(Valentine Cross Update!) Beta Mode Update [4/25/2024]

Hello,

Today's beta update includes balance changes, Valentine's new cross redesign, and fixes for an ancient defect with character lighting.

UPDATE:
A new patch (3.7.5) has been released after these update notes were initially posted. This patch includes a few bug fixes, which are as follows:

• Fixed a bug where Umbrella's puddles would vanish instantly in some circumstances.
• Fixed a bug where Umbrella's jLK and jLP could not be buffered during prejump.
• Fixed a bug where Lenny could still hit assist characters after they leave hitstun (during their landing frames) which was not intended.
• Fixed a bug where Hatred Install had extra recovery even when used as a point character.

VALENTINE

The long awaited updates to Valentine’s crosses are finally here!

Why did she get these changes? You can read the full explanation here, but the short version is Valentine’s original red crosses presented a potential legal issue, and were very hastily changed to fuchsia a few years ago. Skullgirls is bigger than ever, and now that the characters in the Season 1 Pass are complete we can finally spend the time to update her design with proper care.

This update us primarily focused on getting her in-game sprites into the beta, so don’t worry if you see some old style crosses in the Art Gallery.

CHARACTER LIGHTING

We've tuned character lighting to resolve some graphical issues that have always been present wherever the bottom of a character's sprite meets the open air. This is most noticeable on stages like New Meridian Streets. To resolve this, we tweaked the math used for these lighting calculations, and then also readjusted each stage's lighting manually to keep parity with the old version.

(Example before and after of the issue colloquially known internally as "5 o'clock shadow bug")

HUD

As you probably know, characters that are Counter Hit lose some amount of Drama (Undizzy) depending on the strength of the hit. This can push a character's Drama into the negatives. In this update, negative amounts of Drama are now displayed on the HUD using a blue fill instead of a green fill.

MULTIPLE CHARACTERS / SYSTEM

• When using a burst against a combo that started at max Drama (Undizzy), it is no longer guaranteed to be safe and invincible during the recovery, and it can be baited. However, Undizzy is preserved and does not drain when bursting in this situation, but will drain when being punished since it is a Counter Hit state.
  (... Instead of there being zero risk for the defender to take the burst in this situation, the burst can be baited per usual with reduced reward.)
• We've standardized armor damage reduction so everyone consistently takes 100% of incoming damage instead of reducing it. Big Band, Cerebella, Fukua, and Marie now take 100% damage during their armor moves - Umbrella, Robo-Fortune, Painwheel, and Beowulf already took 100% damage. Eliza's cHK still takes 50% against projectiles, and Sekhmet takes 75% damage, both as intentional edge case exceptions.
• Adjusted some "OTG" hurtboxes for characters to make it less likely for low hitting attacks to slip under them. This impacts Ms. Fortune, Robo-Fortune, Filia, and Fukua.

UMBRELLA

• Umbrella can now cancel jMK into any normal on whiff (if floating) or contact, just like her sister Parasoul.
• Fixed a bug where Tongue Twister only added 15 Drama (Undizzy) instead of the usual 20 from Special Moves.
• Extended cMP hurtbox. Reduced hitbox range in Ravenous.
• Overstuffed sHP armor now starts 3F later than before.
• Increased Tongue Twister hitbox to make it easier to hit airborne targets without spending OTG.
  (... It also ends up being tall enough to destroy Peacock's sHP and BANG BANG BANG! (H) projectiles now.)
• When using Retina Reflector in Ravenous, it now has 2 extra hits and lasts longer, like in retail.
• Overstuffed Damage Tuning:
  • Hungern Rush: Reduced damage from 800/800 to 500/600. Adjusted knockdown on the final hit to require OTG to continue a combo.
  • sMP (2nd Hit): 500 → 400
  • Bobblin' Bubble: 700 → 600
  • Salt Grinder: 1100 → 1000
  • jMP: 850 → 750
  • jHP: 1100 → 1000
  • cHP (2nd Hit): 750 → 650

• Bobblin' Bubble Damage (Satiated): 600 → 650
• Slurp n Slide damage (Satiated): 650 → 750
• Slurp n Slide damage (Satiated, puddle boosted): 750 → 900
• In Satiated, Slurp n Slide is now +2 on block again instead of -2.
• In Ravenous, Slurp n Slide dismounts with more speed forwards.
• Ravenous can now use bubble Special Moves (Cutie Ptooie, Bobblin' Bubble, Wish Maker), but with worse properties.
• Overstuffed no longer loses Hunger Meter for using bubble Special Moves, or using Under The Weather.
  (... Entering Overstuffed now requires that you commit to playing the mode in neutral for a short while instead of immediately exiting it by using Bubbles.)
• Increased Satiated and Overstuffed Hunger Meter drain over time.
• When entering Satiated or Overstuffed in a combo from an "eating" type move, Hunger Meter will continue to drain instead of freezing for that combo, at a reduced drain rate.
• When using "eating" type moves in Ravenous, Hunger Meter will fill a little over halfway into the Satiated section, instead of at the max of the Satiated section.
  (... This last two changes should make it a little bit easier to stay in the bottom half of the Hunger Meter if desired, for more Ravenous opportunities.)

