A new patch will be going live for Ubisoft’s For Honor on May 16th and adds a ton of balance changes for its heroes. More importantly, however, it allows players on consoles to customize the stick dead zones on their controllers. This mostly applies to the right stick, used for switching guard mode, and has a default value of 10 to start with.
Then there are the “soft feints”, which essentially allows players to cancel Guard Breaks or Light attacks by triggering another Guard Break or Attack very quickly. Though it helps the defensive meta, Ubisoft chose to fix it since it’s both an “unintended and most importantly, unreliable mechanic”.
The other changes include adjustments to Peacekeeper, Nobushi, Warden, Shugoki and a ton of different adjustments to the Raider. For what it’s worth, a new tier of gear “Epic” has also been added. Better get to grinding boys and thankfully, the amount of XP gained from matches has been increased.
Check out the full patch notes below and let us know what you think in the comments.
All Platforms
Control Changes
Added the option to customize stick dead zones.
Developer comments: Dead zone of the right stick guard mode switch is now configurable. (Range 10). The default value is 10, decreasing it will make the guard switch more sensitive. Choosing too low values could potentially result in less accuracy when selecting a guard direction.
Fight
“Soft feints”
[Bug Fix] Guardbreak and Attacks can no longer be cancelled by switching guard and attack very quickly.
Developer comments: The ability to cancel out of Guard Break or Light attacks with another attack, also known as soft feints is something the community identified pretty quickly. We’ve taken note of your observations about how it might help improve the defensive meta. However, for now, we’re fixing it because it’s an unintended and most importantly, unreliable mechanic. The timing window to cancel out into a soft feint is not only very short, it also doesn’t trigger reliably. So no matter how hard you try to master the timing, if the window of opportunity doesn’t open, you won’t be able to soft feint. This is why we’re fixing it for now. If we ever were to make an actual gameplay mechanic with soft feints (no promise!) we’d implement it so that you could use it reliably.
Unlock exploit
[Bug Fix] Unlocking during an attack will no longer make it unparryable.
Developer comments: This is another big exploit that the community has identified quickly. As you attacked your target in Guard mode and released Guard very quickly at the beginning of the attack, a bug caused the attack to lose target, making it unparryable for the opponent.
Revenge
[Bug Fix] Melee attacks no longer drain stamina on a target with Revenge active.
Sprint
[Bug Fix] All characters are no longer able to maintain Sprint state while not actually moving.
Developer comments: We’ve already updated how Sprint attacks work in order to make sure they trigger only after you’ve initiated Sprint. We had one remaining issue allowing players to Sprint, pull back slowly on the left stick to return to center position, causing characters to maintain Sprint state while not actually moving.
Moveset
Updated the use of the Successful Icon on moves that must hit.
Heroes
RAIDER
Stunning Tap Mix Ups
- All Heavy attack startups can be cancelled into Stunning Tap.
- Raider Fury and Zone Attack startups can be cancelled into Stunning Tap.
- Stunning Tap can chain into Raider Fury.
- Stunning Tap can chain on Miss Recovery.
- Animation transition improvements to accommodate new mix ups.
Zone Attack
- [Bug Fix] Zone Attack can’t be feinted if performed Out of Guard mode.
Stampede Charge
- Stamina cost reduced to 40 (from 60).
- Target’s stamina drains while being carried by the Raider:
- Minimum loss = 36 stamina points.
- Maximum loss = 66 stamina points.
- Target’s stamina regeneration cooldown increased to 2.7 seconds (from 1.8) after completion of the attack.
- [Bug Fix] Target no longer regenerates stamina while being carried by the Raider.
Stampede Charge into Wall
- Recovery after Knee can flow into attacks 100ms earlier.
- Knee damage increased to 15 (from 0).
- [Bug Fix] Victim’s stamina regenerate after the entire attack is over, not before.
- Throw Back
- [Bug Fix] Target starts regenerating stamina after the throw is over, not before.
- Damage
- Chop and Poke second Light attack damage increased to 15 (from 10).
- Chop and Poke Light finisher damage increased to 15 (from 12).
- Winding Slashes Light attack damage increased to 15 (from 10).
Stamina
- Raider’s stamina pool increased to 130 (from 120).
