Call of Duty's Season 2 update arrives in Black Ops 6 and Warzone on January 28, and the patch notes reveal several improvements to the game. This includes a positive update for applying unlocked camos and weapon adjustments. Additionally, there are some movement changes included in the update that are specific to Warzone.

Season 2 includes more multiplayer maps, another Zombies map, new weapons to unlock, and a battle pass packed with over 100 items to earn.

All the major highlights of the Season 2 battle pass can be found here, which adds ninja-like operators, plenty of high-end weapon blueprints, new sprays, and other cosmetic items. All of the season's new multiplayer maps can be viewed here.

Weapon changes

Season 2 makes a few major weapon changes. This includes reducing weapon motion from the Dexterity perk, which is improved from 60% to 70%. The game's weapon raise animations that play on respawn are now fully interruptible.

Additionally, the update reduces bullet penetration on all surface types. The developer explains this by saying, "We have continued to see cases where bullets are passing through too much cover. Our first step in addressing this is to decrease the maximum depth that bullets can pass through for all materials. We have longer-term plans to make bullet penetration more intuitive and consistent, and will be introducing further improvements in future updates."

Magazine attachment changes

The update includes a change that speeds up reload times with the Fast Mag attachments. This includes the following:

• Fast Mag I, Fast Mag II, Fast Mag III, and Flip Mag reload times improved by 10% on all weapon classes but pistols
• Fast Mag I and Fast Mag II reload times improved by 5% on Pistols
• All LMG magazines with 50 rounds or less have had reload times improved by 5%
• AS VAL default magazine reload time improved by 10%
• Addressed an issue with Swat 5.56 Fast Mag I, it will now improve reload times as intended

The following magazine attachments have had their ammo add times updated to match the intended timings:

• C9 Extended Mag I: from 1.933s to 2.267s
• Model L Extended Mag II: from 2.133s to 2.433s
• GPMG-7 Extended Mag II: from 5.2s to 5.6s
• GPMG-7 Extended Mag III: from 5.7s to 6.07s
• GPMG-7 Extended Mag IV: from 6.13s to 6.47s
• SVD Extended Mag 2: from 2.63s to 3s

Multiplayer weapon tuning

A small amount of weapon tuning is also included with the update. This includes a buff for all Black Ops 6 shotguns, which improves ranges and sprint-to-fire speeds. Some of these changes are minor, with the Maelstrom shotgun getting the largest buff. The developer says, "The Maelstrom has received some more pronounced changes, as it was lagging behind the Marine SP and ASG-89. It is now capable of a one-shot kill at very close proximity, and all its other ranges have received a larger boost than the other shotguns. We've also given it a small fire rate improvement to help its firepower without further changes to pellet damage."

The PU-21 light machine gun also gets buffed to make it a faster option in the LMG class. The changes include improving the pre-fire delay from 55ms down to 20ms, increasing the sprint-to-fire speed from 245ms to 240ms, and increasing the tactical sprint-to-fire speed from 335ms to 330ms.

Spawn adjustments

Treyarch says the game's spawn logic has been adjusted to continue to reduce a player's proximity to enemies when respawning.

Even more spawn changes could arrive after the launch of Season 2, as the developer says, "We have also added the ability to conduct live A/B testing with spawn changes to evaluate on a smaller scale, and if results are positive, we will roll those changes out globally. This will allow us to be more agile with spawn changes."

Changes to camos and camo challenges

Season 2 will allow players to equip any unlocked Special camos to a weapon as soon as they,ve unlocked any five Military camos for that weapon. Previously, players needed to unlock all nine Military camos for at least one mode to equip Special camos.

Additionally, challenge progress bars now appear below Special and Mastery camo swatches on the Camo tab in the Gunsmith, making it easier for players to check their progress.

Several Citadelle des Morts improvements

In addition to The Tomb map, the Zombies update includes tons of improvements across all existing maps. The most notable changes are the major fixes for the Citadelle des Morts map. This includes bug fixes for several of the map's main story quest steps and issues related to Maya's Revenge Quest.

Warzone gets small map changes

As previously announced, much of Warzone's update is geared toward making gameplay improvements, so some Season 2 content has been shifted to focus on game updates.

Season 2 makes small updates for the Urzikstan map. This includes updated Buy Station locations and a refresh to the loot and equipment found in the Gulag.

The map's train gets a change to the automatic brake release timer, which has increased from 60 to 240 seconds.

For the Area 99 Resurgence map, two additional Buy Stations are added to give players more places to shop for gear.

Changes to player and weapon XP for battle royale modes

The developer says player and weapon XP rates have been adjusted in Warzone to bring each mode closer in line with one another. The changes are as follows:

Battle Royale

• Player XP increased by +7%
• Weapon XP increased by +10%

Resurgence

• Player XP decreased by -8%
• Weapon XP increased by +10%

Plunder

• Player XP increased by +22%
• Weapon XP decreased by -13%

Warzone movement changes

One movement change applies to jumping in Warzone. This increases both jump speed and successive jump height with one unmodified successive jump. The developer discusses this by saying, "We're reverting some jump penalties to the values used last year. This marks the first step in our jump evaluation, and we'll revisit this topic again in the future."

Another movement adjustment is made for the parachute, which the developer says aims to make the action "more fluid and balanced, preventing it from feeling overly restrictive."

This includes an increase to the speed of the parachute cut animation, making cutting a parachute and readying your weapon significantly faster. It also increases player velocity when landing from a cut parachute land, giving players a smoother transition into full sprint.

Warzone perk adjustments

Warzone's Tracker perk gets major adjustments. Tracker pings have been replaced with an outline that is not visible through walls but will still appear on targets through smoke. Additionally, Tracker can now mark up to five targets simultaneously, and engaging a sixth target will remove the outline from the first target.

The Dexterity perk now has better handling, providing smoother weapon handling for jumping, sliding, and diving. It's also now a default perk for all Warzone players.

Since Dextiery is no longer a perk players can equip to their custom loadout, the Mountaineer

perk from last year's Warzone returns to take its place in the Slot 1 perk selection.

With Mountaineer, fall damage reduction has been significantly improved, though the developer says it's not as powerful as the Modern Warfare 3 version.

The Season 2 patch notes can be found below for Black Ops 6 and Warzone, as shared by Activision.

Welcome to Season 02

"Bounty's good. The hunt begins."

Season 02 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 arrives tomorrow, and the entire Rogue Team has a bounty on their head as payback for recent Avalon operations thanks to the Luttazzi crime family. In Season 02, draw your line in the sand and bring in your targets and bounties… dead or alive.

Play

In the meantime, stay up to date with what’s to come with all the details of new Season 02 Content and the latest balance adjustments, gameplay improvements, bug fixes, and more arriving tomorrow.

Looking for Warzone Patch Notes? The Raven Software team has you covered right here.

New Multiplayer Maps

• Bounty (6v6)
  • Deploy at sunrise to the top of an Avalon skyscraper, surging into the penthouse suite of a local crime boss. The Rogue team are here to celebrate their previous victories, but the party is short-lived, as friends turn into enemies, and chaos reigns.
• Dealership (6v6)
  • For Avalon’s wealthy clientele, nothing compares to the luxury vehicles on display at the Pallasar car dealership. However, this dealership is a front, and in reality serves as a lucrative black market for the criminal underworld where vehicles are traded for guns, ammunition, and other unsavory valuables.
• Lifeline (6v6, 2v2)
  • Expect high stakes on the high seas as Rogue team focus on escaping by boat, and battle onto the aptly named Lifeline, a small, high-end yacht still ablaze after a successful boarding by Sev and her allies.

New Multiplayer Modes

• Season Launch
  • Overdrive
    • Kick into Overdrive in this charged-up twist on Team Deathmatch. Teams compete to be the first to reach the maximum number of stars. For more details on this new mode, check out the Multiplayer Modes section of the patch notes.
  • Gun Game (Week 2)
    • The fan-favorite Gun Game returns! Compete in a free-for-all mode where all Operators begin the match with the same starting weapon and cycle through the same set of 20 weapons, varying from match to match. Eliminate enemies to advance to the next weapon, testing your skills across a variety of weapon types.
• In-Season
  • Valentine’s Day Limited Time Modes
    • Third Wheel Gunfight
      • Not everyone’s hungry for love. Some people just want to do things their own way. In Third Wheel Gunfight, you can now bring along that untethered friend and duke it out 3v3.
    • Couples Dance Off
      • This one’s strictly for duos. Compete in a moshpit of 2v2 Face Off modes including Face Off Team Deathmatch, Face Off Domination, and Face Off Kill Confirmed.

New Weapons (Multiplayer & Zombies)

• PPSh-41 – SMG (Battle Pass)
  • Full-auto submachine gun. Fast fire rate with impressive damage and high recoil. Moderate handling.
• Cypher 091 – Assault Rifle (Battle Pass)
  • Full-auto assault rifle. Slower rate of fire balanced by great handling and excellent mobility.
• Feng 82 - LMG (Battle Pass)
  • Full-auto light machine gun. Very slow rate of fire with great damage and handling.
• TR2 - Marksman Rifle (Event Reward)
  • Semi-auto marksman rifle. Great rate of fire and respectable handling.

