The Modern Warfare 4 launch patch notes change how your day-one class plays. Infinity Ward says every weapon got a deep balance pass after the multiplayer beta, SMGs are stronger at close and mid range, and the guns that could drop you in one hit now get flinch and damage tuning to rein them in. If you built a class around how things felt in the beta, check it again before you settle in.
Infinity Ward opened Modern Warfare 4 early, going live worldwide at about 5:30pm PT on October 22, and Nintendo of America announced the Switch 2 version as available on the morning of October 23. Our launch guide has the editions and the rest of the launch details. Infinity Ward posted the full launch notes on October 21, and these are the changes that matter most on day one.
Weapons and time to kill
The first beta weekend’s tuning is gone. Infinity Ward says players of every skill level preferred the time to kill from the second weekend, when gunfights had a little more breathing room, and that’s the baseline it built the launch tuning on. The studio admits it didn’t get the balance between weapon classes right in the beta, which is where the launch tuning comes in: SMGs are more efficient at close and mid range, one-hit-kill weapons get flinch and damage tuning, and every attachment got a pass too.
You also get Advanced Weapon Stats from the start, so you can compare numbers instead of guessing. There are 33 weapons at launch, and Create-a-Class unlocks at Player Level 4. Until then you’re on default loadouts.
Attachments unlock once for every gun
Weapon progression works differently from older Modern Warfare games. Shared attachments unlock once and are then ready on every weapon that can use them, and each one you earn speeds up leveling on the next gun. The post-match screen now shows that more clearly than it did in the beta.
If you want the old-school grind, Weapon Prestige is back. Prestiging a gun locks all of its attachments again (shared ones included) and puts that weapon on a classic level-by-level unlock path. Your other guns keep their shared attachments.
Gunsmith also gets an Optic Rail Placement option that changes where the optic sits on the rail, which changes your aim-down-sights picture. It’s purely cosmetic, and you can preview it from the ADS view before you commit. Custom reticles on thermal optics now change the thermal effect itself, so you can keep a thermal you like without living with a look you don’t.
Perks got reshuffled
Perks moved around since the beta. This is where everything landed for launch:
| Perk 1 | Perk 2 | Perk 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Quick Fix | Hardline | Lethal Reach |
| Overkill | Blood Rush | Combat Grid |
| High Alert | Bomb Squad | Battle Hardened |
| Ghost | Fast Hands | Scavenger |
| Resupply | Ninja | Tracker |
| Kill Chain | Birdseye | Cold-Blooded |
Three Perks got buffs. Battle Hardened now does a better job against Flash, Concussion and Screamer Mine effects, Resupply gives you your first recharge sooner, and Blood Rush now triggers Tactical Sprint whenever you press sprint.
Tactical Sprint lives on Blood Rush
That last change is the big movement one. Tactical Sprint still isn’t available by default, the way it worked in the beta. You get it by equipping Blood Rush, which now sits in Perk 2. Because you’re spending a Perk slot on it, Infinity Ward removed the extra sprint-out penalty that Tactical Sprint usually carries. The default input is now single tap, so with Blood Rush on you’ll Tactical Sprint for as long as your stamina lasts. Double-tap and other options are still in the Movement Advanced Settings if you want manual control.
Infinity Ward also fixed several bugs where an enemy’s movement looked different from what they were actually doing, which made some players hard to track.
Killstreaks and equipment
There are 17 Killstreaks, and for the first time in a Modern Warfare game you can set them per loadout. Objective play, like capturing a point in Domination, now counts toward your streak. The beta’s higher streak costs stay, so a UAV still takes 5 kills, or 4 with Hardline.
Two Killstreaks changed for launch. UAV health goes from 100 to 150 after players said they were too easy to shoot down, and the Wheelson is more aggressive and less confused when its targets change quickly. Flash and Concussion grenades also lose a bit of range and duration.
Smaller fixes you’ll notice
Gunsmith no longer saves a new build every time you back out, so saving is manual now, though builds you edit mid-match still save on their own. Pre-game countdowns are shorter or gone, since they were only there to give last-gen consoles time to load and Modern Warfare 4 isn’t on PS4 or Xbox One. Maps also start preloading earlier, so there’s less waiting before a match, and the campaign’s progression blocker in the hotel part of Counter Attack is fixed.
DMZ picked up its own batch of fixes on October 20 and 21, including crash fixes, a PC performance fix for holding the Heartbeat Sensor, and two Switch 2 fixes (a missing prompt in the Chemical Denial operation and a bug that blocked buying saved Blueprint mods). A minor update on October 22 also let parties of up to four queue together in Free-for-All, and DMZ players can now steal back UAV Towers from enemy control.
What’s in the box at launch
Multiplayer launches with 20 maps: 12 core 6v6 maps, three Ground War maps, four Gunfight maps and Kill Block, a new dynamic map whose layout changes between rounds, which supports 3v3 and 10v10 Gunfight for now, with 6v6 modes coming later. The new modes are Inflation, Hijack, Collateral (Search and Destroy with a buy phase) and Combat Outpost for Ground War, plus Hardcore and the usual favorites. There are two Prestige paths this time, and progression runs through Level 55 and beyond.
If you played the campaign during early access, our campaign early access post covers how that worked, and our DMZ early access guide covers the extraction side.
What’s next
Infected and a new mode called Possession arrive next week for Halloween, and Infinity Ward says Shipment returns with a new look on October 27. Weekly Challenges won’t be in Season 1. Infinity Ward is putting that effort into events instead, and it says those events will repeat so you get another shot at a reward track you missed. The first event starts on launch day.
Before your first match, rebuild your favorite class with Advanced Weapon Stats open, decide whether Tactical Sprint is worth a Perk 2 slot, and expect UAVs to take a few more bullets to bring down.