Developer comments: Raiders already had some mix up opportunities with the ability to cancel Heavy openers with Stunning Tap, and the ability to use Raider’s Fury inside chains. In order to buff Raiders and make them more fun to play, we’re improving their mix ups by allowing them to cancel any Heavy attack, Raider’s Fury, and Zone Attack into Stunning Tap. It will make the guessing game on Raider offense harder for the opponent.
Raider is a good grabber but his Guard Break throw game was a bit lacking in 1v1 situations. So we are improving his different throws. For instance, Stampede Charge now drains enemy stamina while the Raider is running. We’re also making sure the enemy’s stamina doesn’t start regenerating until the move is over. This should make the throws stronger overall, and allow the Raider to play more with enemies’ stamina. Another thing we’ve done to make Stampede Charge stronger is to add damage to the Knee after Stampede into Wall. All of these changes should reinforce the decision making around Stampede Charge based on situational awareness: with a wall nearby, Stampede into Wall will cause more damage on the target, if not, you can still get a big stamina drain out of it.
PEACEKEEPER
Stab
- First Stab Bleed reduced to 8 damage over 8 seconds (from 15 damage over 8 seconds).
- Second Stab Bleed reduced to 8 damage over 8 seconds (from 12 damage over 8 seconds).
- Third Stab Bleed increased to 16 damage over 8 seconds (from 9 damage over 8 seconds).
Developer comments: We’re tweaking the Bleed stacks on the Peacekeeper’s Stabs in order to introduce a more interesting trade off mechanism. You can decide to apply only the first two Bleed stacks in order to connect a throw after the second Stab, or you can apply the three Bleed stacks with no follow up option after the third Stab. Overall, we’ve also slightly reduced the max Bleed damage the three Stabs can apply for balancing reasons.
LAWBRINGER
Moveset
- Updated Moveset page after adding Stun to Light Riposte and Uninterruptible Stance to Make Way.
Shove
- [Bug Fix] Pushing an enemy with Shove and then activating Revenge no longer unbalances the enemy.
Swift Justice Finisher * [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue causing the guaranteed Swift Justice Finisher to trigger without a hit on the previous attack. * Long Arm * [Bug Fix] Fixed animation glitch when attacking an enemy on the ground after The Long Arm.
SHUGOKI
Out of Guard mode attacks
- [Bug Fix] Out of Guard Mode attacks are now consistent with Guard Mode attacks.
Developer comments: Some attack timings were inconsistent across Guard and Out of Guard modes. As we don’t want to incentivize Out of Guard mode combat we’re making sure that Out of Guard mode attacks are setup the same as their Guard mode counterpart. For the Shugoki, we’ve fixed inconsistencies on the Light and Heavy openers.
NOBUSHI
Out of Guard mode attacks
- [Bug Fix] Out of Guard Mode attacks are now consistent with Guard Mode attacks.
Developer comments: Some attack timings were inconsistent across Guard and Out of Guard modes. As we don’t want to incentivize Out of Guard mode combat we’re making sure that Out of Guard mode attacks are setup the same as their Guard mode counterpart. For the Nobushi, we’ve fixed inconsistencies on the Light opener and Poke the Nest.
WARDEN
- Shoulder Bash Re-enabled switch target on startup.
Developer comments: We accidentally disabled the ability to switch target on the Warden’s Shoulder Bash startup in our latest title update. This was unintended so we’re restoring the functionality. Sorry Wardens!
KENSEI
Execution
- “No Look Kill” execution causes death of the opponent after 1300ms (instead of 1200ms).
WARLORD
Moveset
- Updated Moveset page after removing Headbutt option from Full Block Stance.
Miscellaneous
Conqueror Feat
- [Bug Fix] Conqueror Feat now correctly applies a +50% duration buff on the Boosts in Skirmish and Elimination.
Spectator Camera
- Option to stay dead will no longer show if you can’t be revived.
Ladders
- [Bug Fix] Players no longer fall off ladder by releasing the slide down button when hitting someone. Communication Beacon
- [Bug Fix] Resolved an issue causing characters to stay stuck in Beacon placement mode.
Game Modes
All Modes
- 3V1 and 4V1 penalties have been tweaked so that it is no longer possible to get negative Renown
Skirmish
- Corrected the value of Savior to be 15 Renown instead of 11
- Added an Avenger Renown Bonus (15 points)
Meta Game
- The personal contribution in round is now updated after assigning war assets. This was a fix for war asset count not updating correctly on the post-game screen
Online
Error Messaging
- Increased the detail in messaging for the player when having synchronisation or session stability issues
Presentation
Custom Match
- Sudden Death timer will now show, when in sudden death, even if the Game time is set to none
General
- Nobushi Move set – Added missing unblockable icon on Kick Move
Progression and Economy
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug where Attacker/Defender color palettes all use the default blue and orange
- Fixed a bug where all players were in the middle position of the “Your Ranking” leaderboard.
