Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign's Endgame mode is going free to play for a limited time with the April launch of Season 3 — plus new content and changes to Combat Rating are on the way

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's Endgame mode is being shifted to Warzone and going free-to-play for a limited time starting April 2 with the launch of Call of Duty's Season 3 content.

Call of Duty: Warzone's newest big map, Avalon, originally got its start as the setting for the campaign's 4-player PvE Endgame mode. Despite being available at launch, Endgame was originally locked away behind a requirement to finish Black Ops 7's 4-player coop campaign and was only accessible via the campaign chapter select menu.

Unfortunately, campaigns in Call of Duty are often the least played and completed aspect of the game. The Xbox app shows that only 0.84% of players who have launched Call of Duty have unlocked the achievement for completing the Black Ops 7 campaign with at least one coop partner at the time of writing.

Treyarch eventually decided to remove that barrier to entry for Endgame, allowing any Call of Duty player to jump into Avalon and the PvE experience without having first to complete the campaign. However, players still needed to own Black Ops 7 or have an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to play Endgame.

With Season 2 Reloaded, the Endgame map — Avalon — joined the Call of Duty: Warzone map rotation in the newest Black Ops Royale mode. Player response to the map was overwhelmingly positive. Treyarch has now announced that Endgame access will be added to the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone menu for a limited time, allowing more players to experience the mode for the first time.

Season 3 changes to combat rating and loadouts coming April 2

Season 03 Launch Trailer | Call of Duty: Warzone & Black Ops 7 - YouTube

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Along with the launch of Endgame as a limited-time free-to-play mode, Season 3 brings fresh new content to Avalon for players to experience. Endgame's PvE experience gives players the opportunity to build up an operator of their choosing while pushing through combat spaces, fighting both The Guild and nightmare scenarios across Avalon with a squad of up to four players.

Each session has up to 32 players divided across eight squads who can team up to work together to take down enemies and unlock exotic weapons, nightmare skills, and more. Completing activities in Endgame earns the player a Combat Rating, which — up until Season 3 — has been reset to zero if the player fails to extract from Avalon before the timer runs out.

With Season 3, Treyarch is capping lost Combat Rating to 15 per squad wipe, giving players a chance to hang on to their progression even if a run goes bad. However, Exotic skills, Nightmare skills, and the player's loadout are all still lost if a squad wipes while in Avalon. Players will also have the choice to manually reset their operator's combat rating if they so choose.

Loadouts are also changing in Endgame, and will be individually assigned to operators with the launch of Season 3. This gives players the chance to build out new operators with different skills and playstyles, as each separate Endgame operator will have their own loadout, including weapons, field acquisitions, and equipment. Players who exfil with a scorestreak or self-revive will see that equipment stays with the operator who extracted it.

New Endgame content coming in Season 3

New Avalon POI Flythrough | Call of Duty: Warzone - YouTube

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It's not a new season without new content, and Season 3 brings with it Operation Poison Pill, which will introduce new player Operations — a series of strict objectives designed to be cleared across multiple matches in Endgame. Completing Operation Poison Pill directives will allow players to discover the location of the Link Forger Glitch Fracture, a Nightmare difficulty arena filled with waves of enemies that will keep even Endgame veterans on their toes.

Completing Operation Poison Pill will unlock the "Override" Operator skins for Grimm, Mason, or Anderson (provided you complete the operation with one of those designated operators.) Earning 1 Override skin also unlocks the "Blighted" weapon camo, and earning all 3 skins is the only way to unlock the "Virulent" animated weapon camo.

Additional Operation Poison Pill rewards include:

• "Poison Pill” Weapon Charm and 1,000 XP
• Restore Token and 1,000 XP
• 1 Hour Double Player XP Token and 1,000 XP
• “Node Husk” Emblem and 2,500 XP
• 1 Hour Double Battle Pass XP Token and 2,500 XP
• “Toxic Entry” Large Decal and 2,500 XP
• 1 Hour Double Weapon XP Token and 5,000 XP
• “Thorned Muzzle” Loading Screen and 5,000 XP
• “Looking Good!” Emote and 5,000 XP
• “Venomous Override” AAROW 109 Launcher Weapon Blueprint, “Fractal Death” Animated Calling Card, and 7,500 XP

To unlock those rewards, players can try their hand with the new Warband skill track designed for players who like to control the battlefield with the help of summoned allies. The skill track features 5 abilities — Plague, Wirehand, Smuggler, Bloodrunner, and Healthhounds — and the Steelhand special skill.

A new minor ability, Aether Blade, will allow players to throw an Aether-infused knife that hunts down targets.

💬What do you think about Endgame?

Have you tried Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's Endgame mode? If not, will you take advantage of the free-to-play time period?

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