v5.2

Pre-Riptide patch. Attempting to keep up with the WS power creep, but there really isn't any kind of buff that he direly needs atm. Let's see how this goes.

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Cosmetic
Added dialogue buddy support, with ~70 lines of personalized dialogue for ~35 characters.

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Balance:

BAir
Sourspot early hitbox extended inwards by 6 pixels.

DSpecial (Ground)
Spawned Inertia Plates (platforms) can now be influenced by +- 2 horizontal speed, previously 1.

USpecial
Endlag can now be airdodge-cancelled if touching the ground.

v5.2

v5.1

QoL patch for the upcoming RoA tourney. Also some significant Air DSpecial buffs.

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Stasis Plates (DSpecial Platforms)
When standing on a Stasis Plate, landing attacks on opponents will reduce the Stasis Plate's horizontal speed by 1.

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Jab
Hitting Jab while moving on a Stasis Plate now caps the Plate's horizontal speed to 4 (in addition to the Plate change above).

FTilt
Sourspot hitbox extended a few pixels down. Prevents the move from whiffing as often while on a low platform.

UTilt
Now keeps the momentum of a Stasis Plate.
Can no longer drift left or right until the first active frame. (i.e. it now works like a typical ground attack until it goes airborne.)

Dash Attack
Damage 4%, 9% -> 4%, 10%
Endlag on whiff 21 -> 22

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FAir
Extended 'normal' hitbox to include the area around Epinel's head. Prevents the move whiffing more often than it should at point blank.

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NSpecial
Made multihits connect a little more reliably.
Hitting NSpecial while moving on a Stasis Plate now caps the Plate's horizontal speed to 1.

DSpecial (Ground)
Damage 5% -> 7%
Hitbox active time now ends immediately after hitpause if it hits an opponent.
Can now be drop-cancelled once again.
The area of ground required to spawn a Stasis Plate is now slightly more forgiving.

DSpecial (Aerial)
No longer has confusing movement rules on startup. Epinel now drifts freely and has no horizontal movement cap until the attack becomes active. This significantly buffs the attack's reach.
Jump velocity is no longer affected by UAir/DAir height staling.
FAF 12 -> 13
Reduced the size of the 'rising grab' hitbox during the last 3 frames.
Final hit damage (min/max) 7%-14% -> 7%->15%
Final hit base knockback now scales higher with fall distance than before. (+1 base knockback per 75 pixels -> +1 base knockback per 60 pixels. The +8 cap remains the same.)

USpecial
Endlag 13 -> 11

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Bugs
Special Moves are no longer ever affected by Stasis Plate momentum.
Fixed a bug where touching the ground during UAir's startup would cancel 'Heavy State'.

v5.0

Planned to be the last major update. It's unlikely I'll add anything new to this character for a while. Thanks for playing.

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Cosmetic
Lots of slightly tweaked animations, some changed to have better hitpause frames, others redone from scratch
Added palette by Rainbow

Bugfixes
A million more bugfixes involving platforms, dspecial, blastzones and countless other things.

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Stats
Weight 0.98 -> 1
Dash-Start speed 4.6 -> 4.75
-Both of these changes are there to improve the pacing of Epinel's matches. He can still survive hits better than other midweights due to his high gravity and air accel, and opponents will have to work considerably harder to keep him at a distance.

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Inertia Plates (Platforms)
HP increased (1000 -> 1200)
'Threshold' HP increased (250 -> 400)
When plates collide with other plates, their HP is now brought down to the threshold instantly, instead of quickly ticking down to the threshold over time.
When nearing the side blast zones, a plate's HP instantly reduces to 1.
If Epinel is parried while standing on a plate, the plate's HP will reduce to 0 and crumble.
Breaking platforms no longer creates an 'Inertia Pillar'.
-New DSpecial mechanics allow Epinel to create and utilize Inertia Plates much more easily than before. These changes should curb their defensive uses, while also making them last for longer on-stage.

