Ling nerfed — reversing his 2.1.86 buff. S2 cooldown is no longer a flat 2s at every level (now starts 2.5s) and energy cost 30 → 35. Last week's "Ling is finally good" buff is being walked back before it ever shipped live.
Claude's power spike delayed, not removed. Ult base damage cut hard but physical-attack scaling raised hard — weaker early/mid, ~same once core items are up. His 2.1.86 S2-cooldown nerf is reverted.
Argus becomes a turret-charger — passive now gains Malice energy while hitting towers (better split-push), paid for with S2 late-game attack speed 80% → 55%.
Sourcing & caveats
⚠️ Advanced Server only — none of this is live. Two-source on the hero changes (Elgin + Kazuki, both 2026-06-06), but the patch number "2.1.88" is Kazuki-only — Elgin names no version. Numbers are creator-stated, pending in-client confirmation. This sits one week on top of 2.1.86, and several heroes move the opposite way they did in 2.1.86 — which is exactly why advance numbers don't go into our live tiers.
Status & the 2.1.86 churn
Both creators dropped their walk-throughs on 2026-06-06; Kazuki labels it patch 2.1.88, advanced server (Elgin names no number). The headline isn't any single change — it's how much this pass undoes 2.1.86 from a week earlier:
| Hero | 2.1.86 (last week) | 2.1.88 (this pass) |
|---|---|---|
| Ling | ⬆️ buffed — atk speed up, S2 CD shorter, energy lower | ⬇️ reversed — S2 CD 2s→2.5s base, energy 30→35 |
| Claude | ⬇️ S2 cooldown +1s | 🔀 that S2-CD nerf reverted; ult re-tuned (delay spike) |
| Aulus | 🔀 reshaped (flat level scaling + dash) | ⬆️ further buffed — enhanced basic 120→160 |
| Kaja | ⬆️ revamp "glow-up" | ↩️ experimental changes reverted |
| Masha | 🔀 reworked (regen/crit fixes) | ↩️ experimental changes reverted |
That's five heroes whipsawing direction inside seven days. It is the clearest possible argument for not committing advance-server numbers to tier reads — re-check once the live client confirms.
Buffs
| Hero | Dir. | Change (creator-stated) |
|---|---|---|
| Hilda | ⬆️ | Base physical attack 103 → 120 (Elgin) / 103 → 123 (Kazuki) — sources disagree on the exact value; both agree it's a big early jump. Attack growth per level reduced → power shifted back to the early game where Hilda wants to bully. |
| Khaleed | ⬆️ | Partial rollback of prior nerfs: base HP 2550 → 2600; Skill 1 physical-attack scaling raised (Kazuki; exact % muddled in the transcript — directionally up). More lane durability and sustain. (Elgin's intro confirms a Khaleed buff; numbers are Kazuki's.) |
| Aulus | ⬆️ | Passive enhanced basic-attack base damage 120 → 160 (both sources) — a sizeable trading/DPS bump on top of his 2.1.86 reshape. |
| Carmilla | 🔀 | Skill 1 base damage trimmed from 100→150 down to 85→135 (both sources). Technically a nerf vs the prior advance build, but still a net buff over the live/official server — a tuning, not a rollback. |
| Marcel | 🔀 | Dialed back after last patch's big buff: out-of-combat regeneration removed, but natural HP regen massively increased (12.4 → 22.4/s) for in-fight/lane stability; Skill 1 early damage 450 → 350 (Kazuki; Elgin's intro flags a Marcel sustain adjustment). |
"Hilda is getting some love again — her base physical attack jumps from 103 to 123 … this mainly shifts her power back towards the early game where Hilda loves to dominate." — Kazuki
Nerfs & reshapes
| Hero | Dir. | Change (creator-stated) |
|---|---|---|
| Argus | 🔀 | Passive now gains Malice energy while attacking turrets → triggers far more often when split-pushing. Trade-off: Skill 2 late-game attack-speed bonus 80% → 55% (both sources). Stronger turret-destroyer, weaker late-game machine-gun. |
| Ling | ⬇️ | Reverses the 2.1.86 buff. Skill 2 cooldown no longer a flat 2s at every level — now starts at 2.5s; energy cost 30 → 35 (Kazuki; Elgin's intro lists Ling among the toned-down picks). Less early mobility and combo frequency. |
