Warzone players devastated after Crossbow “ruined” by nerfs in Season 5

Luca Di Marzo
Warzone Season 5 Crossbow nerf

Raven Software chose to nerf the Crossbow with the Season 5 update, leaving Warzone players questioning the disappointing decision.

The Season 5 update will allow Warzone players to enjoy some fresh content for the last time before the transition to Warzone 2. With the EX1 and RA 225 to unlock via the Season 5 Battle Pass, players have new weapons to test out.

However, not everyone is pleased with the weapon buffs and nerfs in Season 5, as fans of the Crossbow feel as though their last months of Warzone have been ruined by major nerfs.

The Crossbow is one of Warzone’s niche weapon picks and despite its power, it does have several drawbacks that players felt properly balanced the weapon. These drawbacks include the reliance on perfect accuracy, as well as a slow reload.

With the recent nerfs set to impact the Crossbow’s viability, Warzone players are concerned that the weapon is broken beyond repair. A post to the Warzone subreddit expresses disbelief at the decision to nerf “one of the hardest weapons to use.”

One player believes that recent gameplay clips and the Crossbow’s rise in popularity throughout Season 4 are to blame for the Season 5 nerfs: “plp suddenly realized its a great niche weapon and its catching attention after the recent “buffs”. Now they ruined it for us long time users.”

Many long-time Crossbow users voiced their concern that their favorite weapon has become unusable given its reduction in damage, thus ruining the final months of Warzone for them.

Another fan of the Crossbow explained their confusion when it comes to Raven’s tendency to buff a weapon, with plans to nerf the very same weapon later on down the line:

“This is their favorite pastime. Take a fairly balanced weapon that’s not as good as the meta for most situations but has a niche use, and then buff it, and then when more people use it, nerf the absolute f*** out of it so it’s worse than before the original buff. They did it to a few shotguns too.”

While Crossbow users are down in the dumps at the moment, there’s still hope that the weapon could receive a buff as Raven tend to balance the game with updates following their seasonal content drops.


For more concerning Warzone Season 5’s weapons, check out our recommended best loadout for the new EX1 Energy Rifle and RA 225 SMG.

Image Credit: Activision

About The Author

Luca is an Associate Editor at CharlieIntel. An accomplished, writer with interests in sports and gaming alike, Luca is focused on Call of Duty and FIFA as a content creator. After earning his BA in English Literature at Concordia University, he began writing for Gamelevate, OddsShark, and H4X. Luca joined CharlieIntel in 2021. You can reach Luca at [email protected], or via X @TheLucaDiMarzo.