Hey everyone,
It’s that oh so extra special update: a brand new character! Black Dahlia has long been one of the most requested characters to be added to Skullgirls and it is a dream come true to finally get her into your hands! And she’ll be in your hands VERY SOON! Specifically TODAY!
As is to be expected of an assassin of Black Dahlia’s caliber, she has struck when she is least expected!
There’s also a host of other exciting additions and updates included in this update which you can read all about too.
When 5.2 releases there will be an in-game mail waiting for every player with a free Veiled Premiere Relic for a chance at getting Black Dahlia right away! (A Veiled Premiere Relic is similar to a standard Premiere Relic, but with 2x Odds of getting a Black Dahlia Fighter - more on those down below!)
Now then, on to the update notes!
NEW CHARACTER - BLACK DAHLIA
Black Dahlia is the right hand assassin of Lorenzo Medici, head of the mighty Medici crime syndicate that rules New Meridian from the shadows. A former agent of the Anti-Skullgirl Labs, Black Dahlia was mortally wounded decades ago in a confrontation with a Skullgirl and rebuilt with experimental cybernetic technology. The experience left her with an unquenchable thirst for blood and fascination with the despair and suffering of others.
She betrayed her peers to fight as a hired hitwoman for whomever could keep her paid (and entertained). After Medici Tower is destroyed by the Skullgirl, Lorenzo sends Black Dahlia off on a killing spree to stop Marie and retrieve the stolen Life Gem from Ms. Fortune. However, Dahlia finds herself jaded with her employer and drawn to the forbidden thrills only the Skull Heart can provide…
GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW
Black Dahlia's assassination skills allow her to control the battlefield with ease. She excels at mid-range, with teleport and dash attack options for positioning as well as various traps, projectiles and explosives to harass her foes. Her gun is her primary weapon, and using each of her unique Shot types effectively is key to her success. While she has few ways to mitigate damage or recover health, her moves provide many methods of disabling her enemies and bypassing their defenses, leaving them helpless against her fearsome arsenal.
CHARACTER ABILITY - SHARPSHOOTER
Black Dahlia’s Character Ability (CA) - SHARPSHOOTER - allows her to fire her gigantic multi-purpose gun arm. There are two different buttons for this CA: Fire and Reload.
FIRE
Tapping the larger button will fire a single shell and can be used in many different situations. Shots will fire in different directions depending on if Dahlia fires from the ground, after a launcher, in the air, and even after a backdash. Nowhere is safe from the Medici’s top assassin!
Dahlia has access to 6 different types of ammunition:
Standard Shot:
This is the default ammo type, and the most common in Dahlia’s arsenal. It fires in a slow arc and explodes on contact.
Fire Shot:
This fires in a slow arc and the shell will pass through the opponent, and bounces off walls. When it hits the ground it leaves a persistent pool of flames which hits several times before vanishing.
Lightning Shot:
This fires in a straight line and causes significant hit stun, allowing combo follow-ups. If it hits an aerial opponent it will pin them in place in the air.
Ice Shot:
This fires in a slow arc and will freeze the opponent on contact. If it hits an aerial opponent they will drop straight down to the ground. If Dahlia is feeling a bit extra, she may also craft a little snowman on a successful freeze.
Railgun Shot:
This fires an extremely fast beam shot in a straight line, dealing significant damage and causing a knockdown.
Buckshot:
This is a fast, close-range, and high-damage shotgun blast that causes a wallbounce.
RELOAD
Tapping the smaller button will discard all of the currently loaded ammunition and load in 6 new shells. Shots are always loaded in this set pattern when you reload:
When Dahlia tags in, she fires one shot into the opponent. The type of shot will also match Dahlia’s element.
The final shell in every magazine is completely random. Black Dahlia enjoys the thrill and chaos of battle so much that she deliberately loads a random shot in the chamber.Dahlia enjoys the thrill of battle that she deliberately gives herself a disadvantage by loading a random shot in the chamber. Learning to master every kind of ammunition in a variety of situations is the mark of a true assassin!
NEW MODIFIER
Black Dahlia comes with a brand new BUFF!
DEADEYE
Being able to find an opponent’s weak spot and get through any defenses is a vital part of any assassin’s kit. DEADEYE is the distilled representation of this skill.
While benefiting from DEADEYE all attacks will completely ignore the opponent’s DEFENSE stat. Many defensive buffs are completely ignored too.
I wonder if there are any Fighters that rely on AUTO-BLOCK that should be worried…?
SPECIAL MOVES AND BLOCKBUSTERS
Dahlia has a huge variety of tools to cover a wide variety of situations, but she’s particularly adept at traps and mid screen fighting. Black Dahlia masters will always be aware of their distance from the opponent to make maximum use of her varied arsenal.
SPECIAL MOVES
BURST:
Breaks the current combo and inflicts DEATH MARK.
SEE YOU AROUND:
Forces the opponent to tag out.
IT’S APPLE JUICE:
Taunt the opponent to gain DEADEYE. For extra emotional damage you can hit your opponent with the empty glass afterwards.
COUNTER, STRIKE:
Counters an attack, leaving the opponent staggered and inflicts HEAL BLOCK.
DEATH PENDULUM:
Increased CRITICAL HIT chance. This move can be used in the air and leads to many extended combo situations. It has a huge, but very particular range, so learning your spacing is vital to use this move effectively.
MEDICI MOUSETRAP:
Dahlia throws out a bear trap that lingers on the stage. If it hits the opponent, inflict IMMOBILIZE and DISABLE BLOCKBUSTERS.
ONSLAUGHT:
Dahlia lunges across the screen at high speed, hopping over low hits and dealing a lightning quick slash. Gain DEADEYE on hit.
