Rivals of Aether II News

[p]Super small hotfix to fix a couple bugs in our recent update:[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Bugfix: Fixed a bug that made her location shift incorrectly when performing a ledge jump.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Bugfix: Fixed her Forward Special fall animation. [/p]

[p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Bugfix: Down Throw now ignores weight.[/p]

[p][/p]

[p]Heroes from across time return in the new Aether Legends Resurgence event for 2026! This year we're imagining some Rivals as they'd be if they had chosen a different path. See the legends in the flesh in our latest event trailer featuring Apprentice Absa, Smoke Clan Ranno, and Sylvan Acolyte Maypul:[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]The paid bundle includes 2 new Aether Legend skins - Apprentice Absa and Smoke Clan Ranno, both with their own icon. As we’re down 1 skin and icon this bundle, we’ve gone ahead and added even more Aether Coins & Aether Bucks! The free event track includes the Sylvan Acolyte Maypul skin and icon, the Armada Fighter Platform, Smoke Clan Ranno emote, Rangersplosion death effect, plus coins & bucks! [/p][p][/p][p]Players equipping any event skins above, and any of the following skins will receive 20% Bonus XP on the event track: Ranger Clairen, Ranger Fleet, and Demigod Orcane. All of these skins have been added to the Featured Store for Aether Coins.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Additional Information on monthly bundle content: As mentioned above, this month's paid bundle only includes two skins instead of the usual three. Since we’ve recently had to reduce our studio team size, our monthly updates (except for character releases) are planned to feature just 2 characters per paid event bundle going forward. To keep the value the same for our players who like to purchase these, the Aether Bucks and coins included have been increased to help make up for the missing skin. That means you're still getting the best bang for your buck if you want to buy them as a bundle. As always, you can still buy the skins individually for the same price as usual in the Buck shop.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]New Launch Option Popup[/h2][p]We added this yesterday in an unannounced hotfix, but still wanted to note that the game now has a popup launch option that allows you to easily pick between using DirectX 11 or DirectX 12. We recently introduced optimization improvements with DirectX 12 so it is our recommended option, but if you're experiencing problems please try DirectX 11 as well. [/p][p][/p][p]If you're experiencing EXTREMELY long load times on DirectX 12, but want to stay on DirectX 12 to keep access to the shader caching feature, try deleting your cache following these instructions:[/p]

1. [p]Close the game and navigate to your local app data files for Rivals 2. The easiest way to do this is to press "Windows + R" to open the run dialogue, then paste "%localappdata%/Rivals2/Saved" into the "Open:" field and press "OK".[/p]
2. [p]Select and delete these 4 files that have 'CACHE File' in the type.[/p]
   1. [p][/p]
3. [p]Reopen Rivals 2 with the DirectX 12 launch option, and hopefully the new cache files that are built will allow you to have a more usual load time.[/p]
4. [p]Note: These shader caches are only used if you choose the DirectX 12 launch option, so deleting these caches is not applicable if you intend to play on DirectX 11. [/p]

[p][/p][h2]New Shop Items[/h2][p]Here's the new palettes and icons included in this patch:[/p]

• [p]Midnight Abyss La Reina Palette[/p]

• [p]Brown Orcane Palette[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Tactical Ranger Clairen Palette[/p]

• [p]Tactical Ranger Fleet Palette[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Vanbard Icon[/p]
• [p]Billsworth Icon[/p]
• [p]Blazeen Icon[/p]
• [p]Flython Icon[/p]
• [p]Pinepurr Icon[/p]
• [p]Magmotter Icon[/p]
• [p]Vibe Cai Icon[/p]
• [p]Badger Co Logo Icon[/p]
• [p]Vibe Miner Icon[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]New Ranked Shop Items[/h2][p]Champion Absa has been added to the Ranked Shop! This includes a skin, two emotes, and two icons for the Storm Architect.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Audio Updates[/h2][p]Mecha Absa[/p]

• [p]Absa installed a new module in her mech's cloud and it can now play Moonsailor's track "I will shine" when you hold her default taunt! In case you forgot, this is the theme for the 2025 Mecha Madness Event Trailer sang by Absa's voice-actress herself![/p]

[p]Maypul[/p]

• [p]Maypul has new voice-lines for her pummel and ledge special. As well as new taunt lines for pirate and birder skins. You got this, Terry![/p]

[p]Zetterburn[/p]

• [p]Zetterburn now has a custom taunt 2 SFX![/p]

[p]Etalus[/p]

• [p]Etalus now has a custom taunt 2 SFX![/p]

[p]Samurai Clairen[/p]

