MWII/WZ2: It’s Anyone’s Game in Season 03 – Launching April 12

The world of Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II is in chaos with a global power struggle playing out in plain sight.

Task Force 141 is deep into the deadly border region between Urzikstan and Al Mazrah, uncovering an intercontinental ballistic missile primed for launch. South of the border in Al Mazrah, the group responsible for downing a plane over the DZ is still at large, as intel reports there is a new Blacksite and a mysterious facility within the region. Meanwhile, the dangerous conflict in DMZ is about to reach a new level, as Legion, White Lotus, Black Mous, Crown, and a mysterious newcomer called REDACTED are in a deadlock for control over important strategic areas within Al Mazrah and Ashika Island — and over the secrets within Building 21.

And with Alejandro and Valeria now back in play, only one thing is for certain:

It’s Anyone’s Game.

This is Season 03 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty®: Warzone™ 2.0, launching on April 12. During this season, you can expect the return of Gunfight and Plunder, additional features such as the Barter System in DMZ, a legendary Sniper Rifle now under a new manufacturer, the launch of Warzone Ranked Play, and a new way to dominate the Battle Pass AO by joining the ranks of the exclusive BlackCell.

Season 03 of Modern Warfare® II and Warzone™ 2.0 will launch on April 12 at 10 AM PT. This seasonal update will be available to download on April 10 at 10 AM PT, with Patch Notes to come between the update download and the season’s launch.

• Get Your Duo. Gunfight is back with four maps, including the new Warzone 2.0 Gulag Blacksite and fan favorite Shipment. Prepare to prove you are a part of a dominant Duo.

• Three 6v6 Maps, Two Battle Map Locales. Ship out to Spain for the new map Pelayo’s Lighthouse, go dark with the nighttime map Black Gold, and stay tuned for another Core Map to round out a trio of new Multiplayer locales later this season. Also: two new Battle Maps for Ground War and Invasion.

• New Special Ops. Later this season, outlast waves of enemy reinforcements in the Defender: Hafid Port Special Ops mission; then prepare for a new Raid Episode.

Small team, multi-round cage matches. First duo to reach the round win limit is victorious.

A contemporary classic from Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® (2019) and the precursor to Call of Duty®: Warzone™ Gulag confrontations, Gunfight is the four-player, duo-against-duo game mode where random Loadouts and small cage-match-style maps dictate tactical and fast-paced combat.

For those unfamiliar with this mode: Each round, two duos spawn on either side of a map with the same random Loadout. A duo wins a round when they reduce the opposing duo’s health to zero or, if this is not done before the round timer expires, the first duo who captures an Overtime flag at the center of the map wins. Ties can occur if duos have the same health and the Overtime flag is not captured at the end of a round’s overtime period, at which point both duos will be awarded a “round win” for scoring purposes. The first duo to win six rounds wins the match.

Here’s where you’ll find a squadmate and drop in to face off against a rival duo:

Alley: Somewhere in the Al Mazrah region, a small marketplace is cleared out as strike teams prepare to go in, weapons hot.

Blacksite: A training ground for Operators wanting to return to the warzone. Its location is classified. Learn more about this new map, which also serves as the new Warzone 2.0 Gulag for Al Mazrah, elsewhere in this announcement blog.

Shipment: The OG since 2007; get your sea legs as soon as the timer hits zero, lest you get thrown overboard.

Exhibit: Another Gunfight locale among the core four locations at launch.

In addition to the standard Gunfight mode, the Gunfight OSP mode variant (coming in-season) will be made available during the season as part of regular Playlist updates.

OSP stands for On-Site Procurement, which defines this variant of the traditional mode. Players will have to grab weapons and equipment spread out across the map instead of receiving a random Loadout every round. This makes quick movement and coordination even more crucial to success when playing this mode variant.

New locales, familiar Battle Maps, and the first nighttime infiltration in Modern Warfare II lead a strong mix of additions to the game’s Multiplayer map pool:

As rain pounds the cliffs of this small, craggy island, a lighthouse offers guidance to passing ships in the night. Even so, nearby shipwrecks tell of the immense danger that comes with navigating the rocky seas.

