Warzone 2 Season 2 Reloaded patch notes: Ashika Island AI removal, RPK & RAAL nerfs, more

The mid-season update for Warzone 2 Season 2 is here, with some key changes coming to the battle royale. Here’s what you can expect.

The ‘Reloaded’ updates have become popular times for Call of Duty games since the launch of Warzone in 2020, with the developers releasing new content mid-season and giving some indication of what’s to come in the following season.

Season 2 of Modern Warfare 2 is no different, providing weapon balancing, audio updates, and other community-demanded quality-of-life changes.

Here’s everything pertaining to Warzone 2 revealed in the blog post.

Weapon balancing and bomb drone removal

Standard for any major Warzone 2 update, the developers made a long list of weapon balancing changes. This time around, the KV Broadside finally received a close-range and overall damage reduction.

LMGs have dominated the early stages of the battle royale sequel, and the class was hit hard by this update. The RAAL and Sakin MG38 received damage reductions, while the RPK is harder to shoot.

Raven Software also announced that the Bomb Drone will be removed at the start of Season 2 Reloaded while the developers “explore additional balancing options for this killstreak.”

Ashika Island changes

Ashika Island was a new addition to Warzone 2 in Season 2.

Warzone 2 community members begged for every playlist to be available, and the developers came through for fans. Solos, Duos, Trios, and Quads are available at all times instead of at limited intervals.

AI combatants are no longer a feature on the island, and the developers made a few balancing changes. The first circle is larger and fully on land, and the countdown timer adjustments improve match pacing.

New TMNT Operator ‘Shredder’

After some big collaborations with major film IPs in the past, Activision is bringing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.

“Making his deadly debut in the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic in 1984, Shredder is the notorious leader of the Foot Clan that uses his bladed armor to empower his expert ninjutsu and martial arts techniques.”

The Operator bundle also comes with three distinctive weapon blueprints to dominate opponents in Al Mazrah and Ashika Island. They are:

• “Oroku” shotgun
• “Saki” Assault Rifle
• “Steel Claws” Dual Kodachi swords

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Shredder arrives in Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Season 2 Reloaded.

Warzone Season 2 Reloaded patch notes

Here are the full Warzone Season 2 Reloaded patch notes.

ACCESSIBILITY

Inverted Flash

An “Inverted Flash” option has been added as an accessibility option in the Interface category for Season 02 Reloaded with two values: Off (default behavior) and On (added behavior). This option allows to change the color of the flash effect of the flashbang tactical grenade from white to black. We recommend adjusting this option for Players who feel discomfort when affected by the full white screen effect of the flashbang tactical grenade. Duration and visual are at parity between the two values of the option, providing no competitive advantage.

AUDIO

• Submix fixes that were affecting enemy footstep volume
• Equalized sand footsteps to better cut through the mix similar to dirt & concrete
• Fixed an issue that caused War Tracks to randomly stop playing when in active in a vehicle
• Fixed an issue preventing the War Tracks of a Patrol Boat’s driver from being heard while in the Patrol Boat turrets

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Killstreak Availability
  • The existing “Airspace is too crowded” message will now have a trailing “for X seconds” attached to it to add better context for players.

• Cluster Strike & Precision Airstrike Improvements
  • Improved the Airstrike danger notification to be more consistent based on each damage location.
  • Improved directional tracing to prevent the Precision Airstrike targeting from sometimes landing behind the Players.
  • Players will now be notified when calling a Cluster Strike or Precision Airstrike if they are too close to the affected zone.

• Give-Up Timer Consistency
  • The give-up timer while downed is now more consistent across modes and will last at least 3 seconds.

• Navigation Pings
  • Increased the scale of navigation pings on the Tacmap and Mini-Map for improved readability.

• Armor Break
  • The text has been removed from the Armor Break notification (when breaking all of an opponent’s Armor Plates) for improved clarity, whilst the icon has remained.

• Auto-Looting Armor Plates
  • As Armor Plates are a critical part of the gameplay loop, Players will now automatically pick up Armor Plates as long as they have available inventory or Backpack space.

• Spawn Protection
  • Spawn Protection will now disable at 25 meters, up from 19 meters, from the ground or a grounded player in Battle Royale modes.
  • We will continue to refine as we move forwards given the importance of this feature to redeploying players.

