The Finals patch 1.4.0 brings long-awaited Heavy nerfs and anti-cheat improvements, rings in the season with a festive update

Dec. 20, 2023

Merry Christmas to me

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Just in time for Christmas, Embark Studios has released The Finals patch 1.4.0, bringing festive fun, anti-cheat improvements, and – perhapsmost importantly to the FPS game’s community– nerfs for the meta-dominating Heavy class.

As you can see from thepatch notes, the Heavy has had a few parts of its kit tweaked in small ways that’ll likely add up to something better. The class’s Mesh Shield ability – which allows your team to group up and fire through it while protected – has had its health nerfed to 1100 from 1250. The Dome Shield gadget, which a Heavy also uses, has also had a health nerf – this time to 300 from 350. Another favorite of the Heavy build, the RPG-7 rocket launcher, has also seen its damage and radius reduced.

Outside of abilities and gadgets relating to the Heavy, you’ve got plenty of other tweaks to abilities, gadgets, and weapons. Naturally, what meta forms as a result of the patch is a wait-and-see deal.

Alongside the long-requested Heavy changes, Embark Studios has also improved the anti-cheat to ensure fewer matches with players “who don’t play fair.” As we previouslyreported, the studio took to Discord to tell frustrated fans that a “technical issue” let bad actors run more rampant than they otherwise would.

“We’re now nearing a solution to this bug, and we’ve already begun re-upping our anti-cheat measures again,” it said at the time. “Thanks for your patience as we continue to sort through issues. Keeping the game a smooth, safe, and fair space for players is our biggest priority. We’re in this for the long haul.”

Finally, the patch introduces some festive cheer to the destruction-laden FPS. The Monaco map has been given a snowy makeover, there are holiday cosmetics to nab, and everyone is getting a free “gift” in-game – regardless of whether you’ve been naughty or nice, we assume.

The Finals isn’t getting a content roadmap because the FPS' devs only want to “make promises we can keep.”

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Iain joins the GamesRadar team as Deputy News Editor following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When not helping Ali run the news team, he can be found digging into communities for stories – the sillier the better. When he isn’t pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new hat, you’ll find him amassing an army of Pokemon plushies.

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