Aliens Fireteam Elite Update 1.21 Patch Notes (Season 3)

Aliens Fireteam Elite update 1.21 (1.021) is now available to download on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and PC(Steam). According to the official Aliens Fireteam Elite patch notes, the latest season 3 update added a new Class Kit – Lancer, a new Loadout Presets feature as well as new weapons, cosmetics, and rewards to unlock in-game. Apart from this, today’s Aliens Fireteam Elite patch 1.21 (1.0.3.96150) also includes a long list of bug fixes and changes.

Previously, a major update added the new Point Defense game mode, a new Lifetime Stats feature, new weapons, a multitude of new cosmetics, and more.

Unfortunetly, players are still facing several gameplay issues. Today’s Aliens Fireteam Elite version 1.21 will fix a few of these issues. Read more details below.

Aliens Fireteam Elite Patch 1.21 Notes – April 19, 2022

What is new in Aliens Fireteam Elite Season 3 Lancer Update?

  • New Lancer Kit:
    • The Lancer is the second Heavy Class Kit added to Aliens: Fireteam Elite, and introduces new abilities that open up unique playstyles for the game. With the Particle Lance ability that focuses an extremely hard hit to a single target, the Onslaught ability which slows movement speed and fire rate, but increases damage and temporarily removes the need to reload, and the Overwatch ability which stacks powerful buffs when “holding ground”, the Lancer is great for dealing with larger foes and taking advantage of cover.
    • Compatible Kit Skins: Base game skins (Standard Issue, Standard Issue – Stock, Horde Slayer, Specialist, Specialist Elite) and outfits added with DLCs from Season 3 and onward.
    • Free for all players and unlocks immediately when players update and log in after Season 3 is live.
    • Note: At launch, the Lancer will have 21 Perks available through gameplay and purchase with credits. Two additional Perks, “Omniscience” and “High Impact Fire”, will be available in a separate patch shortly after.
  • New items in-game include:
    • 11 New Challenge Cards:
      • Overstimulated
      • High Caliber
      • Overcompensating
      • They Just Won’t Die
      • Relentless Pursuers
      • Miscalibrated
      • Should’ve Used Duct Tape
      • Main Weaponry Only
      • Switch to Backups
      • Just Me and My Guns
      • Won’t Stop Until You’re Dead
  • 6 New Class Perks obtainable through Hidden Caches:
    • Demolisher: Braced For Launch
    • Doc: Charitable Glow
    • Gunner: Stopwatch
    • Phalanx: Combat Inertia
    • Recon: Chain Reaction
    • Technician: Maximized Retention
  • 9 New Class Perks to purchase from SSgt Park’s Armory:
    • Demolisher: Reactive Charges
    • Doc: Doctor’s Orders
    • Gunner: Overwhelming Fire
    • Phalanx: Take A Stand
    • Recon: Combined Arm Tactics
    • Technician: Parasocial Relationship
    • Misc: Jackpot, Hold Still, Hazard Seals
  • New Game Feature: Loadout Presets
    • Save multiple Preset Loadouts of your Kit, Perks, and Weapons using this new feature.
      • New tutorial that walks players through this feature
      • Add custom names for your Preset Loadouts
      • Up to 10 Presets for each individual weapon, customizing their Colors, Decals, and Attachments.
      • Up to 10 Presets for each Class Kit’s Loadout, customizing their equipped Weapons, Outfit, Head Accessory, Perk Board, and Consumables.
  • New additions to SSgt Park’s Armory:
    • 4 New Armat Weapons:
      • Rifle: X45 Bombard Flechette Rifle
      • Heavy: M41E4 Heavy Pulse Rifle
      • CQW: X1 Fireball
      • Handgun: Mark 7 Mod 2 CQB Pistol
  • 5 New Weapon Colors:
    • Frontier Filigree
    • Mesh (Arid, Badlands, Steppe, Taiga)
  • 2 New Gun Decals:
    • United Americas Flag
    • ICSC
  • 5 New Emotes:
    • Cry
    • Dance – Jig
    • Too Many
    • Pose – Casual
    • Putting On A Show
  • 2 New Head Accessories:
    • UACM Cover
    • BiMex Polarised Filters

