A small update has arrived to Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone on January 13, and the patch notes reveal a focus on weapon balancing for Season 1 Reloaded. This includes a nerf for the akimbo variant of the Velox 5.7 pistol in Warzone, and the Maddox RFB assault rifle now has decreased damage ranges in multiplayer and Zombies.
For multiplayer and Zombies, the patch notes detail major adjustments for the Maddox RFB assault rifle. This includes a reduction to movement speed, added recoil, and significant decreases to the gun’s damage range. The developer says the Maddox RFB has been very strong because of its quick time-to-kill in close quarters, but the controllable recoil let it stretch its effectiveness out to longer ranges than intended.
“We’d like to keep the close-range damage high, as that was core to the weapon’s identity in Black Ops 4,” Treyarch says. “It has received significant range and recoil nerfs to reduce its versatility.”
Several adjustments are made to the AK-27 assault rifle Battle-Scar conversion to make the weapon more viable to use. The conversion kit previously turned the AK-27 into a slow-firing hybrid between an assault rifle and marksman rifle, but the developer says the conversion made the fire rate too punishing. The new buffs include a reduction to the weapon’s fire-rate penalty, removed movement penalties, and fast aim-down-sight speed.
Additionally, the Season’s new Sturmwolf 45 now has increased damage range and less recoil, making the gun more powerful and easier to handle.
A few adjustments are made to guns in Warzone. Previously, the akimbo variant of the Velox 5.7 pistol was dominating the close-range meta for battle royale in Season 1. The developer has now nerfed with a 50% damage reduction when using the akimbo attachment.
The AK-27 assault rifle’s Battle-Scar conversion also received an adjustment here, but this buff is limited to just removing the movement penalties previously associated with the gun’s conversion kit.
The full patch notes Black Ops 7 and Warzone can be found below, as shared by Activision.
Call of Duty’s Season 1 Reloaded update released last week, bringing new game modes and events themed around the Fallout TV show. Maximus and The Ghoul characters can be unlocked in the current Fallout event passes.
BLACK OPS 7 GLOBAL
Weapon Tuning: MP & ZM
Today’s weapon update includes Maddox RFB adjustments, improvements to the Sturmwolf 45 and AK-27 Battle-Scar Conversion based on early feedback, and adjustments to the M15 MOD 0 and Dravec 45. There are several changes to Prestige Attachments as well, which we will continue to make sure are offering a compelling choice for all weapons.
General
- Base Sprint to Sprint Fire Time (used with Gung Ho perk) now matches base Sprint to Fire Time for all weapons.
Assault Rifles
Maddox RFB
The Maddox RFB has been very strong because of its quick TTK in close quarters and controllable recoil that lets it stretch its effectiveness out to long ranges. We’d like to keep the close-range damage high, as that was core to the weapon’s identity in Black Ops 4. It has received significant range and recoil nerfs to reduce its versatility.
Additional Maddox RFB Adjustments
- Recoil increased.
- All movement speeds reduced by 0.05m/s.
Additional 13″ MFS Echo-Fire Barrel Adjustments
M15 MOD 0
The M15 MOD 0 continues to be stronger than we’d like in its versatility, mainly when it comes to the mid-range. The most significant changes here are to the Max Damage Range and the damage in the Mid Damage range, which removes the ability to reduce TTK with a single headshot mixed in. The weapon will continue to be effective at these ranges thanks to its low recoil, but there is a smaller window now where that ease of control also pairs with a better TTK than other ARs.
Additional M15 MOD 0 Adjustments
- Slide to Fire Time increased from 420ms to 430ms.
- All Hip Spread values increased by 0.1 degrees.
- All movement speeds reduced by 0.05m/s.
16″ Reticulated Barrel Adjustment
- Headshot multiplier improved from 1.55x to 1.6x.
AK-27
The Battle-Scar Conversion for the AK-27 was designed as a slow-firing, heavy-hitting hybrid between an Assault Rifle and Marksman Rifle. The reliance on headshots for a competitive TTK made it too punishing at its original Fire Rate, and the penalties pushing it towards Marksman Rifle mobility and handling were steep as well. We’ve improved all these attributes to bring it back closer to an Assault Rifle, but still with a uniquely slow Fire Rate that requires good accuracy and rewards headshots.
