Call of Duty Warzone Season 1 Just Changed Everything: Open Matchmaking, New Resurgence Map, and More

Call of Duty: Warzone drops Season 1 alongside Black Ops 7 with its broadest overhaul in years—upgraded Ricochet Anti-Cheat, a fresh Battle Pass, new maps and events, and a sweeping new open matchmaking system. Dive in as the update reshapes how players squad up and square off.

Warzone just hit the reset button. Season 1 (rolled in with Black Ops 7) is one of the biggest overhauls the game has had in years — new systems, a new map, movement tweaks, a fat pile of guns, an upgraded anti-cheat, and a Battle Pass stuffed past capacity. Raven is clearly swinging to go toe-to-toe with Battlefield 6. Let’s break down what actually changes when you drop in.

Matchmaking goes wide open

The headline change: open matchmaking across all non-casual modes, in every playlist format. Translation: no more skill-based matchmaking walls in ranked-style or competitive-adjacent modes. You aren’t being sorted by past performance here — lobbies are open, which should slash queue times. Casual modes are the exception; this shift is specifically for the non-casual side of the house.

New map: Haven's Hollow (Resurgence)

Resurgence gets a fresh arena called Haven's Hollow, built around late-summer Appalachian vibes. Think small-town Americana stitched to a modern research complex. It’s fast by design and packed with varied sightlines. You’ll bounce between Coal Depot, Lumbermill, Mansion, Research Center, Train Station, Pond, Riverboat, and Main Street — tight interiors, rooftop ambush spots, and a few high-value areas baked in.

Movement revamp

Tactical Sprint is no longer a core ability. That sounds scary, but operator base speed is up to compensate. If you want Tac Sprint back, equip the Sprinter perk. Also new: Combat Roll. With the Mountaineer perk, you can drop from a certain height and roll to bleed off impact damage. It changes rooftop pushes and escape routes more than you’d think.

Loadouts reworked (and where your gear comes from)

Loadout customization got cleaned up. Wildcards are gone. Overkill is now the default for everyone. Weapons are capped at five attachment slots. And a bunch of lethal/tactical equipment has been moved out of loadouts entirely, so you’ll mostly pick that stuff up in-match. On top of balance tweaks to staples like Stim Shot and Smoke Grenades, there’s new kit in circulation: Needle Drone and Point Turret (both lethal), Phantom Signal and Pinpoint Grenade and Psych Grenade (tacticals), plus the Echo Unit as a field upgrade.

The arsenal just exploded

Season 1 adds a downright ridiculous number of weapons across basically every category. Here’s the full spread, grouped by type:

• Assault Rifles: M15 MOD 0, AK-27, MXR-17, X9 MAVERICK, DS20 MIRAGE, PEACEKEEPER MK1, MADDOX RFB
• SMGs: RYDEN 45K, RK-9, RAZOR 9MM, DRAVEC 45, CARBON 57, MPC-25, KOGOT-7
• Shotguns: M10 BREACHER, ECHO 12, AKITA
• LMGs: MK.78, XM325, SOKOL 545
• Marksman Rifles: M8A1, WARDEN 308, M34 NOVALINE
• Snipers: VS RECON, SHADOW SK, XR-3 ION
• Pistols: JAGER 45, VELOX 5.7, CODA 9
• Launchers: AAROW 109, A.R.C M1
• Special Weapon: NX RAVAGER
• Melee: KNIFE, FLATLINE MK.II, BALLISTIC KNIFE

Battle Pass and extra freebies

There’s a new 14-page Battle Pass with 100+ rewards — operator cosmetics, weapon skins, blueprints, the usual dopamine feed. Also, if you verify your email, you get the 'Veiled Aurora' universal weapon camo plus multiple one-hour Double XP and Double Weapon XP tokens. Easy win.

Anti-cheat and PC security are getting stricter

Ricochet is getting a major tune-up. The detection tools are stronger, aimed at catching boosting and other unfair progression tricks, and the upgrades apply to both Warzone and Black Ops 7. On PC, TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are now mandatory to play. A utility is coming later in the season to help you quickly check if your rig meets those requirements. It’s a heavier lock on the door, but if it cuts down on bad actors, worth it.

Bottom line

This is the biggest shake-up in a long time. Open matchmaking in non-casual modes is the swing that will change how lobbies feel day-to-day, while Haven's Hollow and the movement tweaks should keep matches fast and messy (in a good way). The flood of weapons and the stricter Ricochet rules round it out. What are you trying first?