Rivals of Aether II — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| Hotfix 1.6.2.2 Notes | 2026-05-06 | Dash Attack back hitbox moved forward 30cmWhile it was doing its job of making hit 1 more consistent at linking into hit 2, it was also hitting opponents in weird scenarios when hit 1 whiffed, such as when an opponent jumped over hit 1.Fixed a bug that made ice effects fully opaque. Fixed a bug that caused Yuletide Galvan's Up Special platform to be invisible. Fixed a crash when getting hit on the frame his pirate hook attached to a wall. |
| Hotfix 1.6.2.1 Notes | 2026-05-05 | Gifting UI Bugfix: The new option to gift to your recently played opponents was accidentally opening as the default list. We fixed this so the gifting menu now properly shows your friends list first again. Simply press the left or right trigger to switch between lists. Back Throw threshold for normal hit vs spike moved 8cm inward.Previously, there was a small range where Back Throw would spike the opponent, but they would land on the stage if they DId in, leaving Wrastor at a big disadvantage at low percents.Fixed a crash that would happen when his grounded Down Special hit an article.Known Issue: We're aware of a crash when getting hit on th |
| Patch 1.6.2 - Dreamscape | 2026-05-05 | New Event - DreamscapeReady to get tucked in? Well, don’t close your eyes just yet, because it’s time for the Dreamscapes event! Our latest bundle includes 2 new Dreamscape skins - Pajama La Reina, and Pajama Zetterburn with their own icons to match, plus coins and bucks. The free event track includes the Quilted Forsburn Skin and Icon, plus the Dreamscapes Platform, Pajama La Reina emote, and Dreamsplosion death effect.Players equipping any of the new event skins above, or any of the following skins will receive 20% Bonus XP on the event track: Night Owl Fleet, Clown Ranno, Santa Zetterburn and Early Bird Wrastor. The Night Owl Fleet skin ha |
| Hotfix 1.6.1.3 Notes | 2026-04-28 | Prevented players from gaining/losing 0 elo in doubles matchesPlayers can now change teams when doubles is enabled in Casual queuePossible fix for Crews Team of Friends getting split up into a 2v2 when matching into a Team of One |
| Hotfix 1.6.1.2 Notes | 2026-04-24 | Fixed training-in-queue overlay showing just the initial queue in the array when queued for Quick MatchRunback prompt should no longer show in cases where you cannot runback, and the prompt no longer moves center screen as the letterboxing closesPossible fix for runback edgecase where one or all players could get stuck behind a black screen after triggering a runbackPossible fix for issue where your tag would not get assigned automatically when playing online for the first time after booting the gameUp Special part 1 final hit hitstun multiplier reverted to x0.75The early multihits will still have x0.5 hitstun, but the final hit was punishabl |
| Hotfix 1.6.1.1 Notes | 2026-04-22 | Reverted: Fixed a bug with loading a state while a character was grabbing the ledge of a moving platform.This bug fix was causing major performance issues, so we're just reverting it for now while we cook up a more performant fix.Bug fix: Multihit pummels (i.e. Olympia normal pummel) will no longer count each hit as a successful pummel in the stats screen.The previously reported pummel soft lock has been fixed! |
| Patch 1.6.1 Notes and Midmonth Update | 2026-04-21 | New Lovers Kragg Mid-Month BundleHere comes our favorite straight honor roll student, Kragg! Our latest bundle includes the Lovers Kragg skin, emote, icon, and the Lovers Critical Hit (Doki!)!The rock he throws is now replaced with his favorite Mecha Kragg lunchbox, and his pillar replaced by stacks of books that he knows better than the back of his hand! Pretty sure his pet rock is around there somewhere… Keep an ear open for his new sound effects and win jingle! The bundle also includes 25,000 coins and 250 Aether bucks. Armada Flagship Stage SkinWe also have a brand new stage skin for Metal Refinery where you can battle atop an Armada Flag |
| Hotfix 1.6.0.9 Notes | 2026-04-17 | Fixed a bug that allowed Kragg to pick up items with a Jab input while holding a rock. Bug fix: wallteching a crystalizing hit during hitpause will now properly cancel the crystalize.Fixed a bug that prevented him from using Zair when the Item Grab/Toss Setting was set to anything but Grab.ITEMSPower Drill multihits adjusted to link better into the final hit. |
| Hotfix 1.6.0.8 Notes | 2026-04-16 | Fixed his Grabbed Escape Jump animationFixed a bug that would release players after Special Pummeling them, freezing them in place |
| Fun-For-All Update Twitch Drops | 2026-04-15 | To keep the party going with the Fun-For-All Update, we've got a month of Twitch Drops planned for Rivals 2 starting today! Each week for the next 4 weeks we'll be focusing on one element you can unlock purple palettes for. Schedule:Earth Week: 4/15 2pm PT - 4/22 2pm PTFire Week: 4/22 2pm PT - 4/29 2pm PTAir Week: 4/29 2pm PT - 5/6 2pm PTWater Week: 5/6 5pm PT - 5/13 5pm PTWe just corrected a configuration error, so note the time is 3 hours later for Water Week. To receive the drops, just tune into any streamer in the Rivals 2 category with drops enabled, claim the drop on Twitch, and then link your Twitch and Aether accounts and unlock your |
| Hotfix 1.6.0.7 Notes | 2026-04-15 | Characters will now have no hurtboxes instead of intangible hurtboxes during their intro animation.This fixes a bug where Thunderous Tempest Peak's clouds would shock Galvan at the beginning of the match.Fixed a bug where command grabbing a player who was just released from another command grab would cause them to get frozen in place.Bug fix: The Grabbed Escape Jump state will now properly cancel into the Land state upon landingBug fix: All of Slade’s throws now ignore weight. |
