The Battle Royale Warzone is facing its biggest change yet. With the new Call of Duty: Vanguard, Warzone takes over many gameplay elements and may become a completely different game. We will show you how this could affect loadouts on MeinMMO.
With Call of Duty: Warzone, the popular shooter series has created a free title that connects the annual paid CoD games. Warzone adopts parts of the setting and creates connections in the story. The Battle Royale even allows you to use cosmetics from the main games and gets all the new weapons from each title.
Call of Duty: Vanguard takes this “connectedness” to the extreme. Warzone will get the fresh graphics engine from CoD 2021, including a new, large Pacific-style map. The exact details of the integration are not finalized yet. However, we want to take a look with you at what a loadout in Warzone could look like after the transition to Vanguard.
Warzone loadouts in Vanguard – A thought experiment
How do loadouts change with Vanguard? The basic conditions likely won’t change. You will navigate to the “Weapons” tab and can adjust your loadouts just like in the past years of Call of Duty. The view of the complete loadout also feels familiar:
The devil is in the details. While the loadouts will visually resemble those of the past, the way they are assembled will change. And the changes might be drastic. We will go through the individual points with you:
- Gunsmith
- Perks
- Grenades
- Tactical Equipment
- Field Upgrades
The Gunsmith: 10 Attachments as the New Standard
How does the Gunsmith change with Vanguard? The weapons from the new Call of Duty are said to be significantly more flexible than in its two predecessors, Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare. There will be a total of 10 attachment slots, with each slot able to be equipped with an attachment. Instead of 5, we will have 10 attachments in Vanguard.
Currently, the first Vanguard weapons are already available in the “Cold War” Warzone, and this strengthens the hints that this 10-attachment system will also make its way to “Warzone: Pacific”. The laser attachments may no longer play a role with the new weapons, and extra attachments from Modern Warfare might return:
In the blueprint version of the StG 44, which you can already organize in Warzone, you will find the ammunition type attachment in the laser slot. The long-range ammunition shown here would then increase the bullet velocity of the weapon, for example.
Since new weapons in Warzone have always matched the number and selection of attachments one-to-one with those from the premium titles, the ammunition types will likely also come to the Battle Royale. This would introduce a few new gameplay elements to Warzone:
- Subsonic – Works like a silencer
- Fragile – Enemies are slowed
- Incendiary – Ammunition with fire damage
- Hollow Point – No reduced damage to extremities
What advantages or disadvantages this will ultimately bring is still difficult to assess. However, weapon balancing will likely not be easy if the firearms want to be this flexible. This problem has already occurred with the weapons from Cold War and Modern Warfare.
The “Cold War” weapons are often considered stronger because they generally provide better mobility. However, there are a few strong extra attachments for the weapons from CoD MW. There is currently no real balance between the weapons.
What happens to the old weapons in Warzone? The weapons and your blueprints will remain in the game, that much is certain. However, how the Gunsmith will function is still unknown. So far, it appears that the weapons will remain as they are.
An FFAR 1 from Cold War or M4A1 from Modern Warfare keeps all of its attachments and you can equip only 5 attachments. The models of the weapons will be implemented into the new Vanguard engine and everything stays as usual.
The other possibility would be a standardization, similar to what has already happened with Cold War. Here, the “Third Barrel Attachment” of a weapon class always has the same function. This was different in Modern Warfare. Such an adjustment would facilitate a general balancing, but would also require many adjustments.
Then there is still the question of whether the old weapons might also adopt the new 10-attachment system. There are still many questions to clarify.
The Perks: Ghost and Overkill Separated
How do the Perks change with Vanguard? When you build a loadout in Warzone today, the first question arises: Ghost or Overkill?
- With Ghost, you hide from heartbeat sensors and drones
- Overkill allows a second primary weapon in the loadout
If Warzone transitions to the Vanguard engine, that could change – Ghost and Overkill are in 2 different perk categories. Currently, Overkill is set in the Vanguard Warzone, as there is only a little competition in that slot. The perk belongs to the yellow category “Bonus & Equipment” and shares the space here with bonuses for grenades or sprinting.
Everyone could then directly grab their 2 primary weapons with the first loadout and also get Ghost – if they even want that.
However, due to the change of conditions, the currently very strong perk could become less appealing. The heartbeat sensor is currently the best tactical item because it allows you to detect enemies without Ghost. Whether this sensor still exists is doubtful.
You can read about which perks for Vanguard are already known and what data miners have discovered here:
Primary Grenades: Claymores Moved
How will grenades change with Vanguard? According to current standards, the biggest change is that the Claymore is now part of the tactical equipment in Vanguard. Additionally, the targeted Claymore mines will disappear.
Furthermore, the Semtex grenade, known as the “gambler bomb,” no longer has a timer but explodes immediately on impact. C4 only receives a cosmetic update and a bundle of dynamite – but can still be operated via a remote detonator.
Tactical Equipment: Bye Bye Heartbeat Sensor
How does tactical equipment change in Vanguard? As mentioned, the “S-Mine 44” will become part of the tactical equipment, seemingly replacing the proximity and Claymore mines. However, the biggest change revolves around another item in that category: the heartbeat sensor.
If Warzone really adopts the gameplay of Vanguard, there will be no more heartbeat sensor. The item currently shows you when enemies without the “Ghost” perk are within a 50-meter range.
The removal of the heartbeat sensor would strip away an important mechanic of Warzone and allow for significantly fewer scouting options. A small change with a huge impact – also on the relevance of the “Ghost” perk, which would become less important.
Bonus: Field Upgrades
Unlike in multiplayer, you do not choose field upgrades in the normal battle royale of Warzone beforehand; instead, you find them during matches. In the Vanguard beta, some of these gadgets were already visible:
- Supply Box – Provides ammunition and equipment
- Armor Plate – Gives you some body armor
- Goliath – Explosive mini-tank to control
- Directional Microphone – Shows nearby enemies on the mini-map
- Dead Silence – Silences footsteps briefly, weapons and knife kills reset the timer
The Trophy System, which intercepts grenades and rockets, may disappear completely. Vehicles would therefore be significantly more vulnerable to missile fire. It is also likely that “Special Ammunition” could vanish, as the weapons from Vanguard have their own ammunition types.
Whether the small drone or the ballistic shield will be included is also currently doubtful.
Warzone: Pacific – Release Details
When does Warzone change? There is currently no exact date yet. Vanguard will be released on November 5, and so far it seems likely that Warzone will transition to the new engine with the start of Vanguard’s first season.
However, there is no date yet for the season start. The current Season 6, the last live season of Black Ops Cold War, ends on December 2, and there is speculation that Season 1 of Vanguard will start then.
Officially, it only says: this year near the Vanguard release.
How likely is a complete transition to the Vanguard mechanics? Many details about the transition are still unknown. However, during the stream for the multiplayer reveal of Vanguard, Creative Director Amos Hodge from developer Raven Software stated:
With the release of Vanguard, we want to ensure that the game feel and character of the game reach into Warzone beyond the multiplayer experience.
Amos Hodge via YouTube
This could mean that the feel of multiplayer served as a model for how Warzone should feel after the “merger” with Vanguard. Trophy systems and heartbeat sensors seem to fit less into this picture. The mix with the modern weapons would fit – because there are also weapons in multiplayer, regardless of the year of manufacture.
To find out more about how Warzone will look at the end of the year, we will likely have to wait a while. You can read about other possible changes with Vanguard here: CoD Warzone receives the Vanguard graphics – What does that mean for us players?
