This patch quietly re-shapes how ranked and tournament matches play. It tightens goalkeeper logic, tones down several over-performing kits, and finally stabilizes a lot of long-standing flow and iframe abuse. If you play competitive, these changes directly affect how you take shots, pressure keepers, and build reaction chains.
Azure Latch QOL Update 2026 – Balance Changes After Don Lorenzo
Below is the full breakdown in a clean, player-first format.
New Emotes and MVP Rewards
New Emotes
Prideful
Hopeful
Pipebomb
New MVP Animations
Divine Technique
Vindication
Goalkeeper Balance Changes
Auto deflection against high-velocity flow shots has been re-enabled. Shots like Golden Zone and Kaiser Impact Lightning Strike can now be deflected again instead of piercing through keepers.
Goalkeepers now gain 7.5 percent flow when saving skill-based shots such as Kaiser Impact and Draconic Shot.
Goalkeepers no longer gain flow inside the box unless they are positioned outside of it, preventing free flow farming while camping goal.
AI Goalkeepers now throw the ball to the most optimal teammate instead of random passes.
Don Lorenzo Mastery Rebalance
Zombie Walk
Successful grabs no longer have endlag, making clean interceptions smoother.
Zombie Dribble
Dash count reduced from three to two, limiting chain rush spam.
Undead Crash
Pass speed increased by ten percent.
Chemical Reaction with Barou now has a fifteen-second expiry timer that begins only when Barou catches the ball.
Defensive Stance
Hitbox increased from twenty to twenty-five for more consistent blocks.
Horrific Intercept
Mark-variant pass range reduced by fifty percent.
Mark-variant pass speed reduced by ten percent.
Moving forward while using the Mark variant now performs the dribble even if teammates are nearby.
Ace Eater
On-ball stun duration increased by 0.8 seconds.
On-ball expiration removed. Ace Eater now has a seven-second cooldown between uses.
Off-ball Ace Eater now counts toward the on-ball usage chain.
Price Check
Shot debuff reduced from thirty percent to eighteen percent.
Walk speed debuff reduced from twenty percent to twelve percent.
Effect now expires after twenty-four seconds.
Players previously marked cannot be marked again by another Don Lorenzo for twenty-four seconds.
Individual Character Adjustments
Nagi
Fake Volley now has more punishable endlag.
Yukimiya
Sword Screw can now be volleyed.
Sae
Nutmeg now stuns the target for 0.4 seconds.
Kurona
Guard Dog no longer bypasses dribbles.
Successful landings no longer apply endlag.
Chigiri
Golden Zone tackle range reduced by fifty percent.
Bachira
Monster Counter distance reduced from 165 to 135 studs.
Monster Leap hitbox now only extends below the player’s legs.
Kunigami
Hero’s Instinct now adapts based on contact.
Touching a player with the ball triggers the kick version.
Touching a player without the ball triggers the steal version.
The close-range version was removed, making the run version the only form.
Bug Fixes and System Improvements
New ball holders in 11v11 now receive 0.1 seconds of iframes.
Flow animations now grant 0.2 seconds of true iframes after ending.
Penalty box cutscenes now freeze the ball steal timer properly.
Crowd audio and cheering are now separated in settings.
Crowd audio now correctly mutes on spawn.
Team color changing has been re-enabled.
Added PS+ RecolorStyle command for custom RGB or hex recoloring.
Kurona’s temporary benefits no longer persist beyond their intended duration.