Skill Balance Changes

This article will only cover the changes made to Skill balance, which is only a portion of the whole patch. For full details of the patch made to the game on the 7/1 update such as race mechanic reworks and Scenario updates, please stay tuned.

If you would like to see the changes as they are in the game's logic, without any analysis, you can go to this page.

Summary

If the patch could be summed up in one sentence, then the objective of the patch was to increase the minimum value of Skills that were previously unreliable and expensive.

Previously, many of the Skills in this patch were not strictly useless, but their activation conditions were often so niche they only activated in extreme circumstances - and even if they did proc their effects were hardly worthwhile. This patch now adds value to many of these Skills.

These changes will cause a major shift in the competitive landscape. The most significant shift is the viability of Late Surgers. Previously, Late Surgers were caught in an impossible situation where well-trained Uma were punished for escaping positional requirements, or the Skills simply provided no value in too many races. With Slick Surge/On Your Left! and Position Pilfer/Fast & Furious now being fully effective Skills, Late Surgers are able to keep a leg in any race.

This article will separate the changes to Unique Skills and regular skills.

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Uma/Unique Skill Changes

Shooting Star

Summary

• Before: Frequently activated in the Accel Zone, but Target Speed boosts are useless in the Accel Zone.

• After: Target Speed bonus becomes Current Speed, making Shooting Star useful and very powerful in all situations.

• Verdict: Special Week becomes a highly competitive Uma in every track. As an Inherit, Shooting Star can be considered at the Grandparent level.

Extended Analysis

More often than not, Special Week’s Shooting Star would proc in the Acceleration Zone of any track. As a Velocity Skill, this meant Shooting Star would only be conditionally effective because the +0.35 increase in Target Speed is only relevant if Acceleration has finished. A small change was made last year to give Shooting Star some minor Acceleration, giving Special Week a little bit of minimum value, but it wasn’t enough to make her a strong contender most of the time.

Now, Shooting Star remains a Velocity Skill, but the ‘Target Speed’ component has been modified to be ‘Current Speed’. Unlike Target Speed, Current Speed boosts are fully effective in the Acceleration Zone, making an Uma break the laws of physics by skipping the need for Acceleration entirely.

As a result, Special Week will always rocket forward when Shooting Star is triggered, as opposed to only sometimes. Having to pass another Uma is still going to be a little bit tricky, but whenever she does pass, Special Week is quite likely to hold that lead.

Since Shooting Star is so consistent now, Special Week will become a top contender for every track she has aptitude for. She is currently the only Uma in the game to have guaranteed Current Speed boost in the Accel Zone, and she will continue to be the only one until Kitasan Black (New Years) is released towards the end of Grand Concert.

​Shooting Star also becomes a considerable Inherited Skill for Pace Chasers, Late Surgers, and End Closers at the Grandparent level. Whilst useful on any Track, the dependency to pass requires Uma to have Acceleration Skills before Shooting Star, so it is not recommended to have Special Week as a direct Parent.

Sky-High Teio Step

Summary

• Before: Strict activation conditions meant Sky-High Teio Step would fail to activate at all in most races. Even if it did it would be right before the finish line.
• After: Conditions changed to easier preconditions. Allows Tokai Teio to frequently activate Sky-High Teio Step as long as there is another Uma to pass.
• Verdict: Tokai Teio becomes a competent Uma capable in Medium and Long Races.

Extended Analysis

​Sky-High Teio Step was one of the few abilities during the game's release to have +0.45 Target Speed. This should have been quite the significant advantage against Tokai Teio’s competition.

Unfortunately, Sky-High Teio Step was weighed down by niche conditions that caused the ability to rarely activate. Having an Overtake Target within 1L is quite common because Tokai Teio is a Pace Chaser who could Pressure the slowest Front Runners in the Late Race. The issue was the game would only recognise the Overtake Target if the Uma were also on the Final Straight. This is unreasonably strict because in Medium and Long Races where she has aptitudes for, a well trained Tokai Teio would Overtake the slowest Front Runners before the Final Straight. This would leave her in a position where she would either be too slow to catch up to the leading Front Runner, or where she’d be vulnerable to Late Surgers/End Closers who were inevitably encroaching on her position. Even if she eventually caught up to the leading Front Runner, it was often right before the finish line where Sky-High Teio Step would be far too late to be effective, making Tokai Teio a consistent Silver Medalist.

The changes have turned Sky-High Teio Step’s activation conditions into preconditions instead. Instead of requiring the Overtake Target and Tokai Teio to be on the Final Straight, Tokai Teio can Overtake her opponent at any time in the Late Race, and then on the Final Straight she will activate Sky-High Teio Step. This completely eliminates the issue of early Overtakes ruining the activation of the Unique Skill.

With these changes Tokai Teio can fully realise her performance as a Pace Chaser. As long as she is able to Pressure the slowest Front Runners, the +0.45 Target Speed bonus makes Tokai Teio quite competitive in all Medium and Long tracks. However, being “faster than the slowest Front Runner” can still be a tough condition, so discretion is needed to determine if Pace Chasers are suitable for the track.

Lights of Vaudeville

Summary

• Before: Was frequently wasted in Accel Zone where it was useless, or failed to proc at all.
• After: Preconditions are easy to satisfy and will always proc at 300m remaining, which is always useful.
• Verdict: Fuji Kiseki becomes strong in Sprint and Mile. Lights of Vaudeville becomes a highly desirable Inherited Skill for all Pace Chasers and Front Runners.

Extended Analysis

The intention behind Lights of Vaudeville was to help Fuji Kiseki defend against any Uma Pressuring her from behind. If someone had been tailing her for a second, she would instantly break away in a burst of Speed.

The issue comes when you think about who, how, and when an Uma would be Pressuring Fuji Kiseki from behind. For most Sprint and Mile tracks which Fuji Kiseki has aptitude for, the beginning of the Final Straight would be an Acceleration Zone. Most of the time a fellow Pace Chaser would be right behind Fuji Kiseki, forcing Lights of Vaudeville to activate early and wasting its potential because the Uma had not Accelerated to full Speed yet. This means Lights of Vaudeville is only effective towards the Homestretch. However at that point in the race Late Surgers and End Closers were bigger threats. These styles would often overtake Fuji Kiseki before Lights of Vaudeville had a chance to activate. Even if it did activate, it often would not have helped Fuji Kiseki outrun the higher Speeds of the backline styles, or it might have activated right before the finish line giving Fuji Kiseki a close Silver Medal.

