Ethan Krause, Author at Hard Drive

Best MultiVersus Perks: Season 1 Guide

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Brad Waters

MultiVersus perks are an important part of your gameplay. They can be tweaked to assist you in certain matchups and help enhance the hyper-specific strengths of your character of choice. And while character specifics may play a role in deciding which perks in MultiVersus are “best”, we’re fairly certain we can identify which ones are the most universally helpful across the cast.

So, in a general sense; here are the perks in MultiVersus that are generally being talked about — and being shown to be the best.

TRIPLE JUMP:

Let’s get the simplest MultiVersus perks out of the way; Triple Jump is widely considered to be the best perk in the game, and is almost ubiquitous at high-level play. It’s not hard to see why either, a jump is a very powerful resource and having a third one is always going to be extremely powerful. The only character in MultiVersus right now who doesn’t benefit hugely off Triple Jump is Iron Giant, and even then he can probably still find some use for it. For characters who frequently get their KOs off the top or have fairly limited recovery options like Wonder Woman or Shaggy, this perk is a must have — and you should almost always be looking to stack it with your partner so you can have that sweet, sweet permanent third jump.

MultiVersus Perks: SLIPPERY CUSTOMER:

In a game with little to no defensive options; dodging is a core part of every character’s gameplay, and so we have another perk with very universal benefits in the form of Slippery Customer. It’s certainly better with characters with particularly long dodges like Superman, but a 10% longer dodge invulnerability window is a big step up for any character that you should notice right away. Slippery Customer may also be slightly more useful in 1v1, where you can dodge more effectively — but no matter which format you’re playing in, this perk’ll have you bobbing and weaving like it’s nobody’s business.

COFFEEZILLA:

Ever so slightly more character specific than most of the other perks on this list, Coffeezilla is still very useful for a vast majority of the cast. Do you play a character like Bugs or Taz who has a lot of ability cooldowns? Then it’s simple, pick this perk and let the gimmicks fly! Only characters with few cooldowns like Shaggy or Finn struggle to make use of this perk, and even then there’s still some reason to consider it. Coffeezilla may also be better in a 2v2 format, as it’s likely that at least one of your team will rely heavily on abilities with cooldowns, and a 15% reduction is pretty huge.

SNOWBALL EFFECT

A hugely powerful MultiVersus perk and without a doubt one of the best in the game. Snowball Effect works in singles and is still very effective, but is obviously only active when your opponent is at higher damage, which is something worth keeping in mind. In teams, though? This perk goes. A base 7% increase to anything is higher than the typical 5% increase most unstacked perks offer, and the effect is good enough that a 5% increase would probably still be viable on its own. The only caveat to this perk is to not run it when you have an Iron Giant on your team, as he will almost always be the fighter with the highest damage, rendering the perk null.

MultiVersus perks: SCHOOL ME ONCE

In a game where far more characters than you might expect have projectiles, School Me Once is incredibly useful for defensive counterplay. Giving you increased resistance against projectiles that you hit repeatedly is yet another universally helpful attribute to attach to just about any character, but is most useful for the larger characters with lesser mobility that likely to be hit more; your Iron Giants and Superman of the world. The likes of Tom & Jerry and LeBron James should be much less problematic should you slap this perk on against them specifically.

AERIAL ACROBAT:

And finally it’s yet another mobility MultiVersus perk. Turns out mobility is pretty important in this game! And almost any perk that improves your mobility in any way is bound to be at least somewhat useful. Aerial Acrobat, however — is likely one of the best of them. And as always, you don’t want to use this in an attempt to patch up the weakness of an already slow character, but you want to use it to accentuate the already impressive air speed and acceleration of characters like Arya and Bugs. Min-maxing in a competitive setting; and further exacerbating your character’s strength rather than trying to cover your weaknesses is almost always the way to go, folks.

Best MultiVersus Characters in Season 1

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Brad Waters

MultiVersus Season 1 has finally arrived and with it brought a bevy of changes both to the game at large and the characters featured in it. But who are the winners and losers of the latest balance patches — who are the best MultiVersus characters in Season 1?

Here are the MultiVersus characters who are looking pretty top tier, informed by current leaderboard rankings, tournament results and the tier lists of top players;

BUGS BUNNY

Despite a series of targeted nerfs to some of his best moves like Neutral Air, Forward Air and the unholy Up Air, Bugs is still held in high esteem by many of the game’s top players — most of whom have him still either high or top tier on their tier lists in both 1v1 and 2v2. As of writing there are still multiple Bugs representatives in the Top 10 2v2 players on the leaderboard, and Snowy — the #1 player on the 1v1 leaderboard is also a Bugs main. When you combine all this with his prior dominance at EVO’s 2022 MultiVersus tournament, you see one top tier that might just be hard to keep down. Even after all these changes, he’s still pelting people with pies and safes left and right.

BATMAN

Quite unlike Bugs, Batman only had one representative in the Top 8 of EVO, but if his two representatives in the Top 10 of the 1v1 leaderboard at time of writing are anything to go by — he might actually excel more in singles than in doubles. A versatile all-rounder character with a variety of gadgets at his disposal, Batman seemed somewhat overlooked among other MultiVersus characters before the launch of Season 1; but with nerfs doled out to the likes of Finn, Bugs and most importantly Velma, it looks like prime time for The Bat to step out of the shadows and show everyone what he’s made of.

