Warzone Season 4: Reloaded didn't land with much actual content, but it did bring with it the biggest balance patch in the history of the game. Raven Software has been saying for months that they share the community's concern over TTK and would like to see it increased. With this patch, they made the first big move towards that goal. Almost everything was nerfed.
Back in the glorious days of yore, when Recons and MP7s were meta, the TTK, or time-to-kill for the uninitiated, was much higher. Remember that in that opening season after Warzone's launch the M4 was perhaps the best weapon in the game and had a TTK of 861ms at long range. This was generally preferred as it gave players a more forgiving time frame in which they could react and survive if they were jumped by another squad. But since the integration of Black Ops Cold War weapons, the game has been plagued by so-called 'shredders'. Weapons that can kill in as little time as 300 or 400 milliseconds. This has been perhaps the most common gameplay complaint in 2021 about Warzone. But Raven are finally doing something about it.
How Are Raven Increasing The TTK In Warzone?
Raven have been going after range and torso damage multipliers, in particular, nerfing these characteristics across a whole swath of ARs and SMGs that are considered 'meta'. Even those that weren't thought of as so strong, and even much older MW weapons have been nerfed too. Only shotguns remain entirely untouched, but they were never the source of the problem.
By nerfing these specific characteristics, Raven are essentially increasing the TTK of the average engagement, but players who can land their headshots will be rewarded with rapid kill times. You can tell from these patch notes that there's also a deliberate effort at play to try and limit weapons to specific roles. The XM4 is a perfect case in point; they've nerfed its close-range damage and ADS to make it weaker as a sniper support / hybrid SMG.
The weapon balance is in complete upheaval right now, but at EarlyGame our Call of Duty team keeps a constant watch on the meta as it evolves, and we'll be doing the same in the coming days.
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Weapon Balance Changes
Assault Rifles
- AK-47 (BOCW)
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.62 to 1.5
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.2 to 1
- AK-47 (MW)
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.2 to 1.1
- C58 (BOCW)
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.62 to 1.58
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.2 to 1
- Lower Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.1 to 1
- Maximum Damage Range increased by 8%
- Recoil increased
- CR-56 AMAX (MW)
- Headshot Multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.55
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.1 to 1
- Assault Rifle Bravo (MW)
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 2.05 to 1.62
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.2 to 1.1
- FARA 83 (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 31 to 29
- Recoil increased
- FFAR 1 (BOCW)
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.5 to 1.4
- Maximum Damage decreased from 27 to 25
- Minimum Damage decreased from 25 to 23
- Maximum Damage Range decreased by 20%
- Neck Multiplier increased from 1 to 1.2
- Assault Rifle Golf - FN Scar 17 (MW)
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.2 to 1.1
- Grau 5.56 (MW)
- Minimum Damage increased from 22 to 24
- Groza (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 28 to 27
- Maximum Damage Range increased by 4.5%
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.62 to 1.5
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.2 to 1.12
- Lower Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.1 to 1
- Recoil pattern smoothed
- Krig 6 (BOCW)
- Minimum Damage increased from 25 to 26
- M13 (MW)
- Minimum Damage increased from 19 to 20
- Assault Rifle Charlie - M4A1 (MW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 28 to 27
- Minimum Damage increased from 22 to 23
- Oden (MW)
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.3 to 1.2
- QBZ-83 (BOCW)
- Minimum Damage increased from 22 to 24
- Base Move Speed reduced by 3%
- Base ADS Move Speed reduced by 5%
- Upper Torso Multiplier increased from 1.1 to 1.2
- Lower Torso Multiplier increased from 1 to 1.1
- RAM-7 (MW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 28 to 26
- XM4 (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 32 to 30
- Minimum Damage decreased from 28 to 27
- ADS Speed decreased slightly
- Recoil increased slightly
Light Machine Guns
- M60 (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage increased from 36 to 37
- Headshot Multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.6
- MG 34 (MW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 31 to 29
- Minimum Damage decreased from 28 to 27
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.5 to 1.4
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.1 to 1
- MG 82 (BOCW)
- ADS Speed decreased slightly
- Light Machine Gun Alpha - PKM (MW)
- Maximum Damage increased from 31 to 32
- Maximum Damage Range decreased by 7%
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.1 to 1
- SA87 (MW)
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.2 to 1.1
- Light Machine Gun Alpha - Stoner 63 (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 34 to 33
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.1 to 1
Sniper Rifles
- Swiss K31 (BOCW)
- ADS animation updated
- Now shares a base reticle with the ZRG 20mm
Submachine Guns
- AK-74u (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 35 to 31
- Minimum Damage increased from 25 to 26
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.62 to 1.6
- Upper Torso Multiplier increased from 1 to 1.1
- Bullet Velocity increased by 5%
- Submachine Gun Alpha - AUG (MW)
- Minimum Damage increased from 25 to 26
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.62 to 1.47
- Bullfrog (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 32 to 31
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.62 to 1.5
- Left Upper Arm Multiplier increased from .9 to 1
- Right Upper Arm Multiplier increased from .9 to 1
- Left Upper Leg Multiplier increased from .9 to 1
- Right Upper Leg Multiplier increased from .9 to 1
- KSP-45 (BOCW)
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.62 to 1.57
- LC10 (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 30 to 27
- Minimum Damage decreased from 25 to 24
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.62 to 1.55
- Mac-10 (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 24 to 23
- Minimum Damage decreased from 20 to 19
- Milano 821 (BOCW)
- Recoil increased slightly
- Maximum Damage range decreased by 12%
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.62 to 1.38
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.2 to 1.1
- Lower Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.1 to 1
- Submachine Gun Alpha - MP5 (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 33 to 31
- Minimum Damage decreased from 25 to 24
- Nail Gun (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 50 to 46
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.62 to 1.45
- Upper Torso Multiplier decreased from 1.28 to 1
- Submachine Gun Echo - PP19 Bizon (MW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 35 to 34
- Minimum Damage increased from 25 to 26
- PPSh-41 (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 28 to 26
- ISO (MW)
- Minimum Damage increased from 20 to 21
- Submachine Gun Delta - Uzi (MW)
- Minimum Damage increased from 25 to 26
- Fennec (MW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 25 to 24
- Minimum Damage decreased from 20 to 19
Tactical Rifles
- Tactical Rifle Charlie - AUG (BOCW)
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.8 to 1.7
- CARV.2 (BOCW)
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.7 to 1.6
- M16 (BOCW)
- Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.8 to 1.6
What's The Meta Now?
Frankly, we cannot tell you yet, and don't believe anyone who tells you they can. We just haven't had enough time as a community to test the 35+ weapons that have been balanced. It's likely that one of the older MW ARs will emerge as a viable candidate for S-tier now, the FARA might still be there as well depending on how strong the increase to recoil was. We just cannot know for certain. But we follow the meta like the worst of the sweats, so don't worry, as soon as a new king has been discovered, we'll make sure you know about it.
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