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Characters Buffing Weaker Kits: Cerebella

Kheul

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First of all I would like to thank everyone who shared their ideas and opinions about the changes I suggested on my previous post. Thanks for your contributions, you're all awesome!

Cerebella
She is supposed to be the BRUISER of this game. Stat-wise, she fits the role with the best ATK and HP ratio, but her moves are quite outdated. With nothing special going for her, she is as bad as Painwheel in terms of functionality of moves. I will attempt to take the weight off Harlequin's shoulders by trying to open up (hopefully) viable and alternative playstyles.

Also, I'd like to note that when suggesting these changes, I’m not really taking the Rift into account, as that would require focusing on very specific details that could narrow my perspective. I'm not here to overbuff her so she can do wonders in high level rifts. I’m considering only the character’s overall feel and what best fits their archetype.

ICON​
NAME​
OLD​
NEW​
Medici_Muscle.png
MEDICI MUSCLE
TAUNT your opponent to gain ARMOR for 10/12/15 seconds.TAUNT your opponent to gain HEAVY REGEN for 10/12/15 seconds.
Lock_n_Load.png
LOCK N' LOAD
Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.When HIT during the cast, doubles the damage of this move once. Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.
Cerecopter.png
CERECOPTER
10/20% chance on HIT to inflict ARMOR BREAK for 5/7 seconds.15/30% chance on hit to gain ARMOR for 8/12 seconds. (includes blocked hits)
Pummel_Horse.png
PUMMEL HORSE
10/20% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5/7 seconds.20/40% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5/10 seconds.
Butt_Slam.png
BUTT SLAM
Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.Deal up to an additional 10/15/20% of the opponent's MAX HEALTH based on the combo count.
Diamond_Drop.png
DIAMOND DROP
If used to defeat an opponent, gain HEAVY REGEN for 5/8/10 seconds.A successful grab grants other BLOCKBUSTERS 10/15/20% METER.
Diamond_Dynamo.png
DIAMOND DYNAMO
Deals 2/5/8% bonus damage per COMBO HIT.Deals 5/7/10% bonus damage per COMBO HIT.
Excellebella.png
EXCELLEBELLA
15/25% chance on HIT to STUN opponent for 4/6 seconds.First hit inflicts ARMOR BREAK for 10 seconds and following hits have 25/35% chance on HIT to STUN opponent for 4/6 seconds.
Grab_Bag.png
GRAB BAG
If used to defeat an opponent, gain 2 stacks of ARMOR for 10/12/15 seconds.15/30% chance on HIT to remove 1 BUFF from opponent and 1 DEBUFF from self. Each removal refunds 5/10% METER.
Ultimate_Showstopper.png
ULTIMATE SHOWSTOPPER
If used to defeat an opponent, gain 2 random BUFFS for 10/12/15 seconds.Deals 50/75/100% bonus damage and inflicts HEX for 7 seconds if the enemy is below 25% HEALTH.



I'm planning to suggest some changes for DOUBLE sometime in the future. I'm taking my time thinking about the changes though.

These conclude my suggestions for Cerebella. I'm very open to feedbacks, please comment down below your opinions and ideas. Let's brainstorm!


Updates:
- Implemented Aoskull's idea on the Excellebella.
- Added "(includes blocked hits)" to Cerecopter so it can be used on defense too.
 
Last edited:
First of all I would like to thank everyone who shared their ideas and opinions about the changes I suggested on my previous post. Thanks for your contributions, you're all awesome!

Cerebella
She is supposed to be the BRUISER of this game. Stat-wise, she fits the role with the best ATK and HP ratio, but her moves are quite outdated. With nothing special going for her, she is as bad as Painwheel in terms of functionality of moves. I will attempt to take the weight off Harlequin's shoulders by trying to open up (hopefully) viable and alternative playstyles.

Also, I'd like to note that when suggesting these changes, I’m not really taking the Rift into account, as that would require focusing on very specific details that could narrow my perspective. I'm not here to overbuff her so she can do wonders in high level rifts. I’m considering only the character’s overall feel and what best fits their archetype.

ICON​
NAME​
OLD​
NEW​
MEDICI MUSCLE
TAUNT your opponent to gain ARMOR for 10/12/15 seconds.TAUNT your opponent to gain HEAVY REGEN for 10/12/15 seconds.
LOCK N' LOAD
Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.When HIT during the cast, doubles the damage of this move once. Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.
CERECOPTER
10/20% chance on HIT to inflict ARMOR BREAK for 5/7 seconds.15/30% chance on hit to gain ARMOR for 8/12 seconds.
PUMMEL HORSE
10/20% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5/7 seconds.20/40% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5/10 seconds.
BUTT SLAM
Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.Deal up to an additional 10/15/20% of the opponent's MAX HEALTH based on the combo count.
DIAMOND DROP
If used to defeat an opponent, gain HEAVY REGEN for 5/8/10 seconds.A successful grab grants other BLOCKBUSTERS 10/15/20% METER.
DIAMOND DYNAMO
Deals 2/5/8% bonus damage per COMBO HIT.Deals 5/7/10% bonus damage per COMBO HIT.
EXCELLEBELLA
15/25% chance on HIT to STUN opponent for 4/6 seconds.25/35% chance on HIT to STUN opponent for 4/6 seconds. (First hit can't stun)
GRAB BAG
If used to defeat an opponent, gain 2 stacks of ARMOR for 10/12/15 seconds.15/30% chance on HIT to remove 1 BUFF from opponent and 1 DEBUFF from self. Each removal refunds 5/10% METER.
ULTIMATE SHOWSTOPPER
If used to defeat an opponent, gain 2 random BUFFS for 10/12/15 seconds.Deals 50/75/100% bonus damage and inflicts HEX for 7 seconds if the enemy is below 25% HEALTH.



