2026 Competitive Hunt Pool Changelog
Hey all, splitting up the competitive map pool from the main update changelog due to the size. Note that eventually competitive and casual versions of the changed classic maps will be available in PQ. We'll be using the WWU tournament this weekend to gather feedback and iterate on any changes necessary for the 2026 Summer Premier.
Competitive Pool Map Changes
There are a number of changes coming this update, including to classic maps such as the original MBU ones. While this is not unprecedented, some changes will inevitably be controversial so we wanted to outline the reasons for a number of these changes. We came up with these from a combination of tournament play, player feedback, and playtesting the changes extensively on dedicated servers in the offseason. The overarching themes for many of these maps are similar:
Competitive Map Tweaks
All Angles: Old spawn layout mostly returns, but yellows pushed to the corner rugs. Center blue is only blue left. Duration increased to 3:30.
We found that the rug spawns now have a wider number of choices for lines to take, promoting more interesting approaches. The blues proved extremely swingy and promoted sitting in the highest quadrant of the map constantly. Finally, the map is much bigger than other 3min maps and the extra time gives a larger window for push and pull in scores.
Concentric: Blue replaced with Super Speed (center spawn -5 points), other Super Speed removed.
The center blue was notorious for deciding the games and mainly rewarded camping. The community threatened to remove it for years!
Epicenter: Turned center blue into yellow. Turned center yellows into reds. Removed spawn point abuse on lower pillar blues (to make these spawns less swingy with yellows). Added four super speeds by ramps for skillshots.
A similar story on epicenter, where the center spawn was worth 2-3x the average while also being the best place to access every other spawn in the map. The corner pillar spawns have been made less all-or-nothing. The super speeds are more experimental, but we are hoping provide yet another solid powerup option to compete with the gyro and mega meta and let more flashy players show their stuff.
Gem Finding Folly: Couple blues changed to yellows. Middle ramp yellow changed to blue. Super Jump moved more towards the side.
We added a blue to the top ramps and removed one from the bottom to spread out the distribution more evenly across the map. The moving of the SJ makes the center of the map less optimal to stand between spawns.
Horizon: Double blue turned into single blue, one of the blues replaced with red. Red in far corner turned into Mega Marble, a Mega Marble replaced by a blue.
While a classic, the double blue was extremely swingy and especially in the past year has devolved the gameplay into a camp-the-ramp meta which doesn't show off any of the fast-flowing skillshots Horizon is known for. Moving the blue away allows for even more creativity in lines, makes taking the last red more forgiving, and this change has been well-received in playtesting.
Lupus: Added 2 Super Jumps.
This map was unpopular due to the navigation difficulty, luck based spawns, and winner-take-all super jump which promoted sacking many gems to ensure you took. The extra SJs should help both of these issues.
Prophetic: OOB trigger made smaller.
It took forever to respawn on this map, making an already punishing map needlessly more punishing to play. This should make blasting an opponent off win you the entire spawn less consistently.
Sacred: Added powerups. Swapped a red for a Super Jump.
Some of the bigger changes of all the maps, "sack red" had major camping issues in part due to the power of the center for having the super speeds. With various powerups placed in all corners of the map, there should be more diversity in strategy and less incentive to sack several gems to camp each spawn.
Treasure Box: Reduced to 4:00 minutes.
While we like this map at 5 minutes, we're reducing it to 4 to bring its overall score haul more in line with other maps for the purposes of pre-seed, PD farming, and solo tournaments, and we preferred this method instead of actually changing the spawn values or size.
Triumvirate: Removed all spawns from the ground floor.
The bottom blue was extremely swingy, and almost always went to whichever player happened to be closer, unlike the top blues which reward strong powerup and blast usage. This should make winning this map more consistent.
Vibrancy Grounds: Powerup and cannon rework. Some scenery removal to help pathing.
The blast + mega camping spot was the only meta on this map. With powerups scattered about, there are more creative lines now and more incentive to consider taking the last gem. You'll also be less frustrated bonking into scenery around the map everywhere you go.
Ziggurat: Blue replaced with yellow, surrounding yellows replaced with reds (center spawn -11 points)
Very similar story to Concentric/Epicenter- top players would camp the center after taking just one or two gems from many spawns.
