Vanguard Update 1.15 Patch Notes (1.015) – Official

New 12v12 Mode Across the Alps

Season Two Reloaded will bring a new large-map mode to Vanguard, one that involves trekking across a snow-covered mountainside with new vehicles to build a formidable loadout.

This new mode – Arms Race – will take place on Alps, the largest map in Vanguard set in Task Force Yeti’s main area of operations. Drop in across this alpine tundra — from its iced-over lake to the mountainside fortresses — and capture all bases to win.

Once a base is captured, Operators can choose to respawn at that base or at any other captured points on the map, in addition to spawning in on their fellow squad member. Bases automatically set up gates for the defending team within, allowing safe passage for allies and shutting itself when enemies are nearby.

By default, two out of the Alps’ seven potential bases will already be taken out of commission, making it a five-base fight for supremacy.

To help your cause, every friendly base contains several Buy Stations, similar to those seen on Champion Hill. Here, you can use Cash earned by capturing objectives or picking it up from enemy players to purchase weapons, equipment, Killstreaks, Field Upgrades, or even use your Custom Loadouts (as long as you have the cash for it).

New Vehicles

Cash can also be used at friendly bases to purchase vehicles, your primary way of traveling across the Alps as quickly as possible.

Motorcycle

Operators can call in one vehicle for free anytime, anywhere: the Motorcycle.

This two-seater is the most agile of the three vehicle choices, allowing Operators to weave between tight spaces and take sharp corners.

Its handling and speed come at the cost of durability, as one good rocket or a flurry of Armor-Piercing bullets can easily cause it to explode.

CD12 Transport

Costing only a few hundred in-game Cash, the CD12 Transport is a four-seater Squad Vehicle with enough room for your four-person crew.

If you and a few other Operators want to gain ground quickly but cannot spawn near a targeted base, then the CD12 Transport is a great way to cover some distance as one unit.

Furthermore, destroying this vehicle will cause a large explosion, which may aid in destroying an enemy base’s gate.

Tank

The most expensive vehicle in this new mode is arguably the most powerful, as it is the only one to come with built-in weaponry and is more durable than the CD12 and the Motorcycle.

Tanks have only one seat for its driver, who also operates as its gunner. This vehicle is equipped with a high-explosive round chambered in its cannon, which can easily take down an enemy base gates or groups of enemies. This can turn around an offensive charge or a defensive stand with effective use.

Ranked Play — Top 250 Skill Division

Challengers: let’s talk about celebrating your achievements.

After refining Ranked Play since its Beta launch at the beginning of the season, Treyarch is planning to introduce the all-new Top 250 Skill Division and Leaderboard in Season Two Reloaded. Here, the best Call of Duty® players in the world are ranked in a new eighth Skill Division above Challenger that everyone can keep tabs on directly from the Ranked Play menu.

The fabled Top 250 will be showcased in a new leaderboard; along with some of your favorite pros, many of these members are likely to be part of the Call of Duty Challengers circuit. If you wind up here alongside these potential future stars, you may want to see if you’re eligible to start playing in some official tournaments. We can’t wait to see who finishes Season Two in the #1 spot!

New Ranked Play Rewards

Season Two Reloaded brings an entirely new batch of Season Two Ranked Play rewards to be earned by completing Win Challenges and earning Ladder Placements. These new rewards include two new Pro Issue Blueprints, two Weapon Camos, two Charms, an exclusive Spray and Sticker, and an animated Emblem awarded at the end of the Season based on your final Skill Division.

For the ultimate bragging rights, players can earn the Ranked Legend Solange Operator Skin by winning 25 games in the Master Skill Division or higher, and each Skill Division also has a Charm that can be earned by winning 10 games in that Skill Division. As a reminder, all Ranked Play rewards can be used in both Vanguard and Warzone once unlocked.

Season Two Ranked Play rewards can only be earned during Season Two, so get on the grind!

Ranked Play Skill Rating Restriction & UI Updates

Haven’t been able to party up with your friends outside of your Skill Division? Treyarch’s got you. This week, the studio is making changes to reduce some of the SR restrictions across Skill Divisions to make it easier for friends to party up, while keeping SR brackets competitive at the highest Skill Divisions.