I'm planning to suggest some changes for DOUBLE sometime in the future. I'm taking my time thinking about the changes though.

These conclude my suggestions for Cerebella. I'm very open to feedbacks, please comment down below your opinions and ideas. Let's brainstorm!


Nice suggestion you got there! Here’s my feedbacks.

- Imo haste is a good option for taunt. Since Beo, who is also a throwing fighter has haste in his taunt, I think they can be categorized well. With this change, it will be easy to achieve a fighting style that was previously difficult, without an investment in meter gain.

- Previously I suggested the Butt Slam rework, so I’ll repost it. Cerebella with deadeye seems to be really interesting to use!
Butt Slam
UNBLOCKABLE. On hit, gain DEADEYE for 8/10/12 seconds.

- Gain armor by Cerecopter seems to be a little weak. Since it's a frequently used move, it should be more effective. Here’s my idea.
Cerecopter
15/25/35% to remove 1 BUFF from opponent on hit.

- Grabbag is OP. Maybe “remove debuff from self and convert it to 10/12/15 sec of armor” would be good imo.

- It would be good to add armor break in Excerebella’s 1st hit.


- Diamond Drop is an only move that has a recovery effect, but is not a very useful ability. I think it would be easier to use if that aspect was buffed. This change makes it to similar usage as Sagan Beam.
Diamond Drop
20/25/30% of inflicted damage is regained as health.
 
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Nice suggestion you got there! Here’s my feedbacks.
Hey thank you man, I appreciate the feedback.
- Imo haste is a good option for taunt. Since Beo, who is also a throwing fighter has haste in his taunt, I think they can be categorized well. With this change, it will be easy to achieve a fighting style that was previously difficult, without an investment in meter gain.
Haste is really, really strong which completely makes METER GAIN stat obsolete. Don't get me wrong haste would make her stronger but I wanted to take different approach. As one of her Marquee reduces enemy meters, this makes her a good choice in longer fights. I wanted the taunt the complement that and added a better alternative than armor, heavy regen. Which will grant her the sustain she needs in longer fights where chunk damage accumulates a lot. This also complements the new Lock n'load, where you take damage to double your damage on the next hit, kind of a counterattack. Also giving Haste to Cerebella might cause her to outclass Beowulf.
- Previously I suggested the Butt Slam rework, so I’ll repost it. Cerebella with deadeye seems to be really interesting to use!
Butt Slam
UNBLOCKABLE. On hit, gain DEADEYE for 8/10/12 seconds.
UNBLOCKABLE sounds interesting. Though gotta say DEADEYE on base Cerebella sounds like a stretch to me. I just can't seem to find Deadeye thematically fitting for base Cerebella.

What I wanted to achieve with my change is to effectively use Butt Slam as a "finisher" where she gets extra max health damage based on the combo count, similar to ANNIE's Destruction Pillar but it is not spammable.
- Gain armor by Cerecopter seems to be a little weak. Since it's a frequently used move, it should be more effective. Here’s my idea.
Cerecopter
15/25/35% to remove 1 BUFF from opponent on hit.
I'm not a fan of giving every character an "EASY" way to remove BUFFS from enemy or DEBUFFS from self. It just makes them feel all the same to me. While your iteration might be more effective in most scenarios, I wanted to give her some stacks of armor which can be utilized in offense. As some of her moves have Unflinching integrated into them, thought armor would complement to those. It also complements her bruiser archetype, making her tankier than most other classes.
- Grabbag is OP. Maybe “remove debuff from self and convert it to 10/12/15 sec of armor” would be good imo.
I thought ULTIMATE SHOWSTOPPER would be the OP one not gonna lie xd. It is a BB3 after all I thought it should have something nice going for it. Considering there is no "FULL CLEANSE BB3" I thought it would be nice addition. Considering this is a BB3 which makes it already quite hard to activate, it has pretty much the same value with a DAHLIA TEA SLIP + PARASOUL CANOPY BOUNCE. Except when used in suitable situations it actually refunds some of its meter back. Not sure how this would be OP. I would like to hear everyone's opinions if original concept would be OP or not. Because currently I just cannot call it OP no matter how much I think about it.
- It would be good to add armor break in Excerebella’s 1st hit.
Sounds good to me.

