It has been some time since the start of the 12th season of battle royale in PUBG, so it is finally time for a new season to begin. PUBG Season 13 is here. It ushers in solid changes to the title, but nothing quite as groundbreaking as a new map or anything like that. 

What players will find in PUBG Season 13 is that Krafton has come up with new changes to the fan-favorite large map Taego that is still relatively new, new gameplay mechanics, quality of life changes, and other various improvements that should make the game better overall. 

While PUBG Season 13 is not super massive for a new season, compared to some of the other ones we’ve had in the past, it is still a solid new ranked season for players to enjoy. As always, though, players should keep in mind that this is only coming out for PC first and then consoles later on. 

At the time of writing this, the PC release of PUBG Season 13 is happening today, Wednesday, Aug. 4, but players on PlayStation and Xbox consoles will have to wait over a week to check out the new additions. The console release date is set for Aug. 12. Here’s everything that you need to know about PUBG Season 13, starting with the first-ever Taego changes. 

Kicking off the PUBG Season 13 new content list are the first major map changes for the latest addition: Taego. Released in update 12.2, this new map is only the third map in the game to be on par with Erangel and Miramar, the first two battle royale maps and the largest ones. 

With its long-awaited release, this large map is set in South Korea in the 1980s and features a unique time period piece for the battle royale game. Even still, players had a lot to say about this new battle royale map. They did not hold back in their comments and feedback in the time since its release earlier this summer. 

Because of this, Krafton was able to develop some necessary changes and improvements that should help the Taego map be even better in PUBG Season 13. Starting off, the developer addresses the concerns over the care packages in the game that the community has not too loved. 

The problem with the care packages on Taego is that there were too few of them and not enough loot to go around, which is especially problematic when you are on a squad. Some random player is hogging all of the items from the supply drops in the area. 

Krafton has listened to feedback from the community and is heavily increasing the number of care packages dropping on the map. This is going to happen through multiple additional smaller air drops that will happen all over the island.

This should help players to be able to suit up when the care packages arrive adequately. The standard care package remains at just one for the area, but the smaller ones will range from five to 15 in total. You will find ammo, healing items, throwables, and more inside of them. 

One of the newest additions to Taego is the Taego Secret Room. To help some players possibly gear up to win the match and get that winner, winner chicken dinner, this is a new area you can visit. Like other rooms in PUBG, this is a secret destination that can only be unlocked by finding one of the hidden keys. 

Once you have a key to the secret room on Taego, you will be able to visit it and open it up to find some amazing, high-tier loot. This will include the self-AED, scopes, a low chance of care package items, and many healing and throwable items. 

A brand new gameplay mechanic that is also found exclusively on Taego is the emergency landing plane. Every once in a while, there is a chance players will encounter a match where there is an emergency landing plane that is quickly falling apart. 

This plane will be moving faster than the average plane and will be on fire, having different heights depending on when you jump. It will be higher earlier in the flight path, meaning you will parachute for longer but at a much lower height later on in the path. 

However, players need to watch out for here because if you do not jump out of the plane in time, you will take 50% damage when the plane’s journey ends and you get to the map. Lastly, for Taego map changes, there are different spawn rates for various items now. 

The self-AED item has a 37% increase in chances of spawning, the stocks have a 1% decrease, the stun grenade has a 14% decrease in spawn rate, and the Molotov cocktail has a 3% decrease. There are three new items that you can now find on Taego: the C4, emergency pickup, and spike trap items.  

Sanhok first came out in 2018 and was remastered last year in 2020 in a major seasonal update. However, this has not stopped Krafton from going ahead and making some major changes to the battle royale location in PUBG Season 13, resulting in some significant improvements. 

First up, there are changes to the northwestern island on the map. One of the problems with this island is that players would choose not to go over the one bridge to get there. This would result in them going through the water, where they were extremely vulnerable to enemies. 

In this change, large rocks and other cover have been added to the water around the edge of the island, which will make traversing this area a little bit more safe from now on. Also, on the same northwest island, there is a temple that has been changed. 

