"It's no use, ma'am…

We've staged three separate attacks on the Containment Shield in the space of two days, but the CDA have already started repairs.

Unless we attack every single pylon at once, that thing is going to hold. MercSERV don't have enough contacts on British soil, and we can't afford an army…

We're running out of… Sorry? A Holo-what?"

The End of Execution

Objective and Stopwatch modes have always been our bread and butter, the ultimate realization of what makes a Splash Damage game great. Ever since its release in 2015, Execution Mode hasn't fully gelled with our fast-paced, multiple objective-based vision, and so it's with a heavy heart that we've decided to remove it from Dirty Bomb. You can read more about this decision in a forum post here.

Execution will be in the game until the 22nd of August. To round it off with a bang, we're taking things back to where they all began:

Final Assault Event

When Execution was launched, we introduced our first Limited Edition Loadout Cards: Containment War cards.

To celebrate the mode's last hurrah, we're introducing Second Edition Containment War cards, including some small changes to the skins and cards.

From now until Tuesday 22 August, you'll be able to get your hands on them in a few ways:

Final Assault Equipment Cases

Every Equipment Case in the game has been replaced with a Final Assault variant, giving you a 2% chance of getting a Second Edition Containment War card.

These drop at the end of matches, and are purchasable with Credits in the Store.

Final Assault Event Cases

You can also pick up Elite Case bundles, which come with bonus Final Assault Event Cases that guarantee you a Second Edition Containment War card.

Event Duration

London (BST) : 11:00 Thursday, August 10 – 11:00 Tuesday, August 22

: 11:00 Thursday, August 10 – 11:00 Tuesday, August 22 Los Angeles (PDT) : 3:00 AM Thursday, August 10 – 3:00 AM Tuesday, August 22

: 3:00 AM Thursday, August 10 – 3:00 AM Tuesday, August 22 Sydney (AEST): 8:00 PM Thursday, August 10 – 8:00 PM Tuesday, August 22

Phantom Obsidian Operative

As if Phantom didn't think he was cool enough, he's had a full makeover with a brand new, super-suave skin available until August 22nd.

This includes a carbon-fiber katana skin; the first melee weapon to receive this treatment.

Pick up one of three Loadouts available in the store, or snag them all with the Merc himself before they disappear.

Daily Play Bonuses

This update sees Daily Play bonuses being completely reworked. This new system rewards simply playing a single match, meaning you can play the modes you enjoy without players intentionally unbalancing matches to try to get a win.

Get rewards simply for logging in, playing a single match and then claiming your bonus – The more consecutive days you play over a 7-day period, the better your chances of unboxing a higher-rarity Loadout Card become.

Proxy Cyber-Eye Case Unlock

Turtle's work is complete! Proxy's new CoreSEC cyber eye is ready, and she's ready to go back to being binocular.

If you purchased a Cyber Eye case during the Shell Shock event, it will now be unlocked in your Barracks and ready to open.

Dynamic Resolution

To improve performance for older machines, and to ensure everyone has a great experience with the menus in the game, we've implemented a new automatic resolution system.

This continually checks your frame rate to make sure you are always hitting at least 30 FPS. If the game identifies that you are running below this target, it will start to downscale the in-game graphics to achieve a better performance.

You can tweak the settings in the main menu and in-game, under 'Video'.

Dynamic Resolution (On / Off)

This simply allows you to turn the feature on or off. By turning this feature off, the "Render Scale" option becomes active. Dynamic Resolution is On by default.

Dynamic Min FPS (30 – 60)

When Dynamic Resolution is On, changing this value will tell the game to start downscaling the graphics if the frame rate dips below it.For example, if you change this value to 60, the game will downscale the graphics in-game if your FPS drops below 60. Dynamic Min FPS is 30 by default.

Render Scale (50-100%)

When Dynamic Resolution is Off, you can set this percentage for the game to downscale the graphics by without running checks on your frame rate.For example, if you run the game at 1920×1080 and set this value to 50%, the UI resolution will still stay the same, but your in-game graphics will render at 960×540. Render Scale is 100% by default.