These are the current rules for SR restrictions:

• Players in Master & Challenger can only party up within 500 SR.
• Players in Expert & Elite can only party up within 1000 SR.
• Players below Expert can party up without restrictions.

… and these will be the updated rules going live with Season Two Reloaded:

• Players in Master & Challenger can form parties with players up to one adjacent Skill Division away.
• Players in Elite can form parties with players up to two adjacent Skill Divisions away.
• Players below Elite can party up without restrictions and can party with players who haven’t yet completed their Seasonal Skill Evaluation matches.
• Party Restriction rules are determined by the highest Skill Division represented in the party.

Treyarch is also adding a new “My Career & Rewards” menu to Ranked Play, where players can access their Rank, Rewards, and Skill Division screens for additional information. Details include:

• Rewards Screen: Preview your Season Two & Skill Division Rewards and track your progress toward your next unlock.
• Skill Division Screen: See where you stack up in the Skill Divisions with information on your current Skill Division, as well as your progress toward your next Tier promotion.

Zombies: New Covenants and Additional Updates

As Operators continue to face the undead and fight back Von List in “Terra Maledicta” and “Der Anfang,” they will soon find two new Covenants to equip during their quest. Players will take on the new Sacrifice Objective in “Der Anfang” for a wider variety of challenges to take on, and the Armaguerra 43 SMG will become available in Zombies via weapon unlock challenge when it goes live in Vanguard.

Notably, the Season Two Reloaded update will also add Dedicated Server Pause for Solo games, as well as additional bug fixes to be detailed by Treyarch in the coming days. Players in Solo matches and single-player Private matches will be able to pause for up to two hours collectively per match on dedicated servers, and can continue to pause indefinitely in Offline/Local matches.

Let’s take a look at the new abilities coming in the two new Covenants as part of this midseason update:

Critical Expertise

• Noncritical hits have a chance to become critical hits. Critical kills with Killing Blow equipped will return ammo.
• Rare: Noncritical hits have a 10% chance to be critical.
• Epic: Noncritical hits have a 20% chance to be critical.
• Legendary: Noncritical hits have a 30% chance to crit for 50% bonus damage.

Explosives Expert

• Your explosions do more damage to the enemy and less damage to you. Splatterfest and Energy Mine explosion damage is increased. Ray Gun splash damage is not affected.
• Rare: Your explosions do 50% more damage to the enemy and 50% less damage to you.
• Epic: Your explosions do 75% more damage to the enemy and 75% less damage to you.
• Legendary: Your explosions do 100% more damage to the enemy and 100% less damage to you.

Vanguard Task

• Complete Task Force Yeti with Gustavo Dos Santos. The Brazilian agent will arrive as part of Season Two Reloaded. Pick him up for the squad and get those shiny Gold and Platinum threads for Task Force Yeti.
• Wield the Armaguerra 43. Build an effective CQB (close-quarters battle) or mid-range Loadout with this free new weapon.
• Pro Pack, Boston Breach CDL Pack Hit the Store. Also: get #IntoTheBreach and rep Boston with this CDL Pack.
• “What’s my [[REDACTED]] name?” The one Operator who never hesitates to put anyone on their back is dropping into Vanguard and Warzone close to one of his most favorite holidays.

Gustavo Dos Santos Completes Task Force Yeti Trio

The prodigal socialite turned national hero is arriving just in time for a new mission in the Alps and to infiltrate a reinforced Rebirth Island.

During his lavish retreat to France, Gustavo Dos Santos had a chance encounter with a resistance agent who revealed to him Germany’s secret plans for Brazil. Risking his life, Gustavo returned to his homeland to deliver this intelligence, then joined the “the Smoking Cobras,” (also known as the Brazilian Expeditionary Force) to become a true hero in Northern Italy.

He prefers using CQB weaponry, especially the prototypical Armaguerra 43 he gained mastery with during his time in the Mediterranean. The only thing sharper than his wit is his deadly accuracy with all weaponry.

Unlock Gustavo Dos Santos by purchasing his Bundle, which is set to arrive in Season Two Reloaded.

New Weapon

Armaguerra 43: SMG (In-Season)

Very high rate-of-fire SMG. Effective at short to medium range engagements.

