Blackout changes and additions revealed for March 26 Black Ops 4 update

Call of Duty developers Treyarch have outlined some of the major additions and changes coming soon to Black Ops 4’s Blackout battle royale mode.

In Treyarch’s Black Ops 4 Studio Livestream on March 25, Studio Design Lead David Vonderhaar broke down what the development team is planning on adding and changing in Blackout.

Some of these changes are set to be implemented in the major Black Ops 4 update coming on March 26, while the others will come further down the line.

New Blackout Equipment and Weapons

The March 25 update in Black Ops 4 will introduce the Zero Specialist’s EMP grenade, the Outrider Specialist’s Sparrow weapon, and a brand new melee weapon called the DemoHammer.

Players will be able to use EMPs to disable enemy vehicles and equipment, providing counter-play against some of the more powerful aspects of the game. 

The Zero Specialist’s EMP will be added in Blackout as a viable counter against some of the game’s more powerful items and vehicles.

Much like its Multiplayer version, Outrider’s Sparrow in Blackout will be fitted with ballistic arrows that will explode shortly after making contact with the environment.

In order to balance this new weapon, it will come with only 10 arrows and players will only be able to find it in care packages.

The new Sparrow weapon will include 10 ballistic arrows that will explode shortly after coming into contact with the environment.

Last but not least, the DemoHammer will be the latest addition to the growing pool of melee weapons in Blackout. Its appearance is cosmetic only, as it will work just the same as any of the other melee weapons in the game. 

The DemoHammer will be the latest melee weapon in Blackout.

Changes to the Collapse

The March 25 update will implement a major change to how the Collapse storm works in Blackout. After the update, players who stay outside of the safe zone will take more damage the longer they remain in the Collapse.

This change is being implemented in order to mitigate an exploit that was allowing players to consume a certain combination of perks that allowed them to remain in the Collapse for a long time.

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Now, players will no longer be able to do that as they will surely face a certain death if they stay in the Collapse for too long, even if they consume all of the perks. 

Players will no longer be able to stay in the Collapse for long.

Future Changes

In addition to the information detailed above, all of which will be coming as part of the March 26 update in Blaackout, Vonderhaar has also hinted at some other changes coming further down the line.

For one, “a really cool thing” is going to happen for every hot-dropper, or players who like to land in highly contested areas off the rip to try and get better loot.

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Also, as the current Operation Grand Heist content stream rolls on, Vonderhaar has said that more and more massive new content will be added to Blackout in the coming weeks. 

You can watch Treyarch’s Black Ops 4 Studio Livestream in its entirety down below, with the Blackout section starting at the 25:08 mark

Make sure to follow us @DexertoINTEL as we will provide more information about the upcoming update in Black Ops 4, including the full patch notes, as soon as it becomes available.