Upcoming update 13.1 is gonna bring new balance changes to the game. Not so long ago, we released a big balance update. You’ve sent us a lot of feedback about it, and we thank you greatly for all of it. We analyzed all your messages, did some research on our side and got lots of raw data on how the guns work in the current meta.
All of this information helped us define the important balance changes that we’re adding now. Thank you for all the suggestions and ideas - they helped us greatly in finding the right equilibrium. We believe that now there’s a more refined balance between different weapon types and models.
This is definitely not the last balance patch. We understand that there’s still work to do and plan to tweak the item stats further on. Keep sending us feedback and your suggestions about the current weapon stats, and stay tuned for updates.
Table of contents:
Assault Rifles
Assault Rifles are the bread and butter of the game — they’re the base of any specialization loadout. We want these guns to be different, distinctive and specialized. We don’t want to have a universal weapon that works better than other models in all possible situations. Our goal is to make Assault Rifles useful for different purposes, so that you switch between them not out of curiosity, but out of tactical necessity. That’s the reason behind the changes listed below.
Incinerator - Buff
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Increased rate of fire (from 300 to 350)
Developer commentary: This AR was globally reworked in the previous balance patch, and its functionality was completely overhauled. We completely agree with your generous feedback about the gun’s rate of fire - it lacked it. That’s why we added some. We’re sure this change will let you experience the weapon’s full potential and allow the advantages we added in the previous update to truly shine. Incinerator is a powerful gun, but it won’t become the absolute powerhouse. It has its nuances, just like the close-combat Dragonfire or the skill-based Juggernaut. For instance, the Ifrit vest is a straight-up counter to Incinerator.
Firefly - Buff
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Increased magazine capacity (from 40 to 45)
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Increased ammo carrying capacity (from 80 to 90)
Developer commentary: We’ve got some feedback from you and checked our own stats: it turns out, once you got to the red stage, you had almost no ammo to deal that massive damage. That’s why we’re increasing mag size. The original magazine held 50 bullets, the rebalanced version held 40 bullets. Now it holds 45, and it feels like the sweet spot.
Bastion - Minor Nerf
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Minor bullet spread increase
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Decreased rate of fire (from 340 to 320)
Developer commentary: Bastion was always a mighty weapon, and last December it got even deadlier. You’ve sent us a lot of suggestions about it, we carried out a thorough investigation of our own, and as a result, we introduce a small nerf - this way, the gun will be on equal footing with other ARs.
Shotguns
A couple of shotguns got buffed in this balance patch. The modifications aren’t too drastic, but they should make it more comfortable to play with these guns.
Berserker - Buff
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Increased rate of fire (from 80 to 100)
Developer commentary: Berserker was slow. Objectively. Now it’s more fit for the game’s overall tempo.
Ranger - Buff
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Minimum damage distance increased (from 6 to 8 meters)
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Decreased rate of fire (from 63 to 50)
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Increased damage by 30%
Developer commentary: Ranger was not affected by the balance changes of December, but we've got lots of feedback from you regarding its firepower and decided to buff it. These stat changes won’t make it the most devastating close-combat gun in the game, but they will give it the competitive edge it needed.
Cerberus - Buff
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Slightly increased recoil
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Attack speed increases faster
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Increased rate of fire (from 100 to 120)
Developer commentary: We were right in increasing Cerberus’ attack speed last time, and now we’re just putting the finishing touches with better fire rate and faster speeding up. This should give you even more opportunities on the battlefield.
Sniper Rifles
Sniper rifles are awesome, but they should feel like big and mighty weapons, not like toy guns. That’s why most of them got an increase in recoil. The guns we tweaked aren’t OP, but without almost any recoil, they just feel wrong.
Icebreaker - Minor Nerf
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Slightly increased recoil
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Decreased maximum firing distance (from 42 to 40 meters)
Developer commentary: You’ve sent us a lot of feedback about this one. However, raw data showed that it wasn’t OP, at least damage-wise. There was a problem with it though - you could fire several shots in a row and hit the same spot over and over. This is not how sniper rifles work: in reality, you need to aim for each and every shot. So this nerf does not affect DPS, yet it makes the rifle a little more realistic by increasing the recoil.
Scout - Minor Nerf
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Increased recoil
Developer commentary: We love this gunbucks gun with all our hearts, and think it’s cool. Yet we listened to your feedback and decided to give it a minor nerf: adding some more recoil will help this gun become more balanced and skill-oriented.
Liquidator - Minor Nerf
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Increased recoil
Developer commentary: It’s a pretty balanced and solid weapon, but it needed at least some recoil to feel like a sniper rifle. That’s what we did.
Last Breath - Buff
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Decreased aiming time (from 0,9 to 0,8 seconds)
Developer commentary: It is a very powerful and dangerous gun that can be quite deadly in the right hands. However, we decided to reduce the aiming time to make it more player-friendly and overall easier to use.
Pistols
Last time we reworked pistols towards more damage and less speed. The community was very clear on this issue - a fast gun is much more welcome than a deadly gun. That’s why we’re adding fire rate to the pistols and cutting down some damage, so they don’t become too OP. All the pistols on the list got the same tweaks, so there’s no need to comment on each one - the idea stays the same. We believe that these changes will set things right.
Anathema - Rework
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Increased rate of fire (from 200 to 280)
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Decreased damage by 29%
Eagle - Rework
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Increased rate of fire (from 150 to 250)
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Decreased damage by 40%
Executioner - Rework
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Increased rate of fire (from 95 to 260)
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Decreased damage by 74%
Oppressor - Rework
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Increased rate of fire (from 280 to 400)
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Decreased damage by 30%
Consumables
We also tweaked one of the latest additions to the game - the Med Module. Sure, it’s not a weapon but a consumable, yet it can be a game-changer, so it does affect balance.
Med Module - Buff
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New perk - 20% resist against incoming damage (except elemental)
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Increased effect duration (from 6 to 10 seconds)
Developer commentary: The Med Module just wasn’t effective enough. Sure, it prompted your team to group up, but the health regeneration benefit just didn’t cut it. Now its effects last longer, and the Med Module also gives a 20% boost to your resistances (all except elemental) while you’re standing in its area of effect.
Glossary
Bullet spread - the diameter around the center of the crosshair, in which the fired bullets hit the target.
Recoil - the force with which the weapon “hits you back” once you fire. Recoil causes your crosshair to move.
Maximum firing distance - the maximum distance at which your gun can fire.
Minimum damage distance - the distance at which your gun deals minimum damage.
Rate of fire - How many shots your gun does in 60 seconds.
Magazine capacity - the number of rounds in a full magazine.
Ammo carrying capacity - the number of rounds you can carry around. Usually equals two full magazines.
Aiming time - the time it takes for a sniper rifle in scoped mode to fully aim at a target and make the shot.
That’s all the changes for today.