- Diamond Drop is an only move that has a recovery effect, but is not a very useful ability. I think it would be easier to use if that aspect was buffed. This change makes it to similar usage as Sagan Beam.
Diamond Drop
20/25/30% of inflicted damage is regained as health.
Oh yeah this could work too. Because giving Medici Muscle Heavy Regen was the first thing I did thinking about these changes, I didn't think of any other sustain moves.

As I didn't plan these BLOCKBUSTERS considering her base moves would grant HASTE to her (your iteration), they are more powerful than BEOWULF's. So if HASTE had been added to her TAUNT, this Diamond Drop would have been nice, but it would require some other changes too. I just wanted to take a different approach and made a BLOCKBUSTER give other BLOCKBUSTERS meter which can be considered as a mini-haste which doesn't make METER GAIN stat obsolete at all.
 
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First of all I would like to thank everyone who shared their ideas and opinions about the changes I suggested on my previous post. Thanks for your contributions, you're all awesome!

Cerebella
She is supposed to be the BRUISER of this game. Stat-wise, she fits the role with the best ATK and HP ratio, but her moves are quite outdated. With nothing special going for her, she is as bad as Painwheel in terms of functionality of moves. I will attempt to take the weight off Harlequin's shoulders by trying to open up (hopefully) viable and alternative playstyles.

Also, I'd like to note that when suggesting these changes, I’m not really taking the Rift into account, as that would require focusing on very specific details that could narrow my perspective. I'm not here to overbuff her so she can do wonders in high level rifts. I’m considering only the character’s overall feel and what best fits their archetype.


ICON​
NAME​
NEW​
FEEDBACK
MEDICI MUSCLE
TAUNT your opponent to gain HEAVY REGEN for 10/12/15 seconds.Synergises well with her high base health!
LOCK N' LOAD
When HIT during the cast, doubles the damage of this move once. Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.Gimmicky, but would def use this more for the extra oomph!
CERECOPTER
15/30% chance on hit to gain ARMOR for 8/12 seconds.not sure what i find of this, while armor break was redundant due to battle butt this probably ads more variety but still weird
PUMMEL HORSE
20/40% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5/10 seconds.yea could get a higher chance for sure
BUTT SLAM
Deal up to an additional 10/15/20% of the opponent's MAX HEALTH based on the combo count.Love this, if the move start up time was fixed too. youd ned a ground bounce to combo with this if that even is doable
DIAMOND DROP
A successful grab grants other BLOCKBUSTERS 10/15/20% METER.seems fine, dont really care about this change though
DIAMOND DYNAMO
Deals 5/7/10% bonus damage per COMBO HIT.would still deal 0 dmg based on bella combo counts
EXCELLEBELLA
First hit inflicts ARMOR BREAK for 10 seconds and following hits have 25/35% chance on HIT to STUN opponent for 4/6 seconds.no opinion
GRAB BAG
15/30% chance on HIT to remove 1 BUFF from opponent and 1 DEBUFF from self. Each removal refunds 5/10% METER.and you get a removal BB3, AND YOU, AND YOU!!!
ULTIMATE SHOWSTOPPER
Deals 50/75/100% bonus damage and inflicts HEX for 7 seconds if the enemy is below 25% HEALTH.is the move duration 7s? if so yea sounds good!

Definitely like your ideas a lot! Hope developers take notes of this.
 
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Definitely like your ideas a lot! Hope developers take notes of this.
Thank you, I really appreciate the feedbacks.

About Cerecopter, I feel like some easily accessible armor can be effective against defenders with no real offensive stats considering her high base HP. But I can see where you are coming from. That move took me the longest to figure out something for it.

Just a little extra note, Blockbusters with bonus damage per combo hit are hardcoded with a limitation up to 200% bonus damage. This change would decrease max damage combo requirement by 5. Which gets us to a 20 hit combo requirement (when move is +15), quite possible with Pummel Horse or Excellebella. That said you can easily feel the damage increase with Big Band's BB1 with the same effect but this one seemed lackluster to me too. Maybe its base damage is a bit too low? Who knows.
 
Last edited:
First of all I would like to thank everyone who shared their ideas and opinions about the changes I suggested on my previous post. Thanks for your contributions, you're all awesome!

Cerebella
She is supposed to be the BRUISER of this game. Stat-wise, she fits the role with the best ATK and HP ratio, but her moves are quite outdated. With nothing special going for her, she is as bad as Painwheel in terms of functionality of moves. I will attempt to take the weight off Harlequin's shoulders by trying to open up (hopefully) viable and alternative playstyles.

Also, I'd like to note that when suggesting these changes, I’m not really taking the Rift into account, as that would require focusing on very specific details that could narrow my perspective. I'm not here to overbuff her so she can do wonders in high level rifts. I’m considering only the character’s overall feel and what best fits their archetype.

