Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 5 Kicks Off With Double XP — Alongside Patch Notes and a Big Change to Verdansk for Warzone

Season 05 Launch Trailer | Call of Duty: Warzone & Black Ops 6 - YouTube

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The fifth season of post-launch content for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is officially live, and there are a lot of changes in the latest round of patch notes. This season is likely to be the penultimate for 2024's mainline Call of Duty title, as this year's game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, is likely eyeing a late fall release date.

Black Ops 6 Season 5 launches with a double XP weekend and a unique event for CoD: Warzone as it directly competes against Battlefield 6's open beta weekend. If you're diving into Black Ops 6, here are some changes you can expect:

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 5 multiplayer changes

New multiplayer maps

If you're dipping into BO6 multiplayer during Season 5, you'll be greeted with three new maps in the rotation.

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• Runway (6v6) - Set at the Arzak Provincial Airport, you'll find wreckage and litter on the tarmac, providing cover as you make your way to the sides of the fire kissed terminal.
• Exchange (6v6, 2v2) - Ain't no party like a small map party, and Exchange is ticking the small map vibes with a vibrant marketplace set in Avalon. Grab a snack at the deli before making your way to the rooftop to admire the marble statue. Should you live long enough, anyway.
• World Motor Dynasty (W.M.D.) (6v6) - The classic map from the original Black Ops returns, but this time it's a reimagined Italian luxury car manufacturer in Avalon. The snow is gone, and its an overcast day at the Autofiorno plant, which sounds surprisingly less like WMD by the second, actually.

New multiplayer mode and bug fixes

With new maps, naturally, we get some new modes to go along with them. Surprisingly, Season 5 only has one new mode at launch, but there are some important bug fixes for other modes:

• Aim High - If you're looking to test your headshot skills, this is the mode to do it. A moshpit of game modes coalesce into one playlist where headshots result in instant eliminations but body armor protects the rest of your foes from your errant aim. Handy mode for unlocking those last few stubborn weapon camos.
• (Bug fix) Search and Destroy - Addressed an issue where players would occasionally not spawn in the subsequent round when joining a match in progress.
• (Bug fix) Hardpoint - Addressed an issue where objective kills were not properly tracking in Hardpoint and Hardcore Hardpoint.

Admittedly, when I first read the title of the "Aim High" mode, I was a bit concerned we were getting another weed-themed mode, so color me relieved.

Perks, scorestreaks, and UI have gotten some bug fixes, as well

• Shadow Perk - fixed an issue when throwing equipment near an enemy shock charge.
• Archangel - fixed an issue that allowed the archangel missiles to navigate outside of the intended playspace. (Stop trying to find Avalon!)
• UI bug fixes:
  • Fixed a bug where players were able to redirect to the Prestige Menu from the After-Action-Report.
  • Fixed an issue in Ranked Play, when switching between certain classes, the primary and secondary weapon icons silhouettes would flash red or green
  • Fixed an issue where the Scorestreak widget can incorrectly glow orange and show "Ready for Use" after respawning
  • Fixed an issue where users were unable to Prestige in the main Prestige menu
  • Fixed an issue where the user would encounter a looping menu error due to tracked challenges in the Challenge Tracker Widget.
  • Fixed an issue where the user was unable to unpin weapons whose camo challenges have been completed, and is seeing camo challenges for other game modes for those "perma-pinned" weapons.
  • Fixed an issue where the weapon preview fails to display in Weapons tab when a new custom loadout is set to favorite.
  • Fixed an issue where users with the Depth of Field setting set to on will see Operators A-Posing in the Winner's Circle

Multiplayer ranked play

Ranked Play Season 5 is live, after a slight launch delay. Seasonal setbacks have taken place. Bronze and Silver players will not be impacted by setbacks, nor will they see a SR deducation. Gold and Platinum players will start Season 5 in Tier I of Gold or Platinum, respectively, while Diamond Rank or above players will start at Diamond I.

Demotion protection will be active for everyone for the first three ranked losses of Season 5, with one free loss daily after that. So when you cry out "It was a warmup!" after an embarrassing loss early in the day, you can mean it.

