ARMS Throws Out Balance Changes And Confirms A New Fighter Is On The Way

A new character will be entering the ARMS arena soon, and to prepare, Nintendo has dropped a new patch that tweaks the game’s balance and fixes a few other issues. The update also delivers a bit of additional content in the form of new challenges you can take on in the game’s training mode.

Here’s the full notes for ARMS update 2.1:

General

• Moved “Training” to the top menu.
• Added five exercises to “Training”, and added difficulty level indications.
• Adjusted the way the rush gauge fills, decreasing the amount gained for punches that do not connect with the opponent.
• When 3-4 players start a battle, instructions on how to switch targets will now be displayed. A cursor will also be displayed above the current target for a set time.
• Adjusted hitbox sizes for fighters, improving issues where hits were not registered despite looking like hits.
• Changed the pause, results, and replay menus in “Training” to be more convenient.
• For “Best Stage” in Stats, made it harder for less frequently played stages to be selected, even if you have a high win ration on them.
• Corrected issue that caused the game to hang-up when the ending was skipped at a particular time.

Character Balance

Master Mummy

• Increased dash speed.
• Increased movement speed when jumping.

Mechanica

• Increased movement speed when jumping.

Kid Cobra

• Adjusted floatation when performing a jump attack.

Byte & Barq

• Trained Barq to get up quicker.

Arms Balance

Boomerang

• Increased speed when throwing in a wide curve.
• Increased extension speed.
• Increased homing.

Coolerang

• Increased extension speed.
• Increased homing.

Revolver

• Increased extension speed.
• Improved curving performance.
• Increased retraction speed.
• Shortened the time needed from starting a rush to firing the first shot.

Retorcher

• Improved curving performance.
• Increased retraction speed.
• Increased expansion rate when extending.

Parasol

• Increased expansion rate when extending.
• Increased retraction speed.
• Decreased expansion rate for charge attacks.

Megawatt

• Improved curving performance.
• Increased retraction speed.

Slamamander

• Increased homing

Tribolt

• Increased extension speed.
• Decreased rush damage.

Triblast

• Increased speed of charge attacks.

Homie

• Increased rush damage.

Guardian

• Made it so the electric shock when a charge attack connects lasts longer.
• Corrected odd behavior that occurred when a rush attack connected with a wall or platform.

Blorb

• Corrected odd behavior that occurred when a rush attack connected with an opponent that was not targeted.

Seekie

• Increased retraction speed.
• Made it so the electric shock when a charge attack connects doesn’t last as long.

Ramram

• Increased retraction speed.
• Decreased expansion rate for charge attacks.
• Decreased speed of charge attacks.

Cracker, Popper, Hydra

• Increased retraction speed.

Bubb, Buff

• Decreased extension speed.
• Decreased expansion rate when extending.

As mentioned, Nintendo also confirmed a new character is coming in the next patch:

Here’s what the message says:

“Mainly small gameplay adjustments in this update, but we will add a new fighter, and new arms with a major update next! Enjoy the follow up!”

As we recently reported, dataminers have found evidence up to nine additional characters may come to ARMS eventually. Check out the post for hints about who we may be getting next!

ARMS is available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. All the game’s DLC, including new fighters, is free.

[via VG 24/7]