CoD Season 3 Revealed - Maps, Zombies Content, Prestige Levels Coming To Black Ops Cold War And Warzone

Activision has shared details on the upcoming Season 3 event for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, and much of the content has now arrived to the game. The publisher ran through the update in a blog post, and we've collected the key points here. It all kicked off with a nuke event that has since destroyed Verdansk.

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Activision published a content roadmap for Season 3 that highlights all the key additions to the new season. This includes more multiplayer maps for Black Ops Cold War, an "update" to the Warzone map, a Hunt for Adler event in Warzone, and more new Zombies content. There are also new weapons and Operators coming, along with new vehicles and new prestige levels. You can see the roadmap below.

Content Live Now

Much of the content listed on the roadmap has already been added to the game, as Treyarch shared in a tweet on April 22, which is Day 2 of the launch event. This includes:

• Yamantau 24/7
• Diesel Face Off 24/7
• Sticks & Stones
• New Battle Pass
• New Season Challenges
• Duga Outbreak
• Toxic Growth Zombies Field Upgrade
• Strafe Run

Release Date, File Size, and Preloading

Season 3 goes live on April 22, but the updates that apply the new content will be available sooner. Black Ops Cold War's Season 3 update will be available on April 20 at 9 PM PT, while Warzone event time is planned for April 21 at 9 PM PT.

In terms of file size, this depends on your platform--you can see all the details below.

Black Ops Cold War Update Sizes

• PlayStation 5: 12.3 GB
• PlayStation 4: 8.1 GB
• Xbox Series X / Xbox Series S: 11.6 GB
• Xbox One: 8.3 GB
• PC: 13.1 GB

Warzone Update Sizes

• PlayStation 5: 25.6 GB
• PlayStation 4: 25.6 GB
• Xbox Series X / Xbox Series S: 25.9 GB
• Xbox One: 25.9 GB
• PC 25.2 GB

Preload Times

PS4 users will be able to preload content from Warzone Season 3 starting April 21 if they have enabled automatic downloads, according to PlayStation.

Hunt For Adler Event

Available at the launch of Season 3 on April 22 will be a new Hunt for Adler limited-time event that includes challenges that span Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. From the sound of the description of the event, it appears players will be headed to Verdansk to find Adler once and for all. Here is the description:

"Naga's forces kept Frank Woods and his CIA strike team busy searching for Russell Adler in the Golden Triangle, buying Stitch the vital time he needed to initiate the next phase of his grand plan. Naga’s distraction may yet turn out to be the pivotal action that determines the course of the Cold War. Meanwhile in Russia, two Perseus operatives travel to Mount Yamantau on a mission to recover top-secret files from a long-forgotten clandestine program for Stitch’s cause. Woods and his team gear up to follow the intel uncovered at Naga’s base of operations in Laos. All signs point to Verdansk, and Adler’s fate is in their hands…"

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Players can earn special rewards, including weapon charms, calling cards, and a new Operator skin, for completing the special challenges.

Verdansk Map Changes

Activision teased that Verdansk is "about to heat up in a big way." The publisher said an event called Operation Rapid Sunder will begin Wednesday, April 21 at 12 PM PT, and run for some time after. More details about whatever this event turns out to be will be announced later. It's widely expected that this is the long-awaited nuke event that will blow up the current version of Verdansk and replace it with something new.

Three New Operators

A new season means more Operators, the first of whom is Wraith, who is featured prominently in the key art for Season 3. "This ex-Norwegian Intelligence Services alpine warfare specialist-turned-Perseus-agent makes a grand entrance demonstrating her skills in infiltration and sabotage. A vital asset in winter operations, cold-blooded and intolerant of weakness, she’s the perfect antagonist to fight against the NATO forces," reads a line from her description.

Players can unlock Wraith right away by purchasing the new Season 3 Battle Pass. If players make it all the way to tier 100, they'll unlock a legendary-level operator skin for Wraith.

The other new operators include Knight, who is a former MI6 wetworks operative, and Antonov, who is a former hitman who joined the armed forces instead of spending more time in jail to pay for his crimes. Knight and Antonov will be added to the games at some point during Season 3, but not at launch.

