There are a whopping 23 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare maps to be thrown into in Multiplayer in Infinity Ward’s latest instalment, ranging from gigantic Ground War play spaces to a mostly vacant Piccadilly Circus.
There’s a real variety of locations and map sizes to accommodate the variety of new modes that have arrived with Modern Warfare. In this guide, I'm going to run through every Modern Warfare map in the game and provide you with pointers for each. By the end you'll be armed with the tips to help you be as prepared as possible, whatever battlefield is selected.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Quick Play maps
Below are the maps you should load into if you choose Quick Play, which involves the following modes: Team Deathmatch, Cyber Attack, Domination, Search and Destroy, Headquarters, TDM 20 Player, and DOM 20 Player. You can filter the game modes you receive in Quick Play to your choosing. You’ll also see these maps if you pick Free-For-All or Realism in the multiplayer menu.
Aniyah Palace
Aniyah Palace is an extremely long and open map with a lot of structures in which to hide. If you can make it there without being demolished, the palace itself has some great camping spots on the second floor where you can go prone and see wide stretches of the map on either side. The long undefeated routes alongside the walled city are bait for snipers, so if you’re not about that long-range life, consider bolting through the middle.
Akrlov Peak
Arklov Peak is a medium-sized, snow-laden map. There’s an important area with a monument in the middle between the windmill and the palace/church structure where you can sit on either side and pick off runners. The ruined house split in two by tanks is also a good camping spot.
Azhir Cave
Azhir Cave is one of the smaller multiplayer maps that mixes an outdoor desert section with a claustrophobic cave full of tight corners in which to camp. The entrances to the cave are good spots to sit and pick people off, but keep in mind that you can crawl underneath the trucks inside to hide and take out unsuspecting run-and-gunners.
Euphrates Bridge
This map is framed around a gigantic yellow bridge which offers great camping spots, but it's lit up like a Christmas tree due to its mustard hue. Use it to peer down into the shanty and riverbed areas to take advantage of enemies already dealing with other players, or crawl into the tubes in the shanty area to surprise enemies running underneath.
Grazna Raid
The Grazna Raid map is great fun thanks to its mix of open-plan roads with claustrophobic city alleyways. As ever, high ground is a great boon, so you make the effort to try and get on the second floor of the houses in the tight alleyways so you can look down int the action and pick off those who run in guns blazing. The sides of the map are also useful if you wish to sneak down using the cover and get in behind the enemy team who are running to the busy middle section.
Gun Runner
Gun Runner is an entertaining map set in an industrial basin. While being quite small geographically, there are patches of no man's land where snipers can lay waste to others. Use the shaded murky areas near the furnaces in the industrial zone to surprise foes and take note of the climbable crates littered all over.
Hackney Yard
This map is set in a graffiti-laden London shipyard just outside the big smoke. The buildings in each corner of the map provide great vision of the entire location when scaled, and given that low walls are hiding the midsection where most of the action occurs, use the parallel storehouses to get overwatch on your enemies.
Piccadilly
Piccadilly Circus is lit up by the neon hue of the famous signage, but all the action takes place around the monument in the middle. Use the clothing stores to get the high ground on the action, or try the subway station entrance and exits that link each side of the map to get behind and shoot your enemies right in the back.
Rammaza
Rammaza is Modern Warfare’s ode to Counter-Strike: it's a tight, well-designed series of dangerous funnels into an open area where snipers thrive. Try to avoid the pitfalls in the busy midsection by taking elevated routes and note the great camping spot between two upturned train cars.
St. Petrograd
This Russian map is defined by the long line of broken-down trams on the right-hand side in which you can weave to reach the enemy spawn point. It’s that or face the horrors of the canal street, a savvy sniper's dream. The cafe has some great corners to sit and camp in with views of two entrances while staying relatively safe.
Realism maps
Realism mode removes the in-game HUD to increase multiplayer immersion and offers a selection of exclusive maps that are night versions of their normal multiplayer counterparts. The same tips apply as listed above here, just make sure you watch your corners with more care than usual.
Azhir Cave (Night)
Gun Runner (Night)
Hackney Yard (Night)
Rammaza (Night)
Gunfight maps
Gunfight is a new 2v2 mode for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with soldiers battling in close quarters, with weapons randomly assigned at the start of each round.
Docks
Docks is incredibly cramped and covered in graffiti and debris. Use the elevated storehouse to your advantage to get the high ground on the opposing team, or sneak through the sewers whilst prone if you’re speedy enough at the start.
Gulag Showers
The Gulag Showers is a grimy little Gunfight map with one long midsection, but little verticality. Don't run through the middle right at the start: you'll be wiped out by a corner camper.
Hill
Hill is one of the more open Gunfight maps with all the greenery to hide in, which is unusual for Gunfight. Skill up your sniper game and make sure you don’t jump in the albeit tempting stream, whatever you do.
King
King takes place in a ruined warehouse with an unusual raised platform in the middle that you can rush up to get an early advantage. Molotovs are your friend here.
Pine
Pine is a very claustrophobic map with raised clubhouses from which you can snipe. Use these to your advantage and try to blend in with the dull wooden boards and cars.
Speedball
Speedball takes place on a barbed wire-ringed training ground and it is extremely close quarters. This map is a lot like King and rewards quick movement and instant tactics. Don’t bother hiding, rush in and pray that you see them first.
Stack
There's lots of visual debris in Stack that you can hide behind. While the map is seriously tiny, the verticality and hiding spots can lead to some tense cat-and-mouse matches. Have one player scope the map from the elevated platform while the other charges in to deal close-quarters damage.
Ground War maps
Ground War mode drops up to 64 players into a gigantic map where you must work with your team to capture objectives and force the enemy on the back foot. There are only two maps available for this mode so far.
Karst River Quarry
The quarry of Karst is the most reminiscent to Battlefield in Modern Warfare: this is a massive sprawling slog of a map where you have to press through various industrial sectors to repel the enemy. The main middle compound and the bridge in between are the perfect places in which to squad up and take a corner. Skulking around on rooftops is ill-advised unless you have a rocket launcher with which to shoot birds out the sky.
Tavorsk Bridge
The giant cityscape of Tavorsk is a dream for vehicle users rolling down its paved streets and turning enemies into roadkill. Keep your head up and watch the tops of buildings for sniper muzzle flashes and RPGs. Also group up to raid the stairs and take down the devils up top. Equally, lay down claymores to protect your position if you’re trying to command a rooftop.
