DMZ Season 3 patch notes: Barter system, workbench, more

Warzone 2’s DMZ game mode receives a massive overhaul in Season 3, and players can expect a few major changes to the game’s systems, and we have the patch notes for you.

Infinity Ward’s new extraction shooter game mode, DMZ, received praise in Season 1, but the following season fell short in the eyes of several streamers. DMZ expert Westie claimed Season 2 went too far “the wrong way,” arguing the developers didn’t do enough to improve a “semi-broken” beta version.

Fellow DMZ streamer, Stodeh, agreed and claimed interest in the game was “falling daily.” The Youtuber believes a lack of replayability, long-term progression, and an over-emphasis on PVP gameplay prevents the community from growing.

Season 3 breathes fresh life into DMZ, so here is everything you need to know about the upcoming seasonal update.

Contents

• Barter system, Workbenches & Operator slots
• New Factions, missions & backpacks
• Contracts, new vehicles & bosses
• Full Warzone Season 3 DMZ patch notes

Barter system, Workbenches & Operator slots

DMZ Season 3 emphasizes customization and fresh experiences each time you load in. The Barter system serves as a way for players to swap items they collected for other valuables. Before, players didn’t have the ability to edit contraband weapons.

The workbench allows users to either add an attachment to a contraband weapon or remove one, which will help these guns feel more valuable.

Extraction shooters punish players by taking all of their loot if they die. Active Duty operator slots help alleviate that struggle and also open the door for community members to strategize. Each player gets three Active Duty operator slots with their own soldier items, meaning you can pick and choose which operator carries what.

New Factions, missions & backpacks

An unknown faction, REDACTED, is coming to Season 03 and will boast three of its mission tiers at launch, plus two more in-season.

Season 03 of DMZ will not reset your mission progress. Furthermore, the new REDACTED Faction, available to all players, will have three of its mission tiers available at Season 03 launch, with two more to come at mid-season.

Secure Backpacks, as the name suggests, secure items between runs. This means that those non-Contraband, non-on-soldier items are secured in your inventory and don’t convert to XP upon extraction. Plus, items in a Secure Backpack are kept to that Active Duty Soldier if they are eliminated in an Extraction Zone.

Most likely one of the biggest game-changers in DMZ alongside Active Duty Operator slots, as this can help with supply runs and Mission objectives. And both of them come from the same idea of persistence: in DMZ, you need to continue doing missions and tasks despite getting knocked down some times.

For the Secure Backpack, even if you lose one important mission item, it will still be there with a Secure Backpack (and remember that there is a Barter recipe for it, too).

As for Scavenger Backpacks, these take out that third weapon slot usually found in Medium and Large Backpacks and add additional item slots. Perfect for completing Missions when there are a ton of valuable items that need to be picked up.

Contracts, new vehicles & bosses

Most Operators who play Battle Royale know the details about Supply Runs, but now these Contracts are coming to DMZ, and they are similar in name only:

A Supply Run is a great contract for gearing up when your Active Duty Operator is brand new. Think of it as a lower-stakes Safecracker: instead of iron safes, all your Operator needs to do is find wooden crates. All items there are free for the taking.

The Heavy Chopper is back, and there will be a new way to privately exfiltrate an Exclusion Zone DMZ in Season 03: both of which can help you exfiltrate safely.

Operators should prepare to face new threats across the various Exclusion Zones, as there are not one but two bosses that intel suggests are [[REDACTED]]. Intel also suggests that deep underground in Al Mazrah, there is [[REDACTED]].

Full Warzone Season 3 update DMZ patch notes

Here are all the patch notes, courtesy of Activision, to do with DMZ in Call of Duty: Warzone 2 Season 3, with descriptions of what each new change will do:

Trophy Hunt New Limited-Time Event

Operators and Agents drop trophies when killed. Trophies can also be found in loot. Trophies must be collected and secured at an Upload Station, or extracted to add them to your bank.

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.
      • 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.

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

• 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.

• 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. 

• 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.

• 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.

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

• 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