• [p]BUG FIX: Samurai Clairen's VO now correctly responds to the VO fader setting instead of the SFX fader.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][h2]Gameplay Changes[/h2][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Suppress dash attack is now enabled on the default control scheme.[/p]
  • [p]This feature helps newer players get the inputs they want, so we want to make sure they have this feature turned on without having to change any settings. This does not change any settings on existing tags.[/p]
• [p]Air dodges and attacks that set your vertical velocity to a specific value will now cancel all vertical knockback velocity.[/p]
  • [p]This prevents some weird momentum quirks when performing an attack after hitstun, especially if the hit had a low hitstun multiplier.[/p]
• [p]Characters that have used up their wall cling resource will now walljump when doing wall cling inputs.[/p]
  • [p]This makes the input consistent regardless of your wall cling resource status.[/p]
• [p]Characters in parry stun can no longer be pushed by other players.[/p]
  • [p]This prevents them from being pushed off ledges by forward-moving attacks, which would cancel the parry stun.[/p]
• [p]Shield Break will now freeze your ECB bottom for 60 frames.[/p]
  • [p]Previously, it was inconsistent whether a character would land on a platform at the peak of the shield break launch arc, since their animation might move their ECB bottom upward. Now every character will behave the same at the peak, so you can always know whether they will land on a platform or not.[/p]
• [p]Ledge Attack, Ledge Special, Ledge Jump, and Ledge Roll now all use a 3 frame buffer instead of the full 6 frame buffer[/p]
  • [p]This is intended to reduce the number of accidentally buffered ledge actions. Ledge Drop inputs are intentionally excluded, and all inputs performed between the ledge drop input and the actual ledge drop will still be buffered afterward with the full 6 frame buffer.[/p]
• [p]Attacks can now specify a ledge grab frame that occurs after their IASA frame.[/p]
  • [p]There were too many aerials that could be performed after a ledge drop double jump and still grab ledge afterward with a generous window, so we've made it possible to prevent them from grabbing ledge without needing to add extra recovery to them. This has been widely applied across the cast, both to prevent the ledge grab entirely or to tighten the window where it's possible.[/p]
• [p]Grabbed characters will now have at least as much armor as the grabbing player.[/p]
  • [p]This prevents opponents from being hit out of armored throws, like La Reina's command grabs.[/p]
• [p]Grabbed Escape states are now intangible for their full duration.[/p]
  • [p]This prevents the grabbing player's teammates from getting guaranteed punishes on the grabbed player once they are released from a grab, whether from waiting too long or from breaking a pummel.[/p]
• [p]All throws will now prevent SDI for the thrown player.[/p]
  • [p]Previously, this only applied to standard throws, while most other throws were given x0 SDI multipliers to emulate the same behavior. However, this made non-grabbed players hit by the move also unable to SDI it, so this fix makes it properly prevent SDI for only the grabbed player. This also buffs all of La Reina's command grabs, since they were previously SDIable.[/p]
• [p]Maximum vertical distance for grabs: 200 > 150[/p]
  • [p]This makes it less likely to grab someone far above/below you.[/p]
• [p]Chaingrab protection is now removed when bouncing off a wall or ceiling after missing the tech.[/p]
  • [p]This increases the punishment for missing a wall/ceiling tech, especially when fighting Kragg, due to his pillar and cargo throws.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug that caused characters to teleport through the stage when released from certain grabs[/p]
  • [p]For example, if La Reina grabbed Orcane with Down Air on Air Armada close to the ground, but then got interrupted by a bubble, Orcane could be teleported below the stage.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p] For Zetterburn, we want to focus on a few of his aerials that do a bit too much regardless of which hitbox he lands. We're also increasing his hitstun gravity to emphasize his comboability as a weakness.[/p]

