PUBG’s 17.2 update goes live later tonight, and it’s a run-of-the-mill update focused on weapon balancing and shuffling the map rotation. One of the more significant changes is coming to the Mortar.
It was first introduced as a Taego-only weapon but never really became an influential part of the game. Usually, I would grab it and toss a few mortars towards a city to see if I would get lucky. It was never good enough to take one of the weapon slots. There were also limitations on where it could be deployed.
With the 17.2 update, the PUBG developers are adding the Mortar to every map except Haven (the small map with AI on it). It can also be deployed on any terrain “except when the deploy angle is not secured or on water, including small puddles,” the devs write in the patch notes.
But the bigger changes are with the ammo spawns. Before, it spawned in stacks of 1 – 3. Now, it’ll show up on the map in stacks of 3 – 5. Plus, the ammo weight is lowered to 20 from 30. A stack of five mortar rounds will take up a little under half the capacity of a level 2 backpack. It’ll require some loot juggling, but five shots would be enough to lay down some serious fire on another team.
The developers also expanded on how picking up the Mortar will interact with your inventory and weapon slots.
- Now the Mortar takes up the inventory slot and the weight is set to 50.
- It can be picked up and stored in the inventory again after use.
- Picking the Mortar up with a primary weapon in hand will automatically have you swap to the Mortar.
- Picking the Mortar up with bare hands (with two primary weapons holstered) will place the Mortar in the inventory.
- Swapping a primary weapon out with the Mortar in the inventory screen will have you drop the primary weapon.
- Picking up the Mortar when the player is not equipped with any weapons will place the Mortar to the first primary weapon slot.
Fans of Vikendi will be pleased to hear it’s being added to the Normal match rotation. It’ll be taking the place of Haven for this patch. Ranked match map rotation will consist of Erangel, Miramar, and Taego.
There are a couple of quality of life changes coming too. A new timer feature is being added for folks who have trouble timing their grenade throws.
And the days of swapping seats to let the driver heal are coming to an end. Bandages and boosters can now be used while in the driver’s seat (and the vehicle is moving).
What we’re not hearing about today is any more info on PUBG’s next map, Kiki. The last official info we’ve heard is a third-quarter release date in the July – September time frame.
We could hear something on this front at Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest on June 9. PUBG is no stranger to Geoff Keighley events, with the free-to-play announcement coming during last year’s The Game Awards. They also dropped a Vikendi map trailer at the same event in 2018. This doesn’t mean PUBG is a lock for Summer Games Fest, but the chances are high we see something next month.
PUBG’s 17.2 update hits live servers during tonight’s eight-hour server maintenance.