PUBG Update 5.2 Brings PUBG Labs, Vikendi Changes, and More

by Cody Perez in General | Nov, 13th 2019

Players can now download the latest update for the game in the form of the PUBG update 5.2 for both the console and PC versions of the game. It is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC at the time of writing this. This is surprisingly enough a large update for the game that we didn’t expect.

The patch notes have been released for the update, detailing all of the changes, new features, and bug fixes that are in this update. This is a surprisingly massive update that includes stuff like a new game mode called Labs, a new item for players to use, and changes to Vikendi.

Without further ado, let’s go ahead and dive into this massive update, beginning with all of the new features in the game.

PUBG Update 5.2 Patch Notes: New Trap, PUBG Labs, and More

Season five now has a new item for players to use in the new spike traps. These new traps are not necessarily meant for taking out other players through direct damage but more for vehicles. The spike traps will puncture the tires of any vehicle that runs over a strip of these spikes.

The spike traps are only able to affect one vehicle at a time before it becomes useless and disappears. Though the spike traps will destroy the tires of the vehicle, it doesn’t actually damage the overall health of the vehicle. This is good because it at least means that you won’t blow up if you are affected by this.

This will at least give you the chance to get out of the vehicle and try to fight back. The spike traps are spawned on the map at consistent rates, similar to that of other throwable items. Be careful with these, though, as laying a strip down will make it impossible to pick up again.

There is a new game mode that players can check out in Labs. The PUBG Labs is a new mode that is similar to that of a testing phase mode. It is a space where players are able to experiment with new and different game modes but not in the same way that the test server does.

It is almost like a limited time only event mode that changes over time. Players will be able to give feedback on the modes so they could become permanent additions to the game. It will be accessible in the menus under the play button and be updated constantly.

It will all begin on November 26 for PC and last through January 1 or January 6 for consoles. This first phase will be the skill-based rating where it will track your skills and assign you a rating based on your match performances. This is separate from the survival title system and applies after your first five matches.

Though it doesn’t go live until November 26, the test server does have this skill-based system available in the Labs.

PUBG Update 5.2 Patch Notes: Major Vikendi Changes

Speaking of changes, there are some major changes to the Vikendi map. The PUBG update 5.2 patch notes detail many of the changes to Vikendi that won’t take away the classic sniper feel but still make it even better. For starters, there is improved terrain featured on the map.

There are some new roads that have been added to make the difficulty of moving through the snow-covered areas of Vikendi a bit easier. To match the new roads, locations of vehicles have been adjusted and you will find more around the map.

In a Fortnite-style change, the river around the castle section of the map has frozen over and can be navigated across. Mount Kreznic has been shrunk some to make it easier to travel across. On the other hand, other areas of the map that were more flat before now have more varied terrain and height.

A few of the towns in Vikendi weren’t very popular in the game because of various reasons like not enough loot or complex organization but there are changes to fix this. For instance, Volnova has been reorganized a good bit with the major buildings and routes being different.

For Peshkova, the item spawn counts have been increased so there is more reason to check the location out. As for Trevno, the garages where you can find vehicles are in a different spot now so that you are able to find vehicles more quickly and make a quick escape from the town.

In a more general sense, some of the buildings on the map have been removed or replaced with other buildings to make sure that gameplay is better than ever. Also, the field of vision that the player has while on top of some of the high buildings has been adjusted, too.

PUBG Update 5.2 Patch Notes: Gameplay and Other Changes

There is a wide variety of gameplay and other changes, starting with the blue zone on Vikendi being adjusted to make sure that players have access to more routes. The size of the early safe areas are going to be larger than before while the speed of the early blue zones will be increased.

Fortunately, the mid to late game blue zones will be the same as before so you won’t have to worry about many changes there. There is also more randomness to the blue zones so players will need to be flexible at all times. The overall number of vehicle spawns are increased and locations have been changed.

There is a new waypoint feature that players have to use. It allows the player to make strategic plans for the routes that you are going to take. You are only able to use this feature when you have the map open. For the PC version, you need to hold down ALT and use the right mouse click to place a point.

You can hold down the ALT button to place more locations that you wish to visit on the map. For each group of waypoints, you are able to put a total of four points. When you are in duos or squads, a teammate’s waypoints will appear with a radio message. The settings for teammates can be changed in the menu if you want.

