The Finals season 5 has just dropped seemingly out of nowhere, and it’s easily the biggest and best one yet. In fact, it’s a veritable celebration of the first four seasons and The Finals’ first year in general.
There’s an absolute ton of new content on offer here. That includes a map, weapons, gadgets, sponsors, season, and even weapon sights.
We even see the introduction of the ‘Clubs’ feature, which lets you play alongside your friends for additional rewards. Let’s take a look at everything The Finals season 5 has to offer.
What’s New in The Finals Season 5
Let’s begin by taking a look at all of the new content in The Finals season 5:
New Map: La Magia de Bernal
The new map, Bernal, takes place beneath Peña de Bernal in Mexico, in a small and historic town.
New Weapons: ShAK-50 and Cerberus 12GA
There are two new weapons included in The Finals season 5:
- ShAK-50: An assault rifle targeted at ‘Heavy’ class users, which fires two bullets per shot that deal considerable damage
- Cerberus 12GA: A shotgun that fires incendiary shells that can set fire to the environment.
New Gadgets: Gravity Vortex and Lockbolt Launcher
We’ve also got a selection of new gadgets you can wield, including:
- Gravity Vortex: Pulls everything towards it
- Lockbolt Launcher: Can ensnare up to three targets
New Weapon Sights
A selection of weapons feature new sights that you can check out:
- M26 Matter
- Cerberus 12GA
- ShAK-50
- 93R
- Lewis Gun
- Model 1887
- LH1
Alongside this, visual recoil has been reduced, helping you to better land your shots.
New Sponsors: ISEUL-T, VAIIYA, and DISSUN
With a new season, brings new sponsors and there are three of them this time around that you can pledge your allegiance to.
This includes:
- ISEUL-T
- VAIIYA
- DISSUN
ISEUL-T isn’t new, of course, though VAIIYA is making its debut as a sponsor. DISSUN is the total newcomer though.
Make sure to check out their new cosmetics before you decide which sponsor to commit to during the season.
A Whole New Way to Play: Clubs!
This is the most exciting new feature arriving with season 5: Clubs. This lets you team up with your friends and play together to earn additional rewards.
In total, you can have up to 50 members within a club, and each of you gets a name and tag to show off your Club within the arena.
There are three different roles a Club member can perform in The Finals:
- Owner
- Manager
- Scout
And here are the bonuses for joining and playing with a Club:
- Gain additional XP and Fans when you play as a team
- Share notes with your Club members on the Club Wall
- Request teammates for any mode from within the Club
- Complete two Club contracts per day to boost your rank
The Round-Up
Now that we’ve got the most exciting features out of the way, let’s take a look at everything else that’s new rounded up right here:
- Select your soundtrack via the Jukebox
- Select 120Hz mode on PlayStation or Xbox
- Gift rewards to other players
- 3v3 Final Round cash out in private matches
- Kyoto map optimisations
- 30 new career levels
The Finals Season 5 Balance Changes and Bug Fixes
Let’s wrap this up with the bug fixes and balance changes also included in the new season.
Balance Changes
General
- Updated the hit sweeps for quick melee attacks, making them much more reliable when trying to hit targets
Gadgets
Defibrillator
- Added ‘revive sickness’ to players revived by the Defibrillator, causing their Specializations and Gadgets to be placed on a five-second cooldown
Dev Note: A recurring piece of feedback we receive from players is how frustrating chained Defibrillator revives can be. This change aims to insert a short barrier for such gameplay.
Jump Pad
- Increased cooldown from 30s to 40s
Proximity Sensor
- Added the ability for Medium contestants to equip the Proximity Sensor
Smoke Grenade
- Added the ability for Medium contestants to equip Smoke Grenades
- Added the ability for Heavy contestants to equip Smoke Grenades
Sonar Grenade
- Decreased active duration from 7.52 to 5.25s
- Decreased time between sonar pulses from 2.5s to 1.75s
Zipline
- Increased cooldown from 30s to 37s
Game Modes
Quick Cash
- Updated the respawn system to be wave-based
When the first player on a team is eliminated, a respawn timer for the entire team starts to count down. Any other teammates eliminated after this point will join the same respawn timer. When the timer hits 0, the eliminated players can spend a coin to respawn or, if all three team members have been eliminated, the full team will respawn with no additional time added for a team wipe. Any players who die in the last 5 seconds before the timer hits zero will set the timer back to 5 seconds remaining, to avoid immediate re-spawns which can feel jarringDev Note: This change is an update that aims to reduce the number of ‘long spawns,’ where a team wipe adds extra time until respawning just before a player is about to spend a coin to respawn. We believe this will lead to more fun matches with less downtime and the spawn waves will also help keep teams closer together, aiding teamplay
- Added the ability to swap your contestant between team wipes in Quick Cash mode
Dev Note: We’ve made this adjustment to bring Quick Cash in line with Power Shift mode. Both modes are aimed at more casual play and we believe this change increases the fun by lowering some of the risk/reward elements better suited for competitive modes
- Updated some of the spawn point selection rules for when teams wipe. These should place teams at a more consistent and reliable distance from the objective
Maps
Kyoto
- Adjusted the map border to improve the flow in the Hillside area
- Redesigned the Bamboo Forest to improve readability and flow, while reducing visual noise
Dev Note: One of our main goals when creating Kyoto was to explore how we could bring more natural environments to THE FINALS. Since its launch, we’ve had recurring gameplay feedback for Kyoto around the readability and density of the Bamboo Forest. To improve on this, we have reduced the amount of bamboo trees and vegetation, and increased the amount of hard-cover in that part of the map. Please give it a shot and let us know what you think.
