Patch date: . Guide reviewed 2026-11-03. Historical changes can be superseded; use current definitions for a match today.
How this guide was prepared: AI-assisted analysis with a separate source-check pass against archived official notes. Practical decisions are reasoned suggestions, not player-tested results or measured win-rate evidence. A small hotfix receives a short guide rather than a reconstructed full build.
Original update sources
Recorded topics: Heroes, Items, Gameplay, Fixes, Interface. Dates refer to the update named in the notes; a mirrored post can be published later.
Check EU access and match-flow changes
What changed: The update added EU servers and a matchmaking region, with testing hours of 5 PM–3 AM Monday–Thursday and 3 PM–3 AM Friday–Sunday, Central European Summer Time (GMT+2). It removed the Steam-friend-list age requirement for invites, added shop search by item name or individual stat, and added a notice for when it is safe to abandon—usually after someone has been disconnected for a while.
How to adapt: If you are checking EU access, try matchmaking during the stated testing hours; test inviting a recently added Steam friend and searching for a shop stat such as Ammo. Before leaving a match, wait for the safe-to-abandon notice.
Test the new weapon-item effects
What changed: Ammo Scavenger provides +20% Ammo and +50 Health; securing or denying a Soul returns 2 ammo and grants +20% Fire Rate for 4 seconds. Active Reload provides -20% Reload Time and +8% Weapon Damage; pressing reload at the halfway point instantly restores the magazine and grants +30% Bullet Lifesteal and +15% Fire Rate for 6 seconds, with a 25-second cooldown. Veil Walker grants +15% Ammo, +8% Weapon Damage, and +200 Bullet Shield; walking through a Cosmic Veil grants invisibility, +3 m/s for 4 seconds, and +30% Fire Rate for the next magazine, with a 20-second cooldown. Melee Charge grants +15% Melee Damage, +10% Weapon Power, and +75 Health; a heavy-melee hit reloads the weapon and its charge distance is increased by 40%.
How to adapt: Test Active Reload using its UI-indicated trigger window. Check whether Soul securing or denying and access to Cosmic Veils make Ammo Scavenger or Veil Walker useful in your matches; try Melee Charge if heavy melee is already part of your approach. These are conditional effects, not evidence of general item superiority.
Reassess Inhibitor and Majestic Leap
What changed: Inhibitor moved from the Weapon tree to Vitality, no longer requires Slowing Bullets, gained +175 Health, and had Weapon Damage reduced from 30% to 20%. Majestic Leap’s cooldown increased from 20 to 26 seconds, and its damage cooldown window increased from 4 to 5 seconds.
How to adapt: If you previously planned around Inhibitor’s Weapon-tree location or Slowing Bullets component, review its new Vitality placement and weigh the added +175 Health against the reduced Weapon Damage. Retest Majestic Leap timing with its longer cooldown and damage cooldown window.
Adapt to selected hero changes
What changed: Yamato’s Shadow Transformation now provides 80% Damage Resistance and 80% Debuff Resistance during the post-channel buff instead of invulnerability; its cooldown fell from 110 to 100 seconds and its T3 duration bonus rose from +1 to +1.5 seconds. Ivy’s Kudzu Bomb now deals 50% less damage to objectives. McGinnis’s turrets have 25m range instead of 30m and HP scaling of 30% instead of 40%; turret cooldown fell from 35 to 30 seconds and charge time from 8 to 6 seconds. Her base Spirit Resist rose from 20% to 25%, base regeneration from 1 to 2, Spectral Wall cooldown from 35 to 30 seconds, and Heavy Barrage cooldown from 110 to 100 seconds.
How to adapt: With Yamato, test the resistance-based post-channel window without treating it as invulnerability. With Ivy, verify the reduced Kudzu Bomb objective damage before relying on it for that purpose. For McGinnis, reassess turret placement and durability after the range and scaling reductions, and test the shorter cooldown and charge time in your use case.
Follow the affected decisions
- Ivy build and counter guide
- McGinnis build and counter guide
- Yamato build and counter guide
- Inhibitor item reference
- Majestic Leap item reference
- Melee Charge item reference
- Veil Walker item reference
- Active Reload item reference
Verify your match build · How current recommendations are checked
Earlier and later records
Archive coverage currently ends 2026-10-30; sources last successfully checked 2026-11-01. A source check does not establish a post-patch win rate.