Activision has announced a brand new limited-time event in the Call of Duty space. Involving several different games in the franchise, the newly announced Call of Duty Vanguard Festive Fervor limited-time event is coming very soon to offer players some holiday cheer. 

The Call of Duty Vanguard Festive Fervor holiday event was revealed in a new blog post from Activision that announced all of the content and details that players will enjoy in the upcoming event. As part of this holiday extravaganza, new game modes, items, and more. 

A lot is happening in the Call of Duty Vanguard Festive Fervor, from redecorating certain locations in some of the games to brand-new, never-before-seen game modes that are interesting riffs on the usual experiences that we have in Vanguard and more. 

Perhaps the best part about this whole situation is that the limited-time event is not just happening in the most recently released Call of Duty mainline title. It is also happening in other games, including Warzone, as we would expect and some of the older games.

While most of the focus is on Vanguard and Warzone in this new 2021 holiday event, a bit of love is sent towards the last couple of mainline games, including Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War. The best part is that players will not have to wait too much longer to experience the event as it is happening in just a few days. 

The event will kick off on Thursday, December 16, at around 9 p.m. PT, so basically on Friday, December 17, 2021, for much of the world. However, the update that includes event additions and changes will be released on December 15, which is great for players who have slower internet speeds and want to jump into the Call of Duty Vanguard Festive Fervor event right as it begins. Here’s everything you need to know about the Festive Fervor holiday event. 

For starters, the most important part of the Call of Duty Vanguard Festive Fervor event is that players will be able to check out some brand new game modes for a limited time only. The first of these new game modes are not entirely new at all. 

Known as Armageddon mode, this game mode might be better known to players from other Call of Duty games as Drop Zone. Armageddon is pretty much an interesting take on the traditional Team Deathmatch experience for those who have never played this particular game mode before. 

In the Armageddon game mode, the start of the match will see the two teams fighting for control of a marked area that is randomly chosen on the map that you are playing on. This is the Drop Zone and where players will want to spend most of their time in the match. 

When you reach the Drop Zone, the goal is to take over the place because it is the only way to get the care packages in this particular mode. With these valuable care packages, you can reign down fire upon your enemies with various killstreaks that can be found inside. 

Since killstreaks do not exist in this game mode in the usual sense, players must utilize the Drop Zone in the most effective way possible. Furthermore, contrary to what it sounds like, Armageddon is not all about capturing that objective, either. 

This is not a traditional objectives-based game mode like other versions of Drop Zone in the past. Instead, it is solely a Team Deathmatch-style experience where the kills you get are the only way to increase your points and win the match. 

But you get extra points for kills that are done using killstreaks, so that is where the Drop Zone comes into play. If you are looking to win in the match, you will need to take full advantage of this area and make sure to hold it as long as possible for those powerful care packages.

Joining some of the existing game modes in Vanguard during this holiday event is the Elf Team Six. These characters are interesting little elves on the shelf that are showing up in the middle of matches. They are hard to find, but you can be rewarded if you discover them and take them out. 

Taking out the Elf Team Six members in matches will grant you a match score to up your leaderpoint placement and some progress towards your killstreaks, so they are a valuable asset that you should not ignore in the matches you do this event. 

To make matters more interesting, the Elf Team Six are not the only members of the holiday spirit joining game modes during the Call of Duty Vanguard Festive Fervor event. In addition to them, Krampus is making his Call of Duty debut during the next couple of weeks. 

For those who might not know, the folk story horror holiday figure known as Krampus is someone that you do not want to get on the naughty side of. He will appear during all sorts of multiplayer matches, including both the respawn-centric objectives-based modes and Team Deathmatch. 

How Krampus works is that he will target the naughty players in the match who are not playing the objectives at all in objectives modes or camping during Team Deathmatch matches. He will be relentless in hunting down those players and taking them out. 

When he finds the player he is looking for, he will attempt to use a humiliating and horrifying finishing move to decimate you in the middle of the match. Players will be warned when Krampus is hunting them down and can take him down first before he gets you, but it will be extremely difficult to do so. 

There is more going on in Call of Duty Vanguard Festive Fervor than just with the multiplayer game modes. There is a new version of Shipment in Vanguard known as Shipmas that will see the popular dock location be blanketed in snow for the duration of the match. 

And then, at the end of the Shipmas match, the remaining shipping containers will also be overtaken by the snow. There will also be some subtle holiday decorations that will appear in-game modes like Domination and Hardpoint, plus Zombies fans will find the holiday version of Der Anfang’s base in the Zombies game modes. 

The Call of Duty developers, like Sledgehammer Games and others, are getting in the holiday spirit themselves and will be giving out some free goodies as part of this limited-time event. Unfortunately, there is a stipulation involved with the goodies, but it is simple enough to meet. 

All players who currently own Vanguard and will play it at least once or purchase it for the first time if they do not already have it before December 31 will be granted some free rewards. These rewards will start being available on December 16, when the event begins, but you can get them anytime between then and the end of the year. 

The goodies include 10 free battle pass tier skips for the current season, which is great since it means that players will get a nice headstart on the current battle pass without even having to do anything. The first 10 tier levels mean players will get a free calling card, 100 COD points, and more.  

However, if you have been progressing through the first season of Vanguard, you could be getting 10 levels later on in the pass. And for those players who purchase the battle pass bundle that comes with 30 tiers included, that means that you could have up to 40 tiers done right at the start of the season, which is almost half the pass.

In addition to the free 10 tier skips for players this season, you will also get a 10% global player, weapon, and battle pass XP boost during the rest of the current season. This boost stacks with all of the other boosts in the game, like using XP boost tokens, the boost from playing with a clan, the battle pass premium boost, and so on. 

And last but not least, if you have not already bought Vanguard, when you do so, you will receive all 24 Vanguard-themed tiers that were in the previous Season 6 of Warzone. All 24 items will be gifted to you immediately for purchasing the game, even though the time for unlocking them has already passed. 

The Call of Duty Vanguard Festive Fervor might focus on the new game, but that is not the only one getting some love. Warzone is also getting its own set of content for the holiday event, beginning with the holiday decorations that have shown up around the new Caldera map in Season 1. 

Among the usual palm trees and other jungle foliage on the island, players will now find the festive fir trees that will certainly stick out. They will even be marked on your map, letting you know where you can go and find these temporary holiday trees for a special in-game bonus. 

Any squad that goes to the fir tree zones on the island and stays within its surroundings for a certain time will receive several supply boxes to open up. These will even include special holiday crates that come with legendary items to use in the match, limited-time rewards, and or even some coal for those operators who are on the naughty list right now. 

The coal is not just for show, either, as it will attract Krampus, who will be showing up in Warzone, too, in addition to Vanguard. However, his targets are a bit more random in this game, so there is a chance that he might not come after you even if you do have coal in your possession.

Krampus will give three minutes to take down each target before giving up and moving on to the next person. However, if you can take him down before he gets you, you will receive a special permanent reward for the entire squad. 

The Elf Team Six are also making their debut in Warzone, found across Caldera and Rebirth Island. If you are within 10 meters of the elves, you can hear them making fun of you and know that they are nearby. If you find them and take them out in the middle of a battle royale match, you will be able to earn some special rewards during the event like double XP tokens, calling cards, and much more. 

In addition to the various game modes and other additions in the Call of Duty Warzone and Vanguard Festive Fervor limited-time event, players will also be able to get various new cosmetic items through in-game bundles. If you are interested in seeing all of the new cosmetic items, including the opportunity to become Krampus himself and torment other players, be sure to check in the games during the event or find out more about them in the original blog post announcement here.