Moved to Bonus
Battlecube Revisited
This map was extremely unpopular beyond attempting to cheese a win, didn't offer anything unique compared to other gravity maps, and was incredibly luck dependent. Probably the easiest removal of the bunch.
Citadel
While the map offers unique gameplay, the different physics proves to be too much of an adjustment for players within the context of a session, and it ends up playing extremely gimmicky compared to the rest of the pool.
Eye Of The Storm A fan favorite, but ultimately this map has no place in a more serious competitive pool. The most luck based of any map, between two equal skilled players it almost always came down to who happened to be sitting where the spawn came. The tornado gameplay will live on in Par Pit/Outlook.
King Of The Ring
Very unpopular/meme as well, and very luck based. The center powerups were rarely worth taking and using beyond the blast.
Inferno Ring
Unpopular and a bit too samey all around, with navigation feeling frustrating due to the architecture of the center. Blasts and megas were too abundant and could easily secure entire spawns with little effort invested.
Points Of The Radar
This map quickly proved to be little more than blasting and instantly super speeding through wherever the spawn came, with the center being the only correct place to be.
New Maps
These maps have been added on a trial basis for competitive play in Winter Warm-Up. Let us know what you think!
Foundry (Endy) -> Advanced
This map is uniquely architected while offering a large array of creative pathing options and powerup choice.
Narrows (Endy) -> Intermediate
A larger map with a diverse set of challenges and wide open to skillshots and powerup chaining, without being too similar to existing maps in the pool.
Stingbee Valley (Frostfire) -> Advanced
A very technical challenge requiring a large amount of precision to navigate the valley, with some very interesting spawn structures including the infamous pillar.
Galactic Islands (Frostfire) -> Expert A goliath of a map that has been balanced with love and boasts a huge amount of gameplay challenge and themes.
Fractured Islands (Connie) -> Intermediate
We wanted to add a smaller map to the pool as we say goodbye to some of the other ones and add some larger maps. The powerups can be out of the way and the map rewards strong box navigation.
Competitive Pool Map Changes
There are a number of changes coming this update, including to classic maps such as the original MBU ones. While this is not unprecedented, some changes will inevitably be controversial so we wanted to outline the reasons for a number of these changes. We came up with these from a combination of tournament play, player feedback, and playtesting the changes extensively on dedicated servers in the offseason. The overarching themes for many of these maps are similar:
- There was one predominant strategy that suffocated diverse playstyles and approaches.
- One or more spawns was either weighted too heavily, or promoted extreme camping.
- The map was too luck dependent (a player who played worse would win a larger percentage of the time compared to other maps).
- The map was too unpopular, perhaps due to a combination of the above.
Competitive Map Tweaks
All Angles: Old spawn layout mostly returns, but yellows pushed to the corner rugs. Center blue is only blue left. Duration increased to 3:30.
We found that the rug spawns now have a wider number of choices for lines to take, promoting more interesting approaches. The blues proved extremely swingy and promoted sitting in the highest quadrant of the map constantly. Finally, the map is much bigger than other 3min maps and the extra time gives a larger window for push and pull in scores.
Concentric: Blue replaced with Super Speed (center spawn -5 points), other Super Speed removed.
The center blue was notorious for deciding the games and mainly rewarded camping. The community threatened to remove it for years!
Epicenter: Turned center blue into yellow. Turned center yellows into reds. Removed spawn point abuse on lower pillar blues (to make these spawns less swingy with yellows). Added four super speeds by ramps for skillshots.
A similar story on epicenter, where the center spawn was worth 2-3x the average while also being the best place to access every other spawn in the map. The corner pillar spawns have been made less all-or-nothing. The super speeds are more experimental, but we are hoping provide yet another solid powerup option to compete with the gyro and mega meta and let more flashy players show their stuff.
Gem Finding Folly: Couple blues changed to yellows. Middle ramp yellow changed to blue. Super Jump moved more towards the side.
We added a blue to the top ramps and removed one from the bottom to spread out the distribution more evenly across the map. The moving of the SJ makes the center of the map less optimal to stand between spawns.
