Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s 725 Shotgun is still stupid strong

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare patch 1.07 was supposed to nerf the 725 Shotgun, but the weapon is still pretty overpowered.

Yesterday’s content update for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was met with wild enthusiasm by its players, not because of the new maps or game mode, but because it finally showed that Infinity Ward was listening. Patch 1.07, which is now live, introduced a slew of weapon adjustments, including nerfs to some of the game’s overpowered weapons. Chief among them was the ridiculously strong 725 Shotgun.

According to the official patch notes, Infinity Ward increased reduced the damage range and increased the ADS (aim down sights) and hip spread of the 725 Shotgun. The result? Barely noticeable.

Having played multiple matches under the new patch, the 725 Shotgun is still stupid strong; the changes did little to curb its lethality. Matches are still filled with players running around one-shotting targets at an absurd range. And it’s not just me either; social media is filled with others complaining that the nerf had little noticeable impact on the 725 Shotgun.

Thankfully, the overpowered nature of the 725 Shotgun doesn’t completely ruin Call of Duty: Modern Warfare‘s multiplayer experience, but it can still be frustrating when you continuously run into players abusing its power.

On the bright side, patch 1.07 also adjusts other overpowered weapons like the M4A1, claymores and Riot Shield. The M4A1 AR has had its damage range reduced and a small recoil added. The trigger and damage radius of claymores has been reduced along with the damage width “to better match the trigger width.”

As someone who primarily used both the M4A1, I can’t say that I’ve noticed a big enough difference to force me to switch, but it’s definitely more in-line with other weapons.

And you’re probably going to hate me for this, but yes, I also use claymores. And I’m both sad and happy to report that the changes made have definitely had an impact. I’ve been on both sides of a claymore explosion in Modern Warfare, and I’ll admit that prior to the patch they were probably a tad bit too strong. Post patch 1.07, I was still able to rack up kills from unsuspecting opponents with little map awareness (sorry, but claymores are avoidable). That said, I’ve also definitely survived a claymore thanks to the reduced radius, so I think they are in a pretty good place right now.

The Riot Shield wasn’t nerfed per se, but the patch did fix some issues that were making it pretty strong, such as one where explosive splash damage wasn’t working consistently. Infinity Ward said they’ll continue to tune the Riot Shield in future updates.

Beyond gameplay tuning and balance adjustments, the most recent patch also added two new maps, a new game mode and a new playlist. Shoot House is a traditional multiplayer map, while Krovnik Farmland is a large Ground War map. I’m happy to say that both maps have helped curb spawn camping. The new game mode, Hardpoint, is a capture-and-hold similar to King of the Hill.

While the intention of patch 1.07 is good in nature, I’m not entirely sure that it is effective in curbing some of the issues currently plaguing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare‘s multiplayer. Infinity Ward has their mind in the right place, but there’s still a lot to fix.