Generally speaking, these items are tactical and/or defensive aids you carry into the battlefield. Crucially, they often have an impact outside of the fiction of the game: for example, allowing you to choose where you respawn, mark up your minimap, or save your Killstreak in case you die. Read on for a full list of Field Upgrades and explanations on what they do, as well as how to unlock and use the best Field Upgrades to help give you the edge in battle.
List of Field Upgrades in Call Of Duty: Vanguard
At the time of writing, Vanguard features nine Field Upgrades that have been present since launch:
Jammer: Jams the minimap of nearby enemies. (No unlock requirements.) Supply Box: Deploys a box of ammo and equipment for you and your teammates. Highly explosive. (No unlock requirements.) Goliath: A small remote-controlled bomb on tracks. Controllable for 30 seconds, after which it self-destructs. Can be detonated early. (Unlocks at Level 7.) Dead Silence: Temporarily makes your footsteps silent and makes you undetectable by Spy Planes, enemy Intel and Field Mics. Gun, melee, and throwing knife kills refresh duration. (Unlocks at Level 15.) Deployable Cover: Rapidly-deployable ballistic cover. (Unlocks at Level 28.) Armor Plates: Equip body armor, preventing damage to your torso until broken. (Unlocks at Level 32.) Field Mic: Reveals nearby enemy movement on the minimap. (Unlocks at Level 40.) Tactical Insertion: Marks a location as your next spawn point. (Unlocks at Level 44.) Dead Drop: Records your current Killstreak score and awards it back when you next respawn. (Unlocks at Level 48.)
Best Field Upgrades in Call Of Duty: Vanguard
In other areas of Vanguard’s loadout, such as Killstreaks or Equipment, we’ve found that the best stuff isn’t necessarily the last thing to unlock. However, it’s got to be said that Dead Drop — the final Field Upgrade, which you’ll receive at Level 48 — is the really desirable one. Activating Dead Drop will preserve your Killstreak the next time you get killed. Say you’re really on a roll and that sweet elusive V2 Rocket is nearly in sight; the last thing you want is to fall at the final hurdle. Dead Drop provides you with a back-up and some peace of mind, and it’s easy to see why it’s the only Field Upgrade anyone’s talking about at the moment. That’s not to say that none of the other Field Upgrades are useful, however. If you tend to go into a match equipped with an assault rifle and/or an SMG, the Supply Box can be a literal lifesaver if you’ve chewed through all your ammo faster than you expected. The other basic Field Upgrade, the Jammer, is highly useful if you’re playing an objective-based mode (stick it right next to the objective and it’ll turn your opponents’ minimap off right when they need it most — which is so mean, but you can’t argue with results). Deployable Cover and Armor Plates are both strong options if you want to beef up your defenses for a particular mode, while Tactical Insertion is a good choice for the micro-managers out there who want to control exactly where their respawn point is. The only Field Upgrade we wouldn’t recommend in any circumstances is Goliath — as the only offensive Field Upgrade, sad to say it’s just not that useful when you could just focus on increased damage-dealing in other areas of your loadout.
How to unlock and use Field Upgrades
Just like Equipment, you unlock more Field Upgrades as you level up your character. You select the Field Upgrades you want to take with you as part of your loadout selection before entering a match. You can only take one Field Upgrade with you into any given match, so choose wisely! That’s all there is to know about Field Upgrades for now, but there are many more factors for you to consider when putting together your loadout in Call Of Duty: Vanguard. Be sure to check out our recommendations for the best guns in Vanguard. If you prefer to make the call for yourself, we’ve put together a comprehensive weapon stats page for you to refer to as well.