- Fix a bug where war asset count not updating correctly in post-game screen
- Fixed occurrences where Placing first place in the faction war during a round will reward the player with the 3rd’s place rewards
Increase XP income from matches
Developer comments: Our analytics showed that players took longer than expected to level up their reputation levels. Because of that, we increased all the XP income from matches to better reward player’s involvement.
- Base XP gained on a Dominion (PVP) match won increased from 400 to 500.
- Base XP gained on a Dominion (PVP) match lost or tied increased from 300 to 380.
- Base XP gained on a Dominion (Private) match won increased from 200 to 250
- Base XP gained on a Dominion (Private) match lost or tied increased from 150 to 190.
- Base XP gained on a Dominion (vs. AI) match won increased from 320 to 400
- Base XP gained on a Dominion (vs. AI) match lost or tied increased from 240 to 300.
- Base XP gained on a Skirmish (PVP) match won increased from 400 to 500.
- Base XP gained on a Skirmish (PVP) match lost or tied increased from 300 to 380.
- Base XP gained on a Skirmish (Private) match won increased from 200 to 250.
- Base XP gained on a Skirmish (Private) match lost or tied increased from 150 to 190.
- Base XP gained on a Skirmish (vs. AI) match won increased from 320 to 400
- Base XP gained on a Skirmish (vs. AI) match lost or tied increased from 240 to 300.
- Base XP gained on an Elimination (PVP) match won increased from 310 to 400.
- Base XP gained on an Elimination (PVP) match lost or tied increased from 230 to 300.
- Base XP gained on an Elimination (Private) match won increased from 150 to 200.
- Base XP gained on an Elimination (Private) match lost or tied increased from 110 to 150.
- Base XP gained on an Elimination (vs. AI) match won increased from 240 to 320.
- Base XP gained on an Elimination (vs. AI) match lost or tied increased from 180 to 240.
- Base XP gained on a Brawl (PVP) match won increased from 230 to 300.
- Base XP gained on a Brawl (PVP) match lost or tied increased from 170 to 220.
- Base XP gained on a Brawl (Private) match won increased from 110 to 150.
- Base XP gained on a Brawl (Private) match lost or tied increased from 80 to 110.
- Base XP gained on a Brawl (vs. AI) match won increased from 180 to 240.
- Base XP gained on a Brawl (vs. AI) match lost or tied increased from 130 to 170.
- Base XP gained on a Duel (PVP) match won increased from 200 to 260.
- Base XP gained on a Duel (PVP) match lost or tied increased from 150 to 190.
- Base XP gained on a Duel (Private) match won increased from 100 to 130.
- Base XP gained on a Duel (Private) match lost or tied increased from 70 to 90.
[Gear] Add Stat Bundles to default gear (Data)
- Added Statistic values to basic gear (when no gear is equipped)
- Arms: defense + 0.8%
- Body: + 0.9%
- Head: + 0.6%
- Weapon 1: + 0.8%
- Weapon 2: + 1.0%
- Weapon 3: + 1.2%
Developer comments: We observed difficulties for certain players to play with new heroes without gear with the new gear values. To help this, default gear now has stats. To note, this does not apply when gear stats are disabled.
New gear rarity.
- A new gear rarity (Epic) is now available to loot after matches and in crates. The new gear is available in all previous and in new visuals and new stats.
Looting rules tweak to accommodate new gear rarity
- Rare gear loot rules changed from reputation 01 up to end of reputation 06 to reputation 01 to end of reputation 04
- Heroic gear loot rules changed from reputation 03 until reputation 30 to reputation 03 to end of reputation 06
- Epic gear loot rules added to reputation 05 until reputation 30
Developer comments: To accommodate the addition of the new gear, we tweaked the way the gear is looted. To make sure the progression is comfortable, we reduced the amount of levels at which could be looted Rare and Heroic gear.
[Gear] Overall Gear Stats revamp (remove, merge and re-arrange stats) and update existing stat bundles.
