Warzone Patch Notes June 22: MG 82 Nerf

Warzone MG 82 Nerf
This was...kind of obviously going to happen, but they've nerfed it well | © Activision Blizzard

With Warzone Season 4, we got two new weapons: the C85 (an AR) and the MG 82 (an LMG). The latter was clearly overpowered on launch, and so in just a few short days, Raven implemented a nerf. The MG 82 has now beentweaked down a little with the June 22 update. We think these balance changes are just right, take a look for yourself below. We were all happy about Warzone Season 4, with its piles of new content, mysterious Red Doors, and of course, new weapons. And more optimistically, still for the long–term health of the game, Raven Software worked throughout Season 3 to create one of the best and widest metas we've ever had. However, with the new MG 82, this balance was put dangerously close on the brink again.

The problem with the new LMG was that, as is typical for LMGs, it has a large magazine, a severe damage profile, and hardly any recoil, but at the same time, has a very high rate of fire and comparatively fast handling. That quickly made the MG 82 one of the most popular and powerful weapons in Warzone, and players were demanding changes. And here they are, the much-wanted MG 82 nerfs!

Warzone Patch Notes June 22

This was a quick patch to nerf the MG 82 before the World Series, so besides some very minor bug fixes, Raven only addressed that weapon and gave a quick note on their thoughts regarding the Nail Gun. Here they are:

MG 82 (BOCW)

  • Maximum Damage decreased from 30 to 29
  • Minimum Damage decreased from 28 to 27
  • Maximum Damage range decreased by 20%
  • Headshot multiplier decreased from 1.3 to 1.2
  • Upper Chest multiplier decreased from 1.1 to 1
  • Extremities multiplier decreased from 1 to .9
  • Vertical and Horizontal Recoil increased
We had envisioned the MG 82 (BOCW) as a short to mid-range Light Machine Gun given its relatively fast handling, mobility, and rate of fire. However, it also retained many powerful LMG traits like damage profile, bullet velocity, and magazine size all while having negligible recoil. These factors in combination created one of the most dominant weapons to land in Verdansk. Do not be deceived by the magnitude of these changes. The damage per magazine and rate of fire is still top tier so we expect the MG 82 to remain viable.

Nail Gun (BOCW)

We will be keeping a close eye on the Nail Gun (BOCW). We feel it kills about a bullet faster than we would like. With extremely low rate of fire Weapons, they can be on a razor’s edge of balance wherein missing a single shot can turn an incredibly fast Time to Kill into one of the slowest in its class. This is not the case with the Nail Gun (BOCW) now, but if it required an additional bullet to kill and nothing else changed, it likely would be. So, we may push and pull on some of its functionality to ensure that it fulfills its role as a highly mobile, close range, full-auto dominator that can rival shotgun TTKs but rapidly wanes in efficacy the further enemies are from you. They are just nails after all.

In addition to the MG 82 nerfs and the bug fixes, Raven Software announced in the Warzone Patch Notes of June 22 that they would keep an eye on the field upgrade "Dead Silence" and try to offer some direct counters to it. Dead Silence sees a lot of action at the upper end of play, and it has an insanely common drop rate right now. However, it's difficult to make changes without causing other problems, and Dead Silence is not as glaring a problem as the MG 82 was, so Raven understandably wants to avoid promising anything yet. That was it, just a quick nerf patch. What do you think of the MG 82 nerfs? Are they enough to weaken the new LMG but keep it competitive? Or were the MG 82 nerfs perhaps even too strong?

Like keeping up to speed with all things Season 4? So do we, here's a few of the new additions in case you missed anything:

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Jon Ramuz

Jon has a BA and an MA in English Literature, and as Content Lead for EarlyGame has written over 1,500 articles. He focuses on shooters, but also writes about entertainment and gaming in general....