'Heavy State'
Epinel can no longer recover from 'Heavy State' while under the effects of Inertia, except when airdodging or wavelanding. Inverted from how it was before.
By holding down and Special, 'Heavy State's recovery can now cancel directly into Ground DSpecial.

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Jab
Jab1 extra hitpause 1 -> 0. Cancel window is now 2 frames earlier.

FTilt
Late hit angle 40 -> 45, base hitpause 4 -> 5

DTilt
Reworked. Is now a single hit attack with longer range that doesn't spike. FAF 5 -> 7, Angle 100 -> 75, lower knockback and scaling.
No longer breaks Inertia Plates.

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NAir
Active time greatly reduced.
Upper hitbox shifted down to cover less of Epinel's upper body. Lower hitbox size reduced by a pixel.
No longer 'bounces' off of opponents that parry the attack.

BAir
FAF 8 -> 9
Hitbox size increased by a pixel.
No longer has a slight momentum boost in the direction of the attack.
-Better reflects the move's overall stats on hit. Still has better numbers than Ori BAir.

DAir
No longer goes through platforms, except at the very start of the attack.
-DAir being able to ignore platforms made it especially tough for other slow characters to deal with him. This change should even out both his matchup spread and his stage preferences. The on-parry change is a slight buff, reducing the total time he is vulnerable for.

FAir
Reworked again. Hitbox coverage is now somewhere in-between the last two FAirs. There is now a sweetspot on the hilt of the attack that is stronger than the old FAir, while the rest of the FAir is weaker.
Removed the meteor hitboxes.
FAF 16 -> 13
Normal hit active time 2 -> 3
Removed the horizontal momentum boost upon using the attack. I didn't even know it was there.
Epinel's air acceleration is no longer reduced during the recovery frames of the attack.
-The previous FAir was too rewarding for its defensive uses. This change makes it so the move doesn't win the entire stage when used defensively, yet also KOs earlier when used aggressively. It's also just a lot faster in general, and all the weird control shifts to nerf it before have been removed.

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NSpecial
Has been reworked. Epinel now always performs all NSpecial attacks in its entirety. The attack ends sooner than before on the ground, but has whifflag when used in the air. Landing the sweetspot deals less damage than before, but still has similar KO potential.
-NSpecial2 cancels were rarely used in competiton, and there was little incentive not to use NSpecial3 if the attack hit. This rework removes the unneeded options, and rebalances the risk-reward of mashing the move in disadvantage.

FSpecial
Can no longer be cancelled by pressing Parry.
Base endlag reduced by 3 frames.
-Keeping with the trend of streamlining Epinel's options, the rarely-used taunt cancel has been swapped for simply making FSpecial more effective on its own.

DSpecial (Ground)
Has been reworked. Epinel can no longer delay the move, and it now creates an Inertia Plate directly below him instead of in front. Its hitbox is no longer a KO move, its startup and endlag are greatly sped up, and plate surfing has more lenient inputs than before.

DSpecial (Air)
Ground impact (without plate hits) knockback growth 1.1 -> 1.15, hitstun multiplier 0.9x -> 1x
Ground impact (with plate hits) knockback growth 1 -> 1.15. Tentative.
Fall distance now increases the ground impact's base knockback instead of knockback growth. The full calculation is as follows: 4 base knockback + 1 for each platform break (max 3) + 1 for every 75 pixels travelled downwards (max 8).
Fall speed multiplier is no longer increased during heavy state.
Grabbing an opponent now restores Epinel's double-jump.
The end of Air DSpecial's recovery can now be cancelled into Ground DSpecial.
-As Epinel's central move, Latent Fall has had its reward increased across the board. The jump changes prevent him from being gimped by his own attack while recovering.

USpecial
Now creates an area of Inertia around each of Epinel's platforms upon using the move.
Now always inflicts 'heavy state' on Epinel, regardless of direction or groundedness.
-Epinel's 'v1' gimmick makes a return. It should give him a way to disrupt passive opponents who are faster than him.

