OFFICIAL: May 2024 Balance Adjustments

[Sairus]

Hey everyone,

With the Skullgirls Championship Series concluded the long awaited balance adjustments update for Skullgirls 2nd Encore is now available on all platforms!

Read on for the full details of this release, including Valentine’s cross updates, a LARGE set of Balance Adjustments, and a peek at some of the new Guest Star Characters coming to Skullgirls Mobile later this year!

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VALENTINE’S CROSS DESIGN

The long awaited updates to Valentine’s crosses are finally out of beta!

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 were finally able to spend the time to update her design with proper care.

These changes were applied to all in-game sprites, but some art gallery and Digital Art Compendium instances were not adjusted.

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GAMEPLAY CHANGES

MISC / SYSTEM / ALL

• Adjusted stage lighting to fix a bug where characters had defects on the bottom of their rendered art.

• Fixed a bug where performing a Stunt Double set to a punch normal could be canceled on landing with a well timed dash.
• Starting a combo against an opponent who already is at max Drama (Undizzy) will now force scaling to 45%, instead of the usual 55% penalty for Max Drama combos.
• When activating an Infinity Breaker (Burst) from a combo that started at Max Drama, the Infinity Breaker will no longer reset the Drama gauge to zero.
• Assist characters that Counter Hit the point character will now force damage scaling to 75%, down from 90%. Counter Hits delivered from assist characters against other assist characters continues to force damage scaling to 90%.
• Reaction Shot (Pushblock):
  • Fixed a bug where attempting to Reaction Shot in between two hits before hitstop ends from the first hit would cause the Reaction Shot to not trigger.
  • Fixed a bug where getting hit on the final frame of Reaction Shot would ignore all chip damage and prevent the hit from registering entirely.
• Negative Drama (Undizzy) values are now shown on the Drama gauge in a blue color, to better illustrate the mechanic.

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ANNIE

Spoiler: Annie

• Increased Annie's hurtbox size during air hitstun to make her easier to combo.
• Crescent Cut (QCF + P)
  • Crescent Cut will now vanish if Annie is hit while the projectile is appearing.
  • (L) strength is now -1 on block.
  • (M) strength is now +2 on block.
  • (H) strength start up is now 4F slower.
• Reworked Annie's "Star Power" Blockbuster (Down Down + KK)
  • Now costs and consumes 3 bars of Blockbuster meter.
  • Star Power no longer drains Blockbuster meter over time, it now drains on a timer much like Painwheel's Hatred Install.
    • The thickness of the outline around Annie indicates how much remaining time is left in Star Power.
  • Annie can perform all Blockbusters during Star Power now.
  • Using the (H) version of some Special Moves will perform an enhanced version while removing a chunk of remaining time from Star Power.
    • Crescent Cut (H) will hit 3 times and not vanish when Annie is hit during the start up.
    • Re Entry performs a kick that is an overhead, starts faster, and has a second hit on landing.
    • North Knuckle (H) performs a wall bounce instead of a wall slam.
    • Destruction Pillar can be used in mid air.
  • Stars can only be summoned on (H) strength normals. To summon a star, you must hold the (H) normal button until it appears.
    • Summoning stars removes a chunk of remaining time from Star Power.
    • The properties of stars have been changed.
  • cHK is now always a red bounce during Star Power, and will never shoot stars.
  • Added a new move during Star Power, "Star Cancel"
    • Annie can press LP + LK, or all three P buttons, or all three K buttons, to cancel whatever attack she is doing and instantly return to idle. This can only be done once per Star Power activation.
  • Star Power has less recovery when used as a Blockbuster Ensemble (DHC).
  • Gravity Collapse (Down Down + KK during Star Power) no longer costs meter to use while Annie is the point character.
• Photo Bop (Lv5)
  • Input changed to Left, Right, Down, Up + PP, and can be performed without being in Star Power.
  • Deals more damage than before.
  • An extra hit has been added to the camera flash.
• Tweaked palette 7 and 30 rainbow colors to be consistent with all other palettes.
• Tweaked the color of Annie's stars for all palettes.
• Increased vulnerable hurtbox on cLP.
• cHK: Increased recovery on whiff by 7F.
• jMP: Reduced hitstun against airborne targets by 2F.
• Destruction Pillar
  • When Destruction Pillar is blocked, Annie's forward momentum is reduced to ensure she lands in front of the opponent more often.
  • Reduced hitbox region after Annie has been airborne for a short while.
• Damage Tuning
  • (H) Destruction Pillar 1100 → 1000
  • cHP: 1200 → 1000
  • s.F+HP: 1300 → 1200
  • Meteor Strike (QCF + KK): Now scales damage to 50% afterwards, down from 70%.
• If Annie has used all three of her Re Entry kicks in a combo and is airborne when the combo resets, her next Re Entry kick will be the first one, instead of the worse version that prevents combos.

