Don't over nerf Clairen#1116

so my clairen nerf wishlist is

• Dash Speed - 21.25 > 20
• Max Run Speed - 20.1 > 17.5
• Plasma Echo - Removed Intangibility

I think all she needs is some changes to nerf her survivability, so that she can’t live for as long. And also she probably doesnt need to have better ground movement than Zetterburn.

The marginal nerfs Clairen has gotten to 1-2 moves at a time have done absolutely nothing to quell the complaints people have had about her for almost two years. Give her the Olympia treatment and slowly buff her in following patches if it ends up being too much.

EDIT: After remembering that earlier Nolt post from a Clairen main asking for her FAir to be buffed because it “just does not work” I realize my above statement is far too kind. Clairen mains deserve to have their character over-nerfed so they can understand, as all non-Clairen players understand, how slightly overtuned she is in so many places and how unaware some Clairen players are of the fact.

Please over-nerf Clairen

this is the only correct approach. nerf her to the ground and slowly build her up again, like they did with other chars. the clairen entitlement in the game has to stop.

Okay I don’t actually think we have to pound Clairen into the ground first and build her back up. That strategy sucked for the other characters and took a really long time. We can be more precise.

I agree with OP. She doesn’t need that many changes. I liked the 3 listed here.

I’m also of the opinion that her sword needs to be a little shorter. Not a lot shorter, just a little bit. The range should be taken purely from the tippers (making them require just a little bit more precision).

Additionally, I really want those side-tipper hitboxes gone on uair, dair and dash attack.

I would have no issues with Clairen then.

i think she is crazy overtuned, most people are just so used to it, that they don’t even realize it anymore. i agree, that the nerf to the ground, then build up strategy is not a great one, but i think this char needs it. when she still is viable, even after massive nerfs, people might finally see how overtuned she is. This also gives a chance to rebuild her in a more healthy way, where she is not the easy mode char of the game but still has competitive viability.

Clairen has gotten consistent nerfs since the game came out. You all just dont like the characters design which is fine, she could get all of the nerfs you call for and you will still complain.

she has gotten consistent slaps on the wrist while most of the cast had gotten real and substantial nerfs.

Like who apart from olympia?

Remove iframes from side-b. You serious? 🫩 Nice self report, wishing for nerfs to a move like side b of all her moves…

She probably doesnt need to have better ground movement than Zetterburn

…this whole post is a self report.

The funniest part though is how there’s no proven argumentation and only feelscrafting. And it’s not the only post here like that. The level of “””feedback””” about her has gotten so low…

@FunctionalIntervenor200
fleet, wrastor, orcane, kragg just to name a few

@VersuS I think she should have a harder time recovering, and Maypul is completely vulnerable during HER side special same with other Side Specials that go straight forward like La Reina’s, Loxodont’s and Olympia, and before Orcane’s Side Special got reworked – they removed his invincibility during it too. Right now her whole thing is Side Special to wall and tech. You’d either have to remove Clairen’s ability to perform a tech during Plasma Echo’s endlag, or make her unable to wall jump after Plasma Echo, so I decided the best option was to make it harder for Clairen to get to wall in the first place.

It’s not really a self report when everyone is complaining about Clairen and I’m trying to propose that if she needs nerfs, they should be defense nerfs, not offense ones. I think Clairen should still have her tipper combos, and the things that make her good when you play well as her.

As for the speed changes, I looked at the entire roster’s Dash and Run Speeds and Clairen has one of the highest in the entire roster, better than Olympia and Zetterburn – characters that are the Rushdown archetype and known for high speed in this game. Her Dash Speed is tied with Ranno, who is also known for his speed – and second only to Maypul.

And Clairen’s Maximum Run Speed is second only to Maypul… who’s the fastest character in the game besides Wrastor with Slipstream.
Swordfighters in competitive fighting games don’t traditionally have the best movement stats, so I think some kind of nerf is warranted here.

Olympia was slower in Rivals 1 but she had Zircon Straight jump cancel in Gem Field, and Emerald Focus to give her burst movement.

Clairen was slower in Rivals 1, but she had really good platboost and ledgeboost, good movement tech.

Clairen also had a much harder recovery in Rivals 1 due to the lack of ledges, she either had to edgecancel her up special, or wavedash onto stage, as both her Plasma Echo and Plasma Slash are very punishable if Clairen is forced to land and did not edgecancel.

Basically, keep her strengths, but make it so that she requires more skill to play. Olympia recieved significant nerfs when she was overtuned, so I think Clairen receiving significant nerfs is all the more warranted, granted I don’t want her to become unviable or anything. There’s a bunch of Clairen haters, but I don’t think she needs to be shot.

Hell, Clairen’s Plasma Echo could even be reworked to be a better attack but a worse recovery move, so that Clairen has a stronger weakness but she still gets something out of it. Orcane’s Side Special got reworked when the developers decided he needed it.

@TemptingActor769 all of characters listed are level or better than clairen

@Pyra That’s a reasonable take. Like a lot of characters, the annoyances and “why are you so good?” stem from a few properties. Extremely difficult to contest recovery + huge recovery length is a big one, and overall speed is another. She gets the best of all situations (chasing the opponent and avoiding KO’s easily) on top of everything else, and while it, like everything else, is beatable, that amount of “and more” isn’t fun to fight and leaves the character without clear weaknesses.