Patch 1.5.1.0 and January Mid-Month Update

[p]It's time for our January mid-midmonth update! On top of the usual mid-month bundle this patch has a few more balance changes than usual, as we make sure changes from the HUGE 1/6 patch are dialed in for Genesis X3. [/p][p][/p][h2]Luchador Etalus Epic Mid-Month Skin[/h2][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Luchador Etalus comes in from the top ropes! Our latest bundle includes a brand new Etalus skin, emote, icon, and the new “Fuera” critical hit effect! The bundle also includes 25,000 coins and 250 Aether bucks.  This Epic tier skin also features a custom win jingle, two new victory lines, plus custom sfx on his Armor spawn/break, Down Strong, Forward Tilt, Getup Special, Neutral Special, Special Pummel, Up Special, and Up Strong![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]New Shop Items[/h2][p]New color palettes and icons added this midmonth![/p]

• [p]Orange Lucha La Reina[/p]
• [p]White La Reina[/p]

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• [p]Midnight Abyss Absa[/p]

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• [p]Avatar Olympia Icon[/p]
• [p]Avatar Guadua Icon[/p]
• [p]Avatar Scorhawk Icon[/p]

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• [p]Winner La Reina Icon[/p]
• [p]Awatsu Icon[/p]
• [p]Helios Icon[/p]
• [p]Bhadra Icon[/p]
• [p]Yono Icon[/p]

[p][/p][p]Icons of the runners up from our Workshop Contest (seen above) have been added to the game. They’ll appear in the coinshop for 8000 coins or available in the bucks shop for 80 Aether Bucks. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Twitch Rivals of Aether II (part 2!)[/h2][p]Don't forget to tune into our second official Twitch Rivals event later today! Twenty-four creators will be duking it out to determine the best crew at 2pm PT / 4pm CT / 5pm ET. You can tune into the main stream at twitch.tv/TwitchRivals or any player PoVs. Check out the article here for how to watch and also earn the new Challenger La Reina palette in honor of the competition: [/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Final R2CS Regular Season Events [/h2][p]2026 is here and we’re in crunch time before the big finale at Genesis X3! We have 3 more North American events coming up between now and then, so let’s take a look: [/p]

• [p]This weekend the circuit travels to New York for Let’s Make Big Moves 2026.[/p]

• [p]Followed by a brand new Hungrybox R2CS online on 1/27 with a voucher to Genesis X3.[/p]
• [p]Then taking a trip to Frosty Faustings XVIII 2026 in Illinois on the weekend of the 31st to finalize our leaderboard![/p]

[p]Rep Let’s Make Big Moves with the all new LMBM Hockey Loxodont palette, available now in the Featured Shop:[/p][p][/p][p]Similar to the previous Hungrybox Qualifier Events, entrants will receive the HungryBox Baseball Clairen palette for free as long as they participate.[/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]
Finally, the Frosty Faustings Sunbear Etalus palette is here to celebrate the tournament’s first ever circuit inclusion![/p][p][/p][p]If you purchase any event bundles but already own the base skins, you’ll receive an Aether Bucks refund to make it even just like with our other bundles. These palettes are 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][h2]Audio Updates[/h2][p]This patch contains a sizeable change to Demigod Orcane's skin VO:[/p]

• [p]Demigod Orcane's custom VO was lasting a bit too long compared to his normal VO so we've added a much more aggressive fade-out to make sure they're in line with each other.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Balance Changes[/h2][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Parry intangibility frames: 90 > 75[/p]
  • [p]The intangibility duration felt a bit too long, leading to scenarios where the intangible player would whiff a slow attack for their parry punish and still have enough intangibility to try again.[/p]
• [p]Getting thrown will now only restore a single double jump instead of all of them.[/p]
  • [p]This makes it less punishing to land a grab while edgeguarding Wrastor.[/p]
• [p]While grabbed, all of your resources will be restored if the grabbing player is grounded at any point during the throw.[/p]
  • [p]This includes resources like Kragg pillar that only refresh if you touch ground.[/p]
• [p]New control setting: No Airdodge In Tumble[/p]
  • [p]Normally, if you release the shield button while in tumble, you will airdodge. This setting disables that functionality, allowing you to tap the shield button to tech instead of needing to hold it. When this setting is enabled, you will need to flick your joystick to exit tumble if you want to airdodge, or set either AirGrab or AirParry to airdodge.[/p]
• [p]New control setting: Suppress Dash Attack[/p]
  • [p]This setting will prevent you from dash attacking if you aren't holding forward, and will store the attack input until your dash ends.[/p]
• [p]New control setting: Roll Setting[/p]
  • [p]You can choose between four options: Default, Left Stick Only, Right Stick Only, and Double Shield Lock (holding two shield buttons prevents both sticks from rolling). This applies to rolls, spot dodges, and jumping out of shield with the right stick.[/p]
• [p]New control setting: Wavedash Assist[/p]
  • [p]This makes you wavedash if you're holding shield at the end of jumpsquat, allowing you to wavedash out of shield without releasing the shield button.[/p]
• [p]Pressing up on ledge to ledge jump now uses a 3 frame buffer instead of the full 6 frames.[/p]
  • [p]This makes it less likely to get unintended ledge jumps when recovering, especially after using Up Special.[/p]