New Attachments (Multiplayer & Zombies)

• Crossbow Attachment (Battle Pass)
  • Add some flare to your Primary Weapon with the Crossbow Underbarrel Attachment. The three explosive tipped bolts detonate shortly after impact for an explosive finish, even if you hit just wide of the mark.
• AEK-973 Full Auto Mod (Event Reward)
  • Convert the AEK-973 into a fully automatic weapon chambered in 5.45x39mm. The change gives the Marksman Rifle a steady upward kick; press slightly downward through sustained fire to stay on target.
• Tanto .22 SMG Binary Trigger (Event Reward)
  • Alter the weapon’s typical full-auto firing mode to a specialized semi-auto function that fires a bullet when the trigger is pulled and when it’s released for rapid fire capabilities. Blocks Barrel and Underbarrel attachments.

New Multiplayer Perks

• Season Launch Window
  • Slipstream - Enforcer (Event Reward)
    • Raises your base sprint speed at the cost of removing Tac Sprint.

New Scorestreak (Multiplayer & Zombies)

• War Machine (Event Reward)
  • Available In-Season, equip this powerful burst-fire grenade launcher with grenades that explode on impact.
    • The War Machine can also be accessed in Zombies at the Crafting Table under Support.

New Zombies Map: The Tomb

Play

Following the events at Citadelle des Morts, Weaver, Maya, Carver, and Grey must take the amulet secured at the Citadel to a cursed dig site and the ancient catacombs within. Professor Krafft indicated that the elusive Sentinel Artifact may be found in the tunnels below. Reports of paranormal phenomena go back centuries, possibly related to the presence of the artifact. If the team can secure it, there may yet be hope in releasing Samantha Maxis from her imprisonment in the Dark Aether.

New Operators (Multiplayer & Zombies)

• Vortex (BlackCell, Crimson One, Launch)
  • There’s no escaping this master assassin, known only under the alias Vortex. All biographical information for this Operator has been redacted.
• Nocturne (Battle Pass, Crimson One, Launch)
  • A bounty’s been activated on the Rogue Black Ops team, and Nocturne is here to collect. Other than his incredible lethality on display, all biographical information for this Operator has been redacted.
• The Terminator (Bundle, Crimson One, In-Season)
  • The ultimate killing machine arrives as The Terminator deploys from the future to decimate its enemies across Season 02. This brand-new Operator comes with two Ultra Skins inspired by the original movie. Take control of the cyborg assassin who first crashed onto the silver screen in 1984, releasing as a Store Bundle shortly after Launch.

New Events

• The Terminator (MP, ZM, WZ: February 6 to 20)
  • Collect skulls to unlock rewards. Skulls are earned via eliminations in Multiplayer and Zombies, and by eliminating players and opening caches in Call of Duty: Warzone. Earn bonus skulls for eliminating enemies with explosive or fire damage.
• Shadow Hunt (MP, ZM, WZ: February 13 to 20)
  • To join Nocturne, you must first complete the challenges he has laid out before you. Don’t fail him.

GLOBAL

RICOCHET ANTI-CHEAT

As previously discussed in our recent Community Update blog, we are ramping up our fight against cheaters across both Multiplayer and Warzone with new security measures deploying throughout the coming seasons. Updates include enhanced detection models for behaviors like aim botting, stricter account trust and hardware identification to target repeat offenders, and new tools to combat dishonest behavior such as playing with cheaters or attempting to spam report innocent players. We are also focusing on more precise tools, including major upgrades to the kernel-level anti-cheat driver and server-side systems starting this season and continuing into Season 03. These measures, combined with ongoing improvements and legal actions against cheat sellers, aim to deliver a more secure and enjoyable experience for everyone.

For more information on Ricochet Anti-Cheat, check out our recent Community Update.

BATTLE PASS

The Season 02 Battle Pass includes over 110 pieces of unlockable content (excluding BlackCell) including three new Base Weapons, an Underbarrel Crossbow Attachment, new Operator Skins and Weapon Blueprints, and a whole lot more. Read on for more BlackCell intel and stay tuned for a deeper dive with the BlackCell, Battle Pass and Store Bundles blog prior to Season 02 launch for a deep dive into the massive offering.

PROGRESSION & PRESTIGE

• Addressed an issue that was causing the “Congratulations, you’ve Mastered Prestige” screen to appear after every match for some Prestige Master players.
• Addressed an issue that would occasionally occur after Quick-Resuming Black Ops 6 that would incorrectly display all other players as Level 1 with default customization.
• Players who’ve reached Max Level will now see a reminder that they have a Prestige available after each match.
• Players who’ve reached Max Level will now see a “Prestige Available” treatment on the Prestige Tile in the Barracks Progression menu.
• Prestige Master Ribbons will now display in the player details when inspecting a player from the Lobby.
• Players can now tab between individual Prestiges (L1/R1 on PlayStation, LB/RB on Xbox) when viewing an individual Prestige’s rewards via the Prestige screen.
• The player’s current Prestige Master Ribbon and Icon milestone will now be highlighted by default whenever they enter the Prestige Master screen.

CHALLENGES

Challenge Tracker & Near Completion

We know our Challenge chasers have been asking for the ability to track Challenges, and we've been hard at work to add that functionality with Season 02. The Challenge Tracker makes it easy for players to manually track up to 10 Camo and 10 Calling Card Challenges they're actively working toward, but there's another element of this system that we think players will find useful on the journey to Dark Matter, Nebula, and 100 Percenter: Near Completion.

Players who don't manually fill their Tracked Challenge lists will see Challenges auto-populate that they are close to completing, making it easy to discover Challenges you might not be aware of yet or give you a goal to go after in your next match.

Your top Tracked or Near Complete Camo and Calling Card Challenge can be seen in the Lobby by cycling the Daily Challenge widget (via Right Thumbstick on console, or the "R" key on PC). From this view, players can enter each Challenge type's Tracked & Near Complete list to see the full list of Tracked & Near Complete Challenges.

We’re hopeful the Challenge Tracker & Near Complete system will help shortcut players to their Challenges and make it easier to keep tabs on the Challenges you're pursuing, both in-and-out of game.

Manually track up to 10 Camo and 10 Calling Card Challenges.

Untracked Slots (out of the 10) will automatically display Camo and Calling Card Challenges closest to completion.

The Top Tracked (or Near Complete) Camo and Calling Card Challenge can be seen in the Lobby by cycling the Daily Challenge display panel The Top Tracked (or Near Complete) Camo and Calling Card Challenge can also be seen in-game by bringing up the Options Menu and cycling the Daily Challenge display panel.

When tracking a Camo, the Weapon's next Camo Challenge is automatically tracked and displayed. You do not need to re-track each individual Camo Challenge as you progress through Camos for a single Weapon.

Access the "Tracked & Near Complete" list for Camos and Calling Cards from the Lobby panel

The Calling Card Challenges "Tracked & Near Complete" list can also be accessed via the Calling Card Challenge menu.

Addressed an issue where XP would not be rewarded Armory Challenges before opening the Armory for the first time.

This feature is planned to arrive in Warzone at a later date.

Camos & Camo Challenges

Players can now equip any unlocked Special Camos to a Weapon as soon as they"ve unlocked any 5 Military Camos for that weapon. Previously, players needed to unlock all 9 Military Camos for at least 1 mode to equip Special Camos.

We’ve seen feedback from players about how the 250+ unique Special Camos in Black Ops 6 are underutilized because of the current equip requirement, and we feel the same way. Currently, we see a very limited window of time where Special Camos get equipped: after all of one mode's Military Camos have been unlocked, but before players have unlocked Gold Camo (or beyond).

In Season 02, we’ll be changing this equip requirement to give players the ability to equip their unlocked Special Camos earlier in each Weapon's Camo journey, while still preserving a short "on-ramp" of first needing to unlock 5 Military Camos that we feel is important to the new Weapon journey. In MP, this means that Specials can now be accessed after 30 Headshots instead of 100, but getting to 5 Military Camos unlocked can also be done across all 3 modes if desired.

• Challenge progress bars now appear below Special Camo and Mastery Camo swatches on the Camo tab in the Gunsmith.
• The currently equipped Camo will now be highlighted by default when entering the Camo tab in the Gunsmith (if applicable).

SOCIAL & CHANNELS

• Added a "Favorites Only”"Filter to the Friends List that can be used to display only Favorite Friends.
• Player mic indicators will now appear when viewing the Party Channel or Game Channel.
• "Sort by Progression" and "Sort by Rank" will now display the applicable Level or Rank icons in the Friends List, regardless of which mode the player is viewing the Social menu from.
• Dark Ops Calling Cards that you haven’t unlocked yet yourself will no longer appear as "Classified" when viewed in another player's Calling Card Showcase.

MULTIPLAYER

WEAPONS

• Addressed an issue where Akimbo Attachments did not properly display Pros and Cons.
• Addressed an animation pop when using certain muzzle attachments with the GS45 Pistol.

