v2.5

This patch drastically buffs Epinel's KO potential, while also toning down some of his Strong attacks which were overperforming. Many quality-of-life changes across the board.

---

General changes:
-Fixed missing/bugged abyss runes.
-Fixed some palette issues.
-Epinel is no longer compatible with the Abyss Rune Buddy. Use the official Abyss Runes (Ctrl+R in Versus Mode) instead.

---

Platform Changes
-Fixed an issue where rising platforms would rise an excessive distance above other platforms when spawned.

---

FAir
-Normal hit base knockback: 6.5 -> 7
-Normal hit knockback growth: 0.6 -> 0.65

BAir
-Sweetspot knockback growth: 0.85 -> 0.9
BAir now has potential to end stocks extremely early, if the opponent allows Epinel to get that close off-stage.

DAir
-Altered the second hit SFX to play on the correct frame.
The more accurate sound cue should make the move easier for opponents to parry.

---

Jab2
-Epinel's velocity is now slowed to 3 when hitting an opponent, previously 1.
Allows Jab3 to more reliably catch DI out.

FTilt
-Normal hit knockback growth: 0.45 -> 0.5
-Sweetspot knockback growth: 0.55 -> 0.5
-Late hit knockback growth: 0.3 -> 0.35
Normal hits give slightly more advantage. Sweetspot has a larger window for combo confirms.

DTilt
-Grounded first hit hitbox now reaches higher.
-Grounded final hit base knockback: 8 -> 8.5
-Grounded final hit knockback growth: 0.5 -> 0.45
Now has a slightly larger combo window.

Dash Attack
-Knockback growth: 0.7 -> 0.8
Should now reliably KO around the 150% mark.

---

DStrong
-Reduced Epinel's movement acceleration during the attack.
-Epinel's movement acceleration now reduces drastically after the move connects with an opponent.
-Base knockback: 7 -> 7.5
-Charging DStrong no longer maintains a platform's momentum.
Allows more room for opponents to avoid evil edgeguards and DI mixups. The momentum tech was leftover from an earlier patch and has now been completely removed.

UStrong
-Increased friction during startup. (0.15 -> 0.2)
His DACUS distance was still a little too good for his archetype.

---

NSpecial1
-Reduced the vertical reach of the hitbox beneath Epinel.

NSpecial3
-Angle: 40 -> 35
-base knockback: 9 -> 8
-Knockback growth: 0.45 -> 0.5
New angle makes this a very viable kill option anywhere offstage.

Ground FSpecial
-Sweetspot & normal hit Knockback growth: 0.7 -> 0.8
-Sourspot base knockback: 6 -> 5
Sweetspot FSpecial is a lot better at deleting stocks now.

Air FSpecial
-Normal hit knockback growth: 0.65 -> 0.7
-Sweetspot base knockback: 7.5 -> 8
-Sourspot base knockback: 6 -> 5
-Sourspot now flinches opponents on the ground.
Air FSpecial still has powerful defensive uses, and receives a less drastic buff as a result.

Air DSpecial
-Adjusted damage of final hit. Now always deals between 7 and 14 damage, scaled by fall distance. 1% bonus damage is added for each platform hit (up to 3%).
-Bonus knockback growth multiplier increased. (+fall distance / 750 -> +fall distance / 700)
-Base knockback scaling: 3.5 -> 4
-Base knockback now increases by 1 for each platform destroyed (up to 3; previously 0.5 per platform).
-Increased rebound velocity when breaking a platform after grabbing an opponent. (5 -> 5.5)
-Increased rebound velocity when breaking a platform without having grabbed a player. (0 -> 0.5)
-Epinel now rises slightly when breaking a platform without grabbing a player.
-Inertia pillars spawned while Epinel is grabbing an opponent now have a greatly shortened lifespan.
Air DSpecial deals a fraction more damage in most circumstances, and platforms are now as frighening as they used to be. The move now KOs earlier without platforms as well, and gains a bigger bonus from high altitudes. Reducing the platform rebounds last patch sped up the move at the cost of visual flair, so this patch it has been restored a little

v2.4

Cosmetic Changes:
-Epinel's DTaunt can now be performed with side-inputs as well.

---

Platform Changes:
-Increased the leniency for players to snap onto Epinel's platforms via wavelanding. It now matches the leniency for every other normal stage platform.
-'Latent Landing' (wavelanding during Air DSpecial startup) now damages platforms, just like landing on platforms in any other way.
-Inertia pillars now do not activate on opponents currently in hitstop. Fixes an issue where the pillars would activate at the same time that Epinel hits a player, negating the inertia effect.

