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Black Ops Cold War Season 3 update could have big impact on the CDL

Some major aspects of competitive play have been targeted by the latest update

Jamie Hore's Avatar

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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Call of Duty League 

The latest Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which dropped on April 20 in preparation for Season 3, sees a number of competitive elements tuned and changed, potentially resulting in a big impact for League Play fans and pros in the Call of Duty League.

While Season 3 was already going to see a few changes to competitive play, such as a new scoring system for the Control game mode, this update adds even more into the mix. Several weapons, attachments, and even entire weapon classes have been balanced. Among these include the staple AR of the Call of Duty League, the Krig 6, tuning on all assault rifle barrel attachments, and a big nerf to SMG sprint speed stats.

However, it appears the nerf to SMG sprint speed has gone further than intended, with some pros reporting that AR players running a Krig with the SFOD Speedgrip attachment could now move quicker than SMG players.

Treyarch’s lead game designer, Matt Scronce, has replied to the concerns of Christopher ‘Parasite’ Duarte on Twitter, confirming that the team is looking into it.

The patch notes also confirm pros’ suspicions that slide cancelling had been changed, making the movement mechanic far less effective. Treyarch says that while players can still cancel slides, “there is a delay before changing stances again” which dramatically slows players’ down.

For many of the methodical AR players in the CDL, this is welcome news. However, it’s a big hit for many of the SMG players.

The weapon balancing and slide cancelling changes should really shake things up for Stage 3 of the CDL, as well as competitive ranked matches in League Play.

Jamie has been with The Loadout since the very beginning, joining in 2019 as the site's first staff writer and working his way up to deputy editor. Wielding a degree in broadcast journalism and a deep knowledge of FIFA and EA FC, Call of Duty, and FPS games in general, he's the go-to guy for tips on how to solve SBCs in FC 24, observations on the current Warzone meta, and much more. He is also currently getting back on the Destiny 2 bandwagon ahead of The Final Shape release date and, while he's not proud of it, is still finding himself hooked on the lunacy of Palworld.