Specializations
Cloaking Device
- Updated the Cloaking Device to consume energy based on the player’s current movement speed while cloaked, meaning that standing still drains energy much more slowly than running or sprinting
Dev Note: Our aim for the Cloaking Device has always been to encourage a different style of play, one where players could be sneaky and outsmart opponents. However, previous iterations of the device put the focus on using cloaking to ambush or evade enemies in combat, rather than play more stealthily. We believe this change encourages players to avoid and outwit opponents with the Cloaking Device.
- Removed the ability for burning damage to break the cloaking effect
- Removed the ability for poison damage to break the cloaking effect
Dev Note: Any regular damage or impact damage from fire-based weapons will still remove the effect
Mesh Shield
- Reworked the Mesh Shield to make it energy based. The shield has 750 energy in total and loses energy each time it takes damage. A sum of 225 energy is also lost each time the player lowers the shield, with energy only being regenerated when the Mesh Shield has not taken damage for a short time. The Mesh Shield no longer has a cooldown, with energy management replacing it
Dev Note: We previously added longer cooldowns to the Mesh Shield to stop ‘juggling’ of the shield (rapid raising and lowering of it) as players reported this was not fun to play against. After some time with the new shield live, we felt these cooldowns were too long and too limiting, reducing player interest in using the Mesh Shield. This change allows ‘juggling’ again, but limits how often the player can raise/lower the shield via the energy cost. We feel this system works much better than earlier versions, in that it encourages more ‘tanking’ behavior but still gives the player some flexibility to juggle the shield in duels.
Weapons
93R
- Increased damage from 24 to 28
- Decreased horizontal recoil after the third burst, making the gun easier to control
- Decreased vertical recoil slightly, to make the gun easier to control
- Increased the damage fall-off start range from 23m to 28m
- Increased the damage fall-off multiplier at max range from 45% to 55%, meaning the weapon will do more damage at a longer range
Dev Note: After being somewhat cautious in our buffs of the 93R in previous releases due to some earlier internal testing of higher damage values, we’ve decided to go for a more ‘nuclear’ buff. We hope this finally brings the 93R into the meta in a good way, but we’ll be keeping a close eye on it.
Dual Blades
- Basic attack
- Increased the speed and duration of the lunge for each attack animation, making it easier to reach targets that are just out of range
- Deflect
- Decreased the dispersion angle of deflected bullets from 2.5 to 1, meaning deflected bullets are now more accurate
- Decreased the damage modifier for direct hits from enemy bullets from 0.2 to 0.1, meaning players will now take less damage when deflecting hits at the center of the Blades’ deflection angle
- Decreased the damage modifier for glancing hits from enemy bullets from 0.4 to 0.3, meaning players will now take less damage when deflecting hits at the edge of the Blades’ deflection angle
- Increased deflection angle from 25 degrees to 35 degrees, making it easier to block and deflect bullets
- Decreased incoming melee damage modifier from 0.33 to 0.25, meaning players will take less damage from melee attacks when trying to deflect
R .357 Revolver
- Decreased bullet dispersion when firing from the hip by approximately 20%, making the weapon more accurate
Spear
- Basic attack
- Increased the lunge distance from 6m to 7.5m on basic attacks, making it easier to hit enemies
- Increased the lunge speed by approximately 15%
- Increased the lunge cancel on basic attacks, causing the player to come to rest earlier once they hit the target
- Secondary attack
- Increased the damage of each swing from 100 to 105
XP-54
- Increased ammo count from 30 to 34
Weapon Optics
- Decreased the amount of animated “visual recoil” significantly on all red dot optics, across all weapons that can equip them, making those weapons easier to aim
Content and Bug Fixes
Animation
- Fixed an issue where the player’s character could deform when respawning
- Fixed an issue where the player could ride ziplines while emoting at the same time
- Fixed an issue where the player would trigger multiple pickup animations when attaching to a zipline while picking up a deployable item
- Improved first-person animations when running with a charged throwable such as a grenade
- Cleaned up some visual noise that could occur in first-person animations when sliding and aiming down sight
- Fixed a minor clipping issue on SR-84
- Fixed an issue where hand gesture animations could play while blocking with the Dual Blades
Audio
- Fixed an issue where some player sounds could persist after they are eliminated
- Added an entirely new voice to Dede’s face. Keep up, or stay out of the way!