TOM & JERRY

One half (or 2 ⅓?) of VoiD and NAKAT’s winning team at EVO, Tom & Jerry currently share in having the single most impressive tournament result in MultiVersus’ brief history. They’re a complex and skill-heavy, projectile-flinging zoner that even game director Tony Huynh admits presents a complicated problem because they dominate only at high skill levels. This is perhaps reflected by there only being a lone T&J representative in the Top 10 of the 1v1 leaderboard but still, the results and complaints online speak for themselves. This character is giving people trouble.

SUPERMAN

Another seemingly more 2v2-oriented MultiVersus character, Superman did pretty well for himself at EVO and as of writing has 2 representatives in the Top 10 of the 2v2 leaderboard. This heavy and versatile air-grappler has the respect of almost every top player, who are generally rating him highly in tier lists — and with seemingly no balance changes for him in sight, he stands to ascend even higher as the more egregious threats around him are likely to be dropping like flies pretty soon.

JAKE THE DOG

A character that seemed to be slipping under people’s radar until quite recently, Jake certainly looks to be more of a 1v1 character than a team player, but if that’s the case then he might just be the 1v1 character. Despite no appearances in the Top 8 of EVO, Jake main Jmafia is fresh off winning The Coinbox #29, a huge 393-person 1v1 WiFi tournament over Fallzei in Grand Finals. Fallzei, who mains — you guessed it, Jake. As of writing, Jake is the only character covered thus far to have representatives in the Top 10 of both the 1v1 and 2v2 leaderboards; in fact, in the 1v1 leaderboard he has 2. Seems like things might just be on the upswing for Jake The Dog.

IRON GIANT

By far the most polarising MultiVersus character in this article, players can’t seem to make their minds up about The Iron Giant. Some people think he sucks and don’t rate him highly at all, but a majority of the game’s top players tend to disagree. Not only are many undecided on his viability, but many players also seem split on whether this character is better in 1v1 or 2v2! All we can do is look at the facts; Iron Giant is the only character in this article aside from Jake to have representatives in the Top 10 of both leaderboards. He also got Top 8 on the Winner’s Side of the aforementioned Coinbox, and the devs have talked repeatedly of their attempts to nerf him on social media.

Could all this uncertainty be a glitch in the system? Or is this hulking robot really one of the game’s most potent characters? For now we have some hints that he just might be, but we may need some more time to truly tell.

How to Play MultiVersus Like A Pro

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Brad Waters

Now that the dust has settled somewhat after the initial release, players are getting good at MultiVersus. Tournaments are being hosted all over the world, and competition at the top of the leaderboards has never been stiffer. We’ve already taught you how to go from scrub to scrapper, now it’s time to take the next step. This isn’t just about how to get better at MultiVersus, this is about how to get downright scary. This is how to play like a MultiVersus pro.

Canceling Actions

MultiVersus is fast. Like, really fast. One reason for this is that few of your actions are a commitment. In most fighting games, there’s a fixed amount of “endlag” or “recovery frames” or whatever term you want for “time that you can’t do another action after having just done one” attached to most things you do. In MultiVersus, this only applies to moves — and not even all of them. Almost all your actions; your jumps, dodges, some of your attacks and even taunts after a certain point can be cancelled into eachother by simply, well, inputting that action.

We touched on how almost every character’s Grounded Side Attack is a multi-hit move that can be cancelled into something else in the guide linked above, but you can do the same thing with dashes and jumps as well. To really feel it, give it a try with Superman, who has an incredibly long dodge. Use his dodge, and then mash jump or an attack and notice how it cuts the dodge short. That’s exactly what we’re talking about. Let’s take a game like Smash Bros for example. When you roll it’s a commitment, and when you initiate a multi-hit attack, you can rarely follow the first hit of that attack up into whatever you want — you’re locked into the original move. This freedom is a privilege afforded to you in this game, and one you should take advantage of if you want to play like a MultiVersus pro.

Have you fought someone who just feels faster than you? Who feels impossible to hit even if they’re a bigger or slower character and every time they hit you — they open you up for massive damage? That’s because they’re cancelling their actions into one another, and moving as fast as the game engine allows.

Attack Canceling and Combos Like a MultiVersus pro

There is no simple rule that’s gonna make the applications of cancelling your actions immediately obvious. It’s something you’ll have to practice and learn how to use through feel, but understand that to play this game optimally is to use this cancel mechanic — to cancel your dodge into an attack as an offensive movement option, to cancel an attack into a jump to make a previously impossible combo work.

It’s a general rule of thumb that across the cast, almost every character’s Grounded Side Attack is a multi-hit move that can be cancelled into something else partway through for a better combo. Taz is a great way to practice this. His Grounded Side Attack (Well-Seasoned) is pretty good!

But instead of finishing the move as a 2-hit combo, try inputting a Grounded Up Attack (Slam-Wich) after the first hit. Bam! It’s a whole new combo route. The full attack is good for sending opponents off the side, but if you want more damage, setting up a combo here instead is the MultiVersus pro move.Almost every combo in MultiVersus starts like this. Aerials are rarely ever what starts a combo, and if they are they often just combo into themselves once or twice (with the exception of most Down Airs). In a very general sense, MultiVersus’ aerials are for neutral and edgeguarding, and your grounded attacks are for starting combos. If you look into an advanced combo guide for your character (and you should!) you’ll find that a lot of them for almost every character, start with a Grounded Side Attack.

Using Perks Like a MultiVersus Pro

Put simply, some perks are better than others and if you really want to see high level success, you’re gonna want to start learning more about them and using them to their fullest potential. For example, have you been using School Me Once to foil the troublesome Tom & Jerry’s projectiles? Have you just been running the same 3 perks the whole time even if they don’t really aid your character? Leaving Triple Jump on as Iron Giant, perhaps?