ICON​
NAME​
OLD​
NEW​
MEDICI MUSCLE
TAUNT your opponent to gain ARMOR for 10/12/15 seconds.TAUNT your opponent to gain HEAVY REGEN for 10/12/15 seconds.
LOCK N' LOAD
Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.When HIT during the cast, doubles the damage of this move once. Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.
CERECOPTER
10/20% chance on HIT to inflict ARMOR BREAK for 5/7 seconds.15/30% chance on hit to gain ARMOR for 8/12 seconds.
PUMMEL HORSE
10/20% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5/7 seconds.20/40% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5/10 seconds.
BUTT SLAM
Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.Deal up to an additional 10/15/20% of the opponent's MAX HEALTH based on the combo count.
DIAMOND DROP
If used to defeat an opponent, gain HEAVY REGEN for 5/8/10 seconds.A successful grab grants other BLOCKBUSTERS 10/15/20% METER.
DIAMOND DYNAMO
Deals 2/5/8% bonus damage per COMBO HIT.Deals 5/7/10% bonus damage per COMBO HIT.
EXCELLEBELLA
15/25% chance on HIT to STUN opponent for 4/6 seconds.First hit inflicts ARMOR BREAK for 10 seconds and following hits have 25/35% chance on HIT to STUN opponent for 4/6 seconds.
GRAB BAG
If used to defeat an opponent, gain 2 stacks of ARMOR for 10/12/15 seconds.15/30% chance on HIT to remove 1 BUFF from opponent and 1 DEBUFF from self. Each removal refunds 5/10% METER.
ULTIMATE SHOWSTOPPER
If used to defeat an opponent, gain 2 random BUFFS for 10/12/15 seconds.Deals 50/75/100% bonus damage and inflicts HEX for 7 seconds if the enemy is below 25% HEALTH.



I'm planning to suggest some changes for DOUBLE sometime in the future. I'm taking my time thinking about the changes though.

These conclude my suggestions for Cerebella. I'm very open to feedbacks, please comment down below your opinions and ideas. Let's brainstorm!


I think that if she gets all this buff she would still be weak, probably one of the weakest character, i like most of the changes tho.
except GRAB BAG, she would become a super annoying defense like big bang.
 
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I think that if she gets all this buff she would still be weak, probably one of the weakest character, i like most of the changes tho.
except GRAB BAG, she would become a super annoying defense like big bang.
Thank you for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

I'm glad you liked most of the changes.

My take on these buffs:
I never planned her to be a meta definer as I stated in the post. I could have given her an easy buff/debuff removal, immunity and called it a day. But I personally don't like everyone having way too similar kits. As she has the best stats in the game, I didn't want to give her the utility of other characters who has lower stats. Instead I wanted her to be able to utilize her stats and abilities better than now. She is a Bruiser, I wanted to keep it simple.

I tried to open up or strengthen at least three more distinct playstyles with these changes by making less used moves more usable:

Bulky: Maximizes the usage of her base stats. (Cerecopter, Medici Muscle, Lock n' Load)

Combo: Rewarding high (in her standards) combo count with reliable damage. (Diamond Dynamo, Excellebella, Butt Slam)

Meter: Offers the highest utility but lowest uptime. (Diamond Drop and high utility BB3s)

Closing remarks:
Let's be real, why would you need any other character when you have something like Eliza. A "techy" character that can do everything you would ever need. Something like Dahlia who also has so many tools on top of an insanely high damage potential. Something like Marie, the Skullgirl herself who wished to have every utility tool imaginable.

Most of the time what you need is Hex, Curse, Buff Removal, Inverse Polarity, Immunity, Eliza etc. We already have those. I wanted to open up a different niche, a straightforward and basic one at that.


Also now that you mentioned, Grab Bag would be a real menace in defense for real. Good she deserves some love in defense with those stats too (insert evil smile here).
 
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Great suggestions overall! Really like the BB3s because both are currently just garbage.

Currently I mainly only use HQ and the MGR-Battle Butt loop as it’s abusable. Devs don’t seem to think that’s an issue and haven’t changed it. Not that I’d like to see it nerfed but maybe it could be made less abusable. If other moves are buffed like you suggested there may be more incentive to be creative and use her.
 
