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Jan 13, 2024

Modern Warfare 2 patch adds new shield counter and makes one gun less annoying

Modern Warfare 2's first major update brought a few balance changes and bug

Modern Warfare 2's first major update brought a few balance changes and bug fixes, and some will make a lot of people happy.

With the arrival of Season One, the launch of Warzone and DMZ, Modern Warfare 2 got some new content in the form of the Shoot House map, new weapons, operators and a new battle pass.

As you'd expect, the patch adding all that also brought a few changes and balance tweaks to go along with them, making it the first balance pass since launch.

The good news starts with the game's hated UI. It's not been entirely overhauled, but you'll notice various tweaks to readability and speed. The camo screen does a slightly better job at showing unlocked camos.

Combat Record has arrived, tracking core multiplayer stats, and the calling card menu has been redesigned to show the challenges required to unlock each one. The blueprint stacks should now also be snappier.

There aren't many equipment changes in the update, but one important one is that the Drill Charge will now stick to riot shields and always kill the player - even if they have Bomb Squad as a perk. Previously, Drill Charges didn't kill shield users, and it never quite made sense.

Weapon balance tweaks are aplenty, however. Infinity Ward has increased long distance flinch across the board on assault rifles, LMGs, and SMGs. Handguns and shotguns, on the other hand, had their short distance flinch increased.

The Kastov-74u, unsurprisingly, got nerfed, getting an ADS speed decrease, and an increase to hip fire spread.

The M16 has received a large number of buffs. Its rate of fire is now higher, its hip spread tighter, and its recoil recentres faster. It should now also be more accurate, thanks to better shot grouping and a reduction to semi-auto firing.

Even more, ADS movement speed and strafe speed have both been increased. The only nerf it received is a cut to semi-auto damage.

The FTAC Recon is another weapon that got a few decent boosts. Its ADS speed is faster, and the five-round magazine might actually be worth using now. Shooting enemies will cause them to flinch more, and you should find hip fire spread to be tighter, too.

The SP-R 208 did not receive any of the major tweaks many hoped for, but it did get hit with a major increase to flinch when hit. The SA-B 50 had a minor increase to flinch.

Other notable bug fixes include the removal of a dropshot exploit, a fix for that weird bipod mount launch exploit, and another fix to make flinching from incendiary damage more consistent.

The full set of patch notes can be found on Infinity Ward's blog. When you're done with that, get a headstart on the Warzone 2.0 meta with our best loadouts.