School Me Once increases your resistance to projectiles when hit by them repeatedly.

Generally, you want to stack perks with your teammates to maximise their effectiveness, but you also should be ready to compromise. If you’re playing Shaggy but teamed with a Reindog who’s decked out with projectile-related perks like Deadshot and Make It Rain, Dog, completely copying their perk loadout is not going to help both members of the team proportionately. You should both be looking to use perks that help both members of the team!

Check out our perks guide for more insight into which specific perks are good. The long and short of it is — Triple Jump and Snowball Effect are crazy good! There’s tons of other good ones too, but they’re more character specific. Be versatile and ready to change up your loadout depending on the matchup! And test out the effects of these perks in the lab.

Understanding Status

MultiVersus, quite unlike most other platform fighters has a variety of elements and status conditions. From Weaken to Slow to Fire and Ice, Taz even has his own unique Tasty debuff! Most of these are fairly self-explanatory. Fire deals tick damage over time, Weaken means you’ll receive higher damage and knockback, so on and so forth.

These are all represented by equally self-explanatory icons that you’ll want to be aware of. A turtle icon means your opponent has been slowed, a broken bone represents a weakened character etc.

The one you really want to be on the lookout for is Ice. Thanks to the Ice To Beat You! perk, Ice had previously been a staple perk for many teams and even after being nerfed, is still quite an intimidating prospect. If enough stacks of ice are built up on you, you’ll be frozen into an ice block and have to mash buttons to break out, and the mashing alone can be enough to put you in a precarious position!Some moves, like Superman’s Ice Breath and Iron Giant’s Blast Radius have elemental properties without perks. Some elements even interact with each other, like how Superman’s Ice Breath can put out Reindog’s firewalls. This’ll be taught to you in one of the game’s advanced tutorials, which is definitely something you should check out if you want to play like a MultiVersus pro.

Elements and statuses are important! And more important than you might think. Take them into consideration when building your perk loadout, and try and be cognizant of the icons that represent them in your actual matches.

Find a Static Teammate

Finally, here’s a tip that may be somewhat less practical for some — but is important nonetheless. Try and find a static teammate! This isn’t possible for everyone, but sometimes online randoms just don’t cut it. Being able to actively communicate with your partner is huge, as is refining and building a balanced team comp. A lot of the best players in the world have a static teammate, or at least a few high-level players they can partner up with at any point for some games online. And if you’re serious about high-level play, you should seek out the same thing.

And hey! If you get good enough and follow enough of our advice and if you make a habit of watching the world’s best players in high-level competition and tournaments, the networking should handle itself! The leaderboard is a built-in measuring stick for improvement. Let that be proof of your progress. Practice, stay patient, stay enthusiastic and you’ll see those beautiful ranking numbers drop in no time. Best of luck out there, and don’t forget about us when you’re drowning in your $100,000 EVO winnings!

Superman’s Best Moves, Strategy, And Techniques in MultiVersus

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Michael Katz

The Man of Steel, one of the most well-known superheroes of all time. Superman appears in MultiVersus as a tank-class fighter. He’s not quite as powerful as usual: he can normally throw airplanes around and shrug off gunshots, but in MultiVersus he has trouble facing a hippie and a basketball player at the same time. Even so, he’s extremely durable – second only to the Iron Giant – and has a collection of tricks that can quickly shut down enemies who step out of line. Here are Superman’s best moves in MultiVersus.

Superman Moveset Overview

Superman MultiVersus standard attacks are as basic as the man himself. He hits hard and slow, and most of his attacks are just variations on a big punch. Oftentimes, though, that’s all you need. Many of his grounded attacks give him temporary armor. Combined with his weight, he can trade favorably against many enemy attacks.

Neutral Ground Attack: The big punch. It hits very hard, can be charged, and has a hit’s worth of armor. A good kill move, especially against aggressive enemies.
Side Ground Attack: A multi-hit combo, starting with a one-two punch and leading into a storm of rapid punches, ending in one final, strong hit. There’s a lot of risk and reward associated with this move. The flurry of punches does a ton of damage and locks the opponent in place, but it locks Superman in place as well. You can’t cancel out of the flurry. It can be better to throw the first two punches and follow up with an armored move instead of the flurry.
Up Ground Attack: The big punch, upward version. It’s shorter range than the neutral punch, but works well against enemies attacking from above. Even powerful dunks like Iron Giant’s cannonball have to respect your armor.
Down Ground Attack: A downward slamming fist that breaks enemy armor. It’s not as useful as his other grounded attacks, since it’s short-range and unarmored. It’s best used as a combo ender or against an enemy who’s about to apply armor.
Neutral Air Attack: A flurry of midair punches. It’s quicker than Superman’s ground flurry, and can be used while moving forward through the air. An effective method of trapping an enemy in an advancing hitbox.
Side Air Attack: A charged punch. Not armored, like his grounded punch, but more mobile. Makes a great midair kill option against offstage enemies.
Up Air Attack: An upward charged punch. It’s an effective upward kill move, but its range is short and won’t easily beat enemies with larger hitboxes. Superman’s upward special is more reliable.
Down Air Attack: A downward charged punch. This is Superman’s basic dunk, not as lethal as other characters’, but worth throwing out against struggling enemies.

