Call of Duty: Warzone Season 1 launched alongside Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 and is the biggest shake-up to Battle Royale in a long time: a new large map, a new Resurgence map, a platform change and a different way of handling older weapons. This guide, written by the SequeLariCOD team from the official Call of Duty post and the season notes, gathers the essentials for anyone dropping in for the first time this season.
When it started and where you can play
According to the official post, the season went live at midnight on November 6, US Eastern time, which is 2 a.m. the same day in Brasília time. The big platform news is Warzone arriving on Nintendo Switch 2 right at the start of the season.
The other change matters to a lot of people: starting this season, Warzone and Modern Warfare 4 no longer run on PS4 and Xbox One. Your progress is not lost. If you sign in on a supported platform with the same linked Activision account, you pick up where you left off. If you play on an older console, take a moment to check which account is linked to your profile before switching devices.
What changes in your first match
Warzone is now integrated with Modern Warfare 4. In practice, your player level starts over, and Prestige is optional and shared across Multiplayer, DMZ and Warzone. All 33 Modern Warfare 4 launch weapons come to Battle Royale, along with the new season weapons, and Daily Challenges, the Battle Pass and BlackCell all move forward on the same progress.
Two movement changes stand out. Tactical Sprint, the faster run, returns for every operator without needing a perk, but it lasts a little less. You can also now drag an ally while reviving them, which helps pull a teammate out of an exposed spot. The post also mentions weapon balance tuning, better visibility on the maps and clearer footstep audio.
Legacy weapons: what carries over from earlier games
Almost everything you collected in Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 stays with you in Warzone: operators and their skins, weapon blueprints, calling cards, emblems, emotes, parachutes and other cosmetics. There is a new option to choose which operator skins appear in Warzone only.
Weapons from those games become Legacy weapons and sit in their own tab in the loadout menu. You can use them, but you cannot edit them in Gunsmith, and they have no Mastery Camos and no build codes. Each Legacy weapon has a ready-made five-attachment version, and Legacy blueprints start locked and unlock with player XP in the Armory. In the SequeLariCOD Weapons section, every Black Ops 7 weapon already shows this tag.
Hajin: the new Battle Royale map
Hajin is the first Warzone map on the Korean Peninsula and ties into the Modern Warfare 4 campaign. It spans the north and the south, with 13 major locations, including Hajin City, the Imjin farmland, Chang-san Air Base and Deadtown. The Warzone version is not the same as the DMZ one: the circle and gas work as in Battle Royale, vehicles and the spread of loot and objects change, and the radioactive cloud at the Hanuel reactor is not here.
The weather changes during a match, with fog, wind, rain and distant storms, and that affects how far you can see. The Hajin Gulag keeps the classic one-on-one duel to get back into the match, in two symmetrical arenas with obstacles you can climb. Our interactive Hajin map shows the approximate position of the 13 major locations, always with a link to the official guide.
Zodiac: Resurgence inside a drone factory
The new Resurgence map, Zodiac, is set at the DRC Advanced Systems drone assembly headquarters in South Korea. It has ten locations, such as Admin, Trackline, Furnace and Solar. The map features trains running on a double track, underground tunnels, moving solar panels, conveyor belts at the furnace and explosive fuel barrels. According to the post, it was made by Beenox together with Infinity Ward.
New tools to try
- Zipline Launcher: creates a zipline anyone can use, including the other team, so think before leaving a ready path for others.
- Grabber Drone: a drone with limited battery that fetches items, objects in the environment, weapons in hard-to-reach places and even downed teammates.
- Environmental objects: fuel barrels you can carry, plus dumpsters, concrete cylinders and pyramids you can push to build roadblocks.
- Weapon Augments: three kinds (close quarters, marksman and handling), sold at Buy Stations that arrive by drone, in limited numbers.
- In Resurgence: a station to trade your weapon for a rarer version and kits that give a bonus on your next redeploy.
There is also Grind for Royalty, with personal challenges built from your own stats, which reset every season and award gold camos.
Season modes
At launch you get Battle Royale and Resurgence, in normal and casual versions, plus three limited-time modes. Rally Point, on Zodiac, is a training mode for up to 20 people with no circle and infinite respawns, where you can drop in and out at any time and form alliances of up to four players in neutral zones. Massive Resurgence brings up to 120 people to Hajin, and Loaded Resurgence, for up to 44, lets you drop with your own loadout and keep your weapons after redeploying. For mid-season, the post promises Extreme Resurgence and Rockets and Snipers.
Verdansk and Rebirth Island
Both familiar maps are coming back, but the official post marks their return as “in-season” and gives no date. On the SequeLariCOD calendar they stay under “No date yet” until the official source publishes the exact day.
Team tips to get started
- Start with Rally Point: with no circle and infinite respawns, it is the right place to learn Zodiac and try weapons without fear of losing the match.
- Study the map before dropping: picking one of Hajin's 13 locations with your team saves time in the air.
- Review your loadout: since your level started over, the ready-made Legacy weapons can help while you unlock the new ones.
- Agree on team roles: a well-placed Grabber Drone and zipline are worth more when everyone knows the plan.
- Take breaks: long matches are tiring, so drink water and rest your eyes between drops.
Call of Duty games are rated Mature 17+ by the ESRB. This article is a summary in our own words; the full details are in the official sources below.