Titanfall's new update buffs and nerfs several weapons - patch notes

Titanfall's fourth update is dropping imminently on PC< Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Developer Respawn Entertainment has posted a series of patch notes filled with balancing changes, bug fixing and more. Get it all here.

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Now, over on the Titanfall blog, Respawn has listed the contents of its next update which included Marked For Death mode, Titan Burn Cards, Titan Insignias, improved matchmaking and more - which we already told you about earlier this week.

Interestingly, the team has identified guns that were going under-used and has buffed them accordingly, while over-used and overpowered gun have been nuked. The Hemlock triple-burst rifle has been given the biggest boost, so I'm going to do some videos on it over on the Cookie channel post-patch.

Here are the patch notes in full:

• Fix for no music playing when you join a match late.
• Fix for Sonar Burn Cards not showing during kill replay.
• Fix case for when "Titan Locking"/"Pilot Locking" indicator goes away.
• Fix not being able to rodeo a Titan doing a synced melee kill.
• Corporate: Restored Victory/Defeat music at end of match in Corporate on Campaign.
• Fix for getting stuck in Titan deploying nuclear core and nuclear core not doing full damage when right next to Titan.
• Fix cases where disembarking player directly from a Titan into the dropship leaves that player behind.
• Fixed players not ejecting from where the Titan is if they dash while auto-ejecting.
• Fix for Flyer ragdolls disappearing.
• Fixed cases where punching would make a Titan fly. You might remember this one from being featured on Kotaku.
• Fixed the Smart Pistol being unable to lock-on when the frame rate is low. (Thanks for reporting this one, forums!)
• Fixed the Smart Pistol not being able to hit crawling Spectres.
• Fixed occasional issue where Titan rodeo kills were not counted towards the Brain Surgeon challenge.
• Fixed a case where player jump jet effects would spawn endlessly.
• Fixed a crash when attempting to necksnap a Pilot who is rodeo'ing a Titan.
• Fixed a crash involving Sonar.
• Fixed being popped into Spectre tubes on Corporate after jumping off from a rodeo.
• Fixed water not fogging properly.
• Fixed cloaked players being too visible in heavy fog.
• Fixed satchels skipping doomed state when set off with smoke.
• Fixed hitching and fast forward motion when game has been running for a long time.
• Fixed tearing happening more often than necessary when running close to 60 fps.

<h3>BUG FIXES (PC)</h3>

• Fixed crashes related to fullscreen mode.
• Game window supports minimize.
• Game minimizes when switched out.
• Added very cheap low-quality water technique for min-spec PCs.

<h3>BUG FIXES (Xbox One)</h3>

• Fix for issue where going into XBox menus causes 2 music tracks to overlap.

<h3>BALANCING (All Platforms)</h3>

In this update we've made a few changes to Pilot weapons and Big Punch to ensure proper balance. Some weapons, like the Hemlok, were barely being used while other weapons were slightly overpowered. We've done another round of balancing based on feedback we've received from inside and outside of the studio. We'll continue to listen to our community in regards to weapon/game balance and thanks for sharing all of your feedback with us. Here are the changes we've made this time around:

• Satchels: Satchel damage has been reduced against Pilots only. They will still kill a Pilot caught close to the center of the explosion, but the fall-off is more severe now, allowing Pilots that are far from the satchel to survive more often than they currently do.
• Shotgun: The shotgun now does a little bit less damage at midrange. It was proving to be able to win fights that it should lose when at this range. We also fixed a bug where the cursor would turn red, indicating it will hit an enemy when the enemy was actually outside of the range of the shotgun's max distance.
• R101: This weapon was designed to be an all-purpose weapon, and it does that quite well, too well, even. We've slightly adjusted it to make it a bit more uncomfortable to handle and hit targets at long distances. It will kick a bit more when fired but the effects are subtle enough to only be felt at long range. We've also reduced its mag size from 30 to 24. The extended ammo upgrade brings it from 24 to 30 (it used to go from 30 to 40).
• R97: While it already had a higher rate of fire than the CAR, the R97 was pretty much inferior in all other ways. We've upped the RoF even higher to make it handle up-close fights better than it did. It also has the fastest time into ADS (aiming down the sights) now. The biggest change, though, is that it now does a lot more damage than it did when rodeo'ing, making it a better choice for Pilots who enjoy taking on a Titan. It is now the second best weapon to use when rodeo'ing Titans (behind only the LMG).
• Hemlok: The Hemlok was one of the least popular guns in the game. Its role was intended to be the long-range assault rifle, but it wasn't doing that quite well enough. We've made it so that it is never more than 4 bullets to drop an enemy Pilot (it used to be 5 at long range). The Hemlok will also kick less when fired. The drift when ADSing has also been reduced to allow easier use against long-range targets. The silencer MOD used to take 6 hits to kill an enemy Pilot at long-range, now it is 5.
• AMPed Hemlok: The AMPed Hemlok already killed close-range Pilots in 3 bullets, now it will also kill long-range Pilots with 3 bullets.
• G2: The G2 now kills Pilots with 3 shots, always. It used to take 4 at range. The G2 has slightly less kick now as well. When the silencer is attached, the G2 will always kill an enemy Pilot with 4 shots whereas it used to be 5 at range. The clip size has been increased when the match trigger attachment is used to give you 12, rather than 8, rounds per magazine.
• AMPed G2: The Amped G2 will always kill an enemy Pilot with 2 shots now. It used to take 3 at a distance.
• Titan Plasma Railgun: The FOV, while ADSing, has been pulled back some to allow players to keep more of their surroundings in focus. This makes it easier to maintain your "charge" while tracking enemy targets.
• Big Punch: We've taken a look at complaints about the Big Punch kit, and decided to adjust it. Big Punch was especially problematic when an Ogre was dealing the punch. It did enough damage to destroy the shields of a Stryder and still do a chunk of damage to the Stryder's permanent health. Spamming Big Punch as an Ogre also let it travel around at speeds higher than intended. As such, we've decided to weaken Big Punch's effects significantly when taken as an Ogre. The Atlas and Stryder didn't need as large of a change, so we've only made small adjustments to Big Punch's effect when applied to the Atlas and Stryder chassis.