[Class Discussion] The Death of Nova Awakening

The Death of Nova Awakening

Sep 26, 2025, 20:06 (UTC)

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Last Edit : Sep 26, 2025, 20:06 (UTC)

# 1

Hi guys, it's your fella again, Abelle.
The post is not mine, but we need an EU/NA representation, you can find the Asia and SA posts here:

https://blackdesert.pearlabyss.com/Asia/en-US/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=109956&_page=1

https://www.sa.playblackdesert.com/pt-BR/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=65610&_page=1

The Nova Awakening community is unhappy with the current status of the class after the changes and we want to bring attention to the issues:

The Global Labs patch of April 25, 2025 (https://blackdesert.pearlabyss.com/GlobalLab/en-US/News/Notice/Detail?_boardNo=7768) included changes to the New Awakening that fundamentally altered how the class behaves, effectively making it impossible for the class to participate in PvP content and making PvE less enjoyable and more tedious.

This patch reached the live servers on April 30, 2025 (https://www.sa.playblackdesert.com/pt-BR/News/Detail?groupContentNo=6137).

To recap the changes:

Overall, most, if not all, skills have had their attack range reduced and extra animations added.

Lunge
Reduced attack range, increased cooldown, added an extra animation at the beginning of the skill, causing the skill that connected most of the class's kit to become stuck.

Remise
Reduced attack range, increased cooldown, removed the defense reduction effect.

Fleche
Reduced attack range, increased cooldown

Riposte
Reduced attack range, removed dash on the last hit, no longer able to directly use the 3-hit move after any skill.

Accel Swooping
Reduced attack range, increased cooldown.

Comet
Lost connection with skills, allowing fast casting only after some skills and now turning with the camera.

Brutal Ring
Lost the fast connection it had with Frozen Ring.

After the changes on April 30, 2025, there were two more changes in the New Awakening.

In the July 24, 2025 patch (https://www.sa.playblackdesert.com/pt-BR/News/Detail?groupContentNo=6530), they increased the AP of the acceleration mode from 30 to 40, which is actually good if you ignore everything that was changed in the class.

In the August 14, 2025 patch (https://www.sa.playblackdesert.com/pt-BR/News/Detail?groupContentNo=6629), Cast Speed was added to the "Engarde" buff (Accel Mode). This is useless, since the Cast Speed buff already exists in the "Lunge" skill, a skill that can be used at any time with a 5-second cooldown and the buff lasts for 10 seconds.

In the same patch, a reset mechanism was also added to the "Break Orbit" skill when the "Twisted Orbit" skill hits. However, this mechanism doesn't seem to work correctly when using the "Break Orbit" skill immediately after the "Twisted Orbit."

In the September 18, 2025 patch, the "Accel.: Break Orbit" skill was changed so that it can be used in a sequence up to two times forward/backward, and the second dash can be used in an iFrame like the first. Previously, it was only possible to dash sideways, but the dash became slower due to changes in the dash animation.
The same patch also re-added the ability to use the "Twisted Orbit" and "Accel.: Twisted Orbit" skills during their cooldown, but this time it's significantly slower and stuttered, as many of the class's animations were changed in the April 30, 2025 patch. Before the changes, it looked like this: https://www.twitch.tv/swpz/clip/PerfectBraveBoarSpicyBoy-lgYkccxaYMl_3PwZ. This old version also served as a PvE iFrame for mobs, since the "Twisted Orbit" skill provided Monster Invincibility (removed in the April 30, 2025 patch).
A comparison from old to new: https://streamable.com/mna0w7

On the Novas server (https://discord.gg/4PrzEHm), there are players who have returned to the game due to the updates and the ball, and when they go to play with Nova, they simply stop playing again (https://discord.com/channels/484280862721048586/796349967215493180/1389346533627138058, among others).

In the weekly boss rankings, over 90% of the New Awakenings disappeared, even though they performed better in PvE.

The New Awakenings also disappeared from Solare, with not a single one in the top 100.

Even though a rollback is extreme, why aren't any changes made to restore the class's essence?