BEOWULF

Spoiler: Beowulf

• While without his chair, "The Hurting", he no longer takes damage from blocking bursts.
• cMK: No longer interacts with projectiles - Ms. Fortune's head no longer blocks the body from being grabbed off the ground by this move.
• Mid-air finishers from Grab Stance no longer apply hitpause to Beowulf when hitting nearby assists. This ensures consistent timing when doing finisher + assist call combos, even if another enemy assist is nearby and struck by a finisher.

BIG BAND

Spoiler: Big Band

• Timpani Drive (QCF + KK)
  • The first active hitbox of Timpani Drive is now much smaller.
  • The two landing frames of Timpani Drive are now in a Counter Hit state and correctly tracked by training mode's Advanced Frame Data.
  • Reduced blockstun of the looping hits before the final one.
  • Added 6 frames of extra recovery when Timpani Drive ends, if the attack was blocked.
• Noise Cancel (Parry)
  • Tap Noise Cancel window: 17 → 15
  • Tap Noise Cancel window from hitstun, blockstun, and wakeup: 18 → 16
  • Time until Noise Cancel ends early if continuing to hold a direction: 12 → 10
• Assisting
  • Some assists for Big Band have extended Counter Hit periods during his "Assist Taunt" (the animation that plays when finishing an assist). The first 31 frames of his assist taunt are still considered a Counter Hit state after using the following assist actions:
    • Take The 'A' Train (M) and (H) strength.
    • Beat Extend.
    • Brass Knuckles (H) strength.
      • To reiterate: Big Band does not experience any extra recovery nor does he stay as an assist on-screen any longer when using these assists compared to before, he is just considered to be in the "Counter Hit" state for longer when using them.
  • Beat Extend
    • When Beat Extend hits an assist character, assists drop 4 frames sooner, and faster downwards.

BLACK DAHLIA

Spoiler: Black Dahlia

• Adjusted Black Dahlia's position during her trip knockdown frames to make some combos easier to perform on her.
• Adjusted hurtboxes on air hitstun and tripped hitstuns to make combos easier to perform on her.
• When the first hit of jHK makes contact with an assist and the point character, the second hit will pull the assist character less far forward towards her to ensure shots from "Order Up!" hit the point character more reliably.
• Shot Adjustments:
  • Ice Shot:
    • Is now two delayed hits, instead of three hits.
    • Damage and chip damage has been reworked.
    • No longer breaks armor.
  • Rail Shot:
    • Now breaks armor
    • Increased hitstop on hit by 8 frames.
    • Adjusted camera shake.
• Another Round? (QCB + P)
  • (M) Strength:
    • Shots are now placed in the 2nd slot, instead of the 3rd slot.
  • (H) Strength:
    • Shots are now placed in the 3rd and 5th slot, instead of the 3rd and 6th slot.
• Empower (QCF + LPLK)
  • No longer can hit enemies that are KO'd
• cMK
  • The trap now triggers shortly after the point character goes into hitstun.
  • Reduced hitstun by 5 frames.
  • No longer teleports victims to the center of the trap.
  • If the point character enters hitstun before the trap hits them, the trap forces combo scaling of 50%.
  • Fixed a bug where using a Special Move with perfect timing during the recovery could cause Black Dahlia to ignore incoming hits.
• Fixed a bug where Parting Gift could not be detonated after it fell off assist characters in some situations.

CEREBELLA

Spoiler: Cerebella

• Realigned animation (distance from her hurtbox region to her "origin point") when Cerebella is falling down to the floor during her knockdown animation.
• Fixed a bug where Diamond Reflector would fail to stagger targets that recently absorbed a stagger move (such as sMP) with armor.
• j.D+MP (Unbreakable Elbow)
  • Fixed a bug where inputting down + MP on the frame Cerebella left the ground would perform jMP instead of j.D+MP
  • Now always starts IPS combo stage at stage 1, even when performed low to the ground or done as a cross up attack.
  • Now has a 5 frame buffer into light normals and dashes after the move completes to help follow-ups be more consistent.
• When Diamond Dynamo (QCF + PP) is canceled from Cerecopter (DP + HP) after all hits from Cerecopter connect against the point character, she will not change her facing direction when the Blockbuster starts to prevent situations where she turns around accidentally.
• jHP:
  • Is now an overhead if used after gliding for any duration.
  • Is now an overhead if used while descending.
  • Increased max glide speed.
  • Increased momentum Cerebella keeps after gliding ends without performing an attack.
• Pummel Horse now leaves the opponent a little bit closer to Cerebella, to improve consistency on some follow-ups.

