THE FINALS 12.3.0 Patch Notes - TGM26 Event Pass & Balance Changes

THE FINALS Update 12.3.0 arrived on November 12, 2026, and it's all about The Grand Major 2026. The patch adds Esport Bundles for all 16 competing teams, a TGM26 Event Pass, a Pick'em contest with in-game badges and the return of the Head Hunter limited-time mode. The developers also deliver the extra round of balance changes they promised in THE FINALS 12.2.0, with nerfs to the Dome Shield, Healing Emitter and Shockwave, and a very long list of bug fixes.

We will go over every change in THE FINALS 12.3.0, from the TGM26 content and the burning rework to the gadget tweaks and the smaller fixes.

THE FINALS 12.3.0 Highlights

• TGM26: The Grand Major 2026 runs November 27 to 29 in Stockholm, with Pick'em predictions open until November 27.
• Esport Bundles: one bundle per team, each with a full outfit, three Equipment skins, a team VFX, an Emote, a Charm, Sticker, Spray and a Player Card.
• TGM26 Event Pass: two pages and 16 levels of rewards, bought with Multibucks.
• Head Hunter LTM: the bounty mode is back.
• Dome Shield: health drops from 600 to 400 and decay per second from 100 to 66.
• Healing nerfs: Healing Emitter max healing per second 20 ⇒ 15, H+ Infuser healing per shot 10 ⇒ 7 with ammo 20 ⇒ 30.
• Shockwave: cooldown rises from 12s to 15s and the Glitch effect lasts 1s instead of 2s.
• Burning: one more tick is possible and max burn damage rises from 32 to 45.

TGM26: The Grand Major 2026

The Grand Major 2026 takes place November 27, 28 and 29 in Stockholm, and the Arena is ready to welcome all 16 teams. Tickets are on sale, and the event includes Embarkers, community members and cosplayers, with a cosplay contest you can sign up for.

Pick'em

TGM26 Pick'em is live, and it's your chance to call The Grand Major before it happens. Only five of the 16 teams will reach The Throne on Day 3, so you pick those five in the order they qualify, predict how the crowns get shared out, then take the Hot Seat with Scotty and June for 10 questions on how the event plays out. Complete all three sections to lock in your picks and earn an exclusive in-game badge based on your accuracy:

• Silver: complete all 3 sections
• Gold: top 50% in prediction accuracy
• Platinum: top 25% in prediction accuracy
• Diamond: top 5% in prediction accuracy

Pick'em is open from November 12 at 11:00 CET until November 27 at 00:00 CET. Results are revealed from November 27 to 29 as match results are confirmed. You need to be logged in to take part, and you only get one submission, so choose wisely.

Esport Bundles

The Esport Bundles are now in the Store, with one bundle for each of the 16 teams heading to The Grand Major 2026. Every bundle comes packed with the team's official gear:

• A full outfit
• Three Equipment skins
• A team VFX
• An Emote
• A Charm, Sticker and a Spray
• A Player Card

This year's lineup is Aimerz+, Alliance, Ape Squad, Elevate, ENVY, Five Fears, FYR, KCP, KingZero, LUMINON, Moon Theory, Nfinite, NTMR, RAD, Take Flyte and Vanguard.

TGM26 Event Pass

The TGM26 Event Pass celebrates The Grand Major with a collection made for the biggest stage in THE FINALS. You pick it up with Multibucks and work your way through two pages and 16 levels of rewards, including a Legendary outfit, weapon skins and more. The Pass is available for a limited time, but it's yours to complete at your own pace.

Head Hunter LTM, Store and Twitch Drops

Head Hunter is back. The top eliminator on each team has a bounty set on them, and if they're eliminated, they drop coins for you to collect. Survive until the end of the event and the cash is yours, but watch your back, because you might be the next one with a bounty on your head.

In the Store, the CTRL + Z Set brings some mouse-to-mouse resuscitation to the Arena, and the Greater Good Set lets you choose between good and evil.

A new set of Stream Tangerine Twitch drops is also available until November 26, 2026. Watch anyone playing THE FINALS with Drops Enabled to earn them:

• Watch 1 hour for the Stream Tangerine Dagger
• Watch 2 hours for the Stream Tangerine CB-01 Repeater
• Watch 4 hours for the Stream Tangerine SA1216

12.3.0 Balance Changes

Gadgets

The environmental damage of breaching gadgets is updated to make them more reliable at punching holes in surfaces with the new destruction system. This affects the C4, Breach Charge and Breach Drill, which the team says had become less reliable as breaching tools since 12.0. The Breach Drill's blast radius and flash radius are also re-aligned so they match more accurately.

• Dome Shield: health 600 ⇒ 400, health decay per second 100 ⇒ 66. The shield is slightly faster to destroy, but the full duration of an undamaged Dome Shield stays the same.
• Healing Emitter: max healing per second 20 ⇒ 15.
• H+ Infuser: health per shot 10 ⇒ 7, ammo 20 ⇒ 30. This reduces its burst potential and requires more sustained accuracy for the same healing.
• Translocator: deploy time 0s ⇒ 0.3s.

