Black Ops 6 Season 3 patch notes

Black Ops 6 Season 3 operators in Firing Range
henry
By Henry MedranoEsports Editor

Black Ops 6 Season 3 operators in Firing Range

Now that we are two days away from the start, the Black Ops 6 Season 3 patch notes have been released. These give us a better idea of not only the additions already discussed in previous blog posts and marketing material, but also the other adjustments that aren't usually advertised.

We have prepared a summary with all relevant information so you can read about it before the season begins.

Release date

Season 3 for Black Ops 6 is scheduled to come out on Wednesday, April 2nd at 9:00 AM PT (5:00 PM UTC).

During the first 24 hours of the season, Black Ops 6 will run a free access period, meaning all players can enjoy the title and all its content even if they haven't bought it.

Users will be able to preload the update a few hours before its release to have everything ready for when the time comes.

Patch notes

Excluding all the additions discussed in blog posts and marketing material, here are the patch notes for Black Ops 6 Season 3:

Global

Console Cross-Play Settings

In Season 03, we're giving console players more granular options by separating the MP Ranked Play and Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play settings and adding a new Multiplayer-only setting for Quickplay, Featured, and Party Games matches.

Each of these three settings (Multiplayer Ranked Play, Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play, and Multiplayer Unranked) will include the following options:

  • On: Enables matchmaking with all gaming platforms when playing in the selected playlists.
  • On (Consoles Only): Enables matchmaking only with other consoles when playing in selected playlists.
  • May negatively impact matchmaking queue times.
  • Off: Restricts matchmaking to your current gaming platform only in selected playlists.
  • Will negatively impact matchmaking queue times.

Additional details on how these settings interact with party members who are on different platforms.

  • Players in a party who all belong to the same console platform will matchmake with the party leader’s preferred cross-play settings.
  • Players who have selected "Cross-Play Off" and create a mixed platform party that includes a different console platform will have their cross-play settings temporarily adjusted to "Cross-Play On (Consoles Only)" to enable matchmaking. This temporary adjustment enables matchmaking for the duration of the mixed platform party, and disbanding this party will result in preferred matchmaking settings being restored.
  • Players who have selected "Cross-Play Off" and create a mixed platform party with a PC player will have their cross-play settings temporarily adjusted to "Cross-Play On." This enables matchmaking for the duration of the mixed platform party, and disbanding this party will result in preferred matchmaking settings being restored.
  • Reminder: Adjusting Cross-Play settings may negatively impact matchmaking queue times.

UI/UX

Pre-Loading Shaders Improvements

  • Improved menu framerate stability while compiling shaders.
  • The Pre-Loading Shaders warning has been split per game mode.
  • Significantly reduced the time required to compile shaders before launching a match.
  • A new menu widget was added in the lobby to indicate the progress of Pre-Loading Shaders to let you know when you are ready to play!

PC Benchmark

  • ICYMI: The PC Benchmark remains a useful tool to optimize your gaming experience. Located in the Graphics Settings menu of Black Ops 6 Multiplayer, it simulates a multiplayer match to help you fine-tune your graphics for optimal performance and higher framerates.

Global

  • Entering Prestige will no longer reset Operator, Calling Card, Emote, Spray, or Gobblegum customization.
  • Addressed an issue where Finishing Move audio would continue to play after scrolling to a new tier in the Battle Pass.

Challenges

  • BlackCell
  • BlackCell Daily Challenge
  • BlackCell owners can now complete an additional Daily Challenge in Multiplayer, Zombies, and Call of Duty: Warzone for an added 7,500 XP each. The BlackCell Daily Challenge counts toward the 3 challenges needed to earn the Daily Challenge Bonus XP.

