Popular Warzone 2 secondary weapon nerfed in Season One Reloaded update

Modern Warfare 2 Ghost and Warzone 2 player holding gun
Credit: Activision

Modern Warfare 2 Ghost and Warzone 2 player holding gun
Credit: Activision


The Season One Reloaded update for Warzone 2 bought a wealth of changes to the battle royale. To the delight of many, Infinity Ward addressed numerous issues impacting players dropping into Al Mazrah.

In addition to the bug fixes, the arrival of the Chimera assault rifle and Gaz as a playable Operator aims to keep fans ticking over until the launch of Season Two early next year while a dose of buffs and nerfs attempt to inject a breath of fresh air into the ever-changing meta.

Throughout the first half of Season One, one secondary weapon category dominated close-range combat but during the second half, a nerf sees it disappear from the loadouts of players.

Warzone 2 akimbo pistols nerfed

Within the Season One Reloaded patch notes, Infinity Ward and Raven Software announce the akimbo attachment for all pistols “have received a damage reduction against armoured opponents.” As a result, you can no longer eliminate players with a couple of well-placed shots.

Warzone 2 Akimbo pistol nerf
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Credit: Infinity Ward

The switch has already seen pistols drop out of loadouts in favour of a fast-firing submachine gun to deal with any opponents in close proximity. Nerfing pistols also means you might need to adjust your perk package. Having a pair of powerful pistols enabled players to avoid using Overkill but with many ditching a sidearm in favour of an SMG, the ability to equip two primary weapons in the same loadout is more important than ever.

Akimbo pistols weren’t the only guns affected in the Season One Reloaded update. The entire shotgun category received a hefty damage nerf while the Kastov 545 gets improvements to its close-range damage. Is there a chance of the assault rifle meta changing anytime soon? We’ll have to wait and see.

Before you go, take a look at our guides showcasing the current Warzone 2 meta and all there is to know about the next Warzone 2 double XP event.