UPDATE - August 28 2023
A small update (5.4.3) is releasing today that fixes some issues with the in-game chat.
UPDATE - 7/24/2023
There's a small update going out today that mostly makes some updates and fixes under the hood to improve the general stability of the game, but there's also some direct player-facing fixes included too:
- Fixed an issue where Cerebella - Armed Forces' SA2 (Debuff reflect) would trigger from the bench.
- Fixed an issue where Double - Alter Ego's SA2 would not deal correct damage when using a Taunt.
- Fixed an issue where Debuffs inflicted by Double - Alter Ego's SA1 would not activate other abilities that trigger when Debuffs are applied.
- Fixed an issue where Parasoul's Inferno Brigade BB3 would not wait for the opponent to go into their idle stance before activating.
- Fixed an issue where new Event Relics would be incorrectly labelled as (2022) versions in their 'More Information' tooltips.
- Fixed an issue where the Backstage Pass Weekly Goals could reset early.
UPDATE - 6/29/2023
5.4.1 is releasing today! This is a small update that is mainly bug fixes and adjustments for things added in 5.4.
PARALLEL REALMS
- Fixed an issue where Fights in Parallel Realms did not grant Gifts.
- Fixed an issue where some text could overlap in Japanese.
- Fixed an issue where some players were unable to access the final node on Area 3.
- Fixed an issue where some ATK and HP Modifiers were not translated correctly.
BACKSTAGE PASS
- Fixed an issue where completing 3 Floors in Parallel Realms did not count towards Goals.
- Fixed an issue where Evolving a Fighter did not count towards the Unlocking Prestige Abilities Goal.
COMBAT ADJUSTMENTS
- Fixed an issue where it was possible to do an infinite combo with Painwheel's new Character Ability button.
- Fixed an issue where Annie - Starlight Rose did not remove the correct number of debuffs.
- Fixed an exploit with Annie - Triple Threat’s Signature Ability where her buffs would not expire correctly. To fix this, the buffs applied by her SA1 are no longer permanent and will expire as intended.
MISC ADJUSTMENTS
- Adjusted the font size and spacing in chat.
- Fixed an issue where it was briefly possible to repeatedly claim rewards on certain nodes.
- Fixed an issue where Origin Stories did not grant Keys upon completion.
- Fixed an issue where Dueling someone with an Exclusive Avatar could cause a crash.
- Fixed an issue where some Kill Joy Offers showed Surgeon General on the banner.
ORIGINAL POST - 27/6/2023
Hey everyone,
5.4 is finally here and it’s a BIG update! An entirely new game mode, new ways to earn rewards, new Fighters, gameplay updates… there’s a bit of everything in this release!
Here’s a quick overview of what’s included in these update notes:
- Parallel Realms
- New Monthly Fighters
- Avatars
- Backstage Pass
- Peacock and Painwheel Updates
- Medici Prize Fight Adjustments
- Mail Expiration Dates
- Economy Adjustments
- Combat Adjustments
- Misc Adjustments
- Art Updates
Now on to the full update notes!
PARALLEL REALMS
5.4 brings a massive new game mode -
Parallel Realms!
In this mode you will need to battle your way across three Areas. At the end of each Area is a fearsome Boss. If you can complete all three Areas in the Realm, you will be
richly rewarded!
Beating a series of Fights on a map? Surely that doesn’t sound too difficult? Aha, but there’s a twist! In Parallel Realms, your Fighters’ HP is persistent. If you end a Fight with only 50% HP, you will start the next Fight with 50% HP. If a Fighter is KO’d, they will stay KO’d for the remainder of your attempt at the Realm.
Parallel Realms Fights are loaded with powerful modifiers, particularly Boss Nodes, so it may take several attempts using many different teams of Fighters to whittle down an opponent before you can finally claim victory.
However, it’s not all bad news. As you win Fights you will collect powerful Artifacts. These will give huge bonuses to your Fighters while they traverse the Realm. By the end of your attempt you may have amassed some truly unstoppable Artifact combinations!
You may also encounter Healing nodes on your journey where Ileum will recover some of your Fighters’ missing HP, or possibly even revive a fallen Fighter! The choice is yours if you seek out Fights to earn more rewards and artifacts, or if you aim for Healing Nodes to bolster your teams for more difficult fights to come.
NEW DIFFICULTIES
Speaking of difficult Fights, Parallel Realms is designed to be a truly challenging mode for all player levels. To give our endgame players something to really chew on we’ve added two brand new difficulties just for Parallel Realms.