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FStrong
Startup ground friction 0.18 -> 0.25
-Counterbalances the dashstart buffs.

UStrong
Startup ground friction 0.2 -> 0.25

DStrong
Final hit active time 4 -> 2 (Total animation time reduced by 2 frames)

v4.4

Cosmetic
Fixed turning animations that weren't properly aligned all this time.

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Heavy state
Landing ground friction 1.75 -> 1.5
-Slightly easier to ledge cancel the recovery time.

Platforms
Fixed platforms overlapping each other while rising.

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Jab
Jab2 base knockback 7 -> 6, angle 70 -> 65, knockback growth 0.1 -> 0.25
Jab1 should now apply correct knockback when hitting a grounded opponent while Epinel is on a moving platform.
-Changed up the percent windows for Jab2 confirming into Jab3, and also other moves. At very low percents Jab2 can now be teched. Meanwhile, Jab2 into Jab3 should work on DI out at higher percents than before.

FTilt
Adjusted active frames, shortened the total animation time. Previously 4 normal frames + 7 sourspot frames, now 2 normal frames + 6 sourspot frames.
Fixed lower arm invincibility, again.
Both normal hit and sourspot hitboxes reduced in height.
Sweetspot damage 7% -> 8%, base knockback 6.5 -> 7.5, hitstun multiplier 1.05x -> 1x, SDI multiplier 1x -> 1.5x
-Just generally pulling power away from this move. Epinel isn't supposed to be that threatening on the ground.

DTilt
Horizontal range increased a few pixels again.
Second hit angle 105 -> 100
Endlag 8 -> 6

Dash Attack
Platform hit damage 8% -> 10%
Fixed a bug where sometimes this move would launch in the wrong direction on a moving platform.
A crumbling platform will now stop crumbling if Epinel grabs an opponent while standing on it.

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BAir
Sweetspot damage 6% -> 7%, base knockback 7.5 -> 8, hitstun multiplier 1.05x -> 1x, SDI multiplier 2x -> 1.5x

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FStrong
Sweetspot damage 14% -> 13%

UStrong
Normal hit angle 92 -> 90. Oops again.
Sweetspot damage 11% -> 12%

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NSpecial
Sweetspot damage 2% -> 1%, again
NSpecial3 damage 6% -> 5%
Can now air drift after NSpecial3 on hit. Should help prevent accidental SDs.

FSpecial
Normal hit damage 16% -> 15%
Armoring projectile attacks no longer applies hitpause to Epinel while he is charging the attack.

DSpecial (Ground)
Startup 23 -> 21
Spawned platforms will now initially move in the direction that the Epinel player is holding in.
-More access to platforms and easier platform movement should make it more difficult to stall versus him.

DSpecial (Air)
Capped Epinel's falling speed during this move to 20 (25 in 'heavy state'). Was previously uncapped.

USpecial
Startup 20 -> 18
No longer inflicts 'heavy state' when this move is used on the ground and not angled upwards.
Cooldown on activation increased to 60 frames, previously 30.
-Should speed up game pace and give this more on-stage uses, without buffing his overall recovery by much.

v4.3

General
Slightly tweaked inputs for taunts when using the right stick.

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Platforms
Top speed reduced to 8 again. Previously 9.
Top frictionless speed reduced to 6, previously 7.

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Jab
When standing on Epinel's platforms, Jabs now apply extra knockback based on momentum.

Dash Attack
Fixed a bug where the initial hit upon a platform could create the galaxy effect, instead of the second hit.
Platform hit SDI multiplier 1x -> 0.5x
Normal hit angle 85 -> 90, SDI multiplier 0x -> 0.5x, drift multiplier 0.5x -> 1x
-Missed one.