Based on the Rohan Oil section of Al Mazrah, this Core Map will be the first iteration of night operations in Modern Warfare II. Operators will have to use their night vision goggles, equip thermal optics, or use the available light sources to their advantage to secure victory in this critical strategic location.

An expansion of the Core Map, Rohan Oil widens the combat arena across this Warzone 2.0 point of interest and shifts into daytime, allowing for plenty of air and land vehicles to barrel past refinery silos toward objectives.

South of Rohan Oil, the Sattiq Cave Complex provides an interesting mix of verticality, small building skirmishes, and interior combat via its intricate cave network. Note the downed plane and the area surrounding it; this may be familiar to veterans of the franchise. . . .

Also, stay tuned for information on another brand-new Core Map, to be released at midseason.

Along with fan-favorite Playlists and rotations that feature Season 03’s new maps, you can expect some returning modes to be in the weekly Playlist rotation updates:

First seen in Call of Duty®: Ghosts and most recently as part of Modern Warfare® (2019) and Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War, Cranked takes Team Deathmatch and amps up the intensity by putting a countdown on any Operator who earns an elimination. If they cannot earn another elimination before the timer hits zero, they meet an untimely explosive death.

Because you will feel the pressure of going on elimination streaks, your Operator is likely to gain the effects of the Fast Hands and the Double Time Perks while Cranked. Furthermore, Cranked eliminations count for more — in a standard game to 150 points, the first elimination in each life will award 1 point, and eliminations earned while Cranked will award 2 points each.

There will also be the return of Face Off, a classic small team mode originally from Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 and more recently brought back in Modern Warfare® (2019) as a 3v3 mode, which will arrive sometime during the mid-season update.

Everything you loved about Infected, now on a larger Battle Map.

Fight with your fellow survivors — if you are not chosen as the initial Infected — to last as long as possible in what should be all-out chaos. It may be easier in this mode to earn a fabled Killstreak, although survivors may need plenty of skill and potentially a bit of luck to unleash the ultimate explosive ending. . . .

Ranked Play grinders and Call of Duty League™ hopefuls will have all-new rewards to earn at the start of Season 03. Here is a breakdown of the new Season 03 Ranked Play match win rewards:

• Win 5 Ranked Matches: Season 03 Competitor Sticker
• Win 10 Ranked Matches: Pro Issue TAQ-56 Weapon Blueprint
• Win 25 Ranked Matches: “Top Dog” Weapon Charm
• Win 50 Ranked Matches: “Tippable” Weapon Vinyl
• Win 75 Ranked Matches: Ranked Play Season 03 Loading Screen
• Win 100 Ranked Matches: Season 03 Ranked Play Veteran Camo

Players also have the chance to earn higher Skill Division Operator Skins and cosmetics for having a season-high placement within the Gold Division or above, with special rewards for the Top 250 and No. 1 player in the world at the end of the season. That means if you did not get a chance to earn the Crimson Ranked Play Operator Skin set, now is your chance to get those hoodies!

And remember: Ranked Play rewards are earned based on whatever your best rank was, so don’t worry if you got hard carried to Crimson only to fall back to your rightful place in Gold. . . .

Also, expect all Season 02 Ranked Play rewards to be available at the start of Season 03.

For more information on Ranked Play, check out our extensive guide on it here.

As previously mentioned, a new Core Map will be available as part of Season 03’s mid-season update, but that is not the only offering this update will bring.

Special Ops will see a major content update at mid-season in the form of a new mission and a new Raid episode. This new mission will see Operators take on the Las Almas Cartel somewhere in Al Mazrah in an all-out fight for survival and is sure to help you boost that Special Ops Stars count.

Along with that new mission, the mid-season update will include the next exciting episode of Raid, where Operators continue Task Force 141’s story after the events of the Modern Warfare II Campaign, and will be released with the Season 03 mid-season update.

Play the first two Raid episodes now to get caught up with the story so far before the mid-season update!

• Massive Resurgence Eminent. At launch, up to 150 players can drop in for Resurgence across Al Mazrah. Expect chaos (and plenty of XP)!

