CoD Black Ops 6 Zombies Mode New Features And SMGs: What Changes Will Season 2 Have?

If you were to ask which FPS game is the best on the market right now, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 would definitely be on the list, thanks to its unique zombie mode gameplay and constantly updated season content, appealing to all players who love shooting and thrilling battles.

Recently, numerous leaks in communities and social media have suggested that Season 2 of this game will be released soon. If you know nothing about this, that’s okay, because EZG.com will summarize all the existing information here and list Season 2 release date and detailed explanations of the new content that you are most interested in.

Launch Time

Based on the previous season update frequency of CoD Black Ops series developers, the end of Battle Pass included in the current S1 Reloaded indicates the start of the next season, which means that the new season is expected to officially meet many players on February 5, 2026.

It is reasonable to guess that the release will begin at 9 AM Pacific Time, in keeping with the developer’s tradition. Of course, due to time zone differences, your account may be updated slightly later, as detailed below:

• Pacific Time (PT): 9:00 AM
• Central Time (CT): 11:00 AM
• Eastern Time (ET): 12:00 PM
• Greenwich Mean Time(GMT): 5:00 PM
• Australian Eastern Time (AET): 4:00 AM for next day

New Contents

Next comes the most exciting part: the new content already known in Black Ops 7 Season 2. Each of these elements can help retain existing players and attract a larger influx of new ones. This steady growth in player numbers is something both players and developers would love to see.

Ranked Mode

First up is CoD Bo7 ranked mode, which is highly anticipated by advanced players. It provides a stage to distinguish between the strong and the weak, and a more exciting competitive experience amidst a hail of bullets.

Previously in SBMM, top shooters were always frustrated by the inability to engage in a truly realistic and decisive match against equally skilled players. So, ranked matches have been introduced.

In this new mode, you can go all out for victory and have the opportunity to use top-tier gear with extremely high damage and offensive power in daily challenges, a gameplay experience that non-ranked matches cannot provide.

Many players speculated that BO7 would prefer to release the ranked mode in the latter part of the season, but surprisingly, a lot of information suggests that this brand-new game mode will be launched with Season 2. That is, after Season 2 starts on February 5th, you can enter this highly competitive challenge.

The news sent the entire community into a frenzy, with players speculating that Black Op7 Season 2 might continue the momentum of the game’s initial release, or even surpass the scale of the recently concluded Season 1! Get ready with your best loadout and team up with trustworthy teammates to enjoy the thrill of ranking up and reaping tons of rewards!

Maps

Along with the new game modes, a series of new maps will also be introduced in CoD Black Ops 7, including Plaza, Slums, and Yemen. Many players speculate that some remastered maps will also be released in the new season, given the abundance of map templates in the series, making remastering relatively easy.

While a small number of loyal fans dislike this practice of porting or borrowing maps from previous games, the community is generally tolerant of the developers’ lazy approach. After all, no one would refuse to play a game on a map that is different from the original map, especially a classic map, which is a win-win situation for both sides.

Battle Pass

In Call of Duty, besides the additions and subtractions of gameplay during each season’s transition, the most exciting thing for players is the update of Battle Pass. For example, Armory will definitely add many new gun options, attachments, and more groundbreaking perks, all of which will appear as rewards on the track in it.

In addition, there are some cosmetic items, such as camouflage skins for guns, operator skins, and kill announcements, which will definitely appear in Battle Pass with a Season 2 theme. It’s worth noting that Fallout and Bo7 co-branded Pass will disappear after Season 1 Reloaded ends, so please claim any unclaimed rewards as soon as possible.

Other Updates

Next up are some Season 2 update updates that have generated some buzz but whose authenticity is hard to verify. The most discussed topic is that the series will be released on Nintendo Switch next season, and many players who own multiple devices are starting to speculate whether the game will introduce cross-platform online functionality.

Imagine Nintendo Switch players and PC/console players in the same game lobby, that would be crazy! Additionally, the developers will fix a bug where some camouflage missions require a 50-win streak but are forcibly lost when the player reaches a 30-win streak, causing the mission to fail.

Of course, the macro bug that is currently troubling BO7 players, ARC Raiders players, and even all FPS game players will also be forcibly removed in Season 2, which may bring the game balance back to its original level.

