This week, we’re introducing an experimental World Tour event, some balance changes, performance improvements, a long list of bug-fixes, a freshly updated Store and a bunch of freebies to collect. Read all about today’s update below and don’t forget to tune in to the community stream for some TGM26 info!
Our World Tour stop for Update 10.3, Respec Order, is less of an event and more of an experiment! That means, we need your help to try it out! Back in Season 3, we used World Tour as a testing ground for various changes to Cashout mode. This gave us a chance to gather telemetry and sentiment, player feedback, and just see how small changes interacted with the game. Respec Order will do exactly the same, and your feedback will be important (once you’ve actually gotten in the game and given it a try).
In Respec Order, we’re adjusting both the health values and the base movement speeds of the Heavy and the Light archetypes in Cashout mode for one week, the changes will be as follows:
Heavy
Health decreased from 350 to 325
Base movement speeds (run and sprint) increased by approximately 10%
Light
Health increased from 150 to 175
Base movement speeds (run and sprint) decreased by approximately 10%
Increased health regen delay from 7s to 8s
Try out the Respec Order event in World Tour and see how your experience changes!
To learn more about the reasoning behind this experiment, what we hope to learn, and more, please head over to this blog post from Matt Lowe, Design Director on THE FINALS.
You can also join the conversation yourself by chatting in the dedicated channel we’ve created in the official Discord server, or ask Matt a question over on Reddit. We’re working with the fan-run r/thefinals subreddit to collect your questions for Matt. The top relevant questions will be answered when Matt joins Oscar’s stream on Thursday, April 23rd! See you there!
No Cashout is safe! This week, complete contracts from the Siege the Day Circuit and earn some sweet rewards including the Ironthorn Sovereign Legendary V9S skin and spike things up in the Arena.
While your true identity is sealed away behind your mask, everyone in the Arena knows who you are. As the last one standing on the frontline, this cashout station is now yours. Anyone who dares to attempt to steal it will learn that iron doesn’t bend, and neither do you.
As delicious as it looks, the Tangerine Set is available for free as a Twitch Drop!
Simply watch anyone playing THE FINALS with Drops Enabled to be eligible to earn this set.
Watch for 1 hour and claim the Tangerine Spear
Watch for 2 hour and claim the Tangerine Blades
Watch for 4 hour and claim the Tangerine Sword
Available now until April 30th. Check Twitch.tv for the full terms and conditions.
Join in and celebrate the Ape Squad Classics as for the first time we have an additional Twitch reward for all Contestants to collect! The Classic Cosmetic might even be as delicious, and the potassium might fuel you to Reach THE FINALS!
Watch Ape Squads Classic Tournament with 80 teams across EU and NA compete for victory and cheer your favorite team on! Watch the official
channel, or any of their affiliated channels, for 4 hours to claim the APE SQUAD Banana Gun Charm. The next event is already close - check out for NA competing April 16th at 8pm ET (2am CEST) and April 19th 1pm ET (7pm CEST) for EU! The campaign is live from April 16th at 11PM UTC, through May 12th 1am UTC. Check Twitch.tv for the full terms and conditions.
H+ Infuser
Increased the delay before ammo starts regenerating from 8s to 10s
Dev Note: The H+ Infuser still performs a little too well compared to the Medium’s Healing Beam and can be too powerful in securing Cashout steals while under fire. This change has been made to level things out
Healing Emitter
Added the ability to deploy the Healing Emitter in the air, no longer requiring it to be placed on a surface. If deployed in the air it will fall to the ground after deployment
Decreased the size of the Healing Emitter by approximately 15%
Dev Note: These are largely quality of life changes for the Emitter, allowing it to be more easily deployed and less of an obstruction when walking into it.
Hover Pad
Increased health from 300 to 350
Dev Note: Based on early feedback from the community since its S10 launch, we feel like the Hover Pad needs a little extra health to be a more desirable tool.
Decreased the time it takes for goo to break when overlapping a player from 0.8s to 0.2s
Dev Note: Goo overlapping and blocking players wasn’t ever intended but is one we’re happy to keep, within reason. It definitely requires some better visual treatment going forwards and has been too powerful to date, so we think this change will reduce a lot of the frustration some players experience related to it.
Slightly decreased the movement velocity required to trigger a slide, to make them easier to perform
93R
Increased damage from 24 to 25
Decreased ammo count from 24 to 21
Dev Note: Believe it or not, the 93R is now the least picked Light weapon across all modes. These changes are aimed to increase its viability and desirability, without tipping it back to the dominant place it had in the meta a few seasons ago.