DOUBLE

Spoiler: Double

• Updated Valentine art with new design.
• Hornet Bomber (L) Strength
  • Increased physical height to prevent it from going over opponents that are crouching in front of Double.
  • Increased hitbox height to more often hit opponents crouching in front of Double.
• Luger Replica
  • (L) Strength:
    • Reduced knockback from -12 to -11.
    • Increased knockup from 12 to 12.5
  • (M) Strength:
    • Increased blockstun by 4F.
  • (H) Strength:
    • Decreased blockstun by 2F.
• Flesh Step
  • Now generates a small amount of meter on whiff, like all other Special Moves.
  • Projectile invincibility starts 3 frames earlier than before.
• Cattelite Lives (QCF + KK)
  • Reduced knockup against airborne opponents.
  • Increased hitstun by 2F.
• Fixed a bug where the projectile hit from jHK could set off an Infinite Breaker (Burst) from Drama (Undizzy), if the first hit pushed the opponent into Max Drama and also started a combo chain.

ELIZA

Spoiler: Eliza

• Reduced crouching height to match that of Black Dahlia's. Notably, she can now duck under Robo-Fortune's Theonite Beam (H).
• Sekhmet
  • sH Damage: 1100 → 900
  • Sekhmet no longer regains any life or generates blood when using Crimson Scourge (QCF + KK) against characters that are KO'd.
  • Sekhem Rebound (backflip) can no longer be performed after sH if the point character blocks it. Previously, it could still be performed even if the point character blocked, as long as it hit an assist character.
  • Increase Sekhmet landing recovery by 7F. Does not apply when landing from Sekhmet jH on successful hit.
  • Now takes bonus Counter Hit damage and properties if interrupted mid attack with armor breaking type moves.
• Throne of Isis is now a red bounce instead of a blue bounce.
• Taunt (Scarlet Ladies) no longer pulls in nearby blood drops. After taunting, Eliza can use Crimson Scourge (QCF + KK) without being Sekhmet form, allowing it to also be used as a DHC.
• Fixed a bug where Taunt (Scarlet Ladies) would errantly cancel friendly assist calls with some timing.
• Osiris Spiral (M) now pulls in nearby blood drops, like her old taunt.

FILIA

Spoiler: Filia

• Increase Blockbuster Ensemble window when landing from Fenrir Drive (DP + PP) by 3F.
• Adjusted hit velocity on cMK so that the final hit pulls the victim towards Filia instead of pushing them away.
• Adjusted "Off The Ground" hurtbox to extend downwards to the floor, preventing some low hitting normals from whiffing.

FUKUA

Spoiler: Fukua

• Adjusted "Off The Ground" hurtbox to extend downwards to the floor, preventing some low hitting normals from whiffing.
• Whiffing Tender Embrace (QCF + LPLK) and Inevitable Snuggle (QCB + LPLK) now build a small amount of meter.
• Health loss and healing mechanics from Forever a Clone (QCB + K)
  • Holding a Clone with a held K button no longer drains red life.
  • When a Clone successfully hits a character, Fukua will regain all of the life that was drained for holding that Clone.
  • Most healing sources will now cause Fukua to glow briefly.
  • Successful hits from Love Dart (QCF + P) now regain 200 recoverable health from lost life due to holding Clones.
  • Hitting an Outtake or getting hit with an Outtake as a solo will now remove all possible recoverable health from holding Clones.
  • Amount of healing of lost life from holding Clones has increased on the following moves:
    • Taunt: 20% → 50%
    • Inevitable Snuggle: 33% → 75%
    • Twice Shy: 55% → 100%
      • Note that as in previous patches, when healing recoverable life from holding Clones using these moves, all remaining recoverable life is reset. For example, taunting twice does not restore 100% of the recoverable life, it will only restore 50% for the first taunt.

