Welcome home.
The original, Call of Duty: Warzone Battle Royale experience returns as Verdansk arrives for players to dive into at the start of Season 03! This is a return to the game’s initial Battle Royale roots, with back-to-basics gameplay, an authentic rebuilding of the Big Map, along with an impressive number of quality-of-life improvements.
In this highly detailed blog, we break down the rebuilding process of Verdansk, a lengthy showcase of the game’s features, the host of modes, event rewards, and initial weapon details, as well as how to prepare for launch. Separate to this blog is the Tour of Verdansk, a visual recon of all the major Points of Interest, as well as smaller, but still important locations you’ll remember from your past drops.
Note: Ensure you’re up to date with all Season 03 content by checking out the following blogs:
Read This Now: Tour of Verdansk
Read This Now: Verdansk Tac-Atlas
March 27: Season 03 Announcement (Multiplayer, Zombies, General Content Intel)
March 28: Updates to Ricochet: Anti-Cheat™ and security updates
April 2: Battle Pass, BlackCell and Store Bundles Blog
Then make sure you preload the game prior Black Ops 6’s Season 03 launch on April 2, which comes with a 24-hour Free Trial featuring all premium content available to everyone, and the launch of Verdansk and Call of Duty: Warzone on April 3! All the details you need to know are later in this blog.
Part 1: Rebuilt from the Ground Up. Just as you Remember it*
Familiar, Enhanced, and Improved: Verdansk is rebuilt from the ground up meticulously recreated with a variety of light adjustments and quality-of-life improvements.
Examples You Need to Know: Expect intel on some of the exact one-to-one map duplications, enhanced details on structures and draw distances, additional cosmetic details, improved access along steep slopes and across buildings, and more.
Combat on the Kastovian Coast: Get ready for engagements along the southern cliffs; the newly accessible coast and shoreline trenches are detailed.
When Verdansk returns on April 3, 2025, players who dropped in five years previously on March 10, 2020, should instantly recognize this as the original Big Map Call of Duty: Warzone experience.
This version of Verdansk has been painstakingly rebuilt from the ground up to give you the very best battle royale experience possible. That experience balances the immersion, adjusted movement mechanics, and the signature gameplay you remember from the original Call of Duty: Warzone with one overriding goal: To relive the classic and nostalgic Verdansk map we all remember.
From exploring the rugged wilderness of the northern villages, Military Base and Quarry, to the first time landing at Superstore or Hospital, to surviving your first 1v1 prison Gulag, a great deal of work has gone into making Verdansk as exact, detailed, and authentic an update as possible.
In the most basic terms, this version of Verdansk is 95% a rebuilt version of Verdansk in 2020, with around five percent of the map’s landscape receiving light adjustments and quality-of-life improvements. Veteran players remembering back to Modern Warfare 2019 Seasons should think of Verdansk in Season 03 as the map that dropped in March 2020, with a few elements from that game’s later seasons added – like the Metro Station entrances – and a variety other map changes scheduled across future seasons…
The separate Recon Tour Blog of Verdansk’s famous Points of Interest (click here to read it), and the accompanying descriptions in that blog should be all the intel you need to understand how faithful this version of the map is.
Familiar. Enhanced. And Improved: It’s the Little Things
The look and feel of Season 03 Verdansk falls into one of three categories:
Let’s take a moment to look at some specific visual examples of these adjustments. Remember these are mostly very subtle and designed to be beneficial without influencing the map’s original combat flow.
Note: If the following examples include comparison screenshots, images of the original Verdansk (taken in February 2020) are on the left, and Season 03 Verdansk (taken in March 2025) are on the right, as indicated on each image. Otherwise, consider all imagery to be from the current version of Verdansk.
Example 1 (Comparison): Familiar Facsimiles
FAMILIAR: For the vast majority of the map, structures, roadways, and scenery are a one-to-one duplication, as shown in the two examples (above). Both this exterior section of Karst River Quarry (Top) and the interior of Superstore (Bottom) are pretty much identical, aside from improved interior lighting and renumbering of the checkout area.
