New Back 4 Blood Update Rebalances Some Of The Game's Best Cards, Full Patch Notes Released

Developer Turtle Rock Studios has released the full patch notes for Back 4 Blood's November 2021 update, which is now live. The new update makes dozens of balance changes across the game's campaign and Swarm PvP mode--most notably, the effects of some of Back 4 Blood's best cards have been adjusted.

Overall, it's a healthy mix of buffs and nerfs, with over a dozen different cards affected. Though Turtle Rock doesn't outright say as such, the adjustments seem particularly geared towards addressing melee-focused builds, some of the hardest-hitting decks you can make in Back 4 Blood. The changes to cards are listed below.

Back 4 Blood November 2021 Update Card Changes

• Negative ammo capacity effects from cards now apply instantly after the card is drawn
• Batter Up – Melee Damage adjusted to 40% from 50%
• Brazen – Stamina efficiency adjusted to 20% from 30%
• Breakout – Decreased use time to 3 seconds from 4 seconds
• Face Your Fears – Adjusted to 2 Temporary Health from 3
• Fresh Bandage – Now instantly applies its trauma heal effect when spawning into the safe room it is selected in
• Ignore The Pain – Now restores health instead of providing Temporary Health
• Inspiring Sacrifice – Heal decreased to 20 over 15 seconds from 25 over 20 seconds
• Mean Drunk – Melee Damage adjusted to 60% from 75%
• Meth Head – Stamina efficiency adjusted to 30% from 40%
• Money Grubbers – Now grants 3 bonus copper per stack (from 5) and a max bonus of 75 (from 100)
• Spikey Bits – Melee Damage adjusted to 20% from 25%
• True Grit – Heal increased to 10 from 8

Beyond adjustments to cards, the November 2021 update also buffs certain Ridden in the campaign (most notably, destroying the Ogre's chest weak spot now only deals an extra 500 damage to the mutated Ridden as opposed to the original 2000), makes numerous balance changes to melee weapons, and implements dozens of bug fixes. The update also changes how new Cleaners are unlocked, with Doc, Karlee, Hoffman, and Jim now available right from the start--there's no longer a need to complete Back 4 Blood's opening campaign chapter to unlock the entire roster. The full list of changes made in the update are detailed below.

Back 4 Blood November 2021 Update Patch Notes

Quality Of Life

• All Cleaners are now immediately available to use. Players are no longer required to finish the The Devil’s Return – The Crossing campaign chapter to unlock Doc, Karlee, Hoffman, and Jim
• Completing any campaign chapter now unlocks all previous chapters
• In-Game Voice Chat can now be disabled in the Audio Options
• Added mute icon to HUD for players with voice chat off or who have been muted
• First Time User Experience now sends players directly to Fort Hope
• Additional post-round statistics added for Swarm PvP
• Added a “Mute All” button to the scoreboard in Swarm PvP
• First aid cabinets now show a preview of how much health they heal
• Players now recover health while inside Fort Hope
  • This change does not affect players in the shooting range
• Added the /all message command allowing players to send messages to the Global Chat Channel

