In this latest edition of Designer’s Notes, we'll go into more detail about the balancing changes that’ll come with the Y6S2.2 patch and give you an insight into the reasons behind these changes.

BALANCING MATRIX AND TOP OPERATOR BANS

WIN DELTA VS. PRESENCE

Please note that we are using presence to gauge the popularity of an Operator. This notion had to be introduced to reflect the implementation of the pick & ban.

Presence definition: pick rate of an Operator when not banned. Win Delta: The Win Delta is aggregated from Operator’s Win Deltas per Bomb Site.

OPERATOR BAN RATE

OPERATOR BALANCING

ALIBI

• Added 2.0x scope to ACS12 (removed 1.5x scope)
• Added 1.5x scope to MX4 Storm

Population targeted by this change: Casual, Top Ranked and Pros.

Despite having a solid mix of utility, including a solid primary weapon and secondary shotgun, deployable shield and impacts, and high speed, her presence in the Balancing Matrix is still low. By changing up her scopes, the intention is to open up new role opportunities for her.

In particular, this should make Alibi more viable in roaming scenarios and appeal to players who are more frag-focused.

FROST

• Removed 1.5x scope from C1
• Population targeted by this change: Casual, Top Ranked and Pros.

In her current state, Frost has the highest win delta of all the Defenders and possesses a very high kill/death ratio when compared against other Defenders. To prevent her from holding longer angles as comfortably and bring her more in line with other operators, we have removed the 1.5x scope from her C1.

This isn't the only piece to the Frost puzzle, though. We know that her Welcome Mats play a role in her overall strength, but want to first understand the role her gun plays before deciding if it will be necessary to shift focus to this utility. As such, we will be keeping a close eye on her updated performance over time .

TACHANKA

• Added Deployable Shield (removed Proximity Alarm)
• Increased Shumikha Launcher total ammunition to 14 (from 10)
• Improved DP-27 destruction:
  • 0 to 4.99m: 0.3 radius hole per shot
  • 5 to 7.99m: 0.2 radius hole per shot
  • Beyond 8m: 0.2 radius hole after three shots

Population targeted by this change: Casual, Top Ranked and Pros.

Playing Tachanka should be a blast, but as it stands he has a very low presence in the Balancing Matrix. One of the reasons for this is that his Shumikha Launcher tends to be quite situational and can be unsafe to fire since it renders him defenseless. In addition to increasing its total ammunition to encourage more active usage, Tachanka now has a Deployable Shield which will offer him more protection when using the launcher.

That's not the only improvement Tachanka's received to his destructive capabilities. His DP-27 is also capable of making larger holes per shot at mid-range which, when combined with the added protection of his Deployable Shield, should make him a more fearsome anchor.

ZOFIA

• Modified M762 recoil, harder to control.
  • Vertical recoil increased
  • Horizontal spread will be stronger to the the left
  • Long burst recoil will start on the 8th bullet (was 12th)

Population targeted by this change: Casual, Top Ranked and Pros.

Looking at the Balancing Matrix, Zofia continues to have a very high presence, which is due in part to the high fragging potential and ease of use of her M762. In order to bring her more in line with other operators, her M762's recoil has been increased making it harder to control. This comes in the form of increased vertical recoil and more of a horizontal spread to the left.

What's new about this approach (and something we'd love your feedback on), is that while the horizontal spread will be stronger than other guns, it will be more predictable and with much less randomness. This means that while it will initially be harder to control, it should be possible to master the recoil pattern over time.

Since this will require a greater degree of control over her shots to secure frags, we expect Zofia to be less of an all-around pick who has both a strong, easy-to-use primary weapon and useful gadget. Her gadget will continue to be a draw, but those looking for a more easy to use frag-focused Attacker will find Ace, Sledge, and Iana more enticing options.

NØKK

Following experimentation on the Test Server, we've made the decision to put Nøkk's balancing rework on hold.

Our initial objective with this idea was to expand on the player experience of being invisible, making her more useful in a wider range of situations by addressing how her utility interacts with recent gadget and ability additions.

With her existing kit, Nøkk is already a difficult operator the detect. She is invisible to cameras, and she doesn't make noise. If we were to add another invulnerability to detection, it would require removing something from her kit. No operator should be able to reach the bombsite totally undetected, after all.

Most recently, we tried removing the HEL Presence Reduction's ability to muffle sounds, but found players missed this noise reduction more than they liked the immunity to proximity detectors that replaced it. This makes sense, as muffled sounds have more universal utility, whereas proximity immunity's usefulness depends on the Defenders' team composition.

On top of this, we feel that players should always be able to trust their gadgets. By adding this experimental immunity to proximity detection, it made a wide range of additional utility feel unreliable, which we want to avoid.

As a result, we've decided to put these experimental changes on hold and stick with the Nøkk you know and love as we explore other possibilities for the future.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to test out this change on the TS and shared constructive feedback with us. It's hugely appreciated and helps guide future changes that you will truly enjoy playing with!

WEAPON BALANCING

ACS12

• Increased damage to 69 (from 59)

Population targeted by this change: Casual, Top Ranked and Pros.

In its current state, the ACS12 has a very low pick rate. Especially when compared with the ALDA and Mx4, the ACS12's fragging potential was more limited, so we have increased the damage of its shots. This should help to bring it more in line with its contemporaries and make it a more viable option.

Note, this change does not affect damage drop-off values, which will remain the same.

TCSG-12

• Increased damage to 63 (from 57)

Population targeted by this change: Casual, Top Ranked and Pros.

Similar to the ACS12, the TCSG-12 has a very low pick rate. In order to make it a more viable option, its damage has been increased.

With Goyo and Kaid already being viable operators, this is not intended to further increase their fragging potential. The increase to damage, while a step up from where it was previously, brings the TCSG-12 to a state that is still weaker than it was at release. This should help keep it in balance while still offering options when it comes to selecting their loadouts.