Black Ops Cold War Nov 20 patch notes: weapon nerfs & scorestreak changes

Black Ops Cold War has gotten its self-proclaimed launch-week update and it makes a ton of adjustments to the game’s multiplayer, including a slew of weapon nerfs and buffs, some bug fixes, and more substantial changes. Here’s everything you need to know.

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Even though the MP5 was already nerfed on its own a couple days back, Black Ops Cold War has finally gotten its first, proper, full-blown patch since its launch and there’s a lot to unpack. In short, almost every single aspect of the game has been tweaked in some way with this new update, which is 5GB on PC, 11GB on Xbox consoles, 3GB on PS4, and 6GB on PS5.

With bugs and weapon adjustments seemingly being the most-common complaint among players right now, it only makes sense that this first post-launch update would address those problems head-on. Here’s all of the biggest and most notable changes made the game.

Biggest changes since launch

Ever since the game’s launch, Black Ops Cold War has had a problem with a few specific guns dominating the meta. As previously mentioned, the MP5 was already tweaked, but that was far from the main issue. This new update is looking resolve that with adjustments being made to the FFAR, the M16, and the AUG.

• Read more: 5 things we need to see in Warzone’s Black Ops Cold War update

In addition, every single Sniper Rifle got adjustments across the board, specifically for  Sprint to Fire time, effectively nerfing the whole class of weapons.

Beyond that, scorestreaks got a wide variety of adjustments: Ten of the streaks have had their values changed, while some even got changes to their ammo capacity and damage, reducing their effectiveness overall.

Activision

A number of different weapons have been adjusted with this new patch.

Finally, Aim Response Curve options have finally been added to the game (including the highly anticipated Dynamic setting), which is a welcome addition for fans.

Of course, Zombies also got some love, although its changes are less substantial than its MP counterpart. Bugs have been fixed, exploits have been closed up, and adjustments have been made to the pathways that the undead follow. Still, it’s nice to see the mode getting some love.

• Read more: Insane Black Ops Cold War AK-47 loadout somehow gives ‘negative recoil‘

All in all, there’s a ton to go through, beyond what was just mentioned. To put it simply, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Modes and maps were also tweaked, alongside a large number of bug fixes. If you want to look at it all for yourself, you can find the full patch notes below.

The M16 is one of the guns that was more popularly hoped to receive a nerf.

Treyarch’s official patch notes:

Weapons

• Assault Rifles
  • FFAR1
    • Increased recoil.
    • Slightly reduced max damage by 3.5% (28 to 27).
    • Reduced max damage range by 34% (38m to 25m).
• Submachine Guns
  • Submachine Gun Alpha
    • Reduced base effective damage range by 33% (15.24m to 10.16m).
    • Added more character to initial recoil by tweaking several bullet trajectories. (While this doesn’t affect the vertical/horizontal control stats in Gunsmith, this change makes it more difficult to stay on target by adjusting the trajectories of several bullets in the initial firing experience.)
    • (Update: These changes were unintentionally reverted in today’s update and will return in an upcoming update.)
• Tactical Rifles
  • M16
    • Reduced max damage range by 15% (25.4m to 21.59m).
    • Increased sprint to fire time.
    • Slightly slowed move speed while firing.
    • Slightly increased delay between bursts.
    • Rebalanced fire rate bonuses on barrel attachments.
    • Slightly reduced effectiveness of laser attachments.
  • Tactical Rifle Charlie
    • Reduced max damage range by 20% (38.1m to 30.48m).
    • Increased sprint to fire time.
    • Slightly slowed move speed while firing.
    • Slightly increased delay between bursts.
    • Rebalanced fire rate bonuses on barrel attachments.
    • Slightly reduced effectiveness of laser attachments.
  • Type 63
    • Slightly increased fire rate.
    • Rebalanced fire rate bonuses on barrel attachments.
  • DMR 14
    • Slightly increased fire rate.
    • Rebalanced fire rate bonuses on barrel attachments.
• Light Machine Guns
  • M60
    • Improved max damage ranges.
    • Improved movement speeds.
• Sniper Rifles (All)
  • Adjusted Sprint to Fire times to account for early blend/interruption allowed via animation system.
    • The effective Sprint to Fire time is notably shorter than what is displayed in Gunsmith. We have plans to address the Gunsmith readout in a future update.
  • Adjusted movement speed impact when firing to intended values to make each shot feel more powerful.
  • Fine-tuned barrel attachments that improve idle sway to provide a unique feel on each gun.
• Pistols
  • Magnum
    • Slightly improved fire rate.
    • Improved max damage range.
    • Improved visibility while firing after the first shot.
• Shotguns
  • Shotgun Bravo
    • Slightly reduced damage between ranges from 5.8m to 7.7m

Game Modes

• Hardcore
  • Friendly fire system now properly transitions to reflect damage after 3 team kills.
• Search & Destroy
  • Addressed an issue where defusing the bomb could take longer than the intended 7.5 seconds.
• Free-For-All
  • Adjusted several starting spawns that allowed players to have line of sight on another player before the match started.
• CDL Hardpoint
  • Addressed an issue where players would spawn outside of the intended play space when playing CDL Hardpoint in Custom Games.
• Combined Arms
  • Improved the interaction when using Stationary Turrets in Combined Arms.
• Spawns
  • Adjusted various spawns in Multiplayer game modes that could result in the player spawning above the ground.
• Custom Games
  • Added Scorestreak Cost Overrides to Custom Games.

