THE FINALS Update 11.6.0 Revives Orbital Hitters With Melee and Weapon Changes

THE FINALS Update 11.6.0 is live, sending players back into the Arena for a space-themed version of Heavy Hitters. The patch also brings weapon and specialization balance changes, a new reward wheel, fresh Twitch Drops, and a fix for players who were incorrectly flagged by the anti-cheat system. Embark detailed the changes in its Steam announcement.

The headline addition is Orbital Hitters, a returning limited-time mode built around Sledgehammers. Teams will need to use every tool available to knock opponents out of the Arena, although one bad step can send the attacker into space instead. It is Heavy Hitters with a much more dangerous view of the sky.

Orbital Hitters and Deep Signal headline the update

Orbital Hitters follows Season 11’s launch changes, which added Galaxy Estates, bot matches, and a rebuilt melee system. The latest mode puts that melee focus front and center, giving Sledgehammers another chance to cause spectacular problems around the Arena.

The new Deep Signal event adds a reward wheel with more than 20 possible items. Players can earn up to three tickets each day by completing contracts during the next two weeks. Duplicate results now become Golden Tickets, and landing on one guarantees that the next spin will award a new item.

Two cat-themed DLC sets are also available. The Sugar Shocker and Sugar Crasher sets each include an outfit, a Legendary BFR Titan skin with its charm, a Legendary emote, and 2,400 Multibucks. The store also features the spacefaring Hullwalker Set, built around a vacuum-sealed helmet and an astronaut-inspired look.

Players can earn three more cosmetics through the Beyond Boundaries Twitch Drops campaign by watching THE FINALS streams with Drops Enabled. One hour awards the Connection Complete Sticker, two hours awards the Link Established Charm, and four hours awards the Meteor Tips Earrings. The campaign is available through September 3, 2026, with terms and conditions available through Twitch.

Gyro-controller bans are being reversed

Embark also addressed an anti-cheat mistake that incorrectly flagged players using gyro controllers. The rule has been updated, affected bans are being reversed automatically, and players do not need to submit an appeal. Embark said gyro is a supported input method and that it has changed its testing process to catch this type of false positive before future rules go live.

Some PC players may also see a message asking them to uninstall a driver after starting the game. The warning is connected to Windows update KB5121003. Players who encounter it should follow the troubleshooting instructions, while account-specific questions can be sent to Embark’s support team.

Patch Notes: THE FINALS Update 11.6.0

Update 11.6.0 adjusts several specializations and weapons, with the largest combat changes aimed at melee reliability, the M11’s effective range, and the balance between the BFR Titan and KS-23. The patch also includes fixes across maps, audio, UI, stability, social features, and the Practice Range.

Balance Changes

Gadgets

Lockbolt

• Decreased duration of the reload animation from 2.2s to 1.75s
• Moved the point at which ammo restocks during the reload animation from 1.3s to 1.1s, to align with the new reload animation duration

Dev Note: This is a small quality of life change for the Lockbolt to make it smoother to use.

Specializations

Dematerializer

• Decreased cooldown from 20s to 15s per charge
• Decreased item raise time from 0.1s to 0s

Dev Note: The Dematerializer has drifted out of the meta to a larger extent than we wanted. These changes should make it feel more responsive and nudge it back to being a viable playstyle for Medium players.

Evasive Dash

• Decreased cooldown from 6.5s to 6s per charge

Dev Note: We’ve felt that our previous changes to Evasive Dash restricted it too much, this is a nudge back towards the previous balance.

Guardian Turret

• Decreased activation time from 3.5s to 3s
• Increased health from 280 to 300
• Decreased cooldown when retrieving the turret remotely from 17.5s to 10s
  • Cooldown when picking up the turret by hand remains 3s
  • Cooldown when the turret is destroyed remains 35s

Dev Note: The Turret is always a difficult Specialization to balance, as it’s very easy to deal with for experienced players while it can be quite frustrating to face for newer players. We’ve had to tread carefully when trying to balance it. However, we feel at present it is slightly too weak and we’d like it to find more viability at higher skill tiers so that it would demand more use of direct counters to contest it. These changes represent a nudge in that direction.