| Claude | 🔀 | Ultimate base damage heavily reduced, physical-attack scaling massively increased → weak early/mid, ~same once core items land (the dev "delays the power spike"). Skill 2 cooldown reverted to ~13s at level 1 (Elgin: 14→13) / 13 → 10.5s (Kazuki) — sources differ on the exact figure, agree it's shorter again. |
| Freya | ⬇️ | Ultimate cooldown 34→26s → 44→28s (both sources) — a massive early-game increase. Far longer downtime windows where her all-ins can be punished. |
| Harley | ⬇️ | Skill 2 cooldown 8→6s → 9→7s and mana/energy cost up to 100 (both sources). Can't spam his blink as freely — escapes and dives are riskier. |
| Kalea | ⬇️ | Skill 2 cooldown 13→11s → 16→13s (Kazuki) — noticeably fewer engage/mobility windows, especially early. |
| Phoveus | ⬇️ | Base HP, physical attack and physical defense all reduced (Kazuki; Elgin's intro lists "Fuvius" toned down) — directly weakens his early laning phase before his core comes online. |
| Paquito | ⬇️ | Enhanced-skill bonus damage vs minions reduced (slower lane clear) and the damage-reduction gained after casting enhanced skills reduced (less durable in trades). Actual hero damage untouched — still a strong pick, just a harder early game (Kazuki; Elgin lists Paquito toned down). |
Transcript note: Elgin's video is the second source for Argus → Aulus → Balmond → Carmilla → Claude → Freya → Harley → Hilda; past Hilda his audio transcription degrades into a loop, so the Kalea, Ling, Phoveus, Paquito, Marcel and revert lines rest on Kazuki alone (Elgin's intro names the same heroes as buffed/nerfed but the per-hero numbers were unrecoverable).
Balmond ⬇️ — Skill 2 bonus HP-damage 1.4% → 1.3% (Kazuki; Elgin: "slightly reduced"), a small revert of his earlier buffs; still spins, just hits tanks a touch softer.
Reverts, battlefield & system
- Kaja & Masha — their 2.1.86 experimental adjustments are temporarily reverted; nothing new to evaluate on them this pass. (This is why 2.1.86's Kaja "glow-up" and Masha rework shouldn't be banked.)
- Leila (battlefield) — passive + Skill 2 descriptions clarified to match in-game behaviour. No balance change — pure QoL.
- Season Achievement system — lane-track mission requirements rebalanced after some lanes completed far faster than intended; still in testing, so achievement points/levels may keep shifting.
Kazuki tallies this as a "17 hero" pass — ~14 active adjustments above plus the Kaja/Masha-style reverts. He also notes the in-video survey/skin content (August collector lineup led by a Balmond collector, Street Fighter interaction effects, an upgraded Stellar Summon pool, Exorcist 3.0 still postponed with assets in the files, and a "Sweet Afternoon Tea" survey series) — that's cosmetic/event news, tracked separately in our Events feed, not here.
Aggregate read
A re-tuning pass with no new hero or item content — the story is correction, not creation. Moonton spent 2.1.88 partly undoing 2.1.86: Ling's buff reversed, Claude's S2 nerf reverted, Kaja/Masha experiments pulled. The genuinely new directions are Argus as a turret-charger (a real split-push identity nudge), Claude's spike-delay re-tune (lower early, same late), and early-game-shifted Hilda/Khaleed in the EXP lane.
Because this is advance-server, partly self-reverting, and the patch number rests on a single creator, none of it touches our live tier tables. The one thing worth watching for the live patch: whether Argus's turret-charging passive and Claude's delayed spike survive intact — both would meaningfully change how those heroes are played.
TaggedHildaKhaleedAulusCarmillaMarcelArgusBalmondClaudeFreyaHarleyKaleaPhoveusLingPaquitoKajaMasha
Sources2
More updates
- Advanced Server 2.1.86 (late May) — Ling, Kaja, Aurora, Ruby & Zhuxin Buffed; Suyou / Leomord / Claude / Odette Toned Downjun 7
- Advanced Server 2.1.84 — The Crit-True-Damage Passive Jumps To Berserker's Fury, Rank-Specific Balancing Arrives, Chaos Brawl Landsmay 23
- Official Server — Five-Hero Adjustment: Paquito & Belerick Buffed, Chou Combo Smoothed, Aulus Reshaped, Harley Nerfedmay 17
- Advanced Server 2.1.82 — Argus & Ruby Reworked *Again*, Great Dragon Spear Becomes A Crit Item, Yin's Slow Comes Backmay 16