Example 2 (Comparison): Enhanced Topography
ENHANCED: Top: Certain structures – like this Fire Station – have received a detail pass. Bottom: Grazna Bridge (west of TV Station) shows Gora River is no longer frozen, though the water is only ankle-deep. This ground thaw extends across most of the map, and changes how you hear enemy footsteps as they splash through water rather than crunch through ice. Also look through the bridge arch to compare the understated improvements to the draw distance at longer ranges.
Example 3 (Comparison): Enhanced Detail
ENHANCED: Top: Rummage around in Storage Town, and you’ll discover a variety of subtle cosmetic details added, including weeds on the garage roofs and ground, reflective puddles, additional electrical pipework and other minor additions. Bottom: In the western foothills, Bunker 02 has enhanced and climbable outcrops, extra detail along the combat zone perimeter, and longer-range visibility.
Example 4 (Comparison): Improved Access
IMPROVED: Top: The Verdansk Police Stations – like this one close to Airport Maintenance – have received art and clarity adjustments. Examples include the three left-most top-floor windows which are now openings, and more illuminating interior lighting.
Bottom: Back at Storage Town, the roof of Building 3 is now less of an unfair power position as a ladder has been added to the exterior balcony. Again, a very minor adjustment, but one that enables Operators to reach many of the places that only parachutes could be used to get to.
Example 5 (Season 03 Verdansk): Enhanced Details Everywhere
ENHANCED: Visit familiar locations, like Gora Dam (Top-left), and you may find small improvements, like a jetty over the ice, which doesn’t appear to take the weight of a truck. Or navigate through the car dealership close to Airport (Top-right), as the exterior sign has fallen, creating a ramp to the upper interior. A favorite hot-drop are Hangars (Bottom), which features some slightly repositioned cargo planes to aid Operators rushing the tarmac, while the main airport runway itself has a few additional concrete jacks to use as cover.
Example 6 (Season 03 Verdansk): Coast; the new Southern Shoreline, Bunker 09 Switchbacks
IMPROVED: Running west to east along the southern edge of Hills, now that swimming is possible, access to the Kastovian Sea has opened up and a new shoreline can be traversed, all the way from the southwestern edge of the map (south of the Kart Racing Track) all the way east to the Prison. Along the way are trails up the cliffs, as well as wooden viewing platforms (Top row) allowing a quick ascent from the water as Ascenders appear in the game.
Cross the mouth of Karst River by Docks, and when you reach the marshland to the southeast, you’ll discover a set of trenches (Bottom-left). When you’re finally in the Prison grounds, a new set of pathway switchbacks has been carved into the cliffs above Bunker 09 (Bottom-right), all built to aid in map traversal.
Verdansk Recon Tour: Access Granted!
For much more details on the topography of the map, consult the Tour of Verdansk Blog, and explore 19 spectacular main Points of Interest, as well as a host of other memorable places you’ll be visiting. Click here to see and read more. For now, let’s take a first glimpse at some of these locations:
(Clockwise from Top-left) It’s time to start planning your first game-winning match: Some favorite hot-drops include the top of the Gora Dam, the roof of Hospital, the infamous Atlas Superstore, and the more remote Karst River Quarry.
(Clockwise from Top-left) Battle across familiar territory as Train Station, Gora Dam complex, Scrapyard (within the Zhokov Boneyard) and Airport are all just as you remember them, and all viable places to battle through as you focus on victory.
(Clockwise from Top-left) Towers, tenement blocks, chaos, and concrete: The biggest POI of all, Downtown Tavorsk District is just as you remember it, allowing for match-winning strategies you’ve already planned for. Gold lions guard the bank, the museum sits ready for rooftop sniping, and the infamous SKN Comm Tower is still on fire.
Getting Granular: It’s All in the Details
Now that you’ve seen a variety of the limited and extremely subtle adjustments and quality-of-life improvements to the map, here’s a general summary of what to expect across Season 03 Verdansk as a whole:
Verdansk is Back… to Basics: Featuring authentic, back-to-basics gameplay with the latest in fan-favorite mechanics, there’s a wide variety of features returning or incoming to the game.
Omnimovement adjustments: Fine-tuning has been made to bring movement more in line with what players experienced in the early days of Call of Duty: Warzone.
Like We Never Left: 150 players. The original announcer. Shooting during freefall. Original Infil cinematics. All before you hit the ground running!