AK-27 Battle-Scar Conversion Adjustments
- Fire Rate penalty reduced from 100% to 70%.
- Removed movement penalties.
- Aim Down Sight Time penalty reduced from 60ms to 30ms.
- Sprint To Fire Time penalty reduced from 60ms to 30ms.
- Addressed an issue where the Comb attachments used by the Battle-Scar Conversion could remain on the weapon after removing the Conversion attachment.
X9 Maverick
14.6″ MFS Pulse Load+ Barrel Adjustment
- Damage Range penalty reduced from 25% to 13%.
- Aim Down Sight Time improvement increased from 20ms to 30ms.
- Sprint To Fire Time improvement increased from 15ms to 25ms.
- Movement Speed improvement increased by 0.03m/s.
DS20 Mirage
Mirage Tandem Launcher Adjustments
- Burst Fire Delay improved from 350ms to 300ms.
- Swap Time to and from Prestige launcher improved from 550ms to 420ms.
SMGs
Sturmwolf 45
The Sturmwolf 45 is designed around low recoil and favorable headshot damage compared to the other SMGs. We want it to be a bit more effective than where it’s currently sitting, but wary of making it too versatile by pairing the recoil with range, mobility, or handling improvements. We’re opting to double down on the headshot characteristics across the base weapon, the Damage Barrel, and the Prestige Attachment. The Prestige magazine will also have less recoil than it’s first iteration.
Additional Sturmwolf 45 Adjustments
- Headshot multiplier increased from 1.2x to 1.26x.
- 15″ Regnant Barrel
- Headshot multiplier increased from 1.25x to 1.35x.
- Vertical Recoil penalty reduced from 45% to 30%.
- Horizontal Recoil penalty reduced from 20% to 15%.
MFS Tigris .40 Cal Mag Adjustments
Additional Sturmwolf 45 + MFS Tigris .40 Cal Mag Adjustments
- Headshot multiplier increased from 1.2x to 1.26x.
- Vertical Recoil penalty reduced from 80% to 65%.
- Horizontal Recoil penalty reduced from 40% to 30%.
- Recoil Deviation penalty reduced from 50% to 35%.
Kogot-7
This is a minor adjustment, but prevents the Kogot-7 from further reducing its TTK at long range with headshots.
Ryden 45K
Ryden 45K Adjustment
- Adjusted Gun Kick and View Kick to reduce harshness of recoil pattern.
Razor 9mm
12″ MFS Sidewinder Barrel Adjustments
- Horizontal and Vertical Recoil improvement increased from 10% to 25%.
- Recoil Stabilization improvement increased from 15% to 25%.
- Aim Down Sight Time penalty increased from 15ms to 20ms.
- Sprint to Fire Time penalty increased from 15ms to 20ms.
Dravec 45
The Dravec 45 is receiving a substantial range reduction across the board. The combination of great range and extremely low recoil continued to make this weapon too versatile, even with slower mobility and handling. We still want to keep the recoil for the same reason we’ve mentioned in the past, which is keeping each weapon in a class feeling unique. By reducing the range, the base Dravec 45 trades away more power for its consistency.
Dravec 45 Damage Adjustments
Dravec 45 Adjustments
- Aim Down Sight Time increased from 230ms to 235ms.
Carbon 57
The Carbon 57 is on the low end of SMG usage, so we’re making some sizeable changes. In a lot of ways, the Carbon 57 will now fill the space previously occupied by the Dravec 45 as a mid-to-long range SMG with some Assault Rifle DNA. It has higher recoil, though, which gives us a valuable tuning knob to help keep the weapon in check without losing its core identity (high ammo, mid-rangey, and slower AR hybrid).
Additional Carbon 57 Adjustments
- Aim Down Sight Time increased from 240ms to 245ms.
- Sprint to Fire Time increased from 170ms to 180ms.