Overall, the new maps, game modes, weapons, and cosmetic items to be released in CoD Black Ops 7 Season 2 will inject fresh energy into the game. So, whether you’re a casual player who explores it from time to time or a high-level player who previously gave up, Season 2 is the perfect time to return and continue the challenge!

According to the developers, Diablo 4 Season 12 will be released on PTR in February 2026. In this season, endgame content will be further reset, and the difficulty of quests and dungeons like The Pit will be further increased.

As Season 11 enters its final phase, many players are shifting their focus toward efficient farming. Whether it’s completing seasonal objectives, gathering crafting materials, or preparing high-value gear for the upcoming season, optimizing builds has become more important than ever.

A strong, reliable endgame build not only helps players push difficult content but also saves a great deal of time during the final grind. This article will introduce a Minion Necromancer build centered on Minions. It boasts powerful damage capabilities and can efficiently clear high-difficulty dungeons like The Pit. It can help you fight efficiently in Season 11.

Gear

It’s important to note that all equipment in this build has been sanctified. Once sanctified, items cannot be modified, so ensure you have tempered, enchanted, refined, and socketed your equipment before sanctifying.

First, we selected Heir of Perdition for Helm and added Ahu+Qax, significantly increasing damage multipliers and trigger frequency, resulting in output capabilities far exceeding previous levels. For gloves, we choose The Hand of Naz, which boasts formidable damage output.

The core mechanic of The Hand of Naz is gaining an additional Skeletal Mage for each minion sacrificed. After sacrificing your Skeletal Warriors and Golems, your Mages will develop into Skeletal Arch-Mages after attacking 25 times without dying.

Skeletal Arch-Mages are slightly larger, and their hands glow slightly. When struck, they are immediately teleported to safety and receive a 100% critical strike damage bonus. Furthermore, every three attacks trigger a Shatter effect on the target, damaging three other targets around the target and significantly increasing its attack range.

In addition, The Hand of Naz’s basic attack has a piercing effect; although the distance is limited, it’s enough to hit multiple targets in a single attack, further expanding the Shatter effect’s coverage.

For weapons, common choices include the Sparr-enhanced Unique Two-Handed Scythes and sanctified Obsidian Blade. Many players use Scythes in this build, as its power is significantly increased after sanctification, reaching an attack frequency of once per second and further boosting damage.

The Obsidian Blade has an even higher attack frequency, reaching twice per second. When combined with a Grand Emerald gem, this advantage is further enhanced, providing an additional 72% critical strike damage. Furthermore, Obsidian Blade triggers the rune Qax more frequently, further increasing damage, hence our choice.

For the shield, we select Bone Shield of Reanimation. It grants at least 50% damage reduction, greatly enhances survivability, and increases base damage. With additional upgrades, the shield further boosts your main-hand weapon damage by another 100%.

Here is the complete gear list for this build:

• Helm: Heir of Perdition
• Chest armor: Shroud of False Death
• Gloves: The Hand of Naz
• Pants: Blood Moon Breeches
• Boots: Runic Cleats of Occult Dominion
• Weapon: Obsidian Blade
• Amulet: Ocelot’s Eye
• Ring 1: Aspect of Grasping Veins
• Ring 2: Soulwatch Hoop
• Offhand: Bone Shield of Reanimation

Skills

The core skills of the Minion Necromancer build are Blight, Soulrift, Corpse Tendrils, Raise Skeleton, Reap, and Bone Prison.

When you use Reap to crit, Blight can always maintain a crit status, and Skeleton Priest summoned by Raise Skeleton also provides a damage bonus to Minions, allowing you to focus more on gear optimization. Here is the complete skill list:

• Reap
• Raise Skeleton
• Soulrift
• Blood Lance
• Hewed Flesh
• Blight
• Necrotic Fortitude
• Titan’s Fall
• Spiked Armor
• Bone Prison
• Grim Harvest
• Death’s Embrace
• Iron Maiden
• Amplify Damage
• Decrepify
• Skeletal Mage Mastery
• Precision Decay
• Corpse Tendrils
• Coalesced Blood
• Necrotic Carapace
• Reaper’s Pursuit
• Finality
• Inspiring Leader
• Hellbent Commander
• Kalan’s Edict

Paragon

In Minion Necromancer build, we do not use Mage Glyph, but choose Abyssal instead. This is because Mage Glyph only provides a damage multiplier, namely a 10.4% damage bonus at level 100, which is useless compared to Abyssal.