TEA SLIP:
Dahlia teleports backwards from the opponent. She instantly reloads her gun and removes debuffs from herself.
BLOCKBUSTERS
BB1 - STAGE HAZARD:
Dahlia kicks a large barrel onto the stage, which leaves a trail of oil as it rolls. Both players can knock the barrel around. Once it sustains enough damage it will explode, igniting all of the oil. Dahlia can also ignite the oil with a Fire Shot, or using her Charge Attack. Blocking the barrel can also inflict GUARD BREAK.
BB1 - DOOR MAT:
Inflicts ARMOR BREAK and is useful as both a combo finisher or extender.
BB1 - EMPOWER:
Inflicts CURSE and puts Dahlia in the Empowered state. While empowered, Dahlia’s Charge Attack and Throw are more powerful and are much easier to combo from.
BB2 - PARTING GIFT:
Dahlia tosses a sticky bomb onto the opponent, or directly onto the stage. Tapping the Blockbuster button again will detonate it. When it explodes it deals more damage the more debuffs the opponent has.
BB3 - LAST CALL:
Dahlia loads one of every ammo type into her barrel and then unleashes them all on the opponent in a sequence. If she kills with this, gain ENRAGE and DEADEYE. Remember to reload afterwards!
You may have noticed that Black Dahlia is a little lighter on Blockbusters compared to other characters. Every good villain knows you can’t show all your cards at once, and Dahlia may have a few tricks she’s not ready to show off quite yet. Keep an eye out for new Blockbusters in future updates!
MARQUEE ABILITY - CLOCKWORK ORIGINS
Dahlia comes with two very distinct Marquee Abilities (MA). One allows Dahlia to press the offensive and rewards regular use of her Sharpshooter Character Ability. The other will make the opponent regret daring to attack you.
PRESTIGE ABILITY - TRIGGER MORTIS
Black Dahlia’s Prestige Ability (PA) rewards players who can really let loose with her arm cannon. After a successful activation Dahlia’s bloodlust will let her shred the opponent’s defense, so learning to weave in as many shots as possible in and out of combos is vital. Remember, the shots don’t need to hit anything, you just need to fire a shot to charge this PA!
NEW BLACK DAHLIA FIGHTERS
11 new Black Dahlia Fighters will be available in 5.2! We’ve started revealing them already, but a few more trailers will drop after the update has been released. Here’s a sneak peek at the full set:
You can check out the trailers for each revealed Fighter here (We'll update the links here with trailers as they are posted on our socials!):
So many to choose from! Which are you hoping to get first?
COMPETITIVE BLACK DAHLIA FIGHTER
Black Dahlia will also be added to COMPETITIVE VERSUS when 5.2 launches. However, you can only use Black Dahlia if you have at least one Black Dahlia Fighter in your collection.
HOW DO I GET BLACK DAHLIA?
As mentioned in our OFFICIAL: Black Dahlia Release Details & Relic Availability thread, Black Dahlia’s availability will be limited at launch. To summarize the thread linked:
VEILED PREMIERE RELICS
Veiled Premiere Relics will be available for 150 Theonite in the Relic Store for the entire duration of the 5.2 Release. They will also be available in the Cabinet of Curiosities.
These Relics behave like standard Premiere Relics, with two notable exceptions:
LOOSE CANNON RELICS
Loose Cannon Relics are Black Dahlia’s Character Relic, meaning they ONLY contain Black Dahlia Fighters.
Loose Cannon Relics are not available in the Relic Store for Theonite in 5.2, however, if you collect 100 Loose Cannon Relic Shards you can purchase one Loose Cannon Relic!
This is a significant change compared to our previous new Character launches. We wanted to make sure that everyone had guaranteed opportunities to get their hands on Black Dahlia Fighters. We’d love to hear your feedback on this new system!
OTHER DETAILS
Here’s some other miscellaneous details about Black Dahlia’s availability:
BLACK DAHLIA DAILY EVENT
One of your best bets for finding materials for upgrading your Black Dahlia Fighters is keeping an eye on the Cabinet of Curiosities, however you can also check out Black Dahlia’s Daily Event every FRIDAY if you want to stock up on more Black Dahlia Moves and Skill Points!
NEW CATALYST - DOUBLE BARRELED
An assassin of Black Dahlia’s caliber has many specialized tools, including a unique Rift Battles Catalyst that only affects Black Dahlia Fighters:
Keep an eye out for this in the Cabinet of Curiosities Treasures tab and in Rift Relics!
NEW STAGE - THE BUNNY BURROW
Every villain needs a lair to retreat to after a hard day's crime. For Black Dahlia, that's the Bunny Burrow.
Seated on her throne in the raised dais at the back, Black Dahlia can oversee any brawls that break out on the dance floor, along with keeping an eye on the many shady Medici characters that frequent her establishment.
Acting as hosts and bouncers (and assassins), Dahlia’s army of fanatically loyal bunnies prowl the floor taking care of any business their Boss desires. The bunnies even take bets on which team is going to win the current fight. See if you recognize any of the names on the board when you fight on this stage!
You can find this stage as Black Dahlia’s home stage on her character details screen, her Daily Event fights, and in any event that uses random stages.
RETAKES
One of our most requested features finally makes its debut in 5.2!
Have you ever gotten a Special Move or Blockbuster that is perfect for your team, except it’s got one unwanted stat? Retakes are the answer to your prayers!
USING RETAKES
To use a Retake, first you need to pick a Gold Move you want to adjust the stats on. When you select a Gold Move you’ll see a couple of new things, but the most important is the big REROLL button.