Aliens Fireteam Season 3 Bug Fixes

WEAPONS & ATTACHMENTS

  • The Inhibitor Rounds attachment no longer has an internal cooldown for when it gains another stack, and the description has been updated to match this behavior.
  • The following balancing changes have been made to Weapons:
    • L33 Pike: Damage increased 10%.
    • AM-16 Gruppa: Magazine Size increased by 10%. Max Ammo increased by 10%. Time between bursts decreased by 10%. Reload Time decreased to 1.8s, down from 2.1s.
    • Kramer Assault Rifle: Damage increased by ~4%.
    • M41A2 Pulse Rifle: Reload Time decreased to 1.9s, down from 2.0s. Max Ammo increased to 600, up from 540.
    • L36 Halberd: Reload Time decreased to 1.7s, down from 2.0s.
    • Type 88 Heavy Rifle: Magazine Capacity increased to 50, up from 45.
    • EVI-87 Zvezda Plasma Rifle: Reload Time decreased to 2.2s, down from 2.3s.
    • Heirloom Standoff: Max Ammo increased to 90, up from 75.
    • Type 21 Shotgun: Damage increased ~9%. Max Ammo increased to 104, up from 96.

Note: The following balancing changes have been made to Weapon Attachments.“Proc” refers to the random chance of bonus effects provided through some Attachments and Perks.

