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Greetings Call of Duty: Mobile Community! We are back with an entirely different community update this week that focuses both a new public test build and weapon balance update details. You can find all of that extensive amount of information below. As a result of that, we are holding off on providing our standard breakdowns about modes, playlists, draws, or new events this week. However this does not apply to one event, so first and foremost Warrior’s Path is here!
Charly - Five Knights (left) and Charly - UAC (right)
This is the main featured event for Season 3: Tokyo Escape and it has you picking a side once again. Who will you choose: UAC or Five Knights? Each side has its own rewards, like the above operators or the weapons shown below, but there are also rewards that can be earned independently of each faction through the leaderboards.
Epic Man-O-War Earnable via Warrior's Path
Warrior’s Path tasks you with battling over a map that has a new territory to fight over each day. Each team will be trying to conquer the most territories for a unique reward given only to the victors, an epic profile frame, but the most sought-after rewards will be the two versions of Charly and the two versions of the Man-O-War (Five Knights and UAC). Head on over to our new Warrior’s Path blog for tips, tricks, and general information before jumping into the event!
The test build’s purpose is to test a brand-new feature that we’ve never even teased before – Clan Wars. We’ve wanted to share details about this one for a long time, especially every time we see a post asking about clans and any changes or improvements to the system. Well, that time has finally almost come, but first we need your help to test it out!
Here are all of the details below:
- Begins today on April 30th (UTC)
- Test end date TBD
- Available for Android and iOS devices
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Downloadable via APK here:
- 64 bit - https://bit.ly/2QU088L
- 32 bit - https://bit.ly/3ekfhcc
- Downloadable via Test Flight on iOS: https://apple.co/3t4VbqL
- Download Size: 2 gigabytes, Wifi connection is highly recommended
- Player Registration Limit: 30,000 – 40,000 (about 10K per link)
- Content suited for ages 16+
- All information and player data collected during this test will be deleted
As per usual, everything you see in the build may not be final, may be buggy, may have placeholder art or text, or may not be releasing in the next update. Outside of Clan Wars you may see other content related to Season 4, new weapon balance changes, general additions, changes, or features in the future updates. In summary, here is what you can expect to see:
- Clan Wars
- Weapon balance changes (NA-45 nerf, AS Val buff, multiple operator skills nerfed in BR)
- New MP Map – Dome
If you have any issues downloading the build make sure to clear up space (you often need 2x-3x the free space of the actual file size), make sure you are on a stable connection when downloading (interruptions make corrupt the download), and if all else fails try reinstalling. Also, heads up that when registering you cannot use Facebook in this test build. We recommend using Guest to register since it is just a temporary account that will no longer exist after this test build.
Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone who jumps in and helps with important and huge features like this. Everything you report through the in-game survey goes to helping our teams adjust, fix, and finalize content before it makes it out the much wider playerbase.
Here is a quick look at all of the newest events and others launching throughout the week:
- 04/28 – 05/04 ~ Hardcore Collection (MP)
- 04/28 – 05/04 ~ Small Map Slayer (MP)
- 04/28 ~ Two New Seasonal Challenges
- 04/30 – 05/06 ~ Fight Against the Clock (MP)
- 04/30 – 05/06 ~ Spawn Trap (MP)
- 04/30 – 05/06 ~ BR Sniper
- 04/30 – 05/12 ~ Warrior’s Path Event (MP and BR)
- 04/30 – 05/13 ~ Inari Okami Draw
*All Dates UTC
While there are plenty of events going on this week, like the long-awaited Warrior’s Path, two new seasonal challenges (one with a perk available to grab), or the public test build, but we also have a massive topic to about today – weapon balance changes.
Upcoming Weapon Balance Update
We’ve been talking about these upcoming weapon balance changes for quite some time now and while we’ve given some bits of information about all of this we haven’t dived into the details yet. However, today is that day! This in-game update is coming alongside Season 4 but it is worth dedicating a huge chunk of a single community update to this topic. Let’s get to it!
First, some shout-outs to many different people – community members who provided significant amounts of feedback, thousands of players who tested these changes in a previous test build, and our weapon designers who shared over 30 pages of notes with our community team so that we can relay this information back to you 😊! Thank you all very much for sharing your passion for this game and for spending so much time to help make it better for all players.
Overview
The point of this weapon balance update is to not negate crazy Gunsmith builds or nerf unique weapon blueprints, but to make sure that each weapon type fulfills its own specialty or role. Here is a quick summary of the changes made to each weapon type:
- SMGs – We aim to strengthen this type’s close quarters’ abilities through increased damage and mobility while optimizing bullet trajectory to ensure viability at other distances.