There is a totally new feature that lets you automatically equip a weapon with the attachments that you pick up. There are three options for this auto-equip that you can change in the settings. The swimming speed has been increased by about 27 percent so players should be quite a bit quicker.

Diving has also been increased with a new speed that is 20 percent faster than before. Breath recovery has been increased, too, by 10 percent. It will take nine seconds to fully recover. This means that max diving time has been increased as well by 33 percent, allowing for around 20 seconds of diving.

PUBG Update 5.2 Patch Notes: Sandbox Mode and New Special Items

Official partners for the popular battle royale game have a new option for creating exciting experiences in the new Sandbox mode. This mode is exactly what it sounds like and allows the user to create their own type of unique matches. The options that are available in Sandbox mode allow for convenient and easy ways to experiment with making new content. This is done through the custom matches section where you can choose to create a match.

There are a few interesting features in Sandbox like invincibility (only available to match host), choosing spawn items, and vehicles. You can also control special features like how flying works and the spawning system for care packages.

There are some new special items that have been added to custom matches that partners will be able to use in Sandbox. The first one is the helmet repair kit that you can use to repair the durability of a helmet by a certain amount.

There is a similar item but for vests in the vest repair kit. The third new special item is the blue zone uplink. It is a bizarre item that actually affects the blue zone. It will set your current location to be within the next safe zone. But if you are outside of the current one, it will make the next one be as close to your location as possible.

There is a new no HUD feature that allows the match creator to control what the user interface shows for players. There are some presets that you can pick between having everything on to off, hardcore, realistic, no info, and even manual. You can manually set what shows and doesn’t if you want.

For weapon mastery, you can now filter through the weapons that you have. There are a few different filters that you can select from including the default alphabetical order, level of the weapon mastery, and by damage.

Unfortunately, as you might expect, the replay videos from older versions of the game can’t be played anymore due to this update so we hope that you have saved your favorite replays in other formats already.

As with any major update, there are some changes to the in-game store that you will want to know about. When the update is live, it will add two types of battle stat weapons for the MK47. There are also two types of BP battle stars for the MP5K and QBZ.

There is one new Madsy belt and some shoes in the store plus 15 Twitch broadcaster royale items for players to collect. Last but not least, there is a new crate in the Venetian Crate now available. It contains 17 new gun skins and can be purchased directly with BP through November 27.

After that day, the Venetian Crate will only be available through random collection so be sure to grab it while you still can easily if you want to.

PUBG Update 5.2 Patch Notes: Bug Fixes

There are quite a few new bug fixes in the PUBG update 5.2 patch notes that take care of several major problems. You can find the full list of the bug fixes in this update below:

Gameplay

Fixed an issue where the effect of tire smoke continues to occur if the wheels are broken while the vehicle is moving or stopped.
Fixed an issue where spectator POV is forced downwards when a character is pushed against an object with a weapon

World

Fixed an issue where a specific vehicle on Miramar spawns inside an object, causing the vehicle to explode when entered
Custom Match
Fixed an issue where the cloudy weather option is missing on Erangel
Fixed an issue where the safe zone appears only in a specific location.

Zombie Mode

Fixed an issue where the description of the survival and annihilation presets are incorrect.
Fixed an issue where the character will appear as a human when a face item is equipped.
Fixed an issue where a zombie can respawn on the plane while it’s flying.
Fixed an issue where the incorrect screen is displayed after respawning as a zombie in the Zombie Royale Mode.

Survivor Pass

Fixed an issue where a specific Mk47 Mutant challenge mission cannot be achieved in certain situations
Fixed an issue where the “Wipeout Squads” Survivor Pass mission incorrectly says it can be completed in duos
Fixed an issue where incomplete mission indicator displays even when all missions have been claimed
Skins
Fixed an issue where ancient mummy gloves are not displayed when tattoo sleeves are equipped.
Fixed an issue where players cannot hear their own footsteps when walking on puddles of water.

In all honesty, this is a huge update that we simply couldn’t cover it all aside from the major changes and fixes. For more on the absolutely massive PUBG update 5.2 patch notes, be sure to check out the full list of changes, additions, and fixes that are now available in the game right here.