Treyarch tease sniper buff in next Black Ops Cold War update

Treyarch developer Tony Flame has teased sniping fans with a potential buff for the M82 in Black Ops Cold War’s next balancing update. 

Sniping in Black Ops Cold War has, despite the game being just a week or so old, already become a slightly contentious topic in the community. It seems that Treyarch have sought to mitigate snipers’ slow ADS speeds by upping aim assist.

However, this has led to players simultaneously calling for them to be buffed and nerfed.

In the first major Black Ops Cold War update, from November 20, Treyarch nerfed snipers’ movement speeds and ADS times slightly. There were also major nerfs for the M16, AUG and FFAR 1.

Activision / Treyarch

More balancing updates for BOCW are expected imminently.

While Treyarch have so far been tight-lipped about the future of the Pellington and LW3 Tundra – the game’s two bolt-action sniper rifles – they have hinted that the M82, a semi-automatic sniper rifle in the vein of the series’ Barrett 50. Cal, will be buffed in a future update.

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On November 21, Tony Flame tweeted Treyarch’s “Next order of business.” Attached to the caption was an image of the M82, and then an image of a car buffer.

Many took this as confirmation of a future buff for the M82, which has started life as the weakest of three fairly average sniper rifles. Compared to past years, the ADS and one hit areas of BOCW’s snipers are all far slower and smaller.

Naturally, the replies dissolved into discussions about snipers’ place in Black Ops Cold War’s early meta. One player commented that “snipers are overpowered already”, while another argued: “Snipers need an ADS speed buff, you realize the only players complaining about snipers are bad players?”

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It seems that Treyarch already have a difficult task of pleasing everybody when it comes to Black Ops Cold War’s snipers, but, with all the data and statistics behind their decisions, it’s safe to assume they wouldn’t make changes they didn’t think were necessary for the game’s fairness.

We’ll bring you the full changes to the M82 when the specifications of the buff are clear.