Tap that to bring up the new REROLL STATS window. This will show some important information:
In the top right you can see how many Character Retakes and Universal (Gold) Retakes you have available. (more on those in a little bit)
In the main window you’ll see all of the types of stats on your Move, their current stat bonuses, and a new number in a gray circle. These new circled numbers indicate how many times that stat has been increased via level ups.
Tap the empty circle beside the stat you want to reroll and then you can hit the CONFIRM button to proceed. To reroll a stat you will need to spend one Retake. As soon as you hit Confirm it will spend one Character Specific Retake from your Stash, or if you don’t have any, it will spend one Universal Retake instead.
Now you’ll be on the RETAKE RESULTS screen. This is split into two columns:
Also please note that you can only use Retakes on Gold Moves. You cannot reroll the stats of Bronze or Silvers. This is a safety feature to prevent new players from burning Retakes on Moves early before they have access to generally more powerful Gold Moves.
HOW TO GET RETAKES
Okay that was a LOT of explaining how they work. How do we GET Retakes?!
One of the most common places to find Retakes is in the new Retake Relic. Opening a Retake Relic will grant you either a Character Specific Retake (which can be used to reroll one stat on the matching Character), or there is a smaller chance to get a Universal (Gold) Retake, which can be used to reroll one stat on any Character. The BONUS Relic from a 10+1 Retake Relic Voucher guarantees a Universal Retake.
You can purchase these in a few places:
Wait, reworked Show Me Your Moves?!
SHOW ME YOUR MOVES
Everyone’s favorite(?) Prize Fight is finally getting some love! This Prize Fight was originally designed as a way to supply players with a steady stream of Moves and Canopy Coins to upgrade them. It never really did either of these very well, and by limiting combat exclusively to Special Moves and Blockbusters it also wasn’t… the most pleasant experience.
Well all of that is a thing of the past. Here are the new Prize Fight Modifiers:
These new modifiers are pretty straightforward. They reward you for using Special Moves and Blockbusters, but don’t require them. There are also no more Fighter Tier restrictions. Bronze, Silver, Gold or Diamond, everyone is welcome in Show Me Your Moves 2.0!
We’ve also completely revamped the Show Me Your Moves rewards to be juicier than ever, including a healthy mix of Retake Relics and Gold Move Relics. The Canopy Coins on each Milestone Reward Tier have also been doubled!
XP TREATS
Also debuting in 5.2 is a brand new type of Consumable! These XP Treats are served fresh from the Dak Kuul’Dubu in Little Innsmouth and are such a transcendent culinary experience they will instantly grant a Fighter thousands of XP!
Treats come in three sizes:
You can feed as many XP Treats to your Fighter as you like, in any combination that you like. NOTE: If the Treats you have fed exceeds the amount of XP your Fighter needs to reach max level, the excess XP will not be returned.
Ex: My Fighter needs 30,000XP to reach max level. If I feed a Large Treat (50,000XP), 20,000XP will be wasted.
You can still sacrifice Fighters to Power Up too, but they are now on a second tab.
WHY XP TREATS?
We all know what it’s like to pull a brand new Fighter you’ve been coveting, but not be able to use them for days and/or weeks until you’ve had the time to properly level them up so they can be of any real use.
This system is designed to help avoid this issue. Now when you get a new Fighter, if it’s someone you want to start playing with right away, you can fill them up with XP Treatsand get straight into the fight!
In addition to recurring offers, you can find XP Treats in the Trinkets and Treasures tabs of the CoC, Standard and Gold Gifts, Daily and Take a Break Relics, and as 100% completion rewards in the HOLODECK HAZARDS Daily Event amongst other places.
Be sure to let us know what you think of these new items!
ECONOMY UPDATES
FIRST TIME THEONITE PURCHASE BONUS
We mentioned this was coming soon in previous update notes. They’re finally arriving in 5.2!
The Theonite Bank Vault Offers have been made considerably juicier. After 5.2, the first time you buy each Theonite Bank Vault Offer in the Store you will now get TRIPLE the normal amount of Theonite!
If you already purchased these Offers in the past and are worried about missing your chance to get bonus Theonite, don’t fret, these Triple Offers will be available once per player for everyone after 5.2 releases, even if you bought the Offers before.
CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
Trinkets Tab (Canopy Coins)
OFFERS
The Exclusive Black Dahlia Launch Relic Packs are a set of offers that grant a 10+1 Loose Cannon Relics to guarantee you a bundle of Black Dahlias right off the bat. The higher tier offer includes a guaranteed Gold - Psycommander Fighter!
These Offers are limited to one per player.
Loose Cannon Relic Packs are a set of special Limited Black Dahlia Offers available for the entirety of 5.2 if you're looking to jump start your Black Dahlia collection.
The Social Gift Conversion is a special new Daily Offer that allows you to exchange 10 Standard Gifts for 1 Gold Gift as many times as you want. This will hopefully help you thin out all those Standard Gifts in your Stash and start giving (and receiving!) more Gold Gifts.
MISC
OTHER CHANGES
SLIME
In 5.0 we introduced the new Debuff SLIME as a counter to Fighters that rely on gaining lots of Buffs during combat. This hasn’t quite made the impact we were hoping for, and so we’ve made some significant adjustments to how SLIME works:
Each stack of SLIME now inflicts less damage, but can stack up to a total of 10%. This means you can potentially deal a LOT more damage using SLIME, but you’ll need to work a little harder to get there.
Our hope is that these changes to the debuff will help Umbrella better punish buff-reliant opponents in light of her high combo lengths and hit count, so please give the new Slime a try and let us know what you think!
