Call of Duty March 13 Patch Rebalances Longbow and Haymaker, Improves Spawns, and More

The latest patch notes for Season 2 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone are here and they rebalance the Longbow and Haymaker, improve spawns, and much more.

You can read the full patch notes here or below, but some of the highlights include those balance changes to the shotgun known as Haymaker and sniper rifle known as Longbow. First up, the Haymaker got a buff with a roughly 40% increase to minimum hipfire spread, maximum hipfire spread, and tactical stance spread.

The Longbow, on the other hand, was taken down a notch due to it being a bit overpowered. In this case, its 30% hipfire spread benefit was removed and aim down sight time has been increased by 21%.

On the spawning front, new spawn points have been added in Hardpoint on Skidrow to “decrease the probability of an unfavorable flip.”

“One of many factors in spawn selection is to avoid a spawn trap,” Sledgehammer Games & Treyarch wrote. “When a player dies soon after respawning, that spawn point is temporarily deprioritized. If there are not enough safe spawn points available, a spawn flip is more likely to occur. By adding additional spawn points, the system has more safe options available, decreasing the chance of a spawn flip.”

These changes arrive just a few days after the arrival of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Season 2 Reloaded began. In addition to three new 6v6 maps in the form of Das Haus, Skidrow, and Airborne, it also heralded the arrival of the Warhammer 40,000 crossover.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Season 2 Reloaded Patch Notes (March 13, 2024):

Global

Customization

• Added missing visual effects to the muzzle of the Lament BlackCell Blueprint.

Multiplayer

UIX

• Bug Fixes
  • Improved performance while scrolling in the Calling Cards menu.
  • Tracked Prestige Challenges will no longer disappear from the Calling Cards menu.
  • Seasonal content in offline mode will now match the available content in online mode.
  • Saving a Custom Mod in the Gunsmith will no longer remove certain Camos.

Progression

• Gilded Mastery Challenge for the SOA Subverter now displays the correct requirements.
• Priceless Camo Challenge for the SOA Subverter is now properly tracked.

Maps

• Skidrow
  • In Hardpoint, additional spawn points were added to decrease the probability of an unfavorable flip.

One of many factors in spawn selection is to avoid a spawn trap. When a player dies soon after respawning, that spawn point is temporarily deprioritized. If there are not enough safe spawn points available, a spawn flip is more likely to occur.

By adding additional spawn points, the system has more safe options available, decreasing the chance of a spawn flip.

Modes

• Private Match
  • Increased maximum player and bot count from 12 to 24.

Weapons & Attachments

» Assault Rifles «

• Holger 556
  • Ascent Lord Stock
    • Revised Attachment description to better reflect its true statistics.
      • This heavy stock provides better accuracy and recoil control.
• FR 5.56
  • FR Sprinter & Recon Stock Pad Stocks
    • Replaced Sprint Speed with Tactical Sprint Speed in the list of Pros to align with the true statistics.

Submachine Guns

• Rival-9
  • Trebuchet Brake Muzzle
    • Replaced duplicate JAK BFB with the correct name and description.
      • This heavily vented brake is designed to mitigate vertical recoil and is especially effective on burst weapons.

Shotguns

• Haymaker
  • JAK Maglift Kit
    • Increased minimum hipfire spread from 3.5deg/s to 4.9deg/s (+40%).
    • Increased maximum hipfire spread from 4.4deg/s to 6.2deg/s (+41%).
    • Increased tactical stance spread from 3deg/s to 4.2deg/s (+40%).

Sniper Rifles

• Longbow
  • JAK Tyrant 762 Kit
    • Removed 30% hipfire spread benefit.
    • Increased aim down sight time from 390ms to 470ms (+21%).

MWIII Ranked Play

• Content Restrictions
  • Attachment Restrictions
    • Optics
      • JAK Glassless Optic

Zombies

GAMEPLAY

• Addressed an issue that prevented Elder Sigils from dropping in the
  New Season 2 Dark Aether Rift if players had not completed the Season 1
  Dark Aether Rift.
• Addressed an issue that would knock back Containment Levels by one Tier when exfiling from Dark Aether Rifts.
• Addressed an issue that prevented Containment Levels from knocking back one Tier if a player left a match.

STABILITY

• Added various crash and stability fixes.

Call of Duty: Warzone Season 2 Patch Notes (March 13, 2024):

WEAPONS

Weapon Adjustments

» Assault Rifles «

• Holger 556
  • Ascent Lord Stock
    • Revised Attachment description to better reflect its true statistics.
      • This heavy stock provides better accuracy and recoil control.
• FR 5.56
  • FR Sprinter & Recon Stock Pad Stocks
    • Replaced Sprint Speed with Tactical Sprint Speed in the list of Pros to align with the true statistics.

» Submachine Guns «

• Rival-9
  • Trebuchet Brake Muzzle
    • Replaced duplicate JAK BFB with the correct name and description.
      • This heavily vented brake is designed to mitigate vertical recoil and is especially effective on burst weapons.

» Shotguns «

• Haymaker
  • JAK Maglift Kit
    • Increased minimum hipfire spread to 4.9deg/s, up from 3.5deg/s.
    • Increased maximum hipfire spread to 6.2deg/s, up from 4.4deg/s.
    • Increased tactical stance spread to 4.2deg/s, up from 3deg/s.

» Sniper Rifles «

• Longbow
  • JAK Tyrant 762 Kit
    • Removed 30% hipfire spread benefit.
    • Increased aim down sight time to 470ms, up from 390ms.

GAMEPLAY

• Cluster Mines
  • It now requires two mines from a Cluster Mine to down a full-plated Player.
  • A Player with no plates will be downed by one mine from a Cluster Mine.
• Black Sites
  • Increased the drop rate of Black Site keys to 5%, up from 1%.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue causing the Bunker Buster to fire from the incorrect position when on a moving platform.
• Fixed a collision issue on Fortune’s Keep allowing Players to exploit under the map.
• Fixed a collision issue that caused the Geiger Counter to be irretrievable.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.