All Weapons

We have a few global changes landing with the start of Season 02 that will affect all weapons. The first is an improvement to the weapon motion reduction on the Dexterity Perk, which will make weapons feel even more stable while jumping, sliding, and diving. The second is a response to feedback that the weapon animations on respawn can get in the way of combat. These animations are now immediately interruptible when firing, aiming down sights, sprinting, or performing other gameplay actions.

Lastly, we are tuning down bullet penetration significantly, as we have continued to see cases where bullets are passing through too much cover. Our first step in addressing this is to decrease the maximum depth that bullets can pass through for all materials. We have longer-term plans to make bullet penetration more intuitive and consistent, and will be introducing further improvements in future updates.

• Weapon motion reduction from the Dexterity perk improved from 60% to 70%.
• Weapon raise animations that play on respawn are now fully interruptible.
• Reduced bullet penetration on all surface types.

Magazine Attachment Changes

Another large-scale change we are making is speeding up Fast Mag reload times. Our goal is for every magazine attachment to have a role across the many playstyles in Call of Duty, but we recognize that it can feel hard to trade away the larger mag sizes. We want to avoid adding more penalties to Extended Mags, so we are instead focusing on improvements to Fast Mags to make the selection more enticing. We're starting with reload time adjustments, but we'll continue to assess magazines to make sure players have more interesting choices and build potential with this node.

Fast Mag I, Fast Mag II, Fast Mag III, and Flip Mag reload times improved by 10% on all weapon classes but pistols.

Fast Mag I and Fast Mag II reload times improved by 5% on Pistols.

All LMG magazines with 50 rounds or less have had reload times improved by 5%.

AS VAL default magazine reload time improved by 10%.

Addressed an issue with Swat 5.56 Fast Mag I, it will now improve reload times as intended.

The following magazine attachments have had their ammo add times updated to match the intended timings. The overall reload times and interrupt times remain the same.

• C9 Extended Mag I: from 1.933s to 2.267s.
• Model L Extended Mag II: from 2.133s to 2.433s.
• GPMG-7 Extended Mag II: from 5.2s to 5.6s.
• GPMG-7 Extended Mag III: from 5.7s to 6.07s.
• GPMG-7 Extended Mag IV: from 6.13s to 6.47s.
• SVD Extended Mag 2: from 2.63s to 3s.

Melee

• Removed screen flash from taking frontal bullet damage while holding a melee.

Assault Rifles

• Goblin Mk2

The Goblin Mk2 may be the most divisive weapon out there in the community. Some players absolutely love it, and a lot of players… strongly prefer other weapons. We’re making a number of small improvements to help overall usability and consistency without affecting the weapon's identity. In particular, the maximum damage range increase will help with mid-range engagements, and we're giving it a bit more inflicted flinch than the average Assault Rifle to reward players who land that first hit.

SMGs

• Kompakt 92

Our design intent for the 3-Round Burst Mod on the Kompakt 92 is to give the weapon an alternate playstyle that trades some raw upfront power for more consistent mid-range performance. The upside wasn't as strong as we wanted it to be, so we've adjusted the range slightly and made some significant recoil reductions.

Shotguns

With this update, we are improving ranges and Sprint to Fire speeds on all Shotguns. We know that some of these adjustments may look inconsequential, but Shotgun balance in particular tends to live on a knife’s edge. We want Shotguns to play a greater role outside of our very smallest maps, and we’ll keep adjusting until we’re happy with their usage.

The Maelstrom has received some more pronounced changes, as it was lagging behind the Marine SP and ASG-89. It is now capable of a one-shot kill at very close proximity, and all its other ranges have received a larger boost than the other Shotguns. We've also given it a small Fire Rate improvement to help its firepower without further changes to pellet damage.

MGs

• PU-21

The PU-21 is intended to be a more lightweight LMG with build opportunities skewing towards Assault Rifle handling and mobility. We are reducing the pre-fire delay by a little more than half to help fit the more aggressive playstyle, and are reducing deviation in its recoil to help with consistency in gunfights.

Adjustments

• Pre-fire delay improved from 55ms to 20ms.
• Sprint to Fire Speed improved from 245ms to 240ms.
• Tactical Sprint to Fire Speed improved from 335ms to 330ms.
• View Kick Deviation slightly reduced.

Marksman Rifles

• DM-10

The Gain-Twist Barrel improvement to Bullet Velocity was unintentionally low on the DM-10. There will now be an advantage to using it over the Reinforced Barrel.

Sniper Rifles

We saw a lot of positivity surrounding the AMR Mod 4 when it launched in Season 01, in no small part due to the consistency it has with its hit location multipliers. With Season 02 we are increasing the one-shot hit locations on the launch snipers, with the goal of giving all of them a similar feeling of consistency and opening the doors to more weapon variety.

We are also making some small reductions to the Aim Down Sight speed bonuses on Quickdraw Grips. There were a couple considerations that went into this change. The first was the general power level of snipers, as the body multiplier changes are a big buff. Another consideration was our Fast Mag buffs, which we hope will enable players to comfortably take builds that stack multiple sources of ADS speed improvements.

Pistols

• Stryder .22

The Stryder .22 launched with a smaller Bullet Penetration profile than the other pistols. The distinction is hard to read as a player and offers little to weapon identity, so we’re bringing it up to parity with the rest of the class.

Special Weapons

• Sirin 9mm

We’ve addressed an issue causing unintended Sprint to Fire modifications with the magazine attachments on the Sirin 9mm. We have updated the attributes on these magazines so that they’re in line with the tradeoffs that appear on other weapons.

Launchers

Last but not least, launchers are receiving some major handling improvements to help with general usability and responsiveness.

HUD

• Addressed an issue that would occasionally incorrectly display the Field Upgrade “READY” state after respawning.
• Addressed an issue where player names would not display beside the speaker icon when speaking in a match.
• HUD Presets can now be set separately for Zombies and Multiplayer.

PROGRESSION & XP

• Search & Destroy
  • Addressed an issue that was preventing the end-of-game Match Bonus XP payout from being awarded in the following situations:
    • The entire enemy team quit, ending the match
    • The player did not deal any damage in the final Round

CHALLENGES

Black Ops 6 launched with more Calling Card Challenges than any recent Call of Duty, brought the return of "100 Percenter" Cards for Multiplayer and Zombies, and brought a deep Calling Card grind to Warzone with its own “100 Percenter” Card for the first time. It has been very exciting to see players strategizing over and unlocking all the various Calling Card Challenges in the game since launch.

Some Multiplayer Challenges, however, have been either a bit on the frustrating side, or have had bugs and other issues that have prevented some players from completing them on the path to "100 Percenter".For Season 02, we’ve put a big focus on fixing these Challenge bugs and smoothing over the key frustration points players have been experiencing as part of the Multiplayer Calling Card Challenge grind since launch. We hope these fixes and updates help players stuck in their Challenge journey and unblock their progress toward 100% completion.

Scorestreak Destruction Challenges

• Addressed an issue that was not awarding Challenge progress towards Scorestreak Destructions in cases where players didn’t perform the final blow on the destroyed enemy Scorestreak.
• Players will now earn progress for Camo Challenges that require destroying Scorestreaks even if they do not deal the destroying final blow. This impacts the following content:
  • Camo Challenges for the CIGMA 2B and HE-1
  • Mastery Badges for the CIGMA 2B and HE-1
  • “Hot Lead”, “Air Control,” and “Field Work” Calling Card Challenges

We made this adjustment to ensure that Challenge progress for destroying Scorestreaks is made whenever you earn Scorestreak Destruction Medals like "Flyswatter" and "Downed," and to make challenges that involve destroying Scorestreaks much more consistent. This should make the grind for Diamond Launchers smoother and less random or frustrating for players.

