Warzone Season 3 patch notes reveal big sniper nerf
Alongside a few new locations and weapons
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Call of Duty: Warzone Season 3 is here and Activision has dropped a hefty slate of patch notes outlining all the changes we can expect in the battle royale’s next season of content.
Coming inWarzone Season 3is the return of a fan-favorite game mode, a couple of new Caldera locations, two new weapons, and an additional operator. There’s no sign of Godzilla or King Kong yet, but it won’t be long before the megafauna begin stomping about the place.
Scroll down to read the patch notes in full, or read about the highlights right here.
Caldera Iron Trials returns as a bonus game mode. Pitched as a more brutal experience, it reduces the rate of health regeneration, makes legendary weapons harder to find, and doesn’t include any free loadout drops. Plus, buy station prices are increased, although you’ll keep your cash after dying.
There are a couple of new areas on Caldera to explore. The Dig Site is an abandoned excavation zone littered with the ancient remains of massive gorilla-esque and lizard-like monsters. The Peak, Runway, and Lagoon areas have also been updated with new buildings, hangers, and pathways, so they’ll look a little different from what you’re used to.
The Gulag has changed, too. When you kick the bucket, you’ll now be transported to the interior of a ship moored just off the coast of the island.
A nerf to snipers
Two new weapons have been introduced: the M1916 semi-auto rifle and the Nikita AVT assault rifle. A bunch of handling tweaks have also been made to several existing weapons, while sniper rifles have been nerfed. Several snipers will now only one-shot players when fired up to a maximum of 90 meters from their target, and several won’t do so at all.
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“The long-standing ‘one-shot rule’ [has] unfortunately diluted the Sniper class into one important metric, speed to click heads,” the patch notes read.
“Snipers may now use damage ranges as a defining characteristic of their one-shot potential. This not only brings more identity to each weapon but means attachments that provide the lighter and quicker sniper rifles the Damage Range stat will increase their ability to one-shot at increased distances.”
A new Operator – Mateo Hernandez – has been introduced, too. He’s available instantly to anyone who purchases the Warzone Season 3 battle pass
On top of that, there are a bunch of new gameplay features to dig into, including a bunch of new contracts, quality-of-life adjustments to deployable gadgets, and some tweaks to the loot that spawns across Caldera. Buy Stations will also no longer ask you to confirm your purchase, which should make buying weapons while the bullets are flying a little smoother.
Finally, Operation Monarch is a limited-time event that will feature Godzilla and King Kong. The monster bash will feature a new Quads game mode and go live May 11 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm GMT, which is 2am AEST on May 12.
Read on for the full patch notes, or check out how Activision’s new anti-cheat software istargeting hackers by trolling them.
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: events
New Event: Operation Monarch
Operation Monarch, a special limited-time event featuring the iconic Titans of the Monsterverse - Godzilla and Kong, will introduce a new game mode for Quads inspired by several of Warzone’s best experiences to date.
Operation Monarch will go live at 9 AM PT May 11.More information to come soon.
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: modes
New Mode: Caldera Iron Trials
The fan-favorite mode, Iron Trials, is back. This time on Caldera. Here’s a recap of the Iron Trials experience:
Plunder Adjustments
Players had a hard limit in Plunder of carrying a maximum of $1.6 million. Whilst this is an extremely unlikely scenario, we wanted to make the system more robust for the minority of Players that achieve such a feat.
Rebirth Resurgence Adjustments
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: maps
New Gulag: Hold
A roughly symmetrical arena is based in the belly of a ship moored just off the coast of Caldera, with identical hallways on the perimeter of an otherwise open space.
New Location: Dig Site
Located between the Mine and the Ruins, Dig Site provides Operators the opportunity to rummage through abandoned excavation equipment, tents, and massive skeletons for Supply Boxes and other items.
New Skybox
A dark storm approaches…
Updated Locations
Peak
New Constructs, Supply Boxes, Contracts, ascenders, and a fresh coat of paint.
Runway
New barracks, hangars, and other structural additions.
Lagoon
New sandbar, paths, and cover.
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: general
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: gameplay
New Features
With Season One, we introduced Public Events, like Cash Drops, during Infil to draw Players towards new loot locations. We have been happy with the results of these ‘honeypot’ opportunities but we want to take it a step further. Starting with Operation Monarch, we will be introducing “High Value Loot Zones” to provide new, fruitful opportunities for Players willing to take the risk.
General Adjustments
The Gas Mask remains a continued focus for our Quality of Life efforts. It plays an important role both in gameplay and the visceral Call of Duty feeling, but we felt that we had seen one too many videos of Players jumping from high heights into the Gas and the game incorrectly prioritizing the Gas Mask animation over the parachute… and we all know how that scenario ends.
We reviewed the data for the Most Wanted Contract and we felt that improvements needed to be made to increase its engagement and success rate, whilst still retaining the all important risk/reward that it offers.