Abyssal offers up to 218% extra damage and a 10.4% damage multiplier, plus an additional 10% damage multiplier, and requires fewer Paragon points, making it effective without needing to stack Intelligence or other attributes. Therefore, Abyssal is the preferred choice here.

The following are the choices for Legendary Nodes and Legendary Glyphs:

• Star (Gravekeeper)
• Cult (Leader Deadraiser)
• Flesh-eater (Essence)
• Frailty (Amplify)
• Wither (Abyssal)

Divine Gifts

In this build, having Divine Gifts is even better, as it will increase your rewards and Diablo 4 items. Here are Divine Gifts you can combine:

• Essence of Shadows
• Essence of Screams
• Essence of Sin
• Essence of Pain

This concludes the introduction to the equipment, skills, and Paragon required for Minion Necromancer build. This build boasts high-coverage burst damage while also possessing very strong defensive capabilities, making it an excellent choice for efficient dungeon clearing at the end of Season 11.

Enjoy the game and conquer all in Diablo 4 Season 11!

ARC Raiders, a multiplayer shooter - extraction game, has garnered attention since its release. While opinions on the game are mixed, most players love it.

However, recently, rampant cheating and exploitation by many players in ARC Raiders have caused the game to lose its original balance, frustrating and angering many players, especially those focused on PvP.

What started as scattered complaints has now escalated into a widespread discussion among streamers, competitive players, and casual players. This has prompted the developers to issue an official response, stating they will expedite the rectification and resolution of these issues.

Let's take a look at the cheating behavior in ARC Raiders, combine it with netizens' opinions, and explore the specific measures the official team might take.

Specific cheating behaviors

The complexity and annoyance of cheating in ARC Raiders stems in part from players exploiting game glitches to commit various types of cheating. This means that no matter what you're doing in the game, you might encounter a cheater, ruining your entire day.

1. Using game hacks

The most classic form of cheating is using third-party systems - the universally despised cheats. These players use software like auto-aiming, wallhacks, or ESP (Extrasensory Perception) to see and shoot opponents through walls, rooftops, or terrain.

You might finally complete a raid, diligently looting your loot, only to be unexpectedly killed by an enemy hiding somewhere. This is the most direct form of cheating, and most players can report it to the official authorities.

2. Boundary-Crossing glitches

This type of cheating involves players exploiting game glitches to reach unexpected areas on the map, whether through unexpectedly appearing environmental glitches like ziplines or by using cheat software to push players off the map.

The end result is that these cheaters can kill unsuspecting players from impossible angles. While this isn't cheating in the traditional sense, these exploits blur the line between developer errors and intentional cheating, creating an unfair gaming experience regardless.

3. Macro weapon abuse

Another method involves modifying weapon configurations in the game, transforming an ordinary gun into a deadly weapon. For example, semi-automatic weapons like Kettle rifle can achieve extremely high rates of fire through macro scripts or external hardware that can automatically press buttons.

While these aren't traditional cheat programs, because they allow players to fire at rates far exceeding human limits, it's equivalent to turning a semi-automatic weapon into a near-fully automatic one. Many players have encountered this in the game and have considered it cheating.

4. Modifying console commands through file vulnerabilities

Some PC players have discovered ways to access console settings that were not previously publicly accessible. By modifying configuration files or using hidden launch commands, players can drastically increase their field of view, remove fog and environmental effects, or gain a vision advantage that doesn't exist in normal gameplay.

This gives players who know how to manipulate these settings an unfair advantage. Fortunately, the studio quickly fixed the issue and removed the problematic commands.

Furthermore, player cheating in the game goes far beyond this, with their methods constantly evolving. These despicable behaviors not only frustrate legitimate players but also erode the competitive fairness of the game.

