Yesterday Activision finally dropped the long-rumored nuke on Call of Duty: Warzone, setting up the much-anticipated CoD-Black-Ops-Cold-War-themed revamp of the game’s Verdansk map. The new “Verdasnk ‘84” isn’t just a totally-tubular visual makeover, numerous landmarks and battlegrounds have been redesigned with some completely new areas being added. You can check out a quick trailer for the Verdansk ’84 map, below.
Here’s a rundown of the top 20 major changes included in the Verdansk ’84 refresh:
Gora Summit
A sprawling complex with a central island base, three gondola stations, complete with working gondolas, and a lower river valley to ascend on foot, vehicle, or ascender. Opposing helipads, and a two command centers, one built into a rock island. This single location is bigger than many Multiplayer maps yet should be familiar to veterans of the original Black Ops.
Gora Viaduct
Bridging the chasm in front of the Summit, the Viaduct is a feat of 19th century engineering, the bridge spans the Gora River Valley, with dams further upstream causing the valley to be a lush grassland. Here, you can find ascenders, drop off the bridge onto gondola roofs, perform epic vehicle stunts… or if you can calculate everything just right, try to snipe someone across Verdansk from this epic vantage point.
Verdansk Regional Airport
Before it was an international hub for travel, the Airport in Verdansk was simply a Regional Airport. Besides looking pristine with a fully intact roof, the Regional Airport contains an extra exit to the Runway Underpass, two parked planes to use as cover options, and a few skylights to burst through, should you crave a bit of destruction. The Control Tower also has seen a facelift, complete with the latest ‘80s aerospace tech inside.
Old Verdansk Stadium
The Verdansk Sparks are playing elsewhere in Kastovia as the old Arena is being dismantled in preparation for construction of a new regional Stadium. For the moment, the demolition site is still open – much more open than the modern-day Stadium, in fact – with high vantage points such as an announcer booth and huge archaic scoreboard with amazing sightlines, along with a parked crane to drop onto. There is also an interior and an underside walkway running around the perimeter to a hole in the arena wall, which is big enough to allow a Cargo Truck onto the pitch!
Salt Mine
Before it became a Quarry, Verdansk’s northeastern corner was known for being the region’s largest salt mine. This sprawling space has two large (and currently sealed) entrances, numerous old mine conduits, and a large, craggy hillside to explore about the containment ponds and factories. The pine barrens above the salt mine is a great place to watch the action down below, while the red Crystalizing Pools run red with… the beautiful chemical reaction of salt, although they could be made darker with a little help from your enemies.
Broadcast Tower Under Construction
One of the biggest changes Downtown is the towering Broadcast building. The interior is now more accessible, with an interior stairwell running to the top of three unfinished floors where views and long-range takedowns are spectacular. Learn the art of landing on the even-taller crane, the precarious container hanging from the crane arm, and an ascender for quick access to the half-finished roof. Once there, you’ll find a fantastic sightline across most of Downtown, although the nearby crane and lack of cover make it a bit harder for snipers to hold their position.
Multiple Ebb and Flow Improvements
Some of the changes throughout Verdansk are more subtle, and won’t be immediately noticed, like the removal of certain obstacles along the roads. Remember those tanks beside the Broadcast Tower? They weren’t there back in 1984. That’s just one of many changes across the map. In general, these subtle changes may have drastic impacts on the meta, as it will allow for quicker and easier access (by foot or vehicle) around Verdansk, but still have some opportunities for cover.
Superstore
A popular place to drop in gets more than a retro-facelift. While the changes are more subtle, they enable a number of improvements to the flow of the area. Specifically, if you look on its roof, there are now skylights that allow you to crash through into the main interior. The tops of the shelves are now accessible, and there’s a central refrigerated section under the roof. There are also new exterior windows in the southwest edge to the reception area, all substantially changing access in and out of the structure. That’s not all! Expect a large number of adjacent threats thanks to…
Factory
Remember that car dealership and water treatment works just east of Superstore? Back in 1984, this was an airplane maintenance Factory — a maze of tarmac, parked vehicles, plane parts… and secrets. This brand-new area features four large warehouses – one big enough to store most of a plane fuselage inside, including cockpit, fuselage, and engine sections – and an underground passage to a secondary warehouse with more plane parts to spot. Attached to the biggest warehouse is a pair of chimneys. Outside is a large hangar, numerous outbuildings, a parked plane, and a fuel tower and pipeworks, all of which are climbable. Perhaps the Superstore won’t be the most popular drop-in destination after this update?… Or at least, if the area goes hot, you and the squad have a backup option.
Grid Radar Array
Perhaps the biggest new landmark, and certainly the easiest to spot, is the Grid Radar Array. Before the WHP set up a camp on this overlook, there was a radar base dominated by this OTH (over-the-horizon) radar defense system, comprised of 12 linked cage towers and a precarious gantry platform, multi-story access ladders, an ascender, and exposed (but amazing) views. Need a sightline over Central Verdansk? This new point of interest has you covered… at the price of leaving you exposed on all sides.
