Call of Duty: Warzone Season 01 Patch Notes

• Munitions & Utility Box
  • Both boxes have been adjusted to provide the maximum possible amount of ammunition for the primary and secondary weapons a player is carrying. 
  • It will no longer provide ammunition for each other ammunition type.

The following changes to Weapon Motion and Aiming Idle Sway only apply to Black Ops 6 weapons.

» Weapon Motion «

• Reduced visual recoil on all weapons, especially full-auto weapons.
• Reduced turn sway on all weapons, especially on higher magnification optics.
• Reduced gun kick on higher magnification optics on all weapons except for Sniper Rifles.
• Reduced default idle sway on all weapons except Sniper Rifles.
• Further reduced idle sway while firing on all weapons except Sniper Rifles.
• Reduced weapon motion (bob, translation, and additional idle sway penalties) as a result of walking or changing stances in ADS.
• Removed additional layers of hip fire deviation, which caused crosshair to bounce while firing.

We have taken a comprehensive pass on weapon motion and applied reductions across the board to improve the combat experience. Depending on the class and weapon, our targets for these reductions range from 30% to 75%. Players will notice far more stability while turning, moving, changing stances, and firing, especially while ADS. We are committed to continually improving Black Ops 6 gunplay with a focus on balanced and rewarding gameplay while maintaining the unique characteristics of each weapon.

» Aiming Idle Sway «

• Aiming Idle Sway Delay on all weapons is now 2.2s
• Aiming Idle Sway Delay on Sniper Rifles now fully removes Idle Sway, rather than reducing by 50%
• Target Laser now improves Aiming Idle Sway Delay to 2.9s on all weapons

Aiming Idle Sway Delay is a mechanic that scales a weapon's idle sway when first entering ADS, so the initial point of aim matches the crosshair positioning. These values are now improved and consistent across all weapon classes. Sniper Rifles, which previously only scaled initial idle sway by 50%, now provide a complete reduction. As always we will be keeping a close eye on sniper balance after this change.

• Controller Stick Sensitivity
  • The controller stick sensitivity sliders system changed from a 1-20 scale to a 0.10-4.00. This will give players finer control over their sensitivity values and more transparency on the effect of their changes. Previously set sensitivity settings will be maintained. 

For information about upcoming Playlists, please check out the dedicated Warzone Trello Board.

Warzone Ranked Play: Battle Royale makes its triumphant return on December 5th, 2024. The playlist update will go live shortly after the Season 01 Reloaded update deploys.

In order to access this mode, players must place amongst the top squads in at least 30 matches to be eligible to queue up and begin climbing the ranks.

In this case, "Top Placement" is defined as finishing among the Top 6 teams in Resurgence or the Top 15 teams in Battle Royale.

This year features a tighter ecosystem of weapons to choose from, particularly those only from Black Ops 6. This enables a finer look at a balanced ecosystem and allows us to be more responsive to competitive issues. 

The 1-50 Rank and Skill Division system from previous versions of Ranked Play has been streamlined to focus on what matters most in Warzone Ranked Play: Skill.

• In Warzone, your Rank now represents what was previously your Skill Division and Tier.
• The Progressive Rank and Victory Stars system has been removed to focus entirely on skill and simplify the experience.
• All players begin their first Competitive Season at Bronze I Rank with 0 SR (Skill Rating).

How SR Works:

• Gain SR by winning matches and eliminating players.
• For players above Silver Rank, a deployment fee is paid upfront.
• There is no SR penalty for deaths.
• Both individual and team performance impact how much SR you gain or lose per match.
• New this year: SR gained from eliminations depends on the rank difference (delta) between you and the eliminated player, as well as the number of teams remaining.

The End-of-Season SR Setback has been adjusted to reduce the impact for players early in their Rank journey.

The Top 250 Rank returns, ranking the top players globally on an in-game Leaderboard accessible from the Ranked Play lobby.

