Call of Duty: Warzone players are fighting harder than ever before with the Season 5 update, however, the latest shift in the perk meta has already proven to be controversial.
Season Five of Warzone has begun, ushering in a wave of challenges with weapons and rewards to be earned. Activision’s battle royale has been at the center of a brutal hacking wave, with players from both the casual and professional scene alike moving over to rival titles.
Top streamers NICKMERCS and TimTheTatMan have been leading the way forward, taking their talents over to Respawn’s Apex Legends. However, plenty of other players are still unsure about making the leap to a different battlefield.
Yet, the arrival of a polarizing perk into the Warzone meta won’t be bringing these players back anytime soon either.
Warzone perk makes players virtually unstoppable
Introduced with the arrival of Season Five, players can now equip the new perk: Combat Scout. Described as recon perk, players can highlight and with some damage dealt, ping opponents automatically. While your teammates won’t be able to see rivals through walls, the user can temporarily view the location of their foe behind cover. Players teaming up with their buddies will surely be using this as an effective method of flushing rivals out of cover.
To add even more heat onto what has been dubbed as “Walls” by disgruntled fans, by sitting in perk slot three, this leaves any loadout open to the inclusion of Cold Blooded and Ghost. Players may decide to opt for alternative perks, but the rising meta includes both of the latter and Combat Scout in one seemingly overpowered loadout.
As Cold Blooded and Ghost aid to avoid detection via UAVs and on a Heartbeat Sensor, this concerning combination has already produced some devastating feeds.
https://twitter.com/Slowskrr/status/1426081138636988416?s=20
There will be players out there reveling in the destructive opportunities the meta presents, but others are less than impressed.
RØKKR Smixie has already taken to Twitter to voice her worries about Combat Scout’s effect on Warzone, and plenty of others have joined her.
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COMBAT SCOUT IS SO OP LMAOOOOO you NEED cold blooded
— Ultra Smixie (@iSmixie) August 13, 2021
The Combat Scout perk is the most idiotic thing they could have done.
— Drakota (@DrakotaTV) August 13, 2021
https://twitter.com/OfficialWarrenG/status/1426043220740427777
Wait wait wait.. every video I saw said combat scout was a 2 perk slot so you’d have to give up ghost.. ITS SLOT 3?!?! Welp cold blooded on every class I guess.. gotta dodge these legal wall hacks somehow..
— YA DEAD 🦉 (@MIST8K3N) August 13, 2021
How to counter Combat Scout
Combat Scout’s dominating grip on Warzone is young, which means players are already figuring out the best way to counter it. While there isn’t a way to avoid getting pinged, players can get some forewarning on what suspecting foes lay waiting in the distance.
The best way to do this is to equip High Alert. This tried and tested perk allows players to receive a visual warning when an opponent has them in their crosshairs. Be warned, however, as using High Alert comes at the cost of replacing Warzone essential Ghost.
Naturally, as a new season unfolds, there should be some eventual nerfs.
However, there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight for Combat Scout’s reign of terror as Season Five has only just begun.