Cold War Season 3 patch notes: new guns & maps, weapon balancing, more

Activision and Treyarch have released the patch notes revealing new details about what’s new in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, including several new maps, along with six new weapons, modes, and much more.

There’s been a lot of anticipation surrounding the launch of Season 3 in Black Ops Cold War and now we know exactly what’s been added in terms of all the new content and major changes – and there’s a ton of it!

Everything you need to know about the upcoming season can be found below:

Black Ops Cold War Season 3 Roadmap

Black Ops Cold War Season 3 update patch notes & weapon balancing

GLOBAL

Battle Pass

• New 100-Tier Battle Pass available in Season Three.

Weapons

• PPSh-41 [NEW]
  • New SMG available to unlock in the Season Three Battle Pass.
• Swiss K31 [NEW]
  • New sniper rifle available to unlock in the Season Three Battle Pass.
• Ballistic Knife [NEW]
  • Unlock Challenge available for the Ballistic Knife in Black Ops Cold War at Season Three launch. Available in Warzone later in the season.
• FARA 83
  • Unlock Challenge available for the FARA 83 assault rifle.
• LC10
  • Unlock Challenge available for the LC10 SMG.

Operators

• Wraith
  • New “Wraith” Operator available at Tier 0 in the Season Three Battle Pass.
• Operator Randomization
  • Added a new option to the Operators menu that will allows players to randomly select any unlocked Operator currently owned.
• Operator Skin Randomization
  • Added the option to randomize unlocked Operator Skins in the Operators menu.
  • Players can select randomized Operator Skins for a selected Operator, or set up a selection of their favorite skins for an Operator to cycle between.
• General
  • Addressed an issue where the “New” breadcrumb (green dot) could appear for an Operator that the player has already inspected.

Main Lobby

• Updated main lobby theming for Season Three.

Weapon Unlock Challenges

• Players can now complete weapon challenges in both Multiplayer and Zombies for previous, current, and future weapons unlockable via in-game challenge.

Weapon Tuning

• Light Machine Guns
  • Light Machine Gun Alpha
    • Reduced max damage from 42 to 38.
    • Reduced max range from 38.1m to 21.59m.
    • Slight increase to vertical recoil.
    • Slightly reduced ADS speed.
    • Reduced range bonus on Match Grade Barrel attachment from +100 to +50%.
    • Reduced range penalty of Division Barrel attachment from -25% to -12%.
  • RPD
    • Increased max damage from 38 to 42.
    • Reduced max range from 50.8m to 20.4m.
    • Reduced ammo capacity from 75 to 50.
    • Reduced range bonus on Match Grade Barrel attachment from +100% to +50%.
    • Reduced range penalty of Division Barrel attachment from -25% to -15%.
  • M60
    • Reduced max range from 76.2m to 20.4m.
    • Reduced ADS speed by 13.8%.
    • Increased probability of horizontal view kick when hip-firing.
    • Reduced range bonus on Match Grade Barrel attachment from +100% to +50%.
    • Reduced range penalty of Division Barrel attachment from -25% to -15%.
• Shotguns
  • Streetsweeper
    • Removed 1-shot kill potential.
    • Decreased max damage from 138 to 88.
    • Reduced mid-range pellet damage from 6 to 5.
    • Reduced damage bonus on Task Force Barrel attachment.
  • Hauer 77
    • Increased max range from 5.08m to 5.72m.
    • Reduced range penalty on Task Force Barrel attachment from 12% to 7%.
    • Reduced damage bonus on Task Force Barrel attachment.
  • Shotgun Bravo
    • Increased mid damage range from 9.14m to 10.16m.
    • Increased mid-range pellet damage from 2 to 3.
    • Reduced max damage from 118 to 108.
• Assault Rifles
  • FFAR 1
    • Reduced recoil penalties on Task Force Barrel attachment by 10% total.
    • Increased bullets added to 34 RND magazine attachment from 34 to 38.
    • Reduced reload speed penalty on 34 RND magazine attachment from 10% to 5%.
    • Increased bullets added to 38 RND Speed Mag magazine attachment from 34 to 38.
    • Reduced ADS speed penalty on 38 RND Speed Mag magazine attachment from 20% to 10%.
  • Krig 6
    • Increased headshot multiplier from 1.25 to 1.4.
    • Reduced max damage from 35 to 33.
  • Attachments
    • Added an ADS move speed bonus to the following barrel attachments for assault rifles: Ultralight, Contour, Contour M2, CMV Mil-Spec.
• Tactical Rifles
  • Tactical Rifle Charlie
    • Reduced max range from 30.48m to 19.05m.
    • Increased burst fire delay from 0.216 to 0.233.
    • Increased max damage from 51 to 52.
    • Increased headshot multiplier from 1.25 to 1.4.
    • Reduced range bonus on Task Force barrel attachment from +50% to +40%.
    • Reduced damage bonus on Task Force barrel from +15% to +12%.
• Submachine Guns
  • Sprint Speed
    • Reduced sprinting speed of all SMGs. Pistols are now the fastest guns to sprint with.
    • With specific attachments, an SMG may now allow sprinting as fast as a pistol.

