Warzone Season 5 update patch notes: Serpentine nerf, Fortune’s Keep changes, more

Season 5 sends Warzone off in style, increasing the player count, reworking maps, fixing gas masks, and making significant weapon nerfs and buffs. Here are the full patch notes.

Warzone Season 4 had its highs and lows. Some players embraced Titanium Trials‘ emphasis on competitive play, while others were overwhelmed.

Players reported a “massive increase” in cheaters during Season 4, and players labeled the game “unplayable” after stuttering and dropped frame issues plagued Caldera.

Season 5 is Warzone’s final season before Warzone 2. Last Stand aims to rectify Season 4’s shortcomings while giving players a final run to remember. Here’s everything coming in the massive update.

Playlist rotations

Raven Software experimented with playlist rotations in Season 4. Other battle royales such as Apex Legends rely on map rotations to keep the experience fresh.

Season 5 expands on rotating through maps and game modes. For the first four weeks of Season 5, The Warzone developers will cycle through fan-favorite LTM from Monday through Thursday. Core game modes will always be available to play.

The Warzone developers also listened to community feedback and are making Plunder a more predominant game mode.

New game modes: Operation: Last Call

Inspired by Search and Destroy, Season 5 adds a new game mode, Last Call. While giant lava rocks rain from the sky, players defend or plant bombs around the island. Players start with their loadout, and spawns are enabled.

Player count increase

Warzone players have been demanding a player count increase on Fortune’s Keep, and their calls were answered. For Fortunes Keep Resurgence, here are the new player count numbers.  

• Solos: 50 players up from 45
• Duos: 50 players up from 46
• Trios: 51 players up from 45
• Quads: 52 players up from 40

Full Warzone Season 5 patch notes: All changes explained

Warzone Season 5 is making wide-sweeping map updates. There is a new gulag inspired by Warzone’s first iteration, an active volcano was added to Caldera, and there are new weather and lighting changes on Fortunes Keep.

Last Stand adds new gameplay features such as a Doomsday Station, Supply Box UAV, Personal Supply Box, and Rage Serum.

The Developers also finally addressed gas masks. A menu option was unintentionally added, allowing players to toggle the gas mask on or off. Unfortunately, the menu option did not actually change anything in-game, but Season 5 makes it a permanent fixture.

Players can now control when and how long they wear their gas masks. Based on player feedback, Raven Software also addressed UI selection elements form Buy Stations and Loadout Crates

Here are the full Season 5 patch notes.

Volcanic Peak Reworked POI

Heightened volcanic activity has been recorded at Caldera, with a major geological event occurring with the launch of Season Five. Battle around a transformed Peak as lava runs down the mountainside in all modes and shoots out over the island during Operation: Last Call.

Task Force Tyrants HQ POI Expansion

No self respecting villain would operate without an evil lair. As such, Task Force Tyrants has claimed Peak and given it somewhat of a hazardous makeover… an interior creek with flowing lava, basalt columns and stepping stones, a giant, colorful, ornate crest for their secret organization, and a beautiful vista looking out over a wartorn Caldera.

Boiler RoomNew Gulag

Get back into the match with the new volcanic-themed Gulag, inspired by an old favorite.

Sun Rays Through Smoke New Weather and Lighting

The storm has cleared on Caldera, the sunlight peeking through the volcano’s billowing smoke.

Sunset New Weather & Lighting

Rebirth Island sees new lighting changes as well, featuring a warm and lush sunset casting a vibrant hue over the map.

Rebirth After Dark New Weather & Lighting

Rebirth Island will also receive a special limited-time mode, “Rebirth After Dark”, on Friday September 2nd through Sunday September 4th that allows Players to experience this fan favorite experience after the sun has set.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed collision issues with various elements across Caldera/Fortune’s Keep allowing Players to exploit/peek/shoot through them.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the Player from equipping Armor Plates after interacting with a Buy Station.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Player to be unable to buy back a teammate when the Hardline Perk was equipped.
• Fixed an issue that caused Prestige Levels to display incorrectly in the Barracks.
• Fixed an issue that caused some Emblems and Calling Cards to be unequipped automatically.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Out of Bounds warning to get stuck on-screen in a pre-match lobby.

KNOWN ISSUES

For a list of other known #Warzone issues, please check out our dedicated Trello Board.

GAMEPLAY

Doomsday Station New Gameplay | Caldera Battle Royale

• This unique station can be activated for $10,000, causing enemy AI to invade the position via Helicopter drop.
• Rewards are lootable by any Player, regardless of who activated the station.
• One station will appear per match, with multiple possible spawn locations. 
• A unique cosmetic Watch skin will be rewarded to Players who activate and fully secure the station.