• Players will qualify for the Top 250 and appear on the Leaderboard as they surpass 10,000+ SR.  
• The top 250 players with the highest SR above 10,000 will remain on the board and compete for 1st place over the remainder of the Season.
• The player who ends the season as the #1 Ranked Player will receive unique rewards:
  • Exclusive, one-of-a-kind Calling Card.
  • Top 250 Champion Skin, available only to players who finish #1 in a Season.
• Additional Rank and Seasonal Rewards for achieving milestones throughout the Season.

New this year, Eliminations now factor in the difference in skill between you and the victim. This more accurately rewards overcoming a high ranked player, and lessens the impact if the skill delta is too wide (via players being brought into a match with friends, or otherwise).

This skill delta reward changes depending on if they are + / - 3 ranks from your own. 

These points form the base SR you’ll obtain from an elimination. With an additional amount granted depending on teams remaining:

* "Top Placements" is defined as finishing among the Top 15 teams in Battle Royale.

» Penalties & Suspensions «

• Players who disconnect or quit matches will face SR penalties and temporary suspensions. Repeat offenders will receive escalating penalties.

» Social Profile «

• Rank Play icons will be added to your Social profile, showcasing your Ranked Play Rank wherever your profile is viewed across Black Ops 6 and Warzone.

• XM4 3-Round Burst Mod Conversion (In-Season)
  • Convert the XM4 Assault Rifle’s primary firing mode into a three-round burst, conserving ammo and supporting a steadier aim through sustained combat.
  • Acquirable via Event Reward

• Kompakt 92 3-Round Burst Mod Conversion (In-Season)
  • Add some control to the rapid-fire Kompakt 92 SMG with a three-round burst primary firing mode. Each burst cycles quickly to the next, allowing you to still pump out damage when it’s needed most.
  • Acquirable via Event Reward

» Submachine Guns «

• All Black Ops 6 SMGs have had their reload speeds increased by 10%

• Lootable SMGs
  • Updated SMG magazine sizes to be larger than 30 rounds.

• Custom Loadout Colors Quality of Life
  • Weapons that players infil with or respawn will no longer show as a single custom loadout color. Rather, they will now have a weapon rarity color based on the number of attachments.

• Reduced reverb effect volume on Urzikstan.

» Perks «

• Fixed an issue with Custom Perk Packs where the pack was named “Custom” when it should be named “Custom Perk Pack”.

• Fixed an issue with Custom Perk Packs where the pack was showing as “legendary” rarity when it should show as “Loadout” rarity.

• Fixed an issue with Scavenger description where it did not call out that it provides cash.
  • The perk will provide 1500 cash from the packs that drop from enemies.

• Fixed an issue with Grenadier description where it made reference to players “removing shrapnel”. 
  • The perk applies a debuff when enemies are damaged by explosives but they are not expected to remove shrapnel.

• Fixed an issue with Quick Fix where inserting an armor plate, downing a player, or eliminating a player would not trigger health regen.

• Fixed an issue where the default perk “Quick Swap” was not being applied in Pre-match. This is still applied correctly in a regular match. 

• Fixed an issue causing the Specialist perk package to be discounted 30% instead of 50% during a Fire Sale.

» Field Upgrades «

• Fixed an issue with the Deployable Buy Station Field Upgrade that showed the incorrect icons in some situations.

• Fixed an issue preventing the Loadout Drop Field Upgrade icon from appearing in the lower right hand of the screen when players have one equipped.

» Camos «

• Fixed an issue with challenges that required tracking kills while under an enemy UAV. 
  • Previously, this only tracked if a player eliminated the enemy who initially activated the UAV, which was not the intended functionality. This affected the Unique Camos for the Tanto, the Bat, and the XM4, as well as the Prestige 10 Calling Card Challenge, "Going Loud." Now, it correctly tracks eliminations on any player while the attacker is under a UAV activated by any enemy player. After all, the only thing better than taking down enemy operators is doing it while you're on everyone's radar.

» Firing Range «

• Fixed issue that caused firing range dummies to not trigger armor break sounds when being hit with a headshot as the armor breaks.

• Fixed issue that unintentionally caused snipers to not one-shot headshot in some scenarios in the firing range.