• Prepare to Plunder Once More. The team-based, respawn-enabled mad dash for cash is back during Season 03. Time to level up those Loadouts and get rich — or die trying.

• A Host of Additional New Features In-Season. Redeploy Drones reach Al Mazrah; protect yourself with Tempered Plate Carriers; get Perk Packages (in-season); UAV Towers appear in Battle Royale; and more.

• DMZ Reaches a New Level. Bring and buy items with the new Barter System; take on a new contract and additional missions from the new REDACTED faction; and tinker on your Contraband workbench before facing off against two new bosses and dropping into a [[REDACTED]].

• Ranked Play Arrives at Mid-Season. The much-anticipated experience will be the proving ground for all Warzone competitors. Still itching for some competition? Try out for the World Series of Warzone™ in mid-April!

The Resurgence of Resurgence

Fans of the fast-paced Resurgence mode will have a new version of Resurgence to look forward to, in addition to Ashika Island remaining as a game mode option.

This new version, called Massive Resurgence, is a Resurgence mode on the larger Al Mazrah map. The player count will be increased to fit Al Mazrah, so prepare to take on dozens of duos or other squad sizes, depending on the weekly Playlist offering.

Warzone 2.0 is adding the mode that launched with the original Call of Duty®: Warzone™ just over three years ago: Plunder, set to launch during Season 03.

For those who have yet to experience this fun and frenetic mode, Plunder is a respawn-enabled, squad-against-squad mode where the team with the most Cash wins. Cash can be earned by eliminating players and picking up their valuables, scavenging for Supply Boxes and loose Cash, or completing Contracts and in-game events. Operators can use their Loadouts right from the first drop and will redeploy with a reduced portion of their current Cash if eliminated.

As you gear up for Ranked Play and continue to prove your Battle Royale prowess, focusing on Plunder is an excellent way to practice with your Loadout before hopping into competitive matches. Because most of the core gameplay mechanics, including health and armor, are similar between Plunder and other Warzone 2.0 modes, this mode is a great opportunity to live-fire test some Loadouts or level up new weapons, such as the ones coming this season.

Get your last duels in the first Warzone 2.0 Gulag now, because in Season 03, eliminated Operators will enter a new Gulag in Al Mazrah (if it is not closed due to time during the match). This is known as the Blacksite, which is separate from the Black Site, a super Stronghold that appears in Battle Royale.

A training ground for Operators wanting to return to the warzone, this roughly rectangular, asymmetrical map has several interior spaces and long external routes. This Blacksite Gulag’s current location is [[REDACTED]].

Those who own Modern Warfare II can get some practice on Blacksite and learn its routes by playing Gunfight or hopping into a Private Match.

Adjust your personal meta accordingly: Warzone 2.0 is getting some new features across all its Battle Royale modes alongside Massive Resurgence and Plunder, which will be further detailed in our Tactical Overview blog coming before the season’s launch.

Flying over from Ashika Island, the Redeploy Drones will provide a fast way to travel around the map, outside of the train and wide selection of air, sea, and land vehicles.

These Drones operate like those accessible on Ashika Island, so get used to them by playing some Resurgence or Mini Royale modes before they descend upon Al Mazrah.

Another Caldera-first feature, Tempered Plate Carriers change how your Operator handles Armor Plates.

With a Tempered Plate Carrier equipped, your Armor will be two half-bars instead of three thirds, making it easier and more efficient to replate after one (or both) are cracked.

First seen in DMZ, UAV Towers are vital fixed sources that can be activated during a match to give you intel on your enemy’s position. After interacting with a tower’s on-board computer, an Operator and their allies will receive several circular UAV sweeps from the tower’s location out to a few dozen meters.

A quick word of warning to those ready to punch into every tower on the map: Operators will receive an audible notification when a UAV Tower is activated, and the icon for active towers will be visible in red on the Tac Map and overworld.

In addition to the above, expect even more new and returning features and items within Warzone 2.0 to arrive as part of a Mid-Season Update, including the Decontamination Station.

Those who spent some time on Caldera know the power of this lifesaving Field Upgrade, which creates a bubble of safe air to protect Operators from the toxic circle collapse.

