Shanco

I f-tilted Corrin's counter with Ganon and it killed me off the top at 30 with rage. It is easily the strongest non-custom counter in the game.

Since Smashboards is down, I'll compile a rough list of changes in 1.1.4 (sans numbers) here as I discover or read about them. Here goes: Bowser - Flying Slam grabbox size increased (I assume this means longer range as well) - Up Throw knockback increased (nerf to Up Air combo) Bowser Jr. - Clown Kart damage doubled - Forward Air damage increased Falco - Up Smash starting lag reduced, knockback growth increased, now connects better vs crouching opponents - Up Smash: Legs are now intangible during hitbox - Down Smash knockback growth increased Ganondorf - Weight increased - Dark Dive "Final Fist" knockback increased Ike - Eruption base damage increased - Neutral Air and Forward Air damage slightly increased Kirby - Weight increased Little Mac - Forward Smash damage increased - Up Smash and Down Smash damage increased - Up Throw and Down Throw angles adjusted Lucina - Moderate damage buffs to all aerials - The following moves have increased range: Jab 1, Jab 2, Forward Tilt, Down Tilt, Neutral Air, Forward Air, Back Air - Forward Tilt and Dancing Blade have overall improved frame data - Jab and Up Tilt end lag reduced Mario - Up Smash no longer grants head invincibility Marth - Slight damage buffs to all aerials - The following moves have increased range: Jab 1, Jab 2, Forward Tilt, Down Tilt, Neutral Air, Forward Air, Back Air - Forward Tilt and Dancing Blade have overall improved frame data - Jab, Up Tilt and Down Smash end lag reduced Rosalina & Luma - Rosalina: Weight reduced Roy - Uncharged Flare Blade damage slightly increased - All aerials landing lag significantly reduced Sheik - Weight reduced - Vanish explosion knockback reduced - Vanish explosion hitbox is smaller Sonic - Weight reduced Toon Link - Back Air landing lag reduced - Spin Attack starting lag reduced (grounded version also has less endlag) Zero Suit Samus - Weight reduced - Boost kick final kick angle adjusted, knockback growth reduced http://smashboards.com/threads/1-1-4-patch-notes.430023/

He was a laughably easy adversary for other duelists like Shen/Shyvana/Jax. Now with a more damage-oriented build he can go toe to toe with or even beat those champs because those crits tho. Gonna do some PBE testing with glass cannon xinny tomorrow.

The buffs to Xin are probably needed, in all honesty. They give Xin an actual late-game purpose other than run into a teamfight, press R and promptly die. With the crits he actually becomes a threat in 1v1s when splitpushing late-game. As for Ryze...yeah...he's kinda nuts right now, especially with people figuring out how good he is with many of the new keystones, especially Stormraider's.

Way, way too soon. Especially with a patch coming tomorrow.

Dedede's and Zelda's are slower. Still, no one's got the damage on jab that Bayo does. It's crazy.

Bayonetta had a jab combo that did upwards of 30%. I can't imagine these are the iterations of the characters that make live, but ya never know. Also overall I would say that Corrin's frame data was superior, especially on kill moves. Bayonetta's only reliable way of setting up her strong kill moves may be through Witch Time because the frame data on her smashes is awful. She also can screw herself out of a combo really easily due to that gun follow-up mechanic she has. But she definitely has the damage and the mix-ups. She'll probably be a solid mid tier. If you like skippy characters like Sheik, Greninja or Mario, you'll probably enjoy success with her right off the bat. Corrin actually looks fairly decent as well. Fast mix-up zoner with smashes that Shulk wishes he had. Huge range on everything. Projectile that paralyzes. However his attacks seem to be highly committal and thus rely on prediction though, so I expect him to start off about mid-high in the tier lists then just freefall like Roy did. He seems to be more intelligence-intensive character than mechanics-intensive, so you'll probably excel with him if you main methodical characters such as Robin or Ganondorf.

That feel when I think I'm so cool, picking jungle Graves, before realizing that it's the hip thing to do right now anyway.

"This will either be the greatest idea ever or an absolute disaster..." First game as new Graves and it was great. Shaco's ass got blown right off the map the moment he touched me.

My 70% off skin was iBlitzcrank. Didn't pick it up because I already have another Blitz skin. rip Seems like everyone and their mother has been getting Acolyte Lee Sin in their draws. Is there something special about this skin?

You can't really trust any Smash rumors at this rate; especially since Sakurai is most likely not involved with this one.

