Battlefield™ 2042 News

Welcome to the 8.7.0 Update Notes for Battlefield 2042. Launching on Tuesday, May 6th, this update comes with various areas of improvement and fixes.

Our Dead Space will be underway May 6th and continue to run through May 20th!

//The Battlefield Team

Community Calendar
Discover various Community Events, Featured Experiences, and Double XP moments on Battlefield 2042 via our frequently updated Community Calendar.

Stay Informed
Follow us on Reddit and @Battlefield to stay informed on the latest news, and @BattlefieldComm for the rollout of updates and other live service changes. Join the official Battlefield Discord server over at discord.gg/Battlefield.



During this event, players will get to reexperience Outbreak. A 4-player squad PvE experience where you will fight waves of Augmented Targets. Starting on the western end of Redacted, players fight through eight sectors while completing objectives until they call an elevator to exfiltrate out on the far eastern end of the map.

[h2]Outbreak Areas of Improvement[/h2]
Dead Space skins were added to certain weapons when purchasing from the Armory Station; other weapons also have skins.
The starting weapons now have the Dead Space skin.
Enemies are now allowed to enter the extraction elevator while you're fighting over it. Players now also take reduced damage from melee and incendiary damage when inside the elevators.
Added a loading screen tutorial.

[h2]Outbreak Changelog[/h2]
Polished and improved the HUD.
Increased the time between Juggernaut batches.
Decreased the spawn rate for regular waves and added more time before Geists die at the end of the wave.
Updated Armorey Station arsenals by replacing the MCS-880 with the NVK.
Resolved an issue where players occasionally could not customize their character loadout before spawning in Outbreak.
Fixed a visual bug when closing the Armory Station.
Fixed a bug where both objectives in one of the sectors would have the same name.
Fixed a bug where the Armory Station icon would be visible randomly on the map even if no Armory Stations were active in the sector.
Fixed a bug where the extraction elevator doors occasionally did not close when the entire squad entered it.
Fixed a bug where Geists would show the wrong icon when pinged.
Rebalanced the Juggernaut-only waves to ensure the Juggernauts spawn first.
Tweaked the combat area to fix certain places incorrectly out of bounds.
Fixed a bug where players occasionally could not purchase new weapons after dying.
Polished and improved the HUD.
Fixed a bug where the "Push forward" HUD message would be visible on screen after respawning if the user died out of bounds in the previous sector.

[h2]Areas of Improvement[/h2]
[h3]Weapons:[/h3]
NVK-S22 Upgraded the pocket size on soldier outfits to accommodate more shells!
Buckshot: Pocket doubled in size to 20 → 40 shells
Flechette: Quiver stretched to 10 → 20 shells
Slug: Bucket tall enough to double to 10 → 20 shells
Developer Note: These changes are inventory-based only. No visual changes are present on magazine models.

[h3]AI:[/h3]
AI soldiers are now less effective at landing their shots with vehicle weapons when targeting fast-moving or direction-changing vehicles.

[h2]Changelog[/h2]
[h3]Modes:[/h3]
Stadium - Conquest Removed a small unintended out-of-bounds area between Sector B and the team HQs.

Exposure - Hazard Zone Some rubble was placed to block off a door that shouldn't be accessible.

Breakaway - Domination Reduced the vertical combat area in Breakaway Domination to prevent players from reaching unintended areas.

[h3]Maps:[/h3]
Removed invisible collisions above certain solar panels out in the farming fields on Renewal.

[h3]Vehicles:[/h3]
The vehicle deploy menu text was changed from “ALL DEPLOYED” to “UNAVAILABLE” to remove confusion about why vehicles can’t be spawned.
Fixed an issue with two C4 not destroying Bradley and BMP's weak side when using the active armor upgrade. This perk was not meant to protect against explosive damage.

[h3]Weapons:[/h3]
Assault Rifles
M16A3:
Fixed an issue where damage dropped by 1 point and rose again at a specific range. The M16A3 now maintains consistent damage across the full range interval (using the higher value).

