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The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Ghosts The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Mobile The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Vanguard The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
For similar gamemodes, see Grinder and Hardpoint.
DropZone Gamemode Icon MP MWII

Modern Warfare II playlist icon.

"Capture the Drop Zone and open Care Packages."
Call of Duty: Mobile description.

Drop Zone, also known as New Shit as an April Fool's day joke[1], is a multiplayer mode first introduced in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as a Private Match mode. The mode is also featured in Call of Duty: Ghosts, Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Call of Duty: Mobile, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Vanguard, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

It became a ranked online gamemode on the December 16th, 2011,[2] and was the first gamemode in the Community Playlist. It was removed on February 5, 2012, when it was replaced by Infected but returned two days later following negative community reaction.[3]

Drop Zone was added to Ghosts on March 28th, 2014 alongside the addition of the Onslaught maps in the rotation.

Drop Zone was released in Vanguard during the Festive Fervor event under the name Armageddon.

Drop Zone returned in Modern Warfare II as part of Season Two on March 15th, 2023.

Gameplay[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3/Call of Duty: Ghosts[]

In Drop Zone, two teams must fight over a moving location on the map (marked with Care Package Marker smoke) to gain points. It differentiates itself from an ordinary King of the Hill gametype, however, with the addition of Care Packages as a reward for successfully holding on to the point. Approximately every 15 seconds a team holds a zone, a Care Package, an Airdrop Trap (in MW3), an Emergency Airdrop (notably NOT normally available under other circumstances), or a Juggernaut/Juggernaut Recon delivered via C-130 will be called automatically on the drop zone. To win, either one team must reach the score limit, or else the victor is determined by who has the most points when time is up.

Each team member within the drop zone area adds 20 points per second to his team's score; this is cumulative with other team members for a possible maximum of 120 points/second. The first team to 7500 points is the winner.

Each drop zone is marked by thick red smoke, making it somewhat difficult to distinguish targets inside or outside of the area without using the Marksman perk. The usage of grenades/explosives is quite heavy among players. Therefore, the perks Blast Shield and Ghosts' Tac Resist, the Trophy System, and even the Riot Shield can be useful in countering the explosives. The Thermal Scope is also useful as it will negate the smoke effect and obviously highlight any non-Assassin/Off The Grid users. The EMP Grenade (or in the case of Ghosts, a fully-cooked 9-Bang) is probably the most useful piece of equipment to carry in this gamemode, as even just one grenade can potentially disable a large cluster of killstreaks. It is wise to have a class set aside solely for destroying killstreaks. An example would be (in the case of Modern Warfare 3) the L86 LSW with the Grip and the Thermal Sight, a Stinger, Blind Eye, Assassin, and the third perk is up the the player's choice, along with the EMP Grenade, but if there are a lot of air-based killstreaks being used, a Trophy System would be a better choice. In the case of Ghosts, as there is not that many air-based killstreaks, an example class setup would be the Panzerfaust, either the EMP Grenade or Trophy System, any LMG with Armor-Piercing ammo, and any combination of perks that could deter killstreaks or hide the player from them. If using the Support strike package, the MAAWS is very useful, but it could help to run Specialist and get even more perks to aid in dealing with killstreaks. Via these methods, it is easily possible to gain thousands of points in a single match without killing a single enemy player, only by destroying killstreaks alone. A single player armed with the FIM-92 Stinger can turn the tide of a match, provided they are using a perk to hide them from killstreaks, or in the case of player-controlled ones, the red boxes that appear around players when looking at them.

Players cannot earn killstreaks or specialist perks that are selected on their classes, but MOABs/KEM Strikes are still obtainable through normal gun/knife/equipment kills.

In some instances, the location of the next drop zone can be predicted. For instance, the second drop zone in Resistance will always be at the bottom of the steps. Additionally, the drop zones will always rotate in cycles and once every drop zone has appeared for one minute, it will ALWAYS revert back the first, center one. It is worth noting that different maps have varying numbers of drop zone locations. For example, Dome has five locations while Resistance has seven. The rotating locations in Terminal is always fixed in the same order, so it is strategic to shift locations in the last few seconds of the drop zone in order to take an early advantage.

In the case of Ghosts, the first location is always in the middle (except Fog), but the subsequent locations are completely randomized, sometimes returning to the center after a small number of new locations, other locations randomly picked more than other locations in some games.

Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified[]

In Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified, Drop Zone is much more like Hardpoint. Care Package drops are extremely rare, usually there being only one out of a whole match. The score limit is also different, being 5000, and there is no smoke at the Drop Zone locations when they are active.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare[]

As with MW3 & Ghosts, two teams must fight over a moving location on the map (Hardpoint markers) to gain points. It differentiates itself from a similar game mode such as Hardpoint, however, with the addition of Drone Package as a reward for successfully holding on to the point. Approximately every 15 seconds a team holds a zone, a Drone Package will be called automatically on the drop zone. To win, either one team must reach the score limit, or else the victor is determined by who has the most points when time is up.

Each team member within the drop zone area adds 20 points per second to his team's score; this is cumulative with other team members for a possible maximum of 120 points/second. The first team to 750 points is the winner.

Each drop zone is marked by arrow markers, making it somewhat difficult to distinguish targets inside or outside of the area without using the Marksman perk. The usage of grenades/explosives is quite heavy among players. Therefore, the perks Blast Shield and Tac Resist, the Trophy System, and even Reactive Armor can be useful in countering the explosives.

Players cannot earn killstreaks or specialist perks that are selected on their classes, but De-Atomizer Strikes are still obtainable through kills with guns with the Nuclear gun perk.

In some instances, the location of the next drop zone can be predicted. Additionally, the drop zones will always rotate in cycles and once every drop zone has appeared for one minute, it will ALWAYS revert back the first, center one. It is worth noting that different maps have varying numbers of drop zone locations. The rotating locations in Terminal are always fixed in the same order, so it is strategic to shift locations in the last few seconds of the drop zone in order to take an early advantage.

It was first added into public match in the Featured playlist on January 20th, 2017.[4] It was later re-added to the playlist from March 10th, 2017 to March 17th, 2017[5]. Since then it appears every now and then alternating between other variant gamemodes.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

General[]

  • The starting location of the drop zone is always set, but the remaining drop zones are randomized in order between several predetermined positions, depending on the map.[6]
  • The Emergency Airdrop C-130 travels much slower than the Juggernaut C-130.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3[]

  • With the release of an update on May 15th, 2012, Dome was the only map available in Drop Zone. This was later fixed in a subsequent update adding all the other maps.

Call of Duty: Ghosts[]

References[]

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