Warzone stats prove just how weak Cold War & MW guns are

Liam Mackay
farah and adler in warzone pacific

The Warzone community seemed to agree that weapon balance was in a great spot but weren’t happy when the best Cold War and Modern Warfare guns were nerfed throughout Season 3. Now, stats prove just how off-meta these are compared to Vanguard’s guns.

Weapon balance has been a hotly debated topic in Warzone ever since its launch, and players felt it was in a great place up until Season 3. But ever since the Season 3 Reloaded update brought major buffs to Vanguard guns and nerfed fan-favorite Cold War weapons, players feel weapon balance is off.

The NZ-41 and STG are the most popular weapons by a long shot, and data shows just how much of a disparity there is between the popularity of Vanguard, Modern Warfare, and Cold War weapons.

Price, Kingsley and woods in Warzone pacific caldera map

Thanks to data from WZ Ranked, we can see how Modern Warfare, Cold War, and Vanguard’s weapons pick rates compare as Season 3 draws to a close. This shows that ever since the Season 3 update on April 26, Vanguard weapons’ popularity has shot up while Cold War and Modern Warfare’s have plummeted.

At the start of Season 3, each game’s weapons had a pick-rate of around 30%, with Vanguard’s guns only just edging out the other two. However, as of June 19, Vanguard weapons are picked almost 60% of the time while Cold War’s are picked 17%, and Modern Warfare’s only 23%.

warzone vanguard, cold war, and modern warfare weapon popularity comparison

This is a stark contrast and shows just how underpowered players feel Cold War and Modern Warfare guns are compared to Vanguard’s.

Warzone’s Season 4 update is almost here, and they almost always bring a ton of weapon balance changes. Players are hoping that the patch notes will give some more love to Cold War and Modern Warfare guns, and rein in some of the best Vanguard guns such as the STG44 and NZ-41.

But, players will be able to dual-wield the new Marco 5 SMG in Season 4, so we’ll need to wait and see how it affects the meta.


For more Warzone, be sure to check out all of the map changes coming to Caldera in the Season 4 update.

Image Credit: Activision

About The Author

Liam is CharlieIntel's Editor. After graduating in Journalism from Edinburgh Napier University, Liam made use of his passion for FPS games, including Call of Duty, by writing for sites such as The Nerd Stash, Red Bull Gaming, and GAMINGbible before joining CharlieIntel in November 2020. You can contact Liam at [email protected].