Call of Duty: Vanguard has three main game experiences: Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies. Multiplayer also includes several separate match types, while Zombies received both objective-based and classic round-based maps during the game's seasonal cycle. This guide explains what each mode offers and also clears up one old point about Warzone Pacific.
Campaign
CampaignCampaignThe Vanguard campaign is a cinematic single-player story set during World War II. We follow members of the fictional Task Force One, an international special-operations unit assembled near the end of the war.The story moves between several fronts and characters, including Arthur Kingsley, Polina Petrova, Wade Jackson, and Lucas Riggs. Their missions cover Europe, the Pacific, and North Africa before the group comes together to stop Project Phoenix, a Nazi plan connected to officer Hermann Wenzel Freisinger.The campaign is entirely story-driven and is the best place to start if we want to learn the characters before moving into Multiplayer or Zombies.
Multiplayer
MultiplayerMultiplayerMultiplayer is the competitive side of Call of Duty: Vanguard. We fight other players in real time across a large selection of maps. Crossplay allows players on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S to play together.At launch, Vanguard included seven core modes:
Team Deathmatch - two teams compete for the highest number of eliminations.
Kill Confirmed - eliminated players drop dog tags. Collect enemy tags to score and friendly tags to deny the opposing team a point.
Domination - teams capture and defend three fixed objectives to earn points over time.
Search & Destroy - one team plants a bomb while the other defends the objectives. There are no respawns during a round.
Hardpoint - both teams fight over a capture zone that moves between fixed positions on the map.
Patrol - a Vanguard variation of Hardpoint where the scoring zone continuously moves around the map.
Free-for-All - every player fights for themselves, and the first to reach the score limit wins.
Vanguard also introduced several modes outside the standard Quick Play list.
Champion Hill
Champion Hill combines elements of Gunfight and a survival tournament. Squads compete across several small arenas with a shared pool of lives. Between rounds, we can spend cash on weapons, equipment, perks, and upgrades. The last team with lives remaining wins.
Arms Race
Arms Race was added later in the game's life cycle. It is a 12v12 large-map mode played on Alps. Teams capture bases, use Buy Stations, deploy vehicles, and try to destroy the enemy strongholds. Captured bases also become respawn points.
Blueprint Gun Game
Blueprint Gun Game gives every player the same weapon progression. Each elimination moves us to the next weapon, while a melee elimination can knock an opponent back one stage. The first player to complete the full weapon sequence wins.Vanguard also received Ranked Play with 4v4 Call of Duty League rules, maps, and modes. Featured playlists rotated throughout the game's seasons, so not every temporary playlist is permanently available.Another Vanguard-specific feature is Combat Pacing. Tactical keeps matches closer to the traditional Call of Duty player count, while Assault and Blitz increase the number of players and make matches more chaotic.
Zombies
ZombiesZombiesZombies in Vanguard continues the Dark Aether storyline and was developed by Treyarch. The main enemy is Oberführer Wolfram Von List, who commands the undead through his pact with Kortifex the Deathless. We fight back with the help of Dark Aether entities such as Saraxis, Bellekar, Inviktor, and Norticus.The mode can be played solo or cooperatively. Vanguard Zombies originally launched with the objective-based Der Anfang, where we travel through portals, complete objectives, upgrade our equipment, and return to Stalingrad between missions. Terra Maledicta later expanded this style of play.Classic round-based Zombies was added afterward. Shi No Numa brought back traditional survival rounds with a main quest, Wonder Weapon, traps, and side objectives. The final Zombies experience, The Archon, also uses round-based gameplay and concludes Vanguard's Dark Aether storyline with a boss fight against Kortifex.So if we prefer classic Zombies, Shi No Numa and The Archon are the closest to the traditional formula. Der Anfang and Terra Maledicta are more objective-focused.
Warzone Pacific
Warzone Pacific was not actually a game mode inside Call of Duty: Vanguard. It was the 2021 version of the separate free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone, integrated with Vanguard during Season One.The update introduced the Caldera map and Vanguard-themed playlists such as Vanguard Royale, while standard Warzone also continued to feature modes such as Battle Royale, Plunder, and Resurgence. Vanguard weapons, Operators, and progression were integrated into Warzone at the time.This information is now historical. The original Warzone was later renamed Warzone Caldera and separated from the newer Warzone ecosystem. Vanguard itself still consists of Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies.That is everything you need to know about the main game modes in Call of Duty: Vanguard. If we only want the core package, there are three parts to remember: Campaign for the story, Multiplayer for PvP, and Zombies for cooperative PvE.
