Season 3 of Call of Duty: Warzone & Black Ops Cold War starts on Thursday, April 22. MeinMMO shows you what leaks, rumors, and facts are already circulating about the new season. We will regularly update this article with important new information until the start of Season 3.
What’s coming for Season 3? The first roadmap for Season 3 is online and shows a packed content pipeline for Cold War and Warzone.
After a rather disappointing Season 2, which delivered too few maps in Cold War and too little action in Warzone, many players are hoping for the new Season 3. The expectations are high, and the comprehensive roadmap, as well as some leaks, promise a lot for the next season. To give you an overview of what to expect in Season 3, MeinMMO has sifted through the information and presents everything in a summary.
All gameplay-relevant content of the new Season 3 is, as always, free for players of Call of Duty.
Call of Duty: Season 3 Info – Updates and Timetable
When does Season 3 start? The exact start time of the season is still somewhat unclear. The developers mention on the blog that the season starts on April 22, but they also say that Season 3 goes live after the updates. Warzone and Cold War will receive the season update at different times:
- Cold War: Season update on April 21 at 6:00 AM
- Warzone: Season update on April 22 at 6:00 AM
Whether the content will be available immediately after download or will only be unlocked on the morning of April 22 is not yet certain.
How large will the updates be? The developers have been clearer about this and have published the download sizes for all major platforms:
- Cold War update size for Season 3
- PlayStation 5: 12.3 GB
- PlayStation 4: 8.1 GB
- Xbox Series X / S: 11.6 GB
- Xbox One: 8.3 GB
- PC: 13.1 GB
- Warzone update size for Season 3
- PlayStation 5: 25.6 GB
- PlayStation 4: 25.6 GB
- Xbox Series X / Xbox Series S: 25.9 GB
- Xbox One: 25.9 GB
- PC: 25.2 GB
CoD Warzone & Cold War: Battle Pass in Season 3
What does the Battle Pass bring? There will be a Battle Pass with 100 tiers for 1,000 CoD Points again.
There is a free path in the Battle Pass that all players have access to. In exchange for points and playtime, you can unlock some items from the pass for free. If you already know that you will be playing more in CoD during Season 3, then the Premium Pass is worth it. It offers you more than 100 items to unlock throughout the season.
In total, you can progress for the pass in three CoDs: CoD MW, Cold War, and Warzone share the Battle Pass. However, the content is only for Warzone and Cold War.
Warzone & Cold War Battle Pass Season 3 with 100 tiers
- The pass costs 1,000 CoD Points (approx. €10)
- Each of the 100 “tiers” offers a reward
- Operator skin available immediately upon purchase
- 2 new weapons to unlock – Swiss K31 and PPSH-41
- Weapon blueprints
- 1,300 CoD Points in total, so you can make a “profit”
- Legendary rewards upon completion of the pass
- Many operator skins with missions for even more skins
- Calling cards / emblems / sprays / talismans
- Vehicle items like battle cries or skins
- XP tokens for a points boost
- 10% experience boost on the Battle Pass
The two new weapons are, by the way, always part of the Free Pass and can be unlocked by all players at no additional cost.
Who is the poster boy / poster girl of Season 3? Each season introduces a new operator that you unlock as soon as you purchase the Battle Pass.
This time it is likely to be “Wraith,” who is also featured on the roadmap. However, there will be a second operator at the start of the season, who could also serve as a showcase operator for the season: Captain Price enters the “Cold War” universe.
Content for Cold War & Warzone – Weapons for Season 3
What weapons will be featured in Season 3? In total, the CoD makers announced 6 new weapons that will come at the start or during the season:
- SMG PPSh-41 – Battle Pass: Moderate damage meets high rate of fire and large magazines
- Sniper Rifle Swiss K31 – Battle Pass: Aggressive sniper with high mobility and large magazines
- Knife Ballistic Knife – Season Start: A knife that allows you to shoot the blade. Will come to Warzone later
- Tactical Rifle CARV.2 – During the season: Burst-fire rifle similar to the M16, with more ammunition reserves
- Pistol AMP63 – During the season: The small weapon fires automatically
If you want to get a look at the weapons, check out the English blog entry for Season 3 (via callofduty.com).
