Battlefield 2042 Update 4.1 patch notes: Armor changes, AEK 971, more
Battlefield 2042 Season 4 is in full swing, and the next major patch, Update 4.1, is on the way. Here are the full patch notes for Battlefield 2042 Update 4.1 including armor changes and new Vault Weapons such as the AEK 971.
Battlefield 2042 Season 4 marked the end of the game’s Year 1 content, but there’s more to come with Season 5 officially on the way. Until then, DICE are introducing even more content with the upcoming Leviathan mid-season update, and smaller updates in between.
Update 4.1 has been confirmed, so here are the full patch notes breaking down all of the content it’s bringing to Battlefield 2042.
- When is Battlefield 2042 Update 4.1?
- New Vault weapons in Battlefield 2042
- Battlefield 2042 Update 4.1 patch notes
When is Battlefield 2042 Update 4.1?
DICE have confirmed that Battlefield 2042 Update 4.1 will arrive during the week beginning March 27, 2023.
While there’s no precise release date for Update 4.1, Battlefield 2042 updates usually arrive on Tuesdays at roughly 1 AM PT / 4 AM ET / 9 AM UK.
New Vault weapons in Battlefield 2042
Battlefield 2042’s Update 4.1 has introduced three more classic weapons to All Out Warfare: the AEK 971, RPK-74M, and MP443 pistol.
The AEK 971 is a fan-favorite Battlefield weapon that’s appeared in both the mainline and Bad Company franchises, and it’ll be usable in All Out Warfare alongside the RPK-74M and MP443 following Update 4.1.
Battlefield 2042 Update 4.1 patch notes
IBA Armor Plate Overhaul
In this update we’re overhauling the protective benefits of the Armor Plate.
Armor protection benefits will now only apply to the torso area of your character, and no longer provide protection for the entire character.
This means any hit to an enemies torso while they have IBA Armor Plates applied will result in a deduction to the player’s armor first and once depleted, damage will follow through to the character’s health.
The functionality of the IBA Armor Plate outside of this remains unchanged, including explosive damage to armor.
With this overhaul, we are responding to player feedback that armor plating is too effective, and we’re making steps to allow you to counter that gadget by providing a skill enhancement to gameplay, encouraging you to prioritize your shots in order to earn faster takedowns.
Chat Improvements
- We added a new and improved design which leads to a less cluttered experience.
- Other improvements include, but are not limited to: Background Opacity decoupling, now allowing for text to remain strong while lowering the opacity of the background. Decoupled the Chat Box background opacity, if the opacity is set to below 20% your text will now glow.
- Color formatting changes, resulting in handles being color coded and white text for chat dialogue.
General & Gameplay Improvements
- As indicated above, IBA Armor Plates will now exclusively provide protection to the chest area of your Specialist. Your limbs and head area will remain unprotected
- Increased XP earned and feedback when destroying an enemy EOD Bot
- You now earn Objective Fortified XP for placing Gadgets such as Ammo Crates, Claymore Mines, etc. in a friendly objective area
- You now earn Objective Revive XP when reviving a teammate inside an objective area in Breakthrough
- Resolved an animation issue that would break while crawling in prone with a throwable gadget in hand
- Fixed an issue that prevented grenades from being able to be thrown through a window on Renewal at E2
- Fixed an issue that would cause inconsistent melee damage to occur when dragging the mouse in any direction just before the hit occurred
- Meleeing an enemy who is on a ladder will now deal the same damage as the standard melee attack at a rate of 50 damage
- Reduced the traversal sprint delay when barging through doors
- You will now be able to barge through doors whilst sliding
- Fixed an issue that would cause traversal sprint to become broken upon quickly exiting a vehicle
- Fixed an issue that would sometimes result in sliding to gain unintended acceleration
- Fixed an issue that caused a small amount of unwanted camera shake after performing a low vault
- Smoothed out the animation of vaulting to reduce a popping sensation that occurs at the end
- Improved the animations of the Recoilless M5 and G-84 TGM
- The default weapon for Engineer has now moved from the DM7 towards the LCMG to appropriately synergise with the Weapon Proficiency
Dev Comment: In order for this change to take place, any Engineer that had a DM7 equipped will find that their loadout has changed to the LCMG.
Specialist Mastery Improvements:
- Adjusted Sundance’s Mastery requirement from 30 to 20 Kills and Assists with the Smart Explosives
- Adjusted Crawford’s Mastery requirement from 50 to 30 Kills and Assists with the Mounted Vulcan
- Adjusted Zain’s Mastery requirement from 50 to 30 Kills and Assists with the XM370A
- Updated Lis’ Mastery requirement from 10 Vehicles Destroyed with the G-84 TGM to 10 Kills when destroying Vehicles with the G-84 TGM
- Updated Dozer’s Mastery requirement from 20 Kills with the SOB-8 Ballistic Shield to 40 Close-distance Kills, to allow for a more varied playstyle with Dozer, but still making sure he gets up close and personal
Audio
- HDR Audio overhaul to create a higher dynamic range in the mix
- We have made some gearbox tweaks to the EBLC-RAM to minimize shifting going up hills. This will help with repetitive audio being heard
- Fixed an issue where a buzz sound could be heard after using a Sniper scope
- Improved the audio that plays when various vehicle projectiles are flying by you, such as Air-to-Ground missiles, 40mm and 30mm cannons, Kinetic Grenade Pods and more. It is worth noting that you’ll mostly benefit from this experience if you’re dodging such projectiles, if you’re not – well, seek a Support Specialist.
