Best Hazard Zone Loadout

[Olympia Brackin]

Battlefield 2042 has made some major changes to the core Battlefield formula. Specialists and more open loadout choices have been controversial amongst the community. In standard Conquest, these changes seem odd. But when you play 2042's Hazard Zone, these design decisions start to make more sense.

Hazard Zone is DICE's answer to Battle Royale and survival shooters. A handful of squads are dropped into a Battlefield map to fight over Data Drives and extract. The stakes are high, teamplay is at the forefront, and every decision counts. For those new to this more hardcore game type, here is a complete guide to Battlefield 2042's Hazard Zone.

Hazard Zone is a small-scale, competitive game type that tasks squads with recovering Data Drives scattered across the map. When your team obtains at least one Data Drive, they can extract once an extraction point is active. Only two opportunities to extract will present themselves in each game. If you don't extract, you lose. You only get one life, so make it count.

Up to 32 players (24 on last-gen hardware) can be in a Hazard Zone game at once. It draws parallels from games like Escape From Tarkov and Hunt: Showdown, giving players one life and limited loadouts to finish the mission. Hazard Zone also features a new currency type called Dark Market Credits, exclusive to this mode. These credits can be spent on perks, weapons, and gadgets before a Hazard Zone match begins. But just like Hunt or Tarkov, you'll lose those items if you die. Coordinate with your team, synergize your Specialist abilities, and make good combat decisions to get out alive.

Each Hazard Zone match is split into two phases: the pre-game, and the match itself. You'll configure your loadout in the pregame, coordinating with your team to bring the right gear. The actual Hazard Zone match will see you extracting Data Drives, partaking in PvE and PvP combat.

Once everyone loads into the game, your squad will have one minute to create your loadout. You'll be able to select your Specialist, primary and secondary weapons, gadget of choice, then select perks that enhance your character in some fashion. Just about every weapon and gadget from 2042 is available here. This interface also showcases what your team is planning to run. Communicate with your team to synergize your loadouts.

Specialists are free to select, along with the M5A3 rifle and a few perks. Everything else costs Dark Market Credits to purchase. More powerful perks and weapons require more Credits to purchase. When you've selected all of your gear and are ready to go, you can lock your loadout. Once the countdown reaches zero, the actual game begins.

You and your squad will be deployed at a specific part of the map, close to a few other teams. Drop Pods near your location will have AI guarding them, although these bots are hardly a threat. Kill the enemies guarding the pod, then interact with the pod to reveal a Data Drive. You can only carry three Data Drives at a time. Have your team grab a few if you're almost full. You also drop all of your Data Drives on death, but so does the enemy. Stick with your team and scavenge any enemies you kill to stay alive.

Certain sectors of the map will have a higher yield of Drop Pods and Data Drives, although these zones are typically hot spots for enemy players. Hazard Zone maps are slightly smaller variants of 2042's core maps, so getting around will take some time. Vehicles do spawn on the map, so keep your eyes peeled for any vehicles you can use to get around.

As you explore the Hazard Zone, you'll come across various stations called Uplinks. There are Reinforcement Uplinks for resurrecting dead teammates, Ranger Uplinks to call in a friendly Ranger, and Vehicle Uplinks to call in a vehicle. Using these stations doesn't cost any Credits, so use them whenever you stumble on an Uplink.

Eight minutes into a Hazard Zone match, an extraction opportunity will present itself. An Osprey will arrive at a marked location on the map, allowing one squad to exit the game with all of their Data Drives. An Osprey can't extract multiple squads, and the extraction point is the same for everyone. These areas are typically hot spots for combat, so be prepared. Bringing a Specialist that can spot targets, such as Casper, is recommended for making these sections a little easier. Extracting is the only way to win.

If you miss your Extraction window, a second Osprey will arrive seven minutes after the first. If your squad does not make the second Extraction, you'll die and lose all of your Data Drives. Grab as many Data Drives as your team can carry, get yourself a vehicle or Ranger, and fight like hell to escape. Even if you die during this part, you'll still gain Dark Market Credits. But if you successfully extract with multiple Data Drives, you'll get substantially more Dark Market Credits.

