Modern Warfare dev teases Grau nerf coming to Warzone in Season 4

Theo Salaun
The Grau with Damascus Camo in Warzone

For what feels like ages, the Grau has been the most dominant gun in Call of Duty: Warzone and has defined the battle royale’s meta—but developers suggest that may soon change.

The M4A1 may reign supreme across Modern Warfare’s multiplayer map pool, but the Grau is king on Verdansk. The gun is as close to a laser as you can get in an assault rifle, beaming opponents from medium to long-range with little to no recoil, and an unsubstantial drop in damage from other AR’s.

Every single current Warzone record has the Grau to thank; the gun’s iron sights make it a delight to play without an optic—allowing players to stack up on damage-intensifying attachments like the Monolithic Suppressor and gunfight-enabling ones like the 60-round Mag. But, following a fan’s inquiry on Twitter, Infinity Ward Co-Design Director Joe Cecot has comforted concerns by explaining that the team has “a batch of weapon tuning in the works.”

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As raised by ‘IVluLLa’ on Twitter, “the Grau is ruining Warzone right now.” Citing how often killcams show one as the culprit and how the M4 has already been hit with nerfs, the user raises a real concern: if Infinity Ward is content with nerfing overpowered weapons, then one AR controlling the battle royale’s meta should raise some eyebrows.

What complicates things with the weapon in particular is that it really has no place in multiplayer, so it’s not like the gun is completely overpowered since its damage deficiencies at closer ranges are exposed in MP’s smaller maps.

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But Warzone is filled with ranged encounters and, for players who might not want to run a sniper, people prefer to capitalize on the weapon’s capacity to knock opponents from deep. At the moment, that’s the most consistent meta among higher-skill players: a Grau complemented by an MP5 for close-combat warfare.

This gives you the best of both worlds, as the former gun can essentially outduel real snipers (unless they’re across the map) and the latter weapon is simply a juggernaut with so much versatility that Call of Duty League pros continue to run it constantly, even after banning its Merc Foregrip with a Gentlemen’s Agreement.

In response to the concern, Cecot officially confirmed that weapon tuning is underway and that these will surface in “the mid-season update.” It’s highly suggested that the Grau will be among these, but it remains to be seen whether it could be the first gun to be adjusted differently for Warzone and multiplayer or what other ones might be getting adjusted too.

About The Author

Théo is a former writer at Dexerto based in New York and built on competition. Formerly an editor for Bleacher Report and philosophy student at McGill, he fell in love with Overwatch and Call of Duty — leading him to focus on esports for Dex.