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Treyarch and Raven Software have issued the launch day patch for Black Ops 7, supplying a broad set of global changes that address aim assist behavior, movement tuning, progression speed, medals, and numerous weapon and attachment balances. The update implements an aim assist overhaul designed to rebalance controller versus keyboard and mouse interactions, refines mantling, diving, and sliding in the movement system, and raises weapon XP earn rates to accelerate progression by approximately 25 percent relative to Black Ops 6.
Weapons receive deep adjustments across all classes. Submachine guns are subject to significant range reductions to enforce a defined close-quarters role, shotguns are reworked with a new base-plus-pellet damage model to reduce extreme damage variance, and many assault rifles, LMGs, marksman and sniper rifles, pistols, and launchers receive attachment and stat changes. Multiplayer systems such as perks, field upgrades, scorestreaks, map spawns, and the Exfil system are updated, and Zombies mode receives major penetration and damage multiplier fixes alongside mode-specific weapon tuning.
Full Patch Notes
Global Changes
- Aim Assist Overhaul
- Addressed issue where controllers were favored at close range and keyboard and mouse at long range.
- Rotational aim assist now scales over a longer distance than in Black Ops 6 and reaches full strength at a greater range.
- Slight increase to rotational aim assist strength at very long ranges.
- New requirement: right stick must be actively tracking an enemy for full rotational aim assist strength.
- If only left stick is used during an engagement, rotational aim assist strength is reduced.
- These aim assist changes apply to Multiplayer at launch and to Warzone in Season 01.
- Movement System
- Mantling improved for smoother, faster, and more consistent behavior.
- Fixed diving where players could dive when moving slower than intended.
- Sliding slightly reduced in acceleration, speed, and duration.
- XP and Progression Systems
- Weapon XP earn rates increased; progression to max weapon level is 25% faster than Black Ops 6.
- Fixed inconsistencies in Overclock earn rates across Lethal, Tactical, Field Upgrade, and Scorestreak items.
- Daily Challenges: Bonus XP increased from 3,000 to 5,000 XP.
- New daily re-roll system: one re-roll per day, per mode, to replace unwanted challenges.
- Medals and Scoring
- Significant new Multiplayer and Zombies medals added.
- Returning medals from previous games that were not in Beta restored.
- Full list available in Career > Stats > Medal Collection.
Weapon Changes — Detailed
Assault Rifles (Class-Wide)
- Jump ADS Speed Penalty increased from 30% to 40%.
- Jump Sprint to Fire Penalty increased from 35% to 45%.
- Tactical Laser Tac Stance ADS Speed improvement reduced from 25% to 20%.
M15 MOD 0 (Nerfed)
- New mid damage range introduced.
- Max Damage (22) 0-46.4m changed to 0-27.9m.
- New Mid Damage (21) 28-46.4m.
- Makes four-shot headshot kills harder beyond close range.
- Attachment nerfs:
- 20″ Delta-F2 Barrel bullet velocity 40% to 37%.
- 16.5″ Fusion Barrel bullet velocity 22% to 20%, damage range 20% to 18%.
- Caravan-H2 Grip vertical recoil control 10% to 8%.
- Telescopic Stock movement speed 0.9m/s to 0.6m/s, sprint speed 0.45m/s to 0.2m/s.
- 3mW Motion Strike Laser damage range 23% to 20%.
MXR-17 Attachments
- K&S Compensator vertical recoil 15% to 13%.
- 18″ Rapid Sterling Barrel bullet velocity 45% to 40%.
- Multiple stocks, grips, and lasers nerfed.
Peacekeeper Mk1
- Tac Stance spread increased by 10%.
- Multiple attachment nerfs to damage range, recoil control, and movement speed.
Submachine Guns (Heavy Nerfs)
- Design philosophy: enforce defined close-quarters role by pulling range back significantly.
- Class-wide changes: Jump ADS Speed Penalty 30% to 40%; Jump Sprint to Fire Penalty 35% to 45%.
- Fixed ADS firing motion issues with Recoil Stabilization stat.
- Tactical Laser Tac Stance ADS Speed reduced from 25% to 15%.
RYDEN 45K
- Damage range reductions: Max Damage Range 0-11.7m to 0-10.4m; Mid ranges adjusted accordingly.
- Hipfire spread increased by 0.25 degrees; sprint/jump/slide/dive hipfire spreads increased by 0.5 degrees.
- Some barrel buffs to damage range; multiple attachment nerfs including EMT3 Agile Laser.
RAZOR 9MM
- Damage range reductions across ranges; multiple attachment nerfs.
