With Taz Nerfed, Shaggy is the Next Target for the MultiVersus Community

In the latest balance changes made to MultiVersus, Taz was nerfed, but now it seems that the next one in line is none other than Shaggy Rogers. So, why is the lanky man with a sandwich obsession in the crosshairs for the MultiVersus community? Apparently, he has a move that can carry him and bring wins easily.

The move in question is his Chiller Instinct Kick. This is his side special move where he does that flying kick with the purple aura. People are having a hard time countering it since the move gets a lot of priority. And for those who don’t know what priority in a fighting game is, here’s what it is broken down essentially.

When two people perform an attack at the same time, one of the attackers will have priority in hitting the other player. The one with priority cancels out the opponent’s attack, oftentimes meaning they are the one who gets the hit registered and does damage. This was a problem namely with Taz’s tornado before the nerf. It was able to hurt players even though they attacked him while in tornado form.

Players might be quick to jump the gun with Shaggy’s kick. Since he was part of last week’s rotation of free characters, many more players used him. There were probably more Shaggy’s in online matches compared to someone like Batman simply because of being free, but also being a beloved character in peoples’ childhoods and being a meme.

It would not be a surprise if the next batch of free characters in the current rotation is going to be caught in the crossfire of mass complaints and calls for nerfs. While this game is nowhere near complete or perfectly balanced, it’s still rather new. People haven’t learned matchups or the true potential of legitimately problematic characters.

Besides, this game also has to find a balance for characters while taking its 1v1s and 2v2s into consideration. What might work in a 2v2 could easily be countered in a 1v1. With Shaggy’s kick being very effective because of its priority and knockback, it isn’t what entirely carries the character. In a 2v2 scenario, you can be caught off guard by the kick because you’re occupied with another player. When he comes in like a battering ram and KO’s you, it can be frustrating.

Right now, it’s too soon to tell if Shaggy will have his kick nerfed in the next MultiVersus patch. If there comes a point where there’s an uneven distribution of Shaggy wins and it’s attributed to his kick, then nerfs are warranted. If anything, this seems more like a “noob stomper”: a move that casuals can’t seem to find counterplay with because they won’t put the time in to work around it.

MultiVersus is out now for open beta on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series consoles, and PC.