Conan Exiles Patch 2.1.0: Headhunting, Appearance Export and New Encumbrance (2026)
- โ ๏ธ First things first: 2.1.0 is not Giant-Kings Part 2
- ๐ฆ Conan Exiles Patch 2.1.0: every feature at a glance
- ๐ How to get on the Public Beta Client, and why not with your main character
- ๐ฏ What 2.1.0 says about the roadmap
- ๐ก Patch history since the big update
- โ FAQ: Conan Exiles Patch 2.1.0
Conan Exiles Patch 2.1.0 has been live since August 18, 2026, after a week of testing on the Public Beta Client starting August 11. The patch brings back the Headhunting event with a faction choice, adds export and import of your character's appearance, a Continue button on the title screen and a completely re-tiered encumbrance system. What 2.1.0 was not: Part 2 of "Legacy of the Giant-Kings". That only arrived on October 6, 2026 together with Patch 3.0.0.
The official notes are on the Funcom forums and SteamDB. Here's everything in them, plus what it means for the rest of the story arc.
โ ๏ธ First things first: 2.1.0 is not Giant-Kings Part 2
Funcom announced "Legacy of the Giant-Kings" as a four-part story arc. Part 1 came on July 21, 2026 with Patch 2.0.0 and delivered the Cyclopean Halls dungeon beneath the Unnamed City, the NPC guide Akhamet, the sacrificial chambers and the boss The Anvil Keeper.
Patch 2.1.0 contains no continuation of that. No new dungeon, no new boss, no new story chapter. It's a feature and performance patch with an event on top. The official Community Update #6 from August 7, 2026 also gave no date for Part 2. Funcom only announced the date on September 10, and Part 2 came out on October 6, 2026 with Patch 3.0.0. Everything about it is in our Giant-Kings Part 2 guide.
If you haven't finished Part 1 yet, our Cyclopean Halls dungeon guide and the overview of Patch 2.0.0 have you covered before you jump into Part 2.
๐ฆ Conan Exiles Patch 2.1.0: every feature at a glance
| Area | Change | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Character | Export and import your appearance, from character creation and from the in-game menu | Build your look once, reuse it on as many servers as you like |
| Menu | "Continue" button on the title screen | Jumps straight into your last session: character, mode and server |
| Event | Headhunting returns, with the factions Khitan Bounty Hunters and Dogs of the Desert | Leaderboards and faction-exclusive rewards, per the patch notes including a legendary bow and armor sets |
| Gameplay | Encumbrance in four tiers at 50%, 75%, 90% and 100% | Weight kicks in gradually instead of only at full load |
| Servers | Fewer movement packets, lighter initialization, fewer physics memory allocations | Targets the performance complaints on big servers |
| World | Better level streaming in the Cyclopean Halls | Against loading stutter in the new dungeon |
| Modding | New Blueprint APIs and HTTP request support | Mods can reach external services for the first time |
โจ Export and import your character's appearance
This is the change with the biggest everyday impact. You can save your character's appearance and load it again on another server or in a new playthrough. Until now, switching servers meant redoing all the sliders. Export works both from character creation and from the running game.
To be clear: what transfers is the appearance, not the character with level, attributes or inventory.
๐ฉธ Headhunting: Khitan Bounty Hunters vs. Dogs of the Desert
The Headhunting event is back. You pick one of two factions, collect heads, show up on leaderboards and unlock faction-bound rewards. If you want to sort out your weapons first, our guide to the best weapons in Conan Exiles is the place to start. According to the patch notes, a legendary bow is among the event rewards. How the faction choice works, how to collect heads fastest and which rewards belong to which side is in our Headhunting event guide. The event ended on August 30, 2026 at midnight Central European Summer Time.
๐ Encumbrance: the third change in four weeks
Nothing caused more confusion lately. The timeline:
| Date | Version | State of the encumbrance system |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 21, 2026 | 2.0.0 | Reworked: even a light load slowed you down noticeably |
| Jul 23, 2026 | 2.0.1 | Rolled back, no more slow roll under a light load |
| Aug 11, 2026 (beta), Aug 18, 2026 (live) | 2.1.0 | Re-tiered: four tiers at 50%, 75%, 90% and 100%, still in place today |
In practice, carrying becomes a planning question again. If you haul ore with a full backpack, you'll feel it sooner than before. If that makes you rethink your attribute setup, our attributes guide helps.
๐ How to get on the Public Beta Client, and why not with your main character
In Conan Exiles, the Public Beta Client is not a beta branch of the normal game but a separate Steam entry: "Conan Exiles โ Public Beta Client", app ID 931180. It shows up in your Steam library as its own title and gets installed in addition. Your live game stays untouched, and you can keep both side by side.
