Warzone Season 5 - map updates, fresh weapons, and a new Gulag

Warzone Season 5 has launched, bringing some big changes and a lot of new content to the multiplayer battleground. Once you've installed that beefy update file, clocking in at around 13GB on consoles and 19GB on PC, you'll be able to jump into combat and see exactly what's changed in Warzone, as well as trying out the new Operator and working towards unlocking a couple of fresh weapons. As always, there's a lot of information to take in and some of the revisions won't be immediately obvious, so let us bring you up to speed with all the biggest changes in Warzone Season 5.

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New Points of Interest have been added

Warzone Season 5 introduces two new Points of Interest to Verdansk, though these aren't a simple as a couple of fresh areas. Instead, you'll find Mobile Broadcast Stations that offer significant loot rewards, but change locations each match to keep players on their toes, and when you find one you should bear in mind the ominous warning to "keep your head and tune out the broadcast each one emits." The description of the other new Point of Interest has been heavily redacted, so all we know so far is the location has "gone off grid" and will play an important role in "discovering and stopping Stitch."

The way Red Doors work has changed

The Warzone Red Doors that players have been using to teleport around the map have been updated, and may now send you to unexpected random locations other than the loot-filled room that was previously the standard destination. This is apparently due to the arrival of the aforementioned Mobile Broadcast Stations in Warzone Season 5, so we'll need to see what effect they have on journeys through those mysterious doors.

Rush is the brand new Gulag

Once you're eliminated for the first time and shipped off for a survival one-on-one, you'll find yourself in a very different Gulag for Warzone Season 5. If you're a veteran of Black Ops 2 then you may recognise this location as the speedball arena from the Rush map, and with various obstacles blocking your line of sight plus new Gulag loadouts available, you'll need to master this fresh arena to stay in the fight.

EM2 and TEC-9 weapons have been added

To kick off Warzone Season 5, the EM2 assault rifle and TEC-9 SMG from Black Ops Cold War have been added to the weapon pool. The EM2 offers full-auto fire and high damage at a slow rate of fire, while the TEC-9 uniquely has two muzzles to alter its fire type to provide improved accuracy at range, and you'll obtain them for free by reaching Tier 15 and Tier 31 of the Battle Pass respectively. Keep an eye out for the Cane melee weapon and Marshal handgun, as they'll be available by challenges or blueprints later in the season.

Combat Scout and Tempered are new perks

There are a coupe of new perks to add to your loadout in Warzone Season 5, which are always worth experimenting with to see if they'll benefit you or your squad. Combat Scout sits in slot 3, and when equipped will automatically highlight and ping an opponent when you damage them. Tempered is applied to slot 2, and reinforces armor plates to provide protection from 75 damage instead of 50, so you only need to use two armor plates to give yourself full protection. The existing Cold-Blooded perk in slot 1 has been tweaked, to negate the effects of an opponent using Combat Scout and stop them from pinging you with damage.

Kitsune, Hudson, and Stryker join the roster of Operators

Arriving at the start of Warzone Season 5, Kitsune is a cybersecurity specialist (that means hacker) with Yakuza ties who is allied with the Warsaw Pact. Coming later with the mid-season update, future warfighters (of the '80s) Stryker and Hudson, who were last spotted in DC during the Black Ops Cold War single-player campaign, will be added to join the NATO forces.

The Season 5 Battle Pass is full of rewards

We mentioned earlier that the Warzone Season 5 Battle Pass has two free weapons included, but you can also unlock a new Operator, Blueprints, Operator Skins, and a whole lot more as you progress. As an added incentive to pick up the Battle Pass Bundle, if you purchase it within the first two weeks of the season launch you'll receive the bonus "Kyubi" Legendary Operator Skin for Kitsune, as pictured above.

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