Highlights

  • Update 1.5.5 for The Finals brings nerfs to popular weapons and gear, including the Defibrillator, to balance the gameplay.
  • Crossplay and Matchmaking services have been tweaked to respect player preferences and ensure closer skill-matched games.
  • Heavy grenade launchers also received a boost, while weapons like .357 Revolver and FCAR saw their damage slightly reduced.

Embark Studios releases update 1.5.5 for The Finals, introducing a bunch of nerfs for popular weapons and gear including the Defibrulator, while also making important tweaks to Crossplay and Matchmaking services. Since the official launch of The Finals during The Game Awards 2023, Embark has continued to tweak and update the experience for the growing number of players.

Alongside the live-service format, Embark has continued to release new updates to add new features, tweak existing systems, as well as fix bugs that the community has identified. In fact, last week brought with it The Finals first limited time game mode called Solo Bank It, taking the familiar team-based mode and instead pitting 12 solo players against one another to see who can be the first to bank 40,000 in cash. The update also attempted to balance some of the stronger weapons in the game like the SH1900 shotgun, but it's clear that Embark had a bit more it wanted to accomplish, which is where update 1.5.5 comes in.

the finals weapon bug
Related
The Finals Developer Reveal Plans to Deal with New 'Game Breaking' Weapon Bug

Embark Studios acknowledges and reveals plans for dealing with a new weapon bug that The Finals community is calling game breaking.

The latest update for The Finals includes even more weapon and gear balancing, as it attempts to bring some of the more popular items back in line. Specifically, when using defibrilators or when reviving a teammate, the period of invulnerability isn't quite as long going from 1.5 seconds, to only 0.75. The Guardian Turret also had its health pool reduced slightly, while weapons like the .357 Revolver and FCAR saw their damage output lowered. However, the update did apply a few buffs as well, giving a slight increase to the damage of Heavy Build Grenade launchers like the MGL32 and CL-40.

Matchmaking Changes

For many players, though, the patch also features a big tweak to The Finals matchmaking services. Specifically, the update fixes a bug where the player's crossplay settings were being ignored outright, ensuring that if players have it turned off, they'll no longer face anyone on other platforms. In addition, Embark Studios revealed that it made a background change to how matchmaking works in both the Tournament and Ranked versions, to keep tighter player skill-gaps. The goal with this change is to ensure closer matches and fewer blowouts.

Feedback has been a key component for Embark Studios, who has thanked the community in past updates for its continued communication. Since the game's launch, aim assist had been a hot topic among players, with many calling for a rework. Embark did just that and completely reevaluated how aim assist worked in The Finals. A earlier update introduced fixes for issues the studio found and tweaked some of the behaviors, like changing Zoom Snapping and Camera Magnetism.

The Finals Update 1.5.5 Patch Notes

Balance Changes

Gadgets

Defibrillators

  • Decreased the length of invulnerability applied after a revive to 0.75s from 1.5s

Revives

  • Decreased the length of invulnerability applied after a revive to 0.75s from 1.5s

Weapons

.357 Revolver

  • Decreased the amount of bullet dispersion applied when aiming down sights
  • Reduced damage fall-off start range to 23m from 35m
  • Reduced damage fall-off end range to 40m from 50m

CL-40

  • Increased player damage to 110 from 100

FCAR

  • Decreased damage to 25 from 26

Guardian Turret

  • Decreased health to 280 from 300

MGL32

  • Increased player damage to 83 from 80

Throwing Knives

  • Decreased the amount of projectile dispersion applied when falling
  • Decreased the amount of projectile dispersion applied when sprinting

Content And Bug Fixes

Crashes

  • Fixed an issue where certain GPUs would sometimes crash

Matchmaking

  • Fixed an issue where crossplay settings would not be respected when the player was in a party
  • Updated matchmaking configuration in Tournament and Ranked Tournament modes, to help ensure closer matches by skill-rating