---

UTilt
-Horizontal speed is now reduced 10% when this attack connects.
Makes follow-up attacks easier when using this attack at a high velocity.

FStrong
-Slightly reduced the reach of the sourspot behind Epinel.

USpecial
-'Heavy state' landing lag: 13 -> 14

v2.3

Increased the speed cap for platforms when they begin to crumble. (4 -> 6)
Added a sound cue for activated inertia pillars.
Fixed a bug where inertia pillars could affect opponents during respawn invincibility.

v2.2

Wait, Epinel is finally a viable character who is winning tournaments? Time to fix that.

This patch focuses on toning down Epinel's ability to stall, and makes it more difficult for him to keep and weaponize his platforms. Meanwhile, the utility of his platforms and B-Air for movement have been refined and improved. Air DSpecial is now a functioning kamikaze move, DAir as an approach tool has been adjusted, NSpecial is a more potent reversal now, and F-Air's defensive uses have been balanced out. Other changes are largely quality-of-life, to make Epinel's moves feel both more fluid to use, and more predictable for opponents to deal with.

---

General Changes:
-Added new animations for wavedashing and landing lag.
-Changed and added a few VFX/SFX for better clarity.
-Buffed several palettes.
-Added official Rune support.

---

Platform Changes
Parrying Epinel will now remove damaged platforms in addition to inertia pillars.
Platforms now crumble at a faster rate when a player lands on them (100 frames -> 50 frames). A platform destroyed by Parrying or KO'ing Epinel will still crumble after 100 frames.
Inertia pillars now deactivate after the moment an opponent enters them. They can now be countered by passing through them with invincibility frames.
Epinel's wavedash speed multiplier on platforms decreased. (1.1x -> 1.05x)
Platform top speed lowered. (9 -> 8)
Platform acceleration greatly increased when used with Ground DSpecial. Effectively giving him a burst movement option.
Platforms will not break prematurely if Epinel successfully lands a Dash Attack while standing on one.

---

Jab2
-Hitbox size very slightly increased.

Jab3
-Hitbox size very slightly increased.
-Hurtbox size significantly increased during active frames.

Dash Attack
-Damage: 12% -> 13% (3%, 9% -> 2%, 11%)
-Platform-break damage: +12% -> +11%
-Reduced the amount which Epinel can influence the knockback angle of the attack.

---

F-Air
-Air drift is reduced 33% during the 'tumbling' part of the attack.
-Normal damage: 9% -> 8%
-Meteor damage: 10% -> 11%
-Endlag: 15 -> 14
Epinel now has a harder time fading back after using F-Air in neutral, making it a larger commitment. Both its damage and its endlag have been lowered to make it a more well-rounded attack.

B-Air
-Active Frames: 4 -> 5
-Hitbox shifted a couple pixels outwards.
-Hurtbox slightly extended during active frames.
-Sweetspot hitpause: 12 -> 11
-Sweetspot hitpause scaling: 0 -> 0.5
Epinel's B-Air is active for longer, making it easier to confirm grabs. Sweetspot B-Air now gives more time for opponents to DI at high percents.

D-Air
-Reduced horizontal speed multiplier on startup. (x1.11 -> x1.06)
-Epinel can no longer fast-fall during the move.
-First hit hitbox size very slightly reduced.
-Hurtbox size slightly increased during active frames.
Epinel must now commit to fast-falling before using D-Air, which gives ample time to react to the large threat zone below him. In addition, D-Air is slightly easier to contest with other disjointed moves.

---

NSpecial
-Startup invincibility increased to 2 frames, previously 1. NSpecial sweetspot is now uncontestable.
-Epinel gains an extra 10 invincibility frames when NSpecial sweetspot connects.
-NSpecial sweetspot now cannot break projectiles.
-NSpecial now cannot be B-Reversed after NSpecial's sweetspot connects.

-Nspecial1 sweetspot damage: 3% -> 2%
-Nspecial1 base hitpause: 2 -> 1
-Nspecial1 normal hitbox now has less vertical reach and slightly more horizontal reach.
-NSpecial is now a more threatening reversal at close quarters.

-NSpecial2 damage: 4% -> 5%
-Nspecial1 base hitpause: 2 -> 1
-NSpecial2 hitbox now has less reach behind Epinel.

-NSpecial3 damage: 8% -> 7%
-NSpecial3 startup: 6 -> 8

Ground FSpecial
-Can no longer be cancelled into back-roll. Now can only be cancelled into forward-roll.
-Minimum endlag slightly increased.
-Sweetspot angle: 50 -> 40 (same as non-sweetspot angle)
-Sourspot now flinches grounded opponents instead of launching them.
Changed to weaken stalling, as this move potentially travels a very long distance. Ground Fspecial sweetspot is now both more consistent to DI, and more scary to get hit by at the stage edges.

