Activision is releasing the latest entry in the Call of Duty series known as Warzone this week. As the release of it looms ever closer, we have our complete guide to the new game and modes below. This is everything you need to know to get you started on your way to a battle royale victory.

Call of Duty Warzone Release Date and Time

For starters, it is important to go over the Call of Duty Warzone release date and time. It comes on Tuesday, March 10, after formally announced the day before. After weeks and months of leaks, rumors, and even footage, Activision finally revealed it the day before its release.

We are posting this on the day the game comes out for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, so you might be reading this when it has already released. For those who aren’t, it comes out in two different formats: one for reward existing players and another for everyone else.

The first is for players currently own the latest mainline game in the series: Call of Duty Modern Warfare. If you own that game already, you will have automatic access to this battle royale-centric title without having to do much else.

It is available to players starting at 8 AM PT on the day of launch. Modern Warfare owners will have early access for several hours before it goes live for everyone else. As long as you have the latest update for Modern Warfare, all you’ll need to do is download a smaller version of Warzone.

It will be roughly 18-22GB for players who already have Modern Warfare. And, it will unlock the classified section of the lobby as Warzone. You will have a few hours to play through the game before it releases as a separate download for everyone else.

If you don’t own Modern Warfare, this is no problem whatsoever. Starting at 12 PM PT, you can download the standalone version of Call of Duty Warzone and play it without purchasing Modern Warfare. The best part is that you don’t have to pay a penny this way if you don’t want to.

The only downside of this method is that you have to wait a few more hours to get in and play, and you will have a much larger download size to deal with. The download varies depending on which platform of PS4, Xbox One, and PC you are on, but it will be around 80-101GB in total, which is large. As such, players should set aside a ton of time for this.

Orientation, Loadouts, and Progression

When you first jump into Call of Duty Warzone no matter if you are on Modern Warfare or the standalone experience, you will deal with the same tutorial. To get players ushered into the new Warzone experience, you will have to go through the orientation training.

This is to get you ready for this unique battle royale style game that is perhaps a bit different than we are used to, even with other Call of Duty battle royale modes like Blackout and Call of Duty Mobile. The orientation will go over a couple of different categories of gameplay features.

The first is Modern Warfare-specific gameplay features like moving around the map, firing weapons, equipping weapons you find, switching between them, and mounting your weapon on various structures.

While this might be unnecessary for players who already know all about doing this sort of stuff, some other gameplay features are unique to Warzone. You will also learn the basics of the battle royale title to get you ready for what’s ahead on the real battlefield.

You will learn features like the pinging system for alerting your teammates, picking up, dropping, and using inventory items in the game, making use of the new contracts, collecting cash, using the buy station, and so much more. A lot of these are brand new features that we will cover later.

Though the orientation shouldn’t take you too long, we highly recommend it for getting ready for the real fights. Once you have completed orientation, you can jump into the optional live fire exercises. These will give you some valuable practice time if you want.

Live fire exercises are like normal matches in Warzone. The exception is that they are played with all bots instead of regular public matchmaking against other players around the world. These will likely be easier than normal matches, but it is good practice for knowing what to expect.

Also, it is a great way of getting to know the massive map that will take some time to get used to. When you are ready to jump into a match, you can start building out your specific loadout. It all starts with how your character looks in battle royale.

You will pick your operator as the skin that you use in each match. These operators can come from the two factions in Modern Warfare: Allegiance or Coalition. There is a default operator from both groups that you can pick between from the start of the game.

From there, you can customize your loadout. This is where you pick your weapons, then customize it with attachments, whatever perks you want, and so on. If you’ve played Modern Warfare, this part will be familiar to you.

Unfortunately, you have to reach rank four in the game before you can start building out your loadouts for Warzone. Until then, you will have to deal with the default loadouts. Thankfully, though, these are only important for the Plunder game mode.

In that mode, you will start with the loadout you select while in battle royale. You will only have access to your loadout equipment if you can call in a specific drop. You can unlock more weapons, operators, and more through progressing through the game.

It shares the same progression system as Modern Warfare and your progress in either will carry over to the other. This even includes whatever the current battle pass is. Going through the tiers in one will be the same for the other and unlock various operators, blueprints, and more.

The shared nature of Warzone and Modern Warfare includes premium items that you buy in the store. There are no level caps in Warzone. So, feel free to keep playing for as long as you want, and you will see yourself continuously rise.

Warzone Game Modes: Battle Royale Breakdown

There are two main game modes that you will find in Call of Duty Warzone. The first is the expected and mostly traditional battle royale experience but with some notable changes. Currently, you can only play the battle royale mode in squads of three players each.

Taking a page from Apex Legends this mode is only three players per squad in a massive 150-player match. The number of players is significantly more than battle royale games like Fortnite and Apex, so be ready for chaos.

This is matched, though, by a huge map throughout the location of Verdansk. Your goal in the battle royale match is to be the last squad standing when the match is over. Looting is how you will get most of the equipment that you find throughout the match.

You can get equipment through a variety of methods like picking it up off of the ground, looking in supply boxes, checking airdrops, competing contracts, buying them, and just taking them from enemies. This is also where you can call in loadout drops to get your favorite equipment with ease.

While each player technically has one life to live, you can earn your way back into the battle royale ring in other ways. You can buy self-revive kits to come back instantly or buy your teammates to come back. Lastly, you can use the Gulag.

Vehicles and Gulag Explained

Gulag is a brand-new mechanic unique to the battle royale game mode in Warzone. It is also one of the freshest ideas that we have seen for the game thus far. When you die the first time in each match, you don’t have to quit because you can earn your way back.

Instead of waiting around for your teammates to revive you, you can wait in line and become a prisoner of the Gulag system. When it comes to your turn in line, you will face off against another dead player in the game in a one on one Deathmatch duel.

If you can successfully win the duel against them, you will earn the right to come back to life in the game again. If you don’t, you will have to hope that your teammates earn enough cash to bring you back. This adds some interesting layers to the game overall.

Because of the large map, there are five vehicles you can choose from for traversing the area of Verdansk and its various terrains. They range in how many players can fit to how fast they are and how much they protect you.

It begins with the simple ATV, a two-seater fast vehicle good for traveling quickly around the map and even off-road. Then there is the tactical rover which provides limited protection and decent off-roading for up to four players.

From there, we have the SUV for up to four players as well. It provides good protection against enemies with solid speed. However, it isn’t that great for going off the beaten path. Then there is the cargo truck for a whole squad that is excellent for protection but slow and not good for off-road adventures. Lastly, the helicopter allows for up to four players to fly around the map with ease.

Plunder Breakdown and Contracts Explained

When you don’t want to play battle royale, that’s fine as there is another mode that you can play in the game: Plunder. The unique game mode is not about being the last squad standing. It is more about how much cash you can collect throughout the match.

The first team to collect $1 million starts a two-minute timer. The team with the most points after that timer wins the whole match. It will also have squads of three players each at the launch of the game.

Respawns are available here. They happen after a short delay in the game. You can speed this up by buying yourself a self-revive kit to use in the match. You can get cash through looting, robbing banks, killing other players, and completing contracts.

Contracts are also new in Call of Duty Warzone and represent unique tasks that you and your team can do one at a time. They include various things like looting certain places or capturing a specific point a la Domination.