Rivals of Aether II News

[p]Here's the notes for a small hotfix with some bugsquashing:[/p]

• [p]Fix for 5+ player lobbies not always being matched together.[/p]
• [p]Fix for Set Controls in the fullscreen settings menu crashing if you clicked it from the CSS online (and also opening the wrong player slot options menu if clicked in local).[/p]
• [p]Fix for Cursor Double Click bug (submenus will now no longer reappear when closed with 'accept').[/p]
• [p]Fixed a rare rich presence crash.[/p]
• [p]Hodojo lighting issue corrected.[/p]
• [p]Fix for CSS Emote Chat requiring two clicks to open.[/p]
• [p]Fix for local playtest issues.[/p]
• [p]Fix for Clown Ranno Unicycle Taunt SFX bugs.[/p]

[p]We're happy to share the news about an exciting community event happening this week! Make sure to tune in live on Twitch or Youtube for Wisely Wars - a creator team tournament hosted and organized by Wisely, featuring 24 creators + 6 coaches. The event takes place over 3 days in a multi-part format, where players and coaches adapt, learn, and practice throughout the week for a Sunday showdown.[/p][p][/p][p]TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE[/p][p]The show starts at 3pm PT / 6pm ET on each date:[/p]

• [p] (12/17) Wednesday - Round Robin 1[/p]
• [p](12/19) Friday - Round Robin 2[/p]
• [p](12/21) Sunday - Finals[/p][p][/p]

[p]View all 6 teams in the image gallery:[/p][carousel][/carousel][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Watch on Twitch for an Exclusive Icon[/h2][p]Grab the Wisely Wars icon by watching 1 hour of the stream during any day of the event. You can earn it by watching on the mainstream Wisely channel, or any of the participating players' or coaches' channels on Twitch. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Details on How to Unlock your Drop:[/p][p]Once you've earned the Drop by watching for 1 hour, you'll see a notification in your Twitch Inventory in the top right where you can claim your item.

1. Visit your Twitch Drops Inventory to claim your icon. You can also track progress on the unlock there.[/p][p]2. Visit the Aether Account Twitch Drop Link 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][p]3. Open the game and check your icon list. You should have the new Wisely Wars icon at the end![/p][p][/p][h2]Full list of participating channels:[/h2][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We hope you'll tune in and support this community event![/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[h2]Yuletide Galvan Bundle[/h2][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]It’s not every day that the tree can cut YOU down instead. Our midmonth bundle includes the Yuletide Galvan skin, emote, icon, and the jolly new “sleigh!” critical hit! The bundle also includes 25,000 coins and 250 Aether bucks.  Yuletide Galvan also features a custom win jingle and custom sfx on his Forward Special, Neutral Special, Getup Special, Galvanized Up Special, and on his intro.[/p][p][/p][h2]Advanced Tutorials[/h2][p][/p][p]Advanced tutorials are here! Level up your game by checking out and completing the new Advanced Movement, Advanced Defense 1 & 2, and Advanced Offense 1 & 2 lessons![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Steam & Discord Rich Presence[/h2][p][/p][p]Rich Presence has been added so you can see what your friends are up to in Rivals II on Discord and Steam. On Discord, this means you will also be able to invite or join your friends in a public lobby using various Discord features (overlay, chat, friend profile, etc). You can invite or request to join a private lobby as well. [/p]

• [p]Please note that the Discord setting “Share my activity” must be enabled if you want to use these features.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][h2]New Bundles[/h2][p]
On top of our mid-month bundle, we have a few new bundles to celebrate the holiday season as well! Check them, and our new shop items out:[/p][p][/p][h3]Winterfest Etalus Bundle ($4.99)[/h3][p]Etalus is getting a Grizzly skin, since you can't be an ice-themed Rival without also loving the holiday season! This small bundle comes with the Grizzly Etalus base skin, plus Winterfest palette and icon.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Holiday Palette Bundle ($4.99)[/h3][p]By popular request we're adding Winter Festival palettes for some of the cast that didn't have seasonal looks yet, so even Rivals without a holiday skin can join in on the fun. This bundle includes 11 palettes:[/p][p][/p]

• [p]Wrastor Winterfest Palette[/p]
• [p]Absa Winterfest Palette[/p]
• [p]Fleet Winterfest Palette[/p]

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• [p]Zetterburn Winterfest Palette[/p]
• [p]Clairen Winterfest Palette[/p]
• [p]Forsburn Winterfest Palette[/p]

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• [p]Kragg Winterfest Palette[/p]
• [p]Olympia Winterfest Palette[/p]
• [p]Maypul Winterfest Palette[/p]

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• [p]Orcane Winterfest Palette[/p]
• [p]Ranno Winterfest Palette[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]New Shop Items[/h2]

• [p]Midnight Abyss Forsburn Palette[/p]
• [p]Yellow Snowman Kragg Palette[/p]
• [p]White Krampus Forsburn Palette[/p]
• [p]White Santa Zetterburn Palette[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Mini Plush Fleet Icon[/p]
• [p]Mini Plush Ranno Icon[/p]
• [p]Mini Plush Maypul Icon[/p]
• [p]Avatar Bradshaw Icon[/p]
• [p]Avatar Hailhog Icon[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]New Audio for Clown Ranno and Franken Etalus[/h2][p]New to this patch are custom sfx in the taunts for Clown Ranno and Franken Etalus. We’ve also added  custom sound effects to Clown Ranno’s Intro, Forward Strong, Up Strong and both the Sweetspot hit of Forward Strong and the pie hit of Forward Strong.[/p][p][/p][h2]Balance Updates Next Month[/h2][p]We've seen lots of players asking when the next balance update is planned. We've answered this question elsewhere, but thought it best to include in the notes as well: You can look forward to a balance update that includes most of the cast with the release of La Reina on Tuesday January 6th, 2026! [/p][p][/p][h2][/h2]

[h3]Crew Battle Mode Fixes: [/h3]

• [p]Fixed Keyboard not having binding for UI Right Stick.[/p]
  • [p]Note: This means keyboard players can now rotate their position on a team.[/p]
• [p]Fixed Button displayers for team position not showing the correct buttons.[/p]

[p][/p][h3] Controller Fixes: [/h3]

• [p]Mouse cursor should now lock/unlock and show/hide correctly.[/p]
  • [p]Note: Matches no longer lock the mouse to the viewport unless a mouse button is being used by a tag in the match.[/p]
  • [p]Note 2: This also fixes mouse flickering issues.[/p]
• [p]Default Switch Pro Controller analog settings have been changed to better reflect players feedback.[/p]
  • [p]Default Sensitivity: 100% -> 120%[/p]
  • [p]Default Deadzone: 20% -> 10%[/p]
  • [p]Note: If a tag existed in a player's save file with Switch Pro's analog settings set to the old default they will be auto updated on next boot.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Note: We're still expecting an update for SDL to fix PC mode GCC adapters under Steam Input. Until then we recommend players using PC mode adapters to disable Steam Input.[/p]

[p]Join George and Diego as they chat La Reina with a focus on animation this Thursday for our weekly dev stream. [/p][p][/p]

• [p]Times: 1pm ET / 12pm CT / 10am PT / 7pm CET[/p]
• [p]Youtube: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]
• [p]Twitch: https://twitch.tv/RivalsOfAether [/p]

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