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 Historical changes can be superseded; use current definitions for a match today.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.
Mid Boss and Rejuv crystals
What changed: Mid Boss HP is fixed at spawn: base HP rises from 6,725 to 12,500 and growth falls from 470 to 200. Its death drops three Rejuv crystals, or four for subsequent Mid Boss kills. Claiming a crystal grants an in-place revive after three seconds. If a player who has already claimed one claims another, it goes to an ally, prioritizing closest allies and then most recently dead allies. Dying with Rejuv no longer counts as a kill or death or gives out bounties. The buff heals its recipient to full, grants 20% max HP, 20% fire rate, and 15% Spirit Damage, and lasts up to seven minutes. It no longer buffs troopers, reduces respawn time, or grants its former assorted stats.
How to adapt: When contesting Mid Boss, account for fixed-at-spawn health and the dropped crystals, and verify who receives a second claimed crystal rather than assuming a particular ally gets it.
Melee, parries, and traversal
What changed: Light melee base damage falls 20%, except for Viscous, Calico, and Bebop. Heavy-melee cooldown rises from 0.9 to 1.0 seconds, and the cooldown when missing rises from 0.9 to 1.3 seconds; heavy melee also allows slightly less turning. Meleeing an enemy who is mantling no longer cancels the mantle and instead applies an 80% movement slow that ramps down to 20% over two seconds. After taking player damage, a rope-climbing penalty makes the player climb 40% slower for four seconds; it applies only on a rope and tapers to 0% in the final second. Parried stun duration is no longer reduced by debuff resistance. Parry bonus damage affects all damage types rather than only melee, and falls from 35% to 30%. Zipline knockoff stun duration falls from three to 2.5 seconds; knocked-off players now go straight down, and the stun timer starts on landing.
How to adapt: Recheck heavy-melee timing, especially after a miss, and do not count on a melee hit to cancel a mantle. After player damage, include the rope penalty in route planning; also account for the parry and zipline stun rule changes.
Routes, waves, and match economy
What changed: Teleporters behind Walkers and bounce pads on the Nursery/Fish Market rooftop leading back to Mid are removed. After 20 minutes, trooper spawn time falls from 30 to 25 seconds; trooper walk speed rises from 6.1 to 6.3 and run speed from 11 to 13. Trooper bounty growth falls from 1.5 to 1.2, and ally splits change from 100/65/30/20/15/11% to 100/65/28/15/12/8%. Breakable-soul growth per minute falls from 2.6 to 2.0, and comeback multipliers are reduced. Neutral bounties rise 15%, or 25% for strong neutrals, while medium and strong neutral respawns lengthen from 360 to 420 seconds and 480 to 600 seconds. Hero bounty efficiency for one through six players is 100/100/90/85/80/75%. Side Walkers gain 10% HP. Objectives lose their 20–25% Spirit Resistance; Last Stand, Storm Cloud, Hyper Beam, and Heavy Barrage deal 50% damage to objectives.
How to adapt: Replan rotations around the removed routes. When choosing between farming options, consider the changed wave timing, bounty growth and splits, and longer neutral respawns; group kills also yield lower hero-bounty efficiency from three players onward.
Items: selected changes
What changed: Restorative Shot NPC healing falls from 20 to 15 and weapon damage from 8% to 6%. Fleetfoot and Melee Charge bullet resistance fall from 10% to 6%; Berserker falls from 16% to 8%. Slowing Bullets refreshes its debuff duration after buildup rather than restarting buildup. Toxic Bullets damage falls from 2.5% to 2.1% max HP and now scales with Spirit Power (0.005%). Blood Tribute's healing reduction becomes less severe, from -50% to -40%; it also grants +4 out-of-combat regen and its active move speed rises from 1.75 to 2. Shadow Weave duration falls from 25 to 18 seconds and cooldown from 40 to 32 seconds, and it now grants +25% melee damage on Ambush reveal. Weapon Shielding and Spirit Shielding barriers fall from 400 to 325, stop scaling with Spirit Power, and instead scale with Boons (+4).
How to adapt: Check updated item values before reusing an older purchase plan, especially where resistance, barrier scaling, or debuff behavior changed; these changes alone do not establish a universally best item.
Heroes: dash buckets and selected changes
What changed: Heroes now have three dash-speed buckets, with the same distance: Bucket 1 is +5%, Bucket 2 is -5%, and Bucket 3 is -15%. Bucket 1: Ivy, Haze, Holliday, Calico, Grey Talon, Paradox. Bucket 2: Seven, Mirage, Lash, Yamato, Pocket, Viscous, Vyper, Warden, Vindicta, Sinclair, Wraith, Infernus, Lady Geist. Bucket 3: Mo & Krill, Abrams, Shiv, Dynamo, Bebop, Kelvin, McGinnis. Other general changes include Mirage base bullet damage falling 10%, Paradox bullet-damage scaling rising 10%, Pocket Affliction initial current-HP damage rising from 10% to 12%, and Seven base movement speed falling from 7.1 to 6.9 with movement-speed Spirit scaling falling from 0.023 to 0.02. Shiv Rage now builds only by damaging players, with buildup increased 20% and decay duration extended from nine to 12 seconds. Shiv's Bloodletting duration falls from 12 to six seconds, cooldown from 60 to 45 seconds, and damage clear rises from 30% to 40%. Bloodletting T1 and T2 are swapped; its T3 bonus rises from +20% to +35%.
How to adapt: Use each hero's listed dash bucket when assessing movement changes, remembering distance is unchanged. For upgrade-dependent changes, compare the named T1, T2, or T3 effect separately from the general hero stats.
Follow the affected decisions
- Bebop build and counter guide
- Dynamo build and counter guide
- Grey Talon build and counter guide
- Kelvin build and counter guide
- Lady Geist build and counter guide
- McGinnis build and counter guide
- Mirage build and counter guide
- Paradox build and counter guide
- Slowing Bullets item reference
- Toxic Bullets item reference
- Weapon Shielding item reference
- Shadow Weave item reference
- Blood Tribute item reference
- Fleetfoot item reference
- Melee Charge item reference
- Restorative Shot 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.