Modern Warfare 4 Season 1: New Maps, Modes and Weapons

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 went live today, November 6, 2026, at midnight ET — and according to the official Call of Duty season announcement, it's a full content drop, not just a release-date confirmation. Season 1 adds three new multiplayer maps (Backstab, Canyon and Shoot House), the returning Grind and Drop Zone modes, a mid-season wave led by the Ministry and Overflow maps, a new DMZ location called the X01 Black Site, two new Call of Duty: Warzone maps (Hajin and Zodiac), two new Battle Pass weapons, and a reworked 100-tier Battle Pass with a built-in catch-up system. Here's everything that's actually in it.

The three new multiplayer maps at launch

Season 1's headline multiplayer addition is a trio of brand-new 6v6 maps, according to the official Call of Duty season announcement. Backstab is a medium-sized map set in a war-torn, snow-covered town, with abandoned tanks and drone ordnance scattered around a deserted building and harsh weather affecting visibility. Canyon is built around sun-scorched terrain and towering rock walls, with a River area near a site called the Convoy Ambush and a Cliff Path offering a more open, vista-heavy route through the map. Shoot House, a franchise mainstay, returns reimagined in snowy North Korean terrain rather than its classic desert setting.

Call of Duty's own summary for the update bills it as "more than six maps" once you count the launch trio, the mid-season additions below, and a returning fan favorite: Shipment, which was added back into rotation in the run-up to Season 1. There's also a new Kill Block: Crash playlist — a static-map mode variant built around the classic Crash map, running across Core multiplayer and Gunfight.

New and returning modes: Grind and Drop Zone

Two modes anchor Season 1's launch-day playlist. Grind is the headliner: eliminate enemy players, recover the dog tags they drop, and carry them back to your team's Bank to score — a risk-reward loop that rewards aggressive pushes as much as defending your own collection point. Drop Zone also returns, with teams fighting to control a single rotating objective while periodic Killstreak packages drop into the zone, raising the stakes for holding it. Both modes were also available alongside Gauntlet 1v1 as part of a Wager Match Event in the run-up to launch, per the Call of Duty blog, and the studio says more modes are coming starting at mid-season.

What's coming mid-season: Ministry, Overflow and Counter Attack

Season 1 isn't done at launch. Call of Duty confirms a mid-season content drop will add two more multiplayer maps — Ministry, set around fighting near an embassy during a diplomatic summit, and Overflow, centered on a factory and the surrounding farmland — along with unspecified additional locations the studio is still keeping under wraps. Mid-season also brings a new mode called Counter Attack, where the objective is detonating bombs at the enemy's Comm Station while defending your own, plus another new mode described as putting a twist on the classic Team Deathmatch formula. Further content is promised through in-season events as part of what the studio calls the "Season 1 Reloaded" drop.

DMZ gets a new location: the X01 Black Site

DMZ's biggest Season 1 addition is a new extraction location called X01. According to Call of Duty's official breakdown, intel suggests the facility was originally a GRANIT Arms black site that has since been seized by enemy forces, reachable through an infiltration point on the northern border near Hajin. Inside, it's described as a dimly lit, labyrinthine network of passageways, tunnels and linking chambers wrapped around a clandestine weapons assembly line, with multi-floored vertical sections that make squad coordination essential. Expect resistance from the 100 Spirits NK Faction and tougher, unspecified enemy types patrolling the interior.

Alongside X01, Season 1 adds new DMZ Orders guided by the character Ghost, new equipment, Threat Briefings (intel tasks built around identifying and taking down DMZ's biggest Boss threats for rewards including rare gear and Survival Kits), and Resupply Runs, where squads race to track down specific items across points of interest and trade them in for high-value gear like Self-Revives and armor plates before other squads beat them to it. As the facility's extraction points close over time, players have to complete required steps to escape — or risk being trapped inside. For context on how DMZ got to this point, see our earlier coverage of DMZ's early access launch last month.

Two new Warzone maps: Hajin and Zodiac

Season 1 is also when Call of Duty: Warzone fully folds into Modern Warfare 4. The update adds two new battle royale maps, Hajin and Zodiac, while bringing back the fan-favorite Verdansk and Rebirth Island maps. The Hajin Exclusion Zone is also the access point for DMZ's new X01 facility, tying the two modes together narratively. Call of Duty says a separate Warzone-focused post and full roadmap covering additional modes and gameplay features was scheduled to follow on November 2, ahead of today's launch, so expect more granular Warzone patch notes on the official blog if you're specifically chasing battle royale details.

New weapons: Cronen Osprey and CSG-35, with stats

Season 1 ships with two new base weapons, both unlocked by leveling up the Battle Pass rather than bought separately. The CSG-35, also detailed in PlayStation's own Season 1 preview, is a submachine gun that arrives as a free unlock at Battle Pass Tier 36, with a Blueprint variant at Tier 73. Per Call of Duty's own weapon breakdown, it fires at 1,200 RPM — "the highest fire rate in its class" — with a 28-round magazine, 112 rounds in reserve and 42 attachment levels to work through. The tradeoff is range: damage per shot is modest and recoil climbs fast past 20 meters, so it's built to overwhelm targets up close rather than win drawn-out gunfights.

