Warzone 2 Season 3 patch notes: major DMZ changes, new FJX Imperium sniper and Plunder

Activision has released the patch notes for Warzone 2 Season 3, and now we know exactly what's in store for us this season including a much needed sniper buff.

Warzone 2 Season 3 is nearly here and Activision has released the full list of Warzone 2 Season 3 patch notes which reveal some big weapon balance changes and more details about new weapons and modes. Included is the long awaited nerf of the Lachmann Sub SMG, and the return of one-shot sniper rifles in the form of the FJX Imperium, which is available in the Warzone 2 Season 3 Battle Pass.

One-shot sniper kills aren't just limited to the FJX Imperium, however, as bolt-action weapons equipped with explosive ammunition are now able to down fully-armoured players in one shot. This should finally tackle the biggest problem players have had with the game's Snipers.

Meanwhile the DMZ overhaul has had added a few new tricks to the mode's arsenal; there's a new bartering system that was teased in the Warzone 2 Season 3 roadmap, as well as Workbenches for players to customise their contraband weapons. Not only that, but the REDACTED faction has joined the map and gives players some new boss fights and set of faction missions to tackle as well. You can check out the full Warzone 2 Season 3 patch notes in detail below.

Warzone 2 Season 3 patch notes

Maps

Ashika Island

• A Cargo Ship and several Submarines are now present outside of the Port

Gameplay – all maps, all modes

Tempered Plate Carrier

• Upgrades the Player’s Armor Plate Carrier to improve armor plate efficiency.
• Details:
  • Player now equips 2 stronger armor plates, down from 3
  • Each armor plate counts for 75
  • Can be found in strongholds and loot

Bomb Drone Balancing

• Reduced the damage of the Bomb Drone so it will no longer one-hit-kill or down a fully armored player.

Heavy Chopper

• Re-enabled this vehicle in the following modes:
  • Standard
  • Duos
  • Trios
  • Quads
• Added new Heavy Chopper gas cans unique to this vehicle that are required for initial takeoff.
  • Spawn locations of these gas cans will differ between Battle Royale and DMZ.
  • Battle Royale: One of five possible spawn locations will spawn Heavy Gas gas cans each match.
  • Battle Royale: One Heavy Chopper gas can is included as a guaranteed Stronghold mission reward.
• Subsequent refuelings can be done via Gas Stations or other Heavy Chopper gas cans
• This vehicle is now more vulnerable to explosive damage

Gas Mask

• The gas mask has been given a slight buffer when the player delays it from being put on or taken off. This should help catch situations where further delay is desired immediately after it was dropped.

Interrogation

• Decreased the time it takes to perform an interrogation to 3 seconds, down from 5
• Added a grace period if the downed Player is immediately eliminated after a successful interrogation.
  • This guarantees that the enemy squad will be pinged at least once, up to three times during the grace period.
  • Reminder: Keeping the interrogated Player alive will further extend the effect

Quality of life

Mantle Assist Improvements

• Improved the system that would allow players to mantle over or through objects such as windows.

Advanced UAV Improvements

• Enemy Players and AI Combatants will now appear differently while using an Advanced UAV

Killstreak Banner Positioning

• The position of the Killstreak banner that appears on screen has been moved to no longer overlap with the player’s reticle.

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue that allowed Players to clip inside the Sentry Gun.
• Fixed several issues with placing a Sentry Gun on the train.
• Fixed issue where Mortar Strikes were not doing enough damage against AI targets, making it hard to kill them.
• Recon/Bomb Drones will now die if the player goes into last stand.
• Added item persistence to Stim Pistol / Rebreather. Now Stim pistol / Rebreather can be dropped after it has been activated.
• Fixed several issues caused by Players having both a Self Revive and Stim Pistol equipped.
• Fixed an issue with the Assimilation UI that could cause some squad members’ names or numbers to appear incorrectly.