- Assault Rifles – We aim to strengthen the range and accuracy of ARs to ensure they have a superior combat range of 15-30 meters. This is done through improved weapon type differentiation in relation to bullet trajectory, handling, and recoil.
- LMGs – We aim to strengthen the accuracy and damage efficiency of LMGs to ensure that suppression is possible at 30 meters away while also strengthening their overall capabilities at different ranges.
- Snipers – We aim to optimize the attributes of sniper attachments, provide more combinations of attachments, and weaken the advantages of snipers in close-range combat.
- Marksman Rifles – We aim to make marksman rifles more nimble and agile by increasing movement speed via various attachments
There are six different primary weapon types and anywhere from 3-18 different base weapons per type (yes, assault rifles are of course the ones with 18 haha) and on top of that there are dozens of ways you can customize each weapon with Gunsmith. Due to the huge variety of options, which is part of what many of you love in Call of Duty: Mobile, there is a significant challenge to keeping that all balanced. With that in mind, our weapon designers tackled weapon balance primarily by focusing on adjusting base values.
Instead of sharing far too many details for each weapon type and making you all read a novel, we’ll pull out a bunch of popular weapons from the list and share specifics about what are being changed for each! Let’s dive in.
MSMC
When Call of Duty: Mobile originally released all you would find in MP matches was players running the MSMC and dominating with it. However, the glory days of the MSMC are long past and all of these changes are meant to make it a stronger and more viable option among SMGs.
We found that the MSMC was still delivered high damage at close range, but the recoil made it hard to control. In order to make this a stronger weapon we increased the firing range. How much damage you do with the MSMC (this is not the same for each weapon) is broken down by four different ranges:
- Highest Damage - 0-8 meters range (increased range)
- Second Highest - 8-14 meters range (increased range)
- Third Highest - 14-19 meters range (increased range)
- Lowest Damage - 19 meters range or further (increased range from 17m to 19m)
Yes, this is the hard hitting and exciting weapon stats adjustment you wanted to know 😉. In addition to the firing range being increased across the board, the ADS speed is being increased on multiple attachments (like OWC Ranger and OWC Marksman), the reload speed is being improved (buff), and the overall recoil is being reduced.
All of these changes are meant to keep the MSMC as a high mobility weapon with strong close-range damage that isn’t incapable of fighting at medium range like the Fennec or other SMGs.
PDW-57
When examining the PDW-57 we found that it performs well in relation the clip size and range, but the bullet spread, scalability of the attachments, and bullet trajectory are all lacking. Similar to the MSMC, this weapon originally had many different firing range damage categories and we are changing that from five ranges to four ranges. Here are those details:
- Highest Damage - 0-6 meters range (increased range)
- Second Highest – 6-15 meters range (increased range)
- Third Highest – 15-28 meters range (consolidated)
- Lowest Damage - 28 meters range or further (same range)
As you may be able to tell compared to the MSMC, the PDW-57 performs far better at longer ranges (nearly double that of the MSMC) but is similarly best in close quarters combat. On top of the firing ranges being consolidated and improved here, the PDW-57 is also going to get improvements and buffs for hip fire accuracy, mobility, bullet trajectory, and bullet spread.
Of those the bullet spread may be the most important one since it allows the weapon to better perform at those longer ranges. Before, you would fire in those 15-28 meters ranges and the bullet spread would make it so hard to accurately hit your targets. While this weapon isn’t mean to be an assault rifle. which excel at medium range combat, the PDW-57 will once again be a great choice for short-medium range combat in the SMG category.
HG 40
There was a time during our first competitive adventure**,** the Call of Duty: Mobile World Championships 2020 presented by Sony**,** that you would tune into a match and see it filled with HG 40s. The weapon is still popular among SMGs but needs some tweaks to make it competitive and feeling unique. We found that the overall accuracy was low and that the damage was a little weak comparatively to other SMGs. For this one, we’ll share both the damage and range values since they are both changing:
Old Stats
- Highest Damage – 25 damage at 0-10 meters range
- Second Highest – 23 damage at 10-24 meters range
- Lowest Damage – 17 damage at 24 meters range or further
New Stats
- Highest Damage – 26 damage at 0-10 meters range
- Second Highest – 24 damage at 10-15 meters range
- Third Highest – 20 damage at 15-25 meters range or further
- Lowest Damage – 17 damage at 25 meters range or further
The first thing you are probably wondering is what is damage and why is it clearly different from the in-game damage shown above? The damage variables used by our designers are different from those shown in-game, but the most important thing to note is just how much the damage has increased and how overall the weapon is more powerful at more ranges.
