EVENT

Update 1.1.3: Bomb Squad Weekend

Five opening windows, a higher leaderboard bar, and Plant/Defuse fixes, all landing this weekend.

HEAT Team · August 21, 2026

Back for another round

Plant/Defuse is back for Bomb Squad Weekend, running Friday, August 21 through Sunday, August 23. The mode is still in an open testing phase, and this weekend's opening hours, its battle-earnings test, and its leaderboard change all trace back to your feedback from last weekend. This article also covers a short list of Plant/Defuse fixes shipping in Update 1.1.3, further down the page.

Plant/Defuse first launched last weekend with a single opening window each day, timed for Europe and landing in the middle of the day for North America. This weekend adds two more windows, both landing during North American evenings, so more of you will have a convenient time to play!

New to Plant/Defuse? The mode guide covers how planting, defusing, and round wins work.

Find your timeslot

Bomb Squad Weekend runs across five opening windows over the weekend, for 29 hours of playable time in total.
Window UTC CEST ET PT
1 Fri 21 Aug 15:00 to Sat 22 Aug 00:00 Fri 17:00 to Sat 02:00 Fri 11:00 to Fri 20:00 Fri 08:00 to Fri 17:00
2 Sat 22 Aug 13:00 to 20:00 Sat 15:00 to 22:00 Sat 09:00 to 16:00 Sat 06:00 to 13:00
3 Sun 23 Aug 00:00 to 03:00 Sun 02:00 to 05:00 Sat 20:00 to 23:00 Sat 17:00 to 20:00
4 Sun 23 Aug 13:00 to 20:00 Sun 15:00 to 22:00 Sun 09:00 to 16:00 Sun 06:00 to 13:00
5 Mon 24 Aug 00:00 to 03:00 Mon 02:00 to 05:00 Sun 20:00 to 23:00 Sun 17:00 to 20:00

Five battles, one charm, three boosters

Play five Plant/Defuse battles at any point during Bomb Squad Weekend and you'll earn the Bomb Squad Charm, plus three boosters, one of each type. Battles count across any of the five opening windows, so however your schedule shakes out, five battles gets you there.

The Bomb Squad Charm and three boosters awarded for playing five Plant/Defuse battles
The Bomb Squad Charm displayed with the three Bomb Squad Weekend boosters

UPDATE 1.1.3

Improving Plant/Defuse

Update 1.1.3 lands alongside Bomb Squad Weekend and improves Plant/Defuse in a few concrete ways.

Battle earnings

Credits, Agent XP, and Vehicle XP from Plant/Defuse battles have been increased by 80% following your results and feedback. We want to make sure that Plant/Defuse payouts line up more closely with our other game modes.

Leaderboard adjustments

Ranking on the in-game Top 100 Plant/Defuse leaderboard now takes 15 battles, up from five. That's a harder bar to clear, and it's meant to be: with more battles required, the board reflects players who've actually put in the work, not just an early lead. Note: The leaderboard screen itself will keep showing the old number until a later client update catches up.

Matchmaking improvements

  • Faster matches: Queue times will feel shorter. Matchmaking now widens its search in smaller, quicker steps, so you'll get into games faster while still keeping early matches well balanced.
  • Better skill matching: We've given the matchmaker more precision when judging player skill, so it can better tell the difference between a fair match and a lopsided one.
  • Roles: Team composition (roles) now matters slightly less than skill balance when building matches.
  • Squads: Matches will be fairer for squads. We've increased the penalty for uneven squads between teams, so you're less likely to face a team full of coordinated squads while your team is mostly solo players.
  • Map pool: The Plant/Defuse map pool has been reduced from six maps to four. Project Phoenix and Moonshot have been removed. Remaining maps: Blossom Crash, Scarred City, Sunstroke, and Eden.

Other fixes

  • Fixed a server crash that could happen when a defuse attempt coincided with the bomb timer expiring.
  • Fixed a bug where platoon matchmaking used Quick Match stats instead of Plant/Defuse stats. Platoons queuing for Plant/Defuse are now matched on their actual Plant/Defuse performance.
  • Fixed a rare issue where a recent battle could be missing from a player's stats.

Plant/Defuse is still in testing

Plant/Defuse is in an open testing phase, so its rules, timing, and rewards are still being worked out. There's more to come after this weekend.

If you have thoughts on what's working and what isn't, the HEAT Discord is the best place to share your feedback directly with the team.

Q&A

Q: Why can't I find Plant/Defuse outside the listed hours?
A: Plant/Defuse is still in open testing, so it only runs during the scheduled windows above. Check back for future testing weekends.
Q: Does the leaderboard change affect my five-battle reward?
A: No. The five-battle participation reward, the Bomb Squad Charm plus three boosters, is unchanged. The 15-battle requirement only applies to ranking on the in-game Top 100 leaderboard.
Q: Why does the in-game leaderboard still say 5 battles?
A: The in-game screen hasn't caught up yet and will update in a later client release. Until then, 15 is the number that counts for Top 100 ranking this weekend.
Q: Do I need to update or download anything for Update 1.1.3?
A: Update 1.1.3 doesn't require a client download or install; it's applied on the server side.

Ready up for this weekend

Play five Plant/Defuse battles between Friday, August 21 and Sunday, August 23 to earn the Bomb Squad Charm and three boosters.

Join the Discord