Modern Warfare III Season 3 Update / Version 1.041 (April 3) | Patch Notes

Sledgehammer are trying to win over the hearts of CoD players, and so they've undone all the most unpopular changes made by IW last year. But if they want to keep the goodwill of the community for very long, they will need to keep making great decisions for MW3 throughout its lifecycle. And that starts with regular, intelligent balancing changes.

In this article we have the full patch notes, the patch size and a short guide on when you can expect future patches. Let's dig in and see if the latest buff and nerfs in MW3 make any sense!

Modern Warfare III Season 3 Update (April 3) | Patch Size

This patch is at least 20 GB across all platforms. It's so big because it contains all of the Season 3 content, which is a lot (for both multiplayer and Warzone). We're talking new maps, new guns, dozens of new bundles, and quite a few bug fixes.

The game is obnoxiously big, but at least you can delete all of MWII now.

Modern Warfare III Season 3 Update (April 3) | Patch Overview

Here is a short overview of some of the changes they have made in the latest patch:

• Significantly Buffed: Sidewinder, AMR9
• Significantly Nerfed: Holger 556, MCW (no longer four shot kill with a headshot), SOA Subverter, BAS-B, Rival-9, TAQ Evolvere, MTZ Interceptor, DR-6 Handstop, L4R Flash Hider

We focus on balancing changes and bug fixes when addressing each patch, not content.

Modern Warfare III Season 3 Update (April 3) | Patch Notes

Weapons & Attachments

Assault Rifles

• RAM-7

  • Decreased neck damage multiplier from 1.3x to 1x (-23%).

• Holger 556

  • Decreased upper leg, lower leg, and foot damage multipliers from 1x to 0.85x (-15%)

• MCW

  • Decreased headshot damage multiplier from 1.3x to 1.1x (+15%).

• DG-56

  • Increased sprint to fire time from 178ms to 199ms (+12%).

Battle Rifles

• SOA Subverter

  • Increased sprint to fire time from 256ms to 268ms (+5%).

  • Increased aim down sight time from 270ms to 290ms (+7%).

• BAS-B

  • Decreased rate of fire from 667rpm to 600rpm (-10%).

  • Decreased recoil center speed by 6%.

  • JAK Outlaw-277 Kit

    • Decreased sprint to fire time from 252ms to 226ms (-10%).

    • Decreased aim down sight time from 300ms to 240ms (-20%).

    • Decreased aim down sight rate of fire penalty from 150% to 135%.

    • Increased medium damage from 74 to 90 (+22%)

    • Increased minimum damage from 70 to 90 (+29%).

• Sidewinder

  • Decreased sprint to fire time from 231ms to 210ms (-9%).

  • Increased bullet velocity from 600m/s to 770m/s (+28%).

Submachine Guns

• RAM-9

  • Decreased sprint to fire time from 178ms to 147ms (-17%).

• AMR9

  • Decreased sprint to fire time from 189ms to 136ms (-28%).

• Rival-9

  • Increased sprint to fire time from 93ms to 110ms (+18%).

  • Decreased near-medium damage from 27 to 25 (-7%).

  • Decreased medium damage from 25 to 23 (-8%).

  • Decreased lower torso, lower arm, and hand damage multipliers from 1.1x to 1x (-9%).

• HRM-9

  • Increased sprint to fire time from 94ms to 110ms (+17%).

• Striker 9

  • Increased sprint to fire time from 100ms to 103ms (+3%).

• Striker

  • Increased sprint to fire time from 100ms to 110ms (+10%).

• WSP-9

  • Increased sprint to fire time from 88ms to 110ms (+25%).

• WSP Swarm

  • Increased sprint to fire time from 88ms to 99ms (+13%).

Shotguns

• Added Long Haul 50 and Wolfcall 300 Muzzle Attachments to MWIII Shotguns.

Light Machine Guns

• TAQ Evolvere

  • Increased sprint to fire time from 245ms to 257ms (+5%).

  • Increased aim down sight time from 385ms to 415ms (+8%).

  • 7.62 Belt Magazines

    • Decreased neck damage multiplier from 1.4x to 1.2x (-14%).

  • 5.56 Belt Magazines

    • Decreased rate of fire from 857rpm to 789rpm (-8%).

• Bruen Mk9

  • Decreased aim down sight time from 410ms to 350ms (-15%).

• RAAL MG (MWII)

  • Increased sprint to fire time from 199ms to 216ms (+9%).

  • Increased aim down sight time from 330ms to 380ms (+15%).

  • Increased neck damage multiplier from 1x to 1.3x (+30%).

  • Increased upper torso damage multiplier from 1x to 1.2x (+20%).

  • Increased leg and foot damage multipliers from 0.9x to 1x (+11%).

Marksman Rifles

• MTZ Interceptor

  • Increased aim down sight time from 280ms to 300ms (+7%).

  • Decreased medium damage from 88 to 83 (-6%).

  • Decreased minimum damage from 84 to 77 (-8%).

  • Decreased near-medium damage range from 44.5m to 38.1m (-14%).

Sniper Rifles

• XRK Stalker

  • Increased aim down sight time from 580ms to 600ms (+3%).

• KV Inhibitor

  • Increased aim down sight time from 540ms to 580ms (+7%).

• SP-X 80 (MWII)

  • Increased sprint to fire time from 270ms to 310ms (+15%).

