Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is now rolling out (some have been playing it for hours) and Activision has published its preseason patch notes detailing the changes made to Multiplayer in time for launch. These are in addition to the changes already announced based on feedback and data from the beta weekends.
The upside here is that aim assist is much weaker at point blank ranges for launch and increases smoothly in power out to close range. Aim assist is always a hot topic within the Call of Duty community upon the release of each game, so it will be interesting to see feedback as the game hits the wild.
Elsewhere, there are improved pistol and special melee switching speeds, a slight increase to weapon art melee attack speeds, and adjustments to the swinging, bobbing and general weapon movements to improve aim when entering ADS (aim down).
Helpfully, Activision has included an explanation of weapon damage range in the patch notes, which go into detail about how damage actually works in Black Ops 6 and Warzone from Season 01 onwards.
We’ve got plenty more to say about Black Ops 6 ahead of launch, including its built-in support for better audio tech that will cost $20, Activision’s new ambitious plans to take on cheaters, and confirmation that it won’t include the dreaded Riot Shield.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Preseason Patch Notes
MULTIPLAYER
Weapons
At launch there are 33 weapons waiting for you to unlock and customize. Check out our full overview of weapons on the COD blog.
Weapon balance
While there have been many weapon balance changes across the board since the beta, we consider the launch our day 1 baseline for the entire arsenal. Weapon balancing is always ongoing, so we evaluate data and feedback and share regular updates.
- In the multiplayer beta, we tested a change that disabled close range aim assist. While this was a change in the right direction, we found this to be a bit jarring when crossing the close range threshold, so we adjusted our approach to linearly interpolate the aim assist strength. This means that the aim assist will be much weaker at point blank ranges and will increase smoothly in power at close ranges. Naturally, we will continue to monitor and assess data and player feedback.
- Improved switch speeds for pistols and special melee
- Slight increase to weapon butt melee attack speed
- Adjustments to swinging, bobbing, and general weapon movements to improve aim when entering ADS
- Additional improvements are coming in Season 01
- Improved depth of field for all weapons
Movement
- Added a toggle for Corner Slicing
- Added an option to set the wait time before performing a prone or slide dive depending on your slide/dive behavior setting
- Added an Intelligent Movement option to set Mantle Assist Angle from tight, medium, or wide
Multiplayer map customizations
Keen eyes have already noticed a handful of changes we’ve introduced in our beta maps thanks to everyone’s great feedback. Delivering fair and consistent gameplay will always be our goal, which is why we’ve introduced some additional coverage and changes to make gunplay a little fairer, as well as several lighting changes. The selections below aren’t all of the changes we’ve made, but they do give an idea of what to expect from beta to launch.
Horizon
- The coverage points around the hot tub in the center of the map have been expanded.
- Added new planters for cover near the far spawn point.
- Added multiple opacity options to the map.
Scud
- Adjusted bullet penetration values on the satellite dish panels to allow for additional bullet penetration.
- The concrete wall near the main overwatch has now been broken out, allowing more bullet penetration and making it slightly less powerful.
- The side panels are folded in half to still provide a small amount of bullet penetration where previously none existed.
- Additional coverage improvements made to the entire map.
Rewind
- Cover improvements made across multiple sightlines.
Audio
- We’re excited to introduce our best-in-class audio experience in Black Ops 6 with the introduction of HRTF (Head-Related Transfer Function) via Universal Profile in Enhanced Headphone Mode, available for free to all players.
- We’ve also added a setting to disable licensed music in all modes, which is especially useful for content creators who stream the game.
Check out our dedicated audio blog for a closer look at our innovations in adaptive audio, spatial reverb, physics-based acoustics, game sound prioritization, HRTF support, and all-new asymmetrical hearing compensation technology.
RICOCHET Anti-Cheat
RICOCHET Anti-Cheat systems activated for Black Ops 6. Upgrades deployed include:
- Kernel-Level Driver (PC) detection and monitoring updates for all protected titles, including Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty®: Warzone™
- #TeamRICOCHET measures live in Black Ops 6 multiplayer, including Damage Shield, Disarm, Splat and more
- Machine learning behavioral systems deployed to increase detection speed
- Added machine learning detection models to analyze gameplay fighting target bots
For more information about RICOCHET Anti-Cheat, please see the latest blog here.
Adjustments for future patch notes on weapon damage
Whether you’re new to the franchise or a long-time fan, understanding how your weapon of choice deals damage is an essential aspect of Call of Duty gameplay. In the past, our patch notes used some terms to describe damage values at different levels, which could cause some confusion for some players.
In Black Ops 6 and Warzone: Season 01, we want to avoid this confusion in two ways:
- Creating a new weapon damage adjustment table for Black Ops 6 and Warzone: Season 01 patch notes.
- Fixed weapon damage range definitions for Black Ops 6 and Warzone: Season 01 going forward.
Weapon damage adjustment table
New in Black Ops 6 and Warzone: Season 01: We’re introducing a new table to highlight the changes a weapon has undergone from one patch to the next. You’ll find it nestled within our existing tables, in our effort to keep the information as detailed and centralized as possible.
This new table will consist of three columns (Damage Range, Pre-Patch, and Post-Patch) and rows of up to five to account for each applicable Damage Range for a given weapon. The corresponding Damage and Range (in meters) values are found in each Pre-Patch/Post-Patch cell.
For better understanding, we identify ‘positive’ (⇧) and ‘negative’ (⇩) adjustments with an arrow, as you see in-game.
Weapon damage range explained
In Black Ops 6 and Warzone: Season 01, not all weapons are created equal, but they all respect the fundamental principle that the closer your target is to you, the more damage you will deal to it. Using the following dynamic ranges, we identify how damage works in Multiplayer and Warzone:
Maximum damage range
- This range outlines the maximum potential damage a weapon can cause in a single shot up to a certain distance.
- This range always starts at 0 meters and extends outward until a player falls outside our maximum damage range, where the damage begins to decrease.
Average and minimum damage ranges
- Immediately after the maximum damage range ends, we use the average and minimum damage ranges to determine how the damage will decrease in power over distance.
- Remember when we said not all guns are created equal? Some weapons can have up to three medium damage ranges, while others can have zero.
- In situations where a weapon has only one average damage range, we will label this average damage range as it is.
- If a weapon does not have a Medium Damage Range, we omit the Medium Damage Range rows.
- Medium damage ranges
- We’ll start right after the maximum damage range ends and use medium damage ranges to determine how damage will decrease over distance.
- Reminder: A weapon with medium damage ranges can have a minimum of one medium damage range and a maximum of three.
- In all future damage range adjustment tables, we will identify these average damage ranges as 1, 2, and 3, if applicable, with One (1) being closest to the player and Three (3) being furthest within the average damage ranges.
- In previous patch notes versions, these were identified as ‘Close-Mid’, ‘Near-Mid’, ‘Mid’, ‘Mid-Far’ or ‘Far-Mid’.
- Minimum damage range
- This range identifies the minimum potential damage a player can take at the farthest distances.
- This range always increases once the farthest Medium Damage Range ends and will continue indefinitely unless otherwise stated.
- Reminder: Some weapons cannot have a medium damage range and will reach a minimum damage range immediately after the maximum damage range.
One last thing: As we progress into our future seasons, the Treyarch and Raven teams will adjust weapons based on feedback and data to deliver the best possible experiences for Multiplayer and Warzone respectively. These adjustments may affect shared Black Ops 6 weapons with different damage ranges between titles.
Wesley is the UK news editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
