Call of Duty Season 3 has completed the integration of the two Call of Duty series, Modern Warfare and Black Ops. Now Call of Duty Warzone, the free Battle Royale game, merges the two universes where they seamlessly coexist – the modern times with the 80s. Today we’re going to be talking about the new version of the Verdansk map, and we’ll have our pros share their impressions and knowledge about how to win on it. So, stay tuned ‘cause there’s going to be lots of exclusive info!
Warzone entered the third season joining the Black Ops season cycle, which brought with it huge changes to the game. Fans had to say goodbye to the old version of Verdansk that got blown up by a nuclear missile, and now by using some sort of ‘time-travel’ technology, we went back in time when Verdansk was still young – straight to 1984. The city is somewhat similar to its modern counterpart. However, it’s still a very different place that feels new and unexplored. This means that gamers now have to go through the adjustment period and get used to the new locations and the severely changed old ones.
But fear not! Right now, we’re going to tell you everything that’s different in this new Warzone map and share what our pros are doing to keep consistently winning even in the new environment. So, let’s get to it!
First of all, we’d like to note the changed lighting that gives a more springtime feel to the map. The colours are more vibrant. There’s more color in general, as opposed to the modern-time city with it’s shades of grey and brown.
The Downtown has been painted. So, 40 years in the past, things were different – buildings and areas that may have existed in Verdansk of the future no longer exist in 1984, or some of them might be under construction like the Broadcast Tower in Downtown. Alternatively, buildings that were destroyed in the modern version of the city are put together like the second floor of the Airport. You can walk on that floor, go through the shops, find loot and get into engagements.
Some changes are more subtle than the others – some roads have been cleared of debris and barricades, making it easier to ride on them. Some minor objects, like boxes and containers, are gone or replaced, which creates new lines of sight and new tactical options. There are far too many minor changes that happened pretty much everywhere on the map, so it’s not worth going over. Instead, let’s turn our attention to the new places on the map.
This is one of the new locations that is currently also a hot drop zone due to the ongoing “Hunt the Adler '' event. It’s located where the icey reservoir area of the Dam used to be. This place makes us see how deep the Dam actually went and what was underneath the ice. It was this mountain that housed the Summit – a complex of structures with the main base in the centre. All structures are connected by gondola stations. This place encourages sky-diving and using helicopters to move around. When it comes to firefights, expect lots of verticality. What’s interesting about this place is there are lots of places that are unreachable right now but will clearly be available in the future. So, this Summit place will be expanded, there’s no doubt about that.
It's a rather small yet brand-new location. Once again, this place looks like it will be expanded upon in the future, but as of right now, there isn’t much to it – just an old house, some loot and the mine's entry that leads to a dead end. Most likely, the path into the deeper levels of the mine will be open in the future.
A new place between the Superstore and the Airport, the factory consists of multiple hangars where airplanes are being assembled for the Airport itself. There are tons of looting opportunities there and lots of options for all kinds of gunplay – there are close-quarters spaces for shotgun lovers, as well as spots where snipers would feel all warm and cosy.
It's an absolutely massive structure that creates a lot of vertical gameplay where you might be on the very top of the structure and your enemies might be down on the ground. The structure has multiple levels (floors) that you can jump between if you’re feeling super confident. This place is a gem for snipers that love to get those extremely long 300m+ shots.
In this version of Verdansk, everyone’s favourite Stadium is under construction. Although there’s not much cover in the centre, you can still find lots of places to hide in on the bleachers. Since there’s no roof over the Stadium, it means you’re pretty open to everyone who’s camping on the nearby roofs.
One of the more industrialized areas on the map, the Promenade, has been deconstructed and now it’s more nature than anything else. There’re all sorts of bridges and buildings in the development stages. Overall, this place has more shrubbery and trees, providing a more eye-appealing look.
The Farmlands location is the polar opposite of the Promenade. Instead of having lots of barns and wooden houses and things of that nature, it seems more industrialized. Sure there’s a church in the centre, but there’s also a factory and a gas station, all coexisting in the same location. By the way, this location is based on the upcoming Standoff map for Black Ops.
