Raven continues to listen to the community and make impactful balancing changes in Warzone. This time around, they gave the AMAX a slight nerf and altered a number of movement stats on the Cold War assault rifles. The AMAX will now take one more shot to kill at range, and Cold War assault rifles will no longer displace submachine guns in Warzone.
Additionally, the FARA's damage was reduced and the Bullfrog's damage was reduced. A few minor changes were made to the PPSH and Streetsweeper as well. This guide will delve into the details of all the changes in the patch, and estimate where each of these guns will rank in the coming weeks.
5 CR-56 AMAX
Following the Season 3 changes, Raven stated that they were keeping a close eye on the AMAX. Many in the community were worried that the AMAX would become the meta once again, destroying the hopes of an open meta in Warzone. Others anticipated that the AMAX would get nerfed into the ground. Neither of these concerns came to fruition, as Raven made probably the best changes they could to the gun.
Stat Changes
The base damage of the AMAX was reduced by 1 and the chest damage was reduced by 1. This means that it will usually take at least one additional shot to kill at most ranges. If players hit headshots with the AMAX, it will still down enemies very quickly. However, the 5 shot kills to the chest are no longer a possibility against fully plated enemies.
Ranking
After the changes, the AMAX will still be a top 5-10 option in Warzone. It still has a very good time to kill and will perform well at medium range. That being said, it may take a backseat to the more accurate weapons that have a TTK around 600 milliseconds at range. As a sniper support gun, the AMAX is still a top option.
4 FARA 83
Warzone was taken over by the Cold War AR/SMG hybrids over the past few months. The Cold War ARs had insane movement and strafe stats compared to the SMGs in the game. For that reason, everyone was using the guns as close-range secondary weapons. Changes made by the developers in recent weeks seem to have solved the issue.
Stat Changes
The FARA 83 received a base movement nerf and a slight reduction to the headshot multiplier at each damage range. The exact headshot damage has been reduced from 46 to 39 and 40 to 35 after the first damage drop-off. All other damage values remain the same. Raven's nerf was an attempt to lower the shots to kill when mixing in headshots, and will not have much of an impact otherwise. More importantly, the FARA's base movement speed was reduced by 7%, which is noticeable in-game.
Ranking
Players should expect the FARA to be used as a primary instead of a secondary going forward. Movement and strafe changes will hamper its viability as an SMG replacement. The FARA is still an exceptional weapon in the game. It has a very good recoil plot and an incredible TTK at range. It is safe to say that the FARA can still be regarded as a top 5 assault rifle in the game.
3 Bullfrog
After having the gun as a ground loot option in Season 2, a lot of people warmed up to the Bullfrog. It has a role somewhere in between the close-range SMGs and weapons like the LC10 and MP7. The main concern with the gun was the headshot multiplier lowering the TTK well below what was intended.
Stat Changes
Raven addressed the headshot concerns by lowering damage values across the board. Headshot damage was reduced by 5, and chest damage was reduced by 3 points as well. After the first drop-off, all damage values were reduced by 1. A few of the other values were changed, but all of these differences increase the gun's time to kill around 60 milliseconds, which will be noticeable in-game. However, these nerfs were coupled with buffs to sprint to fire speed and damage range.
Ranking
The Bullfrog may slip down a spot or two among SMGs after the changes. The gun's time to kill is still in line with many of the SMGs in the game and it has better range values up to 15 meters now. Most people use the Bullfrog over the more powerful options for ammunition and recoil control, so it will still be a borderline meta weapon in Warzone.
2 PPSH
Once some testing was done on the PPSH, it became clear that it was not even close to being a top gun to use. It has high recoil, low damage, and an open bolt delay. Raven's changes addressed a couple of those issues.
Stat Changes
The PPSH was given a slight 4% range boost, making it a little better beyond 10 meters. The primary change to the gun was an 80% reduction to the open bolt delay when firing the weapon. As a result, the TTK of the weapon is reduced by about 60 milliseconds for every hitbox value. Surprisingly, the PPSH is now better than the Bullfrog when hitting chest or stomach shots.
Ranking
Following the changes, the PPSH is now in a very good spot. It is by no means overpowered, but it is definitely viable up to around 20 meters. The gun will rank somewhere in the top 10 among SMGs as a result. If the ground loot PPSH feels way better, the bolt delay is the reason why.
1 Streetsweeper
Despite how good the gun was, very few players used the Streetsweeper in their loadouts. It downed enemies way too fast at point-blank range. Only the AS Val, JAK-12, and Gallo could compete within a few meters. Raven preemptively nerfed this gun to make sure it did not become another Origin 12.
Stat Changes
Raven actually removed the Streetsweeper from ground loot because of the outcry from the community. It has been replaced with the Hauer, a notoriously bad shotgun. As far as changes to the loadout weapon, the Streetsweeper will have an increased hip fire spread, more recoil, and a slower ADS speed. Each of these changes will make it harder to spam hip fire shells from a few feet away.
Ranking
The Streetsweeper is still a top 3 shotgun in Warzone, but the JAK-12 and Gallo are now outright better options. Using the Streetsweeper will require more skill, aim, and control than before to be effective.