The Cronen Osprey assault rifle unlocks free at Battle Pass Tier 16, with its own Blueprint at Tier 87. It's rated at 882 RPM with a 30-round magazine, 90 rounds in reserve and 70 attachment levels — a hybrid profile that trades some of an AR's typical stopping power for faster handling. Both weapons support a full attachment suite spanning optics, muzzles, barrels, underbarrels, magazines, rear grips, stocks, lasers and ammunition types. Later in the season, Call of Duty says it's adding a JAK 12 shotgun and a ZLR Talonhawk melee weapon, plus more Attachments to go with them.

New Operators and Season 1 events

Season 1 introduces two new Operators to unlock: Blix, who headlines the Battle Pass's "Downpour" skin line, and BlackCell-exclusive agent XERO. Beyond the Battle Pass grind, Call of Duty lists several timed events running across Multiplayer, DMZ and Warzone: a Wager Match Event built around the Gauntlet 1v1 Gunfight playlist, where collecting Trophies earns Weapon Attachments, an Operator Skin, a Blueprint and Weapon Camo; Weapon Camo Events; and a Squad Up Event that hands out a bigger XP boost the more friends you party up with, with rewards including Blueprints, Charms, Double XP tokens and a DMZ Survival Kit. In DMZ specifically, Call of Duty also calls out recurring Commander Hunts as a standing Season 1 activity. Separately, Activision is running a Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.) Valor Pack in Warzone this season, with proceeds supporting veteran employment, and players who verify their Call of Duty account email can claim a "Locked Down" universal weapon camo at no cost.

The Season 1 Battle Pass: 100+ rewards and a catch-up system

The structural change players will notice most is the Battle Pass itself. Season 1 moves to a linear 100-tier track packed with 100-plus unlockable items — Operator Skins, Weapon Blueprints, Finishing Moves, Calling Cards, Weapon Charms, Reticles, Double XP tokens and more — that you fill out simply by logging in and playing, rather than choosing between branching reward sectors. The Season 1 Battle Pass costs 1,100 COD Points, or 2,400 COD Points for the Battle Pass Bundle, both of which unlock a new catch-up mechanic: players who buy the Premium pass and fall behind are automatically caught up to the reward tier matching the current day of the season, up to day 50, guaranteeing at least 50-plus rewards regardless of how much you've played. Buying either pass also immediately unlocks a set of Instant Rewards, including a 10% Battle Pass XP boost for the season, up to 1,100 COD Points back, an Operator Skin for Blix, a Weapon Blueprint, a Lethal Equipment Blueprint, a Weapon Sticker and a DMZ Survival Kit.

How to jump into Season 1

Season 1 is a free update for anyone who already owns Modern Warfare 4, the latest mainline entry in the rebooted Modern Warfare continuity from publisher Activision — the multiplayer maps, modes and DMZ's X01 location don't require any additional purchase, and only the Premium Battle Pass tiers and BlackCell content cost COD Points. It rolls out simultaneously across every platform the game shipped on, with no staggered release by region or console, and crossplay between platforms carries over unchanged from launch. If you're still weighing whether to buy in, our breakdown of the game's platforms, price and Game Pass availability covers where it's sold and which subscriptions include it. Today's update also follows through on the date Activision set when it first confirmed Season 1's November 6 release date and Warzone's return.

Worth noting if you're budgeting for the season: the Battle Pass itself is 1,100 COD Points, and the Bundle that includes extra Instant Rewards is 2,400 COD Points — separate from whatever bundle or edition you bought the base game in. None of Season 1's free content, including the three new multiplayer maps, Grind, Drop Zone or the X01 Black Site, sits behind either purchase.

What's next for Modern Warfare 4 Season 1

Several pieces of Season 1 are explicitly staged for later. Call of Duty has not yet attached a firm date to the mid-season drop that brings Ministry, Overflow, Counter Attack and the JAK 12 and ZLR Talonhawk weapons, and the studio says additional Warzone modes and features are still to be detailed on the official blog beyond the Hajin and Zodiac map additions. A further set of unannounced multiplayer and DMZ content is also teased under the "Season 1 Reloaded" banner. Expect Call of Duty and PlayStation's own blogs to publish follow-up patch notes as those pieces roll out over the coming weeks — we'll cover the mid-season update separately once Infinity Ward confirms a date.

Video: Call of Duty · Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 | Season 1 Launch Trailer

Written byJonah Reyes

Jonah Reyes leads Pandromeda's gaming coverage: console and handheld hardware, release dates, pricing changes, patch notes and the business moves behind the biggest franchises. He sources every date and price from the platform holders and publishers themselves, and says plainly when something is still only a rumour.

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