Only produced in small quantities, this advanced submachine gun gave insight into how modern CQB armaments could function, even though its design was never built upon in the decades to follow.

Compared to all other Vanguard SMGs with no attachments, the Armaguerra 43 is the fastest-firing weapon in its category. Its effective range is surprisingly great — better than other fast-firing SMGs — but its high recoil and low damage might make it tough to engage far-out targets without any attachments.

Thankfully, there is the Gunsmith: bring the Armaguerra 43 here to kit it for engagements ranging from extreme CQB to long-shot territory, especially by customizing its barrels and magazines.

Want to bump up its damage and rate of fire? Or tame that recoil to more manageable levels? This weapon can be tailored to a variety of skill levels — master it and its unruly recoil to unlock its powerful potential across Vanguard Multiplayer and Warzone.

NEW SEASON TWO CONTENT

• A brand new Mode, Arms Race, which takes place on a new large Map, Alps
• New Vehicles: Motorcycle, CD12 Transport, and Tank
• A New Playable Operator, Gustavo dos Santos
• New Weapon, Armaguerra 43
• Ranked Play — Top 250 Skill Division & Leaderboard
• New Ranked Play Rewards
• Ranked Play Skill Rating Restriction & UI Updates
• Zombies: New Covenants, Dedicated Server Pause, and Additional Updates
• New Pro Pack, Boston Breach Team Pack, and Bundles
• New Ukrainian Flag Calling Card has been added to Vanguard and Warzone. This free Calling Card is now in your inventory. Equip in the Barracks tab, under Customization.
• Max 2XP Weekend to celebrate the midseason update. Increase your Operator, Player, Weapon, Clan, & Battle Pass XP. Live Mar. 25 – 28.

For a full breakdown of all the new content dropping to Vanguard in the Season Two midseason update, check out the official Call of Duty blog, here.

MULTIPLAYER UPDATES

Sniper Rifle Balance

On Thursday, March 10th, we got a little too excited and announced that a significant balance pass for Sniper Rifles was live. Unfortunately, these changes would not be made available until the Season Two Reloaded update. Well, tomorrow they are coming! Let us know what you think.

Missed the early announcement? Here are our goals for this balance pass…

Given your feedback and our metrics, we recognized that Sniper Rifles were underperforming across the board.  Because of this, we wanted to focus on the strengths and weaknesses of each weapon in this class.

• Type 99
  • This one is for all of your Quickscopers out there. Faster ADS time and less sway while walking makes it ideal for high-risk, high-reward sniping. But watch out for return fire – you’re fast but not invincible!
• 3-Line Rifle
  • Reliability at its finest. We decreased the flinch received when taking fire to allow players to maintain accuracy while holding a position.
• Kar98K
  • Our jack-of-all-trades Sniper Rifle. Although it was already a popular choice, we decreased its ADS time to give it a better chance in close-quarters combat to offer an alternative to the Type 99.

Let us know what you think of these changes. Your feedback will play a critical part of future weapon balance passes. We look forward to sharing more in the near future!

Aim Assist

In Vanguard Season One, we saw reports from players who suggested that the Aim Assist system was not always functioning as it should. Today, we are optimistic we have fixed a bug that caused Aim Assist to intermittently deactivate while engaging an enemy player.

First, we want to thank everyone who shared clips of this problem. This bug was very difficult to reproduce and the video clips were critical to the QA investigation which helped our Engineering team diagnose and solve the issue.

When functioning properly, the Aim Assist system analyzes every frame of the game to determine if it should activate, based on whether an enemy is currently in sight. We call this a “player visibility check”. The Aim Assist bug was the result of the system not waiting for the “player visibility check” before running an action. In certain scenarios, the Aim Assist system was left to assume that no player was visible, which meant that Aim Assist could potentially deactivate multiple times in a single engagement. With tomorrow’s fix, the Aim Assist system will ensure that a result from that “player visibility check” is received before continuing and we are confident based on testing that it should behave as intended.

Please note that although we have tested this fix extensively with our team, the real test is in the live game environment with all of you. Please let us know if you are still encountering problems with Aim Assist while playing Vanguard.