After finding a Decontamination Station in the wild, you can place it almost anywhere. It lasts for several seconds, which can be the difference between surviving the final circle and succumbing to it.

Another addition to the loot pool within Season 03 is the preset Perk Package, which can be found in Supply Boxes. Specific, lower-rarity Perk Packages are available at Buy Stations.

Based on the Perk Packages from Season 01 and Season 02, these items are incredibly valuable given their passive benefits, helping Warzone Operators who opt not to obtain a Loadout Drop be on the same level as those who do. Alternatively, these Perk Packs can make the early game a bit more interesting, especially to those who secure areas, collect Cash, and reap the rewards of scavenging around the map.

Continuing the list of returning items is the Deployable Buy Station, a portable version of the Buy Station with limited stock.

Especially helpful in Buy Station deserts — although there will be more Buy Stations across Battle Royale overall — or in the final few circle collapses, the Deployable Buy Station allows you to put that leftover Cash to use on some potentially game-changing items.

One last (literal) small item with a massive potential impact is the Gulag Entry Kit.

Those who find one in a Battle Royale match and perish beyond their initial Gulag visit can re-enter the fight via the Gulag. That means those who know they can clutch up that 1v1 have another chance to get a redeployment without needing to request one from their squadmates.

Operators, prepare for one of the largest DMZ updates yet.

One of the biggest additions since the launch of DMZ is the Barter System, a way to award Operators who stock up on items and can reach a Buy Station to swap them for other valuables. In general, the Trader may not have what you want, but they will always have what you need. . . .

There is no peer-to-peer trading through this system, but of course, you are still free to swap items during a match with friendly Operators (especially those who operate taxi services, as we heard they are incredibly helpful).

Another major addition to DMZ is the Workbench, which can be found near Buy Stations and allows you to modify Contraband weapons.

For a nominal Cash fee, the Workbench allows an Operator to add attachments they have unlocked for the Contraband’s weapon platform onto a piece of Contraband or remove them piece by piece.

Helpful for those times when a 5.5x scope does not fit on a fast-firing SMG or when a Sniper Rifle needs an extended mag, the Workbench will become another way to spend that hard-earned Cash on something impactful for that infiltration and beyond.

In Season 03, you won’t just have one Operator to infiltrate the deniable areas.

Every player will start with three Active Duty Operator Slots, which equates to having three separate Operators who have their own on-soldier items. These items include your Backpack, Plate Carrier, Killstreaks, Self-Revive, and Gas Mask.

For every infiltration, you can choose which Active Duty Operator you bring in, meaning that you can calculate risk to whatever missions you want to tackle or the type of experience you want to have for that match. For example, you can have one Active Duty Operator saved up for the major Story Missions and Building 21 runs, stacked up with a Three-Plate Carrier, Self-Revive Kit, and more, then have another that is built for scavenging items with nothing but a One-Plate Carrier to their name.

An unknown faction, REDACTED, is coming to Season 03 and will have three of its mission tiers at launch, plus two more in-season.

Infinity Ward is introducing a new set of faction missions for this upcoming season, as well as a new contract:

That is the Secure Supplies Contract, which flags containers in the Exclusion Zone with essential gear for this experience. This is a great way to get built up after a previous run in DMZ where you failed to extract.

Operators should prepare to face new threats across the various Exclusion Zones, as there are not one, but two bosses that intel suggests are [[REDACTED]]. Intel also suggests that deep underground in Al Mazrah, there is [[REDACTED]].

We have plenty more to share as part of a dedicated DMZ blog to be released before Season 03’s launch, including new Backpack and Plate Carrier types.

More competition, more prizing, more regions, and the first-ever in-person Global Final.

The World Series of Warzone 2023 is ready to expand to new regions and host a finale you won’t want to miss. Check back here for an official deep-dive blog on this year’s World Series of Warzone on April 6.

Assemble the trio and prepare for the road to the Top 250.

Developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play will act as the proving ground and true test for trios wanting to become the best in the world.

More information on this new experience will be available at mid-season. For now, get to practicing in trios or participate in the World Series of Warzone qualifiers.