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I've got some pretty strong opinions on the suggestions posted here, but I've been super busy with work lately and haven't had the time to make a proper response. Posting now just so I can get the ball rolling. I'll edit the post and tag you when the review is done
 
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ICON​
NAME​
OLD​
NEW​
MEDICI MUSCLE
TAUNT your opponent to gain ARMOR for 10/12/15 seconds.TAUNT your opponent to gain HEAVY REGEN for 10/12/15 seconds.
LOCK N' LOAD
Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.When HIT during the cast, doubles the damage of this move once. Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.
CERECOPTER
10/20% chance on HIT to inflict ARMOR BREAK for 5/7 seconds.15/30% chance on hit to gain ARMOR for 8/12 seconds. (includes blocked hits)
PUMMEL HORSE
10/20% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5/7 seconds.20/40% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5/10 seconds.
BUTT SLAM
Has a 25/50/100% increased chance to land a CRITICAL HIT.Deal up to an additional 10/15/20% of the opponent's MAX HEALTH based on the combo count.
DIAMOND DROP
If used to defeat an opponent, gain HEAVY REGEN for 5/8/10 seconds.A successful grab grants other BLOCKBUSTERS 10/15/20% METER.
DIAMOND DYNAMO
Deals 2/5/8% bonus damage per COMBO HIT.Deals 5/7/10% bonus damage per COMBO HIT.
EXCELLEBELLA
15/25% chance on HIT to STUN opponent for 4/6 seconds.First hit inflicts ARMOR BREAK for 10 seconds and following hits have 25/35% chance on HIT to STUN opponent for 4/6 seconds.
GRAB BAG
If used to defeat an opponent, gain 2 stacks of ARMOR for 10/12/15 seconds.15/30% chance on HIT to remove 1 BUFF from opponent and 1 DEBUFF from self. Each removal refunds 5/10% METER.
ULTIMATE SHOWSTOPPER
If used to defeat an opponent, gain 2 random BUFFS for 10/12/15 seconds.Deals 50/75/100% bonus damage and inflicts HEX for 7 seconds if the enemy is below 25% HEALTH.


First of all, thank you for your patience! A lot of my comments may seem like rambling, so I'll try to structure them with an overview at the end.

MEDICI MUSCLE

I personally think the Armor is fine, because she is a bruiser type of character. The armor compliments her high HP and a lot of her moves which revolve around absorbing hits. As a rule of thumb, reducing damage before it's fatal is always better than an option to recover it afterwards. The latter is only more efficient in pve grind scenarios.

We have to mention rifts however, and this is a big design flaw with Bella as a whole. She has 3 Water variants.
- Understudy is a perfectly fine Bronze defender that can benefit from Frost Armor. Her throws and taunt both benefit that, and allow her to stack up Armor at a decent rate. (she's bad late game, I know. This is referring to early-mid game only)

- Brain Freeze's signature ability 2 on the other hand, completely contradicts Frost Armor, as opponents will also be taking less damage, the longer the combo goes. Still, the Armor taunt combined with SA2 allows her to be a lot more durable.

- Star-Spangled gaining Barrier also makes the Armor from her taunt more valuable, as it will be harder to get rid of that Barrier stack. That makes Barrier based supports more valuable as well on her.


The issue with Medici Muscle is shared with the rest of the taunts. It does nothing else, apart from providing a buff. And unless that buff is really good, like Immunity or Curse, you'd rarely ever bother equipping it.

My issues with the proposed change
- The buff is way too strong compared to its counterparts. Val and Eliza both gain normal Regen for the same duration.
- It's a post fight buff. Bella needs to be tanky beforehand in order to mitigate as much damage as possible from her armored attacks(hit absorbers)

Considerations:
- Increasing the number of Armor stacks can end up being too imbalanced for Rifts. We'd best avoid any G.I. Jazz cases again.

- A combined approach might work, where both Armor and Heavy Regen are granted, but for a shorter period. If it were let's say 5/7/10 sec, then it'll be in-between Big Band's long 20 sec Armor and Eliza/Val's 15 sec Regen. Could work, but I'm not sure if I'm fully behind this.

- Reduce the active frames and make the taunt special/super cancellable. I feel like this should be standard for ALL taunts. Right now they're way too risky to use on defense, as your character becomes a sitting duck. Given how aggressive the AI can get at later streaks, allowing taunts to be Special Move and Blockbuster cancellable will make them significantly more usable. Lower active frames would also make them much more viable for offense as well.

Important thing to take into account

- Rebalancing of that taunt takes assumption that other Taunts will not be changed for the foreseeable future. So making it too strong could create a harsh contrast.
- I personally think a dedicated Taunts update should be made, where all character taunts are adjusted.




LOCK N' LOAD

I like the change. But imo it should increase its damage incrementally per absorbed hit. Something like 15/20/25% damage increase per absorbed hit, with a maximum of 100% increased damage. Also I'd say to completely remove the Critical Hit increase from the ability. I'll elaborate on this at the end.

Additional improvements
- Remove knockdown vs grounded opponents. Keep the move positive on hit, so you can follow it up with a grab. Right now it's adjusted so that after wake-up you can use your grab. That's cute and all, but Bella will be so much more fun if her moves flowed better into each other.
- Make the move wall-bounce airborne opponents. Knockback will additionally need to be increased. This will make the move a fun juggle tool. It should however be restricted to 1 wall bounce per combo.



