The first major patch of the year has landed in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, giving the Battle Royale a revamp. The new 6.1 update patch notes include the introduction of a new map called Karakin, new weapons, quality of life improvements, and a lot more.

The arrival of Karakin may excite many players, but it might also disappoint those who love dropping into Vikendi, which has been rotated out to ensure lower queue times. Karakin takes players to a new island that is smaller in size and introduces some interesting gameplay features. These features include sticky bombs, breach points, and Black Zones. Understanding these features will help you gain an upper hand over your opponents.

Even though we have mentioned all the biggest changes, there is still more that the new patch is bringing to the game. So, let's jump right into it.

PUBG Update 6.1 Patch Notes

Gameplay

Firing mode change improvement

• Added an option to gameplay settings which allows you to set a second firing mode preference for AR and SMG weapons which have 3 firing modes (Single, Burst, Auto).
• This will allow you to have burst fire weapons be set to single shot upon equip, while also having other weapons in that category still be automatically set to auto.
• Selecting auto as first and single as second preference will have weapons without auto fire be automatically set to single fire.

Matchmaking

Vikendi has been removed from public matches temporarily and will be replaced by Karakin.

Dev note: We’ve been thinking a lot about how we could add our new map without negatively impacting queue times, as Karakin would become the 5th map in our rotation and add additional queues to the list. Our solution is the introduction of rotating map slots. A rotating map slot is a non-permanent map slot that will change from time to time. The goal is to provide stable matchmaking times while keeping map choice fresh. For our first rotation, Vikendi will rotate out to make room for Karakin. Maps that are rotated out will still be available for play in custom games.

Speaking of Vikendi, since we launched the snowy slaughterhouse back in December of 2018, we’ve received a lot of feedback. Performance, spawn balance, and even buildings were all places with room for improvement, some of which we already attempted but we feel we can still do better.

That said, while Vikendi is on vacation we’ll be going in and doing a bigger revamp of the map than we’ve previously done. When it’s time for it to come back, there will be plenty of new stuff for you to explore and enjoy. Until then, trade in your snowballs for sticky bombs and hot drop into the new hotness! Additionally, we know many players love the Vikendi exclusive MP5K and G36C so we’re looking to potentially add these weapons to the loot pool of another map in the future. We’ll keep you updated once details have been confirmed.

In a future update we’ll be increasing Karakin loot based on player feedback received during the testing period. We’re working to push this update out soon and will share specific details once finalized.

Map Selection

• AS, KR/JP, SEA, EU, RU
• Replaced Vikendi with the new map, Karakin (Vikendi will still be playable in Custom Matches)

Featured Map & Random Map

• NA
• Featured Map: Karakin
• Random Map: Erangel, Miramar, Sanhok
• The Featured Map option may be disabled and Karakin added to the Random Map pool if players experience issues with long matchmaking times.
• Vikendi is now unavailable in public matches and only available through custom matches.

All Random Maps

• OC, LATAM
• Replaced Vikendi with the new map, Karakin. Vikendi will still be playable in custom games.
• There is an equal chance to play on each map.

Mastery System

• PUBG ID will now be shown on the end of match screen and while spectating player
• Known Issue: Character model is not shown on PUBG ID.

UI/UX

• Added ‘PASS’ button to the main menu
• You can view Survivor Pass by clicking it

Replay System

• The replay system has been updated. Replay files from previous updates are now unavailable for use

Sound

Gun Handling Sounds Improvement

• Improved reload and weapon switching sound effects
• Modified reload sounds to be more realistic, through adding audible player interaction with the reload operation.

Sound segmentation related to the mechanical properties weapons during aiming/scoping

• In Aiming/Scoping, the degree of trembling sounds related to weapon attachments details varies depending on the type of weapon.
• Sounds are divided into two, Handgun and non-handgun, and handgun has less trembling or no attachment detailed sounds compared to non-handguns.

Vaulting Sounds Improvement

• Improved detailed expressions on objects such as hand-to-body contact, collar-to-shoulder squeaks, etc. during vaulting
• When vaulting, sound outputs correct material sounds (Concrete, Metal, Wood)

Vikendi

• Further lowered the volume of wind sound effect in the moonlight

Karakin known issue

Sound in and above bunkers isn’t working as intended in certain situations. Currently, it can be difficult to distinguish the distance of players from your position while underground, or whether they’re above or below ground while in the vicinity of a bunker.

We’re working to resolve this issue and improve logic related to sound in and around bunkers. As this is a complex issue, it will take some time to be resolved and we expect to push the updated sound logic to live servers in the April update.

Performance

World Origin Shift

• Optimized the world location calculating process to reduce occurrence of hitching.

Skins & Items

The following items will be added to the Store after Update #6.1 hits live servers:

• Added 5 Golden Dragon skins
• Added 4 Golden Phoenix skins
• Added 9 Seollal skins

Bug Fixes

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where camera view is located incorrectly when changing seat to driver’s seat during ADS
• Fixed an issue where M249 iron sight was displayed incorrectly
• Fixed an issue where hold option for prone isn’t working correctly
• Fixed an issue where character’s upper body would be displayed incorrectly after using a throwable while sitting on the backseat of a motorbike on FPP.

UI/UX

• Fixed an issue where the character’s overhead UI isn’t aligned with the character model
• Fixed an issue where incorrect UI would be exposed after pressing certain keys
• Fixed an issue where the helmet equipped on Customize is visible on the character’s head on PUBG ID

Custom Match

• Fixed an issue where the weapon crosshair was exposed overlapped when moving to the next round in war mode while holding a weapon
• Fixed an issue where red dot sight was not included in the war mode support spawn kit

Sound

• Fixed an issue where the ambient noise is louder than intended in certain weather types on Vikendi.

Skins & Items

• Fixed an issue where Tommy Gun skin texture is displayed incorrectly
• Fixed an issue where the lower body would be displayed incorrectly when putting on certain PGI skins on a male character