Warzone 2 Season 3 patch notes

The Warzone 2 Season 3 patch notes will contain numerous changes to Call of Duty's battle royale. In addition to all of the new content within the Season 3 update, the patch notes take a deep dive into other tweaks that could influence the game for everyone dropping into Al Mazrah and Ashika Island.

Season 3 for Warzone 2 features plenty of new arrivals ranging from the Intervention sniper rifle, a brand-new Battle Pass, and the long-awaited return of Plunder. Judging by developers teasing a 'new dawn' for the game, there's also a chance major mechanical changes are on the way too.

Before we share more about the Warzone 2 Season 3 patch notes, check out our guides showcasing the current meta and all there is to know about the next double XP event.

Warzone 2 Season 3 patch notes

Weapon balancing

» Assault Rifles «

ISO Hemlock

• All Damage Ranges reduced
• Lower Torso Damage reduced

M13B

• Headshot Damage slightly reduced
• Lower Torso Damage increased
• Mid-range Damage distance increased
• Upper Torso Damage slightly reduced

STB 556

• Headshot Damage increased
• Leg Damage increased
• Lower Torso Damage increased
• Mid-range Damage distance increased
• Mid-range Damage reduced

TAQ-56

• Headshot Damage Increased

» Battle Rifles «

FTAC Recon

• Movement Speed increased
• Semi-Auto Leg Damage increased
• Semi-Auto Minimum Armor Damage increased | Warzone 2.0 Only
• Semi-Auto Upper Torso Damage increased

Lachmann 762

• Movement Speed increased

SO-14

• Movement Speed increased
• Semi-Auto Minimum Armor Damage increased | Warzone 2.0 Only

TAQ-V

• Minimum Armor Damage increased | Warzone 2.0 Only
• Movement Speed increased
• Semi-Auto Lower Leg Damage increased

» Handguns «

Basilisk

• Minimum Armor Damage reduced | Warzone 2.0 Only

» Light Machine Guns «

RAAL MG

• Headshot Damage reduced
• Minimum Armor Damage added to Semi-Auto Firing Mode | Warzone 2.0 Only
• Semi-Auto Headshot Damage increased
• Semi-Auto Upper Torso Damage increased
• Semi-Auto Lower Torso Damage increased

RPK

• Close-mid Damage slightly reduced

» Marksman Rifles «

Tempus Torrent

• All Damage Ranges reduced slightly
• Close-mid Damage reduced slightly
• Headshot Damage reduced

» Submachine Guns «

• Submachine Gun Hip Spread accuracy increased

BAS-P

• ADS Move Speed increased
• All Damage Ranges increased
• Minimum Armor Damage added to Semi-Auto Firing Mode | Warzone 2.0 Only

Lachmann Sub

• Headshot Damage decreased
• Burst-Fire Leg Damage increased
• Burst-Fire time between shots decreased
• Burst-Fire Torso Damage increased

MX9

• Sprint to Fire Speed increased

Vaznev-9K

• Headshot Damage decreased

VEL 46

• Headshot Damage decreased

Attachments

Ammunition

Basilisk

• .500 Snakeshot
  • Maximum Armor Damage added | Warzone 2.0 Only

Explosive

• Bolt-Action Weapons equipped with Explosive Ammunition are now able to down fully armored Players in one shot | Warzone 2.0 Only
• Explosive Ammunition has been added to the MCPR-300 progression tree

ISO Hemlock

• .300 Blackout (All Types)
  • Headshot Damage increased
  • Hip Spread accuracy while prone increased
  • Initial Recoil increased slightly
  • Long-range Damage decreased
  • Mid-range Damage increased
  • Minimum Armor Damage added to Semi-Auto Firing Mode | Warzone 2.0 Only
  • Recoil violence increased

Credit: Screengrab via Activision

Barrel

Heavy Barrels

• ADS Speed penalty slightly reduced

Light Barrels

• Muzzle Velocity penalty reduced

Short Barrels

• ADS Speed benefit increased
• Damage Range penalty reduced
• Hip Spread accuracy benefit increased while moving and firing
• Hip Spread accuracy penalty for Shotguns decreased while moving and firing

Bipod

ADS Speed penalty reduced

Laser

Laser brightness increased

Magazine

Large Magazines

• Light Machine Guns (Global)
  • Handling and Movement penalties reduced
• Kastov 545
  • 60 Round Magazine
  • Handling penalty reduced
• Kastov 762
  • 40 Round Magazine
  • Handling penalty reduced
• Lachmann Sub
  • 50 Round Drum
  • Handling penalty reduced
• M13B
  • 60 Round Magazine
  • Handling penalty reduced
  • 60 Round Magazine
  • Handling penalty reduced
• Vaznev-9K
  • 45 Round Magazine
  • Handling penalty reduced
• VEL 46
  • 50 Round Magazine
  • Handling penalty reduce
  • 60 Round Magazine
  • Handling penalty reduced

