A new gameplay trailer for Season 2 of Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone shows some changes to the map Verdansk and reignites rumors of a nuke event. The roadmap also reveals two new modes for the battle royale. MeinMMO shows you the details.
What does Season 2 bring for Warzone? The new Season 2 of Call of Duty brings fresh content to the battle royale Warzone on February 25 and announces further innovations throughout the season. Included are:
- Map changes in Verdansk
- New modes for both maps
- New weapons and operators
- A joint event with Black Ops Cold War
- Rumors about the nuke event
MeinMMO shows you what has been announced for the Warzone and explains what it all means. We have embedded the German gameplay trailer for Season 2 here for you:
CoD Warzone changes Verdansk map in Season 2
What happens with the map Verdansk? The trailer shows only a few seconds of the new content for the Warzone, but they are quite impactful.
The trailer starts the short Warzone segment at 1:40 minutes and shows the female operator “Maxis” pulling herself up using a winch that apparently leads from a missile silo up to the surface.
Currently, this POI is not present in Verdansk. A few scenes later, you can see the area near a monument located south of the military base on the mountain.
The two parts of the monument are further apart, and under the foundation of the large sculpture, a missile silo seems to have opened.
Afterwards, battles in the new areas can still be seen. The silos could therefore be new, accessible underground areas in Verdansk.
The permanently mounted winches at the upper “entrance” of the missile silos suggest that the new areas are always open and accessible.
Unlike the bunkers in Warzone, for which you usually need either a code or a keycard to enter.
At the end of the trailer, there is a hint of a small teaser that is already in the game. If you look at the sea to the south during a battle royale match in Verdansk, you can spot a storm and below it a ship.
This ship disappeared near the map “Rebirth Island” during the “Cold War” storyline and has now resurfaced off the coast of Verdansk. What this means remains unclear for now.
The roadmap refers to a “dark wave approaching Verdansk”. In a major cutscene of the Warzone, there was mention of a threat coming to Verdansk from the sea.
Currently, it appears that this ship is related to how the stories of Cold War & Warzone fit together. The villain “Stitch” is, according to the story of Season 2, now in the Verdansk of the “Cold War” era and has sent the operator “Adler” to the Gulag.
This all ties in with the zombie storyline from Cold War. An in-game teaser plays an audio file in Russian in Warzone, which was translated by the Twitter user “@totamyipetrik”:
MeinMMO colleague Irina Moritz also listened in and helped with the translation since she speaks Russian.
Translation of the audio file: “The Germans can hear me. This is Captain Rosental speaking. Russian ship Vodyanoi. […] We are transporting a contagious biological material. What have we done? There has been an outbreak of infection. I’m afraid we won’t be able to contain it.”
Whether the ship will become a new, accessible area, is related to the outbreak event, or will only remain relevant for the story, will likely only be revealed with the start of the season. It’s possible that all battle royale modes in Verdansk will receive zombie mechanics, thereby adding a PvE element like in the spiritual predecessor “Blackout”.
2 new modes coming in Season 2 – Resurrection Extreme & Exfiltration
The roadmap for Season 2 shows two fresh modes for the battle royale Warzone:
- Resurrection Extreme – Launching at the start of the season
- Exfiltration – Expected to be released during the season
What can the new modes do? With Resurrection Extreme, the small map “Rebirth Island” will receive an intense action mode. The game mode follows the rules of “Revive”, meaning a team is only entirely eliminated when all team members are out of play.
The first 10 minutes, fallen teammates are continually revived. The “Extreme” part comes from the fact that instead of 40 soldiers, now 90 players fight for victory.
“Exfiltration” will be a mode for Verdansk. Essentially, it’s a normal battle royale with an additional victory condition. Throughout the match, you can attempt to capture a “Radio”.
Like in a “Most Wanted” contract, you become marked to all other players on the map while trying to capture it. If you succeed, the match ends, and you fly out of the city victoriously.
New weapons and operators with Season 2
What weapons are coming with Season 2? All weapons that are new in Black Ops Cold War will also be released in Warzone. The CoD developers have officially announced six new weapons for Season 2.
Two weapons for the battle pass that you can unlock directly:
- LC10: SMG at level 31 of the battle pass
- This is likely the SMG “Scorpion”, which has appeared in several past CoDs
- FARA 83: Assault rifle at level 15 of the battle pass
- This rifle is apparently modeled after the Israeli weapon IMI Galil
Four weapons that will arrive during the season:
- R1 Shadowhunter – A powerful crossbow
- ZRG 20MM – A sniper rifle with high bullet velocity but low rate of fire
- E-Tool – A shovel as a melee weapon
- Machete – A large knife with lethal properties
What new operator skins are coming? The roadmap announces a total of four new operators, who are also featured in the gameplay trailer. The main focus of the season is the nasty “Naga”.
Additionally, at the start of the season, the female operator from the zombie story “Maxis” is coming, although it is likely she is a premium operator that you can only obtain through premium currency in the shop. However, it is also possible for Maxis to be released via the battle pass.
Throughout the season, the operators “Rivas” and “Wolf” will also be added, who are connected to the Black Ops soldier “Woods”. You will probably only get these two through the premium shop.
Warzone launches an event with Season 2 – Outbreak Challenge Event
What happens during the outbreak event? Cold War brings a new zombie mode at the start of Season 2: Outbreak. The new mode launches alongside an event, which also starts on February 25 – the Outbreak Challenge Event. The event runs alongside Warzone.
Here you can unlock special cosmetic items through challenges. It is not yet officially known how this will unfold in detail, but based on some leaks, one can make some reasonable assumptions:
- It’s a zombie event
- Cold War & Warzone offer various challenges to unlock items
- Upon completing all challenges, there are weapon skins available
- Throughout the event, zombie modes will be running in Warzone
For more about the event, the challenges, and potential developments in this context, you can find in our special on the outbreak event.
At the moment, it seems that the ship approaching Verdansk from the sea has something to do with the zombies in Verdansk.
Trailer ignites rumors of nuke event again
Through the connection of the stories of Cold War, Warzone, and the zombie mode, along with the emergence of new nuke silos in Verdansk, the rumors about the so-called “nuke event” in Warzone are again heating up. This rumor has persisted for months.
What is the rumor about? It is about the map Verdansk being destroyed by a nuclear strike and then replaced by a new or altered map.
The obvious opening of new missile silos with supposedly nuclear warheads inside fosters this speculation again.
The zombie component also introduces another reason for the destruction of Verdansk: Through the mysterious ship on the coast, the undead are coming into the city and taking over a large part of the area, leading to a massive “dark aether” outbreak in Verdansk. To regain control, the city must be destroyed.
The trailer also hints at this slightly. Here it says: “Learn from the beginnings of the end.” This could be interpreted as the end of Verdansk.
As a new map, a map near the Ural Mountains in Russia could come into play. Here too, there are many “dark aether” activities, and leaks and rumors have long reported that a new Warzone map could be a compilation of the large fireteam maps from Cold War.
However, the fact that the zombie storyline could have such a significant impact on events in Warzone seems somewhat far-fetched at the moment – but is becoming increasingly likely.
A summary with all known information and rumors about Season 2 of Cold War & Warzone can be found here.