Multiplayer Patch Notes

Stability & Performance

• Stability improvements should result in better connectivity and lower rates of server disconnect errors.
• Scrolling through a large friends list will no longer kick the player out of the Social menu.
• Resolved a bug resulting in Dev Error 604, which was caused by being revived while a melee weapon and tactical equipment are equipped.
• Resolved a bug resulting in Dev Error 5573 when using the “Ace Casual” and “Decorated” Operator Skins for Wade and Daniel.
• Resolved a bug resulting in Dev Error 7272 when using the “Tooled Up” Operator Skin for Lucas.

Gameplay

• Aim Assist
  • Addressed an issue that caused Aim Assist to erratically deactivate while engaging an enemy player.
• Destruction
  • Addressed an issue that allowed enemy nameplates to be seen through surfaces in various situations.
• Progression
  • Addressed an issue that prevented players from earning XP for some Operators.
  • Addressed an issue that caused the “Hello There” Trophy to not be awarded upon joining a Clan.

Maps

In this update, we paid special attention to improving the overall quality of our Multiplayer maps. We have made efforts to improve spawn logic in difficult scenarios, namely high-intensity Combat Pacing selections and objective-based modes. Several improvements have been made to the environment to prevent players from taking advantage of exploits, such as spawning in a player’s line of sight. We’ve also improved pathing for objective points for certain Modes on several maps.

Please note that the spawn changes in tomorrow’s update are fixes and improvements to situational exploits and there is no sweeping change to spawn logic. However, we will continue to iterate on our spawn logic in the coming updates and look forward to sharing more soon.

• Berlin
  • Addressed an exploit that allowed players to reach unintended locations near the Train Yard.
• Bocage
  • Players will no longer spawn in the sight of enemies near the Water Wheel in Assault pacing Free-for-All.
• Casablanca
  • Players will no longer spawn in the sight of enemies near the Hotel in Free-for-All
  • Addressed an issue that prevented the Patrol capture point from progressing near the Bridge.
• Castle
  • Addressed exploits that allowed players to reach unintended locations in the Courtyard and Garden.
• Desert Siege
  • Addressed exploits that allowed players to reach unintended locations near the Destroyed House, Train Station, and Courtyard.
  • Improved collision to prevent players from obstructing the view of their character near the Trench, Ammo Dump, and Destroyed House.
  • Improved collision to prevent an unintended line of sight near the Train Station.
• Dome
  • Adjusted spawns to prevent players from facing interior walls upon respawn.
  • Improved spawn logic to avoid spawning players in locations where a teammate was recently killed.
• Gavutu
  • Addressed an exploit that allowed players to reach an unintended location near the Arched Rock.
• Gondola
  • Corrected lighting that caused a blue tint to be applied to the environment in certain locations.
  • Adjusted the capture point in Control to prevent players from capturing it from an unintended location near the Fire Watch Tower.
• Oasis
  • Addressed an exploit that allowed players to reach an unintended location near Ruins East.
• Paradise
  • Improved spawn logic to avoid spawning players near enemies in Team Deathmatch.
  • Players will no longer spawn in the sight of enemies on the Cliff Path.
  • Improved collision in several locations to prevent players from obstructing the view of their character.
  • Improved the pathing of the capture point in Patrol.
• Radar
  • Addressed an issue that caused players to spawn out of bounds in Patrol.
  • Improved the pathing of the capture point in Patrol..
• Sub Pens
  • Addressed an issue that caused players to spawn out of bounds near the Utility Room in Team Deathmatch.
  • Addressed an exploit that allowed players to reach unintended locations near the Dry Docks.

Modes

• Kill Confirmed
  • Addressed an issue that caused server disconnect errors. Kill Confirmed has returned to the quickplay filter and featured playlist rotations.

Operators

• Thomas (Yeti)
  • Thomas’s Date of Birth has been corrected in his Operator Bio.
• Halima (Hellhounds)
  • Halima will no longer be invisible during her Highlight Intro.

