We love a good surprise launch: the release date for Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition is TODAY (Updated!)

Thunder attacks Jago.

What you need to know

• Iron Galaxy Studios shared an update on the 10th anniversary of Killer Instinct's launch that revealed the game would get a massive visual upgrade for current gen hardware, along with a fresh balance pass.
• In a tweet, Iron Galaxy Studios shared that the release date for the update would be November 28 at 12 PM PT/3 PM ET.
• Those who own the digital version of the Killer Instinct Definitive Edition will receive the update to the Anniversary Edition for free.

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UPDATE Nov. 28: The surprise launch of Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition just got surprise-ier. The update appears to have launched early, and it is available now on Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, and Steam. 

Looks like KI Anniversary Edition has launched EARLY! Available to buy on store, free-to-play option now on Steam, AND it’s available via #GamePass! https://t.co/t2wWmdJEIGAlso check your console/PC for your Defintive Edition upgrade! Can confirm as mine is upgrading now! pic.twitter.com/7dby2CrXIuNovember 28, 2023

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Iron Galaxy Studios seems to enjoy hitting Killer Instinct fans with surprises as of late. The studio recently held a live stream on the 10-year anniversary of Killer Instinct's launch, where the team detailed a balance pass and additional improvements for an upcoming Anniversary Edition of the game. 

At the time, there was no concrete release date for the update to announce. However, Iron Galaxy recently tweeted that the update would surprisingly be released today, November 28 at 12 PM PT/3 PM ET. 

Exciting news, Combo Breakers: Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition will be available TOMORROW, November 28, at 12PM Pacific!Check out our latest blog post for a reminder on all the great things coming your way in this update: https://t.co/scmR9rAJ3B pic.twitter.com/SA1ewYdybsNovember 27, 2023

With the launch of the Killer Instinct Anniversary Update, there will be some changes to the game's structure and what is available to whom on which platforms. The Killer Instinct Base Game will be free to play on all Xbox platforms as well as Windows PC and Steam. Players who are enjoying the free-to-play version of Killer Instinct will receive one free weekly rotating fighter and access to Single-Player, Local, and Ranked modes.

Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition versions

For those who own the Killer Instinct Definitive Edition, a free upgrade to the Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition will be available. This includes players who enjoy access to the game via Xbox Game Pass, as that version will upgrade to the Anniversary Edition, as well.

The Anniversary Edition will include access to all 29 fighters, as well as all premium content ever released for Killer Instinct. VIP Double XP boosters, holiday accessories, and more will all be included. Iron Galaxy provided a better breakdown of how the two new versions of the game will work on the ultra-combo blog.

• On Xbox consoles and Windows PC:
  • Killer Instinct Definitive Edition will be retired from the store and replaced by Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition. All purchased Definitive Editions will be upgraded to the Anniversary Edition for free.
  • The following Mature-rated content included in KI Definitive Edition will NOT be included in the Anniversary Edition:
    • Definitive Edition App (featuring developer interviews, concept art, Killer Cuts soundtrack)
    • Xbox KI Classic 1 & 2
    • But DON’T WORRY! If you already own Killer Instinct Definitive Edition digitally, you will still be able to download the above content even after the Definitive Edition is retired.

• On Steam:
  • The current purchase-only Steam version of Killer Instinct will be replaced by Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition. All purchased Steam versions of Killer Instinct will be upgraded to the Anniversary Edition for free.
  • Additionally, the Permanent VIP Double XP Booster and Gargos’ Golden God and Argent Shroud colors will be available on Steam for the first time as part of the Anniversary Edition.

Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition patch notes

While we covered the Killer Instinct live stream, keeping track of all the buffs and nerfs that were detailed proved to be quite the task. The full patch notes for Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition were eventually listed on ultra-combo.com and include the following:

System-wide changes

• Fixed a game wide bug that could sometimes cause projectiles to not get the first-hit 2x damage bonus. 

