Call of Duty Warzone Gulag explained: how respawns work in Modern Warfare battle royale

There are two means of respawning with your squad in Warzone, here's how they work

Gulag Warzone

What is the Gulag in Call of Duty Warzone? Modern Warfare finally has its own battle royale mode, and along with multiple other changes to the battle royale games formula, Warzone also offers a rewarding new respawn mechanic to help players who go down in the opening stages of a match get back to their trio without putting the burden on the survivors. Instead of dropping a respawn token and placing the burden on the survivors reviving their downed ally, the new Gulag respawn system offers the individual the chance to redeem themselves by winning a Gunfight with another player.

Of course the respawn mechanics in Warzone are a little more complicated than that, and there are still plenty of respawn opportunities available to players who fail to win their Gulag battle. This is potentially news for players who solo queue and are tired of surviving squad members not bothering to revive them.

Join us as we break down how the Warzone Gulag works, as well as how to respawn and revive teammates at all stages of a Warzone match.

How does the Warzone Gulag work?

During the opening salvo of fights in Warzone any player that dies will respawn in the Gulag Gunfight map. There is a small first-person cutscene showing you being dragged to your cell, and then you’ll find yourself waiting for your turn to play in a 1v1 match for your chance at a free revival. While you wait for your turn in the arena, you can run around with other players or even influence the outcome of a Gulag brawl by throwing rocks at the combatants – these deal a small amount of damage. This is especially interesting when two of your trio are in the Gulag at similar times as you can effectively aid them by other calling out the enemy’s position or throwing rocks at the enemy.

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When you’re actively fighting in the Gulag the battle plays out like a single round of Gunfight. The loadouts appear to be randomly plucked from a number of pre-made set loadouts and if you’re victorious in your single fight then you’ll immediately spawn back into the skies above the Warzone map.

Note: you can only go through this process once per player, per match. Furthermore, the Gulag closes roughly halfway through a match, so this is really just a way of earning your way back into a match after an early death.

What happens if you lose in the Warzone Gulag?

If you lose your Gulag fight then you’ll jump to a spectate view of your team and have to wait until they kindly make their way to one of the many Warzone Buy Stations and purchase a Squad Buyback for $4500 – this option is on the right side of the menu.

Gulag tips

There are a few varaints of the Gulag so you can never rely on exactly the same setup each time, and the difference in Warzone loadouts in the Gulag doesn’t help either. Generally, we’ve had the most success with sprinting to our side of mid, and using footsteps audio to figure out which side the opponent is on. If you’ve got a stun or flash, bounce it around the corner in their direction, then prime your lethal or primary (lethal if you’re using pistols) and round the corner ready to fire and escape.

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Rushing mid give you a great advantage. If you’re having difficulties with audio then we’ve got some tips in our Warzone settings guide to help out.