NIGHTMARE and NO MERCY will offer truly monstrous challenges with horrifying modifier combinations. You’ll need to prove your strength by defeating Master Difficulty before you can attempt Nightmare, and you must defeat Nightmare before attempting No Mercy.
Regardless if you’ve completed your run or not, the Realms will reset after 3 days. Once the Realm resets you’ll be able to attempt it again from the first Area, trying out new Artifact combinations and earning more rewards!
As a special launch event, you will be able to challenge Parallel Realms
EVERY DAY for the first week after 5.4 goes live. This is a great chance to find a difficulty that suits you, and to stock up on LOTS of rewards!
Speaking of rewards, you’ll earn heaps of Canopy Coins and XP Treats for each node you can complete, but if you can defeat the final Area’s Boss you’ll also be rewarded with all sorts of goodies, including Keys, Relic Shards, and Premiere/Jackpot Relics.
We’ve also added a new set of Accolades just for Parallel Realms!
What’s that new reward you can earn for completing 100% No Mercy Parallel Realms…?
AVATARS
Up until now the only real customization players had was choosing their favorite Fighter to display. With 5.4 we’re rolling out the first of our new cosmetic upgrades!
Players will now be able to earn special Avatars to display on their profiles. We’ve also made some upgrades to the in-game chat to display Avatars there too!
To start with, every player will receive some free Avatars just for logging in after 5.4 releases, but you’ll also be able to earn plenty more in the future, most notably via the Backstage Pass (more on that below).
NEW MONTHLY FIGHTERS
JULY FIGHTERS
Starting with 5.4 we’ll be adding two brand new Fighters every month! These Fighters will first be made available as timed exclusives in Event Relics before being made more widely available in later updates. Each new set of Fighters will even feature their own unique splash art!
In July, the first pair of new monthly Fighters will appear. Black Dahlia gets a new Gold in the form of Red Rider, and Filia gets a long awaited new Diamond with Blue Streak.
DIAMOND - FILIA - BLUE STREAK
Signature Ability: GOTTA GO FAST
- Grant DEADEYE and HASTE while Filia has at least 95% HEALTH. These BUFFS are removed when Filia’s HEALTH drops below 95%.
- Gain IMMUNITY, FINAL STAND and UNFLINCHING for 7 seconds each when using a BLOCKBUSTER while benefiting from DEADEYE. Also gain 3 stacks of PRECISION.
GOLD - BLACK DAHLIA - RED RIDER
Signature Ability - HOT PURSUIT
- STANDARD SHOTS inflict WITHER and HEAL BLOCK for 15 seconds each while near an opponent.
- 50% of all damage inflicted is regained as HEALTH while the opponent is suffering from HEAL BLOCK.
AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER FIGHTERS
They won’t be available for players until later in the year, but you may run into some more Fighters in random battles dotted throughout the game! If you manage to find them, take a screenshot and let us know
on our socials!
(You can also cheat and look in the Catalog if you want.)
BACKSTAGE PASS
Speaking of juicing up our monthly events, 5.4 also brings a new way to earn LOTS of rewards!
The Backstage Pass is a long reward track accessible from the Main Menu. By completing Daily, Weekly and Monthly Goals you’ll earn a huge variety of
FREE goodies. Possible rewards include Canopy Coins, Theonite, Relics, Exclusive Avatars to show off in your Profile, and more!
Backstage Passes will start on the first day of the month and end on the last day of the month. As a special launch event,
“The Chase” will start immediately when 5.4 releases and run until the end of July, so you’ll have some extra time to earn rewards!
At the end of July
The Chase will be replaced with a new Pass where you can start to earn rewards again!
If you want to get even more out of the Backstage Pass you can purchase the Premium Track, which grants even more rewards on top of everything available in the Free Track. Premium rewards include additional Exclusive Avatars and if you can make it right to the end, you’ll earn that month’s new Gold Fighter (this month, that’s
Black Dahlia - Red Rider).
Don’t worry though, there is still a massive amount of new free rewards to collect just on the Free Track alone, and you can still find Red Rider in July’s Event Jackpot and Diamond Relics.
To progress along the rewards track you’ll need to complete Goals. These are mostly things you’ll be doing anyway, similar to the Daily Missions, and they come in three varieties: Daily, Weekly and Monthly. Be sure to check back every day to maximize the Goals you can complete!
You don't need to complete EVERY goal to complete the Backstage Pass, so you can choose which Goals to aim for.