Small Magazines

• Movement Speed increased
• Sprint to Fire Speed increased

Fennec 45

• Fennec Double Tap Mod (Benefits from Small Magazine buffs)
• Damage increased
• Damage Ranges reduced
• Minimum Armor Damage added | Warzone 2.0 Only
• Time between bursts reduced

STB 556

• Single Tap Mod (Benefits from Small Magazine buffs)
• Damage increased
• Mid-range Damage distances increased
• Minimum Armor Damage added | Warzone 2.0 Only
• Time between shots increased

Rear Grip

Basilisk

• Akimbo Basilisk
  • Maximum Armor Damage added | Warzone 2.0 Only

Stock

• Heavy Stocks
  • ADS Move Speed penalty reduced
  • Aiming Stability benefit increased
  • Aim Walking Steadiness benefit increased

General

• Blueprints
  • Pro-Tuning is no longer removed from all Attachments when altering a Pro-Tuned Blueprint
• Bomb Squad
  • Explosive Damage mitigation now also applies to Armor | Warzone 2.0 Only
• Damage Feedback
  • Visual feedback adjusted to increase visibility when taking damage
• Death Effects
  • Death Effects are now visible when killing AI
• Dive
  • Diving fire delay reduced
• Slide
  • Sliding speed slightly increased

Field Upgrades

• Added Thermal Vision to the Tactical Camera for Night Map Modes

Equipment

• Gas Grenades should no longer detonate enemy explosives

Claymore | Warzone 2.0 Only

• Armor damage reduced

Flash Grenade

• Flash effect duration reduced

Frag Grenade | Warzone 2.0 Only

• One hit kill radius against fully armored Players reduced

Proximity Mine | Warzone 2.0 Only

• Armor damage reduced
• Armor damage reduced against crouched or prone Players

Semtex

• Now kills downed Players when stuck

Killstreaks

• Players watching a Killcam after getting killed by a Cruise Missile will no longer be looking downwards when they respawn
• Reduced the range of screen shakes for Precision Airstrike explosions
• Juggernaut should now be able to see the tablet screen when planting or defusing a bomb

Bomb Drone | Warzone 2.0 Only

• Can no longer down fully armored Players

Cluster Mine | Warzone 2.0 Only

• Armor damage reduced

Vehicles

• Vehicle windows can now be destroyed by melee attacks
• Vehicle tires can now be popped with knives

Audio

• Added a new cinematic music slider to the front end, which will allow Players to control UI music, game intros/outros, and cinematic sequences separately from music that happens during gameplay
• Various refinements to footstep and occlusion mixes

Social

• Groups Request Manager
  • Quality of life improvements for requests to join groups in the Social menu.
• Recruit a Friend

Know someone who has yet to experience Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0? You and your friends can get rewarded through the new Recruit a Friend program.

Recruits and recruiters can then earn rewards for completing challenges together

NOTE: This Program is not available in Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, and the Philippines.

UI/UX

• Player names now appear in the squad lists of a Private Battle Royale Match
• Added the ability to preview tracers and death effects that come with weapon Blueprints
• New front end/pre-game lobby scene

Global bug fixes

Weapons Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that disallowed Tuning on the Assault-60 Stock Factory for the FSS Hurricane, FTAC Recon, and Tempus Torrent
• Fixed incorrect ammo names on the SPW 40mm HE and KL40-M2 Underbarrel Grenade Launchers
• Fixed numerous Blueprints that were unable to be brought into DMZ
• Fixed Underbarrel Launcher and Underbarrel Shotgun Attachment compatibility issues
• Fixed .50 GS Barrels that were not equipping properly
• Fixed P890 Triggers that were not equipping properly
• Fixed Attachment descriptions for unlocks on the KV Broadside progression tree
• Fixed an incorrect unlock level description on the SP-X 80 progression tree
• Fixed an issue with the progression of .50 GS and KV Broadside camo challenges
• Fixed an issue where the UI would sometimes incorrectly display 6 out of 5 attachments