Battle Royale playlist

Al Mazrah

• Standard
  • Duos
    • Max Players: 150
    • Assimilation: Refill
  • Trios
    • Max Players: 150
    • Assimilation: Refill
  • Quads
    • Max Players: 152
    • Assimilation: Refill

Massive Resurgence NEW

• Trios
  • Max Players: 150
  • Assimilation: Off
• Quads
  • Max Players: 152
  • Assimilation: Off

Ashika Island

• Resurgence
  
  • Solos
    • Max Players: 52
    • Assimilation: Off
  • Duos
    • Max Players: 52
    • Assimilation: Off
  • Quads
    • Max Players: 52
    • Assimilation: Off

Modes – Massive Resurgence

Resurgence makes its Al Mazrah debut! Prepare to take on dozens of other squads in a much larger version of this fan favorite mode.

How does it work?

When eliminated, Players enter a spectating state and must wait for the Resurgence timer to tick down. Squad members can shorten the timer by completing Contracts, looting, and eliminating enemy Players. Respawns are disabled on the fourth circle, so keep an eye on the clock

Hunt & Track Mechanic

• At any point during a match, eliminating an enemy Player will display their Squad members for a few seconds on the minimap.
• Specific to Solos, eliminating an enemy Player will display their location upon redeployment for 10 seconds.

Score Events

As a reminder, we recently added quite a few new ways to shorten the respawn timer for Squad members:

• Headshot
  • Eliminating an enemy Player via Headshot
• On The Move
  • If you move more than 25 meters while your teammate is dead
• Hunt
  • You eliminated a Player while they were tracked by the Hunt mechanic
• Hunter Double
  • You eliminated two Players in a row while they were tracked by the Hunt mechanic
• Hunter Spree
  • You eliminated more than three Players while they were tracked by the Hunt mechanic
• Armor Break
  • You broke all of a Player's active Armor Plates
• Audacious Elimination
  • You got an elimination while a Squad member was down
• Fearless Elimination
  • You got an elimination while being the last living member of your Squad

Loadouts

Players can acquire their Loadouts via two different methods in Resurgence. Towards the end of the first circle there is a Public Event that drops a Loadout crate for your Squad. Loadout Dop Markers are also available for purchase via Buy Stations, using the same price scaling as standard Battle Royale.

Additional Information

• Strongholds are disabled
• Weapons found via ground loot always have attachments
• Blue Resurgence Supply Boxes restock after 90 seconds

Modes – World Series of Warzone In-Season

Grab your two sweatiest friends and start warming up now Stage 1 of the upcoming WSOW 2023 Season. A limited-time playlist will go live on April 27th called WSOW Trios for squads to practice for the In-Game Open.

This is a new WSOW ruleset, which is a variation of a standard match of Battle Royale. This includes changes such as:

• No turreted vehicles
• No Heavy chopper
• No assimilation
• No Fire sales, Jailbreaks, Restocks or Champion’s Quest

While the public Playlist will be available throughout this weekend for practice, the actual competition — and opportunity for official scoring for WSOW Stage I — will take place on April 28 through April 30 from 10 AM to 2 PM PT each day.

General

Resurgence Private Matches

• Ashika Island Resurgence (Solos, Duos, Trios, and Quads) has been enabled in Private Matches.

Private Match Spectating

• Spectating has been enabled for all available maps/modes including:
  • Al Mazrah
    • Standard Battle Royale
      • Solos, Duos, Trios, Quads
    • Mini Royale
      • Trios
  • Ashika Island
    • Resurgence
      • Solos, Duos, Trios, Quads

After Action Report (AAR)

• All Players in a squad that complete a match will see the After Action Report

Birdseye Perk

• This Perk has been reenabled.
• Adjustments:
  • Now activates when Player uses a UAV Killstreak
  • Enemy UAVs no longer trigger Birdseye
  • UAVs activated by the Player using Birdseye will provide enemy headings
  • UAV pings activated by the Player using Birdseye are slightly larger

Maps – Al Mazrah and Standard Battle Royale

Blacksite New Gulag

• This roughly rectangular, asymmetrical map has several interior spaces and long external routes. Those who want to redeploy will have to prove their worth on this new yet familiar ground.