• [p]Hitstun gravity: 1.4 > 1.5[/p]
  • [p]In order to offset his offensive strengths, we're making him get comboed a bit harder than he previously did at mid percents and higher.[/p]
• [p]Uncharged Neutral Special knockback: 7 + 0.15 > 7 + 0.075[/p]
  • [p]This makes it knock opponents down at much later percents than it did previously.[/p]
• [p]Forward Tilt hit 1 knockback: 4.5 + 0.825 > 4.5 + 0.35[/p]
  • [p]This makes it less effective when trading with opponent attacks.[/p]
• [p]Forward Tilt hit 2 active frames: 3 > 2, recovery adjusted to keep the same IASA frame[/p]
• [p]Forward Tilt hit 2 animation changed so that his arms stay in front of him for the active frames[/p]
  • [p]This reduces the disjoint on this move significantly, making it worse at contesting space.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 12 > 21[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery: 20 > 25[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 20 > 27[/p]
  • [p]This move was still doing a bit too much, even without needing to land, so we're adding some more recovery.[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery: 15 > 16[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 15 > 22[/p]
• [p]Up Air recovery: 17 > 21[/p]
  • [p]This makes it more committal in the air and reduces its combo potential when not landing.[/p]
• [p]Up Air sweetspot knockback: 8 + 0.8 > 6 + 0.95[/p]
  • [p]This makes it weaker until around 111%[/p]
• [p]Up Air chest hitbox knockback angle: 50 > 45[/p]
  • [p]This makes DI away more effective against this move[/p]
• [p]Up Air chest hitbox radius: 30 > 45, moved 15cm upward[/p]
  • [p]This makes Zetterburn have to space the move more precisely to get the more rewarding knockback of the arm sourspots.[/p]
• [p]Up Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 21 > 26[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Neutral Special recovery window ledge grab frame: 16 > 23[/p]

• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 11 > 20[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 24 > 32[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 16 > 23[/p]
• [p]Up Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 16 > 22[/p]
• [p]Down Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 15 > 23[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Wrastor can now perform tilt cancels with Strong inputs[/p]

• [p]Tilts can now jump cancel when hitting any object, not just players[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug where hitting an opponent with Forward Special's projectile while another slipstream is already active would give the extended active time to the old slipstream instead of the new one[/p]
• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 21 > 26[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 20 > 25[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 19 > 21[/p]
• [p]Up Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 21 > 32[/p]
• [p]Down Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 16 > 28[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The combination of Kragg's extreme weight and the speed/versatility of his recovery tools make him unreasonably resistant to being KOd. The main goal of these changes is to nerf the speed of his non-pillar recovery options, since they previously made it too easy to quickly climb a wall to potentially reverse an edgeguard situation on the opponent. We also want to differentiate pillarless Up Special and Forward Special cancel, since they were previously too functionally similar.[/p]

• [p]Ledge drop vertical offset from ledge: -170 > -220[/p]
  • [p]Previously, he would end up very high up relative to the ledge when letting go of it. This change makes his ledge drop aerials also gain less height.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Forward Special cancel horizontal speed boost: 10 > 13.5[/p]
• [p]Forward Special cancel additional horizontal speed boost based on joystick position: 10 > 2[/p]
• [p]Forward Special cancel air friction: 0.11 (default) > 0.2[/p]
• [p]Forward Special cancel air acceleration: 0.75 (default) > 0.35[/p]
  • [p]This reduces the maximum speed boost while also making Kragg commit more to his forward movement. The increased air friction makes Kragg lose speed faster, effectively reducing the horizontal range of this move at long distances.[/p]
• [p]Forward Special cancel vertical speed boost: 28.3 > 16.7[/p]
• [p]Forward Special cancel gravity: 1.7 (default) > 0.6[/p]
• [p]Forward Special cancel walljump frame: 16 > 20[/p]
  • [p]This makes Kragg stall at the peak of the hop for longer before being able to grab ledge or walljump, while retaining the vertical distance of the move. In combination with the horizontal velocity changes, this makes Kragg cover slightly more horizontal distance than before once he reaches the peak of the hop, although it takes longer to reach that point.[/p]
• [p]Forward Special's knockback reduction will now be less effective against vertical attacks[/p]
  • [p]Previously, an attack that sent straight upward would deal no knockback to Kragg's Forward Special, while a move that sent straight horizontal would deal full knockback. Now, horizontal moves will still deal full knockback, but vertical moves will only have their knockback strength reduced by half. This makes it so all moves will knock Kragg back at least a little bit.[/p]
• [p]Up Special now reduces horizontal speed by 50% on startup and no longer gives an extra boost when pillar is not available[/p]
• [p]Up Special startup air friction: 0.11 (Default) > 0[/p]
  • [p]Up Special is Kragg's fastest way to grab ledge, so now the horizontal distance at which it can grab ledge is significantly reduced. This also makes pillar's spawn location more predictable when using it offensively.[/p]
• [p]Up Special Special Fall Start gravity for the first 10 frames: 1.7 (default) > 0.6[/p]
• [p]Up Special Special Fall Start walljump frame: 0 > 10[/p]
  • [p]This makes Kragg stall at the peak of the hop for longer before being able to grab ledge or walljump, while also gaining an extra 20cm in height to make up for the shortened horizontal distance and further differentiate it from Forward Special cancel.[/p]
• [p]Pillar now has a hitbox along the top that reaches 30cm higher than the other hitboxes and can only hit grounded opponents[/p]
  • [p]Previously, pillar could lift opponents up without hitting them if their ECB was much lower than their hurtboxes. This change should make those types of scenarios much less common.[/p]
• [p]Pillar knockback on aerial opponents: 9 + 0 > 12 + 0[/p]
• [p]Pillar hitstun multiplier on aerial opponents: 0.82 > 0.62[/p]
  • [p]This prevents opponents from landing on the pillar, while keeping the total hitstun the same as before[/p]
• [p]Characters can no longer fastfall after the pillar breaks under them and sends them into the Pillar Fall state.[/p]
  • [p]This gives the player who broke the pillar more time to punish their opponent before they can land, walljump, or grab ledge.[/p]
• [p]Neutral Cargo Throw knockback: 9 + 0.25 > 9 + 0.35[/p]
  • [p]This makes it send opponents farther at high percents, reducing its combo potential at high percents.[/p]
• [p]Aerial Down Special knockback: 5 + 0.6 > 5 + 0.5[/p]
  • [p]This move was a bit too powerful for how many ways Kragg has to set up into it, so we're toning down the knockback so it won't outright KO opponents until slightly later percents.[/p]
• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 12 > 19[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 20 > 24[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 16 > 21[/p]
• [p]Down Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 21 > 26[/p]
• [p]Overhead HUD vertical offset: 50 > 75[/p]
  • [p]This makes it block less of Kragg's body[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 25 > 32[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 23 > 28[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 27 > 30[/p]
• [p]Up Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 25 > 32[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 15 > 20[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 19 > 26[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 12 > 20[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 17 > 25[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 24 > 29[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 23 > 30[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Ledge drop vertical offset from ledge: -170 > -200[/p]
  • [p]Previously, he would end up very high up relative to the ledge when letting go of it. This change makes his ledge drop aerials also gain less height.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug where Up Special would get launched into the top blastzone when breaking pillar with the rising hit at specific spacings.[/p]
• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 22 > 28[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 24 > 34[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 26 > 32[/p]
• [p]Up Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 23 > 30[/p]
• [p]Down Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 20 > 29[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Grab lowest hitbox moved backward 20cm[/p]

