In-game testing is still in progress
This guide combines the combat balance patch notes with extracted game data. The new values remain unverified in play, and the worked damage example is an estimate from the documented model. The exact durability behavior of high-tier body armor still needs checking.
What changes in a fight?
Stopping a bullet can now cost more health. Rounds just below a vest’s protection class have a better chance of getting through. The patch notes also say high-tier body armor wears down faster when stopping bullets.
These are three separate effects: blunt damage takes health when armor stops a bullet, penetration decides whether it gets through, and durability loss wears down the armor itself.
1. A stopped bullet can hurt more
A bullet does not have to penetrate to take health. How much blunt damage gets through depends on both the ammunition and the armor zone it hits. This update changes both sides of that calculation.
For example, 12.7x55 FMJ’s blunt damage factor rises from 0.060 to 0.185. With everything else held fixed, that means about 3.08 times the blunt health damage from a stopped hit. It does not mean every hit deals three times the damage, or that the round penetrates three times as often.
Example: 9x19 FMJ hits a 6B45 chest plate
The round’s own blunt factor increases by just 5%, but the 6B45’s chest protection also lets through more blunt damage. Together, the changes produce this estimate for one stopped upper-chest hit:
- Before
- 1.62 HP
- After
- 4.69 HP
That is about 2.89 times as much health lost, even though the bullet is stopped in both cases. A small ammo change can have a much larger effect when the armor changes too.
This estimate uses 58 base damage, a range before damage falloff, and weapon, body-zone and game-mode multipliers of 1. The calculation is 58 × 0.14 × 0.20 before, and 58 × 0.147 × 0.55 after. Other weapons, ranges and hit zones can give different results.
This is not a blanket ammo buff. Of 84 compared ammo profiles, 61 have higher blunt factors, 8 have lower ones and 15 are unchanged. Base damage and base penetration are unchanged in those profiles. Even zones on the same vest can differ, so the chest example does not describe every hit on a 6B45.
2. Body armor has a wider chance of being penetrated
Previously, the body-armor penetration curve reached 0% when the bullet was one tier below the armor. It now reaches 0% at a gap of one and a half tiers. Rounds in between have a chance to get through, and some close matchups have better odds than before.
Here is what that means against effective class 5 body armor. Effective class means its protection after durability wear; bullet penetration means what remains when it reaches the armor, after range or earlier surfaces.
Extracted body-armor curve values, unverified in play. Each percentage is the chance for a single hit at the stated values.| Bullet penetration | Before | After |
|---|
| 6One tier above | 100% | 100% |
| 5Equal | 85% | 85% |
| 4.5Half a tier below | 4% | 20% |
| 4One tier below | 0% | 8% |
| 3.5One and a half tiers below | 0% | 0% |
Example: penetration 4 against effective class 5 now has an 8% chance per hit. Imagine 100 separate shots at that exact same armor condition: roughly 8 would penetrate on average, but any particular set could have more or fewer. There is no guaranteed penetration every twelfth shot. In a real burst, armor wear can change the odds between hits.
Penetration 4.5 against that same armor goes from 4% to 20%: one chance in five, with four chances in five of being stopped. Lower-penetration ammo has a better opening, but a chance to penetrate is still not a reliable penetration.
This penetration-curve change applies to body armor only. The helmet curve is unchanged. Some helmet and face-shield blunt factors did change, so that does not mean all head protection behaves exactly as before.
3. High-tier armor wear still needs testing
The patch notes say high-tier body armor loses more durability when absorbing blunt damage. In player terms, a vest may stop the incoming bullets but lose its protection sooner as those hits wear it down.
The extracted data shows changes to how much armor wear some rounds cause: 37 of the 84 compared ammo profiles have higher blunt durability factors, and 8 have lower ones. However, the vests’ maximum durability and their own durability-damage factors are unchanged. These values alone do not explain the full high-tier armor change described in the notes.
More health damage does not tell us how much armor wears
In the 9x19 FMJ versus 6B45 example above, the old documented formula estimates about 4.02 durability lost both before and after, provided enough durability remains. Health damage rises from 1.62 to 4.69 HP, but that formula calculates armor wear separately.
This does not disprove the patch notes. It means the updated game’s calculation and controlled in-game shots still need checking. We cannot yet give a verified percentage increase or a new number of hits a vest will survive.
What this comparison covers
The figures compare the September 24, 2026 extraction labeled 1.7.0.0 with the 1.6.16.0 baseline. They show differences between those snapshots; they do not prove that every difference first appeared in this single patch. Damage examples use the previously documented model, not new in-game measurements, and do not establish a shots-to-kill count.
Read more about armor coverage and durability