Update as of 9/9/2021: The TEC-9 (when fully automatic) has been nerfed! The EM2 assault rifle was also nerfed, but the Marshall pistol is still unchanged.
Treyarch introduces new maps, guns, and other content to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with every season, and Season 5 of Cold War is no different: the SMG the TEC-9 and the double-barrel pistol the Marshall have been added this time around. For many, the introduction of these guns is ruining Cold War as fans know it, and in this article, we'll explain why.
The TEC-9 is a submachine gun with good mobility, lots of damage, and very manageable recoil, which is supposed to be balanced by a restrictive effective damage range, low bullet velocity, and most importantly, a relatively slow rate of fire. However, its attachments increase its range, bullet velocity, and damage, and most importantly, the weapon can be upgraded to either burst-fire or to be fully automatic.
With the right kit, the TEC-9 kills in just a couple shots at most ranges, and with mobility that lets players quickly snap onto people while running around the map at breakneck speeds, this SMG outclasses every other one in the game by a longshot.
Related: Is Season 5 The Final Season of Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare? No Season 6?
The Marshall might be technically classified as a pistol, but it's actually a shotgun. It's a short double-barrel shotgun that can be upgraded to have better range, a faster fire rate, and shoot Dragon's Breath rounds which set enemies on fire. This makes the Marshall a one-shot kill up close and a two-shot kill further away.
The game-breaking problem with the Marshall is that this gun can be run akimbo, doubling its already extremely meaty damage and drastically lowering its time-to-kill. By pulling out your akimbo Marshalls, no weapon stands a chance at close range because of how quickly the Marshalls take players down.
Since the TEC-9 and the Marshall were added, every lobby in Cold War regardless of the mode or map sees the overwhelming majority of players on both teams running either the TEC-9, the Marshall, or both. This isn't business as usual.
Related: Call of Duty: Vanguard's TTK Explained
Problems with the metagame have plagued nearly every Call of Duty, and they've hurt the games in the recent past, too, like when Call of Duty: Warzone was dominated for months and months by the FFAR, the AUG, and the M16 before each of these guns' respective nerfs.
However, Warzone matches have much larger player counts than Cold War, and many Warzone players never cared much for the metagame, opting to use whatever guns they personally liked instead. Even then, modes like Plunder in Warzone have always seen greater weapon variety than its traditional battle royale.
In Cold War, there is no escape from this current meta, and Cold War fans have created an all-encompassing new sub-mode within the game to compensate for the addition of these overpowered new guns: Every match is now TEC-9 laser tag, interrupted only by the blasts of the Marshalls when somebody gets too close.
Treyarch has promised tweaks are coming to the TEC-9, and it's likely we can expect tweaks to come to the Marshalls as well. But for now, Cold War's long list of weapon choices and attachments have been reduced to near zero.
Related: Does Warzone Have DLSS, and Should You Use It?
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