The Call of Duty Vanguard alpha dropped for Playstation players this past week, bringing with it our first look at the latest new Call of Duty game mode Champion Hill. This new game mode is a unique combination of BR and duel mechanics that produce a brand new, never-before-seen Call of Duty experience.

Here is everything you need to know about Champion Hill to get started.

Overview to Champion Hill is Call of Duty: Vanguard

On its most basic level, Champion-hill is a round-robin style deathmatch tournament. You will face off against other squads in individual duels, looking to save your lives and eliminate the enemy's lives. Throughout the match you will gain money to spend on various parts of your loadout, to prepare yourself for an intense end game, assuming you survive long enough to see it.

The game can be played in duos, trios, or solos. Each team will start the match with a certain number of lives. For Duos their life number is 12, for Trios it is 18, and presumably, when solos are added with the full launch of the game it will be 6 lives. Teams will engage in a series of 60-second deathmatches in various arenas. Throughout the different rounds, teams will lose lives as they die, until only two squads remain.

The final two squads will engage in 120-second end game rounds to decide the champion of Champion Hill. Between each of these final rounds, teams will have the chance to resupply at the buy station. 

Spending money in Champion Hill

The developers have adopted a buy system for Champion Hill. Players will start out with $500 at the start of a match, which they can spend at the Buy Station area to:

• Upgrade weapons
• Buy new weapons
• Buy kill streaks
• Purchase equipment
• Add perks (which stick around until the end of the match)

Players will be able to earn further money based on their performance metrics in their rounds. There are a number of ways to earn extra money during rounds, including:

• Finding money on the ground - $100
• Getting kills - $100 /ea
• Getting a first blood kill - $500
• Winning a match-up - $1,000
• Elimination bonus (taking a squad to 0 lives) - $500

Every three rounds, you will return to the buy station where you can use this money to purchase the various upgrades. While it is tempting to invest in mostly kill streaks and weapon upgrades, don't underestimate the value of investing in your perk slots early. This is one of the upgrades that will pay dividends in the late rounds, and since they stick with you every round, it makes sense to get them as soon as possible. 

Buying and upgrading weapons in Champion Hill

The best way to set yourself up for a win on Champion Hill is to collect cash and upgrade your weapons, perks, etc. At the start of the match, every player starts with a Primary weapon and a Secondary weapon.

Depending on what the starting two weapons you have are, that will determine which weapon set you are locked into. So you won't be able to buy your favorite gun every time unless your favorite weapon happens to be in your 'weapon preset.' Every weapon set comes with a pistol, an SMG, an assault rifle, a shotgun, a sniper rifle, and an LMG.  The AR and SMG are relatively affordable purchases, while the LMG, Sniper, and Shotgun are expensive weapons best saved for late game.

You can also upgrade the weapons that you do have. Upgrading weapons will offer you presets of attachments that can improve your gun with improved ammo, faster reloads, a better sight, and more. Like in Warzone, the upgrade level of your weapon will be indicated by the color, with the lowest color being Green, then Blue, then Purple, and culminating in Gold for Legendary weapons.

That is pretty much everything you need to know about Champion Hill to get started. Whether you are playing the alpha on Playstation, or are waiting for the full release of Vanguard to experience this unique take on a limited-life deathmatch BR is sure to be an exciting change of pace for many players who are looking for something new in their Call of Duty experience.