Jago

• [+] Increased Jago’s forward and backward walk speeds by 10%. 
  • This small improvement will help Jago maintain favorable screen position. 
• [+] Drastically improved the hitbox and active time of Jago’s jumping Heavy Punch. 
  • This move has that ‘pizza cutter’ quality to its animation, but the hitbox on it was very conservative compared to other similar jumping attacks. These improvements should make it feel as good as it looks.  
• [+] Tiger’s Fury adjustments 
  • Jack-of-all-trades protagonist characters often find themselves in an undesirable spot late in a game’s life cycle. Jago is a very complete character, but he does not stand out and isn’t scary in the way much of the rest of the cast is. We wanted to figure out how to add some threat to Jago’s tool kit and decided to lean into our mantra of “high risk, high reward”. To do this, we’ve decided to center Jago’s identity around the idea of “high damage Tiger’s Fury”. 
  • Light Tiger’s Fury damage is now 26 (was 18) 
  • Counterhit damage is now 32 (was 24) 
  • Medium Tiger’s Fury damage is now 30 (was 22) 
  • Counterhit damage is now 40 (was 28) 
  • Heavy Tiger’s Fury damage is now 34 (was 26) 
  • Counterhit damage is now 50 (was 32) 
  • A very significant amount of extra hitstop has been added on counterhit to help express the dramatic damage these now deal when counterhitting. 
  • While Jago’s other tools may still feel ‘middle of the road’, this change forces the opponent to respect him a lot more often for fear of the juicy counter damage. This, in turn, should allow Jago player’s a lot more chances to use the rest of their kit and give them more opportunities. 
  • The Shadow Version did not get a damage increase, as we did not want to increase Jago’s damage when cashing out juggles.  
• [+] Made the first active frame of Shadow Wind Kick reach lower. Also made the pushbox taller for the first 4 frames.  
  • This is mainly because his Shadow Counter and normal version of Shadow Wind Kick are the same move, and he had a few situations where his Shadow Counter would whiff over top of low profiling enemies. This should alleviate that situation, but also slightly buffs the normal version of the move. 
  • Moves that pass through opponents on block, like Omen’s Slide, will still cause Jago’s Shadow Counter to whiff.  

Glacius

• [-] Reduced frame advantage after a successful Combo Breaker to 0 (was +4).  
  • Previously, Glacius had the most advantageous Breaker in the game, and it also put his opponent at a range that usually benefit him more than his opponents. This change should make the situation feel a bit more manageable after Glacius breaks your combo. 
• [-] Reduced pushback on block from the Light, Medium, and Heavy Cold Shoulder attacks, so that their frame data actually matters.  
  • These are (-3, -5, and -8) on block, which remain unchanged. 
  • Previously, Glacius could be so far out of range after this attack was blocked that most characters could not punish him even if he was very negative. 
  • Glacius players will now need to use this move more thoughtfully, or use Hail to cover themselves on block.  
• [-] Added 4 frames of recovery time on whiff and block to Instinct Teleport Puddle Punch (both versions). 
  • It is now -16 on block (was -12) 
  • All combos from it on hit are the same, as the manual cancel window has not changed. 
  • This should make this powerful move a bit easier to punish on whiff or block for characters that previously struggled to do so. 

Thunder

• [-] Limited the time window in which a followup must be chosen after all versions of Sammamish. Visually, once Thunder’s feet start to drop below Jago’s head (using Jago as a measuring stick), followups will no longer be possible.  
  • Previously, Thunder could choose a Sammamish Followup up until the frame before he landed.  
  • This change should give players more time to react to Thunder’s followup choice, and force Thunder players to make that choice sooner. 
• [-] Added 5 additional frames of recovery time to landing after a Sammamish, Surprise Knee, or Dropkick.   
  • No extra recovery time was added to landing after a Skyfall. 
• [+] Increased forward and backward walk speeds by 20% to compensate for the longer landing recovery on Sammamish, and to help him play a more grounded game with his strong set of normal and special attacks. 
• [+] Shortened the recovery time of Call of Sky by 5 frames. This should help him establish the Crows buff in matches against characters that can send themselves across the screen very quickly. 

Sadira

• [-] Fixed a bug that allowed Sadira to call her Web Instinct Projectiles during a Combo Breaker. 
  • This resulted in an exploit that allowed Sadira to get pressure off of a breaker, which is not in the spirit of the game.  
• [+] Increased Sadira’s forward walk and backward walk speeds by 20%.  
  • This should help her maintain favorable screen positions in matchups where jumping around like an unhinged maniac isn’t as easy. 