Superman’s special moves are where his kit starts to get weird. Superman MultiVersus moves:

Neutral Special: A breath of fresh air. Hold special to keep blowing. This is an awkward move to use, since it’s slow to activate, does very little damage, and doesn’t stun the enemy. Anyone can slap you right out of it. It has a variety of interesting effects, though. Its main effect is to rapidly stack an ice debuff on the enemy, which slows them down and will eventually freeze them solid. There’s also a slight pushback, so you can stay out of retribution range if you’re careful. If you breathe on your teammate, their next melee strike will inflict ice as well, so it’s strongest when icing a target your ally is already beating on. It can also stop enemy projectiles in midair, freezing them into throwable ice chunks. One last, rare use: ice breath can extinguish enemy pillars of fire. The move behaves the same when used in the air.
Side Special: An aimable teleport punch. Holding the button makes a movable cursor appear, and releasing the button warps Superman to its location, where he does a two-hit punch. The punch is surprisingly strong, and can kill off the side. It’s also one of the sneakier moves in Superman’s arsenal, since it activates quickly and has some armor on the second punch. It’s not too fast to react to, though. The farther your target, the longer the move takes to trigger due to the cursor’s travel time. It also ends early if the cursor would take Superman into the ground. Try to aim the cursor upward, and a little in front of your target.
Side Air Special: Superman extends his arm forward and soars through the air. It’s pretty slow for a guy who’s supposed to be faster than a speeding bullet, but it makes a great recovery move. It lasts so long that Superman can easily use it to return from the farthest corners of the stage… as long as no one interferes. Also, striking an enemy with the outstretched fist grabs them, ignoring armor, and punches them with enough force to kill at high damage. If you can guess your opponent’s offstage trajectory, you can grab them when they’re trying to recover for an early kill.
Up Special: Superman crouches for a moment, gaining armor, then leaps into the air. His descent isn’t armored, but it hits enemies in his path, and he lands with a powerful strike that knocks his targets away. Despite its lengthy windup, the attack is not very good. It’s extremely slow, only partially armored, fairly short-range, and has trouble scoring kills even at high damage. It could work in conjunction with a teammate, but is best avoided.
Up Air Special: Superman’s signature kill move. He flies a short distance upward, grabbing the first enemy he contacts. Once someone is grabbed, pressing a direction throws the victim in that direction. The throw distance is pretty good, and if you can grab someone near the edge – especially at the top of the screen, since it aims upward – you can claim an easy low-damage kill. It can also be used as a reversal. If you’re near the bottom edge and at risk of being spiked from above, try to grab upward. If you hit, you’re guaranteed to kill your target.
Down Special: Superman shoots lasers from his eyes! It’s not as deadly as it ought to be, though. He shoots along the ground, and enemies are hit by the exploding ground instead of the laser. It’s a decent explosion, with kill potential at high damage. When used on the ground, Superman gains armor during the laser, but he only shoots the area close to him, so the range is poor. It could be worth using to end a string of attacks. In the air, however, Superman aims diagonally downward and hits a wide stretch of terrain. Moving forward while lasering extends the affected area, potentially covering an entire platform. Since it only hits the ground, it’s easy to avoid by jumping, but it’s good damage if you can catch someone. Plus, the blast knocks the enemy straight up. With the right timing, Superman can hit with air lasers, then catch the enemy on their way up with an upward special for a cheap kill off the top. Be aware that this attack has a brief cooldown, so you can’t spam it.

It’s also worth noting that Superman has a high jump compared to the rest of the cast, and can also dodge upward from the ground. This makes chasing enemies off the top much easier.

How to Win 2v2 Battles as Superman MultiVersus

For a paragon of self-sacrifice, Superman doesn’t have many dedicated support abilities. His ice breath gives a minor buff to his teammate, but that’s about it. Superman can survive much longer than most characters, but that won’t help if your partner dies quickly while you’re flying around. Because of this, his team gameplay should be based around getting in the way of the enemy team and taking the hits that he can survive but his teammate can’t.

Throwing an armored punch into a brawl is an effective way of saving your teammate. It’s also possible to do a “strafing run”, covering the ground with laser explosions while your partner advances. Don’t forget to chase down enemies your teammate knocks offstage – your grabs and recovery let you pursue them at any distance.

How to Win 1v1 Battles as Superman MultiVersus

Superman’s low speed and short range make one-on-one confrontations difficult. The flip side is that he can live a long time, and can punish careless opponents with early deaths. Play carefully, and exploit openings as they come. Use your armor to punish, but be aware that everyone has some form of armor break, and will easily counter you if your moves are predictable. Shake them up with quick attacks like an advancing neutral air before striking with a well-placed teleport punch or armored neutral.

Superman MultiVersus Best Perks

Superman MultiVersus best signature perk is Sniper Punch, which increases the range and potency of his teleport. It weakens the move at close range, but he has other attacks that work better close-up anyway. This perk makes his teleport into another lethal option to punish characters trying to recover.

More importantly, his other signature perks are bad. Flaming Reentry adds a minor effect to his grounded up special, but that move is too slow to be worth using. Break The Ice, which increases damage against frosted targets, used to have a few perk setups to raise its potency. Since ice was nerfed, that setup is less effective. Its main use now is to combo with Superman’s ice breath, which is already difficult to connect safely.

For his minor perks, Last Stand is always a good option. Since Superman can easily survive past 100 damage, he can reliably take advantage of the Last Stand power boost. Pairing this with perks that further increase survivability, such as the powerful Tasmanian Trigonometry, can make the effect even more potent. Lastly, Triple Jump is a solid option to secure Superman’s offstage potential, allowing for easier pursuit of airborne enemies.

