Ranked play, leaderboards, and a new champion are coming to Quake Champions this week

A major Quake Champions update that's coming later this week will add the Quake 3 Arena heavy hitter Keel to the shooter's lineup. The dead-but-then-he-got-better cyborg brings a Grenade Swarm active ability to the fight (that one should be pretty obvious, it's a swarm of grenades) and a passive ability called Stockpile that reduces the Grenade Swarm cooldown every time he picks up an ammo box.   

Also coming in the December update is a new Duel map called Vale of Pnath, "a wickedly vertical shrine to the Elder God Ithagnal built atop treacherous acid-filled caverns." Ranked play and leaderboards are being added, as is a crosshair customization option with 40 different crosshairs to choose from. The launch of the update will also mark the kickoff of a Holiday Celebration event featuring "animated Champion shaders and festive weapons shaders, holiday decorations on Burial Chamber and Corrupted Keep, holiday hat vanities for Champions, and limited edition profile icons and nameplates." 

Keel will automatically go to players who own the full Quake Champions Pack, and will be purchasable with the Platinum in-game currency for everyone else. The new map is free for everyone, and all of it will be available on December 14.