Warzone players beg for aim assist nerf after Apex Legends does it first

Nathan Warby
Warzone player using SMG

A major aim assist nerf is coming to Apex Legends Season 22, and Call of Duty players are calling for the Warzone devs to follow suit.

Respawn Entertainment confirmed that controller aim assist was “too strong” in their game and are nerfing its strength by about 25% in the August 6 update. But, when CoD players caught wind of the news, many called for Raven Software to copy the change.

“YOUR MOVE CALL OF DUTY,” said Warzone content creator ‘IceManIsaac’ in an X post, before adding a nerf could “bring back massive amounts of MnK players who have given up on Warzone,” as well as improve the skill gap.

Pro player ‘HusKerrs’ agreed with Isaac, replying: “I still firmly believe they can find just the right nerf to aim assist that’ll increase the aiming skill gap overall and make those close-range engagements with KBM (keyboard and mouse) players more balanced while the 90% casual player base doesn’t even notice it.”

Aim assist has always been a hot topic when it comes to first-person shooters, as games look to make up for the loss of accuracy when using a controller versus mouse and keyboard by helping their aim slightly.

PC users often feel that controller players are given an unfair advantage in gunfights because they don’t receive the same level of help, especially in crossplay lobbies where all platforms are battling it out against each other.

The Apex Legends update is also removing weapon flinch altogether, meaning that taking damage won’t throw off your aim anymore. This is another major issue faced by mouse and keyboard players, as the lack of aim assist makes it harder to recover once flinch takes effect.

Warzone expert JGOD urged Call of Duty to make “similar considerations,” by lowering the weapon flinch in BR and multiplayer alongside an aim assist nerf.

Fellow streamer ‘TheTacticalBrit’ welcomed both changes, arguing that Warzone needs to implement them too if it’s going to remain competitive: “This is the way forward. Warzone will forever be devoid of a skill gap without meaningful mechanics changes to AA, hotboxes, and hit reg/servers.”

These changes introduced to Apex will likely keep the aim assist debate going in Warzone for months to come. While it’s unlikely that we’ll see any major changes in Season 5 Reloaded or Season 6, we’ll have to wait and see if the launch of Black Ops 6 adjusts the feature in any way.