Weapons

• NEW: Armaguerra 43 (Submachine Gun)
  • Very high rate-of-fire SMG. Effective at short to medium range engagements.
  • Unlock the Armaguerra 43 through an SMG-based challenge or via Store Bundle.
• Sten (Submachine Gun)
  • Stock attachments will no longer display incorrect textures.
• Welgun (Submachine Gun)
  • In Gunsmith, ammo attachments that decrease reload quickness will now properly communicate this change.
• KG M40 (Light Machine Gun)
  • Addressed an issue where the firing audio would not be affected by suppression attachments.
• Type 99 (Sniper Rifle)
  • Decreased ADS time from 498ms to 400ms (-20%).
  • Decreased weapon sway while walking by 80%.
• 3-Line Rifle (Sniper Rifle)
  • Decreased weapon sway while walking by 50%.
  • Decreased flinch intensity by 50%.
• Kar98k (Sniper Rifle)
  • Decreased ADS time from 595ms to 500ms (-16%).
• Sniper Rifles and Marksman Rifles
  • Decreased flinch intensity by 30%.
    • This change does not apply to the SVT-40, 3-Line Rifle, or Gorenko Anti-Tank Rifle.

Attachments

• Shiraishi Short Barrel (Type 99)
  • Decreased ADS time multiplier from -10% to -5% (-50%).
• Empress 514mm F01 (3-Line Rifle)
  • Decreased over-penetration range from 40m to 15m (-63%).

Killstreaks

• Ball Turret Gunner (12 Kills)
  • Ball Turret Gunner usage is now properly tracked in the Barracks and on the scoreboard.

User Interface & Experience

• Improvements
  • Added subtitles when previewing Operator Quips.

• Bug Fixes
  • Barracks
    • Addressed an issue that prevented players who reached Level 1,000 in Season One from entering the Barracks menu.
  • Accessibility
    • Added the Menu Readability option to the Settings > Interface menu.
  • Social
    • An error will no longer be displayed when attempting to view the Social tab in the Clans menu.
    • Addressed an issue where the View Invite prompt would not function as intended.
  • After Action Report
    • Addressed an issue where the Scoreboard tab was missing from the After Action Report.
  • Customization
    • Completionist camos will now properly display current progress.
    • Calling Card Frames, Titles, and Killcam Themes can now be unequipped.

Bundles & Cosmetic Fixes

• Blueprints
  • The “Shootout” and “Pawn Shop Special” Top Break Blueprints will now use the correct models for barrel, trigger action, magazine, and optic attachments.
  • The “Imperator” and “Run It Back” BAR Blueprints will now use the correct models for the CGC 27” 2B and Chariot 18” Rapid barrel attachment.
  • Adjusted the positioning of the ZF4 3.5X Rifle Scope on the “Ymir Curse” Volkssturmgewehr Blueprint.
  • Addressed an issue that caused the iron sights to be obstructed when the optic attachment was removed from the “Wasp” RATT Blueprint.
  • Fire Tracers will now be properly displayed when using the “Helm of Darkness” and “Blacksmith” Blueprints.
  • The Welgun Submachine Gun is now unlocked upon purchase of the “Heliox” Blueprint.
• Other Items
  • Padmavati will no longer be invisible during her Highlight Intro when using the “Astrakhan” Operator Skin.
  • Addressed an issue that caused the camera to go out of bounds when using the “Trifecta” Highlight Intro.
  • Corrected the audio that is played when using the “Quicker They Fall”, “Asshole”, and “Badass” Operator Quips.
  • Several issues with Watches have been resolved including placement, invisibility, and animation.
  • Fixed the alignment of several Weapon Charms.
  • Corrected the alignment of Thomas’ cigar when previewing the “Smoked Out” Highlight Intro.
  • Corrected the alignment of Halima’s bottle when previewing the “Nice Shot” Highlight Intro.

RANKED PLAY

Treyarch is delivering plenty of Ranked Play updates with Season Two Reloaded, including the introduction of the Top 250 Skill Division & Leaderboard, new Season Two Rewards and Skill Division Rewards, rank progression improvements, new progression menus, additional quitter penalties, and more.

Start grinding for the ultimate bragging rights as one of the highest-ranked players in the world, and earn new rewards no matter which Skill Division you’re in, including Weapon Blueprints, Camos, Charms, and Animated Emblems. New rewards will arrive with each season, so be sure to earn your Season Two Rewards while they’re available.