New Stats repartition on gear, Stats have been rearranged on all stats bundles and gear slots:
- Weapon1: Attack, Defense Penetration, Chip Attack
- Weapon2: Attack, Execution Regen, Revive Speed
- Weapon3: Attack, Revenge Gain, Super Attack
- Helm: Defense, Exhaustion Duration, Debuff Duration
- Chest: Defense, Super Defense, Super Duration
- Defense, Stamina Use, Stamina Regen
Developer comments: To support all our balancing changes, we removed, merged and moved stats to better focus on interesting and varied builds, with more meaningful choices.
New gear stats values
- Lower rarity gear now has higher modifiers than before.
Developer comments: Common gear wasn’t impacting the gameplay as much as we would have liked. With higher starting values, gear of all levels now feels more satisfying.
- Modifiers increase faster per level at lower rarities than at higher ones.
Developer comments: Players advising each other on gear strategies always said the same thing: Save your steel for Heroic gear. This means that many players saw very little gear progression until they got their first hero up to Reputation 3. Something that takes a long time. So by making the curve steeper at the low end and flatter at the top, we hope that players will see it as valuable to buy and craft gear of all rarities.
- Stat penalties have been increased significantly.
Developer comments: Players were hard pressed to even notice the effect of their penalties at anything but the highest gear levels. We hope that by increasing the size of the penalties and removing skills that are of limited use we’ll make all your future gear decisions that much more interesting.
- New Balanced gear bundle
- New type of stats offering only small and balanced bonuses even at high levels.
Developer comments: We needed to offer a more moderate option for players regarding gear, for players that liked the initial balance of the hero and didn’t want to upset it with powerful bonuses and penalties.
So we have introduced new types of stat bundles that take a more balanced approach. Instead of one strong bonus, one medium bonus and one penalty they have three very moderate bonuses.
[Gear] re-design of how we represent visually the gear stats
UI change to represent gear stats.
- You can now see the exact numeric values of all stat bonuses.
Developer comments: While gauges are excellent at showing relative strengths and weaknesses of the gear, it was hard to decipher the impact they would have on the gameplay. To actually allow players to make meaningful choices and know the effect of their gear, we changed it to numbers.
- Added a proportional indicator when comparing gear
Developer comments: To allow to choice gear at a glance and evaluate gear quality, we added arrows right of the gear stat values when comparing gear.
[Gear] Attack Stats should not affect feats
- The gear stat Attack now only affects normal attacks and not Feats or Bleeds.
Developer comments: Having gear affect feats and bleed was both hard to understand and very powerful at higher levels.
[Crafting] Review Crafting prices (Steel and Crafting Materials)
- Tweaks to crafting costs and addition of the Epic rarity to crafting.
Developer comments: Our data showed players had a hard time to level up new heroes and would not craft early gear as much while having an excess of crafting material at higher levels. To improve this, we changed the cost of steel and crafting material as well as salvage value for gear. We hope to offer a smoother curve while keeping higher level gear a long term goal for high level players.
Update to Salvage Material cost to improve gear:
Upgrade Cost in salvage material for Common gear
- From: Level 1: 20 / Level 2: 30 / Level 3: 40 / Level 4: 50 / Level 5: 60
- To: Level 1: 10 / Level 2: 13 / Level 3: 16 / Level 4: 19 / Level 5: 23
Upgrade Cost in salvage material for Rare gear
- From: Level 1: 100 / Level 2: 150 / Level 3: 200 / Level 4: 250 / Level 5: 300
- To: Level 1: 55 / Level 2: 80 / Level 3: 110 / Level 4: 130 / Level 5: 155
Upgrade Cost in salvage material for Heroic gear
- From: Level 1: 260/ Level 2: 390 / Level 3: 530 / Level 4: 660 / Level 5: 790
- To: Level 1: 195 / Level 2: 255 / Level 3: 295 / Level 4: 335 / Level 5: 375
NEW Cost in salvage material for Epic gear
