There’s no easy way to win in Warzone, but you can vastly improve your odds by picking an ideal spot to land right off the bat. The map of Verdansk is massive, so there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong place to land — but depending on your skill level and where the gas is, you’ll want to have a plan in your back pocket that suits your needs. In this guide, we’ll go through some basic landing tips, as well as some great places to land, in general.
Further reading:
- Warzone: Fractured intel locations
- Where to find Warzone’s EL-2, P2-16, and CL-19 access cards, and what they do
- All Warzone Bunker locations: Where they are and what’s inside
Basic tips for picking a spot
The first thing you’ll want to do before picking your landing spot is to evaluate the plane’s path right at the beginning. You can actually see it before the match starts while you’re in the pre-game lobby. Take the time to pull up your map at this point to see the plane’s trajectory so you’ll know where you’re going. You won’t be able to see the gas quite yet, but checking the plane’s path as early as possible will come in handy. Before you’re ready to pick a spot, there are a few things to take into consideration.
Ideally, you should have a good grasp of your own skill level. This will help when picking a spot. For instance, we wouldn’t recommend for a beginner to land in high-traffic areas. Likewise, expert players will probably be bored if they land too far away from the action. At this point, look at the map, the direction of the plane, the gas, and all of the contracts around Verdansk.
Some players — regardless of the gas — will land in the same spot each game. If this works for you, more power to you, but we highly recommend picking a spot based on the gas and the plane’s path. The most effective strategy is to land close to a contract so you can initiate it and hopefully earn some cash, loot, and a sneak peek at the position of the gas (you get this for completing Recon contracts).
For beginner players, it’s recommended to land by Recon (denoted by a flag icon) or Scavenger (denoted by a magnifying glass) contracts. These don’t require you to engage in any combat and will reward you with useful goodies (usually). Recon contracts are a bit riskier since they require you to capture a point that shoots a flare in the sky, revealing your location to the enemies. Though, from our experience, this doesn’t usually make much of a difference in the early stages of the game. As for Scavenger contracts, these are the safest and only require you to open three chests that all spawn within a close range of one another.
The other contracts like Most Wanted and Bounties are a lot tougher, since they’ll likely result in firefights with other players. If you feel confident in your skills, go ahead and grab one of these contracts — but otherwise, we recommend to stay away. It’s worth noting that the earlier you start a Most Wanted or Bounty contract, the easier it is since the players you come across likely won’t have powerful end game gear (usually).
Be open to changing your path on the fly depending on other players. For instance, if you’ve got a spot in mind, but see tons of players heading to the same location, it’s best to change your path to a different location if you want to be safe. If possible, try to land at a different contract you feel confident with, like Recon or Scavenger.
The final tip is to pick a spot based on your team size and skill. If you’ve got a team of four, it’s easier to survive in higher-traffic spots, especially if you’re all on the same page with determining a route. If you’re playing solo, it’s a little different since you won’t have anyone to pick you up if you go down, so keep all of that in mind.
Using the gas and plane to your advantage
We’ll be referencing the image above to help you pick a great spot to land. There’s a lot to take in when looking at the map, but the main thing is to look at the circle (which represents the path of the deadly gas) and the line that represents the plane’s path. As you can see, the plane’s path is going southeast, toward Downtown. Because of this, you’ll find a lot of players who’ll tend to land along the line that denotes the plane’s path. With that in mind, if you want to stay away from the action, landing away from the path might be a good idea. In this case, the Airport is one of the busier areas, followed by Superstore and Storage Town — simply because of their proximity to the start of the plane’s path.
You’ll notice on the map, we’ve highlighted a Recon contract in the very bottom portion in the Promenade West area. This is a great location because it’s far enough away from the action, while still being close to the edge of the circle. Again, if your skill allows it, you can aim for the busier areas like Superstore, but for new or inexperienced players, we advise against that. Based on the image above, Downtown is not a bad spot to land in since it’s easy to stay hidden among the buildings and there are lots of contracts to choose from.
In short, we recommend landing by a contract on the edge of the circle, away from the plane’s path, to avoid combat and to ensure you’re grabbing goodies along the way. If you’re a more skilled player, you can slightly tweak that formula and land closer to the center of the circle, but you’ll want to be careful of the other players. All of that being said, let’s go through some great spots for all skill levels.
