Patch 7.28 — July 28, 2026

PlayMud Studio shipped patch 7.28 on July 28, 2026 (some regional clients listed the build through July 29) — a performance and input polish update between patch 7.27 stability fixes and the anti-stacking pass in patch 7.30. Steam news highlights frame pacing options, effect quality tiers for ground loot, hold-to-cast Ultimates, several gameplay bug fixes, Disruption direct damage, Thunder Dragon retuning, and a Battle Scar Light Sensitivity correction. This wiki page summarizes every headline change and links controls, difficulty, and affix guides for follow-up reading.

Maximum frame rate option

Patch 7.28 adds a Maximum Frame Rate slider under graphics settings so players can cap FPS below their monitor refresh or GPU sustainable output. Uncapped frame rates during dense four-player fights were a common source of micro-stutter on mid-range hardware — the cap stabilizes frame times without forcing VSync latency.

Pair the new cap with VSync defaults from patch 7.27 if you are tuning dodge timing. Competitive players often set max FPS slightly above their display refresh for consistent input polling; see the controls hub for remapping and display notes.

Effect quality tiers for dropped items

Ground loot VFX — Orange beams, Mythic sparkles, and multi-proc treasure showers — now respect effect quality tiers separate from general particle density. Lower tiers keep readable pickup silhouettes while culling the heaviest aura stacks that previously spiked GPU load when a squad cleared a district shop.

If loot looks “less flashy” after updating, check Settings → Graphics → Effects (exact label may vary) before assuming drop rates changed. Economy and rarity tables were not part of 7.28; only rendering cost was.

Hold Ultimate for continuous casting

Hunters can now hold the Ultimate button to continuously cast where the ability supports repeat activation — a major quality-of-life win for channels, sustained buffs, and hunters who previously mashed inputs during long boss phases. Tap-to-fire once still works for single-shot ultimates.

Note: patch 7.30 later added a 1-second cooldown between Ultimate attempts to stop input-buffer abuse. Hold-to-cast remains; spam cadence is bounded. Practice on training routes documented in the controls guide.

Gameplay bug fixes

Launch-week coverage credits 7.28 with fixes for longstanding friction points:

• Weapon parts replacement — Forge and inventory flows that could fail to swap barrels, trajectories, or affix parts now commit replacements reliably.
• Event room chests reopening — special event rooms that incorrectly allowed chests to be looted twice (or stay locked after one player opened them) now follow consistent co-op rules.
• Indefinite monster health recovery — enemies that could regenerate health without bound under certain affix combinations no longer create unwinnable timeout rooms.

Re-host co-op lobbies after updating so chest and reconnect state machines align across the party.

Disruption now deals direct damage

Disruption — an affix family that previously emphasized control, stagger, and bar break — now also deals direct damage to monsters when triggered. The change rewards Disruption-heavy builds on add-heavy routes without rewriting every existing Disruption relic.

Read the affix guide for how Disruption interacts with Fragment, Growth, and Final Shot packages. Squads splitting roles in co-op can assign Disruption duty knowing procs contribute DPS, not only crowd control.

Thunder Dragon effect changes

Thunder Dragon — a lightning-themed proc source popular in elemental and charge-weapon routes — received effect changes aligning burst windows with the client’s event queue limits ahead of the heavier 7.30 tarot pass. Tooltips and on-hit visuals may differ; lightning builds should retest district bosses after updating.

Pair Thunder Dragon reads with relic synergies if you are stacking multiple lightning procs on Reality or Blood Moon.

Battle Scar: Light Sensitivity fix

Light Sensitivity — a Chaos Battle Scar modifier that punishes exposure to bright effects — now only applies when you are hit, not passively while projectiles pass nearby. The fix prevents unfair damage spikes from ambient VFX in four-player bullet hell lanes.

Scar runners who disabled Light Sensitivity due to false positives should retry scar progression documented on the difficulty guide — the scar again rewards positioning without punishing unrelated particle overlap.

After updating

1. Verify game files through Steam after July 28 notes.
2. Set Maximum Frame Rate and effect quality tiers before long co-op sessions.
3. Rebind Ultimate if you prefer hold vs toggle — test both on your main hunter.
4. Retest Disruption and Thunder Dragon builds on your standard boss check route.
5. Report remaining chest or regen bugs with district and party size in Steam discussions.

Related reading

• Controls hub · Difficulty and Chaos Battle Scar · Affix guide
• Patch 7.27 — VSync default, boss bar fix, Blood Moon rebalance.
• Patch 7.30 — anti-stacking balance and Ultimate cooldown.
• Updates hub — all wiki patch pages.