LogFAQs > #972741434

Good evening, players. You know what time it is.

Mercenaries Changelog, Part 4:

In this update, we are covering the changes our 4/weeks will receive. Expect this to be less extensive than the 3/week changes, as we are overall quite pleased by our 4s.

Alucard: Alucard can now reinforce for AP. We are also taking away the ability to benefit from the Alucard Shield's invulnerability death field. It makes him a one-note character and Alucard is too versatile to make him that boring.

Estinien: Estinien can now reinforce for AP.

Gordon: We weren't super thrilled by Gordon's performance in the TR. He wasn't respected as a 4/week should be, and he was mostly used as an ability defense bot. His Steam Sale was also not as attractive as it should've been because of a wording snafu. It now refunds GP immediately, which should make it way more valuable. We're also giving Gordon a new upgrade ability, let him shine in battle worth, and making him a lynchpin for certain teamcomps. Lastly...we're moving him to 3/week and clarifying he has no helmet. We consider him comparable to other 3/week gunners and this gives him a natural point of weakness to be exploited that keeps him fair. With this, he should be the star of Low Tier, instead of a weak pickup in Mid.

Juri Han: We're clarifying Gomen Ne to ignore the offending mercenary and exclude them from the target pool. Just correcting a flavor fail!

Kirby: We're clarifying Kirby can reinforce for TP and not AP. He's combat heavy, and so we don't want him to grant AP for free once you have your forms of choice.

Lu Bu: Adjusted Lu Bu's 59 GP bid to 52 GP to make him more competitive. He's good as is, but he could use a lil more competitive pricing, so here you go.

Neku Sakuraba: We think Neku's abilities are lovely and don't want to change them. However, Focus is a little hard to use, and situational. We're consequently moving it to an upgrade ability and pushing The Power Is Yet Unknown into the base ability slot (and giving it a new upgrade to suit). With this, we're confident Neku will be an absolute powerhouse, a true enabler for his team all the way.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic is good. He's great, even. We couldn't be happier with his respect this TR. At long last, a redemption for M4. However, we might have swung the other way. Right now, Sonic gives you an unique ability phase no one else has access to, a free powerful debuff, guaranteed ability control, forcing opponents to be proactive instead of reactive in the Peacetime phase, and on top of that, he eats 7/weeks for free and his battle power is good now too thanks to Frontiers. On top of that, he even Reinforces. This leads us to an unavoidable conclusion. Right now, Sonic is the most powerful mercenary in the game.

...Yeah. I'll wait a moment for everyone to pick their jaws off the floors. Even we're surprised by this, and we're the scriptwriters who penned this particular plot twist. Somebody has to be the best, and we're OK with it being Sonic, but right he's a little too strong. His ability to persecute 7/weeks regardless of tier and destroy teams for having the temerity to pay down a 6/week in mid is too much. Something has to give. As such, we're adjusting 'Now Face It, You're Just An Enemy' to only pop if a 7/week is paid down, and turning his upgrade into a (very long recharge) effect to activate Super Sonic in high tier if a 7/week is around. This should be enough to make Sonic 'fairly the best', instead of brokenly the best. Look forward to your Mercenaries future, Sonic. It's going to be great!

(Also, changed Sonic's reinforcement to clarify it grants AP instead of TP.)

Squall: We're clarifying that Squall can reinforce for AP, and also allowing him to choose his ability he borrows when Drawing, at all times, without requiring an upgrade. Two layers of RNG to beat is too much to get a good draw, just one is enough.

Tifa Lockheart: Tifa is a great character, but she warms up too slow and that makes her dangerous to invest in. As such, we're giving her 3 Chi counters out the gate, and reducing her counter expenditure to 2 Chi counters spent at baseline (down to 1 with the upgrade as usual). This should make her easier to play into, which is all she needs.

Yu Narukami: We're perfectly happy with Yu, but he shouldn't be able to reinforce for AP given how you can eventually get enough Social Links to be content with. As such, we're changing him to reinforce for TP.

Zagreus: We're moving Zagreus' Peacetime ability to his baseline...and tying THERE IS NO ESCAPE to having used it on a target, turning it into a called shot by default (and turning his upgrade into a way to use it on any character, for a hefty recharge). This makes Zag a lot less oppressive by default, which should make him a fair and balanced character instead of an overly dominant pick.

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That's all for today. We'll see you soon for the next part of the changelogs!