Back 4 Blood November update unlocks all characters, fixes special Ridden spam, rebalances cards, and more

Following the announcement of a year's worth of support for the game yesterday, Back 4 Blood's November 2021 update is now live – and it's made some pretty widespread alterations to the title. As well as introducing dozens of balance changes to the game's campaign and PvP modes, a swathe of cards have been adjusted for balance, too.

The most important updates are those made to the game's cards – these affect your overall build and influence how the game works out for you as you progress further into the various undead-filled levels, after all. Here's a quick rundown of which cards have been changed, and the new effect they have:

• Negative ammo capacity effects from cards now apply instantly after the card is drawn
• Batter Up – Melee Damage adjusted to 40% from 50%
• Brazen – Stamina efficiency adjusted to 20% from 30%
• Breakout – Decreased use time to 3 seconds from 4 seconds
• Face Your Fears – Adjusted to 2 Temporary Health from 3
• Fresh Bandage – Now instantly applies its trauma heal effect when spawning into the safe room it is selected in
• Ignore The Pain – Now restores health instead of providing Temporary Health
• Inspiring Sacrifice – Heal decreased to 20 over 15 seconds from 25 over 20 seconds
• Mean Drunk – Melee Damage adjusted to 60% from 75%
• Meth Head – Stamina efficiency adjusted to 30% from 40%
• Money Grubbers – Now grants 3 bonus copper per stack (from 5) and a max bonus of 75 (from 100)
• Spikey Bits – Melee Damage adjusted to 20% from 25%
• True Grit – Heal increased to 10 from 8

Another major fix introduced in the patch concerns the number of special Ridden spawn per mission. Turtle Rock said that a bug was causing too many of them to appear, and it will continue to look at special balance going forward.

Aside from this, if you're jumping back into the game, you're likley to see certain Ridden enemy types able to soak up a bit more punishment than they previoulsy were – the Ogre's critical hit damage is down to 500 from 2000, for example – meaning that some encounters may be a bit trickier than they were originally.

Also, aditional characters Doc, Karlee, Hoffman, and Jim are now unlocked for players, regardless of whether or not they've completed Act 1 – The Devil's Return. This means new players will have access to all the in-game characters from the off, and doesn't force you to play through the game in order to unlock them in the various multiplayer lobbies.

The AI bots have also been improved – there should be less instances of friendly fire from pipe bombs, and the AI is now better equipped to use defibrillators to help you if you get downed.

Aside from these headline changes, there's also a wealth of quality-of-life updates and bug fixes, to boot. You can read the full set of patch notes at the link.

If you're still obsessed with cleaning up the Ridden, you may want to check out our Back 4 Blood tips, where we talk unlocking Prepper Stash doors, sharing ammo, Supply Point farming and healing trauma and more.