Black Ops 6 players have put the pedal to the metal on Season 1’s post-launch content, rolling through two Double XP Weekends, conquering the undead in Liberty Falls and Terminus and earning a fancy new assault rifle and SMG on the battle pass.
Now, the midseason update — Season 1 Reloaded — is landing with even more maps, weapons and Christmas cheer later this week. Whether you’re looking to dive into a more festive version of Area 99 or go full medieval and hack away at zombies on Citadelle des Morts, there’s new content for every Black Ops 6 and Warzone mode.
Here’s everything you need to know about the arrival of Season 1 Reloaded, including the release date and time, and what new content you can expect to see when the update drops.
When is Warzone Season 1 Reloaded’s release date and time in Black Ops 6?
Get ready to fight the undead in the new zombie-focused midseason update.
The brand new season will launch new Warzone battle royale and Black Ops 6 content simultaneously when it releases Thursday, Dec. 5. Here’s when you’ll be able to play the new seasonal content in your time zone:
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Eastern Standard Time: Dec. 5, 2024 at 12 p.m.
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Central Standard Time: Dec. 5, 2024 at 11 a.m.
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Mountain Time: Dec. 5, 2024 at 10 a.m.
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Pacific Time: Dec. 5, 2024 at 9 a.m.
As is the norm with Call of Duty HQ updates, PC players will be able to preload the update ahead of time, while console players will only have access to the newest patch several hours before it hits the live servers.
What’s coming to Call of Duty Warzone in Season 1 Reloaded?
Battle Royale and Resurgence players are about to gain access to Ranked Play.
While ranked play already made its debut in Black Ops 6 multiplayer modes, Season 1 Reloaded is bringing the competitive rewards to Warzone.
Ranked modes will become available with Thursday’s update, and they’ll be available to anyone who has 30 combined top 15 placements in Battle Royale and top six placements in Resurgence.
Skill rating points will be gained and lost based on final placements and eliminations — you’ll earn more SR points by eliminating opponents who are ranked higher than you, and fewer SR points from eliminating opponents who are ranked lower.
Fan-favorite CODMAS LTMs are returning on Urzikstan and Area 99.
The “CODMAS” limited-time modes will also return to Warzone.
Holiday Rush in Area 99 will deck the nuclear testing facility in boughs of holly and allow players to access higher-tier loot earlier in the match as they encounter enemies within tighter gas circle rings.
Slay Ride Resurgence on Urzikstan sees Santa Claus join the ranks of the undead as he hijacks the map’s train. Players will grab snowballs, guns and grenades as they fight to be the last team standing as the locomotive barrels out of control.
What’s coming to Black Ops 6 in Season 1?
A new slate of Season 1 events are queued up and ready to go live after the Reloaded update.
While the beginning of Season 1 was primarily focused on integrating Warzone with the newest entry in the Call of Duty franchise, the midseason update brings plenty of new content to Black Ops 6.
Season 1 Reloaded adds a new zombies map and more multiplayer maps, weapons and limited-time modes to celebrate CODMAS this December.
Multiplayer
Racket is a new multiplayer map inspired by the High Rollers Black Ops 6 campaign mission.
The Season 1 Reloaded update will add three maps to the core pool.
Racket is a completely new small map taking place in a Lutazzi syndicate bank vault, while Hacienda is a medium-size vineyard map remastered from Black Ops 4.
A new holiday variant of Nuketown will also sprinkle snow, festive trees and lights throughout the battlefield, as Christmasy limited-time versions of the Ransack and Infected modes take over the map.
New weapons will be added during a slate of new midseason events, including the AMR Mod 4 sniper rifle, the Maelstrom shotgun and the Cleaver melee weapon.
The Maelstrom shotgun is fully automatic — it’ll be a strong close range sweeper.
The XM4 assault rifle and Kompakt 92 SMG are also receiving three-round burst conversion kits, fundamentally changing the way in which these guns can be played.
The new Shrapnel Radar perk marks targets injured by lethal and tactical grenades or field upgrades on the minimap, and the new High Roller wildcard allows players to pick four perks for their loadout instead of the usual three.
The commitment to radical loadout customization is continuing through the end of Black Ops 6’s first season.
Zombies
The new zombies map is the crown jewel of the Season 1 Reloaded update.
The new zombies map — the Citadelle des Morts — will pick up where players left off after slaying Patient 13 at the end of the Terminus Easter egg.
The crew of operators head to the European principality of Avalon to rendezvous with the famous Gabriel Krafft at the castle, but find that he has been captured by the rival French Syndicate.
Between crime rings and a dimensional breach of the undead, players will have to muster their strength to fight through Citadelle des Morts to save Gabriel Krafft and everything he might know.
In addition to the new map, the midseason update introduces a new wonder weapon, zombie variant, Perk-a-Cola, field upgrade, ammo mod, zombies scorestreak and three new Gobblegums.
The new wonder weapon, the Bastard Sword, will be able to turn into four different elemental variants.
Citadelle des Morts’ Bastard Sword wonder weapon can be upgraded into four different elemental archetypes, much like the Origins staves and Der Eisendrache bows from previous games. These fire, lightning, aether and light swords will surely be integral to the map’s overarching Easter egg.
A new undead menace haunts the halls of the castle, too. Players will need to be wary of the dreadful Doppelghast as it erratically lurches through hordes of enemies, firing spines at anyone unlucky enough to cross its path.
Players will have to fend off Doppelghasts, Amalgams, Parasites and Vermins as they fight throughout the Citadelle des Morts.
The Vulture Aid Perk-a-Cola, returning for the first time since Black Ops 2, will keep players stocked up on salvage and ammunition so they can keep fighting the zombie threat.
A new ammo mod, Light Mend, enables weapons to deal light elemental damage, which has a chance to spawn glyphs that heal nearby players, and a new field upgrade, Tesla Storm, encourages a co-op team to close ranks to shock enemies in close proximity.
Every new Perk-a-Cola, ammo mod and field upgrade has three researchable major and minor augments that can be earned through playing the game.
The Hand Cannon multiplayer scorestreak is also coming to zombies mode, and it will be unlocked automatically for any player that participated in the Hit List Season 1 event. Anyone who missed the event will be able to unlock the streak through The Armory.
Boom, headshot. The new Hand Cannon scorestreak will tear through zombie fodder.
The Power Keg and Time Out Gobblegums will become available as the community unlocks them through the Gobblegum Mania event. The Holiday Cheer Gobblegum will be available as soon as the update drops, earnable in the Jingle Hells limited-time mode that converts Liberty Falls into an undead winter wonderland.
To cap off the first major zombies-focused Black Ops 6 update, sweeping balance changes are being made in order to slow the difficulty ramp up across the board.
Mangler spawns are being reduced, and fewer Manglers will be present on a map at any given time. Their arm cannon health will also be reduced, giving players a better chance at defending themselves from ranged attacks.
Parasite damage is also being scaled down between rounds 31 and 91, though regular zombie damage scaling is increasing between rounds 150 and 400.