Orchid

• [-] Fixed a bug that allowed Orchid to cancel her ground Combo Breaker into a Shadow Uppercat. 
  • This resulted in a powerful exploit that allowed Orchid to do some things that were not in the spirit of the game. 
• [-] Fixed a bug that allowed Orchid to call her Jaguar Instinct Projectiles during a Combo Breaker. 
  • This resulted in an exploit that allowed Orchid to get pressure off of a breaker, which is not in the spirit of the game.  
• [+] Instinct Mode improvements 
  • Jaguars now deal an additional 15 frames of hitstun to grounded opponents. 
  • Jaguars now launch airborne opponents into a position for a much easier juggle. 
  • Jaguar hitbox size has been increased significantly, which will make them slightly harder to jump over and easier to use in juggles. 
  • Orchid’s Instinct functions similarly in many ways to Rash’s and Sadira’s, but her potential rewards were harder to optimize due to a few of the factors above. 
• [+] Slide Knee adjustments 
  • Light Slide is now -2 on block (was -5) 
  • Medium Slide now travels farther and faster. 
  • It now has 5 additional frames of startup time before it starts moving or can hit 
  • It now has 7 additional frames of recovery time on whiff 
  • It is now -8 on block (was -7) 
  • Heavy Slide now travels much farther and faster. 
  • It now has 10 additional frames of startup time before it starts moving or can hit 
  • It now has 22 additional frames of recovery time on whiff 
  • It is now -13 on block (was -10)  
  • Many characters on the roster have similar low-hitting slide kick special moves, and upon review it was clear that Orchid’s was the worst of the bunch. These improvements should help a lot in various aspects of Orchid’s gameplan. In fact, our first pass on updating these helped so much that we had to go back and give them slower startup and more recovery on whiff and block. 
• [+] Adjusted the startup of Shadow Knee Slide to be immune to projectiles starting on frame 0 (was frame 2). 
• [+] Upon review, we found a few inconsistencies in Orchid’s frame data and damage data. 
  • Counterhit Crouching Heavy Punch used to do less hitstun than a normal hit with the same move. This is now corrected. 
  • Counterhit Charged Heavy Ichi Ni San used to do less damage than a normal hit with the same move. This is now corrected. 

Spinal

• [+] Increased Spinal’s forward walk speed by 20%. 
• [+] Increased Spinal’s backward walk speed by 10%. 
  • These should help Spinal find better spacing in more matchups to land those crucial anti airs and pokes. 

Fulgore

• [+/-] Blade Dash Adjustments 
• [-] Adjusted Blockstun on all normal uncharged versions of Blade Dash to make them more negative. 
  • Light version is now -4 on block (was -2) 
  • Medium version is now -6 on block (was -3) 
  • Heavy version is now -8 on block (was -4) 
• [+] Fulgore can now pip cancel Blade Dash on whiff or block into any of the following special moves; Energy Bolt, Eye Laser, Plasmaport, Plasma Slice. 
  • Previously, only Plasma Slice was available, and only on whiff. 
  • Blade Dash is a powerful tool that lets Fulgore close in without much risk. To adjust this, we wanted to try making it more negative on block and forcing Fulgore to use pip cancels to cover himself. While we liked this plan, it turns out the only move Fulgore was allowed to pip cancel into from Blade Dash was Plasma Slice, and only on whiff. To make this change make sense, we had to open up some options to Fulgore.  
  • The result of this has weakened one of Fulgore’s best options in neutral, but has increased the strength of his Instinct Mode, so we’ve opted to pull back on Fulgore in various other ways to compensate and ensure he ends up a bit weaker overall. 
• [-] Heavy Eye Laser now deals 20 KV (was 10).  
  • This was changed due to a new looping combo the above changes gave him. 
• [-] Instinct Mode adjustments 
  • Fulgore’s Instinct Mode became much more powerful thanks to the Blade Dash changes. To combat this, we adjusted his Instinct Mode to lose a little bit of the remaining time each time Fulgore uses a free Pip cancel.  
  • You lose 5 points for each free cancel, with the exception of Energy Bolts Two and Three, which only cost you 2 points from the Instinct Meter. 
  • For context, the Instinct Meter is 250 points long, and you automatically lose 16.6 points per second (resulting in a 15 second duration). 
• [-] Light and Medium Eye Laser adjustments 
• [-] Both Light and Medium Eye Lasers have had their Hitstop/Blockstop time increased from 6 frames to 15 frames. This results in a much more legible and reactable freeze frame when blocking each hit. 
• [-] Light Eye Laser blockstun was reduced, making it -6 on block (was -2), which many characters will be able to punish. 
  • Medium Eye Laser remains -3 on block. 
  • The previous version of Light and Medium Eye Lasers were powerful pressure tools that hit low, and as a bonus, were very hard to shadow counter due to their short hitstop and Fulgore’s ability to mix up between one or two hits. We made these changes to give these moves a bit more identity and help opponents fight against them. 
  • Now Fulgore players will need to choose between a single hit low that is punishable when blocked, or a two hit low that is safe on block, but can be more easily Shadow Countered on reaction. 
• [-] Added 6 additional frames of recovery time to Plasmaport before Fulgore is allowed to take another action.  
  • This may not sound like a lot, but in practice it makes punishing teleports in neutral much more reasonable, and reduces the speed of some of his nastiest mixups. 
• [-] Upon review, we noticed that Fulgore’s hitstun, blockstun, and counterhitstun values on his Energy Bolt projectiles were very inconsistent. We did a pass to normalize these, and also weaken them a bit overall. 
  • Changes were made to (Hitstun, Blockstun, Counterhitstun) as follows 
  • Light Energy Bolt is now (16, 10, 21), was (21, 12, 37) 
  • Medium Energy Bolt is now (16, 10, 21), was (17, 10, 31) 
  • Heavy Energy Bolt is now (16, 10, 21), was (18, 13, 25) 
• [-] Added 4 additional frames of hitstop and blockstop to the first hit of Double Claw (Forward+Heavy Punch) to make it a bit easier to Shadow Counter. 
• [+] Fixed a bug causing Fulgore’s Shadow Counter Attempt to have 7 less frames of catch-time and 10 less frames of recovery time on miss than the rest of the cast. 
• [+] Upon review, we noticed that Fuglore’s Light Cyber Uppercut did less damage on counterhit than it does on a normal hit. This is an error, so we corrected it. 
  • Light Cyber Uppercut counterhit damage is now 23 (was 18). 
  • Normal Light Cyber Uppercut damage is 20, for comparison. 