Weapons

Assault Rifles

  • XM4
  • 3-Round Burst Mod
  • Burst Fire Delay reduced from 160ms to 140ms.
  • GPR 91
  • Reduced visual recoil.
  • Goblin Mk2
  • Maximum Damage Range damage reduced from 40 to 33.
  • Maximum Damage Range rage increased from 0-19.7m to 0-25.4m.
  • Medium Damage Range damage reduced from 37 to 28.
  • Medium Damage Range range increased from 19.8-41.3m to 25.5-44.5m.
  • Minimum Damage Range damage reduced from 30 to 24.
  • Minimum Damage Range range increased from >41.3m to >44.5m.
  • Rate of Fire improved from 460rpm to 600rpm.
  • ADS Speed improved from 240ms to 230ms.
  • CHF Barrel Attachment
  • Headshot Multiplier increased from 1.5x to 1.6x.
  • AS VAL
  • Maximum Damage Range increased from 0-12.7m to 0-19.1m.
  • Medium Damage Range 1 increased from 12.8m-43.2m to 19.2m-43.2m.
  • Movement Speed increased from 4.7m/s to 4.8m/s.
  • ADS Movement Speed increased from 3.2m/s to 3.3m/s.
  • CHF Barrel Attachment
  • Vertical Recoil penalty reduced from 50% to 30%.

SMG

  • Tanto .22
  • Maximum Damage Range increased from 0-14.6m to 0-15.9m.
  • Medium Damage Range 1 increased from 14.7-23.5m to 16-27.9m
  • Medium Damage Range 2 increased from 23.6-34.3m to 28-35.6m.
  • Minimum Damage Range increased from >34.3m to >35.6m.
  • Binary Trigger Attachment Additional Adjustments
  • Headshot damage scaling increased from 12% to 15%.
  • Vertical Recoil improvement increased from 10% to 20%.
  • Horizontal Recoil improvement increased from 10% to 20%.
  • Jackal PDW
  • Maximum Damage Range reduced from 0-17.1m to 0-15.9m.
  • Medium Damage Range 1 reduced from 17.2-22.2m to 16-21.6m.
  • Medium Damage Range 2 reduced from 22.3-32.4m to 21.7-29.2m.
  • Minimum Damage Range damage increased from 15 to 16.
  • Minimum Damage Range range reduced from >32.4m to >29.2m.
  • Headshot multiplier decreased from 1.27 to 1.24. (MP Only)
  • Slide to Fire Time improved from 320ms to 300ms.
  • Dive to Fire Time improved from 400ms to 380ms.
  • Increased recoil strength and deviation.
  • Vertical Foregrip
  • Horizontal Recoil improvement reduced from 30% to 20%.
  • Ranger Foregrip
  • Horizontal Recoil improvement reduced from 13% to 10%.
  • Kompakt 92
  • 3-Round Burst Mod
  • Reduced View Kick Strength and Deviation.
  • Reduced Gun Kick Strength.

