Trailmakers Flak Cannon Guide: Unlocks and Aim Changes

How to Get the Flak Cannons

The Trailmakers flak cannon gives you an anti-aircraft weapon for taking on planes, including fast targets that are difficult to track. Both the Small Flak Cannon and Flak Cannon arrived as free blocks with PvP Part 2 on June 17, 2025. In Pioneers, that update added the new blocks to the level 25 unlocks.

You don’t need Packing Heat to get either flak weapon. Although that DLC launched alongside the update, both cannons belong to the free block additions. Supply Pack: Frontline includes cosmetic skins and sounds for them.

Keep that distinction in mind when browsing weapon appearances: access to the cannon and access to its DLC skin are separate purchases—or, for the free weapon itself, no additional purchase.

Official page: Trailmakers (playtrailmakers.com)

What Update 2.1.1 Changed

Update 2.1.1, released July 2, 2025, adjusted both variants to improve their effectiveness against aircraft, particularly very fast planes. The changes increased projectile speed, widened aiming angles, extended auto-aim distance, and lengthened blast expansion.

Parameter	Before 2.1.1	With 2.1.1
Projectile Speed	200	250
Max Horizontal Aiming Angle	15	30
Max Upwards Aiming Angle	15	30
Max Downwards Aiming Angle	-15	-30
Auto Aim Max Distance	300	500
Blast Expansion Duration	0.125	0.5

The aiming changes matter when planning a mount. Both weapons gained more horizontal and vertical aiming allowance, giving them a wider area to cover around their mounted direction.

The 500 auto-aim distance describes the targeting parameter. Keep that separate from projectile speed and blast behavior when comparing weapon settings.

The same update expanded how many blocks flak projectiles could pass through to reduce situations where a shot damaged its own firing structure. It also fixed alignment issues with the Flak Cannon.

PvP Part 2 also improved auto-aim priority when a target breaks apart. Targeting now better prioritizes the section containing the seated player over detached debris. Later, update 2.2 on November 20, 2025, fixed the Small Flak Cannon Skin using the default skin’s sound, addressing an audio issue with that cosmetic variant.

How to Plan Your Flak Mount

Build around the weapon’s aiming coverage before adding more cannons. The wider angles introduced in 2.1.1 still make the direction of the mount relevant.

• Face the mount toward the area you want to cover. Use the horizontal and vertical aiming limits when positioning it for approaching aircraft.
• Turn the vehicle to follow targets outside that coverage. Give the weapon a useful firing direction instead of expecting its aiming allowance to cover every approach.
• Leave a clear firing path around surrounding blocks. The projectile pass-through adjustment addressed self-damage situations; keep your own structure out of the shot path where possible.
• Check the server’s limits before finishing the build. Server information gained a Power Core limit display in 2.1.1, and Deathmatch supports banned blocks and complexity limits.

When comparing the two variants, account for their shared balance changes. Both received the same listed adjustments in July, so those changes alone don’t distinguish one variant’s performance from the other.

For multiplayer combat, inspect the session settings before committing to a blueprint. A weapon layout that fits your own session can run into a different server’s block restrictions.

Player Weapons and Airborne Enemy Flak

Flak also appears on the enemy side of Airborne. Robot Pirates use it alongside ground speeders, blimps, and dogfighters during their invasion of the Chirpo homeworld.

Image: Steam / Flashbulb

That campaign’s enemy arsenal predates the June 2025 release of the player-buildable flak blocks. Keep the distinction clear when looking for an unlock: the level 25 addition belongs to Pioneers, while Airborne’s flak cannons are part of its enemy lineup.