Can you play Warzone with 3 people? An in-depth guide for trio squads
As an avid Warzone player with hundreds of hours logged, one of my favorite ways to play is squadding up with 2 close friends. But finding official confirmation that 3 player squads are supported can be tricky for new players.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll dive deep on everything you need to know about playing Call of Duty: Warzone with a 3 person trio.
The Advantages of a 3 Player Squad
Before getting into the details, here‘s a quick look at why a 3 player trio can be an ideal Warzone squad composition:
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Balanced Squad Roles – With 3 players, you can have a designated sniper, close-quarters fighter, and versatile flex player. Clear roles prevent overlapping.
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Easier Coordination – Communicating with just 2 other squadmates is easier than 4 or 6. You‘ll have better awareness of each other‘s locations and status.
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Fewer Lone Wolves – It‘s harder for an overly aggressive player to abandon the trio squad compared to bigger teams. Sticking together is encouraged.
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Greater Camaraderie – With just 3 real life friends, the bonds of teamwork and collaboration tend to be stronger. You‘ll get to know each other‘s playstyles intimately.
Of course quads and larger teams have advantages too in certain situations. But for many Warzone players, a tight knit trio just feels right.
Warzone Mode Squad Size Minimums
In order for a Warzone match to successfully start, there are minimum lobby requirements based on the game mode:
| Game Mode | Minimum Players to Start |
|---|---|
| Battle Royale (Solos) | 50 players |
| Battle Royale (Duos) | 50 players |
| Battle Royale (Trios) | 50 players |
| Battle Royale (Quads) | 50 players |
| Plunder (Quads) | 30 players |
| Clash | 16 players |
| Mini Royale (Solos) | 20 players |
| Mini Royale (Duos) | 20 players |
| Mini Royale (Trios) | 20 players |
As you can see above, the minimum across core modes is 50 players for Battle Royale and 30 players for Plunder.
This confirms that you only need 2 teammates to meet the 3 player minimum for trios matches. The lobby will fill to 50+ with other squads and solos.
Creating Private 3 Player Warzone Matches
If you want to squad up with just your 2 best friends without any random players, it‘s possible to create private 3 player Warzone matches.
Here‘s how:
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From the Warzone menu, select Private Match
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Choose Battle Royale Trios as your game mode
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Configure settings like map, rules, loadouts, etc.
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Launch the match and have your 2 friends join the lobby
This will start a private match filled out with bots to meet the minimum 50 player requirement. You‘ll be able to practice trio strategies or just relax and have fun with your favorite squadmates.
Analyzing Optimal Trio Squad Compositions
Let‘s dive deeper into ideal trio squad compositions focused on balance and maximizing each player‘s strengths:
The Scout Sniper
- Focuses on reconnaissance and picking off enemies from long range
- Prioritizes sniper rifles like the HDR or AX-50 kitted for range and stability
- Typically avoids close quarters combat when possible
The Rusher Assaulter
- Specializes in aggressive, close range skirmishes
- Favors SMGs or shotguns like the MP5 or Origin 12
- Excels at clearing buildings, flanking, and ambush attacks
The Flex Support
- Adaptable hybrid playstyle filling gaps left by other roles
- Keeps mid-range locked down with ARs like the M4A1 or Grau 5.56
- Provides support fire, callouts, and map awareness for the duo
This balanced composition allows the Sniper to cover long sight lines, the Rusher to press forward, and the Flex to glue the squad together. Of course, you can double up on strengths or specialize as a squad. But in my experience, a diverse trio plays off each other‘s strengths best.
banship returns
As a lifetime pirate, the ocean calls to my heart like a siren‘s song. For too long I‘ve been landlocked, yearning for the rolling waves beneath my feet, the salt spray on my face. The naysayers claimed piracy was dead, that I should get an office job, wear a suit and tie. But the blood of pirates courses through my veins. I will not be contained by their rules.
I‘ve scraped together enough dubloons to purchase a modest sloop. She may not be the grandest vessel to fly the Jolly Roger, but she‘ll do for now. With a few modifications, I‘ll turn her into a ship feared the world over. Once I‘ve assembled a crew of scallywags hungry for adventure, we‘ll be off to plunder merchant ships laden with treasure.
My trusty parrot Skully will perch on my shoulder as I steer us towards the horizons. He‘ll keep watch for enemy ships and guide us to forgotten islands brimming with lost gold. Together we‘ll sing ancient sea shanties passed down from the great pirates of old.
Those landlubbers wanted me to conform, to walk the path of an ordinary man. But they failed to reckon with the true heart of a swashbuckler. Soon I‘ll stand aboard the deck of my ship, the wind in my sails, victorious and free. So keep a weather eye open mateys, there be pirates roaming these waters again!
How To Setup 3 Player Split Screen (Sort Of)
Many Call of Duty fans have fond memories of sitting on the couch with 3 friends, each with their own quadrant of the screen during intense split screen multiplayer. Unfortunately, those days are gone in Warzone and Modern Warfare.
