The latest Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl update became available for PC players on Monday. This “nerf-heavy,” March 2022 NASB patch targeted one of the strongest characters in the game, Powdered Toast Man, along with most characters’ down-airs.
Powdered Toast Man received significant decreases to the base knockback of both his Up Strong and Aerial Up Strong, the latter of which has played a crucial part in the character’s “devious lick” combo.
Previously, Powdered Toast Man could grab an opponent, jump toward the upper blast zone, Z-drop them, catch them with his shine-esque Armored Crust and follow up with an Aerial Up Strong to kill them as early as 0%. While players could always use directional influence to avoid the Aerial Up Strong, this nerf will limit the dominance of Powdered Toast Man’s 50/50 kill set-up.
Likewise, the March 2022 NASB patch nerfed most character’s down-air attacks. Previously, many characters could chain multiple down-airs offstage in order to edgeguard opponents at early percents. However, the latest update increased the duration of many down-airs, limiting their utility.
Many characters received nerfs to both their Aerial Down Light and their Aerial Down Strong. These characters include SpongeBob, Sandy, Aang, Korra, Lincoln Loud, Leonardo, April O’Neil, Powdered Toast Man, Zim, Helga and Oblina. In addition, just the Aerial Down Light was nerfed for the following characters: Patrick, Lucy Loud, Ren & Stimpy, CatDog, Reptar, Nigel Thornberry and Danny Phantom.
Squiggly red underlines on your patchnotes builds character😎
Really thrilled to finally have this update out! More nerf-heavy than I'd usually care for, but it was to the end of creating a healthier environment overall. Hopefully this tides y'all over for that crossplay thingy https://t.co/cACZioX1BO
— Thaddeus Crews (@Repiteo) March 14, 2022
Other notable changes in the March 2022 NASB patch
The March 2022 NASB patch also included a number of quality-of-life changes. Among them were netcode improvements, the ability to face another player in Training Mode, the ability to pit CPUs against each other, and a timer for character and stage selection while playing online.
Across the board, characters received adjustments to the knockback and hit stun of their Mid Throws. These changes apply both in the air and on the ground. The developers also made sure that grounded normals will now always clang with each other, while grounded strongs will always beat out grounded normals.
The March 2022 NASB patch also adjusted the rock-paper-scissors mechanic that dictates how up, down and mid moves interact with each other. Now, the character that loses an RPS interaction will incur both damage and hit stun. Additionally, they will be stuck in the RPS loss animation for 30 frames plus half of their current percent.
Besides the changes to Powdered Toast Man and down-airs, Lucy Loud experienced the most significant balance changes. Lucy’s Dark Bite received a mix of nerfs and buffs. These changes ranged from a substantial decrease in base knockback to a substantial increase in knockback gain.
PC players can already try out the March 2022 NASB patch. Meanwhile, Xbox and PlayStation players will be able to do so later today. It is unconfirmed when the patch will become available on Nintendo Switch.