• Fixed issue that prevented movable dummy from properly moving to the intended weapon damage ranges.

» Gulag «

• Fixed an issue causing players to appear to take damage when entering the Gulag.

• Fixed an issue causing Gulag events to spawn more cash than intended.

» Other «

• Fixed an issue where players would receive incorrect hitmarker visual feedback when viewing killcams.

• Fixed an issue that unintentionally made players swap the wrong gun when switching weapons and picking up a weapon at the same time.

• Fixed an issue preventing players from leaving the match during exfil.

• Fixed an issue causing players to get stuck in a plating animation.

• Fixed an issue where players would not be able to use multiple UAVs. 

• Fixed an issue where the buy station was showing the incorrect icon.

• Fixed an issue allowing players to duplicate payouts completing the Signal Intelligence contract.

• Fixed an issue with the Ammo Depot Cache’s missing on Rebirth Island.

• Fixed issue that prevented players from properly attaching mid air to long ziplines in Urzikstan.

• Fixed numerous descriptions on weapon attachments in the gunsmith after the muzzle and underbarrel refactor.

• Fixed an issue where the icon for certain public events were flashing repeatedly

• Fixed an issue where the Score Feed would persist on the HUD through death and respawn. 

• Fixed an issue where the attachment swap pop-up will show incorrectly under certain conditions.

• Fixed an issue where the “Airspace is too Crowded” message and information would not display correctly when using certain Killstreaks. 

• Fixed an issue where Tutorial messages and popups would appear even when disabled. 

• Fixed missing sound when your Squad is wiped.

• Fixed an issue with the Plunder scoreboard causing the Cash Banked to display incorrectly.

• Fixed an issue that prevented a player from shooting after opening a Loadout Crate when they were previously eliminated from going out of bounds.

• Fixed an issue causing the Bounty Contest widget to flash and play sound repeatedly. 

After reviewing internal data, we’ve made the decision to slightly adjust the player count on Area 99, our newest Resurgence map.
 

The updated player counts are as follows:
 

• Quads: 44 → 40 
• Trios: 45 → 42 
• Duos: 44 → 40 
• Solos: 45 → 40
   

These changes aim to improve the overall pacing of each match and reduce the frequency of third-party interruptions during engagements. We hope to reduce friction by striking a better balance between action and player agency, allowing players the all-important time to loot up - and get their Loadout.
 

In the meantime, we’ll continue monitoring feedback and data to make further adjustments if needed.
 

We look forward to sharing more about upcoming Warzone updates soon. 

• Fixed an issue on Area 99 that would cause players to hear Killstreaks from across the map. 

• Fixed an issue that would cause players to drop a weapon involuntarily while attempting to pick up a different weapon from the ground. 

• Fixed an issue that would prompt players to remove an Aftermarket Part from their weapon despite one not being currently equipped. 

• Fixed an issue that caused the STB 556 Assault Rifle body to disappear when equipping an underbarrel attachment. 

• Weapon Trade Stations 
  • Reduced the chances of receiving Specialist Perk Pack. 
  • Removed Care Package Killstreaks as a trade-in reward. 

• Movement
  • Reduced the minimum sprint time required to perform the following actions: dive-to-prone or slide.
  • Fixed an issue that could result in being unable to sprint when performing several actions within a short amount of time.

These changes apply to both Black Ops 6 and Warzone and should result in more responsive movements with fewer occurrences where players attempt to dive to prone or slide and instead crouch. We will continue to assess and identify areas for improved fluidity with omnimovement.

• Reload times for Black Ops 6 Assaults Rifles and Light Machine Guns are reduced by 10%. 

We’re taking passes at improving the flow and reducing downtime between gunfights, future updates will address other classes 

• Legacy XP Tokens 
  • Updated Black Ops 6 to support legacy XP token functionality.
     
• Hitmarkers 
  • Improved hitmarker UI to help identify individual shots more easily.
    
    
• Store 
  • Improved the loading of Tracer and Inspect preview videos for weapons.

• Fixed an issue that was causing Buy Stations to charge players an amount for items that did not align with the displayed purchase price. 