Downtown
If the gas permits, landing in the Downtown area is excellent due to its densely packed buildings, contracts, and vantage points. Even if a dozen players all head to this location, there’s enough space to go around for all — making it easy to lose enemies who may be tracking you. Ideally, we’d recommend doing a few contracts, gathering as much money as you can, and finding a tall building that overlooks the rest of the map. This way, you can quickly jump off if things get hairy. Do note that this is a highly populated area, but thanks to the many places you can go, you’ll find enough action to keep things fun, while still playing it relatively safe.
One strategy you might want to use is to hide in one of the tall office buildings. Make sure you cover each entrance — especially the elevators with rappel ropes. In fact, if you can place a mine or claymore right in front of these rappel points, you’ll have a much easier time taking out enemies who might be trying to sneak up on you. When the gas gets near, run up to the roof and jump off to safety.
Port
The Port is usually a safe spot, depending on the plane’s direction. If you see a bunch of players landing nearby, you should consider changing your course. Otherwise, landing here will serve you well. Just make sure you grab a contract or two and try to raid the main office building with multiple floors. This is sort of the main spot where you’ll likely run into enemies, so get comfortable with it.
The nice thing is that the Port is usually far away from danger, so you can suit up, grab some gear, and prepare before heading inward. As a word of caution, we recommend you avoid heading to the top of the cranes (unless you plan on quickly grabbing an item and dropping off), because they’re highly visible and are usually the first thing people look at when scoping this area out. When you’re finished at the Port, you’ve got lots of main hubs to choose from nearby like Downtown or Farmland.
Promenade West
This is yet another spot that is usually less busy. Promenade West has lots of little houses and multistory apartment buildings full of loot and contracts to complete. It’s like a tinier version of Downtown in that it’s condensed and has many buildings to explore, but on a much smaller scale. When you’ve got all the loot you need, you can make your way up to Boneyard, or to the east toward the Park. Promenade West is usually safe and close to other hubs that are worth visiting.
Superstore
This might be a controversial entry, but Superstore can be a great spot to land if you know what you’re doing. The previous entries are meant for players looking to avoid enemy contact, but Superstore is the exact opposite. In the match we played to grab the image above, we counted literally 11 other players (that we could see) all headed to Superstore, so it’s definitely not for those looking to remain stealthy. Though, what you’ll find here is great loot, and the chance to take out other players, which is great for picking up any loot they might’ve grabbed along the way. Plus, it’s easy to listen for enemy footsteps since it’s such compact area, so if you can find a decent weapon right away, you’ll be at an advantage.
The strategy we like to use is to land away from the other enemies and make your way inside through a low-traffic entrance. This will change depending on the other enemies and the way the plane comes in. Once inside, try to listen for other players and head toward a weapon stash and contract. Keep doing this until you feel confident making your escape from the area. There’s usually someone on the roof overlooking the surrounding zone, so be careful as you make your exit and try not to just run out in the open when you leave.
Stadium
Landing at the Stadium is a lot like Superstore, in that it’s a high-traffic area. But it’s high risk/high reward, and, thankfully, you can survive if you know what to do. Since the Stadium recently opened up with season 5, it has increased in popularity. On average, we’ve encountered around seven enemies in this location — who mostly tend to land straight in the center through the giant hole. Doing this will likely get you killed, so we recommend picking an external entrance — either through the garage or one of the doors on the main floor. Again, like Superstore, once you’re inside, there’s a lot of loot and even secret rooms that can be unlocked with keycards around the area (we go into more detail on that here).
We suggest avoiding the middle section of the Stadium altogether. Instead, search the inside section on the main floor, along with the underground garage. You’ll typically only ever run into one or two enemies in the garage area. Once you’ve got enough gear, you can head to the Downtown area, which is excellent for gathering even more loot and contracts. Luckily, it’s very close. Other players like to stay and wait inside the Stadium since it can be a relatively safe space once the majority of the enemies are cleared out. We find this method to be useful, but way less fun, so choose a path that suits you and go with it.
Great landing spots are ones that have lots of gear and contracts and are close to useful hubs that are safe to hang around. Though, keep in mind, a good landing spot is only as good as the player. If you’re inexperienced, even landing near lots of loot won’t save you from players who have spent dozens of hours in Warzone.