Highguard Adds Raid Rush And Weapon Balances In New Patch

Wildlight Entertainment has released a new update for struggling raid shooter Highguard, adding a new mode in the form of Raid Rush. This sees players forming two teams of five and taking turns in attack and defending bases while eschewing the loot phase in between. You now select your base and use Trader Flynn to upgrade your gear across a round-based format. Meanwhile, a number of weapon balancing has been implemented, including the Vanguard, which has seen its accuracy and controllability reduced as it was proving ‘too dominant across long ranges.’ The Dynasty’s damage has been increased to offer a better tradeoff for its challenging recoil. You can read the full Highguard patch notes below.

Highguard launches for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S on January 26, 2026, although hasn’t had an easy ride, with player numbers dropping significantly since its release. Furthermore, Wildlight announced recently that it has laid off a number of staff while keeping a core team to support Highguard, but it’s since been reported that Tencent has pulled its funding for the project, with a skeleton crew remaining at Wildlight.

New Mode – Raid Rush!

A high-intensity 5v5 showdown

In Raid Rush, 2 teams of 5 players will take turns attacking and defending their bases with no pesky looting phase in between.

Instead, select your base and use Trader Flynn to upgrade your weapons and equipment in a round based format. After each round, you’ll switch sides between attacking and defending. Your base walls and generators will be repaired, and you’ll be rewarded some Vesper to spend at the Trader, who will have different offers after every round. And don’t worry about buying armor – everyone has the same armor, and it will escalate in rarity as the rounds progress.

This mode plays fast and is the perfect place to get a quick hit of action!

Dev Note: 3v3 Raids has been disabled while Raid Rush is active.

5v5 and Ranked 3v3 are still available.

Quality of Life

• Comeback Kill – Grab a kill after going on a death streak of 3 or more and get rewarded 2 Vesper per death, on top of the 3 for the kill. You’re back in the game!
• Reviver Amulet – bonus revive speed reduced from 50% to 15%.
  • Dev Note: We feel like the speed of a Reviver Amulet revive was creating too much safety for mid-combat revives.
• Smuggler’s Den – added more defender respawns

Weapon Balance Updates

• Vanguard – Reducing accuracy and controllability – it’s too dominant across long ranges
• Dynasty – Buffing damage to provide a better tradeoff for the challenging recoil. It now takes one fewer bullet to kill against blue, purple, and gold shields
• Corsair – Reducing the delay before the recoil pattern resets, so that the Corsair can be fired more quickly without sacrificing accuracy
• Longhorn – Increased fire rate to make the Longhorn more versatile, making it more viable at medium and close ranges.
• Longhorn (Repeater) – Hipfire accuracy buffed to satisfy the end game power spike feeling
• Viper – Reducing controllability when using the 2x Optic in order to balance out its long range power

Bug Fixes

• Fixed some wall geo you could walk through at Belltower in Kingdom
• Fixed Firing Range base select being too short

[Source – Highguard Patch Notes]