Newest Black Ops 6 update just made every weapon in the game even stronger

Today’s update for Call of Duty may have just totally changed how Black Ops 6 feels to play.

Normally, in-season updates in CoD are not that influential. But today’s BO6 update looks to improve both the feel and damage of every single gun in the game, thanks to two huge changes that will affect gameplay immediately and will be felt by all players.

Here’s what’s new and different in today’s big BO6 update.

BO6 and Warzone patch notes: Dec. 10

The major changes in this update both increase weapon effectiveness, albeit in very different ways. The first change is an increase to effectiveness of headshots on full-auto primary weapons.

“Our philosophy on hit location modifiers in Black Ops 6 has been to limit sources of inconsistency, especially when players are engaging in so many forms of movement,” Treyarch said. “That said, we understand that players have muscle memory and expectations built around headshots, and we want our gunplay to support that.

Treyarch says “in most cases” weapons will require one fewer headshot at any range to improve the game’s time-to-kill, save for SMGs at max damage range. And to compensate, SMG range is being increased “to help them keep that consistent edge at short ranges.”

“We expect this change to greatly impact the weapon meta, especially in conjunction with our weapon motion changes,” Treyarch said. “We will be monitoring closely as that new meta settles to make sure individual weapon and weapon class variety continues to be strong in BO6.”

Previously, Treyarch said random headshots getting quick kills was a negative, and so BO6 by default requires multiple headshots to get a kill. But now, this will hopefully find a nice middle-ground where the devs and players can agree.

The second big change is for visual recoil, weapon sway, and general stability on weapons while turning, moving, changing stances, or firing, especially while aiming down sights, in what Treyarch calls “a comprehensive pass on weapon motion.”

This includes a reduction on visual recoil, turn sway, gun kick on high magnification scopes, idle sway, weapon motion, and more, across most weapons within the game. The weapon movement changes are also live in Warzone and should be felt quite a bit when using omnimovement to its max potential.

“We are committed to continually improving Black Ops 6 gunplay with a focus on balanced and rewarding gameplay while maintaining the unique characteristics of each weapon,” Treyarch said.

To check out the full patch notes, head to the CoD website.