A massive 2XKO update video has just been released going over the game’s second Alpha Lab test. In it, we learn about two new fuses: Juggernaut and Sidekick, ranked lobbies, champion mastery, and other gameplay changes. It’ll kick off on April 18 – 20 for those living in Canada, the USA, and Brazil. Bad luck everyone else, maybe next time.
The Alpha Lab test will also feature Jinx, who will be playable by the general public for the first time. With her, this marks seven characters fully finished and in the game as we near 2XKO’s eventual release date later this year. Tom Cannon expressed this smaller scale test was done sa to not delay the game any longer, though the team has also expressed that future tests are on the way, so hang in there.
Okay, let’s break down all the new additions. First up, the new Fuses. Sidekick was revealed officialy by Shaun Rivera last month, but we have more details about it now. It makes it so your point champion and back-up champion can’t switch places, but grant a health and defense boost to your point champ while below 30% HP. In addition, by using the Sidekick Fuse you get access to Double Down (allowing you to chain supers), and immediate access to super assist and fury break at the start of rounds.
Sidekick also adds a fun ability for the player controling the supporting champion to time button presses with enemy attacks to reduce damage dealt, which seems like a fun little gimmick that’ll keep support players active even if they’re not taking the lead in matches.
There’s also Juggernaut, another new Fuse coming to the next Alpha Lab. This is kind of like the other side of the coin to Sidekick, as it removes the ability to tag or interact with the secondary character entirely. Instead, you focus on one champion, which – like Sidekick – gets a health boost, a defense boost while under 30% HP, and access to fury break at the round start.
However, it also gets some unique quirks – like Eject – which forces your opponent to tag in their back-up champion. You also get a special solo version of Double Down, so you can pop a super and then pop another super right after that all on your lonesome. This Fuse seems like a tool to help folks train on a single champion rather than figure out two at once. Which hey, I struggled with that during Alpha Lab 1, so I’m keen to see how it holds up!
We’ve mentioned Fury Break as a universal new mechanic added to the game in these two new fuses. This has been added in place of the Fury Fuse, which has been removed entirely. Instead, all players regardless of what Fuse they pick will be able to activate Fury Break once one of their champions gets knocked out. It provides a 25% damage and damage reduction boost when activated, and has additional effects depending on when you use it. If you use it to dash-cancel normal or special attacks, the duration of the Fury Break buff is decreased by five seconds!
In a similar vein, the Pulse Combo Fuse has been replaced with an optional Pulse combo setting you can turn on during champion select. This allows you to do auto combos by pressing light, medium, or heavy buttons. This means newer players can still do auto combos while accessing the other fuses.
Okay, now there’s Ranked Lobbies, which come alongside a ranking system which will be familiar to those who’ve played League of Legends. It goes from Aspirant to Challenger, and the stated goal is to give players a method to reliably match up against those of a similar skill level. An important addition! In the original Alpha Lab, both fighting game experts and newcomers were thrown into the same pot, so hopefully this will allow folks to avoid unfair match-ups with 40-year-olds who’ve been playing fighting games since the arcade days.
These are the major gameplay changes you can expect in Alpha Lab 2. Though, there are a variety of additional changes that have been made including Push Assist, the removal of Last Stand in favour of super assists, and the ability to still use assists when one of your champions is dead. There’s also limit strike combo enders which provide powerful bonuses like extra damage or meter gain when used at the end of combos. Other changes can be found in the dev update post.
That’s not all! The control scheme has been changed to make things a little easier, visual clarity has been improved, and public / private lobbies have been touched up as well! On top of all that, there are new cosmetics too. Not only is there another battle pass, an in-game store will be added where players can spend their allocated currency on a variety of cosmetics and finishers, including Pool Party skins for all Ahri, Darius, and Jinx.
Finally, there are Mastery rewards. For completing select missions for champions, you can unlock some cosmetics for your favourite fighter. These include Avatar clothing, taunts, stickers, a mastery reward chroma, and more. So get to grinding folks.
It’s good to finally have 2XKO back in the hands of players, even if I’m sure those of us not living in the Americas are going to be a little saddened by the news. Still, it’ll be interesting to see the tester’s response to the sweep of gameplay changes that have been added to the game. What I’m personally the most interested in is the new Fuses. They both seem laser targeted at helping to onboard players in two drastically different ways. I’d be curious to learn whether or not player retention among those with little fighting game experience improves after this Alpha Lab concludes.
What do you think of this announcement? Are you excited to jump in next month? Let us know below!
