Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific season 2 adds poison bombs that bring the circle to you

Activision has revealed more about what's coming in Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific season 2, which will see the addition of two new points of interest to the new Caldera map, flyable bombers and redeploy balloons, AI-controlled armored trucks with massive loot, and the pièce de résistance, an extremely rare explosive device called the Nebula V Bomb that brings the deadly gas surrounding the combat zone down on top of its victims.

The Nebula V Bomb is a briefcase explosive that, once activated, cannot be disarmed or destroyed. It deals high damage in a small radius when it goes off, but what happens next is what makes it really interesting: The bomb unleashes a poisonous gas that spreads outward, doing damage to anyone without a gas maks who's caught in its cloud. The gas will last for two minutes before it either dissipates or feeds into the slowly constricting field of gas that surrounds the battlefield—the Circle Collapse, in Warzone parlance.

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That same gas will also be found in Nebula V Ammo, a field upgrade in Warzone with a nasty twist. Nebula V Ammo doesn't do any more damage that regular ammo, nor does it enable shooters to lay down an ad hoc gas attack: Instead, a player brought down by the ammo will emit a small poisonous gas cloud which will do damage similar to Circle Collapse exposure to any players nearby, including anyone who tries to revive their downed comrade. That means coughing, blurred visions, and minor damage over time to a player's health or gas mask.

Warzone players won't be completely helpless against this new toxic menace, however. The new Portable Decontamination Station will provide a small zone of filtered air for several seconds, protecting players with it from the effects of Nebula V or Circle Collapse gas.

Continuing Warzone's new chemical romance, the Chemical Factory will replace the Refinery as a point of interest, with more interior spaces to explore, patrolling enemy soldiers, and a trap in the central building, while multiple Underground Chemical Weapon Research Labs will provide access to powerful equipment including gas masks and Nebula V Ammo—but only for players willing to accept the risk.

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Season two will also see the addition of new vehicles, two new modes—one at launch, another in the midseason update—quality-of-life changes, and bug fixes. Full patch notes will be released ahead of the season two launch, which—after a brief delay—will take place on February 14.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.