Vehicles

• Cargo Truck
  • New vehicle available in Outbreak and Multi-Team.
• Controls
  • Addressed an issue where aiming while driving Snowmobiles or Dirt Bikes would not function when L1/R1 and L2/R2 settings were swapped.

Features

• Arcade
  • Arcade available in the Barracks at the start of Season Three, featuring 10 free classic Activision arcade games:
    • Barnstorming
    • Boxing
    • Chopper Command
    • Enduro
    • Fishing Derby
    • Grand Prix
    • Kaboom!
    • Pitfall!
    • Pitfall II
    • River Raid

Prestige Rewards

• Added four new Prestige Levels (12-15) and Prestige Rewards:
  • Level 50: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, Weapon Blueprint, and Battle Pass Tier Skip 
  • Level 100: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, and Battle Pass Tier Skip 
  • Level 150: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, and Battle Pass Tier Skip 
  • Level 190: All Season Challenges Available 
  • Level 200: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, Battle Pass Tier Skip, Master Prestige Calling Card 
  • Levels 250 – 1,000: New Prestige Key every 50 levels 

Prestige Shop

• New Prestige Shop content available, including additional legacy Prestige Icons and the Prestige Master Calling Card from the original Black Ops.

Gunsmith

• Addressed an issue where, when viewing Details in Gunsmith, Sprinting Move Speed would display as equal to or lower than Movement Speed for most weapons.

UI

• Addressed an issue with Text Chat name highlighting in whispers for better readability.
• Ping and Packet Meter Loss graphs temporarily removed while a visual issue is investigated.

MULTIPLAYER

Maps

• Yamantau (6v6) [NEW]
  • New map added to Multiplayer rotation in 6v6 modes.
  • Yamantau 24/7 Featured Playlist available during launch week.
• Diesel (6v6, 3v3, 2v2) [NEW]
  • New map added to Multiplayer rotation in 6v6, 2v2, and 3v3 modes.
  • Diesel Face Off 24/7 Featured Playlist available during launch week.
• Apocalypse
  • Addressed a collision issue that allowed players to see through a tree inside of the temple.
• Checkmate
  • Addressed an issue that would cause players to become slowed when moving across certain floor surfaces.
• Crossroads
  • Removed Crossroads from Combined Arms and VIP Escort rotation while an issue is investigated. Crossroads Strike will remain in place in all supported modes.

Modes

• Sticks and Stones [NEW]
  • New mode available in Multiplayer.
  • Each player deploys with the R1 Shadowhunter crossbow, Ballistic Knife, and a Tomahawk.
  • Earn score with crossbow and Ballistic Knife kills, and eliminate enemies with the Tomahawk to bankrupt their score to zero.
  • Victory goes to the first player to reach the score limit or the player with the highest score when time runs out.
• Search & Destroy
  • Added audio stingers when a player is eliminated during the round.
• Face Off
  • Addressed an issue where respawns could happen outside of the playable area in Game Show, ICBM, and U-Bahn.
• CDL
  • Addressed an issue where CDL start spawns and CDL game mode objectives were not being properly loaded in Miami Strike.
• Multi-Team
  • Addressed an issue where weapons would lose all ammo when exchanged for a weapon in a container and then picked up again.