Gameplay – All Maps / All Modes

UAV Towers

• First seen in DMZ, UAV Towers can be activated during a match to provide intel on enemy positioning in the form of several circular UAV sweeps from the tower’s fixed location.
• Details:
  • An audible notification is broadcasted when one is activated
  • The icon for active towers will be visible in red on the Tac Map and overworld
  • Lasts 20 seconds per activation
  • Costs $2000 per activation
  • Able to be activated by another squad even if you have activated them already
  • Those activated by an opposing squad show detection radius on the map

Gameplay – Al Mazrah / All Modes

Redeploy Drones

• Redeploy Drones have been added to Al Mazrah. Utilize these for quick repositioning.
• Details:
  • Can be shot down
  • Will reposition when in the gas
  • Will begin leaving the field around the 4th circle

Gameplay – Al Mazrah / Standard Battle Royale

• Stronghold “Hold Positions” Operation
  • Locate and defend a position inside the stronghold from enemies. The stronghold will be attacked by continuous reinforcements until the operation is complete.

• Black Sites New Stronghold Objective
  • An additional black site has been added to Al Mazrah near Rohan Oil, in the Northern sector of the map.

• Champion’s Quest
  • New Weapon Blueprint Reward. Go find out - if you can!

Gas Circle Pacing Improvements

• Decreased the time paused between gas circle movements. This will increase overall pacing across a match.

We’ve evaluated the delay time between when the circle stops and the start of the next movement, a change inspired by learnings of previous circle times. By making an adjustment here we expect to see a more dynamic mid-game. This does not increase the speed of the gas itself in any way.

Gameplay adjustments – all maps/ all modes

Most Wanted Contract

• The Most Wanted Supply Drop now drops on every successful completion
  • This will no longer deactivate upon Resurgence being disabled in Ashika Island.
• In Plunder, it drops money and different power items
• Supply drop icon has been updated
• Every team can now see the crate's icon on the tac map

Stronghold Rewards

• Reduced the number of white Stronghold Supply Boxes that spawn to 1, down from 2
• Increased loot found in a white Stronghold Supply Box

Gameplay adjustments – Al Mazrah / all modes

Intel Contract

• The number of spawn locations for the upload point has been increased
• The upload point will now drop loot upon completion
• The upload point occupation time requirement has been increased to 17 seconds, up from 10
• The “search for the laptop” phase of this contract has been removed

We felt that the initial search circle that contained the laptop was too inconsistent with the time it took players to find the laptop on average. This time was very heavily dependent on the location of the laptop. This change aims to counteract that concern.

Buy Stations

The following items will be available at every Buy Station with unlimited stock:

• Gas Masks
• Portable Radars

We've also made some tweaks to item prices. See below for details:

• Armor Plates
  • Increased to $500, up from $400
• Gas Mask
  • Increased to $2000, up from $1650
• Durable Gas Mask
  • Increased to $3500, up from $2900
• C4
  • Increased to $850, up from $700
• Frag Grenade
  • Increased to $600, up from $500
• Smoke Grenade
  • Increased to $400, up from $250
• Snapshot Grenade
  • Increased to $600, up from $400
• Revive Pistol
  • Increased to $4000, up from $800
• Cluster Mine
  • Increased to $6000, up from $3300
• Precision Airstrike
  • Decreased to $2000, down from $4000
• Counter-UAV
  • Decreased to $2000, down from $4000
• Bomb Drone
  • Decreased to $3500, down from $4000
• Armor Box
  • Increased to $3500, up from $2000
• Battle Rage
  • Increased to $3500, up from $2900
• Dead Silence
  • Decreased to $2500, down from $2900
• Portable Radar
  • Increased to $2500, up from $1400
• Suppression Mine
  • Increased to $3500, up from $2000
• Tactical Camera
  • Decreased to $1500, down from $1650
• Deployable Cover
  • Decreased to $1500, down from $1650
• Trophy System
  • Decreased to $1500, down from $1650
• Recon Drone
  • Increased to $3000, up from $2000
• Firesale UAV
  • Increased to $5000, up from $4000

Future updates will see a continuous evaluation of prices as we regularly review the live data of Buy Station usage, equipment power and more.

