ULTIMATE MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3 BALANCE CHANGES DISCOVERED/SUSPECTED THUS FAR
Read changes as:
+ = Buff
- = Nerf
+/- = A change in mechanics that can be either a buff or a nerf and needs more experimentation to determine which it is
General Changes
X-Factor:
X-Factor is now usable in the air, which means aerial hyper combos are now X-Factor-able, you can instantly recover after breaking a Aerial Exchange, you can cancel aerial blockstun, survive chip damage on an incoming character at low health, etc.
X-Factor damage and speed boosts are now standardized; all characters receive the same boost when activating X-Factor. Characters which did not receive a speed boost in MvC3, such as Hulk and Amaterasu, will now receive one. However, characters with such extreme power boosts, such as Sentinel, are now toned down. X-Factor still scales up based on the number of remaining characters on your team, but it appears as though X-Factor one boosts are either very minimal or non-existent now.
While damage and speed boosts are standardized, time in X Factor is not standardized. Some characters have longer X Factor than others.
Team Aerial Combos (TACs):
In MvC3, an upward TAC provided a damage boost, a sideways TAC provided half a bar of meter, and a downward TAC provided a full bar of meter. In UMvC3, upward TACs appear to be unchanged, sideways TACs now drain a bar of meter from your opponent, and downward TACs provide meter.
New to TACs now is a color-identification system. When a TAC takes place, the character being hit will briefly flash one of three colors: red (up), green (side), or blue (down). The flashed color is an indication of which direction the TAC was made, making TAC counters based more on reaction time than luck. Several players have also reported that TAC counter time is longer than in MvC3 in accompaniment with this change.
Whether hitstun scaling is negated post-TAC until your incoming character touches the ground is unknown, but several post-TAC combos which work in MvC3 were seen dropping on-screen, such as Sentinel's Rocket Punch series. This may have been due to execution errors or changes in attack frames, however.
Meter Gain
Through some testing of the preview builds of UMVC3, it appears that overall meter gain has been reduced. Overall the same moves/attacks in MVC3 now give 75-80% meter of vanilla MVC3 and on hit you receive around 50% meter gained from the damage that is inflicted. Essentially on damage inflicted, the player receives around 75-80% of meter off of 1 bar (when 1 million damage is inflicted non-scaled) and on damage received, the player receives around 50% of meter off of 1 bar.
DHC Glitch/TAC Glitch/Infinites
A host of glitches have been removed in UMVC3 especially the infamous DHC glitch as well as the numerous TAC glitches. More glitches and infinites are also removed from the game if they were previous discovered. Furthermore a lot of characters have received tweaks to hit stun deterioration and in general long combos appear to be more difficult to
do especially OTG pick up time frame.
Mashable Moves/Hypers
Just about every character in the game has a mashable move or hyper of some sort. Mashing allows it to do more damage. Basically, unmashed the hyper does half of it's original damage but with full mash it does it's full damage. Fully mashed hyper do damage equivalent to the same hyper in MVC3.
Air Throw Scaling
Damage off of air throw is significantly reduced in the game due to heavier scaling.
Raw Tag Ins
Raw tag ins of characters don't hit over head now meaning they are much easier to block and punish now.
Snap Back
Snap Backs function the same as in MVC3 however they are not 1 frame moves anymore. The reason for this is that in the original MVC3 Snapbacks could be used to counter an X Factor guard cancel punish essentially making that attempt to retaliate useless. Snap backs most likely can't be used for this purpose anymore and players need specific snap back combos now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_fhnj3RDf0&feature=player_embedded <-- Video explained the Snap back vs X Factor Guard cancel technology
CHARACTER SPECIFIC CHANGES
Akuma
+ Akuma is able to use Demon Flip and moves in the air now. Akuma can use his ground bounce demon flip in an aerial combo and then follow it up with a relaunch fairly easily
+ Teleport seems slightly better but no real confirmation on this (?)
+ Air Fireball hyper can be mashed for more damage/hits
- Tatsu Assist is no longer a soft knockdown, so it's a bit more difficult to extend combos with it
- Does not have a light Tatsu infinite in LVL3 XF anymore
- Slight health nerf to 750K
Amaterasu
+ Cold star appear to be faster when on point and as an assist
+ Can switch weapons in the air now
+ Counter/Reflecters come out faster
+ Air sword charges faster (?)
