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.
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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)
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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.
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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
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.