The healing changes come from the 12.0 Healing Beam buff. That change boosted Medium's viability, but the team feels the Healing Emitter and H+ Infuser still cannibalize too much of the Healing Beam's role. The Translocator tweak is a small quality of life change that makes teleporting slightly less immediate, and the developers say a small rework of the item to address how sudden it feels to enemies should arrive later this season. Our guide to the best Medium gadgets is worth a look if you're reconsidering your loadout.

Burning and Fire Weapons

• Burning status: contestant heat thresholds are increased, it's now possible to burn for one more tick, and damage per burning tick drops from 16 ⇒ 15. Combined, the max possible damage from burning rises from 32 to 45.
• Oil Barrel: the range of heat from a burning barrel is slightly increased.
• Flamethrower: impact damage 30 ⇒ 26, heat gained per tick 50 ⇒ 25, so players gain burning status slower.
• Cerberus: heat gained per pellet 3.38 ⇒ 8.46.

Shockwave

• Connection damage on buildings 3,000 ⇒ 1,000, making it less likely to fracture buildings suddenly.
• Cooldown 12s ⇒ 15s.
• Glitch effect duration 2s ⇒ 1s.

Since the Glitch effect was added, Shockwave has seen a significant increase in usage, taking away from the other Medium Specializations, and players have said it feels spammy to be hit by. These are small adjustments, and the team is looking at reworking how Shockwave applies Glitch to make it more skill-based, with that change expected before the end of the season.

Game Modes

• Solo Showdown: you can now earn Fans and XP for qualifying for the next round.
• Quick Cash: now available with bots, and some Game Show Events that would not start correctly are fixed.
• Double Jump event: start time changes from 2min to 4min, and the duration drops from 5min to 3min.

THE FINALS 12.3.0 Bug Fixes

The fix list is long, so here are the changes most likely to affect your matches.

Gameplay

• Burning Oil Barrels no longer explode instantly on impact when thrown. The developers say the "insta-nuke" version that went live in 12.0 was not intentional and was far too effective against certain Builds.
• Flashbangs no longer disperse smoke, and the Powder Canister, Glitch Barrel, Goo Barrel, Healing Barrel and Toxic Gas Barrel no longer clear smoke when triggered.
• Thrown objects such as barrels, Cash Boxes and the Healing Emitter now deal impact damage even if shot mid-flight.
• Cash Boxes can no longer be pushed through walls and inserted into a Cashout Station from outside, and insertion bounces less off nearby collision.
• Arena lifts return to their lowered position after a short delay when nothing is on the platform.
• You can now ping cloaked opponents revealed by True Sight, and melee assisted lunges target opponents standing in smoke when True Sight is active.
• Backstab detection from a target's left side is improved.
• A low inner deadzone value no longer triggers aim assist when the stick isn't moved.

Gadgets and Specializations

• Mimic Device: aim assist and assisted lunges no longer lock onto disguised Contestants, Orbital Lasers no longer target them, disguises can't be destroyed without triggering their effects, and several disguise-related stuck and immunity bugs are fixed.
• Translocator: its ring lights now turn red when out of range or blocked, and it can no longer swap position with items held by a player.
• Healing Emitter: no longer snaps to a fixed 90° orientation after being dropped.
• Jump Pad: now launches a Contestant holding onto a ladder when placed behind it.
• Charge 'N' Slam: starting it while crouched under a low roof now breaks the obstruction, allowing normal charge speed for Heavy.
• Guardian Turret: Glitch effects applied during warm-up now interrupt setup, and turrets placed on carried objects can be retrieved again.

Maps

• Practice Range: fixed performance issues that caused severe stuttering.
• Kyoto: fixed floating lantern and ladder placements, an invisible obstacle created by dashing into a lamppost, and temple doors now use breakable window panels.
• Las Vegas Stadium: the casino ball and dome structures now break smoothly, and canopy destruction has proper support.
• Bernal: debris piles now appear after destroying buildings in the Shopping District and Backyards.
• Seoul, Fortune Stadium, Skyway Stadium, Monaco and NOZOMI/Citadel: collision and placement fixes.

Performance and UI

• AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution is updated to version 4.1.1, global illumination is optimized, and severe stuttering when using a controller and keyboard at the same time is fixed. If you're chasing frames, see our tips on how to increase your FPS.
• Ultrawide support is improved: side black bars are removed and the scene fills the sides while the interface stays 16:9.
• The scoreboard now shows "Attackers" and "Defenders" under team names, attackers get an on-screen banner when a point is destroyed, and steal and revive progress rings fill at a linear pace.
• Settings changes now apply immediately, and the Social submenu opens inside the side menu during matches.
• The Social tab no longer shows party size during matches, drops players who leave, and refreshes in real time while open.
• On Xbox, suspending the game during startup no longer causes it to hang or close unexpectedly.

And that covers all of the changes in THE FINALS 12.3.0. You can read the full official notes on the Steam news page. To see how this balance pass builds on the last two updates, check out our 12.2.0 patch notes and 12.1.0 patch notes, or weigh up your next Build with our best classes tier list.