When the patch was released in Global Labs, there were several posts on the forums. Servers:

NA/EU
https://www.naeu.playblackdesert.com/en-US/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=68107
https://www.naeu.playblackdesert.com/en-US/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=66367
https://www.naeu.playblackdesert.com/en-US/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=6 6354
https://www.naeu.playblackdesert.com/en-US/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=66372
https://www.naeu.playblackdesert.com/en-US/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=66634
https://www.reddit.com/r/blackdesertonline/comments/1k7vfk6/nova_nerfs_rant_about_balancing/ (Made by the winner of the EU PA Best in Class tournament, among other tournaments)

SA
https://www.sa.playblackdesert.com/pt-BR/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=64586
https://www.sa.playblackdesert.com/pt-BR/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=64577

KR
https://www.kr.playblackdesert.com/ko-KR/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=136968
https://www.kr.playblackdesert.com/ko-KR/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=134690
https://www.kr.playblackdesert.com/ko-KR/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=133078
https://www.kr.playblackdesert.com/ko-KR/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=133068
https://www.kr.playblackdesert.com/ko-KR/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=133043
https://www.kr.playblackdesert.com/ko-KR/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=133037
https://www.kr.playblackdesert.com/ko-KR/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=133025

MENA
https://www.tr.playblackdesert.com/tr-TR/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=27790&_opinionNo=50450

Global Labs Discord
https://discord.com/channels/464331614059626496/565768488304640003/1365426075840282635 (from this message down)

News Discord
https://discord.com/channels/484280862721048586/938496102196461579/1365398844447129691 (from this message down)

Stay healthy, drink plenty, and have fun guys.

AbelleFFS

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Novabelleh

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Last Edit : Sep 26, 2025, 20:32 (UTC)

# 2

Awakened Nova is in desperate need of a revert. She has completely lost her identity, and I have no desire to return to the class regardless of whatever new "buffs" she receives. To give some background as to why I believe my opinion matters, I was a day one awakened Nova on the NA server. I saw the classes potential early, and loved playing it due to her speed from the get-go. I was a top awakened Nova player in NW dropping multiple storm troopers/special forces commander consistently, was #1 awk nova in the first Best in Class tournament by coming in 3rd (was screwed out of first by succ novas -_-), and overall a huge fan of the class in both PVP and PVE. Since her "doom patch", I have yet to return. She does not feel good, the comboing is awful and not fluid, movement is janky, and she is just a shadow of her former self. I am not asking for her to return to the glory days of 3 skilling a group of people with accel swooping, starfall, and remise, but I just want some semblance of what she used to be. Please PA, consider bringing back old awk Nova, even if it means some slight nerfs. Sadly, I know you guys never look at these things, so in the end I'm just talking to a brick wall. Goodbye and farewell Awk Nova, you will be missed.

stonezz

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Stonezz

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Last Edit : Sep 26, 2025, 20:42 (UTC)

# 3

i hope they dont revert and it stays the same ( as a nova main the changes are amazing)

doNotProblem

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AlucardDX

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Last Edit : Sep 26, 2025, 20:53 (UTC)

# 4

Damage nerfs/mobility nerfs sure ok cool but why make a class clunky? Not being able to use twisted orbit off cooldown on top of it being replaced by a jankier version that makes the class stiff and sluggish makes 0 sense. For players that don't know what the skill is or what it feels like now...imagine running but you have to take a step twice on the same foot before you can use the other one. That's how it feels.

Swpz

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Shesna

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Last Edit : Sep 26, 2025, 20:58 (UTC)

# 5

Class feels garbageeeeeeeeeee

Prodigy2

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Anonymoys

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Last Edit : Sep 26, 2025, 21:16 (UTC)

# 6

I think it's important to point out that the current pve performance of the class is good, the issue is with the gameplay being destroyed by the balance changes back in april, and the most recent ""buff"" we recieved that made our dash feel significantly clunkier and delayed, for the tradeoff of not having to press shift twice.

Before the april balance patch, the class performed significantly worse than it does currently, but I would go back to that version in a heartbeat, because the movement and fluidity of it felt so much better.

Cheeseot

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Chs

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Last Edit : Sep 26, 2025, 21:51 (UTC)

# 7

On: Sep 26, 2025, 20:53 (UTC), Written by Swpz

100% agree on that and feel the same! And not because i think the changes need to be reverted, i think more like adjusting it again to give her some identity back which is one of the most problems for me tho beside the fact that it feels super weird to play as you said, it doesnt feel polished enough to play her. But they also completely killed awa drak so i totally lost any hope in PA tbh, they prolly dont even see the problems out there.

Sugarblast

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DeusMaximus

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Last Edit : Sep 26, 2025, 22:39 (UTC)

# 8

Been Nova day 1. Loved the class for its high speed gameplay, cancels, and control. It was a fast class, but also precise at the same time. I really hate how clunky the class feels now. If anything I hope they focus on taking her into a fresh direction. Accel is a very cool concept I hope they look at it again if they plan on rebalancing her in the future. Or at least find a way to reconcile the absurd difference between awakening and succession. Really hope they work on it. Sad to see her waste away. She only holds fail stacks now...