Modern Warfare 4 beta TTK nerfs: every weapon Infinity Ward slowed down
By TourneyTime ·
The short version
Infinity Ward has nerfed six Modern Warfare 4 beta weapons to push time-to-kill back up. The August 24 beta update shortens damage ranges, cuts locational multipliers, or both on the AXION, HAN 86, Kastov 762, M4, PPSh-41 and MAR-9 — the guns that ran the beta’s first weekend (Dexerto, MW4.GG). It lands a day after an August 23 update that had already stripped headshot multipliers off most of the same shortlist.
The devs are being unusually direct about why. In the August 24 note they confirmed they are “deploying several more TTK changes and adjustments to locational multipliers”, having said a day earlier that “time-to-kill remains a focus” and that they are “identifying weapons that are killing too fast and adjusting based on feedback and in-game data” (Dexerto).
More followed. Infinity Ward said “you can expect to see more changes to Weapons and Attachments as we begin Open Beta later this week.” The open beta ran August 28 to September 1.
Every August 24 weapon change
| Weapon | What changed | Before | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| AXION (AR) | Max-damage range | 0–27.6m | 0–25.1m |
| AXION (AR) | Medium range | 27.7–50.8m | 25.2–47m |
| HAN 86 (AR) | Max-damage range | 0–26.1m | 0–23.5m |
| HAN 86 (AR) | Medium range | 26.2–47.5m | 23.6–43.7m |
| HAN 86 (AR) | Headshot multiplier | 1.4x | 1.25x |
| HAN 86 (AR) | Neck multiplier | 1.4x | 1.1x |
| Kastov 762 (AR) | Medium damage | 30 | 29 |
| Kastov 762 (AR) | Medium range | 22.3–41.7m | 22.3–40.8m |
| Kastov 762 (AR) | Headshot multiplier | 1.48x | 1.35x |
| M4 (AR) | Max-damage range | 0–25.4m | 0–20.3m |
| M4 (AR) | Minimum damage | 17, after 45.7m | 16, after 51.5m |
| PPSh-41 (SMG) | Max-damage range | 0–10.9m | 0–10.4m |
| PPSh-41 (SMG) | First medium band | 18 damage, 11–18.5m | 17 damage, 10.5–16.3m |
| PPSh-41 (SMG) | Minimum damage begins | after 34.2m | after 31.2m |
| PPSh-41 (SMG) | Neck / upper torso | 1.1x | 1.0x |
| MAR-9 (Marksman) | Max-damage range | 0–30.7m | 0–20.8m |
| MAR-9 (Marksman) | Neck multiplier | 1.2x | 1.1x |
| MAR-9 (Marksman) | Upper torso | 1.2x | 1.0x |
| MAR-9 (Marksman) | Lower torso | 1.05x | 1.0x |
The AXION is a pure range nerf — its damage per bullet is untouched, it simply drops out of its top damage band sooner. The MAR-9 took the heaviest single hit: nearly ten metres off its max-damage window, plus flattened neck and torso multipliers.
One number to treat carefully. The Kastov 762’s headshot multiplier is published as 1.48x → 1.35x on August 24, but the August 23 notes list the same gun going 1.35x → 1.3x. Both desks reproduce that pair exactly as written, so either the value was re-tuned mid-cycle or one line is wrong in the notes themselves. The direction — Kastov headshots doing less — is not in doubt; the precise figure is.
The August 23 update set this up
The day before, Infinity Ward went after headshot high-rolls rather than range (MW4.GG):
| Weapon | Headshot multiplier |
|---|---|
| M4 | 1.5x → 1.2x |
| Krait P68 | 1.6x → 1.4x |
| FiNN LMG | 1.5x → 1.3x |
| PPSh-41 | 1.4x → 1.25x |
| Type 73 | 1.4x → 1.3x |
| Kastov 762 | 1.35x → 1.3x |
| ISO Nightshade | 1.3x → 1.2x |
| Patriot XMR (Gunfight only) | 1.42x → 1.22x |
| X-58 NYX (Gunfight only) | 1.35x → 1.2x |
The worst offenders lost body damage too — the FiNN LMG dropped from 39 to 33 max damage, the Kastov 762 from 36 to 31 close range, and the ISO Nightshade from 26 to 23. That same update added the Lotus 6v6 map and 3v3 Gunfight on Kill Block, cut Attack Helicopter health by 45% and removed the stun effect from Frangible Rounds. PCGamesN reported the same weapon list and the same developer lines, including Infinity Ward conceding that spawns “need to improve” (PCGamesN).
What it means for your gunfights
Read the two updates as one plan: cut the reward for a lucky headshot first, then cut the range at which the meta guns hold their best damage. That combination raises the floor on how long a fight lasts without touching player health, and it hurts the weapons that were winning fights from further out than their class should.
If you built the beta M4 from our Modern Warfare 4 M4 loadout, the gun is still fine — but its max-damage window is now 20.3m rather than 25.4m, so range-extending attachments carry more weight than they did on day one. The same logic applies to the HAN 86 and MAR-9, both of which now fall out of top damage noticeably earlier.
One caveat worth stating plainly: these were mid-beta numbers, and Infinity Ward said more weapon and attachment changes would arrive with the open beta on August 28 — so treat any tier list from this window as a snapshot, not the launch meta. The more durable win is your setup — see our best Modern Warfare 4 beta PC settings, and the rest of our Call of Duty guides.
Sources we check
We anchor patch numbers to Call of Duty’s official Modern Warfare 4 beta patch notes, then cross-check against established desks before publishing. For this update we could not read the official notes page directly, so every figure above is the version reproduced by two independent outlets — MW4.GG’s full August 24 table and Dexerto’s coverage and running beta patch-notes wiki — with PCGamesN corroborating the August 23 weapon list and the developer quotes. Where those sources disagree (the Kastov 762 headshot multiplier) we have flagged it rather than quietly picked a side. Activision’s official notes remain the final word.
FAQ
Which weapons were nerfed in the Modern Warfare 4 August 24 beta update?
Six: the AXION, HAN 86, Kastov 762, M4, PPSh-41 and MAR-9. Each lost damage range, locational multipliers, or both. The AXION was a pure range nerf — its damage per bullet is unchanged.
Why is Infinity Ward nerfing weapons instead of raising health?
The stated approach is targeted rather than global. Infinity Ward said it is “identifying weapons that are killing too fast and adjusting based on feedback and in-game data”, so the fix is being applied gun by gun rather than as a blanket health or TTK change.
Is the Modern Warfare 4 TTK settled now?
No. Infinity Ward said “you can expect to see more changes to Weapons and Attachments as we begin Open Beta later this week”. The open beta ran August 28 to September 1, so treat these numbers as a beta checkpoint, not the launch build.
