Aria S3 changes

Characters Aria
1

Why is there no Aria thread for this yet? I know there’s only like three of us that play her on here but still. Anywho here are my thoughts on a few of the changes.

[-] Slowed the attack speed of Explosive Arc Linkers so that the different strengths are more readable.
[-] Widened the breakable window on Explosive Arc Linkers by 5 frames.
This I think is a pretty big nerf. Her doubles are super easy to read and her shotgun linkers are easy to count the hits on so it was nice having an ambiguous linker. Hopefully the new version allows for easier manuals to compensate.

[-] When Drones are called as an assist and get hit, they now take 2.5x damage, up from 2x.
Don’t mind this too much. Hardly anyone ever hits the drones anyway (even though they really should)

[-] Shotgun Knees are now more negative on block. Light Version is -3 (was -1) Medium Version is -5 (was -4) Heavy Version is -10 (was -8)
Again don’t mind this too much. Light and Medium are still mostly safe, and since I usually only shotgun knee with bass assist covering me it never really mattered how negative on block they were. It will get slightly more annoying when I’m down to my last body though.

[+] Shadow Dissonance launches and causes a hard knockdown. It is possible to juggle after this move now.
Not sure what to think of this. Since you have to be in bass body to use the move being able to juggle after it seems random since you can’t cash out. But you could juggle into a flipout and use the godlike bass dash to go for a reset, I’ll have to lab that out to see what works.

[+] Crescendo causes stagger (grounded Med and Hvy versions still launch).
This should be interesting. It’ll make it a lot easier for her to break the combo system with assist calls after the staggers. (unless they changed the manual cancel window on the crescendos for the stagger.)

[+] Standing LK and Jumping LP cause Flipout.
This is going to be fun.

[+] Heavy Kick and Bombs deal less KV for increased juggle opportunities.
[+] Heavy Kick Bombs don’t push opponents as far away on hit for increased juggle opportunities.
[+] Juggle values on normal attacks adjusted for increased juggle opportunities.
[+] Improvements to the attack boxes on Standing HK, Close Standing HK, and Crouching HK.
This stuff just makes sense and was something I complained about when she first came out. Why did she have so many moves that launched when she couldn’t juggle because of the high amount of KV they added? I’m already testing stuff that should work once S3 comes out.

[+] New Target Strings: Operatic Destruction! -Standing LK into Standing HK (does not combo) -Standing MP into Standing HK (does not combo) -Standing HP into Standing HK -Standing Close MP into Standing HK -Standing Close HP into Standing HK
[+] New ability: Charge Up Bombs! Can now hold far standing HK to charge up the attack and release additional grenades. You can dash cancel in either direction while charging up. If you perform a target string into Standing HK, you can still charge up and dash cancel as desired, opening up new frame traps and offensive techniques.

This is going to be amazing, I love dash cancelling, Riptor was my favorite character until they removed her fancy dash cancelled predator combos. I can’t wait to test this out.

All in all it feels like Aria got buffed a lot more than nerfed, and not only that but she got buffed in ways that I simply love. Plus judging from those S3 exhibitions the new lighting looks amazing on her. Aria favorite character confirmed.

2

I have a lot of success with Aria…knowing her knees are a bit safer, new target combos, charged kick bombs (I love using the Hvy kick in the corner or when opponent is approaching)…Dissonance is now worth using out side of anti air zoning.

All in all i think she came out on top in this…no one every breaks Arc anyway with out guessing so no worries there. But I dont like the damage to the drones… that’s 25% of a life bar!

3

I was still crying over the following nerfs but not for long…

I know that she lives and dies by her mix ups, so giving opponents a fair(er) chance to break and get out of pressure is understandable. But that would leave only overheads ambiguous, plus the more bodies die, the more predictable she could become. But hurrah for the buffs.

Seeing the new stuff she gets in return, the dash cancels and flipouts, that was awesome.

I agree she has become stronger, but I disagree with nerfing health to balance. Watching the World Cup, I don’t think Sleep needed more tools. Definitely, it was for a great deal the damage his assists were taking and less his skill being at fault (some might argue that managing assists is part of skill, but that’s too easy imo). So I have no idea how a casual like myself will survive s3, lol.

4

Keep in mind also though that they lowered ender damage for most of the cast and damage all around for some of the heavier hitters so while her assists may take more damage her main body will be surviving a little longer. Also aria didn’t receive damage nerfs despite being able to juggle, sshe might be one of the heavy hitters herself now.

5

I give it until the second or third season 3 update before the Nerfinator hits her with that nerf stick.

