On the same day as the start of the World Series of Warzone Qualifiers, Infinity Ward nerfed the most popular weapon in Warzone 2 after an outcry from community members.
The ISO Hemlock dominated Warzone 2’s meta for most of Season 2 and the first half of Season 3. The easy-to-use AR held a comfortable lead in popularity rankings, but on May 31, the Cronen Squall took over with a staggering pick rate of 18%.
JGOD tested the Cronen Squall and labeled it as “absolutely broken,” because its Time-to-kill speeds competed with the game’s best SMGS while also shredding through enemies at range.
The Cronen Squall’s time under the sun didn’t last long, as it saw nerfs across the board on the day it became the most popular weapon in the battle royale sequel.
Cronen Squall and ISO Hemlock receive hefty nerfs
The ISO Hemlock didn’t receive too many nerfs, but Incedinary rounds do reduced damage to armor after the update.
As for the Cronen Squall, the powerful battle rifle saw reduced damage range, headshot multiplier, and maximum damage per shot against armor.
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Infinity Ward also increased semi-auto recoil and decreased the fire rate in semi-auto mode. Players will still have no issue picking apart enemies in single-fire mode, though this change should limit its capabilities in short to medium-range engagements.
We won’t know how substantial these nerfs are until WZ2 experts get their hands on these weapons and test the difference.
MW2 and Warzone 2 May 31 patch notes
Here are the full May 31 patch notes.
Global
Weapon adjustments
- ISO Hemlock
- Reduced damage to armor using all 5.56 ammunition | Warzone 2.0 Only
- Cronen Squall
- Reduced damage range
- Reduced headshot multiplier
- Small increase to recoil in semi-auto mode
- Small reduction to rate of fire in semi-auto mode
- Reduced maximum damage per shot against armor | Warzone 2.0 Only
Global bug fixes
- Fixed an issue where the Player would see edit options for their secondary weapon instead of their primary while editing a Loadout in-match
- Fixed an issue causing the “mute self” icon to appear incorrectly in the channel list
- Fixed an issue causing the “Rock and/or Roll” War Track to be unavailable in the Vehicle customization menu
- Fixed an exploit on Santa Seña where Players could get inside geometry and under the Map in Ground War
- [Ranked Play] Fixed an issue that allowed matches to cancel later than intended.
Warzone 2
General
- The competitive ruleset for Private Matches has been updated to match the most current version of Warzone Ranked Play.
Ranked Play
- Deployment fees are now displayed in the pre-game lobby.
- Fixed an issue where Warzone Ranked Play Seasonal Rewards would not show in the After Action Report when earned
- Fixed an issue causing Match Cancel text to overlap and display incorrectly
- Fixed an issue where SR for the final kill was not being awarded
- Fixed an issue that allowed players to enter into a match as an incomplete squad once the countdown timer had begun.
DMZ
- Fixed an issue where equipping under-barrel attachments on the STB 556 would make the icon in the Loadout menu not show portions of the weapon.
- Fixed an issue where exiting the Firing Range could result in Weapons and Blueprints appearing incorrectly