CERECOPTER

Changing it to grant Armor can cause more harm than good down the line. Imo the current effect is fine, but just like you proposed, should also be applied on Blocked hits. Alternatively, having it apply Guard Break could also work out. With Guard Break, you can use Cerecopter after a block string and immediately buffer into Lock n' Load. If the Guard Break doesn't break after Cerecopter, you have an additional proc chance from Lock n Load, or better yet, if the opponent goes for a counter, you'll absorb the attack and punish the opponent. Dice roll, but imo it will work well with your proposed change for Lock n Load. Faster recovery by a few frames may be needed however.

- Alternatively, have it reduce opponent BB meter per hit. Her Upper Hand Marquee does already reduce BB meter, but giving her more ways to shut down the opponent would be good.
- Lastly, extends its hit box closer to the ground, so it can combo after Merry-Go-Rilla. Right now you can follow-up Merry-Go-Rilla only with Battle Butt. That's fine and all, but if Cerecopter also reduced BB Meter, by let's say 2/3/4%, then the merry-go-rilla + cerecopter combo would reduce BB meter by a total of 46/54/62% (assuming max Marquee)

As to why I don't think it should provide armor. This move as a whole is more viable on offense, as the AI doesn't really use it to its fullest. It's a Combo extender, and even though people look down on them, those few extra hits can be enough to kill off the AI, or get that few extra % down, so you win in PVP.



PUMMEL HORSE
Good change, nothing else to add.



BUTT SLAM

This move is not much of a combo extender and shouldn't have effects tied to combos. I feel like you may have confused it with Double's version of the move. Bella's Butt Slam is a gap closer. Even in higher streaks the AI will pretty much always whiff an attack, allowing you to hit them with Butt Slam. Given how it pretty much evades most attacks, including some supers, that makes it pretty good at its job.

Issues with the move
- Its problem is that it's most effective while you're very far away from the opponent, and becomes a dead move while near. You can use it as a wake-up tool, but Merry Go-Rilla is is guaranteed, making it the much safer and preferable option.
- Long startup makes it incredibly punishing up close, as already mentioned.
- High recovery on block makes it very punishing up close, as already mentioned.
- Bella is used as a counter to Dahlia and PW, yet the Crit on this move goes completely against that counter.
- Damage isn't its problem.


Solutions
- In my opinion, players simply need encouragement and incentive to use the ability at its most powerful state, which is at longer distance. That's why I think the ability should do more damage based on distance away from the opponent. The further away you are, the more damage it deals.
- The move should stagger the opponent instead of knocking down. That way you can follow up with a combo and grab. Again, encouraging to use this move as an opener.
- Reduce knockback
- I also agree with removing the crit.


Things I'm against.
- I'm completely against making it an unlockable move. That's a cheap mechanic that should be reserved for T3 BBs.



DIAMOND DROP

I like this a lot. Nothing else to add.



DIAMOND DYNAMO

Needed change, Nothing else to add.



EXCELLEBELLA
Current version is fine imo. Just needs higher proc values.



GRAB BAG

We're getting too many Tier 3 bbs with similar effects. Band got the buff removal on hit change for his BB3 in the last patch, and Robo Fortune also has the buff removal effect. If the move transferred debuffs however and refunded more meter per transferred buff, I'd be more on board. Don't get me wrong, your proposal is good, and as someone that uses that BB a lot, it'll be a buff to my playstyle. However, I think we should stick to strong asymmetries between characters in order to keep them as unique as possible.



ULTIMATE SHOWSTOPPER

I like the idea of keeping this an execute. However, her Prestige already covers that to a large degree. So by the time the opponent goes below 25%, that BB will pretty much be a guaranteed kill regardless. Some value adjustments to your idea is all it needs imo.

Proposed change:
Deals 10/15/20% bonus damage after each hit and inflicts HEX for 7 seconds.

- This way the move synergizes with her Prestige. With each hit, the move will be stronger and will also gain additional damage from her Prestige effect.
- On the last hit, the ability will deal 60/90/120% more damage. This may sound like a lot, but it's about give or take 50% less damage overall compared to your proposal.



Final thoughts

A lot of characters have odd balancing due to how the game fundamentally was designed from the start. Due to Tag times being rather slow at base level, and requiring you to waste a stat slot for faster tag-ins, people simply don't use a rotation of characters that much during their offense. In an ideal world, you would tag in a character to remove opponent buffs, tag another to apply debuffs or boost your team and tag your last character for damage. I think this was their whole idea. However, this is most effective with only certain variants and specific builds, and is not the standard.


I'm saying this, because I personally think Bella should NOT have any Crit Based or Crit Enhancing moves. That way she can stay a pure counter to characters like Dahlia and PW with their crit based marquees. It also futureproofs her vs any future Crit based defensive character. As such, her specials and blockbusters should focus around giving her the most opportunities to utilize grabs. That way you can both deal with the aforementioned characters better, but can also trigger her Prestige much sooner.