The changes help address both issues at the same time. Now, as long as an Uma was behind her at any point in the late race, Fuji Kiseki will always activate Lights of Vaudeville when there is 300m remaining in the track. This is late enough into almost any course for Uma to have finished Acceleration, making Lights of Vaudeville an always effective Unique Skill.

As a result, Fuji Kiseki has become a competent runner for all track distances except for the shortest Sprints (1000m). Lights of Vaudeville as an inherited Skill also becomes a highly desirable skill for Pace Chasers and Front Runners on all Distances.

The Duty of Dignity Calls

Summary

• Before: Easy to activate but simply did not do enough to help Mejiro McQueen keep up.
• After: Changed to +0.45 Target Speed for Long Races.
• Verdict: Helps Mejiro McQueen succeed much more in her role as Front Runner or Pace Chaser in Long Races. The Duty of Dignity Calls remains a great Inherited Skill.

Extended Analysis

​The Duty of Dignity Calls was a Skill that augmented Mejiro McQueen’s specialty of Long Distance running. The Final Corner on Long tracks is always after the Acceleration Zone, so The Duty of Dignity Calls was a completely effective Unique Skill as long as Mejiro McQueen was running as a Pace Chaser or Front Runner, which she has aptitude for.

The issue with The Duty of Dignity Calls wasn’t that it was a weak skill - the problem was Mejiro McQueen's competition was far too strong. The +0.35 Target Speed effect struggled to hold the line against Long Distance monsters such as Narita Taishin, and was not very effective in catching tireless Front Runners like Kitasan Black and Seiun Sky.

The changes bring The Duty of Dignity Calls up to a +0.45 Target Speed effect for Long courses, an effect that not many of her competition currently has. She is now able to keep up better with Front Runners ahead of her, and hold against any Uma behind her.

It should be noted for courses that aren’t Long, the effect remains at +0.35. This is because in shorter tracks (especially Mile even though she has poor aptitude for it), The Duty of Dignity Calls was already a powerful ability that out-performed much of the competition.

∴win Q.E.D.

Summary

• Before: Strict conditions caused it to frequently fail in activating. Even if it worked it often wasn’t powerful enough to change the race.
• After: Conditions relaxed to no longer require passing, allowing it to activate effectively on most Medium and Long tracks. Additionally buffed to +0.45 Target Speed if not Rushed.
• Verdict: Biwa Hayahide becomes competent in Medium and Long Races. Now unviable in Mile Races.

Extended Analysis

​Biwa Hayahide’s ∴win Q.E.D.. was a Unique Skill that suffered from both poor activation conditions and a weak effect. The Skill would only activate if Biwa Hayahide completed a pass on the Final Corner or Later.

The problem was, as a Pace Chaser who specialised in Long Races, Biwa Hayahide is most likely to complete her passes against the slowest Front Runners before the Final Corner. This leaves her in a position where she has no ability to catch up to anyone still in front, and no ability to hold the line against anyone behind her. Even if it did trigger when Biwa Hayaide was holding the perfect awkward balance between not-too-slow and not-too-fast, the middling +0.35 effect hardly moved the needle on the outcome against the other titans of Long Races.

The patch addresses both issues. It removes the need for Biwa Hayahide to pass, making ∴win Q.E.D. an instant activation when she enters a Late-Race Final Corner. This eliminates the timing issue and ensures Biwa Hayahide always has a Unique Skill in Long Distance courses. Also if Biwa Hayahide is able to approach the Final Corner without Rushing, ∴win Q.E.D. is upgraded to a +0.45 effect, making her competitive against previously stronger Uma.

While better at Mediums and Longs, it's important to note that ∴win Q.E.D. now has the additional clause of only activating in the Late-Race, where previously she would have been allowed to activate it earlier if the Final Corner was part of the Mid-Race. This condition was added to prevent Biwa Hayahide from being too powerful in Mile tracks, which she has little aptitude for.

G00 1st. F∞;

Summary

• Before: Failed to activate in ~37% of Bourbon’s races purely from bad luck. Late-Race Target Speed is not the best skill effect for Front Runners.
• After: Now only fails in 30% of Mihono Bourbon's races. Target Speed effect buffed to +0.45 if Mihono Bourbon maintains 2nd.
• Verdict: Much better, but Mihono Bourbon remains outclassed by her Valentine's self.

Extended Analysis

​Mihono Bourbon’s G00 1st. F∞; was a Unique Skill that suffered from bricking itself at no fault of Mihono Bourbon. It required Mihono Bourbon not to Late Start (70%), as well as not Rushing (~90%), meaning it would not simply never activate in 37% of races. This made Mihono Bourbon an incredibly inconsistent Uma. Even if it did activate, a +0.35 Target Speed Skill for a Front Runner in the Late Race was hardly an effect that influenced a race’s outcome.

The changes alleviate the inconsistency and increase the potency of the Unique Skill. Staying calm is no longer a condition, adding G00 1st. F∞; back into 10% more races. Also, if Mihono Bourbon maintains 1st - 2nd for the entire race, G00 1st. F∞; is upgraded to a +0.45 Target Speed boost on the Final Straight, allowing her to continue maintaining the lead she worked for earlier in the race.

These changes place Mihono Bourbon is a much stronger position than before, but unfortunately don’t do enough to influence Mihono Bourbon’s competitive usage. G00 1st. F∞; continues to have a 30% chance of failing because the Late Start condition remains unless Concentration is taken. Even in the Grand Live Scenario, where Mihono Bourbon gets Concentration as a bonus Scenario Link Skill, the Late-Race Velocity still doesn’t help her that much as a Front Runner. It’s not necessarily bad, but since the most important part of Front Running is to establish early leads, G00 1st. F∞; does not do enough for Mihono Bourbon’s win conditions. Finally, Mihono Bourbon continues to be better than herself via her Valentine's costume.