Weapons

AKM

• Increased damage from 20 to 21

Dev Note: While the AKM remains ever popular, it performs slightly worse than weapons like the FAMAS and FCAR, which it should perform more similarly to. This nudge to damage should bring it more in line with those weapons.

ARN-220

• Increased fire rate from 725 RPM to 750 RPM
• Decreased the length of the quick reload animation from 0.75s to 0.66s
• Decreased the length of the empty reload from 2.73s to 2.7s

Dev Note: The ARN has lagged behind the XP-54 and M11 for quite some time and we’d like to see it on a more equal footing with those weapons. These changes aim to get it to that place.

BFR Titan

• Increased damage falloff multiplier from 0.65 to 0.7, increasing the weapon’s damage at range

Dev Note: The BFR has been outperformed by some other Heavy weapons at distances in which it should really dominate. Alongside other changes, this change is aimed at making sure the BFR can have its own niche.

Cerberus 12GA

• Increased damage per pellet from 8 to 9, increasing a full shot’s damage from 104 to 117

Dev Note: The Cerberus was more negatively impacted by the reduction in damage to Quick Melee than some other weapons. This change to damage aims to offset that.

Dagger

• Primary Attack
  • Increased base damage from 42 to 49
  • Increased damage for precise hits from 60 to 70
  • Lunge duration increased from 0.15s to 0.22s to help the lunge reach its intended range
• Secondary Attack – Backstab
  • Increased base damage from 75 to 85
  • Increased backstab damage from 337 to 340
  • Lunge duration increased from 0.22s to 0.32s to help the lunge reach its intended range

Dev Note: We’re continuing to further dial in our melee weapons during Season 11, as we get data back and better learn how the new melee system performs in the wild. These new damage values and lunge distance changes should help the Dagger to get onto targets more reliably, but we know there’s still more to be done. We’re working towards some networking improvements for lunge attacks that should really help, but they’re a little while away yet. In the meantime, we think these balance changes will improve the overall experience.

Dual Blades

• Primary Attack
  • Increased precision zone angle from 9 to 12 degrees, making it easier to land precise strikes

Dev Note: We feel the two strike animation on the Dual Blades frequently causes the second strike to miss precise hits and only land normal ones. To address this, we’re broadening the precision zone angle for the Dual Blades, making precise hits easier to land, especially for that second strike animation.

KS-23

• Decreased damage falloff multiplier from 0.675 to 0.58, meaning the weapon does less damage at range
• Decreased damage fall-off start range from 18m to 12m, reducing its effective range
• Decreased damage fall-off end range from 23m to 22m, reducing its effective range

Dev Note: As mentioned under the BFR change, the KS-23 is one weapon that performs well at ranges where the BFR should really dominate. These changes bring in the KS-23’s effective range a bit, making it less effective at medium to long range.

M11

• Increased recoil when firing from the hip by approximately 75%
• Increased recoil when aiming down sights (ADS) by approximately 25%
• Increased bullet dispersion in ADS, in most movement stances by 25%
• Increased bullet dispersion in ADS when airborne by 120%

Dev Note: The M11 outperforms its intended range by quite a bit, cannibalizing combat distances that the ARN and XP-54 should really be a best fit for. These changes bring in that effective range for the M11 by making it less precise. It should be noted, while some of the numbers look very large, because they are percentage changes on the current very low levels of M11 recoil and dispersion they won’t actually feel quite as crazy as they look. :)

Recurve Bow

• Increased damage per shot, when the bow is at max draw, from 124 to 126. The base damage per shot remains at 60 damage

Dev Note: Similar to the Cerberus, the Quick Melee damage change from 40 to 25 negatively impacted the Bow more than most. This damage change offsets that lost power and opens up Quick Melee combos versus Lights for Bow users again.