Best Wonder Woman MultiVersus Combos, Strategies, & Perks

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Parker Johnson

Wonder Woman is the Amazon’s greatest defender, and one of the Justice League’s greatest assets. Now, in MultiVersus, she’s one of the greatest warriors in the multiverse. Wonder Woman is a formidable fighter who can hold her own against any other characters on the MultiVersus roster. However, the real key to success with Wonder Woman is using her various buffs to your team’s advantage.

**Wonder Woman MultiVersus Moveset Overview**

Wonder Woman charging her bracers attack.

Wonder Woman has a basic yet versatile set of attacks at her disposal. Most of these are close range moves, utilizing Wonder Woman’s sword & shield. However, her whip provides some range to draw enemies back towards her. In addition, her shield can help provide valuable protection to allies.

Neutral Ground Attack: Wonder Woman charges a sword slash. This slash can be charged to deal heavy damage and knockback to any enemies who are hit by it.
Side Ground Attack: Wonder Woman uses both her sword and shield in this basic three-hit combo. Not a very groundbreaking or exciting move, but good for tacking damage onto enemies.
Up Ground Attack: Wonder Woman charges an overhead swipe to hit opponents in an arc above her. Not incredibly powerful, but can be a good finishing move on high-damage opposition.
Down Ground Attack: For this attack, Wonder Woman charges an area-based attack by clashing her bracers together. The move also gains power with Wonder Woman’s Bracer Meter. This meter is charged by blocking projectiles with Wonder Woman’s shield or absorbing hits while armored. This attack also provides temporary armor to Wonder Woman and any allies in the range.
Neutral Air Attack: Wonder Woman slashes quickly on both sides of her. This attack breaks armor, and is a great choice for building up early damage. It also acts as a way to break armor of characters who may spam powerful, armored attacks like Shaggy or Superman.
Side Air Attack: A quick forward slash. The speed and damage of this move makes it a great option to approach enemies with.
Up Air Attack: An upwards kick. Comes out slowly, but has great knockout potential at high percentages.
Down Air Attack: A quick, downwards stab. It can’t be charged, but its speed still makes this move one worth trying to connect on opponents.
Neutral Special: Wonder Woman uses her whip to bring opponents back towards her. There is also a Signature Perk, Whip of Hephaestus, to give the lasso a knockback sweet spot. Also has a cooldown.
Side Special: Wonder Woman charges forward with her shield in front. The shield blocks any incoming projectiles to charge the Bracer Meter. In addition, the input can be held to keep the shield up for a given period of time. In the air, this move becomes a punch. The aerial punch has similar knockback and damage. However, the aerial version offers no protection.
Up Special: Wonder Woman gets a short burst of movement upward and strikes with her shield. The quick startup of this move makes it great to get damage on airborne opponents. The input can also be held to allow allies to use the shield as a platform.
Down Special: Armor is provided to all allies in range. This attack also cleanses any debuffs on Wonder Woman & her allies. Like the lasso, this attack also has a cooldown.

**Best Wonder Woman MultiVersus Combos**

Wonder Woman using her up special.

Wonder Woman’s moveset allows for some basic combos. She is, though, one of the weaker combo characters on the roster. After applying her armor, she can aggressively chase her opposition with these strings of attacks.

Down Air, Up Special, Up Air: First, use Wonder Woman’s quick Down Air to bounce your foe off the ground. After this, you can instantly follow up with an Up Special. Finally, finish off the combo with her Up Air to get maximum damage and knockback. Depending on your positioning, you might even be able to use the spike hitbox that Up Air has.
Side Ground Attack (2 hits), Up Special, Up Air: Pretty similar to the first listed combo, but starting from the ground instead.
Down Air, Neutral Air: Another combo reliant on Down Air. This time, after the inital hit, you can instead utilize Neutral Air to keep your opponent closer to the ground.

How to Win 2v2 Battles As Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman and Cake the Cat on a victory screen.

Wonder Woman shines as a team player. Many of her attacks provide armor for herself. However, these can also be utilized to give protection to her teammates. Her Down Special lets her and her team gain temporary armor. In addition, her Side Special lets her block projectiles from the opposition. Because her utility is so flexible, she can honestly be an effective partner for most of the game’s roster. It is likely best, though, to choose someone with a high damage output.

It can also serve Wonder Woman players well to pair with a projectile based character, like Tom & Jerry or Bugs Bunny. Wonder Woman can protect these players and allow them to use their attacks quickly and efficiently. In exchange, projectile characters can help Wonder Woman rack up damage faster than her lackluster combo game allows. Then, Wonder Woman can use her powerful knockback from a move like Down Air or Side Special. After all, that’s a strategy employed by the current best MultiVersus duo, VoiD and Nakat.

How to Win 1v1 Battles As Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman triumphantly posing.

Singles as Wonder Woman can be a bit trickier. Without a teammate to help increase damage, it’s harder for Wonder Woman to get a knockout on her opponent. But thanks to her impressive durability, she has plenty of time to try and rack up damage numbers.

A major key to success will be trying to connect with Wonder Woman’s Down Air Attack. This is her best combo starter, and can lead to pretty much any of her aerials. The first hits of her Side Ground Attack can start attack strings as well. These combo starters and effective use of Wonder Woman’s defensive skills and armor will be your ticket to victory in 1v1 battles.

Best Wonder Woman Perks – MultiVersus

Wonder Woman’s optimal perks will change a little bit, depending on whether you’re playing one-on-one or teams battles. In one-on-one, you’ll want to enhance Wonder Woman’s offense a little bit. In Teams, though, you’ll want to maximize her utility and defense instead.