I'd also like to see some small adjustments made to Merry-Go-Rilla. Nothing effects or damage based. Only hitboxes

1731845125253.png MERRY GO-RILLA

- Extend Hit Box closer to Bella by about 10-15%. Right now it simply whiffs too often vs certain characters, making her annoying to play.
- Allow it to grab airborne opponents. Given that the move doesn't do anything else, apart from damage, I think it'll be perfectly fine to allow players to utilize it as an ender. This way her Marquee will also be faster and easier to access.
 
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Sheeesh SvenZ! Thank you for your detailed and thorough feedback! No worries I'll read them all, it's no rambling for me, I really appreciate it.

MEDICI MUSCLE
As a rule of thumb, reducing damage before it's fatal is always better than an option to recover it afterwards.
This is exactly the reason why I went with ARMOR gain on Cerecopter which is a Multi-hit move and can grant multiple armors.
- The buff is way too strong compared to its counterparts. Val and Eliza both gain normal Regen for the same duration.
I thought about this too, but then remembered Immunity taunts exists which is stronger than all of them in my opinion. Also Heavy Regen doesn't stack, but you can spam other Regen taunts with ease, they are more practical in a sense.
The issue with Medici Muscle is shared with the rest of the taunts. It does nothing else, apart from providing a buff. And unless that buff is really good, like Immunity or Curse, you'd rarely ever bother equipping it.
Yeah that is the case most of the time, I wanted to make Heavy Regen a decent alternative with the help of multiple ARMORS from Cerecopter.

LOCK N' LOAD
I really like the additional improvements you proposed, would be really fun to use her that way. Incremental increase sounds interesting, but I feel like it just only punishes those who attack faster instead of it being just a simple counter-attack.

Critical hit doesn't really fit Cerebella, I agree, but this move feels different. To me, what she does with this move is she let go of all her defense and make an all-in strike with just one thing on her mind: "punch them in the face in the hardest way possible". Maybe we can further improve the counter-attack gimmick, so she only crits when she was hit during the animation, as it would make sense it to crit that way because enemies would be attacking so they won't expect to get hit.

That said, you are right on the spot when saying it could be problematic for those who benefits from getting critically hit. But there is no real "critless" except those who spam grabs and throws. I feel like crit fits this move well and can be synergistic with high damage crit variants like Criminal Mind or something new, but I wouldn't mind removing it.

CERECOPTER
Changing it to grant Armor can cause more harm than good down the line. Imo the current effect is fine, but just like you proposed, should also be applied on Blocked hits. Alternatively, having it apply Guard Break could also work out. With Guard Break, you can use Cerecopter after a block string and immediately buffer into Lock n' Load. If the Guard Break doesn't break after Cerecopter, you have an additional proc chance from Lock n Load, or better yet, if the opponent goes for a counter, you'll absorb the attack and punish the opponent. Dice roll, but imo it will work well with your proposed change for Lock n Load. Faster recovery by a few frames may be needed however.
It really does sound nice and fun that way, I thought about something similar to that, but was kinda discouraged as I used a very similar idea on my Painwheel Rework suggestion (Violet Grudge). But that wasn't the only reason, as she already has MERRY GORILLA which can already be used as an opener when used with Pummel Horse or Excellebella, I didn't think it would be necessary to give her another opener.
- Alternatively, have it reduce opponent BB meter per hit. Her Upper Hand Marquee does already reduce BB meter, but giving her more ways to shut down the opponent would be good.
I also thought of giving her some BB, SPECIAL, TAG-IN control, but adding something like that would make one of her Marquee's value go down. I liked what they did with Scare Giver which incentivized you to go with Ringleader instead of Upper Hand. It's true that almost all the time you go for Upper Hand when using Cerebella as Blockbusters are more of a risk than Specials or Tag-ins. It felt like adding even a tad bit of BB, SPECIAL, TAG-IN control would shift the Marquee usage the other way. Not that there is a competition to the begin with but yeah.
- Lastly, extends its hit box closer to the ground, so it can combo after Merry-Go-Rilla.
I can easily agree to this, QoL is always good.
As to why I don't think it should provide armor. This move as a whole is more viable on offense, as the AI doesn't really use it to its fullest. It's a Combo extender, and even though people look down on them, those few extra hits can be enough to kill off the AI, or get that few extra % down, so you win in PVP.
I still want it to be used on offense as well, I just wanted her to have a different playstyle where she can force her UNFLINCHING moves with help of additional ARMOR instead of just blocking and waiting for an opening or spamming with Merry Go-rilla. I think ARMOR complements Lock n'Load's counter-attack gimmick quite well and has an innate value as a combo count extender for her other moves that scales off combo count, I will explain why I reworked Butt Slam like this down below.


