Call of Duty Black Ops 6 has been huge since it launched in late October, breaking Steam andGamePassrecords for most concurrent Call of Duty players and new subscriptions, respectively. Black Ops 6 Season 1 was released three hours earlier than expected, giving players new maps, modes, weapons and a battle pass to play around with.
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 has arrived 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 download size and all the new content you can expect to see when you open the game.
When is Warzone Season 1's release date and time for Black Ops 6?
Warzone and Black Ops 6 Season 1 is out now across all platforms, releasing three hours ahead of the scheduled release time.
As with previous entries in the Call of Duty franchise, Warzone Season 1 and Black Ops 6 Season 1 were set to go live simultaneously on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Not sure when you'll be able to access the new content? Here's when you'll be able to play the new seasonal content in your time zone:
- Eastern Standard Time: Nov. 14 at 12 p.m.
- Central Standard Time: Nov. 14 at 11 a.m.
- Mountain Time: Nov. 14 at 10 a.m.
- Pacific Time: Nov. 14 at 9 a.m.
You'll have to download a fairly sizable update if you want to jump into the new maps with your new weapons in hand. PC players will be able to preload the update ahead of time, but console players will have access to the patch only 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 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?
Warzone Season 1's biggest draw is the full integration between the popular battle royale mode and Black Ops 6.
This means that players are now 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, where 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.
Warzone combines 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?
Although 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 have made their debut during Black Ops 6 Season 1.
Multiplayer
The new season launched 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 have also been added. A new 6v6 mode called Ransack sees players fighting over gold bars throughout the map and lugging them back to a stash at spawn. To win, players 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.
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 have increased the arsenal players are able to work with. Seven new weapons are trickling into the game 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. New store bundles package operator skins alongside weapon skins for the Krig C rifle and Saug SMG.
A new buffer weight stock and Dragon's Breath underbarrel attachment are available on certain new and existing weapons, so it might be worth saving double weapon XP tokens for these new in-game goodies.
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
The launch of Black Ops Season 1 introduced 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 can't be completed in Directed Mode, so players will still need to complete the Easter eggs on the intended difficulty to get the best rewards.
Even still, two new weapon charms and calling cards have been added for Directed Mode completion -- players who have already completed the Easter egg will have access to these cosmetics already, though a visual glitch currently shows them as locked items.
In the middle of Season 1, a new zombie 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.
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 zombie meta-progression system.
While specific details about the new zombie content haven't been shared, the official Season 1 blog post promises more information will be released come December.
Call of Duty Warzone and Black Ops 6 Season 1 Update Patch Notes
The bulk of the Black Ops 6 Season 1 update was focused on adding new content to the game, but the Call of Duty Season 1 patch notes also highlighted several other balance changes to the game included in this patch. Here are the most important changes, fixes and event information included in the patch notes:
Multiplayer
- Anti-cheat changes were made to cut down on AFK boosting and VPN abuse.
- Introduction of The Hit List midseason event: Players will receive a list of contract targets and will earn rewards for taking them out.
- Multiple map changes: Fixed graphical issues with water on Lowtown and Protocol, adjusted the Search and Destroy A bombsite on Protocol and Vault and fixed an out-of-bounds glitch on Red Card.
- Spawn logic was changed to reduce the frequency of spawning near enemy players.
- Hardpoint zones can no longer be captured outside of intended boundaries and an issue with Search and Destroy bombs being lost forever if dropped next to destroyed vehicles has been fixed.
- Nuketown, Extraction and Hideout maps were added to the Core map pool and the Heirloom map was added to the Face Off map pool.
- A bug that prevented players from talking to one another during intermission and post-match screens has been fixed.
- A Prestige Master hub tracking Prestige Master level progress has been added.
- Private match recordings have been added.
- In addition to in-depth weapon balance changes, all weapons underwent a series of universal changes: aiming feel while moving has been improved, hold breath focus will now be maintained as players fire their weapons and weapon depth of field is improved as weapon inspects are performed.
Zombies
- Multiple Terminus easter egg bug fixes were added.
- A bug where unlocking the Pack-a-Punch machine on Terminus would affect door collision upon saving and reloading the match was fixed.
- The location of the ammo cache at Terminus' Seaside Path was changed.
- Players now need to destroy the first spawned Mangler's arm to have it drop a Mangler Cannon. Previously, this was a guaranteed drop.
- Universal buff to assault rifles: increased critical damage across the board and increased damage for Pack-a-Punched ARs.
- HE-1 Launcher buff: increased damage with a larger explosion radius. When Pack-a-Punched, the weapon has more ammunition.
Campaign
- Visual and performance improvements were made to mission intro sequences.
- Issues that caused game crashes and a memory error forcing application restarts were fixed.
- An issue where players were shown to be out-of-bounds within the bounds of a mission was fixed.
- Fixed an issue where the NPC Gladney was able to die in the mission Hunting Season, preventing further mission progression.
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