For most players, this won't have any effect on your performance, but players on low-end hardware should see frame rate improvements.

Merc Balance Improvements

After an extended hiatus, we're diving back into tweaking Merc balance to improve the game. These changes are the first of many we'll be implementing in the coming months – As always, we'd love to hear your feedback on these and potential future changes.

Aimee

To bring Aimee's SNITCH Device closer to the effectiveness of Vassili or Redeyes abilities, we've made a slight improvement.

Reduced detection time to 0.3s (from 0.6s) This means that the SNITCH Device will detect players much more quickly when they come into line of sight

Aura

We've fixed a bug that prevents the Potent Packs Augment from improving the Healing Station. To compensate for that, we've reduced the base healing rates so that with the Potent Packs the Healing Station heals at almost exactly the same rates as before.

Reduced base healing rate to 26hp/s (from 31hp/s)

Reduce base self-healing rate to 24hp/s (from 28hp/s)

Fixed bug where Potent Packs Augment didn't improve Healing Station's rate

Bushwhacker

While effective at guarding routes and weakening the enemy, Bushwhackers Turret was still too easy to destroy, so we're making it slightly tougher and quicker to replace.

Increase Turret HP to 120hp (from 110hp)

Reduced Turret Cooldown to 30s (from 35s)

Fletcher

We've made some changes to make Fletcher's Sticky Bombs less spammy, while still rewarding direct hits.Increased Sticky Bomb cooldown to 9s (from 8s)

Reduced maximum radial damage to 75 (from 85)

Direct hit bonus damage remains at 15

Phoenix

Phoenix's Self-Revive is something that isn't be used nearly often enough, as vigilant players will make sure to finish him. While we don't want to make the ability more powerful directly, we do want to allow more opportunities to use it.

Reduced Self Revive Cooldown to 25s (from 60s)

Stoker

While Stoker's Molotov is very effective at area-denial, we've tweaked it to become more effective when used offensively.

Increased Molotov fire damage by ~10%

Thunder

With Thunder continuing to be overly effective in combat, we've reduced his overall health pool and marginally reduced the impact of his Concussion Grenades once more.

Reduced health pool to 160hp from (170hp)

Reduced maximum blind and stun duration by 0.5s

Turtle

Considering how long it takes to destroy Turtle's Shield, we felt that Turtle could too quickly spin up a replacement.

Increased Shield cooldown to 30s (from 25s)

Extender Augment now increases Shield size by 25% (from 20%)

Arty / Skyhammer / Sawbonez / Sparks

So that Health and Ammo Packs can be picked up by the next spawn wave if missed, we've increased the amount of time it takes for Packs to de-spawn once dropped.

Increased lifespan of dropped Health Packs or Ammo Packs to 35s (from 25s)

Kira / Stoker

To make Ammo Stations more about good-placement than cooldown management, we've significantly reduced the cooldown for these Mercs.

Reduced Ammo Station Cooldown to 15s (from 25s)

Bug Fixes

Ranked

Fixed bug where players that failed to accept Ranked matches could get stuck in a broken party

Fixed bug where it was possible to invite more than 5 people into a ranked party

Fixed bug where players' ranks were not initially visible when joining a party

General

Fixed bug where explosive damage on mid-air players could cause instagibs

Fixed bug where Molotovs weren't dealing damage to Objectives

Fixed bug where Obsidian Operative skins could first be visible as a basic skin when spawning

Gameplay

Fixed bug where the katana spin animation was not interruptable, and improved the animation itself

Fixed bug where shooting Turtle's shield counted towards accuracy

Maps

Fixed bug where doors and lifts would move off-center slightly after each interaction

UI

Fixed bug where broken text was visible for the Taco Trinket in non-English languages

Fixed bug where numbers were cut off in the Spectator Camera Speed options panel

What do you think of these changes? Let us know on the Official Forums!