MW4 Beta Maps and Modes: All Six Maps, Hijack, Arms Deal

The Modern Warfare 4 beta runs across two separate weekends, and right now you’re in Weekend One: early access by pre-order or code, live until August 25 at 10am PT, with the fully open Weekend Two starting August 28. This is a straight rundown of what’s actually in the build — six 6v6 maps, five classic modes plus three new ones, and two systems that mess with your habits more than any single map does.

The MW4 beta is Infinity Ward’s two-weekend public test of Modern Warfare 4’s multiplayer, campaign mission, and a slice of Warzone ahead of the October 23 launch. For the maps specifically, you’re not getting the full launch roster — you deploy across Rooftops, Silkworm, Transit 213, Cachette, Lotus, and Lithium, six 6v6 maps total, though not all six are live in both weekends at once. That’s on top of Kill Block, the beta’s rotating dynamic map, and two Ground War: Combat Outpost maps that only unlock in Weekend Two.

That last swap is worth flagging directly: Lotus gets swapped out for Lithium in the second weekend, so only Early Access players get a chance to play on that map ahead of launch. At launch the map pool grows well beyond these six — Infinity Ward has said the full game ships with twelve new 6v6 maps, spanning settings including Korea, New York, Paris and Mumbai, so what’s in the beta is a taste of one launch region cluster, not the whole set. For the fuller breakdown of what dropped at the NEXT showcase, the Call of Duty NEXT and MW4 beta recap covers the campaign mission and Warzone side of things this guide doesn’t touch.

On the per-weekend lists going around: Activision’s own multiplayer blog marks all six of these maps simply as available during the Beta, with no split between Weekend One and Weekend Two. Some outlets have published a weekend-by-weekend schedule anyway; that split is not in the official post, so treat it as unconfirmed rather than as the rotation you plan your evening around.

The classic rotation is unchanged in structure: Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, and Search and Destroy are joined by new ways to compete. What’s actually new this beta is Inflation, plus Hijack (whose Weekend One availability is disputed across sources), and two modes — Arms Deal and Frontline — that Infinity Ward has confirmed for the full game without confirming they’re live in either beta weekend.

Hijack is an objective-carry mode: fight for control of a Data Spike, carrying, throwing, or passing it between teammates as you advance toward the enemy Comm Station. Once it’s down, plant the Spike to score over time and defend it through detonation for a bonus. Inflation turns kills into currency: it turns every elimination into a cash bounty, building your team’s total while staying alive, because being eliminated leaves some of your collected cash behind. Arms Deal and Frontline were confirmed at the same event — NEXT showcased the new Inflation mode, with Hijack, Arms Deal, and Frontline also joining the launch lineup — but as of this beta window, neither shows up on any confirmed beta mode list, so treat them as launch-bound rather than something you can queue into right now.

Worth noting one genuine conflict in the reporting: the official multiplayer blog lists Hijack as available during the beta without carving out a weekend, while other outlet listings put it strictly in the Weekend Two open beta alongside Combat Outpost. If Hijack isn’t in your Weekend One playlist rotation, that’s the likely reason — check back once Weekend Two opens.

These two don’t add a map to memorize — they change how a map behaves every time you load in. Kill Block is a living arena: with more than 500 combinations, no two Kill Block deployments play out the same, as the living map reconfigures its layout and sightlines from match to match, with weather conditions ranging from clear skies, rain to snow. It also pulls in familiar pieces — look out for Slabs featuring recognizable elements from Modern Warfare favorites including Crash, Highrise, and Shoot House, appearing in randomized placements each match. It runs as its own mode and also hosts 3v3 and 10v10 Gunfight.

Ground War: Combat Outpost is the beta’s large-scale mode, arriving in Weekend Two only. It brings 24v24 vehicle and infantry combat to expansive play spaces — establish Outposts to earn resources, put those resources toward completing further objectives, and contend with powerful airborne killstreaks across two maps available during the beta: Imjin Farmland and Wolves Stadium. Both maps sit in the same Hajin location but are built as distinct spaces, one leaning open terrain, the other built around a stadium’s indoor and structural objectives.

The honest time cost of seeing all of this yourself: six core maps, five classic modes, Hijack, Inflation, Kill Block’s mode-within-a-mode Gunfight variants, and — only from Weekend Two — Combat Outpost on two maps. Running each of those once, without grinding levels, is realistically a half-day-plus commitment, and closer to several sessions if you want to actually see a handful of Kill Block’s 500-plus layout rolls rather than just one.

Two smaller systems are worth knowing before you queue up. Smartstreaks change how killstreaks accumulate — rather than counting kills alone, progress toward a streak is expected to build from objective play too, so a Domination or Hardpoint match should feel less punishing for players focused on the objective instead of racking up kills. And loadout building gets an assist: the optional Gunnery Sergeant, nicknamed Gunny, works as a weapon build recommender within Create a Class, aimed at players who don’t want to manually tune every attachment slot before their first match.

Myth: all six maps are playable every weekend

They’re not. Rooftops, Silkworm, Transit 213 and Cachette run both weekends, but Lotus is Weekend One only and Lithium replaces it for Weekend Two — you don’t get all six at once in a single beta window.

Myth: Arms Deal and Frontline are queueable right now

Both were confirmed as joining the full game’s launch lineup at the same event that showed off Inflation, but neither appears on any confirmed beta mode list for either weekend. Treat them as launch content until stated otherwise.

Myth: Kill Block is just one more fixed map with a gimmick name

It’s not a map in the normal sense — it’s a system that assembles a new layout and weather state from over 500 combinations every time it loads, including chunks pulled from older Modern Warfare maps. No two rounds are guaranteed to look the same.