Original Game Mechanics: Original Supply Boxes, Floating Loot, Armor Satchels and Buy Station menus, coupled with current Loadouts and Perks, with High Value Loot Zones across the map where some premium loot resides.
A Retro Refresh: In-game loot gets a retro refresh, Thermite is back, while Contracts, In-Match Public Events, Field Upgrades and Killstreaks are back to basics: Verdansk in 2020 basics.
Cargo Truck. Heli. And More: The return of the helicopter, and four ground vehicles all rebalanced to ensure steering and handling keeps to the spirit of the original iteration of the game.
All Gas, No Brakes: Circle Collapse mechanics are just how you remember them from five years ago with Loadout Drops at the second and fifth circles. So-called endgame “dead zones” have been minimized.
Going Up in the World: Exterior Ascenders are coming to Verdansk, but later in the season in Battle Royale Modes, after the original March 2020 gameplay mechanics are employed (before Ascenders came to the game). Rooftop exploits however, are mitigated.
Verdansk Opens Up: As Season 03 progresses, expect the first Points of Interest to open up. This is just the start of the map adjustments you can expect over the multiple seasons to come. Explore areas both topside and below ground, drop onto a moving train, and uncover [[REDACTED]] and more at Mid-Season.
QOL Updates: A variety of quality-of-life updates also hits Call of Duty: Warzone, including Squad Redeploys at Buy Stations, Attachment description at Weapon Inspects, detailed Death recaps in game, and, coming later in the season, a HUD flag so you know exactly when your Loadout is available to buy.
Secrets of Verdansk: There are more revelations, Easter Eggs, and hidden clues to [[REDACTED]] than ever before, across Season 03 and beyond.
Overview: Verdansk is Back!
“Ruck up! You’re headed to the war zone!”
With the arrival of the most important map in Call of Duty: Warzone’s history, this has resulted in the return of many fan-favorite features; numerous “back to basics” gameplay elements that harken back to the very first iteration of the game, along with the latest in current and fan-favorite mechanics, all without sacrificing what made Verdansk so special in the first place.
Call of Duty: Warzone Omnimovement Adjustments (Launch)
The introduction of Black Ops 6's Omnimovement has been a major steppingstone for the game, establishing a new foundation for player movement. Initially, Call of Duty: Warzone adopted movement values directly from Multiplayer with good intent, but adjustments are needed to better align with the unique demands of Call of Duty: Warzone’s map and engagement styles.
Season 03 serves as an opportunity to fine-tune player movement by slightly scaling back some of the speed increases introduced over the past several months. These adjustments bring movement more in line with what players experienced in the early days of Call of Duty: Warzone.
Additionally, changes are being made to omni-sprint speed scaling and slide friction to address the strength of strafe engagements while preserving the feel of sprint-strafe reloading and general movement.
Player Count, Infil and Shooting During Freefall (Launch)
150 Players, Original Announcer, Original Cinematics, Shoot During Infil (Launch)
150 Players: Battle Royale returns to Verdansk with large-scale, battle-tested Operator player counts to match the original experience. Those hot drops will never have felt hotter, and 30 additional rivals ensure you have targets to acquire all the way to the final circle.
Original Announcer: Radioing in from the joint operations base, the original Announcer – sometimes known as “UK Team Leader” with a similar accent to Captain Price – is back, and so is the jostling for position before the drop out of the original cargo plane over Verdansk.
Shooting During Freefall: On your way down from an Infil (or return to action after success in the Gulag, drop from a Heli, or airborne descent from a high building), you’re able to switch between the gentle glide of a parachute to a freefall plummet, which is optimal if you want to clear the skies of enemies also dropping in: Shooting During Freefall is back! Draw your starting weapon – the 9mm PM Pistol – and eliminate foes, or cause some damage before facing them on the ground!
Infil and Exfil Cinematics: At Infil, expect to step out from the bay of a giant cargo plane that looms out of the clouds, and for those Operators skilled enough, expect the classic Exfil helicopter to drop a rope for a final escape from the encroaching gas, once all threats are neutralized. Then figuratively press “F” to pay respects to the defeated squads you dominated on your path to match victory!
