Despite several balancing patches since the game’s launch, many fans of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War have become convinced that one weapon in particular is extremely overpowered; the DMR 14. While the weapon might not seem so in the game’s core multiplayer, it has become deadly in Call of Duty: Warzone since it was added last month.
Issues with the Black Ops Cold War DMR 14
A semi-automatic marksman’s rifle, the DMR 14 is designed for engaging targets at long range. While there are plenty of other long-range options, this weapon’s low recoil and high fire rate have made it a terror in Warzone, where long-range sniping is much more dominant than in most of Black Ops Cold War’s smaller-scale multiplayer matches. This, indeed, appears to be the problem. The weapon performs in a relatively balanced fashion against its peers in standard multiplayer. However, the factors are different in Warzone’s larger map, causing it to outperform all competition.
This has become so apparent to Warzone players that the weapon is now sought over above almost all else. The meta has lurched dramatically since its introduction, and as a result, things will need to change. Until recently, Warzone was managed by Infinity Ward. However, with that studio moving on to new projects, Raven Software has now taken over responsibility. One of its first tasks was to introduce the weapons from Black Ops Cold War into the game; a transition which occurred with the launch of Season One last month. However, as the DMR shows, simply translating the weapons as they are from one game to the other isn’t ideal.
Fans should expect the DMR 14 to get a nerf in the near future, but it remains unclear when. For now, however, the DMR 14 is likely to continue its domination of the Warzone meta. Hopefully this will serve as a lesson to the game’s new developers that Cold War guns may need significant rebalancing and tweaking for the larger scale of battle royale.