• Fixed an issue that caused PlayStation players to encounter a black screen when attempting to access Warzone via the What’s Hot row. 

• Fixed an issue that caused the AEK-973 Marksman Rifle found via ground loot to fire in full automatic. 

An all-new Battle Pass System grants you the opportunity to earn 100+ rewards, including free base weapons, numerous Weapon Blueprints, Equipment Skins, Operator Skins, and much more. There are three ways to obtain some or all of this content:

• Earn 20+ free rewards, including cosmetic content and base weapons.
• Purchase the premium Battle Pass and earn up to 1,100 COD Points as you progress through the Battle Pass Pages.
• Or purchase BlackCell for the ultimate seasonal experience, including a variety of molten hot Operator Skins, Weapon Blueprints, COD points, and other rewards.

For a full breakdown of the Season 01 Battle Pass and the breadth of content that it has to offer, check out the official blog here.

• Black Ops 6 and Warzone are optimized for PlayStation 5 Pro: 
  
  
  • Launch Features:
    • Using Sony's PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution Black Ops 6 supports a higher image quality when running at 4K and 60 Hz.
    • New PlayStation 5 Pro quality settings: higher quality shadows, ambient occlusion, reflections and screen space global illumination (unique to Quality Mode).
    • Players can also opt to play at 120 Hz for greater performance; on the PS5 Pro 120 Hz mode has the same image quality as the PlayStation 5 running at 60 FPS. 
       
  • With Season 01:
    • New variable refresh rate mode that with the allows our highest image quality mode to often exceed 60 Hz on compatible display devices (120 Hz VRR).

Additional Note: To celebrate the new Area 99 map, it is the exclusive Resurgence map during the first weekend of launch, with Rebirth Island then returning to the playlist.

For information about upcoming Playlists, please check out the dedicated Warzone Trello Board.

Weapon Mastery Camos NEW 

The Weapon Camo grind has been overhauled in Black Ops 6 and is bigger than ever. You’ll be progressing through Camos on the quest to earn the first ever Call of Duty: Warzone Mastery Camo: Abyss (Season 01).

For a more detailed look at Progression in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone, check out the Launch Comms: Progression Systems blog here. 

• Body Shield 
  • Sneak up behind an unsuspecting enemy and double-tap the melee button to pull them close as your personal shield against incoming fire.  
  • Once they’ve served their purpose, gracefully deliver the coup de grâce. 
  • Body Shield is the spiritual successor to the previous Interrogation mechanic. 

• Dedicated Melee Weapon 
  • All player loadouts will have a dedicated melee weapon by default, in addition to their primary and secondary weapon slots.  
  • Players can swap to their dedicated melee weapon by holding down the melee button. 
  • Players holding a melee weapon will benefit from unlimited tac sprint. 

• Shootable Doors 
  • Doors can now be shot open allowing for new tactics and strategy. 

• Primary Weapon 
  • The Loadout inventory is returning to the classic Warzone experience where players can only equip one Primary weapon. 
  • There is a Wildcard detailed further below that allows for two Primary weapons to be equipped. 

• Self-Revive Auto Pickup 
  • While downed, players will now be able to automatically loot Self-Revive kits that are within close proximity. 

• Live Ping Duration 
  • The duration of live pings has been reduced from 3 seconds to 2 in order to bring more balance to a combat engagement. 

• Armor Plate Replacement Speed 
  • The speed at which players can replace broken or missing armor plates has been increased by 8% to match the fluidity of Black Ops 6 Omnimovement. 

• Abandon Timer 
  • The time players must wait to give up has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds due to the previous Interrogation mechanic being replaced. 

• Deaths Door 
  • The health at which players will enter the death’s door state has been reduced from 50% to 35%. 
  • The health at which the death’s door state will end has been reduced from 70% to 55%. 
  • This change is due to us wanting to enable Players to better hear and see their surroundings when under threat by an enemy. 