Player reactions

Recently, many popular streamers, including Shroud and Nadeshot, have publicly condemned cheating. It's estimated that at least 50% of players in high-level PvP lobbies cheat, although these figures are only speculative and haven't been independently verified.

Meanwhile, on Reddit, many casual players have reported frequently encountering "impossible" deaths, such as headshots through smoke, instant kills from a distance, or unpredictable enemy movement. They stated that if this phenomenon cannot be curbed, they might abandon the game ARC Raiders.

Many players pointed out that these cheating accounts are generally newly registered, private, or associated with accounts with low Steam ratings, and warned other players to stay away from such accounts as soon as possible.

Besides frustration, some members publicly predicted that ARC Raiders might repeat the fate of The Cycle: Frontie, which was ultimately shut down due to serious cheating issues.

Studio's response

After complaints about cheaters in ARC Raiders peaked in early January 2026, the official response was finally released on the game's Discord servers and social media channels.

The response acknowledged that cheating was a serious problem and outlined a series of measures the studio is currently implementing or planning to implement.

1. Update Anti-Cheat System

The studio promised a major update to its anti-cheat system, including detection algorithms and enforcement mechanisms. This will result in a more robust server-side detection mechanism and a more powerful banning system, aiming to combat traditional third-party cheating software and blatant exploiters.

Regarding account bans, many players believe that a one-month ban is far from sufficient. Those who enjoy cheating will undoubtedly return. Accounts repeatedly detected cheating should be permanently banned.

2. Client-Side fixes

In addition to server-side detection, some behaviors stemming from client-side vulnerabilities that are frequently abused, such as wallhacks or modifications to visual settings, are being addressed.

The official team is releasing dedicated fixes and hotfixes to address these issues, preventing players from exploiting game vulnerabilities.

3. Game tools released

This improvement primarily targets the live streaming system. Some ARC Raiders streamers are frequently targeted by malicious viewers who time their attacks based on the streamer's gameplay.

The studio plans to release a feature similar to the live streaming security options offered by other games to protect streamers and reduce live stream sniping, thereby optimizing their gaming experience.

In addition to the points already officially addressed, the next patch update may include new and more comprehensive anti-cheat measures, further enhancing the gaming experience for regular players.

Regardless, players' complaints all stem from a desire for a better gaming experience in ARC Raiders. They love the game and don't want it to fade away. Let's look forward to the studio's next update bringing some surprises!

WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Pre-Patch will launch on January 13, 2026. Most players have already started accumulating gold and resources for Pre-Patch. If you haven't taken action yet, don't worry, it's not too late.

Because the official TBC Classic Anniversary launches on February 5, 2026, you still have time to prepare for the first phase during this transition period. You need to avoid mistakes that might affect your gameplay.

However, before delving into these issues, I need to remind you that if you happen to be a WoW 20th Anniversary player, you need to choose to transfer your character account to TBC Anniversary or Classic Era realm before the 12th. This decision is permanent, so you need to consider it carefully.

So, let's take a look at five mistakes you must avoid during TBC Pre-Patch if you want to efficiently enter Outland and lay a solid foundation for the official TBC Anniversary servers.

Note: This information is primarily for players who have leveled up to 60 or just reached level 60. However, it also contains important information for players who have fully experienced the anniversary event and are well-equipped.

1. Wasting gold on Leveling Kits

One of the biggest scams during Pre-Patch is the profession upgrade kits sold in the capital cities and trade channels. While these upgrade packs are theoretically effective, they are definitely not worth wasting your gold coins on.

Gold will be more valuable than ever after entering TBC. You need to invest your gold in the following areas:

• 100% Ground Mount (if you don't already have one)
• Normal Flying (essential)
• Epic Flying (highly recommended)
• Early Outland Consumables
• Repairing and Crafting Gear

Therefore, during TBC Anniversary Pre-Patch, you don't need to spend money. Save your gold and don't give money to sellers offering set items. At the same time, you should focus on farming WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Gold.

You can earn gold by leveling up your professions, especially gathering professions. Mining, Herbalism, and Skinning are good choices; you can easily earn 300-500 gold during natural leveling.

If you're worried about leveling up too slowly at this stage, since all players are trying to accumulate gold and competition will be fierce, you can try this very useful trick: switching layers.