If you haven't jumped into Ranked Play for a while, then you may need to play ten multiplayer matches to requalify for Ranked Play in Season 5. If you've never played, you'll first need to win 50 match-made multiplayer matches.

In an interesting move, Game Pass for PC players who are accessing Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 via a free trial membership will no longer be able to access Multiplayer Ranked Play.

This is a move by Activision to help alleviate some community woes with rampant cheating in Ranked playlists. Banished players were seemingly taking advantage of signing up for new Game Pass for PC accounts to gain access to ranked and disrupt the experience for others.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 5 Zombies changes

New Zombies map

We love a good Appalachian Apocalypse, and the brand-new map for Zombies Season 5 goes back to Liberty Falls, West Virginia, where the Janus Towers teeter on the verge of collapse. The final installment of Black Ops 6's Zombies mode is Reckoning, and takes players through the debris-strewn lobby of the towers, to the laboratories, offices, and some super-secret chambers.

Of course, with a new map comes a new mega enemy: Uber Klaus. Call of Duty's team is really trying to ham-fist in these robots, so the Uber Klaus is an automaton with a bulky mech and a bad attitude.

New modes

If you've been enjoying the 4-player team size PvP mode, Grief, on other Zombies maps, you can look forward to it coming to Reckoning between early during Season 5, sometime post-launch but before the start of Season 5 Reloaded.

Directed Mode — a guided way to experience the storyline for Reckoning with level caps and the almighty waypoints — will launch mid-season, along with the return of Team Cranked.

Bug fixes

The launch of a new map doesn't detract from the maintenance of older ones, so here are the bug fixes for Zombies in Season 5:

• Maps
  • Addressed an issue where players would take damage while standing on a coffin in Citadelle des Morts.
  • Addressed an issue where zombies would not drop down near the dumpster in Pump & Pay in Liberty Falls.
  • Closed an exploit where players were able to reach a safe spot using Aether Shroud in Liberty Falls.
• Modes
  • Addressed an issue where the Grief capture zone was not showing for players who joined a match in progress.
  • Addressed an issue where players were not receiving the correct amount of Essence and reserve ammo when joining a Grief match in progress.
  • Addressed an issue where the Crafting Table would display the Self-Revive limit as 3 instead of 1 in Grief. 
  • Addressed an issue where the Dark Flare beam will remain active while the player's weapon is being swapped during Weapon Carousel grief.
• Weapons
  • Addressed an issue where the additional explosion from Shatter Blast’s Blast Chain Augment would detonate on a zombie instead of the initial detonation point.
  • Addressed an issue where players may receive the same weapon twice in a row in the Mystery Box.
  • Addressed an issue where players would not receive ammo on the left weapon when purchasing a Wall Buy with an Akimbo Zombie Build.
  • Addressed an issue where Shadow Rift may warp zombies outside of the Church during the lockdown event in Liberty Falls.
• Perks
  • Addressed an issue where players are able to trigger Jugger-Nog’s Reactive Armor Augment using PHD Flopper.
  • Addressed an issue that prevented the user's Perk order to be maintained after using Mutant Injection.
  • Addressed an issue where Death Perception’s Extra Change Augment lacks SFX when used on certain machines.
  • Addressed an issue where Melee Macchiato’s Hidden Impact Augment would refill ammo on certain Support Items.
  • Addressed an issue where the player's fist may not appear when using Melee Macchiato.

• Field Upgrades
  • Addressed an issue where players are able to charge their Field Upgrade rapidly when leaving and rejoining the match in progress during a quest step.
  • Addressed an issue where Trials would progress when getting kills with Frenzied Guard’s Retribution Augment.
  • Addressed an issue where the player was not able to activate the Pack-a-Punch machine after picking up the Blood Aetherium Crystal while Dark Flare was active.
• Scorestreaks
  • Addressed an issue where the AFK timer would be active while using a Support Item.
  • Addressed an issue where the Chopper Gunner would face the wrong direction in Shattered Veil.
• GobbleGums
  • Addressed an issue where the Free Fire GobbleGum would not apply to the left-hand weapon with the akimbo attachment.
• Enemies
  • Addressed an issue where the player's arm will be misaligned during the Amalgam Game Over scene.
• UI
  • Fixed an issue where users would encounter a menu error in the Zombies Purchase menu in the Arsenal
  • Fixed an issue where the Gobblegum store would display a black screen when accessing it.

Call of Duty: Warzone Season 5 changes

New event contract: Satellite Hijack

Raven Software is officially blowing the roof off Stadium, and the team is letting the players do it in the most explosive way possible: By activating a contract and racing other teams to infiltrate the stadium through multiple steps to activate a little orbital assistance.

The contract will only be available for the first week of Season 5, so if you want to see what's going on inside the stadium, you'd better get while the getting is good. Thankfully, if you're concerned about missing out on the event contract in standard Battle Royale, you can also dip into BR Casual for an easier time.

Limited time mode: Stadium Resurgence

Resurgence is by-and-large my favorite Warzone mode, and we're getting a chance during Season 5's second week to play it on a scaled-down version of Verdansk centered on the Stadium.

The roof is off, and we're dropping in to fully explore the compound in this limited-time mode that pits 36 players against one another inside the Stadium for 12 minutes at a time.

The mode will feature a seven-circle collapse, with active public events and some fast-paced and chaotic action.

Warzone Ranked Play

As with Multiplayer, so with Warzone. Ranked Play is live after a bit of a delay, and players can dive into both Battle Royale and Resurgence Ranked now on Verdansk and Rebirth Island. The following seasonal rewards can be unlocked in Warzone:

• First Season Win: Weapon Charm
• Get 25 Eliminations: Elimination Sticker
• Get 100 Eliminations: Elimination Weapon Camo
• Get 250 Eliminations: Elimination SWAT 5.56 Weapon Blueprint
• Silver: “Ranked Season 5 – Silver” Emblem
• Gold: “Ranked Season 5 – Gold” Emblem and Calling Card
• Platinum: “Ranked Season 5 – Platinum” Emblem and Calling Card
• Diamond: “Ranked Season 5 – Diamond” Emblem and Calling Card
• Crimson: “Ranked Season 5 – Crimson” Emblem and Calling Card
• Iridescent: “Ranked Season 5 – Iridescent” Emblem and Calling Card
• Top 250: “Ranked Season 5 – Top 250” Emblem and Calling Card
• Season 05 Champion: “Ranked Season 5 – Top 250 Champion” Emblem

As is standard fare, there have been some issues with Ranked Play leaderboards and displayed Player Ranks with the launch of Season 5. Raven Software is currently investigating those "visual errors."

Changes to solo queues

Since Season 4 Reloaded, Raven Software has been conducting tests on Solo playlists in Warzone. Casual Solos received over 3X the number of players as Core Solos, and those who favored Core Solos in season 3 reduced their time in the playlist once the Casual Solos playlist was introduced in Season 4.

To continue testing, Season 5 will feature both Core and Casual Solos globally at launch, but will eventually shift after 48 hours to only offer Core Solos on North American and European servers.

Bug fixes

• General
•  
  • Fixed an issue causing fewer than expected ATVs to spawn in Battle Royale.
  • Fixed an issue preventing an ammo depot station from spawning in a Police Station in Riverside.
  • Fixed an issue causing players to get stuck on “Connecting” in a queue after selecting "Play Again" and then returning to the main menu.
  • Fixed an issue where launcher-type weapons were not tracking kills correctly when aiming down sights.
     
• Gameplay & Equipment
  • Fixed an issue where the Search and Destroy contract could target a non-existent Buy Station.
  • Fixed an issue where the Spring Mine could remain lethal after a player left the match; it will no longer deal damage once the deploying player has exited.
  • Fixed an issue causing the Swat 5.56 Grau Conversion loot weapon to use an incompatible attachment.
     
• Ranked Play
  • Fixed an issue where the lobby walk would stop playing and display a black loading screen after a few minutes in the Warzone Ranked Play menu.
  • Fixed an issue in Ranked Play where players could become semi-soft locked in the queue after attempting to join someone in a different playlist.
     
• UI/UX
  • Fixed an issue causing the Ares Clear Shot Optic to not display a small sniper glint.
  • Fixed an issue causing thermal optics to not function properly on the SZ Holotherm and Schlager Night View optics.
  • Fixed an issue causing weapon previews to fail to display in the Weapons tab when a new custom loadout is set as a favorite.
  • Fixed an issue where the Specialist Perk appeared twice in the UI, despite only showing once in spectate and killcam views.
  • Fixed an issue where the Loadout Drop icon appeared on the squad widget even when the team had insufficient funds for a loadout.
  • Fixed various issues with MW2 and MW3 weapon attachment pro and con text descriptions.

Additional adjustments

• General
  • Drop Rate Adjustments
    • Verdansk Battle Royale
      • Assault Rifles now have a slightly higher spawn rate compared to SMGs.
      • This adjustment is intended to improve access to mid-range combat options over short-range alternatives.
    • Rebirth Island Resurgence
      • Adjusted each class of weapon drop rate
      • Assault Rifles: Increased from 30% to 33%
      • SMGs: Increased from 20% to 32%
      • LMGs: Decreased from 15% to 10%
      • Snipers: Decreased from 15% to 10%
      • Shotguns: Decreased from 10% to 7%
      • Marksman Rifles: Remain at 5%
      • Pistols: Decreased from 5% to 3%
• UI/UX
  • Weapon Level Display Improvements
    • Your current Weapon Level and its Max Level are now displayed together in areas where only the current level was previously shown. This makes it easier to track remaining progress toward maxing out a weapon.
  •  
    • Friendly Field Upgrade Indicators Quality of Life
      • The Deployable Cover, Trophy System, and Recon Drone now display a blue indicator when deployed by a friendly player, aligning with existing visuals for friendly lethal and tactical equipment.
• Challenges
  • Set up UAV Towers to properly count toward challenges that require a player to be under the effect of a UAV.
  • Updated Feng Diamond and Dark Matter camo challenges to correctly track multi-kill progress.
  • Expanded the requirements for Unique Camo Challenges that require kills on Most Wanted targets - kills on Bounty targets will now also count. This change gives players more flexibility in how they progress these challenges.
• Perks
  • Perk Visibility Quality of Life
    • Perks picked up during a match will now appear directly in your HUD, inventory, killcam, and while spectating other players, providing immediate clarity on the tactical advantages you’ve acquired.
  • Specialist
    •  Obtaining Specialist is now easier! Pool balls are now arranged on the rack to help you out.

• Equipment
  • Napalm Strike
    • Call in a targeted strike of explosive napalm to cut off enemies and rain fire from above.
    • Functions similarly to an Airstrike, with napalm impacting from left to right based on the direction you’re facing when called in.
    • Available exclusively through Care Packages
  • Spring Mine
    • Increased damage reduction when prone or diving by an additional 10% for a total of 85% reduction.
• Contracts
  • Satellite Hijack Limited-Time Contract
    • Available for one week only, the Satellite Hijack contract challenges squads to breach the Stadium - working with or against one another
    • How it works:
      • Multiple squads must complete the contract in the same match to initiate the Stadium breach.
    • 4-Step Process:
      • Investigate a campsite to locate a decrypting tool.
      • Eliminate the player who already scavenged it.
      • Hijack a relay module to begin the hacking process.
      • Once hacking is complete, rush into the breached Stadium.
    • Rewards & Opportunities:
      • Secure a permanent Weapon Blueprint by locating and holding the Weapon Case hidden inside the Stadium.
      • Discover limited-time secondary objectives hidden within the area.
      • Available in both core and casual Battle Royale modes across all squad sizes.

Call of Duty Season 5 Double XP

Call of Duty's launch of Season 5 comes as EA offers up Battlefield 6's multiplayer beta, first available today in Early Access to those who preorder or earn a code via Twitch Drops, and later this weekend as an open beta available to all.

Activision has flipped the switch on a Double XP and Double Weapon XP event for the weekend. If you're not dropping into Battlefield 6, you can get some sweet bonus XP in COD.

Battle Pass XP is excluded from the event, however. So if you want some bonus battle pass XP, then you're going to have to pony up some of that legacy token XP you've been hoarding. (It's me. I'm hoarding it.)