Everything you need to know about Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare multiplayer

Supply Drops

Customization is a main emphasis in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, from the classes that you create, to the items that you wear. To drive that point home, Sledgehammer Games has incorporated an all new loot system dubbed Supply Drops.

You earn Supply Drops in matches for time played, along with meeting in-game challenges. Each drop has custom weapons, gear to kit out your operator, or reinforcements. This gear comes in three distinct rarities: Enlisted (green) is the most common, Pro (blue) is rarer, and Elite (brown) is the best of the best.

Custom weapons are uniquely named weapons with attribute, attachment, or aesthetic modifications over the default type. For example, I received the Bear Fist (that’s an awesome name) in a supply drop. It’s an HBRa3 assault rifle, but it comes with a sight already attached, a colored skin, a two-point bump in handling, and a one-point drop in both accuracy and range. It’s this give-and-take relationship in custom weapons that seem to keep things from getting overpowered, but who knows what crazy contraptions could be resting at the bottom of a supply drop.

Gear, on the other hand, is much more straightforward. It’s completely cosmetic and can be used to dress your soldier for combat through the Create-An-Operator feature. Though there are no gameplay advantages to donning the rarest armor, Elite gear generally tended to look a little more lively than Pro and so on.

The last type of rewards coming out of supply drops are Reinforcements: one-time-use items that can be activated during a match. The options include perks and basic score-streaks, and they also come in three rarities.

Create An Operator

For the first time, Call of Duty players will be able to create the custom look of the multiplayer soldier. You can choose from several male and female personas, which you can then further customize through a staggering array of aesthetic gear found in supply drops. Check out the video above for a look at the system in action.

The Virtual Lobby and Firing Range

New to the Call of Duty series is the ability to test out created classes on the fly in the virtual firing range. No longer will you have to go into a match to try out a newly created class, unlocked weapon, or attachment setup. In Advanced Warfare, you’ll be able to hop right into the firing range to see if you like what you’ve put together, directly from the class creation menu or even between matches.

Lastly, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare has made all of this customization meaningful with the virtual lobby. Rather than staring at a list of player names between matches, players in your lobby are completely accessible, enabling you to view their operator and loadouts. You can quickly slide between players and get a glimpse at any custom weapons, gear, or reinforcements they might have picked up in a supply drop.