Ranked Play competitors will now be able to form parties with more friends outside of their Skill Division via newly expanded party restrictions. Additional suspension rules have also been added to penalize players who quit mid-match. Read on below for everything new coming to Ranked Play, and remember… play to win.

Top 250

• Skill Division
  • New 8th Skill Division added above Challenger to feature the 250 highest-ranked players in the world.
• Leaderboard
  • New Top 250 Leaderboard added to track the top players in Ranked Play, visible to all players in-game.

New Rewards

• New Season Two Ranked Play rewards can be earned by completing Win Challenges and earning Ladder Placements.
  • Each new season of Ranked Play will introduce a new set of Season Rewards. Season Two rewards can only be earned in Season Two.
  • All rewards can be used in both Vanguard and Warzone once unlocked.
• Season Two Rewards:
  • Two “Pro Issue” Weapon Blueprints
  • Two Weapon Camos: “Season Two Ladder Champion” & “Season Two Ranked Veteran”
  • Two Charms: “I Got Bomb” & “Mano-a-Mano”
  • “Don’t Be Salty” Spray
  • “Season Two Competitor” Sticker
• Skill Division Rewards:
  • Exclusive “Ranked Legend” Solange Operator Skin awarded for winning 25 games in the Master Skill Division or higher
  • Animated Emblem awarded at the end of the season based on the player’s final Skill Division
  • Each Skill Division has a Charm that can be earned by winning 10 games in that Skill Division

Expanded Party Skill Restrictions

• Players in Master & Challenger can now form parties with players up to one adjacent Skill Division away (previously only within 500 SR).
• Players in Elite can now form parties with players up to two adjacent Skill Divisions away (previously only within 1,000 SR).
• Players below Elite can continue to party up without restrictions, and can now party with players who haven’t yet completed their Seasonal Skill Evaluation matches.
• Party Restriction rules are now determined by the highest Skill Division represented in the party.
• Players are now less likely to get matched with other players who are outside of their current Party Skill Restrictions.

UI Updates

• My Career & Rewards
  • Added new My Career & Rewards menu, where players can access their Rank, Rewards, and Skill Division screens for additional information.
    • Rewards Screen: Preview your Season Two & Skill Division Rewards and track your progress toward your next unlock.
    • Skill Division Screen: See where you stack up in the Skill Divisions with information on your current Skill Division, as well as your progress toward your next Tier promotion.
• Progression
  • The player’s current Rank number is now displayed above their Rank Icon in the Ranked Play lobby.
  • Players without a Rank will now appear as Unranked.
  • XP and Weapon XP summary screens are no longer shown after Ranked Play matches.
• Ladder Events
  • The Ladder screen now defaults to the player’s current position when opened.
  • Stars for previously earned Ranks now correctly appear as filled in on the Ranks screen.
  • Ranks 10-29 now display the correct number of Stars needed on the Ranks screen.
• Restrictions
  • Create-a-Class, Killstreaks, and Field Upgrades menus now correctly display all restricted Ranked Play content as restricted. These restricted items can no longer appear to be equipped to Ranked Play loadouts.
• How to Play Menu
  • Maps & Modes tab now displays accurate Ranked Play maps.
  • Added information about Victory Flames to the Ladder Events tab.
• General
  • Addressed an issue that was causing the player’s Operator to occasionally not appear in the Ranked Play menu.
  • Addressed an issue where players in their 5 Skill Evaluation matches would occasionally appear as being already placed in a Skill Division in some locations.

Rank Progression

• Increased the number of Stars earned for each Ladder Placement to make progression through the 50 Ranks slightly faster:
  • 1st Place = 7 Stars (previously 5)
  • Top 5 = 6 Stars (previously 4)
  • Top 10 = 5 Stars (previously 3)
  • Top 25 = 3 Stars (previously 2)
  • Remaining players = 2 Stars (previously 1)

Disconnect Penalties

• The first player to disconnect or quit a Ranked Play match in progress will receive a timed suspension from Ranked Play matchmaking, with increased suspension durations for repeat offenders.
• Players receive SR and Ladder Point penalties if they quit or disconnect from a match in progress. These penalties are applied after their next completed match.
• The first player to disconnect from the match receives a larger penalty than players who disconnect afterward.