Scorestreaks

• Strafe Run [NEW]
  • Now available in Multiplayer for 5000 score.
• General
  • Addressed an issue for earned Scorestreaks resetting when switching teams.

Challenges

• Season Challenges
  • 20 new Multiplayer Season Challenges available with exclusive Calling Card and XP rewards.
• General
  • Addressed an issue where blowing up enemies by shooting explosive barrels would not count toward the “Hardcore Kill Collector” Challenge.

Movement

• Refactored synchronization between 1st-person camera and 3rd-person animations that could cause these states to be out of sync.
  • A player’s 3rd-person animation stance will now more accurately portray the player’s 1st person view, reducing advantages when quickly moving between stances.
• Increased the speed at which a player can go into prone and come out of prone (previously decreased in Season Two Reloaded).
• Stance changes are no longer queued in 1st-person and forced to completion.
  • While these can now be canceled, there is a delay before changing stances again. This change will also more accurately synchronize 1st and 3rd-person views when quickly changing stances.
• When exiting a slide, the 1st-person camera will now more accurately match the 3rd-person animation state.

Split-Screen

• UI
  • Addressed an issue with a black overlay appearing during Kill Cam when in split-screen orientation.
  • Addressed an issue with Player 2 losing the HUD when editing a class in split-screen.
• Infil
  • Addressed an issue where, when Player 1 called in a Chopper Gunner, the infil cinematic displayed on both players’ screens instead of only on Player 1’s screen.
  • Addressed an issue where loading into a split-screen Multiplayer map, Player 2’s screen would spectate Player 1 briefly while the match countdown began.
• Multi-Team
  • Addressed an issue in Multi-Team where the split-screen player that died while the radiation gas was active on the map would have the gas remain permanently on the map in split-screen perspective only.
  • Addressed an issue in Multi-Team where, if one player was commandeering a vehicle and the other player died, the vehicle would display graphical corruption during the overhead respawn screen.
• Vs. Bots
  • Addressed a large frame rate drop when playing Vs. Bots Free-for-All in any map.
• Custom Games
  • Addressed an issue in Custom Games where the second player’s POV could become stuck underwater in the Blackwood hotel pool on Miami.

UI

• Addressed an issue with Obituary feed UI icon images facing the wrong way.
• Addressed an issue where the player could load into a match with UI “Zoom In” stuck on the screen if they started with a melee weapon or pistols with Dual Wield.

Audio

• Addressed an issue where the voice line for picking up an enemy Assault Pack would use a different Operator than the one the player had equipped.
• Addressed an issue in Multi-Team where the announcer would refer to the player’s team by the wrong team name.

Featured Playlists

• Yamantau 24/7 [NEW] (Also available in Hardcore)
• Diesel Face Off 24/7 [NEW] (Also available in Hardcore)
• Sticks and Stones [NEW]
• Nuketown 24/7 (Also available in Hardcore)
• Gunfight
• Snipers Only Moshpit
• Multi-Team Moshpit

LEAGUE PLAY

Combat Record

• Added support for Combat Record in League Play.

Create-a-Class

• Thermal Optic attachments now restricted in League Play.

Custom Games

• Addressed an issue where players could lose access to Create-a-Class and Scorestreaks in League Play when CDL/CDL Pro game modes were selected in Custom Games.

Match Cancellation

• Addressed an issue where League Play matches were prematurely cancelled when a player left the match.

ZOMBIES

Weapon Unlock Challenges

• Added Zombies weapon unlock challenges for all weapons from prior seasons and Season Three launch:
  • Groza assault rifle
  • MAC-10 SMG
  • Streetsweeper shotgun
  • Sledgehammer melee weapon
  • Wakizashi melee weapon
  • FARA 83 assault rifle
  • LC10 SMG
  • Machete melee weapon
  • E-Tool melee weapon
  • R1 Shadowhunter crossbow
  • ZRG 20mm sniper rifle
  • Ballistic Knife melee weapon

Progression

• Increased XP and Match Bonus XP gained in all Zombies modes.

