Gears of War 4 January 2018 Update and Ranked Season 3

Gears of War 4 is continuing to receive great support into 2018 with the announcement of the January 2018 update and the upcoming Ranked Season 3. Originally launching in 2016 the game received a set of two maps every month along with a pile of constantly fresh content packs to work towards while playing. It now seems that Gears of War 4 will see additional content and changes when going onto its second year.

Ranked Season 3
The second season of the game's ranked multiplayer will be switched over to the third season on January 18th, 2018. First up, Warzone and Arms Race will both be removed from ranked. This was due to lower player counts and longer wait times, both playlists will receive 2xp until retirement. Next up, Team Deathmatch, Guardian and Execution will now receive Competitive Warmup playlists. The final change here is that Diamond will have five skill sets to it after you reach that rank. You'll be able to climb higher and get even better bonuses for doing so.

The General Changes
The Heavy Class in Horde is being improved to help the class stand out more. This is being achieved by buffing the Berserker and Last Stand cards. Details on that follow.

Berserker
While carrying a launcher or heavy weapon you deal more damage as your health gets lower
Berserker now applies to holding Launchers (Boomshot, Dropshot etc) as well as Heavy Weapons

Last Stand
While carrying a launcher or heavy weapon you take less damage as your health gets lower.
Last Stand now applies to holding Launchers as well as Heavy Weapons
Last Stand Level 1 from 25% ->35% Damage reduction
Last Stand Level 2 from 35% ->45% Damage reduction
Last Stand Level 3 from 45% ->55% Damage reduction
Last Stand Level 4 from 55% ->65% Damage reduction
Last Stand Level 5 from 65% ->75% Damage reduction
Last Stand Level 6 from 75% ->85% Damage reduction

New Gear Packs
New packs including fresh characters and weapon skins will continue to arrive every month in 2018. The Heavy Scion and Heavy Scion weapon skin set will be available in the latest 400 Credit Pack beginning on Friday January 12th. The Mega Pack variant of this Gear Pack contains 10 Cards (plus a bonus Card) and a guaranteed Heavy Scion character.

Other
Valentine's Day and St Patrick's Day events teased, with many more seasonal ones to come throughout the year. Classic One Shot One Kill on January 19th (disabled melee for the first time ever). Gears of War eSports Season 2 will arrive and there will be new achievements to unlock.

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