Free Fire OB38 patch notes: New Santino character, Kactus pet, weapon adjustments and more

Garena has pulled down the Free Fire server for maintenance to prepare for the release of the OB38 update. Until later today, players will not be able to access the game regardless of whether they have updated to the most recent version.

The Free Fire developers have released the patch notes for the OB38 update on the official website, providing detailed insight into all the new content coming to the game.

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Free Fire OB38 patch notes

Battle Royale

New Arsenal

• Offers a chance to obtain level-3 firearms and exclusive airdrop weapons.
• Each map offers five to six arsenals, and locations will be marked on the mini-map.
• One to two keys are located in each major area of the map.
• Keys can also be purchased from vending machines for 600 FF Coins.
• You can purchase keys from Airdrop vending machines, each costing 400 FF Coins.

BR Battle Card

• Battle Cards will be displayed to teammates after leaving the spawn island (on the loading screen.)
• Gamers can customize the stats displayed on the card.

Vehicle Improvement

• Vehicles are easier to control and can be used for going up hills.
• Increase in vehicle HP and decrease the damage dealt by vehicle.

New item - Jammer

• You will no longer be detected by Clu’s Tracing Steps, Memory Mist, Binoculars, and UAVs after equipping this time.
• Jammer can be obtained from the Airdrops.

New item - Loot Radar

• It reveals all unowned and higher-level loot. The distance is set at 75 meters, and the location will be revealed every 25 seconds.
• Users are notified of a particular detected item in the form of a Pin.
• The Loot Radar is enabled by default.

Solo queue revival

• Revival chance is only granted once to players per match.
• It is only available for the first 3 minutes of the match.
• A heart icon in the top right corner indicates whether the revival system is active or not.

Other BR adjustments in Free Fire

• Cost of M1014-1, AN94, M4A1-1, and Woodpecker from the vending machine increased to 400 FF Coins.
• Added M82B to the vending machine, each costing 600 FF Coins.
• Flashbang has been removed.
• Revival duration required at Revival Points on NeXTerra is at 25 seconds and 33 seconds for other maps.
• Defense Airdrop: First phase at 6s, Second Phase at 12s, and Third Phase at 24s.
• Treasure Map: Removed Grappling Hook Gun and replaced it with a firearm (MAC10, XM8, or AK47).

Zone shrink

For Battle Royale Duo and Squad:

• 4th zone spawn: 740th second.
• 4th zone shrink: 785th second.
• 5th zone spawn: 860th second.
• 5th zone shrink: 890th second.
• 6th zone spawn: 950th second.
• 6th zone shrink: 980th second.

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Clash Squad

• After the first zone shrinks in Clash Squad mode, a new location will randomly appear on the map.
• This Play Zone will move to that location and only then begin shrinking.

Weapon Cost Adjustments

• M14-II: 1700

CS Store Adjustment

• New weapons available: M1917, SVD, M60

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Other modes

Free for All

• A real-time scoreboard will display the number of eliminations and rank.
• Balanced the HP recovery buff upon elimination.
• Armor now has durability, which can be restored.
• Players will now be revived at the least crowded revival point nearby.

Big Head mode

• Implementation of the new buff system where players gain perks after level-ups and revivals.
• Optimized UI to display game progress and player head levels clearly.
• Decreased the parachuting duration to speed up the pace in the Big Head mode.

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Characters and Pets

New character - Santino (Shape Splitter)

• Spawn a 200 HP dummy that travels for 12s.
• Players can then teleport to the mannequin's location.
• It has a cooldown time of 130/120/110/100/90/80s.

Skyler (Rework)

• It unleashes a sonic wave forward for 50/58/67/77/88/100m.
• It inflicts damage to Gloo Walls within a 3.5-meter radius for 4s.
• Cooldown time: 75/70/65/60/55/50 seconds.

Kenta (Rework)

• Swordsman’s Wrath forms a frontal shield of 5m width that brings down the weapon damage coming from the front by 50%.
• On firing, weapon damage will only be reduced by 10%.
• Lasts for 2/3/3.5/4/4.5/5s and cooldown: 120/110/100/90/80/70s.

Tatusya

• Dash replenish time: 110/100/90/80/70/60s.

Hayato

• With every 10% decrease in maximum HP, Hayato armor penetration will increase by 2.5/3/3.5/4/4.5/5.
• Awakening: Reduces frontal damage by 0.5/1/1.5/2/2.5/3% for every 10% of max HP loss.

