08/02 Global Patch Notes
Maintenance schedule: 8th of February, 2023 00:00 ~ 9th of February, 2023 03:30
For the full patch notes, go to the official site: Patch Notes and Shop.
Summary of the update
New Story- Chapter 8 Seeker of Truth.
New Awakened Character - 'Stormbringer' Jake Walker.
New event - Origin Capitol Point Missions.
New Characters - Carlotta. Gambler and Jaina Kropel.
New Rearms - Kang Soyoung, Sylvia and Xiao Lin.
Awakened Banner Rerun - Ministra, Replacer Queen and A.Hilde.
Banner Rerun - Kang Soyoung, Lee Sooyeon, Lee Yumi, Rosaria le Friede and Frederick Doma.
Shop Changes - 30 Day AC Subscription Price reduced to 6.99$.
New Exclusive Equipment - Fallen Hawk.
New Awakened Character - Stormbringer Jake Walker
Awakened Jake is an employee focused on making the lives of Mechs miserable with his passive stats and skillset. Not only he can tank them really well, but he can permanently disable them while burning them to death. The HP Shields he generates every time his passive is activated make him very tanky even against Counters, but also makes him weak against buff-lockers and barrier nullifiers. His signature move can make a huge impact by introducing a map-wide skill seal and buff lock, rendering most counters useless for the duration, while also grouping enemies up.
He can also be used in PVE against mechs.
Fun fact: Awakened Jake used to be terrible even against mechs, and was buffed multiple times throughout different patches. His Stasis Field had just 2% burn, was cancelable with the barrier on him, and used not to affect Evolved One or any air units at all. His ultimate also had no impact back then.
Ratings
PvE - S
PvP (SEA) - SS
PVP (Global) - SS
Should you pull?
Good uses in PVE, Great in PVP.
New Counter Pass - Carlota
Carlota Ramirez Fernandes Carlos Juan The Third is a defender focused on providing DMG Res for allies. in PVP she provides Skill/Ult Dmg RES instead. Sadly, she doesn't really do anything outside of that. SPD boost on her special might be useful for Nequitia, but her ultimate takes too long to charge up for just the 15% healing it provides.
Ratings
PvE - B
PvP (SEA) - A
PVP (Global) - B
New Character - Jaina Kropel
Jaina Kropel, the first employee to be released in KR using Fury Mechanic, stays pretty underwhelming even after her buffs.
Her kit is focused on staying alive and she's quite good at it, but her problem is that her basic attack animations take too long. This results in a very slow skill charging rate, even with relic gears.
Ratings
PvE - D
PvP (SEA) - C
PVP (Global) - C
Should you pull?
Hard Skip unless waifu.
New Character - Gambler
Studiobside did the players dirty with Gambler/Cecilia. She was initially an NPC that instantly became a fan-favorite, and after some time the developers announced she will become an Operator, only to change their mind and instead release her as a character - which made KR players ecstatic.
Sadly, she's pretty much terrible.
Gambler relies on RNG to actually work while other characters can use their full potential instantly. Basically, every time she uses her Special attack, you roll a die and you have a 33% chance for her debuffs to be actually do something, otherwise they do nothing.
Just avoid her till they decide to buff her.
Ratings
PvE - D
PVP (Global) - C
Should you pull?
Hard Skip unless waifu.
New Character - Nicole Primer
Nicole has pretty great self buffs but is a niche unit that's like a love child of Han Sorim and Rivet. She counters non-awakened defenders by permanently slowing, sealing, and knocking them back and also dealing increased damage against them. Against a lot of frontlines, she will always use her enhanced attack and knock them through immunities.
Her special can deal fixed damage to non-bosses regardless of type, which could be useful against PVE enemies with large HP.
As for PVP, she doesn't quite deal enough damage to be viable - there are better damage dealers and her debuffs are not impactful enough to truly matter even against non-awakened defenders. Additionally Nicole being a single unit soldier makes her bad option for Revenant soldier comps
Ratings
PvE - B
PvP (SEA) - B
PVP (Global) - A
Should you pull?
Useable unit but nothing game-breaking.
New Rearmed Character - Kang Soyoung
Same old Kang, but now better. Snipers tremble in her presence, praying for evasion RNG. Not only is her damage simply higher than before, she now has a skill that finishes every sniper that somehow survived a car accident. If miracle happens and you survived both - congrats you are now blind, skill sealed and atk debuffed for 5 seconds. Also sees a lot of use in terror comps as cheap and effective way to just throw DP at enemy ship for damage.
Her PvE use didn't really change, she is still just a buffer for soldier comps.
Ratings
PvE - A
PvP (SEA) - SS
PVP (Global) - SS
Should you rearm?
A must have pick for PVP Players.
New Rearmed Character - Dark Seven Sylvia
Initially released as underpowered Tower Xiao Lin hate unit, rearm Sylvia was buffed and now she is among the best repeated backline access units in the entire game.
In PvE she is pretty bad as both her utility and damage aren't very relevant.
In PvP her skill deals high damage to squishy enemy backliners, killing them in 2-3 uses while also delaying their skills. Her ultimate targets frontline and hitstuns on every hit (at least i think it does, someone please check) and also skill seals, which is helpful. With global attack debuff on top of this she is one of the great options for slow comps to grind others out of the game. Still, 4 cost is a lot and not every team can justify running her. Ratings
PvE - C
PvP (SEA) - S
PVP (Global) - S
Should you rearm?
Hard skip for PVE, Good PVP pick.
New Rearmed Character - Nest Keeper Xiao Lin
Nest Keeper Xiao Lin is one of two available Rearms, which changes her class into a Tower. Out of the two, while Kestrel is more of a PVE-oriented character, Nest Keeper focuses more on the PVP side of things. Like all other versions, she is able to output massive DPS, due to the rearm turning her into a two-in-one character with an invulnerable air drone that will follow up all of her attacks.
Being a Tower, she promotes a camping playstyle in PVP which alone already gives her a massive advantage. Still, after being one of the most hated characters in PVP for almost a year, and several attempts to reduce her capabilities (from releasing tower counters, to reducing safe zone), they directly nerfed her.
From the changes, her drone basic attack DPS was reduced by 55%, and her range was reduced by 100. This severely reduced her damage output as most of her DPS was from the drone. Also, her defensive capabilities were reworked to open her up for more counterplay. Her barrier was increased from 20% to 55% but her HP was reduced by 35%. These changes allow her A. Na Yubin to delete half of her HP from reflux and allow assassins to one-shot her after releasing her barrier.
While she is still usable, she needs much more time to make up for her high cost. If left alone, she is still able to output a lot of damage to tanks, and with the ultimate, she is able to protect her own base by inflicting massive knockback with a high valid hit.
Ratings
PvE - B
PvP (SEA) - S
PVP (Global) - S
Should you rearm?
Hard skip for PVE, Good PVP pick.
New Story Update - Chapter 8
Chapter 8 is here showcasing us Awakened Jake Walker!
New Event - New Origin
Check out our latest blog for all the changes New Origin brings to Counter:Side!