BUTT SLAM
This move is not much of a combo extender and shouldn't have effects tied to combos. I feel like you may have confused it with Double's version of the move. Bella's Butt Slam is a gap closer. Even in higher streaks the AI will pretty much always whiff an attack, allowing you to hit them with Butt Slam. Given how it pretty much evades most attacks, including some supers, that makes it pretty good at its job.
Actually I felt like this move was never used due to its really long windup and winddown durations, didn't know you can use it to evade most attacks. With the changes I proposed, I actually imagined it being used as a combo finisher, but not with its current animation speed. I imagined she would get some improvements to her general comboability like they did with Big Band update. I didn't want to get way too technical with her animation speeds etc, it is my bad I should have explained what went through my head better. For example, I imagined it being usable afterwards Diamond Dynamo bounce for the max combo count damage.
Solutions
- In my opinion, players simply need encouragement and incentive to use the ability at its most powerful state, which is at longer distance. That's why I think the ability should do more damage based on distance away from the opponent. The further away you are, the more damage it deals.
- The move should stagger the opponent instead of knocking down. That way you can follow up with a combo and grab. Again, encouraging to use this move as an opener.
- Reduce knockback
These are really interesting as well. I didn't really imagine it being used this way. I would be fine with these changes as well. But I want to know if my proposed idea would be acceptable if her gameplay was improved like the way I put it, otherwise I'm totally fine with your changes.

EXCELLEBELLA
Current version is fine imo. Just needs higher proc values.
When specifically the first hit applies the STUN it wastes most of it as her animation has a long stop before she starts slapping the opponent continously.

I actually thought I increased its chances a bit, but after calculating it I realized this change would only increase its stun chance like 2.5% (around 88%). I really don't like when it misses the STUN as well but didn't want to go overboard. Let's add 5% more for good measure.

GRAB BAG
We're getting too many Tier 3 bbs with similar effects. Band got the buff removal on hit change for his BB3 in the last patch, and Robo Fortune also has the buff removal effect. If the move transferred debuffs however and refunded more meter per transferred buff, I'd be more on board. Don't get me wrong, your proposal is good, and as someone that uses that BB a lot, it'll be a buff to my playstyle. However, I think we should stick to strong asymmetries between characters in order to keep them as unique as possible.
You are right, I was confused when Stone said "and you get a removal BB3, AND YOU, AND YOU!!!". Big Band's Tuba Tuba and Robo's CATASTROPHE CANNON OMEGA actually has something similar to that. It is just that I don't really get to use Robo's BB3 much and I only use Tuba Tuba on Beat Box that it felt like Beat Box's gimmick instead of his BB3 at this point lol. It is no excuse tho, shouldn't have forgotten about those when considering about reworking a BB3. I'm on board with it transferring, I imagined it to be a utility heavy BB3 anyways.

ULTIMATE SHOWSTOPPER
I like the idea of keeping this an execute. However, her Prestige already covers that to a large degree. So by the time the opponent goes below 25%, that BB will pretty much be a guaranteed kill regardless. Some value adjustments to your idea is all it needs imo.

Proposed change:
Deals 10/15/20% bonus damage after each hit and inflicts HEX for 7 seconds.

- This way the move synergizes with her Prestige. With each hit, the move will be stronger and will also gain additional damage from her Prestige effect.
- On the last hit, the ability will deal 60/90/120% more damage. This may sound like a lot, but it's about give or take 50% less damage overall compared to your proposal.
I didn't want to go overboard with something HEX on it and only wanted it to be good for executions, my proposal also conditions its HEX application on the enemy's health being below 25%. But it is a BB3 after all it should be more lenient, I agree with you here.

MERRY GO-RILLA
- Extend Hit Box closer to Bella by about 10-15%. Right now it simply whiffs too often vs certain characters, making her annoying to play.
- Allow it to grab airborne opponents. Given that the move doesn't do anything else, apart from damage, I think it'll be perfectly fine to allow players to utilize it as an ender. This way her Marquee will also be faster and easier to access.
Yeah I completely agree, she needs these kind of improvements a lot, I think this goes for both Pummel Horse and Excellebella as well, so they can be used more reliably.

I will update the moves and be sure to mention you in the post, like I did with everyone else. But I would like to see if any of your ideas changed with my answer as most of them are mostly my mistake by not explaining what I planned to to do with the move in detail.

Thank you so much again, I will be waiting for at least one last response on this topic from you, so we can understand each other better and I will update the moves based on the feedback. You don't need to be so intricate with your layout, I will read and answer nonetheless.

There are stuff I completely agree with you, like Excellebella, Grab Bag and Ultimate Showstopper and many other QoL changes. But there are some stuff that needs to go through at least one last check.

For now to summarize things to consider (please add if I missed anything):
- Medici Muscle and Cerecopter's role for Cerebella.
- Lock n'Load's counter gimmick and crit
- Possibility of Butt Slam's being a decent finisher considering the changes I proposed for it.
- Grab Bag change "15/30% chance on HIT to TRANSFER 1 DEBUFF from self. Each TRANSFER refunds 10/15% METER." Would this be fine or it might need additional changes? I also increased the meter refund a bit. This change completely removes any type of enemy buff removal from her and makes it significantly less spammable than before.

I am waiting for your response, see you around!
 
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