Summary
Activision has revealed the patch notes for theCall of Duty: WarzoneSeason 2 update, and there are a plethora of changes coming to the game, ranging from new weapons, events, perks, and much more. This is the first major update for the game in 2025 after the developers had released theCall of Duty: WarzoneSeason 1 Reloaded update all the way back at the beginning of December.
WhileCall of Duty: Warzonefans are always eagerly looking forward to new updates, this one is of particular importance due to the changes to the anti-cheat. The developers had previously outlined a series of significant improvements it is making to theRicochet anti-cheat with theCall of Duty: WarzoneSeason 2 update. Now, Activision has revealed what more fans can expect from the new season.
Activision has revealed the complete patch notes of theCall of Duty: WarzoneSeason 2 update, which is all set to release on January 28. One of the biggest highlights of the season is the crossover withTheTerminatorfranchise. As part ofThe TerminatorSkull Drop event inCall of Duty: Warzone, players will be able to unlock a variety of rewards by collecting skulls through opponent eliminations and opening caches. The event will run between February 6 and 20. Additionally, the Shadow Hunt will kick off on February 13, which will require players to complete a set of challenges given by Nocturne.
There is a newBattle Pass coming with theCall of Duty: WarzoneSeason 2 update, through which players will be able to get 110 pieces of unlockable content. This includes three new weapons, an underbarrel Crossbow attachment, new Operators, Blueprints, and much more. The new weapons include the PPSh-41 Submachine Gun, Cypher 091 Assault Rifle, Feng 82 Light Machine Gun, and TR2 Marksman Rifle. There is a new Perk as well, named Reactive Armor, which will regenerate the armor up to 50% if the players have not taken damage in the last 5 seconds. The Perk will be available via an event reward.
Another notable change that the update will be bringing is a lot more crossplay options for Ranked playlists. Users playing on consoles will now be able to choose whether they want to be paired against players on the same platform, on consoles only, or on all platforms. This should alleviate a lot of issues for players, considering that crossplay has been acontroversial aspect ofCall of Duty: Warzonedue to aim-assistand hackers. Apart from that, a plethora of other bug fixes have been made, alongside some balance changes to several weapons in the game.
GLOBAL
RICOCHET ANTI-CHEAT
As previously discussed in our recent Community Update blog, we are ramping up our fight against cheaters across both Multiplayer and Warzone with new security measures deploying throughout the coming seasons. Updates include enhanced detection models for behaviors like aim botting, stricter account trust and hardware identification to target repeat offenders, and new tools to combat dishonest behavior such as playing with cheaters or attempting to spam report innocent players. We are also focusing on more precise tools, including major upgrades to the kernel-level anti-cheat driver and server-side systems starting this season and continuing into Season 03. These measures, combined with ongoing improvements and legal actions against cheat sellers, aim to deliver a more secure and enjoyable experience for everyone.
Shadow Hunt (Feb. 13-20)
BATTLE PASS
The Season 02 Battle Pass includes over 110 pieces of unlockable content (excluding BlackCell) including three new Base Weapons, an Underbarrel Crossbow Attachment, new Operator Skins and Weapon Blueprints, and a whole lot more. Read on for more BlackCell intel and stay tuned for a deeper dive with the BlackCell, Battle Pass and Store Bundles blog prior to Season 02 launch for a deep dive into the massive offering.
PROGRESSION & PRESTIGE
CAMOS
We’ve seen feedback from players about how the 250+ unique Special Camos in Black Ops 6 are underutilized because of the current equip requirement, and we feel the same way. Currently, we see a very limited window of time where Special Camos get equipped: after all of one mode’s Military Camos have been unlocked, but before players have unlocked Gold Camo (or beyond).
In Season 02, we’ll be changing this equip requirement to give players the ability to equip their unlocked Special Camos earlier in each Weapon’s Camo journey, while still preserving a short “on-ramp” of first needing to unlock 5 Military Camos that we feel is important to the new Weapon journey. In MP, this means that Specials can now be accessed after 30 Headshots instead of 100, but getting to 5 Military Camos unlocked can also be done across all 3 modes if desired.