Battlefield 2042 introduces a new mode to the series called Hazard Zone, which sends squads of four scrambling to recover data drives from crashed satellites and get out of the map alive. It's not like any other Battlefield mode, taking inspiration from Hunt: Showdown and similar games, and as I said in my Battlefield 2042 review, it can be fun once you understand how to succeed.

While Hazard Zone isn't as rich and complex as Hunt and its demonic bayou (or Escape from Tarkov and its growing wiki), it does require some specialized knowledge and it takes more teamwork than the standard Conquest mode to succeed. My first few runs were disasters because my squad and I were coming at Hazard Zone with an incomplete understanding of how it works and what the best approach is.

? The goal of Hazard Zone is to collect as many data drives as you can before escaping the map during one of two extraction opportunities. Each player can carry a limited number of drives.

? Data drives can be located using a special item called the intel scanner, a scope which can be used to mark drive locations. It not only locates neutral drives in crashed satellite pods, but also drives being carried by other players.

? You start by choosing a specialist and customizing their loadout and tactical upgrades (perks such as armor and faster healing) by spending currency earned in the mode. At least one player in your squad should bring an intel scanner, which is the default free gadget.

? The first extraction opportunity occurs a few minutes into the match. The second extraction comes about 11 minutes in. You must be alive inside one of the exfiltration planes (they cannot be destroyed) within a time limit to extract.

? If you extract successfully, you'll earn Dark Market Credits for the data drives you and your squad recovered. Dark Market Credits can be used to purchase guns, gadgets, and perks for your next run that will be lost if your specialist dies. Whether or not you extract, you'll also earn credits for killing occupying forces.

Only two out of eight teams can extract in any given game of Hazard Zone (except in the unlikely event that enemies share a Condor), so there's no point in trying for a perfect record. Instead, get a feel for the mode by focusing on killing the AI-controlled occupying forces at first. You'll find lots of them standing around defending the satellite pods that contain data drives, and they helpfully drop their weapons when killed, so you can replace the free default rifle with an LMG or other dropped gun after your first ambush. Be careful, though: AI soldiers and actual, player-controlled soldiers look very similar from far away, so take a close look before taking the first shot.

If you ultimately manage to extract with some drives, that's great, but even if not, killing bots will earn you and your squadmates Dark Market Credits at the end of the match. That'll allow you to purchase better guns, gadgets, and throwables before future rounds, making it easier to take on player squads when you start playing for real.

Pro tip: Equip the free Negotiated Bounty I tactical upgrade in the loadout screen to get 50% more Dark Market Credits for AI kills. If you're broke, there's no reason not to equip it.

Along with vehicle uplinks, you can find Ranger uplinks (the robo-dogs) and reinforcement uplinks, which allow you to bring back dead squadmates. All of these are potential life savers, and it's worth seeking them out by heading toward building clusters early on. Your squad can carry multiple of each, so there's no downside to stocking up.

Spending Dark Market Credits on the Squad Reinforcement tactical upgrade before a round gives your team one respawn call-in from the start. If you've got the credits to burn, at least one squadmate should have one.

For beginners, I don't recommend picking Sundance or Mackay, as fun as their wingsuit and grappling hook can be. Those movement gadgets don't help you much in flat terrain and you definitely don't want to abandon your non-wingsuiting squadmates along the way, unless it's part of a plan you've devised with an aggressive, well-coordinated team. Hard team benefits like Angel's armor handouts are easier to make good use of, especially if you're solo-queuing.

I recommend being somewhat cavalier about using the vehicle call-ins. In PUBG, you might be hesitant to hop in a car, which broadcasts your location to anyone in earshot of an internal combustion engine. Piling into an ATV in Hazard Zone does make your squad vulnerable to being wiped by a rocket, but hoofing it across icy plains often isn't better and anti-vehicle weapons aren't as common in Hazard Zone as they are in Conquest. These aren't long matches, either, so playing fast and loose isn't as reckless as it is in slower battle royale games.

If you're the driver, you have a better view than your gunner or passengers, so be sure to let them know if you spot enemies, and what side of the car they're on, assuming you're in an outside voice chat server together (Battlefield 2042 doesn't have built-in voice chat at launch).

c80f0f1006