• [p]This helps it to cover a blindspot against short characters who are overlapping Orcane[/p]

• [p]Forward Special is now projectile intangible while traveling[/p]
  • [p]This helps Orcane get around projectiles offstage with good timing.[/p]
• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 16 > 24[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 16 > 23[/p]
• [p]Down Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 15 > 24[/p]
• [p]Up Throw bubble max initial horizontal velocity: 3.4 > 2.5[/p]
• [p]Up Throw bubble initial horizontal velocity is now determined by their spawn location instead of being random.[/p]
  • [p]This means that bubbles spawned on the far left side of the spawn area will have leftward initial horizontal velocity.[/p]
• [p]Upward bubbles horizontal velocity is now capped at 7 cm/frame[/p]
• [p]Upward bubbles maximum horizontal velocity change: 0.33 > 0.12[/p]
• [p]Upward bubbles will now change their horizontal velocity 25% as much as before[/p]
  • [p]This significantly reduces the randomness of Up Throw's bubbles, as well as Down Special's bubbles to a lesser extent. Up Throw will now be much more consistent against most characters (thinner characters like Absa will still be a bit unreliable, though)[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Smoke clouds will now be destroyed when coming into contact with grab boxes[/p]
  • [p]This works with both regular grabs and command grabs, allowing characters like La Reina to clear out smoke clouds with their recovery moves.[/p]

• [p]Down Strong hitbox radius: 50 > 35, horizontal and downward range preserved[/p]
  • [p]This makes it reach much less high upward, reducing its anti-air potential.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 16 > 25[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 14 > 25[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 12 > 18[/p]
• [p]Up Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 20 > 28[/p]
• [p]Down Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 21 > 27[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Forsburn will no longer command his clone when pressing Grab/Parry on the ground while the Air Grab/Parry setting is set to Special/Nspecial[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Dash Attack has a new sound effect.[/p]

• [p]Dash Attack back hitbox radius shrunk by 10cm and moved 10cm down[/p]
  • [p]This makes it reach as far upward as the front hitbox, making this move more susceptible to attacks from above[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 8 > 12[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 17 > 25[/p]
• [p]Up Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 24 > 27[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Our main goal with Olympia is to increase the precision required to take advantage of her strengths, which we achieve by decreasing her horizontal air movement properties, shrinking some of her hitboxes, and adding a sourspot to her most oppressive option: Down Tilt. We're also adding some counterplay to her most consistent finisher, Up Special, by making it inversely disjointed. We also wanted to address the fact that landing Forward Special on an opponent while recovering was often worse than whiffing with it.[/p]