- Amaterasu is unable to block out of the entirety of her air dash
- Can no longer do instant overhead with jumping L canceled into Down-Forward + H in Glaive stance
Arthur
+ Increased health to 850K for normal Arthur with a corresponding increase in health for his other forms as well
+ J.S drops him downward more quickly for easier OTG after air combo
*His j.S diving down isn't just good for relaunches, it helps him combo in general, since against some characters, he does have to rush
+ Arthur's Boomerang/Scythe attacks as well as other Arthur projectiles have much better start up now and are much better for their "get off me" purposes. They also have better recovery
+ Range on Scythe seems to have been increased
+ Gold Armor lasts around 5 seconds longer
C. Viper
+ New move described as a laser coming from C. Viper's eye (like Optic Blast). Has to be charged with the attack buttons like Zero's Mega Buster. Can only be released on the ground. It's super cancellable.
- It's possible her infinite from MVC3 is removed but it's not confirmed yet
Captain America
+ Shield Slash specials are faster and possibly pull the character in more on hit
+ L Shield Slash now hits OTG and it is possible to combo a hyper after it or relaunch.
+ Has a Double jump now
+ Captain America overall is a faster character (?)
+ M/H versions of Charging Star now cause Soft Knockdown
+ Captain America's Back Flip/Cartwheel move has start up invulnerable frames now
+ Hyper Charging Star can be mashed for more hits/damage
Chris Redfield
+ Chris can now cancel out of his gun attacks by doing another special move. f+M, cr. H and j.d+H are all special cancellable. An example is that Chris can OTG cr.H into Magnum easily.
+ Chris has a proper wave dash now.
+ H Grenade fire puddle seems to last longer/pops the enemy up more
+ Has faster start up/recovery on his specials including his Flamethrower
Chun-Li
+ Appears to do overall more damage in combos
+ Chun-Li appears to be no longer vulnerable after doing her up kicks in the air (?)
+ Chun-Li has a new attack which is a different version of her Spinning Bird Kick. It's instant and appears to have invincibility similar to her EX SBK in SF4 but it has to be charged. Has 3 different versions with L, M, H
+ Kikosho hyper can be mashed for more damage
Dante
- Dante overall appears to do less damage/meter building in his lengthy combos.
- st.L jab has a smaller hit box meaning it's not as effective as an anti-air (still good for that purpose but not as godly as before)
- st.H hit box nerfed. Less vertical range
- Smaller hit box on QCF+L Killer Bee Dive kick
- Hit stun scaling has been changed a bit for Dante which has affected some of his combos. Some of his more advance combos have stricter timing to them and less time to perform OTG follow ups. There are numerous examples cited but it was getting out of hand so I am just making a general statement here.
- Hammer no longer invincible on start up
+ During Devil Trigger, Dante gains Triple Jump and Double Air Dash.
+ Input on moves for Dante involving Rekkha like motions (like Dante's Hammer which was QCF+L~QCF+L) are just simply changed to a double tap (so new Hammer input would be QCF+L ~ L). So far this has been noticed for Acid Rain, Hammer and Beehive. It is suspected that this is an across the board chance for Dante and this makes some of his specials have faster start up times like Hammer.
+ Million Dollar Jackpot can be mashed for more damage/hits
Deadpool
+ Quick Work: The distance/range/speed of this attack is said to have been increased.
+ Supposedly faster specials and Ninja gifts (?)
+ Guns have less recovery time/better start ups
+ Deadpool can now cancel special moves into his Teleport which include Quick Work and Trigger Happy
- Bolo Loop is removed
Dormammu
+ His zoning specials have become better in speed and recovery including Dark Hole and Purification.
+ Dark Matter (f+H) can be special canceled into Mass Change (his teleports) and Dark Spells now. In fact, Dark Matter can pretty much be special canceled into any of Dormammu's special moves.
+ Dark Dimension has a larger hitbox. No longer passes under bouncing opponents.
+ Increased distance on backdash
+ Ground dash is significantly faster
+ Ground throw now causes a hard knockdown
+ Dormammu can now chain his cr.M into cr.H
+ Can charge Dark Spells while airborne. Can only charge one at a time and is vulnerable until he lands. He stops in the air when performing this special, in the same manner as Dark Hole.
Liberation in the air causes him to teleport to the ground and then perform the release.
+ Can attack out of down-back airdash. Most likely up-back too.