Campaign Updates

• General
  • Weapons no longer revert to their default loadout when continuing a run in Training (previously named “Solo Campaign”)
  • Bots now use defibrillators more effectively
  • Improved character behavior when dropping and picking up items in certain locations
  • Flashbang now affects Common Ridden that are climbing on hit
  • Ogres are no longer outlined for Karlee after burrowing underground
  • Chapter Specific Updates
    • Blue Dog Hollow: Bad Seeds – Destroying the nest in Nightmare difficulty now spawns an endless horde
    • The Armory: The Handy Man – Bob’s Arm now appears in the scanning animation while the player has “Auto Select New Weapons” on
    • Dr. Roger’s Neighborhood “Gather Research” objective adjusted to account for solo players
• Card Updates
  • Negative ammo capacity effects from cards now apply instantly after the card is drawn
  • Batter Up – Melee Damage adjusted to 40% from 50%
  • Brazen – Stamina efficiency adjusted to 20% from 30%
  • Breakout – Decreased use time to 3 seconds from 4 seconds
  • Face Your Fears – Adjusted to 2 Temporary Health from 3
  • Fresh Bandage – Now instantly applies its trauma heal effect when spawning into the safe room it is selected in
  • Ignore The Pain – Now restores health instead of providing Temporary Health
  • Inspiring Sacrifice – Heal decreased to 20 over 15 seconds from 25 over 20 seconds
  • Mean Drunk – Melee Damage adjusted to 60% from 75%
  • Meth Head – Stamina efficiency adjusted to 30% from 40%
  • Money Grubbers – Now grants 3 bonus copper per stack (from 5) and a max bonus of 75 (from 100)
  • Spikey Bits – Melee Damage adjusted to 20% from 25%
  • True Grit – Heal increased to 10 from 8
• Balance Updates
  • Quick player-input movements are now smoother
  • Rebalanced Supply Point rewards for all campaign chapters in all difficulties
  • Adjusted Supply Points earned for completing the Speed Run objective
  • Readjusted Abomination health values on Nightmare difficulty
  • Players who are grabbed by a Crusher are now immune to friendly fire damage while grabbed and for 1.5 seconds after being released
  • Removed pipe bombs from Mom and Karlee bot loadouts
• Ridden Updates
  • Breaker
    • Reduced the melee recovery times by 1.5 seconds
    • Reduced Leap recovery time by 1 second
    • Reduced Leap cooldown to 3 from 5 seconds
    • Reduced the bonus damage for Chest and Leg weakspots to 500 from 1000
    • Reduced the Taunt and Horde summon animation times by 0.5 seconds
    • Reduced the Swarm Cloud shrink time to 75 seconds from 90
    • Breaker leap speed reduced to 1500 from 2000
    • Breaker Horde call reduced to 60 seconds from 120
    • Breaker weakspot bonus damage to 1000 from 2000
  • Ogre
    • Health increased to 17000 from 16500
    • Chest weak spot extra damage reduced to 500 from 2000
  • Reeker
    • Movement speed no longer slowed by bullets

Swarm PvP Updates

• General
  • Bruiser’s Frenzy ability in Swarm PvP can now be canceled by pressing the button to trigger it again
    • [PC] Default hotkey: mouse right-click
    • [PS4/PS5] Default action button: R2
    • [XBOX] Default button: RT
• Card Updates
  • Adrenaline Fueled and Meth Head added to Card Pool
  • Breakout – Decreased use time to 3 seconds from 4 seconds
  • Face Your Fears – Now grants 2 Temporary Health from 3
  • Ignore The Pain – Now increases Melee Damage against Mutations
• Balance Updates
  • General
    • Tuning adjustments to make quick movements less abrupt to player acceleration movement
  • Cleaners
    • Cleaner team now receives a handicap bonus of 10% damage increase for each Cleaner missing from the team in Swarm PvP
    • Cleaners get a default 25% increase to Aim Down Sights speed and 25% increase to weapon swap speed in Swarm PvP
  • Ridden
    • Swarm starting radius reduced to 30 meters from 45 meters
    • Swarm transition reduced to 90 seconds from 120 seconds
    • Crusher
      • Health increased to 700 from 675
    • Hocker
      • Health reduced from 90 to 80
      • Harpoon (ability) cannot be cocked or fired while the character is in the air
      • Attack projectile speed to 2000 from 2500
      • Attack projectile miss cooldown to 4.5 from 3
      • Evolution 2 reduced to 20% from 25%
    • Reeker
      • No longer slowed by bullets
    • Tallboy
      • Attack knockback increased
      • Health decreased to 600 from 625
      • Overhead melee attack swing’s radius to 140 centimeters from 160 centimeters
      • Offense: Level 3 Damage+ bonus reduced to 30% from 35%
  • Mutations
    • Infected Wounds now reduces healing by 2% from 0.5% per hit from Common Ridden. The effect stacks up to 40% from 20%, and has a limited duration of 20 seconds which is reset upon each new hit