AK5C & AN-94:
Fixed an issue where heavy barrel attachment didn't apply correct modifiers in hip fire.
Recoil penalty was slightly lower than intended; it should now climb ~15% more compared to the Vanilla barrel.

AN-94:
Realigned the rail for attaching scopes to the center for better alignment with the iron sight pin.
Fixed an issue where equipping a silencer to the AN-94 would affect how the GP-30 grenade launcher showed on the minimap when firing it. Now, the attachment should not behave as if it has a silencer on it, even if the primary gun has one.
Audio now correctly reflects the Hyperburst feature (faster first two shots in full-auto mode).

ACW-R:
Corrected the slightly misaligned laser on the LS-1 attachment, now gunfire does not start too far behind the lens and correctly shows where you’re meant to aim.

Shotguns
12M Auto:
Fixed an issue where the fire rate would be faster for semi-auto with a short barrel than in full auto. Now they are both set to the same fire rate.

Pistols
L9CZ:
Corrected the slightly misaligned laser on the LS-1 attachment, now gunfire does not start too far behind the lens and correctly shows where you’re meant to aim.

Melee
Taser Baton:
Fixed an issue where pressing the melee button once wouldn’t return you to your previous weapon, unlike other melee options.

And what’s a wrap for this Update Note, but as one final reminder - hold the objective, deplete the enemy score, and win!

This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible.

We’re back with another Community Update focused on destruction, and a summary of our initial learnings from previous Battlefield Labs play sessions.

Let’s start with a preview on how we’re designing and testing destruction for the future.

[h2]OUR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY FOR DESTRUCTION[/h2]
Our goals for destruction are centered around adding further gameplay depth by allowing you to reshape the environment and transform your surroundings toward a tactical advantage. For example, barging through walls to surprise your enemies, reshaping the battlefield to create new paths into the capture zones, or taking down a building to take out an attacking squad.

We're designing destruction around easily identifiable visual and audio language that lets you understand what can be destroyed, altered, or transformed through gameplay.

We aim to make destruction an integral part of your Battlefield experience to create an intuitive, fun, and rewarding environment where you feel empowered to shape the world around you.

[h2]DESTRUCTION AND GAMEPLAY[/h2]
Let’s take walls as an example of the new destruction language. Once a wall takes enough damage from an explosion, smaller impacts, such as bullets, will also contribute to its destruction, allowing you to shoot your way through the wall. Audio VFX will help you not only see, but also hear whether your attacks are successful.

Different surface types now also visually degrade before breaking down through persistent surface damage. Buildings “apple-core” as they start to break down, leaving their core exposed as destroyed parts create rubble and debris on the ground around it.

New mechanics allow you to create more destruction-related opportunities during gameplay, as well as being able to influence your surroundings through the use of different weapons or vehicle types. For example, rubble caused by destruction now remains on the battlefield, and allows you to create and use new opportunities for cover and protection.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Above is an early pre-alpha example that showcases the ability to destroy a wall to quickly traverse through the building and reach the other side - without this tactical impact, you would have to either run around the block or navigate through staircases to get to the other side.

Be careful in how you use destruction to your advantage, as one advantage to you would also be an advantage to the enemy, and this exposed flooring could now be used by them to counter this new route.

[h2]FEEDBACK AND VALIDATION[/h2]
Insights we’re gathering range from everything between destruction as a tactical element to you as a player being able to differentiate between non-destructible and destructible environments.

At this stage of testing within Battlefield Labs, our main focus points are:

• Understanding which environments can or cannot be destroyed and which type of firepower is required for different material types
  
• The impact of collateral damage from debris and destructible elements
  
• Tactical use of destruction to create new pathing or persistent environments
  
• Balancing the ecosystem of damage through firepower and destruction
  

[h2]OUR LEARNINGS SO FAR[/h2]
Our goals for our initial Battlefield Labs play sessions were to test server performance, gunplay and movement, and for participants to get an initial understanding of what's next for Battlefield. Participants have now played through multiple sessions, and offered up thousands of pieces of feedback. As we start testing other topics such as destruction, we wanted to share some of our initial learnings and next steps coming out of those play sessions.