PAINWHEEL

• Adjusted almost every hitbox Painwheel has to bring them in line with more recent characters. Many are simplified, and some attacks have more range than before. Adjusted attacks are as follows:
  • sLP, sLP, cMP, cLK, cLP, cMK, sHK[1], sHP, jMK. Death Crawl.
  • s.F+HK (each hit has more range than the last, to ensure all blades connect easier)
  • sMP (improved hitbox, but also reduced hurtbox height before active to help anti air)

• Buer Thresher (QCF+KK) has a larger hitbox for the first active frame.
  (... This is the hitbox that is covered by hitstop, making it post flash unblockable if you were not already blocking, and preventing reversals from coming out immediately. Buer Thresher is now much less likely to get Painwheel immediately countered by reversals and such and must be respected more than before.)
• Buer Reaper
  • Increased size of the physical hit performed at the end of Buer Reaper, to ensure it hits characters when assists are nearby and trying to block Painwheel.
  • Painwheel is no longer pushed around by nearby characters when delivering the ending hit of Buer Reaper, to prevent her from being pushed out of range.
  • (L): Reduced recovery by 5F on whiff/block, and increased blockstun by 1F.
  • (All Buer except L): Reduced recovery on whiff/block by 4F.
  • (L): Extended hitbox range.
  • (H): Removed extended hurtboxes before active frames, making it a much better anti air.
  • When using Buer Reaper, Painwheel now gains an extra 2% meter, like most throw type moves.

• cMK now pivots forward to help connect from longer cLK ranges.
• cLK: Reduced startup by 1F.
• sLK: Startup reduced to 7F, giving her a 7F normal like every other character.
• sMP: Startup reduced by 1F.
• jLP: Startup reduced by 2F. Hitstun and blockstun increased by 2F to maintain frame advantage.
  (... This also hastens her fastest possible overheads from Flight.)
• jHP: Reduced knockback vs airborne opponents to prevent victim from falling out between hits. Hitstun on the last hit increased by 3F.
• cMP now pulls the victim down for all hits except the final one.
  (... Last hit still knocks them up and away, so cancel before it if you want to stabilize a ground confirm. This mostly prevents them from falling out unexpectedly in between two hits.)
• When using fully charged Hatred Guard normals, armor has been extended one frame to fully protect her from potential trades.
  (... This was an intended change made several updates ago before this current beta cycle, but it wasn't working correctly without this.)
• Reduced startup of Gae Bolga Stinger (L) by 3F.
• When using Pinion Dash (L) as a Stunt Double (Alpha Counter), it is now a knockdown hit.
  (... Previously she was +1 right against the opponent, which is a bit awkward for her with her slow buttons and lack of movement.)
• Hatred Install (QCB+KK)
  • When used as a DHC, Buer Reaper hits deal 10% less damage, and scales to 50% instead of 70%.
  • Level 1 Blockbusters no longer scale to 55% during Hatred Install, and now scale to 30%.
  • Increased recovery by 8F when used as a DHC.
  • Increased damage per hit on Death Crawl during Hatred Install to match the regular version of Death Crawl (220).
  • When used while Painwheel is the point character, she has an additional 3 seconds (216F) of uptime regardless of health, but cannot exceed the old max duration of 1300F.

• Accidental Flight:
  • Adjusted air Buer Reaper inputs so that ending in an upwards input when inputting the QCF motion doesn't extend the window the motion can be entered. This was causing situations where the same QCB used to input Flight (autocorrecting towards the opponent) could be used to trigger air Buer Reaper on button release (negative edge) giving an unintended Buer Reaper input.
  • Painwheel will now never turn around to auto correct when using jLK. If super jumping past the opponent, pressing LK early could cause her to perform an autocorrect jLK, which then turned a QCB into a QCF and performed Buer Reaper. From now on, you can use jLK as your button to input flight and ensure this never happens. Of course, jLK no longer autocorrects, but hopefully that is alright!

VALENTINE

• Fixed a bug where the last hit of EKG Flatliner would not play the finisher effect right away if the last hit killed an opponent.