Riot Shield

• Primary Attack
  • Increased base damage from 58 to 60
  • Increased damage for precise hits from 83 to 86
  • Increased lunge distance from 4.25m to 5m (this change was originally listed in 11.3 but didn’t work correctly. This has now been fixed.)
• Secondary Attack – Shield Bash
  • Increased damage from 40 to 50
  • Increased environmental damage from 50 to 100
  • Lunge duration increased from 0.5s to 0.6s to extend the lunge’s max distance slightly

Dev Note: As part of the changes to the Riot Shield in 11.0, we very deliberately moved the weapon towards the style of play we originally planned for it, that is a role as a hyper defensive weapon capable of controlling interior spaces, anchoring for their team and playing around deployables such as Turrets and Mines. The way the Riot Shield was sometimes used in the past, to charge enemies while blocking bullets from one side then flailing in with a flurry of hits, was never an intended role for the weapon and felt too similar to the Dual Blades and the Light’s Sword. The Riot Shield was not supposed to be about running up a high kill count, so much as being a powerful defender of objectives and we moved to reinforce that style with 11.0. That said, we feel the changes in 11.0 did reduce the Riot Shield’s ability to get eliminations a little too much and since then, while its win rate has looked very healthy, its elimination rate has been slightly too low. These changes nudge its combat potential back up slightly, while hopefully still making the weapon a ‘stall first’ tool more than anything else.

Spear

• Primary Attacks
  • Increased the size of the weapon’s damage sweep box by 60%, making it slightly easier to land hits
  • Increased lunge distance from 5m to 6.5m
  • Increased lunge duration from 0.3s to 0.45s to help the lunge reach its intended range
  • Increased lunge speed by 50% to improve the chances of the lunge catching up to fast-moving targets
• Secondary Attack – Spin Attack
  • Increased the delay before the secondary attack resets back to the first attack in the sequence from 0.2s to 0.35s. This is a small quality of life change to make it easier to keep the sequence going if the player hit a target

Dev Note: Similar to the Dagger, we’re still trying to get the Spear to a place where it feels reliable to close in on targets. Like the Dagger, the Spear will also benefit greatly from the networking changes we’re currently investigating for melee combat, but in the short term these buffs to lunges should help it perform more reliably.

XP-54

• Update the recoil curve to prevent an issue where the recoil pattern would jump down if the player emptied the whole magazine in a single burst
• Decrease bullet dispersion in ADS when airborne by 8%

Dev Note: These are a couple of small quality of life changes for the XP-54, dealing with a couple of edge cases that didn’t feel very consistent but should feel much better now.

Notice | Anti-Cheat

A recent anti-cheat rule we deployed in THE FINALS incorrectly flagged players using gyro controllers as cheaters. We’ve updated the rule, and affected bans are being reversed automatically. If you were banned as a result of this, you don’t need to submit an appeal or take any action. Your account will be restored.

We’re sorry. Gyro is a legitimate and supported input method, and players who use it should never have been swept up in enforcement meant for cheaters or made to wait so long for a reversal. We’ve adjusted our testing process so this class of false positive gets caught before rules go live in the future.

If you have questions about your specific account, our support team is available through the usual channels.

Notice | INPOUTX64.SYS MESSAGE

When starting the game after today’s update, you may encounter a message about a driver needing to be uninstalled in order to play. This is related to the recent Windows update KB5121003.

Please follow these instructions to uninstall the driver in order to be able to play.

If you encounter any issues, feel free to reach out to our support team.