We encountered some initial issues with server stability and performance, which provided valuable data for us to adjust their configurations. We've already seen that follow-up play sessions offered a smoother gameplay experience for participants, and that we are on the right track to start scaling further testing with more participants in the future.

For gunplay we've learned that while gunplay feels in a good spot, there's further balancing to be done to the different weapon archetypes and their damage values. Feedback on movement suggests that we need to continue iterating on finding the right balance in speed, namely for functionality like crouch sprint, combat rolling, vaulting, and more. Be sure to check out our previous Community Update if you are interested in learning more about our design philosophy and goals for gunplay and movement.

Lastly, as we move our focus back to destruction, we have seen feedback around the balancing of destructible objects across the map and the fine-tuning of damage levels of surfaces. Destruction will be an ongoing topic within our playsessions, and we’ll continue to test these and other areas of destruction throughout upcoming playsessions.

[h2]WHAT’S NEXT?[/h2]
Sign up for Battlefield Labs now if you’re interested in helping us validate the future of Battlefield. Read our FAQ if you’d like to learn more, and join the discussion on Battlefield Discord.

We’ll be back in the future with new Community Updates to keep you informed on ongoing testing and learnings within Battlefield Labs.

We look forward to seeing you in action, hearing your feedback, and chatting Battlefield with you!

// The Battlefield Team

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We are releasing Update 8.6.1 on Tuesday, April 1st (no, we are not kidding!), which will enable the King of the Hill mode for Battlefield 2042, as part of the War Machine time-limited event!

War Machine has been underway since March 18th and will continue to run through to April 15!

//The Battlefield Team

[h3]Community Calendar[/h3]
Discover a wide variety of Community Events, Featured Experiences and Double XP moments taking place on Battlefield 2042 via our frequently updated Community Calendar.

[h3]Stay Informed[/h3]
Follow us on Reddit and @Battlefield to stay informed on the latest news, and on @BattlefieldComm for the rollout of updates and other live service changes. Join the official Battlefield Discord server over at discord.gg/Battlefield.



[h2]King of the Hill[/h2]
King of the Hill is a new mode coming on April 1st as part of the War Machine time-limited event. Two teams rush to capture a single objective on the map while also trying to repel the enemy team!

Combined Arms
In King of the Hill, you’ll fight 20 versus 20 in an all-out battle for control over the objective! Both Infantry close quarter combat and Vehicle skills are going to be required to win over your enemy.

Vehicles will become unlocked as a team loses tickets, so don’t count your chickens just yet and keep your eyes open for a counterattack by enemy forces. King of the Hill features a single objective that moves to a new location after a set amount of time, opening avenues and opportunities to take back control or further dominate the opponent.

How to grab the crown and become King!
Vehicles can turn the tide quickly, so make sure you check the vehicle menu for newly unlocked vehicles and track progress when they unlock at the top of the deploy screen!

The losing team unlocks new vehicle categories before their enemy, so use this advantage to take back control over the objective.

Controlling chokepoints can be more impactful than throwing bodies at the objective.

Control, control, control.
Using Spawn Beacons, Irish’s EIDOS system, and other gadgets can swing the match in your favor; use them wisely.

Know your objective and how it rotates.
The rotation will pick from two to three different points, so learning which those can be and rotating quickly will give you an advantage over the enemy team.

King of the Hill is available on:

• Kaleidoscope
  
• Flashpoint
  
• Renewal
  
• Valparaiso
  

Missed out on War Machine so far? Catch up with all changes, new modes, the Event Pass, and more in our Patch 8.6.0 blog.

And what’s a wrap for this Update Note, but as one final reminder - hold the objective, deplete the enemy score and win!


This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible.