The “Designer’s Notes” series will provide you with insight into our Balancing team’s thoughts on Operator balancing around the middle of each Season. These will come after we have reviewed the data and feedback from the new Operators, and changes made with the latest Season.

We utilize data and player feedback to make decisions on adjustments. With that in mind, we wanted to share some of the data they have been looking at for our various Operators. The following charts plot the power (Win Delta) and popularity (Pick Rate) of the Operators on Attack and Defense. The Win Delta is the average win ratio when an Operator is picked minus the average win ratio when an Operator is not picked.

Attackers

Defenders

Upcoming Changes

Caveira

• Decreased damage from 99 to 65
• Damage falloff adjustments to make it more consistent with other pistols
• Magazine size reduced from 15 to 12 bullets
• Increased recoil (will be more challenging to chain shots at long range)
• Increased hip fire spread (reduce the viability of non-ADS spam fire)

We are trying to make her less frustrating to play against and reduce her power level at low to medium levels. Lowering the damage, the number of bullets that need to hit the chest of an enemy to put them in a DBNO state should be the same as before, but we reduce the penalty of being hit by one shot. Thanks to this, we can also normalize the falloff curve to be more consistent with other pistols, which gives Caveira increased ranged and versatility.

With the changes to the recoil and hip-fire, We also want to reinforce the hunter aspect of the character, force her to approach silently to her prey and be precise to guarantee the kill. With this in mind, we have made the aforementioned adjustments to the recoil and hip fire experience.

Kaid

• ADS speed has been increased by 33%

Kaid is performing below our expectations; we want to take a deep look in the future to make him more attractive for the utility and creativity that he brings to a team. For now, the ADS of the AUG A3 was too slow, closer to an Assault Rifle than an SMG. This change should help him to win more gunfights.

Rook & Doc

• MP5 maximum damage reduced from 30 to 27

Rook has the highest win delta for the defenders, and Doc is trending the same way, with a win delta that increases Season over Season. We want to slightly reduce their power without changing how it feels to play them.

Clash

• Changed SPSMG9 fire mode to full-auto
• Removed SPSM9 2-shot burst
• Adapted SPSMG9 recoil to full-auto fire mode
• Increased SPSMG9 total ammunition to 161, from 121
• Increased SPSMG9 damage, from 30 to 33

We are not satisfied with the current state of Clash: she has been underperforming, and the latest updates did not improve that situation.

We believe that she is the Operator that needs quality team support the most, which makes her too weak when there is no backup, especially when outnumbered. By changing the fire mode of the SPSMG9 to full auto and increasing its damage, our goal is to help improve her performance when encountering those kinds of situations. At the same time, these changes come with a new recoil alignment that will bring the SPSMG9 behavior closer to the rest of the machine pistols.

Current Status

Lion

Progress is being made on the Lion Rework. We have tested and validated the design changes that we would like to implement, and are in the process of tightening up the parameters, as well as UI and Audio feedback. We will have more information available for you during the Six Invitational!