TJ Combo

• [+] Fixed an issue preventing TJ from canceling a kick manual into Shadow Vortex. 

Maya

• [+] Dagger Assault no longer ends if Maya gets hit, but will still end if she gets knocked down.
  • Dagger Assault is a lot of fun, but we had to design it conservatively to avoid it being a total nightmare for opponents. This change should make it a bit easier to use without tipping the scales too much. 

Omen

• [-] Reduced meter gain on all of Omen’s enders except his Rashakuken (Meter type) ender.
  • Omen remains the king of meter gain, but it ended up feeling a bit too snowbally to let Omen build so much meter off of his more damaging ender types.
  • This change should force Omen players who need meter to actually use the Meter ender, which should in-turn lower his overall damage and threat output.  

Aganos

• [-] Reduced the amount of hitstun inflicted by the Medium and Shadow versions of Natural Disaster to prevent them from comboing directly into Shadow Payload Assault.   
  • This change includes the Shadow Counter version of this move. 
  • This should make confirming into Aganos’ most damaging unbreakable combos much less common and require him to give you at least one breakable window in more cases before going into them. 
  • You’ll still be able to combo directly into Shadow Payload Assault if the Shadow Natural Disaster causes a recapture.  
• [-] Reduced Wall Crash damage to 48 per wall (was 60). 
• [-] Reduced the damage per hit from Heavy Payload Assault to 2 (was 8).  
  • This may sound drastic, but because of how many hits it does, and the way scaling works, it still deals significant damage and adds a large amount of damage to his unbreakable Wall Crash setups, just a bit less than before. 
• [-] Reduced the blockstun time on Light and Medium Payload Assault projectiles by 4 frames.  
  • This was done to prevent a true blockstring into Shadow Payload Assault’s first hit, which could lead to an unblockable setup when paired with Instinct Activation. 
• [-] Added 7 frames of blockstop time to the shockwave projectile created by Crouching Heavy Kick in order to make it a little easier to respond to. 
• [-] Reduced blockstun time on a few of Aganos’ jumping attacks so that if they hit on the way up, they are more negative and sometimes punishable. 
  • Jumping HP blockstun time is now 16 (was 21) 
  • Jumping HK blockstun time is now 12 (was 21) 
• [-] Adjusted the amount of pushback opponents receive when blocking all Peacemaker related attacks. You wont be sliding fullscreen now just for blocking these. 
• [+] Upon review, we noticed a few inconsistencies in Aganos’ frame data. 
  • Light Punch, Back + Light Punch, and Far Medium Punch all used to do less hitstun on counterhit than on normal hit. This has been corrected. 
  • Aganos can be very frustrating to fight against, so we always intended for him to be a bit weaker and only shine in the hands of a specialist player. Over time, these specialist players have taken Aganos so far that there is a solid argument for Aganos being one of the strongest characters in the game. With many of the game’s other strongest characters getting a little weaker, we didn’t want to end up in a situation where Aganos was the undisputed best. Hopefully these changes make fighting against him more fun and reasonable. 