As a quick reminder, the Avatars you can earn on the Free and Premium Tracks of the Backstage Pass are exclusive to that month’s Pass. Once they’re gone, there's no telling when or if they'll return, so if you see one you like, make sure you’re completing your Goals and earning all those rewards!
CHARACTER ABILITY UPDATES
Back when Skullgirls Mobile first launched we were a little less comfortable with on-screen buttons for Character Ability activations. However, things have changed in the last 5 years and it’s clear that Painwheel and Peacock’s Character Abilities requiring double swipe actions is not ideal.
Introducing their brand new on-screen Character Ability buttons! Tapping the button once will enter their unique Character Ability states, where you can swipe and tap to perform extra attacks. Tapping the Character Ability button again will return them to their normal states.
We are planning to add additional improvements in future updates to further bring them up to par with other Character Abilities, but this was a big first step in making these oft-overlooked Abilities more usable.
MEDICI PRIZE FIGHT ADJUSTMENTS
We’ve repeatedly received feedback that weekends in Skullgirls Mobile are too densely packed, with Show Me Your Moves, Medici, Elemental, and Character Prize Fights, plus Daily Events and the end of the weekly Rift Season all happening at the exact same time.
The addition of Parallel Realms only exacerbates this issue, so we’ve decided to remove the weekend Medici Prize Fights from rotation and provide other ways in which players can get their weekly allotment of free Canopy Coins. Medici Prize Fights on Wednesdays will continue as normal.
Hang on! Put those pitchforks and flamethrowers down for a second!
Parallel Realms alone grants CONSIDERABLY MORE Canopy Coins than Medici Prize Fights, especially on higher difficulties. Even after removing one Medici Prize Fight, there are more opportunities to earn Canopy Coins per week in 5.4 than ever before! We promise!
For complete transparency here’s the breakdown of the new Canopy Coin availability:
- Total Milestone Rewards in a Medici Prize Fight: 330,000 Canopy Coins + 3 Gold Move Relics.
- Rewards in No Mercy Parallel Realms: 385,000 Canopy Coins + Gold or Diamond Keys, Gold and Diamond Relic Shards, and Premiere or Jackpot Relics.
- There are two full Parallel Realms cycles per week (including the start of a third), so that’s a total of at least 770,000 Canopy Coins that can be earned (plus all the other stuff).
- There is also an additional 325,000 Canopy Coins on the Free Track of the Backstage Pass.
The end result is that in 5.4 there will be more than double the previous amount of Canopy Coins available throughout the week for late game players, despite the removal of the weekend Medici Prize Fight.
MAIL EXPIRATION DATES
Prior to 5.4 it was possible to effectively store unlimited amounts of in-game mail in your mailbox. After several years of mail buildup, this has started to introduce some technical issues. To address this, starting in 5.4,
all in-game mail will have expiration dates.
You’ll now find an expiration timer on the top corner of every mail message.
Once this timer ends, the mail will be automatically deleted and any rewards attached to the mail will be lost.
If you’ve been storing reward mail in your inbox it’s recommended that you
start claiming all those prizes NOW before they are erased. Don’t worry though - once you log in after 5.4 goes live you will have until January 1, 2024 to claim all of your stored mail.
In 5.4, all
new mail will expire after 30 days.
ECONOMY ADJUSTMENTS
- Event Relics from previous years will no longer have their loot tables updated to the current year.
- For example, if you open a Revolutionary Relic you held onto from 2022 it will not contain Black Dahlia - Red Rider or Filia - Blue Streak, who are exclusive to the 2023 Revolutionary Relic.
- Event Relics from previous years will have their names updated to include the year they were collected.
- Increased the odds of Black Dahlia’s Moves, Fighters, Skill Points and Retakes appearing in the various Cabinet of Curiosities tabs.
- Deployments now grant twice as many Canopy Coins as they did prior:
- 2,500 → 5,000
- 5,000 → 10,000
- 7,500 → 15,000
- 10,000 → 20,000
- 15,000 → 30,000
MISC ADJUSTMENTS
- Adjusted the order that Daily Events appear when multiple Daily Events are currently available. (The weekly schedule has not changed)
- Fixed an issue where players were unable to change the letters in their Display Names from lowercase to uppercase, or vice versa.
- Fixed an issue where Level 1 Shiny Fighters were not benefiting from the 50% Required XP Bonus.
- Fixed an issue where it could become impossible to set a Defense Team in the Rift Battle tutorial.
- Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in the Tag Ins and Specials section of the tutorial.
COMBAT ADJUSTMENTS
- Adjusted Black Dahlia - Unholy Host’s Signature Abilities. You can read more about these adjustments here.
- Fixed an issue where Parasoul’s Egret Dive would not Stun the opponent as expected.
- Annie will no longer take damage when successfully countering using Reflection Nebula.
- Updated Eliza - Stand Out’s SA text to make it clearer that it is possible to prevent buffs even if the opponent already has Curse, and that it can prevent Permanent buffs.
- Fixed an issue where Eliza - Stand Out’s SA could not remove buffs applied at the start of matches.
- Fixed an issue where Umbrella - Space Case’s SA would only give 1 stack of buffs instead of 3.
- Fixed an issue where the game could become stuck if Fukua - Shadow Puppet’s time stop SA triggered when she used a Tag Out.
- Fixed an issue where the game could become stuck if any Character other than Umbrella uses a BB3 while the opponent is in a bubble.
- Fixed an issue where the game could become stuck if any Character other than Ms. Fortune uses a BB3 while the opponent is being hit by Omnomnom.
- Fixed an issue where Black Dahlia’s Counter, Strike! would behave inconsistently if she becomes Stunned during the attack.
- Fixed an issue where Parasoul’s Tears would not trigger some SAs until they fully deployed on the ground.
- Fixed an issue where The Final Countdown modifier did not trigger correctly with projectiles or unblockables.
- Fixed several translation errors of Signature Abilities in non-English languages.
- Fixed an issue where Painwheel could face the wrong way after evading an attack in Flight Mode.
- Fixed an issue where the Immunotherapy modifier would trigger on blocked hits.
GRAPHICAL ISSUES
- Fixed an issue where in certain circumstances Painwheel could fly off the screen when transitioning back to the Match Preview screen.
- Fixed an issue where particles (Fukua’s orbs, Shiny sparkles, etc) would not appear attached to Fighters correctly.
- Fixed an issue where Canopy Coins could appear in the wrong colors when opening Relics.
- Adjusted the art on multiple Fighter Cards to reduce jagged edges or unexpected cropping issues.
- Fixed an issue where Friends’ Avatars do not ‘pulse’ when sending them a Gift.
- Adjusted Cerebella and Black Dahlia’s portraits to prevent them overlapping other portraits.
- Prior to 5.4 several Relics all had their loot table descriptions as ‘Jackpot Relics’. These have now been correctly labeled as Jackpot Relics, Event Relics and Spotlight Relics.
ART UPDATES
As part of a content update across both Skullgirls Mobile and Skullgirls 2nd Encore, we’ve adjusted several art assets in SGM.
CLICK HERE to read the full details about the rationale behind these changes here.
COMBAT ART ADJUSTMENTS
- Adjusted Filia variant palettes for Bad Hair Day, Frayed Ends, Hair Apparent, Rock Star, Parasite Weave, Windswept, Idol Threat and Class Cutter.
- Adjusted Parasoul variant palettes for Regally Blonde, Star Crossed, and High Ruler.
- Removed comb from Filia’s Burst animation, Special Move icon, and Rock Star’s card art.
- Adjusted in-game Black Egret art for both Parasoul and Umbrella, and Special Move and Blockbuster icons that utilize Black Egret soldiers.
- Replaced combo counter phrases for 18-hit combos (and reshuffled 16 and 17 accordingly).
GENERAL ART ADJUSTMENTS
- Adjusted initial download screen image for Filia, Double, and Parasoul.
- Adjusted Big Band’s Origin Story art when Big Band is attacked by police officers.
- Adjusted Parasoul’s “Dame of Thrones” Prize Fight art illustration.
Once again, for details regarding why we made these changes, please
CLICK HERE for the full post.
Whew, there was a lot in that update! Adding a brand new mode to Skullgirls is extremely exciting for us, and we can’t wait to see what you think of it. Player feedback is always appreciated, but for a brand new mode like this we’re especially excited to hear your thoughts and suggestions on how you’ve been enjoying it, or where you feel it needs improvement.
We’ve got lots more planned for Skullgirls Mobile this year, including the LONG awaited debut of the Skullgirl herself, Marie Korbel. Check out the
2023 Roadmap for some of the other plans we have for the upcoming year.
If you have any questions about the update, let us know down below!
Thanks so much as always for all your support!
- All of us at Hidden Variable <3