Aerial FSpecial
-No longer has super-armor. Now has soft-armor equal to Etalus FAir.
-Breaking a platform with Aerial FSpecial no longer restores Epinel's double-jump.
-Changed the angle at which Epinel ricochets off of platforms. (30-70 -> 45-65)
-Added a 5-frame delay before Epinel is allowed to cancel the ricochet animation.
-Armoring attacks no longer restores Epinel's U-Air jump height.
-Sourspot now flinches grounded opponents instead of launching them.
Aerial FSpecial had a multitude of properties that made it powerful for stalling. Along with the platform changes, this move should feel much fairer when used defensively.

Ground DSpecial
-Endlag: 21 -> 22
-Can no longer be cancelled into another Ground DSpecial during endlag.
-Projectiles now provide much more reliable coverage from incoming projectiles.
-Melee hit hitbox size slightly reduced.
-Melee hit damage: 10% -> 9%
-Melee hit knockback growth: 1.15 -> 1.2
-Melee hit hitstun multiplier: 1.1x -> 1x
-Melee hit active time: 2 -> 3
The melee hit's hitstun has been standardized, its knockback adjusted to match, and its hitbox size and active time changed to fit player expectations better.

Aerial DSpecial
-Knockback scaling has been revamped with sensible formulas. KO's slightly later than before when used at ground height.
-Final hit angle is now fixed at 45 degrees forwards, and does not adjust to send towards the blastzone. (When fighting Epinel, note which hand he has extended to see which way the opponent will be launched.)
-Can now be B-Reversed.
-Can no longer switch facing direction after breaking a platform.
-Slightly reduced Epinel's drift acceleration during the attack.
-Opponents can now slightly influence Epinel's drift while grabbed.
-Endlag when cancelled: 20 -> 23
-Epinel can no longer cancel the move until he begins falling or has grabbed an opponent.
-Hurtbox fixed; no longer includes visual fx as part of the hurtbox.
-'Epicides' should now KO the opponent if they do not escape before reaching the blast zone. (Epinel still loses his stock first.)
Air DSpecial now acts more predictably all-round. Its knockback now scales linearly, jumping off-stage actually works now, and it is now obvious to tell which direction the receiving player will be launched in.
The move's fast startup and power otherwise remains intact, but it now requires more accuracy to confirm into platforms, and has more risk when the move is whiffed. The lower jump height also shortens the time spent waiting for the grab to complete.

USpecial
-Now inflicts 20 additional frames of hitstun when hitting an opponent already in hitstun.
-'Heavy' state cannot be removed by landing with an attack, except for DSpecial and FSpecial.
USpecial now has improved uses in attack strings.

---

UStrong
-Reduced horizontal movement boost on startup. (0.15 -> 0.05)
-Friction during startup and charge increased. (0.1 -> 0.15) (It still slides pretty far)
-Sourspot angle: 95 -> 92 (less punishing when DI'd incorrectly)
UStrong no longer slides as far, to balance out the move's large disjoint and early KO-power.

FStrong
-Reverse sourspot angle: 60 -> 50
This change prevents opponents from unexpectedly DI'ing into the top blastzone from a stray hit.

DStrong
-Middle hitboxes slightly shortened, to make the move easier to contest from above.
-Early hitbox slightly increased in width.
-Hurtbox size slightly increased during active frames.
-Endlag: 19 -> 22
Longer endlag allows opponents more time to work around DStrong's large final hitbox. Dstrong's early hitboxes should no longer beat attacks from above.

---

Bugfixes
Fixed a couple outstanding Inertia bugs.

Patch v2.1

Minor, overall buff patch aimed to improve the risk/reward of certain attacks in his kit.

Jab3
-Active time: 5 -> 6
-Endlag: 14 -> 13

UTilt
-Early hitbox size slightly increased.
-Landing lag: 5 -> 4

DTilt
-Damage: 6% -> 7% (grounded hit deals 4%, 3%)

UStrong
-Endlag: 28 -> 26

NSpecial
-Sweetspot hitbox size slightly increased.

USpecial
-Movement speed slightly increased. (7.5 -> 7.75)
-Hitbox size increased.
-Startup: 16 -> 15 (First Active Frame: 17 -> 16)
-'Heavy' state landing lag: 14 -> 13
-'Heavy' state no longer lingers after losing a stock

Air DSpecial
-Endlag when cancelled/escaped: 23 -> 20 (on whiff: 35 -> 30)

BAir
-Base knockback: 6 -> 6.5

FAir
-Meteor angle: 270 -> 275

DAir
-Can now be walljump-cancelled on whiff, at the same point that it can normally be cancelled on hit.