Cinder

• [+] Upon review, we noticed a few inconsistencies in Cinder’s frame data. 
  • Light punch, Medium Punch, and Heavy Punch could all do less hitstun on counterhit than on normal hit. This has been corrected. 

Aria

• [-] Reduced damage done by all of Aria’s enders by 1-2 points per hit.  
  • This isn’t a very dramatic change, but she is widely regarded as the hardest character to break, so we felt this was fair.  
  • This change does not affect Shadow Enders or Body Swap enders.  
• [-] Reduced the pushback when blocking Crescendo to add risk and make the frame data matter more. 
  • In particular, the Light version is -7 on block (no changes). Previously, she would bounce out of the range of punishment against most characters, which should no longer be the case. 
• [-] Jumping Medium Kick adjustments 
  • Reduced the distance Aria pushes herself back after Jumping Medium Kick.  
  • Increased the vertical velocity Aria gives herself after using Jumping Medium Kick. 
  • This should make the move much easier to retaliate against when it whiffs or is blocked. 
• [-] Drone Assist Call adjustments 
• [-] Drone assist calls now leave the Drone punishable for 30 frames longer than before. 
• [-] Booster Drone will now start moving toward Aria while still vulnerable, giving you an opportunity to attack it.  
  • Previously, because all of its recovery could happen behind the opponent, it could be nearly impossible to punish. 
• [+/-] Increased the launch velocity and decreased the float gravity of the Sword Drone Assist to prevent it from being punishable on hit. 
  • Due to the increased recovery time on the assist calls, players were able to get hit by Sword Drone, get knocked down, then get up and hit it before it recovered. That felt wrong, so we made this change, but it also opens up new juggle possibilities for Aria. 
  • These changes will force Aria to work harder to cover her assist calls, as it had proven too easy to do so in the past. 
• [-] Medium and Heavy Shotgun Blitz will still low crush, but they no longer do so on frame 1.  
  • Medium Shotgun Blitz gets its low crush ability on frame 5 (was 1). 
  • Heavy Shotgun Blitz gets its low crush ability on frame 4 (was 1).  
  • It was too powerful to have such a difficult-to-punish move work as a low crush so quickly. This adjustment should weaken Aria’s defense against lows considerably. 
• [-] Added additional hitstop on block to the first hit of the Shotgun Blitz special moves. 
  • Light now has 14 frames of blockstop (was 10) 
  • Medium now has 16 frames of blockstop (was 10) 
  • Heavy now has 18 frames of blockstop (was 10) 
  • Despite being two hits, Aria’s Shotgun Blitz was notoriously difficult to Shadow Counter compared to other similar moves. It is now a bit easier on the light version, and gets even easier if Aria uses the heavier versions of the move. 
• [+] Upon review, we noticed an inconsistency in Aria’s frame data. 
  • Crouching Heavy Punch used to do less hitstun on counter hit than on normal hit. This has been corrected. 
  • Aria is meant to be a powerful character. After all, she carries some of the highest risk in the game. As she loses her Bodies, she loses options permanently, and matches can snowball against her quite harshly. Over time, the strongest Aria players have proven that mitigating this weakness is not only quite possible, but it can leave opponents feeling like they don’t have any answers. The above changes are going to leave Aria in a very strong position, but she’ll need to play a bit more thoughtfully to not leave herself or her Drones open to counter attack.  