The train was a bit too eager in getting back into motion, disallowing some interesting plays with both hijacking the train, or intentionally parking it in a power position.
PLAYLIST
RANKED PLAY
For the second season of Warzone Ranked Play, we’re deploying adjustments to restrictions, SR gains, and deployment fees. Notably, the Tracker perk, which now outlines enemies in line-of-sight without live pings, has been removed from the list of restrictions. New SR adjustments aim to streamline progression, helping players quickly align with skill-appropriate divisions while addressing barriers when bridging the gap between key ranks. Placement and elimination rewards have been fine-tuned to encourage competition and skill diversity in higher ranks, while also ensuring players in top tiers like Crimson and Iridescent face greater challenges to maintain their status. In addition, deployment fees have been rebalanced to ease progression in lower ranks and increase the prestige of reaching top tiers. See the full details below:
Cross-Play
The following changes are being implemented at the launch of Season 02 to provide players on console with the option to select the platform pool(s) they wish to matchmake with:
» PlayStation – In-Game Options «
Restrictions
The Tracker perk no longer live pings players and instead applies an outline to enemy players that is not visible through walls. In addition, fixes to Cold Blooded now allow the footsteps to be appropriately countered.
Skill Rating
Ranked SR adjustments are a challenging task. Everything has a cascading effect, especially when modeling consequences across different types of match outcomes. Our approach to these adjustments aims to achieve several key objectives:
One major objective is to onboard more players into the early ranks and help them progress toward divisions that better represent their skill sets more quickly. We aim to adjust the rewards for SR in a way that allows players performing above their skill division to accelerate into higher divisions and remain there, where their skill matches the other players. This should, ideally, lead to greater player and skill diversity in the mid and higher divisions.
There is also a very clear set of plateaus or walls that players encounter in the ranges of Silver III through Gold I and Platinum III through Diamond I. There are several reasons for this, but we aim to address these issues in a few critical ways. By adjusting the “team remaining” rewards to smooth out the curve, we hope players on the upper borders of these skill bands will be nudged more frequently into higher divisions. This will provide them with opportunities to play with and against stronger players, helping to improve their skills rather than leaving them in a division where they feel their abilities are underrepresented.
Additionally, these changes are designed to ensure that players without access to the upper bands of division delta bonuses for eliminations (e.g., players in Crimson and Iridescent) cannot easily maintain their positions just because the delta rewards for +1/+2/+3 have increased. These players will still need to work hard to remain in these divisions, and the influx of new players into higher divisions should foster more competition and diversity in gameplay.
Deployment Fees
The adjustments to deployment fees align with the overall goals of Ranked Play. We aim to make accessing certain divisions less frustrating by reducing barriers and smoothing out the progression experience. Reaching the Iridescent rank will become slightly more challenging (partially offset by the SR changes for the +0 delta and teams-remaining rewards) due to increased deployment fees, requiring more effort from players to maintain their position in this elite rank. For reference, less than 0.1% of players achieve Iridescent or Crimson status.
Fee reductions at lower division levels encourage players to re-enter and play more frequently, ensuring a smoother and more enjoyable progression experience. However, once players reach Iridescent—especially those competing for a spot in the top 250—we want to ensure that achieving and maintaining this level truly reflects exceptional skill and is something players can proudly showcase.
Rewards
Compete in a second season of Battle Royale Ranked Play, earning the following seasonal rewards as you progress:
We’ve noticed an increase in buy backs during the final circle, sometimes even after the gas has completely consumed the map. While we appreciate resourceful plays, the tactic of a team camping a Buy Station to secure a win doesn’t align with our vision for “last team standing wins”. To address this, we’re making changes to encourage more meaningful and intense engagements in the final moments – the way we believe most matches are meant to end.
We remain committed to identifying and addressing other “cheese” strategies in the game. Regardless of how long a mechanic has been around, we’re dedicated to refining systems to enhance the game’s competitive integrity.
Player and Weapon XP rates have been adjusted in Warzone to bring each mode closer in line with one another.
