Black Ops 4: Treyarch preview Multiplayer balancing update for weapons, Specialists, perks, and scorestreaks

Albert Petrosyan

Call of Duty developers Teyarch have shared all of the tuning adjustments and balancing changes they plan on making to several key aspects of Black Ops 4 Multiplayer.

The next major game update in Black Ops 4 has been highly anticipated for quite a while now, as Treyach had previously teased that it would contain a slew of new content and major changes to various things of Multiplayer, Zombies, and Blackout.

On February 15, Treyarch shared a post on Reddit in which they previewed all the adjustments they will be making to certain weapons, Specialists, perks, scorestreaks, and more.

There’s quite a lot of information provided in the post as it appears that the developers have been quite thorough in terms of what they plan on adjusting.

For the weapons, all eyes will be on the changes coming to the Maddox RFB assault rifle and SAUG 9mm SMG, both of which are considered meta weapons in both competitive and casual matches. 

The Maddox RFB assault rifle is one of the strongest and most versatile weapons in the Multiplayer, but it will be nerfed in the upcoming update.

Both weapons will be significantly nerfed in various ways, particularly in terms of the effectiveness of some of their more powerful attachments.

As for Specialists, both the Prophet’s Seeker drone and Ajax’s 9-Bang stun will also be greatly nerfed due to both being widely considered by the community to be way too overpowered.

In terms of scorestreaks, a total of seven will be given a boost in effectiveness, and a new change will be introduced that no longer counts teamkills by scorestreaks as part of the teamkill kick limit in modes where friendly fire is enabled. 

It’s also worth noting that not all of these changes listed below will be universally applied in Multiplayer; some will only apply to PC and others solely to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles. 

With that said, here are all of the balancing changes and tuning adjustments that will be implemented in the next Black Ops 4 update:

Weapons

  • Assault Rifles
    • ICR-7
      • [PC only] Improved ADS sway.
      • [PC only] Improved hip-fire accuracy.
    • Rampart 17
      • Improved max damage range from 37.6 yards to 41.6 yards.
      • [PC only] Improved ADS sway
      • [PC only] Improved hip-fire accuracy.
    • KN-57
      • Improved max damage range from 15.2 yards to 17.3.
      • [PC only] Improved ADS sway.
      • [PC only] Improved hip-fire accuracy.
    • VAPR-XKG
      • Improved 5-hit kill range from 34.7 yards to 50 yards.
      • Improved ADS idle to sway less.
    • Maddox RFB
      • Reduced recoil stability in first 5 shots in bullet pattern.
      • Echo Fire Operator Mod: Improved recoil stability.
      • Quickdraw: Reduced ADS-in speed.
      • Quickdraw II: Reduced ADS-in speed.
      • Stock: Reduced ADS move speed.
      • ELO: Reduced recoil stability.
      • [Console only] Reduced max damage range from 23.6 yards to 20.8 yards.
      • [PC only] Improved ADS sway.
      • [PC only] Improved hip-fire accuracy.
  • Submachine Guns
    • MX9
      • Improved 5 hit kill range from 5.5 yards to 7.6 yards.
      • Improved ADS-in speed.
      • [PC only] Improved damage by adding 5-hit kill range out to 7.6 yards.
    • GKS
      • Improved 5-hit kill range from 2.7 yards to 5.5 yards.
      • [PC only] Improved damage by adding 5-hit kill range out to 5.5 yards.
    • Spitfire
      • Reduced max damage Range from 9.7 yards to 7.6 yards.
      • Stock: Reduced ADS move speed.
      • Extended Mags: Reduced magazine size.
      • Fast Mags: Reduced reload speed enhancement.
      • [PC only] Reduced hip-fire accuracy.
    • Cordite
      • Belt-Fed Operator Mod: Reduced overheat cooldown speed.
      • Grip: Reduced recoil stability.
      • [PC only] Reduced hip-fire accuracy.
    • Saug 9mm
      • Reduced sprint-out speed (now the same as most other SMGs).
      • Reduced base move speed (now the same as other SMGs).
      • Stock: Reduced ADS move speed.
      • Stock II: Reduced ADS move speed.
      • Grip: Reduced recoil stability.
      • [PC only] Reduced hip-fire accuracy.
      • [Console only] Dual Wield Operator Mod: Reduced hip-fire accuracy.
      • [Console only] Dual Wield Operator Mod: Reduced max damage range from 11.1 yards to 8.3 yards.
    • Daemon 3XB
      • Improved max damage range from 6.9 yards to 9 yards.
      • [PC only] Improved hip-fire accuracy.
  • Tactical Rifles
    • Auger DMR
      • Improved ADS move speed.
      • Improved firing speed.
      • Double Tap Operator Mod: Improved firing time between shots.
    • ABR 223
      • Improved ADS move speed.
      • Improved sprint-out speed.
    • Swordfish
      • Improved ADS move speed.
      • Quickdraw II: Improved ADS-in speed.
      • [PC only] Improved burst delay, allowing for faster sustained fire rate.
  • Light Machine Guns
    • Titan
      • Reduced flinch resistance when being hit.
      • Reduced max damage from 46 to 38.
      • Stock: Reduced ADS move speed.
    • Hades
      • [PC only] Cross Bar Operator Mod: Reduced spread accuracy.
  • Sniper Rifles
    • Paladin HB50
      • [PC only] Improved rechamber speed (same as console).
    • Outlaw
      • [Console only] Improved firing speed.
      • [PC only] Quickdraw: Improved ADS-in speed.
      • [PC only] Bolt Cylinder Operator Mod: Reduced fire rate.
      • [PC only] Fixed a bug that allowed extra damage to the neck when using the Recon Optic.
    • Koshka
      • Improved ADS sway.
      • [Console only] Quickdraw II: Improved ADS-in speed.
      • [PC only] Improved rechamber speed (same as console).
  • Pistols
    • RK 7 Garrison
      • Improved all damage ranges.
  • Shotguns
    • MOG 12
      • Dragon’s Breath Operator Mod: Now does 1 quick blast of fire damage instead of damage-over time. This increases it’s one-hit-kill potential at certain close ranges, and is especially effective when paired with Choke Barrel.
      • Improved max damage Range from 3.75 yards to 4.1 yards.
      • Quickdraw: Improved ADS-in speed.
      • [Console only] Barrel Choke: Improved accuracy, pellet damage, and max damage range.
    • SG12
      • Strobe Light Operator Mod: Reduced luminosity on visual light effect.