- Some barrel buffs to compensate.
DRAVEC 45 (Largest Nerfs)
- Design goal: preserve accuracy at range while reducing speed and power.
- Damage changes: Max Damage 27 to 26; Max Damage Range shortened from 14.6m to 13.3m; mid ranges reduced.
- Headshot multiplier adjusted from 1.25x to 1.28x.
- Hipfire nerfs: base spread +1.45 degrees; sprint/jump spread +0.5 degrees.
- Multiple attachment changes with some barrel buffs.
Shotguns (Complete Rework)
- New damage system with two damage values: Base Damage applied once per shot and Pellet Damage applied per pellet hit.
- All pellets now deal damage; previous cap at four pellets removed.
- Damage floor created to prevent extreme spikes.
- Class-wide changes: Jump ADS Speed Penalty 30% to 40%; Jump Sprint to Fire Penalty 35% to 45%.
- Reduced muzzle flash on slug rounds.
- Lower leg and foot multipliers changed from 0.8x to 1x.
- Tactical Laser Tac Stance ADS Speed improvement reduced from 25% to 20%.
M10 Breacher
- Standard ammo Base and Pellet damage values adjusted across ranges.
- Charge time increased 0.5s to 0.6s.
- Sprint hipfire spread increased by 4 degrees.
- Tac Stance spread increased by 10%.
- Dragon’s Breath ranges significantly reduced; base damage added.
12 Gauge Slugs (Major Buffs)
- Max Damage 102 to 130; mid ranges increased; headshot scaling 1.6 to 1.7; neck scaling 1.1 to 1.45.
- Bullet velocity scales from 120 m/s to 1200 m/s while charging.
- Hipfire spread improvement when charged increased from 50% to 90%.
ECHO 12
- Base and pellet damage system applied.
- Sprint hipfire spread +1.9 degrees.
- Multiple attachment changes including drum mag penalties and stock nerfs.
- Dragon’s Breath and slug variants adjusted.
AKITA (New Launch Weapon)
- Introduced at launch with full damage values and six pellets per shot.
- Base damage and pellet damage values provided in-range.
Light Machine Guns (Class-Wide)
- Jump ADS Penalty 30% to 35%.
- Jump Sprint to Fire 35% to 40%.
- MK.78: multiple barrel, grip, and laser nerfs.
- Gravepack Extended Belt now penalizes Sprint to Fire and ADS Speed by 20 ms each.
- Payload Belt Extension starting ammo reduced from 450 to 300, max ammo from 600 to 450, and penalties increased.
Marksman Rifles
- M8A1 jump penalties increased; multiple attachment nerfs including stocks and lasers.
Sniper Rifles
- VS Recon: improved rechamber stability; barrel and attachment adjustments.
- 19.3″ Tack Driver Barrel: vertical recoil penalty changed 50% to 40%; ADS speed penalty 120 ms to 100 ms; headshot multiplier now 3x; neck multiplier now 2x.
- XR-3 ION: attachment balance changes, barrel buffs, and Quick Charge adjustments.
Pistols
- JAGER 45: Tac Stance spread increased by 22%; multiple barrel nerfs and magazine penalties.
- CODA 9: extensive attachment nerfs; Bolt Carrier Group now reduces Damage Range by 10%; Recoil Sync Unit improvements reduced from 10% to 8%.
- Akimbo: fixed Sprint to Fire speed bug.
Launchers
- A.R.C. M1: reduced turn sway and idle motion; enabled idle sway delay; fixed projectile trajectory deviation and melee interrupt bug.
General Attachment Changes
- Mobility Spread Muzzle now improves Tac Stance Spread and all Hip Spread values; Jump/Slide/Dive spreads improved by 10%.
- Mobility Foregrip now improves Movement Speed only, no longer Sprint Speed.
- Fast Mags and Flip Mags: most have increased starting and max stock ammo to compensate.
- Tactical Spread Stock now improves all Hip Spread values including Jump/Slide/Dive; Tac Stance Spread improvement +2% for ARs/LMGs and +5% for SMGs.
Millimeter Scanner (Major Buff)
- Scan distance increased from 15 m to 30 m.
- Max movement speed to appear on scans increased from 2 m/s to 2.5 m/s.
- Will detect more crouch-moving and ADS-strafing players.
- Cold Blooded still fully counters scanner.
Multiplayer Changes
Map Updates
- Exposure: updated spawn points across all modes; some Hardpoint zones slightly increased; Overload zones moved deeper; Domination A zone adjusted for minimap clarity; new Search & Destroy bomb site locations added.