Three things you should know beforehand:
- It's a second full download. Expect the disk space of a complete second Conan Exiles, not of a patch.
- Progress on the test servers is throwaway progress. Funcom's own statement on the Public Beta Client is that these servers get reset constantly. Don't get attached to what you build there.
- The test window is over. The test servers ran for about a week from August 11, and 2.1.0 went live on August 18. This section stays here for context, and the same rules apply to the next beta round.
The mistake to avoid: playing beta builds on a character you care about. A beta client exists precisely so things can break. That's the point, not an accident. Use a throwaway character, test the features you care about and report what's broken. If you want to protect your live progress, skip the beta entirely and wait for the live release.
๐ฏ What 2.1.0 says about the roadmap
Two things can be read from the patch without guessing.
First: Funcom is visibly working through the complaints about 2.0.0. The server optimizations and the better level streaming in the Cyclopean Halls are direct answers to reported problems, not new content. That points to a stabilization patch before the next story step.
Second: a content patch for Part 2 gets announced ahead of time via blog and news post. At the time of 2.1.0, there was nothing yet. The announcement came on September 10, and Part 2 was released on October 6, 2026 with Patch 3.0.0. If you still have the jump from the UE4 to the UE5 version ahead of you, the basics are in our Enhanced returning player guide.
๐ก Patch history since the big update
| Date | Version | Core content |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 21, 2026 | 2.0.0 | Giant-Kings Part 1, Cyclopean Halls, Anvil Keeper, legendary repair, inventory from 200 to 210 slots |
| Jul 23, 2026 | 2.0.1 | Encumbrance rollback, decay timer UI, stability of stacked placeables |
| Jul 28, 2026 | 2.0.2 | Higher Legendary Fragment drops, Anvil Keeper no longer stuck in the floor, boss spawns in single player and co-op |
| Jul 29, 2026 | Legacy R15.2 | Hotfix for the UE4 version running in parallel |
| Aug 11, 2026 | 2.1.0 (beta) | One week on the Public Beta Client |
| Aug 18, 2026 | 2.1.0 | Live, plus the start of the Headhunting event (ran until Aug 30, midnight CEST) |
| Aug 26, 2026 | 2.1.1 | Hotfix: lost Bazaar purchases from clock sync, redirectors against mod crashes, load crash from mod animations, Ferine Stalker Staff only in the Headhunter event |
| Sep 15, 2026 | 2.2.0 | Engine upgrade to Unreal Engine 5.8.2, Iris networking for dedicated servers |
| Sep 17 to Oct 1, 2026 | Hotfixes up to 2.2.3 | Server and D3D12 crashes from 2.2.0 fixed, small Bazaar fix |
| Oct 6, 2026 | 3.0.0 | Legacy of the Giant-Kings Part 2 |
| Oct 8, 2026 | 3.0.1 | Hotfix, including a crash in the player list on official servers and on Steam Deck |
The current version is Hotfix 3.0.1 from October 8, 2026. If your game crashes, our guide on Conan Exiles crashing helps, including the crash fixes from the patches since 2.1.1.
If you aren't using the legendary repair from 2.0.0 yet: the system and what's known about the fragment cost (Funcom hasn't published official numbers) are in our legendary repair guide.
โ FAQ: Conan Exiles Patch 2.1.0
Is Patch 2.1.0 live?
Yes. 2.1.0 has been live since August 18, 2026, together with the start of the Headhunting event. Before that, the patch ran for a week on the Public Beta Client only.
Is 2.1.0 the second part of Legacy of the Giant-Kings?
No. 2.1.0 contains no new story content from the arc. Part 2 only came out on October 6, 2026 with Patch 3.0.0.
When did Giant-Kings Part 2 come out?
On October 6, 2026, together with Patch 3.0.0. Funcom announced the date on September 10. According to the patch notes, Part 2 brings new otherworldly challenges, new spells and the return of the Mi-Go. It's the second of four parts.
Do I need a separate download for the Public Beta Client?
Yes. The Public Beta Client is its own Steam title with app ID 931180 and gets installed separately. It doesn't replace your live game.
Does the character export also transfer level and gear?
No. Export and import cover your character's appearance. Progress, attributes and inventory stay on the server.
Does 2.1.0 change carry weight again?
Yes. Instead of a single effect at full load, four tiers kick in at 50%, 75%, 90% and 100% of your carry capacity.
Checked against Funcom's official patch notes for the 2.1.0 Public Beta Client, the patch notes for 2.0.0 and the July hotfixes, Community Update #6 from August 7, 2026, the official Conan Exiles blog and the SteamDB patch notes. The Part 2 announcement and release plus the patches up to 3.0.1 were added from Funcom's Steam news and the 2.2.0 and 3.0.0 patch notes on the Funcom forums. As of October 2026, Hotfix 3.0.1.
