Battlefield 5 Tides of War December patch is buffing all SMGs, nerfing KE7, fixing Company Coin issue, more
Battlefield 5's first major patch is days away, and DICE has revealed early details about some of its biggest changes.
The Battlefield 5 December patch launches on Tuesday, December 4. The update's highlights are the new Panzerstorm map, practice range, new War Story, and of course the first chapter of Tides of War: Overture.
But the update is also bringing with it a host of bug fixes and balance changes - documented in a dozen or so pages of patch notes which will be revealed closer to release. Until then, DICE has taken to Reddit to outline a few of the elements worth highlighting early.
TTK and TTD
Though DICE isn't making any specific changes to TTK and TTD in the patch, the developer explained that it wants to be careful when reacting to feedback about this topic. For one, it wants to separate perceived low TTD - such as that caused by netcode issues (damage stacking) - from actual problems with weapon damage/player health in the more traditional sense of TTK.
To that end, DICE is working on a first pass that will enter testing soon, but the developer is still undecided on how to involve the community in the process. It's looking at a number of ways, including creating specific servers or playlists with updated TTK for players to test before they're rolled out to the larger community.
Revive mechanic updates
The December update will make the process of getting revived, and reviving other players much smoother. DICE worked on reducing the input delay players get after getting revived, and the same goes for Medics doing the reviving. This should make getting back to the fight quicker and less clunky.
Medic balance
As it stands, Medics are the most under-equipped of the four classes when it comes to medium and long range combat. DICE is increasing SMG performance at range across the board, especially for ones with a slower rate of fire.
In practice, this means faster muzzle velocity and less bullet drag (drop). This also means the five-hit kill range has been extended to 30 meters from 25 for all SMGs, and their stationary aimed fire is now more accurate.
Company Coin shortages
DICE is aware that reaching the max rank cuts off a large portion of Company Coin income, and it's fixing this. The developer is also working on a way to retroactively award players who reached max rank before the update with extra Coins, depending on their playtime. Details about this will be released when the feature is ready.
UI
The December patch will make it easier to apply skins to weapons with a new 'apply all' feature. As for having loadouts sync across factions, this sadly won't make this next update, but it's something being worked on.
Airlifts and body dragging
Airlifts, a collection of rewards deluxe edition owners were promised, will be detailed in a blog post soon. Another vague feature discussed before release that's yet to materialise is the ability to drag downed teammates, something DICE is still unsure if it's possible.
The developer also posted more detailed balance tweaks for weapons, which we've rounded up below.
Weapon balance
-Daamge
- Decreased M1928A1 maximum damage to 25.1 (previously 30)
- Increased the 3 hit kill range of the Gewehr 1-5 to 30 meters (previously 25 meters)
- Increased maximum damage for the Sturmgewehr 1-5 and StG 44 to 25.1 (previously 24)
- Reduced the range at which the Turner SMLE can kill with one headshot and one body shot to 30 meters (previously 35 meters)
- Increased the 4 hit kill range of all assault rifles, LMGs, MMGs and SMGs to 10 meters (previously 9 meters) to make close quarter damage more reliable
- Increased all SMG 5 hit kill range to 30 meters (previously 25 meters)
- Slightly extended pistol damage drop-off distances
- Bolt actions no longer deal slightly reduced damage when hitting the lower body or upper arms, this means the minimum damage will never go below 55 damage.
-Recoil
- Increased horizontal recoil of the KE7 to 0.45 (previously 0.36)
- Increased horizontal recoil of the M1907 SF to 0.41 (previously 0.39)
- Decreased horizontal recoil of the STEN to 0.38 (previously 0.4) and increased the efficacy of the Ported Barrel specialization
-Specializations
- Increased the effect of the Slings and Swivels specialization. Switching to your primary weapon is now an additional 50 ms faster for all weapons and firing after sprinting is allowed an additional 16 ms earlier for bolt actions, assault rifles, semi auto rifles and SLRs
- Changed the specialization for the KE7. Recoil Buffer has been removed. Quick Aim has been added. Specialization tree has been reordered
-Reload
- Increased the reload speed of the KE7. Base reload time is now 3.55 s (previously 3.75 s)
- Increased the reload speed of the MG34 with the double drum magazine. Tactical reload is now 3.7 s (previously 4 s) and empty reload is 5.083 s (previously 5.5 s)
- Increased the reload speed of the M1907 SF. Tactical reload is now 2.7 s (previously 2.9 s) and empty reload is 3.3 s (previously 3.5 s)
-Misc
- Improved sustained fire accuracy of SMGs while aimed and stationary
- Decreased sustained fire accuracy of assault rifles while aimed and moving
- Increased muzzle velocity of all SMGs as follows:
- MP34: 495 m/s (previously 450 m/s)
- MP34 (High Velocity Bullets): 560 m/s (previously 520 m/s)
- STEN: 495 m/s (previously 430 m/s)
- MP40: 455 m/s (previously 400 m/s)
- EMP: 420 m/s (previously 380 m/s)
- MP28: 345 m/s (previously 320 m/s)
- Suomi KP/-31: 330 m/s (previously 300 m/s)
- M1928A1: 330 m/s (previously 280 m/s)
- Decreased drag of SMG bullets from to 0.005 (previously 0.007) for regular bullets and 0.0035 (previously 0.005) for High Velocity Bullets
This is obviously not a comprehensive list, as the update includes more than that, but it's what DICE decided to share today. We'll be bringing you more coverage of the patch as soon as more details are made available.