Calling Card Challenges

• “Redemption Arc” Going Ham Challenge: Removed the time requirement of needing to get a kill shortly after being revived. Players can now make progress by earning a Kill anytime after they revive themselves with the Morphine Injector.
• “Tick Tock Boom” Humiliation Challenge: Semtex sticks that do not result in a kill for the sticking player will now also progress the Challenge.
• “On Point” Prestige 1 Challenge: The Challenge now uses the same Dive detection as the “Dive Shot” Medal, allowing for a grace period shortly after landing from a Dive where the Challenge can still be progressed.
• “Squint Test” Prestige 1 Challenge: Moonshot requirement reduced from 100m to 75m to make completing this Challenge possible on more maps.
• “Explosive Plays” Prestige 4 Challenge: Addressed a bug that was displaying the wrong Calling Card name.
• “Hot Dawg” Prestige 4 Challenge: Reduced the Molotov or Thermo Grenade Kills without dying requirement from 4 to 3.
• “Headhunter” Prestige 5 Challenge: Addressed a typo in the Challenge description that specified the incorrect Barrel needed to progress the Challenge. The CHF Barrel and Muzzle Brake Attachments are what need to be equipped to progress the Challenge.
• “Speed Demon” Prestige 6 Challenge: Reduced the Kills-while-activated requirement from 3 to 2.
• “Score Collector” Prestige 6 Challenge: Now only requires 5 Scorestreak Kills in a single game to progress, instead of 10.
• “Deep Cover” Prestige 7 Challenge: Added the ability to earn progress with Kills while disguised by the Sleeper Agent Field Upgrade, in addition to Bomb plants and defuses.
• “Switchblade” Prestige 7 Challenge: Players can now make progress when Melee killing an enemy affected by their Tactical Equipment, in addition to the existing gunfire requirement.
• “Ripped Up” Prestige 8 Challenge: Converted challenge from Guns Blazing Medals (3 rapid Kills with the Chopper Gunner) to tracking individual Kills with the Chopper Gunner Scorestreak.
• “Devastating Force” Prestige 8 Challenge: Converted challenge from Death From Above Medals (3 rapid Kills with the Dreadnought) to tracking individual Kills with the Dreadnought Scorestreak.
• “Hunt Them Down” Prestige Master Challenge: Removed the Acoustic Amp requirement, the Challenge now only requires Point Blank Kills with the specified Perks equipped.
• “Hard and Fast” Prestige Master Challenge: Addressed a typo in the Challenge description that incorrectly referenced the Ghost Perk instead of the Double Time Perk.
• Global Camo Mastery: Calling Card is now correctly granted when completing the final Camo in all 3 modes. Any players who completed this Challenge prior to this update should now see the Calling Card in their inventory (Added on Jan. 24).

Calling Card Challenges

“Redemption Arc” Going Ham Challenge: Removed the time requirement of needing to get a kill shortly after being revived. Players can now make progress by earning a Kill anytime after they revive themselves with the Morphine Injector.

“Tick Tock Boom” Humiliation Challenge: Semtex sticks that do not result in a kill for the sticking player will now also progress the Challenge.

“On Point” Prestige 1 Challenge: The Challenge now uses the same Dive detection as the “Dive Shot” Medal, allowing for a grace period shortly after landing from a Dive where the Challenge can still be progressed.

“Squint Test” Prestige 1 Challenge: Moonshot requirement reduced from 100m to 75m to make completing this Challenge possible on more maps.

“Explosive Plays” Prestige 4 Challenge: Addressed a bug that was displaying the wrong Calling Card name.

“Hot Dawg” Prestige 4 Challenge: Reduced the Molotov or Thermo Grenade Kills without dying requirement from 4 to 3.

“Headhunter” Prestige 5 Challenge: Addressed a typo in the Challenge description that specified the incorrect Barrel needed to progress the Challenge. The CHF Barrel and Muzzle Brake Attachments are what need to be equipped to progress the Challenge.

“Speed Demon” Prestige 6 Challenge: Reduced the Kills-while-activated requirement from 3 to 2.

“Score Collector” Prestige 6 Challenge: Now only requires 5 Scorestreak Kills in a single game to progress, instead of 10.

“Deep Cover” Prestige 7 Challenge: Added the ability to earn progress with Kills while disguised by the Sleeper Agent Field Upgrade, in addition to Bomb plants and defuses.

“Switchblade” Prestige 7 Challenge: Players can now make progress when Melee killing an enemy affected by their Tactical Equipment, in addition to the existing gunfire requirement.

“Ripped Up” Prestige 8 Challenge: Converted challenge from Guns Blazing Medals (3 rapid Kills with the Chopper Gunner) to tracking individual Kills with the Chopper Gunner Scorestreak.

“Devastating Force” Prestige 8 Challenge: Converted challenge from Death From Above Medals (3 rapid Kills with the Dreadnought) to tracking individual Kills with the Dreadnought Scorestreak.

“Hunt Them Down” Prestige Master Challenge: Removed the Acoustic Amp requirement, the Challenge now only requires Point Blank Kills with the specified Perks equipped.

“Hard and Fast” Prestige Master Challenge: Addressed a typo in the Challenge description that incorrectly referenced the Ghost Perk instead of the Double Time Perk.

Global Camo Mastery: Calling Card is now correctly granted when completing the final Camo in all 3 modes. Any players who completed this Challenge prior to this update should now see the Calling Card in their inventory (Added on Jan. 24).

Camo Challenges

• AK-74 “Vengeance” Special Camo: Addressed an issue where the AK-74 Drill Charge Underbarrel Launcher would not count toward the unlock requirement.

Daily Challenges

• Reduced the requirements for the following Daily Challenges:
  • Get 3 Headshots with Pistols (was 5).
  • Get 5 Kills with Melee Weapons (was 10).
  • Get 3 Kingslayer Medals (was 10).
  • Get 5 Kills while diving or sliding (was 10).
  • With the Danger Close Wildcard equipped: get 5 Kills with Lethal Equipment (was 10).
  • Intercept 5 enemy projectiles with the Trophy System Field Upgrade (was 10).
• Removed the following Daily Challenges from the game:
  • Eliminations with Full-Auto Weapons.
  • Eliminations with Semi-Auto Weapons.
  • Eliminations with Burst-Fire Weapons.
  • Destroy Enemy Scorestreaks.
  • Get Kills with the Combat Axe Lethal Equipment.
  • Get Kills with the Drill Charge Lethal EquipmentKill enemies that are disoriented by your Neurogas Field Upgrade.

We're always actively monitoring Daily Challenge completion rates, as well as the feedback we see from players. With Season 02, we wanted to remove or update some of the more frustrating Dailies to ensure that players are always receiving Challenges that are approachable and straightforward. Our goal with Daily Challenges is to encourage players to try out various items and strategies, without making them too restrictive or frustrating for players to complete in a single session.

• Addressed an issue that was preventing the following Daily Challenges from tracking properly:
  • Get 50 Eliminations with a Suppressed Weapon.
  • Get 50 Eliminations using a Weapon with 5 or more Attachments.
• The “Get Eliminations with Secondary Weapons” Daily Challenge will now track Eliminations earned with the Sirin 9mm Special Weapon.

Mastery Badges

• Tactical Insertion: Addressed an issue that was causing the Tactical Insertion Mastery Badge from only progressing via Revenge Kills. It will now progress when any enemy is Killed by the player shortly after they’ve respawned via a Tactical Insertion.
• The Mastery Badge for the used Weapon, Scorestreak, Field Upgrade, or Equipment will now appear correctly in Killcam and Best Plays.

Spawns

• Spawn logic has been adjusted to continue our efforts to reduce proximity to enemies when respawning.
• We have also added the ability to conduct live A/B testing with spawn changes to evaluate on a smaller scale, and if results are positive, we will roll those changes out globally. This will allow us to be more agile with spawn changes.

Modes

• Overdrive (LTM)
  • Rack up stars to unlock special Operator abilities that will greatly aid you in battle and keep that streak going to reach Overdrive! If you get eliminated, or the elimination timer runs out before you take out another target, you’ll start the process over again. Operators “attempting Overdrive” can expect the following improved capabilities:
    • 1 Star: Awakened Senses: See enemies through walls and replenish your health after eliminating a target.
    • 3 Stars: Physical Enhancements: Increased movement and reloading speed.
    • 6 Stars: Augmented Handling: Improved hip-fire accuracy and improved sprint-to-fire and ADS speeds.
  • Earn all three buffs to activate Overdrive! This allows you to earn double the stars when eliminating enemies.
• Search and Destroy
  • Addressed an issue where XP could not be rewarded if no damage was dealt in the final round.
• Kill Order
  • Addressed an issue where the HVT icon would follow a Dreadnought called in by an active HVT.
• Free For All
  • Addressed an issue where final placements were being incorrectly calculated.
  • Addressed an issue where the Winner’s Circle would not consistently display the Top 3 players.
• Kill Confirmed
  • Reduced the height of dog tags that are dropped in Kill Confirmed to improve player visibility.
• Control
  • B zone has been moved to where Hardpoint P2 is located. After consideration, we have found this to be a more competitive location for engagements with both Attackers and Defenders.

Equipment, Perks, Field Upgrades, and Wildcards

• Addressed an issue where Lethal and Tactical Equipment inventory was reduced when using Danger Close or Tactical Expert Wildcards and resupplying with the Scavenger Perk.
• Reduced additional Smoke Grenade given to +1 from +2 with the Tactical Expert Wildcard. (Yes, we’re annoyed by the smoke too, and will continue to evaluate.)
• Addressed an issue where Field Upgrades could not be deployed in certain scenarios while using the Prepper Wildcard.
• Addressed an issue where Gearhead Perk would not decrease the time to earn Field Upgrades.
• Decreased the amount of weapon motion when jumping, sliding, and diving with the Dexterity Perk.
• Addressed an issue where the Ninja Perk could lose functionality between respawns and round transitions, resulting in footsteps not being quieter.
• Addressed an issue where the Ninja Perk was not being applied to enemy players when spectating a teammate.
• Headshots will no longer skip Last Stand when using the Morphine Injector Field Upgrade.