As many gameplay features added alongside Umbrella were balanced around the old SLIME, these have been updated to better match the new design:
COMBAT
MISC
KNOWN ISSUES
There’s a few bugs specific to 5.2 that we’re aware of, so try not to panic if you see them! Here’s some of the more visually obvious ones:
COMING SOON
The end of year looms and so does our annual tradition of giving out mountains of free stuff! Get ready for the 12 Days of Gifting! The rewards are EVEN JUICIER than last year!
Be sure to log in every day from December 14th to December 25th and collect your free gifts from the Store!
5.2 may be our final major update for 2022, but we have plenty more in store for 2023, including the long, LONG awaited debut of Marie Korbel, aka The Skullgirl! Also, keep an eye out for Black Dahlia’s Prize Fight in 5.3!
We'll have a post early next year outlining our plans. Stay tuned!
If you have any questions, leave a comment below and we'll get back to you as soon as we can!
And as always, thank you so much for all of your support in 2022!
- All of us at Hidden Variable <3
It’s that oh so extra special update: a brand new character! Black Dahlia has long been one of the most requested characters to be added to Skullgirls and it is a dream come true to finally get her into your hands! And she’ll be in your hands VERY SOON! Specifically TODAY!
As is to be expected of an assassin of Black Dahlia’s caliber, she has struck when she is least expected!
There’s also a host of other exciting additions and updates included in this update which you can read all about too.
When 5.2 releases there will be an in-game mail waiting for every player with a free Veiled Premiere Relic for a chance at getting Black Dahlia right away! (A Veiled Premiere Relic is similar to a standard Premiere Relic, but with 2x Odds of getting a Black Dahlia Fighter - more on those down below!)
Now then, on to the update notes!
NEW CHARACTER - BLACK DAHLIA
Black Dahlia is the right hand assassin of Lorenzo Medici, head of the mighty Medici crime syndicate that rules New Meridian from the shadows. A former agent of the Anti-Skullgirl Labs, Black Dahlia was mortally wounded decades ago in a confrontation with a Skullgirl and rebuilt with experimental cybernetic technology. The experience left her with an unquenchable thirst for blood and fascination with the despair and suffering of others.
She betrayed her peers to fight as a hired hitwoman for whomever could keep her paid (and entertained). After Medici Tower is destroyed by the Skullgirl, Lorenzo sends Black Dahlia off on a killing spree to stop Marie and retrieve the stolen Life Gem from Ms. Fortune. However, Dahlia finds herself jaded with her employer and drawn to the forbidden thrills only the Skull Heart can provide…
GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW
Black Dahlia's assassination skills allow her to control the battlefield with ease. She excels at mid-range, with teleport and dash attack options for positioning as well as various traps, projectiles and explosives to harass her foes. Her gun is her primary weapon, and using each of her unique Shot types effectively is key to her success. While she has few ways to mitigate damage or recover health, her moves provide many methods of disabling her enemies and bypassing their defenses, leaving them helpless against her fearsome arsenal.
CHARACTER ABILITY - SHARPSHOOTER
Black Dahlia’s Character Ability (CA) - SHARPSHOOTER - allows her to fire her gigantic multi-purpose gun arm. There are two different buttons for this CA: Fire and Reload.
FIRE
Tapping the larger button will fire a single shell and can be used in many different situations. Shots will fire in different directions depending on if Dahlia fires from the ground, after a launcher, in the air, and even after a backdash. Nowhere is safe from the Medici’s top assassin!
Dahlia has access to 6 different types of ammunition:
Standard Shot:
This is the default ammo type, and the most common in Dahlia’s arsenal. It fires in a slow arc and explodes on contact.
Fire Shot:
This fires in a slow arc and the shell will pass through the opponent, and bounces off walls. When it hits the ground it leaves a persistent pool of flames which hits several times before vanishing.
Lightning Shot:
This fires in a straight line and causes significant hit stun, allowing combo follow-ups. If it hits an aerial opponent it will pin them in place in the air.
Ice Shot:
This fires in a slow arc and will freeze the opponent on contact. If it hits an aerial opponent they will drop straight down to the ground. If Dahlia is feeling a bit extra, she may also craft a little snowman on a successful freeze.
Railgun Shot:
This fires an extremely fast beam shot in a straight line, dealing significant damage and causing a knockdown.
Buckshot:
This is a fast, close-range, and high-damage shotgun blast that causes a wallbounce.
RELOAD
Tapping the smaller button will discard all of the currently loaded ammunition and load in 6 new shells. Shots are always loaded in this set pattern when you reload:
- 1st Shot: Standard Shot
- 2nd Shot: Standard Shot
- 3rd Shot: Special Shot matching Dahlia’s Element
- 4th Shot: Standard Shot
- 5th Shot: Standard Shot
- 6th Shot: Random Special Shot
Standard Shot 
No Element Association
Fire Shot Fire Element
Lightning Shot Air Element
Ice Shot Water Element
Railgun Shot Light Element
Buckshot Dark Element
No Element AssociationFire Shot
Fire ElementLightning Shot
Air ElementIce Shot
Water ElementRailgun Shot
Light ElementBuckshot
Dark ElementThe final shell in every magazine is completely random. Black Dahlia enjoys the thrill and chaos of battle so much that she deliberately loads a random shot in the chamber.Dahlia enjoys the thrill of battle that she deliberately gives herself a disadvantage by loading a random shot in the chamber. Learning to master every kind of ammunition in a variety of situations is the mark of a true assassin!
NEW MODIFIER
Black Dahlia comes with a brand new BUFF!
DEADEYE
Being able to find an opponent’s weak spot and get through any defenses is a vital part of any assassin’s kit. DEADEYE is the distilled representation of this skill.
While benefiting from DEADEYE all attacks will completely ignore the opponent’s DEFENSE stat. Many defensive buffs are completely ignored too.
