Warzone Season 6 is live, and Raven Software didn’t treat it like a quiet farewell. The update landed on September 17, 2026, turning Haven’s Hollow into a Halloween-soaked battleground, adding two new guns, cutting the AN-94 down to size, and rewriting how Ranked Play works at the top of the ladder. It’s also the final season of the Black Ops 7 era, with Modern Warfare 4 taking over in October.
If you haven’t dropped into Call of Duty: Warzone in a while, now’s a good time. It’s still free-to-play, and there’s a lot more going on here than a pumpkin reskin.
Haunted Hollow: Haven’s Hollow Goes Dark
The headline change is Haunted Hollow, a twisted version of Haven’s Hollow. The River Boat is wrapped in something unpleasant, the Lumbermill is on fire, and the Mansion now has a gravity vortex. Cosmic tentacles hang over the skyline. Subtle, it isn’t.
The Ghost Train is the map’s big gimmick, and it’s a smart one. It circles the map at the start of every match in a ghostly, untouchable state. Hit a train signal and it stops, phases back into reality, and becomes a rolling loot stash with Supply Boxes, a Buy Station, and a Mystery Box. That Mystery Box gets a beam in the sky and a Tac Map icon, so expect company. Roll for a reward, and if you hate what comes out, melee it to reject the item and spin again. Just don’t dawdle, because the train fades back out.
Shops around town have also left out Trick or Treat Pumpkins. Most hand over loot, some hand over trouble, and the good ones grant powerups that work like short-term Perks:
- Double Points doubles your cash pickups.
- Full Armor replaces every missing plate instantly, which can win a fight on its own.
- Full Ammo tops off reserves for everything you’re carrying.
- Loot Master makes loot caches spill extra items when you crack them open.
- Zarkour boosts movement speed and tac sprint, and removes fall damage entirely.
- Undead Sight outlines friendly and enemy players, a genuinely nasty advantage in the endgame.
Inside the Mansion, a Low Gravity Zone lets you jump higher and farther with no fall damage. You’ll also leave a visible trail while airborne, so it’s great for rotating and terrible for hiding.
Giant Infected Brings 64 Players to the Hollow
Giant Infected arrived in the season’s second week as a limited-time mode. Sixty-four players drop into Haunted Hollow, and eight of them start as Infected. Everyone else is a Survivor with a fixed loadout that can be upgraded over the match. Survivors win by collecting DNA samples and detonating a DNA Bomb. The Infected win by converting everyone before that happens.
Dying as a Survivor isn’t the end, it’s a class change. Infected players get unlimited sprint, heavy melee attacks, fast mantling, wall jumps, and no fall damage. Survive long enough and they unlock more speed, more health, and a super jump. If the bomb starts ticking, the horde can still swarm it and shut it down.
Weapon Balance: The AN-94 Finally Takes a Hit
Raven was upfront about the goal here: shake up the assault rifle and SMG meta by pulling down a few outliers and giving neglected guns room to breathe. The AN-94 had a long run at the top. That run is over.
| Weapon | Change | Key Numbers |
|---|---|---|
| AN-94 (AR) | Nerf | Max damage 41 to 38, max range 45m to 38m, headshot multiplier 1.3x to 1.2x, 12% more recoil in BR/Resurgence |
| VST (SMG) | Nerf | Max damage 29 to 27, max range 13.5m to 12.8m, ADS 155ms to 165ms in BR/Resurgence |
| REV-46 (SMG) | Nerf | Max damage range cut from 12.8m to 12.2m |
| Voyak KT-3 (AR) | Buff | Max damage 39 to 42, mid-range damage 34 to 37, 8% less recoil in BR/Resurgence |
| MPC-25 (SMG) | Buff | Max damage range 13m to 13.5m, 10% less vertical recoil in BR/Resurgence |
| Sokol 545 (LMG) | Buff | Max damage 44 to 47 |
| M10 Breacher (Shotgun) | Buff | Longer damage ranges, bullet velocity 320m/s to 450m/s in BR/Resurgence |
Two new guns join the pool. The VMP is a full-auto SMG with quick handling and a fast fire rate, unlocked on Battle Pass Page 3. The TR51 Para is a semi-auto assault rifle that hits very hard and stays easy to control at range, and it can be converted to full auto. You’ll find it on Page 6. Beyond the Battle Pass, the Arcblade melee weapon comes from the Camo Costume Party event, and the Roc 20mm cannon is tied to the DOOM Event Pass.
