Since the release of Fortnite in 2017, Battle Passes have become a new staple of the multiplayer video game market, especially when it comes to free-to-play titles. Often including about 100 tiers, Battle Passes usually give players an incentive to keep playing the game, offering a reward at every tier that usually takes the form of a cosmetic such as a skin or emblem. The last few Call of Duty entries have had Battle Passes, but Call of Duty: Warzone 2 is switching things up quite a bit.
First introduced in 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Battle Passes have been present in every Call of Duty since, including the battle royale spin-off Call of Duty: Warzone. In each one of these games, the Battle Pass has functioned largely the same. Players purchase it and work their way through each tier of reward linearly by playing the game and earning XP. Call of Duty: Warzone 2, however, is making things a little more confusing, but potentially more rewarding.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2's Battle Pass Explained
Call of Duty: Warzone 2's Battle Pass is a lot more complicated than some fans were expecting, and though the game does do a decent job of laying everything out, there's still a lot of codenames, numbers, and other complications thrown at the player. The biggest thing players need to know about Warzone 2's Battle Pass is that it's non-linear, at least to some degree.
As mentioned up top, previous Call of Duty entries had players working their way through the Battle Pass from tier to tier, progressing from tier 1 to tier 2, and so on. Call of Duty: Warzone 2 introduces a new "Area of Operations" system, where players can access multiple tiers at the same time. When players open up the Battle Pass, they'll be presented with a map. This map is divided into about 20 sections, each of which is designated a specific "AO." These are essentially the Battle Pass' tiers.
Each AO segment on the Battle Pass map shows the icon of something like a weapon, an operator skin, Call of Duty points, or a vehicle. These icons represent the "High Value Target" of that specific tier. When clicking on an AO, players will be presented with up to five different rewards on the left side of their screen. At the top is the High Value Target, and below it is usually four smaller rewards. All four of these rewards must be unlocked before players can obtain the High Value Target reward.
To unlock rewards, players need to earn Battle Pass Tier Skips. These can be earned naturally by playing the game and completing challenges across all of its modes. Once a Battle Pass Tier Skip has been earned, players just go to their chosen AO, choose a reward, and unlock it. What's so unique about Warzone 2's Battle Pass is that when players have unlocked all of that AO's rewards, they can then progress to any adjacent AO. For instance, by unlocking all five rewards on the starting AO1 tier, players can then choose to unlock rewards from either AO2 or AO3. In fact, players can even choose to unlock rewards simultaneously from both attached tiers, alternating between the two. For those who don't want to drop the cash, there are 20 free items on the Battle Pass that can be obtained using the earned Battle Pass Tier Skips. But for those who want to pay, the Battle Pass has 20 AOs, with over 100 rewards in total.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.