As a side note, it is worth mentioning that G00 1st. F∞; becomes quite a worthy Inherited Skill. The effect is now +0.25 Inherited if the 1st-2nd condition is maintained. This is significantly easier to achieve on other Front Runners due to their access to stronger Mid-Race kits. G00 1st. F∞; as an Inherited Skill will then augment their Late-Race which they may be lacking otherwise.

Blue Rose Closer

Summary

• Before: Strict conditions meant it failed to activate at all, or only activated right before the Finish Line.
• After: Conditions have been relieved allowing it to activate in most races provided she can pass another Uma.
• Verdict: Rice Shower has become better on the Medium and Longs she’s built for.

Extended Analysis

​Rice Shower’s Blue Rose Closer required preconditions that often contradicted her strengths as a Pace Chaser in Medium and Long Races. In many tracks, the point where Rice Shower is most likely to pass is before the Final Corner. Passing on or after the Final Corner is often significantly more difficult because she would be up against Front Runners who are trying to escape with the lead. Since her preconditions relied on passing during this difficult portion of the track, Rice Shower often struggled to catch up to the leading Front Runner. Even if it did activate, it would be far too late to change the outcome of the race.

​Blue Rose Closer has been resolved by expanding the range in which the precondition can be fulfilled on Medium and Long tracks. The Final Corner precondition has been replaced with a Late-Race precondition, meaning as long as Rice Shower can pass another Uma at any point in the Late Race, Blue Rose Closer will activate on the Final Straight. This makes the ability significantly more consistent and allows Rice Shower to catch the leading Front Runner in Long and Medium tracks.

It’s worth pointing out that Blue Rose Closer remains to be a +0.35 Target Speed boost and was not lifted to +0.45. This does leave her a little bit vulnerable to strong backline Uma in Long Races, but it doesn’t hurt Rice Shower’s chances too much as she comes with other advantages to make up for it.

Schwarzes Schwert

Summary

• Before: Failed to activate 37% of the time purely from bad luck.
• After: Now only fails 10% of the time. If Eishin Flash stays 3rd-7th throughout the race, Skill is buffed to +0.45. Very strong for competing in the Final Straight.
• Verdict: Eishin Flash becomes a fairly competent Medium Uma, especially alongside all the Late Surger changes. Schwarzes Schwert is also a usable but low priority Inherit for Late Surgers at the Grandparent level.

Extended Analysis

Requiring both not Late Starting (70%) and not Rushing (~90%), Schwarzes Schwert would fail to proc 37% of the time. Without any Unique Skill, Eishin Flash’s ability to perform was severely limited.

The patch removes the non-Late Start requirement, making Schwarzes Schwert significantly more consistent and only failing when Eishin Flash is Rushed. The remaining ~10% chance to fail is unfortunate, but Schwarzes Schwert got an additional change to make this gamble slightly more worth it; If Eishin Flash can remain between 3rd to 7th for the entire race, Schwarzes Schwert is upgraded to provide +0.45 Target Speed from +0.35. This significantly improves Eishin Flash’s ability to chase down opponent Uma in Medium and Long Races.

Alongside the improvements to Late Surgers as a style in this patch, Eishin Flash becomes a decent Uma for Medium races. Her specialty lies in an extreme burst of Speed during the Final Straight, combining the strength of Schwarzes Schwert and the newly improved In Body and Mind.

Many other Late Surgers would still give Eishin Flash a run for her money, especially if they can Inherit Schwarzes Schwert for themselves. Whilst not the highest of priorities, Eishin Flash becomes a considerable Grandparent for Late Surger lineages.

Pop & Polish

Summary

• Before: Conditions were too strict so it failed to activate at all, or only if Tosen Jordan was in a losing position.
• After: Conditions relaxed to be far more practical. Should activate in nearly all races now.
• Verdict: Tosen Jordan becomes a fairly competent Medium Uma, especially alongside all the Late Surger changes.

Extended Analysis

​Pop & Polish previously only worked in two very niche conditions: The first was when Tosen Jordan was being Pressured by an Uma behind her for over two seconds on the Final Straight if she was 2nd or 3rd. As a Pace Chaser or Late Sruger, the only Uma that could Pressure Tosen Jordan would be a faster Late Surger or End Closer. However Late Surgers and End Closers with their higher top Speeds would pass Tosen Jordan before Pop & Polish had a chance to activate.

The other condition wasn’t any better. Pop & Polish could also activate if Tosen Jordan passed another Uma from 2nd to 1st on the Final Straight. This is also very unlikely to be useful because if Tosen Jordan could pass the leading Front Runner, then the Unique Skill is no longer needed - but if she couldn’t pass the leading Front Runner, Tosen Jordan finished with a Silver medal.

The Skill has been rebalanced to activate under far more practical conditions. The Pressure requirement has been reduced from two seconds to one second, and it is now allowed to work from 1st to 4th. This makes Pop & Polish a viable defensive Skill as it is much more reasonable for Tosen Jordan to be Pressured for just one second towards the front of the pack.

The second effect is also significantly more lenient. Instead of needing to directly pass the leading Uma, Pop & Polish will activate if Tosen Jordan is putting Pressure on any Uma while she’s 2nd to 4th. Now Pop & Polish will actually help Tosen Jordan catch up and close out the race.

Tosen Jordan will be able to contend with the other Medium Uma in a competition of Speed in the Final Straight. The rest of her Kit remains to have awkward synergies with itself, so players will still require effort to realise Tosen Jordan's potential.

I Never Goof Up!

Summary

• Before: Activation range restricted to very small, often impossibly small portions of the map. Meisho Doto frequently missed its activation.
• After: Conditions relaxed to be far more practical, allowing it to work all of Late-Race. Useful in essentially all races.
• Verdict: Although the Unique will always give measurable value, it doesn’t necessarily let Meisho Doto succeed on its own. Nonetheless Meisho Doto becomes competitive in all Mediums and Longs.