• Omnimovement 
  • The movement and combat innovations from Black Ops 6 are fully integrated into Warzone. This allows players to Sprint, Slide, and Dive in any direction, perform 180-degree Combat Dives, and execute advanced moves like the Combat Supine and Omni-Sprint for dynamic tactical play. 

• Combat Supine
  • Drop to a prone position, then rotate your Operator for a complete 360-degree view of your surroundings. Then fire to eliminate the enemy quickly as they appear, all the while staying in the supine position.

• Intelligent Movement 
  • Players can now customize elements of how they traverse landscape and navigate combat. 
  • Available in the Keyboard & Mouse or Controller Options under “Movement,” players will find the following features: 
    • Sprint Assist: Choose whether to manually or automatically sprint, tactically sprint, how much of a delay before sprinting begins, and if the assist occurs while sprinting sideways or backwards. 
    • Mantle Assist: Customize how and when to automatically mantle over obstacles. 
    • Crouch Assist: This enables crouching and sliding when the intent is to move through a valid opening. 
    • Corner Slice: Allows the act of inclining weapons (and camera) when adjacent to or moving around a corner. This doesn’t affect aim. Default is “on.” 

• Unlimited Tac Sprint  
  • Players will have access to unlimited tac sprint via the Sprinter Perk or by holding their dedicated melee weapon. 

• Mantle Protection 
  • Players will now climb onto thin or high ledges rather than over them to prevent untimely deaths.

• Tac Sprint Duration 
  • We heard feedback around default tac sprint duration, so it has been increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds. 

• Landing Tuning 
  • The duration of the shock effect when falling from a near-death height has been reduced to 2.1 seconds from 3 seconds. 
  • The minimum fall damage required before the shock effect from landing is now 55%, up from 50% allowing for slightly higher jumps with less punishment. 
  • This change is made to better enable the movement opportunities that the Black Ops 6 integration allows. 

• Vertical Ascenders & Horizontal Zipline Improvements Quality of Life 
  • Interacting with the Ascenders and Ziplines lines has been improved, making it easier to attach to the line from an angle or while free falling to increase fluidity. 

• Redeploy Drones 
  • Redeploy Drones are fixed in place for the duration of a match. 
  • Once a Redeploy Drone has been consumed by the gas, it will leave the map rather than relocating to give a more consistent experience.

• Streamlined Inventory 
  • At the start of Season 01, we're streamlining the inventory system by removing the “Backpack” and returning to a classic inventory layout, organized by sections for cash, gas mask, armor plates, killstreaks, field upgrades, weapons, ammo and perks.  

Perks in Warzone are now streamlined, allowing players to choose three Perks (one from each color-coded slot) in the Loadouts Menu. Most Pick-3 Perks unlock as you level up but re-lock upon Prestiging. Black Ops 6 player levels carry over to Warzone, unlocking corresponding Perks. 

• Lootable Perks 
  • Lootable Perks return! Each season, players will encounter a number of perks via Ground Loot and Supply Boxes. These perk effects stack on top of the original Pick-3 Perks players have selected in their loadout. 
  • When a player is eliminated, their Pick-3 Perks will drop on the ground as a “Custom Perk Pack” to be recovered or stolen by another player, while any looted perks will disappear. 
  • The Lootable Perks players can find include a mix of perks from the 18 possible Pick-3 Perks, in addition to two perks that are unique to ground loot; 
    • Shrouded 
    • Irradiated 
  • Players will recognize their Pick-3 Perks when they are equipped in the bottom right of the HUD, while lootable perks can be viewed in the Inventory. 

• Specialist Perk Package 
  • Found as a rare loot drop or Care Package reward, Specialist grants every Perk including all 18 Pick-3 Perks, as well as both Ground Loot exclusive Perks - Irradiated and Shrouded.  
  • If you're eliminated, the Specialist Perk package will disappear. 
  • Can be acquired in Buy Stations in limited quantities for $30,000. 

• Pre-Match Perks Quality of Life 
  • Perks can now be edited in the pre-match lobby. 

