Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Update Makes Some Controversial Nerfs and Buffs

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's first update is live on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC. That said, at the moment of publishing, Treyarch has not released the patch notes for the update, leaving fans scrambling to figure out what the seemingly meaty update did to the latest COD release. While the finer details of the patch remain a mystery, players have already noticed some major and controversial nerfs and buffs.

For example, the effective damage range of AUG and M16 have been nerfed. Meanwhile, this week's nerf of the MP5 has seemingly been reverted. This week, a patch was rolled out reducing the MP5's effectiveness at longer ranges, however, it looks like these tweaks to the game's most powerful gun have been reverted.

Moving off weapons, it looks like Treyarch has also increased the throwing animation speed for most -- if not all -- of the equipment. Further, response curves have been added and streak values have undergone an overhaul.

Still waiting on patch notes but a few things I've noticed:
- M16 - nerfed range (25.4m -> 21.59m)
- AUG - nerfed range (38m -> 30m), buffed sprintout
- FFAR - nerfed range (38m->25.4m) + WAY more horizontal recoil
- Tons of streak value changes
- response curves added

— Xclusive Ace (@TheXclusiveAce) November 20, 2020

Slight correction, the AUG sprintout was nerfed, not buffed (400ms -> 425ms)

— Xclusive Ace (@TheXclusiveAce) November 20, 2020

As for why the MP5 changes have been reverted, who knows, but players are theorizing the revert is a mistake and will be re-reverted. And this may be why the patch notes haven't been released yet.

It also appears they've completely reverted the MP5 nerf from a couple days ago (range & recoil). If I had to guess, this is likely unintentional and we could see the nerf re-applied at some point.

— Xclusive Ace (@TheXclusiveAce) November 20, 2020

As expected, these changes have received a mixed reception, which is usually the case when guns are nerfed and buffed. That said, for now, take all of this with a grain of salt. Until the official patch notes are provided none of this is official or final.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available via the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC. For more coverage on the game and all things Call of Duty, click here.