Bethesda and id Software have announced the release of a brand new update for Quake Champions. This new patch adds AI bots, a new Gore System, Free Champion Rotation, comes with tons of Champion & weapon balance changes, and even more performance polish.

In addition, this patch adds a beta version of id Software’s new 3D Positional Sound, brand new Tri-Bolt functionality, updates the tutorial, adds Quick Play Multi-Mode playlists, fixes a Matchmaking issue where a user could get stuck when loading into the game and fixes a Windows 7 Memory leak for user who played many consecutive matches.

Steam will download the June patch for Quake Champions the next time you launch its client, and below you can find a part of its changelog (you can read its full release notes here).

Quake Champions June 2018 Update Release Notes

Added AI Opponents – “Bots Phase 1 ”

• Used in Training
• Fill in slots in Match Making during long queue times
• Fill in for players that leave matches, until a human can Join-In-Progress
•  Bot Phase 1 focuses on movement, weapons, and standard game modes. Stay tuned for further information on Phase 2!

Added Gore System – “Gibs”

• Unique death animation sequences now occur based on the weapons used during frags

Added Free Champion Rotation

• Grants Free-to-Play players free access to one Champion on a weekly rotation

Balance Changes (quite significant) across Champions health/armor, movement, and Weapons including new Tri-bolt functionality (details below)

New Tri-Bolt Functionality

• Explosive bolts are now armed upon firing the weapon, not when the bolts make contact with their target, resulting in bolts now being able to explode mid-air creating an array of explosions around your enemy

New Vanity Weapon: Reconciler

• A strange, alien weapon of unknown origins. Its elegant design is a stark contrast to the destruction it brings

Updated Tutorial

• Bot Match Training
• Starting Challenges

Continuous Play Flow Updated

• After you have completed your Starting Challenges, we now auto-queue you after completing a match and create a lobby that you can choose to return to during the matchmaking process.

Added Quick Play Multi-Mode Playlists

• Solo & Team Playlists, vote for the mode within the Match Lobby.
• Voting now has 3 options: 2 selected game mode & match combinations, and one random option
•  This change was made to further reduce matchmaking times and to improve skill matching conditions

User Experience

• Added Killer Cam – outline killer on Death Screen
• Added HP/AP of killer on Death Screen (for Unranked modes)
• Added Teammate Health & Armor Bars
• Added Active Ability HUD text for first and second stage abilities
• Added Disable Private Chat option in Game Settings
• Visual highlight for all pickups

Added 3D Positional Sound “[BETA] Stereo Headphones with HRTF” option in Audio Settings

• Must toggle while in the main menu, cannot while in match

Progression

• XP Curves have been updated to make leveling significantly easier
• XP boosters. These are known in-game as Haste Potions and give +50% XP bonus.
• Champions can now be purchased for Favor.
• All loot boxes have been updated (Backpacks, Chests, Reliquaries) and now use a new loot box drop system that gives developers more flexibility and has additional features such as reduced drop rates of Duplicates.
• Chests can now be purchased with Shards
• Armor and Weapon Skins can no longer be crafted with Shards
• Added XP/Favor boost for playing with PARTY

Store

• New Tri-bolt skin: Reconciler
• Additional Profile Icons
• Additional Nameplates
• Updated Peacemaker Rocket Launcher, red display screen has been added to the side of the gun
• Added support for Store & Welcome Screens Dynamic Image Loading
• The Spring Celebration has ended therefore all Spring Celebration content will no longer appear in backpacks, chests or reliquaries
• The Spring Celebration Vanity Bundle has been removed

FIXES

Weapons

• Fixed an issue where the Disruptor Plasma projectiles would appear translucent from long distances
• Fixed issues where Direct hits with weapons and ability projectiles registered but did no damage

Maps

• Fixed an issue on Church map where Twisting Corridor Feet clip into the floor of the upper zone
• Fixed an issue in Lockbox where Peeker was able to see out of the map and fire through walls in the Caverns area
• Fixed various spots in multiple maps where Players could shoot through some solid surfaces

Champions

• June balance updates (See Champion Balance Changes Below)
• Fixed an issue where Clutch could be hit through his shield using a Lightning Gun while he was falling
• Updated Anarki’s Injection mechanics
• Updated Galena’s totem mechanics
• Fixed an issue for the Unholy Totem where the Light ring visual effect would not go away until all teammates had healed with them
• Updated Hovertank medal objective to 125hp
• Fixed various issues where champion armor would display with distorted textures.

Tech

• Various misc. crash issues fixed
• Various Networking fixes
• Various Performance fixes
• Fixed a crash when player Alt Tabs using AMD Eyefinity
• Fixed an issue for Custom Match where Spectators became stuck on loading screen if all players left the match
• Fixed an issue during warmup which caused prolonged or infinite warmup if a player left

Customization

• Fixed an issue where customization Sell price button was not functional on owned armor sets, pieces, and weapons

UI

• Updated some unachievable Rune challenges
• Various localization updates
• Fixed an issue for Instagib Post-Game where users didn’t have any visible data on the statistics tab
• Fixed numerous UI issues
• Fixed an issue where the Player was unable to swap the Leaderboards Game Type from Duel to Team Deathmatch

Matchmaking

• Fixed an issue where the Match may not end if a user crashes or force closes at the pre-match lobby podium
• Fixed a Matchmaking issue where a user could get stuck when loading into the game

Ranked

• Fixed an issue where a ranked User would not receive animated Win/Loss screen after each placement match

Loot Boxes/ Store

• Fixed an issue where Players could get Mastery Runes from loot boxes
• Fixed an issue where Users did not receive shards when opening a duplicate Strogg out of Loot Boxes
• Fixed issue resulting loot box drop irregularities
• Fixed an issue where the Anarki Bone Daddy Bundle didn’t not unlock all appropriate attachments

Art

• Fixed issue where changing certain graphical settings would cause weapon vfx to disappear.
• Fixed an issue where Weapon decals appeared warped

Misc

• Fixed an issue where the Player might experience random movement and weapon swaps without input from the player
• Fixed an issue where The Bethesda Launcher crashed when reaching 100% when preparing to download update.
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to skip past the Respawn timer
• Fixed an issue for Voice Chat where Players were unable to hear other teammates’ voices.
• Fixed an issue where users only had the starting weapons during the match warm-up.
• Fixed an issue where the Daily Challenge: “Deal Damage” didn’t track damage properly
• Fixed an issue where the Strogg Champion Medals would not properly update
• Fixed Windows 7 Scaling issue where the game didn’t fit the display area in Windowed mode while at the monitor’s native resolution
• Fixed a Windows 7 Memory leak for user who played many consecutive matches