Here's to a New Year of Skullgirls!

Now that the countdown to the year is over and January settles in, the season of Snow Mercy tightens its grip. While it may be chilly for some, remember that warmth returns again in due time. And with that reminder, we look towards balance. No, not just talk about the weather outside, but with a flurry of balance updates that will be revealed in this month's patch notes! It's one of our largest passes yet, so be sure to check out all of the details below.

This update also introduces two new variants, drawing from different corners of gaming history and modern design. One brings a familiar, old-school sensibility, while the other emphasizes precision, control, and high-impact offense. Together, they reflect the range of playstyles and inspirations that continue to shape Skullgirls Mobile. So blow a big puff of air into an old cartridge for good luck, and hopefully you'll get a high score with One Up Big Band and Locked ‘N’ Loaded Black Dahlia.

A new year also brings a renewed focus. As we move into 2026, we're more excited than ever to continue delivering more updates that make the game more fun, more engaging, and more rewarding for everyone. Patch 8.2 is another step forward, and we’re excited to see what the year ahead brings alongside the entire Skullgirls Mobile community.

New Backstage Pass: Retro Reload Rumble

One Up Big Band

Element: Neutral

Stats

Gold:

Base ATK: 256

Base HP: 2205

Diamond:

Base ATK: 499

Base HP: 4300

Signature Ability: 8-Bit Hit

SA1: For every 8 COMBO HITS landed, gain DEADEYE for 5/7/10 seconds and BARRIER.

SA2: When reaching 8, 16, 32 and 64 COMBO HITS, reduce opponent's CURRENT HEALTH and BLOCKBUSTER METER by .5/.75/1% for each current COMBO HIT.

Locked ‘N’ Loaded Black Dahlia

Element: Air

Stats

Diamond:

Base ATK: 613

Base HP: 4169

Signature Ability: Drain Soul

SA1: When FIRING a SHOT, sacrifice 3% of Black Dahlia's MAX HEALTH to inflict WITHER and gain 5/7/8% BLOCKBUSTER METER.

SA2: When using a BLOCKBUSTER, DRAIN 3/4/5% of the opponent's MAX HEALTH per stack of WITHER and convert all stacks of WITHER on the opponent to INVERSE POLARITY for 3 seconds per stack.

Updated Monthly Relics

January High Resolution Relic (2026)

The following variants are in the High Resolution Relic for this year!

Silvers: 

Number One Beowulf
Soul Crusher Black Dahlia
Robocopy Big Band
Biohazard Black Dahlia
Nightshade Eliza
Sawed Apart Painwheel
Rock Star Filia
Feline Lucky Ms. Fortune
Inkling Peacock
Nyanotech Robo-Fortune
Dead Heat Squigly
Kill Joy Valentine

Golds:

One Up Big Band (50% chance to drop when rolling Gold tier!)

Materia Girl Annie (25% chance to drop)

Hell's Belle Fukua (25% chance to drop)

Diamond:

Locked 'N' Loaded Black Dahlia (New!) (100% chance to drop when rolling Diamond tier!)

Debutante Diamond Relic (2026)

Diamond:

Locked 'N' Loaded Black Dahlia (50% chance to drop!)

Foot Soldier Ms. Fortune (25% chance to drop)

Proton Pulse Robo Fortune (25% chance to drop)

Fighters Entering the Standard Relic Pool

We have a new set of Fighters that are entering the standard relic pool. These can all be found in Premiere Relics. Ionic Icon Peacock and Proton Pulse Robo-Fortune are also now available in Fortune’s Favor.

Gold:

Ionic Icon Peacock

Diamond:

Proton Pulse Robo Fortune

New Fighters in the Shard Exchange Store

This month, we have Dark Lord Eliza and Nail Biter Squigly in the Shard Exchange store!

Balance Changes:

We have quite a few balance changes coming in this month aimed at making some variants more viable options across game modes, and especially some more viable offensively.

Epic Sax Big Band:

SA1: Deal 1/2/3% bonus damage per COMBO HIT. (Removed 200% Bonus Cap)

SA2: Gain a random BUFF every 20/15/10 COMBO HITS for 8 seconds. (Now showing the duration of buffs and increased the duration from 5 seconds to 8 seconds)

Foot Soldier Ms. Fortune:

SA2: Deal 5/7/10% bonus damage for each BUFF applied to either Fighter. (Removed the bonus damage cap)

Dream Band Big Band:

SA2: When either Fighter is KNOCKED DOWN, reset the timers of all active BUFFS and gain IMMUNITY for 5/7/8 seconds. (Changed from “When KNOCKED DOWN” to “When either Fighter is KNOCKED DOWN” and reduced Immunity duration from 5/10/15 to 5/7/8)

Materia Girl Annie:

SA1: 20% chance to gain 5/7/10% STAR POWER meter when either Fighter is HIT (includes Blocking). (Increased Probability from 10% to 20% and increased STAR POWER gained from 3/4/5% to 5/7/10%)