Weapon Updates

• Secondary Weapons
  • Secondary Weapons no longer require a reload in the next safe room
  • Weapon swap animation now displays properly when equipping different Secondary Weapons
• Melee Weapons
  • Bat movement speed increased to 410 from 400
  • Bats must do 50% more damage to stumble Ridden
  • Axe movement speed increased to 395 from 380
  • Axe damage reduced to 70 from 85
  • Axe stumble damage scale reduced to 0.5 from 1
  • Hatchet damage reduced to 40 from 50
  • Hatchet stumble damage scale reduced to 0.5 from 1
  • Machete movement speed increased to 425 from 420

Controller Updates

• Controller Options Changes
  • Added linear and exponential options to Aim Down Sights Target Snapping
  • Increased granularity of tuning Dead Zones for controllers from 10% increments to 1% increments (default adjusted to 13)
  • Revamped “Legacy” controller preset to better match other co-op FPS titles
• Made improvements to Aim Assist
• Aim assist is now more stable when jumping and aiming from above
• [PS5] Reduced trigger resistance for Melee weapons
• [PS5] Burst Fire weapon trigger effects now properly match rate of fire

Accessibility Updates

• Added “Stamina Breath” to Audio Options
  • When toggled “Off”, heavy breathing sound effects that play when your character runs out of stamina are muted
• All red text should now change colors properly when a new color is selected for Red Elements in the Custom Color Blind Mode
• Gas cans now change color when red elements are changed in the Color Blind Options
• [XBOX] Guts that birds eat are no longer marked green
• Health bar and ammo indicator now change color when Color Blind Mode is set to Protanopia or Custom

UI Updates

• Renamed “Solo Campaign” to “Training”
  • Developers’ note – We noticed players were interested in keeping a practice mode they could play around in prior to joining other campaign difficulties, so we’ve renamed this mode to make it more clear that this is a great way to join the fray without the pressure of playing with other players. In Training, all cards are unlocked, so we encourage you to experiment with a variety of card combinations in your decks. Note that in December we will add in an Offline Mode for solo Campaign progression.
  • Training can’t be started when multiple people are in your Fort Hope instance. Must be playing alone
  • “Solo Decks” renamed to “Training Decks”
• “Start/Continue Run” renamed to “Play/Continue Online”
• Added differentiation between Cleaner and Ridden Input Layouts in the Gamepad controls in the Options menu
• Made improvements to navigation in Personalization and Accomplishments menus on gamepad
• Music no longer cuts off when the player navigates between tabs in the Options menu
• The Friends tab no longer redirects back to the first page when a user’s friend connects to or disconnects from the game
• Weapon previews in Supply Lines now rotate properly
• [Steam] Steam Big Picture’s Virtual Keyboard now opens when a user selects a text box
• Fixed an issue with mouse click alignment being off on sliders in the Options menu
• Addressed performance issue related to having a large friends list

