Warzone update will bring major changes to Kill and Assist SR awards in Ranked Mode

Since the launch of season two and ranked Resurgence in Call of Duty Warzone, the community has had a few complaints. None were more common than the way SR is distributed when players earn kills. Developer Treyarch announced via X (Twitter) on Wednesday that a future update will fix the many issues it received complaints about.

Ranked Warzone kill and assist SR awards are changing

Treyarch announced it will “adjust how Kill and Assist SR is awarded when engaging with downed enemies to mitigate ‘tap’ gameplay and increase competitive integrity of the SR system.” in an upcoming patch. More specifically, this will prevent players from doing little to no work in earning a kill but getting SR for it. Additionally, it will prevent players who do most of the damage to an enemy player from going unrewarded or under-rewarded.

After the update is in place, only the following players will receive kill and assist SR when an enemy player is eliminated:

• The player who downed the enemy player.
• Players who damaged the eliminated player shortly before they were downed.

Fortunately, Squadmate Kill SR is still in place. This means every time your teammates get kills, you’ll still earn a little SR, though it will be much less. Damaging a player who escapes without being downed, and then is killed by your teammate a while later will no longer award assist SR. To receive assist SR for any elimination, players must deal their damage to the enemy player just before they are downed.

Additionally, if you’re dead and your teammate is getting kills, you don’t currently get any credit. The same update will make it so Squadmate SR is awarded regardless of whether you’re dead or alive.

What’s wrong with kill and assist SR in Warzone?

The short answer to why this change is necessary is because of tapping. Currently, players can see a downed enemy and finish them off, getting tons of SR as their reward. It goes without saying that these players didn’t do anything to earn the points they’re getting toward their ranking. Whoever downed the enemy player should get the majority of the SR, as they’re the ones who won the gunfight and earned the points.

Moreover, the developer says this update will make gameplay “feel just as rewarding and much smoother.” This is a welcomed update with a quick turnaround after receiving player feedback since the first season two update. These changes should be positive for all ranked Warzone players, especially those playing with random squadmates.