- The “update airburst distance” sound will now appropriately trigger in accordance to the visuals and range displayed within the UI
- The Repair Tool should now be more audible whilst in the MV-38 Condor
- Improved the audio feedback when you become stuck with a projectile from the SPH Explosive Launcher
- Fixed an issue where Javelin’s lock on sound or engine sound doesn’t trigger
- Fixed an issue where Javelin’s projectile sound doesn’t trigger
Gadgets
- Updated the tutorial video of the FGM-148 Javelin
- Updated EMP grenades description to more accurately reflect its updated damage mode
- Tooltips have been added for the defibrillator on Battlefield Portal
- Melee weapons from Battlefield 2042 will now be listed within Battlefield Portal
- Smoke grenades now explode underwater, sorry Penguins
- Fixed an issue that caused the BF3 SOFLAM to not be accessible after being deployed
- Friendly Claymores are now displayed on the minimap
- The Repair Tool animation will no longer persist when switching to another Gadget
- The Tracer Dart can no longer lock-on through large environmental objects
- The Tracer Dart now allows friendlies to lock onto stealth helicopters even when they are in stealth mode.
- FXM-33 Stinger UI now animates when locking onto an enemy Nightbird that’s designated by a friendly tracer dart
- M18 Claymore sensor can no longer be triggered by enemies under its radius
- M18 Claymore Icons now flash while looking at them
- In some cases players were able to pick up M18 Claymores through solid objects. This should no longer happen
- Players are now notified via the correct icon while a Ranger is hacked or under the effect of EMP
- Fixed an issue that caused the FXM-33 Stinger to not deal damage to soldiers that had been designated by a tracer dart.
- Temporarily disabled the ability to defuse Rush MCOM stations with the EOD Bot. This functionality will be re-enabled in a future update
Specialists
Angel
- Angel does it again, as his loadout crate can’t be called in on top of vehicles
- Angel’s Loadout Crate can no longer be placed on bushes, try doing that one again
Blasco
- Fixed an issue that caused the X6-Infiltration Device to not show in the restrictions section of the Portal Builder
- Fixed an issue that would cause Blasco to use misleading voice lines when pinging a threat at long distances
- The radius on the X6-Infiltration Device should now display correctly while the Big Map is open
Casper
- Casper’s OV-P Recon Drone now deals damage to Claymores, C5, Anti-Tank Grenades, and Proximity Sensors
- Casper’s OV-P Recon Drone can now EMP the Deployable Spawn Beacon from the EBLC-Ram
Dozer
- Damage numbers will now take Dozer’s 50% damage reduction against explosives into account.;
Falck
- It’s no longer possible to heal Ranger by the S21 Syrette Pistol
Irish
- Irish’ APS-36 Shootdown Sentinel now intercepts the Ghostmaker R10’s explosive bolt
- Improved the consistency of the interaction prompt on Irish’s DC-2 Deployable Cover
Zain
- The XM370A range counter should no longer become stuck at 0 while in a vehicle
Weapons
- Fixed an issue that caused the wrong icon to appear in the Portal Web Builder for the AC9
- Fixed an issue where dropped weapons would be difficult to pick up after a player died whilst they were prone
- Fixed an issue where the wrong killcard information would be displayed after killing an enemy with any “Mass” underbarrel
- Fixed an issue where the MTAR-21 briefly clips with the camera when aiming down sights in crouch after switching from the Smoke Grenade Launcher
- Fixed an issue where players could sometimes get stuck in a melee attack loop while repeatedly pressing both melee attack and weapon fire at the same time
- M240B now has the correct headshot multiplier of 2X
- Fixed an issue that would cause magazines to disappear while using certain attachment combinations and sprinting
- A-91 no longer has incorrect sprint settings applied
- Fixed an issue that would cause a flickering dot to be visible on the AC9 Kobra sight
- Fixed an issue where scopes were disabling other distortion effects even when not ADSing
- Shooting with the RM68 will now display you on the minimap when using non-suppressor barrels
- Kobra sight vertical crosshair no longer disappears during ADS when customized on SVD and Type 88 LMG
- Fixed an issue where the reload SFX on the RPT-31 would not play as intended
- Improved consistency of the VCAR weapon icon
- Intended magazine size of 30 bullets is now shown for AC9 Subsonic in Collection tab
- Sniper Rifles now have a dispersion penalty while moving
Vehicles
- Fixed an issue which would cause open seat blast damage to be improperly applied
- Fixed an issue that would cause the overheat crosshair to grow in size when swapping between primary and secondary weapons
- RWS on MAV with 50mm cannons now use the correct crosshair
- Grenades that have already detonated such as incendiary and smoke are no longer intercepted by vehicle AMPS systems
- Fixed an issue that would result in the rotors of Battlefield 3 Air Vehicles not displaying correctly
- Rocket lock-on’s will now immediately go away from a vehicle that had SOFLAM lock-on’s active and the vehicle was “Below Radar”
- RWS on the LATV4 are now coloured more appropriately to its base color
CAV-Brawler
- Player legs should no longer stick out of the vehicle while crouched in the open seats of the CAV-Brawler
- Gadgets can no longer be deployed under the CAV-Brawler
- Only disabled abilities are now grayed out in the inventory while crouching in the CAV-Brawler open seat
For more on Battlefield 2042 Season 4, be sure to check out how to unlock all of the new weapons.
Image Credit: DICE / EA