Arc Raiders' new update puts the Il Toro in its place (a grave) at long last: 'This is an adjustment many of you requested'

The Il Toro is infamous for haunting the halls of Stella Montis in Arc Raiders. It was good anywhere, of course, but Stella Montis' tight corridors made the shotgun an absolute menace in PvP, where you could rush at someone and one-tap them pretty reliably. Embark promised its time in the spotlight would come to an end, and that moment is now.

In the update 1.20.0 patch notes, Embark explains that it has tuned the Il Toro "so it performs more like a weapon of its rarity," in that it's less versatile with no upgrades and more dependent on attachments. It is a green-quality shotgun, after all.

So what's been done about it? A hell of a lot in a single pass, that's for sure:

• Pellet damage reduced from 7.5 to 7
• Base fire rate reduced from 43 to 38
• Base dispersion increased from 4.5 to 6
• Total reload time increased from 4.3s to 5.7s
  • Looping reload entry increased from 0.8s to 1s
  • Looping reload time increased from 0.5s to 0.7s
• Damage loss from fall-off increased from 40% to 50%

Most notable is its reduced pellet damage, base dispersion, and damage fall-off, which combine to significantly rein in the Il Toro's ranged performance. Now you'll have to get much closer to your enemy to deal the maximum damage. The slower fire rate is important too, as it'll be harder to guarantee a follow-up shot. Don't miss.

And don't overlook the much slower reload speed. While reloading individual shells isn't quite so bad, if you need to reload from empty, you're looking at a 1.4-second longer reload. Those precious seconds matter when you're running around Stella Montis.

Embark rightly points out that the Il Toro nerf is "an adjustment many of you requested," though I'd say this nerf went a little harder in one fell swoop than most players expected, myself included. It'll take some time to see where this toned-down Toro sits in the meta, and whether Embark were perhaps a bit overzealous. Thankfully, the devs note that they'll keep a close eye on it and make adjustments if needed.

Another major fix in this update comes to Energy Clips, which has had its sell price reduced from 1,000 to 200 coins. Only the sneaky few of you will immediately know why this seemingly random change was made, but it's because it was a very easy money cheat. You could craft Energy Clips for just one Advanded Arc Powercell and two Batteries, then sell them for a big profit. Now its profitability is more in line with other craftable items. You'll have to look elsewhere for your money now, perhaps, say, looting high-value items instead of cheeky crafting exploits.