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• [p]Forward Tilt hit 2's hitboxes now start interpolated.[/p]
  • [p]This makes them reach as high upward as hit 1, reducing the number of scenarios where hit 2 would whiff after hit 1 connected.[/p]

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• [p]While dashing, the right stick will now perform tilts instead of dash attacks when set to Attack.[/p]

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• [p]Forward Air multihit knockback: 3.5 + 0 > 4.5 + 0[/p]
  • [p]This makes it techable at the wall.[/p]

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• [p]Wrapped opponents will now be prioritized before Terry and marked/wrapped teammates when tethering.[/p]
• [p]Getup Special will now lose all vertical momentum if the diving active window ends in the air.[/p]
  • [p]This can only happen in extremely specific scenarios, but Maypul would just plummet into the bottom blastzone before this change.[/p]

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• [p]Up Special multihits now have 3 distinct knockback angles and force tumble.[/p]
  • [p]The inner hitbox has the highest priority and still sends at 70. The middle hitbox has the next highest priority and sends at 90. The outer hitbox sends at 105. This makes it less likely for opponents to fall out before the finisher hits, making it overall a bit safer to use.[/p]
• [p]Up Special late multihit knockback: 7 + 0 > 8 + 0[/p]
  • [p]This makes it launch opponents slightly higher so that the finisher doesn't whiff.[/p]

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• [p]Up Throw's bubbles will now be spawned in a wider area for thin characters and a thinner area for wide characters.[/p]
  • [p]This makes it more effective against the characters that naturally get out of it easily while making it less effective against the characters that struggle to get out even with the correct counterplay. The range is expanded by +/-20cm on both sides for the thinnest/thickest characters respectively.[/p]

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• [p]Dash Attack's jump cancel can now airdodge if it hits any object, not just a player.[/p]
  • [p]This does not include hitting shields.[/p]
• [p]Ice armor will now be removed at the end of hitpause instead of immediately when Etalus is hit[/p]
  • [p]This makes him retain his armored weight for the hit that removes armor. If he gets hit again during hitpause, it will immediately remove the armor.[/p]

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• [p]Bug fix: Clouds will no longer display a hitbox on the first frame they're kicked by Absa. Functionality is unchanged.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We're increasing the damage on some of her attacks, since the values ended up being a little low for their use cases.[/p]

• [p]Chair will now climb walls faster when being recalled with Neutral Special[/p]
  • [p]This lets her get her chair back much quicker when recalling it from offstage.[/p]
• [p]Up Special's arm is now intangible during the active frames and the first 5 recovery frames[/p]
  • [p]This allows it to challenge other attacks from below more effectively.[/p]

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• [p]Up Air, Forward Strong, Up Special, and Forward Special will all have 40 armor when grabbing an opponent until releasing them.[/p]
  • [p]This is mostly important for doubles, where La Reina was often putting herself in danger just by landing her finishers.[/p]
• [p]Forward Strong damage: 11 > 13[/p]
• [p]Up Strong damage: 11 > 13[/p]
• [p]Back Air damage: 7 > 8[/p]
• [p]Up Air damage: 6 > 11[/p]
• [p]Up Air knockback: 6 + 0.95 > 6 + 1.0[/p]
  • [p]Slight increase to the scaling so that it kills a bit earlier.[/p]
• [p]Down Air knockback angle: 75 > 78[/p]
  • [p]This leaves the opponent slightly closer to La Reina on DI away.[/p]
• [p]Forward Special damage: 10 > 12[/p]
• [p]Forward Special spike damage: 7 > 10[/p]
• [p]Default taunt can now be canceled after 30 frames.[/p]
• [p]Performing her default taunt on an offstage platform will reset its duration on the first pose, giving her enough time to jump off afterward.[/p]