Battlefield Studios is debuting "Battlefield Combat", a content series dedicated to sharing their vision for combat and how they’re evolving it over time.
Today is all about Gunplay 🔫
"In our next Battlefield 6 and REDSEC update on June 30, the Season 3 High-Value Target Update 1.3.3.0, we are making changes to gunplay depth and Time to Kill (TTK) based on your feedback, as we implement tweaks to recoil, bullet deviation, muzzle velocity, and body part damage multipliers."
Gunplay Depth
As part of our changes for combat, Battlefield Studios has done a wide pass across weapons to make recoil directions more consistent & predictable.
The screenshot below features an example of the recoil changes with the SOR-556 MK2 Assault Rifle. Before the next update, recoil for this weapon - and dozens of other automatic Primaries - had higher variation in direction and intensity than they'd like, making it difficult to learn to master.
This change reduces this variation significantly. However, with this update, recoil is easier to master.
To reward proper shooting technique, they've slightly increased bullet deviation after the first shot, making controlled bursts or tap fire even more important to stay accurate at longer distances, while keeping full auto viable for close quarters combat.
Distance And Drag
Battlefield Studios wants to make long range engagements more interesting. While initial muzzle velocities and bullet drop are tuned to keep medium range combat snappy and responsive, increased bullet drag causes projectiles to lose velocity and drop significantly past 150 meters.
This preserves tactical clarity at standard combat distances while ensuring that extreme-range sniping requires immense skill, calculation, and deliberate weapon customization.
They have decreased muzzle velocity for most weapons, especially SMGs, and tuned bullet drag to make anticipating the movement of targets more important.
The final skill to master gunplay is weapon knowledge. You need to understand the character of each weapon which starts by learning each archetype. For example SMGs are high-mobility powerhouses and LMGs are heavy position anchors. Within each archetype, each weapon has additional defining characteristics, which can be tuned by customizing its attachments to best fit your skill and playstyle.
Time To Kill (TTK)
Time to Kill (TTK) is core to infantry combat pacing, influenced by both weapon balance and player skill.
Their TTK benchmark in close-quarters runs between 200 and 300 milliseconds for automatic primary weapons, similar to the TTK in Battlefield 3 and 4, but with some room for outliers (for example: faster TTK weapons that are harder to control).
This is key to allowing players to have a chance when they're outnumbered: To successfully win a one-versus-two engagement when flanking, you must be mathematically capable of quickly disposing of the first unaware target. If they slowed that baseline range down to 300-400 milliseconds, winning outnumbered fights would become nearly impossible.
To increase depth of gunplay and better reward mastery of its mechanics, Battlefield Studios wanted to slow down average TTK without affecting the best possible TTK. We did this by adjusting damage multipliers depending on where the bullets strike their target.
Body Damage Multiplier Changes
Proper shooting technique involves aiming for center mass, even though a “skillshot” to the head does the most damage.
However, up until this update, weapon damage values were similar, or the exact same, across any body part but the head. In other words, a shot to the chest did the same (or similar) damage as a shot to the leg or arm. This decision not only significantly impacted TTK, but also made their players feel unrewarded for accurate shooting, a root cause of shallow gameplay depth.
They’ve heard community feedback loud and clear: as of this next update, damage to limbs and lower torso has been reduced for all weapon classes except for Shotguns and Sidearms. This change generally increases the amount of shots to kill by one when primarily hitting these areas, but landing headshots will compensate for the lower damage dealt to limbs and lower torso. They’ll also be exploring body damage multiplier changes for long-distance engagements in future Labs tests.
These multipliers - and changes to these values - vary by weapon category. The most substantial example is with Sniper Rifles, powerful tools that demand precision in exchange for high damage per shot. Compared to other weapon categories, Battlefield Studios has added more significant penalties to Sniper Rifle shots to the lower abdomen, leg, and arm shots.
Shotguns and Sidearms are the exception. Shotgun sprays naturally hit limbs, unless it’s a skillshot from a Slug round. Sidearms, meanwhile, are not meant to replace Primary Weapons, making any damage decrease potentially catastrophic for those quick-switch moments or opening seconds of a Battle Royale.