• [p]Maximum horizontal jump speed: 15 > 12.5[/p]
• [p]Maximum horizontal air speed: 14.16 > 12[/p]
• [p]Maximum double jump horizontal speed: 13 > 12[/p]
  • [p]Previously, Olympia could cover a bit too much horizontal distance in the air, considering her extremely high vertical movement stats, which often made it too easy to follow up on certain combo moves, even with full DI out. These changes slightly reduce the horizontal distance Olympia can cover after jumping, making her aerial threat range a bit shorter. The effective distance reduction is relatively small, but gets more pronounced the longer Olympia remains at her max air speed.[/p]
• [p]Gem Dash hit crystal knockback: 6.5 + 0.4 > 4.5 + 0.55[/p]
  • [p]This reduces the knockback at low percents so that it sends opponents into heavy hitstun at higher percents.[/p]
• [p]Gem Dash will no longer create a hitbox when reaching the gem if the gem is broken when she reaches it.[/p]
  • [p]This allows opponents to prevent the final hit by breaking the gem.[/p]
• [p]Forward Special will now instantly slam the opponent into a wall if touching the wall after frame 24 of the On Hit Leap window[/p]
  • [p]Previously, Olympia would lose significant height if she hit an opponent with Forward Special while recovering compared to if she whiffed, since she would fall so far with the opponent. Now, she will slam the opponent much earlier, causing her to gain a little bit of height compared to a whiff instead.[/p]
• [p]Forward Special will now restore her Down Special dash cancel resource when grabbing an opponent or her gem.[/p]
  • [p]This allows her to make it back to the wall a bit easier when using this move far offstage.[/p]
• [p]Forward Special slam knockback: 4.875 + 0.675 > 4.875 + 0.8[/p]
  • [p]Slightly more scaling so that DI away is more effective at high percents.[/p]
• [p]Up Special now has a hurtbox during the multihits that fully covers the hitbox.[/p]
  • [p]This makes the move inversely disjointed while rising.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Up Special final hit inner hitbox radius: 75 > 60, moved upward and backward to preserve previous range[/p]
  • [p]This reduces the downward disjoint of the move, making it less likely to beat other recovery moves from above.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Down Special cancel recovery air friction: 2.0 > 1.6[/p]
  • [p]This counteracts the reduced air mobility to make sure her Down Special cancel reaches approximately the same distance when double jumping afterward.[/p]
• [p]Up Tilt outer hitbox radius reduced by 5cm[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Down Tilt now has 3 smaller hitboxes instead of 2 larger ones[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Down Tilt middle hitbox knockback angle: 75 > 65[/p]
• [p]Down Tilt outer hitbox knockback angle: 75 > 55[/p]
• [p]Down Tilt active frames 3 > 2, recovery adjusted to keep the same IASA frame[/p]
  • [p]This makes the move require more precision, since the hitboxes are smaller and less active. The knockback angle changes make it slightly less rewarding when the opponent is farther away from Olympia. The inner hitboxes have priority over the outer hitboxes.[/p]
• [p]Neutral Air both hits: foot hitbox shrunk and pulled backward slightly[/p]
  • [p][/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Neutral Air hit 2 active frames: 7 > 4, recovery adjusted to keep the same IASA frame[/p]
  • [p]This reduces the range and active frames by a bit so that it's not as good at walling opponents out or winning trades.[/p]
• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 17 > 20[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 20 > 25[/p]
• [p]Back Air all hitboxes: radius reduced by 5cm[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 12 > 18[/p]
• [p]Up Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 18 > 23[/p]
• [p]Up Air foot hitbox radius reduced by 5cm during the middle active frames[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Down Air landing lag: 12 > 14[/p]
  • [p]This makes the move slightly less safe on shield/whiff.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Our main goals with Absa in this patch are to emphasize her weaknesses as a floaty, tone down her offstage stalling with Neutral Special, and improve the consistency of some of her grounded moves. We're also giving Forward Tilt a few small changes to reduce its potency in scramble situations, make its reward more dependent on spacing, and to improve the intentionality of Forward Tilt part 2 inputs.[/p]

