Rivals of Aether II News

[p]Tune into the biggest Rivals 2 event of all time this weekend, Supernova 2025, with a record breaking 587 entrants! Find out when to watch and how to get the Supernova Twitch drop below:[/p][p][/p][h2]Supernova World Record Icon Twitch Drop [/h2][p]Grab the Supernova World Record icon as a twitch drop by watching one hour of any Rivals this weekend at the event! Friday features a special crew battle exhibition, and Saturday and Sunday showcase the main bracket. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Once you've earned a Drop by watching during the streams below, you'll see a notification in your Twitch Inventory in the top right where you can claim your item. Visit your Twitch Drops Inventory to claim your item. Then follow the link to this page, where you can log into your Aether Account, then click the "Unlock your Twitch Drops items in ROA2" button. Make sure you link your correct account or you won't receive your drops in game. If you're not sure what your Aether Account email address is, just press start on the main menu of Rivals II to see your account email.

[/p][h2]Stream Schedule[/h2][p][/p][h3]Friday[/h3][p]Exhibition Event - Draft Crew Battle[/p][p]Team CakeAssault vs Team Stang0[/p][p]Channel: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]Start Time: 7pm ET / 6pm CT / 4pm PT / 1am CEST[/p][p][/p][h3]Saturday[/h3][p]Rivals 2 Main Event Pools[/p][p]Channel: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]Start Time: 10am ET / 9am CT / 7am PT / 4pm CEST[/p][p][/p][h3]Sunday[/h3][p]Rivals 2 Main Event Finals[/p][p]Channel: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]Start Time: 10am ET / 9am CT / 7am PT / 4pm CEST[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Brackets visible here: https://www.start.gg/tournament/supernova-2025/event/rivals-2-singles[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]This year we had the honor of joining Evo 2025 as one of the official Extended Lineup games. Representing the platform fighter community on one of the biggest stages in fighting games was a huge moment for us, and we want to thank everyone who came out to compete, watch, and support the game.[/p][p][/p][p]Evo featured a massive 363 player tournament with a giant $13,383 pot bonus raised through our compendium. On top of the competitive scene turning out - we also took part in the Evo Showcase, where Studio Lead Dan Fornace and Lead Programmer/Designer Trevor Youngblood hit the stage to reveal our next character, share our latest development roadmap, and answer live questions from the community during a special Q&A.[/p][p][/p][p]If you missed it live, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here's a full recap of everything that happened at Evo 2025.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]At the Friday showcase we revealed our next upcoming character - Galvan, The Ferrous Fossil! See the first look here in their official reveal trailer:[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Galvan is our 4th free character update for 2025, and our first brand new character of the year since the other three were returning Rivals from the first game. Stay tuned for plenty of more news on the character as we all look forward to the October 7th release date. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]
Following his reveal trailer, we also put out a Galvan Showcase video to give you a more in depth look at his unique mechanics, including behind the scenes dev commentary! You can check out the whole showcase here: [/p][p] [/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Evo showcase was also the perfect time to unveil our latest roadmap now that we've almost got all of our 2025 features in. Dan and Trevor spoke live and in detail about each item and you can find the video version here:
[/p][p]Roadmap Chat[/p][p]https://www.youtube.com/live/OqhancPtWrU?si=ElbzsCkvaKo-ecGG&t=12716[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Last but not least, our showcase panel ended with a live audience Q&A. Check out that section here to hear all of the Q&As firsthand:[/p][p][/p][p]https://www.youtube.com/live/OqhancPtWrU?si=bq-XYmTKNvfLB-dQ&t=13074[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p][/p][p]Some players may have noticed a not so small bug related to throws like Kragg's Up Throw that was emergency hotfixed yesterday afternoon. For those wondering how this happened in a patch with no balance changes, the issue stemmed from mechanical changes to the engine made as we prepare to add La Reina to the game.[/p][p]Today's hotfix contains several bugfixes and includes a few notes initially not included in the August 5th Patch Notes write-up:[/p]

• [p]Unlisted from 1.3.2: Fixed a bug that caused command grabs that end with a hitbox to deal 75% of the intended knockback.[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: The previous change only applied to Olympia Forward Special, which made it 25% stronger than intended. To fix this, we're now reducing its knockback stats by 25% to remain unchanged compared to pre-1.3.2 patches.[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Fixed a bug that prevented hitgrabs (i.e. Wrastor Down Special) from hitting articles.[/p]

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

• [p]Unlisted from 1.3.2: Neutral Air animation shrunk to match the hitboxes better visually[/p]

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

• [p]Bug fix: Fixed a visual bug with his default Taunt.[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Fixed a visual bug with Forward Special when using the green Mecha palette.[/p]

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

• [p]Unlisted from 1.3.2: Fixed a bug that made Forward Throw and Up Throw arrows remove chaingrab protection from the opponent.[/p]