Crates, Armor Satchel, Looting, Loadouts, High Value Loot Zones (Launch, Mid-Season)
Original Supply Box Colors, Original Floating Loot, Original Armor Satchel (Launch)
Original Supply Box Colors: Once you’re on the ground, it’s time to loot: You’re likely to hear the familiar “original hum” of a Supply Box before you see one. The crates themselves are the original ones; the gray-colored regular crates and more legendary orange crates, along with special supply crates with yellow markings that are accessed during Scavenger Contracts.
Original Floating Loot: As expected, ground loot – whether found at a Buy Station, Supply Crate, or after inspecting a downed foe – is color-coded based on rarity and now springs out of a crate in a variety of directions and floats a few inches off the ground, just as it did originally.
Current Reusable Supply Box: The darker blue Supply Boxes that are refilled as the match progresses are also available across Verdansk.
Original Armor Satchel: The original Armor Satchel – first added during Season 03 Reloaded of Modern Warfare 2019 – is also back, enabling eight Armor Plates to be carried instead of the normal five without the Satchel. The Armor Satchel is found in Supply Crates or as ground loot.
The original Armor Satchel takes the place of the current Armor Satchel. All other Satchel types (the Ammo Satchel) are removed, allowing for as close an original Verdansk experience as possible.
Current Loot Pool, Current Loot User Interface, Current Loadouts (Launch)
Current Loot Pool: Expect the type of loot you find on the ground, from fallen enemies, and in crates to be based on the selection of armaments you can choose from currently in Call of Duty: Warzone. This includes Weapons (Primary, Pistol, Melee), Tacticals, and Lethals. See below for the available Field Upgrades and Killstreaks, which are based on those available originally.
Current Loot User Interface: Each item you look at has the current GUI system applied to it, allowing for simple, at-a-glance information and rarity value with attachments for rarer blueprint weapons.
Current Loadouts and Perks: Before Infil to Verdansk, you’re able to create multiple Custom Loadouts as normal to use in-match, with the full selection of MWII, MWIII, and BO6 weapons and equipment. This includes Weapons (Primary, Pistol, Melee), Tacticals, Lethals, three Perks, and a Wildcard.
Call of Duty: Warzone Verdansk Credits
Call of Duty®: Warzone™ Verdansk Credits: Beenox, Raven Software and High Moon Studios. Additional support from Activision Shanghai, Activision Central Tech, Sledgehammer Games and Treyarch. Original map design by Infinity Ward.
© 2025 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, CALL OF DUTY WARZONE, MODERN WARFARE, and CALL OF DUTY BLACK OPS are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.
For more information, please visit http://www.callofduty.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/callofduty, and follow @Activision and @CallofDuty on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook. For Call of Duty Updates, follow @CODUpdates on X (formerly Twitter).
(*Verdansk is just as you remember it, but with a few caveats detailed in the blog above)
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The original, Call of Duty: Warzone Battle Royale experience returns as Verdansk arrives for players to dive into at the start of Season 03! This is a return to the game’s initial Battle Royale roots, with back-to-basics gameplay, an authentic rebuilding of the Big Map, along with an impressive number of quality-of-life improvements.
In this highly detailed blog, we break down the rebuilding process of Verdansk, a lengthy showcase of the game’s features, the host of modes, event rewards, and initial weapon details, as well as how to prepare for launch. Separate to this blog is the Tour of Verdansk, a visual recon of all the major Points of Interest, as well as smaller, but still important locations you’ll remember from your past drops.
Note: Ensure you’re up to date with all Season 03 content by checking out the following blogs:
Read This Now: Tour of Verdansk
Read This Now: Verdansk Tac-Atlas
March 27: Season 03 Announcement (Multiplayer, Zombies, General Content Intel)
March 28: Updates to Ricochet: Anti-Cheat™ and security updates
April 2: Battle Pass, BlackCell and Store Bundles Blog
Then make sure you preload the game prior Black Ops 6’s Season 03 launch on April 2, which comes with a 24-hour Free Trial featuring all premium content available to everyone, and the launch of Verdansk and Call of Duty: Warzone on April 3! All the details you need to know are later in this blog.
