Garena announces NERF on all Shotguns and improvements to Free Fire SMGs

New game update in May 2023 promises severe changes to Garena's battle royale weapons

24 de May de 2023 Ronny Rolim

Garena Free Fire is one of the most downloaded mobile battle royale games of 2023 to date. Since its launch in 2017, Free Fire has remained on the list of the most downloaded in the world, both on Android and iOS . The new game update OB40 is coming, and players are quite excited about the upcoming changes.

According to Free Fire Mania sources, the game is scheduled for the next May 31st, that is, Wednesday, and as always, the update will bring some significant changes. One such change would be the rebalancing of weapon attributes.

Update May 2023: Adjustments to Free Fire Shotguns and SMGs

In contact with the Free Fire developers, the Free Fire Mania portal had access to the complete list of Shotguns and SMGs that will undergo changes as of May 31, 2023, the date of the game's update to the OB40 version. Below is a description of the conversation with Garena's battle royale development team , which explains the changes.

“As two of the most popular weapon types, shotguns and SMGs were originally designed to have unique advantages: shotguns are perfect for super close combat and SMGs are made for mid-range brawls. However, looking at the numbers, we find that shotguns are much more powerful than SMGs at both close range and medium range, making the former more effective in most scenarios. This has resulted in a stronger preference for shotguns over SMGs, and we are here to change that.”

In short, we've adjusted the advantageous distances of the two weapon types to ensure that shotguns are still the king of super close range battles and SMGs have a better and unique advantage at medium range.

Changes to Shotguns

In this FF update , the effective range of shotguns (M1887/Extra Charge/M1014) that can hit an unusual distance will be reduced. In addition, its other attributes will be improved to increase its ease of use.

M1887

• Range reduced by 15%;
• Reload speed increased by 10%;

The M1887 is capable of taking out a player in 2 shots at medium range, making it much stronger than many other weapon types. Free Fire numbers show that the M1887 is widely used at close range, which is the ideal setup for the weapon . So in this update, the developers will ensure that the M1887 is still strong up close, but is less optimal at greater distance. The reload speed enhancement, however, will make it faster for the weapon wielder more room to get back into the fight.

Extra charge

• Range reduced by 15%;
• Added one more ammo in the cartridge;

Previously, the Extra Charge could reach greater distances than many SMGs , so with its charging capability, it was the perfect weapon when waiting around the corner for a mid-range surprise attack. This strategy was difficult to combat, negatively impacting gameplay experiences. Therefore, its effective range and damage during mid-range combat will be reduced. However, increasing the loader's capacity will increase the error tolerance, giving the user greater chances of eliminating enemies.

M1014-I, M1014-II and M1014-III

• Range reduced by 12%;
• Accuracy +20%;

Upgraded versions of the M1014 have high effective range and damage, making them an ideal choice among almost all shotguns and SMGs . Although its range was reduced in the last update, the M1014-III is still one of the longest range shotguns. With an improvement in accuracy, the M1014 is expected to maintain its competitive edge despite reduced range.

As for the Trogon and MAG-7 , we will be tweaking their ease of use, improving their accuracy to make them more reliable when shooting moving enemies.

Changes to SMGs

While SMGs have a high rate of fire, they have relatively low damage against armored opponents compared to shotguns. The following SMGs will be improved in the new Free Fire May 2023 update , focusing mainly on damage to stabilize their impact when facing different types of enemies:

• MP40 : Damage +8%;
• Bison : Damage +10% and ease of use optimized;
• Thompson : Damage +4%;

Finally, according to the Free Fire developer responsible for the game's next update , the performance of shotguns and SMGs will be constantly monitored, as the objective is to ensure that all weapons have their own scope to shine. For the foreseeable future, the plan is to tweak the range of certain rifles to sculpt their individual differences.

The new Free Fire update takes place on May 31, 2023 and brings the new OB40 version to players. During the period from 01:00 am to 08:00 am the game servers will be unavailable for maintenance.