Patch v2.0

Low-key "Epinel V2" update. These changes aim to make Epinel feel more intentional to play and more fun to fight against, while retaining most of his core strengths. His recovery has been reworked, improved, and balanced out with minor adjustments to his mobility.

If you wish to continue playing the previous Epinel patch with his old Up-B, you can do so here: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2122214701

---

General Changes:
-Lots of polish adjustments and bugfixes across the board. A few new sounds, animations and effects. Hopefully more to come.

---

USpecial Rework:
-Epinel's old USpecial ("Halcyon") has been reworked into his new USpecial ("Deliberate").
-Epinel inflicts inertia upon himself, and floats in the direction the joystick is held in. It will also inflict inertia on other players within a small AoE.
-Holding Shield during Deliberate will add 22.5 degrees to the travel angle. This lets keyboard players use angles in-between the 8 compass directions.
-Deliberate does not send Epinel into special fall, but instead disables his passive float until he wall-jumps or touches the ground. Upon landing, Epinel pauses momentarily to recover.
-Deliberate can be parried.

---

Base Stats:
-Aerial Acceleration while rising: 0.16 -> 0.156

Inertia Changes:
-Inertia will no longer interrupt a grounded attack. It will now wait until the attack completes before lifting a player in the air.
-Now has a sound cue when Inertia wears off.

Platform Changes:
-Breaking a platform no longer causes shards to fall, and instead creates a pillar of Inertia (identical to his old Up-B) in the platform's place. The field lasts for about 3½ seconds before disappearing. Like in previous patches, the field disappears sooner when a player is caught inside it.
-Damaged platforms no longer crumble when Epinel is parried.
-Inertia Pillars now disappear when Epinel is parried.

---

DTilt
-Now has a 6 hitpause delay when destroying platforms.

NAir
-Stun multiplier: 1x -> 0.9x

FStrong
-Sourspots now have a different hitspark.

DStrong
-Slowed Epinel's movement acceleration during DStrong active frames. (0.55 -> 0.5)
-Can no longer shorten active time by pressing Attack.

Ground FSpecial
-Animation updated.
-Minimum endlag increased by 2 frames.

Air DSpecial
-Can no longer shorten the move's jump height by inputting a fastfall.

v1.9

-More vast AI improvements, including wavedashing and better combo routes. Thanks to Archytas for the tip.

-Fixed some palette issues with certain attacks.

v1.8

20k sub patch! I'm glad this character has been so well-received.

-Overhauled Epinel's CPU AI. Not a Kirby copypaste. He can recover and combo now, for the most part. I may add more AI improvements in the future once I have things figured out.

-Fixed a bug where Epinel's uncharged U-Special would apply Inertia multiple times.

-No balance changes, he's in a fairly good spot right now.

Patch v1.7

Tying loose ends. Hopefully the last balance patch for a while.

---

Cosmetic changes:
-'Inertia' sweetspots are more clearly marked when they connect.
-Select screen updated. (Template by Muno - go check out his characters too https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/id/definitelyNOTmuno/myworkshopfiles/?appid=383980)
-Some sprites tweaked and improved.

Platform changes:
-Platform HP is capped to 750/1000 when two platforms collide. (If already at 750 HP or below, the platforms will not lose HP.)
-Platforms are now instantly destroyed if they are forced to overlap, e.g. by spawning three platforms in the same area at ground level.
Addresses some less savory strategies for using platforms.

Up Special
-Now has a new 'uncharged' version which does not cause pratfall. Hold down Special to use the normal version.

Aerial Down Special:
-Can now be walljump-cancelled if it has not yet grabbed an opponent.
-Slightly reduced the height which Epinel jumps after grabbing an opponent.
This change slightly increases counterplay for the opponent's positioning, and lowers the time the opponent spends waiting for the attack to complete.

Jab2
-No longer halts Epinel's momentum if it hits while airborne.

D-Strong
-Extra hitpause before final hit: 0 -> 2
-Base knockback: 7.5 -> 7

Rest
-Knockback growth: 1.1 -> 1

Bugfixes:
-Fixed a bug where platforms would not consistently reach their top speed during Epinel's Ground Down-Special.
-Fixed a bug where Epinel's momentum would always carry over to platforms he lands on, even if the platform was already moving faster than Epinel.
-Fixed a rare case where Inertia would launch opponents further than intended if a movement option was used on the exact same frame.