FUKUA

• Inevitable Snuggle and Tender Embrace now grant Dramatic Tension (meter) for whiffing them, like all other Special Moves.
• Holding Forever a Clone (Shadows) now drains health again, but does not drain red life.
• When Shadows successfully hit a character, Fukua heals for the amount of health that they drained.
• Successful hits from Love Dart now heal Fukua up to 200 health, from health that has been removed from holding Shadows.
• When Fukua heals, she now briefly glows.
• The amount of life that Fukua restores (from recoverable Shadow drain life) when using certain has been increased.
  • Twice Shy: 55% → 100%
  • Inevitable Snuggle: 33% → 75%
  • Taunt: 20% → 50%

• Hitting, or being hit by an Outtake (Snapback) will now remove all potential recoverable health from drained Shadows.

BIG BAND

• When using the following Big Band assist options, the first portion (31F) of his assist taunt is now a Counter Hit state. Note, this doesn't extend the recovery of any of his assists or change them functionally, it only extends the duration of the window where you can counter call or attack the assist and still benefit from bonus counter hit damage.
  • Take The 'A' Train (M and H strength)
  • Beat Extend (All strengths)
  • Brass Knuckles (H strength)

• Previously, when Big Band caught an assist with Beat Extend, the assist would drop to the ground sooner than the point character to make it trickier to combo both at the same time. This has been adjusted further in this update.
  • Assists drop 4F sooner than before.
  • Assists drop with more velocity towards the ground than before.

ANNIE

• Reduced Crescent Cut (H) start up by 2F.

PEACOCK

• Argus Agony pellet damage increased. Max damage increased from 1350 → 1440.
• Lonesome Lenny no longer has a hit when placed that interacts with assist characters. Instead, Lenny's explosion will never hit airborne assists that are recovering from hitstun.
  (... These changes have always been aimed at removing a particular reset against assists with Lenny, and this is a different approach at that.)

PARASOUL

• sLP: Increase hitstun on both hits by 3F.
• s.F+LP: Increase hitbox height to match the animation.
• Extended ground throw hitbox slightly.
• Inferno Brigade (QCB+PP): Now pulls victims down into the barrage of bullets if they are too high above Parasoul.
• Egret Dive jumps further and is active for longer. When landing, he recovers and exits the screen faster than before.
• Egret Charge
  • Speed (before grabbing) increased from 30 to 31. This makes him fast enough to grab Big Band miscreen from most Egret Charge combos.
  • Reduced period (20F → 17F) where the Egret will continue with the grab even if Parasoul gets hit during the start up.
  • Fixed a bug where the grab would scale to 50% instead of the intended 55%.

MARIE

• Extended hurtbox downwards during knock up frames, to ensure Double's Beast of Gehenna grabs her correctly after Robo-Fortune's magnetic trap.
• Adjusted physical collision during "OTG" frames to prevent some characters from being able to slide under her.
• Hilgard's Haymaker (L) no longer scales follow-up damage to 70%.
• Increased taunt recovery by 10F.
• The Dust Bunny spawned from Hop To It no longer jumps infinitely if Marie has taunted. It now jumps a maximum of 3 times.
• Adjusted Marie's ground throw against Black Dahlia to ensure Marie Go 'Round connects without spending OTG in the corner.

BLACK DAHLIA

• Fixed a bug where Parting Gift could sometimes not be detonated if it fell off of an assist character that died while on the stage.
• cMK
  • Now triggers shortly after the point character enters hitstun.
  • If hitting a character after the point has entered hitstun, damage scaling is set to 50% to lower the reward of the follow-up combo.
  • Reduced hitstun by 5F.
  • No longer teleports characters to the position of the trap

• Empower no longer can hit characters that are dead.
• Ice Shot is now two hits, has tweaked damage and chip damage, and no longer breaks armor.
• Rail Shot now breaks armor and has had hitstop on successful hit increased by 8F.
• Order Up! (H) now places special shots in the 3rd and 5th position of her gun, instead of 3rd and 6th.
• Order Up! (M) now places the special shot in the 2nd position of her gun, instead of the 3rd.

CEREBELLA

• Fixed a bug introduced last update that made jHP no longer hit overhead in some situations even after gliding.

DOUBLE

• Fixed a bug where the projectile hits from jHK could allow the opponent to burst even if first hit connected below 240 Drama (Undizzy).

ELIZA

• Reduced crouching height so that she can duck Robo-Fortune's Theonite Beam (H). She's now the same height as Black Dahlia when crouching.

(Version number 3.7.4, but then it became 3.7.5 in the same day.)