6

That health nerf was a bit much. Infeel it would be more fair if bodies being damaged also built up instinct. Also I learned a few things by watching Sleep’s Aria. That Shadow Linker Instinct combo,assist,into a manual was sick.

7

Like a lot of others are saying, I think 2.5x damage on the assists is excessive. ARIA is already a risky character to play with how her bodies work over the course of a match, and she doesn’t need more severe punishes on them.

8

I think it would be more fair if her instinct also built up from bodies being damaged.

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9

IMO assists should not take more damage than 1.5x

Some characters already kill ARIA in one combo, most can guaranteed it in one counter breaker.

She can dead really fast. And now even faster

10

One thing I feel really hurts is the Shago Dark Demise (that divekick) cross up when it’s hitting slightly from behind. Even though I know it’s coming, her cr HP misses, or her vertical Cresendo trades, or Dissonance misses. To me the solution would be around her cr HP hitbox ( but its not just Aria, I believe). I try dashing, but still I will barely escape his follow up attack if I am not dashing in bass body.

Regarding that follow up

[-] The earliest moment Shago can cancel out of his Dashes into moves has been moved back 5 frames.

This should help if it whiffs. But trying to hit his divekick out of the air remains tough.

11

You can jumping HK to hit him out of all versions of the dive kick. Think of it like Cinder’s flash kick, just delay the button input by a few frames so that Aria actually leaves the ground first. It doesn’t matter which side he reappears on since your jump will autocorrect you to face him. Timing is the only iffy part, you have to do it more in reaction to him disappearing than in reaction to him appearing in the air which unfortunately is one of those things that is easy offline, hard as balls online. Honestly I just prefer to shotgun knee away. You fly across the screen, he whiffs, you both recover around the same time with no one having the advantage.

12

I forgot to say that. yes, I use shotgun knee a lot too. More than dashing. But I have stopped using the bass assist in combination with the knee as it takes unnecessary damage.
Thanks for the tip on jumping HK. My first reaction is to move horizontally, but i need to do the jump HK more. I remember having some occasional success in the past but not consistent enough.

13

Wow, throwing out her assists now seems way riskier. I mean, I probably tend to use them when they’re less likely to be hit regardless, but it’ll definitely give me more to think about.

I’ll be really curious to see how well she juggles now given how much they seem to have geared her in that direction. I’ve always enjoyed ARIA, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say she’s one of my better characters. This might make me look in to her a bit more though and see what types of fun stuff is possible now that wasn’t in season 2. I’ll be very excited to see what some people can come up with!

14

So I just got done watching the whole Season 3 balance change presentation and having seen these after witnessing Tusk I had one big question spring to mind:

Can Tusk one-shot Aria’s drones? If not, I’m thinkin he’ll be able to get pretty close.
I look forward to someone testing this out as soon as possible.

15

Dont know the name of Tusk’s command normal that deals the highest single hit damage in the game, but maybe hitting aria and both drones with it could fill her instinct bar in only one hit

16

He probably can. Kim should also be able to do it if the drone gets hit by the second hit of her shadow stomp thing. And that might actually be easy to land on a blade assist’s recovery.

17

Tusk does sooo much damage. I fear for aria, it sounds like a rough match for her.

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18

Hmm…it’ll definitely be something I try out in practice. The shadow dragon kick is a physical hit though, so the only viable way to do it would be to block blade assist and then reversal out of block stun. If it does hit, then it would certainly kill the assist. Did at least 40% raw on Jago, so certainly enough to merc a drone :smiling_imp:

I doubt Tusk can one shot a drone though. His backstab looks like it does 20%, so hypothetical 20 “points” of life (if we consider one lifebar to be 100 points). That means a drone assist would take 20*2.5, or 50 points of life. Each drone assist has 66.7 life points. So Tusk can mortally wound a drone, but not kill it outright. If the backstab does a bit more than 20% though…in that case all bets might be off. :-p

19

Yeah I assume if Kim blocks blade assist, then mashes the kick out of block stun, the first hit will whiff since blade assist is too high in the air above her, but the second kick will hit it. Obviously Aria could stop that from happening by keeping Kim in blockstun just a little bit longer but if Aria went for a mix up while Kim was blocking the drone and didn’t succeed in opening her up then you can kiss that drone goodbye.

20

I have noticed that ARIAs’ throw does fairly low damage without any other benefit. Most of the low damage throws (like Arbiter, Shago, or Sadira) offer some additional benefit, like a juggle opportunity. So I got to thinking…

What if ARIA could cancel her throw into a level 1 upload ender? it would give the throw some extra utility while not making it too good. I had the thought after they let Cinder cancel his throw into a burn out ender.

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