Match Cancelation

• Players will now see “Match Canceled” whenever a match is canceled due to uneven teams.
• MVP Voting no longer displays after a match that was canceled after it started.

General

• Resolved Dev Error 5476, which was occasionally displayed for some players when trying to access Ranked Play from the main menu.
• Addressed an issue where players would occasionally not earn SR for a win after the entire enemy team had quit.
• Addressed an issue where players could be automatically returned to the Lobby when scrolling on the Ladder screen.
• Addressed an issue that was causing a small number of players to have empty Ranked Play classes and no ability to create Custom Classes.

ZOMBIES UPDATES

Season Two Reloaded brings Dedicated Server Pause to Vanguard Zombies, allowing solo players to pause for up to two hours collectively in matches played on dedicated servers. The inactivity kick timer has also been extended for players in public matches, so you’ll have more than enough time for a bathroom break while your friends keep the undead at bay.

Two powerful new Covenants arrive this week with three rarities each: equip Critical Expertise to boost your critical hit rates, and Explosives Expert for when you want to go loud. This update also includes improvements to the Decimator Shield & Ray Gun, the addition of the Sacrifice Objective to “Der Anfang,” Season Challenge improvements, various bug and stability fixes, and more. Check out the full patch notes below:

Dedicated Server Pause

• Server Pause implemented for players in Solo and single-player Private matches on dedicated servers.
• Players can pause for up to 2 hours collectively per match, and can continue to pause indefinitely in Offline/Local matches.

Inactivity Timer

• Inactivity kick timer extended for players in Public matches.

New Covenants

• Two new abilities with three rarities added to the Altar of Covenants:
  • Critical Expertise
    • Non-critical hits have a chance to become critical hits. Critical kills with Death Blow equipped will return ammo.
    • Rare: Non-critical hits have a 10% chance to be critical.
    • Epic: Non-critical hits have a 20% chance to be critical.
    • Legendary: Non-critical hits have a 30% chance to crit for 50% bonus damage.
  • Explosives Expert
    • Your explosions do more damage to the enemy and less damage to you. Splatterfest & Energy Mine explosion damage is increased. Ray Gun splash damage is not affected.
    • Rare: Your explosions do 50% more damage to the enemy and 50% less damage to you.
    • Epic: Your explosions do 75% more damage to the enemy and 75% less damage to you.
    • Legendary: Your explosions do 100% more damage to the enemy and 100% less damage to you.

Maps

• “Terra Maledicta”
  • Addressed multiple issues where zombies could spawn in unintended locations.
  • Addressed multiple issues where zombie corpses could fall through the floor.
  • Addressed an issue where the Ray Gun could still be seen floating in space after acquiring it via Side Quest.
• General
  • Closed various exploits in “Terra Maledicta” and “Der Anfang.”

Objectives

• Sacrifice
  • Sacrifice Objective now available in all maps.

Wonder Weapons

• Decimator Shield
  • Reduced the Decimator Blast ability cooldown from 90 seconds to 60 seconds.
• Ray Gun
  • Addressed an issue where the Ray Gun was not always used when the player was downed if they had it equipped.

Weapons

• Weapon Blueprints with custom visual effects will no longer lose these custom effects when upgraded at the Pack-a-Punch Machine.
• Addressed an issue where players were not receiving Butcher Medals when getting five rapid kills with certain melee weapons.

Enemies

• Addressed an issue where Brain Rot-controlled zombies were not attacking Strumkreigers and Zaballa the Deceiver.
• Addressed an issue where Zaballa the Deceiver could fail to path to and attack players in some instances.
• Addressed an issue where the Sturmkrieger’s weapon could clip into its body during stun animations.

Season Challenges

• Adjusted one of the Season Two Zombies Challenges to be completable with 75 Molotov kills.

Sprays

• Addressed an issue where visual effects were not displaying correctly when using sprays in Zombies.

Stability

• Fixed various stability issues related to Zaballa the Deceiver, Sturmkriegers, and Artifacts.

   

CAMPAIGN

Bug Fixes

• Lady Nightingale
  • Addressed an issue where the player could not perform a takedown on Steiner which halted progression.