- Tactical Sprint to Fire Time increased from 290ms to 300ms.
- Slide to Fire Time increased from 360ms to 380ms.
- Dive to Fire Time increased from 440ms to 460ms.
- Addressed an issue that caused ironsights to be misaligned in ADS.
MPC-25
Aside from a slight recoil improvement, we are pre-emptively making some adjustments to a couple of hip spread attachments for the upcoming release of the new ContraBloom Laser. The Prestige barrel also receives some nice range improvements to further counteract the loss of raw TTK.
MPC-25 Adjustment
- Reduced random deviation in Gun Kick and View Kick.
Kühn Ported Comp Adjustment
- Sprint Fire Hip Spread improvement reduced from 25% to 15%.
8.6″ MFS Stratus-X Barrel Adjustments
VAS Tactical Scale Stock Adjustment
- Sprint Fire Hip Spread improvement reduced from 15% to 10%
LMGs
Sokol 545
Some recoil changes come to the Sokol 545, both to give the weapon a small lift in general and especially help the slower fire mode feel significantly more accurate than the faster one.
Sokol 545 Adjustments
- Reduced recoil of default fire mode.
- Reduced View Kick strength and deviation experienced later into the recoil pattern of the fast fire mode.
Marksman Rifles
M8A1
The Prestige Attachment for the M8A1 revolves around Tac Stance, and we have a couple of changes to improve that build path.
MFS Striker Tactical Stock Adjustments
- Tac Stance Spread improvement increased from 63% to 66%.
- Flinch penalty reduced from 40% to 18%.
2mw Adaptive Tactical Laser Adjustment
- Tactical Stance Aim Walking Speed improvement increased from 0.4m/s to 0.9m/s.
Sniper Rifles
XR-3 Ion
XR-3 Ion Adjustments
- Improved shot queuing window to prevent accidental follow-up bursts.
Pistols
Velox 5.7
The Prestige barrel on the Velox 5.7 is all about close quarters agility and aggressive movement. There was an issue with the Swap Speed improvement that we’ve fixed. We’re also juicing up some of the accuracy and weapon motion improvements, since it goes up against Damage Range in its node (which is especially valuable for pistols).
4″ MFS Celeste Barrel Adjustments
- Now also improves regular Hip Spread by 15%.
- Jumping and Landing stability improvement increased from 40% to 60%.
- Addressed an issue that prevented the Swap Speed benefits from applying.
CODA 9
The new Adaptive Discharge Mod and the Prestige attachment for the Coda 9 interact in a way that is detrimental to its ADS fire. We always try to design new attachments to be compatible with a weapon’s Prestige attachment and ideally have them synergize, too. In this case, we’ve looked at some options to make these two attachments work together, but due to the implementation we would have to compromise the current design or tuning of one of the two. And since we like how the two currently sit on their own, we’ve decided to just block players from equipping both and accidentally bricking the weapon. If we end up making changes to either of these attachments down the line, we’ll take the opportunity to reevaluate.
General Adjustments
- The Coda 9 Adaptive Discharge Mod and MFS DeltaCell Bulk Mag can no longer be equipped together.
Launchers
A.R.C. M1
General Adjustments
- Shots no longer queue during the overheat cooldown, to prevent accidental fire.
Special Weapon
NX Ravager
General Adjustments
- Addressed an issue that caused the NX Ravager from having a slightly slower velocity and greater arc than intended.
Melees
Ballistic Knife
Getting swapped off the Ballistic Knife after firing the last blade felt bad. It will now stay in the player’s hand so they can go for a melee attack or retrieve a blade.
General Adjustments
- The Ballistic Knife will no longer automatically stow itself when it runs out of ammo.
MULTIPLAYER
Maps
- Fringe
- Added collision to areas where players could get out of the map.