- Level 1: 400/ Level 2: 520 / Level 3: 650 / Level 4: 800 / Level 5: 960
Update to Steel cost to improve gear:
Upgrade Cost in steel for Common gear
- From: Level 1: 30 / Level 2: 55 / Level 3: 75 / Level 4: 100 / Level 5: 125
- To: Level 1: 25 / Level 2: 30 / Level 3: 35 / Level 4: 40 / Level 5: 45
Upgrade Cost in steel for Rare gear
- From: Level 1: 150 / Level 2: 170/ Level 3: 195 / Level 4: 220 / Level 5: 245
- To: Level 1: 75 / Level 2: 85 / Level 3: 95 / Level 4: 105 / Level 5: 115
Upgrade Cost in steel for Heroic gear
- From: Level 1: 270/ Level 2: 290 / Level 3: 315 / Level 4: 340 / Level 5: 360
- To: Level 1: 150 / Level 2: 170 / Level 3: 190 / Level 4: 210 / Level 5: 230
NEW Cost in steel for Epic gear
- Level 1: 270/ Level 2: 290 / Level 3: 315 / Level 4: 340 / Level 5: 360
Update to salvage value given by dismantling
Salvage Value for Common gear – Unchanged
- From: Level 1: 5 / Level 2: 6 / Level 3: 7 / Level 4: 8 / Level 5: 9 / Level 6: 10
Salvage Value for Rare gear
- From: Level 1:30 / Level 2: 35/ Level 3: 45 / Level 4: 50 / Level 5: 55 / Level 6: 65
- To: Level 1: 20 / Level 2: 23 / Level 3: 26 / Level 4: 29 / Level 5: 32 / Level 6: 35
Salvage Value Heroic gear
- From: Level 1: 95/ Level 2: 110 / Level 3: 125 / Level 4: 145 / Level 5: 165 / Level 6: 190
- To: Level 1: 55 / Level 2: 60 / Level 3: 65 / Level 4: 70 / Level 5: 75 / Level 6: 80
Salvage Value for Epic gear
- Level 1: 100/ Level 2: 115 / Level 3:130 / Level 4: 145 / Level 5: 160 / Level 6: 175
PC Specific
General Changes
- Added an icon override option for controllers in the user interface options.
- Players are now able to select which controller Icons they want to see in the in-game prompts
- FPS now is locked to 60 while being in the Main Menu by default
- This change is done to reduce the workload on the graphics card while being in the menu
- It can be changed in the Options.ini file.\
- Entry name “MenuFPSLock”.
- Valid values are [0.0 => disabled, 30.0, 60.0].
- The Task bar icon now blinks if matchmaking is successful when the game is not in focus or is minimized
- Further Improved Multi GPU Performance
- Scaling the window in windowed mode now only updates on mouse release
- Fixed an issue with controllers not being recognized while playing the steam version and having the steam “Xbox/PS4/legacy gamepad configuration” active.
- Issue was introduced with Patch v1.05
Control changes
- Place Beacon and call for help are now separately bind-able actions
- Added an option to disable mouse input in guard mode
- To be used when guard directions are mapped to keys
UI Changes
- Added actual cost Information to the “Change look” confirmation pop-up
- “Ready” button on the rematch screen does not require confirmation anymore, “ready” status is applied instantly
PC Bug Fixes
- FIXED: Heroes – wrong hero can be selected if the selection is moved quickly after selecting a hero
- FIXED: UI Flicker when hovering over the “Recruit” button
- FIXED: Hovering over feats in the customization menu make icons disappear
- FIXED: User cannot close the ‘Stats Overview’ page with mouse on Hero customization menu
- FIXED: Mouse indicator moves down when entering turtle stance with M+K (while it is assigned to its own button)
- FIXED: Entering social while in the emote tab puts a hold action on one input
- FIXED: Key mapping Page does not show conflicts in red after reentering
- FIXED: Win Ratio/KDA information box overlaps with ‘Loadout’ box if user clicks ‘Hero Overview’ screen after highlighting the ‘View Progression’ option
- FIXED: Vram usage does not take Triple Buffering into account
- FIXED: Title get stuck in multiplayer session if user become AFK on move set screen
- FIXED: Users are unable to use another controller if Steam controller is plugged in on Steam Version
- FIXED: Valkyrie Shield Tackle widget is not shown correctly in the fight widget with M+K controls as full block stance
LIVE UPDATE – FOR HONOR
Game Mode
Elimination
- Fallen team mates can only be revived once per round.
Fight
WARDEN
- Shoulder bash [Bug Fix] Shoulder Bash now allows you to switch targets during the charge again.
DEVELOPER COMMENTS: We caused a regression on target switching in Patch 1.06 when we made other adjustments to Shoulder Bash. This fix will help Warden once again in group fight situations.