Scorestreaks

• Addressed an issue where Care Packages could be captured by teammates at the same capture rate as the owner.
• Addressed an issue where the SAM Turret could target enemy Scorestreaks that were leaving the airspace.
• Addressed an issue where the SAM Turret’s targeting laser would not be visible when tracking a target.

Medals

• Adjusted the “Dive Shot” Medal (Kill an enemy while or shortly after diving in any direction) to be more forgiving so that Kills earned just after diving will award the Medal more consistently.
• Tuned the “Snaked” Medal (2 rapid weapon kills against enemies in different directions while on your stomach, back or side) to be more forgiving and be awarded in more situations that match the intent of the Medal.

General

• Detailed Weapon Stats Improvements: Added new stats & refactored the layout to be data-driven.
• Addressed an issue in Theater where thrown projectiles could not be seen.
• Addressed an issue where vehicles could visually disappear for some players during gameplay.
• Training Course entry point has been moved from the playlist selection to the top right navigation panel.

Movement

We are continuing to monitor Omnimovement feedback, and of course playing the game ourselves. We are currently testing slight reductions to initial slide speed and duration to improve predictability of engagements when opponents enter with a slide.

Additionally, we are always evaluating areas for improved fluidity, whether those are specific to movement mechanics or other mechanics like the ability to interrupt weapon raises during respawns that we highlighted above.

• Reduced collision with teammates. This should improve the ability to maneuver around tight spaces like doorways with nearby teammates.

RANKED PLAY

Cross-Play

The following changes are being implemented at the launch of Season 02 to provide players on console with the option to select the platform pool(s) they wish to matchmake with:

PlayStation – In-Game Options

• Ranked:
  • On: Enables matchmaking with all gaming platforms when playing in Ranked playlists.
  • On (Consoles Only): Enables matchmaking only with other consoles when playing in Ranked playlists.
    • May negatively impact matchmaking queue times.
  • Off: Restricts Ranked matchmaking to your current gaming platform only.
    • Will negatively impact matchmaking queue times.

Xbox – In-Game Options

• Ranked:
  • On: Enables matchmaking with all gaming platforms when playing in Ranked playlists.
  • On (Consoles Only): Enables matchmaking only with other consoles when playing in Ranked playlists.
    • May negatively impact matchmaking queue times.
  • Off: Restricts Ranked matchmaking to your current gaming platform only.
    • Will negatively impact matchmaking queue times.

Season 02 Weapon Evaluation

At the start of Ranked Play Season 02, the new PPSh-41 SMG and Cypher 091 Assault Rifle will both be unrestricted in Ranked Play for a minimum of one week. This one week evaluation period will give players a chance to experiment with the weapons in a competitive environment, provide feedback, and help Treyarch and the CDL determine whether they should remain unrestricted in CDL and Ranked Play.

To stay up to date on the latest Ranked Play restrictions and settings, stay tuned to @Treyarch and @CODUpdates for the latest details, and bookmark our Patch Notes pages.

Season 02 Rank Setback

• Competitors who are continuing their conquest in Ranked Play from Season 01 will notice that their accounts may have been set back as outlined in previous notes.
  • Every new Season, your Rank may be rolled back based on where you ended the previous season, as follows:
    • Bronze or Silver Rank players are not impacted by the Seasonal setback and will be able to pick up where they ended Season 01 with no SR deduction.
    • Gold or Platinum Rank players will start Season 02in Tier I of Gold or Platinum respectively.
    • Diamond Rank and above players will start the Season 02 at Diamond I.

Demotion Protection

• Demotion Protection will be active for everyone’s first 3 Ranked Play losses in Season 02, and players can expect 1 free loss per day via Daily Loss Forgiveness like in Season 01.

Ranked Play Season 02 Rewards

• Rank Camos: Each Rank Gold and above has a unique animated Camo you can earn to show off your rank:
  • Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Crimson & Iridescent: Start in (or above) or reach the applicable Rank anytime in Season 02 to earn.
  • Top 250: Finish Season 02 in the Top 250.
• Rank Calling Cards: Each Rank Silver and above has a unique Calling Card reward:
  • Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Crimson, Iridescent (Animated): Start in (or above) or reach the applicable Rank anytime in Season 02 to earn.
  • Top 250 (Animated): Finish Season 02 in the Top 250.
  • Top 250 Champion (Animated): One-of-a-kind Calling Card awarded to the single player who finishes Season 02 in the #1 position on the Top 250.
• Pro Issue Jackal PDW Blueprint: Unlocked by winning 10 Ranked Play matches in Season 02
  • Muzzle: Compensator
  • Barrel: Long Barrel
  • Underbarrel: Ranger Foregrip
  • Rear Grip: Ergonomic Grip
  • Stock: Balanced Stock
• 100 Season 02 Wins Decal: Unlocked by winning 100 Ranked Play matches in Season 02.

Veto Vote

• The Veto Vote before Ranked Play matches will now occasionally present a choice between the 3 Ranked Play modes (Hardpoint, Control & Search and Destroy) on the same map.

This new addition to the Ranked Play Veto Vote gives players the occasional choice over which Ranked Play mode they want to avoid in their next match, while ensuring that all the maps in the CDL map rotation get playtime in Ranked. We look forward to seeing how players react and vote when this Veto type occasionally appears before Ranked matches. Please let us know what you think.

SR Gain & Loss Adjustments

• Players will notice that their personal match performance has a bigger impact on their SR gained or lost after Ranked Play matches in Season 02, especially for the lower Ranks. This should help players early in their Ranked Play Rank journey more consistently earn bigger SR payouts when they perform well, and reduce SR losses incurred after a strong personal performance in a losing effort. While this tuning will impact all Ranks, team performance and the margin of victory are still the primary consideration for SR gains and losses in Ranks Crimson and above.

General

• Addressed an issue that was causing all Reticles to appear unlocked in Ranked Play.

ZOMBIES

Maps

• Citadelle des Morts
  • Addressed a server stability issue that could occur when Zombies continue to spawn when no players were present during an active Incantation Ritual.
  • Addressed a rare issue where players could be downed during the Main Quest outro.
  • Addressed an issue where The Guardian could get stuck between phases longer than intended.
  • Addressed an invulnerability exploit when using "Nowhere But There."
  • Addressed an issue where the Mystic Orb could be placed again after opening the Secret Study.
  • Disabled the option to fast travel when voting to Final Encounter to prevent players from getting stuck.
  • Addressed an issue where loading a save after opening the castle doors would repair some environmental damage caused by the cannon.
  • Addressed some more locations in the Dungeon where the Lightning Rod dropped by the zombie carrying it could be unreachable.
  • Addressed an issue where the Welding Torch would clip into the nearby crate.
  • Addressed an issue where being hit by the Cannon could activate the Dying Wish Augment for Quick Revive.
  • Addressed an issue where Vermin would continue to spawn each round if the player had gone down during Maya’s Revenge Quest.
  • Addressed an issue that prevented Maya’s Revenge Quest from ending properly when a player uses the "Nowhere But There" GobbleGum to exit the event.
  • Addressed an issue where interacting with the Radio then dying would prevent entry into Maya’s Revenge Side Quest.
  • Krafft will no longer have a blood effect when being punched with Melee Macchiato.
  • Addressed an issue causing the Kompact 92 wall buy interact to be offset..
  • Addressed some visual issues when looking out the Tavern windows.
  • Addressed some visual issues when on the Ramparts.
  • Improved lighting near Jugger-Nog to avoid a tripping hazard.
  • Addressed an issue where players could get stuck getting through the East entrance to the Town Square.
  • Addressed an issue where Zombies could climb through the railings to get on the Tavern stairs.
  • Addressed an issue where joining in progress would not highlight the locks on the Pack-a-Punch crate.
  • Addressed an issue that caused Parasites to clip into the wall when exiting a spawn closet in the Hillside Ramparts.
• Training Course
  • Addressed an issue where players could not buy a weapon a second time at Station 5.
  • Armor will now be reset when starting Station 5 to prevent the player from being blocked from continuing if they had already purchased tier 2 Armor.
• Terminus
  • Addressed an issue where an Amalgam could get stuck in a spawn area during Exfil.
  • Addressed an issue where the Tactical Raft could become stuck on a pillar when piloting near the boss arena.
  • Addressed an issue that caused reticles on certain weapons to change position after using the Oscillation Calibrator.
  • Addressed an issue with a floating shovel on Castle Rock Island.
  • Addressed an issue that prevented the Node Connection repair interface from appearing during split-screen games.
  • Addressed an issue that caused missing geometry in the Sea Caves after loading a save file.
• Liberty Falls
  • Addressed an issue that caused a loss of functionality when a bowling event is started while holding a Sentry Turret.
  • Addressed an issue with the Aether Canister visual screen VFX while the player is on a ladder.

Modes

• Directed
  • Addressed an issue where the Crafting Table menu could remain open when dying at round cap.
  • Automatic Exfil will now begin after the current Round ends instead of immediately.
  • Automatic Exfil has been adjusted to trigger after six hours instead of five.

General Playlist Updates

• Closed an exploit where disconnecting right as the player died would keep their saved game.
• Addressed an issue where joining after being kicked for AFK could give the player two of the same GobbleGum.

Gameplay

• Players who are kicked for inactivity in co-op games will have their loadout, Essence, and Salvage restored upon rejoining the match.

Weapons

• Addressed an issue where Single Fire mode would not count toward Slaughter Medals.
• Added a warning for players when purchasing a Wall Buy if it will replace one of their current weapons.
• Addressed an issue where interacting with quest objects with long hold times would reload the held weapon when using a controller.

Perks

• Aether Shroud
  • Adjusted the Aether Dash Augment to prevent players from being stuck in unintended locations.
• PhD Flopper
  • Improved PhD Slider to work with Omni-directional slides.

Field Upgrades

• Tesla Storm
  • Static Discharge
    • Addressed an issue where kills from Static Discharge would not award Essence to the player.

Scorestreaks

• Chopper Gunner
  • Addressed an issue where the player could continue to shoot the Chopper Gunner weapon after the streak has ended.
• Hand Cannon
  • Addressed an issue where attempting to pick up an Aether Tool while wielding a Hand Cannon would consume the Aether Tool without applying it to a weapon.

Loot

• Addressed an issue where Intel for Obscurus Altilium was not unlocked after completing the Citadelle des Morts Main Quest.
• Added Season 01 Reloaded weapons to the Mystery Box.

Enemies

• Amalgam
  • Addressed an issue where rarely the player would be let go immediately after being grabbed.
• Vermin
  • Addressed an issue where Vermin could hit twice with one attack.
  • Vermin will now ragdoll properly in the air when killed mid-leap.

Activities

• S.A.M. Trials
  • Addressed an issue where crafted Scorestreaks would be removed at the end of a trial if they matched the one used for the trial.
  • Scaled the Hand Cannon Trial time based on the current Round up to 100 Seconds at Round 31+.
  • Addressed an issue preventing S.A.M. Trials from being completed in Splitscreen.

GobbleGums

• Dead Drop, Modified Chaos, and Quacknarok now available via in-game GobbleGum drops and the Season 02 Battle Pass.
• Addressed an issue where restocked GobbleGums would not be immediately available for use.
• Addressed an issue where the “Exit Strategy” GobbleGum would not be usable when the Exfil Radio was present.
• Addressed an exploit that allowed players to keep timer based GobbleGums after they have been consumed.

Challenges

• “Box Addict” Dark Ops Challenge
  • Added a hard cap of 37 different weapons required, which matches the amount at launch so that weapons added post-launch do not increase the difficulty of this challenge
• “Gladiator” Fresh Meat Challenge
  • Will now track for exfils at or above round 11.
• Daily Challenges
  • Addressed an issue where the “Get Zombie Eliminations with Pistols” challenge could be progressed with Brain Rot kills.
• Surveyor Challenge
  • Random Perk Power-up now applies progress to this challenge.

UI

• Players will now see an in-game notification whenever they complete an Augment Research step and unlock a new Augment.
• Addressed an issue where the Elemental Swords would be vertical in the Wonder Weapon preview.
• Aligned the GobbleGum prompt in-game.
• Updated the In-Game Pause Menu Augments research progress, along with other visual improvements.
• Added visual improvements to Boss HP bars.
• Addressed an issue where placeholders would appear momentarily when entering the Audio Logs in the Intel menu for the first time.
• Added a location to view Cinematics in the Intel menu.
• The GobbleGum HUD widget will now be hidden while spectating.
• Addressed an issue that allowed damage feedback to remain active during in-game cinematics.
• Improved visual information when editing GobbleGum Packs.
• Addressed incorrect navigation button text in the Intel Menu.
• HUD Presets can now be set separately for Zombies and Multiplayer.

Graphics

• Addressed an issue in 3rd Person where Elemental Sword effects would be misaligned when attacking.
• Addressed an issue with the Solais Elementa Sword where the visual effects of the charged ability would play longer than the actual effect.
• Addressed an issue where the glow effects from the Crown would persist after dying and respawning.
• Addressed a typo on the soda cans inside the Stamin-Up Machine.
• Removed fire effects from Vermin legs when Arachnaphobia mode is toggled.

S2 WARZONE

MAPS

Urzikstan

• Buy Stations
  • Buy station locations have been updated across Urzikstan.

• Gulag
  • Gulag loadouts have been refreshed with new weapons and equipment.

• Train
  • The automatic brake release timer has increased to 240 seconds, up from 60

The train was a bit too eager in getting back into motion, disallowing some interesting plays with both hijacking the train, or intentionally parking it in a power position.

Area 99

• Buy Stations
  • Two additional Buy Stations have been added to Area 99.

PLAYLIST

For information about upcoming Playlists, please check out the dedicated Warzone Trello Board.

RANKED PLAY

For the second season of Warzone Ranked Play, we’re deploying adjustments to restrictions, SR gains, and deployment fees. Notably, the Tracker perk, which now outlines enemies in line-of-sight without live pings, has been removed from the list of restrictions. New SR adjustments aim to streamline progression, helping players quickly align with skill-appropriate divisions while addressing barriers when bridging the gap between key ranks. Placement and elimination rewards have been fine-tuned to encourage competition and skill diversity in higher ranks, while also ensuring players in top tiers like Crimson and Iridescent face greater challenges to maintain their status. In addition, deployment fees have been rebalanced to ease progression in lower ranks and increase the prestige of reaching top tiers. See the full details below:

Cross-Play

The following changes are being implemented at the launch of Season 02 to provide players on console with the option to select the platform pool(s) they wish to matchmake with:

» PlayStation – In-Game Options «

• On: Enables matchmaking with all gaming platforms when playing in Ranked playlists.
• On (Consoles Only): Enables matchmaking only with other consoles when playing in Ranked playlists.
  • May negatively impact matchmaking queue times.
• Off: Restricts Ranked matchmaking to your current gaming platform only.
  • Will negatively impact matchmaking queue times.

» Xbox – In-Game Options «

• On: Enables matchmaking with all gaming platforms when playing in Ranked playlists.
• On (Consoles Only): Enables matchmaking only with other consoles when playing in Ranked playlists.
  • May negatively impact matchmaking queue times.
• Off: Restricts Ranked matchmaking to your current gaming platform only.
  • Will negatively impact matchmaking queue times.

Restrictions

• Tracker perk has been removed from the restricted items list in WZ Ranked Play.

The Tracker perk no longer live pings players and instead applies an outline to enemy players that is not visible through walls. In addition, fixes to Cold Blooded now allow the footsteps to be appropriately countered.

Skill Rating

Ranked SR adjustments are a challenging task. Everything has a cascading effect, especially when modeling consequences across different types of match outcomes. Our approach to these adjustments aims to achieve several key objectives:

One major objective is to onboard more players into the early ranks and help them progress toward divisions that better represent their skill sets more quickly. We aim to adjust the rewards for SR in a way that allows players performing above their skill division to accelerate into higher divisions and remain there, where their skill matches the other players. This should, ideally, lead to greater player and skill diversity in the mid and higher divisions.

There is also a very clear set of plateaus or walls that players encounter in the ranges of Silver III through Gold I and Platinum III through Diamond I. There are several reasons for this, but we aim to address these issues in a few critical ways. By adjusting the "team remaining" rewards to smooth out the curve, we hope players on the upper borders of these skill bands will be nudged more frequently into higher divisions. This will provide them with opportunities to play with and against stronger players, helping to improve their skills rather than leaving them in a division where they feel their abilities are underrepresented.

Additionally, these changes are designed to ensure that players without access to the upper bands of division delta bonuses for eliminations (e.g., players in Crimson and Iridescent) cannot easily maintain their positions just because the delta rewards for +1/+2/+3 have increased. These players will still need to work hard to remain in these divisions, and the influx of new players into higher divisions should foster more competition and diversity in gameplay.

Deployment Fees

The adjustments to deployment fees align with the overall goals of Ranked Play. We aim to make accessing certain divisions less frustrating by reducing barriers and smoothing out the progression experience. Reaching the Iridescent rank will become slightly more challenging (partially offset by the SR changes for the +0 delta and teams-remaining rewards) due to increased deployment fees, requiring more effort from players to maintain their position in this elite rank. For reference, less than 0.1% of players achieve Iridescent or Crimson status.
Fee reductions at lower division levels encourage players to re-enter and play more frequently, ensuring a smoother and more enjoyable progression experience. However, once players reach Iridescent—especially those competing for a spot in the top 250—we want to ensure that achieving and maintaining this level truly reflects exceptional skill and is something players can proudly showcase.