Caldera Adjustments
Loot that spawns across Caldera have been adjusted…
We want to further increase the value and rewards of looting during the mid-game. It’s important for both pacing and movement in Battle Royale that there are always new rewards to be found for Players who rotate through locations for greater loot advantages, and our first step on this path is to bring single Perks into loot. From our internal testing, this change has brought a wealth of new Player stories and we will continue to roll out additional Perks in this manner as we review player feedback and data on how it improves the pacing and experience of Battle Royale. These lootable perks will launch first in Caldera, and then to Rebirth Island at a later date.
Rebirth Island Adjustments
Whilst Spawn Protection plays an important role in any multi-life game mode, we felt it needed some extra refinement to make sure it cannot be exploited by Players. We will continue to monitor Player behavior in this area and make further changes throughout the season if required.
Later this season…
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: UI/UX
The confirmation box when making a Buy Station purchase had good intentions, but we felt that the muscle memory had become so ingrained in Players to double-tap twice in succession. This was causing unnecessary friction in a potentially hostile combat situation, versus the unlikelihood of mistakes being made. We plan to make additional refinements to the Buy Station experience during the Season.
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: bug fixes
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: known issues
For a list of other known #Warzone issues, please check out ourdedicated Trello Board.
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: weapons
New Unlock Challenge Missions
Weapon Adjustments
» Assault Rifles «
» Handguns «
Handgun Charlie (BOCW) has been a truly dominant Secondary Weapon. Due to its substantial headshot multiplier, Handgun Charlie (VG) was able to achieve Primary Weapon TTKs with little downside. We will be closely monitoring the Weapon’s performance and make further adjustments if necessary.
» Light Machine Guns «
Light Machine Gun Charlie (VG) has overstayed its welcome as the go-to long range choice. Its high damage profile paired with the ability to load it out to remove most recoil made for a nasty combination. By addressing some of the major outliers of the weapon, we’re left with a strong choice for those that can control it effectively.
» Sniper Rifles «The adoption of 150 health in Battle Royale resulted in a huge boon to the Sniper category - While all other weapons require an additional shot or two, Snipers remained as they did previously. The long-standing “one shot rule” unfortunately diluted the Sniper class into one important metric, speed to click heads.
As mentioned above Snipers may now use damage ranges as a defining characteristic of their one-shot potential. This not only brings more identity to each weapon but means Attachments that provide the lighter and quicker sniper rifles the Damage Range stat will increase their ability to one shot at increased distances.
Our ultimate goal is to enable a wider range of viable playstyles and really push the potential of each weapon. Keep an eye out as we expect further adjustments to Sniper Rifles as we hone in on the best all-round experience.
The following Weapons will one-shot to the head only while inside of their Max Damage Range:
The following Weapons will one-shot to the head at any Range:
The following Weapons do not have one-shot potential to the head:
Please see below for the full list of changes to Snipers, and keep in mind that attachments that provide Range Bonuses can drastically change the Base Weapons Max Range:
» Submachine Guns «
The VDD 189mm short barrel has been a huge boon for the Submachine Gun Charlie (VG) and would often shred the target’s Upper Body far outside of its maximum damage range. The VDD still provides a large bonus against extremities and still increases both the min damage and optimal damage range of the MP40. We expect continued use of this attachment, even with these adjustments.
» Marksman Rifles «
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: attachments
» Ammunition «
» Muzzles «
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: operators
New Operator: Mateo Hernandez
Purchasing the Battle Pass instantly unlocks Mateo Hernandez with two Legendary Operator Skins: the all-black “Chingon” outfit featuring a hooded skull mask and knee-length coat, and the blue and orange “Madcap” Skin for the eccentric fighter rushing madly toward victor
Equip his Favorite Weapon, the new M1916, and level him up to unlock thousands of Player XP and Weapon XP for the M1916, two additional Operator Skins, two Quips, the “No Escape” Finishing Move, and more.
Warzone Season 3 patch notes: downloads
The Season Three update will have a download size of approximately 40 GB for those who own the free-to-play console version of Warzone and are currently on the latest updates.
Note:PC users will also need 13 GB of additional space on their hard drive for the patch copying process; this is only temporary space that is reclaimed upon completion of the patch installation and is not an additional download.
Remember, the Vanguard download is not necessary if you are only playing Warzone, and vice versa.
Furthermore, for a smaller overall file size, Players can choose to uninstall/remove other data packs if they are no longer needed.
Callum is TechRadar Gaming’s News Writer. You’ll find him whipping up stories about all the latest happenings in the gaming world, as well as penning the odd feature and review. Before coming to TechRadar, he wrote freelance for various sites, including Clash, The Telegraph, and Gamesindustry.biz, and worked as a Staff Writer at Wargamer. Strategy games and RPGs are his bread and butter, but he’ll eat anything that spins a captivating narrative. He also loves tabletop games, and will happily chew your ear off about TTRPGs and board games.
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