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FTilt
Sweetspot hitstun scaling 1x -> 1.05x

DTilt
Final hit angle 110 -> 105, knockback scaling 0.4 -> 0.3
Early hit no longer applies extra momentum if Epinel and the opponent are both standing on the same platform.

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FAir
Sourspot hitbox size increased, now reaches further behind Epinel.
Meteor angle 275 -> 270
-Both easier to DI and easier to combo off of.

BAir
Normal hit base knockback now does not decay until after the first 3 active frames.
-Made it more like Ori BAir.

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FSpecial
Fixed a bug that allowed Ground FSpecial to be shortened. Shoutouts to the one guy in casual queue who beaned me with this.

Ground DSpecial
Now causes Epinel's platforms to accelerate 50% faster than before.
Now instantly changes the direction a platform is moving in if Epinel is facing the opposite way.

Air DSpecial
Can no longer transition to Ground DSpecial on a platform while falling.
-It was difficult to use this tech in an intentional way; rather than scoring KOs or making quick approaches, its best use was for retreating after whiffing a grab attempt, generally slowing the pace of a match.

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UStrong
Increased width of the lower hitbox by a couple pixels.

DStrong
No longer applies extra momentum if Epinel and the opponent are both standing on the same platform.

v4.2

Better late than never.

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Heavy State
Removed an unintended hitbox. Whoops.

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FAir
Normal hit knockback scaling 0.65 -> 0.7
Sourspot base knockback 8 -> 7, knockback scaling 0.3 -> 0.4, hitpause scaling 0.25 -> 0.3

BAir
Hitboxes slightly extended to cover Epinel's center.

UAir
Reduced the minimum forward momentum applied when using this attack. (2.35 -> 2)

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NSpecial
Now manually restores NSpecial3 drift multiplier to 1. Big whoops.
Sweetspot SDI multiplier 0 -> 1, hitstun multiplier 1 -> 0.8
Nspecial1 SDI multiplier 0 -> 0.25, endlag 10 -> 11
NSpecial2 SDI multiplier 0 -> 0.25, drift multiplier 0.65 -> 0.75
NSpecial3 angle 40 -> ...35!, knockback growth 0.5 -> 0.6
-Turns out the issue with this move wasn't the angle. It's been restored as a horizontal-only KO move, only this time people should be able to DI it just fine.

Ground DSpecial
Endlag 25 -> 24

Air DSpecial
Late rising grab hitbox slightly extended beneath Epinel's claw.
Falling grab hitbox increased a couple pixels in width.

v4.1

Bug fixes, more FSpecial counterplay and some damage redistribution.

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Cosmetic
Finally gave Epinel a spinhurt animation.

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Platforms
Widened the threshold for stopping a platform moving by wavelanding directly down.
Fixed a bug where parrying would halt a moving platform.

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DAttack
Normal throw angle 85 -> 90, base knockback 10 -> 9.5, hitpause scaling 1.5 -> 1.2

FTilt
Endlag 9 -> 10
Early hitbox knockback growth 0.5 -> 0.6
Early hitbox slightly reduced in height.

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DAir
Second hit - if first hit connects - base knockback 7 -> 5, knockback growth 0.25 -> 0.35
Second hit - if first hit whiffs - damage 6% -> 7%, base knockback 10 -> 9, knockback growth 0.4 -> 0.45

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FSpecial (Ground and Air)
Has a new sound effect that plays on frame 1 of the attack.
Increased hitpause for better clarity when Epinel is hit into 'heavy state' during armored frames.
Hopefully fixed a bug where Epinel would retain armor 1 frame after cancelling the attack.

Ground FSpecial
Base endlag 25 -> 26
Main hitbox slightly reduced in height.
Fixed a bug where Epinel could sometimes skip recovering from 'heavy state'.

Ground DSpecial
Melee hit base hitpause 10 -> 11
Now reduces Epinel's horizontal speed upon use. Prevents sliding after cancelling from Air DSpecial.
Fixed a bug where Epinel would jump when becoming airborne during this attack.