Old Mine
Nestled along the northwestern edge of the map is a series of old mine workings, now in a state of severe dilapidation. Explore the rocky exterior, offering opportunities for both close-quarters combat and ambushes with Operators coming from the Gora Summit. You may also notice that the interior mine complex is currently blocked off… for now.
TV Station
As well as a 1980s exterior and interior beautification, there’s a satellite dish on the roof, which you can land and shoot from to get a bit of extra height against those on the Radar Array. On top of the obvious, one of the more subtle changes is a pair of windows along the southern wall near the gap in the concrete wall. This allows new access routes to and from the Buy Station at the foot of the comms tower nearby, improving the flow. There are reports of some sort of broadcast still going online here… but it’s probably best to ignore that for now.
Interesting Flora and Fauna
Spring has sprung with a variety of wildflowers, meadowland, crops, and other flora and fauna giving you pops of color as you pop off against the enemy. While this all looks rather picturesque – especially on the latest consoles and hardware – what does this mean for tactics? Those leafy trees, longer grass, and plants all offer additional cover options, or at the very least, provide some obscurity in open areas.
Apartments Under Construction
Over at the Barakett Promenade, one of the five-floor apartment complexes hasn’t quite been finished, turning this tenement block into a maze of half-constructed rooms and hallways. This changes up this side of the map dramatically from rows of the apartment complexes to a more asymmetrical situation where there are both pros and cons to taking a position up on the finished or unfinished apartments.
Everything that’s Old is New Again
Verdansk has plenty of “retro-fitted” areas to show what life was like back in 1984, and a prime example of this is the Novi Grazna Hills. In modern day, parts of the Novi Grazna Hills were leveled to make way for a new housing development. But what was there before the bulldozers moved in? Come to this side of the map, and you’ll find a lush, wooded plateau with a farm smallholding. Specifically, there is a tiny windmill, a barn, and a cottage, which offer new combat opportunities within the immediate area.
Barakett Park and Open Spaces
Sometimes, less is more – and the Barakett Promenade is a good example of some building removals to improve the flow of the game in terms of movement and combat. The library North of the Ferris Wheel has yet to be constructed, and in its place for now is a charming recreation area. Also, the Market adjacent to the School further west along the Promenade is now a parking lot, and the entirety of the West Promenade between the parallel roads is now a long section of park with trees, tables, fountains and bridges. Don’t stop to admire this scenery… you have a war to win!
Additional Interior and Exteriors for Common Locations
An open-door policy exists inside every Police Station across Verdansk as additional upstairs offices are accessible (with windows to shoot through), meaning more escape or entrance options are available, and sightlines across previously familiar areas (like Airport Maintenance, for example). Similarly, each of the Fire Stations has a new exterior (adjacent to the tower) enabling lower roof access, and for those with the necessary dexterity, access to the main upstairs interior via a spot of parkour. Also look for additional subtle changes throughout the map, such as newly accessible windows on stairwells throughout the Downtown buildings and certain tenement blocks, like the freshly-cladded one at Lozoff Pass.
Standoff in Krovnik Farmland
Over in Krovnik Farmland stands a domed Town Hall structure surrounded by a vegetable market warehouse, water tower, small gas station, and other outbuildings. This facsimile of the fan-favorite map Standoff features a fully-explorable central structure with numerous interior windows, and plenty of different sightlines and routes to learn.
Time for a Bit of Argy Bargy: Standoff – Gulag Edition
Speaking of Standoff, the Gulag in Verdansk has a whole new “practice course” for an upcoming operation. Fight in tense 1v1 duels down the “main street” of Standoff, with wooden partitions filling in the spaces for what you will find on the map when it comes to Black Ops Cold War later in Season Three.
Hatches and Bunkers
Don’t expect to see any Spomeniks on your travels; instead, look for giant hatches that Operators in 2021 became all-too familiar with. Can they be accessed back in 1984? What has become of Verdansk’s most secretive areas? Are there new secrets to discover? Initially sealed, we can’t say exactly how you’ll be interacting with the Bunkers and other hidden areas, though you can expect a host of surprises as the Black Ops Cold War seasons continue.
Phew! That’s a lot of new stuff! Need to know more? Activision has also released a free online strategy guide for Verdansk ’84, with hundreds of tips and strategies. Of course, there’s a bit of a crush to get onto the map at the moment, with many players experiencing long wait times. Activision Support is promising updates to come.
We’re aware some players are experiencing long wait times in the server queue for #WARZONE. Stay tuned for updates.
— Activision Support (@ATVIAssist) April 22, 2021
Verdansk ’84 is just part of the larger Call of Duty: Black Ops/Warzone Season 3 update. You can get the full rundown of everything included, right here.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5. Warzone is available on PC, Xbox One, and PS4, and playable on next-gen consoles via backward compatibility. The first Season 3 content and the Verdansk ’84 map refresh are out right now on all platforms.