However, there are other changes focused on damage based on magnification. For example, if you shoot an enemy in the head the damage is multiplied, same with the chest to a lesser amount compared to the legs or arms. Damage magnification for shots to the arms was removed completely for the HG40 and the magnification to the head and chest were modified. This is all meant to help the weapon deal more damage overall and just generally perform better.
QXR
Unlike the previous two SMGs, the QXR does not perform well at all at anything other than short range. The medium range damage was found to be lacking, so a number of changes are being made to help it feel more versatile and less like it can only perform well in close quarters combat. One of the main changes to help with this an improved recoil pattern and better control. However, first let’s look at the new damage ranges:
- Highest Damage – 0-8 meters range (same as original)
- Second Highest – 8-15 meters range (increased range)
- Third Highest – 15-25 meters range (increased range)
- Lowest Damage – 25 meters range or further (increased range from 17m to 25m)
All of the damage remains the same on the QXR main difference is that all but the closest ranges have been boosted to be more deliver more damage at longer ranges. However, to balance that it does take slightly longer for bullets to reach those ranges.
Some additional changes include an increased magnification to damage done for headshots and chest shots. The overall damage is still relatively low (appropriate with the somewhat fast fire rate), but all three of these last three SMGs are now all better at longer range combat and will leave you in less of a hopeless mid-range fight against LMGs or assault rifles.
Type 25
Now to our first assault rifle of this list! The Type 25 is ideally a high skill limit weapon where if it is controlled well it can be extremely effective and deadly, but this isn’t the case right now. So we have a few changes in mind to help correct that and the first change is to the Stopping Power Reload attachment, which was seen as too powerful and especially so for less veteran players. At the same time, the weapon itself didn’t appeal to higher skill players.
These changes are meant to reinforce play styles that support both veteran and new players. The different play styles should be both worth considering instead of just always Stopping Power Reload on all builds. There are some changes to the effective ranges like the others, so here is that info:
- Highest Damage – 0-10 meters range (increased range)
- Second Highest – 10-17 meters range (increased range)
- Third Highest – 17-25 meters range (decreased range)
- Lowest Damage – 25 meters range or further (decreased range from 30m to 25m)
As you can see the weapon is getting stronger at closer ranges, which helps support it being a high mobility assault rifle. To help with this, the ADS speed has been increased (faster, not slower) and bullet trajectory is more predictable. Some other buffs and nerfs are coming as well for the Type 25:
- Increased the basic bullet spread (base weapon)
- Light Barrel (short)
- Increased bullet spread
- Decreased ADS speed
- Stopping Power Reload (mag)
- Increased spread
- Decreased the negative effects of reload speed
HBRa3
The fan-favorite assault rifle the HBRa3 is up next! After examining this one a bit we found that it was strong at medium and close-range combat with an effective time to kill (TTK) at close range. One of the only flaws was poor accuracy compared to some other ARs, but this one is receiving a mixture of buffs and nerfs to help it fit a better range profile. First, the effective range is being changed:
- Highest Damage – 0-13 meters range (increased range)
- Second Highest – 13-25 meters range (consolidated range)
- Lowest Damage – 25 meters range or further (decreased range from 35m to 25m
One of the few buffs coming to this rifle is an improved ADS speed and decrease in horizontal recoil, but on the nerf side it is getting an increased bullet spread. It is meant to still perform decently at mid-range combat and some of the changes help with that, like lowering the lowest damage range. That means that the weapon does more damage at longer ranges since it now deals the same amount of damage at 25 meters that it used to do it at 35 meters.
BK57
With the BK57 we also found that it was a medium-to-close range assault rifle that had good mobility and endurance. While the accuracy is good on the first couple of shots, the accuracy decreases rapidly after and it is harder to control. The ranges for this BK57 are being tweaked a bit too:
- Highest Damage – 0-18 meters range (increased range)
- Second Highest – 18-30 meters range (both increased and decreased range)
- Lowest Damage – 30 meters range or further (decreased range from 35m to 30m)
For the middle damage range (second highest) it now doesn’t trigger until 18 meters, up from 15 meters, which might seem like a nerf but the strongest damage range was increased range overall. The range changes overall increase the efficacy of this weapon at longer ranges, since you can now do more damage at closer ranges. Outside of the range, there are several changes coming to the BK57:
- OWC Ranger – Decreased movement speed penalty (buff)
- Elite Foregrip
- Decreased movement speed penalty (buff)
- Helps push the weapon from close range to medium range
- ADS Speed Improved
- Optimized horizontal recoil, which increases bullet spread
The summary of all of these changes is that there are some nerfs in there to help balance out the weapon but for the most part it is being improved. Now it should be more competitive against the current dominant assault rifles.
