The shrinking play area (zone) in Black Ops 4 Blackout Mode Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Guide and Tips

You lose health outside of the zone, your hearing and sight also deteriorate.

In the Blackout mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, the map has a very large size. To enable smooth gameplay and limit its duration to 30 minutes, a mechanic has been implemented, which causes the play area to continue decreasing in size. It works in a very simple way:

1. After the drop, you have one minute until the first stage of the gameplay, which will be signaled by a message that will inform you about a countdown to the zone being narrowed. Look at the map, observe how the gameplay area will change, and where you should evacuate. If you are in a safe area (inside the white circle), you can stay in it for the moment.
2. You have 2 minutes until the zone starts to shrink (blue circle). The rate at which the zone narrows is close to the speed of movement of a player, although usually, it is a bit higher.
3. After the zone narrows, the second stage also takes place after two minutes.
4. The third stage is very significant and you only have 45 seconds until the zone shrinks;
5. The fourth stage will give you just 30 seconds - the area of ??operation is the size of one of the larger locations. At this stage, usually, no more than 20-25 players remain.
6. The fifth stage - 30 seconds until the zone moves. Note: helicopters stop working at this stage! The strategy which revolves around simply remaining in the air over the zone is therefore no longer viable.
7. The sixth stage - 15 seconds of warning; at this stage, players are extremely close to one another. Every advantage that you have accumulated and maintained up to this point is worth its weight in gold.
8. The seventh, and the last, stage. At this point, after the blue circle narrows, no safe zone will remain on the map: if the final players do not overpower each other, the one who survives the longest will win. The rate of health reduction at this stage is one bar per second (at this rate you will not keep up with the damage while healing without using any perks).
9. Important: in each subsequent stage the rate at which the zone narrows becomes greater, and the damage you take outside of it increases.

Pay attention to the bar under the radar, which appears when the zone is narrowing. The character icon is you; the blue bar is the shrinking zone. Use this indicator to be able to tell how far away you are from the safe area and how fast you are moving in relation to how fast the zone is narrowing.

1. In the initial phases you do not have to worry about the zone; if you have collected a lot of bandages, you may even be outside the safe area, and then slowly move towards safety while healing yourself.
2. Use the Mobility perk to move faster and escape from the shrinking zone;
3. Use the Outlander perk to minimize (up to about 30-50%) the damage taken while outside the zone;
4. While in the zone, check the map and locate the areas from which players must evacuate. This way you can prepare a great trap (remember that others will do the same!).