November Balance Patch Details

Here's a closer look at some of the new gameplay you'll be experiencing with the upcoming patch.

Taking Damage & Mobility

• Updated logic so instead of waiting for the next jump there is an extended period where all jumps are reduced in height
• Sprint speed is now reduced after taking damage
• In air movement speed is now reduced after taking damage
• Includes goatified zombies

Sprint was added in PvZ:BfN to allow for faster movement through our PvE regions as well as to get back into combat quicker in PvP. It was not intended to be an escape in all combat situations. The effects of receiving damage has been extended to both sprint speed and in air speed so that escape is not guaranteed but doesn’t penalize players who stand their ground and fight.

Explosion Shockwave

• Updated travel time of shockwave damage to better match VFX explosion growth
• Affected Characters
• Acorn Sap Trap
• Oak Super Sap Trap
• Peashooter Pea Cannon
• 80s Action Hero Bow Blaster fully charged shot

Some of our damage events weren’t matched to our visuals. This was a minor quality of life fix that makes things feel better.

XP Event Assist as Vanquish

• Reduced damage requirement from 9/10 of victim’s health to ⅔ of victim’s health

PvZ:BfN’s larger focus on team play was not being reflected in how we were rewarding a vanquish. We reduced the damage requirement for an assist to count as a Vanquish so there is less priority on delivering the final blow. Team work makes the dream work!

Chomper

• Grody Goop:
• Ability icon now shows active state while gas is active
• Spikeweed:
• Additional check to guarantee victim is within proper range before being trapped

Grody Goop’s reduced visuals for plants also made it harder for Chomper players to understand when the ability was active. We updated the ability icon to help clear up the confusion. Spikeweed saw a more substantial fix to make sure larger zombie characters weren’t getting ensnared unfairly.

Night Cap

• Upgrade Fleet Footed:
• Fix issue with not being able to jump

The previous rebalancing of Fung Fu unintentionally limited some gameplay. This properly fixes the issue so that Night Cap can remain mobile as intended. Sorry about that.

Snapdragon

• Flame Blower:
• Improve projectile size and trajectory
• Initial velocity increased 52.5->62
• Fix issue with burn DOT healing zombies back up to min life burn threshold
• Flare Ball:
• Reduce heat value per shot 0.24->0.18
• Swoop Slam:
• Updated ability camera to be easier to aim

Snapdragon’s Flame Blower was having trouble registering hits with its previous shot pattern. This negatively affected close range combat which Snapdragon was intended to excel at. We adjusted his projectile speed and size to improve his damage at close range. Flare Ball’s shot count before overheating was limiting Snapdragon’s mid range combat and hampered his ability to poke in the early parts of a fight. The heat gained per shot was reduced to make mid range combat less punishing when transitioning into close range combat. Swoop Slam receives some camera improvements so that Snapdragon remains away from the center of the screen.

Cactus

• Upgrade Alacrity:
• Equip cost reduced 3->2
• Duration reduced from 5->2
• Charge multiplier reduced from 10x->3x
• Upgrade Sustenance:
• Fix issue with not checking that Garlic drone was alive to apply upgrade
• Upgrade Spud Spotting:
• Fix issue with spotting not being removed properly

Cactus had a few bugs that needed to be fixed to improve everyone’s experience. The Alacrity upgrade gets a rebalance as it was proving too powerful as a short term damage boost. It was intended to be a boost after reaching a new position. In practice it was a boost that was being over utilized at mid range combat and farther.

Citron

• Peel Shield:
• Increase base ammo gain from blocking 7->10
• Sprint can now cancel shield
• Movement speed modifier reduced 0.7->0.8
• Bringing up the shield can interrupt reloading
• Juice Cannon:
• Add muzzle flash damage 0->2.55
• Spin Dash:
• No longer stops sprint

Citron sees some quality of life improvements to his Peel Shield. As the mobile tank he was having trouble being mobile and was experiencing too much downtime. Peel shield and Spin Dash received improved transitions to sprint to make things feel less clunky. Citron also receives a damage boost in the close range area as he was proving to be less threatening at melee range where his hefty size was hindering his ability to out DPS an enemy. The ammo returned from blocking was increased to ensure blocking feels rewarding. The combat loop of shoot, block, shoot has also been smoothed out by allowing Peel Shield to interrupt reload and not force any downtime. 

Rose

• Magic Thistles:
• Maintain lock time increased 0.1-0.2
• Acquire lock angle increased 1.65->2.5
• Lock distance increased 38->45
• Turn angle increased based off distance from target
• Arcane Enigma:
• Can not cancel ability until 1 second has elapsed
• Magic Thistles reloaded on activate
• Rollout XP event increased 1->10xp
• Jinx:
• Duration increased 8->9
• AOE increased 3->3.25
• Switch back to primary time decreased 0.7->0.2
• Goatify:
• Switch back to primary time decreased 0.4->0.2
• Upgrade Locked and Loaded:
• Range modifier increased 1.3x->1.5x
• Upgrade Thistle Missile:
• Projectile speed modifier increased 3.5x->5x

Rose’s mid range capability was being hampered by some of her homing settings on her Magic Thistles. These have been updated so she can consistently hit her targets at mid-range. Using her abilities took her out of combat for longer than intended and hurt her ability to constantly output damage. She receives a bump to her upgrades to further improve her combat capability at longer ranges so she doesn’t need to push too far into the front line.

Soldier

• Super Stink Cloud:
• Adjust spawn location and trajectory to be better aligned with center screen

Soldier was hitting walls a bit too frequently when popping in and out of cover. We adjusted him to have more of an overhead throw to improve this situation.

Imp

• Robo Call:
• Initial refresh time reduced from 120->60
• Refresh time reduced from 120->90

Imp had the longest refresh time in the game and this felt unfair when compared to Oak and Space Station. We also wanted the Mech to be more of a factor in Battle Arena where it was seeing limited use. 

Super Brainz

• Ultra Flying Fist:
• Reduce damage on small 37->25
• Reduce damage on medium 54->40.8
• Reduce damage on large 80->70
• Reduce lifetime of projectiles to reduce distance 36.75->27.3
• Reduce projectile size on small 0.45->0.35
• Reduce projectile size on medium 0.525->0.425
• Reduce projectile size on large 0.7->0.6
• Heroic Fists:
• Decrease speed penalty when punching 0.75->0.85
• Adjust hit box size of punches
• Length increase 3.2->3.75
• Near width increase 3.2->3.5

Ultra Flying Fist was intended as an initial poke attack or a follow up vanquish shot on a fleeing victim. In practice it was being over utilized as his core method of dealing damage. Ultra Flying Fist receives a damage, size, and distance decrease to reduce its mid range capability while Heroic Fists receives a bump in hit box size and speed while punching.

Electric Slide

• Fix issue with Jazz Hands upgrade making plant ability UI flicker on stun
• Fix issue where arcing lighting wouldn’t jump if enemy was vanquished

Electric Slide sees a few quality of life bumps through bug fixes.

Scientist

• Upgrade Dolphin Blasting:
• Fix issue with improper stacking of fire rate multiplier
• Fix issue with lifetime of active state not resetting on vanquish

Scientist receives some fixes to make sure upgrades work as intended. Dolphin Blasting was turning off sooner than intended as well as having the wrong damage multiplier.

Engineer

• Bullhorn Swarm:
• Fix issue with incorrect stun amount being added for additional horns hitting target after the first. Net result is reduced stun duration

Engineers stun was lasting much longer than intended when the whole swarm went to one target. This received a fix which brings down the stun duration and no longer makes for ultra easy vanquishes.