Call of Duty Vanguard is here and includes a massive amount of content for players to enjoy. This includes tons of multiplayer enjoyment, from the three core game modes in the title to the impressive progression systems to the Call of Duty Vanguard maps in multiplayer.

There are many Call of Duty Vanguard maps at launch in the game, far more than we have seen in past mainline games in the series, at least at launch. And the best part is that all but a couple of them are brand new maps that have been seen before in the series to date.

One of the issues that I have had with games in the past, like Modern Warfare 2019 and Black Ops Cold War, for instance, they are focused so heavily on remaking older maps to appease long-time fans. In turn, this de-emphasizes the newer ones that move the series forward. 

Fortunately, there are only a couple of remakes in Vanguard. Most importantly, they are not haphazardly chosen as one, in particular, is one of the best Call of Duty Vanguard maps in the entire game. In total, 20 maps are in the game, four of which are only in Champion Hill.

Regarding ranking the best Call of Duty Vanguard maps, those four were excluded since they are in their category, similar to Zombies and its locales. That means that there are 16 maps in total that players can enjoy in the game right now. 

That is an insane amount of maps, especially given that the vast majority of them were created just for Vanguard by Sledgehammer Games. The only returning maps are Dome and Castle, which are fan-favorite destinations. And, no, Sub Pens is a brand new map, oddly enough. 

When it came to ranking the Call of Duty Vanguard maps from worst to best, there were a lot of factors that went into the process. We considered the layout, the look, the feel of playing on it, how balanced the map is, how well it works for multiple game modes, and the map’s point. Size did play a minor role in this discussion, but mainly for balancing purposes.

Overall, though, I would say that the Call of Duty Vanguard maps are quite balanced and one of the best in the series to date in terms of general quality. There are very few bad maps here, so even the lower-ranking ones are better than many of the locations in past games. 

Overall, I enjoy the Call of Duty Vanguard maps as they are welcome to play on almost every time, even if many of them are derivatives of one another. Without further ado, here’s our full ranking of all 16 Call of Duty Vanguard maps in multiplayer from worst to best. 

Unfortunately, starting this list is the worst map in all of Vanguard and, arguably, the only truly bad map there is, and that is Das Haus. This location is quite literally just a house. The spawns are on each side of the house. It takes just a second or two to run into one another. 

Das Haus is absolutely a mess to play on in just about every game mode out there, except maybe Team Deathmatch at launch. It feels like a Gunfight map that was not built at all for the other modes. Unfortunately, there is no Gunfight at this time in Vanguard, so Das Haus feels like a location that has almost no reason to exist for now. 

In all honesty, my thoughts about the next map, Hotel Royal, have not changed much since the Vanguard open beta experience on all platforms. Hotel Royal is unique in being set atop a fancy hotel at nighttime, but that is just about the extent of what makes this place good. 

While not too bad, Hotel Royal is a chaotic and terrible mess to play outside of the tactical modes with the most limited number of people. With four on four matches in Ranked Play, I could see it improve in a game mode like Domination or Search & Destroy. For now, Hotel Royal is a place I avoid as much as possible. 

Dome is one of two main World at War maps that have been remastered and brought back for another round. In this case, Dome is seeing its first return period since that old World War II Call of Duty title. While Dome is not bad, it is a problematic map for many reasons as the last two.

Small maps are not inherently bad, as you’ll see with some of the best maps in the game, but only if the layout is done right. Dome is a map that has aged oddly, being in a chaotic and ruined dome area on the rooftops. There is a lot of verticalities here, but the open space and close spawns make it not one of my favorites, personally. 

After that, we come to the first medium-sized map in the Call of Duty Vanguard maps ranking. Many people like Decoy, but I think it is hit-or-miss, in my opinion. In my case, I think that it is too derivative of the usual two or three-lane multiplayer experience. 

You have the two side approaches on the mostly symmetrical map set in the middle of an idyllic homestead area and the more complex interior and outdoor areas in the middle lane. It is far too formulaic and uninteresting to make it higher on the list. Still, it is at least competitively competent and an interesting location for ranked Search & Destroy in the future. 

For this next entry, we come to the first of a few pairs of maps that are exceedingly similar to one another. Bocage is very much like a counterpart to the previous entry, Decoy, in that it takes place in an open estate with various buildings and a very similar look. 

However, Bocage differs because it is much smaller and easier to hop from one side of the map to the other, plus a more complicated lane design. The unique layout of Bocage makes it a little bit more interesting to me than Decoy, but it is also one that I’m not the biggest fan of. However, I consider it an alright destination. 

I did mention that most of the Call of Duty Vanguard maps are quite good, and it starts here with the first map that I would consider to be a good one: Oasis. Taking place in the middle of a desert oasis, this is another medium-sized map mostly built for symmetry. 

Oasis takes place in North Africa and features a map that is nice for Domination. For the most part, it is a very open medium map that is great for snipers and long-range players, but there are parts here and there that allow for close combat scenarios. Oasis is not perfect as it needs some balancing, for sure, but it is a good map that I enjoy. 

Breaking into the top 10, we have Desert Siege, which I would consider as another group of similar maps. It is a mix of Oasis’ style and the environment with the layout of something like Tuscan, coming up in a moment. Also taking place in North Africa, Desert Siege is less the beauty of Oasis and more the nitty-gritty desert town feel. 

