After a short delay, the anticipated season 1 update forCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warhas finally arrived. The massive update provides an influx of new content for players to enjoy including new weapons, game modes, operators, and the Season 1 Battle Pass. Thepreviously leaked Rebirth Islandhas also arrived as the new Battle Royale map, giving players a different environment to run around in outside of Verdansk. In addition to content, the seasonal update also brought with it a host of new bug fixes and updates.
Weapon tuning was also a big focus for Treyarch with this update, as the studio went through just about every weapon class in an attempt to tweak things to be more consistent withinCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Weapon tweaking is a common occurrence in a highly populated game multiplayer likeCall of Duty, and alreadyBlack Ops Cold Warfans have seen various nerfs alreadyin the month or so since the game originally launched.
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However, this update introduces a large number of changes which will likely alter the current meta and perhaps even make some lesser used weapons viable once again. Thankfully, the studio didn’t make any massive changes to a single weapon, so the guns that were strong should still be good, while other guns which may have been largely ignored for one reason or another, could have a second shot during competitiveCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warmatches.
The biggest changes were made to assault rifles, specifically the AK-47 and Krig 6, which both received headshot multiplier reductions. The AK-47 also had its damage reduced when the 20" Spetsnaz RPK Barrel is attached. The formerly powerful FFAR1 got a small bump through a reduction in recoil and an increase to damage ranges. Shotguns and Tactical Rifles were also heavily nerfed in this update with a big focus on knocking back their damage ranges in particular.
Submachine guns were a big winner in this update as the Milano 821, KSP 45, and Bullfrog each received a buff to their damage ranges. The M60 got a boost to ADS and swap speed, while the Magnum had its fire rate and damage range increased. It’ll be interesting to see how the community reacts to these weapon changes through the course of Season 1.
One thing that remains a divisive topic among fans is the game’s use of Skill-based Matchmaking. While Activision doesn’t appear to be making changes to it anytime soon, there’s been a lot of talk in the community overthe benefits and issues SBMM presents. Some have even taken things a step further by conducting an unofficial study on how the system potentially attempts to balance game modes with a player of higher skill. If the findings are accurate, skilled players could be hit with a 50% increase to ping or potentially being matchmade with a team of lower skilled players to balance the match.
The full weapon changes can be found below:
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold Waris available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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