.

• 
  Additional Energy Gained on Hit :: 50% → 20%
  
  • 
    Energy gained on taking Hit:: 3 (1 for LIGHT hits) → 6 (2 FOR LIGHT hits)

[h3]Egoist[/h3]
Alright, we get it you egomaniacs. When you take Egoist, you want the ball and you're gonna score. This should help.

• 
  Energy Refund for Evade :: 5 → 10
  
• 
  Energy Refund for Burst :: 15 → 20

[h3]Hotshot[/h3]
As the preeminent Core Control option, it's not surprising to see Hotshot struggling when brawling is on the table. Hopefully this will be a small shift in the larger swing of tides.

• 
  Cooldown Refund :: 30% → 35%

[h3]Perfect Form [/h3]
Perfect Form performed pretty poorly even for its prime people. It should be a more-perfect form after this.

• 
  Hits reduce other ability cooldowns by :: 12% (4% for LIGHT hits) → 15% (5% for LIGHT hits)

[h3]Powerhouse Pauldrons [/h3]
Giving another buff to this Gear for goalies to deal with brawlers up in their business.

• 
  Damage Reduction :: 15% → 20%

[h3]Prize Fighter[/h3]
While Prize Fighter isn't the most popular of pick-ups, it can be very dominant when it's taken, so we're knocking it down a peg.

• 
  Power Per Stack :: 25 → 20

[h3]Extra Special[/h3]
The happy star is now a slightly more emotionally neutral star.

• 
  Cooldown reduction :: 40% → 30%

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Hey gamers, been a while! ...Okay, it's been a week. In today's micropatch, we're continuing our buff-heavy trend with a lot of Strikers who are falling just below the mark. And we're rounding that off with some Gear and Awakening changes. Again, only buffs. Because they're more fun.

[h2]STRIKERS[/h2]
[h3]Dubu[/h3]
Ok but first maybe one nerf. Dubu is the king of Dubs. He's been consistently the winningest goalie at all ranks, and now wears the crown at high level play, too. Heavy is the (proportionally smaller) head that wears the crown, so tuning him down a bump. His competitors are pretty close by, and we don't want to lower the strength of goalies too much more.

• 
  TOFU FORTRESS [SPECIAL]
  
  • 
    Cooldown :: 35s → 40s

[h3]Era[/h3]
Era is speccing into Fly mode. Allies are going to be shooting out of the gates with this buff.

• 
  FLUTTER FLY [SECONDARY]
  
  • 
    Initial Speed :: 40% → 60%
    
  • 
    Min Speed :: 10% → 15%

[h3]Finii[/h3]
Finii has some really complex magic tricks. No, seriously, she's very hard to play! Some might even say 3-star difficulty? While she has some really high highs, we are giving her some more consistent damage to... consistently contribute with.

• 
  DOUBLE TAKE [SECONDARY]
  
  • 
    Hiitbox linger lifetime :: .25s → .15s
    
  • 
    PvP Knockback and Damage :: 140 (+70% Power) → 160 (+80% Power)
    
  • 
    Core Knockback :: 1260 (+140% Power) → 1300 (+160% Power)
• 
  BIG FINISH [SPECIAL]
  
  • 
    Cooldown :: 40s → 35s
    
  • 
    PvP Knockback and Damage :: 180 (+90% Power) → 200 (+100% Power)
    
  • 
    Core Knockback :: Unchanged

[h3]Rune[/h3]
Speaking of tricky tricks and difficulty: Rune has also struggled for a long time to get a foothold. While there are definitely Rune masters, they are few and far between. For this set of buffs, we're bringing up his Core controlling potential.

• 
  UNSTABLE ANOMALY [PRIMARY]
  
  • 
    Cooldown :: 7.5s → 7s
    
  • 
    Fully formed duration :: 1.5s → 1.75s

[h3]Octavia[/h3]
Octavia is still the least favored twin (among players. We have no data to suggest which of the two are the parents' favorite). We're giving her a tiny buff that'll help give her more pressure and bridge the gap for Flow State.

• 
  SONIC BOOM [PRIMARY]
  
  • 
    Cooldown :: 8s → 7.5s

[h3]X[/h3]
X was the best. Now he's the rest. As in, he's RESTing on the sidelines behind all the other bruisers. We're letting him ring some following the last micropatch. Ding ding ding!

• 
  BELL RINGER [PRIMARY]
  
  • 
    PvP Knockback and Damage :: 185 (+92.5% Power) → 200 (+100% Power)
    
  • 
    Core Knockback :: 1350 (+185% Power) → 1380 (+200% Power)

[h3]Zentaro[/h3]
The blade has been studied. The mastery is complete. Zentaro has sliced and diced competition on every map and in every way imaginable. It's time we dulled his sword. (Don't say we didn't warn you last patch!)

• 
  IAI RUSH [SECONDARY]
  
  • 
    Cooldown :: 16s → 18s
    
  • 
    PvP Knockback and Damage :: 180 (+90% Power) → 160 (+80% Power)
    
  • 
    Core Knockback :: 1340 (+180% Power) → 1300 (+160% Power)

[h2]GEAR AND AWAKENINGS [/h2]
For this round, no rotations! Just simple, old-fashioned, good-natured, well-meaning buffs. The options below were underperforming, so we're giving them slight nudges in the right direction. The buffed direction.