Shotguns

  • Shotgun Attachment Adjustments
  • Dragon’s Breath
  • Burn damage increased from 25 to 30.
  • Marine SP
  • Medium Damage Range 1 increased from 2.9-7.6m to 2.9-9.5m.
  • Medium Damage Range 2 damage increased from 12 to 18.
  • Medium Damage Range 2 range increased from 7.7-19.7m to 9.6-19.7m.
  • Minimum Damage Range damage increased from 9 to 12.
  • Minimum Damage Range range increased from 19.7m-33m to 19.8-35.6m.
  • Slugs adjustment
  • Medium Damage Range 1 increased from 2.1-12.7m to 2.1-25.4m.
  • Medium Damage Range 2 increased from 12.8-25.4m to 25.5-45.7m.
  • Minimum Damage Range 3 increased from increased from 25.5-33m to 45.8-61m.
  • Minimum Damage Range increased from >33m to >61m.
  • Headshot damage scaling increased from 50% to 60%.
  • ASG-89
  • Rate of Fire improved from 188rpm to 200rpm.
  • Improved shot queuing.
  • Reduced View Kick Strength.
  • Dragon's Breath Adjustments
  • Maximum Damage Range damage increased from 17 to 25.
  • Maximum Damage Range range reduced from 0-2.5m to 0-1.5m.
  • Medium Damage Range 1 damage increased from 15 to 18.
  • Medium Damage Range 1 increased from 2.6-7.6m to 1.6-12.7m.
  • Medium Damage Range 2 damage increased from 11 to 12.
  • Medium Damage Range 2 range increased from 7.7-18.4m to 12.8-21.6m.
  • Minimum Damage Range increased from 18.5-30.5m to 21.7-33m.
  • Slugs Adjustments
  • Medium Damage Range damage increased from 70 to 96.
  • Medium Damage Range range reduced from 1.4-15.2m to 1.4-12.7m.
  • Medium Damage Range 2 damage increased from 58 to 70.
  • Medium Damage Range 2 reduced from 15.3-21.6m to 12.8-19.1m.
  • Minimum Damage Range 3 damage increased from 40 to 50.
  • Minimum Damage Range 3 range increased from 21.7-29.2m to 19.2-35.6m.
  • Minimum Damage Range range increased from >29.2m to >35.6m.
  • Headshot damage scaling increased from 50% to 60%.
  • CHF Barrel
  • Headshot multiplier increased from 1.15x to 1.3x.
  • Maelstrom
  • Reduced View Kick Strength.
  • Dragon's Breath Adjustments
  • Maximum Damage Range damage increased from 13 to 18.
  • Maximum Damage Range range increased from 0-1.5m to 0-3.8m.
  • Medium Damage Range 1 damage increased from 9 to 12.
  • Medium Damage Range 1 range increased from 1.6-5.7m to 3.9-13.3m.
  • Medium Damage Range 2 increased from 5.8-23.5m to 13.4-26m.
  • Minimum Damage Range increased from 23.5-35.6m to 26.1-38.1m.
  • Slugs Adjustments
  • Maximum Damage Range damage increased from 61 to 90.
  • Maximum Damage Range range reduced from 0-14m to 0-6.4m.
  • Medium Damage Range 1 damage increased from 45 to 70.
  • Medium Damage Range 1 range reduced from 14.1-20.3m to 6.5-20.3m.
  • Medium Damage Range 2 damage increased from 40 to 60.
  • Medium Damage Range 2 range increased from 20.4-25.4m to 20.4-30.5m.
  • Minimum Damage Range 3 damage increased from 30 to 35.
  • Minimum Damage Range 3 range increased from 25.5-30.5m to 30.6-40.6m.
  • Minimum Damage Range damage increased from 24 to 30.
  • Minimum Damage Range range increased from >30.5m to >40.6m.
  • Reduced screen shake while firing.
  • Neck damage scaling removed (was 10% increase).
  • Upper Torso damage scaling removed (was 10% increase).
  • Upper Arms damage scaling removed (was 10% increase).
  • Lower Torso damage scaling now reduced by 20%.
  • Lower Arms damage scaling now reduced by 20%.
  • Hands damage scaling now reduced by 20%.
  • Upper Legs damage scaling now reduced by 30%.
  • Lower Legs damage scaling now reduced by 60%.
  • Feet damage scaling now reduced by 60%.
  • CHF Barrel
  • Headshot multiplier increased from 1.1x to 1.2x.
  • Vertical Recoil penalty reduced from 40% to 25%.
  • Horizontal Recoil penalty reduced from 20% to 10%.

Marksman Rifles

  • DM-10
  • Maximum Damage Range damage increased from 50 to 65.
  • Rate of Fire improved from 300rpm to 333rpm.
  • Received Flinch reduced by 20%.
  • CHF Barrel
  • Vertical Recoil penalty increased from 55% to 60%.
  • Horizontal Recoil penalty increased from 20% to 40%.
  • Tsarkov 7.62
  • Rate of Fire improved from 200rpm to 230rpm.
  • AEK-973
  • Full Auto Mod
  • Slightly reduced View Kick Strength.
  • TR2
  • Maximum Damage Range increased from 0-24.1m to 0-29.2m.
  • Medium Damage Range 1 increased from 24.1-47m to 29.3-47m.
  • Rate of Fire improved from 400RPM to 480RPM.
  • Slide to Fire Time improved from 370ms to 360ms.
  • Dive to Fire Time improved from 450ms to 440ms.
  • Received Flinch reduced by 40%.

