On the evening of May 27, a new update went live for Call of Duty: Warzone. The highlights include a nerf to the AMAX, recoil changes for the FARA, and adjustments to important scopes for weapons from Cold War. MeinMMO shows you the implications of the update.
What changed with the update? Call of Duty: Warzone continues to develop its weapon meta and has once again revised one of the most popular and powerful weapons in the game: the CR-56 AMAX. The update from May 27 brought several other interesting adjustments. Here are the most important points:
- AMAX – nerf to headshots
- FARA – adjustments to recoil
- AUG from Cold War – less recoil
- Scopes from Cold War – Axial Arms 3x, Royal & Kross 4x and SUSAT Multizoom have been revised
MeinMMO has looked at the changes and explains what influence the adjustments have.
CoD Warzone: Update on 27.05. – Patch Notes and Classification
How strong is the AMAX after the update? The assault rifle is still very strong. The developers know that the AMAX is considered powerful in the community, but not necessarily overpowered. The CoD creators take their time to weaken the weapon somewhat in order to tame its high prevalence.
For the change, only the headshot multiplier was slightly adjusted. This nerf primarily affects the truly strong players who can consistently land headshots with the AMAX. Since the weapon is less stable than the direct competitors, headshots with the AMAX are not so easy – for example, compared to the very stable Grau 5.56.
AMAX headshots after the nerf
- Multiplier reduced from 1.62 to 1.5
- Headshot damage close – from 56 to 52
- Headshot damage far – from 49 to 46
The time-to-kill for chest hits remains strong at 476 milliseconds (close) and 571 milliseconds (far). Before the patch, it took 3 headshots to reduce the required bullets for a kill by 1. The time-to-kill then drops to 381 (close) and 476 (far).
You now need 4 headshots (close and far) to reduce the time. Once again, a considered and good adjustment, with which the CR-56 AMAX remains strong but is somewhat weaker for top players.
How strong is the FARA after the update? The developers would like to see the FARA-83 as a long-range weapon in Warzone and are continuing to tweak the handling of the assault rifle. With the adjustments, the weapon is now easier to control and comes closer to the Krig 6. For this, the horizontal recoil of the FARA was reduced.
Additionally, the developers weakened the hip-fire characteristics of the FARA, which somewhat impairs the weapon’s close combat capabilities.
What is happening with the AUG? The tactical rifle was the favorite of the Warzone nation in Season 2 and received some heavy nerfs to give other weapons a chance again. The recoil has been adjusted such that the “re-centering” is now significantly better. After a shot, you return quickly to your original aim position and can benefit from the full firing rate of the weapon without the barrel jumping across half the screen.
What’s happening with the scopes? Now it gets interesting again. Some scopes from Cold War had a strong zoom that was actually much too high compared to similar scopes of weapons from Modern Warfare. These were:
- Axial Arms 3x
- Royal & Kross 4x
- SUSAT Multizoom
The scopes were even usable in their old form for sniper weapons – the zoom was just too high. On top of that, you had no telling scope reflection.
Broadly speaking, you are now farther away from the scopes when aiming than before. The zoom is therefore significantly lower, and the three scopes now resemble the popular VLK scope from Modern Warfare more. Also, the “Royal & Kross 4x” and the “SUSAT Multizoom” cause a scope reflection when used on sniper weapons.
This is good news for assault rifles with range. The visual recoil of these scopes was very high before the patch because the zoom was so strong. Now you have more options for scopes for long-range assault rifles from Cold War. Furthermore, it turned out that the “Axial Arms 3x” apparently helps with recoil – similar to the VLK scope from CoD MW.
Conclusion: Another good weapon update in Season 3
Season 3 has brought the weapon meta in Warzone to a desirable state. Many weapons are considered strong and playable. With the latest patch, the developers continue this trend. The AMAX remains one of the best weapons for players who can handle the recoil after the update. However, top players can no longer benefit so strongly from headshots – a sensible and understandable change.
Conversely, the developers have strengthened two weapons that had dropped after nerfs. Particularly, the AUG has fallen deeply after its peak and may now find fans again.
The development of the FARA is also exciting – initially deployed as a competitor for the close-range assault rifle FFAR 1, the FARA is evolving into a long-range alternative. While the Krig 6 can be compared to the stable assault rifle Grau 5.56 from CoD MW, the FARA is more like an M4A1 – you get a bit more damage, but you also have to compensate for a bit more recoil.
And even if there is little change with the adjustments to the best weapons of Warzone, this was another truly good weapon update in Season 3. Please keep it up!