• Item placement in the menu has been revised in order to keep relevant selections next to one another.
• Changed positioning of the Loadout Drop Marker on the menu to facilitate navigation
  • Press down once on directional controller when opening the Buy Station menu
• Spawn locations have been updated and increased to 42, up from 31

We're making significant improvements to how we determine the spawn location of Buy Stations, this change not only increases the amount available in a match but more appropriately spaces out their locations. The goal being to address negative space and to reduce frequency of buys being in too close of a proximity. Buy stations will remain static in Al Mazrah Battle Royale so that learned behavior can be relied on.

Ammo Caches

• Additional locations for Ammo Caches have been added across the map

We've identified a number of regions on the map that would benefit from an Ammo Cache to assist with either regain potential, or just keeping an active engagement going longer. As with Buy Stations, we're evaluating much of our spawn philosophy and will be making additional changes in other areas over the course of the chapter.

Ashika Island | Resurgence

Rebalanced Rewards. We have adjusted the rewards for the following:

• Data Heist Public Event
• Sea Treasure Machine
• Sea Lion Statue side quests

Quality of Life

• Minimap Ping Anchoring
  • Coordinates and map elements that have been pinged will now anchor the icon along the borders of the minimap even when they are outside of the visible area on the minimap.

• Spawn Protection Timeout
  
  • Spawn protection will now expire on players who remain airborne for more than 10 seconds
  • This is in addition to the current x that remove spawn protection when they are x meters from the ground
  • We’ll evaluate the effectiveness of Spawn Protection and if necessary make adjustments on a per mode basis.

• Blacksite Key Visibility
  
  • Blacksite Key dropped will now be visible on the Tac Map to all squads

• Loadout Drop Visuals
  
  • Adjusted the visual representation of Loadout Drops to help Players better distinguish between their own and those that belong to other Players.
  • New color coding:
    • Squad Loadout Drop = Blue
    • Contested Loadout Drop = Yellow

• Gulag Item HUD
  
  • Items that a Player picks up during a Gulag round will be briefly indicated next to the crosshair before fading away.

• Object Elevation Arrows
  
  • Buy Stations, Contracts, and Loot items now have a small up/down arrow on the tac map and minimap to better indicate elevation.

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where Quick Fix did not activate after plating in Resurgence modes.
• Fixed an issue causing the Intel Contract world icon to persist despite having failed to complete the objective.
• Fixed an issue causing Battle Royale victories to not update properly in the Combat Records.
• Fixed an issue causing the Play Again buttons to no longer work after assigning a new party leader.
• Fixed an issue causing items to disappear when attempting to stow them away in the backpack.
• Fixed an issue causing Players using the Birdseye Perk to receive UAV pings when an enemy activated a UAV.

DMZ

In Season 02 we focused on refreshing and resetting DMZ, but Season 03 is all about new game mechanics.

New Faction

• [ REDACTED ] has arrived with new Faction Missions coming throughout Season 03.

Barter

• We are introducing Barter for Players to have another way to gear-up during deployment. Barter can be found at Buy Stations and offers exchange of certain items for useful equipment. Remembering these “Recipes” will be a useful tool for acquiring specific items. Barter is not Player-to-Player.

Workbench

• The Workbench has arrived in DMZ and allows players to customize Contraband Weapons during deployment - this includes any equipped weapon that may be insured or looted. Players will be able to add or remove attachments based on their weapon progression. Craft the perfect build or add the right attachment for an advantage in situational combat.

Active Duty Operator Slots

• Individual Operators now go on “Active Duty” when used by the Player. Only one Active Duty slot can be equipped at a time, but all Players will start with 3 slots.

  • Active Duty Operators have their own persistent items: Exfil Streak, Dog Tag Rarity, Backpack Type, Killstreak, Gas Mask and Self Revive.

  • When failing to exfil, only that individual Operator will have its gear, streak, and Dog Tag rarity reset. All other Operators will not be affected.