+ Chaotic Flame hyper can be mashed for more hits/damage
- Reduced hitstun on cr.M
- Dorm puts Flame Carpet slightly further out & hitbox change(?). Can cause OTG to hit once and knock people away mid-screen. Causes corner Flame Carpets to hit once on some characters because of the distance it's laid out. Flame Carpet also disappears when Dorm is hit.
Dr. Doom
+ Doom is generally a faster character now especially on his dashes
+ Overall, Doom's projectiles (Photon Shots) are faster now along with j.H laser beam.
+ Doom's forward throw causes a hard knockdown now
+ Air S moves faster vertically
+ Air S causes an exaggerated bounce in an anti-air situation but is not a true ground bounce (too low for it). Enough time to OTG after it into a full combo. Can be canceled into Flight and go into Doom's M&M combos, either from a Jump or Super Jump state.
+ Doctor Doom's Photon Array hyper does more damage/hits when mashing
Felicia
+ Rolling Buckler no longer bounces off your opponent on block, increasing her pressure game by giving her another way to close the distance
+ Can use Delta Kick in the air now
+ Delta Kick in the air causes Ground bounce when used as part of an air magic series.
- Toy Touch now causes less hitstun decay, making the cancel into Dancing Flash more difficult
Haggar
- Lariat assist no longer causes Hardknockdown (it causes Soft knockdown). Still causes hard knockdown as a point move
- Double Lariat assist is now vulnerable during startup for around 2 frames. It still beats just about anything but it's not going to go through a beam hyper for example
+ cr.H now hits OTG or it knocks down
+ Haggars f+H now causes bounce rather than huge hitstun. Apparently not a true ground bounce (?)
+ Has some frames of start up invincibility or super armor on his Rapid Machine gun punch hyper
Hsien-Ko
+ Chiretou seems to have faster start up. No specific timing after an air combo was needed for this hyper to connect. It can be mashed for more additional hits and damage.
+ Gongs come out slightly faster.
+ f+M AND f+H normals are now jump cancellable
+ Appears to do slightly more damage due to less hit deterioration from her previously multi-hitting normals (some of them still have multi-hitting properties)
+ General hit stun changes allowing her to do easier combos in the corner involving cr.H, f+H, M Henkyo ki for 3 reps on opponents.
+ Grounded Henkyo Ki recovery is faster
+/- She has new projectiles from Anki-Hou:
* Oil drum(the wooden log everyone thought it was). Supposedly has high projectile durability points but given the randomness of items, it's hard to test this out.
* Hunk of meat. nothing special at least from what I saw.
* Samurai Doll/Cat doll. Causes stagger.
* Chris's stun rod. Also staggers with an electric effect.
* Snowman. Freezes opponent, rather, it just has an ice effect similar to Ammy's Cold Star. It doesn't actually freeze you ala Chris's grenade launcher hyper.
Hulk
+ St.H has 3 points of super armor now
+ Has a new charge move now where he charges up a straight punch (essentially charging his st.M) which has some super armor and causes wall bounce on impact. Can follow up after an OTG move/assist. Does damage on block and can be cancelled out of while charging.
+ Gamma Quake rocks fall faster, and the punch he does to cause them to be in a ground bounce-like state. (?) Can be mashed for more hits/damage
Iron Man
+ Iron Mans UniBeam is faster and recovers faster, spammable while on the ground. Both as an assist and as a point character. In the air, his beams most notably his L Unibeam is pretty much the same speed as before
+ Ground dash moves him at least 1/2 screen across. Before it moved him about 1/3rd distance. Possibly Iron Man can do a proper wave dash now.
+ Repulsor Blast/Spread activate faster. Upon hit Repulsor Spread causes a hard knockdown and it can be followed up afterward with Smart Bomb -> Proton Cannon
+ Iron Man can now cancel his normals into dashes in the air like Magneto allowing him to perform new flight/dash cancel combos
+ Even faster flight cancel
+ Iron Man's cr.H is now SPECIAL CANCELLABLE. Can even be canceled into flight mode. Iron Man can also now chain cr.H into launcher making his ground series much easier to executure
+ Proton Cannon hyper can be mashed for more damage/hits
- Triangle jump/air dash mechanics reworked. Seem to have different trajectories and acceleration. Possibly different types of dashes. In any case most players seem to agree that Iron Man's tri-jump game has been significantly nerfed because of this change due to the general speed of it is greatly reduced.
- Removal of double jump
Jill Valentine
NOTHING TO REPORT
M.O.D.O.K.
+ MODOK can cancel moves in the air with a dash
+ MODOK has new abilities allowing him to drain meter