I wonder if there are any Fighters that rely on AUTO-BLOCK that should be worried…?
SPECIAL MOVES AND BLOCKBUSTERS
Dahlia has a huge variety of tools to cover a wide variety of situations, but she’s particularly adept at traps and mid screen fighting. Black Dahlia masters will always be aware of their distance from the opponent to make maximum use of her varied arsenal.
SPECIAL MOVES
BURST:
Breaks the current combo and inflicts DEATH MARK.
SEE YOU AROUND:
Forces the opponent to tag out.
IT’S APPLE JUICE:
Taunt the opponent to gain DEADEYE. For extra emotional damage you can hit your opponent with the empty glass afterwards.
COUNTER, STRIKE:
Counters an attack, leaving the opponent staggered and inflicts HEAL BLOCK.
DEATH PENDULUM:
Increased CRITICAL HIT chance. This move can be used in the air and leads to many extended combo situations. It has a huge, but very particular range, so learning your spacing is vital to use this move effectively.
MEDICI MOUSETRAP:
Dahlia throws out a bear trap that lingers on the stage. If it hits the opponent, inflict IMMOBILIZE and DISABLE BLOCKBUSTERS.
ONSLAUGHT:
Dahlia lunges across the screen at high speed, hopping over low hits and dealing a lightning quick slash. Gain DEADEYE on hit.
TEA SLIP:
Dahlia teleports backwards from the opponent. She instantly reloads her gun and removes debuffs from herself.
BLOCKBUSTERS
BB1 - STAGE HAZARD:
Dahlia kicks a large barrel onto the stage, which leaves a trail of oil as it rolls. Both players can knock the barrel around. Once it sustains enough damage it will explode, igniting all of the oil. Dahlia can also ignite the oil with a Fire Shot, or using her Charge Attack. Blocking the barrel can also inflict GUARD BREAK.
BB1 - DOOR MAT:
Inflicts ARMOR BREAK and is useful as both a combo finisher or extender.
BB1 - EMPOWER:
Inflicts CURSE and puts Dahlia in the Empowered state. While empowered, Dahlia’s Charge Attack and Throw are more powerful and are much easier to combo from.
BB2 - PARTING GIFT:
Dahlia tosses a sticky bomb onto the opponent, or directly onto the stage. Tapping the Blockbuster button again will detonate it. When it explodes it deals more damage the more debuffs the opponent has.
BB3 - LAST CALL:
Dahlia loads one of every ammo type into her barrel and then unleashes them all on the opponent in a sequence. If she kills with this, gain ENRAGE and DEADEYE. Remember to reload afterwards!
You may have noticed that Black Dahlia is a little lighter on Blockbusters compared to other characters. Every good villain knows you can’t show all your cards at once, and Dahlia may have a few tricks she’s not ready to show off quite yet. Keep an eye out for new Blockbusters in future updates!
MARQUEE ABILITY - CLOCKWORK ORIGINS
METAL BREAKDOWN - SPECIAL SHOTS inflict 30% bonus damage and inflict ARMOR BREAK for 10 seconds (also applies on blocked hits).
NO TIME TO DIE - When the opponent lands a CRITICAL HIT, gain REGEN and HASTE for 15 seconds each.
NO TIME TO DIE - When the opponent lands a CRITICAL HIT, gain REGEN and HASTE for 15 seconds each.
Dahlia comes with two very distinct Marquee Abilities (MA). One allows Dahlia to press the offensive and rewards regular use of her Sharpshooter Character Ability. The other will make the opponent regret daring to attack you.
PRESTIGE ABILITY - TRIGGER MORTIS
Black Dahlia charges this ability each time she FIRES a SHOT.
CHARGE RATE: 17% per shot fired.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Once activated, Black Dahlia inflicts DEATH MARK and gains DEADEYE for 15 seconds each when reloading.
CHARGE RATE: 17% per shot fired.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Once activated, Black Dahlia inflicts DEATH MARK and gains DEADEYE for 15 seconds each when reloading.
Black Dahlia’s Prestige Ability (PA) rewards players who can really let loose with her arm cannon. After a successful activation Dahlia’s bloodlust will let her shred the opponent’s defense, so learning to weave in as many shots as possible in and out of combos is vital. Remember, the shots don’t need to hit anything, you just need to fire a shot to charge this PA!
NEW BLACK DAHLIA FIGHTERS
11 new Black Dahlia Fighters will be available in 5.2! We’ve started revealing them already, but a few more trailers will drop after the update has been released. Here’s a sneak peek at the full set:
You can check out the trailers for each revealed Fighter here (We'll update the links here with trailers as they are posted on our socials!):
So many to choose from! Which are you hoping to get first?
COMPETITIVE BLACK DAHLIA FIGHTER
Black Dahlia will also be added to COMPETITIVE VERSUS when 5.2 launches. However, you can only use Black Dahlia if you have at least one Black Dahlia Fighter in your collection.
HOW DO I GET BLACK DAHLIA?
As mentioned in our OFFICIAL: Black Dahlia Release Details & Relic Availability thread, Black Dahlia’s availability will be limited at launch. To summarize the thread linked:
VEILED PREMIERE RELICS
Veiled Premiere Relics will be available for 150 Theonite in the Relic Store for the entire duration of the 5.2 Release. They will also be available in the Cabinet of Curiosities.
These Relics behave like standard Premiere Relics, with two notable exceptions:
- Each Veiled Premiere Relic has 2x odds to pull a Black Dahlia Fighter relative to any other Character.
- In addition to a random Fighter, you will also receive 10 Loose Cannon Relic Shards.