Vehicles bug fixes

• Fixed an issue preventing tires on the Armored Truck from being popped
• Fixed the minimap icon of the neutral LTV with a turret not having a turret
• Fixed an issue that makes the Player getting stuck in vehicles much less likely
• Fixed an issue where roof-exiting on an ATV could push the Player through collision objects
• Fixed an issue that allowed Players to exit a vehicle and leave Maps in certain areas
• Fixed an issue causing vehicles to sometime become disabled when one of their tires was still on land
• Fixed an issue that allowed helicopters to fly through objects after deploying AI
• Fixed an issue causing flares on the Heavy Chopper to deploy too high
• Fixed an issue causing War Tracks to not clear from Players in the turrets of the Armored Patrol Boat if the driver dies
• Fixed an issue where Quick Fix did not activate after plating in Resurgence modes.
• Fixed an issue causing the Intel Contract world icon to persist despite having failed to complete the objective.
• Fixed an issue causing Battle Royale victories to not update properly in the Combat Records.
• Fixed an issue causing the Play Again buttons to no longer work after assigning a new party leader.
• Fixed an issue causing items to disappear when attempting to stow them away in the backpack.
• Fixed an issue causing Players using the Birdseye Perk to receive UAV pings when an enemy activated a UAV.

Killstreaks bug fixes

• Fixed an issue causing Crossbow bolts to not damage Recon Drones and Bomb Drones
• Fixed an issue causing Explosive Crossbow bolts to not damage the Wheelson
• Fixed a handful of issues that prevented Cluster Mines from being damaged correctly by different sources
• Fixed a small number of out of bounds issues that could impact piloting a Drone

Field Upgrades bug fixes

• Fixed an issue that prevented Armor from being used while DDoS was active

Equipment bug fixes

• Fixed a bug that would sometimes prevent Players using the Riot Shield from being killed by Drill Charges

UI/UX bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where Players could spam invites to other Players as a form of griefing
• Fixed an issue allowing Players to whisper, toggle mute, report or block Players, and add friends from the Leaderboard at the end of a match
• Fixed an issue causing misaligned stats in the Scoreboard in Multiplayer
• Fixed an issue affecting Double Kill Challenge tracking in the UI
• Fixed an issue where the Basilisk, .50 GS and LA-B 330 weapons had incorrectly set weapon camo challenges
• Fixed an issue allowing custom Perk Packages to be edited while in-game

Gameplay

Tempered Plate Carrier

• Upgrades the Player’s Armor Plate Carrier to improve armor plate efficiency.
• Player now equips 2 stronger armor plates, down from 3
• Each armor plate counts for 75
• Bomb Drone Balancing
  • Reduced the damage of the Bomb Drone so it will no longer one-hit-kill or down a fully armored player.
• Heavy Chopper
  • Re-enabled this vehicle in the following modes:
    • Standard
    • Duos
    • Trios
    • Quads
  • Added new Heavy Chopper gas cans unique to this vehicle that are required for initial takeoff.
    • Spawn locations of these gas cans will differ between Battle Royale and DMZ.
    • Battle Royale:
      • One of five possible spawn locations will spawn Heavy Gas gas cans each match.
      • One Heavy Chopper gas can is included as a guaranteed Stronghold mission reward.
  • Subsequent refuelings can be done via Gas Stations or other Heavy Chopper gas cans
  • This vehicle is now more vulnerable to explosive damage
• Gas Mask
  • The gas mask has been given a slight buffer when the player delays it from being put on or taken off. This should help catch situations where further delay is desired immediately after it was dropped.
• Interrogation
  • Decreased the time it takes to perform an interrogation to 3 seconds, down from 5
  • Added a grace period if the downed Player is immediately eliminated after a successful interrogation.
    • This guarantees that the enemy squad will be pinged at least once, up to three times during the grace period.
    • Reminder: Keeping the interrogated Player alive will further extend the effect

Quality of life

• Mantle Assist Improvements
  • Improved the system that would allow players to mantle over or through objects such as windows.
• Advanced UAV Improvements
  • Enemy Players and AI Combatants will now appear differently while using an Advanced UAV
• Killstreak Banner Positioning
  • The position of the Killstreak banner that appears on screen has been moved to no longer overlap with the player’s reticle.
• Minimap Ping Anchoring
  • Coordinates and map elements that have been pinged will now anchor the icon along the borders of the minimap even when they are outside of the visible area on the minimap.
• Spawn Protection Timeout
  • Spawn protection will now expire on players who remain airborne for more than 10 seconds
  • This is in addition to the current x that remove spawn protection when they are x meters from the ground
  • We’ll evaluate the effectiveness of Spawn Protection and if necessary make adjustments on a per mode basis.
• Blacksite Key Visibility
  • Blacksite Key dropped will now be visible on the Tac Map to all squads
• Loadout Drop Visuals
  • Adjusted the visual representation of Loadout Drops to help Players better distinguish between their own and those that belong to other Players.
  • New color coding:
    • Squad Loadout Drop = Blue
    • Contested Loadout Drop = Yellow
• Gulag Item HUD
  • Items that a Player picks up during a Gulag round will be briefly indicated next to the crosshair before fading away.
• Object Elevation Arrows
  
  • Buy Stations, Contracts, and Loot items now have a small up/down arrow on the tac map and minimap to better indicate elevation.

