The Arena Rewrites Its Rules Again With Respec Order 3.0

Speed, survivability and several familiar damage breakpoints are changing once again. Respec Order 3.0 has entered THE FINALS as a two-week Cashout experiment, giving Light contestants more health, making Heavy builds faster and applying a targeted collection of weapon adjustments across all three

Speed, survivability and several familiar damage breakpoints are changing once again. Respec Order 3.0 has entered THE FINALS as a two-week Cashout experiment, giving Light contestants more health, making Heavy builds faster and applying a targeted collection of weapon adjustments across all three archetypes.

This third test is more consequential than a conventional limited-time event. Embark Studios is gathering evidence for a potential permanent overhaul of the game’s core balance, with a final decision expected by the launch of Season 12. How contestants respond to Respec Order 3.0 could therefore influence the long-term identity of THE FINALS.

Respec Order 3.0 Is Testing a Smaller Gap Between Classes

The experiment attempts to address two connected problems: teams becoming separated because of their different movement speeds and weapons feeling inconsistent against characters with dramatically different health pools.

Light contestants can quickly create distance from their teammates, particularly in uncoordinated or solo-queue squads. Heavy players have the opposite problem, sometimes arriving late when the rest of the team rotates between objectives. Respec Order brings those movement values closer together by slowing the Light and accelerating the Heavy.

The health scale is also compressed. A weapon that feels appropriately powerful against a 350-health Heavy can become oppressive against a 150-health Light, while equipment balanced around eliminating the Light may struggle to threaten the Heavy. Reducing the distance between those extremes gives Embark additional room to balance weapons without producing radically different results at either end of the roster.

These changes are active exclusively in Cashout during the test, from Update 11.10 until the arrival of Update 11.12. Other modes retain their standard balance, giving Embark a controlled environment in which to compare the experimental rules against the main game.

Light Contestants Gain Health but Lose Some Mobility

The Light’s maximum health increases from 150 to 175, providing a meaningful buffer against explosives, melee attacks and high-damage firearms. However, the class’s health regeneration delay rises from seven to eight seconds, preventing the extra durability from automatically translating into faster recovery between engagements.

That survivability also comes with reduced movement speed. Forward sprinting falls from 7 m/s to 6.6 m/s, while forward running decreases from 5.5 m/s to 5.1 m/s. Strafing and backward movement receive smaller reductions.

The Light remains the quickest archetype, but its advantage is less extreme. This should make it easier for teammates to remain together while reducing the class’s ability to disengage through raw speed alone. Mobility Specializations and gadgets remain important, meaning the change narrows the baseline difference without removing the Light’s evasive identity.

Several pieces of Light equipment have been adjusted around the new health values. The Dagger’s regular secondary damage increases from 85 to 90, but a backstab drops from 340 to 315. That prevents a single backstab from eliminating the experimental 325-health Heavy without additional damage.

The Sword’s standard strike falls from 71 to 65 damage, with precise-hit damage decreasing from 110 to 100. The LH1 also receives shorter damage falloff distances, reducing its effectiveness as a long-range option. Meanwhile, the Vanish Bomb cooldown increases from 25 to 30 seconds, placing more pressure on players to choose the correct moment to deploy its team-oriented invisibility.

Heavy Builds Trade Health for Faster Rotations

Heavy contestants move in the opposite direction. Their health decreases from 350 to 325, but every listed movement category receives an increase.

Forward sprint speed rises from 5.8 m/s to 6 m/s, while forward running receives the most noticeable adjustment, moving from 3.8 m/s to 4.25 m/s. Strafing and backpedalling are also faster under the experimental rules.

The result is a Heavy that should rotate more efficiently and remain closer to faster teammates, but which cannot absorb quite as much punishment after entering a fight. This trade-off could make the archetype feel more responsive without simply increasing its overall strength.

A faster Heavy may reach Cashout Stations earlier, reposition around destructible structures more effectively and spend less time separated from the rest of the squad. The reduced health pool, however, makes reckless entries more punishable and could increase the importance of defensive gadgets, shields and coordinated support.

Several Heavy weapons receive compensation or targeted improvements. The BFR Titan’s damage increases from 90 to 95 and its reload becomes faster. The Lewis Gun rises from 500 to 520 rounds per minute, while the M60 moves from 580 to 590 RPM.

The MGL-32 receives one of the largest numerical adjustments in the test, jumping from 83 to 97 damage. Heavy and Medium versions of the Explosive Mine also increase from 120 to 140 damage.

Medium Weapons Receive a Broad Collection of Buffs

The Medium archetype does not receive changes to its base health or movement, but several weapons become more powerful to account for the revised Light and Heavy values.

The CB-01 Repeater increases from 84 to 88 damage and retains more damage at range. The Chimera-XB rises from 45 to 47 damage, while the P90 moves from 14 to 15. The Pike-556 receives a more substantial increase from 49 to 56 damage.

Dual Blades are strengthened across both attacks. Standard damage rises from 37 to 40, precise hits increase from 57 to 60, and Cross Slash moves from 91 to 100 base damage. A precise Cross Slash now deals 150 instead of 140.

The Riot Shield’s offensive values also increase slightly, giving its primary attack 63 base damage and 90 on precise hits. These buffs suggest Embark is testing whether several underperforming or breakpoint-sensitive Medium options become more competitive when the health scale changes.

Outside the individual classes, the Frag Grenade’s damage increases from 140 to 150. That restores some of its threat against the healthier Light without allowing one grenade to remove a full-health target under the experimental rules.

Respec Order 2.0 Produced Promising but Divisive Results

Embark received approximately 70,000 survey responses after the second Respec Order test, representing a response rate of roughly 47%. The average rating was 3.01 out of five, slightly above the 2.96 recorded by the first experiment.

That apparently neutral average hides a heavily divided audience. Around 25.72% of respondents strongly disliked the changes, while 21.96% strongly liked them. Another 17.73% selected “Like,” 10.56% chose “Dislike,” and the remaining 24.48% were neutral.

Medium players provided the highest average rating at 3.10. Heavy players averaged 3.04, while Light players returned the least positive result at 2.96. This reversed the general pattern from the first test, when Light players were the most supportive group.

The gameplay data offered more encouragement. Average separation between teammates at important points in a match fell by approximately 1.7% to 2.9%, depending on squad composition. Teams containing one or more Light contestants generally stayed closer together, although Embark believes changes to Evasive Dash were primarily responsible.

The difference in win rate between the strongest and weakest squad compositions also declined from 14.7% to 12%. Light-oriented teams gained the most ground, while Heavy compositions lost the most, bringing the two statistical outliers closer together.

Players Will Vote on Whether Respec Order Should Become Permanent

Following Respec Order 3.0, Embark will ask players a much more direct question: should its health and movement changes become permanent?

That wording makes this test different from an ordinary satisfaction survey. The studio is looking for a clear community position before altering systems that affect movement, weapon breakpoints, team composition and the basic feel of every match.

Embark has also acknowledged that speed adjustments alone produced only modest improvements to squad cohesion. Larger gains might require changes to Specializations and other movement tools, an expansion the developer currently does not want to pursue. Respec Order 3.0 may consequently represent the most practical version of the concept rather than the beginning of progressively more aggressive speed compression.

For the next two weeks, Cashout players are effectively testing a possible future for THE FINALS. The Light is tougher but slower, the Heavy is faster but less durable, and an extensive selection of weapons has been recalibrated around those new extremes. Whether those trades improve the Arena without erasing the identity of its three archetypes will determine if Respec Order survives beyond its experimental phase.