MARIE

Spoiler: Marie

• Ground Throw now tosses Black Dahlia higher to ensure Marie Go 'Round (QCB + P) connects in the corner without spending OTG.
• Fixed a bug where Marie was using temporary art when bounced off the ceiling from Black Dahlia's Buck Shot (H).
• sMP: Improved hitbox to reach lower to the ground.
• sLK: Improved hitbox by extending it downwards to the floor.
• Marie Go 'Round (QCB + P):
  • (M) Strength: Reduced start up by 2F.
  • Improved hitbox.
• A Moment's Time (Taunt):
  • Increased taunt recovery by 10 frames.
  • Summoned dust bunnies from Hop To It (QCF + P) now jump a maximum of three times after taunting, instead of infinitely.
• Hilgard's Haymaker (L) (QCF + LK)
  • Removed force damage scaling.
  • Reduced damage: 650 → 600.
• Increased physical collision height during "Off The Ground" bounce frames to prevent opponents from sliding under her unexpectedly.
• Extended hurtbox region during knockdown frames.
• jMK
  • Now puts Marie in a Super Jump state, preventing her from calling assists.
• Hilgard's Haymaker and Hilgard's Howl:
  • Lowered velocity of Marie after the move is over if done during a Super Jump state.
• Fixed a bug where Hilgard would vanish instantly if Marie died while he was summoned, and she was the last character.

MS. FORTUNE

Spoiler: Ms. Fortune

• Adjusted "Off The Ground" hurtbox to extend downwards to the floor, preventing some low hitting normals from whiffing.
• sLP
  • Reduced hitbox range
  • Increased hurtbox region around Ms. Fortune's hand
  • Increased recovery by 2F for both hits.
• Fiber Upper
  • While head on, all versions are now strike invincible instead of fully invincible.
  • While head off, all versions are fully vulnerable instead of throw invulnerable.
  • Strength (M): Increased recovery by 2F.
  • Strength (H): Increased recovery by 4F.
  • Reduced pushback on blocked Fiber Upper hits for the (M) and (H) strengths.
  • On whiff only, Ms. Fortune must wait an additional 4F (H) or 2F (M) to jump away when using Fiber Upper. On contact, this added lockout does not apply.
• Damage adjustments:
  • Headless sHK: 1050 → 975
  • Decap Attack: 300 → 200
  • Head on sHP: 1000 → 975
  • El Gato (Airborne): 900/1000/1100 → 800/950/1000
  • El Gato (Grounded, from Cat Scratch or Headless): 1100 → 975
  • Final Cat Scratch Hit (L, M, and H strengths respectively): 950/1100/1250 → 800/900/100
• Head
  • When starting a Decap Attack against her head with a light normal, the hit will launch the opponent less high, and has 2F less hitpause on block and hit.
  • When Ms. Fortune's head is near the edge of the screen, it will have an expanded hurtbox to make it easier to hit it. This only applies when the head is idling, on cooldown, or getting hit.
  • Increased lockout period when getting hit with physical hits from 15 frames to 35 frames.
  • Increased lockout period when using Feline Allergies from 50 frames to 60 frames.
  • If Ms. Fortune enters hitstun, the head now enters hitstun immediately too and will interrupt Decap Attack, Zoom, etc. Feline Allergies will continue even if Ms. Fortune enters hitstun.
  • Can no longer command the head when failing to connect with Feral Edge (QCB +KK) or when the final hits of Cat Scratch Fever (QCF + PP) are blocked by the enemy point character.
• Head Bowl (QCB + P)
  • Increased invulnerability by 1F to prevent the attack from trading.
  • Lowered height of the hitbox to make it easier to jump.
  • Increased the window for the head to stagger the opponent when it hits them, preventing situations where the first hit would make contact and the second hit would not stagger properly.
  • Now forces damage scaling to 75%.
• Cat Scratch (Head on):
  • Reduced metergain on whiff: 2.5 → 1
  • Reduced metergain on first, second, and third swipes: 5/5/5 → 3.5/2.5/1.5
  • Reduced metergain on whiff when performing El Gato and Cat Slide from Cat Scratch: 2.5 → 1
  • Reduced metergain on contact when performing El Gato and Cat Slide from Cat Scratch: 5 → 2.5
• OMNOMNOM now forces a blue bounce on ending that allows an immediate ground tech, instead of a red bounce.
• Adjusted Ms. Fortune's normal jump animation to have her legs extended downwards for a short period before she tucks herself into a ball.
• Feral Edge (QCB + KK) now knocks the opponent down and forward when hitting a victim behind her, to prevent her from being punished on successful hit.
• Air Throw now forces the combo stage to stage 3 when done while her head is removed.
• jLK:
  • Increase recovery by 4F.
  • Is no longer an overhead (hits mid) while Ms. Fortune is rising.
  • Reduced jLK hitbox size.
  • jLK can no longer hit cross up.