• Resurgence Killfeed
  • The killfeed will now display who is about to redeploy when their Resurgence timer reaches 0.

UI/UX

• Spectating
  • Friendly pings and splash screens are now visible to spectators.

• Gas Mask
  • Loot cards for gas mask now more accurately reflect their damage amounts.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed some issues causing rainbow glare to appear on the horizon in Al Mazrah (Xbox only).

Tac Map & Minimap

• Fixed an issue preventing elevation arrows on map icons not accurately indicating their position.
• Fixed an issue causing the Counter UAV to affect Player maps even while outside of the effective range.

PLAYLIST

Al Mazrah

• Standard
  • Solos
    • Max Players: 150
    • Assimilation: Off

  • Duos
    • Max Players: 150
    • Assimilation: Refill

  • Trios
    • Max Players: 150
    • Assimilation: Refill

  • Quads
    • Max Players: 152
    • Assimilation: Refill

Ashika Island

• Resurgence 
  • Solos
    • Max Players: 52 
    • Assimilation: Off

  • Duos
    • Max Players: 52 
    • Assimilation: Off

  • Trios
    • Max Players: 52 
    • Assimilation: Off

  • Quads
    • Max Players: 52 
    • Assimilation: Off

All squad sizes for Resurgence will be available through Season 02 Reloaded!

For regular updates about the Playlist and other Scheduled Events, check out the dedicated Warzone Trello Board.

EVENTS

To celebrate three years of Warzone, Players will be able to redeem a new free gift each day via the in-game Store that are symbolic of memories made since its surprise launch on March 10, 2020.

Rewards:

• Verdansk Anniversary Calling Card
• Verdansk Emblem
• Caldera Anniversary Calling Card
• Blacksite Completionist Calling Card
• Blacksite Sticker
• Blacksite Emblem (Animated)
• Stronghold Calling Card

GENERAL

• Bomb Drones
  • Bomb Drones have been temporarily removed while we fine tune them.

GAMEPLAY

• Pacing Balancing
  • As a team we are focused on two core areas of the pacing of Battle Royale:
    • The combat engagements in the mid-game
    • The regain opportunities in the late game

  • We will be addressing this across Season 02 Reloaded and going into Season 03, with the first change being a guaranteed “Restock” Public Event in the 4th Circle.
  • Future improvements will include:
    • More ground loot Supply Boxes, especially in the North of the map
    • Resurgence Supply Boxes being sprinkled throughout the map
    • Additional Ammo Caches
    • And more…

Al Mazrah | Battle Royale

• Light Helo
  • The Light Helo has been disabled in Solos. We are protective of the Solos squad size being a fair and balanced experience, and the Light Helo went against that ethos.

• Contract Availability
  • Increased the number of Contracts revealed over the course of the match to increase their availability in later circles.

• Final Circles
  • We are temporarily disabling final circles in the north-western section of the map while we work on improvements for upcoming seasons.

Ashika Island | Resurgence

• Redeployment Drones
  • Redeployment Drones are currently active across Ashika Island and will remain live as part of the Resurgence experience.

• AI Combatant Departure
  • As the Path of the Ronin event comes to an end, the Shadow Company operatives that have occupied the island will depart in pursuit of their next mission.
  • Players will now be public enemy number one for Search & Seizure Contracts and the Data Heist Public Event.

• Circle Balancing
  • The first circle will be approximately 20% larger, and more likely to be on land, to better enable a successful Infil.

• Pacing Balancing
  • Actions that affect the Resurgence Countdown have been adjusted to allow for more windows of opportunity to Team Wipe the opposing team.

• Buy Station Availability
  • Improvements have been made to better spread the Buy Stations more evenly through the map.

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Spawn Protection
  • Spawn Protection will now disable at 25 meters, up from 19 meters, from the ground or a grounded player in Battle Royale modes.
    • We will continue to refine as we move forwards given the importance of this feature to redeploying players.

• Resurgence Killfeed
  • The killfeed will now display who is about to redeploy when their Resurgence timer reaches 0.

BUG FIXES

• Redeploy Token
  • Fixed an issue allowing Redeploy Tokens to appear in Buy Stations even after the Gulag had closed.