Extended Analysis

In theory, I Never Goof Up! was a flexible hybrid Unique Skill that aimed to ramp up Meisho Doto’s Acceleration early, or top off the end of her Acceleration phase with an extra Speed boost. Unfortunately, confining the Unique Skill to only activate on Corners in the Late-Race meant Meisho Doto didn’t have enough space to actually activate I Never Goof Up!. Often, Meisho Doto would only succeed a pass after the Corner has been left behind, or she would need a large quantity of other skills to have a successful pass early enough for I Never Goof Up! to be useful.

The conditions are far simpler with the balance patch. Meisho Doto now only needs to pass another Uma at any point in the Late-Race, allowing it to activate even after the pack has left the Corner. These relaxed conditions let Meisho Doto take advantage of the increased Target Speed she would have missed out on previously, letting her compete on the Final Straight.

It’s important to note that the Acceleration portion of the ability continues to be difficult to take advantage of. Passing other Uma early in the Late-Race still requires Meisho Doto to first trigger other skills for Acceleration to then benefit from the I Never Goof Up!’s Acceleration. The benefit of the Acceleration at this point is arguably diminished and a player would much rather have access to higher Target Speeds.

Nonetheless, the simple fact that I Never Goof Up! is significantly less likely to miss puts Meisho Doto in a far stronger position than she was previously. She fares better in her already favoured Medium and Long tracks, and she can now even compete in Mile. It would not be surprising to see Meisho Doto frequently take Gold with the rebalance.

Legacy of the Strong

Summary

1. Before: Strong effect but absurd conditions meant it never worked or only when Mejiro McQueen (Anime Collab) was losing.
2. After: Conditions relaxed to be far more practical. Should activate in nearly all races now.
3. Verdict: Mejiro McQueen becomes a powerful Uma for Long Races.

Extended Analysis

​Mejiro McQueen's (Anime Collab) Legacy of the Strong was supposed to be a very powerful ability that activated in the Late-Race. With a base duration of six seconds, Legacy of the Strong should have let Mejiro McQueen completely break free from Late Surgers and End Closers chasing after her, securing wins against many stronger Long Distance runners whenever the Unique Skill triggered.

… if it triggered. Legacy of the Strong’s glaring issue was the difficult conditions would cause the Skill to miss in most races. The biggest offender was the <45% HP condition which required players to do an annoying balancing act when training for Mejiro McQueen’s Stamina; if you had too little Stamina, there was a very high risk of Mejiro McQueen running out of HP for the Long Distance tracks she specialises in. If you had too much Stamina, which happens often when you’re trying to plan for Long Distance racing, the ability would fail to activate at all.

The simultaneous conditions of being Under Pressure and having an Uma less than 1L behind Mejiro McQueen was also tricky. Any Uma that is applying Pressure from 1L behind is highly likely to pass very soon, either causing Legacy of the Strong to miss when the opposing Uma succeeds the pass, or the Skill triggers at a point that may be too late to be useful.

The patch significantly relaxes Legacy of the Strong’s activation conditions. The 45% HP requirement is removed entirely, meaning players no longer need to perform the awkward balancing act when attempting to train Mejiro McQueen. The condition for an opponent Uma to be less than 1L behind her is also removed, leaving only the Under Pressure requirement. This makes Legacy of the Strong fully functional for its intended purpose of breaking away from chasing Uma, as being Under Pressure can happen from Uma multiple Lengths away from Mejiro McQueen. This distance is usually long enough for the Unique Skill to secure her victory.

As a result, Mejiro McQueen becomes a respectable threat in Long Distance courses. It also increases her potential in Medium races where previously the HP condition may have filtered her out of the competition. It’s important to note the Skill has been given an additional clause of being Late-Race only. This is not a problem for Medium and Long courses where Mejiro McQueen is adept, but it does effectively exclude her from Mile races where this Unique Skill would have been overwhelmingly powerful otherwise.

Barcarole of Blessings

Summary

• Before: Easy activation conditions and significant Speed boost, but effect was too short - outcompeted by many other abilities.
• After: Duration increased to standard 5s from 4s. Becomes an incredibly powerful Skill for all Medium and Longs.
• Verdict: Opera O herself is good at Medium and Longs now, but the Inherited Skill becomes so valuable you will see her as a parent years into the future.

Extended Analysis

​Barcarole of Blessings is already an amazing Unique Skill. Its activation conditions are very lenient, it almost always happens at a useful time, and the Skill effect is very potent at +0.45 Target Speed. Its only downside was the shorter duration of four seconds, so it would be outclassed by many skills of longer duration especially on the Long tracks T.M. Opera O (New Years) is designed for.

The balance patch simply increases the Skill’s duration from four seconds to five seconds, changing what is an already effective Unique Skill to a top tier contender for any Medium and Long course.

TM Opera O herself gets great benefit from this change, becoming an increasingly competent runner when she already was in a decent spot before. However, this Skill might have become too strong for TM Opera O’s own good, because this balance patch has made the Inherited version of Barcarole of Blessings a highly desirable Skill on many Uma for every Medium and Long track for years to come.

Arrows Whistle, Shadows Disperse

Summary

• Before: Strict activation conditions meant it never activated, or would only activate when Symboli Rudolf (Festival) was losing. Effect was weak too.
• After: Conditions relaxed so it can proc in most Medium and Long races. Duration increased from 5s to 6s, making it useful for escaping chasing Uma.
• Verdict: Symboli Rudolf (Festival) becomes viable in Medium and Long Races - but she’s missing too many other elements in her kit to be a competitor without greater effort. She is no longer viable in Mile Races.

Extended Analysis

​Symboli Rudolf's (Festival) Arrows Whistle, Shadows Disperse wasn’t very good for its intended purpose of breaking away from chasing Uma. As a Pace Chaser in Long Races, being Under Pressure for over two seconds in the Final Corner or Later meant Symboli Rudolf was already in a compromising position and very likely to lose the race. With only five seconds of +0.35 Target Speed to its name, Arrows Whistle, Shadows Disperse was often not strong enough to pull Symboli Rudolf out of these difficult situations.