PAINWHEEL

Spoiler: Painwheel

• Adjusted hitboxes on most of Painwheel's attacks to make them more standardized with recent DLC characters. Many hitboxes are simpler and some have extended range compared to before. Impacted moves:
  • sLP, sLK, cMP, cLK, cLP, cMK, sHK[1], sHP, jMK, Death Crawl
  • s.F.+HK: Each hit has more range the last, to help all blade hits connect
  • sMP: Improved hitbox drastically, and reduced vulnerable hurtboxes before the active frames of the attack.
  • Buer Reaper (L): Extended reach.
  • Buer Reaper (H): Reduced hurtboxes before active making it a better anti-air.
  • All Buer Reaper, increased the hitbox size for the follow-up hit.
  • Buer Thresher (QCF + KK): Increased hitbox size for the very first active frame, making it harder to counter when done next to an opponent.
• Hatred Guard (Holding P or K during select normals)
  • Extended armor one more frame when fully charging normals to completion, to protect Painwheel from trading blows with the opponent.
• cMK: Increase forward distance travelled, increasing range.
• cLK: Start up reduced by 1F.
• sLK: Start up reduced to 7F.
• sMP: Start up reduced by 1F.
• cMP: Pulls opponents downwards on all hits except for the final one.
• jLP:
  • Start up is reduced by 2F when done from Fly.
  • Increased hitstun and blockstun by 2F.
• jHP:
  • Reduced knockback on hit against airborne opponents.
  • Increased hitstun on the final hit by 3F.
• When using Pinion Dash (L) as a Stunt Double, it will knock the opponent down.
• Gae Bolga Stinger (L) (QCF + P): Reduced start up by 3F.
• Buer Reaper (QCF + K)
  • (L) strength: Reduced recovery by 5F and increased blockstun by 1F.
  • All other strengths: Reduce recovery by 4F.
  • Painwheel gains an extra 1% meter for each Buer Reaper that connects, when not in Hatred Install.
  • Adjusted air Buer Reaper input to not have more leniency if the input motion ends in an upward input.
  • jLK will never auto-correct even when performed during a super jump. This air normal can now be used to reliably perform Fly when facing away from an opponent without fear of getting an accidental Buer Reaper via hitting jLK in the middle of the input motion.
    • Ex: Down → Down Back → LK (Auto Correct) → Back → Release LK → Buer Reaper Starts
• Hatred Install
  • Reduced minimum scaling on level 1 Blockbusters during Hatred Install from 45% to 37.5%.
  • Increased damage per hit on Death Crawl during Hatred Install to match that of the non-installed version.
  • When used while Painwheel is the point character, she has an extra 3 seconds in Hatred Install added to her timer, regardless of health. This cannot exceed the old max timer duration of 1300 frames.
  • Buer Reaper (QCF + K) now scales to 50% instead of 70% when used during Hatred Install performed as a DHC.
• Once per combo, Buer Thresher (QCF + KK) will refresh Painwheel's ability to Fly.
• Pinion Dash and Buer Overdrive (QCB + PP) no longer end early when hitting the edge of the screen.

PARASOUL

Spoiler: Parasoul

• Slightly increased Ground Throw range.
• Inferno Brigade (QCB + PP) now pulls victims downwards into the center of the bullets.
• Expanded s.F+LP hitbox upwards.
• Increase sLP hitstun by 3F for both hits.
• Egret Dive (M)
  • Moves faster forward when diving.
  • Takes longer to land when diving.
  • Recovers, lands, and salutes faster to enable Parasoul to call another Egret faster than before.
• Egret Charge (H)
  • Now drives a little bit faster (30 → 31) before grabbing the victim, to ensure he can grab Big Band midscreen in most combos.
  • Period where Egret will cancel the grab after being summoned if Parasoul goes into hitstun: 20 frames → 17 frames
  • Fixed a bug where the grab attack would scale to 50% instead of 55%.

PEACOCK

Spoiler: Peacock

• Added a new intro animation.
• Lonesome Lenny (QCF + KK)
  • Damage: 3800 → 2750
  • Chip Damage: 800 → 600
  • No longer deals any bonus damage on Counter Hit.
  • Reduced distance Lenny moves forward towards opponents when hit by friendly projectiles by 15.
  • Peacock builds zero Blockbuster meter while Lenny is out, if Peacock is the point character.
  • Lenny cannot hit assist characters after they have left hitstun while mid air.
  • Lenny will blink red before he is about to explode.
  • Lenny has more start up* before Super Flash starts.
    • * This extra start up is not applied when Peacock cancels into Lonesome Lenny from a successful BANG! (M) against the point character.
• Shadow of Impending Doom now loses its active hit if Peacock is hit with a physical attack.
• Victims now gain more meter when blocking or getting hit by Peacock's projectiles. This impacts Shadow of Impending Doom, George, and BANG, BANG, BANG! (H).
• Argus Agony (QCF + PP): Reduced damage of small bullets (180 → 165). Max damage 1530 → 1440
• cHK: Reduced blockstun by 3F.
• BANG! (M)
  • Now has 8F of extra recovery in any situation where it does not hit the enemy point character.
  • Reduced blockstun by 3F.
  • Now pulls the opponent towards Peacock on block.
  • Reduced the horizontal distance of the hitbox.
  • Increased Peacock's hurtbox size during the recovery of the move.
• George (QCF + K)
  • Strength (L): Reduced blockstun by 2F.
  • If Peacock is hit with a physical hit, all versions of George will begin to blink red and detonate after a short period of time.
    • (L): 50 frames
    • (M): 12 frames.
    • (H): 15 frames.