• [p]Fast fall speed: 28.4 > 23[/p]
  • [p]One of the main weaknesses of floaty characters is their inability to quickly get back to the ground. Absa's fast fall speed was relatively high compared to how floaty she normally is, which offset that weakness a bit too much. We're now decreasing it so that it's the slowest in the game, since her normal fall speed is also the slowest in the game. Gravity jump (fastfalling and double jumping at the same time) is unaffected.[/p]
• [p]Airdodge Speed: 30 > 28.5[/p]
  • [p]Still the highest airdodge speed in the game, but this makes her wavedash cover slightly less distance overall (around 13cm on the actionable frame and 24cm for a full distance wavedash), decreasing her grounded burst movement range.[/p]
• [p]Cloud will now attach to static-electrified opponents who are in the Thrown state.[/p]
  • [p]This prevents a situation where Absa would Down Throw an opponent after special pummeling them, but Ledge Special's moving cloud would pass right through them.[/p]
• [p]Neutral Special cloud hop will now only get half of the velocity boost for every usage after the first.[/p]
• [p]Neutral Special cooldown after cloud pop: 30 > 45[/p]
  • [p]Cloud hop was a bit too good at stalling, so we're making it less effective when used multiple times per airtime and increasing the time between successive hops.[/p]
• [p]Forward Special will now go on a 20 frame cooldown after cloud pop[/p]
  • [p]This reduces the frequency at which Absa can send clouds at opponents, especially when they're offstage.[/p]
• [p]Forward Special cloud acceleration: 1.4 > 1.25[/p]
  • [p]Very slight reduction in cloud acceleration so that sniping opponents after kicking them almost to the blastzone is more strict. Short range clouds are mostly the same, while long range clouds will take a bit longer to cover the same distance as before.[/p]
• [p]Up Special can no longer perform the 2nd zip if Absa gets parried before the first one ends.[/p]
  • [p]This makes parry stronger counterplay to Up Special, since Absa won't be able to escape to ledge to cancel the parry stun.[/p]
• [p]Forward Tilt 1 startup: 7 > 8[/p]
  • [p]This makes it slightly worse in close-range scrapping situations.[/p]
• [p]Forward Tilt 1 now has a sourspot on the tip with knockback angle: 70 > 60[/p]
  • [p]This makes max-range Forward Tilt less punishing on suboptimal DI, although fully inward DI will still be horrible.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Forward Tilt will now only perform the 2nd part if your attack input is in the direction you're facing.[/p]
  • [p]This means that Absa can buffer a backward Forward Tilt 1 after Forward Tilt 1 without doing Forward Tilt 2 in the opposite direction of their input.[/p]
• [p]Up Tilt's early hit now has an extra hitbox at the bottom.[/p]
  • [p]This increases the horizontal range of the low part of the hitbox, allowing Absa to more effectively hit opponents right next to her.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Forward Strong and Up Strong multihits now move the opponent during hitpause to guarantee they link into the final hit[/p]
  • [p]These moves were a bit too inconsistent, leading to most Absas just avoiding them entirely. Forward Strong is weak enough and Up Strong slow enough that we're just making them fully consistent.[/p]
• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 18 > 35[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 22 > 30[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 24 > 32[/p]
• [p]Up Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 33 > 38[/p]
• [p]Down Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 25 > 32[/p]
• [p]Down Throw now forces tumble at 0%[/p]
  • [p]This makes it consistently put opponents into knockdown, making it more useful for setting up low percent tech chases.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Increased the size of most of his hurtboxes[/p]
• [p]Added a new hurtbox to the middle of his torso and the middle of his tail[/p]
  • [p]This should make his hurtboxes match his model better without making them too much of a liability.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Some tail hurtboxes are now vulnerable during the active frames of Forward Tilt, Down Tilt, Neutral Air, and Up Air[/p]
  • [p][/p]
  • [p][/p]
  • [p][/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Ledge drop vertical offset from ledge: -170 > -185[/p]
  • [p]Previously, he would end up very high up relative to the ledge when letting go of it. This change makes his ledge drop aerials also gain less height.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Neutral Special knockback: 6.8 + 0.25 > 6.5 + 0.2[/p]
  • [p]This makes it knock opponents down much later (~60% > ~90%)[/p]
• [p]All hits of Forward Special now ignore knockback armor.[/p]
  • [p]Knockback armor prevents weak hits from interrupting strong hits for 10 frames after they connect. This could sometimes lead to Forward Special failing to link on opponents if they were just hit by something else, like Neutral Special's magnet when it's returning to Galvan.[/p]
• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 16 > 21[/p]
• [p]Forward Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 15 > 23[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 11 > 15[/p]
• [p]Up Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 18 > 26[/p]

[p][/p][p]
[/p][p]With this patch, we wanted to give La Reina a few small quality of life buffs, such as increasing her chair's resistance to getting knocked offstage by projectiles, giving her grab aerials a few more active frames, and making Up Strong a little better at hitting opponents on platforms above her. We're also reworking her Down Throw, since the situations it was creating weren't very interesting.[/p]

