Dev Notes - Improving Dozer & Irish

SOB-8 Ballistic Shield & APS-36 Shootdown Sentinel Changes

Hello there,

With Season *5 just around the corner for Battlefield™ 2042, we’re back today to talk about some additional Quality of Life (QoL) improvements that will be launching alongside the new Season. 

Dozer and Irish are the subjects of today’s discussion, as we feel they need some improvements to ensure they provide similar gameplay experience as others within their class. We’ve observed that both are underutilized Specialists within their respective classes, and we’re hoping these improvements will help towards rectifying that.

• Dozer was always meant to be played as the up-close and personal breacher, but we’ve noticed his gameplay can be improved to emphasize this further isn’t as satisfying to play as we would like. 
• For Irish we wanted to focus primarily on the APS-36 Shootdown Sentinel, not only its interceptive functionality but also the communicative and defensive capabilities of the gadget.

Before we dive into the details, now would be a good time to remind you all that this is only a part of the improvements coming with Season 5. If you’ve missed the news on All-Out Warfare Attachments coming to Vault Weapons, Squad Management, and more, head on over to our Dev Notes and Inside Battlefield Podcasts to learn more.

Now let’s take a look at the Dozer and Irish’s APS-36 Shootdown Sentinel changes that are part of Season 5.

Dozer Areas of Improvement

Zip & Smash

One area that we’d like to immediately touch upon is the mobility that Dozer has when using his SOB-8 Ballistic Shield. We’ve heard that you feel this is often a hindrance compared to the sense of maneuverability that other Specialists have available to them.

We will be enhancing Dozer’s movement when using the SOB-8 Ballistic Shield. When equipped, you will now be able to strafe, rotate and pitch with your Ballistic Shield more quickly than previously. 

We’ve also improved some animations such as for bashing enemies, and slightly increased the speed it takes for you to deploy and undeploy the shield. This will aid in your ability to swap to weapons and respond to situations with more than just a shield.

Dozer would find himself most vulnerable while traversing across ziplines. We’re ensuring that you’ll now be able to traverse ziplines with your shield equipped. This allows you to continuously push the objective with your squad mates across these vital points of entry. Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.

Receiving End

We’ve covered some areas that will make playing as Dozer a more enjoyable and competitive experience, and it is only right that we also look at what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this Specialist too.

If you come up against an enemy Dozer and you’re firing at his shield you will notice that his bullet deviation is too linear. The end result here is that you end up meeting an untimely end from your own bullets.

While we want to encourage this aspect of Dozer’s gameplay, we feel there is room for improvement. We will be increasing its spread and introducing more bullet trajectory upon hitting his shield. This will ensure that during these encounters you still have a fighting chance, and at the very least, won’t be as impacted by your own bullets as before.

Do it for your Squad

Finally, we feel more can be done to reward further acts of teamplay while playing with the SOB-8 Ballistic Shield.

With this in mind, we’ll also be including two new XP Events as part of Dozer’s changes:

• Damage Assist - If an enemy shoots at your shield, and a deflected bullet hits that enemy and dies within 5 seconds then Dozer will receive a “Damage Assist” bonus.
• Distraction Assist - If an enemy shoots at your shield, and a friendly kills that enemy within 5 seconds then Dozer will receive a “Distraction Assist” bonus.

Irish Areas of Improvement

One Projectile Too Many

One of the key changes that will be taking place for Irish is a balancing pass to the intercepting capabilities of Irish’s APS-36 Shootdown Sentinel (Sentinel).

Going forward, the Sentinel will now have a 5-second window from its first intercept to take down any additional projectiles it detects, such as Frag Grenades and Anti-Infantry Rockets from Specialists and Vehicles.

Once this initial intercept time has elapsed, the Sentinel will enter into a recharging state and will no longer be able to intercept any further projectiles for 7.5 seconds before being able to intercept projectiles once again.

The ability to counter opponents is an important part of Battlefield. Alongside the new recharging state of the Sentinel, you will also be able to take it out with a suitably placed EMP Grenade. Or if you prefer, a more explosive approach with C5. Tank Shells will also solve that task with ease.

Additionally, we have done an audio pass on each of the states the Sentinel goes through to provide more readability as to what is happening at any given time.

Through these accessibility improvements, you will also be able to assign a color of your preference via the Team, Squad and Enemy team colors within the options menu.

That’s all we have to share with you for today! We truly appreciate your continued feedback that you share with us. We hope with the listed improvements the quality of your gameplay experience for Irish and Dozer will greatly improve.

Stay tuned for more Quality of Life Improvements taking place in Season 5,

See you on the Battlefield!

*Requires Battlefield 2042 (sold separately) and all game updates.  

This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible.