Warzone’s Season 2 Reloaded update adds a new mode called Black Ops Royale, which is inspired by Call of Duty’s original Blackout battle royale. While perks are available in this mode, they work much differently than traditional Warzone modes. In this guide, we’ll discuss all available perks, how to find them, and when to use them.
How perks work in Black Ops Royale
Black Ops Royale removes Warzone’s custom loadouts and overhauls the perk system. All perks in this mode are looted during the match. Perks can be scavenged as ground loot, found in supply boxes, or earned as activity rewards.
Unlike Warzone’s perks that are active until death, Black Ops Royale features Blackout’s temporary consumable perks. The duration of each consumable perk varies, but they usually last around two-to-four minutes. This means you’re not locked into three set perks, but instead, you can loot and choose perks based on specific situations.
Each player can hold up to five perks at once, and these are manually activated. This allows you to save and utilize the perk when needed or swap them with your teammates. Even though you can only hold up to five unconsumed perks in your inventory, you can have more than five active at once.
For more, make sure to check out our full details on how Black Ops Royale works, including looting, inventory changes, and map activities.
All Black Ops Royale perks and when to use them
Many perks in Black Ops Royale will be familiar if you’re an existing Black Ops 7 or Warzone player. All twelve perks are described below.
Awareness
- Duration: Short (Around two minutes)
- Effects: Increases the volume of enemy footsteps by a modest amount. You also gain the ability to track enemy footprints
When to use: The Awareness perk is best utilized when you’re about to engage or investigate an area with enemy activity. It can also be helpful for audio intel in late or end-game situations.
Brawler
- Duration: Long (Around four minutes)
- Effects: Gain a small amount of additional health when engaged in melee attacks. Provides a bonus to your health if you are fully healed. Strong increase in melee damage. Adds the Tactical Sprint ability
When to use: Brawler is likely best used when moving through and looting close-quarters areas. It can also be a backup if you run low on ammo and need to finish your kills with fists or a knife.
Engineer
- Duration: Medium (Between two and a half and three and a half minutes)
- Effects: Allows you to see enemy equipment, killstreaks, and vehicles through walls. When you’re a driver or a passenger in a vehicle, it will repair itself over time
When to use: This is a handy perk to equip at any time, but it’s especially useful if your squad is using a vehicle to move around the map.
Iron Lungs
- Duration: Long (Around four minutes)
- Effects: Increases the time you can hold your breath while underwater or using certain optic scopes. Reduces weapon flinch and idle sway
When to use: This is a strong pick if your playstyle is geared toward long-range sniping, or if you need to stay submerged under water for longer periods of time.
Looter
- Duration: Short (Around two minutes)
- Effects: Supply boxes within a reasonable proximity are outlined. A modest increase in the chance to find higher-value loot
When to use: This support perk enables you to quickly locate and increase the value of supply crates in unlooted areas. So, Looter is always going to be a helpful perk. Use this immediately if you find it early in your looting, otherwise save it for when you come across a new area to loot.
Medic
- Duration: Long (Around four minutes)
- Effects: Downed allies return to the fray with impressive bonus health. You can insert armor plates more rapidly. You can revive yourself and others more quickly
When to use: This is great if you like to play a support role. It does have a long duration, so it’s worth activating as you engage in fights. This lets you plate up faster and patch teammates up more proficiently.
Mobility
- Duration: Long (Around four minutes)
- Effects: No fall damage. You swap weapons more rapidly and reload more quickly
When to use: This perk is useful to have active before choosing to engage with enemy players, especially in aggressive plays as it lets you swap weapons faster and reload quicker. It also prevents fall damage.
Outlander
- Duration: Medium (Between two and a half and three and a half minutes)
- Effects: Reduces the damage you take if caught in a circle collapse and increases the movement speed if inside the gas
When to use: Outlander is a bit more situational. This is best saved for when you’re staying close to the edges of the circle. This will increase your chances of survival if you need to make an escape from the gas or an enemy team.
Paranoia
- Duration: Long (Around four minutes)
- Effects: You can sense when an enemy is looking at you
When to use: This works like Warzone’s High Alert perk. It highlights marks around the screen indicating whether an enemy is facing your direction, making it a great perk for survival and gaining intel. This is especially useful in mid-to-late game scenarios.
Reinforced
- Duration: Long (Around four minutes)
- Effects: Explosive and fire-based damage is reduced by a sizable amount and cannot down you if you’re struck while at full health. You gain resistance to flashbangs and stuns, and suffer reduced damage from the Hand Cannon, War Machine, and Death Machine streaks
When to use: This is a great perk to activate when you’re about to engage in a fight with another team or if you suddenly become under attack.
Skulker
- Duration: Long (Around four minutes)
- Effects: Increases your movement speed by a minor amount. Increases your crouch and prone speed by a modest amount. Increases your swimming speed by an even greater amount
When to use: This is a great perk to active before fleeing a fight, or any other time you find you need a movement boost. This could potentially help if you’re trying desperately to outrun the gas, or if you need to move faster through water.
Squad Link
- Duration: Short (Around two minutes)
- Effects: When you aim down sights, enemies are automatically pinged. Shooting enemies outlines them briefly. Downed enemies within your general vicinity will be visible through obstacles
When to use: Squad Link is best saved for when you’re engaging in gunfire with an enemy team. Activate this to give you and your teammates precious intel for the fight.
