Quake Champions December Update Brings New Character, Map & More

Quake Champions is getting a substantial update this week, on December 14th. According to the developers, it’s going to be one of the biggest yet, adding a new hero, a new map, a handful of requested features and a bunch of holiday-themed cosmetic items, maps and such. They’ve released a story trailer to announce the new hero, because story trailers for multiplayer shooters are obviously a thing now.

It’s Keel! That guy from Quake 3 Arena! I honestly never thought of the guys from Quake 3 Arena as characters, so I’m not sure whether I’m supposed to be excited by the fact. One shooty-person is as good as the other. But not in Champions, where there’s skills and such. Speaking of which, Keel comes with the Grenade Swarm active ability that shoots out a bunch of grenades, and the Stockpile passive skill, which decreases cooldown for the active one when you pick up ammo. If you’ve bought the Champions Pack you’ll get him for free – if not, prepare to spend some premium currency.

The new map is called Vale of Pnath. It’s a “wickedly vertical shrine to the Elder God Ithagnal built atop treacherous acid-filled caverns”, and it’s going to be available in 1v1 and 2v2 modes. They’re also including ranked play and leaderboards, becase what’s the point of life if you can’t see how well you compare with people from Namibia or Israel. Apparently, one of the most requested features by the community was the ability to customize crosshairs – that’s coming as well. No shooter can take a shot at being an esport without customizable crosshairs.

Finally, they’re going to add a bunch of Christmas-themed cosmetic items, like champion and weapon shaders, hats, profile icons and nameplates. Maps like Burial Chamber and Corrupted Keep are going to get some festive decorations as well.