All Modern Warfare nerfs & buffs for perks & weapons in Season 2 update

Albert Petrosyan

The launch of Modern Warfare Season Two has implemented some major changes to some of the perks in multiplayer, as well as some weapon balancing.

After weeks of anticipation and even a small delay, the second season of Modern Warfare finally launched on February 11, introducing a lot of new content and some major changes to the game.

One of the biggest adjustments that the v1.14 update implemented was directed at how certain perks work in multiplayer – a whopping 11 of them were targeted to be exact.

Infinity WardModern Warfare Season 2 launched on February 11 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

In addition, there was some weapon tuning also done via this patch – three guns were affected, including the recently-added Crossbow, SA87 SMG, and RAM-7 assault rifle.

A full breakdown of all these changes can be found below, including the parts of the patch notes that directly pertain to them.

Perks rebalancing & changes

All three perk slots were affected by the changes that this v1.14 patch introduced – four from slot one, four from slot two, and three from slot three.

Infinity WardSeveral major changes to perks were made in the Modern Warfare Season 2 update.

Perk 1 slots

The powerful Overkill perk was moved to the second slot with Killchain taking its place in the first category. For E.O.D., the hacking ability was removed and added to Spotter.

Double Time was buffed to double the recharge rate of tactical sprint, and Quick Fix was also improved with reduced health regeneration delay, meaning that the regen immediately starts following any kill.

Perk 2 slots

Ghost was slightly nerfed with the removal of immunity to Snapshot Grenades, with the effect added instead to Battle Hardened. Restock was buffed, with the equipment recharge rate reduced from 30 to 25 seconds.

As mentioned above, Killchain was removed from slot two and added to the first slot, switching places with Overkill. Last but not least, Pointman was nerfed so players now need to get more score to earn scorestreaks across all modes.

Infinity Ward / DexertoThe Overkill perk was moved from slot one to slot two with the Modern Warfare Season 2 update.

Perk 3 slots

Tune Up’s reduction to the cost of Field Upgrades was increased while Spotter, as mentioned above, now has the hacking ability that formerly belonged to E.O.D. Infinity Ward noted that they’re “working on the ability to hack through walls.”

Battle Hardened was significantly buffed, as it now has the Snapshot Grenade immunity and added resistance to Gas Grenades. Now, when players enter gas, the game no longer plays a coughing effect. Also, the slowdown and vision blur caused by the gas have both been reduced.

Weapon balancing changes

The tuning to weapons in this Season 2 patch was not as extensive as some of the recent updates, particularly the one on January 28 that nerfed both the MP5 and M4.

The main focus with v1.14 was the Crossbow, which many players have been frustrated about since it was able to take down the very expensive Juggernaut killstreak with a single exploding bolt.

Infinity WardSeveral changes were made to the Crossbow in the Modern Warfare Season 2 update.

That’s now been changed, of course, along with the gun’s reload speed, which was “slightly tuned.” Two fixes were also implemented, one for some kills not tracking properly when attempting to unlock the new weapon and the second for a bug making the Crossbow unable to do melee damage to Deployable Cover.

As for the rest of the weapon changes, the SA87 LMG’s recoil was “smoothed out” and its damage increased, while the RAM-7’s extended mag ammo count was increased from 45 to 50.


Here are the official patch notes regarding the changes to both perks and weapons. For more details about the rest of this patch, make sure to visit our Season 2 update patch notes.

Perks – Rebalancing

  • Perk 1 Slots
    • Overkill: Switched places with Killchain and will now be in Perk 2
    • E.O.D.: Removed hacking ability (added to Spotter perk)
    • Double Time: Double the recharge rate of Tactical Sprint
    • Quick Fix: Reduced health regeneration delay – any kill will immediately start regeneration
  • Perk 2 Slots
    • Ghost: Remove Snapshot grenade immunity (moved to Battle Hardened)
    • Restock: Change the equipment recharge rate from 30 to 25 seconds
    • Killchain: Switched places with Overkill In Perk 1
    • Pointman: Increase the score gain for Scorestreaks across all modes
  • Perk 3 Slots
    • Tune Up: Increase Field Upgrade cost reduction
    • Spotter: Added hacking ability (from E.O.D.); we’re currently working on the ability to hack through walls.
    • Battle Hardened:
      • Added Snapshot grenade immunity (moved from Ghost)
      • Added Gas grenade resistance:
        • Cough is no longer played when a player enters gas
        • Reduced slowdown under gas effect    
        • Reduced blur when under gas effect

Weapons:

  • Crossbow:
    • Fix for some kills not tracking properly when attempting to unlock the Crossbow
    • Fixed explosive Fury crossbow bolts to not kill Juggernauts in one hit
    • Very slight tuning to the reload speed. We’re still fine tuning this one, so more adjusting is in the works!
    • Fixed a bug where the Crossbow did not do any melee damage to Deployable Cover
  • SA87– Smoothed out recoil, increased damage
  • Increased RAM-7 extended mags ammo count from 45 to 50
  • *A note from the weapons team! The Solozero NVG Enhanced is supposed to see through smoke, but a rendering bug broke this one optic temporarily. We’ll have it fixed shortly!