• Along with Persistent Operators being added into DMZ, we are adding certain Bundles to the Store that have additional Active Duty Operator Slots included.

Private Exfil

• Campers got you down? Private exfil will be available at Buy Stations to trigger an exfil chopper to land at an exfil point that is inactive for other Players during that match. It doesn’t mean you won’t be spotted by an enemy squad, but there may be less heat than one of the public points visible on the Tac Map.

• As mentioned above the Heavy Chopper will be in DMZ and Battle Royale. Find fuel around the map to utilize this new vehicle. Flying it out of bounds will automatically trigger exfiltration.

New Contract

• Supply Run

  • Similar to Safecracker, Operators will need to locate and loot 3 crates

New Equipment/Items

• Rebreather - new Field Upgrade that allows Players to breathe underwater

• Skeleton Key - this key can unlock any locked space in place of a specific key

• 4 New Plate Carriers

  • Tempered - 2 stronger armor plates vs. 3 plate (same as BR)

  • Comms - audio alert when an enemy Player or squad is nearby and increased duration of all UAVs and UAV Towers

  • Medic - faster teammate revives and self-revives

  • Stealth - will not appear on enemy radars (Ghost Perk)

• 2 New Backpacks

  • Secure - items are kept to that Active Duty Soldier if they are eliminated in an Extraction Zone and are not consumed for XP upon successful exfil

  • Scavenger - maximum item slots at the cost of the third weapon slot

UI/UX

• Reworked the Factions tab for better ease of use. Revamped Faction Mission menu layout for better ease of use. Missions are now shown in a vertical list with new mission buttons

• Shortened description panel so that selected Missions can be viewed on the right side

• Added a new section to the Challenge menu that tracks the Player’s current progress for Weapons Cases and the awards they have, or are trying to achieve

Gameplay

• “Out of the Deep” mission is now easier to complete

  • First step no longer requires killing Operators

  • Second step can be completed with kills from the surface of water

• Reduced range requirements for the M4 Weapons Testing and Lachmann Weapons Testing Missions

• Changed “Non-Discriminatory” mission to require killing cartel soldiers instead of Shadow Company soldiers

• The details of a Story Mission are now hidden until the Player unlocks the Story Mission by completing 5 of the 6 missions in the tier

• The Secure Intel Contract now reveals the closest commander to the Upload Station instead of a random one

• Upon failing to exfil from a deployment, a Player’s selected Lethal, Tactical, and Field Upgrade will now default to what was previously selected, rather than having to reselect those slots

• Increased overall amount of loot found in world

• Toolboxes now spawn more Field Upgrades, gun oil, and blow torches

• Military containers, rifle cases, and weapon lockers all spawn more items overall

  • Spawn rates of Plate Carriers, medical items, gun oil, documents, and food rations have been increased

• New potential spawn location for Weapons Case on Al Mazrah

Bug fixes

• Fixed a handful of issues that prevented certain areas from spawning more context-specific loot (Example: Industrial buildings spawning industrial items)

• Fixed M4 Weapons Testing not tracking kills for the Tempus Torrent

• Fixed Kastov Weapons Testing not tracking kills for the KV Broadside

• Fixed an issue where stowing a weapon from an enemy’s Backpack wouldn't count it as an enemy Operator’s weapon

• Fixed an issue where using an exploding barrel to kill enemies wouldn't count towards some mission progress

• Fixed a number of issues causing some missions to not track progress for taking an item if you Infiled with that item in your inventory

• Fixed an issue that caused Revive Pistols to be counted as a weapon for the purposes of missions that require Players to Infil without weapons

• Fixed an issue with “The Pound” mission where progress wasn’t given if a weapon was in the Backpack’s weapon slot

• Fixed an issue causing some weapon cosmetic customizations to be lost upon exfilling a weapon

• Fixed an issue where exfilling with a Gas Mask would sometimes turn it into a Durable Gas Mask

• Fixed an issue where the HUD wouldn’t update Armor values when Assimilating to a new team

• Fixed an issue where Contract UI wouldn’t properly clear when Assimilating to a new team