Movement Updates

  • Increased crouch to stand speeds by 15%.
  • Increased crouch to stand speeds while ADS by 39%.
  • Increased directional sprint animation blend speeds for improved fluidity.

Multiplayer

Modes

  • Sharpshooter
  • Classic Black Ops free-for-all Party Game where every Operator is assigned the same Loadout, which changes every 45 seconds.
  • Each cycle introduces a new Primary and Secondary Weapon, plus a new Dedicated Melee weapon and Tactical and Lethal Equipment.
  • Eliminate enemies while unlocking bonus abilities for going on a streak:
  • 1st Elimination: Increased movement speed.
  • 2nd Elimination: Increased reload speed.
  • 3rd Elimination: Increased sprint recovery speed.
  • 4th Elimination: Increased ADS speed.
  • 5th Elimination: Earn double score for eliminating enemies.
  • Keep the streak going to unlock double score.
  • NOTE: Sharpshooter will be added to the new Party Games menu later in the season after it leaves the Featured Playlist selection.
  • Demolition (Launch Window)
  • Alternate between attacking and defending two bomb sites. The attacking team must destroy both bomb sites to win the round, gaining a time bonus after detonating the first site.
  • All attacking Operators spawn with a bomb and respawns are active for both teams throughout the match. The match timer pauses whenever a bomb site is in active countdown.
  • The first team to win two rounds wins the match. If the score reaches 1-1, players enter a tie-breaking final round where both teams race to detonate a single neutral bomb site.

Spawns

  • Addressed an issue where players could spawn at active Shock Charge placements.

Scorestreaks

  • Death Machine (Launch Window)
  • Heavy minigun with a fast fire rate, high penetration, and a large ammunition capacity.
  • Interceptors
  • Reduced score cost from 1150 to 1025.
  • War Machine
  • Reduced score cost from 1300 to 1150.

Movement Updates

  • Reduced slide in max speed scale from 1.6 to 1.55.
  • Reduced slide max time from .7 to .65.

Challenges

  • “Hard and Fast” Prestige Master Challenge: the description now mentions the Fast Hands Perk, which also needs to be equipped to progress the Challenge.

UI

  • Updated the Quartermaster, Hunter's Instinct, and Slipstream Perk descriptions to be clearer.
  • Addressed an issue where the Scoreboard would be blank when opening it at the end of a round or match.
  • Addressed an issue where Forward Intel Perk would produce inconsistent minimap zoom functionality.
  • Added a timer to the Winner's Circle that counts down the delay before Emotes can be performed. An Emote triggered during the countdown will automatically play as soon as the timer ends.
  • Addressed a Private Match issue where Game Setup was unresponsive after queuing for Gun Game.
  • Addressed an issue where the winning map would be displayed as vetoed after the Veto Vote concludes in Ranked Play.
  • Updated the SR Protection string in the Ranked Play lobby to be more descriptive.

Stability

  • Addressed various stability issues.

Zombies

Maps

  • Shattered Veil (NEW)
  • New map available in Season 03. Main Quest goes live at 9AM PT on April 2.
  • Liberty Falls
  • Directed Mode
  • Addressed an issue that prevented the Round Cap from updating properly during the Liberty Falls Pack-a-Punch quest.
  • The Tomb
  • Addressed an issue where rarely the monocle wouldn't spawn at the Shock Mimic’s location when killed for the Wonder Weapon Quest.
  • Addressed an issue where zombies could damage Staff of Ice from behind the Plinth.
  • Addressed an issue where some zombies could appear jittery when attacking the Staff of Ice.
  • Addressed an issue that caused black smoke to come out of a playable character on death.
  • Addressed an issue where the Max Ammo after a special round would spawn far away from the player if they were in the Roma Mausoleum.
  • Addressed an issue where sections of the barrier denoting the Vermin Trial zone were not always present.