Scorestreaks

• Combat Bow
  • Reduced ammo from 5 to 4.
• Care Package
  • Increased cost from 1,800 to 2,000.
• Sentry Turret
  • Reduced cost from 2,000 to 1,800.
• Napalm Strike
  • Increased cost from 2,100 to 2,500.
• Air Patrol
  • Reduced cost from 3,200 to 2,700.
• Artillery
  • Increased cost from 2,500 to 3,000.
• Cruise Missile
  • Increased cost from 2,600 to 3,500.
• War Machine
  • Increased cost from 3,500 to 4,000.
• Attack Helicopter
  • Increased cost from 4,000 to 4,500.
  • Increased damage from 50 to 75 per bullet.
  • Increased health from 4,500 to 5,000.
  • Decreased the duration of the screen shake from bullet impacts.
  • Reduced the amount of time the helicopter will stay in one place before relocating.
• VTOL Escort
  • Reduced cost from 8,500 to 8,000.
  • Increased turret burst length and reduced cooldown time.
• Chopper Gunner
  • Increased cost from 6,000 to 6,500.
  • Reduced the movement on the gun when firing.

Maps

• Garrison
  • Addressed an issue where a player in the crawlspace could collide with players above them.

Equipment

• Tomahawks can now be thrown immediately at round start.

Eliminations

• Extended time after damaging an enemy that will count toward an Elimination if that enemy is killed.

Finishing Moves

• Improved the ability to trigger a Finishing Move on misaligned surfaces.
• Addressed an issue where players would end up in an unintended pose if they were downed while being eliminated by Finishing Move.

Stability

• General
  • Fixed a crash that could occur during intro sequences of a Multiplayer match.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when using Weapons/Ammo Caches.
  • Fixed multiple rare crashes that could occur while the player was downed.
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur when pinging a downed friendly player.
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur when taking damage as the inflictor disconnected from the game.
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur when firing a locked-on missile.
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur in Search and Destroy.
  • Added various stability fixes.
• Scorestreaks
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur when the player disconnected after their Care Package had landed.
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur if the owner of a VTOL Scorestreak disconnected from the server as they were taking control of the Scorestreak.
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur when using the Cruise Missile.
  • Fixed a rare crash related to Scorestreak score aggregation.
• Progression
  • Fixed a crash involving incorrect Challenge progress tracking.
• Vehicles
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur when vehicles were being respawned.
• Equipment
  • Fixed a rare crash related to the Decoy Grenade.
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur if C4 was being detonated but it no longer existed.
• Field Upgrades
  • Fixed a rare crash involving an incorrect volley count for the SAM Turret.
• Killcam
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur in limited-life modes when viewing the Killcam.
• Perks
  • Fixed a very rare crash that could occur when the Forward Intel Perk attempted to adjust the player’s mini-map range while the player was not alive at the time.

Misc. Fixes

• UI
  • Addressed an issue where the player would receive a UI error when they returned to the lobby post-match.
  • Addressed an issue where, if a player respawned or joined in progress while their teammate was downed, their revive UI would be missing.
  • Addressed a rare occurrence where players would receive a UI error at the end of the exfil cinematic.
• Progression
  • Addressed an issue where the Woods Operator Unlock Challenge would not progress correctly if different weapons were used during a killstreak.
• Gunsmith
  • Addressed an issue where the player would lose functionality within the Pause menu if the Gunsmith menu remained open after the intro cutscene.
• Vehicles
  • Addressed an issue where Operators are missing a pistol while riding as a passenger on vehicles when viewed in 3rd person.

Gameplay

• Improved general zombie pathing.
• Enemies will now use their out-of-bounds attacks against players in more unintended locations.
• Closed various exploitable locations where the player could leave the intended play space.

Stability

• Fixed a crash that could occur when Perks did not properly match up with the player’s upgraded Perk Skills.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when picking up Perk cans.
• Added various stability fixes. 