FAMAS
Slightly decreased recoil when aiming down sights (ADS), making the weapon more accurate at range when using ADS
Dev Note: The FAMAS has gradually drifted out of serious viability for the Medium Build as other weapons have been buffed, so this small quality of life improvement is aimed to put it back on a similar footing to the other Medium ARs.
Increased ammo count from 34 to 36
Dev Note: We’ve struggled for a few seasons now to find a sweet spot for the XP-54 where it’s desirable for Lights but not overpowered compared to other Light weapons. With each change, the weapon has swung from one state to the other, unfortunately never quite settling in a good place. This latest change is another attempt to get that balance right
Fixed hit reaction animations not displaying correctly on Riot Shield when struck by projectiles or melee attacks
Improved cloth simulation to produce more natural bending and reduce clipping
Fixed an issue where aiming with some gadgets could cause the character to over-rotate
Fixed an issue where certain emotes could briefly replay when switching between menus, most noticeable with the Light Build
Improved animation behavior when aiming down sights and moving
Reduced weapon clipping with certain Outfits in menus by updating the poses for Lewis Gun, M60, Flamethrower, SH1900, Model 1887, and Sledgehammer
Improved Minigun audio timing so firing stops immediately when released in order to reduce desync
Considerably reduced Weapon audio latency on systems with at least 16GB of RAM
Fixed an issue where the team wipe buzzer could play too late
Fixed an issue where crowd audio could cut in and out
Improved character movement foley with new clothing material variations and additional leg-specific audio sets
Improved clothing movement sounds by refining loop pitch behavior and adding coverage for more outfits
Fixed an issue where Weapon sounds could sometimes be replaced by audio from other weapons
Fixed a visual culling issue on the Point Proven emotes for OSPUZE and VOLPE
Adjusted charm clipping on several Defibrillator skins
Fixed pixelation on dirt details for the Lewis Gun Angel Clause skin
Fixed an issue where the LH1 Feral Frequency skin’s magazine could be invisible on Low and Medium graphics settings
Reduced the brightness of the clear tape on the Special Delivery AKM skin in darker areas to prevent a glowing appearance
Reduced excessive cloth movement on the Argent Dominus Helm
Fixed visual issues with several Emotes: the trophy no longer hovers during the Bigshot Show-Off Emote, the spyglass from Land Ahoy! no longer remains on screen after inspecting, and the Waking the Dragon Emote no longer clips into teammates in the pre-match line-up
Bullets no longer appear to float when using the Repeater’s Mark of the Marooned skin
Fixed an issue where the Dominion Drape lower-body item could be missing on Medium Contestants when using Low video settings
Improved visual detail of the dragon pet during the Drag n’Load SR-84 Inspect animation to prevent a low‑poly appearance
Fixed an issue where the Emotional Damage Emote’s heart effects could remain attached to the hand after the Emote was interrupted
Added a pickup animation and improved the look of the interaction and recall animations on the Codex of Exile Multi-Device skin
Fixed some Throwing Knives not showing the correct skin when sticking to soft or metal surfaces
Fixed the Arcane Uplink Multi-Device skin so its fire effect now changes color when placement is invalid
Updated cloth simulation on multiple outfits (coats, capes, skirts, hair) for more consistent movement
Updated the charm ring placement for the Codex of Exile skin
Reduced clipping in the neck and clavicle area on Contestants
Fixed rendering issues with the Fertilizer Bag and Copper Coin String Charms
Updated teeth shading to improve character appearance, 9 out of 10 digital dentists approve of this change
Adjusted cape attachment and cloth simulation on The Sovereignless to fit different body types better and prevent clipping
Added physics to the Ho Ho Hat, for no particular reason other than that we could
Fixed the logic of the screen customization for the Codex of Exile Multi-device skin so incompatible screen options are now locked
Fixed misaligned bowstring on the Cupid bow skin in the MVP screen
Fixed an issue where the Time to Fret Emote’s sound effect could stop playing after repeated or interrupted use
Improved compatibility between certain masks and hooded jackets
Improved compatibility across headwear, hoods, and facewear to support more combinations
Data Reshaper
Added input buffer time to improve stability during use
Fixed an issue where using it on a Hover Pad over a pit would not credit an environmental elimination when an enemy fell
Hover Pad
Fixed an issue where it could be destroyed when a Cashout vault opened
Fixed an issue where it could spin erratically when an Anti-Gravity Cube was placed beneath it with Barricade or Guardian Turret attached
Jump Pad
Fixed an issue where it could clip into the Cashout station
