The Finals 4.4.0 patch notes tricks with huge hammer nerfs, treats with new costumes

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Embark has brought the goods this Spooky Season with The Finals 4.4.0 patch notes bringing Halloween goodies to The Arena. After a year of waiting, the first Finals Halloween event is almost here, but Embark is already bringing some spooky costumes to the game ahead of its new limited-time mode.

The Finals 4.4.0 Patch Notes

Released on the game’s official blog, the new update offers a host of balance changes and bug fixes to the game. In terms of balance changes, the game has seen huge nerfs to the Sledgehammer, but in a way that should make the weapon more accurate for players. Check out the full patch notes below:

Balance Changes

Weapons

Sledgehammer

  • Decreased the sweep duration of the secondary attack by 25%
  • Decreased the sweep width of the secondary attack from 30cm to 25cm
  • Increased the sweep width of the primary attack from 12cm to 15cm

Dev Note: These changes make the Sledgehammer’s hit sweeps more accurately match the attack animations which hopefully makes the weapon feel more reliable for its victims. We noticed that in some cases players would be hit despite the Sledgehammer’s model not passing near to them at all, which could cause a lot of confusion.

Content and Bug Fixes

Animation

  • Fixed an issue where audio was looping when vaulting over certain obstacles

Audio

  • Replaced the Cl 40 grenade impact sound to lessen ear fatigue

Bugs

  • Fixed an issue that caused a hang for players using DX11
  • Fixed an issue where certain usage of goo could result in players bypassing collision
  • Potential fix for players becoming permanently invisible during a round
  • Fixed one of the issues which could cause destruction to appear out of sync

Cosmetics

  • Fixed an issue where the “Stuck on you” sticker on FCAR skin could be floating when using the Ironsight

Contracts

  • Re-balanced some of the distance-based Contracts to make achieving them a better experience

Environmental Eliminations

  • Updated the kill system to detect and reward players for ‘environmental kills’, i.e. kills where a player falls out of bounds and dies due to the actions of another player
  • Examples of the types of falling kills this system can now detect include: removing the floor from underneath a player (e.g. destroying Seoul’s sky bridge or removing it via the Dematerializer; Blocking a player with Goo or a thrown carriables; Destroying ziplines carrying a player; Firing a player out of the level with a Jump Pad; Lifting a player out of the level with the Anti-Gravity CubePulling a player out of the level with the Winch Claw; Knocking a player out of the level with Charge ‘n Slam; Causing a player to fall out of the level using the Gateway

Gadgets

Anti-Gravity Cube

  • Fixed various unintended bugs with the Anti-Gravity Cube

Glitch Trap

  • Added squad colors to the Glitch Trap

RPG-7

  • Fixed an issue where the RPG would restock ammo too early in the reload animation

Game Modes

Practice Range

  • Fixed an issue where practice dummies would block explosive damage

Maps

Monaco

  • Added additional exit point at the top of the alley zipline, allowing players to jump directly on the opposite rooftop.

Kyoto

  • Small flow improvements around the side of the Pavilion, preventing players from getting stuck between bamboos or get snagged on lanterns

Settings

  • Added a new option called “Resolution Scale Mode” when TAAU is the selected resolution scaling method. This new setting defaults to the “Auto” option, which selects resolution scaling automatically based on your screen resolution. The alternative “Manual” option allows adjusting the resolution scale value with the “Resolution Scale” slider, just like before
  • Adjusted the way the GPUs FSR2 and XeSS are selected by default. Both of these are high-quality techniques that are not suitable for low-end GPUs. For low-end GPUs, TAAU will be the default resolution scaling method from now on

Specializations

Goo Gun

  • Goo projectiles from the Goo Gun will now stick to the base of turrets in the same way as goo from barrels

UI

  • Fixed an issue where players moving from Platinum 1 to Diamond 4 in World Tour would see the wrong badge and progress bar on the World Tour screen
  • Fixed an issue where scoring events would show the score gained twice on the HUD, for example: “Vault Opened 500 +500”
  • Fixed an issue where the larger Battle Pass reward images didn’t cover the whole tile
  • Fixed an issue where Mouse and Keyboard users could only use the Mouse Wheel to zoom in/out on cosmetics on the Sponsor screen when the mouse was placed in the top part of the screen
  • Fixed an issue where game mode tiles could get stuck in the hover state
  • Fixed an issue where player names would not update immediately when using the ‘Hide Playernames’ option
  • Added friends filter to the leaderboard
  • Fixed an issue where friends’ names could show up incorrectly on leaderboards after toggling the friends filter
  • Adjusted healthbars back to intended height

VFX

  • Fixed an issue that caused the fog at the edge of the screen to flicker occasionally

VOIP

  • Fixed an issue on consoles where VOIP would stop working after entering the console overlay after launching the game

Weapons

Alternate Sights

  • Fixed an issue where the player’s gun could be offset when playing with a sight

AKM

  • Updated the ammo count on the item overview screen

CL-40

  • Updated the ammo count on the item overview screen

About the Author

Lewis White

Lewis White is a veteran games journalist with a decade of experience writing news, reviews, features and investigative pieces about game development with a focus on Halo and Xbox.