CoD devs may have secretly buffed one underrated MW3 killstreak

The Swarm killstreak finally lives up to its name.

Swarm MW3
Image via Activision

Call of Duty YouTuber TheXclusiveAce recently discovered that the Swarm may have received a stealth buff, turning the once otherwise average Modern Warfare 3 killstreak into a force to be reckoned with.

Recommended Videos

Through manual testing, TheXclusiveAce deduced that the Swarm killstreak was buffed in MW3 at some point recently without official confirmation in patch notes. The YouTuber shared footage from a private match recorded in January where, as long as a player ran at least 4.9 meters per second and didn’t stop for too long, a Swarm killstreak couldn’t kill them. Flash forward to March 25 in a private match on Wasteland and TheXclusiveAce got killed while sprinting at 5.9 meters per second, which is significantly faster.

killstreak
There are plenty of compelling killstreaks in MW3. Screenshot by Dot Esports

The Swarm is a classic killstreak introduced to the CoD franchise in 2012. For Black Ops 2, the Swarm was the highest killstreak in the game, and that’s the same for MW3. Players need to get 15 kills before earning the Swarm. When deployed, a horde of mosquito drones surrounds the map and descends on players if they aren’t moving fast enough. After the potential buff, though, players should feel more rewarded for getting the most difficult killstreak in the game.

In MW3 season two, you’ll most commonly encounter players who use any combination of the UAV, Counter UAV, SAE, or Juggernaut Recon as their preferred killstreaks. At the 15-kill mark, the Juggernaut is probably more powerful as you can wreak havoc in a difficult-to-take-down supersuit with a mini-gun. And getting high killstreaks is not too common, so it also makes plenty of sense to use easier-to-acquire streaks to change the tide of a match.

In saying that, this potential buff proves that it’s at least worth considering giving the Swarm a second chance, even if you won’t get one every match.

Author
Image of Ryan Lemay
Ryan Lemay
Ryan graduated from Ithaca College in 2021 with a sports media degree and a journalism minor. He gained experience as a writer with the Morning Times newspaper and then Dexerto as a games writer. He mainly writes about first-person shooters, including Call of Duty and Battlefield, but he is also a big FIFA fan. You can contact him at ryanlemay@dotesports.com.