Kim Wu

• [+] Increased Kim Wu’s walk forward and walk back speeds by 15%.  
  • This should help her play grounded footsies with the best of ‘em. 
• [+] Increased Kim Wu’s jump gravity to make her jump arc less floaty.  
  • This makes her very strong set of jumping attacks much more threatening, but may change the timings needed for any safe-jump setups you had in the past.  
• [-] Jumping Normal Attack adjustments 
  • Because of her improved jump, some of her jumping normal attacks ended up being a bit too strong. We’ve lowered (hitstun, blockstun) time on the following moves. 
  • Jump LP is now (16,12),  was (19,12) 
  • Jump MP is now (18,14), was (20,16) 
  • Jump HP is now (18,14), was (24, 21) 
  • Jump LK is now (16,12), was (19, 12) 
• [+] All normal versions of the Dragon Kick now ignore armor.  
  • This is a unique ability for Kim and is specifically added to help in her matchup against Aganos, which is widely regarded as the most lopsided matchup in the game. 
• [+] Increased the travel speed and total distance traveled by Light Dragon Kick.  
  • This makes it an even stronger whiff punish tool. 
• [-] Decreased the damage of Light Dragon Kick. 
  • Now deals 20 damage (was 30). 
  • Now deals 25 damage on counterhit (was 35). 
  • Because of the ‘first hit’ multiplier, this means that a raw Light Dragon kick now does 40 damage instead of 60, and a counterhit does 50 damage instead of 70. 
  • Considering the armor break and speed increase changes, this move ended up feeling too powerful, forcing us to scale back the damage quite a bit. 
• [+/-] Adjusted the Medium and Heavy Dragon Kick moves to count as being in-air 1 frame sooner than before. 
  • This corrects a bug that could let Kim do a very goofy looking teleport by canceling a Medium or Heavy Dragon Kick into a Dragon Cannon specifically on frame 7. 
• [+] Upon review, we found a few inconsistencies in Kim Wu’s frame data. 
  • Crouching Heavy Punch, Light Dragon Dance, and Medium Dragon Dance all did less hitstun on Counterhit than on normal hit. This has been corrected. 

Tusk

• [+] Reduced the cost of Tusk’s Berserker Cancels during Instinct mode by 30%, making his instinct mode much more threatening.  
• [+] Upon review, we noticed an inconsistency in Tusk’s frame data.
  • Light Medium and Heavy Air Skull Splitter would all do less hitstun on counterhit than on normal hit. This has been corrected.  

Arbiter

• [+] Upon review, we noticed an inconsistency in Arbiter’s frame data. 
  • Light Lunge would do less hitstun on counterhit than normal hit. This has been corrected. 

The patch notes for Rash were 1.5 pages long. (Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

