WithCall of Duty: Warzone 2recently released, it is understandable that many fans of the franchise want to be deeply familiar with the newer intricacies of the game to gain the best possible advantage over their opposition. Given just how wide-sweeping these new changes are, it is no wonder that players are confused about some of the fresh implementations.
Perks have always been a massive element of the franchise’s gameplay, and this is no different withinCall of Duty: Warzone 2. However, perks in this new release take on an entirely different form than what was present within the game’s predecessor, but they are still just as important and impactful as ever.
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The Original Perk System of Warzone
The firstWarzone, which released in 2020, grew to be massively successful, firmly establishingCall of Duty’stake on the battle royale genre as being worthy of standing among the giants of the industry. One of the main ways in which the original title achieved this is how it meshed the BR experience with themultiplayer of 2019’sCall of Duty: Modern Warfare. With customizable classes being shared between the two simultaneously running titles, the life cycle of theCoDfranchise was broadened significantly.
Players could then receive theirModern Warfareloadout withinWarzoneby accessing a loadout drop in-game, affording players their own customized weapons, equipment, and perks. The presence of these perks within loadouts was arguably the most attractive element of this game mechanic, with perks like Ghost being an absolute necessity within themany metas ofWarzone. Given the intense level of combat advantage that these perks could foster, loadouts were an imperative feature of the 2020 title that has taken a different form inWarzone 2.
Base, Bonus, and Ultimate Perks in Warzone 2
Many will already be aware that this aforementionedloadout system has been changed inWarzone 2, with players now only able to purchase a single customized primary weapon from buy stations around the map of Al Mazrah. While this does mean that perks cannot be instantly acquired via a loadout drop like in the firstWarzone, perks can still be equipped by players, just via different means.
Perks inWarzone 2take the same formula as therecently releasedModern Warfare 2, being split up into “perk packages” comprised of base, bonus, and ultimate perks. All perk packages come with two base perks, which are active from the very outset of any givenWarzone 2match. Perk packages then come with one bonus perk, which becomes available at the four-minute mark of a match, as well as a final ultimate perk that activates after eight minutes of gameplay.
As might be expected, the combat utility of these perks increases with these different classifications, with bonus and ultimate perks being much more useful than the standard base perks. These perks are not customizable, and are instead all tied to the aforementioned perk packages, of which there are eight presets. These eight perk package presets are usually tied to a specific avenue of gameplay, with the Specter preset fostering aggressive stealth in its inclusion of the Ghost and Tracker perks, for example.
Many have theorized thatWarzone 2may eventually allow players to mix and match perks from between different perk package presets, but as of right now players are limited to a single style of play perk-wise. While this new perk system can create slower pacing and a narrowing of gameplay variation, it is clearly important forWarzone 2to link itself tothe multiplayer ofMW2, and perks are a massive part of how this has been done.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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