Bug Fixes

• Perks
  • Addressed an issue that allowed obtaining multiple versions of the same Perk.
  • Addressed an issue that prevented purchasing the Elemental Pop Perk from one side of the machine.
• Field Upgrades
  • Addressed an issue where the Tier III Aether Shroud could occasionally place the player under the floor.
• Weapons
  • Addressed an issue that prevented attachments from applying to certain weapons.
  • Addressed an issue that caused certain weapons, such as the Ray Gun, to be lost when being revived.
  • Addressed an issue where Support rarity would display as the same rarity as the player’s weapon instead of the rarity it was on the ground.
  • Addressed an issue that caused Set Showcase Weapon not to function properly in Create-a-Class.
• Progression
  • Addressed an issue with the incorrect icon displaying when reaching Prestige 1.
  • Addressed an issue that caused weapon XP to be earned on weapons used by teammates.
  • Addressed an issue that allowed players to earn progress toward Dark Ops Challenges erroneously by joining a match in progress.
  • Addressed an issue that caused multiple inaccurate XP notifications to appear at the end of a co-op match.
• HUD
  • Addressed an issue that caused the player’s health bar on the HUD to not properly display as empty when dying under specific circumstances.
  • Addressed an issue where only two of the remaining players’ names were visible after one of four players dropped out of the match.
  • Addressed an issue that caused incorrect player colors to appear on the HUD after death.
• Visuals
  • Addressed an issue that caused enemy models to sometimes appear low quality.
  • Addressed an issue causing visual effects from Aether Shroud to continuously play after spectating.
• Loot
  • Addressed an issue that sometimes prevented obtaining item drops.
• Host Migration
  • Addressed various issues which sometimes caused host migration to fail.
  • Addressed an issue where players would get a UI error while attempting to open their scoreboard while migrating hosts.
• Gunsmith
  • Addressed an issue that caused loss of functionality using the Gunsmith menu during the start of a match.
• Mystery Box
  • Addressed an issue that prevented the weapon name from properly appearing after using the Mystery Box.
  • Addressed a rare issue that caused the Mystery Box to remain open after use.
• Equipment
  • Addressed an issue that sometimes prevented the Decoy from being deactivated when thrown out of the play space.
• Sensitivity
  • Addressed an issue that caused the player’s controller sensitivity to be altered by the jump scare.
• Dead Ops Arcade 3
  • Addressed an issue where the Arcade Machine pickup could cause a break in game progression.
  • Addressed an issue that caused enemies to spawn on top of players.
  • Addressed an issue where the player would see placeholder text before the opening cutscene played.
• Onslaught
  • Addressed an issue where “Die Maschine” tips could appear while loading into an Onslaught match.

Settings

• Aim Response Curve Type options added to Settings.

Stability

• Fixed a rare crash related to playing voiceover audio.
• Fixed a rare crash related to player footstep effects.

Bug Fixes

• Progression
  • Addressed an issue that made weapon camo and Challenge progress appear to reset after resuming from a suspended state.
  • Addressed an issue where Medals earned in-game were not displayed in the Barracks tab.
  • Addressed an issue where a Challenge’s description could overlap with other text.
• Camos
  • Addressed an issue with Mastery camos always appearing as locked in the Gunsmith but usable in Custom Games.
  • Addressed an issue where the “Equipped” icon was not showing correctly on the selected camo upon returning to the camo menu.
  • Addressed an issue that would allow players to equip any weapon camo in Custom Games.
• Attachments
  • Addressed an issue where optic reticles could appear unlocked despite the player not meeting the requirements.
  • Addressed an issue where attachments always showed as unlocked when swapping Weapon Blueprints.
  • Addressed an issue that would unlock all optic reticles on Weapon Blueprints.
  • Reticles
  • Addressed an issue where reticles could appear upside-down.
• Cosmetics
  • Addressed an issue where Stickers would not appear on weapons when selected in certain slots.
• Operators
  • Addressed an issue where the CIA logo displayed for all Operators, regardless of affiliation.
• UI
  • Addressed an issue where overlapping text was shown when receiving a friend request in-game through the user’s Activision account.
  • Addressed a UI error that could occur when loading in as a CODCaster in Custom Games.

Bug Fixes

• Progression
  • Addressed an issue that displayed 0 XP earned in the After-Action Report when reaching Prestige 1.
• Main Menu
  • Addressed an issue where the player could access the Multiplayer menu without having the Multiplayer Pack installed.
• Settings
  • Addressed an issue where the option to enable Ray Tracing was displayed when not supported.
  • Addressed an issue where the Screen Space Reflections setting was stuck on Low Quality.
  • Updated the description of “Field of View” options in the Settings menu.
• Friends List
  • Addressed an error notification when bringing the party back to the main menu.
• Fireteam: Dirty Bomb
  • Addressed an issue with team names showing up incorrectly in the After-Action report of a Fireteam: Dirty Bomb match.
  • Addressed an issue where Battle.net friends would not display the rich presence of a friend playing Fireteam: Dirty Bomb.
  • Removed an unnecessary notification when joining Fireteam: Dirty Bomb playlists.
• Aspect Ratio
  • Addressed aspect ratio issues in 16:10 for tutorial menus.
  • Addressed an aspect ratio issue with portal effects in Zombies.