Battlefield 6 update nerfs jets for some reason and makes melee attacks quicker ahead of Season 2: "You guys really hate the thing you're famous for"

A picture of Battlefield 6 showing a soldier moving through smoke and explosions with their gun raised
(Image credit: EA)

A new Battlefield 6 patch is coming tomorrow, to parlay the slightly longer wait for Season 2, since it was delayed into February. The tweaks and changes are mostly minor, sorting out small bugs and tightening up different aspects, but there are a couple of gameplay changes that you’ll definitely feel, for better or worse.

One that immediately stands out is nerfing jets, making it so their cannons have to land 40% more hits to opposing flying vehicles to take them down. You’d think, reading that, there was some exceedingly apparent imbalance. But there isn’t, and in fact, jets are disproportionately weaker in terms of vehicles, even compared to other air transports.

At ground level, melee attacks are becoming smoother and, by extension, deadlier. Knives will be quicker, and they and sledgehammers are being tweaked for less buffering. Timing of melees is getting mercifully refined as well, to help in those instances where a split second can make all the difference. Sprinting is getting tightened up to boot; using a melee attack will only interrupt your run up to when it lands, instead of stifling your flow from the moment you press the button.

There are a couple of handy little UI changes as well, including letting players change the reticle color on weapon and gadget scopes. Numerous fixes are included, among a selection across nearly every facet of the game, making this a relatively unexciting patch for tangible gameplay, but one that should make playing quite a bit smoother.

Redsec gets a look in, too, with the most notable bullet point being the disappearing armor bar now being fixed. This update goes live tomorrow, January 20, while Season 2 kicks off on February 17.

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Anthony McGlynn
Contributing Writer

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.

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