Dome Shield
Fixed misaligned hit detection when using the Sheldon Shelldome or Island Pop skins
Cashout
Fixed an issue where Vaults and Cashout Stations could continue spawning beyond the intended limit
Point Break
Added Starlight Hollow to the regular map rotation
Defender Gadgets left in captured zones now take damage over time until destroyed, reducing lingering threats after a zone changes control
Fixed an issue where deployable Gadgets and Specializations could not be placed on Grand Vault barriers
Added cover and tweaked defender borders to prevent spawn camping on Starlight Hollow
General
Fixed an issue where backfilled players could spawn at initial spawn locations
Fixed an issue where deploying a Healing Emitter or Guardian Turret near walls could launch players upward
Fixed an issue where destroying a Hover Pad with CL-40, MGL32, or RPG-7 would not award an environmental elimination
Fixed an issue where using Shockwave while carrying an item could cause the item to be dropped
Shockwave now interrupts vaulting, preventing delayed knockback and unintended boosts
Fixed an issue where players could be automatically detached when interacting near the top of vertical Ziplines, improving attachment and descent reliability
Fangwai City
Fixed collision issues on one of the bridges
Fixed an issue where the intro camera could clip through the jumbotron
Kyoto
The Temple railing ends now block bullets
Fixed missing collision on bamboo piles
Monaco
Fixed an issue where the Quick Cash Tutorial could load the Monaco map twice
Skyway Stadium
Fixed floating roof-ledge pillars in the Market District that could appear after a building was destroyed
Fixed an indestructible roof piece
NOZOMI/CITADEL
Improved stability and destruction at the VAIIYA Research Facility
Fixed the VAIIYA sign being unbreakable
Fixed a railing that blocked a vent and used the wrong material
Fixed missing destruction effects on exterior stairs and stair casings
P.E.A.C.E. Center
ALFA ACTA welcomes you back to the P.E.A.C.E. Center!
Fixed an issue where multi-story buildings could remain suspended after ground-floor walls were destroyed
Fixed trees that lacked collision
Las Vegas
Increased health of larger planters to 800 from 400 so their health corresponds better to their size
Starlight Hollow
Fixed an issue on where Light and Medium Contestants could get stuck under slanted thatch roofs in the Rival Farms area
Fixed thatch roofs cracking visuals to appear as wood instead of concrete
Adjusted barrel placement to resolve a visual overlap with a hay bale
Fixed missing candles and corrected lighting on candle tables
Updated building beams to the correct materials
Fixed a movement and camera jitter issues when standing against barrels in certain areas
Fixed an issue where destroyed oak tree stumps could have oversized collision, blocking movement.
Practice Range
Updated trophies with Season 9 leaderboards
General
Changed the health of shop storefronts from 500 to 2000 to make them more consistent with walls
Updated wall trim on bottom floors to be destroyed when surrounding architecture is destroyed or dematerialised, improving player movement
Adjusted ceiling destruction settings to reduce how much they break when surrounding structures are destroyed
Improved boot and menu load times by optimizing how game data loads across multiple categories
Upgraded XeSS to SDK version 3.0.0
Improved performance by pre-loading destruction settings at level start to reduce potential hitching
Optimized Game Show Events by loading assets asynchronously to reduce memory usage and improve performance
Updated AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution to version 4 and set it as the default upscaler, with support added for FSR2, FSR3, and FSR4
Hover Pads now correctly occlude after they finish spawning, improving performance and visual consistency
Added support for PSSR 2 on PS5 Pro consoles
Reduced latency by avoiding frame generation hooks when the feature is disabled or unsupported
Improved performance when navigating the store
Optimized visual effects for Orbital Lasers, Alien Invasion, and the Glitch Grenade to improve performance
Restored the voice chat Mute button for non-party teammates in the Social menu during matches
Updated the Clubs menu so the Playstyle dropdown now correctly shows Cashout and Ranked Cashout
Fixed an issue where controller users could not scroll to the bottom of the Friends list after switching back to the Friends tab in the Social menu
Added an on-screen message when you reach the limit for outgoing friend requests
Fixed an issue where the Emote Wheel could remain on screen after pressing L3 on a gamepad
Fixed an issue where the online Club members counter could decrease by one when using Show As Offline
Mesh Shield
Improved status display to more accurately reflect regeneration
Shockwave
Hitting a player now detaches them from ladders and Ziplines
Fixed an issue where Shockwave could launch players much higher than intended when two were triggered simultaneously