Supply Box UAVNew Killstreak | All Maps & Modes

• This new Killstreak can be activated to mark nearby, unopened Supply Boxes on the Tac Map for 20 seconds.
• This Killstreak can be looted via Supply Boxes or purchased at a Buy Station for $3,000.
• Activating more than 3 Supply Box UAV in a short amount of time will activate an Advanced Supply Box UAV resulting in a much stronger effect.
• Supply Box types are represented by color:
  • Blue = Standard Supply Box
  • Orange = Legendary Supply Box
  • Red = Resurgence Supply Box
  • Pink = Personal Supply Box

Personal Supply Box New Lootable Supply Box | All Maps & Modes

• This unique Supply Box will spawn a Player’s “Favorite” Loadout Weapons and reward the Player with 2,000 XP.
  • Players can “Set as Favorite” via the Weapons -> Edit Loadout menus.

Rage Serum New Field Upgrade | All Maps & Modes

• Players can use this Field Upgrade to boost their close-quarters capabilities for 40 seconds. 
• Positive effects include:
  • Movement Speed increased by 8% 
  • Damage with Melee Weapons or while Unarmed increased by 50%
  • Lunge Distance increased to 3.2 meters, up from 1.4 meters while standing
  • Melee Stun Power increased by 50%
• Negative effects include:
  • Players have a louder presence 
  • Visible “Rage” effects on the Operator
  • Stun & Flash Vulnerability increased by 40%
  • This effect can be countered by the Battle Hardened perk. 

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Precision Airstrikes
  • Improved the Precision Airstrike danger UI notification to be more consistent with where the Airstrike target is and any nearby enemies.
  • Implemented a fix for Precision Airstrikes sometimes not hitting near the targeted site – instead hitting the Player from behind unexpectedly
    • This would occur in rare situations where a Player is positioned considerably higher above the target when launching the strike.
  • Added a danger UI notification if the Player calling in a Cluster Strike or Precision Airstrike is too close to the targeted site.
  • Precision Airstrikes will continue to shoot through glass, balconies and wall-bang penetrable buildings.

In the absence of any recent changes to the Precision Airstrike behavior, we’ve still seen an uptick in Player sentiment and discussion around Precision Airstrikes lately. As such our engineering team have completed a detailed review of the system to make sure it is working as intended and as a result have made some changes to further improve and optimize the system.

• C4 Ground Loot Appearance
  • Unlooted C4 will now sit horizontally

We felt that C4 and ground loot Perks were too similar in appearance and presentation, so we’ve updated C4 to make it more distinguishable visually when compared to a vertically standing ground loot Perk satchel.

• Gas Mask Auto / Manual Equip Setting
  • Added functionality to the Quick Inventory Menu to allow the user to toggle the Gas Mask on/off.
    • Note: This option is only available if the user opts into the manual Gas Mask toggle in the Settings Menu.

We have made many targeted Quality of Life improvements to the auto Gas Mask behavior over the course of this year, and with it being in a much better place for all of our Players – now is the time to take the next step to give Players more agency and control over their experience with a Manual Equip setting.

• Buy Station Updates
  • The new Supply Box UAV Killstreak has been added to the Buy Station inventory.
  • The Buy Station inventory will now scroll in order to display all available options.
    • Loadout Drop Markers remain at the bottom of the list for ease of access because we know how important muscle memory is…

• Loadout Crate UI Selection In-Season
  Speaking of knowing how important muscle memory is…
  • Added a setting that allows the Loadout interface to remember the last Loadout that was selected.

During Season Four we made a change to optimize the Loadout interface so that the cursor selection starts at the top of the list. Whilst we heard positive feedback on this change, we also heard feedback from others that this was less optimized for their playstyle. Enjoy!

• Plane Respawn FunctionalityBattle Royale Modes | In-Season
  • Planes will no longer respawn once they have been destroyed.
  • This change does not apply to “respawn” Modes, i.g. Plunder.

PERKS

Serpentine

• Fire Damage no longer decreased.
• Explosive Damage no longer decreased.
• Players must now be tac sprinting for Serpentine to be effective
  • This change will arrive later this season    

Serpentine continues to be a top-3 pick in the blue Perk category after Season Four Reloaded’s update. As a result, we’re removing the bonus protection to Fire and Explosive Damage. This should also restore the value to E.O.D that Serpentine had cannibalized. 

Later in the season we’ll be making an additional change that causes Serpentine to only be in effect while Tactical Sprinting, instead of regular sprint.

Battle Hardened 

• Stun and Flash resistance increased to 80%, up from 50% and 70% respectively.

We felt we could bring more value to Battle Hardened, especially as it is now present as a lootable ground Perk, with our target for the effects of Stun and Flash to be mitigated to less than a second with the Perk equipped. Some Players may wonder why this change is happening now, to which our reply is that there may be a surprise in-store during Season Five that warrants this change.