Warzone 2 players call for major changes to Strongholds

Hamza Khalid
Warzone 2 Operator and Stronghold

The Strongholds on Warzone 2’s Al Mazrah map are meant to be a great source of loot for players, but the community is calling for major changes to these AI-controlled locations.

When Call of Duty: Warzone 2 launched on November 16, Call of Duty players were treated to brand-new content such as the Escape from Tarkov-inspired DMZ mode as well as the Al Mazrah map.

Al Mazrah features Strongholds that players can visit if they want to collect great loot. However, these locations haven’t sat well with the community, and players want the developers to make some changes.

Clearing out a Stronghold allows you to access high-tier loot and a full loadout, but you’ll need to take on the AI enemies at these locations first. On December 19, CoD Twitter account ModernWarzone expressed their frustration with this feature.

They tweeted: “Strongholds and the AI that come with them should be removed from Warzone 2. It’s a main part of the gameplay loop at the moment and I don’t think people are enjoying it. I truly don’t think that they add anything positive to the Warzone experience for the majority of players.”

In the replies, other Warzone 2 players also shared their distaste for Strongholds, particularly the AI enemies that you find inside. Many agreed that they take away from the enjoyment of the game.

When you hop into DMZ, you’ll encounter regular soldiers with basic armor and weaponry, but in Strongholds, you’ll have to battle heavily armored enemies that are extremely difficult to bring down.

Call of Duty content creator ‘ProReborn’ sarcastically stated: “Nothing like a few bots wandering away from Strongholds and aim botting people while they’re in gunfights with real people!” He then added that these enemies should be restricted to the inside of a Stronghold.

Popular player ‘HusKerrs’ also joined the discussion by inferring that the AI enemies are a feature that not many Warzone 2 players may enjoy and that Infinity Ward should add polls in the game.

HusKerrs tweeted: “I’d love for IW to put polls up in the actual game to get the most represented sample size possible and see how many players actually enjoy the WZ2 features like AI, no complete reload cancel, etc.”

Not every user in the replies slammed Strongholds, as another top player ‘Symfuhny’ described them as “actually nice” and felt that they add to the gameplay. This led to a response from 100 Thieves co-owner Jack “CouRage” Dunlop.

CouRage explained: “I really don’t mind [Strongholds] – I just dislike how it’s a never-ending swarm. It feels like the bots are a coin flip.”

The Stronghold’s AI enemies have previously been criticized for being overpowered. The developers noticed this and pushed out an update on December 16 to nerf AI opponents in Warzone 2.

Players are still frustrated with the state of these enemies, and it remains to be seen how the developers respond to this issue.


For more Warzone 2 content, check out the best audio settings in Season 1 Reloaded and how to get the Building 21 access card.

Image credits: Activision