Black Ops 6 Season 04 began May 29, 2025, with three Multiplayer maps and two early-season modes. Two more maps arrived mid-season, alongside Party Ops and the return of Zombies Grief, a 4v4 survival contest where teams hinder rivals without directly attacking them. This is a historical guide: the May roadmap and the later July Reloaded changes are separated below.
When did Black Ops 6 Season 04 begin?
Call of Duty Staff announced that Season 04 would arrive on May 29, 2025, at 9 AM PT. The roadmap grouped content under Launch, Launch Window, In Season, and Mid-Season, and noted that timing could change. Read the official Season 04 announcement.
Which Multiplayer maps were added?
The official roadmap listed five maps across the season. Shutdown, Fugitive, and Blitz were the launch maps; Eclipse and the reimagined Fringe were mid-season additions. Treyarch’s July 1 Reloaded notes identify Fringe and Eclipse as new content for that update, not launch-day maps. See Treyarch’s Season 04 Reloaded patch notes.
| Map | Timing | Type and format | Size and setting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shutdown | Launch | Core, 6v6 | Small; an Icelandic hydroelectric plant |
| Fugitive | Launch | Core, 6v6 | Medium; an Icelandic CIA prison |
| Blitz | Launch | Strike, 6v6 or 2v2 | Small; setting not stated in the announcement |
| Eclipse | Mid-season / Reloaded | Strike, 6v6 or 2v2 | Small; an underground Avalon nightclub |
| Fringe | Mid-season / Reloaded | Core, 6v6 | Medium; a reimagined map returning from Black Ops 3 |
Which Multiplayer modes arrived?
Team Elimination
Team Elimination launched as a Kill Confirmed variation with a limited pool of lives for each team per round. When a player is killed, they drop a dog tag: an opponent can collect it to confirm the kill, while a teammate can recover it to deny the opposing team. A team wins by outlasting its rivals or having more lives left when time expires.
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- Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower.
- This is signature Black Ops across a cinematic single-player Campaign, a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, and the epic return of Round-Based Zombies.
- The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.
- In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.
- Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.
One in the Chamber
This returning free-for-all gives each Operator a pistol with one bullet, a knife, and three lives. A bullet eliminates on impact, and each elimination earns the player another bullet.
Party Ops
Party Ops was a later limited-time free-for-all, not one of the two early-season modes. Each match used a randomized set of short party minigames, and Scorestreaks were disabled. The player with the highest score won.
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- GLOBE‑SPANNING CAMPAIGN — Fight across the Korean Peninsula, New York, Paris, and Mumbai in a high‑stakes narrative where global conflict escalates and survival depends on tactical precision.
- MULTIPLAYER BUILT ON CONTROL — Engage in grounded, precise combat where fluid movement, player choice, and refined mechanics give you greater control in every firefight.
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How does Zombies Grief work?
Grief is a 4v4 contest to survive longer than the rival team and the undead. Players cannot directly damage opposing players. Instead, teams interfere through interactions such as body-blocking or slowing rivals, and by completing Capture Zones that apply debuffs to the other team.
Both teams enter opposite sides of a defined arena within the selected Zombies map. When a Capture Zone appears, players stand inside it and kill zombies to complete the zone and trigger a Grief effect against their rivals. A team stays in the match while at least one player is upright; the opposing team must be forced into a downed or eliminated state for the match to be won. Respawns occur every third round.
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The Season 04 announcement listed these supported maps: Liberty Falls, Terminus, Citadelle des Morts, The Tomb, and Shattered Veil. Its launch rules restricted Wonder Weapons and the GobbleGums Exit Strategy, Idle Eyes, Wonderbar!, Time Out, and Flavor Hex. Those restrictions describe the rules listed at launch; later tuning is dated separately below. The official announcement has the full Grief overview.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What changed in Season 04 Reloaded?
Grief tuning in the July 1, 2025 notes
Treyarch’s July 1 patch notes covered Season 04 Reloaded and later tuning. They say player-to-player interactions no longer interrupt health regeneration, and list Near Death Experience, Phoenix Up, and Nowhere But There as restricted GobbleGums. The notes also added Whimsical GobbleGum rewards at the end of a match and made zombies start spawning faster after a Capture Zone is completed.
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The notes give Ammo Drain, Frozen, and Damage Nerf durations of 60 seconds each. Ammo Drain consumes Field Upgrade charge once weapon ammunition has been drained. Frozen initially immobilizes a player, then allows movement at 50% speed. While Weapon Carousel is active, players cannot manually pick up weapons, but can still collect auto-loot items such as armor plates and Salvage.
Treyarch described the update as “The chase continues as new content arrives in the mid-season update, arriving tomorrow, July 02, to Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6, adding new maps, modes, weapons, events, and more.” The July 1 notes are a dated mid-season update, so these changes should not be read as the original May launch rules.
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