[h2]Mecha Madness Event[/h2][p]Mecha Madness is here and it’s time to roll out! Our August event has Mecha Kragg, Mecha Etalus, and Mecha Clairen as featured skins with some robotic icons to match. The new cosmetics are paired with 25,000 Aether Coins and 250 Aether Bucks.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Our free track for August contains the Mecha Etalus emote, the Mechsplosion death effect, Mecha platform, Cyber Zetterburn icon, and the Cyber Zetterburn skin. Players equipping any event skins above, the Mecha Wrastor skin, Ranger Clairen skin, Ranger Fleet skin, or the Dark Future Loxodont skin will receive 20% Bonus XP on the event track. There are also new palettes for Dark Future Loxodont and Mecha Wrastor in the in-game shop![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Next NA R2CS Events: Supernova & Collision[/h2][p]EVO has wrapped up and we’re moving from one massive event to another. Supernova in Chantilly, Virginia (August 7-10) has set the world record for the largest Rivals of Aether II event with 587 entrants competing for the crown this weekend. Last month, we revealed the Supernova Slam Dunk Ranno palette, which is still available in the shop to rep the event!  Pick up the colorful palette and rep Supernova to show your support.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]In addition to the Supernova Slam Dunk Ranno, we are happy to announce a brand new Twitch Drop icon to celebrate the world record being broken! Rivals of Aether II will be streaming on VGBootCamp3 and HouseOf3000 on Saturday, August 9th. On Sunday, August 10th, our finals will be live on VGBootCamp at 10 AM ET. Tune into any of these streams to make progress and unlock your drop! See the graphics below for more information:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Coming up just two weeks after, on August 22nd-24th, we have Collision 2025 in Secaucus, New Jersey. Collision is currently sitting at 117 entrants, with five of the EVO Top 8 ready for rematches. In order to celebrate, we've created the brand new Collision Zetterburn palette, available now in the in-game shop.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]If you buy either of these bundles but already own the base skins, you’ll receive an Aether Bucks refund to make it even just like with our other bundles. Keep an eye out for more circuit palettes in the future as the summer of Rivals II rolls on! This palette is FREE for all players attending the respective events. [/p][p]
You can check out upcoming & past events and the region leaderboards on our official league page.[/p][p][/p][h3]New Shop Items[/h3]

• [p]Mecha Future Loxodont Palette[/p]
• [p]Black Mecha Wrastor Palette[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Black Solid Ranno Palette[/p]
• [p]Pink Panther Zetterburn Palette[/p]
• [p]YellowJay Wrastor Palette[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Zango Icon[/p]
• [p]Lennington Icon[/p]
• [p]Fan Girl Fleet Icon[/p]
• [p]Mecha Wrastor Icon[/p]
• [p]Plush Pin Etalus Icon[/p]
• [p]Mecha Wrastor Emote[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Ranked Shop Update[/h2][p]Champion Fleet has been added to the Ranked Shop! This includes a skin, two emotes, and two icons for the Archer of Justice.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Servers and Lobbies[/h3]

• [p]8 Player Lobbies are here![/p]
  • [p]Today’s patch introduces 8 player lobbies with 1-6 spectators! This makes it easier than ever to stream tournaments or host larger play sessions with friends. There is still a max of 4 players to a match.[/p]

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

• [p]Disconnect Logic Updates[/p]
  • [p]Fixed some persistent crashes when reconnecting after a disconnect or joining a lobby in progress. [/p]
• [p]Casual win streak no longer displays in lobbies: lobbies now support win streaks that persist within that lobby session alone.[/p]
• [p]The 1v1 stock update banner now accounts for rollback and should no longer show up in edge cases where client predicts a stock loss but the stock doesn't end up being lost (i.e. player jumps away from bottom blastzone last second).[/p]
• [p]Spectators can now send emotes on the results screen; they'll show up in a row along the bottom, under the active player slots.[/p]
• [p]improved teardown time of the character select screen (CSS).[/p]
  • [p]This should reduce hitch when returning to the main menu from local or online play, especially on weaker hardware.[/p]

[h2]FREE WEEKEND[/h2][p]It’s EVO weekend and we’re so excited to share what we’ve got under the hood! Starting RIGHT NOW we have our first ever free weekend where anyone can play Rivals of Aether II to their heart’s desire until Monday August 4th at 10 AM PT.[/p][p]Players who progress during the free weekend will be playing the full game, meaning that a later purchase will save character experience, event tracks, etc. Tell your friends and spread the news, because we’re going BIG during EVO![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]OUR BIGGEST DISCOUNT EVER[/h2][p]To add to our free weekend, Rivals of Aether II is also on its biggest discount to date, sitting pretty at 35% off throughout EVO weekend. It's never been a better time to get into Rivals![/p][p][/p][h2]EVO SCHEDULE AND STREAM[/h2][p]Speaking of EVO, on top of being one of the highest stakes events we’ve ever had we have a few very exciting announcements to share this weekend. The community can tune into the main EVO stream at 1 PM PT tomorrow, August 1st for a very special announcement.[/p][p][/p][p]For fans excited for some of the best players competing for the coveted title of EVO Champion, you can tune in Friday, August 1st, at 2 PM PT for Round 1 Pools, and Saturday, August 2nd, at 10AM PT for Round 2 pools on the primary Extended Lineup channels. Immediately after Pools Round 2 completes at approximately 2 PM PT, we’ll be jumping straight into the Top 24 on the same channels. Finally, we’ll be live with a special event announcement followed by the best of the best in our Top 8 Finals at 6 PM PT on EVO 1 channels! Don’t miss a thing as the first Rivals of Aether II EVO Champion ever will be crowned.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]