  • Increased aim down sight time from 570ms to 590ms (+4%).

Handguns

• TYR

  • 12.7x55mm Snake Shot Ammunition

    • Increased minimum damage range and bullet termination range from 14.5m to 19.6m (+35%).

• WSP Stinger

  • Akimbo WSP Stinger Rear Grip

    • Increased rate of fire from 600rpm to 750rpm (+25%).

Attachments

• Added initial aim accuracy benefit to all Heavy Bolts for Sniper Rifles.

• Cronen INTLAS MSP-12 Optic

  • Laser is no longer visible to enemies at the hip.

• SL Razorhawk Laser Light

  • Flashlight is no longer visible to enemies at the hip.

  • Laser is no longer visible to enemies at the hip.

• CS15 Scarlet Box Laser

  • Laser is no longer visible to enemies.

• Verdant Hook Box Laser

  • Laser is no longer visible to enemies at the hip.

• VT-7 Spiritfire Suppressor Muzzle

  • Increased sprint to fire speed penalty from 2% to 5%.

• L4R Flash Hider Muzzle

  • Decreased horizontal recoil control benefit from 13% to 10%.

• DR-6 Handstop Underbarrel

  • Decreased aim down sight movement speed benefit by 3-4%, dependent upon Weapon Class.

• Bruen Heavy Support Grip Underbarrel

  • Decreased horizontal recoil control benefit from 12% to 8%.

Perks

• Revised Vest descriptions to clarify the max ammo benefit does not apply to Launchers.

• Quick-Grip Gloves (Gloves)

  • Increased weapon swap speed benefit to a minimum of 40%, differing by Weapon.

• Ordnance Gloves (Gloves)

  • Added a 20% Equipment, Field Upgrade, and Killstreak use speed benefit.

• Marksman Gloves (Gloves)

  • Resolved an issue causing

Equipment

• Stun Grenade (Tactical)

  • Decreased victim aim slowness duration to 300ms.

  • Removed aim slowness effect on victim’s equipped with Tac Mask (Gear).

  • Victim movement and aim slowness now linearly scales down throughout the stun duration.

• Decoy Grenade (Tactical)

  • While the Decoy Grenade is active, the player who threw it now gains the effects of Assassin Vest while standing within 20.3m of it.

• Flash Grenade (Tactical)

  • Decreased close-range stun duration 4s to 3.5s (-13%).

  • Increased medium-range stun duration from 2.35s to 2.75s (+17%).

  • Increased far-range stun duration from 0.45s to 1s (+122%).

• Frag Grenade (Lethal)

  • Decreased inner explosive damage from 250 to 225 (-10%).

  • Decreased intermediate explosive damage from 150 to 130 (-13%).

• Thermite (Lethal)

  • Increased incendiary damage tick rate from 2/s to 4/s (+100%).

  • Decreased inner incendiary damage from 38 to 25 (-34%).

  • Decreased outer incendiary damage from 15 to 10 (-33%).

• Thermobaric Grenade (Lethal)

  • Increased explosive damage radius from 8.6m to 9.5m (+10%).

  • Increased inner explosive damage from 90 to 100 (+11%).

  • Increased intermediate explosive damage from 80 to 90 (+13%).

  • Increased fire damage tick rate from 4/s to 5/s (+25%).

• Drill Charge (Lethal)

  • Decreased surface burrowing time from 1.25s to 0.75s (-40%).

• C4 (Lethal)

  • Detonation can no longer occur until stuck to a surface for 500ms.

  • Increased thrown velocity by 15%.

• Breacher Drone (Lethal)

  • Increased drone health from 1 to 55.

  • Increased drone velocity by 25%.

Field Upgrades

• Heartbeat Sensor

  • Addressed an issue causing battery life to be reset to 100% upon being put away.

• Recon Drone

  • Resolved an issue preventing a warning message when flying out of bounds.

Killstreaks

• SAE

  • Addressed an issue preventing explosives from damaging players in specific locations.

• Wheelson-HS

  • Player will no longer become stuck firing their Weapon if killed while controlling the Wheelson-HS.

• Swarm

  • Decreased minimum delay from target acquisition to attack from 500ms to 200ms (-60%).

  • Decreased maximum delay from target acquisition to attack from 800ms to 500ms (-38%).

  • Increased drone attack velocity by 75%.

  • Increased drone attack damage radius to 8.9m.

When Does Modern Warfare 3 Get Updated?

We expect Modern Warfare 3 to receive near daily updates during the beta, but when the full game launches, we predict it will be updated every Wednesday at 9 am PT (12 pm ET / 5 pm GMT / 6 pm CET). This is exactly when the last three Call of Duty games were updated each week, and we don't see why the devs would change their workflow. They will occasionally have weeks off when they don't push out an update, for instance on the week of Christmas.

How Can You Check For MW3 Patch Notes In-Game?

You can also check Patch Notes in-game, however this feature is often bugged. If you want to re-check the patch notes from in-game, and if the feature is working, just do the following:

1. Press ESC/Start from the main menu, and a new menu will pop out on the right side of the screen. Tab across to the Settings section (represented by a cog symbol), you will find "Patch Notes" at the bottom.
2. Select the game within the main CoD launcher that you want to see patch notes for.
3. You can now read through the latest patch notes for the game you selected.
   

That was everything you need to know about the Modern Warfare 3 update, we hope you found what you wanted in the patch notes!