Call of Duty: Warzone tips and tricks for Armored Royale

The latest major seasonal update in Call of Duty: Warzone has launched, giving its players new modes, weapons, and a ton of new things to unlock. Most substantially, season 6 adds the new subway fast travel system to Warzone, making it much easier to get around the map quickly. Another major addition is the limited-time Armored Royale mode, which takes the battle royale formula and mashes it up with vehicular combat.

With Armored Royale being a new mode, players seem to be struggling to master how it works — and more importantly, how to achieve victory. That’s why we’ve put together a handy guide for you — covering all the basics of Armored Royale, along with some more advanced tips that will hopefully get you closer to winning. Here’s our tips and tricks guide for Armored Royale in Warzone.

Further reading:

• The best M13 Warzone setup in Call of Duty: Warzone
• Best places to land in Warzone
• Call of Duty: Warzone guide with tips and tricks to win the war

What is Armored Royale?

Armored Royale is Battle Royale with a twist. Teams of four players all drop next to an armored truck that needs to be protected at all costs. As long as your truck is still intact, you and your team will be able to continually respawn. But if your truck is destroyed, you won’t be able to come back unless you buy another truck (we’ll get to that a little later). As with the traditional Battle Royale mode, the deadly gas is still closing in on you and the rest of the players, so you need to constantly be aware of it so it doesn’t cause an untimely death. Ultimately, the goal is to be the last squad (and truck) standing.

You’ll be able to upgrade and repair your truck as you earn money, making it almost feel like a fifth squad member — as cheesy as that sounds. The idea is to take out the other teams and their trucks while avoiding being eliminated yourself. Now that you have a better understanding of how the game mode works, let’s dive into some tips and tricks for overcoming Armored Royale.

Have a loadout specifically for Armored Royale

Despite Armored Royale being a battle royale, the matches play out way differently than the traditional mode you’re used to. Your goal is to destroy enemy trucks while protecting yours, so you’ll need to come to each match prepared with heavy firepower and explosives to dish out as much damage as possible. With that in mind, you should consider bringing an LMG with lots of ammo — like the PKM with 200 round mags. In Armored Royale, players tend to blow through ammo quickly, so give yourself the upper hand by bringing as much ammo as possible. The Fully Loaded perk is also a fantastic choice to bolster your ammo stash.

We recommend coming with a heavy assault rifle or LMG with lots of ammo, along with a launcher of some kind. We’re still tinkering with the loadout ourselves, but the Strela-P has been a great choice, as it has high range and damage. The JOKR is also a fantastic option, as you can use it to lock onto vehicles. In fact, all of the launchers are solid choices, so experiment with them and see which one suits your play style.

Your equipment is important with this loadout, so make sure you choose it wisely. We like to use smoke grenades to help cover us when reviving a teammate (or when trying to get through a particularly hot zone) and C4 to quickly throw toward a vehicle and detonate. The most recent Warzone update reduced the distance you can throw C4, which might mess you up, so keep that in mind. Molotovs and Thermite are good choices, too.

In terms of perks, there are really only a handful that make sense for Armored Royale. For the first slot, we like to use E.O.D. to take reduced damage from explosives and fire. If you’re absolutely against this perk for some reason, Kill Chain is another solid choice, as it increases your chances of finding killstreaks from boxes.  Though, you’ll need to stop often to make it worth your while.

For your second slot, Restock seems to be the best choice, as it allows you to replenish your equipment usage over time. That means — in essence — you’d have unlimited C4 or tactical grenades, which is extremely useful. Ghost is ill-advised, since your enemies will know where you are based on the location of your truck — which shows up on the map. The only way to make good use of Ghost is if you stay away from your truck when approaching an enemy, but even then, it’s hit or miss if it’ll actually be useful since much of what goes down in the heat of battle is luck-based.

Finally, the third perk slot has many respectable options, but we’ve been enjoying using Shrapnel to grant you an additional piece of lethal equipment. That extra grenade or C4 comes in handy — trust us. Battle Hardened works great and lowers the strength of enemy flashes, and Tune Up isn’t a bad choice, as it reduces your revive time. In terms of maximizing effectiveness, we recommend either Shrapnel or Tune Up.

In summation, make sure you don’t spawn in with your traditional Battle Royale loadout like we did at first — which consists of a silenced sniper and perks to help us stay off the radar. You likely won’t find them as useful as having heavy weapons with lots of ammo.

Do not prioritize buying a Loadout Drop like in regular Battle Royale mode

Unlike regular Battle Royale, you shouldn’t waste your money on a Loudout Drop in Armored Royale. The reason for this is twofold. For one, your money is better spent elsewhere — like on truck upgrades or repairs. The other reason is that after a couple of minutes in-game, you’ll come across a Loadout Drop that will spawn close to your team for free. The way the spawns work in this mode is different from standard Battle Royale.

Each team spawns in far away from the other enemy players, so it’s unlikely you’ll be taken out when grabbing your loadout at first — especially if you use your truck for cover when you pull up right next to it. Point is, spend your money on truck upgrades at first and then a Loadout Drop will appear close by after a few minutes, saving you $10,000. It is possible that the closest team will neglect to stock up and will immediately make a beeline for you — thus hindering you when you’re trying to grab your loadout — but this is a rare occurrence.