Field Upgrades

• Toxic Growth
  • Toxic Growth Field Upgrade now available in round-based maps and Outbreak.
  • Base Level ability: Summon a deadly growth of thorns in front of you. Enemies moving through it are slowed by 50% and take toxic damage.
  • Skill Tiers
    • Tier I: Double the health of the growth.
    • Tier II: Increase maximum charges to 2.
    • Tier III: Double the damage enemies take while moving through the growth.
    • Tier IV: Increase maximum charges to 3.
    • Tier V: Enemies killed by the growth explode dealing toxic damage to nearby enemies and slow them by 50% for 3 seconds.

Ammo Mods

• Napalm Burst
  • Doubled all damage effects.
• Dead Wire
  • Reduced damage taken by stunned zombies from 33% down to 25%.
  • Reduced effect radius.
• Shatter Blast
  • Reduced explosive damage by half.

Challenges

• Season Challenges
  • 20 new Zombies Season Challenges available with exclusive Calling Card and XP rewards.
• Daily Challenges
  • Addressed an issue where kills with Weapon Blueprints were not counting toward the “Wallbuyer” and “It’s a Mystery” Daily Challenges.
  • Addressed an issue where turning on the power did not count toward the “Like Clockwork” Daily Challenge.
• General
  • Addressed an issue where zombies killed by Hellhound explosions were not counting toward the “Field of Fire” Challenge.

Outbreak

• New Region
  • Duga region added to Outbreak.
• New Intel
  • New in-game story Intel now available in Outbreak.
• New World Event
  • Fury Crystal event added to Outbreak for players to discover.
• New Objective Locations
  • Defend, Holdout, and Retrieve added to Alpine and Golova.
• New Vehicles
  • FAV and Cargo Truck now available in Outbreak.
• Gameplay
  • Phase Wall Tears are now present along the edges of the map.
  • New infil points added to Alpine and Golova.
  • Addressed various issues with zombie pathing in Outbreak.
  • Addressed an issue where the Aethereal Orb would be invisible after a host migration.
• Wonder Weapons
  • D.I.E. Machine upgrades can now be found in certain regions in Outbreak.
  • Addressed an issue with the D.I.E. Machine not having crosshairs in Outbreak.
• Objectives
  • Escort
    • Addressed an issue where the Mangler’s projectile was not damaging the rover during the Escort Objective.
• Trials Intel
  • Addressed an issue where “Testing… Testing…” and “New Enemies” Intel were not unlocking after acquiring from Trials.
• HUD
  • Addressed an issue where weapon rarity appeared incorrectly on the HUD after applying a Blueprint.
• Stability
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when killing zombies affected by Decoys and Molotovs.
• General
  • Added inactivity detection measures. Players who are detected as inactive will not earn XP, Battle Pass progress, or earn Aetherium Crystals while they are inactive.
  • Players who remain inactive for a significant period of time will be kicked from the match.
  • In Private or Solo matches, the host can now pause the game to avoid inactive players getting kicked from the match.
  • Addressed an issue where only two players would appear in the chopper Exfil cinematic.
  • Addressed an issue where the After Action Report was not showing the Difficulty Level reached or the Exfil status.

Dead Ops Arcade 3

• Progression
  • XP tuning adjustments.
  • Addressed an issue where vehicles and chickens dealing fatal damage to spawners in The Wild would not properly credit their owner with points and XP.
• Gameplay
  • Player shields now turn on when the exit ladder is taken in a Dungeon to prevent unintentional player deaths.
  • Addressed an issue where a player in a Buggy Car vehicle would not be warped to the Dungeon if a teammate entered the Grottes de la Dorta Dungeon while their teammate was in the vehicle.
• Enemies
  • Mamaback boss now drops fewer banana bombs during jump attack.
  • Adjusted the Mamaback’s jump attack reaction sensitivity to player nuke drops.
  • While in first person, it now takes 2 hits from bosses and underbosses to deal fatal damage to a fully healed player.
  • Addressed an issue where a vortex could cause enemies to appear invisible, particularly the Megaton. Only basic zombie types are not affected by the vortex (Zombie, Barrel Zombie, Dirt Riser Zombie).