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue that allowed Players to clip inside the Sentry Gun.
• Fixed several issues with placing a Sentry Gun on the train.
• Fixed issue where Mortar Strikes were not doing enough damage against AI targets, making it hard to kill them.
• Recon/Bomb Drones will now die if the player goes into last stand.
• Added item persistence to Stim Pistol / Rebreather. Now Stim pistol / Rebreather can be dropped after it has been activated.
• Fixed several issues caused by Players having both a Self Revive and Stim Pistol equipped.
• Fixed an issue with the Assimilation UI that could cause some squad members’ names or numbers to appear incorrectly.

General

• Resurgence Private Matches
  • Ashika Island Resurgence (Solos, Duos, Trios, and Quads) has been enabled in Private Matches.
• Private Match Spectating
  • Spectating has been enabled for all available maps/modes including:
    • Al Mazrah
      • Standard Battle Royale
        • Solos, Duos, Trios, Quads
      • Mini Royale
        • Trios
    • Ashika Island
      • Resurgence
        • Solos, Duos, Trios, Quads
• After Action Report (AAR)
  • All Players in a squad that complete a match will see the After Action Report.
• Birdseye Perk
  • This Perk has been reenabled.
  • Adjustments:
    • Now activates when Player uses a UAV Killstreak
    • Enemy UAVs no longer trigger Birdseye
    • UAVs activated by the Player using Birdseye will provide enemy headings
    • UAV pings activated by the Player using Birdseye are slightly larger

Gameplay adjustments

• Most Wanted Contract
  • The Most Wanted Supply Drop now drops on every successful completion
    • This will no longer deactivate upon Resurgence being disabled in Ashika Island.
  • In Plunder, it drops money and different power items
  • Supply drop icon has been updated
  • Every team can now see the crate's icon on the tac map

• Stronghold Rewards
  • Reduced the number of white Stronghold Supply Boxes that spawn to 1, down from 2
  • Increased loot found in a white Stronghold Supply Box
• Intel Contract
  • The number of spawn locations for the upload point has been increased
  • The upload point will now drop loot upon completion
  • The upload point occupation time requirement has been increased to 17 seconds, up from 10
  • The “search for the laptop” phase of this contract has been removed
• Buy Stations
  • The following items will be available at every Buy Station with unlimited stock:
    
  • • Gas Masks
    • Portable Radars
  • We've also made some tweaks to item prices. See below for details:
    
    • Armor Plates
      • Increased to $500, up from $400
    • Gas Mask
      • Increased to $2000, up from $1650
    • Durable Gas Mask
      • Increased to $3500, up from $2900
    • C4
      • Increased to $850, up from $700
    • Frag Grenade
      • Increased to $600, up from $500
    • Smoke Grenade
      • Increased to $400, up from $250
    • Snapshot Grenade
      • Increased to $600, up from $400
    • Revive Pistol
      • Increased to $4000, up from $800
    • Cluster Mine
      • Increased to $6000, up from $3300
    • Precision Airstrike
      • Decreased to $2000, down from $4000
    • Counter-UAV
      • Decreased to $2000, down from $4000
    • Bomb Drone
      • Decreased to $3500, down from $4000
    • Armor Box
      • Increased to $3500, up from $2000
    • Battle Rage
      • Increased to $3500, up from $2900
    • Dead Silence
      • Decreased to $2500, down from $2900
    • Portable Radar
      • Increased to $2500, up from $1400
    • Suppression Mine
      • Increased to $3500, up from $2000
    • Tactical Camera
      • Decreased to $1500, down from $1650
    • Deployable Cover
      • Decreased to $1500, down from $1650
    • Trophy System
      • Decreased to $1500, down from $1650
    • Recon Drone
      • Increased to $3000, up from $2000
    • Firesale UAV
      • Increased to $5000, up from $4000
    • Future updates will see a continuous evaluation of prices as we regularly review the live data of Buy Station usage, equipment power and more.
  • Item placement in the menu has been revised in order to keep relevant selections next to one another.
  • Changed positioning of the Loadout Drop Marker on the menu to facilitate navigation
    • Press down once on directional controller when opening the Buy Station menu
  • Spawn locations have been updated and increased to 42, up from 31
• Ammo Caches
  • Additional locations for Ammo Caches have been added across the map

That's everything there is to know about the Warzone 2 Season 3 patch note. Before you go, take a look at our guides showcasing the best AR and the best ISO Hemlock loadout.