  • Small Muzzles:
    • Compensator: The proc on this attachment now provides 6% Stability per stack.
    • Flash Hider: The Effective Range stat on this attachment has been increased to 30%.
    • Vented Flash Hider: The proc on this attachment now provides 6% Effective Range per stack.
    • Compact Flash Hider: The proc on this attachment can now stack up to 10 times.
    • Recoil Booster: The Stability stat on this attachment has been increased to 40%.
    • Slide Compensator: The Stability stat on this attachment has been increased to 40%.
  • Medium Muzzles:
    • Vent Brake: The proc on this attachment now provides 6% Stability and Handling per stack.
    • High Velocity Brake: The Handling stat on this attachment has been increased to 30%, and the proc on this attachment now provides 6% Stumble Chance per stack.
    • Ported Compensator: The Stability stat on this attachment has been increased to 40%.
    • Forward Mount Laser: The proc on this attachment now provides +7% Effective Range per stack
  • Large Muzzles:
    • Tanker Muzzle Brake: The proc on this attachment now reflects that the cooldown is per target. No change has been made to functionality.
    • Counterbalanced Brake: Added a 15% Fire Rate bonus to this attachment, and the proc on this attachment now provides 6% Accuracy per stack.
    • Precision Hider: The Stability stat on this attachment has been increased to 40%.
    • Triangulated Hider: The Effective Range stat on this attachment has been increased to 25%.
    • Anti-Materiel Brake: The description for the effect on this attachment now reads: “25% chance on Hit to Knockdown targets. This effect can only occur against the same target once every 10 seconds.” No functionality changes have been made.
  • Small Optics:
    • Reflex Sight: The ADS Movement Speed stat on this attachment has been increased to 20%, and the proc on this attachment now provides 6% Handling per stack.
    • Holo Sight: The proc on this attachment now provides 6% Stumble Chance per stack.
    • Micro Dot Sight: The Accuracy stat on this attachment has been increased to 20%.
    • Micro Red Dot Sight: The Handling stat on this attachment has been increased to 20%.
    • Reflex Laser Sight: The Handling stat on this attachment has been increased to 25%.
    • SmartAssist Sight: The proc on this attachment now provides +7% Effective Range per stack.
  • Medium Optics:
    • Hybrid Optics: Added a 15% Handling bonus to this attachment.
    • Illuminated Scope: The Accuracy stat on this attachment has been increased to 30%.
    • Dual Optics: The proc effect on this attachment can now stack up to 10 times.
  • Large Optics:
    • Radar Enhanced Optics: Added a 15% Handling bonus to this attachment.
    • Telescopic Sight: The Accuracy stat on this attachment has been increased to 30%.
  • Small Magazines:
    • Extended Magazine: The Magazine Capacity stat on this attachment has been increased to 30%.
    • Heavy Spring Loaded Magazine: The proc on this attachment now provides 35% Stumble Chance.
    • Rapid Release Mag: Added a 10% Handling bonus to this attachment.
    • Tactical Mag: The Max Ammo stat on this attachment has been increased to 40%.
    • Inhibitor Rounds: The proc effect on this attachment no longer has an internal cooldown.
  • Medium Magazines:
    • Drum Magazine: The Max Ammo stat on this attachment has been increased to 30%.
    • Quickdraw Magazine: The proc on this attachment now provides +30% Handling.
    • Weighted Magazine: The proc on this attachment now provides +4% Effective Range and Stability per stack.
    • Casket Magazine: The Max Ammo stat on this attachment has been increased to 40%.
  • Large Magazines:
    • Magnetic Casing: The proc on this attachment now provides 6% Accuracy per stack.
    • High Capacity Magazine: The proc on this attachment now provides 8% Handling per stack.
    • Extended Field Mag: The Max Ammo stat on this attachment has been increased to 40%.
  • Tubular Magazines:
    • Weighted Chamber: The Stability stat on this attachment has been increased to 50%.
    • Alloyed Chamber: The Stability stat on this chamber has been increased to 25%.
    • Counterbalance Magazine: The Max Ammo stat on this attachment has been increased to 25%. The proc effect on this attachment now provides +9% Stability per stack.
  • Internal Magazines:
    • Combat Actuator: The proc effect on this attachment now provides +4% Handling and Stability per stack.
  • Barrels:
    • Polygonal Rifling: The cooldown on the proc’d effect now applies per target.
    • Hybrid Rifling: The Stability stat on this attachment has been increased to 40%.
    • Barrels: Smooth Bore: The Handling stat on this attachment has been increased to 30%.
  • Armatures:
    • Calibrated Armature: The Stability stat on this attachment has been increased to 40%.
    • Max Capacity Armature: The Handling stat on this attachment has been increased to 25%, and Max Ammo has been increased to 35%.
    • Hybrid Armature: The Reload Speed, Handling, Stability, and Max Ammo stats on this attachment have all been increased to 15%.
    • Deep Railed Armature: The Max Ammo stat on this attachment has been increased to 25%.

Armatures: Bracing Armature: The Max Ammo stat on this attachment has been increased to 25%.

AI

  • Made some adjustments to the AI bots behavior so that they can better react to ground hazards.

ANIMATION

  • Iterative Weapons will no longer have an additional animation when performing a reload.

AUDIO

  • Fixed an issue where sometimes a sound would loop when a Xeno was killed by damage over time attacks until the Xeno despawned.
  • Fixed an issue where a loud burst of audio played immediately before a Mission started.

CHALLENGE CARDS

  • Fixed an issue where the Keep It Tight, People Challenge Card was not properly buffing or debuffing players based on their range.

CLASS KITS

  • GUNNER: The Shrapnel Perk now applies the correct amount of damage over time when applied to Frag Grenade and its Replacer variants.
  • PHALANX: Fixed an issue where the Phalanx Shock Pulse Ability wasn’t working properly with duration-increasing Perks.
  • RECON: Made some optimizations to the Recon PUPS Ability to improve performance.
  • RECON: Fixed an issue where the Bloodhound Ability’s visual display would remain if the target died as the player was activating Bloodhound again.
  • RECON: Support Drone: Several guns were getting less ammo than they should be from the ammo drops provided by this ability. The following guns will now get more ammo per pickup: M10 Auto Pistol, Kramer Short-Barrel, Rapid Responder, Heirloom Standoff, Type 21 Tactical Shotgun, AM-16 Gruppa, X46 Ballista Flechette Rifle, M12 RPG.
  • TECHNICIAN: Fixed an issue with the Resource Reclamation Perk that permitted it to be slotted with Charged Coils. It now only slots with the Sentry Turret as intended.

