The shooter pro Nick “Marksman” Overton is actually more of a Fortnite player, but recently he has been streaming a lot of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. He still considers a weapon that has been nerfed 5 times since release to be the best shotgun in the popular mode “Search & Destroy”.
Which weapon is this about? “Marksman” is referring to the shotgun 725. Soldiers who have been playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare since release are likely to have fond memories of this gun from the early times of CoD MW.
For a while, this weapon was the benchmark. You could score one-shot kills over long distances and only had to take one disadvantage into account: the small magazine. Back then, the developers opted for a cautious nerf strategy and required 3 adjustments before it fit better among the other weapons.
For Marksman, however, the weapon still belongs to the top selection of the “Modern Warfare” weapons – especially in the popular mode “Search & Destroy”.
What did the shooter pro say about the weapon? He posted a statement about the 725 on Twitter:
Tweet translation:
“I love that the 725 has been nerfed 5 times and is still the best shotgun in Search & Destroy. I don’t think there has ever been a bigger weapon balance mistake in CoD history.”
Why does he think that? In his streams, he has been using the shotgun more frequently lately and has rediscovered the weapon for himself. Yesterday, on November 2nd, he played a few rounds on his Twitch channel and often demonstrated how devastating the gun can be in the right hands.
We have created a clip here that impressively proves this in a few seconds:
Marksman gets shot from the side on Vacant and just manages to turn left to open fire himself. With one shot, he takes out the opponent, who is quite a distance away from him. An impressive scene that shows what is possible with the 725.
What do other players say about it? Under his tweet, many agree, but not everyone shares his opinion that the 725 is the biggest balance mistake in CoD history. They point out other examples that have also shone with overpowered abilities in the long history of CoD:
- @HmongCalibur: “All I can say is – the MW 725 would never win against the BO3 and BO1 Olympia/725.”
- @BeM_iDeadly: “You probably never played with the Akimbo Winchester in MW2?”
- @Nick21004031: “The MP5, MP7, Kar98 are all OP and have been for a while!”
But the spectrum of opinions is even broader. Some agree with Marksman, while others generally find shotguns difficult in CoDs. Others still consider the R9-0 or the new JAK-12 to be even stronger. By the way, the JAK-12 was recently nerfed as well. Some players, on the other hand, see sniper rifles as an OP class.
The discussion under the tweet clearly shows how far opinions diverge on the strengths of the weapons and how difficult it can be for developers to find the right “balance” here.
In the end, however, much also depends on the players. Marksman is a pro who plays a lot and regularly. Weapons that work well for an average player can simply be overpowered in the hands of hardcore gamers.
Which weapon do you think has been absolutely overpowered in CoD history? Do you remember a gun that really got on your nerves?