The simple change from five seconds to six seconds duration makes Arrows Whistle, Shadows Disperse much more effective for its purpose in Long Races. The activation conditions have been slightly improved, reclassing the Under Pressure requirement as a precondition in the Late-Race rather than a condition. This means if Symboli Rudolf comes Under Pressure before the Final Corner, which is likely due to the higher Speeds of Late Surgers and End Closers, she has a chance to break away immediately entering the Final Corner instead of saving it for the end of the race where it might be too late to be useful.

Symboli Rudolf (Festival) has then become slightly stronger as a Pace Chaser (or Front Runner) in Medium and Long Races. Compared to her competition, there is still a lot of work a player would need to put in to make Symboli Rudolf a true threat in Medium and Long Races, but at the very least the framework for a competent Uma has been established in the improvements for Arrows Whistle, Shadows Disperse.

Another thing players should be wary about is this Unique Skill used to be fairly competent in Mile and Sprint races, however it is no longer functional for that purpose.

Break It Down!

Summary

• Before: Intended to be an Acceleration Skill in Long Races, but the effect was far too weak to do that properly.
• After: The +0.1 Acceleration is increased to +0.2 Acceleration. It is now significantly better at making Seiun Sky push her lead in Long.
• Verdict: Seiun Sky (Ballroom) is stronger but still weaker than her competition. Kitasan Black does the same thing but better, and often Seiun Sky original version works perfectly fine too.

Extended Analysis

​Seiun Sky's (Ballroom) Unique Skill Break It Down! was supposed to be a skill that let Seiun escape with the lead in Long Races. The ability was meant to give her effective Acceleration on all Long tracks, letting her compete with Kitasan Black’s Victory Cheer! for any situation where the original Seiun Sky’s Angling and Scheming may activate too late to be effective. Unfortunately, the +0.1 Acceleration simply did not do enough to satisfy this purpose, and the +0.35 Target Speed was completely useless in the Acceleration Zone.

With the balance change, the +0.35 Target Speed continues to be useless, but the Acceleration has been improved to +0.2 which finally makes Break It Down! a worthwhile Acceleration Unique Skill. This allows Seiun Sky to actually run away with the lead in the Long Races she is specialised for.

Unfortunately, it still doesn’t compete with Victory Cheer! which provides Kitasan Black +0.3 Acceleration. So while Seiun Sky's designated role of Front Running has improved, she will continue to fall behind the competition. Her potency in Medium races has been left untouched - Final Straight Velocity Skills as a Front Runner aren’t completely useless but the race is usually decided far before that point. Still a respectable Uma all around and at least she won’t flop her Long Races; just be wary that she requires additional effort to train to a competitive level.

Presents from X

Summary

• Before: Good effect at good timing, but positional conditions often bricked in Front Runner heavy lobbies.
• After: Positional condition slightly relaxed, meaning it bricks in less scenarios (<5 Fronts).
• Verdict: Doesn’t really change Biwa Hayahide's performance because even if it bricks less, Biwa Hayahide still needs to be strong enough to take 4th from the Fronts. If she was already 4th then it’s basically the same Skill as before.

Extended Analysis

​Presents from X is already a fairly competent Unique Skill for Biwa Hayahide (Christmas). Velocity Skills in the Mid-Race are generally very strong and desirable, and Presents from X already achieves what it needs to do, having decent effect and relatively simple activation conditions.

Its biggest downside was the need to stay 4th and above for the entire race until the Skill activates. This is a big gamble because a player would have to bet on other players not bringing too many Front Runners - if they do, Presents from X misses and Biwa Hayahide effectively races with no Unique Skill.

This has been slightly alleviated with the new balance patch. The requirement has been changed from staying above 4th to staying above 5th for the entire race until Presents from X activates. This slightly improves Biwa Hayahide's chances as she can now put up a fight in lobbies that have an extra Front Runner.

Despite being a good change, these new conditions don’t really affect Biwa Hayahide’s competitiveness. Although staying 5th and above for the whole race is easier and reduces the amount of races where the Skill completely bricks, Biwa Hayahide still needs to push 4th to actually activate the Skill. To get to this point, she’d likely have to rely on other Skills in her kit to make the positional requirement. If Biwa Hayahide is able to casually maintain 4th anyway, then effectively nothing has changed from her previous state.

Flowery☆Maneuver

Summary

• Before: Flexible Skill which let Mayano Top Gun stay fluid between styles, but strict activation range meant she missed it in too many races
• After: Conditions relaxed to work for the Final Corner or Beyond. Can now feasibly activate in all races.
• Verdict: More powerful but remains difficult to use. Players need to commit effort in research for understanding of the track and Mayano Top Gun herself.

Extended Analysis

The benefit of Flowery☆Maneuver was its ability to be flexible and play to the strengths of Mayano Top Gun's style shapeshifting nature. As an Uma that could be played from any position, it was quite convenient for Mayano Top Gun to have a Unique Skill that would either give Acceleration if she was at the back, or Target Speed if she managed to be in the front.

The issue was the restriction to activating on only the Final Corner meant Mayano Top Gun would often miss activating the skill at all, especially on Long and Medium tracks. If Mayano Top Gun was in a position to win, she is very likely to pass most of her weaker opponents before the Final Corner - once in the Final Corner, only the strongest competitors are left and often she would not pass until the Final Straight where her Unique Skill would not work. Effectively, Mayano Top Gun was punished if she was trained to be too powerful.

The balance change fixes this issue and ensures that a player would not be punished for being too strong. It now activates on the Final Corner or Later, so Mayano Top Gun can always have an opportunity to have a Unique Skill and compete in the Medium and Long Races she is designed for.

The Unique Skill however remains slightly finicky when it comes to getting the desired Acceleration or Target Speed effect at the right time. Mayano Top Gun players continue to need research for how to make Flowery☆Maneuver effective for each individual course.

