Halo Infinite’s Winter Update Is Bringing Heaps Of Weapon Balance Changes

343 Industries has revealed more about the Halo Infinite Winter Update that’s scheduled to drop on November 8, this time introducing a whole lot of weapon balance fixes that’ll be coming to the sandbox mode. A few weapons will be getting buffs to encourage players to use them more, while overperforming weapons will see small nerfs–here’s what’s changing.

Community manager Unyshek explains in the blog post that 343 has started looking at weapon balance in Halo Infinite’s sandbox now that players are a little more familiar with the gameplay. Looking at both player feedback and hard data on how weapons are getting used in game, six of Halo Infinite’s weapons are getting tweaked for better or for worse.

The Plasma Pistol and Disruptor are both getting upgrades that 343 hopes will increase their use and effectiveness in game, while the Pulse Carbine and VK78 Commando have both been tweaked to increase effectiveness at shorter ranges. In line for a nerf this update are both the BR75 and Frag Grenade, which will be getting minor downgrades in the interest of competitiveness. The full dev notes on balance changes and the rationale behind them can be read on 343’s blog.

Here’s the full list of balance changes:

PLASMA PISTOL

• Increased base shot damage from 20 to 28
• Increased charge shot angular velocity from 20 to 35 degrees per second
• Increased charged shot guided angular velocity at rest from 50 to 70 degrees per second

PULSE CARBINE

• Increased guided angular velocity at rest from 25 to 35 degrees per second
• Decreased angular velocity from 50 to 30 degrees per second
• Increased targeted leading fraction from 0.35 to 1
• Increased guided projectile error radius from 0.2 to 0.22 degrees

VK78 COMMANDO

• Increased Headshot Prioritization Angle from 0 to 0.1 degrees
• Increased Bullet Magnetism Angle from 1.25 to 1.3 degrees
• Increased Aim Assist Angle from 5 to 6.25 degrees
• Decreased minimum error angle max from 0.8 to 0.6 degrees

BR75

• Headshot Prioritization Angle reduced from 0.25 to 0.2 degrees
• Bullet Magnetism Angle reduced from 2.4 to 2.2 degrees
• Bullet Magnetism Range reduced from 20wus to 18wus
• Bullet Magnetism Falloff Range reduced from 12wus to 10wus

FRAG GRENADE

• Increased detonation timer by 0.2 seconds

DISRUPTOR

• Increased magazine ammo count from 10 to 12

The update will also add a movement update that will disable “snap sliding,” saying that the physics-based exploit had too much potential to “break the game flow.” A similar move known as curb sliding will remain in the game, with 343 determining that its uses “have been fun to watch and hasn’t been interrupting gameplay flow too much.”

Also included in 343’s blog post are a number of sandbox changes and bug fixes that will be dropping in future updates, but won’t be ready in time for the Winter Update. Fixes for desync issues are high on 343’s list, with a number of priority bugs singled out to be tackled first. 343 will also be looking at quality-of-life improvements for mouse-and-keyboard players, as well as future balance updates for weapons and features that feel overpowered.

The upcoming Winter Update will also be introducing Match XP, as well as campaign co-op, the Forge beta, and plenty more.