Some stats adjusted by the attachments were not represented. The new stats better reflect reality.
COMBAT
Body Shield
The body shield was incorrectly releasing your victim when attempting to take someone with you to a plummeting death, resulting in your own death but not your victim’s.
Additionally, we are removing the griefing mechanic of repeatedly releasing, downing, and releasing the same target. Going forward, if you choose to body shield a player, it must now culminate in an execution.
MOVEMENT
Jumping
We’re reverting some jump penalties to the values used last year. This marks the first step in our jump evaluation, and we’ll revisit this topic again in the future.
Parachute
The recovery time after landing from a parachute has often felt overly punishing, both for players trying to evade and those looking to engage. This adjustment aims to make the action more fluid and balanced, preventing it from feeling overly restrictive.
New
Reactive ArmorPerk Slot 2
• Your armor will regenerate up to 50% if you have not taken damage in the last 5 seconds.
Adjustments
Tracker, Spy Camera, and Proxy Alarm have been adjusted to balance their usage. These changes address the over-reliance on intel systems that provide vision through walls. By scaling this back, we aim to align these mechanics with systems like UAVs while offering additional visual feedback. Our goal is to make highlight interactions more consistent, grounded, and balanced across engagements.
This will result in smoother weapon handling for jumping, sliding and diving as a default change to all players.
Impact Grenades occupy a unique niche between Semtex and Frag grenades. A direct hit significantly boosts its damage while also bypassing some of the mitigation provided by Bomb Squad, making it a more skill-based option. We’ve made the choice to retain its max stack size at 4, due to it underperforming quite significantly in metrics previously. Perhaps this makes it more IMPACTFUL.
The Thermobaric grenade has been adjusted to improve its usability by increasing the inner radius, making it easier to deal higher damage. The slight damage boost complements this change.
Frag grenades are a staple in combat, known for their reliability. Following adjustments in Black Ops 6, they’ve become easier to use. These changes aim to align their damage output with their ease of use, and we will continue to monitor their effectiveness.
Gas grenade usage has increased, and these changes ensure proper counters are in place. The Veteran perk remains the best option to counter negative equipment effects. These adjustments aim to balance the grenade’s effectiveness while keeping counters viable.
The combination of stim and omni-directional slides exceeded normal velocity thresholds. This adjustment brings it back in line with regular gameplay metrics.
FIELD UPGRADES
It’s not uncommon to see Loadout Markers bouncing far from their intended drop location. By halving the bounce factor - which was previously comparable to that of a smoke grenade - we aim to maintain the grenade-like behavior while minimizing the frustrating, unintended movement. We’ll continue to monitor player feedback on this adjustment.
We have increased reload speeds to help make combat feel more fluid and decrease overall downtime. This should get it closer to previous iterations when using sleight of hand.
We want to allow different play styles and movement mechanics to feel viable and smooth to perform. We will continue to monitor how these are playing out and adjust accordingly.
We’ve all been there - you pick up a rifle expecting it to be automatic, only to discover it’s semi-auto or burst when you fire. While we work on improving fire mode visibility, we’ve simplified the ground loot weapon pool to create a more predictable and consistent experience for all players.
Signal Intelligence contracts were providing an excessive cash payout, especially for larger squad sizes. These adjustments, while significant, still offer high rewards compared to other contracts.
Call of Duty: Warzone
WHERE TO PLAY
Welcome to Call of Duty®: Warzone™, the massive free-to-play combat arena which now features Urzikstan, Rebirth Island and Fortune’s Keep.Turn the Heat UpPrepare to take the battle to a new metropolis in the all-new Urzikstan map, the new big Battle Royale map. Jump in to celebrate the epic return of Rebirth Island and Fortune’s Keep, two Resurgence maps that are sure to excite veterans and newcomers alike.Loot For RewardsDiscover supply boxes and complete contracts to build your arsenal and gain a tactical advantage.A Game Pass Core subscription is not required to play Call of Duty®: Warzone™. All other online modes still require Game Pass Core.A mobile phone number may be required to be linked to your Activision account to play Call of Duty®: Warzone™.