| Rivals Direct Sale: 50% Off Select Bundles All Month | 2026-04-15 | This month (for the first time ever) we're running a sale on bundles! The sale includes all bundles released in 2024 and 2025 with the exception of the starter bundle. You can pick them up for 50% off until May 5th.If you've ever had your eye on any cool skins over the years, now's the time to pick them up. These bundles are also eligible to be used with our new gifting feature. You can see which bundles are on sale in game by going to the featured tab and looking for the sale icon in the top right on each bundle as you scroll down. The sale runs from through 5/5, when our next monthly event starts. |
| Hotfix 1.6.0.6 Notes | 2026-04-14 | New Effects BundlesToday we’re bringing you something a little different! 4 new bundles for Wrastor, Kragg, Zetterburn, and Orcane with each one containing their own unique ultimate death effect, critical hit, and icon. They're live in the shop right now! **These items are not available in the Buck / Coin shop. Fixed a crash that could occur when loading into the main menu if you had invalid data in your Match HistoryFixed a crash that could occur when changing a setting in the Training Pause Menu after having the tab open for a whileFixed some clipping with Lovers Slade's bandanaAdded Ctrl+Alt+F9 binding for taking High Resolution Screenshot |
| Hotfix 1.6.0.5 Notes | 2026-04-13 | Online: Fixed an issue introduced in our patch last Tuesday that was allowing ranked matches to trigger with wider than intended skill ranges.Picking up items during the first 5 frames of starting a tilt, aerial, or dash attack will now respond to your Item Grab/Toss Setting instead of always using the Grab button. Bug fix: Drop of Nourishment and Boomerang will no longer be deleted when trading with projectiles.Standing grab backward range increased.His grab was whiffing against short characters right in front of him, such as Clairen landing during her Up Special.Quality of Life fix: Ledge Special can now reel in with the attack button as we |
| Hotfix 1.6.0.4 Notes | 2026-04-10 | OnlineFixed a crash that could occur in certain cases during our login process on the title screen.Ranked: if someone is afk when the ranked timer runs out they will once again be forced active going into stage select Gameplay UpdatesMetal Refinery is now a starter stage and Merchant Port is now a counterpick.Their stage/blastzone sizes are fairly comparable, but Merchant Port's tiny top platforms are more befitting a counterpick than Metal Refinery's moving platforms. QoL: Forward Special Part 3 Downward can now also be performed by holding up.Down Tilt hit 1 will now pull grounded opponents inwardThis makes it much less likely for hit 2 to |
| Hotfix 1.6.0.3 Notes | 2026-04-09 | Online UpdatesIf a player connects after the match is already cancelled and everyone has been disconnected, it will now send them back to the main menu and show the match cancelled pop-up.In Casual queue if a player leaves on Results and the server would now have fewer than 2 players, it will follow normal Back-to-Matchmaking logic as in our other non-backfill modes.The server will now force out of the StartingMatch state when a backfilled player connects, as the window of time between that and when the backfill ticket was initially matched could be long in some cases.The server will now also force out of the StartingMatch state when a Vote b |
| Hotfix 1.6.0.2 Notes | 2026-04-08 | New Advanced Control Option: Item Grab/Toss Setting.Previously, you had to press the Grab button to instantly grab/toss an item, but that was not comfortable for certain control schemes. Now you can rebind it to Parry or Strong instead. Note that using the Parry option will prevent you from using grounded item toss.Fixed a bug that caused grabbed players to be incorrectly released when the grabbing player died.This was especially problematic for Ranno's Forward Special, which would leave the opponent invisible if Ranno died while the opponent was in his belly.Bug fix: Julesvale Skyline and Sinking Shipwreck will now play the correct music. Mi |
| Hotfix Notes 1.6.0 | 2026-04-07 | We've pushed a small hotfix to fix a few issues in our recent update:Fixed crash that could occur between certain interactions of stage hazards and Kragg Rock. Fixed issue that could occur in Doubles or Crews where an elo penalty was incorrectly applied.Fixed issue in Doubles where after one player left on the last game of set, the server would let the remaining 3 players proceed to the CSS.Fixed an issue where the Rivals Direct sale wasn't showing properly on the UI.The backfill button on the top bar in Casual queue should now have a tooltip. |
| The Fun for All Update - Patch 1.6.0 | 2026-04-07 | Our biggest update yet might just also have our biggest patch note article of all time! Check out our trailer for the update that just released today to get a quick highlight of everything we've added!On to the details for those who want it all: Slade’s Ship Has Arrived! The Swagger of the Sea has made it to Merchant Port, and he’s ready to claim your loot! Using his trusty blade, the weaponry hidden in his coat, and the useful equipment stored in his favorite chest, Slade keeps his opponents on their toes, never letting them know his next move. What will he use next?!Slade is available right now for free with all of the standard content incl |
| Patch 1.5.6 Notes and Midmonth Update | 2026-03-17 | New Ranger Forsburn Mid-Month BundleAnother new visitor appears from an alternate reality! Our latest bundle includes the Ranger Forsburn skin, emote, icon, and the Aether Legends Critical Hit!His cloak now features a new digital pattern, with its color also matching his new dagger, while his smoke effects take on a new look as well. Keep an ear open for his new plasma blade SFX, win jingle, victory, and taunt 2 voice lines! The bundle also includes 25,000 coins and 250 Aether bucks. New Shop ItemsMidnight Abyss Wrastor PaletteBlack Smoke Clan Ranno PaletteTactical Ranger Forsburn Palette Ranger IconCadet IconAvatar Latsu IconAvatar Herra Ico |