Warzone Season 1 patch notes: Hajin, Tactical Sprint back as standard and matches almost 5.5 minutes shorter
By TourneyTime ·
The short version
Raven Software’s Season 1 patch notes, dated 5 November, fully integrate Modern Warfare 4 into Warzone. That brings two new maps (Hajin and Zodiac), 30+ new weapons, Tactical Sprint back as standard, and new gas timings that Raven says cut almost 5.5 minutes from a match. Below is everything that changes how you play, with the numbers straight from the notes.
Maps: Hajin and Zodiac
| Map | Type | What’s there |
|---|---|---|
| Hajin | New large Battle Royale map | 13 major points of interest across North and South Korea, a new Gulag with two arena variants, random weather and a night vision toggle |
| Zodiac | New Resurgence map | 10 points of interest inside the DRC Advanced Systems drone factory in South Korea, with moving trains, underground passages and environmental hazards |
On Hajin, one of six weather scenarios is rolled at the start of every match:
| Weather | Chance | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Clear | 30% | Clear all match |
| Wind | 20% | Windy all match |
| Heavy Wind | 15% | Stronger wind all match |
| Sun Showers | 15% | Three bursts of rain, in Circles 1, 2 and 4 |
| Passing Rain | 10% | Brief rain between Circles 3 and 4 |
| Growing Storm | 10% | Rain that builds to a peak in the final circles |
The Hajin Gulag lets you mantle over obstacles, and local weather reaches it too. On Zodiac, Raven has cut train spawn rates by about 25% since the beta because there was too much high-tier loot. Each train now holds 0 to 5 Legendary and 4 to 12 Basic Supply Boxes.
You can also push around new physics objects marked with an X: bollards, concrete cylinders (you can climb inside and roll them), dumpsters, fuel barrels, wooden boxes, wooden wedges and wire spools. On Rebirth Island, only the Fuel Barrels are in for Season 1.
Faster gas: the new circle timings
Raven says these timings reduce overall match time by nearly 5.5 minutes, and that the gas never moves faster than players can travel.
Battle Royale
| Circle | Delay | Close |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2:25 | 2:50 |
| 2 | 1:00 | 2:50 |
| 3 | 1:00 | 2:50 |
| 4 | 0:50 | 2:30 |
| 5 | 0:40 | 1:25 |
| 6 | 0:30 | 0:50 |
| 7 | 0:20 | 0:40 |
| 8 | 0:10 | 0:40 |
| 9 | 0:10 | 0:35 |
| 10 | 0:10 | 0:35 |
Resurgence
| Circle | Delay | Close |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:30 | 2:30 |
| 2 | 1:30 | 1:55 |
| 3 | 1:00 | 1:20 |
| 4 | 0:30 | 1:00 |
| 5 | 0:30 | 0:55 |
| 6 | 0:30 | 1:00 |
| 7 | 0:10 | 1:00 |
| 8 | 0:10 | 0:45 |
The short delays from Circle 4 onwards matter most. Expect much less waiting around in the mid-game.
Movement: Tactical Sprint is back
Raven calls the return of Tactical Sprint one of the most requested changes after the beta. It is now part of Warzone’s default movement:
- About 0.5 m/s faster than a normal sprint, depending on your weapon. Base sprint speed is unchanged.
- Lasts up to four seconds at full stamina.
- Unlimited with a melee weapon out, because it uses no stamina then.
Don’t mix this up with Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer, which launched with Tac Sprint tied to the Blood Rush perk (our explainer). These notes cover Warzone only.
Other movement changes since the beta:
| Change | Amount |
|---|---|
| Consecutive jump slowdown window | 150 ms shorter |
| Sprint needed before a slide | 50 ms shorter |
| Cooldown between slides | 400 ms shorter |
| Slide-to-jump delay | 200 ms shorter |
| Slide-to-jump height penalty | 25% smaller |
| ADS slide distance penalty | Removed |
| Slide-to-sprint delay | Removed |
Parachute landings also lose less momentum, and Ascender dismounts are faster, closer to Black Ops 7.
Perks: Elite Perks and four new base Perks
There are now 15 base Perks across three Loadout slots, plus a new fourth slot for one Elite Perk. Elite Perks are bought at Buy Stations or earned from Supply Run Contracts, and the selection will rotate during the season.
| Elite Perk | What it does | Upgraded Buy Station price |
|---|---|---|
| Athleticism | Better agility while strafing, crouching and aiming; smaller ADS penalties when jumping or sliding | $8,000 (also at standard stations) |
| Fieldcraft | Rapidly regenerates Armor and Equipment | $8,000 |
| Phantom | Hidden from enemy recon Killstreaks, Equipment and Perks; Advanced UAVs show your last position but not your heading | $10,000 |
The new base Perks are Incognito (slot 1), Stocked (slot 1, one extra Lethal and Tactical), Deft Hands (slot 2, faster plating and crate captures) and Wingman (slot 3, cheaper squad redeploys with no visible flare). Returning Perk Tempered now restores full Armor with two plates instead of three. Specialist still gives every base Perk but no Elite Perk, and it costs $30,000 at a Buy Station.
