Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 & Warzone Season 4 early patch notes
Modern Warfare 3 Season 4 is coming out on May 29th, and you know what that means! Another graphic with text that is a little too small to make out easily. But don’t worry, we’ll break down all the major additions and changes here for you.
Warzone Specific Additions and Changes
Buy Back Solos Coming Back
Buy Back Solos is a returning mode from the original Warzone from back in 2019. As long as you have enough money in your inventory, you will be able to come back after death.
The Specialist Benefit Package
A new and very rare legendary kindness pack that activates the effects of 29 other benefits, but only for the duration of the match in which you took it. Unfortunately, we don’t have any other details on how getting this pack will work in the game, but it’s safe to assume that the new Loot Hot Zones and Bunkers would be a likely candidate.
Foresight Killstreak
The Foresight killstreak is a returning Warzone 2019 classic that will allow you to see where all the safe zones will be on your map ahead of time, a very important advantage for the late game. How we will get this kill streak in the game is unclear, but the shops dotted around the map will probably sell them for a high price, and probably in limited quantity as well.
Unlimited Tac Sprint Boots
Obtained from some of the new bunker locations (discussed later), these boots will provide a flat movement speed boost, and allow for endless tactical sprinting.
Gulag Variations
Four new gulag map rotations will be added, all at launch.
Bunkers Update
The Bunkers around Urzikstan open up with some expanded interiors, accessible via keycards. They will also have secondary exits for teams that want a backup game plan, and will contain information about something mysteriously written as ‘RELEASED’. These bunkers will also contain the aforementioned Tac Sprint boots, and “RELEASED Weapons”.
Edited Weapons
Coming into the season, these weapons, which can be obtained by looting bunkers or hot zones, will be special versions of regular weapons that can have up to 10 attachments, as opposed to the typical five.
POI update
The POI update will progress throughout the season, starting with Popov Power and the new “DNA Bomb” event (discussed later). Many POIs will also turn into ‘Loot Hot Zones’, areas that will reward the first teams there with higher level loot, and that have the potential to hold the new Edited Weapons.
Runaway Train Public Event
The runaway train public event that will drop in-season is an event that modifies the typical endgame of a Warzone match. Teams will have to run to the train and hold on for dear life because the safe zone just moves with it. The train can’t be controlled, but it will at least slow down enough for you to try to get on.
Ranked Updates
The World Series qualifiers will begin the season, along with new ranked game rewards including a large weapon image, new weapon charm, logo and business cards.
Modern Warfare 3 Specific Additions and Changes
Four New Maps
At launch the maps ‘Tokyo’ and ‘Paris’ will be added, and in the season we will see the addition of ‘Incline’ and ‘Das Gross’, all for 6v6 modes.
Two New Modes and Modifiers
We’ll see the return of the “Demolition” game mode, along with a new variant of the “Cranked” game mode, both at launch. We’ll also see four total new playlist modifiers, with ‘Cache’ at launch, and ‘Mutation’, ‘Headshots Only’ and ‘Havoc’ coming in the season. Details on ‘Cache’ and ‘Mutation’ are scarce, but we do know that one of them will be a killstreak modifier to certain playlists.
‘Headshots Only’ is pretty self-explanatory, while ‘Havoc’ is said to be a spin on the Arena Shooter, with a whole host of effects activating once the score for a given team hits a multiple of 12. These include but are not limited to low gravity, camera switching to third person, and get a random gun on a kill.
Two New Benefits
We’ll be getting the new “Mission Control Vest” and “Compression Plate” perks at launch, with the Mission Control Vest giving a similar effect to the “Hardline” perk from older titles. The amount of kills required to get a kill streak is reduced by one, or if you choose to use scoring instead, reduced by 125.
The Compression Plate will activate health regeneration immediately after a kill with either your primary weapon, secondary weapon or throwing knife/star.
Four New Killstreaks
We’ll be getting the ‘Loitering Munition’ killstreak, along with ‘IMS’, the ‘Missile Drone’, and the very scary sounding ‘DNA Bomb’.
Lottering Munitions is a new drone equipped with rockets that will… roam between selected areas. It will then choose which of the selected areas has the most targets, and control fire accordingly.
The IMS is a smart mine of sorts that when placed down and activated, will propel an explosive that will track targets such as players or vehicles.
The Missile Drone is a new direct control drone that will fire tracking missiles at targets.
The DNA Bomb is another major milestone (the exact amount of kills required is still unknown), but unlike the MGB, this one will. no end the match, and simply wipe out the entire enemy team.
Ranked Updates
Ranked updates include new weapon camo, charm and weapon images, along with a full season refresh.
Big Setback for MWZ
Unfortunately, there’s only one update listed for MWZ this season, and it’s not even a very interesting one. Mid-season will see the addition of the ‘Unstable Rift’ activities. These are single-use rifts that will teleport you to a pre-existing rift area, but will now effectively act as a sort of “horde mode”. You will have to face a large number of strong zombies and monsters, and if you successfully defeat them all, the only reward is to erase all your draft cooldowns. Helpful, yes, but not exactly rich in content.
General Updates and Additions
weapons
As with every season, we’ll see the addition of four total weapons with Season 4, with the return of the beloved Kar98k (who we discussed just a few days ago), bearing a new legally safe name (“Marksman Rifle”) and a lame “tactical” black polymer body.
It will be joined by the ‘Superi 46’, a new weapon in the SMG class, with high damage at close range thanks to its higher caliber, while also providing good stability in the medium ranges.
Both of these weapons will be available in the Battle Pass at launch, while the “Reclaimer 18”, a take on the SPAS-12 from older titles, will come mid-season, and will require a challenge to complete. unlock, along with the Sledgehammer melee weapon.
There will also be a total of eight new Aftermarket Parts coming throughout the season, with one coming per week that can be obtained by completing the weekly challenges. The first will be the “JAK Harbinger” Aftermarket Part for the M4 assault rifle, which is a terrible .50 caliber conversion, with much lower firepower, much greater recoil, and greatly reduced bullet velocity.
Operators
There will be three operators available in the season pass, with “Soap”, “Void” and “Hammer”. This will be in addition to two operators available to people who purchase the Blackcell pass which comes with “Copy” and “Dupe”.
events
The first event available will start with the season, that is “Critical Countdown”. As with all events, you’ll be able to progress by playing either core MWIII, Warzone or MWZ. You will collect DNA samples from fallen opponents to discover the truth behind the new DNA Bomb. The rewards for this event have not yet been revealed. This event will take place from May 29th to June 26th.
Next up will be another store event tie-in, with the introduction of the “Gundam” event. Details of the progression for this event are unclear, but like previous shop link events, this one can be boosted by purchasing and using one of the relevant packs from the shop. Rewards include a weapon blueprint for the Bruen Mk9, and a large decal. This event will take place from June 5th to June 19th.
There will be two more events in the season, although details on both are unavailable at this time. The only information we have is that it will run from June 19th to June 26th.
New Vehicle
The “RZR Pro R” will come to all modes with vehicle access, as yet another off-road buggy, albeit with a tighter turning circle, improved fuel economy, but only three total seats.
And that’s all the major additions and changes coming with this season of Modern Warfare 3! Things can of course change, but we’ll keep you updated if that happens.
If you’re looking for more Call of Duty content, and you’re a little behind on our current season of challenges, check out our guide to how to unlock the Jak Wardens, and check back at ProGameGuides as we provide updates throughout the previous season.