Part 1: Rebuilt from the Ground Up. Just as you Remember it*
Familiar, Enhanced, and Improved: Verdansk is rebuilt from the ground up meticulously recreated with a variety of light adjustments and quality-of-life improvements.
Examples You Need to Know: Expect intel on some of the exact one-to-one map duplications, enhanced details on structures and draw distances, additional cosmetic details, improved access along steep slopes and across buildings, and more.
Combat on the Kastovian Coast: Get ready for engagements along the southern cliffs; the newly accessible coast and shoreline trenches are detailed.
When Verdansk returns on April 3, 2025, players who dropped in five years previously on March 10, 2020, should instantly recognize this as the original Big Map Call of Duty: Warzone experience.
This version of Verdansk has been painstakingly rebuilt from the ground up to give you the very best battle royale experience possible. That experience balances the immersion, adjusted movement mechanics, and the signature gameplay you remember from the original Call of Duty: Warzone with one overriding goal: To relive the classic and nostalgic Verdansk map we all remember.
From exploring the rugged wilderness of the northern villages, Military Base and Quarry, to the first time landing at Superstore or Hospital, to surviving your first 1v1 prison Gulag, a great deal of work has gone into making Verdansk as exact, detailed, and authentic an update as possible.
In the most basic terms, this version of Verdansk is 95% a rebuilt version of Verdansk in 2020, with around five percent of the map’s landscape receiving light adjustments and quality-of-life improvements. Veteran players remembering back to Modern Warfare 2019 Seasons should think of Verdansk in Season 03 as the map that dropped in March 2020, with a few elements from that game’s later seasons added – like the Metro Station entrances – and a variety other map changes scheduled across future seasons…
The separate Recon Tour Blog of Verdansk’s famous Points of Interest (click here to read it), and the accompanying descriptions in that blog should be all the intel you need to understand how faithful this version of the map is.
Familiar. Enhanced. And Improved: It’s the Little Things
The look and feel of Season 03 Verdansk falls into one of three categories:
- Familiar: The map is rebuilt to be the same as the original map you remember. This is around 95% of the play space.
- Enhanced: Just the same as the Verdansk 2020 map with beneficial adjustments.
- Improved: New elements within an existing area based on the current game designed with quality-of-life upgrades in mind.
Let’s take a moment to look at some specific visual examples of these adjustments. Remember these are mostly very subtle and designed to be beneficial without influencing the map’s original combat flow.
Note: If the following examples include comparison screenshots, images of the original Verdansk (taken in February 2020) are on the left, and Season 03 Verdansk (taken in March 2025) are on the right, as indicated on each image. Otherwise, consider all imagery to be from the current version of Verdansk.
Example 1 (Comparison): Familiar Facsimiles
FAMILIAR: For the vast majority of the map, structures, roadways, and scenery are a one-to-one duplication, as shown in the two examples (above). Both this exterior section of Karst River Quarry (Top) and the interior of Superstore (Bottom) are pretty much identical, aside from improved interior lighting and renumbering of the checkout area.
Example 2 (Comparison): Enhanced Topography
ENHANCED: Top: Certain structures – like this Fire Station – have received a detail pass. Bottom: Grazna Bridge (west of TV Station) shows Gora River is no longer frozen, though the water is only ankle-deep. This ground thaw extends across most of the map, and changes how you hear enemy footsteps as they splash through water rather than crunch through ice. Also look through the bridge arch to compare the understated improvements to the draw distance at longer ranges.
Example 3 (Comparison): Enhanced Detail
ENHANCED: Top: Rummage around in Storage Town, and you’ll discover a variety of subtle cosmetic details added, including weeds on the garage roofs and ground, reflective puddles, additional electrical pipework and other minor additions. Bottom: In the western foothills, Bunker 02 has enhanced and climbable outcrops, extra detail along the combat zone perimeter, and longer-range visibility.
Example 4 (Comparison): Improved Access
IMPROVED: Top: The Verdansk Police Stations – like this one close to Airport Maintenance – have received art and clarity adjustments. Examples include the three left-most top-floor windows which are now openings, and more illuminating interior lighting.