KN-44
The KN-44 has always been an interesting one where we’ve seen mostly positive feedback about it in the community but it needs a variety of improvements to it feel competitive, useful, and worth considering over other weapons. Nearly all changes to this weapon are buffs and like usual we’ll start with the changes to its ranged damage profiles:
- Highest Damage – 0-20 meters range (same range)
- Second Highest – 20-33 meters range (decreased range)
- Lowest Damage – 33 meters range or further (decreased range from 40m to 30m)
If you’ve been reading through each of those you can immediately see that the KN-44 had one of the longest effective ranges of any of the discussed assault rifles. The changes to range make it stronger at further ranges, but the mid-range changes (second highest) actually make it less effective up to 40 meters. It is a bit a trade-off.
Just like nearly all of the other weapons highlighted so far, the effective range of the weapon is one of the main tweaks to this weapon. While the direct damage isn’t changed, the way the effective range and damage magnification is adjusted it should increase the overall efficacy of this weapon. There are many other changes coming to this rifle though, so here is a quick list:
- Strike Stock – ADS Movement Speed penalty increased (nerf)
- OWC Marksman
- ADS Movement speed penalty decreased (buff)
- Movement speed penalty decreased (buff)
- Reload Speed slightly increased
- Increased the damage magnification above the waist of enemies
- Optimized horizontal recoil, which results in a slight bullet spread increase
Man-O-War
This long-range assault rifle is often used as a 3 shot rifle due to its low fire rate but high damage. It is receiving a mixture of nerfs and buffs, which aren’t quite as detailed as one of the others but still worth bringing up due to how often this weapon is discussed in the community. The range isn’t being changed in this one, so we’ll just a do a short and easy list of changes:
- Damage increased at the closest range (stronger in close combat)
- ADS speed increased (nerf - takes longer to ADS)
- Accuracy enhanced
The Man-O-War may have one of the lowest mobilities out of any weapon we’ve discussed today, but its damage profile is unique, it can compete at long-range, and in the right hands of a precise player it can drop enemies quickly at many different ranges.
RPD
We’ve made it through some of the major changes being made to SMGs and assault rifles to arrive in the light machine gun (LMG) section! First up, the RPD with its medium speed fire rate, somewhat weak firing ranges, and poor bullet trajectory at long ranges. This weapon has changes to both the range and damage, so let’s go over that first:
Old Stats
- Highest Damage – 26 damage at 0-10 meters range
- Second Highest – 21 damage at 10-45 meters range
- Lowest Damage – 20 damage at 45 meters range or further
New Stats
- Highest Damage – 31 damage at 0-20 meters range
- Second Highest – 23 damage at 20-55 meters range
- Lowest Damage – 18 damage at 55 meters range or further
This might be the most obvious buff of any of the weapons we’ve gone over so far, but it will now have increased damage ranges and a flat increase to damage in each range except the longest range, which is actually being decreased. The other main change is trajectory, so while you can shoot at long range the further the range the harder it is to control where your bullets will land.
Lastly, the ADS time has been slightly increased (nerf). All in all, the RPD is receiving a mixture of buffs and nerfs that make the weapon powerful in some ways but also distinctly different compared to other weapon types or LMGs.
M4LMG
We’ve arrived at this old dependable M4LMG. This is one of the original weapons released in Call of Duty: Mobile and it is one that has always been seen as kind of middle-range all around. Not special in anyway, but dependable. The first adjustments being made are to both damage and effective range:
Old Stats
- Highest Damage – 31 damage at 0-10 meters range
- Second Highest – 24 damage at 10-30 meters range
- Third Highest – 22 damage at 30-50 meters range
- Lowest Damage – 21 damage at 50 meters range or further
New Stats
- Highest Damage – 32 damage at 0-20 meters range
- Second Highest – 23 damage at 20-55 meters range
- Lowest Damage – 19 damage at 50 meters range or further
Similar to the RPD, the M4LMG is pretty effective at long range but does a significant amount of damage at close ranges. However, you no longer will have to be quite as close to dish out that highest damage profile. These changes mean at long range the weapon is weaker, but for mid-short ranges it is stronger.