First introduced in Black Ops Cold War, Wildcards come to Warzone with 4 options that act as special, single-use perks for each loadout. These loadout modifiers allow players to equip more gear, weapons, or attachments, adding unique customization and variety to gameplay.

Killstreaks in Warzone, much like Multiplayer’s Scorestreaks, are game-changing tools that players can find via ground loot, Supply Boxes, or as rewards from contracts and events. Many of these Killstreaks are lethal, unleashing devastating airstrikes and explosions that can decimate enemy squads from above. Others are tactical, offering valuable intel on enemy positions or on ideal positioning for upcoming fights. With Black Ops 6, a few new Killstreaks have been introduced designed to give players a real advantage in the heat of battle. 

We've expanded the Warzone arsenal to include weapons from the launch of Black Ops 6 in October 2024, giving players even more options to customize their loadouts. Dive into Warzone with these powerful additions, now available alongside fan favorites from previous titles.  

At launch, Black Ops 6 weapons in Warzone will share similar values to their Multiplayer counterparts such as ADS speed, sprint to fire, and recoil. However, damage profiles for a number of weapons have been modified to establish a baseline for Warzone. We encourage new and returning players to study their favorite weapon’s details in the Gunsmith. 

With the integration of Black Ops 6, we also now have new tuning options for weapons that weren’t previously available, allowing us to adjust aspects like handling (ADS speed and sprint to fire), magazine sizes, recoil, and more. For instance, while the AS VAL has a default magazine size of 20 in Multiplayer, we’ve set it to 30 for Warzone. 

Our goal is to make weapon adjustments faster to keep the available selection dynamic and engaging, without making any weapons feel obsolete. With these new tuning options, we aim to refine each weapon’s identity and role specific to their use in Warzone, such as emphasizing Assault Rifles as strong long-range options. 

Additionally, all bolt-action snipers and pump-action shotguns (while aiming down sights) from Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, and Black Ops 6 will have a one-shot headshot potential within their respective max damage ranges. Additionally, in order to incentivize intentional aim, all shotguns will fire 5 pellets while ADSing versus 4 when fired from the hip. 

We want players to feel that weapons from Modern Warfare II and Modern Warfare III continue to remain solid, viable choices in Warzone. Our goal is to create a unified combat system that makes each gun enjoyable to use, regardless of its origin. We’ll continue to improve legacy weapons and attachments throughout the coming year to further support this vision. 

A visual recoil reduction pass has been applied to Modern Warfare II weapons, enhancing their feel and control while shooting. 

Barrel and stock attachments from Modern Warfare II have also had their penalties reduced. Additionally, a significant balancing pass has been completed for underbarrel and muzzle attachments from both Modern Warfare II and III. All cons have been removed from these attachments, meaning they now only provide stat boosts, with each subcategory of underbarrels and muzzles functioning identically except for cosmetic differences. AMP attachments in these slots, however, retain their unique functionality and balancing. 

• Muzzle Enhancements 
  • Suppressors: Boost velocity and damage range. 
  • Comps: Improve recoil control. 
  • Flash Hiders: Increase damage range and firing aim stability. 
  • Breacher: Enhance melee damage and recoil control. 

• Underbarrel Enhancements 
  • Angled Grip: Increases hipfire and tacstance accuracy and aim walking steadiness. 
  • Handstop: Improves sprint-to-fire and ADS speed. 
  • Vert Grip: Enhances recoil control and firing aim stability. 

Furthermore, Modern Warfare II and III weapons now have corner-slicing functionality, adding an extra tactical edge.

Seamlessly access a custom weapon build you've created across Black Ops 6 Multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone. This time-saving feature lets you adjust any Build or Blueprint in one game, with changes automatically applied wherever that weapon is equipped. To create a build, select a base weapon or Blueprint, add attachments and cosmetics in the Gunsmith, and return to the Custom Loadout screen to save it. The build, with all selected customizations, will then appear in other modes under the same weapon type.

• Sirin 9mm Special Weapon (In-Season) 
  • Fully automatic specialty weapon. Offers SMG characteristics as a secondary weapon. Slow rate of fire. 
  • Unlockable via Event Reward