Bottom: Back at Storage Town, the roof of Building 3 is now less of an unfair power position as a ladder has been added to the exterior balcony. Again, a very minor adjustment, but one that enables Operators to reach many of the places that only parachutes could be used to get to.
Example 5 (Season 03 Verdansk): Enhanced Details Everywhere
ENHANCED: Visit familiar locations, like Gora Dam (Top-left), and you may find small improvements, like a jetty over the ice, which doesn’t appear to take the weight of a truck. Or navigate through the car dealership close to Airport (Top-right), as the exterior sign has fallen, creating a ramp to the upper interior. A favorite hot-drop are Hangars (Bottom), which features some slightly repositioned cargo planes to aid Operators rushing the tarmac, while the main airport runway itself has a few additional concrete jacks to use as cover.
Example 6 (Season 03 Verdansk): Coast; the new Southern Shoreline, Bunker 09 Switchbacks
IMPROVED: Running west to east along the southern edge of Hills, now that swimming is possible, access to the Kastovian Sea has opened up and a new shoreline can be traversed, all the way from the southwestern edge of the map (south of the Kart Racing Track) all the way east to the Prison. Along the way are trails up the cliffs, as well as wooden viewing platforms (Top row) allowing a quick ascent from the water as Ascenders appear in the game.
Cross the mouth of Karst River by Docks, and when you reach the marshland to the southeast, you’ll discover a set of trenches (Bottom-left). When you’re finally in the Prison grounds, a new set of pathway switchbacks has been carved into the cliffs above Bunker 09 (Bottom-right), all built to aid in map traversal.
Verdansk Recon Tour: Access Granted!
For much more details on the topography of the map, consult the Tour of Verdansk Blog, and explore 19 spectacular main Points of Interest, as well as a host of other memorable places you’ll be visiting. Click here to see and read more. For now, let’s take a first glimpse at some of these locations:
(Clockwise from Top-left) It’s time to start planning your first game-winning match: Some favorite hot-drops include the top of the Gora Dam, the roof of Hospital, the infamous Atlas Superstore, and the more remote Karst River Quarry.
(Clockwise from Top-left) Battle across familiar territory as Train Station, Gora Dam complex, Scrapyard (within the Zhokov Boneyard) and Airport are all just as you remember them, and all viable places to battle through as you focus on victory.
(Clockwise from Top-left) Towers, tenement blocks, chaos, and concrete: The biggest POI of all, Downtown Tavorsk District is just as you remember it, allowing for match-winning strategies you’ve already planned for. Gold lions guard the bank, the museum sits ready for rooftop sniping, and the infamous SKN Comm Tower is still on fire.
Getting Granular: It’s All in the Details
Now that you’ve seen a variety of the limited and extremely subtle adjustments and quality-of-life improvements to the map, here’s a general summary of what to expect across Season 03 Verdansk as a whole:
- Trees aren’t in precisely the same exact positions as they were in the original map.
- Any parked vehicle that aren’t drivable now look much more like smoldering wreckage, ensuring players can easily distinguish immovable automobiles from the Cargo Truck, LTV, and other accessible vehicles.
- One of the biggest changes is the ability to swim, which wasn’t originally possible. The southern combat zone has been extended out into the Kastovian Sea, and the coastline is now accessible. However, this isn’t critical to gameplay, and none of the rest of the map requires swimming.
- Some of the more unforgiving areas of steep and rocky terrain have been adjusted so that mantling and traversal maneuvers are easier, and “goat trails” are a little more prominent.
- Telephone and electrical poles have been slightly shortened in some locations to enable easier parachute landing.
- Other traversal points or areas that disadvantaged some players have been given minor adjustments, allowing routes to rooftops that may have originally been accessible only by parachute. This includes the addition of newly positioned ladders.
- Doors can be barged through, are usually double hinged (they swing open in both directions) and can be shot or blown open or closed.
- While Ascenders weren’t in the original Verdansk launch (they were originally added at Season 5 of Modern Warfare 2019) and aren’t planned to arrive until later into Season 03 in Battle Royale matches, these have been test-fitted to numerous buildings to enable players to reach otherwise difficult-to-reach rooftops, in preparation for them to return to the game mode. These aren’t the original “A” frame shape, but the newer “L” shape with current mechanics allowing for much faster traversal from the zip line to rooftop. Available in Plunder at launch, they’re scheduled to be bolted to the rooftops and overhangs you remember from the original Verdansk. Read more in the Features section of this blog.
