update · October 16, 2026
Team Fortress 2 Update Adjusts Zombie Balance and Fixes Map Issues
Team Fortress 2 receives a new update adjusting Zombie character stats, fixing map bugs, and changing match timers. The patch modifies Zombie Pyro melee damage, Zombie Sniper spit cooldowns, and updates several maps including cp_holyhell.
Valve has released an update for Team Fortress 2, bringing balance adjustments to the zombie classes, bug fixes, and tweaks to match flow. The update applies automatically upon restarting the game.
Zombie Class Balance Adjustments
The Zombie Pyro receives multiple changes, including an increase in melee damage from 45 to 65 and a death explosion that deals 50 damage, applies afterburn, and turns victims to ash. Sticky Spew deployed by the Zombie Pyro applies a 20% movement slow, which stacks with standing on puddles for an additional 20% slow. Puddles are larger. The spewed Demoman shield movement slow changes from -60% to -70%, and humans covered in sticky spew appear tinted purple instead of black. The Zombie Sniper Spit cooldown drops from 9 seconds down to 6 seconds.
Map Tweaks and Match Flow
On cp_holyhell, the round timer lowers to 5 minutes, and the BLU side skybox renders correctly for users with HDR enabled. The RED side art pass and middle point art pass receive improvements. If a stalemate occurs after 5 minutes of any team capturing middle, spells convert into rare variants and respawn quickly until a point is captured. Spells get enabled and respawn permanently on the side of the team that loses middle, and gargoyles spawn near the middle. Respawn wave times are reduced, and map optimization has been improved across several levels including zi_atoll, zi_blazehattan, zi_devastation_final1, zi_murky, zi_sanitarium, and zi_woods.
General Fixes and Mechanics
The Zombie Engineer's Beacon no longer instantly breaks in tight spaces, instead finding the closest valid location. Thrown toolboxes break upon touching all clip brushes if a valid location is unavailable, preventing them from appearing off-center. Player models are no longer invisible in dx8, the Heal ability HUD icon tile is corrected, and the spawn picker auto-spawn text error is resolved. Zombie Demoman charge kill icons are updated, Zombie melee impact sounds use fists instead of Unarmed Combat, and the Zombie Spy deals correct damage.
Why this patch matters
This update fine-tunes zombie combat effectiveness while smoothing out technical issues and map exploits across Team Fortress 2.