Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 — Sorry, Stacking Killstreaks Won’t be in MW3

For veterans of the Call of Duty series, killstreaks have always been one of the draws. While Modern Warfare 3 has a number of new and familiar options, the game celebrates the return of classic Modern Warfare 2 (2009) maps. So there’s one thing long-time fans might not be so happy about, and it’s a carry-over from the 2019 revival of the Modern Warfare. This is likely for balance reasons, but it’s still likely to be a bit frustrating. Here’s what we know about stacking killstreaks from the recent CoD Next presentation.

How Killstreaks Will (Seemingly) Work in Modern Warfare 3

If you played Modern Warfare 2 (2009), you’ll likely remember what it was like to be steamrolled by killstreaks. Back then, if you earned a streak and then died with it, you could earn a second one that stacked on top of your previous life. That’s no longer true in the new version of Modern Warfare 3.

If you get one or more of your three streaks in one life, the streaks you already earned will overwrite. Put another way, a UAV earned in one life will take the place of the UAV you could have earned in the next.

This makes good design sense if you want to ensure one team doesn’t get stomped by a constant stream of killstreaks. However, it will still feel strange to play Highrise without always having a Harrier overhead. I’ll also miss being able to stack Predator Missiles on a map like Afghan, then raining death five times in quick succession.

One additional note: I didn’t see the option for scorestreaks in Modern Warfare 3 during CoD NEXT. One of the focuses of the conversation with the developers was how there are new modes since MW2 (2009), like Kill Confirmed and Hardpoint. Both modes allow you to rack up big scores by playing the objectives. This could allow you to get a full set of high-cost killstreaks in no time. I expect them to be available, but it was jarring to not see them with all the talk of modernization.

That’s what we know about stacking killstreaks in MW3 right now. This could change by the time the game launches on November 10. Until then, we’ve got more coverage of Modern Warfare 3 from CoD NEXT and beyond, so stay tuned.