If you were hoping for an end to the LMG meta, the new midseason patch for Demon Veil isn't your answer. Instead, a myriad of changes to popular operators will make their way to live servers, including changes to Blackbeard, Smoke, and Gridlock.
All of these changes will be placed in the Test Server before hitting the live server. They will not be immediately in the game.
Bandit
Bandit's teased change, being able to put multiple batteries on one electrifiable object, is now live. The target for this change is Top Ranked, although it should affect all.
What will this change? Well, Bandit tricking is about to become much more viable, especially in the wake of the forthcoming mini-Thatcher gadgets that were teased for Year 7.
Blackbeard
Blackbeard gets claymores instead of breaching charges, and the target for the change is "Casual". Indeed, this will make the annoying person playing Blackbeard in Casual that much stronger, as one of the more conventional ways to dispatch them, running out, just got riskier. Whatever the reasoning, it won't break Blackbeard again, it will just make him a bit safer.
Gridlock
Gridlock is getting a buff to her primary gadget, the Trax Stingers. The target is Top Ranked with this change. Gridlock will now have four Trax Stingers instead of three, which will help her cover substantially more ground than Nomad, hopefully leading to some kind of equity between the two. Right now, Nomad outclasses Gridlock due to her primary weapon, operator speed, and how one can hide her gadgets.
Nomad + Oryx
"Pushed" players now recover faster. This is a direct nerf to Nomad, not as much to Oryx. One might think that Oryx's dash is primarily to knock over shields, but it's more often used to make quick getaways. The new "pushed" time, 1.25 seconds from two seconds, will affect Nomad more. The target for the change is the Casual player base.
Smoke
Smoke is now vulnerable to his own gas canister primary gadget. The target is the Casual player base.
Warden
Warden is getting a buff and a nerf targeted at the Casual player base. The duration of his glasses' effects will increase to 20 seconds, but the cooldown will increase as well. A longer time active, a larger penalty for misusing it.
Ying
Ying's Candelas will have a reduced flash effect, but she will get more of them. Time will tell how the flash effect changes Ying rushes, but adding four throwables to an operator with an LMG is a recipe for making something overpowered. "[W]e'll be closely following Ying to see how this influences her place in the game, especially how she interacts with Operators like Wamai, Jäger, and Warden (especially with his buff as seen above), as well as the interplay with the attacker repick mechanic at large," the notes read.
Claymore
Claymore count will increase from one to two. Even more protection for the new Blackbeard buff.