Infinity Ward promised a massive new update for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the Call of Duty: Warzone battle royale, and it certainly delivered. The huge Season 5 download went live in the early morning hours of August 5, bringing significant changes to both the standard multiplayer experience as well as the battle royale mode.
Infinity Ward was sure to detail the most important changes in the Season 5 patch notes, but as usual, there were some secret changes made as well that weren't mentioned by the patch notes at all. Some of these changes are rather subtle, but others are potentially huge and could have major implications for the flow of the game.
It's possible that there are even more secret changes made to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone in Season 5, but we won't know about them until fans have had more time to thoroughly explore the new update. But in the meantime, here are all the secret changes that we've noticed in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone Season 5 so far.
Buy Station Price Changes
Something that Call of Duty: Warzone players will notice is that the Buy Station prices have changed for some of the items in the battle royale. Notably, Self-Revives now cost just $4,000, as does team buybacks. Effectively, this means that these items are cheaper, and on paper, it could result in players having many more opportunities to respawn in the game. $4,000 isn't that far off from the $4,500 that it previously cost to revive teammates, but it's still a discount and will mean players will have more cash to spend on other things in the game.
Gas Masks
Infinity Ward also added a new type of Gas Mask to the game called the Durable Gas Mask. Appearing as a gold gas mask on the HUD, the Durable Gas Mask in Call of Duty: Warzone does as its name suggests - it is simply a Gas Mask that lets players spend more time in the poison gas than they are able to with the standard gas mask.
Gulag Weapon Changes
The Gulag is one of Call of Duty: Warzone's most unique features. It gives players a chance to earn their way back into the battle royale by defeating an opponent in a close-quarters, one-on-one encounter. The Gulag plays very similarly to the standard Modern Warfare multiplayer's Gunfight mode, with players battling it out using the same exact weapons to ensure the fairest fight possible. Infinity Ward has experimented with the Gulag weapons in Warzone since its introduction, and now they've changed yet again.
The Warzone Season 5 update patch notes did confirm that Gulag weapons will be rotating on a weekly basis now, but they failed to mention the kind of weapons that players will find in the Gulag in this first week of Season 5. It appears as though the Call of Duty: Warzone Gulag weapons are shotguns this week, so pretty much the exact opposite of the sniper rifles that fans had been using at the end of Season 4.
Keycards and Bunkers
Previously, Call of Duty: Warzone has experimented with keycards that could open bunkers and give players access to high-tier loot. It seems keycards are back in Call of Duty: Warzone after the Season 5 update, with players now finding them once again spread out across the battle royale map. There are the standard red keycards that open the bunker doors just as they did before, as well as a special keycard that opens up a door in Stadium.
The bunkers themselves have gotten a bit of an upgrade from their previous appearance in Warzone. Based on our testing, it seems as though the Call of Duty: Warzone bunkers are now filled with significantly better loot than they were before, with it not being uncommon to leave a bunker with at least $30,000 in cash, on top of plenty of high-quality weapons, equipment, and more. The keypads at the back of the bunkers can now be properly interacted with as well, but it seems as though the community has yet to figure out if there are any codes that work with them.
Possible Black Ops Cold War Easter Egg
UPDATE: The Stadium access code and the associated easter egg has now been solved. It doesn't appear to be a Black Ops Cold War easter egg after all, but rather just a way for fans to unlock the Enigma weapon blueprint and trigger some fireworks at the Stadium.
Speaking of keycards, the keycard in Stadium actually lets players access a secret room with a computer displaying all kinds of random numbers. It's speculated that this is part of the Call of Duty 2020 reveal, which is supposedly happening within Warzone at some point. However, it's possible that this room has nothing to do with the upcoming Call of Duty 2020, and so fans should keep their expectations in check. Meanwhile, they may want to continue searching around the Warzone battle royale map in search of other secrets that may hint at a Call of Duty 2020 reveal.
It's also possible that the computer in the Stadium room has something to do with the codes that are used to open the second doors in the bunkers. The Warzone Season 5 update is so new that it's really difficult to say one way or the other at this point, but more should come to light as fans continue to explore the game's new Season 5 content.
Prison Changes
The big map changes in Call of Duty: Warzone Season 5, like Stadium opening up and the addition of a moving train, have been heavily publicized. However, it seems as though the developers also made some secret changes to the Warzone battle royale map as well. While it's possible more locations have been tweaked, an area with some of the most notable changes is the Prison, which has some new architecture for players to check out.
Upon visiting Prison, Call of Duty: Warzone players may note some new black spikes added to the top of the building, along with some mysterious antenna technology. It's possible that this is tied to some deeper easter egg, or it could just be for show. Fans should definitely keep an eye out to see if they can find even more subtle changes like this to the Warzone battle royale map.
Swords
With the Season 5 update, Activision has added a ton of new cosmetic bundles that players can purchase from the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare store, including the Eternal Samurai Collection. As expected, this bundle includes samurai-themed content, including a special Riot Shield and even a samurai sword - the first sword available in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone to date. The Daimyo samurai sword in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is actually a skin for the new dual kodachis melee weapon, which, according to the Modern Warfare Season 5 road map, won't be added for all players until at some point later in the season. It's quite likely that there will be more dual kodachi skins released down the line, meaning fans may be able to look forward to even more swords in the game in the near future.
Call of Duty: Warzone is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.