Horizon: Double blue turned into single blue, one of the blues replaced with red. Red in far corner turned into Mega Marble, a Mega Marble replaced by a blue.
While a classic, the double blue was extremely swingy and especially in the past year has devolved the gameplay into a camp-the-ramp meta which doesn't show off any of the fast-flowing skillshots Horizon is known for. Moving the blue away allows for even more creativity in lines, makes taking the last red more forgiving, and this change has been well-received in playtesting.
Lupus: Added 2 Super Jumps.
This map was unpopular due to the navigation difficulty, luck based spawns, and winner-take-all super jump which promoted sacking many gems to ensure you took. The extra SJs should help both of these issues.
Prophetic: OOB trigger made smaller.
It took forever to respawn on this map, making an already punishing map needlessly more punishing to play. This should make blasting an opponent off win you the entire spawn less consistently.
Sacred: Added powerups. Swapped a red for a Super Jump.
Some of the bigger changes of all the maps, "sack red" had major camping issues in part due to the power of the center for having the super speeds. With various powerups placed in all corners of the map, there should be more diversity in strategy and less incentive to sack several gems to camp each spawn.
Treasure Box: Reduced to 4:00 minutes.
While we like this map at 5 minutes, we're reducing it to 4 to bring its overall score haul more in line with other maps for the purposes of pre-seed, PD farming, and solo tournaments, and we preferred this method instead of actually changing the spawn values or size.
Triumvirate: Removed all spawns from the ground floor.
The bottom blue was extremely swingy, and almost always went to whichever player happened to be closer, unlike the top blues which reward strong powerup and blast usage. This should make winning this map more consistent.
Vibrancy Grounds: Powerup and cannon rework. Some scenery removal to help pathing.
The blast + mega camping spot was the only meta on this map. With powerups scattered about, there are more creative lines now and more incentive to consider taking the last gem. You'll also be less frustrated bonking into scenery around the map everywhere you go.
Ziggurat: Blue replaced with yellow, surrounding yellows replaced with reds (center spawn -11 points)
Very similar story to Concentric/Epicenter- top players would camp the center after taking just one or two gems from many spawns.
Moved to Bonus
Battlecube Revisited
This map was extremely unpopular beyond attempting to cheese a win, didn't offer anything unique compared to other gravity maps, and was incredibly luck dependent. Probably the easiest removal of the bunch.
Citadel
While the map offers unique gameplay, the different physics proves to be too much of an adjustment for players within the context of a session, and it ends up playing extremely gimmicky compared to the rest of the pool.
Eye Of The Storm A fan favorite, but ultimately this map has no place in a more serious competitive pool. The most luck based of any map, between two equal skilled players it almost always came down to who happened to be sitting where the spawn came. The tornado gameplay will live on in Par Pit/Outlook.
King Of The Ring
Very unpopular/meme as well, and very luck based. The center powerups were rarely worth taking and using beyond the blast.
Inferno Ring
Unpopular and a bit too samey all around, with navigation feeling frustrating due to the architecture of the center. Blasts and megas were too abundant and could easily secure entire spawns with little effort invested.
Points Of The Radar
This map quickly proved to be little more than blasting and instantly super speeding through wherever the spawn came, with the center being the only correct place to be.
New Maps
These maps have been added on a trial basis for competitive play in Winter Warm-Up. Let us know what you think!
Foundry (Endy) -> Advanced
This map is uniquely architected while offering a large array of creative pathing options and powerup choice.
Narrows (Endy) -> Intermediate
A larger map with a diverse set of challenges and wide open to skillshots and powerup chaining, without being too similar to existing maps in the pool.
Stingbee Valley (Frostfire) -> Advanced
A very technical challenge requiring a large amount of precision to navigate the valley, with some very interesting spawn structures including the infamous pillar.
Galactic Islands (Frostfire) -> Expert A goliath of a map that has been balanced with love and boasts a huge amount of gameplay challenge and themes.
Fractured Islands (Connie) -> Intermediate
We wanted to add a smaller map to the pool as we say goodbye to some of the other ones and add some larger maps. The powerups can be out of the way and the map rewards strong box navigation.