Crab Champions, the solo-developed third-person roguelike shooter, has rolled out Booster Pack Update BETA 02 (V2406) with sweeping performance fixes and mechanical rebalances. The developer rewrote how the game handles damage number animations and hitmarker UI, addressing a bottleneck that cropped up during hordes and endgame builds where multiple damage events fire simultaneously.
Line of sight checks for melee damage, destructible interactions, and all enemy area-of-effect abilities have been removed entirely, trading the occasional visual inconsistency for better performance and more reliable damage application. The update introduces Ammo Cache, a new relic that doubles magazine size, while also neutering the Death Wish blessing.
Rather than stacking every challenge modifier available, Death Wish now selects 10 random modifiers, preventing the blessing from overwhelming portal screens with text. Per-loop enemy movement speed has been halved after players complained enemies were escaping area-of-effect zones too easily. Several weapons received buffs: Giant Drill lifetime jumped from 4 to 5 seconds with 233% more damage, Scythe Vortex gained black hole suction to keep enemies in place, and Dual Pistols extended their damage falloff range by 25%. Dagger Dash dropped from Legendary to Epic rarity, while Aura Explosion was removed outright.
The developer noted damage number animations “feel a bit limp right now” but promised fixes in a future beta patch. If you’re running builds that rely on massive damage chains or grinding toward endgame, the stability improvements here likely matter more than the numbers suggest.
This is the latest update the developer has made to the game, following on from a hotfix in mid June.