Supply Drones, Loot, and Buy Station Changes
Supply Drones got a real rework in Battle Royale and Resurgence. They now deploy during infil, stick around longer, fly more predictably, and only hover over High Value Loot Zones. They carry more Legendary Crates and fewer regular ones, and they won’t spawn in the gas anymore. Shoot one down and more will spawn, up to a cap per circle. On Verdansk, the High Value Loot Zones are now Superstore, Hospital, and Stadium.
Ground loot shuffles too. The Armor Box and Munitions Box replace the Utility Box, Frag Grenades replace the Combat Axe, and Concussions replace Flash Grenades. Cluster Strike is now sold at Buy Stations for $4,000, while the Juggernaut Public Event has been switched off. Incoming killstreak warnings also fire regardless of your height now, which should cut down on rooftop surprises.
Ranked Play Gets Tougher at the Top
Season 6 is a shorter Ranked season, and Raven is using it to test some aggressive changes. Resurgence Ranked now follows the Multiplayer schedule: three weeks of normal Ranked, then one week of Ranked Series.
The big one is Skill Rating inflation. Deployment fees went up across Diamond and above, which shrinks how much SR a single match can pay out. At the very top of the ladder, 15,000 SR, the fee jumps from 220 to 270 and the most you can earn in a match drops from 55 to just 5. SR Challenges are disabled for the whole season, since players were stockpiling them as a late-season cushion. Expect the Top 250 leaderboard to tighten up considerably.
Loadouts open up at the same time. The NX Ravager crossbow with explosive bolts, the M10 Breacher (Dragon’s Breath ammo stays banned), the Arrow 109 and A.R.C M1 launchers, and the Claymore are all legal in Ranked now. None of them will one-shot a player, thanks to the same protection already applied to snipers, and vehicles at full health no longer explode from a single launcher hit.
DOOM Crossover, Camo Events, and Win Streak Rewards
The limited-time DOOM Event Pass adds the Doom Slayer as a new Operator, a Doom Guy Operator Skin, and the Roc 20mm special weapon. It’s a fun nod to a series that started with the original 1993 Doom, and it’s only around for part of the season, so don’t sit on it.
The Camo Costume Party event spans all four modes: Multiplayer, Zombies, Endgame, and Warzone. You’ll need challenges from each one to earn the Arcblade and the new camos. Win Streak rewards have also refreshed, and Season 5’s are gone for good. Battle Royale players can earn Eye of the Storm at 10 straight wins and Stormfront at 25. Resurgence asks for more: 30 wins for Harvest Haunt, 50 for Neon Nightmare. Black Ops Royale offers Crimson Omen and Contagion at 10 and 25 wins, and this is the last season you’ll be able to play that mode at all.
Hotfixes Since Launch
A September 24 update closed a few exploits. Players who eliminate themselves with no cash no longer drop $500, which people were farming. C4 can’t be detonated from Last Stand anymore. The Fortune’s Keep boat’s Exclusion Zone was trimmed from three uses to two, with its duration cut from roughly 140 seconds to about 80. Raven also patched a trick where players could avoid all damage by sitting in the Bank Vault interaction screen.
What Comes Next for Warzone
Season 6 is a send-off. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23, with Campaign Early Access for pre-order owners starting October 16, and Activision says Season 1 will follow shortly after to kick off a new year of content across MW4 and Warzone. Whatever meta you settle into now won’t last long.
You can read every number in Raven Software’s official Warzone Season 6 patch notes. If you’re shopping for something else to play between drops, our roundup of the best free battle royale games is a good place to start, and our guide to safe, legal sites for free PC games covers where to download them.
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