What about scorestreaks or equipment for Cold War? For multiplayer, the developers announced the “Strafe Run” – a precision airstrike.
Cold War Multiplayer in Season 3 – 2 New Maps at Launch
What’s new for multiplayer? At the start of the season, 2 new maps for 6v6 matches will launch:
- Yamantau – 6v6 map: Yamantau is a mountain in the Ural Mountains and was the setting for a campaign mission
- Diesel – 6v6/2v2/3v3 map: A rather small map with a gas station at its center
Fans of classic maps from Black Ops will also be satisfied this season. “Standoff” from Black Ops 2 will be added during the season. Additionally, the Fireteam mode will grow with “Duga” – one of the possible settings from the end of the “Cold War” campaign.
Furthermore, the party mode “Sticks & Stones” will launch as well – another CoD classic. You will fight with very limited loadouts in a free-for-all mode. Possible items here include: crossbow, the new ballistic knife, and tomahawks as equipment.
As another mode, the developers introduced “Multi-Team Elimination.” This mode is expected to be released during the season and sounds somewhat like a battle royale in Cold War. 4-man teams compete with limited loadouts for victory, can collect equipment throughout the round, and the play area shrinks over time. There will also be a new vehicle in Multi-Team modes: the Cargo Truck, which is supposed to come right at the season release.
Cold War Zombies – Outbreak at the Center
Update Season 3 Roadmap: Before the roadmap release, many players expected the introduction of the zombie-typical Easter eggs in the Outbreak mode. However, there is currently no sign of that. A new zombie map is also not currently in the schedule.
This is what the roadmap shows:
- Outbreak will receive the map “Duga” at season start
- New vehicles in Outbreak: Cargo Truck and FAV (Buggy)
- World events in Outbreak, through which you can also upgrade the T.O.T. machine
- New missions in Outbreak
- Toxic Growth – Field upgrade for zombies: Undead can be stopped and slowed down
Original announcement about zombie content: What can zombie players expect? Season 2 brought a completely new experience to the “Cold War” zombies with the Outbreak mode, and Season 3 also looks good for zombie players. Currently, it is expected that:
- A new story component in Outbreak at season start
- The next big zombie map in Berlin during the season
- New wonder weapon with boss projectiles
Call of Duty has already announced that Outbreak will receive a significant Easter egg. In the zombie mode, Easter eggs include not only small gameplay elements but also major story components. So far, the Outbreak mode is an open world on large maps with hordes of zombies, but without an actual story goal. With the start of Season 3, that could change.
Additionally, it seems likely to many players that the third significant zombie map will be part of the game. The story of previous zombie adventures clearly indicates events in Berlin, where the next zombie map could take place. However, a release is expected only during the season and not at launch. A possible release is the last week of May during the mid-season update.
The zombie story also suggests a new wonder weapon that will likely come with the new zombie map in Berlin. In-game rewards have pointed to a weapon that is based on the projectiles of boss enemies. Possibly, you’ll fire like the weapons of the zombie bosses “Mangler” or “Sturm.”
Warzone in Season 3 – Verdansk Gets an Update
What happens in Warzone at the start of the season? With the roadmap, the developers have finally confirmed what many players and leakers have suspected for a long time: Something is happening on the big map Verdansk. However, the expectations need to be somewhat tempered. Instead of a completely new map, a “Warzone map update” is likely to take place.
A big leak showed excerpts from a faded Verdansk some weeks ago. The map might be set back in time to the “Cold War” and will receive a facelift. An “update” of the map suggests that certain areas will remain the same while others will be changed. Details are not yet officially known.