Air DSpecial
First and third rising-grab hitboxes increased in size.
Rising grab damage 2% -> 3%
Landing endlag 29 -> 27

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Rest
Knockback growth 0.75 -> 1

v4.0

Until it is perfect.

This update makes some significant changes to most of Epinel's kit, in particular his attack angles and Drift DI modifiers. Instead of crippling the opponent to be unable to escape his air combos, his moves have been generally improved so that he no longer needs the handicap.

Also, new platform tech to justify the long list of nerfs. Enjoy.

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Base stats
Pratfall accel 0.8 -> 0.5
-The last patch addressing FSpecial pratfall, unintentionally made him too good at avoiding parry punishes.

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Platforms
Epinel can no longer have more than one 'inertia pillar' active at a time.
At 7 speed and below, platforms now have zero friction while Epinel is standing on them.
Increased the amount of speed applied to a platformm when Epinel lands onto one.
Platforms no longer increase Epinel's wavedash distance.
Platforms are now set to 4 speed at minimum when Epinel wavelands onto one.
Epinel now maintains 100% of his momentum when jumping from a platform. (Previously 75%.)
Fixed a bug where sometimes Epinel would not maintain momentum when performing an instant aerial after jumping from a platform.
Platforms now slow to 1 speed maximum if Epinel is parried while standing on one.
Landing lag on platforms is now shortened to 2 frames, previously 1 frame.
-Makes platforms much, much simpler and less committal to use for movement. You'll definitely want to learn how to wavedash if you haven't yet.

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'Heavy State'
Air friction no longer increases to 0.05 during 'heavy state'.
Epinel can no longer cancel Heavy State by touching the ground with FSpecial.
Fixed 'heavy state'/pratfall sprite alignment.

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Jab
Jab1 angle flipper 0 -> 6
Jab2 drift multiplier 0.75x -> 1x
Jab3 drift multiplier 0.5x -> 1x

Dash Attack
Knockback growth 0.85 -> 0.95
Platform break damage 11% -> 8%, base knockback 6.5 -> 9.5
-It KOs.

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FTilt
Sweetspot angle 32.5 -> 35, base knockback 7.5 -> 6.5, knockback growth 0.5 -> 0.7
No longer has upper arm invincibility.
-Should now outprioritize most things, instead of literally everything.

UTilt
Drift multiplier 0.5x -> 0.75x
Hitstun multiplier 0.9x -> 0.75x
Front hitbox angle 79 -> 85
Now has 19 endlag on miss, 10 endlag on hit.
Increased Epinel's jump height and speed on hit.
-UTilt is the one 'cheat' move Epinel gets to keep. For now.

DTilt
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented the first hit from connecting into the second.

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NAir
Upper hitbox angle 86 -> 85, drift multiplier 0.5x -> 1x
Lower hitbox angle 85 -> 82, drift multiplier 0.5x -> 1x
Recovers slightly faster on early hit.
-A little less versatile, a little more deadly vs bad DI.

UAir
FAF 11 -> 10
Endlag 14 -> 11
Cooldown increased on whiff, to compensate for endlag changes. (3 -> 5)
Early hit base knockback 9 -> 8, angle 93 -> 90, hitstun multiplier 0.95x -> 1x
Late hit hitstun multiplier 0.9x -> 1x
Drift Multiplier: 0.5x -> 1x
Horizontal momentum loss now occurs after the move's active frames, not during the active frames.
No longer loses horizontal momentum on repeated uses if the attack hits.
-Arguably more busted than it was before. Instead of crippling the opponent's ability to DI away from Epinel, he now has the ability to catch up to them instead.

FAir
Hitboxes shifted to cover a higher angle.
Normal hit angle 42.5 -> 45
Meteor hit damage 11% -> 10%, hitpause scaling 0.5 -> 0.7
FAF 14 -> 15
Endlag 19 -> 16
Removed earlier nerfs that reduced drifting during endlag.
-An attempt to make this move less centralizing than it has been for every past patch. The adjusted hitbox height should make it less of an amazing air-to-ground option (which is what NAir and DAir are meant to be), while still being a solid defensive option. The new UAir should cover the utility that FAir did before, minus the disjoint and stage control.