ENEMIES

  • Fixed an issue where Spitter Acid could penetrate bullet proof glass in the Priority One: Rescue mission.
  • Fixed an issue where The Praetorian was taking increased damage to its weak point on higher difficulties. As a result of this issue and this change, we have done a rebalancing pass on Praetorians. Overall, the Praetorian should be harder on higher difficulties than it currently is and roughly the same on Casual and Standard.
    • The Praetorian will now always take 2x damage to its weak point, regardless of difficulty or other factors.
    • The Praetorian’s Max Life has been reduced by ~20%.
    • When interrupting the Praetorian’s bite attack, the time the Praetorian is staggered has been increased to 5 seconds (up from 4).

ENVIRONMENT

  • Fixed an issue where one-time interactable object icons wouldn’t disappear after use.
  • Fixed various cover issues in Horde Mode and in Campaign Missions, as well as areas where players could get stuck.
  • Fixed an issue where a player could get stuck in cover in the Endeavor.

HORDE MODE

  • Fixed a bug in Horde Mode so that players must now face the locker in order to purchase consumables.

INTEL

  • Implemented an additional fix to help players who are missing Intel items that should have been collected.

MISSIONS

  • Fixed an instance that could cause Xenos to get stuck in the ceiling when pulled by players to certain areas.
  • Fixed various issues with cover spots in Priority One: Extract.
  • Fixed an issue where a Warrior and Runner could get stuck in the mission, Giants of the Earth: Insertion.
  • Fixed an issue where the Drone could get stuck in the final Priority One: Rescue mission fight when using the “Coming Out of the Damn Walls” Challenge Card.
  • Fixed an enemy pathing issue in The Only Way to Be Sure: Regicide mission.
  • Fixed an issue where Bursters could get stuck on the wall when using the Explosions! Challenge Card
  • Fixed an issue where some Xenos could fail to attack players in the Giants of the Earth: Insertion mission.

UI

  • Gun Perks that provide “Charge Time” now display as “Charge Speed”, as this more accurately describes the stat.
  • Longer names now will shrink to fit Post Mission screens.
  • Fixed an issue where sometimes enemy Health Bars wouldn’t display properly
  • To optimize the Recon PUPS Ability, enemy health bars will be invisible at further distances.
  • Fixed an issue where when spectating the host, the Doc’s “Gun Effectiveness Boosted!” message would display twice.
  • Fixed an issue where the “Cannot Reload” message would display when interacting with an object while at full ammo
  • Added a “Cannot Interact While Taking Damage” message that displays when a player is actively taking damage while trying to interact with objects.
  • Mission items, such as a Power Cell, will now display their locations on the Minimap.
  • Added messaging for Private Matchmaking to indicate when the host has left the group or when a player has been removed from the group.
  • Fixed an issue where Perks that modified Weapon Stats did not appropriately update in the Tooltips or Menu UI.
  • Fixed an issue where NPCs in the Endeavor would be visually outlined when the player wasn’t near them.
  • Fixed an issue where interactable Mission items – such as the Valve in Priority One: Rescue would have an Ammo call out Ping instead of the correct object Ping.

GENERAL

  • Made various optimization and performance improvements
  • Added a new Persist Shoulder (ADS) gameplay setting that allows for toggling your preferred camera shoulder side when in ADS. We will be working to have this setting toggled to ‘On’ in a future update.
  • Fixed an issue where the game would sometimes not save after claiming Tactical Opportunity Rewards.
  • Implemented an additional fix to help players who are missing Intel items that should have been collected.
  • Fixed some crashes that were occurring on the PS4 platform.
  • Fixed various crash issues across other platforms.

Download free Aliens Fireteam Elite patch 1.21 on PC (Steam).

Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson mainly writes about game-related news and updates. He is a passionate gamer, music lover, and traveler.
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