Injustice 2 Patch: Who Got Nerfed and Who Got Buffed

At the time of writing, NetherRealm’s Injustice 2 Watchtower stream covering the upcoming patch is ongoing, but the opening segment detailing the various nerfs and buffs coming to all of your favorite characters has concluded. It was a lot of information — way more than I could process at speed — and the patch notes won’t actually land until the patch does some time next week.

In other words, we won’t know officially from NetherRealm exactly how the top-tier characters are getting nerfed or how the weaker characters are getting buffed until the weekend or next week. As I watched the stream I made some quick notes and wrote down who was getting nerfed and who was getting buffed, and I’ve recreated that list for you here. Most of the nerfs and buffs you likely saw coming, but some of these were big surprises.

Tyler was joined on stream by two QA testers to discuss the changes for each character. Only a few characters were actually shown on stream with demonstrations of how they were changed, but most were not. As a result, I only have barebones information on how most of these characters are changing, but we’ll have the official patch notes soon.

In the meantime, here’s who got nerfed and who got buffed:

Who got nerfed?

Aquaman

• Everyone knew that Aquaman needed a nerf. He was right there below Black Adam in every tier list. His Trident rush has been toned down quite a bit, and does way less chip damage on block (and builds less meter). His meter-burned tentacle strike also no longer launches opponents.

Black Adam

• Adam is receiving a slight damage nerf across the board. He was simply hitting too hard. Some moves will no longer safely link into combos, and must be meter burned in order to create those openings.

Deadshot

• Deadshot is still a very strong zoner, so don’t expect the projectile spamming to stop any time soon. He has been made a little weaker up close, though, and a few of his startups have been slowed down.

Catwoman

• Some of Catwoman’s pokes have been nerfed by decreasing their effective range, and her dive is much more punishable if you whiff it.

Red Hood

• I didn’t understand exactly what about Red Hood has been nerfed since they didn’t show it on stream, but it does have to do with his forward and backward dive.

Who got buffed?

Swamp Thing

• I didn’t catch all of the details for Swamp Thing, but I do know that his defense has been buffed quite a bit. He has a long range grab move that gives him armor, and it the armor formerly only activated after the grab was complete, meaning you were still vulnerable to projectiles. Now, from what I understand, the armor activates as soon as the grab connects.

Bane

• Bane has been given a slight defensive and offensive buff that should increase his damange output slightly overall. Some normals have had their damage toned down, but we were assured that throughout the normal course of play, overall damage dealt would be the same if not higher for players who play defensively.

Robin

• Robin had some hit boxes that needed to be adjusted. Some combos and moves were completely whiffing when they weren’t supposed to, and this has been addressed.

Gorilla Grodd

• Gorilla Grodd has been given multiple buffs that we’ll have to search for when the patch notes hit. I did overhear that certain moves have been sped up and will now safely link into combos. Alternatively, Grodd had an infinite combo that has been removed.

Brainiac

• Brainiac’s damage output has been favorably adjusted, and his character power has been changed up. Before, his projectile would come immediately upon activation and disappear as soon as you were hit. Now, it will still disappear when hit, but when you activate it you can hold on to it a bit and do some poking before sending it out, keeping opponents guessing and acting more defensively.

Cheetah

• Some of Cheetah’s normals have been buffed and are less punishable.

Poison Ivy

• Poison Ivy has had some adjustments buffing her anti-air game.

Supergirl

• Supergirl’s problematic damage output has been addressed. Damage scaling is now less severe, so overall damage has been increased.

Dr. Fate

• Dr. Fate’s damage scaling has also been dialed back a bit, so overall damage, while not high, will be more respectable. His glyph is no longer punishable upon block.

Black Canary

• Black Canary has been given a few adjustments to make her more viable at mid-range, including a command grab that should bolster her mixup arsenal considerably.

Wonder Woman

• Wonder Woman’s air shield throw can now be comboed into a shoulder charge, and some normal attacks have been adjusted to be less punishable

Captain Cold

• Cold’s hit boxes have been favorably adjusted, and some moves have been sped up quite a bit. He can now go toe-to-toe with screen-distance zoners.

How’s it looking for your favorite character?