Modes

  • Team Cranked (Launch Window)
  • Rules
  • The Cranked Timer starts when the first enemy is eliminated. The timer is shared across the whole team and any kill from any team member fills it.
  • The timer starts at 30 seconds. Each enemy eliminated replenishes the timer to its current maximum, and every round survived causes the maximum timer to be reduced by 1 second.
  • Essence earned by eliminating zombies is increased compared to Standard/Directed Mode
  • The Time Stopper Field Upgrade replaces your loadout’s Field Upgrade.
  • Main Quests and Easter Eggs are enabled.
  • Abilities
  • Time Stopper: Temporarily pause the Cranked timer for all teammates. All Operators begin the match with the Time Stopper Field Upgrade equipped.
  • Time Extended: Grab this rare power-up to fill the Cranked timer and add a small amount to the maximum time allowed.
  • Rewards (Survive past Round 50)
  • A custom selection of six GobbleGums per map.
  • Each contains one high-rarity GobbleGum and five GobbleGums of other rarities.
  • 15,000 XP per map, for a total of 75,000 XP across all maps.

GobbleGums

  • Addressed an issue where players weren't able to use their GobbleGums in their pack after entering a Prestige.

Power-Ups

  • Max Ammo
  • Addressed an issue that prevented the Max Ammo powerup from refilling ammo for players that are using a Mutant Injection.

Enemies

  • Mangler
  • Addressed an issue where Manglers could attack the player with their cannon from outside playable space.

Challenges

  • GS45 Military Camos
  • Changed requirement to Eliminations instead of Critical kills due to these weapons becoming explosive after being Pack-a-Punched.
  • LR 7.62 Military Camos
  • Changed requirement to Eliminations instead of Critical kills due to these weapons becoming explosive after being Pack-a-Punched.
  • Titan Felling (Get Elite Kills with Shotguns)
  • Now allows Special Zombie kills to progress the challenge.
  • Perfectly Charred (Kill Special Zombies with Molotovs)
  • Now allows Thermobaric Grenades to progress the challenge.
  • Stalking Prey (While inside smoke from a Smoke Grenade, kill Zombies with Melee Weapons)
  • Removed melee weapon requirement so all weapons can progress the challenge.

UI

  • Addressed an issue where the earned reward was missing from the notification after completing a Main Quest.
  • Addressed an issue where the vote prompt could stay on screen after taking a fast travel.
  • Addressed an issue where the Deadliest Weapon was incorrect in the After Action Report.
  • Addressed an issue where reward notifications would overlap with the Round Cap callout in Directed Mode.
  • Addressed an issue where the equipped Ammo Mod was hidden behind your Support when using akimbo weapons.
  • Addressed an issue where Blueprint icons would be misaligned when viewing ground loot.
  • Addressed an issue where players are able to interact with certain machines while spectating.
  • Addressed an issue where the Calling Card awarded for completing a Main Quest would not be shown in the After Action Report.
  • Addressed an issue where Mutant Injection HUD was displayed during a cutscene.
  • Addressed an issue where a ping on the Mystery Box would stay after it changes location.
  • Corrected some typos.

Graphics

  • Addressed an issue when using the Time Out GobbleGum while a white flash occurs could leave the screen white.
  • Addressed an issue with visuals during the Gold Armor Side Quest on The Tomb.
  • Addressed an issue where the Ray Gun would be misaligned with players hand when in 3rd-person prone supine.
  • Addressed an issue where the Pack-a-Punch camo for the “Donatello’s Bo Staff” Blueprint would not cover the entire weapon.
  • Addressed an issue that caused the “Fire Eater” Beamsmasher Blueprint to not be visible at short distances.
  • Addressed an issue where some white flashes could be seen during the Terminus Boat Race Side Quest.

Audio

  • Addressed an issue where no sound effects played when interacting with the bottom row of keys on the Keypad in Terminus.

Stability

  • Addressed various stability issues.

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