Hi Smashers!
To communicate with you Smashers, we are planning to share Dev team notes from time to time.
This is to share more stories and to tell you where SMASH LEGENDS is headed.
As a first topic of the Dev team notes, we would like to tell you about balance patches.
The very first Dev team notes cover how we balance legends and which criteria we check.
As a way to share our intentions and expected results of the patch with you Smashers,
we will periodically share information such as win rate for transparent game operation.
Criteria for BalancingOne of the features of SMASH LEGENDS is the competitive battles with unique legends in various arenas.
Depending on legend choices, maps, and game rules, legends will be put into various situations.
The criteria the Dev team look at for balance changes in various cases is as follows.
① Not all legends have to be of equal strength all the time.
Even for the same Legend, there are strong and weak situations depending on the conditions.
② In any mode, there must be at least more than two and above strongest legends .
③ In any map, there must be at least two and above strongest legends.
④ Any legend must be strong in at least one mode.
⑤ Depending on players' skill level, whether a legend is strong or weak changes.
In that case, between middle and high skill base, the standard we are looking at is based on whichever that shows more over power.
For example, Kaiser is powerful in a narrow map as he can blow foes far with a strong knockback.
If the strength is too strong, this could lead to Kaiser's nerf. Therefore, he could be weak in wider maps compared to other legends.
However, due to this change, we do not want legends to lose their unique feature.
So, in general, when we do balance changes, the Dev team is approaching with caution as follows.
① Each legend should have strong and weak points respectively and it should be clear.
② When we buff or nerf legends, we are trying to proceed in a way that makes both strong and weak points of each legend as clear as possible.
③ However, there can be a case where a specific strong point is considered very unreasonable for other players.
In that case, the legend's strong point could be weakened at some point for improving the game experience.
With these standards we follow when we have a balance patch,
the Dev team’s goal is to further strengthen the characteristics of each legend, and to make the synergy and counter pick clearer.
As a result of this, each legend should have its own unique feature.
Also, we aim for various legends to be played in various maps and modes.
Below data is one of the criteria we have taken notes for June 22 Balance changes.
With Dominion data, you may check aspects in 3v3. With Duel data, you can see 1v1 aspects.
Also, for you to check how the win rate changes depending on each player's skill base, we would like to show you Top 10% of the player's data.
In real balance changes, we consider more various modes, situations, and combinations of legends.
To share accurate information with you Smashers faster, we are providing the below information first.
In the future, we plan to share a wider range of information.
Summary of overall win rate (Based on June 8th ~ June 22nd v1.5)•
Flare is excluded due to lack of the data.
Dominion (Overall)
Dominion (Top 10%)
Duel (Overall)
Duel (Top 10%)
Behind stories of recent balance changes Red Red is a legend that has undergone the most balance changes since the game was launched. Red's fast movement speed and combo enable her to deal a massive amount of damages fast.This is often seen among the Top tier players.
On the other hand, Red has a low win rate in all modes from the low-mid tier to the top tier base.Only a few top Red players have significantly higher win rates in Duels.
This Red feature creates a gap between most of the players' experience against Red and the abilities of Reds in-game.
We don't want to remove this Red feature. Instead, we are paying extra attention to Red balancingso that it does not feel unreasonable for those who are being attacked by Red.
With a recent change, Red's attacks from stealth damages got increased.One of the main features of Red is that she is an assassin who sneaks up to the foes and deals a great amount of damages.
Going forward, Red's stealth and feature to defeat foes fast remain while reducing her ability to confront foes.
Don Quixote Don Quixote is a legend who can raise the shield high to block attacks from foes and counterattacks.However, looking at the trend after the update, we could see that he is placed in lower ranks in most modes.
Only in Dominion, he seems to be doing okay.
He is made to be difficult to use aggressively. However, his defensive feature gained by giving up the offensive ability is not strong enough.Therefore, his defense, as well as endurance feature, will be buffed through a patch.
Ducky and Swan & Witch Queen Ducky and Swan & Witch Queen are legends with legendary rarity.As they are played by only a small number of players, they have a relatively high win rate compared to other legends.
Nevertheless, we see Ducky and Swan as a very powerful legend. Overall, Ducky and Swan is considered powerful in all modes.Especially in Dominion and Duel, Ducky and Swan is placed as a second rank.
•With Ducky's buff last time, while in Ducky form she became strong enough.
However, playing Ducky and Swan not participating in combat
and waiting for her to be transformed to Swan is not the type of combat the Dev team is expecting.
Occasionally, we have seen Ducky and Swan only participate in battles after being fully ready to transform near the re-spawn area.
Or, we spotted Ducky and Swan preparing to be transformed only from a high place.
Therefore, we are planning to improve basic attacks and adjust the Ultimate cooldown
so that Ducky and Swan can engage in battles actively while in Ducky form.
Witch Queen has a high win rate that is similar to Ducky and Swan.Witch Queen stays in the air for quite a long time while in jumping status which makes foes get tired too much.
Therefore, we are closely monitoring Witch Queen's balance.
Kaiser The Kaiser shows off his strong power though his movement speed is not fast.With his super armor(Ultimate) and high HP, he can endure attacks from foes and lead the battle the way he wants.
Kaiser is a powerful legend in many ways, but his strong and weak points are quite clear.Therefore, his Ultimate is something players lean on.
In the future, we plan to add new legends continuously that can counterattack Super armor.
Hook Last, but not least here are behind stories of Hook. Hook is a legend with ranged attacks that was firstly introduced in SMASH LEGENDS and she continuously shows her strong power.Hook is an aggressive legend that can deal strong damages instantly.
However, there are many unreasonable aspects in terms of players dealing with Hook.Even if you approach Hook after dodging Hook's attack with the jump, it is definitely not easy to give damages to Hook.
In addition, once you start being attacked by Hook, the damage amount you take is too much.
This leads to negative player experiences.
In particular, Hook is ranked as a legend with the highest win rate among top-tier base players in Duel mode.Even against Red which is considered as a counterattack of Hook, Hook shows a similar level of power in the battle.
Therefore, we are planning to nerf Hook with the next patch.
While maintaining a strong point of Hook which is the ranted attack, the Hook attacks will be reduced.
We hope this would improve our players' experience.
Our Developer team is closely looking into balance while playing the game.
We will surely come back with various information with the goal of transparent communication.
Thank you!