Career Rank
- Added 30 additional career ranks
Contracts & Achievements
- Fixed an issue that could cause any Contracts that required headshots to complete to progress via backstabs with the Dagger by mistake
- Fixed an issue that caused interrupted decryptions in Terminal Attack mode to not count towards the “As a team, steal a cashout or interrupt a decryption N times” contract
- Fixed an issue where the “Finish the tutorial” achievement would fail to trigger when completing the Cashout Tutorial
Controller
- Increased default horizontal sensitivity from 160 to 200
- Increased default vertical sensitivity from 130 to 170
Dev Note: The two changes above are based on an analysis we did of current controller players’ settings. We feel these new values will give new players a better experience. Current players will maintain their previous settings.
- Increased max horizontal and vertical sensitivity from 500 to 750, giving players more flexibility on what sensitivity they’d like to play with
Gadgets
Gateway
- Gateways will now destroy surrounding goo when activated
Gravity Vortex
- Deployable, remote-triggered localized singularity added to the Light class
Jump Pad
- Fixed an issue where players could use and pick up the Jump Pad at the same time
Lockbolt Launcher
- An anchor that latches onto up to three targets added to the Heavy class
Thermal Vision
- Fixed an issue causing cloaked characters to be overly bright for players using Thermal Vision on the PS5 Pro and on PC, when the TSR Resolution Scaling Method was selected
Game Modes
General
- Added a warning timer, with a five second wait time, before allowing the player to exit an ongoing match early. Our goal is to reduce disconnect rates, which can ruin matches for other players
- Fixed an issue where the UI would not behave as expected when backfilling into a match
- Fixed a rare issue where players would be unable to spawn when backfilled into a match
Bank It
- Fixed an issue that caused Coins to block projectiles
Power Shift
- Fixed an issue where weapon customization would not get updated when the player swapped contestant in Power Shift mode
Private Matches
- Added Cashout ‘Final Round’ to private matches. This is the 3v3 format from the final round of tournaments
Gameplay
- Fixed an issue that caused players on ziplines to not be detached when hitting goo blobs
- Fixed an issue where poisonous gas could wrongly block various interactions and projectiles
- Fixed an issue that allowed players to pick up objects while emoting
Maps
General
- Fixed various behavior issues with doors and how they function
- Added two new visual variants of destroyed walls and improved material coverage where buildings have been fractured or destroyed
Kyoto
- Made various optimizations to client performance when playing Kyoto
Performance & Stability
- Fixed an issue on the client side that could cause performance issues
- Fixed an issue where volumetric fog could cause ‘ghosting’ around the edges of the screen on Xbox Series S and on PCs with Shadow Quality set to Medium
- Many optimizations for the PS4 and the 120Hz console mode
Settings
- Added a new graphics quality setting for Reflections
Dev Note: This allows players to tweak the quality of reflection effects separately.
- Added 120Hz mode for Xbox Series X, PS5 and PS5 Pro
Dev Note: The option will show up in the Video Settings if you have a 120Hz capable display connected to your console
Social
- Added ‘Incognito Mode’ for players who want to protect themselves when streaming. This feature randomizes the player’s matchmaking queue time to help avoid ‘stream snipers’ and will also hide identifying features such as Rank Score on the player’s own screen
- Clubs feature added, allowing players to form clubs with up to 50 members, complete daily club contracts, and more
- Added the Inbox, accessible in the top right of the main menu. This feature allows us to send players direct messages about important things happening in the game and in individual accounts
Specializations
Evasive Dash
- Fixed an issue where Glitch effects could interrupt an Evasive Dash that was already in progress, changing the length of the dash
Grappling Hook
- Fixed an issue introduced in 4.8 that accidentally caused the Grappling Hook to break glass surfaces rather than stick to them
UI
- Updated the ‘Play’ button, making it easier to understand where to queue and where to switch modes
- Fixed an issue in the inventory HUD that caused it to look like the player could equip an item when they could not
- Fixed an issue that could sometimes cause the player to be stuck with Nama Tama hints on the main menu every time they returned to that screen
- Updated the “new” label shown in front-end menus to make it less intrusive
VOIP
- Overhauled the VOIP system to make it more consistent and reliable, including some fixes to ensure it better respects player settings
Weapons
Cerberus 12GA
- New triple-barrel, break action shotgun for the Medium Class
General
- Fixed several issues where weapons could end up in a locked state, unable to fire or attack
Glitch Grenade
- Fixed an issue that caused Glitch Grenades to not detonate on impact with Dome Shields and Mesh Shields
ShAK-50
- New assault rifle for the Heavy Class
Spear
- Fixed an issue with the secondary attack which could cause players within range of the swing to not be hit
Security
Steam
- Hardware restriction capabilities will now be implemented
- New and enhanced Aimbot detection
- New detection rules for unfair gameplay added
- Added additional levels of game (binary) obfuscation