During pre-patches, the developers usually increase the number of active layers. By joining a layer and switching channels or using LFG, you can switch layers, significantly reducing competition for gathering resources among players and allowing you to level up quickly.

2. Wasting time on wrong dungeons and quests

During the pre-patch, not all dungeons and quests need to be challenged. You should choose to challenge valuable dungeons that offer high rewards within your limited time.

Therefore, you can focus your game on the following worthwhile dungeons:

• Molten Core;
• Blackwing Lair;
• AQ20 and AQ40: drop decent gear;
• Zul’Gurub: drops Zandalarian Hero Charm.

Especially the last two dungeons, the gear they drop is extremely valuable and can provide a lot of help when you go to Outland later.

While dungeons like Naxxramas are fun, they require a lot of materials and gold to complete. At this stage where you need to hoard resources, it's really not recommended to challenge them.

3. Spending all Honors

Next is the most common and costly mistake: spending all your accumulated Honors before WoW TBC Anniversary goes live. Because TBC Anniversary Pre-Patch allows you to exchange Honor Points and Marks for level 14 PvP gear, it's easy to be tempted to spend all your points immediately.

However, this is a trap. Every class specialization and character needs a strong set of gear at level 70 to help you clear those high-difficulty dungeons.

If you use up all your Honor Points at level 60, you might lack Honor when TBC officially launches, thus delaying your acquisition of some of the best early-game gear compared to other players.

Therefore, you need to carefully consider whether you want to spend those Honor Points and Marks, and how much time you have left to farm them.

Alternatively, you could consider getting a two-piece Rare set, as in some situations, a two-piece blue set bonus is better than a full epic set. My advice is to get your weapon during the pre-patch before considering other gear, as weapons are very difficult to obtain in the live release.

4. Trinket slots anxiety

Many players anxiously try to fill two thumbtrinket slots before entering Outland, but this is completely unnecessary; one is enough.

Completing Overlord quest in Hellfire Peninsula will reward you with an excellent thumbtrinket, even stronger than BiS thumbtrinkets you obtain later in the game, enough to smoothly complete Dark Portal.

For Warriors or physical DPS classes who can't find a suitable thumbtrinket, if you're an Alliance player, you only need to complete Maxwell's Mission; if you're a Horde player, you only need to complete Warlord's Command.

Go to Blackrock Spire and defeat War Master Voone, Highlord Omokk, and Overlord Wyrmthalak for generous rewards. The system will then guide you to the upper Blackrock Spire, where you'll be rewarded with a good thumbtrinket.

Once you obtain one thumbtrinket slot, you can quickly obtain a second one in Hellfire Peninsula, so there's no need to worry. If you're really anxious, you can farm a Carrot on a Stick in Zul'Farrak dungeon. This increases your mount speed by 3%, which is quite effective when facing Outland.

5. Not researching key quest rewards

WoW TBC Anniversary has many quests that drop generous rewards, regardless of level. What you need to do is choose the reward that best suits your character and class needs.

Many quest rewards are tempting, especially for physical DPS classes like:

• Paladin
• Warriors
• Hunters

Once you choose the wrong one, the reward cannot be changed, and all your time and effort will be wasted. Therefore, before going live, be sure to take the time to research your class and specialization, and confirm the necessary quest rewards.

Carefully plan your priority challenge areas and quest lines, as a wrong choice can undo all your previous efforts.

In short, WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Pre-Patch is not about rushing through leveling up, but about preventing you from making irreparable mistakes. If you're looking for efficiency, then plan carefully, prepare thoroughly, and fully enjoy Burning Crusade!

If you unfortunately spent a lot of gold and resources and made the mistakes mentioned above during Pre-Patch, you can buy WoW TBC Classic Anniversary gold in EZG to give you enough resources to prepare for Phase 1.

The collaboration between CoD: Black Ops 7 and Fallout series has been highly anticipated by players since its first season launch, keeping the game fresh while presenting new challenges.

This collaboration introduces an exciting and terrifying new enemy to Project RADS Zombies mode – Deathclaws. These massive, fearsome creatures are known for their ruthless efficiency in Fallout universe. Now they've been brought to the heart of Black Ops 7, causing immeasurable chaos.

