Update 11.6.0

2026.08.20

SPACE MAYHEM

ENGIMO is proud to present this week’s Update!

With the return of a beloved LTM, a new wheel packed with rewards, fresh new Twitch drops, and a long list of balance and bug fixes, there’s plenty to see and do in space. Let’s dig into the details.

LTM | ORBITAL HITTERS

Take the brawl to outer space with Orbital Hitters!

Based on the classic Heavy Hitters formula, re-engineered with the help of ENGIMO, Orbital Hitters brings Sledgehammers back into the Arena! Use all the tools available to you to send your opponents flying off into space, but watch your step, you could be the one slipping off the Arena if you’re not careful.
Swing, slam and may the best team win.

EVENT | DEEP SIGNAL

Rewards are flooding in the Arena thanks to ENGIMO sponsoring a brand new Wheel!

Earn up to three tickets a day by completing contracts for the next two weeks, spin the Wheel and see what you’re bringing home among over 20 rewards. Landed on a duplicate? No worries, this spot will now turn into a Golden Ticket, ready for you to grab the next time you land on it.
Golden Tickets guarantees that your next spin will get you a new item!

DLC | SUGAR SHOCKER/CRASHER SETS

Are you here to sweeten some hearts or crush them in your hands? It’s all up to you with the Sugar Shocker and Sugar Crasher Sets. Robotic felines are taking over the Arena making the next Cashout Station their scratching post. Both sets come with an outfit, a Legendary BFR Titan skin with its charm, a Legendary emote and 2,400 Multibucks! So.. miau?

STORE | HULLWALKER SET

Some prefer the safety of an artificially pressurized atmosphere but you, you’re not bound by security protocols. Grab your vacuum-sealed helmet, step beyond the airlocks, and get the job done with the Hullwalker Set.
It’s going to be a long shift..

TWITCH | BEYOND BOUNDARIES

ENGIMO is once again expanding the boundaries of what’s possible.
Watch anyone playing THE FINALS with Drops Enabled on Twitch and earn some sweet cosmetics to show that you too can reach the stars.

Watch 1 hour to get the Connection Complete Sticker
Watch 2 hours to get the Link Established Charm
Watch 4 hours to get Meteor Tips Earrings

Available now until September 3rd, 2026. Terms and conditions on twitch.tv

GAME UPDATE | BALANCE CHANGES

Gadgets

Lockbolt

Decreased duration of the reload animation from 2.2s to 1.75s
Moved the point at which ammo restocks during the reload animation from 1.3s to 1.1s, to align with the new reload animation duration

Dev Note: This is a small quality of life change for the Lockbolt to make it smoother to use.

Specializations

Dematerializer

Decreased cooldown from 20s to 15s per charge
Decreased item raise time from 0.1s to 0s

Dev Note: The Dematerializer has drifted out of the meta to a larger extent than we wanted. These changes should make it feel more responsive and nudge it back to being a viable playstyle for Medium players.

Evasive Dash

Decreased cooldown from 6.5s to 6s per charge

Dev Note: We’ve felt that our previous changes to Evasive Dash restricted it too much, this is a nudge back towards the previous balance.

Guardian Turret

Decreased activation time from 3.5s to 3s
Increased health from 280 to 300
Decreased cooldown when retrieving the turret remotely from 17.5s to 10s
- Cooldown when picking up the turret by hand remains 3s
- Cooldown when the turret is destroyed remains 35s

Dev Note: The Turret is always a difficult Specialization to balance, as it’s very easy to deal with for experienced players while it can be quite frustrating to face for newer players. We’ve had to tread carefully when trying to balance it. However, we feel at present it is slightly too weak and we’d like it to find more viability at higher skill tiers so that it would demand more use of direct counters to contest it. These changes represent a nudge in that direction.

Weapons

AKM

Increased damage from 20 to 21

Dev Note: While the AKM remains ever popular, it performs slightly worse than weapons like the FAMAS and FCAR, which it should perform more similarly to. This nudge to damage should bring it more in line with those weapons.

ARN-220

Increased fire rate from 725 RPM to 750 RPM
Decreased the length of the quick reload animation from 0.75s to 0.66s
Decreased the length of the empty reload from 2.73s to 2.7s

Dev Note: The ARN has lagged behind the XP-54 and M11 for quite some time and we’d like to see it on a more equal footing with those weapons. These changes aim to get it to that place.

BFR Titan

Increased damage falloff multiplier from 0.65 to 0.7, increasing the weapon's damage at range

Dev Note: The BFR has been outperformed by some other Heavy weapons at distances in which it should really dominate. Alongside other changes, this change is aimed at making sure the BFR can have its own niche.

Cerberus 12GA

Increased damage per pellet from 8 to 9, increasing a full shot’s damage from 104 to 117

Dev Note: The Cerberus was more negatively impacted by the reduction in damage to Quick Melee than some other weapons. This change to damage aims to offset that.