Another medium-sized map I like about Desert Siege is the open feel that is here, too. Feeling slightly larger than Oasis, it does have a bit more going on than Oasis, therefore, not feeling as one-note. One of several Domination-centric maps goes for this interesting offset B point style that is quite common in Vanguard.

While the last two maps were just good, I would consider the next nine really great or even better than that. Starting with Tuscan, this is another map similar to a previous one, being the better version of Desert Siege. 

While the two maps could not look more different, the layout and points on this map are very similar, even down to the offset, nearly the same location as the B point. The difference here is that Tuscan has a better B point in Domination and a more complicated layout that allows for a wide set of playstyles. The one element holding this map, though, is that it is a bit too confusing even after a few matches of playing it, especially in the central area. 

Numa Numa is the next map on this list and one of the most uniquely designed areas in the entire game. In many ways, Numa Numa is one of the most World War II-feeling maps to me, taking place on an island where the classic trench warfare the period was known for is happening. 

There are a lot of trenches and hills on this map, encompassing an overwhelmingly war-torn area. The hills, trenches, and caves led to some fascinating combat scenarios and strategies that shook up the gameplay and gave me a classic Call of Duty 2 and 3 feel I have not felt in over a decade. This is a nicely balanced map for Hardpoint, as probably the best Hardpoint map in the game, so here’s hoping that it is included in Ranked Play for that. 

Coming up next on this list are a couple of maps that I have admittedly not spent as much time with thus far (thanks, RNG) but made up for in some private matches at least. First up is Demyansk, one of the only snow-covered maps in the game that is highly reminiscent of a smaller and more balanced Crossroads from Black Ops Cold War.

Crossroads was one of my favorite maps in Cold War (only the large version). Demyansk takes that look and feel and balances it for a much better compact feel. This is another offset B point Domination map, but one that works decently well for other modes, too, like S&D. I’m a sucker for snowy maps and Demyansk is one of the most fun to traverse in Vanguard. 

Sub Pens might sound like a familiar map name because there is another map in the series that, awkwardly, is called that, but this has little to do with the original Sub Pens. It takes place in the middle of a U-Boat base with one of the most intriguing and complex map layouts in the game. 

What is so fascinating about Sub Pens is that it employs the typical three-lane approach, but in an interesting way. For one, both of the outer lanes can see each other, while the middle area is complex with boats and other vertically unique areas to explore. With the verticality being so important here, it is also a challenging map to fight across, making it one of the most unique and fun, too. 

When it comes to the top five Call of Duty Vanguard maps, these are not only the best ones in the entire game but some of the best Call of Duty maps that you will find anywhere. Starting, we have Eagle’s Nest, which is built from the ground up with a competitive vibe in mind. 

It is highly symmetrical with a little bit of snow here and there as you fight in the middle of some mountains. The three-lane nature here is perfectly balanced and it is the best “competitive” map in the game. While a bit formulaic, it is finely tuned to be one of the most fun and strategic locations you can find in the game. It is also likely the very best S&D map in the game. 

After Eagle’s Nest and Demyansk, Red Star is the final snowy location and my favorite of the bunch. A quite controversial map; it is very divisive with you either loving or hating it. Red Star is one of the largest maps in the game. I adore the open nature of the middle area and the outer borders having more indoor and intricate areas.

I’m not usually a sniper, but Vanguard changed that. Red Star is a sniper’s dream for the middle area, while the indoor sections appeal to other playstyles. I think that Red Star is one of the most fun maps I’ve played in a long time. It works well for Patrol (now that spawns are better) and S&D alike, hopefully cementing it a spot in Ranked Play. 

Gavutu is the final map from the beta that is on this list and it remains one of the best in the game. Taking place in the middle of some tropical islands, it is like Numa Numa in that it has a unique layout to it. However, whereas Numa Numa shows the horror of war, Gavutu remains beautiful. 

This tropical island is complex enough, having some lanes but including various paths that you can take to get from one area to another. It works well for just about every game mode, too, ranging from S&D to Domination to Team Deathmatch and more. It is the jack-of-all-trades map that would be a fantastic and unique addition to Ranked Play. 

When it comes to the second-best map in the game, we have another large one with Berlin. One of the other few maps taking place at night, I prefer this destination over Hotel Royal. Berlin takes place in the middle of the Battle of Berlin in a war-torn landscape. 

Many buildings are destroyed that you can run through and outdoor areas, too. It is also one of the only maps in the entire game that gives off that Battlefield vibe that I liked from some of the maps in Cold War, making it one of the best in the game. While I do not expect it to be in Ranked Play, this is a destination I will come back to repeatedly. 

Last but not least, the number one best map in Vanguard is Castle. Vanguard is the first place I’ve played this map as World at War was one of the few Call of Duty games I never played. However, Castle is unequivocally the best map in the entire game and the epitome of pure Call of Duty fun. 

Taking place in a gorgeous castle in Japan, Castle is the most beautiful map released in Call of Duty history, and it will be hard to beat in the years to come. My first match playing here was Team Deathmatch, and, at one point, I just stood there and stared at the landscape in awe alongside family members watching who was also stunned that this was a Call of Duty game. 

Castle is not just notable for its beauty, though, but it is also quite fun to play. It is nicely divided between the outdoor, vertically focused area on one side and the indoor areas. While not as big as something like Berlin or Red Star, it still has that battlefield nature where I could be fighting lengthy battles outdoors and then switch to the indoor areas for a different feeling experience. No matter what I did or where I went, I found that Castle is the purest and lovable gameplay experience in Vanguard, even though it is more than a decade old.