Rash

• It looks like we found that time machine after all. 
• [-] Wrecking Ball adjustments 
• [-] Removed armor entirely from the air version of Wrecking Ball.  
  • Rash players were able to use this to completely circumvent the risk of approach and start their offense far too easily.  
• [-] Wrecking Ball (air and ground versions) now has Heavy Attack priority (was Special Attack priority). 
  • Because of the lack of armor on the air version, this makes beating it cleanly much more reasonable. 
• [-] Blockstun from the Wrecking Ball moves has been reduced. 
  • Ground version causes 10 frames of blockstun (was 18) 
  • Air version causes 10 frames of blockstun (was 24) 
• [-] Wrecking Ball damage reduced. 
  • Light version does 14 damage (was 16) 
  • Medium version does 14 damage (was 18) 
  • Heavy version does 14 damage (was 20) 
  • This move ended up being way too powerful in the hands of a skilled player, so we pulled back on it pretty substantially. We hope this will encourage the exploration of the rest of Rash’s amazing toolkit. 
• [-] Standing Heavy Kick adjustments 
• [-] Added 6 frames of recovery time to Standing Heavy Kick. 
  • Also added 6 frames of Blockstun and Hitstun to Heavy Kick so that the frame advantage remains the same as it was before. 
  • This should make whiff punishing Rash’s Standing Heavy Kick much more reasonable. 
• [-] Drastically shortened the cancel window on Standing Heavy Kick.  
  • It can now be cancelled between frames 19 and 21 (was 19 and 30).  
  • Also reduced the hitstop this move inflicts by 3 frames.  
  • As a result, hitconfirming off of this move is much more challenging. 
• [-] Reduced the damage of Standing Heavy Kick. 
  • Deals 14 on hit (was 18) 
  • Deals 17 on counterhit (was 22) 
  • Rash’s Standing Heavy Kick was a nominee for best normal attack in the game, but these changes should align its risk and reward values better with the rest of the game.  
• [-] Added 5 frames of recovery time to the Overhead Hammerfist command normal attack. 
  • Also added 5 frames of blockstun so that it is still -3 on block, as it was before.  
  • We did not adjust the hitstun time, because this causes a crumple or recapture state and still leaves enough advantage time for any heavy manual. It is now +16 on hit (was +21). 
  • This should make whiff punishing this move more reasonable.  
• [-] Reduced the damage on opener versions of Battering Ram to reduce corner and instinct combo damage a bit. 
  • Light version damage is now 8 (was 10) 
  • Medium version damage is now 9 (was 13) 
  • Heavy version damage is now 10 (was 16) 
  • Block damage is now 2 (was 3) 
• [-] We have drastically reduced the wall splat range of Rash’s Wrecking Ball ender. It pushes slightly less than half as far as it used to.  
  • Because it lands the players a bit closer together, and because Rash used to be between -9 and -14 after this ender, we’ve added hitstun time to every level of this ender to ensure that neither player has advantage if a Wall Splat does not occur. 
• [-] Throw now deals 35 damage (was 45) 
  • His throw has the added benefit of being able to reposition or change directions, or even delay release to combo into Instinct projectiles. It just didn’t make sense for it to do so much damage up front. 
• [-] We’ve lowered the damage of every hit of every ender type by 1 or 2 damage 
  • Rash is a highly mobile character with many reasonably safe ways to open up an opponent. His damage output was just too high for his low risk factor.  
• [-] Reduced damage on Shadow Big Bad Boot. 
  • Each hit now does 4 damage on hit, and 1 on block (was 7 on hit, 2 on block). 
  • The final hit still does 7 on hit and 2 on block. 
  • The total damage of a Shadow Big Bad Boot is now 32 (was 52). 
  • It seems absurd in retrospect that this move hit so much harder than, say, a Jago Shadow Uppercut, despite covering so much more space on the screen, doing so much more chip damage, and being vastly easier to confirm into Instinct for safety or pressure. This change will also reduce Rash’s juggle cashouts considerably, forcing him to risk a more breakable Recapture to score optimal damage from time to time. 
  • This may seem like a lot, but in practice, Rash is still a menace that easily circumvents most of the game’s zoning, has a strong pressure game, and can deal difficult to break damage. Let’s hope his overall risk matches his reward a bit better after all of this. 

Gargos

• [-] Reduced damage on Light Portal Punch to 7 (was 10). 
• [-] Reduced blockstun inflicted by Light Portal Punch to 5 (was 10). 
• [-] Reduced blockstun inflicted by Medium and Heavy Portal Punches to 10 (was 15).
  • This should raise the risk and reduce the reward of Portal Punches, and give opponents more time to move, or poke at minions, in-between them after blocking. 

General RAAM

• [+] All versions of Kryll Rush (Light, Medium, Heavy, and Shadow) will now attempt to grab 1 frame after the run ends (was 5 frames). 
  • Kryll Rush is an armored move that loses its armor after just as General RAAM attempts to grab you. This left him unarmored for 5 frames, which made the move feel much harder to land than intended. To decrease the duration of this armorless window, as well as make Kryll Rush more threatening, we’ve increased the speed of the grab attempt. 

Eyedol

• [-] Wake Up Self Face Punch adjustments. 
• [-] Reduced the odds of changing modes after using the Wake Up self face punch significantly.  
  • Worst case on this used to be 4 punches, and worst case now is 9. 
• [-] Increased the self damage done by using Wake Up self face punch from 5 to 10. 
  • Eyedol is two characters in one, each with their own favorable and difficult matchups. Unfortunately, Eyedol players are finding it too quick and low risk to stay in the mode they want to stay in, which heavily circumvents this intended weakness. To combat this, we took a pretty hard swing at his face punching mechanic to make players think twice about using it to stay in a favorable matchup state. 
• [-] Shadow Bolt Strike invulnerability changed to Projectiles Only (was Full Invulnerable). 
  • The design team doesn’t remember making this invulnerable in the first place, so let’s chalk this one up to a questionable decision from past-us. Mage Mode was not intended to have a reversal option outside of backwards Tele-Strike. 
  • In order to make sure that Mage Mode has an answer to meaty projectile setups, we’ve kept Projectile Invulnerability on the first 14 frames. 
• [-] Stomp Strike blockstun has been reduced. 
  • Light Stomp Strike is now -2 on block (was 0) 
  • Medium Stomp Strike is now -4 on block (was +2) 
  • Heavy Stomp Strike is now -6 on block (was +3) 
  • It didn’t make sense for Mage Mode to have up-close pressure as good as the Stomp Strikes enabled. Getting rid of that, along with getting rid of his invulnerable Shadow Bolt Strike, should put Mage Mode’s weakness where it was always intended to be. Mage Mode Eyedol should not want to be up close to opponents.  
• [+] Upon review, we noticed an inconsistency in Eyedol’s frame data. 
  • The Mage Energy Blast (Back + Medium Punch) move was missing a counterhit category of data entirely. This has been corrected. 