LOOSE CANNON RELICS
Loose Cannon Relics are Black Dahlia’s Character Relic, meaning they ONLY contain Black Dahlia Fighters.
Loose Cannon Relics are not available in the Relic Store for Theonite in 5.2, however, if you collect 100 Loose Cannon Relic Shards you can purchase one Loose Cannon Relic!
This is a significant change compared to our previous new Character launches. We wanted to make sure that everyone had guaranteed opportunities to get their hands on Black Dahlia Fighters. We’d love to hear your feedback on this new system!
OTHER DETAILS
Here’s some other miscellaneous details about Black Dahlia’s availability:
- Black Dahlia WILL NOTbe available in Standard Relics at launch in 5.2. This includes Premiere, Jackpot, Elemental, Silver/Gold/Diamond, and many other Relics.
- If you are saving Relics for Black Dahlia, you WILL NOT be able to acquire her from those Relics in 5.2. If you still wish to save your current Relics for Black Dahlia Fighters, she will be added to Standard Relics in 5.3.
- Loose Cannon Relics WILL be available via a variety of Offers after 5.2 launches.
- Loose Cannon Relics WILL be added to all Fighter Variety Pack Offers after 5.2 launches.
- As with Umbrella, Black Dahlia’s Prize Fight WILL NOT be scheduled until our next major update (5.3).
- Loose Cannon Relics (and Black Dahlia Fighters) WILL NOT be available in the Cabinet of Curiosities when 5.2 launches.
- Black Dahlia Special Moves, Blockbusters and Skill Points WILL be available in the Cabinet of Curiosities.
- Black Dahlia Special Moves and Blockbusters WILL NOT be available in all standard Move Relics until 5.3.
- Black Dahlia’s unique Catalyst WILL be available in the Cabinet of Curiosities and Rift Relics.
BLACK DAHLIA DAILY EVENT
One of your best bets for finding materials for upgrading your Black Dahlia Fighters is keeping an eye on the Cabinet of Curiosities, however you can also check out Black Dahlia’s Daily Event every FRIDAY if you want to stock up on more Black Dahlia Moves and Skill Points!
NEW CATALYST - DOUBLE BARRELED
An assassin of Black Dahlia’s caliber has many specialized tools, including a unique Rift Battles Catalyst that only affects Black Dahlia Fighters:
Keep an eye out for this in the Cabinet of Curiosities Treasures tab and in Rift Relics!
NEW STAGE - THE BUNNY BURROW
Every villain needs a lair to retreat to after a hard day's crime. For Black Dahlia, that's the Bunny Burrow.
Seated on her throne in the raised dais at the back, Black Dahlia can oversee any brawls that break out on the dance floor, along with keeping an eye on the many shady Medici characters that frequent her establishment.
Acting as hosts and bouncers (and assassins), Dahlia’s army of fanatically loyal bunnies prowl the floor taking care of any business their Boss desires. The bunnies even take bets on which team is going to win the current fight. See if you recognize any of the names on the board when you fight on this stage!
You can find this stage as Black Dahlia’s home stage on her character details screen, her Daily Event fights, and in any event that uses random stages.
RETAKES
One of our most requested features finally makes its debut in 5.2!
Have you ever gotten a Special Move or Blockbuster that is perfect for your team, except it’s got one unwanted stat? Retakes are the answer to your prayers!
USING RETAKES
To use a Retake, first you need to pick a Gold Move you want to adjust the stats on. When you select a Gold Move you’ll see a couple of new things, but the most important is the big REROLL button.
Tap that to bring up the new REROLL STATS window. This will show some important information:
In the top right you can see how many Character Retakes and Universal (Gold) Retakes you have available. (more on those in a little bit)
In the main window you’ll see all of the types of stats on your Move, their current stat bonuses, and a new number in a gray circle. These new circled numbers indicate how many times that stat has been increased via level ups.
This image shows ELEMENT PENALTY -18% (5). This shows that stat has been increased 5 times. Every time you level up a move, one stat is increased. On a Gold Move, any Percentage Stat Bonus is increased by 3% every time you level up. ELEMENT PENALTY starts at -3%, so after 5 level ups it is increased to -18%.
Tap the empty circle beside the stat you want to reroll and then you can hit the CONFIRM button to proceed. To reroll a stat you will need to spend one Retake. As soon as you hit Confirm it will spend one Character Specific Retake from your Stash, or if you don’t have any, it will spend one Universal Retake instead.
Now you’ll be on the RETAKE RESULTS screen. This is split into two columns:
- BEFORE shows what your move currently looks like before you attempted to reroll the stat.
- AFTER shows what the result of the reroll will be. The type of stat you will reroll into is completely random, except that you can only have one of each type of stat on your move at any time. For example, if you already have an ATK% on your move, you can’t reroll another stat and get a second ATK% bonus.
Also notice that the Level 5 ELEMENT PENALTY becomes a Level 5 CRIT RATE. Any levels gained on the Before stat will be transferred to the After stat.
- BEFORE will revert the move to before you tried to reroll it. You can do this if you tried to reroll but got a stat you really didn’t want.
- AFTER will keep the new reroll stat. Congratulations on your new souped up move!
Also please note that you can only use Retakes on Gold Moves. You cannot reroll the stats of Bronze or Silvers. This is a safety feature to prevent new players from burning Retakes on Moves early before they have access to generally more powerful Gold Moves.
HOW TO GET RETAKES
Okay that was a LOT of explaining how they work. How do we GET Retakes?!
One of the most common places to find Retakes is in the new Retake Relic. Opening a Retake Relic will grant you either a Character Specific Retake (which can be used to reroll one stat on the matching Character), or there is a smaller chance to get a Universal (Gold) Retake, which can be used to reroll one stat on any Character. The BONUS Relic from a 10+1 Retake Relic Voucher guarantees a Universal Retake.