- The lighting of the exterior map, the draw-distance at range, general visibility and “haze” of the map has been adjusted to enhance clarity and minimize glare.
- The lighting of interiors has been adjusted to favor more immediate spotting of enemy Operators, and the glare between exiting and entering interiors has been reduced. Or to put it another way, “minimizing the advantage of hiding in dark corners wearing a Roze skin.”
- Detail art passes and scenery enhancements have been added for areas that can benefit from it, such as additional exterior details to the Fire Stations, and extra detritus along the riverbanks. This also extends to some new, additional scattered wreckage players can use as cover.
- The HUD compass text font at the top of the screen indicating the name of the location you’re at has been updated to match the current graphical user interface.
- The user interface has been simplified, as detailed later in this blog.
Verdansk is Back… to Basics: Featuring authentic, back-to-basics gameplay with the latest in fan-favorite mechanics, there’s a wide variety of features returning or incoming to the game.
Omnimovement adjustments: Fine-tuning has been made to bring movement more in line with what players experienced in the early days of Call of Duty: Warzone.
Like We Never Left: 150 players. The original announcer. Shooting during freefall. Original Infil cinematics. All before you hit the ground running!
Original Game Mechanics: Original Supply Boxes, Floating Loot, Armor Satchels and Buy Station menus, coupled with current Loadouts and Perks, with High Value Loot Zones across the map where some premium loot resides.
A Retro Refresh: In-game loot gets a retro refresh, Thermite is back, while Contracts, In-Match Public Events, Field Upgrades and Killstreaks are back to basics: Verdansk in 2020 basics.
Cargo Truck. Heli. And More: The return of the helicopter, and four ground vehicles all rebalanced to ensure steering and handling keeps to the spirit of the original iteration of the game.
All Gas, No Brakes: Circle Collapse mechanics are just how you remember them from five years ago with Loadout Drops at the second and fifth circles. So-called endgame “dead zones” have been minimized.
Going Up in the World: Exterior Ascenders are coming to Verdansk, but later in the season in Battle Royale Modes, after the original March 2020 gameplay mechanics are employed (before Ascenders came to the game). Rooftop exploits however, are mitigated.
Verdansk Opens Up: As Season 03 progresses, expect the first Points of Interest to open up. This is just the start of the map adjustments you can expect over the multiple seasons to come. Explore areas both topside and below ground, drop onto a moving train, and uncover [[REDACTED]] and more at Mid-Season.
QOL Updates: A variety of quality-of-life updates also hits Call of Duty: Warzone, including Squad Redeploys at Buy Stations, Attachment description at Weapon Inspects, detailed Death recaps in game, and, coming later in the season, a HUD flag so you know exactly when your Loadout is available to buy.
Secrets of Verdansk: There are more revelations, Easter Eggs, and hidden clues to [[REDACTED]] than ever before, across Season 03 and beyond.
Overview: Verdansk is Back!
“Ruck up! You’re headed to the war zone!”
With the arrival of the most important map in Call of Duty: Warzone’s history, this has resulted in the return of many fan-favorite features; numerous “back to basics” gameplay elements that harken back to the very first iteration of the game, along with the latest in current and fan-favorite mechanics, all without sacrificing what made Verdansk so special in the first place.
Call of Duty: Warzone Omnimovement Adjustments (Launch)
The introduction of Black Ops 6's Omnimovement has been a major steppingstone for the game, establishing a new foundation for player movement. Initially, Call of Duty: Warzone adopted movement values directly from Multiplayer with good intent, but adjustments are needed to better align with the unique demands of Call of Duty: Warzone’s map and engagement styles.
Season 03 serves as an opportunity to fine-tune player movement by slightly scaling back some of the speed increases introduced over the past several months. These adjustments bring movement more in line with what players experienced in the early days of Call of Duty: Warzone.
Additionally, changes are being made to omni-sprint speed scaling and slide friction to address the strength of strafe engagements while preserving the feel of sprint-strafe reloading and general movement.
