What is reverse boosting in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2?

When playing Call of Duty, most people are trying to do as well as they can. But not everyone is. And in some cases, some players are actively trying to do poorly in games.

Why is that, you ask? Well, it mostly has to do with the skill-based matchmaking system and how people react to it. The general rule of thumb is that the better you consistently do in games, the better your opponents will also be. When the level of competition increases, many players usually attempt to meet the bar the opposition has set or even prove they are better than their current skill level. But not everybody does that.

Instead, there’s this thing called reverse boosting. It’s not unique to Modern Warfare 2 or Warzone 2, but it can be annoying if you have a teammate who is reverse boosting.

What is reverse boosting?

Reverse boosting is when a player tries to tank their own stats in an attempt to decrease the overall skill level of their teammates and opponents. The act of reverse boosting is most commonly seen when a player runs ahead and dies while not even appearing like they’re trying to secure a kill or objective. It’s an effective way of ensuring the reverse booster has bad individual stats and that their team loses, both of which are surefire ways to be placed in less-skilled lobbies.

There are a few reasons why a person would want to reverse boost. The player may simply want to play worse opponents so they can achieve more dominant games or they could be doing it so they can more easily team up with less-skilled friends who may be overwhelmed by the player’s usual lobbies.

Many players feel like the skill-based matchmaking in Call of Duty has increased in recent titles, making every game feel like an intense battle. Some prefer a more casual experience against lesser-skilled players, regardless of whether it impacts the experience for these players. This results in players reverse boosting to drop their SBMM to an easier lobby, albeit ruining the fun for others along the way.

What can you do about it?

If you run into a reverse booster in your game, you can report the player for boosting. While it likely will have no effect on the game in which you played with or against that player, your report may end up getting them suspended or banned down the line.

Reverse boosting has become common in CoD, so do your part in reporting nefarious players taking advantage of the system to drop into lower ranks. Unfortunately, the SBMM debate has become a significant part of the CoD conversation and reverse boosting will likely be around for the foreseeable future.