• 
  Powerhouse Pauldrons
  
  • 
    Power :: 20 → 30
• 
  Egoist
  
  • 
    Lingering Haste :: 5% → 10%
• 
  Fire Up!
  
  • 
    Energy Share Percent :: 15% → 25%
• 
  Hot Shot
  
  • 
    Core hit amplifier :: 10% → 12%

Hello gang! It's about that time of the week again: micropatch day. We're only making a couple tweaks today, adjusting just two characters and some awakening adjustments (rip sparks). Let us BEGIN.

[h2]STRIKERS[/h2]
[h3]Atlas[/h3]
Atlas should be a great pick against brawl-heavy teams, but he still seems to be falling behind competitors, even when his stars align. To help with that, we've giving his heal more... heal?

• 
  Celestial Intervention [SPECIAL]
  
  • 
    Percent of max Stagger healed per second :: 10% → 15%

[h3]Juliette[/h3]
Juliette has been an incredibly strong choice since *checks notes* ...forever. She also happens to dominate at high levels of play AND for the average player, so we're setting our sights on her before Rasmus and Zentaro, who are only problematic in the uppermost echelons. Yeah, that's right you two, we're watching you.

• 
  Flame Flurry [SPECIAL]
  
  • 
    Cooldown :: 30s → 35s

[h2]AWAKENING BALANCE AND ROTATION[/h2]
All aboard!! Last call to Sparkington City! Sparkington Express is shutting down for Summer break (terrible timing if you were waiting for a Sparkington Summer) but, as with all rotated Awakenings, it may be back in one form or another. Which is exactly what we're doing with some old friends of yours this patch! Most of them are just as you remember, but Stagger Swagger splurged and got a bit of a makeover. Hopefully you dig the new look!

[h3]Rotated Out: Sparkington City (Spark of Focus, Strength, Resilience, and Agility)[/h3]

[h3]Rotated In: Perfect Form, One-Two Punch, Stagger Swagger, Prize Fighter[/h3]

[h3]Stagger Swagger[/h3]
A fresh new, more consistently defensive look for an old friend.

• 
  Base Speed :: 2% → 8%
  
• 
  Enhanced (below 50% Stagger) Speed :: 40% → 20%
  
• 
  Healing :: 100 Stagger per second → 150 Stagger per second

[h3]Deadeye[/h3]
It's still deadeye, just maybe less dead.

• 
  Hit units over 600 Range harder :: 35% → 30%

[h3]Glass Cannon[/h3]
Because it can be shut down by opponents, Glass Cannon has a bit of additional power baked in compared to other awawkenings. It's just quite a troublesome task to actually shut it down, and we've seen it overperforming for a while, so it's getting a slight bump down.

• 
  Speed :: 5% (20% max after not being hit for 10 seconds) → 4% (16% max)
  
• 
  Power :: 10 (40 max) → 8 (32 max)

[h3]Orb Ponderer[/h3]
The Orb enhancing Awakenings are sitting close to where we want them. Decent on most maps, excellent in Ahten City. Ponderer was part of the pack that wasn't quite living up to expectations, though, so we've given it a boost!

• 
  Active Cooldown Reduction :: 20% (40% when fully stacked) → 25% (45% when fully stacked)

[h3]Peak Performance[/h3]
Move over Sparkington City. Staggerton Suburb is the new destination of choice. While most of the Stagger options are adding some heft, Peak Performance is losing a bit of the speed because it was already a dominant selection.

• 
  Stagger :: 250 → 300
  
• 
  Percent of Speed per 100 max Stagger :: 7% → 5%

[h3]Bulk Up[/h3]

• 
  Max Stagger :: 250 → 300

[h3]Reverberation[/h3]

• 
  Max Stagger :: 250 → 300

[h3]Quick Strikes[/h3]
Quick Strikes has mostly felt like a niche X pick so we're making it stronger and making it play real nice with other Energy Awakenings.

• 
  Energy bonus for strikes :: 1 → 2

[h2]Matchmaking Adjustments[/h2]
We recently upgraded our matchmaking tools to let us fine tune our matchmaking system to a more precise extent.

Using these new tools, we're rolling out some new matchmaking systems to NA, EU, and JP servers first as a trial to see how it performs on a larger scale.

We'll be looking to eventually use these new tools to improve the matchmaking experience in other regions as well. However, due to regional differences, the changes on other servers will likely be different from the changes below.

To better suit the variety of ranks on the ladder, this system will differ depending on the ranks.
Here's a rough breakdown of what we expect to see per rank:

Omega+: The matchmaker will wait longer before matching into players below challenger, and generally make it much less likely to match with diamonds and below.

Challenger: The matchmaker will create fewer lobbies with both Omegas and Diamonds. Instead it will create more lobbies with only Challenger+Omega or Challenger+Diamond. It should also be less likely to match with players below diamond. Queue times on average should be slightly higher as a result.

Diamond: Similar to challenger, there will be fewer lobbies with both Challenger and Platinum, with more matches dedicated to Diamond + Plat only or Diamond + Challenger only. It should also be less likely to match into players below Platinum. As a result, high and mid-diamond queue times will be slightly longer.

Platinum: There should be fewer games with players from three different ranked tiers. Queue times should be roughly the same.

Gold and below: Matchmaking will take slightly longer to find matches as it will spend more time looking for players near your rank.

TL;DR: Matchmaker will take a bit longer to find games, but there should be fewer lobbies with high rank disparity.