Rewards

Compete in a second season of Battle Royale Ranked Play, earning the following seasonal rewards as you progress:

• First Season Win: Elimination Charm
• Get 25 Eliminations: Elimination Sticker
• Get 100 Eliminations: Elimination Weapon Camo
• Get 250 Eliminations: Elimination Weapon Blueprint
• Silver: “Ranked Season 02 – “Silver” Emblem
• Gold: “Ranked Season 02 – “Gold” Calling Card, Emblem, and Weapon Camo
• Platinum: “Ranked Season 02 – Platinum” Calling Card Emblem, and Weapon Camo
• Diamond: “Ranked Season 02 – Diamond” Calling Card Emblem, and Weapon Camo
• Crimson: “Ranked Season 02 – Crimson” Calling Card Emblem, and Weapon Camo
• Iridescent: “Ranked Season 02 – Iridescent” Calling Card Emblem, and Weapon Camo

• Top 250: “Ranked Season 02 – Top 250” Calling Card Emblem, and Weapon Camo

GENERAL

• Buy Stations
  • All Buy Stations, including deployable and standard ones, now close at the beginning of the "Final Circle" announcement.

• Deployable Boxes

• Utility boxes, such as munition boxes, armor boxes, and others, can no longer be placed in the gas.

We’ve noticed an increase in buy backs during the final circle, sometimes even after the gas has completely consumed the map. While we appreciate resourceful plays, the tactic of a team camping a Buy Station to secure a win doesn’t align with our vision for “last team standing wins”. To address this, we’re making changes to encourage more meaningful and intense engagements in the final moments – the way we believe most matches are meant to end.

We remain committed to identifying and addressing other “cheese” strategies in the game. Regardless of how long a mechanic has been around, we’re dedicated to refining systems to enhance the game’s competitive integrity.

• Score Events
  • Added a new "Splat" score event in Battle Royale, which triggers when a player is eliminated while parachuting or skydiving.

• Experience Balance
  • Battle Royale
    • Player XP increased by +7%.
    • Weapon XP increased by +10%.
  • Resurgence
    • Player XP decreased by -8%.
    • Weapon XP increased by +10%.
  • Plunder
    • Player XP increased by +22%.
    • Weapon XP decreased by -13%.

Player and Weapon XP rates have been adjusted in Warzone to bring each mode closer in line with one another.

Quality of Life Highlights

• Advanced UAV
  • Advanced UAVs now display elevation arrows to indicate player altitude.

• Warzone Barracks
  • The button layout in the Warzone Barracks has been reorganized to match the structure used in Multiplayer and Zombies.

• Ammo Caches
  • Ammo Cache Depots now function like Munition Boxes, dropping additional ammo and equipment on the ground.

• Pinging Buyback Flares
  • Players can now ping the flares from buybacks to better alert their teammates.

• Match Stat Tracker
  • The font used in the match stat tracker has been adjusted for improved readability, especially at lower resolutions.

• Detailed Weapon Stats
  • New stats have been added, and the layout has been redesigned to prioritize data clarity and accessibility.

Some stats adjusted by the attachments were not represented. The new stats better reflect reality.

• Fade Distance
  • The fade distance for loadout and cash drop crates while parachuting has been reduced to 300 meters for improved visibility.

COMBAT

Body Shield

• Victims are no longer automatically released mid-air.
• The outline of the victim, previously visible through walls, has been disabled.
• Players can no longer release a victim without executing them first.

The body shield was incorrectly releasing your victim when attempting to take someone with you to a plummeting death, resulting in your own death but not your victim's.

Additionally, we are removing the griefing mechanic of repeatedly releasing, downing, and releasing the same target. Going forward, if you choose to body shield a player, it must now culminate in an execution.

MOVEMENT

Jumping

• Increased both jump speed and successive jump height with one unmodified successive jump.

We’re reverting some jump penalties to the values used last year. This marks the first step in our jump evaluation, and we’ll revisit this topic again in the future.

Parachute

• Increased the speed of the parachute cut animation, making cutting a parachute and readying your weapon significantly faster.
• Increased player velocity when landing from a cut parachute land, for smoother transition into full sprint.

The recovery time after landing from a parachute has often felt overly punishing, both for players trying to evade and those looking to engage. This adjustment aims to make the action more fluid and balanced, preventing it from feeling overly restrictive.

PERKS

New

Reactive Armor Perk Slot 2

• Your armor will regenerate up to 50% if you have not taken damage in the last 5 seconds.

• Available via Event Reward

Adjustments

• Tracker
  • Pings have been replaced with an outline that is not visible through walls but will still appear on targets through smoke.
  • Tracker can now mark up to five targets simultaneously. Engaging a sixth target will remove the outline from the first target.

Tracker, Spy Camera, and Proxy Alarm have been adjusted to balance their usage. These changes address the over-reliance on intel systems that provide vision through walls. By scaling this back, we aim to align these mechanics with systems like UAVs while offering additional visual feedback. Our goal is to make highlight interactions more consistent, grounded, and balanced across engagements.

• Dexterity
  • The weapon handling component of Dexterity has been enhanced and is now a default perk for all Warzone players.

This will result in smoother weapon handling for jumping, sliding and diving as a default change to all players.

• Mountaineer
  • This perk returns in Slot 1, replacing Dexterity. Fall damage reduction has been significantly improved compared to the current version with Dexterity, though it’s not as powerful as its iteration in Modern Warfare III.

• Veteran
  • Now provides significant damage reduction against the effects of Gas Grenades.

EQUIPMENT

• Munitions Satchel
  • Now only provides 1 additional item, down from 2, to address overstocking and spamming equipment.

• Tacticals & Lethals
  • Maximum deployed tacticals and lethals reduced to 2 each, down from 3, to make more purposeful trap plays.

• Impact Grenade
  • Default stack size increased from 2 to 3.
  • When equipped with a Munitions Satchel, the max stack size increases to 4.

Impact Grenades occupy a unique niche between Semtex and Frag grenades. A direct hit significantly boosts its damage while also bypassing some of the mitigation provided by Bomb Squad, making it a more skill-based option. We’ve made the choice to retain its max stack size at 4, due to it underperforming quite significantly in metrics previously. Perhaps this makes it more IMPACTFUL.

• Thermobaric
  • Inner radius increased from 25 to 50.
  • Inner damage increased from 190 to 220.
  • Outer damage increased from 48 to 55.

The Thermobaric grenade has been adjusted to improve its usability by increasing the inner radius, making it easier to deal higher damage. The slight damage boost complements this change.

• Frag Grenade
  • Inner damage decreased from 250 to 240.
  • Middle damage decreased from 170 to 120.
  • Outer damage increased from 48 to 55.

Frag grenades are a staple in combat, known for their reliability. Following adjustments in Black Ops 6, they’ve become easier to use. These changes aim to align their damage output with their ease of use, and we will continue to monitor their effectiveness.

• Experimental Gas Grenade
  • Slightly increased the trigger height of the gas effects to better match visuals.
  • Movement reduction from gas decreased:
  • Without resistance: from 60% to 50%.
  • With resistance: from 60% to 25%.
  • Gas damage against resistant targets reduced from 8 to 5.

Gas grenade usage has increased, and these changes ensure proper counters are in place. The Veteran perk remains the best option to counter negative equipment effects. These adjustments aim to balance the grenade’s effectiveness while keeping counters viable.

• Stim Shot
  • Strafe slide velocity with stim slightly reduced.

The combination of stim and omni-directional slides exceeded normal velocity thresholds. This adjustment brings it back in line with regular gameplay metrics.

• Spy Camera
  • Updated the outline visual to no longer display through walls.
  • Effect duration increased from 7 seconds to 10 seconds.

• Proxy Alarm
  • Updated the outline visual for better clarity.

KILLSTREAKS

• Advanced UAV
  • Advanced UAVs now display elevation arrows to indicate player altitude.

• Bunker Buster
  • Gas damage against targets with gas resistance has been reduced from 8 to 5.

FIELD UPGRADES

• Loadout Drop Marker
  • The bounce factor for Loadout Drop Markers has been reduced by 50%.

It’s not uncommon to see Loadout Markers bouncing far from their intended drop location. By halving the bounce factor - which was previously comparable to that of a smoke grenade - we aim to maintain the grenade-like behavior while minimizing the frustrating, unintended movement. We’ll continue to monitor player feedback on this adjustment.

• Decontamination Station
  • The ability to re-enable closed Buy Stations by placing a Decontamination Station nearby has been removed.

WEAPONS

General

• Reload Speeds
  • Reload speeds have been improved across all weapons, with increases ranging from 5% to 20%, depending on the weapon class.
    • Modern Warfare 3
      • Assault Rifles (ARs): 15% faster
      • Marksman Rifles (MRs): 5% faster
      • Submachine Guns (SMGs): 10% faster
      • Sniper Rifles: 12% faster
      • Handguns: 5% faster
      • Battle Rifles: 10% faster
    • Modern Warfare 2
      • Assault Rifles (ARs): 12% faster
      • Marksman Rifles (MRs): 10% faster
      • Light Machine Guns (LMGs): 15% faster
      • Submachine Guns (SMGs): 22% faster
      • Sniper Rifles: 15% faster
      • Handguns: 5% faster
      • Battle Rifles: 10% faster
    • Black Ops 6
      • Assault Rifles (ARs): 5% faster
      • Marksman Rifles (MRs): 5% faster
      • Light Machine Guns (LMGs): 10% faster
      • Submachine Guns (SMGs): 10% faster
      • Sniper Rifles: 10% faster
      • Handguns: 5% faster
      • Reload speeds for Flip and Fast Mag attachments have been increased by an additional 5%.