Featured Playlists

• Outbreak
• Firebase Z
• Die Maschine
• Dead Ops Arcade: First Person
• Dead Ops Arcade
• Onslaught (PlayStation)
• Onslaught Containment (PlayStation)
  • Onslaught Yamantau (PlayStation) [NEW]
  • Onslaught Nuketown (PlayStation)

Onslaught (PlayStation)

• Maps
  • Yamantau map available in Onslaught.
• Modes
  • Onslaught Containment
  • Addressed an issue where Chalices were not always being earned and XP was not always being awarded in Onslaught Containment.

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What’s new in Black Ops Cold War Season 3?

Six new weapons: PPSH, Swiss K31, AMP63, more

Six new weapons will be added to BOCW in S3 – three right away when the season starts and three more at some point in the coming weeks.

• Released at launch:
  • PPSh-41: SMG
  • Swiss K31 Sniper Rifle
  • Ballistic Knife
• Release in-season:
  • CARV.2 Tactical Rifle
  • AMP63 Pistol
  • Baseball Bat

As per usual, the two new guns – PPSh and Swiss K31 – can be unlocked for free via the Battle Pass.

Four new maps: Standoff confirmed!

The iconic Standoff map from Black Ops 2 will make its long-awaited return to Call of Duty in Season 3, although it will not be released at launch. Like with the weapons, only two maps are released with the S3 update, the other two will roll out later on during the season.

• Released at launch:
  • Yamantau (6v6)
  • Diesel (6v6, 2v2, 3v3)
• Release in-season:
  • Standoff (6v6)
  • Duga (Multi-Team)

Three new Operators: Captain Price returns!

S3 brings with it three brand new Operators that players can use in both Black Ops Cold War and Warzone: Wraith (launch week), Knight (in-season), Antonov (in-season).

In addition, a new version of Captain Price is released – Price ’84 – a Cold War-era version of the iconic character. This one hasn’t be rolled out like the others, however, as players need to own BOCW to get it, or purchase the game if they haven’t already.

New modes & scorestreak

The fan-favorite Sticks and Stones mode is back in multiplayer in S3: “It’s every Operator for themselves, with each player deploying with the R1 Shadowhunter crossbow, Ballistic Knife, and a Tomahawk. Earn score with crossbow and Ballistic Knife kills, and eliminate enemies with the Tomahawk to bankrupt their score to zero. The first player to reach the score limit or the player with the highest score when the timer expires wins.”

Coming later in the season is a new large-scale mode called Multi-Team Elimination: “The upcoming Multi-Team Elimination mode brings the last-team-standing experience to Black Ops Cold War’s biggest maps, where multiple teams of four will fight to survive ever-expanding radiation zones. Redeploys will be limited and loadouts will be restricted, so teams will need to scavenge for weapons, Scorestreaks, Armor, Redeploy Tickets, and more. Emerge as the last team standing or the first squad to board the exfil chopper in the final safe zone to achieve victory.”

As for the new scorestreak, it’s called Strafe Run, officially described as having a longer period and higher potential for kills compared to the Napalm Strike, so it’s likely a pretty powerful streak if you’re able to get your hands on it.

Zombies: New Outbreak region, items, events, more

Treyarch haven’t forgotten about Zombies with this update, rolling out a bunch of new content for the Outbreak mode:

• New Field Upgrade: Toxic Growth
• New Outbreak region: Duga
• New Outbreak vehicles: FAV & Cargo Truck
• New Outbreak world events & features: D.I.E Machine Wonder Weapon

When is the Black Ops Cold War Season 3 update? Release date & file sizes

The Black Ops Cold War Season 3 update will officially go live between April 20-21, depending on where you are in the world:

• Tuesday, April 20
  • 9:00 PM PT
  • 11:00 PM CT
• Wednesday, April 21
  • 12:00 AM ET
  • 5:00 AM BST (UK)
  • 6:00 AM CEST (Europe)
  • 2:00 PM AEST (Australia)

Here are the confirmed file sizes for the patch:

• PlayStation 5: 12.3 GB
• PlayStation 4: 8.1 GB
• Xbox Series X / Xbox Series S: 11.6 GB
• Xbox One: 8.3 GB
• PC: 13.1 GB

As for everything new coming to Warzone, you can find out all of the info in our Warzone Season 3 update hub here.