ROBO-FORTUNE

Spoiler: Robo-Fortune

• Adjusted "Off The Ground" hurtbox to extend downwards to the floor, preventing some low hitting normals from whiffing.
• Adjusted Robo-Fortune's normal jump animation to have her legs extended downwards for a short period before she tucks herself into a ball.
• Fixed a bug where Danger! Rotating Arm Hazard! (QCF + MK) did not stagger if done after landing from an air normal in some situations.
• Fixed a bug where Catastrophe Cannon (QCF + PP) could not hit Double when she performed Item Crash (M) (QCB + MK).
• Magnetic Trap (QCF + KK)
  • When Magnetic Trap is used as a Blockbuster Ensemble (DHC) it no longer is unblockable if the opponent is rising.
  • Fixed a bug where it could pull Double's Nightmare Legion (QCB + PP) Blockbuster during unexpected times.
• Theonite Beam (H) Strength (QCF + HP)
  • Now always does 4 hits regardless of the range (instead of up to 6) to the opponent when used as an assist.
  • Has an extra 26F of recovery when used as an assist.
• Reduce active frames on cMK by 6 frames.

SQUIGLY

Spoiler: Squigly

No changes. Hello Squigly!

UMBRELLA

Spoiler: Umbrella

• Fixed a bug where Umbrella would continue with Slurp n Slide longer than expected if it made contact with an opponent during the very end of their Reaction Shot (PB) animation.
• Added a new normal, d.F+MP called "Overbite", that performs quick overhead.
• Adjusted priority of Taunt (Hug it Out) to be higher than Salt Grinder.
• Adjusted Salt Grinder active frames by 1, and increased hitbox size.
• When Starving, Umbrella's red life now drains faster than before.
• Umbrella can now cancel jMK into any air normal on whiff (if floating) or contact, like Parasoul's jMK.
• Adjusted hurtboxes while staggered to be closer to her idle animation.
• Tag in attack is no longer an overhead.
• Projectiles summoned from Under The Weather are destroyed early if Umbrella is hit with an Outtake (Snapback).
• Fixed a bug where Umbrella wasn't using proper reversal window timings when exiting blockstun, hitstun, and wake up.
• Increased hurtbox size during air hitstun and air knockdown states so that she is easier to combo.
• The second hit of cHP now comes out a bit faster if the first hit whiffs while Satiated.
• When fighting boss Marie, Salt Grinder and Hungern Rush now have physical hits that will increase Umbrella's Hunger Meter.
• Bobblin' Bubble now launches heavier characters higher.
• Taunt:
  • Increased how much Hunger Meter is lost from taunting.
  • Shortened the minimum time that Umbrella must perform her taunt before being able to stop.
  • If used while Starving, Umbrella will feed Hungern a snack to return him to the Satiated state.
• sHK:
  • Improved hitbox.
  • Increased start up by 2F.
  • Landing recovery on failure is now fully vulnerable.
  • Damage increased: 975 → 1200
  • When performed for the second time in a combo, it will perform a worse version that ends the combo.
• cLK:
  • Increased hurtbox height.
  • Reduced hitstun.
• cMP:
  • Reduced hitbox reach in Ravenous.
  • Extended vulnerable hurtboxes.
• sLK:
  • Now slides Umbrella forward slightly
  • Expanded hitbox
• cMK:
  • Added vulnerable hurtboxes under her stretching down to the ground.
  • Removed throw invincibility.
• Air Throw
  • Reduced horizontal hitbox reach.
• Feeding Time (Lv3)
  • Reduced damage during Starving and Ravenous: 6750 → 6000.
• Hungern Rush (Down, Up + HP)
  • Reduced start up in Satiated, Ravenous, and Overstuffed states.
  • Now fully invincible (instead of strike invincible) during Ravenous.
  • Is no longer unblockable while rising unless she is in the Ravenous state.
• jMP:
  • Reduced hitbox size in all states.
  • Increased start up in Ravenous state.
• Changed inputs of Retina Reflector:
  • Retina Reflector: QCF + KK
  • Retina Reflector - Contact Lens: QCF + PP
• Hunger States
  • Umbrella's Hunger Meter drains during most actions now instead of freezing momentarily during Special Moves, Normals, etc.
