It’s been less than a week since Season 5 of Call of Duty: Warzone launched but Raven Software is already making some changes. In the Season 5 patch notes, the developers promised that a round of weapon balancing would be coming soon. Those changes arrived today, Aug. 16, when a new game settings update went live in Warzone.
The Aug. 16 game settings update is small but makes some huge changes to the submachine gun and pistol weapon classes. There’s also one change to an assault rifle, which shouldn’t alter the meta too much. Lastly, Raven also fixed a few bugs that were nagging Warzone in Season 5. Below, players can see the full patch notes for the Aug. 16 game settings update.
Warzone Aug. 16 update patch notes
🛠️A #Warzone update is now live!
Includes Bug Fixes and a balance pass to various Weapons.
The Season Five patch notes have been amended (see August 16th): https://t.co/9vjUyoXnO9 pic.twitter.com/jnAj4d4yKw
— Raven Software (@RavenSoftware) August 16, 2021
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue allowing multiple Squads to enter the same Red Door
- This addresses other related issues such as dying to Gas in the Red Door hallway
- Fixed an issue where Battle Pass Tiers were not unlocked correctly when the Battle Pass or the Battle Pass Bundle were received as a gift
- Fixed an issue with the PPSh-41 (BOCW) where the KGB Eliminator and GRU Suppressor Attachment icons were appearing as white boxes
For players that were experiencing some trouble with the Battle Pass, this update should alleviate any issues.
Weapons
Raven Software prefaced these Aug. 16 changes by saying they are “generally pleased with the state of balance and we do not think anything needs to be immediately addressed.” However, the developers did make some key changes to meta weapons.
Assault Rifles
- AS VAL (MW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 30 to 27
Submachine Guns
- Fennec (MW)
- Bullet Velocity increased by 13.4%
- Submachine Gun Charlie (MP5) (MW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 34 to 31
- Maximum Damage Range decreased by 5.4%
- Upper Torso Damage Multiplier increased from 1 to 1.1
- OTs 9 (BOCW)
- ADS Weapon Sway decreased
Handguns
- AMP 63 (BOCW)
- Maximum Damage decreased from 33 to 31
- Mid Damage now 28
- Minimum Damage decreased from 28 to 23
- M19 (MW)
- This change only applies while using Akimbo
- Maximum Damage decreased from 33 to 29
- Mid Damage decreased from 28 to 25
- Minimum Damage decreased from 23 to 20
- This change only applies while using Akimbo
- Sykov (MW)
- This change only applies while using the Sorokin 140mm Auto
- Maximum Damage decreased from 27 to 24
- Mid Damage decreased from 23 to 20
- Minimum Damage decreased from 19 to 17
- This change only applies while using the Sorokin 140mm Auto
The biggest change in the Aug. 16 update is to the AS VAL and Modern Warfare MP5. While the Sykov and AMP 63 were also nerfed fairly heavily, the AS VAL and MW MP5 were both firmly within the meta of Warzone. The two MW weapons received substantial nerfs and the developers clarified the changes in the patch notes.
In regard to the AS VAL, Raven stated that “its [AS VAL] TTK potential has remained well outside of the range we have been targeting.” As for the MW MP5, the devs wanted to make it “a little less forgiving,” which is why they nerfed its damage and damage range.