Assassin's Greed Valentine:

SA1: When either Fighter uses a BLOCKBUSTER, the opponent loses 15/20/25% of their remaining HEALTH and suffers HEAVY BLEED for 5 seconds. (Changed from “When the opponent uses a BLOCKBUSTER to “When either Fighter uses a BLOCKBUSTER”)

Proton Pulse:

SA2: When using a BLOCKBUSTER, gain ENRAGE, REGEN, or EVASION for 10/15/20 seconds per stack of POWER SURGE on both fighters and remove all POWER SURGE. (Fixed a bug for EVASION being used as a random BUFF and re-added it back to Proton Pulse)

Octoplasm Marie:

SA1: When TAGGING to or from Marie, the incoming Fighter gains 2 stacks of REGEN for 15 seconds and 10/12/15% BLOCKBUSTER METER. (Changed it so only the incoming Fighter gains the buff, but also all teammates can benefit from this effect, not just Water teammates)

Megasonic Big Band:

SA1: When blocking a HIT, reduce damage taken by 25/50/75%, and gain ENRAGE and THORNS for 10 seconds. One ENRAGE stack is removed every 5 COMBO HITS. ("One ENRAGE stack is removed on the next successful HIT" has been replaced by "One ENRAGE stack is removed every 5 COMBO HITS")

Rock Star Filia:

SA1: While Filia is alive, teammates TAG IN with 1/2/3 stack(s) of BARRIER for 10 seconds. (Same text, but now affects herself)

SA2: When any teammate’s BARRIER expires, they gain FINAL STAND for 10 seconds and 10/15/20% BLOCKBUSTER METER. (Same text, but now affects herself)

Hell's Belle Fukua:

SA1: While the opponent's HEALTH is above 35%, 10/12/15% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5 seconds and a random DEBUFF. (Decreased HEALTH Threshold from 50% to 35% and increased chance on HIT from 5/7/10% to 10/12/15%)

Just Kitten:

SA2: 5/10/15% chance when either Fighter is hit by any non-projectile HIT to gain 1 stack of EVASION and HASTE for 10 seconds. (Changed from “on any non-Projectile HIT” to “when either Fighter is hit by any non-projectile HIT)

Heavy Reign Parasoul:

Base Stats adjusted from:

X-Bot Robo-Fortune:

Increased Base Attack stat from 538 to 685. HP is unchanged.

Locked In Parasoul:

Base Stats adjusted from:

Bug Fixes

Last Hope Valentine:

SA1: Valentine will now be able to revive herself once, along with the rest of her teammates.

Star Shine Annie:

SA1: Updated text to show that the buffs received lasted 8/10/12 seconds, not 8/12/20 seconds. Actual values unchanged.

Model Leader Annie:

SA1: While Annie is alive, she clears the active Fighter's DEBUFFS and grants ARMOR for 15 seconds every 30/25/20 seconds. Water teammates also gain 2 stacks of ENRAGE for 15 seconds. (Now affects the active fighter, not all teammates)

Quality of Life Changes

Combo Damage Bonus Increases now uncapped:

Moves such as Big Band's BB1 - Beat Extend, and Fukua's Drill of my Dreams BB1 no longer have a +200% damage increase limit, and can stack infinitely. This is also why Epic Sax no longer has a cap on his SA1.

Random Buffs/Debuffs Application:

Whenever Random Buffs or Debuffs will be applied, it will first try to apply buffs and debuffs that are not at max stacks first. Previously, this led to random buffs or debuffs not being applied because it had selected something that was unable to be applied.

For example, if a Fighter already has HASTE, when another random buff attempts to be applied, it will not choose HASTE since the fighter is already benefiting from it.

In another example, if a Fighter already has 1 Stack of REGEN, the random buff applied can still be a REGEN, until the Fighter is up to 5 stacks of REGEN, then it will no longer attempt to apply REGEN.

Holodeck Hazards/Holodeck Mayhem:

Master Mode of both Holodeck Hazards and Holodeck Mayhem will now only use natural diamond fighters as opponents. This means that in general, this event will be slightly more difficult, but also give consistently higher XP!

Recruited Characters in Parallel Realms:

The second option for Recruit characters in Parallel Realms will no longer only be Marie, but be from the list of all fighters, similar to the first option.

Marie Character Relics

Marie Character Relics have been added to the pool of potential character relics obtainable from Gold Social Gifts.

Main Menu Characters

There is now a “Pause Menu Characters” option in Settings > Gameplay that will stop the movement of characters on the main menu. This should help some devices perform better while this is enabled.

Thanks again to our community and testers for all of your incredible support this year. We've accomplished so much with your help, but we know there is still so much more to explore in the coming year. We hope you are enjoying playing the game as much as we are loving working on it. Here's to another year and the 10th Anniversary of Skullgirls!

-Autumn Games Team