Atlanta FaZe deny accusations of using “broken” sound setting during CDL dominance

Jacob Hale
atlanta faze lifting trophy at CDL Champs 2021

The Atlanta FaZe Call of Duty League team has denied using the Loudness Equalization setting to improve their performances, with accusations dating as far back as the Black Ops Cold War season, in which they became world champions.

In Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2, many players have been abusing the Loudness Equalization setting that lets you as good as hear enemies across the map, giving far more audio cues than is standard.

For Modern Warfare 2, the CDL pros collectively agreed that Loudness EQ shouldn’t be allowed, and so have sworn not to use it, though with no way of knowing, there have been plenty of accusations throughout the season that certain teams are abusing it to their advantage.

While the FaZe team have been vehemently against the use of sound equalization settings, and called out other teams for using it, they have now been accused of using the setting dating back years, by Toronto Ultra’s rookie star Charlie ‘Hicksy’ Hicks.

In his appearance on the Merk and Maven podcast, Hicksy spoke about the controversial setting and its use in pro Call of Duty, saying: “I heard about it in Cold War. I think FaZe were the first team that had it. I remember in Vanguard, the rest of the Toronto boys were using it and said they got it from FaZe in Cold War. It was never that good, it never worked as good in Cold War or Vanguard.”

Timestamp 1:00:43

Once the clip started to pop up on social media, the FaZe boys were quick to deny any accusations, claiming that they didn’t even know it existed until after Major 1 of this current season.

“Well that’s a blatant lie,” said Tyler ‘aBeZy’ Pharris, responding to the clip in a Reddit post. “We didn’t even know EQ was a thing until this game … Nicky D [Classic, FaZe substitute] was the first one to tell us about it.”

ABeZy’s Tiny Terrors duo, Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr, was bewildered by the accusation, simply saying “Excuse me” when Alec ‘Arcitys’ Sanderson tagged him in a tweet regarding it.

Evidently, the FaZe players deny it completely, but it’s impossible to tell which teams have used it, especially in older games.

Realistically, the only way teams will completely stop using Loudness Equalization is if the setting is removed from Windows PCs completely, or if the League itself implements a ban and random PC checks.

About The Author

Jacob is Dexerto’s UK Editor and Call of Duty esports specialist. With a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Creative Writing, he previously worked as an Editor at Ginx TV. Jacob was nominated for Journalist of the Year at the 2023 Esports Awards. Contact: jacob.hale@dexerto.com.