What to Expect in Season 1 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
The long road ahead begins
It’s been a solid year for Call of Duty, as Black Ops 6’s collection of modes makes it one of the best entries the series has seen in some time. For fans of the iconic series’ popular multiplayer modes, Season 1 finally kicks off today with the first wave of free content across the game.
The new additions and tweaks may be overwhelming, particularly for those returning to the series after an extended break. But this helpful guide for what to expect this season will help run through everything developer Treyarch has planned.
What New Modes Are Coming To Black Ops 6 Season 1
The first season of Black Ops 6 adds a new kind of multiplayer match alongside a returning favorite. First is Ransack, available now, where players must briskly collect gold bars from crates scattered across the maps. Players can only secure the loot they collect by making it back to their team’s stash on their side of the map. Doing so may prove difficult, however, as the other team has the same objective.
Returning this season is the popular mode Prop Hunt. This game has players disguising themselves as random objects and finding the perfect spot to hide in plain sight. Hunters then must find these players on the map. It’s a fun game of hide and seek and a welcome break from the sweaty twitch-shooting of Call of Duty’s more traditional modes. Prop Hunt will be available sometime before the end of the year.
Finally, Black Ops 6 will add a mode for ranked play, hopefully easing some of the high-level play happening in standard multiplayer matchmaking. Ranked play begins Nov 21.
What Maps Are Coming To Black Ops 6 Season 1
Six new maps are being added this season. Three of these maps are all new. The first is Extraction, a medium-sized map for 6-on-6 multiplayer modes set on a shoreside helipad. The second is Heirloom, a small map made for team doubles and 6-on-6 match types. The map takes place in an art gallery filled with precious paintings and artifacts. The last is Hideout, another medium-sized map for 6-on-6 multiplayer modes. This map is a mountainside training facility complete with an obstacle course and bus depot.
In four weeks, Season 1 will get two additional maps and a re-skin. Hacienda is a medium-sized map for 6-on-6 matches last featured in Black Ops 4. Racket is a smaller map for team doubles and standard 6-on-6 matches set in a vault. Finally, just in time for the holidays, the newly added Nuketown is getting a snowy festive variant.
Warzone Gets A Big Black Ops 6-Themed Update
Call of Duty’s battle royal spinoff Warzone is getting a substantial update coinciding with season 1 of Black Ops 6. Warzone is getting Black Ops 6-specific weapons and equipment, the game’s throwback approach to prestige leveling, and most importantly, omnimovement. Omnimovement in particular will change how firefights play out as players will be more nimble and slippery than ever before.
Alongside these new features, Season 1 will also introduce a new Warzone map called Area 99. Set in the Nevada desert, this new map is designed for Resurgence, the 45-player mode that focuses on faster-paced matches in tighter, larger-scale maps.
This season will also see the return of Urzikstan, the massive 120-player map last featured during the early seasons of Modern Warfare 3, and the remote prison Rebirth Island for Resurgence.
What’s coming to Black Ops 6 Zombies
Treyarch has announced that the full picture of what it has planned for Zombies this season won’t be revealed for a few weeks. But the developer has introduced some new modes to keep those fans busy for now. The first is the new Directed Mode. This mode allows players to enjoy the open-ended structure of Zombies with a guiding hand to help them along. All main objectives are marked, side missions are disabled, and rounds are capped at 15.
Halfway through the season, a new map called Citadelle des Morts will be added. The developer promises that “ghoulish horrors” await players in this medieval European village. The mid-season refresh also promises new perks, augments, enemy types, and weapons.
Black Ops 6’s new weapons, perks, and operators
Rounding out this season’s additions, are some new weapons, a new perk and scoresteaks, and operators.
Starting today, players can unlock the Krig C Assault Rifle, a high-damage, fully-automatic assault rifle with average handling perfect for any situation, and the Saug SMG, a fully-automatic submachine weapon that’s light to carry, making it easier to move and handle.
When it comes to new perks, players can now use Shadow, which makes them undetectable to enemy traps and mines. There’s also the Shrapnel radar coming halfway through the season, which allows blast damage inflicted on enemy players to reveal their location on the minimap. This includes damage inflicted by area-of-effect Tacticals, Lethals, and Field Upgrades.
On the scorestreak side, players can assign the Hand Cannon, a powerful handgun capable of one-shotting enemies. Lastly is Wildcard, which allows players to have a fourth Scorestreak during multiplayer matches.
Finally, some new operators join Black Ops 6’s cast. Sevati “Sev” Dumas headlines the additions with an alternative “Opulent” skin. For those looking for something a bit more high fantasy, the new Goliath operator is a man seemingly made of molten lava. Both are instantly unlocked for players who’ve upgraded to the BlackCell tier of the season pass.
Finally, the longtime Black Ops character The Replacer is making his Black Ops 6 debut. The character has spent the last few weeks showing up everywhere you can imagine, and it seems that he’s made some time to return to the place where he got his start.