If you’ve been keeping up with the on-going storyline of the game’s multiplayer - yes, it has one - you’ll know things aren’t looking too good for our heroes. The devious secret agent Perseus and his lackey Naga have kidnapped Adler while distracting Frank Woods’ team with a false flag op in Laos, buying their ally Stitch time to pursue his sinister machinations. Now, the race is on to find Adler before whatever evil plan the trio hatched comes to fruition.
Release Date
Season 3 will launch in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone on the 22nd of April - that’s tomorrow! - kicking off a new chapter in both games.
Limited-Time Event: “Hunt for Adler”
The main overarching story players will be engaged with during Season 3 is the on-going effort to locate and extract Adler, a returning character from the Black Ops Cold War campaign. In gameplay terms, this means a number of shared challenges between Warzone and multiplayer will allow players to work together towards achieving this goal. We’re not quite sure what these challenges exactly entail, but you’ll be able to learn more in the Seasonal Event tab once the season begins. Completing so called Intel Challenges will help you get ahead along the seasonal progression chain, allowing you to unlock exclusive Weapon Charms, Calling Cards and more. If you manage to work your way to the end of the challenges, you’ll literally ‘find’ Adler, since the final reward is a special Adler operator skin.
4 New Operators
Black Ops Cold War and Warzone welcomes four new faces with the launch of Season 3. Well, 3 new faces and a familiar one, to be precise.
Captain Price (Cold War)
Arguably the most popular and recognizable Call of Duty character across the entire franchise, a younger Price kitted with period-appropriate clothing is joining the lineup of operators for all players who already own Black Ops Cold War or purchase the game during the season will unlock this operator, which is separate from the Modern Warfare version. That’s right, this isn’t just a skin! Captain Price will be unlocked for eligible players on launch. Keep in mind that if you are a free-to-play Warzone player without ownership of the main game, you won’t unlock him.
Wraith
First of three Warsaw Pact operators, Wraith has the honor of being poster-operator of this season. Currently a Perseus agent, Wraith has a history with intelligence operations and alpine warfare from her time before joining up with the spy. Players will unlock Wraith instantly upon the launch of the season at Battle Pass Tier 0, with a legendary skin unlocked at Tier 100.
Knight & Antonov
Coming later on in the season are two other operators working for Perseus. Knight has a background in assassination as a former MI6 operative, while Antonov was a common hitman who chose military service as opposed to serving jail time after being caught. You’ll be able to access these Operators via the store bundles.
New Weapons
Six exciting new tools will help you make people you don’t like not live anymore in Season 3, bringing back some fan favorites from the original Black Ops and introducing a few brand new heavy hitters.
Ballistic Knife
One of the most outlandish gadgets that appeared in the original Black Ops, the Ballistic Knife could be used both for melee attacks and to launch spring loaded blades for ranged stabbing. Perfect for silent kills, “ballistic knife sniping” had become something of a trend back in the days of the OG game. This weapon will be available in Black Ops Cold War from day one, while Warzone players will need to wait until later in the season.
Swiss K31
This new sniper rifle will be the right choice for more aggressive mid-long range sharpshooters who like to get into the thick of it thanks to its large ammo capacity and fast aiming and rechamber speeds. It still comes with the high damage and accuracy expected of bolt action snipers, and has the potential to reshape the meta. The Swiss K31 will be available on both games from launch.
PPSh-41
The PPSh-41 SMG will be a free unlock at Tier 15 of the Battle Pass, and is available from the season’s start accordingly. Another returning favorite that popped up multiple times throughout the franchise, this spray-and-pray gun boasts small per-shot damage but had high ammo capacity and fire rate to make up for it.
CARV.2
This tactical rifle would look right at home in a sci-fi setting looking like some kind of futuristic railgun, making it an odd choice for a Cold War setting. Nonetheless, we suspect it will quickly become a fan favorite with favorable stats all around. You’ll be able to get the CARV.2 later on in the season.
