Warzone June 30 Update Relaunches, Nerfs FARA, Buffs XM4

Warzone's June 30 update arrived with balance changes for a few weapons, including the FARA 83 and the Nail Gun, before being reverted a few hours later. The patch was then reapplied Friday, and now appears to be here to stay.

The Nail Gun received a significant nerf in the Warzone update, dropping its maximum damage range by 39% — a serious attempt to curb the weapon's dominance.

"The Nail Gun (BOCW) is and was meant to be a lethal, highly-mobile, short-range dominator," Raven Software wrote in the patch notes. "However, its Maximum Damage range far exceeded the lethal range of Shotguns, which it is intended to contest. The Nail Gun's (BOCW) generous range and mobility allowed it to consistently dispatch foes at the same speed or faster than Shotguns at almost twice their effective range. While the Nail Gun's (BOCW) pick rate has remained relatively low, we believe it would have been much higher were it more easily accessible."

Other weapons adjusted in the updated include the C58 and the XM4. See the full list of changes below, plus Raven's take on barrel attachment adjustments.

Warzone June 30/July 2 Update

Weapons

Assault Rifles

C58 (BOCW)

• Recoil increased slightly

FARA 83 (BOCW)

• Recoil increased slightly

XM4 (BOCW)

• Recoil pattern smoothed

Submachine Guns

Nail Gun (BOCW)

• Maximum Damage range decreased by 39%

Attachments

Barrels

Ranger (Assault Rifles except AK-47 (BOCW) & XM4 (BOCW))

• Vertical Recoil Control decreased from 15% to 10%

Takedown (Assault Rifles except AK-47 (BOCW) & XM4 (BOCW))

• Horizontal Recoil Control decreased from 15% to 10%

Reinforced Heavy / Match Grade / VDV Reinforced (Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns)

• Vertical Recoil Control decreased from 7.5% to 5%
• Horizontal Recoil Control decreased from 7.5% to 5%

Task Force / Spetsnaz RPK / CMV Mil-Spec (Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns)

• Vertical Recoil Control decreased from 15% to 10%
• Horizontal Recoil Control decreased from 15% to 10%

We are satisfied with the overall direction of adding Recoil Control to BOCW Barrels. However, we would like the effectiveness of a Weapon to grow with the wielder as they improve. We felt with the magnitude by which recoil was being reduced, there was hardly any room left to master the control of these Weapons. We want Weapons to reward you for learning their reload timings, recoil patterns, and bullets to kill. Your proficiency with a Weapon should be a journey that is worked toward with an equivalent payoff. When we make Weapons too effective and too easy to control, there is no journey of mastery and we can become disinterested with these Weapons much quicker - which we feel can be a disservice. Even after these changes, we understand that there may still be incredibly effective and easy to control Weapons when enough Recoil Control is applied through attachments. We will continue to target these Weapons as they arise to ensure that they strike a satisfactory balance between upside and downside.