Every Rose Has Its Fangs

Summary

• Before: Awkward conditions meant a well-trained Rice Shower would miss the skill, and a weak Rice Shower would not benefit.
• After: Conditions relaxed to effectively always trigger in the Mid-Race provided positional is met (2nd-5th). Granted Speed effect (+0.25/5s)
• Verdict: Rice Shower (Halloween) becomes an easy-to-build, friendly Uma for Long Races. However she still needs extraordinary effort to beat the best competition.

Extended Analysis

​Rice Shower (Halloween) is meant to be an easy-to-build Long Distance Uma. With a good number of Recovery Skills innate to her kit, players could focus their efforts on Velocity Skills and Stats that are often much easier to acquire than Recovery Skills and Stamina.

Unfortunately, Every Rose Has Its Fangs was too weak to support this idea. The Unique Skill required Rice Shower to be Under Pressure for one second. A well-trained Rice Shower would often fail this condition, because she would out-pace the competition and less frequeny come Under Pressure. Furthermore, being Under Pressure in the Mid-Race is a precarious situation that can signal the beginning of a losing chain of events, so even if Every Rose Has Its Fangs did activate, the ability wouldn’t do anything to help Rice Shower out of such a scenario.

The rebalance resolves both of these issues. Firstly the Under Pressure condition is removed, so as long as Rice Shower is 2nd to 5th at any point in the Mid-Race, Every Rose Has Its Fangs will instantly activate, effectively eliminating the risk of failure. Secondly, the Skill has been given a +0.25 Target Speed effect for five seconds, allowing Rice Shower to compete for positions in the Mid-Race.

This places Rice Shower back on the radar as an easy Uma ready to do any Long (and Medium!) Race. Unfortunately, the changes didn’t increase her competitiveness on the top end, and Rice Shower players would still need to invest extra effort into making Rice Shower an Uma that could stand toe to toe with other Medium and Long Uma. At the very least, they won’t need to worry about running an Uma with no Unique Skill anymore.

Guten Appetit ♪

Summary

• Before: Good effect but difficult conditions meant it rarely worked correctly or at all.
• After: Condition relaxed to only requiring two passes instead of three. This is far more reasonable and the Skill should activate in many more races now.
• Verdict: Eishin Flash (Valentine) becomes a competent Uma in Medium and Long, especially alongside all the other Late Surger buffs.

Extended Analysis

​Guten Appetit ♪ in theory wasn’t a bad skill. After passing three Uma in the Final Corner or Beyond, Eishin Flash (Valentine) would increase her Target Speed by +0.35 for six seconds. A six second Target Speed increase in the Late-Race is at the moment quite uncommon, so this ability should have allowed Eishin Flash to sustain higher Top Speeds longer than her competition.

The problem was, as a Late Surger, passing three other Uma was often far too difficult to do amongst not just tough, but even fair competition. A Late Surger’s primary winning position entering the Late-Race is 5th or 6th, causing Guten Appetit ♪ to activate in 2nd or 3rd, which is often too late for a six second long ability to activate from. It usually takes a lot of effort to push 2nd or 3rd because the leading Front Runners and Pace Chasers will have built enough momentum earlier in the race to hold their spots well into the Final Straight. This results in Guten Appetit ♪ activating close to the finish line or not at all, meaning Eishin Flash isn’t able to fully take advantage of the Skill’s longer duration.

​Guten Appetit ♪ has been changed to activate with only two passes instead of three. This is much more reasonable to do as a Late Surger in 5th or 6th, as often there will usually be straggling Pace Chasers or Front Runners who did not proc Acceleration or did not build a lead in the Mid-Race. On average, Eishin Flash will now use her Unique Skill far earlier in the Final Straight and utilise Guten Appetit ♪ much more effectively.

As a result, Eishin Flash (Valentine) stands out a bit more in Medium (and sometimes Long) Races. The earlier activation will secure many more races than previously, and alongside the general changes made to Late Surgers, Eishin Flash (Valentine) becomes quite the unique threat.

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Gold and White Skill Changes

This section is sorted into Great, Good, OK, Bad in terms of how much the skill has improved and their relative impact to the environment.

Great

Late Surger Buffs

​ Late Surgers had an extremely glaring issue: End Closers existed. End Closers were better, faster, stronger, and stole Late Surger Skill activation conditions. Not only are End Closers naturally faster than Late Surgers in the Mid-Race, End Closers have access to powerful Skills such as Daring Strike that would let them steal game winning positions away from the Late Surgers. What’s worse, if you trained your Late Surger to be as powerful as possible, many Late Surger Skills would fail to even work because they required the Uma to be 6th or worse. They lost when they were 6th because the End Closers were in better positions, and they lost when they were 5th because none of their Skills worked.

This patch aims to rectify this impossible doomed-if-you-do, doomed-if-you-don’t situation. Multiple key Late Surger skills have had their positional requirements loosened, allowing them to activate up as far as 4th and even 3rd for some skills. These changes lets Late Surgers keep their rightful position in front of End Closers during the Mid-Race.

The biggest impact to Late Surgers is the viability of Slick Surge/On Your Left!. Late Surgers simply lacked a proper Acceleration Skills that were effective for them. Let's Pump Some Iron! and Moving Past, and Beyond existed, but, as mentioned above, End Closers would outcompete Late Surgers for the positional requirements of these Inherited Unique Skills and steal the Acceleration for themselves. Slick Surge and On Your Left! would not activate from 5th and better - and even if the Uma was 6th or worse, the random activation range was so wide the Skill would fail to be useful in over half the Uma’s races on most tracks. Now, Slick Surge/On Your Left! is effective from 4th, and its activation range has been tightened so that it will always provide valuable Acceleration for the Late Surger.

Ultimately, Late Surgers are in a much better state and a player could opt to play their Late Surger Uma without feeling like they should have just made an End Closer instead. It should be noted that not all these skills individually are fantastic game changing buffs, but because the collective buffs across the board have moved Late Surgers from nearly unplayable to becoming real threats, all Late Surger buffs have been grouped into this upper tier of changes.

