Call of Duty: Vanguard – Warzone Event Start Time, Trailer, and Details Revealed

If the latest Call of Duty: Warzone patch felt a little underwhelming to you, it might be because Activision and the Call of Duty teams recently revealed that the free-to-play battle royale will soon host the official reveal of the next Call of Duty game: Vanguard.

Warzone previously played host to the official reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War which turned out to be a kind of elaborate in-game Easter egg hunt that ended with the debut of the first full Cold War trailer as well as a few new permanent additions to Warzone and Modern Warfare. It wasn’t nearly as elaborate as the best Fortnite events, but it was a fun distraction for an otherwise popular game that sometimes needs a shot in the arm.

Should you expect something similar for the upcoming Vanguard event? It’s tough to say at the moment, but here’s what we know about it so far:

Call of Duty: Vanguard Teaser Trailer

Call of Duty: Vanguard‘s first teaser trailer doesn’t give us much to go on, but it does confirm the biggest pre-release rumor surrounding the game: its World War 2 setting. While it’s only been 5 years since the release of the last WW2-based Call of Duty game, elements of this trailer suggest that Vanguard may not be an entirely “traditional” WW2 game.

Again, it’s not much, but see what details you can spot in Vanguard‘s first official trailer:

Call of Duty: Vanguard – Warzone Reveal Event Start and End Time

If you want to participate in Call of Duty: Vanguard‘s official reveal event, you’re going to have to be logged in to a Warzone playlist starting at 1:30 PM EST on August 19th. The Call of Duty website also notes that if you participate in any Warzone playlist between 12:30 PM and 1:29 PM EST, you’ll receive Double XP, Double Weapon XP, and Double Battle Pass XP. It sounds like those bonuses end as soon as the actual reveal event starts, so you’re going to want to make the most out of that 59-minute window.

Activision has also recently confirmed that the event will be available until August 23 at 1:30 PM EST. That will be your last chance to play the special event mode and unlock all the available rewards.

Call of Duty: Vanguard – Warzone Reveal Event Details

There isn’t a lot of official information available about the Vanguard reveal event, but it’s very much worth noting that previous Warzone reveal events allowed players to participate in special Warzone modes and playlists. While we suspect that the Vanguard and Warzone teams have something similar planned for this upcoming reveal, it’s interesting that the CoD website mentions that the “Battle of Verdansk will begin in Call of Duty: Warzone” starting at 1:30 PM EST on August 19th.” That’s kind of an odd choice of phrasing considering that it feels like Warzone players have been participating in the “Battle of Verdansk” this entire time, but it does contribute to the popular theory that the Vanguard reveal will advance the weird pseudo-serial story that Warzone has quietly been building for quite some time now.

Call of Duty: Vanguard – Warzone Reveal Event: How to Unlock the Battle of Verdansk Rewards

Well, it turns out that rumors of a new weapon and new vehicle coming to Warzone after the Battle of Verdansk event may have been greatly exaggerated (it seems that Activision was just talking about the event itself), but you can unlock the following items by participating in the special event and completing these objectives:

• Republic Impaler (Epic Knife Blueprint) – Deal 30,000 Total Squad Damage to the Train
• Dogfight Sticker (Epic) – Deal 45,000 Total Squad Damage to the Train
• Timetable (Epic Watch) – Deal 60,000 Total Squad Damage to the Train
• Animated Emblem (Legendary) – Deal 75,000 Total Squad Damage to the Train
• Siberian Strider (Epic Motorcycle Skin) – Deal 100,000 Total Squad Damage to the Train
• Warbound Animated Calling Card (Legendary) – Deal 135,000 Total Squad Damage to the Train
• Little Shark Weapon Charm (Epic) – Interact with the Exfil Point
• Dark Forest LMG Blueprint (Legendary) – Complete the Battle of Verdansk
• Call to Arms Emblem (Epic) – Play the Battle of Verdansk

That’s not exactly the most exciting lineup of unlockables in Warzone history, but they’re thankfully pretty easy to earn. You just need to participate in the Battle of Verdansk event itself while that playlist option is still available. There, you and everyone who was placed in your lobby will be required to shoot an armored train as it rolls through the map. The more damage you do to the train, the more items you unlock. If you’re able to fill the damage gauge (as indicated by the circles that appear on the train’s “health bar”), interact with the Exfil Point that appears, and ultimately complete the whole thing, you should unlock all of the currently available special items.

Interestingly, there are more recent rumors that suggest additional special items are set to be added to Warzone in the coming days. However, it’s not clear whether they are specifically related to this event or when they might be released. Be sure to keep an eye out for any official updates, though.