• [p]Walljump horizontal speed: 15.5 > 13[/p]
  • [p]This allows her to hit Kragg's pillar with both Neutral Air and Back Air after walljumping off of it[/p]
• [p]Ledge drop vertical offset from ledge: -170 > -220[/p]
  • [p]Previously, she would end up very high up relative to the ledge when letting go of it. This change makes her ledge drop aerials also gain less height.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Hitting another player will now bring your chair off cooldown.[/p]
  • [p]This allows her to play offensively to save her chair after it gets knocked offstage. It also enables more combos with her chair.[/p]
• [p]Attacks that deal no knockback will no longer knock the chair back.[/p]
  • [p]This makes Maypul seed no longer put chair on a cooldown on hit.[/p]
• [p]Minimum knockback when an article hits the chair: 26 > 13[/p]
  • [p]This makes weak projectiles much worse at repositioning the chair[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Neutral Special's Chair will now go on cooldown after being parried[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Chair will go on cooldown after being destroyed by Clairen's plasma field[/p]
• [p]Up Special now falls slower for 10 frames after reaching the peak of the trajectory[/p]
  • [p]This allows La Reina to stay at the top for longer, making this move a little bit harder to ledgehog.[/p]
• [p]Up Special's lowest hitbox can now only hit grounded opponents[/p]
  • [p]This hitbox is only there so that this move doesn't whiff on grounded opponents, but it was also grabbing airborne opponents below La Reina.[/p]
• [p]Down Special vertical speed boost: 17 > 18[/p]
  • [p]This allows her to buffer a Neutral Air to hit the chair after placing it while grounded.[/p]
• [p]Down Special roll's horizontal knockback will now always be in the direction that La Reina is moving.[/p]
  • [p]This makes the knockback more consistent and predictable, which can be useful when rolling into the chair offstage.[/p]
• [p]Offstage platforms will now be summoned at a consistent height relative to the stage floor instead of the bottom blastzone[/p]
  • [p]Previously, the platform would be lower on stages with deep bottom blastzones (i.e. Fire Capital) and higher on stages with shallow bottom blastzones (i.e. Tempest Peak)[/p]
• [p]Throws that can summon the offstage platform will now go into the grab release state if the opponent breaks free for any reason while you're falling.[/p]
  • [p]Previously, La Reina would end up falling down into the blastzone, since the platform would never rise up to catch her.[/p]
• [p]Up Strong hand hitbox radius: 55 > 65[/p]
  • [p]This makes it better at grabbing opponents on platforms above La Reina.[/p]
  • [p][/p]
• [p]Down Strong sourspot knockback: 6 + 0.85 @ 50 > 6 + 0.9 @ 45[/p]
  • [p]This makes it slightly less punishing to miss the sweetspot, since it will send opponents farther and at a lower angle.[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Neutral Air now has a swipe sound[/p]
• [p]Neutral Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 9 > 12[/p]
• [p]Forward Air active frames: 2 > 3, recovery adjusted to keep the same IASA frame[/p]
• [p]Back Air active frames: 3 > 5, recovery adjusted to keep the same IASA frame[/p]
• [p]Back Air recovery window ledge grab frame: 20 > 27[/p]
• [p]Up Air active frames: 3 > 5, recovery adjusted to keep the same IASA frame[/p]
• [p]Down Air active frames: 2 > 4, frames between hits adjusted to keep the same IASA frame[/p]
  • [p]This makes landing these moves a bit more forgiving[/p]
• [p]Down Throw startup: 25 > 22[/p]
• [p]Down Throw recovery: 22 > 24[/p]
• [p]Down Throw knockback: 8 + 0.1 @ 270 > 8 + 0.4 @ 60[/p]
  • [p]The previous version worked well for La Reina, but wasn't very interesting. Now, this throw will launch opponents, allowing La Reina to combo them on bad DI. It also has a hitbox now, so it will apply hitpause to the opponent and can hit other players.[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Special Pummel 3 will no longer leave the opponent with super armor if La Reina fails to grab them after tossing them.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][p]We hope you enjoy this month's update! As always please leave your feedback and suggestions on our Nolt board. [/p]

[p]Super small hotfix to fix a couple bugs with today's update:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Bugfix: Samurai Clairen's new taunt now correctly plays the sound effect.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Bugfix: Fixed a bug that allowed Kragg to travel through the stage with unintended pillar behavior. [/p]

[p][/p][p][/p]