Additionally, an event will go online at the start of the season – Hunt for Adler. During the event, there will be challenges for both Cold War and Warzone, through which you can secure special cosmetics for both games. If you complete all tasks, there’s a special skin for Adler.
How the map changes will come into the game, whether the Adler event has anything to do with it, and what will happen with the zombies is still unclear.
If you believe the leaks, an event will start before the new season, connecting the current story events in Warzone and the map update. Data miners had found sound files of an unknown mode or event. An initial date for the event seems to be April 21 at 9 PM our time. Call of Duty showed a mini teaser on Twitter for this.
However, the CoD makers followed up and showed on Twitter additional dates:
- First Entry
- April 21 from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM
- April 21 – 22 from 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM
- Second Entry
- April 22 from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM
- Third Entry
- April 22 from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Whether these entries are multiple dates for the same event, like the reveal of Cold War in Warzone, is currently unknown. Back then, you could experience the reveal of the first trailer for Cold War in the battle royale, and the event was online at different times over several days.
However, leaks regarding the Warzone event suggest that it may be a multi-part event. You might experience in the first phase the end of the zombie story of the current Verdansk, and the other events may already take place in the new version of the city. However, this cannot be said for sure at this time.
Original announcement: Warzone Season 3 Leaks & Rumors
What’s happening in Warzone? The data information for Warzone is diverse, and the leaks are extensive. But what is really happening is currently hard to predict. There are rumors and leaks about:
- New map – Verdansk 2.0
- Nuke event in two parts
- Ural map might still be a topic
- Helmets and new armor elements
- New vehicles
- Rebirth Island at night
The most important topic is a new map. Due to a substantial leak, there is a suspicion that the developers are working on Verdansk 2.0. A version of the city that is likely set 35 years in the past. The current Verdansk is supposed to be replaced by the “old” version, which bears similarities to the modern city but brings comprehensive innovations. This map is also expected to include old CoD maps, creating a completely new Verdansk.
If you firmly expect the new map for Season 3, you might have to brace yourself: According to some leakers, it currently seems more likely that the zombie plague in Verdansk will take center stage once again in Season 3. The first data miners are therefore expecting the new map only in Season 4.
The new map is expected to be introduced via an event, similar to the “Cold War” reveal in Warzone. Back then, there was a scripted game mode that gave players a few tasks and ultimately showed the first trailer for Cold War. The data currently indicates a two-part event – the first could be the nuke event, and the second takes place 15 minutes after the “end of Verdansk”.
For a long time, speculations regarding a new Warzone map pointed towards the Ural Mountains. However, due to the significant leak of Verdansk 2.0 and data findings, that was put aside for a while. New data, however, have revived the idea of a Ural map – as a Blackout mode. Leakers suspect that a special game mode could come to Warzone, based on its spiritual predecessor, the Battle Royale Blackout from Black Ops 4. This would take place on the Ural map. However, clues regarding this are still rather vague and a release with Season 3 is unlikely.
Furthermore, data miners have found new equipment and vehicles in the data. Mention is made of armor helmets that protect against headshots and other armor types that protect various body parts. A vehicle similar to a “Reboot Van” from Fortnite has also been discovered. In this vehicle, players can be revived in modes where there is otherwise no respawn. Other discoveries include: a van, police vehicles, or a kind of beach buggy (Light FAV). The new vehicles may belong to the new Warzone map.
Lastly, we would like to report on a potential new game mode on Rebirth Island. The data suggest that the island will receive a night mode in Season 3 and the map will be darkened.
The roadmap for the new Season 3 appears extensive, and especially for Warzone, a lot is planned for the start. MeinMMO will keep you informed about the most exciting developments in a timely manner, and we will also keep this article up to date until the season begins.
If you want to try something new in the battle royale Warzone right now, check out our “Item Spotlight.” Here you can find an underrated LMG that you should try out.