- Imprint: Inclinator button prompt text updated for clarity.
- The Forge: updated starting objective device locations for Overload.
- Cortex: updated spawns for all modes and polished objective locations.
Game Modes
- Overload: device reset timer changed from 60 seconds to 15 seconds; UI strings and visuals updated; medals added and multiple general fixes applied.
Perks (Major Consolidation)
- Merged perks:
- Gearhead now includes Quartermaster benefits.
- Assassin now includes Vendetta benefits.
- Close Shave now includes Bruiser benefits.
- Engineer now includes Shadow benefits.
- Tracker now includes Hunter’s Instinct benefits.
- Vigilance: added increased minimap visibility.
- Charge Link and Blast Link: slightly increased assist score radius.
- Tactician Combat Specialty: increased elimination score.
Equipment
- Needle Drone: now eliminates enemies on direct impact and has increased HUD warning radius.
- Sensor Grenade: tagging more responsive and reliable.
- EMP Grenade: reduced HUD scramble effect duration.
Field Upgrades
- Improved charge time balance across Field Upgrades and boosters.
- Drone Pod: fixed elimination scoring to award full +100 score.
- Squad Link: reduced duration and area of effect and limited to 1 deployment.
- Trophy System: can no longer be deployed underwater.
Scorestreaks
- General adjustments to earn and ready messaging, health, hits to kill, and score costs.
- D.A.W.G.: reduced fire delay; now allows two active per team; can traverse map more often.
- Sentry Turret: fixed barrel spin and increased targeting distance.
- Skewer: reduced initial targeting delay.
- Rhino: reduced melee hit time delay; reduced EMP effect duration.
- Hellstorm: fixed cluster missiles not doing correct damage to scorestreaks.
- Drone Pod: added “Drone Damaged Enemy” score event for player feedback.
Audio
- Removed guitar riff SFX when killing or being killed by Nemesis (from Beta).
Zombies Changes
Vandorn Farm (Survival)
- Chompy: fixed issue where he would not eat weapon but still rewarded player; reduced salvage rewards.
- Saw Blade Trap: cost increased to 2,000 Essence; slightly reduced attraction radius; trap kills do not drop loot.
- T.E.D.D. tasks now spawn in the map.
Weapons — Zombies
- Major fix: penetration bug addressed that severely reduced bullet weapon damage through surfaces.
- Increased Legendary and Pack-a-Punch III damage multipliers for Assault Rifles, SMGs, Marksman Rifles, and Shotguns.
- Pack-a-Punched SMGs now receive a new 50% short-range damage buff.
Specific Zombie Weapon Notes
- MXR-17: pack-a-punched version starting stock ammo increased to 550.
- A.R.C M1: charge gain increased to 0.5 seconds.
- Flatline MK.II: non-pack-a-punched heavy melee damage adjusted from 375 to 300; head scale reduced from 2x to 1.5x.
- Dravec 45: kick scale lowered by 100% for Pack-a-Punch variant for better controllability.
Enemies
- Fixed zombies having trouble attacking ARC-XD.
UI and Systems
Exfil System (Major Change)
- Exfil updated to an opt-in system.
- When one player initiates Exfil, others can choose to join or stay.
- Players who opt-in leave the match together.
- Players who opt-out remain until they Exfil later or die.
- Exfil vote widget updated for clarity.
Known Issues
- Doomsteel Mastery Camo: unlock requirements display shows 30 Elite Zombie Eliminations but actually requires 10; visual bug to be fixed shortly after launch.
Communication Channels
- Follow official channels for updates and report bugs with Activision ID, platform, region, date/time, and reproduction steps.
- Additional follow accounts and resources listed by the team for campaign, Warzone, and franchise content.
Key Takeaways
- SMGs received the heaviest nerfs with significant range reductions.
- Shotguns fully reworked with a base plus pellet damage system and slug rounds made more viable at longer ranges.
- Progression is faster with 25% quicker weapon leveling than Black Ops 6.
- Aim Assist rebalanced to create fairer competition between controller and keyboard and mouse.
- Perks consolidated to reduce choice clutter while increasing meaningfulness.
- Zombies penetration bug fixed, greatly increasing damage through surfaces.
- Exfil is now opt-in so solo players can remain while others leave.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, set in 2035 with cooperative campaign and returning competitive Multiplayer and Round-Based Zombies. The game is scheduled to release on November 14, 2025, and will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, Battle.net, and Microsoft Store, with day-one access on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Have you noticed these changes? Share your thoughts in the comments!