Wonder Woman on the 1v1 Perk Selection Screen.

Best Wonder Woman Perks (1v1)

Kryptonian Skin (unlocked at level 2)
Coffeezilla (unlocked at level 4)
Percussive Punch Power (able to train at level 9)
Signature Perk: Whip of Hephaestus (unlocked at level 8)

Kryptonian Skin will help increase Wonder Woman’s survivability even more. Coffeezilla will help reduced the cooldown of Wonder Woman’s special moves. Training Percussive Punch Power will help Wonder Woman kill earlier, a skill that will be very valuable in singles matches. Finally, Whip of Hephaestus gives Wonder Woman a knockback sweet spot on her whip, which will also help you knockout enemies earlier.

Wonder Woman 2v2 Perk Selection Screen.

Best Wonder Woman Perks (Teams)

Coffeezilla (unlocked at level 4)
I Dodge You Dodge We Dodge (can be trained at level 9)
Absorb ‘n’ Go (can be trained at level 9)
Signature Perk: Whip of Hephaestus (unlocked at level 8)

In contrast, Wonder Woman’s Teams loadout of perks focuses exclusively on cooldowns. I Dodge… reduces cooldowns by 10%. This stacks with Absorb ‘n’ Go, which rewards you with a 7% cooldown refund after being hit with a projectile. The effectiveness of this perk may vary depending on your opponent. If your opponent doesn’t have projectiles at your disposal, try swapping Absorb ‘n’ Go with a different one. Triple Jump would be a good one to utilize. Finally, keep using Whip of Hephaestus as the signature perk.

Wonder Woman Changes In Season 1

Two Wonder Women on the MultiVersus training stage.

Wonder Woman has mostly gotten nothing but buffs throughout Season 1. Her combo game won’t be getting many improvements. However, her blocking utility and durability have been getting new improvements to enhance her playstyle:

Neutral Special: Cooldown reduced to 12 seconds (was 13).
Side Special (Ground): Projectile shield activates sooner to allow for better reaction time.
Weight increased by 11.

Wonder Woman is one of the most approachable characters on the MultiVersus roster. Focusing more on durability and utility than combos and speed, her armor and blocking makes her a great teammate for damage focused teammates. However, she’ll really shine with players who maximize the use of her armor and long survival.

Steven Universe’s Best MultiVersus Moves, Perks, and Strategies

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Parker Johnson

Steven Universe is one of the most unique characters on the MultiVersus roster. In addition to being one of the few members of the support class, Steven can use his shields in unique ways to his team’s advantage. Here are all the best ways to utilize this gem-human hybrid.

**Steven’s Unique MultiVersus Mechanics**

Like the other expert-level characters in MultiVersus, Steven has a few mechanics to set him apart from other fighters. First is his shield ability. Unlike other MultiVersus characters, Steven has a shield in addition to his dodges. While holding the dodge button in place, Steven summons a shield for himself and his ally. This shield can absorb three hits, and prevents hitstun from any attacks that hit the shield until it breaks. Because of this, the shield is incredibly useful if Steven is partnered with a bruiser or tank. This way, his teammate can wreak havoc without the threat of being punished.

Next is his bubble. If Steven hits his enemy with his Neutral Ground Attack or Neutral Special, a meter appears above them. The gauge is called Rose’s Gaze, and is filled any time the enemy is hit or bounces off a floor, wall, or Steven’s shields. Once the gauge is filled (the amount of hits/bounces reaches 10), the enemy is bubbled and unable to move for a period of time. The enemy also can’t be damaged in this state. The best way to take advantage of a bubbled enemy is to double team the other enemy while the bubbled opponent is out of commission.

Steven Universe Moveset Overview

Steven is one of MultiVersus’ expert-level characters. Along with his bubble mechanics, his difficulty comes from setting up shields using them to his team’s advantage.

Neutral Ground Attack: Steven charges up a punch infused with the power of his gem. This attack also gives an enemy Rose’s Gaze.
Side Ground Attack: This attack starts a short combo of jabs, which ends in a sliding attack with a diamond dealing damage. The Side Ground Attack is great for building up damage, but also has pretty good horizontal knockback.
Up Ground Attack: Steven charges an uppercut that utilizes his gem. Has good knockback, but its short range makes it hard to connect.
Down Ground Attack: Steven charges up an attack that hits the area surrounding him (except above). This attack is a spiky wall that can deal good damage, but lacks knockback power. It also breaks armor and destroys incoming projectiles.
Neutral Air Attack: Steven charges an explosive bubble. The area this attack covers increases the longer Steven charges it.
Side Air Attack: Steven unleashes a shield directly from his belly button gem. This is a great attack to approach enemies with little risk.
Up Air Attack: Steven infuses his hands with gem power and claps. This attack is powerful, but be wary of its long windup time before it finally connects.
Down Air Attack: Steven slams his fists downwards and spikes his enemy. This is a useful move both for catching opponents off-stage and starting a combo by slamming them against the stage’s floor.

Neutral Special: Steven attaches a crystallized time bomb to his ally or the nearest surface. When this detonates, it damages enemies and applies Rose’s Gaze to them. This attack has a short cooldown.
Side Special: Steven charges a projectile that stops when it reaches the end of its charge or collides with an enemy or projectile. Once it reaches this point, the projectile becomes a shield that acts as a wall. When on cooldown, this input becomes a sliding kick.
Up Special: For this attack, Steven rises up and places a shield at the apex of his uppercut. This shield can be used as a platform at the end of this maneuver. This move, along with his Up Air Attack, are Steven’s best finishing moves.
Down Special (Ground): While on the ground, Steven creates a healing aura around him and summons a Watermelon Steven to be his ally. Watermelon Steven isn’t very strong or smart, but serves as an effective distraction. This move has a lengthy cooldown.
Down Special (Air): In the air, Steven’s Down Special has him summon a shield to use as a makeshift “snowboard” below him. This attack damages enemies below him and lets him slide along the ground for some time.

