Dead Silence, one of Call of Duty: Warzone’s field upgrades may soon be receiving some nerfs, according to developer Raven Software. The upgrade itself is nothing new; it made its first appearance in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare back in 2007 and has been in virtually every Call of Duty title since. It allows players to temporarily silence all of their movements (except gunfire) and is one of the most attainable and useful perks in the game. Dead Silence proved itself to be equally viable, if not more so, in Warzone, where the stakes are higher than a standard multiplayer match and sound effects are far more crucial.
Generally, sound design in competitive shooters tends to be overshadowed by a game’s visuals. However, when actually playing a game like Call of Duty or Counter-Strike, being able to hear and interpret various sounds can often be the difference between life and death. For example, despite his love for Warzone, popular streamer Dr. Disrespect often criticizes the game's sound design when enemy players are seen running up behind him while making no sound at all. In some cases, these players were making use of the Dead Silence upgrade, but in others, it cannot be argued that the streamer should have heard footsteps but the game did not play them.
According to Dexerto, Raven Software intends to take a look at Dead Silence in the near future. However, they specify that they “cannot promise anything at this moment” and that more details will be made available as they decide what to do. As it stands, Dead Silence is still among the more valuable upgrades in Warzone’s fourth season–especially towards the end of a match. If a player is equipped with the Ghost perk, which prevents them from showing up on heart rate monitors, and also uses Dead Silence, there is no way for other players to locate them without visually seeing them or making an intelligent guess.
Of course, Dead Silence itself isn’t the problem. There are many other field upgrades in the game that can be even deadlier in the right hands. The actual issue is how easily attainable Dead Silence is Warzone and possibly its duration. Because Dead Silence is among the lower value field upgrades, it spawns in loot crates quite often and lasts for roughly twelve seconds. Furthermore, it recharges very quickly and can be used several times over the course of one game. Considering how slowly other field upgrades recharge, Dead Silence is undoubtedly among the most popular choices.
Any future nerfs will likely alter the duration of Dead Silence, the amount it silences footsteps, the speed at which it recharges, or how often it spawns. A nerf could also be a combination of any of these factors. Any of these changes would definitely help level the playing field and make other upgrades, such as Cluster or Precision Airstrikes, much more valuable. It is also unclear as to whether any nerfs to Dead Silence will affect Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, where it also functions in the same way. In the meantime, Warzone players should continue to rely on their game sense rather than just their eyes and ears.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available to play on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
Source: Dexerto, Raven Software/Twitter