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Killer Instinct 2.2 patch reveals new balance changes

A helping of Killer Instinct characters are about to get balanced for the game's upcoming 2.2 patch. Check out who's getting buffed and who's getting nerfed.

Ozzie Mejia

December 11, 2014 2:35 PM

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Killer Instinct's Season 2 is moving along nicely, with three characters already joining the original roster of eight. Before moving any further, though, it's time for a round of balance tweaks. So Iron Galaxy took to their Twitch channel to announce some of the expected balance changes and bug fixes for KI's upcoming 2.2 patch.

Some of the bug fixes center around a few recent additions, such as an issue that prevents certain Ultras on Kan-Ra's stage. Other changes include character fireballs losing invulnerability frames, certain characters losing 'safe' counter-breakers, increased range on attacks like Jago's Wind Kick and Glacius' Puddle Punch, and some noticeable changes to Season 2 characters TJ Combo, Maya, and Kan-Ra. All other characters are getting tweaks, with the exception of Thunder and Orchid, who will stay exactly as they are.

The full patch notes can be found below, taken verbatim, courtesy of the Killer Instinct forums.

System Changes

• Fixed a bug that prevented Spinal and Sabrewulf from doing their Ultra attacks on Kan-Ra’s Stage (Forbidden Archive).

Jago

• Light and Medium Windkick travel a little bit farther now.
• Shadow Endokuken is no longer invulnerable for any period.

Sabrewulf

• Fixed a bug that let Sabrewulf get a safe counter break attempt on a very specific frame of Shadow Ragged Edge.

Glacius

• Liquidize can travel farther in the same amount of time, a bit less than sweep distance.

Thunder

• No changes

Sadira

• Fixed a bug that allowed Sadira’s webs to hit during hitstop and remove breaker windows from attacks. We did this by preventing webs from actually hitting opponents who are already in hitstop. Instead, they will sit and wait for hitstop to end before hitting.
• Fixed a bug preventing Sadira’s Shadow Widow’s Bite projectiles from destroying themselves properly when a counter breaker was attempted.
• Performing an ender right after a Web without doing anything else first is now breakable as opener-ender.
• Fixed a bug preventing Leg Launcher and Chain Leg Launcher from getting proper opener/manual labels, making them unbreakable in some situations.

Orchid

• No Changes

Spinal

• Shadow Searing Skull is no longer invulnerable for any period.

Fulgore

• Shadow Energy Blast is no longer invulnerable for any period.
• Devastation Beam changes are coming in a future update, please be patient.

TJ Combo

• Light Tremor is now -6 on block. Medium Tremor is -8 on block. Heavy Tremor is -10 on block. Shadow Tremor is -4 on block.
• Vortex hitboxes reduced to not beat crossup attempts as easily. Light vortex now hits on frame 6 and is active for 2 frames. Medium hits on frame 7 and is active for 3 frames. Heavy hits on frame 8 and is active for 5 frames.
• Shadow Vortex is vulnerable for 1 additional frame during startup.

Maya

• Leap Kick still hits on frame 6, but Light version is now vulnerable on Frame 5, Medium version is vulnerable on frame 2, and Heavy has no invulnerability. The Shadow version has not been changed.
• Can no longer Counter Breaker attempt during the startup/release of Shadow Daggers. Performing a Counter Breaker while Shadow Daggers are active will cause them to separate immediately.
• Third hit of Savage Strikes attack box extends a bit lower than before so it is less likely to whiff crouching Sabrewulf and Riptor.

Kan Ra

• Fixed a bug that caused Kan-Ra to act as if he was in the air during Sandsplosion recovery. Now you can combo him and throw him to your heart’s content.
• Shadow Swarm lasts 60% as long as it used to if untouched.
• C.HP hitbox reduced
• C.HK hitbox reduced
• Sand Spikes, Scorpion Strikes, and Antlion build much less meter.
• Fixed a bug that caused Kan-Ra to get stuck in place when doing Whirl while cornered facing out.
• Fixed a bug that let Kan-Ra dash under players in the corner.
• Kan-Ra can still cancel out of the recovery of Clutch at the same time with special moves, but can no longer cancel out with movement (jumps and dashes).
• Kan-Ra can no longer hop forward to adjust position on a successful Clutch when his opponent is already cornered, as this was breaking the animation and doesn’t change opponent positioning at all.
• Fixed a bug that was cutting off the end part of his Ultra Ender animation.
• Fixed a bug preventing Kan-Ra’s Swarm and Shadow Swarm projectiles from destroying themselves properly when a counter breaker was attempted.
• Fixed a bug that caused the camera to go nuts during Kan-Ra’s ultra if you Instinct cancel.
• Fixed a bug that could cause Super Flash to get stuck "On" when hit out of certain moves.

Killer Instinct's 2.2 patch is coming soon.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?