Warzone players reveal the best season of controversial Caldera era

Nathan Warby
Warzone Season 4 artwork

The lifecycles of CoD Warzone and Vanguard are coming to end, and players have been hotly debating which has been the best season on Caldera.

Warzone and Vanguard Season 5 is set to be the final season of both games, bringing this chapter of the Call of Duty series to a close. Season 5 Reloaded will mark the last major update before Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 launch to take us forward.

After five whole seasons since the switch to Caldera, Warzone players have been arguing over which season has been the most enjoyable since Verdansk was left behind.

On September 3, we asked the community which Warzone x Vanguard season was the best, and while there were plenty of opinions, Season 4 appeared to come out on top. This was largely due to the release of the Fortune’s Keep map, which has become incredibly popular since its launch.

“Mercenaries of Fortune. The Fortune’s Keep launch was amazing and Titanium Trials was loads of fun,” replied YouTuber Geeky Pastimes. “Fortunes Keep is definitely the best COD BR map we’ve seen yet,” agreed BlackOpsBootlegger.

There was also plenty of praise for the Marco 5 SMG, which made its debut in the Mercenaries of Fortune update. “Season 4. It gave us the best warzone map and the best feeling smg apart from the Blixen,” argued Kaden2173.

While Season 4 certainly seemed to dominate the replies, there was actually plenty of praise for Season 1, the update which saw Caldera introduced to the game for the first time. Despite the shaky launch, players felt that it was a welcome change of pace at the time.

“I have to say Season 1. Even though it ran terribly and definitely was rushed to release. It had a brand new map that made the game feel fresh,” said one reply. “I know there’s criticism about the map not being good, but I personally like it a lot. Maybe not as good as the first map, but still fun to play in.”

Season 3 also received a few shoutouts, as many believed this was the season that Caldera struck the perfect balance of gameplay, and the map itself was in the best shape. This is despite the controversial King Kong x Godzilla crossover event, which received plenty of criticism at the time.

“Season 3 easily, Caldera’s lighting was perfect [and] we had the STG meta which I personally feel was the best meta of the vanguard era.”

Although there was a lot of love for certain Warzone x Vanguard seasons, the overwhelming theme in the replies was that players haven’t enjoyed their time on Caldera, and are looking forward to it being replaced in the sequel.

Hopefully, the release of Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 can kick start another golden period for the CoD battle royale.


For more on Warzone, check out when the next double XP event kicks off, and the best weapons in Season 5.

Image credits: Activision

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About The Author

Nathan is a Senior Writer for CharlieIntel and Dexerto, primarily covering FIFA and Call of Duty, as well as general gaming news and guides. After leaving university with a degree in Sports Studies and a master's degree in Magazine Journalism, he took on a role as a local news reporter before moving into games media. You can contact Nathan by email at [email protected].