Specialists

  • Prophet
    • Seeker
      • Greatly reduced Seeker’s hitpoints, it can now be destroyed with 1 bullet.
      • Reduced detection range against enemies with Cold Blooded.
  • Ajax
    • 9-Bang
      • Reduced visual opacity of screen flash when hit by 9-Bang.
      • Players will no longer raise their hand when flashed if they have Tactical Mask.
      • Players can now change stances while flashed.
  • General
    • Active Specialist Weapons now lose all cooldown on round change (as opposed to partial loss previously).

Equipment

  • Frag Grenade
    • Increased damage.
  • Concussion Grenade
    • Players can now stun themselves with their own Concussion Grenade.
    • Players will no longer raise their hands when affected by a Concussion grenade if they have Tactical Mask.

Gear

  • Acoustic Sensor
    • Reduced the ranges at which Acoustic Sensor can detect enemies.
    • Reduced the ranges at which enemies with Dead Silence are detected.

Perks

  • Tactical Mask
    • Player now recovers faster after being hit by Tempest.
    • Players will no longer raise their hand when flashed by the 9-Bang.
    • No longer provides fire or radiation resistance.
  • Flak Jacket
    • Fire and radiation resistance moved from Tactical Mask to Flak Jacket.
    • Improved Flak Jacket resistance to radiation and burn.
  • Cold Blooded
    • Reduced the range at which an enemy Seeker can detect the player with this Perk.

Scorestreaks

  • Lightning Strike
    • Reduced the delay between targeting locations and the jets arriving.
  • Sentry
    • Improved damage.
    • Improved the time that the Sentry will remember a target after losing line of sight.
    • Improved the range at which the Sentry will detect an enemy within a 360-degree radius.
  • Drone Squad
    • Improved damage.
  • Sniper’s Nest
    • Increased number of rockets required to destroy the Sniper’s Nest by 1.
  • Mantis
    • Improved explosive damage radius.
  • Thresher
    • Improved chain gun explosive radius and damage.
    • Improved health of vehicle to balance damage dealt from an enemy with FMJ II.
  • Strike Team
    • Improved awareness radius.
    • Improved health regeneration rate of Strike Team members.
  • General
    • Scorestreak teamkills will no longer count towards the teamkill kick limit in modes with friendly fire enabled.

The changes listed above are not the only massive news that Treyarch delivered on February 15 as they also revealed the released date for the long-awaited League Play mode in Multiplayer.

Make sure to follow us @DexertoINTEL as well as monitor our Call of Duty page as we will post any additional information about the upcoming massive update as it’s announced.