These enemies pose a significant threat to players in the game due to their speed, massive damage, and resistance to most types of ammunition. However, with the right strategy, weapons, and skills, you can defeat them.

Next, I'll guide you through how to easily defeat Deathclaws and claim rewards in BO7.

Understanding Deathclaws fully

In Project RADS mode, Deathclaws are incredibly fast, powerful, and terrifying. They move incredibly fast, like lightning, covering vast distances in an instant, making them extremely difficult to dodge.

Their melee attacks can take down even the most powerful players in just a few hits. If you're not well-prepared, you'll quickly find yourself in trouble.

Importantly, Deathclaws aren't the most terrifying enemies. The developers have also introduced a variant – Irradiated Deathclaw. These creatures are even more powerful and have higher health, capable of killing you in one or two hits even when you're wearing full armor.

While these creatures are difficult to deal with, they drop loot worth the risk. Therefore, if you want to maximize your experience and rewards, you must learn how to effectively combat them.

How to kill Deathclaws?

First, let's look at how to kill regular Deathclaws in the game. Unfortunately, these powerful creatures seem to be resistant to any Ammo Mods, so they don't have elemental weaknesses like Arsenal.

However, this doesn't mean he's invincible. You can use these techniques to defeat him:

1. Maintain distance

While Deathclaws are fast and deadly at close range, you can avoid their worst damage by maintaining distance, moving around, and shooting from a distance. This is where rapid-fire weapons like submachine guns and assault rifles come in handy.

2. Choose the right Ammo Mods

Although Deathclaws are highly resistant to ammo, you can still use the right Ammo Mods to help you kill these monsters.

For example, Light Mend with Big Game Major Augment can drain the life force from Deathclaws and store it in your consumables, restoring your own health. Combining it with Big Game and Big Bang Augments can also inflict explosive damage on enemies.

3. Traps and explosives

In addition, you can use traps and explosives to destroy Deathclaws. By combining weapons with different items, you can quickly eliminate them.

How to kill Irradiated Deathclaws? 

Irradiated Deathclaws are a more powerful variant, requiring extra caution when dealing with them. You can only encounter them in Ashes of the Damned or Astra Malorum areas.

You need to collect 10 Fallout Boy trophies on the map to summon Irradiated Deathclaws. These trophies are scattered throughout the map, so it's best to plan ahead to avoid getting lost.

Astra Malorum

If you summon Irradiated Deathclaws in Astra Malorum map, you can use Apogee Annihlator Trap in Stargazer's Courtyard to eliminate these HVT Elite Enemies.

The explosives in the traps can eliminate Irradiated Deathclaws within seconds. Although these traps are powerful, there are conditions for triggering them; you need to use 1600 Essence to activate them. You can accumulate enough Essence beforehand by killing zombies in CoD Black Ops 7 bot lobbies.

Be careful when activating these traps; move away from the area immediately after activation.

Ashes of the Damned

If you summoned Irradiated Deathclaws in Ashes of the Damned, you can use Ol' Tessie to kill them. Ol' Tessie is a powerful vehicle in CoD BO7, capable of dealing massive damage to enemies.

In Project RADS mode, once you power up Ashwood, Ol' Tessie can be equipped with Abomination Carcass and DG-2 Turret.

You can use Abomination Beam and DG-2 Turret to attack Irradiated Deathclaws, then ram them with the car. This allows you to easily kill these monsters from inside the vehicle.

In addition, if you only want to use traditional weapons and Perks to kill Irradiated Deathclaws on your own, you can use weapons with a high rate of fire and long range. For example, Maddox RFB Assault Rifle and Dravec 45 SMG not only boast powerful firepower but can also be upgraded.

For Perks, you only need to select Stamin-Up and Double Tap, which ensures both damage output and maintaining distance from enemies.

Successfully defeating these formidable foes will reward you with substantial rewards, such as a large amount of XP and unique cosmetic items.

The above details the methods for defeating Deathclaws, including their variants, in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

Note that Project RADS event is time-limited. Before January 30th, hurry and jump into the game, grab your weapons, experience the new combat, and win amazing rewards!