  • Umbrella's Hunger Meter no longer drains faster for landing hits with "punch" (Hungern) normal attacks.
  • Tweaked Hunger Meter loss rate in each Hunger States individually.
  • Hunger Meter drains slower for the remainder of a combo after using an "eating" type move that increases Hunger Meter.
  • Hunger Meter drains slower when Umbrella or her opponent is in hitstun, and no longer drains at all when performing a "Double Snap" or "Assist Kill" combo.
  • Creating Bubbles with Cutie Ptooie, Bobblin' Bubble, Wish Maker, and Under The Weather no longer drains Hunger Meter.
  • Umbrella can now transition from Overstuffed into Satiated during a combo, instead of needing to wait for it to end.
  • Ground Throw and Air Throw no longer adjust Hunger Meter, and instead trap the opponent in a bubble. Ground Throw can no longer chomp for extra damage.
  • Major eating moves (Salt Grinder, Hungern Rush, Tongue Twister, and Feeding Time) all force Umbrella up one single Hunger State on success, regardless of chews, chomps, etc.
  • When using Cutie Ptooie (QCB+LK), the butterfly can no longer be spared or eaten manually by holding LK, and it no longer adjusts Hunger Meter.
• Tongue Twister
  • Is now only a command grab that must be jumped for a single frame close to Umbrella. After that frame, it becomes a hit throw that can be blocked.
  • As an assist, it is never a command grab and can always be blocked.
  • After victims bounce off the wall, they can be hit off the ground now.
  • Reduced damage and the number of maximum chomps based on Hunger State.
  • Reduced the speed that the tongue retracts, effectively increasing recovery for long range grab attempts.
  • Adjusted hitboxes.
  • If used for the second time in a combo, the opponent will become invincible.
  • Fixed a bug where opponents would receive an extra hit of damage scaling when they bounced off the wall.
  • Now increases Hunger Meter and changes Hunger States even when used as an assist.
  • Fixed a bug where the incorrect amount of Undizzy was added.
• Slurp n Slide
  • Reduced block advantage on Slurp n Slide to +1 in Satiated.
  • No longer activates if holding down + forward for the final direction. Forward must be explicitly held.
• Ravenous
  • Bubble creating moves (Cutie Ptooie, Bobblin' Bubble, Wishmaker, and Under The Weather) now perform worse versions compared to Satiated.
  • Umbrella moves much faster (dash, back dash, dash jump) in Ravenous.
• Overstuffed
  • In Overstuffed, sHP now has armor after a short while.
  • Fixed a bug where the wall bounce hit from sHP would apply an extra hit of damage scaling.
  • In Overstuffed, Salt Grinder performs a physical hit that staggers opponents.
  • In Overstuffed, Tongue Twister trips the opponent in front of Umbrella instead of having Hungern eat them.
  • In Overstuffed, Hungern Rush is now a two hit move that can be cancelled into Blockbusters on success.
  • In Overstuffed, jHP now launches heavier characters higher.
  • Adjusted Overstuffed Normals:
    • Normals are all faster than before, and only two frames slower* than their Satiated versions.
      • * Exceptions exist for sHP and jMP which are still slower than 2F, but faster than previously.
    • Reduced hitstop on all normals to speed up combos and flow.
    • Fixed a bug where s.F+HP was not any slower in Starving or Overstuffed.
    • jMP damage: 950 → 750
    • jHP damage: 1200 → 1000
    • sMP (2nd Hit) damage: 500 → 400
    • cHP (2nd Hit) damage: 750 → 650
    • Bobblin' Bubble damage: 700 → 600
    • jHP now jumps less high and falls faster than before.
• Damage tuning:
  • Bobblin' Bubble (Satiated): 600 → 650
  • Slurp n Slide (Satiated): 650 → 750
  • Slurp n Slide (Satiated, Puddle Boosted): 750 → 900
  • s.F+HP (Grow): 250x3, 400 → 200x3, 300
  • s.F+HP (Slam): 1100/1400/1700 → 1100/1250/1500
  • Using Tongue Twister or Salt Grinder in a combo where these moves are already used will reduce the damage of them by 20%.

