Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Beginner's Guide — Everything You Need to Know
It's been nearly 12 months since the Earth finished its last rotation around the sun and that means one thing: a new Call of Duty game is coming out soon. This year is a Treyarch year, which is significant because Treyarch games are usually received better and more highly anticipated than Infinity Ward or Sledgehammer titles.
Black Ops 6 had a fairly successful beta weekend last month, which showcased perfectly why Treyarch games are viewed so fondly. Even for Call of Duty standards, Black Ops 6 is being hyped up a decent bit amount ahead of its launch.
Due to the steam it's generating, we understand a lot of new or returning players are going to take the plunge into the world of Black Ops. Let's take a look at everything you need to know about Black Ops 6.
Related Article: New Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies Teaser Hints at Alcatraz Return
What Time Does Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Release?
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will release at 12:00 a.m. EST on Friday, October 25.
Location | Time Zone & Release Date |
|---|---|
Los Angeles | 9 p.m. PST October 24 |
New York | 12 a.m. EST October 25 |
London | 5 a.m. BST October 25 |
Seoul | 1 p.m. KST October 25 |
Sydney | 3 p.m. AEDT October 25 |
There is no early access to either the campaign, multiplayer, or zombies for Black Ops 6.
What editions of Black Ops 6 are available for purchase?
Black Ops 6 has two editions that are available for purchase. There is the "Standard Edition" and the Vault Edition."
The standard edition costs $70 USD and the vault edition costs $100 USD.
What are the differences between each edition of Black Ops 6?
There aren't nearly as many differences as you may expect. The vault edition comes with operator pack cosmetics, weapon blueprints, and the season 1 battle pass (season 1 isn't expected to start until around November 14 to 21). All non-cosmetic content is included in the standard edition of the game.
What are the biggest gameplay changes coming to Black Ops 6?
As with any CoD, there are a bunch of minor changes that don't matter too much, however, Black Ops 6 is bringing three major changes with its launch. These changes are:
- Omnimovement
- Human shields
- Sniper changes
Let's take a look at each one individually.
Omnimovement
Omnimovement is Black Ops 6's main innovation and marketing beat. Through the power of omnimovement, players can now sprint backwards and sideways. Players can dive to the left or right and backwards. Players can also shoot while in midair during a dive.
Movement in Black Ops 6 is set to be a major area with lots of room for improvement and skill expression. We've got a whole guide on omnimovement that will teach you everything you need to know. It could be revolutionary for the CoD franchise and truly separate bad players from good players or good players from great players.
Human Shields
When sneaking up behind players in recent Call of Duty titles, you've been able to perform an execution. An execution is a slower and strategically bad way of killing someone that forces them to sit through a long and over the top animation. It's basically just used for BM'ing. In Black Ops 6, when sneaking up behind someone, players will have the option to take them hostage as a human shield instead of executing them.
This is, admittedly, not something that is going to be groundbreaking and significantly alter how multiplayer in Call of Duty is played. However, it should be a fairly interesting mechanic that produces some funny moments for players.
Sniper Changes
The list of changes to snipers in BO6 is a short list, but there's only one change that matters. ALL shots from the torso and up are one shot kills in Black Ops 6. This is a significant change.
Sniping in Call of Duty has always been weird and struggled to fit in with how the majority of players play the game. The developers have struggled over the years with finding ways to balance a weapon type that should be able to kill in one bullet, but can't be too good at doing that one thing.
How do you balance a weapon that is designed to kill in one shot? Does it require a lot of skill because you have to hit one accurate shot? Or does it require zero skill because there's zero tracking and recoil management and all you have to do is hit the guy one time?
Those are the questions the developers have struggled to answer over the years, and in recent CoD titles snipers have been fairly weak. Making every sniper a one shot kill from the torso up will be a major buff to the strength of snipers in this title. It may end up even being too generous, we'll just have to wait and see.
What game modes are available to play in Black Ops 6?
Call of Duty is known for having a wide variety of different game modes to play. Black Ops 6 shouldn't be any different. Players should expect:
- Core modes (Team deathmatch, free-for-all, domination, kill confirmed, hardpoint, etc.)
- Harcore modes (Same as above but you die way faster)
- Ranked Play*
- Some form of Ground War
- Some sort of party modes playlist (Gun Game, one in the chamber, etc.)**
- Warzone***
*: Ranked Play will not be available until the launch of season 1. This is expected to be around November 14 to 21.
**: Party modes aren't always available at launch, but are typically added at some point during the games life cycle.
***: Warzone is technically a different game, but will receive massive changes to make it much more like Black Ops 6.
What else should you know about Black Ops 6?
It would be impossible to cover everything about this game in one singular article, however, here are some rapid-fire miscellaneous things about BO6 players should know:
- Dead Silence is a regular perk again
- Omnimovement is optional and can be disabled
- The old school prestige system is returning
- Ranked Play will be available at the earliest its ever been
- There will be an absurd and ridiculous camo grind for those interested in doing it