Since the release of ARC Raiders, the developers have consistently touted their anti-cheat system as the strictest they have ever used, and frequently ban accounts that violate the rules as a deterrent. This has doubled the positive impression many players have of it, because balance is very important in this type of shooting game.

However, recently, this game's reputation has plummeted due to an exploit in Kettle weapon: many players are complaining in the community that they have encountered situations where they are chased and shot by Kettle but have no way to fight back. Some players have even found that they have no way to report after being killed by these cheating behaviors, which has completely destroyed the balance of PvP.

However, with Cold Snap limited-time event expected to end on January 13th and an update in preparation, this situation may change. Because in the first few days of 2026, the community manager among the developers responded to many players on Discord, promising corresponding changes. So what exactly is this exploit? And how does it work? Let here explain.

Reasons for Kettle’s Dominance

In Arc Raiders, Kettle is depicted as a semi-automatic assault rifle with accurate firing capabilities, equipped with Light Ammo to adapt to various combat situations. This weapon seems very useful, doesn’t it? But in fact, its disadvantages are also very obvious: slow bullet velocity and long reload time.

While these two drawbacks can be temporarily overlooked with the help of some Arc Raiders items, such as weapon attachments and crafting materials; and even some skilled players with good shooting techniques have ways to avoid these fatal flaws, ultimately, this is just a free loadout that can only be used for daily searching.

However, a post in a community recently completely changed this situation: players discovered that they could bypass the developer’s preset rate of fire limit by issuing macro commands, so as to easily achieve the operation of starting a fully automatic deadly shot with a single click.

Because this macro is so simple and easy to use, requiring no advanced programming knowledge, it not only eliminates the original weakness of the kettle weapon and greatly increases its damage output, but also amplifies its combat advantage due to the game’s lack of an effective mechanism to prevent automatic input.

This kind of easy advantage can allow them to kill targets in less than a second. In such a short time, the opponent doesn’t even have time to react; even if they do, they’re already dead. However, this is only one of reasons why it is widely complained about. 

A secondary reason is that Kettle is now generally recognized by players as a free loadout, which can be obtained by anyone who enters Arc Raiders and does some rough exploration, not only experienced veterans but also complete beginners. 

As a result, this game-breaking mechanism spreads like a virus throughout the entire PvP ecosystem, infecting more and more players until it becomes uncontrollable.

Impact

In this climate of rampant cheating, owning a Kettle grants near-invincibility on almost any map, posing an unprecedented threat to players genuinely seeking rewards in raids. Once some players succumb to the temptation and join the cheating frenzy, it exacerbates this imbalance, creating a vicious cycle.

Not only that, as this mechanism becomes more widely used, suspicions continue to grow. When players are quickly defeated in a PvP combat, the first question that arises is often: Did opponents use macros? and report this player, completely ignoring whether the victory was won through skill or cheating.

This indiscriminate suspicion undermines the fairness of the game. It’s not just skilled players who are affected, newer players also find themselves frustrated, often being eliminated too quickly to even learn or adapt, leading some to abandon PvP altogether.

This atmosphere of doubt is gradually eroding the healthy competition that once defined PvP modes. What was once a space for challenging and skillful gameplay is now tainted by paranoia and accusations.

Without a clear and effective solution to address these concerns, many players may eventually leave, causing the PvP community to shrink and potentially damaging the overall vitality of the game.

Improvement Measures are Being Prepared

Given the overwhelming complaints from players about this cheating behavior, the developers really need to take it seriously! Not just observe, not make minor tweaks, but take immediate and decisive action.

One player in the community proposed a substantial modification: suggesting strict rate-of-fire limits for Kettle or other weapons, input standardization, or other systemic solutions to completely eliminate the effectiveness of macros.

Furthermore, the abuse of vulnerabilities should be severely punished to curb the continued occurrence of cheating. Even after the vulnerabilities are patched, players who previously abused them should be banned. Of course, these rights ultimately belong to the developers.

In summary, in Arc Raiders, a game that places great emphasis on healthy competition and PvP mode, the developers’ immediate task is to thoroughly crack down on and eliminate such behavior in order to provide all players with a clean and fair looting environment, which is urgent!