Warzone Pacific Season 1 biggest changes and new additions

Warzone Pacific Season 1 has arrived, with a vast amount of changes and new ideas thrown into the mix. As Verdansk steps back and Caldera becomes the big new map in what is technically Warzone Season 7, there's plenty to go through when it comes to what all the newest players can expect. Call of Duty Warzone is going to be a very different kind of game for the foreseeable future, for better or for worse, with a range of additions in a sunny, tropical setting. With a new map, weapons and Perks, updated game modes, and much more beyond, these are the Warzone Pacific Season 1 biggest changes you should know about.

There's a completely new map for Warzone Pacific Season 1 called Caldera

The biggest addition to Warzone Pacific Season 1 is arguably the much-anticipated "Pacific Map", officially named Caldera. Tropical and lush with a variety of locations and equal in size to Verdansk, the new Warzone Pacific map is split into 15 distinct areas that each have their own specific terrain and structures to help (or hinder) you in the battle royale. Take some time to explore, and figure out which areas work best for you.

Five new weapons are arriving in Warzone Pacific Season 1

Get ready to upgrade your arsenal, as there are five new weapons arriving during Warzone Pacific Season 1, with the first three being free unlocks from progress through the Battle Pass. The Cooper Carbine is an assault rifle that behaves more like an SMG, with a fast fire rate, short effective range but high damage, unlocked at Tier 15. Next up is the Gorenko Anti-Tank Rifle, a beast of a semi-automatic sniper rifle that deals the most damage per shot of any ballistics weapon in the game, offering guaranteed one-shot kills if you can tame it at Tier 31. Finally, the Sawtooth is a functional melee weapon that looks very imposing thanks to its covering of shark teeth, and you can chop up your enemies with it when Tier 37 is reached.

A further two new weapons will be added via an in-game challenge or through a Store Bundle during the season, so keep an eye out for those. The Katana longsword is a deadly melee weapon due to drop during the launch window, while the Welgun SMG is due for release further down the line. Whether any of those shooters join the ranks of Warzone best guns remains to be seen, but we'll be testing them out to make that decision.

Two fresh Perks and a Lethal Grenade are being added for Warzone Pacific Season 1

Exclusive to Vanguard loadouts, there are two new Perks and a Lethal Grenade being added with Warzone Pacific Season 1, which again are free via the Battle Pass. Serpentine, unlocked at Tier 21, slightly reduces incoming damage to you while sprinting regularly, with Tactical Sprinting shaving more than a quarter off the normal damage value. With Intuition, received from Tier 44, your vision pulses when opponents are close, even through walls, giving you a short-range heads up for enemies about to round a corner or come through a door ahead.

You'll receive the Special Incendiary Grenade at Tier 39, and this Lethal Grenade functions as a compact analog of the Firebombing Run Killstreak. When it ignites it covers the area in white fog which hangs in the air for a while, dealing an initial burst of damage followed by burn damage for anyone still in its radius, that increases exponentially the longer they remain in the affected area.

Vanguard Royale is a new game mode for Warzone Pacific Season 1

Call of Duty Warzone season 7 — (Image credit: Activision)

You'll now see Vanguard Royale as a new game mode option, when you're jumping into a Warzone Pacific Season 1 match. Vanguard Royale is a battle royale focused specifically on Vanguard content (as the name suggests), which is a great way to experience what's new on the island. It features fighter planes that rain death from above, but you can counter them with anti-aircraft guns and trucks, and there are jeeps to transport your squad around all terrains. Only Vanguard weapons can be loaded out here, and you'll need to select your Operator from the available Vanguard soldiers. To match the slower pace of this WW2-focused mode the active area will take longer to shrink, plus there are in-game events to watch out for during each phase of the Circle Collapse.

There are new Prestige Level rewards to unlock in Warzone Pacific Season 1

When you start Warzone Pacific Season 1, your Season Level will revert to Level 1 while your progress continues from the highest Prestige Level you previously reached. Going forward, for every 10 levels within Prestige you'll unlock a new Zombies and a Multiplayer/Warzone Challenge, with XP and a Calling Card available for completion. Beat all twenty (!) of these within the seasonal set for a particular game mode and you'll receive a rare animated Calling Card reserved only for elite players. Warzone Pacific Season 1 also offers four extra Prestiges during the first 200 levels, with rewards as follows:

Level 50: Unlocks New Prestige, Emblem, Weapon Blueprint, and Battle Pass Tier Skip
Level 100: Unlocks New Prestige, Emblem, and Battle Pass Tier Skip
Level 150: Unlocks New Prestige, Emblem, and Battle Pass Tier Skip
Level 190: Unlocks All Season Challenges
Level 200: Unlocks New Prestige, Emblem, Battle Pass Tier Skip, and Master Prestige Calling Card

At Levels 250-1,000 you can also earn additional Prestige Levels, if you didn't reach them during pre-season. Don't forget that Prestige-leveling carries over between Vanguard and Warzone Pacific Season 1, so XP earned in either will count towards progress through Season Levels and increase your Prestige Level.

Ricochet Anti-Cheat measures continue to be updated for Warzone Pacific Season 1

In order to crack down on cheating and hackers, Raven Software and Activision has rolled out the Ricochet Anti-Cheat system with a kernel-level driver for PC players, initially in the Asia-Pacific region before a worldwide expansion. This has continued to be developed with server-side updates and backend elements, in order to further combat cheating in the game. Don't worry if that all sounded like gibberish to you, as we've explained the system as well as the pros and cons in our Warzone Ricochet anti cheat guide and summary for you.

A fresh new Battle Pass for Warzone Pacific Season 1

Call of Duty: Warzone — (Image credit: Activision)

As ever, there's a new battle pass added that covers both Warzone and Vanguard, with weapons, COD points and skins to claim via completion. The big addition, gameplay wise, are the new guns mentioned above, but there's plenty more to get by cutting down opponents or surviving until the end, with skins and further until the end. Speaking of which...

There's new Operators and skins added for Warzone Pacific Season 1

There's a whole host of new Operators coming into Warzone now. Aside from those from Vanguard being imported into the new game, there's also an entirely new Operator at Tier 0 of the new battle pass called Francis “Kai” Lanakila. And of course, there's a range of new skins for existing characters, including for some of the Vanguard characters newly added.

Festive Fervor will be coming soon to Warzone Pacific Season 1

We're not entirely sure what Festive Fervor will be yet, but the developers have dropped a lot of clues about it, explaining it's a holiday-themed celebration of Warzone that will add free content to the game. Here's everything we've been told about it so far (with more information coming out later this month):

Raven Software have told us that "another, more respawn-heavy mode, is set to drop during for Festive Fervor, and any veteran since the Modern Warfare 3 days should be prepared to get in the zone for it"
There'll be new bundles added to the shop that keep with the theme.
Festive Fervor will alter Vanguard too in certain ways, not just Warzone, including map changes.