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Call of Duty Season 2: Everything you need to know about Outbreak
Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War and Warzone has a new mode, filled with the rampant undead. Here's what you need to know about Outbreak.
The Season 2 crossover between Call of Duty: Warzone and Call Of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War is here, and one of the headline features for this new event is Outbreak, a zombies experience that adds some new flavour to the tried-and-tested Call of Duty battle royale experience. “The objective-based Oubreak game is set across multiple regions in the Ural Mountains of Russia and encourages exploration and risk-taking to maximise the spoils of these zombie-infested territories, with teamwork and coordination being essential to completing missions,” says Activision.
Read on below for everything you need to know about Outbreak, including how to play, what you can expect to win by engaging with the mode, and what secrets Activision may be hiding in plain sight within this new experience.
Call of Duty: Outbreak – Overview
Outbreak can be overwhelming if you're not careful
© Activision
Call of Duty Outbreak is available to play anywhere that Warzone and Black Ops are, including: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC. The game is free to play until March 4, at which point only Black Ops owners will be able to access the mode.
Outbreak will task squads of up to four Operators with aiding Requiem in their biggest undertaking yet: Operation Threshold. As per an Activision press release, a typical Outbreak mission begins with a Requiem strike team (that's you, the player team) entering via helicopter, armed with a custom starting weapon and Field Upgrade. You will need to make your way to a waypoint in the overworld, which also appears on the main map and mini-map, which marks the location of Requiem’s primary objective with a star.
Modes come in five flavours that you'll probably recognise if you're a veteran PvP FPS player. These are:
- Defend: Claim a scientific sample, place it on an objective and defend against waves of enemies as it uploads data.
- Escort: Protect a rover vehicle as it heads to a dimensional portal.
- Retrieve: Locate Aetherium Canisters and load them into rockets for extraction.
- Eliminate: Take out high-value targets and elite enemies after locating them in the field.
- Holdout: Survive as long as possible in a small space as Zombies threaten to overwhelm you.
Call of Duty: Outbreak – Rewards
Complete challenges, earn ostentatious loot
© Activision
You can earn a suite of new rewards for playing within Outbreak, or by finishing up Outbreak tasks in other modes. "Earn Charms, Stickers, Emblems, Calling Cards, and Weapon Blueprints by completing challenges in Warzone and in Black Ops Cold War’s Outbreak mode," states Activision in a press release. "This event can be viewed within the main Warzone, Black Ops Cold War Multiplayer, and Zombies menus."
Here's what you can earn:
- Gas Mask – Charm: In Outbreak, successfully exfil 3 times
- Aim for the Head – Calling Card: In Warzone, kill 20 Zombies with headshots
- Amigos – Sticker: In Outbreak, eliminate 250 Zombies
- Cleaning Supplies – Charm: In Warzone, eliminate 20 Zombies
- Dark Aether – Accessory: In Outbreak, eliminate 10 elites
- Strange Emission – Emblem: In Warzone, use lethal equipment to kill 8 Zombies
- Grasp for Power – Sticker: In Outbreak, open 25 chests
- Skull Survivor – Emblem: In Warzone, use vehicles to eliminate 3 Zombies
- Pure Anguish – Charm: In Outbreak, complete 3 World Events
- Heads Blazin’ – Sticker: In Warzone, eliminate 5 Zombies in a single match 3 times
- On the Move – Calling Card: In Outbreak, Wrap 10 times
- Shotgun Eliminations – Calling Card: In Warzone, use Shotguns to eliminate 8 Zombies
- Special Eliminations – Calling Card: In Outbreak, eliminate 3 Special Zombies
- One Punch, Two Punch – Calling Card: In Warzone, rapidly kill 2 or more Zombies 2 times\
- Not the Last – Emblem: In Outbreak, use vehicles to eliminate 100 Zombies
- Immolation – Emblem: In Warzone, use Pistols to eliminate 8 Zombies
- Stitched Together – Charm: In Outbreak, complete 10 objectives
- Quick Elimination – Calling Card: In Warzone, eliminate 8 Zombies before the first circle closes
The Outbreak Challenge event will end at March 11 at 6pm.
Call of Duty: Outbreak – Best Weapons
Season 2 has some interesting new guns to play with for Warzone veterans
© Activision
To survive in Outbreak, you basically need to explore and find a series of perks and guns that work together, combining into such a force that nothing can stand in front of you and expect to walk away without being liquified. Thanks to the fast-paced nature of the mode, and the way that enemies like to throw themselves at you with abandon, close-range and wide-spread guns are your best friends for the most part. We've assembled a quick list below that should give you an insight into the best arms to take up to quell the braying undead.
Gallo-lay-low
© Activision
Gallo-SA12: The Gallo-SA12 is a semi-automatic shotgun that can chew through zombie ranks with good pace and good stopping power. Hordes, Elites, and Boss enemies will each routinely be floored by a good shotgun.
The Krig-6 is one of the most popular guns in Cold War for a reason
© ACTIVISION
Krig 6: The gun continues to boast the same useful setup as it does in the main Black Ops PvP modes in Outbreak. Dress it up with some decent attachments and enjoy its high-accuracy, low-recoil gameplay. Just keep an eye on your mag size and ammo, and you should be able to use this gun in most scenarios that Outbreak will throw at you.
Stoner 63: A great gun if you need to delay an onslaught for an extended amount of time, the Stoner 63 comes with a fat magazine that can punch sizeable holes in the lines of advancing undead. If you can upgrade it to the Psychotropic Thunder transformation, you'll notice significant gains to its accuracy and power, too.