Bug Fixes

Animation

• Corrected a slight offset in the aim-down-sights animation for the Schwarzschild Blackhole SR-84
• Fixed an issue where deploy animations didn’t blend out smoothly
• Fixed an issue where Quick Melee kicks did not cancel correctly when swapping items
• Fixed leg placement misalignment for Light and Heavy builds in the Vesper Salute Emote animation

Audio

• Improved end-of-round music reliability to prevent it from cutting out when the audio mix is busy
• The SFX Volume slider now also adjusts sound during replays
• Fixed an issue where the revive interaction sound could continue looping after a round ended
• Fixed sound timing for the Star Team emote

Cosmetics

• Fixed an issue where tracker values on some skins could display outdated information
• Fixed an issue where the House Lights skin for the Flashbang did not correctly display its light state to other Contestants
• Fixed cases where some Gateway skins could display incorrect materials
• Fixed an issue where the Recurve Bow’s visual effects could fail to load for certain skins
• Improved the Pyro Grenade inspect animation on the Burn Notice skin and adjusted its audio level

Gameplay

General

• Disabled achievement progression in bot game modes
• Fixed a rare case where the Winch Claw could attach to a target without pulling it

Maps

Kyoto

• Improved stair collision to remove instances where Contestants could fall through
• Fixed a spot where players could get stuck between a cliff and bamboo.
• Fixed a weak point where a building could be destroyed too easily

Galaxy Estates

• Fixed a few places where dressing against walls would not properly take damage, preventing those walls from breaking consistently from all angles
• Added a ladder above the covered walkway from Astral Port to Cosmo Physique to make it easier to reach the highest roof level
• Adjusted the size of the exhaustion vents on the outer walls of Cosmo Physique so they can be more reliably used to climb up, and added a few more of them to create more options to contest the high ground

Skyway Stadium

• Fixed a few places where dressing against walls would not properly take damage, preventing those walls from breaking consistently from all angles

Fangwai City

• Fixed floating decals and signs that could appear after destruction and corrected a floating sign

Las Vegas

• Fixed visual flickering on surfaces in the parking garage

Las Vegas Stadium

• Fixed environment and lighting issues

Practice Range

• Fixed an issue where the Cashbox Time-Trial challenge spawned vaults instead of cashboxes directly as intended.

Performance

• Upgraded Unreal Engine from 5.3 to 5.7

Social

• Party invites can now be sent and accepted while matchmaking
• Fixed an issue where the Social screen showed a regular team name and insignia for spectators in Private Match

Stability

• Fixed a crash when spectating at the end of a round
• Fixed a rare issue that could crash servers when a player’s connection stopped acknowledging network packets

UI

• The contextual response prompt is now hidden while dead or spectating, where replying isn’t possible
• Fixed an issue that could cause the event HUD display to show incorrectly when transitioning to the next round in Cashout Bots
• Fixed an issue where the Active Events bar could remain visible after a round reset
• Fixed an issue that caused damage numbers to report 1 extra damage in certain scenarios
• Fixed an issue where navigating the Options screen with a gamepad could get stuck or skip items
• Added spectator-only team colors for Private Match, allowing spectators to use additional colors that are hidden from team color selection
• Fixed an issue that caused gamepad bindings page to be tricky to navigate with a gamepad
• Fixed an issue that caused the Killcam UI to not appear when getting eliminated in Practice Range

Weapons

Dual Blades

• Primary Attack
  • Fixed an issue where not all attacks dealt a consistent 25 environmental damage
• Secondary Functions – Deflect
  • Fixed an issue where the wide angle deflect blocked damage completely instead of the center of the deflect radius
    • Imprecise Deflect angle damage modifier updated from 0% to 20%
    • Precise Deflect angle damage modifier updated from 20% to 0%

Riot Shield

• Fixed an issue where visual and sound effects would not be displayed from a third-person perspective when impacting the Riot Shield

Orbital Hitters, the Deep Signal wheel, and these combat changes give Season 11 plenty to test, so share your thoughts in the comments and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.

The Finals

Developed by Embark Studios

The Finals is the world’s first Dynamism Shooter, a free-to-play, fast-paced, physics-driven, first-person shooter set on the stage of the biggest Gameshow of the future! Fight for Fans and fortune in fully-destructible, virtual Arenas that guarantee no two rounds will ever play the same!

• Genre Shooter
• Platforms Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
• Perspective First person
• Modes Multiplayer, Co-operative
• Release December 7, 2023
• Publisher Embark Studios
• Age Rating

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