What is Vanguard Royale? Dogfighting, new vehicles, circle collapse changes, more

Warzone Pacific Season 1 is set to start on 8th December for those who own Call of Duty: Vanguard, and 24 hours later for everyone else.

And there will be a lot to unpack once the season drops, as there are countless new things that players will need to learn, explore, and understand - almost like a completely new game.

The biggest novelty is undoubtedly a majestic new map set in the Pacific theatre of WW2, called Caldera, which represents an enormous island in the middle of the ocean during WW2, with 15 huge and distinct areas filled with hundreds of POIs.

The second most important change is all the new weapons that will arrive in Warzone from Vanguard once the integration begins with Season 1. In total, 40 new Vanguard weapons will become available with the launch of Warzone Pacific Season 1.

That's a lot of guns to test and get familiar with, and all that on a completely new map. So, what's the best way to learn both? The Vanguard Royale mode!

Here's how Vanguard Royale works, and other things you need to know about the mode.

Warzone Pacific Vanguard Royale explained

Once Vanguard Season 1 starts, ushering the era of Warzone Pacific, all the new content we've talked about above will drop into Warzone simultaneously.

A vast new map paired with 40 new Vanguard weapons, and as a way to celebrate the new beginning, but also to allow players to get familiar with new content, the developers have prepared a special new mode called Vanguard Royale.

This playlist will see players drop into Caldera to play mode similar to the standard battle royale on the surface, but with several key changes to spice things up.

To begin with, Vanguard Royale will feature ONLY the aforementioned 40 Vanguard weapons, all other Warzone weapons (from Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War) will be removed from this mode.

This means that any loadouts you bring in can only contain Vanguard weaponry and attachments, and the same goes for weapons you will find around the island.

While not related to gameplay, but more to a role-playing aspect of the mode, Operator skins you will be able to use within this mode are also limited to only those from Vanguard.

New Vehicles and Dogfighting

One of the key new features of this mode will be the huge selection of usable vehicles, with all kinds of transports never before seen in Warzone.

The biggest gimmick, in true fashion of World War 2, is the introduction of dog fights with classic WW2 aeroplanes, accompanied by anti-air nests scattered around the island.

Finally, Vanguard Royale will also introduce changes to how Circle Collapse works, with radii and times being altered in unpredictable ways to offer a different and exciting experience. This will be followed by special in-game events which will introduce mini-tasks and items for the most resourceful players to grab.

The Vanguard Royale mode is set to come to Warzone on 8th December for Vanguard owners and on 9th December it will be available globally for everyone.

• Read more: Warzone Pacific will let Gulag survivors keep their weapons

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Featured image courtesy of Activision

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