Gears 5 Update Will Nerf Flashbang Duration, Further Changes Coming

The Coalition may have launched Gears 5 last month, but it’s still under pressure to continue updating the game. After addressing the controversy behind its microtransactions and releasing an update last week, the development team has finally discussed flashbang changes.

Flashbangs have till now been a little too potent and made Smokes redundant. In a live update that goes live today, flashbangs will see two changes – their blind duration will be reduced from 1 second to 0.3 seconds, and the default loadout grenade selection will now be Smoke instead of the flashbang (meaning the latter has to be selected before spawning). While the stun duration is still the same, affected players will better be able to react afterwards.

Title Update 1.5 is coming later this month and will further tune flashbangs to not work through cover. That means you’ll have to be more tactical in how you throw the item, as opposed to just tossing it willy-nilly. Other gameplay changes are in the works as well, so stay tuned for more details in the coming months.