Lastly, some other changes coming are optimized trajectory and an increased ADS time. Both of these are nerfs in a way, with the optimized trajectory helping in some ways but also making it harder to control the bullet spread at long ranges. Overall, both of these LMGs are low mobility, high damage, high range, huge magazines, and just overall dependable weapons.
Akimbo .50s GS
Pistols are generally meant to be used in emergency or last-ditch effort situations where your main weapon will take too long to reload or you are out of ammo. On that front, the .50s GS performs well when on its own and performs too well with dual wielding. Akimbo .50s has some of the highest mobility out of any pistol, it has high damage and hip hip-fire accuracy, short TTK, it has a high fire rate, and it can do serious damage at a long distance. It is too strong with few faults.
With that mind, here are the changes (nerfs) being made to bring the Akimbo .50s GS back down to Earth alongside other pistols and secondary weapons:
- Overall mobility decreased
- Hip fire spread increased by 35%
- Firing speed increased from 0.36s to 0.43s
Weapon Balance Summary
While we went over various SMGs, assault rifles, LMGs, and a single pistol this only a small sampling of the over list of changes and weapons affected by this upcoming weapon balance update. There are marksman rifles in the mix, sniper rifles, pistols, and many other weapons being adjusted. These changes are significant and we can’t wait to see them release to the entire playerbase!
If you have any questions about all of this feel free to reach out, but it may be best to wait until the changes are actually released in the update just before Season 4. We’ll likely have more notes about them then except they will be more like normal patch notes instead of this massive post.
Feedback & Bug Reports
Due to this community update already being larger than any other we have ever released; we are going to refrain from bringing up a significant amount feedback and bug reports this time. We’ll circle back to that next week, but here are a few topics we would like to quickly mention:
- Daily Login Reward Issue – For anyone still unable to collect Day 6 on the calendar please keep logging in throughout the month. Once you’ve logged in 6 times it will unlock both Day 6 and whatever your current day is.
- Radioactive Agent Redemption Tokens – These started rolling out a few days ago and the first players who completed this event over the weekend should now be receiving this via their in-game mailbox. For everyone else though, there is still time to complete the event to grab that free operator and we are aiming to keep sending these out daily.
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ADS Delay in BR – We still see this issue pop up every so often, but we’ve had issues reproducing it in a way that will help us fix the core issue. For anyone experiencing this issue can you please reach out to us or our support teams to let us know the following information:
- Device Type
- Frequency the bug occurs
- Does it only occur in BR
- Does it only occur with certain weapons
- AS VAL Weapon Tuning - We released a hotfix for a weapon damage calculation bug which caused the AS VAL's short range TTK to be 30 ms longer than expected. This should now be in-line with other weapons!
Support Options
We still regularly reach out to community areas for info on issues or feedback, but don’t hesitate to reach out to our support channels as well if you ever need help, especially with anything specific to your account, like purchasing issues or account issues. Here are our main support channels:
- In-game support chat
- Player Support Website: Contact Us
The community highlight this week is something special and brand-new that we’ve never shared before! Mierdinsky is a pixel artist with many great pieces of art exploring the that unique and popular art style, and last week they shared a creation to help celebrate us supporting Season 3 of Call of Duty: Warzone’s and Verdansk 82’. This is Call of Duty 1982!
https://reddit.com/link/n1o26r/video/ondr13w699w61/player
If you’d like to see more of their excellent work they have a variety of social media platforms filled with similar content and artwork:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mierdinsky
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mierdinsky/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MIERDINSKY/
A huge thank you to Mierdinsky for making this to help celebrate that new season of Warzone and for allowing us to share their work you all. We’ll be on the lookout for more wonderful, creative, unique, inspiring, wholesome, or unique pieces of community content to share next time.
Semi related, but just a reminder that we have a whole promotion, Radioactive Agent Redemption, going on for anyone who checks out and installs Warzone! Install Warzone, play a game, and then you’ll be able to get an operator in Call of Duty: Mobile as long as you are using the same Call of Duty account on both games. That event is live until May 4th!
Lastly, just a general thank you again to everyone who has contributed to this today’s post in some way or another. We are consistently humbled and honored to be supporting a community who frequently voice their desires in fervent and passionate discussion threads, but also follow through on those words with action by participating in this test builds that require over thirty-thousand players to get proper data. Thank you all, take care, and see you again next week for another update!
-The Call of Duty: Mobile Team
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