Black Ops 6 is off to an explosive start. During release week, the game pulled in more concurrent players on Steam than any other entry in the franchise since 2022. It’s also the first Call of Duty game to land on GamePass, opening new inroads for Xbox and PC subscribers to funnel into the shooter — even as Black Ops 6 maintains a strong presence in PlayStation’s gaming ecosystem. And Black Ops 6 Season 1, which arrives later this week, offers players even more.
Players already got a chance to dive into a double XP weekend, reacquaint themselves with the fan-favorite map Nuketown and find and level up their favorite weapons in the game’s arsenal. Now the first major update is arriving to integrate Warzone, Call of Duty’s battle royale mode that debuted in earlier games, with the latest mainline title.
Here’s everything you need to know about the arrival of Season 1 for Warzone and Black Ops 6, including the release date and time, and what new content you can expect to see when the update drops.
When is Warzone Season 1’s release date and time for Black Ops 6?
The brand new season will launch new Warzone battle royale and Black Ops 6 content simultaneously when it releases on Thursday, Nov. 14. Here’s when you’ll be able to play the new seasonal content in your time zone:
- Eastern Standard Time: Nov. 14, 2024 at 12 p.m.
- Central Standard Time: Nov. 14, 2024 at 11 a.m.
- Mountain Time: Nov. 14, 2024 at 10 a.m.
- Pacific Time: Nov. 14, 2024 at 9 a.m.
Of course, you’ll have to download a fairly sizable update if you want to jump into the new maps with your new weapons in hand. While PC players will be able to preload the update ahead of time, console players will only have access to the patch a few hours before it goes live.
A wired connection is a sure bet to have you running and gunning when Season 1 drops, but even if you have a solid broadband connection, you’re also probably wondering just how much system space this new update will eat up.
How big is the Warzone Season 1 update file for Black Ops 6?
The new Warzone release is themed around Nuketown, a staple of the Black Ops series.
The Season 1 update file is fairly substantial, adding almost 50GB total between both Call of Duty experiences. More specifically, Black Ops 6 players will need to download a 35GB update, while Warzone players will have an additional 10GB update awaiting them.
Season 1 increases the total file size for Call of Duty Black Ops 6 to 90GB.
What’s coming to Call of Duty Warzone in Season 1?
The new Warzone map is centered around a nuclear reactor, which will no doubt be a hot drop zone at the beginning of a match.
Warzone Season 1’s biggest draw is the incoming full integration between the popular battle royale mode and Black Ops 6.
This means that players will be able to engage in battles with their practiced omnimovement skill and access loadouts with the new weapons and perks they’ve been earning in multiplayer game modes, as well as the ability to unlock new progression tracts and camos that can be applied in both Warzone and Black Ops 6 multiplayer and zombies modes.
The new Warzone Resurgence map is also themed around the most iconic Black Ops map of all time: Area 99 is a government facility designed to produce Nuketowns, and players will have to fight through half-built homes and mannequin manufacturing facilities if they want to clinch a win with their squad.
Classic Warzone maps are also making a comeback, with the original iteration of Urzikstan returning for Battle Royale and Plunder game modes on launch and Rebirth Island returning for the Resurgence game mode shortly thereafter.
You can kit out a combination of guns from Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops 6 using the improved gunsmith system.
Warzone is combining 177 primary, secondary and melee weapons, 11 tactical grenades, 10 lethal grenades, 12 killstreaks and 17 field upgrades from Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops 6 into one Call of Duty experience, allowing players to pick and choose from the biggest arsenal they’ve ever had access to in the franchise’s history.
What’s coming to Black Ops 6 in Season 1?
Though Warzone’s Black Ops 6 integration is the biggest part of the Season 1 launch, the mainline title certainly isn’t being neglected. New maps, modes, weapons and more are making their debut during the coming season.
Multiplayer
Racket is one of the maps that will be added midseason, enlarging the 2v2 and 6v6 core map pools.
The new season will launch with three brand-new multiplayer maps: Hideout, Heirloom and Extraction; another map, Racket, will be added midseason. A holiday version of Nuketown and Hacienda from Black Ops 4 will also return at some point during the season.
New multiplayer game modes are also being added. A new 6v6 mode called Ransack will see players fighting over gold bars throughout the map and lugging them back to a stash at spawn. In order to win, players will need to stash new gold bars, defend their own stash and raid the enemy spawn to bring back the enemies’ loot. Fan favorite mode Prop Hunt also returns midseason, with other limited time modes promised in the future.
Players can unlock different colored ranked reward skins depending on how much SR they earn from ranked play matches throughout the season.
Ranked play will also become available within the launch window, enabling players to compete to earn SR in competitive matches across game modes like Control, Hardpoint and Search and Destroy. Playing ranked game modes will allow players to earn exclusive operator skins for their Rogue Black Ops and Crimson One teams depending on how much SR they earn throughout the season.
New additions to loadouts will also increase the arsenal players are able to work with. Seven new weapons will be added throughout the battle pass and seasonal events: the Krig C assault rifle, Saug SMG, Maelstrom shotgun, AMR Mod 4 sniper rifle, Sirin 9mm special weapon and cleaver and power drill melee weapons will all be available by the end of the season.
A new buffer weight stock and Dragon’s Breath underbarrel attachment will also be available on certain new and existing weapons, so it might be worth saving double weapon XP tokens for when these new goodies come to the game.
Other loadout additions include a new slot two perk to hide players from enemy traps and mines, a slot three perk that reveals enemies hit by your tactical and lethal grenades on your minimap, a wildcard that allows players to carry a fourth scorestreak into core game modes, and a new Hand Cannon scorestreak that grants players a temporary one-shot kill pistol.
Zombies
In a throwback to Der Eisendrache, Citadelle des Morts will have players fighting the undead in the halls of a castle.
The launch of Black Ops Season 1 will introduce the game’s first Directed Mode maps for Liberty Falls and Terminus, guiding players through the Easter eggs with a round cap of 15. Note that the bonus challenges for the Janus Ray Gun skin and the Trophy Collector operator skin will disappear when this update releases, so if you want to unlock those, now is the time.
In the middle of Season 1, a new zombies map will drop — the Citadelle des Morts — that will continue the Dark Aether storyline, picking up where Terminus left off. The map will feature a new Perk-A-Cola, a new enemy type and multiple new wonder weapons.
Additionally, a new field upgrade, ammo type and three new gobblegums will be added for use on every Black Ops 6 zombies map. The Hand Cannon scorestreak will also be available to build at in-game workbenches.
A new Perk-A-Cola, field upgrade and ammo mod will become available on Liberty Falls and Terminus as well.
The new Perk-A-Cola, field upgrade and ammo type will all have their own augment research trees with six augments each to unlock as players shred through the undead hordes, adding more depth to the zombies meta-progression system.
While specific details about the new zombies content haven’t been shared, the official Season 1 blog post promises more information will be released come December.
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