[h2]New Mid-Month Bundle[/h2][p][/p][p]While you studied the game, she studied the blade! Our latest midmonth bundle includes the Samurai Clairen skin, emote, icon, and the new Samurai Clairen taunt.[/p][p][/p][p]She also comes packed with new sound effects. Her plasma sword sounds have been replaced with CUSTOM sword sounds in all moves that use her new blade. She also has a custom win jingle and thematic sounds in her intro, taunts, and down special. The bundle also includes 25,000 coins and 250 Aether bucks.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Graphics Settings and Optimization Updates[/h2][p][/p][p]Todays' patch features the second part of the optimization updates that we had previously mentioned in our January 14th patch note. Special thanks to player zaqk for their very useful analysis and contribution to this matter.[/p]

• [p]To achieve better shader caching performance (less shader stutter), the game now uses DirectX 12 rendering by default, and some engine .ini settings have been adjusted.[/p]
  • [p]Some very old GPUs (older than our minimum system requirements listed on the Steam Store) might be incompatible. If that’s your case, you can continue playing with DirectX 11 by adding the -dx11 launch argument.[/p]
• [p]The following Graphic Settings have been added:[/p]
  • [p]View Distance Quality[/p]
  • [p]Foliage Quality[/p]
  • [p]Effects Quality[/p]
  • [p]Fog Quality[/p]
  • [p]Resolution Quality[/p]
• [p]Title screen adjustments[/p]
  • [p]A warning popup will now appear if the vJoy software is installed on the system.[/p]
  • [p]A warning popup will now appear if an integrated GPU is in use.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Combo Devils Collab[/h2][p] Our friends at Combo Devils have launched their Kickstarter with a killer Aether Studios collab! Back any tier of $30 or greater and receive the Jingo Emote, Combo Devils Logo Icon, and Combo Devils Shai Icon in Rivals 2! See the Kickstarter page for details.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]New Shop Items[/h2][p][/p]

• [p]Cool Blue Primal Orcane Palette[/p]
• [p]Black Primal Maypul Palette[/p]
• [p]Yellow Primal Wrastor Palette[/p]
• [p]Orange Primal Maypul Palette[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]White Primal La Reina Palette[/p]
• [p]Yellow Primal La Reina Palette[/p]
• [p]Mint Samurai Clairen Palette[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Avatar Grissulus Icon[/p]
• [p]Avatar Charclaw Icon[/p]
• [p]Avatar Firefang Icon[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Kanji Earth Icon[/p]
• [p]Kanji Water Icon[/p]
• [p]Kanji Fire Icon[/p]
• [p]Kanji Wind Icon[/p]
• [p]Kanji Star Icon[/p]
• [p]Kanji Shadow Icon[/p]
• [p]Kanji Storm Icon[/p]

[p][/p][p]
[/p][p][/p]

• [p]Bug Fix: Fixed some behavior that could lead to momentary hitches when any device was added or removed from the computer, such as with a slightly bad cable, or a wireless mouse with aggressive battery saving functionality, etc.[/p]
• [p]Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that caused characters to teleport long distances if they were colliding with ground during hitpause.[/p]
  • [p]If you've seen the clip of Clairen grabbing Galvan on his platform underneath Air Armada, this fixes that.[/p]
• [p]Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that caused characters to teleport long distances if a platform disappeared underneath them on the same frame another platform was created.[/p]
• [p]Parrying a teammate or their projectile will no longer give you intangibility.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Character Changes[/h3][p]We have a small amount of character updates today as this is a mid-month patch. Stay tuned for a much larger character gameplay pass next month as we enter a new post-GX3 era![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Bug Fix: Fixed visual issues with Santa Zetterburn's model.[/p]

[p]
[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Bug Fix: Fixed the green team colors for Marten, Pirate, Diner, and Mummy skins.[/p]

[p]
[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that caused the game to freeze when performing Forsburn’s ledge special while Kragg's pillar was rising below you.[/p]

[p]
[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Bug Fix: Gem dashes performed with Air Parry and Air Grab will now function the same as using the Special button.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Bug Fix: Dash attack sound effect now plays correctly when the move is abruptly started/stopped.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Clairen's "Taunt 2" now has a new sound effect. [/p]

[p]Our second character release for 2026 has just been revealed on the big stage at Genesis X3! Get the first look at Slade in his official trailer here:[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Slade joins the roster on April 7th in our sixth free character update. This update will have plenty in store in addition to Slade - including a new game mode, casual stages, and much more, so make sure to mark your calendars for The Swagger of the Sea's arrival soon. We'll be teasing more on the big update as always between now and then.[/p][p][/p][p]We're excited to feature Kericho Corry as the voice of Slade in Rivals 2! Please join us in welcoming him to the Aether Universe. You can follow him on instagram here.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Keep up to date with more info and early looks at Slade before his release by following the official Rivals accounts on your favorite social media channels here! [/p]