The best Warzone Perks
Below we’ll talk a little bit about every single Perk in Warzone, but let’s not keep you in suspense: the very best Perks in Warzone are E.O.D, Ghost, Overkill, Amped, and Combat Scout. But seeing as you can only have three Perks active at a time, it’s still worth reading through our explanations below to figure out which Perks to take forward depending on your situation. Perks are divided into three groups. Out of each group you must choose just one Perk to activate. Here are our rankings for the best Perks in Warzone within each group:
Slot 1 Perks (from best to worst):
E.O.D. Cold-Blooded Double Time Scavenger Kill Chain Quick Fix
Slot 2 Perks (from best to worst):
Ghost Overkill High Alert Tempered Restock Hardline Pointman
Slot 3 Perks (from best to worst):
Amped Combat Scout Battle Hardened Shrapnel Tune Up Tracker Spotter
Double Time
Effect: Double the duration of Tactical Sprint. Increase crouch movement speed by 30%. Perk Slot: 1
Double Time is a decent Perk which might be the go-to pickup for your first slot if E.O.D. didn’t exist. While not quite as powerful in Warzone as it is in the more close-quarters engagements of Modern Warfare multiplayer modes, a 30% crouch movement speed increase is always welcome, and the doubled Tactical Sprint duration is great for quickly moving across flat open expanses and minimising the amount of time you spend as an easy target.
E.O.D.
Effect: Take reduced damage from non-killstreak explosives and fire. When picking up frag grenades, reset the fuse. Perk Slot: 1
With the prevalence of C4 and other explosives in Warzone, E.O.D. is pretty much a must-have Perk. We don’t really care that much about being able to reset the fuse on Frag Grenades (let’s face it, that opportunity really doesn’t come up often), but the reduction in damage of non-killstreak explosives is huge. It gives you a fighting chance even after being hit hard by a Semtex or RPG. You may not know, in fact, that E.O.D. will clamp the damage you take under certain circumstances so that even if you’re wearing just a tiny portion of armour, you won’t take any health damage from an explosion (unless it’s a direct hit). Powerful stuff.
Scavenger
Effect: Resupply ammo from dead players. Scavenger packs provide throwing knives. Perk Slot: 1
Scavenger is too niche to be useful in Warzone. It is also a perfect example of a Perk that was designed for Modern Warfare multiplayer modes, and could really do with an alternate effect in Warzone in order to make it at all viable. Ammo is far too easy to come by, and you generally gain a tonne of ammo from dead players anyway, so this is possibly the most useless Perk in all of Warzone.
Cold-Blooded
Effect: Undetectable by AI targeting system and thermal optics. Does not trigger High Alert warning and negates Combat Scout. Perk Slot: 1
Cold-Blooded’s popularity, like Ghost, depends heavily on the prevalence of the tools it counters. Back before the Thermal Optics nerf Cold-Blooded had more utility, but now it really is just a counter to players with High Alert and Combat Scout. And since High Alert is very often turned down in favor of Ghost or Overkill, it really is going to depend on the popularity of the new Combat Scout perk. If a large swath of the player base does end up sacrificing Amped for Combat Scout, Cold-Blooded is going to become a very important part of the meta.
Kill Chain
Effect: Increases your chance of finding killstreaks in supply boxes. No effect in Warzone Rumble. Perk Slot: 1
I suppose there’s some utility in having an increased chance of finding Killstreak rewards in supply boxes, but: imagine a situation where this Perk is genuinely the difference between life and death. That’s a pretty darn niche situation, don’t you think? I don’t see any reason to pick Kill Chain over E.O.D. or Cold-Blooded.
Quick Fix
Effect: Killing players immediately starts health regeneration. Perk Slot: 1
Quick Fix is another Perk that’s really designed for Modern Warfare rather than Warzone. On the face of it, a quicker health regeneration after killing an enemy seems pretty useful; but then you remember how quick and easy it is to add Armor Plates in Warzone, and you’ll see how much of a waste of a Perk slot it would be.
Tempered
Effect: Armor Plates absorb 75 damage each instead of 50. Operators are considered “fully-armored” at two plates instead of three. Perk Slot: 2
More simply put, Tempered lets the user reach the max health of 250 with two Armor Plates instead of three. There are times where armoring up a little faster with this new Warzone Season 5 perk will save your life. However, there are many, many more situations where not having Ghost will cost you the game. UAVs are just so prevalent in Warzone. Until their availability is drastically reduced, Ghost will have no meaningful competition in Slot 2.
Restock
Effect: Recharge equipment over 50 seconds. Throwing Knives can recharge 1 extra knife. Decoy Grenades and Stim recharge twice as fast. Perk Slot: 2
Restock is not useless by any means - in fact it does find its place in certain loadouts that are specifically geared for heavy equipment use. I’ve even found success using Restock to give me an endless supply of Snapshot Grenades as an uncounterable alternative to the Heartbeat Sensor. But overall, this Perk comes pretty low in the tier list of Slot 2 Perks.
Hardline
Effect: 25% off kiosk prices for killstreaks, field upgrades, and armor plates No effect in Warzone Rumble. Perk Slot: 2
Sometimes in a bigger squad you might have one player use Hardline, then pool your Cash for that one person to buy everything. It may not affect loadout drop marker prices, but subsequent purchases after your first loadout will be made quite a bit more attainable. However, eventually that one player popping up on an UAV is going to get your whole squad killed. You just can’t justify hanging onto Hardline for long.