BAir

Normal hit Active time 5 -> 6, base knockback 6.5 -> 7.5, knockback growth .75 -> 0.65, hitpause scaling 0.5 -> 0.6
Normal hit BKB now decays from 7.5 to 5 over the duration of the attack.
Sweetspot base knockback 6.5 -> 7.5, knockback growth .9 -> .8
Throw hit drift multiplier 0.5x -> 1x
Landing lag 7 -> 6
-Increased base knockback balances out UAir's ability to chase after both versions of BAir.

DAir

Removed late hitboxes.
Second hit drift multiplier 0.5x -> 1x
Second hit - if first hitbox connects - angle 84 -> 90, extra hitpause 0 -> 1
Endlag 17 -> 15

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NSpecial
Now has invincibility on frame 2 only. Previously frame 1-2.
NSpecial2 and NSpecial3 now always cause Epinel to move forwards, either on hold or mash. (Holding NSpecial will still let you stall the maximum length of time on whiff, and the minimum length of time on hit.)
NSpecial2 and NSpecial3 air-stall reduced.
Sweetspot damage 2% -> 1%
NSpecial2 damage 6% -> 5%
NSpecial3 angle 35 -> 40. Not sure how that happened.
-Most players couldn't DI this move's finisher correctly, and sitting on the ledge with this attack was kind of lame. These changes should address both issues.

FSpecial (Air and Ground)
Maximum charge time reduced.
Armoring an attack that would have broken 12 'soft' armor, now inflicts 'heavy state' on Epinel. On the ground, projectiles dealing less than 8% damage cannot inflict 'heavy state' on Epinel.
-Allows an extra few frames to punish Epinel if he soaks a hit but fails to capitalize on it.

Ground FSpecial
Whifflag removed. Endlag always equals its previous endlag on whiff.
Taunt-cancelling this attack no longer skips 7 startup frames of the taunt.

Air FSpecial
Reduced Epinel's velocity upon ricocheting off a platform.
Increased hitpause upon ricocheting off a platform. (2 -> 3)
Added a 3-frame cooldown to aerial moves after ricocheting off a platform.
Slightly reduced air drift during endlag.
Reduced endlag by 50% when in 'heavy state'.
-Platform movement should be good enough now that Epinel never 'needs' this tech to get in. The changs should make this more readable for the opponent.

Ground DSpecial
Active frames 4 -> 2
Endlag
Can no longer be charged while standing on one of Epinel's platforms.
Fixed a bug where Ground DSpecial could sometimes be used in the air.

Air DSpecial
Endlag upon landing increased. (25 -> 28)
Added 2 frames of hitpause when cancelling Air DSpecial with the Parry button.
Breaking a platform with Air DSpecial now ends the attack instantly, with a 3-frame cooldown on aerial moves.

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DStrong
Repeating hits angle 46 -> 45
Final hit angle 46 -> 45, base knockback 7.5 -> 6.5, knockback scaling 1 -> 1.05
Repeating hits of DSpecial now force opponents away from Epinel's center.
Epinel now stops on a dime upon performing the final hit of the attack.
Now moves at an initial speed upon button release if the player is holding left or right.
Drift speed during repeating hits reduced.
Fixed a bug where this attack would sometimes launch at entirely the wrong angle.
-This change should prevent Epinel's gradual momentum catching players by surprise.

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Rest
Fixed a bug where Epinel could sometimes return to idle immediately after the hitbox appears.
Base knockback 20 -> 15
Reduced hitbox size ??? idk please stop dying at zero to it now

v3.5

Fixed a bug where Epinel was able to superarmor through death itself when side-b'ing into the blast zone.