Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is hitting Season 2 February 15th and we see the return of Resurgence Mode with a new Warzone Map, New DMZ map and wipe, new ranked mode in multiplayer, the launch of Gun Game, and more. There’s a new Operator Ronin dropping into the battlefield and a full new battlepass with new rewards to collect. Here’s everything coming to Modern Warfare 2 Season 2 for Warzone and Multiplayer.
Ashika Island is a smaller, Japanese-themed map that is located in the Asia Pacific region. Research showed that Ashika was being used as a hideout for the Ultranationalist Konni Group which focused on transporting chemical and biological weapons. Even though this is a smaller map, Ashika has waterways for traversal and mountains/high points to leap off of and redeploy.
Ashika Island is also the new map for Resurgence, a game mode coming back from the original Warzone. This will feature solos, duos, trios, and quads, with its own playlist update throughout Season 2. As a reminder, Resurgence allows for multiple respawns as long as one of your teammates is still alive.
The respawns happen after a certain amount of time has passed, which you can shorten by doing specific challenges like killing enemies. As the circle closes, the countdown for respawns gets longer and longer, and you still have access to buy stations if you get too impatient.
In this mode, there’s a new feature called Restore Honor where each player will drop a dog tag when eliminated which can be picked up by their teammate or enemy that will give a small cash reward and a single UAV ping that marks enemies and supply boxes.
The Gulag is returning to its 1v1 standoff with Season 2 and will no longer feature the Jailer as the tiebreaker but bring back its Domination flag capture. The Gulag map will still be the Season 1 map but slightly altered to support 1v1 and we’re finally getting new weapon pools instead of just constantly getting a tiny pistol each time.
The weapon pool includes Assault Rifles, Submachine Guns, and Light Machine Guns. Shotguns have been completely removed from the Gulag and you’ll only have the pistol as your secondary weapon. The Gulag map also has cash lying around so you can run around and grab some before fighting, and if you win your match, the cash payout will be much larger so you can redeploy with a better chance of survival.
In Season 2 players will no longer have to go into menus to pick up objects and loot will now drop all out of containers like how things spray out from Supply Boxes. The backpack system will also be altered so you no longer need Medium or Large backpacks and each player will have the same backpack throughout the match that has reduced penalties for stacking healing items, equipment, and killstreaks. Player loot, when eliminated, will now spill out instead of being confined to a dropped backpack.
In order to reward players with easier access to Loadouts, the price of Primary Weapons you can purchase in Buy Stations have been reduced and Loadout Drop Markers costs have also been reduced so Squads can get their full Loadouts faster. An additional second Loadout Drop Public Event has been added so drops will now occur on the first and fifth Circle each match.
Everyone will spawn in with 3-Plate Vests instead of having to loot different tier vests each match.
With all new missions coming with Season 2, DMZ players will get a complete refresh of their missions which includes a clean wipe. This wipe includes a Contraband and Keys reset but keeps your Insured Weapon Slots and any other permanent content earned in Season 1 intact. DMZ will feature both Al Mazrah and Ashika Island as their maps to get your missions completed on but Al Mazrah will have a few Points of Interests (POIs) changed for fresh exploration. You can choose whatever map you want, including Building 21, at any time when starting up DMZ.
Ranked Play is the hottest game mode in Season 2 where you can finally put your skills to the test. Treyarch and the Call of Duty League build this mode together that uses CDL approved rules, restrictions, maps and modes with exclusive ranked based rewards that let you show off your skills. This is an intimate 4v4 multiplayer mode and you have to be at least evel 16 to access Ranked.
The modes in the Ranked playlist include Hardpoint, Search & Destroy, and Control. The ranks start at Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Crimson, Iridescent, Top 250 (where your name will be displayed on a special leaderboard). If you finish a season in the Gold rank or above, you’ll get a special set of rewards. The ranks will not reset each season and everyone will start in Bronze without any placement matches so players can just immediately start working on grinding their Skill Ratings (SR) up.
And don’t worry, if a player disconnects or quits during a match, all team members outside of that player’s party won’t lose any SR. But you can still earn SR if you win that match while shorthanded. But if you lose that match, you won’t lose any SR. Also, if you do end up losing SR, you can’t derank immediately and will have demotion protection for the first three games in the new rank division.
Let’s take a look at the other game modes coming back this Season that aren’t in Ranked Play. Grid from Modern Warfare 3 is back as a modified Kill Confirmed where you have to stack enemy dog tags and bank them at one of two locations in the map.
Gun Game and Hardcore are also back as classic favorites. Another game mode from Modern Warfare 3 Infected is back where one player is randomly selected as the “infected” who must spread that tag to others. Every survivor eliminated will join the Infected team until no one else is left or until the five-minute timer expires.
The new maps from Al Mazrah include Dome and Valderas Museum for Core game modes, Zaya Observatory and Al Malik International for Battle game modes.
Later in Season 2’s launch will feature another Raid following the story after Price, Farah, and Gaz fought through Atomgrad. This will pick up where Atomgrad left off and further the story for Modern Warfare 2.
Modern Warfare 2 has a lot of content with the drop of Season 2 and it’s February 15th so don’t forget to update your game if you want to play now. There will be regular midseason updates so we'll be sure to alert you once any of those changes go through, right here at IGN.
Stella is a Video Producer, Host, and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is on competitive FPS games and she's previously reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer, and Battlefield 2042. She regularly hosts and shoutcasts competitive Apex Legends and Halo Infinite tournaments when she isn't streaming on her Twitch channel after work outs. You can follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.
