Resurgence on Verdansk is now the best way to play Call of Duty: Warzone

Call of Duty: Warzone Season 3 introduced a host of changes including a new map, a few new weapons, and the long-awaited inclusion of the Resurgence gametype on the traditional battle royale map.

As someone who was playing Rebirth Island Resurgence long before the new Verdansk '84 map and its much maligned gulag dropped, I've always felt like the gametype maximizes my Call of Duty: Warzone enjoyment. Rebirth allows you to respawn so long as your teammates stay alive, and your respawn countdown shortens every time they down an enemy player or complete contracts. It's a gulag-less take on the battle royale, and one that offers a much more fast-paced, kinetic experience.

Now that Verdansk '84 is here and Raven Software has added a special limited-time playlist to enjoy Resurgence on a smaller section of the map, it's presented us with the best way to play Warzone yet.

Resurgence rules

Resurgence is a game mode that perfectly marries two pillars of modern Call of Duty games: the massive Warzone battle royale and the tight, fast fun of a classic Team Deathmatch match. Essentially a large-scale Team Deathmatch mode with powerful ground guns and a shrinking gameplay area, Resurgence is all about getting on the ground, getting a gun, and getting a move on.

Whereas a match in the original Warzone game mode will often be filled with campers squatting in a hard-to-reach high ground spot, Rebirth Resurgence campers can quickly be disposed of by a teammate dropping in after a respawn – which will happen often. In fact, it's difficult to get a team wipe in Rebirth Resurgence because teammates respawn so quickly, especially if you're battling it out with another team and both of you are getting frequent kills. It can get absolutely chaotic trying to figure out if you've wiped a team or if you're getting third-partied, and it's a helluva lot more fun than getting sniped from someone camping Hospital at Verdansk when you're just trying to cross through a ravine.

But Verdansk Resurgence is a bit different from Rebirth Island's take on the gametype – and it might just offer us the version of the mode yet. Rebirth Resurgence is jam-packed with high-quality weapons, armor satchels, and killstreaks, which means most teams are armed to the gills before the first ring even closes. With a bevy of bounty contracts dotting the smaller map just waiting to be poached, you can quickly and easily rack up enough money to get two loadout drops, meaning you can arm yourself with dual primary weapons and get the Ghost perk so you're invisible to radar. While Rebirth Resurgence is always fun (and my primary source of Warzone wins), it did start to feel somewhat overwhelming and overpowered, as so many teams are so well-equipped in each match.

Verdansk Resurgence is very different from Rebirth Resurgence, even though Raven Software cleverly cuts off a large part of Verdansk with noxious gas, giving you a play area that's similar in scope to Rebirth Island. From my playthroughs, I noticed that there was substantially less ground loot available, and higher-tier weapons were scarce. The placement of the circle, meanwhile, can drastically change each Resurgence match, as a circle over the somewhat desolate Stadium can make for an incredibly intense mid-match firefight.

As a result, Verdansk Resurgence has found the sweet spot between three focal points: Warzone, Team Deathmatch, and the first iteration of the Resurgence gametype on Rebirth Island. It's not too fast, not too slow, and not too overpowered, offering us a mode gamer Goldilocks could only dream of.

No Gulag, no problem

If you still aren't convinced that Resurgence is the way to be playing Warzone right now, consider the new Gulag that was introduced alongside Verdansk '84. Based on the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 map Standoff, it's a controversial Gulag build that disposes of the symmetrical layout we've become accustomed to and replaces it with a multi-leveled maze. It's...not great, and it's not only because it's taken the Gulag map formula and remixed it so aggressively that it's jarring, but also because it's created a playground for exploiters and campers.

It's so bad, in fact, that many Call of Duty: Warzone players want the old Gulag back, AKA the Showers from the original Warzone map. While there have been several iterations of the Gulag since the battle royale made its debut in 2020, the latest Gulag deviates the furthest from the source material, and gives players far too many opportunities to be jerks. The complexity of the design has opened up the floor for a handful of particularly annoying cheese strats that involve hiding and camping in the second level of the map or in weird little corners.

As someone whose victory in the 1v1 mode rests entirely upon what weapons the Gulag Gods bestow upon me, I've never been a big fan of the Gulag. But now, with a confusing new map that can easily be exploited, I absolutely hate it. Multiple Gulag losses coupled with teammates who are still getting used to Verdansk '84 means a ton of downtime to consider my inferiority. And right now is the worst time to be sitting idly by in Warzone – we've got a new map, a cool new Operator, and new guns that go brr in various ways. I want to search for Easter eggs on Verdansk '84, or see if I can jump across the top of the entire Duga Array – I don't want to watch my teammates doing that after another camper got me in the Gulag.

So, I play a gametype that completely sidesteps the damn Gulag, one that lets me return to the new Verdansk if my teammates manage to stay alive for 25 seconds or less. If you hate the Gulag or especially hate the new Gulag, then Resurgence Verdansk is hands down the best way to play Warzone right now.