At long last, Raven Software has introduced sniper flinch to Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War‘s multiplayer. The war game got a big update as it welcomed Rambo – yes, really – to the fight, and snipers have been adjusted in a big way.
Raven explains it had two goals in mind when revising sniper rifles in this update. The developer wants gameplay between snipers and other weapon classes to be more meaningful and for each sniper to be more individual. As such, snipers now have a specific flinch that makes the weapon jolt when its user gets hit with a bullet. The flinch is more noticeable if you’re aiming down sights, though specific attachments will remedy that.
Raven also looked into “ADS momentum”, which it describes as the “feeling of weightiness as the weapon exits and re-enters ADS”. Heavy snipers will now feel, well, heavier and will have a slower ADS time. Keep in mind, though, that momentum is not used when you aim down sights from the full hip-fire position.
Heaps of Cold War’s snipers have also received a balance pass to make them feel more individual, such as the LW3 – Tundra, Pelington 703, Sniper Rifle Charlie, ZRG 20mm, and Swiss K31. If you’d like to see the changes in full, you can check out the patch notes.

If you’re curious what the best Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War guns are, you know where to click.