**How To Win MultiVersus Teams Battles As Steven Universe**

As a support character, it’s natural that Steven excels best as a teammate. Steven’s low damage output means he works best with high damage dealers on his team. Specifically, this means working well with Bruisers and Assassins. Here are some of Steven’s best partners:

Arya Stark (Assassin)
Batman (Bruiser)
Taz (Bruiser)
Finn the Human (Assassin)
Harley Quinn (Assassin)

Overall, the best thing to focus on when playing as Steven is creating opportunities for teammates. By deploying his Side Special shield at opportune times, Steven can help his damage-heavy teammate succeed. Watermelon Steven will help as well. This minion can help distract enemies from the real threat: Steven’s ally. If he gets lucky, Watermelon Steven might even connect a charged attack to K.O. an opponent.

Another key component is to remember Steven’s unique dodge mechanic. By holding dodge, the shield will cover both Steven and his ally. Using this, Steven can help his partner be very hyper-aggressive, and charge the opposition with few consequences.

Steven can also help out by putting pressure on opponents. With his excellent high attacks, Steven can help chase enemies off the top blast zone. Using his Up Air Attack and Up Special, he can dispose of overhead enemies effectively, if they’re at high enough damage.

**How To Win MultiVersus 1v1 Battles As Steven Universe**

One-on-one battles as Steven are much trickier. Much of Steven’s kit revolves around protecting his partner. Because of this, singles battles get a lot dicier for this gem-human hybrid.

However, Watermelon Steven can provide some relief for this. Although his cooldown is long, this minion can help distract enemies. In singles, it’s even more vital for Steven to take advantage of this distraction to tack some damage onto his opponent.

Best Steven Universe Perks – MultiVersus

Steven’s abilities aren’t as well augmented by perks as some other characters. Regardless, here are some of Steven’s ideal perks.

Steven Universe Best Perks (1v1)

Triple Jump (unlocked at level 2)
Ice to Beat You! (unlocked at level 11)
Up, Up, and A-Slay (unlocked at level 13)
Signature Perk: Green Thumb (unlocked at level 10)

Triple Jump gives Steven some bonus aerial mobility to chase enemies vertically easier. Ice to Beat You adds some extra incentive to use Steven’s projectile based attacks to slow enemies and set up other hazards like Watermelon Steven. Up, Up, and A-Slay is just to increase his vertical knockback and K.O. enemies with his Up Special earlier. Finally, Green Thumb allows Watermelon Steven to grow in size and strength the longer he survives.

Steven Universe Best Perks (Teams)

Standard Perks: Match teammate’s for stack
Signature Perk: Bounce Bubble (unlocked at level 8)

To be honest, no perks give Steven that much benefit. As a support character, he typically sticks to the backlines in any case. As such, it’s usually a good idea for Steven to simply match his teammate’s perks. That way, his teammate gets as much benefit from their perks as possible.

One thing to note, though, is Steven’s different Signature Perk, Bounce Bubble. Bounce Bubble increases the hitstun and speed of enemies bouncing off of Steven’s shields. In 2v2 battles, Watermelon Steven likely won’t live long. This makes Green Thumb essentially obsolete. On the other hand, the chaos of battle will likely mean more launching of the enemies. Because of this, it’s nice to just equip Bounce Bubble instead, so allies get more benefit from utilizing Steven’s bonus wall and platform.

**Steven Universe MultiVersus Season 1 Changes**

Steven was left mostly untouched in Season 1 so far. The only big change to his moveset is his Down Special. Watermelon Steven’s cooldown now starts when he’s rung out, instead of when he’s summoned. This has made Watermelon Steven much less common, which unfortunately makes him much less useful to Steven players.

Steven Universe is one of the most complex characters in MultiVersus. His bubble and shield mechanics are very deep, making him a hard character to master. But with enough time, MultiVersus players could use this Crystal Gem to always save the day.

Rogue-Like Fan Swears It Gets a Bit Easier After Fully Committing Every Enemy, Attack, Boss and Spawn to Memory

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Camden Brazile

FRESNO, Calif. — Local gamer and rougelike aficionado Chris Mertens quelled fears this week about the infamously difficult Enter the Gungeon, alleging that the game gets a little easier once you memorize every enemy, attack, boss and spawn completely.

“I know rougelikes can feel punishing and random, but don’t worry,” Mertens said. “Around the 500-hour mark, once you peruse the wiki over and over memorizing all the items, stats, enemy variants, and weapons, it starts to feel a tad bit simpler. Oh and also, once you memorize what all the items and weapons do, if you also commit exactly how useful it is in every niche situation, that can help you out somewhat.”

New rougelike player Tyler Falwell expressed his relief at the inside tips and tricks Merterns provided.

“At first, I thought the game was basically completely random, and I was hopeless,” Falwell said. “Once Chris explained that the game isn’t random, it just selects one of six hundred seventy possible generation and spawning outcomes, it made me feel a lot better. Once I have a complete and comprehensive grasp over every possible event that could possibly occur, I might start winning semi-regularly, which sounds great.”

Former Enter the Gungeon streamer Mike Herschell explained how this daunting task is worth the effort.