Bug Fixes

• Campaign
  • Cards
    • Heavy Hitter – Effects now properly apply when killing Ridden with a melee attack
  • General
    • Fixed some issues related to Specials spawning
    • Fixed achievements and accomplishments not unlocking if you are dead at the end of the mission
    • Fixed friendly fire removing Jim’s passive ability
    • Fixed a bug where all Trauma damage was blocked as long as you had 1 temp health
    • Fixed an issue that was causing the visibility of Sleepers to display incorrectly with Karlee’s ability to sense nearby hazards and mutations
    • “Waiting for Available Respawn” message will no longer appear on UI when joining a match for the first time in spectator mode
    • Fixed issue where the horde timer was not resetting after a team wipe
    • Fixed an issue where the Hag could become unresponsive if players kited her in her hunting phase without drawing aggro
    • Fixed an issue where acid covered (from Retch vomit) and pus covered (from any Reeker death explosion) were using the same icon
    • Rescue pods no longer disappear for players that reconnect to a game they had disconnected from
    • Objective counters now update properly for players with the Vendor box UI open
    • Fixed an issue where only one team upgrade would appear for purchase in the Vendor after players purchased all available loot upgrades to the highest tier
    • Fixed player explosive dialogue playing when the player is damaged by the explosion in game
    • Fixed issue where the damage source for players knocked prone or killed by the Ogre’s stomp was shown in the kill feed as “Unknown.”
    • Fixed an issue with weapons not displaying correctly in first person for players that selected multiple characters before locking their choice in on the Character Select screen
    • Players can no longer see out of bounds when dying to fall damage or drowning in water
    • Fixed an issue where red kill hitmarkers were not displaying consistently in online games
    • Corrected bullet shells’ behavior when a player uses their Aim Down Sights with a High Zoom Scope equipped
    • Fixed an issue where the message “Run Failed” would incorrectly display at the end of the level if the player completed the level with no continues remaining in Solo Campaign (now known as “Training”)
    • Corrected Ogre’s tumor toss behavior towards players it can’t reach
    • Cleaners can no longer be picked up from ledge hang by a player underneath them
    • Fixed an issue where the character card would not be active after a player late joined into a game and transitioned to the next campaign chapter
    • Fix for Windows 11 cutscene and loading screen related crash
  • Search and Rescue – Clean Sweep
    • Fixed an issue where Breaker SFX continued to play after the Breaker was killed.
  • The Armory – The Handy Man
    • Bob’s Arm now appears in the scanning animation while the player has “Auto Select New Weapons” on in The Armory – The Handy Man
  • Remnants – A Friend in Need
    • Fixed an issue that caused a second instance of the “Charred Ridden” card to be dealt by the Game Director when opening the Morgue
  • Remnants – Making the Grade
    • Fixed an issue where the Ogre stopped tracking the targeted player and became stuck while trying to despawn
  • Dr. Rogers’ Neighborhood – Farther Afield
    • Fixed an issue where the Breaker did not spawn when its Director Card was played
• Swarm PvP
  • Player Ridden spawn timers are now visible to teammates while in ghost mode in Swarm PvP
  • Leaver penalties no longer apply in private PVP matches
  • Fixed a bug where all Trauma damage was blocked as long as you had 1 temp health
  • Swarm PvP Penalty message now displays correct penalty timer
  • Fixed Temporary Health deteriorating while players are in the safe room
  • Fixed UI messaging informing players that the game can be left without penalty in private Swarm PvP games
    • Private Swarm PvP games can be left without penalty at all times
  • Playable Stinger variants can no longer spawn into the world mid -leap in Swarm PvP
  • Player Stingers and their variants are now properly stunned by flashbangs while leaping in Swarm PvP
  • Fixed an issue in Swarm PvP where Ridden Users could spawn closer than intended to Cleaners at different height levels
  • Fixed an issue where acid covered (from Retch vomit) and pus covered (from any Reeker death explosion) were using the same icon
  • Fixed player explosive dialogue playing when the player is damaged by the explosion in game
  • Fixed an issue where the camera would tilt for Ridden players after loading into Plan B – Trailer Trashed in Swarm PvP
  • Fixed an issue where red kill hitmarkers were not displaying consistently in online games
  • Fixed an issue that caused bullet shells to collide with the player’s gun when aiming down sights with a High Zoom Scope equipped
  • Fixed an issue with weapons not displaying correctly in first person for players who selected multiple characters before locking in their choice on the Character Select screen
  • Ridden players now hear Retch ping dialogue from player Cleaners in Swarm PvP
  • Player-controlled Stalkers no longer get released directly on top of Cleaners that use Breakout in Swarm PvP
• Controller Updates
  • Fixed a bug with Aim Assist forcing 100% aim magnetism
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes caused a player’s field of vision to jitter when using Aim Down Sights
  • Fixed a bug that Aim Assist to prioritize Gas Cans and Propane Tank over more hostile targets
  • Fixed a bug that caused player’s camera to snap if they moved very slowly using a controller