Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout armour nerfed once again as Treyarch's search for that elusive sweet spot continues
Suit up.
Treyarch is making much-needed nerfs to armour (again) and concussion grenades in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout.
As revealed in a post on the Black Ops 4 subreddit, Tuesday next week sees update 1.12 go live and with it tuning for armour, concussions and cluster grenades in Blackout.
Armour, which has undergone multiple tweaks in recent months, will see reduced damage protection across the board (levels one to three).
Crucially, level three armour is being targeted for change. It'll no longer include additional damage protection against explosions and melee attacks, and the requirements to repair level three armour are increased.
The idea here is to make the "bullet sponge" level three armour feel less effective and, theoretically at least, less pervasive. Most Blackout players agree it remains overpowered and not fun to go up against, despite months of tweaks as Treyarch has struggled to find that elusive sweet spot for the system. According to a tweet from Treyarch design chief David Vonderhaar, level three armour will now take two shards to repair one pip of damage. "I still believe level three armour has a home in Blackout and we are going keep looking for the sweet spot," he said.
Concussion grenades, which currently blind your opponent and prevent them from doing much of anything in retaliation, have also been a point of consternation among Blackout players. They're seen as crucial to late game success, too, although their effect can be countered by a perk.
In response, next week's update nerfs concussion grenades. Their status effect duration, area of effect and throw distance has been reduced. Plus, there are now more options to "outplay" attackers when you're hit by a concussion grenade. According to Vonderhaar, this means you can switch weapons, toss equipment and melee when concussed.
"This should address the very real 'can't fight back when concussed' feedback we have been discussing on Reddit," he said.
And finally, cluster grenades have been nerfed. The time to detonate has been increased (which should give players more time to get out of the blast radius), and there's a damage reduction for mini-cluster grenade explosions.
All in all, these changes are welcome, and they're going down well among fans, and it'll be interesting to see how Blackout feels at endgame as a result.