AMP63
Your sidearm options will be getting more varied as the season progresses with the late addition of the AMP63 pistol. Despite its small size and unassuming class, the AMP63 is full auto and self loading, so any opponent you come across in close quarters is in for a surprise.
Baseball Bat
Where many melee weapons, like the Ballistic Knife, are favored for their capacity to deliver silent and stealthy kills, the big and bold Baseball Bat eschews this concept. You’ll be able to clobber your opponents with this sporting implement later on in the season.
Maps & Modes In Cold War
Black Ops Cold War multiplayer is getting a crop of new maps and game modes, some of which are fan favorites making a return from the original game - this seems to be a frequent pattern, doesn’t it? Four new maps are hitting Cold War multiplayer that can be played in a variety of modes. These include Yamantau (6v6) and Diesel (6v6, 3v3, 2v2) at launch with Standoff (6v6) and Duga (Multi-team) coming later on in the season. The beloved Sticks and Stones party mode is making a triumphant return when Season 3 launches, allowing players to enter the fray equipped only with tomahawks, ballistic knives and crossbows.
Multi-team Elimination combines the large maps that support more than just two squads vying for victory with the last-team-standing experience of traditional elimination modes later on in the season, pushing regular multiplayer surprisingly close to a battle royale experience. Alongside these new maps and modes, Operators will be able to use a few new toys in Black Ops Cold War multiplayer too. The new scorestreak, Strafe Run, lets you call in a pair of jets to lay down immense damage over an area at the expense of a longer activation period. Used well, this can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Additionally, some maps will support the new Cargo Truck vehicle which allows multiple team members to travel on the truck bed, and is equipped with a heavy hitting turret.
Zombies: Outbreak Updates
The Outbreak spreads in Season 3, with the Dark Aether storyline continuing in a new region - Duga. This newest open-world map brings the Outbreak experience introduced in Season 2 to a new locale, complete with an updated set of world events and objectives giving you more and new content to tackle with your squad.
Helping you succeed in these new challenges against the undead hordes is the Toxic Growth Field Upgrade which suddenly causes hazardous thorns to sprout in front of the user, slowing and damaging incoming zombies. You can upgrade Toxic Growth through multiple tiers to give it extra charges, increase damage and cause affected zombies to explode, dealing Area of Effect damage to their shambling mates. If you need a quick getaway despite the use of Toxic Growth, two new vehicles are here to help: the FAV and the same Cargo Truck that is appearing in regular multiplayer.
Grind To Prestige 15
A new season means new Prestige levels to farm, allowing you to hit Prestige 15 with dedicated play. Here’s how the rewards pan out in Season 3:
Level 50: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, Weapon Blueprint, and Battle Pass Tier Skip Level 100: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, and Battle Pass Tier Skip Level 150: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, and Battle Pass Tier Skip Level 190: All Season Challenges Available Level 200: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, Battle Pass Tier Skip, Master Prestige Calling Card Levels 250 - 1,000: New Prestige Key every 50 levels
Warzone Map Update & More
Things look a little different in Warzone for Season 3, as most of the major changes to the free-to-play standalone battle royale game will be coming mid-season as opposed to upon launch. The apocalyptic zombie outbreak in Verdansk has reached a critical state, and it is clear that Operators will not be able to contain the infection traditionally. With zombies initially only appearing around the Vodianoy wreck, they have now covered all of Verdansk. Thanks to a few leaks - both in-game and otherwise - we know that the ultimate “containment procedure” will result in the nuking of Verdansk, leading to the complete obliteration of the whole region, giving developers the chance to turn back the clock. A map update coming sometime in Season 3 will replace the Verdansk we know and love with the 80’s version of the same city, sporting older architecture and many landmarks under construction, bringing Warzone into temporal parity with Black Ops Cold War.
Season 3 Update File Size
Thankfully Activision has been paying attention to our storage woes and finally got around to working on those compression algorithms. The Season 3 update will be 8.1-13.1 GB for Black Ops Cold War and 25.2-25.9 GB for Warzone. Still large, but not as crazy as before. Stay tuned for more Season 3 intel leading up to, and following, launch on April 22!