Could be worse. There was a guy on the LoL forums who finished in Silver 5 last season, went a perfect 10-0 in placements and ended up in Bronze 5. Ranked placements are always super oddball during the first month.

Pokken Tournament was just announced as a main event game for EVO 2016 alongside Street Fighter V, Melee, and others. Thoughts?

The Shen Champion Spotlight is out - watch the video to find out just how many puns can be made with Shen's name.

Palutena's tilts are so slow, but their hitboxes are up for a long-ass time. So their main purpose is to stop dashes and clash with other characters' attacks, thus emphasizing being defensive.

Perfect pivots had a small window of lag after being executed. That window is removed by crouching, essentially acting as a cancel of sorts.

http://imgur.com/USOW1qa A new tech that involves perfect pivot crouching. Seems to be exclusive to Fox for now.

Shen rework's been a blast on the PBE so far. Been watching some Shen play, been playing a lot of Shen. After a lot of both, here's the stuff that I've concluded. WTF is this new sword thing? Oh, that's his "Spirit Blade". Shen's Q and W revolve around this thing, so in a sense it's like Orianna's Ball. You will consistently be fighting for position to maximize your lane presence; if you hit the enemy with your Q (which pulls the blade to you, damaging enemy champs along the way), you gain a massive trade advantage as the bonus on your next 3 autoattacks is amplified and you can proc your passive off of it. This extra damage is enough to rip your opponent's health bar in two when played correctly. Shen outside top lane Shen is a significantly better jungler after the rework. Twilight Assault's autoattack buffs shred through jungle creeps, while Spirit's Refuge blocks attacks from large monsters, allowing you to use it once your passive shield goes out to maximize your health around the jungle. Although Shen won't exactly be the greatest counterjungler, counterjungling him is a very risky fight due to Shen's ridiculous level 3 when he has access to all of his abilities. Anyone who tries to take Shen on in his own jungle will simply get destroyed unless they catch him with low health for some reason. Of course, Shen's main attractive feature as a jungler is his level 6, applying global pressure with his ultimate which can quickly turn an enemy assassin's all-in sour. Cinderhulk as a jungle item naturally caters to Shen's preference of mid to late game splitpushing with the added bonus of duelling power through Skirmisher's Saber. Can Shen still do an AP build? I'm afraid not viably. Shen lost an AP ratio (his taunt now deals HP-scaling physical damage) which puts a big damper on the burst he had before. In addition, Shen can't really take advantage of the passives of Rylai's or Liandry's like he could before the rework. However if you still want to try it for those massive Stand United shields, I would suggest investing in a Nashor's Tooth to take greatest advantage of Shen's Q, but beware its high Energy cost. Strategy in teamfights Shen's kit provides the flexibility to perform well in a teamfight regardless of his choice of focus. You can lay back and assist the ADC in fending off that pesky bruiser by shredding their health and nullifying their autos, or you can go deep and just tank the enemy carry, effectively phasing them out of the fight for two seconds. In the time leading up to a teamfight however, the strategy remains the same. Splitpush, solo the Dragon, assist with the Rift Herald, you're Shen, you can do whatever the fuck you want up until the big teamfight. When you head in though, make your choice wisely as to who you nab with your ultimate. If you suspect a valuable member of your team is out of position and is about to get caught, the shield from Stand United can be a one-way ticket straight into the middle of the enemy team. That is definitely what you want to do. Hell, you can just ult your charging-in front line if you're far enough ahead. Taunt in and pop Spirit's Refuge to completely nullify two or three members of the enemy team for just long enough for your team to make the move. If all goes well, you've bought enough time not only for your teammate to escape, but for the team as a whole to act on the advantage you've asserted and thoroughly rout the enemy. One last thing to remember Spirit's refuge causes you AND your allies to block attacks from the time it's up. More to be possibly added to this later on!

'Ello. I've run into a new glitch in the 3DS version using Sheik. I'm still investigating and looking further into it, but there were at least two instances in which my Sheik's needles hit Tack's Captain Falcon for nearly double the damage that it should have (fully charged needles did 12%, six-charge needles did 11%). This is obv something that doesn't carry over to the Wii U version as far as we know, I am going to continue testing on other characters, and give a look into it further, as it doesn't happen consistently, but in the meantime this is something to consider should we find anything further before or in the new patch that comes in February.

Counting all the "officially recognized" leagues she is indeed the first. Surprised she stuck it out with all the immaturity sported by the community. Kudos to her.