Expand for Skill breakdowns

Position Pilfer/Fast & Furious

• Before: Supposed to be a core Mid-Race Velocity Skill that kept Late Surgers in the running for critical Acceleration positions before coming up to the Late-Race. It failed to do this because the Skill effect was too weak to be valuable from 6th (End Closer Daring Strike works from 5th!!!), and the skill wouldn’t activate if the Uma was too strong.
• After: Now activates from 4th, keeping Late Surgers in the race and competing for more forward Acceleration conditions with the Pace Chasers, or lets them escape the threat of End Closers.
• Verdict: Strong Mid-Race Skill players should aim to get on all Late Surgers if possible.

Slick Surge/On Your Left!

• Before: Failed to provide value over half the time in most tracks because it would activate outside the Accel Zone. Also punished you for being too strong.
• After: Activation range is narrow enough to nearly always proc in the Accel Zone, guaranteeing value. Works from 4th so players no longer need to worry about bricking for training a good Uma.
• Verdict: Must buy on all Late Surgers.

A Small Breather/Relax

• Before: Late Race Recovery is completely useless.
• After: Is now reliable Mid-Race Recovery with 4-9 position req. Grants Late Surgers an extra recovery to work with when they were critically lacking them before.
• Verdict: Reliable skill you can consider working into your build if you need Recovery.

Be Still/Lie in Wait

• Before: 6-9 position req frequently made it miss.
• After: Relaxed to 4-9 req, turning the skill into a reliable effective Recovery.
• Verdict: Reliable skill you can consider working into your build if you need Recovery.

Fighting Spirit/Burning Soul

• Before: Being Challenged (blocked from the side) between 4th-6th was very unreasonable. The Skill would rarely activate and the effect was very weak.
• After: Reqs relaxed to 3rd-7th. Effect duration increased to 2.4s and Burning Soul's Target Speed increased to +0.35, making it as good as other Skills.
• Verdict: Great Skill worth considering if you see it. Challenged can still be tough condition depending on the track.

Fearless/Dauntless

• Before: 4th-6th position Req caused Skill to miss most the time. Even if it hit, the effect was pathetically weak.
• After: Relaxed to 3rd-7th which is significantly more reasonable. Duration also increased to 2.4s making the effect quite reasonable for its proc conditions.
• Verdict: Gambling Skill that could win it big if it hits at the perfect time right before Late-Race. Otherwise, not bad at all, but not a skill you would chase to include on builds.

Full Throttle/Keep Going!

• Before: Very powerful Skill that shot Late Surgers far ahead of the race - but required them to build a hundred extra Stamina points or an extra Recovery Skill which often didn't exist.
• After: HP consumption reduced significantly, requiring on average ~50 more Stamina as opposed to 100.
• Verdict: Powerful Skill Late Surgers should aim to get all the time. The other Late Surger buffs make the downsides of this Skill a lot more tolerable.

Recovery Skills

Besides the Late Surger specific Recovery Skills mentioned previously, some other Recovery Skills have been greatly improved making them top tier options wherever necessary.

Expand for Skill breakdowns

​Straightaway Recovery/Breath of Fresh Air, Deep Breaths/Cooldown

• Before: These skills could proc too early in the race, or too late in the race, where they were completely useless. This would happen over half the time for most tracks.
• After: Changed to only proc in the Mid-Race, making these skills universally effective Recoveries.
• Verdict: Universally useful Recoveries you can choose to take at any time if you need it. Opens a lot of options to training your Uma as these are now on the same tier as Swinging Maestro.

Levelheaded/Serenity

• Before: Getting blocked in the Mid-Race was a strict and unreasonable condition for a Recovery Skill. Rarely activated.
• After: Will activate as long as there is another Uma shortly in front. Becomes a fairly reliable Skill.
• Verdict: Reliable skill you can consider working into your build if you need Recovery.

Generic/Other

A number of Skills have been significantly improved and are available for many Uma or Tracks.

Expand for Skill breakdowns

Straightaway Adept/Beeline Burst

• Before: Already decent Skill but 2.4s duration meant it was often taken after many other Skills.
• After: Duration increased to 3.0s, making it useful in essentially all scenarios.
• Verdict: Now a universal high priority buy on all styles and distances.

Homestretch Haste/In Body and Mind

• Before: Random conditions frequently caused the Skill to proc right before the Finish Line, significantly reducing its value.
• After: Skill now procs in the first half of the Last Leg, so the full Skill duration is always effective and never bleeds over the Finish.
• Verdict: Very good Skill that could be taken on all Uma.

Productive Plan/Mile Maven

• Before: The 5s warmup time and random condition was contradictory - the random condition could fire within the 5s warmup time, causing the skill to miss over half the time.
• After: Warmup time removed and condition changed to later half of Early-Race, guaranteeing its effectiveness in all Mile Races.
• Verdict: Now a critical Skill to have for all Front Runners and Pace Chasers in Mile.

All I've Got/Come What May

• Before: Already good Skill, but would be taken after other skills due to its shorter 2.4s duration.
• After: Duration increased to 3s, making it on par or better than many other Skills.
• Verdict: Very worthwhile to buy if you see it from random hints. Don’t have to go out of your way for it but can be sought after depending on game-plan with some Uma (Backliners with bursts on Final Straight).

Head-On/Neck and Neck

• Before: Failed to provide value over half the time in most tracks because it would activate outside the Accel Zone.
• After: Narrowed range to be first half of Late-Race, guaranteeing value in every race.
• Verdict: Now a must have Skill on all Pace Chasers.

Take the Chance/From the Brink

• Before: Failed to provide value over half the time in most tracks because it would activate outside the Accel Zone. Skill effect was also very weak even if it coincidentally activated at a good time.
• After: Narrowed range to be first half of Late-Race, guaranteeing value in every race. Skill duration increased to 1.8s to match the effectiveness of other first-half random Acceleration Skills. Positional requirements relaxed to 4th-9th so it is usable for both Late Surgers and End Closers
• Verdict: Solid Skill for any Late Surger or End Closer in Medium. Can be considered secondary to other Acceleration such as Inherited Skills and On Your Left!.

Good

These skills experienced overall positive changes, but either required proper forethought, there existed alternatives, or have some weaknesses.