This place has been shrunk down in size and now is also featured as a Standoff map. Even though this place has seen some changes, you’re not likely to land there and have enough time to admire those changes.
Instead of being a construction site for future housing, it’s a more farmland-type place.
This place has been turned into the Salt Mine. It’s now basically half of the location it used to be. A bigger area of this location that used to be the actual Quarry is still mountaintops. There’s also a mine that may or may not be connected to the Old Mine place we covered earlier.
This one here received a retro-facelift and some minor changes. More specifically, the roof has skylights, serving a new risky point of entry into the main site. New windows, a new fridge area in the centre, and top shelves have been made traversable. Provide all of these changes, we have to relearn this place from scratch.
The main POI in the Downtown area of the city is now also under construction, just like the Stadium. This actually made the building accessible from the inside, where you can take the stairwell running from the ground to the top floor. The roof is still under construction, so the layout there has changed, although it still provides an excellent camping spot.
Here we are going to share with you some inside knowledge about how our pros play on the changed map. Most of these tips don’t require a lot of skill as they are more about the perception and approach to the changing environment.
All locations on the map have received a facelift. However, our pros say that their playstyle doesn’t depend on the map and whatever changes happen to it. That said, all of our pros prefer to land in these 3 locations:
We asked our pros about what, in their opinion, is the most significant change(s) on the map. Here’s what we’ve got.
Baltheon: changes that really affected the map and the gameplay on it:
Forpantheon: we have more cover for good positioning now.
Cikiwawa: the colours, new open space, the sniper is more effective now.
llxMagicxll: visuals - filter changed in NVidia for PC players, different colours of buildings - blue now red etc. A different surface on building floors >> different footsteps, more location changes like from Dam to Summit, more cover in river banks. Different weapon balance.
Alpertutarkaban: In the warzone area, there are so many places that you can jump through and let you make plays that are unpredictable. I’m calling them parkour. Most of the houses and places have their own climb spots, which you use to kill your enemies from behind, or places that they never expect you coming from. With the Warzone new map, there are many places that you can climb and take positional advantage over enemies. This is the most significant change for me. Because people haven’t found out about those spots yet.
Xwhispero: building and geographical changes - some places like the fire stations have new access points, and most buildings have different routes or access points to manoeuvre.
Stedzera: colours. The lightning and stuff made this game look kind of foggy, I would say. It is harder to spot an enemy on long distances now.
Harmony Fanboi: Lighting is the main change. You have to adjust your filters on PC, while console players are just left to suffer. They can’t do anything about it. Furthermore, Downtown has changed a lot. Unfortunately, it didn’t get blown up, but whatever. Changed the Dam, the quite unpopular location in the past. Even now, with the total rework, it’s still not super popular. Everything depends on where the “Circle” will send you – if the last circle forces people to the Summit, then people will go there. Otherwise, that place is still pretty desolate.
Our pros have all upgraded their loadouts. Here’s what they’re saying about weapon choices.
razm spazm: now using Amax / FARA / lc10 / MP5 mw / ak74CW.
Baltheon: the whole Warzone meta has changed, but not because of the map, but because of the weapon rebalancing.
Damhampr: every new season has its new meta guns. The guns I’m using right now are the Krig / Amax / Kar 98 / Sykov pistols.
Forpantheon: to be honest, for now, my best loadout is Ram7 plus the Streetsweper.
Alpertutarkaban: loadouts are based on which meta works on the map, not based on new areas. With the new map, meta is changed once again, and at the moment, we have balanced weapons as a secondary and yet the only competitive Primary gun is Amax or Kar98 leading so far. But as a secondary, we have so many options that make the game more playable and people get to enjoy it even more.
Xwhispero: my current favourite weapons to use are the Stoner LMG with the MW MP5 or the KRIG 6 with KAR 98.
Harmony Fanboi: your loadout can be changed depending on the circle. If it “procs” in the downtown area, you should say no to a sniper rifle. On the other hand, if the circle takes you to the farms or mountains – a sniper rifle will be useful. It all depends on your playstyle too.