As for all automatic Primary Weapons, they not only nerfed damage to the extremities and lower torso, but also slightly increased their headshot damage multipliers. Combined with the recoil changes, this incentivizes players to keep their aim on the head and chest. And, as players know, this kind of pinpoint accuracy can be further rewarded through customization, which circles back to their discussion on Weapon Character.
For players who want to fully commit to an aggressive headshot build, they can spend a portion of their Attachment Points budget to equip Hollow Point or Synthetic Tip Ammunition. These attachments increase the headshot multiplier up to 1.50x or 1.75x (or, as of this upcoming update, 1.57x to 1.8x for automatic weapons), reducing the requirement to down an enemy with precision shots… But all at the cost of better penetration, both through destructible environment pieces and through bodies, both friendly and enemy.
This creates a clear skill economy and further their Weapon Character philosophy. Players can opt out of headshots and spend their Attachment Point budget on lowering recoil or increasing magazine size, creating a higher floor for damage rather than shooting for a headshot-heavy ceiling.
Sniper "Sweet Spots"
Each Sniper Rifle except for the Mini Scout has a “Sweet Spot” where it deals increased damage - lethal in Multiplayer - at a specific range.
The “Sweet Spot” range for each weapon is reflected in the in-game description; in combat, if you spot a rainbow tinted Sniper Rifle glint, it means you are in the sniper’s “Sweet Spot.” As a sniper, proper pinging will reveal if your target is within “Sweet Spot”range.
After looking at combat data, Battlefield Studios has found the “Sweet Spot” ranges were too generous with too much overlap. Therefore, they're making the following reductions and changes:
▪️ SV-98: From 54-90m to 54-75m
▪️ M2010 ESR: From 75-120m to 75-100m
▪️ PSR: From 100-150m to 90-120m
▪️ L115: From 120-175m to 100-133m
▪️ Mini Scout: N/A (No “Sweet Spot” by design)
This should benefit those with weapon knowledge: players who know the “Sweet Spot” can reposition and land a more reliable one-shot kill.
FAQ - Upcoming Changes
Will recoil be more predictable in Battlefield 6 and REDSEC?
Yes; we are making recoil direction more consistent and predictable.
Is bullet spread being increased at long range?
Yes, in order to maintain weapon character and penalize bad trigger discipline alongside extreme movements.
What is happening to hitbox multipliers?
Damage to the limbs - arms and legs - are being reduced across nearly all weapons, which should further reward accurate body and head shots.
Are Sniper Rifle “Sweet Spot” ranges being reduced?
Yes - all Sniper Rifles with a “Sweet Spot” will see a range reduction and shift depending on the weapon. The new values are as follows:
▪️ SV-98: 54-75m
▪️ M2010 ESR: 75-100m
▪️ PSR: From 90-120m
▪️ L115: From 100-133m
In future installments of Battlefield Combat, Battlefield Studios will be taking a deeper look at vehicle play, gadgets, and more.
@ForwardLeaks It’s cool and all that they’re bringing these games back but it’s not going to mean shit if the servers are going to stay as they are. Cheaters and hackers will be everywhere. We NEED secure servers to play on otherwise things won’t b good for the players.
To the Destiny 2 community,
Thank you.
As artists, our goal has always been to create worlds filled with wonder, mystery, beauty, and adventure. But what brings those worlds to life is you. You take our designs, our napkin sketches, our "wouldn't it be cool if..." ideas and transform them into something real. Your creativity, your passion, and your love for the game give our work purpose.
We've always believed Destiny could be a place where expression is celebrated, where players can see themselves and each other in the worlds we build, where every Guardian can forge their own legend—and you proved it.
Watching your Guardians grow, embrace new allies, take down bigger and badder bosses, solve mind-bending puzzles, dodge death traps, avoid Taken boopers, and overcome every Raid challenge we throw at you—all while looking incredible—has been a constant reminder of why this universe matters.
You shaped it. You made it matter. You are the light of Destiny.
With Monument of Triumph, we set out to create a series of love letters to Guardians, new and old. We shared a preview last week of armor inspired by early designs from the original Destiny but have also sprinkled some winks and nods throughout the rewards releasing tomorrow. We hope they feel like a small thank you for everything you’ve given us.
From all of us on the Destiny 2 art team, thank you for supporting us, inspiring us, and continuing to bring this world to life in ways we could never have imagined. You give our art meaning.
With gratitude,
The Destiny 2 Art Team