We have increased reload speeds to help make combat feel more fluid and decrease overall downtime. This should get it closer to previous iterations when using sleight of hand.

• Bullet Penetration
  • Adjusted bullet penetration across most materials resulting in a more consistent experience for thicker walls in particular.

• Weapon Swap
  • Increased swap speed by 10%, effectively replicating the effect of the Quick Grip Gloves Perk from Modern Warfare.

• Sprint-to-Fire
  • Reduced sprint-to-fire penalty when jumping from 35% to 10%.

• Aim-Down-Sight
  • Reduced the aim-down-sight (ADS) jump speed penalty by 25%.

We want to allow different play styles and movement mechanics to feel viable and smooth to perform. We will continue to monitor how these are playing out and adjust accordingly.

New Weapons

• PPSh-41 Submachine Gun
  • Full-auto submachine gun. Fast fire rate with impressive damage and high recoil. Moderate handling.
  • Available via Battle Pass Page 6 HVT Tier Reward, Page 14 Battle Pass Blueprint

• Cypher 091 Assault Rifle
  • Full-auto assault rifle. Slower rate of fire balanced by great handling and excellent mobility.
  • Available via Battle Pass Page 8 HVT Tier Reward, Page 11 Battle Pass Blueprint

• Feng 82 Light Machine Gun
  • Full-auto light machine gun. Very slow rate of fire with great damage and handling.
  • Available via Battle Pass Page 3 HVT Tier Reward, Page 10 Battle Pass Blueprint

• TR2 Marksman Rifle
  • Semi-auto marksman rifle. Great rate of fire and respectable handling.
  • Available via Event Reward

LOOT

• Lootable Perks
  • The available perks from ground loot have been updated to include:
    • Shrouded, Irradiated, Veteran, Reflexes, Sprinter, and Tempered.

• Lootable Weapons
  • All ground loot weapon builds have been refreshed for the new season.
  • Semi-auto rifles, burst rifles, and common through epic handguns have been removed.
  • New Season 2 weapons have been added to the ground loot pool.

We've all been there - you pick up a rifle expecting it to be automatic, only to discover it’s semi-auto or burst when you fire. While we work on improving fire mode visibility, we’ve simplified the ground loot weapon pool to create a more predictable and consistent experience for all players.

CONTRACTS

• Intel
  • Completing Intel contracts now has a very low chance to reward a Durable Gas Mask.

• Signal Intelligence
  • Cash rewards for Signal Intelligence contracts, which were previously $7,500 per player, have been reduced based on squad size as follows:
    • Solos: $7,500 per player ($7,500 total).
    • Duos: $4,500 per player ($9,000 total).
    • Trios: $3,500 per player ($10,500 total).
    • Quads: $3,000 per player ($12,000 total).

Signal Intelligence contracts were providing an excessive cash payout, especially for larger squad sizes. These adjustments, while significant, still offer high rewards compared to other contracts.

• Scavenger
  • Distance between scavenger crates has been reduced, requiring less of a marathon between objectives.
  • The majority of the time, objectives will prioritize remaining within the same point of interest.

PUBLIC EVENTS

• Runaway Train
  • This event now has a 10% chance to occur in the 5th circle of Battle Royale.

CHALLENGES

• Warzone Tactician
  • Bunker Busters and Cluster Strikes no longer count toward progress for this challenge.

• Deadeye
  • The requirement to ping an enemy before eliminating them has been removed for challenge progression.

VEHICLES

• Damage Adjustments
  • C4 and IED damage have been slightly adjusted to ensure greater consistency when destroying vehicles.

UI/UX

• Post-Match XP Widget
  • Updated XP widget to provide more information after a match.

AUDIO

• Third Party Reverb
  • Reducing reverb effects to improve directionality of movement audio produced by other players (footstep, ascenders, parachutes).

• Parachute
  • Adjusted parachute audio being louder than intended at farther distances.

• Self-Revive
  • Players will now hear the enemy self-revive sound.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue where the Ghost perk would persist from the pre-match lobby into the match.

• Fixed an issue where Cold Blooded did not properly counter Tracker.

• Fixed an issue where Quick Fix health regeneration did not activate correctly while plating.

• Fixed an issue preventing Quick Fix health regeneration from functioning when eliminating an enemy with the Combat Axe or Throwing Knife.

• Fixed an issue where the Survivor perk prevented players from reviving downed squad members.

• Fixed an issue where weapons became inaccessible near interactable areas.

• Fixed an issue causing weapons to fall through Buy Station models.

• Fixed an issue where the Experimental Gas Grenade gameplay effects lingered longer than the visual effects.

• Fixed an issue causing weapon tooltips to incorrectly display as "common" when dropped.

• Fixed an issue where MWII and MWIII weapons were missing Black Ops 6 weapon stats, including slide-to-fire time.

• Fixed visibility issues on Rebirth Island.

• Fixed an issue causing parachutes to deploy when jumping off ladders.

• Fixed an issue where players were not always able to go prone while reviving a teammate.

• Fixed an issue where bounty contracts displayed a delay in showing completion in the UI.

• Fixed an issue causing players to spectate an enemy who did not eliminate them.

• Fixed an issue where Most Wanted contracts did not override respawn timers as intended.

• Fixed issues preventing selected operators from properly applying in the front-end menu.

• Fixed an issue where the PRD audio sounded similar to zipline audio.

• Fixed an issue causing players to redeploy without weapons and preventing loot interactions.

• Fixed an issue preventing auto-pickup functionality when items were on lower shelves.

• Fixed an issue where the Scrambler effect persisted on the map throughout the match.

• Fixed an issue allowing players to launch themselves off a ladder using a Stim Shot.

• Fixed an issue where attempting to pick up one of multiple guns on the ground caused players to juggle them.

• Fixed additional cases where UAVs and Advanced UAVs did not trigger as expected.

• Fixed an issue where the Precision Airstrike notification failed to appear on the player’s location.

• Fixed an issue where icons for off-screen enemies were not displaying properly on the mini-map.

• Fixed an issue preventing the self-ping icon from appearing.

• Fixed an issue where the loadout selection UI displayed placeholder icons and white boxes in the live lobby.

• Fixed an issue where the obituary feed overlapped with the active contract widget.

• Fixed an issue where users were kicked from the menu when trying to prestige.

• Fixed an issue where the Armory FTUE replayed when returning from CoD HQ.

• Fixed an issue where the enemy voice chat icon displayed as friendly instead of red.

• Fixed an issue where KBM (keyboard and mouse) buttons for emotes in the Winner’s Circle did not function.

• Fixed an issue where duplicate armor satchels did not trigger the "inventory full" notification.

• Fixed overlap issues with the Prestige Master screen.

• Fixed an issue where private lobby codes did not always display properly.

• Fixed issues with parachutes during the Jailbreak public event.

• Fixed an issue where players only had one Gulag Rock instead of five in the Gulag.

• Fixed an issue causing players to spawn in the Gulag with Gulag Rocks in Warzone Ranked.

• Fixed an issue causing players to lose Tac Sprint functionality after using a zipline.

• Fixed a camera issue during infil sequences on Rebirth Island.

• Fixed an issue where crates could spawn out of bounds during the High Stakes public event.

• Fixed an issue causing MWII and MWIII loadout weapons to disappear when dropped.

• Fixed an issue where grabbing a loadout with a Baseball Bat caused it to appear as a Throwing Knife when equipped.

• Fixed an issue causing the Spy Camera to consume multiple charges when activated once.

• Fixed an issue allowing players to call in more Care Packages than intended during a match.

• Fixed an issue where Squid Games finishing moves did not consistently execute the enemy.

• Fixed an issue where the "Zipped Up" score event medal did not trigger in BR when a player killed someone while on a zipline or ascender.

• Fixed an issue where the "Hot Potato" grenade throwback medal did not trigger if the grenade downed the enemy instead of fully eliminating them.

• Fixed an issue preventing the elimination card from appearing when eliminating an enemy in the Gulag.

• Fixed an issue causing the primary weapon in a loadout to reset after a match.

• Fixed an issue where the player’s HUD disappeared when redeploying.

• Fixed an issue where the Recents tab in the Add Friends menu did not function properly.

• Fixed an issue causing the Recon Drone to appear invisible while in use.

• Fixed an issue where eliminations did not track properly for the player who downed an enemy taken hostage by a teammate.

• Fixed an issue where team colors in the killfeed were inconsistent with the actual player colors.

• Fixed an issue where contact icons occasionally disappeared from the map.

• Fixed an issue causing the typing sound to persist after using a UAV Tower.

• Fixed an issue with the "Bombshell" challenge where kills were not tracked correctly.

• Fixed an issue where some Dark Ops challenges did not grant XP properly.

• Fixed an issue where wins were calculated incorrectly in the "In Resurgence or BR, finish Top 10" challenge.

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