Kilgore

• [+] Fixed a bug causing Kilgore’s Shadow Counter Attempt to have 7 less frames of catch-time and 10 less frames of recovery time on miss than the rest of the cast. 

Shin Hisako

• [+] Increased the speed of the forward moving Spirit Orb by 100%.  
  • This greatly aids in Shin Hisako’s approach and helps in her matchups against strong zoning characters. 
• [+] Upon review, we noticed some inconsistencies in Shin Hisako’s frame data. 
  • Crouching Light Punch and many hits of her On Ryo Zan rekka series were doing less hitstun on counterhit than on normal hit. This has been corrected. 

Killer Instinct's Thunder. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Eagle

• Eagle was the last character we got to release, and as such, we had the least amount of time to tweak and adjust him. We’ve made quite a lot of changes with the goal of tuning him a bit more toward zoning and bit away from lockdown (though he still has some of that), to get him more in line with our original vision for the character. 
• [-] Added 4 additional frames of hitstop and blockstop to the first hit of Bow Spin (Forward+Medium Punch) to make it a bit easier to Shadow Counter. 
• [-] Lengthened the recovery time the Bird suffers after Sonic Screech and Bird Bomb actions. 
  • Sonic Screech recovery is now 210 frames (was 120) 
  • Bird Bomb recovery is now 180 frames (was 120) 
  • These actions are incredibly powerful and were always intended to take the Bird out of the game for a significant amount of time, but in practice it felt like Eagle always had access to them. 
  • These changes will force Eagle players to use these moves more thoughtfully. 
• [-] Added 4 frames of blockstun on each hit of Sonic Screech to trigger Absolute Guard. 
  • This means that you will no longer be able to be crossed up while blocking Sonic Screech, but also means you will be in blockstun slightly longer when it ends. 
• [+] Adjusted the Bird Bomb explosion area to be both bigger and hit closer to Eagle 
  • This is Eagle’s only real defensive tool, and it was a bit too easy to jump over or behind it previously. The longer recovery after using Bird Bomb also helps justify this improvement. 
• [+] Damage increase on Bird Bomb to 20 (was 14). 
• [+] Bird Swoop now causes additional pushback when an opponent blocks it. 
• [+] Damage increase on Bird Swoop to 15 (was 10). 
• [+] Bird Fling improvements 
  • Corrected an issue where the game was not checking for the 3K input properly when pressing all three Kicks (instead of the shortcut button). This will make performing Bird Fling feel vastly more reliable. 
  • Fixed an issue where the input check after using Bird Fling could miss your button if you were too fast, causing no followup action to occur. 
  • Vastly increased the Fling distances on the B, UB, U, UF, and F Bird Fling directions. 
  • With these changes, you’ll find it much easier to use Fling to move around the screen in interesting ways. You’ll also find attacking quickly after using Fling to be very powerful and reliable, especially when using Fling in the D, DF, or DB directions. 
• [+] Instinct Mode adjustments 
  • Eagle’s Instinct mode is widely recognized as the weakest in the game. Worse than being weak, it often feels like it gets in the player’s way. Because some of his most oppressive lockdown has been weakened, we wanted to try to improve Eagle’s Instinct mode to make it worth using. 
  • Peck now deals an additional 10 frames of hitstun time to grounded opponents. 
  • Peck will now launch airborne opponents into a juggle state similar to being hit by Swoop, enabling new juggle combos. 
  • Remember, Eagle can cash out juggles with Shadow Scattershot! 
  • Increased the size of Peck’s hitbox by 2x so it whiffs less often. 
  • Peck pushback on hit has been adjusted to pull enemies toward you slightly, and pushback on block was adjusted to keep the enemy mostly in place.