- Yakei
- Added collision to an area where players could get out of the map. (Added Jan. 9)
- Meltdown
- Added collision to an area where players could get out of the map. (Added Jan. 9)
- Flagship
- Flagship has been temporarily removed from the map pool due to a stability issue. (Added Jan. 9)
Perks
- Bankroll
- Closed an exploit where Bankroll could grant all Perks when using the Specialist Wildcard. (Added Jan. 9)
Equipment
- Stim Shot
- Addressed an issue preventing XP Progression on the Stim Shot Overclock. Stim Shot will now also gain progress when healing at least 10HP.
Audio
- Reduced the frequency of Announcer voice lines in The Ghouls.
Stability
- Addressed stability issues when using the Rhino Scorestreak. (Added Jan. 9)
- Added various stability fixes.
ZOMBIES
UI
- Addressed an issue where the After Action Report could show an Armory unlock for the NX Ravager after the player had already unlocked it.
Stability
- Added various stability fixes.
ENDGAME
Gameplay
- Addressed an issue where party members could be pulled out of the Endgame cinematic early and lose their loadout after defeating Faulkner when in a party.
- Addressed an issue where calling in a Rhino or Power Armor while holding a melee weapon would cause the player to lose their Exotic weapon and melee weapon rarity.
- Addressed an issue where Supply Crates could be opened more than once.
WARZONE WEAPONS
Weapon Adjustments
We’ve taken several targeted adjustments in today’s update from our partners at Treyarch in Black Ops 7 Multiplayer. The Velox 5.7 Akimbo has also been adjusted, which had been dominating the close-range meta.
AK-27
Attachment Adjustments
- Battle-Scar Conversion
- Removed Movement Penalties
DS20 MIRAGE
Attachment Adjustments
- Mirage Tandem Launcher
- Burst Fire Delay improved from 350ms to 300ms.
- Swap Time to and from Prestige launcher improved from 550ms to 420ms.
X9 MAVERICK
Attachment Adjustments
- 14.6″ MFS Pulse Load+ Barrel
- Reduced Range Penalty by 10%
- Sprint to Fire speed improved from 8% to 13%
- Aim Down Sight speed improved from 8% to 12%
SMG Adjustments
WeaponAdjustments
CARBON 57
- Addressed an issue that caused ironsights to be misaligned in ADS.
RAZOR 9MM
Attachment Adjustments
- 12″ MFS Sidewinder Barrel
- Vertical Recoil benefit improved by 15%
- Horizontal Recoil benefit improved by 15%
- Recoil Stabilization improved by 10%
- Sprint to Fire speed slowed from 9% to 17%
- Aim Down sight speed slowed from 8% to 11%
RYDEN 45K
- Adjusted Gun Kick and View Kick to reduce harshness of recoil pattern.
M8A1
Attachment Adjustments
- MFS Striker Tactical Stock
- Tac Stance Spread improvement increased from 63% to 66%
- Flinch penalty reduced from 40% to 18%
- 2mw Adaptive Tactical Laser
- Tactical Stance Aim Walking Speed improvement increased from 0.4m/s to 0.9m/s
XR-3 ION
- Improved shot queuing window to prevent accidental follow-up bursts.
VELOX 5.7
Attachment Adjustments
- Akimbo Velox 5.7
- Now has a 50% Damage Reduction
We recognize this may seem like an extreme nerf but the intention of this change is to bring it more in line with what we expect of close range weapons and akimbo attachments. It was outperforming other close-range options, and this change is intended to keep the close-range meta healthy without an obvious outlier.
A.R.C M1
- Shots no longer queue during the overheat cooldown, to prevent accidental fire.
NX RAVAGER
- Addressed an issue that caused the NX Ravager from having a slightly slower velocity and greater arc than intended.
BUG FIXES
- Fixed an issue responsible for the most frequent disconnects during a match.
- Fixed an issue that prevented free-to-play players from using voice and text chat.
- Fixed an issue where the Comb attachments used by the Battle-Scar Conversion could remain on the weapon after removing the Conversion attachment.
- Fixed an issue that could cause a crash when navigating to the COR-45 aftermarket part in the Gunsmith.
- Fixed an issue where the pre-match loading screen did not display objectives across multiple modes.
- Fixed an issue where the Eject and Detonate button prompts did not properly reflect the player’s custom crouch keybind.