Overkill
Effect: Carry two primary weapons. Cannot equip two of the same weapon. Secondaries cannot be equipped. Perk Slot: 2
While not as essential in Warzone as it is in Modern Warfare multiplayer modes, Overkill is one of the most-picked Perks for custom player loadouts, and it’s easy to see why. Many players pick up an Overkill loadout early in a Warzone match to help get themelves set up quickly, then later on pick up another loadout to give themselves Ghost. It’s a very powerful strategy which has dominated the Perks meta for some time now.
High Alert
Effect: Your vision pulses when enemies outside of your view see you. Perk Slot: 2
If High Alert weren’t in a group with Ghost and Overkill, it would be an absolute must-have. Seriously, I think it’s the third-best Perk in Warzone. It’s just a shame that players are obviously going to pick the first- and second-best Perks instead. But particularly in solos, the ability to gain a warning that an enemy is aiming at you is priceless. And seeing as extremely few players nowadays use Cold-Blooded, maybe it’s time for a High Alert renaissance.
Ghost
Effect: Undetectable by UAVs, Radar Drones, and Heartbeat Sensors. Still appear on radar when firing a weapon. Detectable by Advanced UAV, but removes direction. Perk Slot: 2
Much like how the strength of Cold-Blooded is based on the popularity of High Alert and Combat Scout, the strength of Ghost is based on the prevalance of Heartbeat Sensors and UAVs. And seeing as those two things are absolutely everywhere in Warzone, Ghost is probably the most powerful and essential Perk to use in the second half of a Warzone match. The ability to stay off the radar is unbelievably powerful in Warzone.
Pointman
Effect: All members of your team earn more money from completed missions. No effect in Warzone Rumble. Perk Slot: 2
Much like Hardline, Pointman increase your Cash levels throughout a Warzone match. But Pointman gets the short end of the stick because its effectiveness is reliant on you going mission-crazy, while Hardline just does its thing at all times. No one should ever pick Pointman to compete in Warzone. Think about what you’re giving up! And for what?!
Combat Scout
Effect: Damaging an enemy briefly highlights and automatically pings them. Perk Slot: 3
At long last, Amped has some real competition. Combat Scout is one of the two new perks added with Cold War Season 5, and it’s looking powerful. The highlight effect is extremely useful in close-quarters fights, particularly when chasing enemies through buildings. It is much harder for someone to reposition, armor up, and reset the fight when you can track them through walls. There are certainly still situations where not having Amped will get you killed, but Combat Scout is absolutely worth a shot.
Tune Up
Effect: Reduce revive time by 25%. Perk Slot: 3
I actually quite like Tune Up. Reducing revive time by 25% is actually a significant benefit even in solos (yes, it works with self-revives too), and can help get you back on your feet after being downed in a long-range encounter before the enemy has time to close the distance and finish you off. It’s just a shame that Tune Up is overshadowed completely by Amped and Combat Scout.
Amped
Effect: Faster weapon swap and rocket launcher reload speed. Does not affect swapping to pistols and knives. Most equipment is used faster. Perk Slot: 3
Amped has long been the clear winner of slot 3. The ability to swap between weapons as quickly as possible an absolute lifesaver in Warzone. Not to mention the tertiary (and again, extremely powerful) effect of equipment being used faster, including the application of new Armor Plates! Combat Scout has enough utility to make Amped a less obvious choice, but it is clearly still one of the best Perks in Warzone.
Shrapnel
Effect: Spawn with an extra piece of lethal equipment. Explosive damage delays enemy health regeneration. Regeneration delay is 3 seconds. Perk Slot: 3
Shrapnel’s power is lessened both by the increased health pools in Warzone and the popularity of E.O.D., which acts as a strong deterrent for explosives of all kinds. It’s certainly not useless - with enough C4 on your person you can deal with an entire team in short order. But there are definitely better Perks to pick.
Battle Hardened
Effect: Reduce strength of enemy flash, stun, EMP, and gas effects. Immune to snapshot grenades. Perk Slot: 3
This is the only Perk that I’d say could reasonably be used instead of Amped - but only for late-game small-circle situations. If you’re gunning to win the match, then one of the biggest obstacles in your path is the flashbangs and stun grenades of the enemy team(s). With Battle Hardened, you can mitigate the potentially disastrous effects of these throwables, which could lead to a Warzone victory.
Spotter
Effect: See enemy equipment, field upgrades, and killstreaks through walls. Mark them for your team by aiming down sights. Hack enemy Claymores, Proximity Mines, C4, and Trophy Systems. Advanced UAVs cannot be marked. Perk Slot: 3
Spotter is near-useless in Warzone. The map is too large for you to be worried about players camping in buildings with Claymores and Proximity Mines at every entrance. And seeing as you should be running E.O.D., even if you get hit by one of these explosives it’s likely not going to be a game-ender anyway.
Tracker
Effect: Enemies leave behind a footprint trail. See markers at enemy death locations and hide the death markers of enemies you kill. Perk Slot: 3
The potential benefits of Tracker are similarly clamped by the sheer size of Verdansk and the increased range of most encounters in Warzone compared with regular Modern Warfare. The chances of temporary footprints on the ground actually making the difference is quite slim, and you’re probably better off with Combat Scout anyways. And there you have it! You should now know everything you need to know in order to make the best choices regarding your Warzone Perks for each loadout. As for the loadouts themselves, why not take a look at our Best Warzone loadout guide?