VALENTINE

Spoiler: Valentine

• Updated art with new design.
• Vial Hazard Type C (Orange Vial)
  • Reduce input lag values: 4/6/9 → 3/5/7
  • Level 3 version no longer requires Valentine to get hit with a Blockbuster to remove the effect - any hit will work now.
  • Level 1 and 2 versions now go away when Valentine blocks any hit.
• Fixed a bug where hitting Sekhmet while she was frozen from Acquisitive Prescription would not revert her back to Eliza form.
• All versions of Savage Bypass now produce a hitbox for at least one frame.
• cHP
  • Increased physical height of Valentine to prevent her from sliding under opponents as often.
  • Valentine will stop moving forward if the opponent is close to her.
  • Extended hitbox slightly behind her.
• cLK: Increased hitstun by 1F
• cMK:
  • Reduced pushback on the first hit.
  • The second hit now pulls victims towards Valentine
• cMP: Reduced start up by 2F.
• jLP: When performed from a backdash air dash (BDAD) for an instant overhead, Valentine will stay on the same side she started the attack from instead of sometimes passing over the opponent's head.
• sMP
  • The first downwards slash now pulls opponents towards the floor.
  • Increased hitstun on the first slash, and the follow-up sawing hits.
• Added 4F of hitstop to the final hit of EKG Flatliner, to help Blockbuster Ensembles (DHC) stay on the same side she hit from when desired.
• Extended hitbox of Forbidden Procedure (Lv5) backwards to help make contact with all characters in the corner.

This brings Skullgirls up to these versions on each platform:

Steam: 3.7.10
Switch: 1.10
PS4: 1.22
Xbox: 1.0.0.8

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THE FUTURE
As we mentioned in the 2024 Roadmap Post, with the SG2E Season 1 Pass winding down, the obvious question is - what comes next? While it’s tempting to dive right into a Season 2 Pass - we’ve instead opted to pause for a moment to step back and recalibrate our efforts a bit. What does that mean exactly?

ADDITIONAL VO
In addition to what’s already been released (including free bonus voice packs for Umbrella, Black Dahlia, and Marie), there is still a significant amount of VO that we were planning to include in the Season Pass that has not been added yet, including:

• ANNIE ALTERNATE VOICE PACK (English)
• SEASON PASS CHARACTER STORY MODE VO (English)
• SEASON PASS CHARACTER COMBAT VO (Japanese)

As it turns out, the logistics for all of these has proven to be a bit more involved than we had originally anticipated. As such, in order to ensure that everything is done to the quality level that we (and the community) expects, we unfortunately are NOT planning to release this content in 2024.

Nonetheless, while the timetable isn’t what we originally hoped for, we take our commitments seriously, and we are still planning to release it in 2025. As always, we appreciate your patience, support, and understanding!

FREE SGM PALETTES
As noted earlier, some palettes first introduced in Skullgirls Mobile have been added to 2nd Encore with this update. While the release timing is a little up in the air, we are planning to provide future Mobile palettes FOR FREE to every Skullgirls 2nd Encore player too!

NEW FEATURES / CONTENT / CHARACTERS
Although we don’t currently have news on what to expect on this front for Skullgirls 2nd Encore at this time - just know that we are still intending to support both the console and mobile versions of Skullgirls for years to come. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months!

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SKULLGIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

The Skullgirls Championship Series 2024 concluded this weekend! After months of international events, the top Skullgirls players from all over the world converged on Combo Breaker 2024 looking for a piece of the $16,000 prize pool, and the title of World Champion!

There could only be one winner, and SonicFox took their place on the throne of the Skullgirls World Champion! Congratulations!

Check out the complete Top 8 here and relive the moment:

LIVE EVENTS & GIVEAWAYS

The next live event we’re planning on attending is Evo (Las Vegas, Jul 19-21). If you’re planning to attend, be sure to swing by the Skullgirls booth to meet us in person and score all kinds of FREE booth exclusive giveaways and prizes. We hope to see you there!

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WRAPPING UP

Just in case you missed it, we recently announced that brand new characters will be added to Skullgirls Mobile this year as Guest Stars - summonable Assist type characters that can help out in fights. The first of these Guest Stars will be the adorable Minette, and we just announced Brain Drain will be second!

Rough animation of one of Brain Drain’s Guest Star attacks.

Rough animation of one of Minette's Guest Star attacks.​

There’ll also be a third Guest Star planned for this first set of characters. I wonder who it will be?
Guest Stars are currently planned for SGM only, but there’s always a chance they may make their way to SG2E one day!

A sincere thank you to everyone who’s stuck it out with us for so many years of Skullgirls! Here’s to many more!
Stay tuned on our social media pages (Twitter, Facebook) for the latest info on all things Skullgirls!

- All of us at Hidden Variable Studios and Future Club <3