Player Count, Infil and Shooting During Freefall (Launch)
150 Players, Original Announcer, Original Cinematics, Shoot During Infil (Launch)
150 Players: Battle Royale returns to Verdansk with large-scale, battle-tested Operator player counts to match the original experience. Those hot drops will never have felt hotter, and 30 additional rivals ensure you have targets to acquire all the way to the final circle.
Original Announcer: Radioing in from the joint operations base, the original Announcer – sometimes known as “UK Team Leader” with a similar accent to Captain Price – is back, and so is the jostling for position before the drop out of the original cargo plane over Verdansk.
Shooting During Freefall: On your way down from an Infil (or return to action after success in the Gulag, drop from a Heli, or airborne descent from a high building), you’re able to switch between the gentle glide of a parachute to a freefall plummet, which is optimal if you want to clear the skies of enemies also dropping in: Shooting During Freefall is back! Draw your starting weapon – the 9mm PM Pistol – and eliminate foes, or cause some damage before facing them on the ground!
Infil and Exfil Cinematics: At Infil, expect to step out from the bay of a giant cargo plane that looms out of the clouds, and for those Operators skilled enough, expect the classic Exfil helicopter to drop a rope for a final escape from the encroaching gas, once all threats are neutralized. Then figuratively press “F” to pay respects to the defeated squads you dominated on your path to match victory!
Crates, Armor Satchel, Looting, Loadouts, High Value Loot Zones (Launch, Mid-Season)
Original Supply Box Colors, Original Floating Loot, Original Armor Satchel (Launch)
Original Supply Box Colors: Once you’re on the ground, it’s time to loot: You’re likely to hear the familiar “original hum” of a Supply Box before you see one. The crates themselves are the original ones; the gray-colored regular crates and more legendary orange crates, along with special supply crates with yellow markings that are accessed during Scavenger Contracts.
Original Floating Loot: As expected, ground loot – whether found at a Buy Station, Supply Crate, or after inspecting a downed foe – is color-coded based on rarity and now springs out of a crate in a variety of directions and floats a few inches off the ground, just as it did originally.
Current Reusable Supply Box: The darker blue Supply Boxes that are refilled as the match progresses are also available across Verdansk.
Original Armor Satchel: The original Armor Satchel – first added during Season 03 Reloaded of Modern Warfare 2019 – is also back, enabling eight Armor Plates to be carried instead of the normal five without the Satchel. The Armor Satchel is found in Supply Crates or as ground loot.
The original Armor Satchel takes the place of the current Armor Satchel. All other Satchel types (the Ammo Satchel) are removed, allowing for as close an original Verdansk experience as possible.
Current Loot Pool, Current Loot User Interface, Current Loadouts (Launch)
Current Loot Pool: Expect the type of loot you find on the ground, from fallen enemies, and in crates to be based on the selection of armaments you can choose from currently in Call of Duty: Warzone. This includes Weapons (Primary, Pistol, Melee), Tacticals, and Lethals. See below for the available Field Upgrades and Killstreaks, which are based on those available originally.
Current Loot User Interface: Each item you look at has the current GUI system applied to it, allowing for simple, at-a-glance information and rarity value with attachments for rarer blueprint weapons.
Current Loadouts and Perks: Before Infil to Verdansk, you’re able to create multiple Custom Loadouts as normal to use in-match, with the full selection of MWII, MWIII, and BO6 weapons and equipment. This includes Weapons (Primary, Pistol, Melee), Tacticals, Lethals, three Perks, and a Wildcard.
Call of Duty: Warzone Verdansk Credits
Call of Duty®: Warzone™ Verdansk Credits: Beenox, Raven Software and High Moon Studios. Additional support from Activision Shanghai, Activision Central Tech, Sledgehammer Games and Treyarch. Original map design by Infinity Ward.
© 2025 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, CALL OF DUTY WARZONE, MODERN WARFARE, and CALL OF DUTY BLACK OPS are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.
For more information, please visit http://www.callofduty.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/callofduty, and follow @Activision and @CallofDuty on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook. For Call of Duty Updates, follow @CODUpdates on X (formerly Twitter).
(*Verdansk is just as you remember it, but with a few caveats detailed in the blog above)
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