“Sure, this may seem insane, memorizing every single aspect of the game just to gain a slight advantage,” Herschel began. “But in the end, once you have it down, you never forget it. Unless you don’t play the game for a couple weeks or so, then it all drains out of your memory permanently and you’ll have to cart your sorry ass back to the wiki every run you do.”

At press time, rougelike experts noted that once players have a good handle on a few of the hidden mechanics that the game secretly applies without telling the player what they do or that they even exist, some boss fights may go slightly faster.

Hey guess what? This is sponsored by Devolver Digital! That means you can head to Steam right now and play Enter the Gungeon to experience the pure joy of shooting a bullet that shoots a gun that shoots other bullets to kill a sentient bullet that, itself, is holding a gun and trying to shoot you. It’s very fun.

Deeply Disturbed Man Writes Actual Love Letter to Gaming

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Mark Roebuck

NEW YORK — An unhinged gamer has authored a real life love letter to video games, uncomfortable industry insiders have confirmed.

“Look, we all like Smash Bros. and those collections of old arcade games, and all the love letters to gaming that get released every year,” said Evan Lahti, editor in chief of PC Gamer magazine, one of many publications to receive the maniacal letter this morning. “But taking out an actual pen and paper and writing a love letter to video games? That’s pretty disturbing right there. So it’s just a letter? Not an actual game that also serves as a metaphorical love letter to the medium and its history? Is there a battle pass you can buy, or what am I not getting here?”

While members of the media were disturbed by the demented letter, local gamers were intriuged by the notion.

“Whoa, can I see it?” asked Cort Benton, a local gamer. “I think it sounds like something I need to get my hands on. I played through a half dozen different love letters to gaming last year alone, so I’m always interested in seeing what’s new for the genre. Oh, it’s like a real love letter? Dude, that’s the grossest fucking thing I’ve ever heard. I hope they fry that sick fuck.”

The love letter arrived anonymously at over a dozen video game and electronics themed magazines’ offices this morning, with no hints as to who was behind it.

“Ah, she’s a cruel temptress, this digital siren that has tamed my analog heart,” read one particular passage from the mysterious and gross message. “But after she’s read all of this letter she will almost certainly send me her devotion in return. It’s games that I love, make no mistake about it. Filthy, disgusting video games. I want to play them all night and leave the curtains open so the whole world can watch me. I don’t care. That’s how devoted I am. I could play them all night. Every night, baby.”

Police have confirmed that they have no concrete leads on the identity of the author of the deranged letter. As of press time, the love letter to gaming had a favorable score on Metacritic.

So-Called “Retro” Gamer Sucks at Baseball

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Zac Lux

NEW YORK — A self described “retro” gamer has revealed himself to be a fraud after proving glaringly incapable at baseball, one of the oldest competitive games in existence, onlookers have confirmed.

“This dude was talking a big game at work about being an old school gamer,” said Jacob Williams of his co-worker Walt Greenfield. “So I said alright, me and the boys get together and play retro games every week and he should come join us. He said he was gonna kick our ass, and I even told him it was baseball and everything. So imagine my delight when he struck out three times and got a black eye from a routine pop-out. This dude doesn’t know shit about retro games.”

Greenfield says the misunderstanding of what constitutes a retro game is to blame for the mix-up.

“I thought he and his buddies were gonna be playing Bases Loaded for the NES or something,” he said, following a humiliating performance in game one of a doubleheader. “I didn’t realize they get together and play, like, real games and stuff. It wouldn’t have even been so bad, but they were playing in some weird old style. They said it was something called ‘Knickerbocker rules,’ and we played until one team got to 21 runs. I don’t even know what this shit is.”

Members of the gaming group said they could tell a phony gamer when they see one.

“Another poser, we see them all the time,” said Renee Patterson, a member of the retro gaming group. “Someone thinks just because they’ve played a video game from 1983 that they know all about retro games. 1983 like just happened, dude. Get real. They’ve been playing baseball in North America since the 1830’s, okay? There’s a lot more to the history of games than Space Invaders and Ms. Pac Man, you losers. That asshole’s not coming to bare knuckle boxing next week, is he?”

As of press time, Greenfield had been ejected from the ballpark on the grounds of being a fake gamer.

Frugal Gamer Waits Until Next American National Tragedy to Pick Up 1,000 Itch.io Games for Five Bucks

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Kyle Erf

BOSTON — A frugal gamer who is rapidly running out of games to play has decided to wait until the nation’s next unspeakable tragedy to pick up a thousand games for five bucks through Itch.io, sources have confirmed.

“Hmm, I need something new to play, but I’m a little strapped for cash,” said local skinflint Troy Willows. “I’m finally finishing up everything I wanted to play from the Ukrainian support bundle, and that was timed nicely with me finishing up the stuff I wanted to play from the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality from the year before. But now it’s 2022, and I am really hoping something horrible happens soon, because I’m just so bored with all the stuff I have.”

The frugal gamer has come under fire for his thrifty strategy.

“Okay, even if you oddly only had five bucks a year to spend on games,” said Lana Osborne, a local gamer that objected to Willows’ strategic banking on future tragedy based bundles. “It’s so glib to just wait for something awful to happen so you can resupply your backlog. Plus, does this person know they could play Rocket League, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Fall Guys, League of Legends, or any other number of free games? That they don’t have to just wait for itch bundles? The whole thing feels gross. Can’t deny that it’s a good deal, though!”

As of press time Willows was seen googling “Donald Trump classified files itch bundle.”