Iris

• Duration increased to 10% across all levels.

J.Biebs

• Skill user and allies within 12m can block 6/6/9/9/12/12% damage using EP.

Leon

• Recovers 16/24/32/40/48/60 HP after surviving combat. Recover 4 HP per second 4/6/8/10/12/15 seconds.

Character Skill Slot unlocked by default

• Skill slots on all characters are automatically unlocked, which was previously available for diamonds or gold.

New pet - Kactus

• When the owner stays still for 8/7/6s, the pet will restore 10EP/s. However, it will stop once 100 EP is replenished or when the gamer begins moving.

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System

Regional Weapon Glory Leaderboard

• Separate leaderboards for Free Fire BR and CS modes.
• You can turn on the in-app location access to set your region in Free Fire.
• The top 100 players are listed on the leaderboard and receive a limited-time Weapon Glory title. It refreshes every Monday.
• This leaderboard rank will reset towards the end of every season. The location can be changed once a week.

Battle Prep System Revamp

The new Battle Strategy page includes:

• Main character settings (dictates appearance and skills).
• Pet skill settings.
• You have two customizable preset pages that can be toggled easily.

Rank UI Layout Optimization

• CS Grandmasters can check the minimum star requirement for maintaining their rank.
• Better rank display of Heroic and above.

Game Environment

• Upgraded the abnormality detection model to include skin mods in Free Fire

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Social System and features

Dynamic Duo System Updates

• New Dynamic Duo level cap at Lv. 6.
• Skill-share system.

Recruit system enhancement

New filters on the recruitment page:

• Game modes
• Game maps
• Current team size

Team Up recommendation

• Optimized team-up recommendations on some criteria.

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Game Performance

Boot time optimization

• Decreased time needed from launching Free Fire to entering the lobby.
• Reduced response time for going to different pages.
• Removed certain login pop-ups.
• Optimized the loading time and processing time of post-match results.

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Weapon Balance Adjustment in Free Fire

Rifle Adjustments

• Shield Gun - Damage: +10%, shield HP: +6%, and shield recovery speed: +15%.
• G36 (assault) - Range +10%.
• Parafal - Rate of fire: +10%, accuracy +10%, and magazine capacity: 18.
• AUG - Rate of fire: +10%, Mininum damage: -10%, and armor penetration: +10%.

SMG Adjustments

• MAC10 - Damage: +5%, minimum damage: +10%, and distance of maximum damage +5%.

Shotgun Adjustments

• Trogon (shotgun mode) - Rate of fire: +12%, and accuracy +10%.

Machine Gun Adjustments

M60 - Rate of fire: +5%, accuracy: +10%, and rate of fire when crouching: +15%.

Others

• M79 - Reload speed: +15%.

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Gameplay

Loadout balance adjustment

• Supply Crate: Players will receive 200 FF Coins, a Thompson, and 60 SMG Ammo.

Ping compensation in Free Fire

• Reducing packet loss under high ping.
• Optimizing the display of player movement.

Quick chat tool revamped and response upgrade

• Drag the Pin icon to any resource or interactive item to mark it and send a quick message to your teammates.
• Dragging the Pin icon to any map location will send default marks to the teammates.

Teammate recognition

• A new floating icon will appear on the top of your teammate in Free Fire.
• Once a teammate is out of sight, their number and color will be displayed on the edge of the screen.

Multi directional jump

• Jumping mechanics & animation upgrade: Players can turn in a different direction when jumping.

Map pool adjustment

• Map pool for BR & CS in Free Fire: Bermuda, NeXTerra, and Purgatory.

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Craftland

Customizable cover photo for the maps

• “Create Map Cover” button on the map publishing page.
• You can also edit the uploaded map covers on the same page in Free Fire.

New objects in editor tools

• New interactive objects: Grav Labs with adjustable jump height and fall damage, oil barrels with adjustable HP, explosion range, and explosion damage, and Zombie Boss: The Butcher.
• New objects: Iron Fence B and Damaged truck.

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Map info displayed on the loading screen

• Map name, game mode, map cover, and a brief summary of the map will be displayed on the loading screen in Free Fire.

Gamers can read the detailed patch notes for the Free Fire OB38 update here.

Note: Free Fire is banned in India, and players in the country should avoid playing it. Instead, they can enjoy Free Fire MAX, which is not among the banned applications.