Loot, contracts and Buy Stations
- High Value Loot Zones are cut from three to one per match, and the location is now random each match. Loot Drones over the zone carry new High Value Supply Boxes, and one per match holds a Specialist bonus.
- The Contract Cash Multiplier is gone, to stop players farming Cash by repeating Contracts.
- Supply Run Contracts now upgrade the targeted Buy Station for every squad for the rest of the match, unlocking Elite Perks and the Bomb Glider.
- New Ground Ops are side objectives you find on the map: Drone Intercept, Surveillance towers, Radioactive Caches (Gas Masks) and Safe Crack (Armor Satchels, with a loud alarm).
- Fly Buy drones carrying Mobile Buy Stations enter the map during Circle 3 in every match. Shoot them down to buy Weapon Augments ($10,000) and the Advanced UAV ($25,000).
- In Resurgence, new one-use Drop Kits change how you redeploy: Insured (keep all your Cash), Armored, Loadout or Radar.
A few standard Buy Station prices from the notes: Teammate Revive $4,000, Armor Plate $300, UAV $8,000, Zipline Launcher $2,000 (Battle Royale only).
New gear, Killstreaks and weapons
- Zipline Launcher: deploys a vertical or horizontal line up to about 100 metres, with two charges. Enemies can use your lines too.
- Grabber Drone: opens crates and doors, carries items and can lift players. It can’t pick up downed enemies until Season 2.
- New Field Upgrades Perk Supply Box, Smoke Wall and SAM Airburst Turret. New Equipment: Tripwire Mine (lethal) and Screamer Mine (tactical).
- New Killstreaks: Artillery Beacon, Bomb Glider, Bombing Run, Combat Drone, Impact Warhead and Insight, which reveals the next safe circle and comes from Recon Contracts. The Bomb Glider deals under 300 damage, so it can’t one-shot a fully plated player.
- Launchers now kill a Counter UAV with one rocket (not grenade launchers). Vehicles have critical points that take 30% more damage.
- Weapon Augments (Breacher, Sharpshooter, Gunslinger) give your gun several stat boosts and stay on it if you drop it.
- Season 1 weapons: the Cronen Osprey AR (Battle Pass Tier 16) and the CSG-35 SMG at 1200 RPM (Battle Pass Tier 36).
- Knockdown has been removed from the RPG-7, the Astaroth .57 and some Apex attachments. Battle Royale buybacks now redeploy you with that circle’s Gulag weapon.
Your older guns come across as Legacy Weapons with fixed preset builds and no Gunsmith. We covered how that works in our legacy content explainer.
Rally Point, Private Match and platforms
- Rally Point is a new 20-player mode on Zodiac with no gas, unlimited Resurgence and drop-in/drop-out play. One Nuke can be bought per match, and the mode rewards one Weapon Blueprint and two Camos.
- Private Match is switched off for all of Season 1. Raven says it returns in Season 2 with more options.
- Warzone is now on Nintendo Switch 2, and PS4 and Xbox One are no longer supported. Our last-gen shutdown guide covers what happens to your progress.
- Combat Record and Leaderboard stats are being tracked from Season 1, but you can’t see them until Season 2.
Warzone Agent: lobby shopping now locks you out
Raven names Warzone Agent, a paid app used to check lobby skill during warm-up and dodge harder matches. From Season 1, the game detects it and tells you to close it. Keep it running and you’re blocked from multiplayer modes. Get around that and you risk temporary or permanent account or hardware bans. GameRiv points out that Activision hasn’t said every detected player will get a permanent ban.
Known issues
Raven lists a few launch bugs it is investigating. Double XP Tokens can freeze the menu. New players’ Custom Loadout changes may not save mid-match. Quickly pressing Map and Esc can kick you from a match. There’s also no Legacy Blueprint for the ROC 20mm yet.
Sources we check
Every number above comes from Raven’s official Season 1 patch notes. We cross-checked the headline changes against Dot Esports, Sportskeeda and Dexerto. Dexerto’s buff and nerf list mostly covers Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer tuning, so we’ve left those numbers out of this Warzone breakdown.