A bonus Operator, Captain Price, is also coming to Black Ops Cold War and Warzone in Season 3. The new version of Price is called Price '84, and his look is based on the Cold War era. Anyone who already owns Black Ops Cold War gets Price '84 for free. All you have to do is log in and he'll show up, but you need to first log in to Black Ops Cold War and then go to Warzone for him to show up in the battle royale game.

6 New Weapons

Black Ops Cold War and Warzone are adding six new weapons in Season 3. These include:

• PPSh-41 SMG (launch week)
• Swiss K31 Sniper Rifle (launch week)
• Ballistic Knife (launch week)
• CARV.2 Tactical Rifle (in-season)
• AMP63: Pistol (in-season)
• Baseball bat (in-season)

Additionally, some weapons have been tuned, particularly in the LMG class to make them less versatile. The Streetsweeper shotgun has been nerfed, as well.

New Black Ops Cold War Maps

New multiplayer maps are coming to Black Ops Cold War in Season 3, starting with a new map called Diesel that comes to the game during launch week. Also coming during launch week is the Yamantau map, which is set in a Soviet observatory on Mount Yamantau.

Another new map is called Standoff, and if it sounds familiar, that's because it's a remake of the fan-favorite map originally from Black Ops II.

A third new map is called Duga, and it's a multi-team map that's coming sometime during Season 3. This is a large-scale new map set in the Ural mountains. Although it won't be playable in multiplayer until later in the season, it will be featured in Zombies Outbreak at launch.

New Modes:

Season 3 also brings back a very popular mode in the form of Sticks and Stones. In this free-for-all mode, players spawn with the R1 Shadowhunter crossbow, a ballistic knife, and a tomahawk. Players can rack up points by getting kills with the crossbow and knife. If you eliminate players with the tomahawk, their score goes back down to zero.

The second new mode is Multi-Team Elimination, which is coming to Black Ops Cold War sometime during Season 3. Set on the game's biggest map, this mode challenges teams of four to survive in radiation zones that continually expand.

New Scorestreak And More

A new scorestreak called Strafe Run will be available in Black Ops Cold War during the launch week for Season 3. Activating this scorestreak calls in jet fighters that launch rockets down on enemies. Also new in Season 3 is the Cargo Truck vehicle, which is available in multi-team modes. It's described as a "massive beast of machinery" that can sit four soldiers.

Competitive players now also get Combat Record tracking support and the development team has restricted thermal optic attachments during Call of Duty League play.

More Zombies Content

Zombies fans are in for a treat with Season 3 as well, as a new field upgrade called Toxic Growth will be available. This summons a growth of toxic thorns in front of your character. Those who try to move through it see their movement speed cut in half, while they take damage as well. Toxic Growth can be upgraded with Aetherium Crystals, too, to help make it even deadlier. The Dark Ether storyline we've been seeing recently will continue, too.

A new region for the Outbreak mode is also coming. "Duga," which is set in the Ural Mountains, will be available during launch week. It has new documents, audio logs, radio transmissions, and artifacts to find as players attempt to unravel its mysteries.

The Outbreak mode is also getting new vehicles, the FAV and Cargo Truck, during launch week. Additionally, new world events are coming to Outbreak that give players the opportunity to get upgrades to the D.I.E. Machine Wonder weapon. Additionally, the Encounter, Defend, Retrieve, and Holdout objectives will be available in additional regions.

Activision's partnership with Sony also continues with Season 3 for the Zombies Onslaught mode, as PlayStation users are getting new content on the Yamantau map right at the start of the new season. The Standoff map will be added during the season, while Activision teased there will be a limited-time mode coming to Onslaught at some point during Season 3.

New Prestige Levels

With the start of Season 3, your Season level is being wiped down to level 1. To encourage you to go all the way back up, there will be four additional Prestige levels to obtain. These include:

• Level 50: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, Weapon Blueprint, and Battle Pass Tier Skip
• Level 100: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, and Battle Pass Tier Skip
• Level 150: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, and Battle Pass Tier Skip
• Level 190: All Season Challenges Available
• Level 200: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, Battle Pass Tier Skip, Master Prestige Calling Card
• Levels 250 - 1,000: New Prestige Key every 50 levels

Players who make it to level 200 during Season 3 will receive the title "Prestige Master" for the duration of the season. With this, your season level color changes and you're given the ability to create a personalized Prestige icon featuring Prestige icons from past Call of Duty games.

Keep checking back with GameSpot throughout the week for more as we continue to learn more about Season 3.