Does rotation increase velocity?

So here's my situation: my character has to fall from a cliff unto a breakable block, but has to fall far enough to get enough energy to break it. I start him off at a set height that I know has worked in the past.

If stumbles off the ledge and rotates, he hits the breakable block with enough force to break it. But if he goes straight down without rotating, his force is so minimal, Unity displays it to me using scientific notation.

Does rotation affect a RigidBody2D's velocity? And if so, what can I do to make the fall generate the same amount of force regardless of my character's rotation?

Also, other things in my game seem to have broken since the last time I used Unity in April 2016. Has Unity changed the way they handle forces and velocity in the last two months since April 2016?