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Warzone 2.0 Updates
Ashika Island is a smaller, Japanese-themed map that is located in the Asia Pacific region. Research showed that Ashika was being used as a hideout for the Ultranationalist Konni Group which focused on transporting chemical and biological weapons. Even though this is a smaller map, Ashika has waterways for traversal and mountains/high points to leap off of and redeploy.
Return of Resurgence
Ashika Island is also the new map for Resurgence, a game mode coming back from the original Warzone. This will feature solos, duos, trios, and quads, with its own playlist update throughout Season 2. As a reminder, Resurgence allows for multiple respawns as long as one of your teammates is still alive.
The respawns happen after a certain amount of time has passed, which you can shorten by doing specific challenges like killing enemies. As the circle closes, the countdown for respawns gets longer and longer, and you still have access to buy stations if you get too impatient.
In this mode, there’s a new feature called Restore Honor where each player will drop a dog tag when eliminated which can be picked up by their teammate or enemy that will give a small cash reward and a single UAV ping that marks enemies and supply boxes.
1v1 Gulag
The Gulag is returning to its 1v1 standoff with Season 2 and will no longer feature the Jailer as the tiebreaker but bring back its Domination flag capture. The Gulag map will still be the Season 1 map but slightly altered to support 1v1 and we’re finally getting new weapon pools instead of just constantly getting a tiny pistol each time.
The weapon pool includes Assault Rifles, Submachine Guns, and Light Machine Guns. Shotguns have been completely removed from the Gulag and you’ll only have the pistol as your secondary weapon. The Gulag map also has cash lying around so you can run around and grab some before fighting, and if you win your match, the cash payout will be much larger so you can redeploy with a better chance of survival.
No more Backpacks
In Season 2 players will no longer have to go into menus to pick up objects and loot will now drop all out of containers like how things spray out from Supply Boxes. The backpack system will also be altered so you no longer need Medium or Large backpacks and each player will have the same backpack throughout the match that has reduced penalties for stacking healing items, equipment, and killstreaks. Player loot, when eliminated, will now spill out instead of being confined to a dropped backpack.
Cheaper Loadouts
In order to reward players with easier access to Loadouts, the price of Primary Weapons you can purchase in Buy Stations have been reduced and Loadout Drop Markers costs have also been reduced so Squads can get their full Loadouts faster. An additional second Loadout Drop Public Event has been added so drops will now occur on the first and fifth Circle each match.
No More Lootable Armor Vests
Everyone will spawn in with 3-Plate Vests instead of having to loot different tier vests each match.
DMZ Updates
Season Refresh
With all new missions coming with Season 2, DMZ players will get a complete refresh of their missions which includes a clean wipe. This wipe includes a Contraband and Keys reset but keeps your Insured Weapon Slots and any other permanent content earned in Season 1 intact. DMZ will feature both Al Mazrah and Ashika Island as their maps to get your missions completed on but Al Mazrah will have a few Points of Interests (POIs) changed for fresh exploration. You can choose whatever map you want, including Building 21, at any time when starting up DMZ.
Multiplayer Changes
New Game Modes
Ranked Play is the hottest game mode in Season 2 where you can finally put your skills to the test. Treyarch and the Call of Duty League build this mode together that uses CDL approved rules, restrictions, maps and modes with exclusive ranked based rewards that let you show off your skills. This is an intimate 4v4 multiplayer mode and you have to be at least evel 16 to access Ranked.
The modes in the Ranked playlist include Hardpoint, Search & Destroy, and Control. The ranks start at Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Crimson, Iridescent, Top 250 (where your name will be displayed on a special leaderboard). If you finish a season in the Gold rank or above, you’ll get a special set of rewards. The ranks will not reset each season and everyone will start in Bronze without any placement matches so players can just immediately start working on grinding their Skill Ratings (SR) up.
And don’t worry, if a player disconnects or quits during a match, all team members outside of that player’s party won’t lose any SR. But you can still earn SR if you win that match while shorthanded. But if you lose that match, you won’t lose any SR. Also, if you do end up losing SR, you can’t derank immediately and will have demotion protection for the first three games in the new rank division.
Let’s take a look at the other game modes coming back this Season that aren’t in Ranked Play. Grid from Modern Warfare 3 is back as a modified Kill Confirmed where you have to stack enemy dog tags and bank them at one of two locations in the map.
Gun Game and Hardcore are also back as classic favorites. Another game mode from Modern Warfare 3 Infected is back where one player is randomly selected as the “infected” who must spread that tag to others. Every survivor eliminated will join the Infected team until no one else is left or until the five-minute timer expires.
New Maps
The new maps from Al Mazrah include Dome and Valderas Museum for Core game modes, Zaya Observatory and Al Malik International for Battle game modes.
New Raid
Later in Season 2’s launch will feature another Raid following the story after Price, Farah, and Gaz fought through Atomgrad. This will pick up where Atomgrad left off and further the story for Modern Warfare 2.
Modern Warfare 2 has a lot of content with the drop of Season 2 and it’s February 15th so don’t forget to update your game if you want to play now. There will be regular midseason updates so we'll be sure to alert you once any of those changes go through, right here at IGN.
Stella is a Video Producer, Host, and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is on competitive FPS games and she's previously reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer, and Battlefield 2042. She regularly hosts and shoutcasts competitive Apex Legends and Halo Infinite tournaments when she isn't streaming on her Twitch channel after work outs. You can follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.
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