In this section, our pros will tell you what you should know or learn about to increase your chances of winning.
A few crucial things everyone should learn are:
A few of our pros went ahead and provided us with more extensive and detailed answers.
llxMagicxll: become proficient with some weapons and use the push/hold tactic. It all depends on what you’re good with, and you can force the enemy to play by your rules. For example, if you’re a sniper and you know you can win 80% of your fights at medium to long-range, don’t let the enemy get close to you. Position yourself inside a house with windows looking at an open field around it. The high ground is always your friend. Two-story buildings are better - more space in the house to rotate when you are getting pushed. They added a couple of buildings with extra ladders and zip lines, so I suggest going in Plunder mode and look for changes. For me, it’s easy because I play daily 10-14 hours, but maybe someone who just plays daily 2 hours will find it as a new thing.
Alpertutarkaban: Everyone in your squad must have a role. The roles are:
Here’s a more detailed description of each of the roles.
Pusher: this is the person in your squad who’s responsible for attacking the enemy squads. They must know how to stay alive in the middle of 3-4 teams fighting or how to win a 1v4 gunfight. Furthermore, they must be very patient as more often than not, attacking enemies means sneaking stealthy behind the enemies line of sight. Another thing that involves a great deal of patience and self-control that a pusher must poses - downing an opponent, but not finishing them off. A pusher must use the downed enemy to bait his teammates to come to rescue in order to secure a full team wipe.
Support: This role is more chill and lets you increase K/D due to safe gameplay. The supportive player should play sniper and carry Airstrike with him. When an enemy squad is spotted, support takes the first shot, and if it’s successful, you’ll be entering a 3v4 fight. Additionally, Support helps the Pusher teammate to finish off the enemies in close combat, when there’s no need for a sniper in a fight.
Sacrificer: is a role that’s a mix of a Pusher and Support in one package. It’ll fit a player with a 0.2-0.4 K/D, or someone who’s just playing for fun. It’s wise for this role to buy a UAV loadout, carry the munition box, armor box, and carry the most money to be able to bring back dead teammates back into the game if need be. These simple responsibilities turn a not very skilled player into a useful one. There might as well be a crucial situation when a Support loses his ammunition and Pusher runs out of plates. If you ask your Sacrificer teammate to pop an armor or munition box, it might as well save the whole match. Having someone take this role in your squad means that everyone will enjoy their time in the game no matter how good they are.
Leader: is often believed to be the most talented player of the team. However, this role is for players who played this game the most and who spent much time playing with a team. A leader should take the lead, rotate the team, or be able to get his team out of disadvantageous rotations with their knowledge and with the help of a Support and Pusher players.
On top of learning more about these roles, all players should find out more about a few fundamental terms used in this game.
Slide Cancel: every game has its own mechanics. If you learn to abuse them, you will be successful at that game. Warzone’s mechanic is called the Slide Cancel. There’re lots of people that use it wrongly or in the wrong places. You should use this mechanic when in a gunfight. If you use it when you are fighting, you will have the pace benefit of the Slide Cancel. If you use it while turning the corners, you will have extra pace and aim assist on your turn. So basically, you should learn how to and when to use this hefty trick.
Rotation: Most players are less skilled in rotation compared to their aim. A lot of gamers have somewhat average aim due to having played lots of other multiplayer FPS games out there, however most of them don’t know how to rotate since they might have never played a battle royale before. Battle Royale means that the last man standing wins the game. So it’s not about how many kills you make. It’s all about who is the last man standing. Therefore, rotation is the most significant pillar of the gameplay. The more games you play the more proficient at rotating you’ll become. Plus, all kinds of Warzone tips like, knowing how many teams left on the island, will help a lot.
These are just the basics of how to get a win in the CoD Warzone. The main point is to never stop learning. You won’t be able to improve if you can’t beat your ego.
We hope that you found this guide/overview useful and that you are now more familiar with the map than before. If you want to learn more about the Warzone and play just as good as our pros, absolutely trashing your enemies in every match and in every mode, then you should go ahead and place an order to get the play with pro service on