It now interrupts the Cloaking Device
Winch Claw
Adjusted the pull on Hover Pads, preventing it from overshooting and stopping far from the player
Fixed a rare crash that could occur when viewing the End of Round progression tab
Fixed a crash that could occur, preventing the option to reconnect
Fixed a potential crash when caching voice-over data
Fixed a server crash that could occur after a round ended, sometimes when players disconnected and reconnected
Prevent crash in AMD FSR when failing to load DLLs
Addressed a rare crash that could occur during graphics upscaling initialization
Fixed a crash that could occur in Power Shift
Apply Selective Shutdown system to comply with Korean regulations
Removed an unintended clickable area next to tabs in the Seasonal Reward Shop and in the Summary screen’s Contracts section
The preloading shaders warning now shows a 3-second countdown and auto-closes once loading finishes
Made the "View Statue" keybinding changeable
Improved pings for enemy Respawn Statues: ping markers are now visible before activation, and pinging an enemy statue now removes its attached marker
Fixed an issue where the Try in Practice Range button on Weapon Overview pages could be obscured by the level rewards list
Fixed an issue where the dissolve effect on the Ultimate Battle Pass played repeatedly when the tile was double-clicked
Fixed an issue where UI animations could sometimes freeze if you were eliminated as an animation played
Fixed an issue where some Gadgets that don’t use charges could be incorrectly shown as not ready when pinged
Fixed Nails and Tattoos showing the wrong category on the purchase screen
Added player nameplates for 2nd- and 3rd-place MVPs in the end-of-round summary
Updated the event log messages for all Communication pings
Added item names to event log messages related to pinging deployed equipment in the world. For example, "Explosive Mine here!" rather than "Equipment here!”
Fixed an issue where Grand Vaults in Point Break didn't have contextual pings with details
The “Invite to Party” prompt no longer appears while the Emote wheel is open
Added headshot multiplier stats to all ranged Weapon overviews
Fixed an issue where favoriting items in the Customization screen didn’t work and favorite marks could disappear after equipping an item
Improved background blur on the Match Recap tabs, with smoother transitions and a fix for a brief background flicker
Fixed an issue where the Contestant could display the wrong Weapon after switching Weapons and using an Emote
Clarified that Personal Performance stats are shown per Game Mode
Fixed incorrect texture on the MVP screen
Fixed cases where End of Round XP and progression values could display incorrectly
Fixed an issue where Career XP and certain rewards were not displayed correctly after the round
Added callout and warning pings for all Arena Carriables with unique icons and event log messages
Fixed an issue where using a controller prevented entering the Interface section of the Gameplay settings
Fixed an issue where reconnecting during the Match Recap after the second round could show an empty or distorted screen and make Stay as a Team non-functional in Cashout and Ranked Tournament
Equipment Pings for several abilities will now display the remaining cooldown in seconds left for abilities like Grappling Hook, Winch Claw, Charge 'N' Slam, Shockwave, Cloaking Device, and Dash
Match Recap stats in Cashout and Ranked Tournament now display consistently for all players.
Cooldown indicators for regenerating gear no longer appear as ready in the Equipment Ping wheel when overheated or depleted
Fixed an issue where the Cloaking Device ping sometimes failed to show the remaining cooldown time
Fixed an issue where the Sponsor progression track refilled from 0 on startup and again after completing a match, sometimes replaying rewards
Fixed an issue where scope glint could remain visible after elimination
Fixed Hover Pads effects missing in Instant Replays
Fixed an issue where arrows and throwing knives could remain suspended in air after the object they hit was destroyed
Fixed an issue where Grenades fired in quick succession could incorrectly display a bounce-trail effect
Polish across maps so the edges of architecture will now look covered in soot when fire has occurred
Changed the visuals of an inactive Gateway so it’s easier to recognize
Enabled spotlight shadows in the main menu for the low shadow quality setting
Improved Anti-Gravity Cube visuals for clarity and performance: the field effect now renders consistently near the edge and no longer indicates a lift zone when lift isn’t possible
Fixed ray-traced materials on buildings in Monaco for improved visual fidelity
Fixed an issue where the Data Reshaper’s visual effect could appear oversaturated on certain walls in Bernal
R .357
Fixed the offset sight alignment on some skins
Riot Shield
Will now correctly register blocks against melee attacks, providing clearer hit feedback when they connect