You can purchase these in a few places:
- Character Specific Retakes
- from the Cabinet of Curiosities Tributes tab (2 Retakes for 50 SP)
- as a featured character, Black Dahlia Retakes are at a premium price (1 Retake for 50 SP)
- Retake Relics
- from the Cabinet of Curiosities Trinkets tab (2 Retake Relics for 50,000 CC)
- a permanent set of Offers in the Store
- in the new reworked Show Me Your Moves Prize Fight.
Wait, reworked Show Me Your Moves?!
SHOW ME YOUR MOVES
Everyone’s favorite(?) Prize Fight is finally getting some love! This Prize Fight was originally designed as a way to supply players with a steady stream of Moves and Canopy Coins to upgrade them. It never really did either of these very well, and by limiting combat exclusively to Special Moves and Blockbusters it also wasn’t… the most pleasant experience.
Well all of that is a thing of the past. Here are the new Prize Fight Modifiers:
These new modifiers are pretty straightforward. They reward you for using Special Moves and Blockbusters, but don’t require them. There are also no more Fighter Tier restrictions. Bronze, Silver, Gold or Diamond, everyone is welcome in Show Me Your Moves 2.0!
We’ve also completely revamped the Show Me Your Moves rewards to be juicier than ever, including a healthy mix of Retake Relics and Gold Move Relics. The Canopy Coins on each Milestone Reward Tier have also been doubled!
XP TREATS
Also debuting in 5.2 is a brand new type of Consumable! These XP Treats are served fresh from the Dak Kuul’Dubu in Little Innsmouth and are such a transcendent culinary experience they will instantly grant a Fighter thousands of XP!
Treats come in three sizes:
- SMALL - Innsmouth Dango - 2,000XP
- MEDIUM - Yoot Bungeoppang - 10,000 XP
- LARGE - Mollusk Noodle Soup - 50,000 XP
You can feed as many XP Treats to your Fighter as you like, in any combination that you like. NOTE: If the Treats you have fed exceeds the amount of XP your Fighter needs to reach max level, the excess XP will not be returned.
Ex: My Fighter needs 30,000XP to reach max level. If I feed a Large Treat (50,000XP), 20,000XP will be wasted.
You can still sacrifice Fighters to Power Up too, but they are now on a second tab.
WHY XP TREATS?
We all know what it’s like to pull a brand new Fighter you’ve been coveting, but not be able to use them for days and/or weeks until you’ve had the time to properly level them up so they can be of any real use.
This system is designed to help avoid this issue. Now when you get a new Fighter, if it’s someone you want to start playing with right away, you can fill them up with XP Treatsand get straight into the fight!
In addition to recurring offers, you can find XP Treats in the Trinkets and Treasures tabs of the CoC, Standard and Gold Gifts, Daily and Take a Break Relics, and as 100% completion rewards in the HOLODECK HAZARDS Daily Event amongst other places.
Be sure to let us know what you think of these new items!
ECONOMY UPDATES
FIRST TIME THEONITE PURCHASE BONUS
We mentioned this was coming soon in previous update notes. They’re finally arriving in 5.2!
The Theonite Bank Vault Offers have been made considerably juicier. After 5.2, the first time you buy each Theonite Bank Vault Offer in the Store you will now get TRIPLE the normal amount of Theonite!
If you already purchased these Offers in the past and are worried about missing your chance to get bonus Theonite, don’t fret, these Triple Offers will be available once per player for everyone after 5.2 releases, even if you bought the Offers before.
CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
Trinkets Tab (Canopy Coins)
- Veiled Premiere Relics have been added with 2x odds of appearing relative to standard Premiere Relics.
- Black Dahlia’s Moves have been added (at a premium price) with 2x odds of appearing.
- Umbrella Relics and Moves have been reduced to standard prices and appearance rates.
- XP Treats and Retake Relics have been added.
- Black Dahlia’s Catalyst, DOUBLE BARRELED has been added.
- Black Dahlia’s Skill Points have been added (at a premium price) with 2x odds of appearing.
- Black Dahlia’s Moves have been added (at a premium price) with 2x odds of appearing.
- Umbrella Moves have been reduced to standard prices and appearance rates.
- XP Treats have been added.
- Black Dahlia’s Moves have been added (at a premium price) with 2x odds of appearing.
- Umbrella Fighters, Relics and Moves have been reduced to standard prices and appearance rates.
- Character Specific Retakes have been added.
OFFERS
The Exclusive Black Dahlia Launch Relic Packs are a set of offers that grant a 10+1 Loose Cannon Relics to guarantee you a bundle of Black Dahlias right off the bat. The higher tier offer includes a guaranteed Gold - Psycommander Fighter!
These Offers are limited to one per player.
Loose Cannon Relic Packs are a set of special Limited Black Dahlia Offers available for the entirety of 5.2 if you're looking to jump start your Black Dahlia collection.
The Social Gift Conversion is a special new Daily Offer that allows you to exchange 10 Standard Gifts for 1 Gold Gift as many times as you want. This will hopefully help you thin out all those Standard Gifts in your Stash and start giving (and receiving!) more Gold Gifts.
MISC
- Black Dahlia’s Loose Cannon Relic has been added to all Fighter Variety Packs (both Theonite and Paid versions).
- Added XP Treats, and Umbrella Skill Points to Standard and Gold Gifts.
- Added XP Treats to Daily and Take a Break Relics.
- Added XP Treats to Viewing Parlor Rewards.
- Updated the Daily Login Calendar to replace the Bronze Move Relic and Silver Move Relic with a Gold Move Relic and Retake Relic.