Take time to stock up at the beginning

One common mistake we’ve seen with inexperienced players is that they don’t grab as much loot as they can at the start of the match. The setup is key to ensuring you outlast your competition, and you do that by visiting every building in the area at the start of the match. Hit up every room of every building you can enter — keeping your eyes peeled for armor, high magazine assault rifles/LMGS, Self-Revive Kits, and cash.

What a lot of players will do is loot a couple of buildings and then jump in the truck right away to drive to the closest enemy. Don’t do this. Make sure your squad is efficient when covering each section of the starting area and coordinate with the team when doing so. You can have each member tackle a particular section of the spawn area before reconvening at the truck once it’s time to go.

Come up with a plan and communicate with your team effectively

Bouncing off the previous idea is the notion of communicating effectively with your team. This is a key aspect to all of Warzone and equally as important in Armored Royale. The main thing you need to decide upon as a team is who your designated driver will be (along with the gunner). There’s nothing worse than having the gas approach you (or an enemy team) with no clue of who’s driving where. Don’t get caught in that position.

Know who your driver is and where they’ll be going. The path you take is up to you (and where the gas happens to fall), but at least be prepared with roles before things get sticky. Too often the gas will be right next to you, while your truck is in an awkward position, making it impossible to escape in time. For us, we’ve found success in driving inward as soon as the gas starts closing in — while staying away from high traffic areas or other enemies.

If no one is communicating, then take the initiative and be the driver yourself. Always make sure you check the gas and don’t start driving away from it at the last second, because the map’s geometry will probably cause you to get stuck. Even if no one else is talking, it helps to make callouts because oftentimes, players will still be able to hear you.

Buying back your vehicle will respawn dead teammates

Another major mistake players make is that they buy back individual teammates instead of simply buying back the destroyed truck. Remember, your team will be able to respawn infinitely, as long as your truck is in one piece. But once it’s destroyed, it’s up to the remaining players on the team to bring you back. So be aware that it’s a waste of money to buy back teammates, since you’ll need to bring your truck back anyway. Why spend $4,000 to bring back each teammate once, when you can spend $6,000 to bring your vehicle and every teammate back at one time? Even if the last player on the squad only has $4,000 on them, it’s best for them to wait and grab an additional $2,000 instead of trying to bring back a teammate who will likely be of little use without a vehicle.

Going back to the bit about communication — if you’re dead and your truck is destroyed, let the remaining players on your team know that buying back the truck is a smarter move. Even if they aren’t talking, they can probably hear you and you’ll save your team a huge headache by ensuring you’re brought back in the most efficient way. There are rare exceptions to this rule, but in general, you’re better off buying the truck back.

Try to have a Self-Revive Kit on you at all times

This is a relatively straightforward tip — but make sure you always have a Self-Revive Kit on you. At the start of each match, you’ll likely find one or two from a supply box, but if not, there should be a Buy Station nearby where you can purchase one. If you come across multiple, make sure you ping them for your squadmates. The other important factor is to ensure that your whole team has a Self-Revive Kit, which goes back to the point about communication. If someone doesn’t have it, stop at the closest Buy Station and give them the money for it (if they’re short). This will be a huge lifesaver when things get messy later on in the match.

It’s also important not to waste your Self-Revive Kit. One thing you can do is to start reviving yourself if you go down, but don’t actually finish it. A nearby teammate can pick up where you left off, saving both of you time and ensuring that your Kit isn’t wasted. If a teammate is close and can swing it, have them revive you instead. And after each firefight that results in a teammate using their Kit, make it a point to stop at the nearest Buy Station to stock back up. You’ll be glad you did.

Do not neglect to upgrade your vehicle

One of the more interesting dynamics of Armored Royale is the ability to upgrade and repair your truck. This is something you’ll want to focus on — not just at the beginning of the match, but throughout its duration. As you engage in firefights with other players, your truck will take damage and will need to be repaired and re-upgraded. It only costs $1,500 to make one repair, and depending on the severity of the damage to your truck, you may have to repair more than once. Still, it’s a relatively inexpensive thing to keep up with. Though, it does start to add up when you have to continuously make repairs and upgrades, so you’ll want to make sure you’re stopping often to grab loot and cash.

Since Armored Royale is new, you’ll probably start off by experimenting to see what works for you. We’ve had luck migrating from Buy Station to Buy Station, racking up our cash supply and loot while keeping up with vehicle repairs. The more aggressive you are, the more likely you are to get eliminated, but it’s not recommended to stay in one place — particularly because you’ll want to ensure you’ve got a consistent cash flow coming in to keep up with repairs. A major mistake players make is staying in the vehicle the whole time — meaning they aren’t picking up any money for later on in the match. Try to stick by each other when getting out of the vehicle to maximize the amount of loot and cash your team gathers. And at the absolute least, make sure one player jumps out of the vehicle to grab loot as you make stops.

Try to drive your truck perpendicular to enemies pursuing you

This is a bit more of a nuanced tip, but it’s important to keep in mind. If you’re being chased by an enemy vehicle, do your best to drive at a perpendicular angle to protect your teammates in the bed of the truck. If you’re simply driving in a straight line ahead of your pursuer, all of the teammates in the bed of your truck are exposed — making it easy for enemy gunners to take them out. It’s not always possible to position your truck at the right angle, but do your best, as it will prove to be invaluable to have as many teammates alive as possible.