Call of Duty confirm R9-0 & Kilo nerfs, BOCW weapon buffs in Warzone

Answering the Call of Duty: Warzone community’s prayers, the meta appears to be shifting in Black Ops Cold War Season 1. Raven Software have briefly revealed nerfs to the Dragon’s Breath R9-0 and Kilo 141, alongside buffs to the BOCW gun ranges.

For what feels like an eternity to fans, the Dragon’s Breath R9-0 shotgun’s “Doof Doof” has terrorized indoor quarters while the Kilo’s lethality at range has dominated the outdoors. Now, that appears to be changing dramatically as Black Ops Cold War integrates with the Modern Warfare weaponry.

Fans of CoD’s popular battle royale were devastated to see zero adjustments to Modern Warfare’s strongest guns in the Season 1 patch notes. Although BOCW’s assault rifles and submachine guns are fun, few considered them potent enough to supplant the current meta.

Now, Raven Software’s Creative Director Amos Hodge briefly clarified that the game’s most abused guns have, in fact, been nerfed. And, contrastingly, he confirmed that the BOCW Agency Suppressor attachment has been buffed to match MW’s Monolithic Suppressor. But his tweets have now been deleted, lending uncertainty to the situation until official patch notes arrive.

The R9-0 nerf is probably the most demanded change to the game’s weapons since Warzone debuted in March 2020. While developers tried to get the integration for BOCW Season 1 sorted, the meta was left as a flurry of “Doof Doofs” across the map. It was the Origin-12 and then the R9-0 meta, and players quickly grew tired of the shotgun supremacy on Verdansk.

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Further, the Kilo 141 quickly emerged as the best gun in the game following the meta’s transition from Grau to MK9 Bruen. An excellent option with a medium- to long-range optic, the Kilo’s damage at range made it a necessity in Warzone. Hodge confirms that should be changing.

In another since-deleted tweet, Hodge claimed that the “WZ specific range buff on the Kilio 141 was reduced” and that BOCW’s “agency suppressor was brought in line with the monolithic suppressor.” If true and the Kilo’s range buff in Warzone is nerfed, then it suddenly becomes much more similar to other assault rifles and is in line with the Grau — which suffered a drastic downturn in usage due to damage concerns after its range nerf. The gun will still be great for recoil control, but not quite as dangerous.

The reason that none of the Cold War guns felt comparable to any of Warzone’s earlier offerings is because no muzzle could match the Monolithic Suppressor’s potency. Now, with the Kilo nerfed and the Agency Suppressor providing perks to range (and possibly some recoil control), BOCW’s assault rifles should be legitimate options on Verdansk.

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At the moment, it’s unclear which AR will replace the Kilo. It’s not even clear what’s going on with these buffs and nerfs since they weren’t mentioned in official patch notes and have since been deleted. But one can reasonably expect the MAC-10 SMG to erupt in usage as a secondary while players continue to try out BOCW guns like the Stoner LMG and Krig AR as primary weapons in Warzone.