Expand for Skill breakdowns

Yodo Invicta

• Before: Stamina and Wit are good stats for Kyoto but nearly 300SP for this was hardly justified.
• After: Now grants +60 Speed, giving Mejiro Dober, the only Uma with this Skill at the moment, a distinct Speed advantage in Kyoto.
• Verdict: Still expensive. Continue to prioritise core Acceleration and Velocity Skills but the unique advantage is a strong prospect for remaining SP.

Steadfast/Unyielding

• Before: Being passed specifically on the Final Corner is near certainly a sign of a lost race. The Skill effect was not good enough to escape this loss.
• After: Condition has been changed to being Under Pressure on the Final Corner or Later. This ability now serves as a solid defensive Skill to hold leads against encroaching rear styles.
• Verdict: Viable Skill for Pace Chasers and Front Runners to defend a win. Generally secondary in priority because Skills which take initiative/don’t have losing conditions are preferred.

Masterful Gambit /Sturm und Drang

• Before: Conditions were contradictory, making it effectively impossible for this Skill to provide value. If it randomly triggered early, then that would have been mid Accel Zone and the Skill does nothing. If it randomly triggered late, it positively provided Lengths but no useful value because being in the second half of the pack by distance at that point of the race was a dire and often unwinnable situation.
• After: If the Uma was in the second half of the pack by distance at any point of the Late-Race, then on the Homestretch, the Skill will activate. This is a very reliable activation condition for End Closers, and the Skill should now activate regularly.
• Verdict: A respectable Velocity Skill for End Closers to chase down other Uma on the Final Straight. It is important to recognise that this Skill could be bricked by other players fielding weak Uma, or if the End Closer is too strong and pushes upper positions in the Mid-Race. Would be a significantly stronger Skill if this weren’t the case, but still solid nonetheless.

Sprinting Gear/Turbo Sprint

• Before: Random Acceleration on any Straight was practically never useful even in the shorter distances of Sprint.
• After: Changed to proc randomly in only the Late-Race, regardless of Corner or Straight. Has become a gambling Acceleration Skill that could be useful sometimes.
• Verdict: Good on the basis that Sprint is an Accel game and this Skill increases your odds. Technically has mediocre value on its own given its random chance to proc outside the Accel Zone - but Accel is Accel and if it lands you’d have a significant advantage.

Second Wind/Reignition

• Before: Random Acceleration in the Mid-Game has no value outside of extreme chances. The value was even lower considering the Skill didn’t work from 1st, where Front Runners always want to be Accelerating from.
• After: Altered to be a fully random Late-Race Acceleration at the cost of 0.02 HP. With no positional requirement, all Front Runners have been granted the ability to gamble for additional Accel. However on most tracks this gamble will only succeed less than half the time due to the probability of activating outside the Accel Zone.
• Verdict: Can be bought as a low priority option to enhance existing primary Accel. It’s a lot better than being completely useless, but ultimately still a tough gamble.

OK

These skills were changed for the better, but continue to lack impact in many situations.

Expand for Skill breakdowns

Acceleration/Step on the Gas!

• Before: Activated when passing another Uma Mid-Race. This provided practically zero value since the majority of any passing on Mile would take place at the beginning of the Mid-Race, as opposed to the end of the Mid-Race where this Skill could be useful.
• After: Now restricted to the second half of the race instead of the entire Mid-Race, meaning the frequent early game passing won’t waste the Skill. The possibility of triggering in the Late-Race Accel Zone is now open - this is fairly difficult however and requires planning and effort.
• Verdict: Still not a great Skill on average, but could be amazing if the player has a thorough gameplan on succeeding a pass precisely around the Accel Zone.

Pressure/Overwhelming Pressure

• Before: Passing in the Late-Race for Long usually happened in the Accel Zone. Target Speed during this period has no value, and triggering it outside of the Accel Zone relied on unusual circumstances, resulting in the Skill rarely ever achieving anything.
• After: Has been given +0.05/0.1 Acceleration, making the skill provide value even if it procs in Accel Zone.
• Verdict: The Target Speed component still provides little value or requires unusual circumstances lining up. Essentially the skill has become a somewhat expensive low Acceleration Skill - not bad but consider other options first.

Bad

These skills barely had meaningful changes or continue to be Skills you should ignore.

Expand for Skill breakdowns

Rushing Gale!

• Before: There was no good reason to take this Skill even on tracks that had a Straight in the Acceleration Zone. A random proc with the entire course as a valid target simply meant it had no value outside of the most extremes of good luck.
• After: Provides 0.15 Target Speed on top of the existing effect, meaning there is some minimum value to be gained from this Skill as opposed to absolutely zero value.
• Verdict: Continue to avoid this Skill unless you truly have nothing to get. You are still paying over 300SP for what is essentially a random white Velocity Skill.

Lay Low/Iron Will

• Before: Being blocked for over a second in the Early-Mid-Game is fairly rare. Recoveries need to be reliable because HP requirements for Spurt will completely dictate if the Uma can viably race or not. The block condition was not a condition you could stake your race on.
• After: Lane Movement Speed has been added to the skill effect - presumably to help unblock the Uma after she triggers the Skill. However the issue of the Skill not activating in the first place remains
• Verdict: Continue to ignore this Skill

Adrenaline Rush

• Before: Intended to “save” an Uma that was losing their Spurt or did not Full Spurt. This has no value, because any Uma in the position to activate and need this Skill has already lost the race.
• After: Granted an additional +0.35 Target Speed for 1.8s. Now can proc reliably on Uma who aren’t completely at the risk of losing, since being under 30% HP is actually quite reasonable for fully spurting Uma.
• Verdict: Although not completely useless the cost is not justified. 320SP for +0.35 lasting 1.8s is not good value.

Thunderbolt Step/Lightning Step

• Before: Random Mid-Race Accel is almost entirely useless outside of extreme good luck. The 6-9th requirement further restricted this to proc only on losing Uma.
• After: The 6-9th condition is removed, so now all Uma have an equal opportunity to gamble on Mid-Race Accel carrying into the Late-Race.
• Verdict: Still a very poor gamble. Players have access to far more reliable, effective, and accessible Accel Skills.