The temple has been moved here, and the buildings used as cover, but were empty, have been replaced by new buildings with cover and spawn items. The cliffs are gone in this area. There is a new cover here and some adjustments for the angles of the rocks. 

Overall, these are not huge changes for the Sanhok map, but they will go a long way towards making the northwestern island a place worth visiting in matches. With this change comes the PUBG Season 13 map rotation that sees one map removed and the return of a fan favorite. 

In normal matches in PUBG Season 13, players will find five this season with one addition and one removal. Paramo is gone from the map pool. In its place is Karakin that is coming back this season. This will be the general map pool for normal battle royale matches this season. 

With a new season comes a new ranked reset for players to find in Season 13. Ranked Season 13 is here. It brings with it a new focus on how rewards work. The focus now will be on the honor-based rewards, like nameplates and emblems, that you have earned this season. 

They will now only be available to display for the duration of the new season. This is there to limit rewards like these, encourage players to do their best, and add a bit of pride into the rewards you can show off during the season. 

However, other ranked rewards like cosmetics, parachute skins, and more will still be a permanent addition to your arsenal for this season and the many seasons to come in PUBG. At the highest ranks, players there will receive animated nameplates, emblems, and more to make the ride worth it. 

Now, for the good stuff: the ranked Season 12 rewards that players will be granted when they next log into the game after PUBG Season 13 begins. These are based, as always, on the final rank reached at the end of the previous season. 

For players who reached tier gold five or higher, you will get the Season 12 ranked parachute, which is permanent. Players who reached platinum rank or higher will get a unique animated emblem, while Master or higher players will get an animated nameplate, too. 

Then there are the top 500 players in each region/server. They will get a unique top 500 animated emblem and nameplate to show that they are among the best in the world. They will also have their names etched on the leaderboard for the season. 

Lastly, players should know about some major changes to how the ranked season works in Season 13. Players who reach the Diamond rank or higher will deal with new ranked points decay if they are not regularly playing the ranked mode. 

If you do not play ranked mode for seven days straight, your points will begin to decay, which is something that has been there already. However, the difference now is that it will not decay until you reach the lowest Diamond rank, but it will not make you drop into Platinum rank. 

This means that your points can dip below 3000 in Season 13, with 100 ranked points lost per day that you go a week without playing the ranked mode. 

This new seasonal update comes with weapon changes, some of which we have not seen on this level in a while. The bulk of the changes to weapons in these balancing improvements have to do with the DMRs and sniper rifles, but there are some additional changes. 

It begins with the sniper rifles, the classic long-range weapons you can use to take someone out from a massive distance. In general, the Kar98k, Mosin-Nagant, and M24 sniper rifles have been changed here, starting with some adjustments to how the ballistics work for them. 

This includes increased muscle velocity to make them go much faster towards your target, a slightly flatter bullet trajectory (so keep that in mind when firing long distances), decreased drag, and an increased damage coefficient of 0.95 from 0.9 when firing at long-range. 

There are some other changes to these three rifles, too, including decreased bolt-action delay, increased bolt-action speed, a faster transition to scoping after you have bolted the next round, and an overall increased rate of fire. This should make the sniper rifles much faster to use overall. 

Then, there are some changes to all DMRs in the game to balance them out and make them not as viable as they have been. The bullet drop has been increased for every weapon in this category. There is reduced damage at long range for the Mini 14, QBU, SKS, and SLR. The MK12 only has reduced damage at long-range. 

On the assault rifle end, there are some buffs for a couple of key weapons. For the QBZ, there is increased damage to 42 now and slightly reduced horizontal recoil, making it more accurate and powerful. The G36C only has slightly reduced horizontal recoil to make it more accurate as well. 

In LMGs, the DP-28 has increased 52 damage per shot, while the M249 has reduced horizontal recoil during extended firing. And last but not least, we have the PP-19 Bizon SMG. It has increased damage by 36 now, making it a little bit more powerful.