Dagger

Primary Attack
- Increased base damage from 42 to 49
- Increased damage for precise hits from 60 to 70
- Lunge duration increased from 0.15s to 0.22s to help the lunge reach its intended range
Secondary Attack - Backstab
- Increased base damage from 75 to 85
- Increased backstab damage from 337 to 340
- Lunge duration increased from 0.22s to 0.32s to help the lunge reach its intended range

Dev Note: We’re continuing to further dial in our melee weapons during Season 11, as we get data back and better learn how the new melee system performs in the wild. These new damage values and lunge distance changes should help the Dagger to get onto targets more reliably, but we know there’s still more to be done. We’re working towards some networking improvements for lunge attacks that should really help, but they’re a little while away yet. In the meantime, we think these balance changes will improve the overall experience.

Dual Blades

Primary Attack
- Increased precision zone angle from 9 to 12 degrees, making it easier to land precise strikes

Dev Note: We feel the two strike animation on the Dual Blades frequently causes the second strike to miss precise hits and only land normal ones. To address this, we’re broadening the precision zone angle for the Dual Blades, making precise hits easier to land, especially for that second strike animation.

KS-23

Decreased damage falloff multiplier from 0.675 to 0.58, meaning the weapon does less damage at range
Decreased damage fall-off start range from 18m to 12m, reducing its effective range
Decreased damage fall-off end range from 23m to 22m, reducing its effective range

Dev Note: As mentioned under the BFR change, the KS-23 is one weapon that performs well at ranges where the BFR should really dominate. These changes bring in the KS-23’s effective range a bit, making it less effective at medium to long range.

M11

Increased recoil when firing from the hip by approximately 75%
Increased recoil when aiming down sights (ADS) by approximately 25%
Increased bullet dispersion in ADS, in most movement stances by 25%
Increased bullet dispersion in ADS when airborne by 120%

Dev Note: The M11 outperforms its intended range by quite a bit, cannibalizing combat distances that the ARN and XP-54 should really be a best fit for. These changes bring in that effective range for the M11 by making it less precise. It should be noted, while some of the numbers look very large, because they are percentage changes on the current very low levels of M11 recoil and dispersion they won’t actually feel quite as crazy as they look. :)

Recurve Bow

Increased damage per shot, when the bow is at max draw, from 124 to 126. The base damage per shot remains at 60 damage

Dev Note: Similar to the Cerberus, the Quick Melee damage change from 40 to 25 negatively impacted the Bow more than most. This damage change offsets that lost power and opens up Quick Melee combos versus Lights for Bow users again.

Riot Shield

Primary Attack
- Increased base damage from 58 to 60
- Increased damage for precise hits from 83 to 86
- Increased lunge distance from 4.25m to 5m (this change was originally listed in 11.3 but didn’t work correctly. This has now been fixed.)
Secondary Attack - Shield Bash
- Increased damage from 40 to 50
- Increased environmental damage from 50 to 100
- Lunge duration increased from 0.5s to 0.6s to extend the lunge’s max distance slightly

Dev Note: As part of the changes to the Riot Shield in 11.0, we very deliberately moved the weapon towards the style of play we originally planned for it, that is a role as a hyper defensive weapon capable of controlling interior spaces, anchoring for their team and playing around deployables such as Turrets and Mines. The way the Riot Shield was sometimes used in the past, to charge enemies while blocking bullets from one side then flailing in with a flurry of hits, was never an intended role for the weapon and felt too similar to the Dual Blades and the Light’s Sword. The Riot Shield was not supposed to be about running up a high kill count, so much as being a powerful defender of objectives and we moved to reinforce that style with 11.0. That said, we feel the changes in 11.0 did reduce the Riot Shield’s ability to get eliminations a little too much and since then, while its win rate has looked very healthy, its elimination rate has been slightly too low. These changes nudge its combat potential back up slightly, while hopefully still making the weapon a ‘stall first’ tool more than anything else.

Spear

Primary Attacks
- Increased the size of the weapon’s damage sweep box by 60%, making it slightly easier to land hits
- Increased lunge distance from 5m to 6.5m
- Increased lunge duration from 0.3s to 0.45s to help the lunge reach its intended range
- Increased lunge speed by 50% to improve the chances of the lunge catching up to fast-moving targets
Secondary Attack - Spin Attack
- Increased the delay before the secondary attack resets back to the first attack in the sequence from 0.2s to 0.35s. This is a small quality of life change to make it easier to keep the sequence going if the player hit a target

Dev Note: Similar to the Dagger, we’re still trying to get the Spear to a place where it feels reliable to close in on targets. Like the Dagger, the Spear will also benefit greatly from the networking changes we’re currently investigating for melee combat, but in the short term these buffs to lunges should help it perform more reliably.

XP-54

Update the recoil curve to prevent an issue where the recoil pattern would jump down if the player emptied the whole magazine in a single burst
Decrease bullet dispersion in ADS when airborne by 8%

Dev Note: These are a couple of small quality of life changes for the XP-54, dealing with a couple of edge cases that didn’t feel very consistent but should feel much better now.

NOTICE | ANTI-CHEAT

A recent anti-cheat rule we deployed in THE FINALS incorrectly flagged players using gyro controllers as cheaters. We've updated the rule, and affected bans are being reversed automatically. If you were banned as a result of this, you don't need to submit an appeal or take any action. Your account will be restored.

We're sorry. Gyro is a legitimate and supported input method, and players who use it should never have been swept up in enforcement meant for cheaters or made to wait so long for a reversal. We've adjusted our testing process so this class of false positive gets caught before rules go live in the future.

If you have questions about your specific account, our support team is available through the usual channels.

NOTICE | INPOUTX64.SYS MESSAGE

When starting the game after today’s update, you may encounter a message about a driver needing to be uninstalled in order to play. This is related to the recent Windows update KB5121003.

Please follow these instructions to uninstall the driver in order to be able to play.
If you encounter any issues, feel free to reach out to our support team.

GAME UPDATE | BUG FIXES

Animation

Corrected a slight offset in the aim-down-sights animation for the Schwarzschild Blackhole SR-84
Fixed an issue where deploy animations didn’t blend out smoothly
Fixed an issue where Quick Melee kicks did not cancel correctly when swapping items
Fixed leg placement misalignment for Light and Heavy builds in the Vesper Salute Emote animation

Audio

Improved end-of-round music reliability to prevent it from cutting out when the audio mix is busy
The SFX Volume slider now also adjusts sound during replays
Fixed an issue where the revive interaction sound could continue looping after a round ended
Fixed sound timing for the Star Team emote

Cosmetics

Fixed an issue where tracker values on some skins could display outdated information
Fixed an issue where the House Lights skin for the Flashbang did not correctly display its light state to other Contestants
Fixed cases where some Gateway skins could display incorrect materials
Fixed an issue where the Recurve Bow’s visual effects could fail to load for certain skins
Improved the Pyro Grenade inspect animation on the Burn Notice skin and adjusted its audio level

Gameplay

General

Disabled achievement progression in bot game modes
Fixed a rare case where the Winch Claw could attach to a target without pulling it

Maps

Kyoto

Improved stair collision to remove instances where Contestants could fall through
Fixed a spot where players could get stuck between a cliff and bamboo.
Fixed a weak point where a building could be destroyed too easily

Galaxy Estates

Fixed a few places where dressing against walls would not properly take damage, preventing those walls from breaking consistently from all angles
Added a ladder above the covered walkway from Astral Port to Cosmo Physique to make it easier to reach the highest roof level
Adjusted the size of the exhaustion vents on the outer walls of Cosmo Physique so they can be more reliably used to climb up, and added a few more of them to create more options to contest the high ground

Skyway Stadium

Fixed a few places where dressing against walls would not properly take damage, preventing those walls from breaking consistently from all angles

Fangwai City

Fixed floating decals and signs that could appear after destruction and corrected a floating sign

Las Vegas

Fixed visual flickering on surfaces in the parking garage

Las Vegas Stadium

Fixed environment and lighting issues

Practice Range

Fixed an issue where the Cashbox Time-Trial challenge spawned vaults instead of cashboxes directly as intended.

Performance

Upgraded Unreal Engine from 5.3 to 5.7

Social

Party invites can now be sent and accepted while matchmaking

Fixed an issue where the Social screen showed a regular team name and insignia for spectators in Private Match

Stability

Fixed a crash when spectating at the end of a round
Fixed a rare issue that could crash servers when a player’s connection stopped acknowledging network packets

UI

The contextual response prompt is now hidden while dead or spectating, where replying isn’t possible
Fixed an issue that could cause the event HUD display to show incorrectly when transitioning to the next round in Cashout Bots
Fixed an issue where the Active Events bar could remain visible after a round reset
Fixed an issue that caused damage numbers to report 1 extra damage in certain scenarios
Fixed an issue where navigating the Options screen with a gamepad could get stuck or skip items

Added spectator-only team colors for Private Match, allowing spectators to use additional colors that are hidden from team color selection
Fixed an issue that caused gamepad bindings page to be tricky to navigate with a gamepad
Fixed an issue that caused the Killcam UI to not appear when getting eliminated in Practice Range

Weapons

Dual Blades

Primary Attack
- Fixed an issue where not all attacks dealt a consistent 25 environmental damage
Secondary Functions - Deflect
- Fixed an issue where the wide angle deflect blocked damage completely instead of the center of the deflect radius
  - Imprecise Deflect angle damage modifier updated from 0% to 20%
  - Precise Deflect angle damage modifier updated from 20% to 0%

Riot Shield