- The New Player 7 Day Login Calendar has had its rewards increased.
- Diamond - Umbrella - Death Wish WILL NOT be available in regular Relics in 5.2, she'll be added to all standard Relic pools in 5.3.
OTHER CHANGES
SLIME
In 5.0 we introduced the new Debuff SLIME as a counter to Fighters that rely on gaining lots of Buffs during combat. This hasn’t quite made the impact we were hoping for, and so we’ve made some significant adjustments to how SLIME works:
Each stack of SLIME now inflicts less damage, but can stack up to a total of 10%. This means you can potentially deal a LOT more damage using SLIME, but you’ll need to work a little harder to get there.
Our hope is that these changes to the debuff will help Umbrella better punish buff-reliant opponents in light of her high combo lengths and hit count, so please give the new Slime a try and let us know what you think!
As many gameplay features added alongside Umbrella were balanced around the old SLIME, these have been updated to better match the new design:
- ACID REFLUX:50% chance for SLIME on hit.
- Previously this was a guaranteed SLIME. As Acid Reflux hits multiple times, this would inflict too many stacks of SLIME.
- TONGUE TWISTER: 35% chance for SLIME on hit.
- Previously this was a guaranteed SLIME. Similar to Acid Reflux, Tongue Twister hits multiple times and would inflict too many stacks of SLIME.
- RAIN OF TERROR (Umbrella Diamond PF): When SLIME expires, suffer permanent HEAVY BLEED.
- Previously this would inflict regular BLEED. To prevent rapidly stacking BLEEDS, it was swapped out with HEAVY BLEED, which cannot stack.
- RHYTHM AND OOZE (Umbrella Catalyst):When reaching 5 stacks of MIASMA, opponents suffer 2 stacks of permanent SLIME
- Previously this would inflict just one stack of SLIME. To compensate for SLIME only inflicting 2% damage, this has been doubled.
COMBAT
- Umbrella’s Hungern Rush will now be enhanced while in Overstuffed instead of Ravenous.
- Umbrella’s Under the Weather will now be enhanced while in Ravenous instead of Overstuffed.
- Fixed an issue where Cerebella's Ultimate Showstopper BB3 could miss the opponent.
- Updated the text of Peacock - Freeze Frame's Signature Ability to specify that debuffs will only be applied on HIT. It always worked like this, the description is just clearer now.
- Fixed an issue where Umbrella's Feeding Time BB3 and Robo-Fortune's Catastrophe Cannon Omega BB3 would not prevent Fighters from reviving in certain cases.
- Fixed an issue where Annie - Moonstruck could revive teammates even when revives should not be possible.
- Not sure if anyone ever noticed this bug, but we fixed an issue where Robo-Fortune - Head Hunter and Overclocked would not correctly gain the benefits of PRECISION when they dealt an unblockable hit.
- Updated Sound Stage and Boardwalk to have crowd cheering sounds when Beowulf uses Hype Mode.
MISC
- To play Skullgirls on Apple devices you now need a minimum of iOS 11.
- Updated the app icon to show Black Dahlia’s adoring aide, Bookie!
- Updated Black Dahlia ‘Talking Heads’ in Cerebella’s Origin Story to use new art.
- Added a FREE tag to the Store to make it easier to spot when there’s a FREE gift waiting for you.
- Fixed an issue where highlighting the first Move in a Move Loadout would change its palette to the currently selected Fighter.
- Updated the name of the Catalyst Relic to the Rift Relic, as it can now contain Rift Coins and Catalysts. (Pretty sure everyone already called it the Rift Relic anyway)
- Fixed an issue where the Move Loadout tutorial would appear in Competitive Versus mode.
- Fixed an issue where attempting to enter a Daily Event after all your attempts have already been used up would still ask if you wanted to spend a Skip Ticket.
- Fixed an issue where any ongoing Rift Battle would be scored as 0 if the Rift Season ended before the Battle was completed. Now you will receive points for the nodes you had completed in that Battle.
- Fixed an issue where Story Mode and Daily Events would be inaccessible when experiencing bad network connections.
- Fixed an issue where an error popup could appear even when the Daily Ops Missions successfully loaded.
- Updated the button text in the Account Deletion menu.
- Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in the Rift Battle tutorial when attempting to claim Rift Tickets.
- Updated the text on XP Boosters to clarify it only boosts XP gained from fights.
- Fixed an issue where Umbrella's Skill Points would display incorrectly if the Stash was entered multiple times.
- Fixed issues with VFX being on the wrong layer for some moves.
- Improved some non-English text throughout the game.
KNOWN ISSUES
There’s a few bugs specific to 5.2 that we’re aware of, so try not to panic if you see them! Here’s some of the more visually obvious ones:
- The circular borders of Fighters are not displaying correctly in some cases.
- Some of Dahlia’s VFX animations display unintended early sketch outlines.
- Firing and missing with a Lightning Shot may prevent you from firing another Shot for several seconds.
COMING SOON
The end of year looms and so does our annual tradition of giving out mountains of free stuff! Get ready for the 12 Days of Gifting! The rewards are EVEN JUICIER than last year!
Be sure to log in every day from December 14th to December 25th and collect your free gifts from the Store!
5.2 may be our final major update for 2022, but we have plenty more in store for 2023, including the long, LONG awaited debut of Marie Korbel, aka The Skullgirl! Also, keep an eye out for Black Dahlia’s Prize Fight in 5.3!
We'll have a post early next year outlining our plans. Stay tuned!
If you have any questions, leave a comment below and we'll get back to you as soon as we can!
And as always, thank you so much for all of your support in 2022!
- All of us at Hidden Variable <3
Last edited:
