Everything you need to know about League Play in Black Ops 4 – Available Now on PS4

Tommi Turunen

It’s finally time…League Play is now live in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 on PlayStation 4, with release on other platforms to follow.

As League Play and the new World League Hub has officially launched, it’s a good time to over all the current information we know about the mode as well as some important information for newcomers to competitive Call of Duty. You can find the current ruleset after Treyarch’s information on League Play.

Here’s how League Play works:

  • Each player plays 5 placement matches to determine their general skill level
  • After the 5 matches, you will placed into a division with a randomized name.
  • Dependent on your placement at the end of the 4 day League Play event, you will receives gems to rank up your League Play rank.
  • Gems will only be earned if you place 25th or above. Top 25 (Bronze) get two gems, Top 10 (Silver) get three gems, and the winner of the whole League Play event for the ladder gets four gems.
  • Finishing Top 10 or winning the event promote your overall rank to a permanent Silver or Gold status. Winning 7 League Play event will result in your rank becoming Diamond.
  • Additionally, you can earn Victory Flames by winning consecutive League Play events. An orange flame for 1 win, Blue for 2 wins, and Purple for 3 wins.
  • Each ladder consists of 50 players and you gain points for winning matches and lose points for losing matches.
  • Daily Bonuses are back to give a small boost for your first games of the day. The Daily Bonus stacks over any days you do not play a match and serves as a catch-up mechanic.

To start off, let’s quickly take a look at the latest information Treyarch has given on League Play and how it will function. We will be updating this post with Treyarch’s new official information once it is released

From Treyarch:

  • Running League Play events more frequently and in shorter duration makes ladders feel like meaningful competitions with constant movement against a smaller pool of competitors.
  • Events are condensed and timed to drive the highest player counts and achieve healthy matchmaking with faster time to find matches.
  • Shorter-duration events more closely match how pros compete in weekend tournaments, like 2Ks. Our intent is for events in the World League Hub to feel closer to how the pros compete.
  • Ladder competition will feel familiar – climb the ladder by winning ladder points, but lose ladder points and you may drop position. The goal with each League Play event is always to end as high on the ladder as possible
  • Over the course of your competitive career, you’ll advance a permanent rank that reflects your performance across all events. Performing better in events and participating more often will result in faster rank progression.
  • Final placement in ladders determines how you advance your overall rank, giving ladder events a competitive tournament feel with the most credit given for reaching 1st Place and winning a League Play event.
  • Place 1st in a League Play event, and your rank will be upgraded to permanently reflect your victory. Further upgrades are possible for multiple 1st Place finishes over time, and a streak indicator that is displayed when you place 1st in back-to-back events. 
  • Matchmaking in the World League Hub will always be prioritized by skill, so competitors will always feel competitive at their skill level.

CWL Ruleset:

League Play will be played using the competitive CWL ruleset. The most current listing of the rules can be found below:

Additional content for League Play is slated to launch later in the year. These features include the World League Gauntlets (play to get a certain number of wins before a certain number of losses, similar to Destiny’s Trials of the Nine) and the Teams & Clans.

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About The Author

A life-long Call of Duty player, Bachelor of Game Design, and a lover of eSports. Floodsye is my real name, Tommi is just the gamertag my parents gave me.