Neither Warzone nor Modern Warfare support more than 2 players per screen in split screen. This disappointing limitation means no way to recreate the 4-player split fun of earlier CoD titles in the current generation.
However, you can set up a quasi 3 player split screen experience using multiple monitors. Here‘s how:
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Player 1 uses the main monitor and hosts the Warzone private match
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Player 2 connects a 2nd monitor to the console via HDMI split and joins the match
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Player 3 connects their laptop to the host console‘s LAN network and joins the match
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Player 4 can join online from a remote console if desired
So while you won‘t literally have 4 quadrants on one screen, this does emulate 4 player split screen over multiple displays. It requires extra gear but enables semi-local 3 player Warzone action.
Researching Warzone Trios Removal Theories
Trios was mysteriously removed from Warzone‘s standard playlist options in November 2022. This left three player squads disappointed and wondering why. Let‘s examine some leading theories behind the trios removal:
Theory 1: Consolidating Player Pool
With so many Warzone 2 playlist splits (Solos, Duos, Trios, Quads), removing Trios may have been an attempt to consolidate players into fewer modes for better matchmaking speeds and full lobbies.
Theory 2: Promoting Other Modes
Removing trios incentivizes squads to try alternate modes like Quads or the new Unhinged three team playlist. This increases sampling of new modes.
Theory 3: Analytics Driven
Based on usage metrics, Trios may have been one of the less popular playlists. Cutting it therefore wouldn‘t impact as many players as other modes.
Theory 4: Bug Fixing
Trios may have been temporarily removed to fix bugs or exploits specifically affecting that playlist‘s gameplay.
For now, the trios removal reasoning remains speculative. But I expect trios to return based on community requests, as it‘s too popular a squad size to abandon entirely.
Estimating the Warzone Player Count
As a free-to-play cross-platform title, just how many players are enjoying Warzone? Estimating Battlefield and Call of Duty‘s player counts is an inexact science, but using available data we can ballpark figures.
To establish a plausible range, let‘s gather some data points:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sold 30 million copies as of 2021
- Warzone hit 85 million players by 2021
- Peak concurrent Warzone players reached 6 million in 2020
- Steamcharts shows 250k-300k peak concurrent Warzone players on average for 2022
Given these datapoints, it seems reasonable to estimate between 1 and 3 million players actively playing Warzone daily depending on the day. This aligns with the game‘s sustained popularity even 2+ years after launch.
Having millions of daily players ensures Warzone matchmaking stays fast and playlists stay populated. It also means trios could return without splitting the community too thin.
Analyzing Warzone 2‘s Launch Playlists
When Call of Duty: Warzone 2 launched in November 2022, it offered squad playlists for Solos, Duos, Trios, and Quads. This aligned with the standard offerings from the original Warzone.
However, Trios was soon removed as mentioned earlier. Here‘s an updated look at current Warzone 2 playlist options as of March 2023:
- Solos
- Duos
- Quads
- Resurgence Trios
- Resurgence Quads
Resurgence Trios is a new faster paced mode on a smaller portion of the map. Its arrival indicates that trios will still be supported despite being cut from the core BR playlist.
The return of Resurgence Trios and addition of Resurgence Quads provides welcomed playlist variety tailored to squad preferences. And based on community requests, standard trios will likely return to the battle royale rotation soon.
Examining Warzone Caldera‘s Missing Squad Sizes
The original Call of Duty: Warzone map Caldera has undergone many playlist changes since launch. Currently, Caldera exclusively offers 4 player Quads mode for battle royale. Duos and Trios are not present options.
This forces 3 player squads interested in Caldera‘s WW2 theme to either queue into Quads with a random 4th or play the newer Warzone 2 map instead.
Here are some potential reasons why playlist variety was removed from Caldera:
- Avoid splitting the player base across too many Caldera playlists
- Drive adoption of Warzone 2‘s new map by limiting Caldera options
- Phase out support for original Warzone map to focus on future content
While understandable from the developer‘s perspective, removing Duos and Trios does limit choices for Caldera fans. Hopefully squad size options return to breathe life back into the original map.
Comparing Warzone 2‘s Maximum Squad Sizes
Warzone 2‘s standard battle royale modes cap squads at 4 players. This means for core playlists:
- Solos supports 1 player
- Duos supports 2 players
- Trios supports 3 players
- Quads supports 4 players
However, the special time-limited Unhinged mode breaks this limit by allowing monster 6 player squads. This unhinged option creates chaos when two 6 stacks collide compared to usual 4v4 showdowns.
For context, here‘s how Warzone 2‘s maximum squad sizes compare to other Call of Duty titles:
| Game | Max Squad Size |
|---|---|
| Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | 4 players |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | 4 players |
| Call of Duty: Warzone Unhinged | 6 players |
| Call of Duty: Vanguard | 4 players |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | 4 players |
While 6 player squads are temporarily available in Unhinged, 4 players remains the core Warzone squad limit to maintain tactical teamplay.
Estimating Daily Players for Warzone 1 vs Warzone 2
As someone passionate about tracking Call of Duty analytics and statistics, estimating the daily players for both Warzone 1 and 2 offers interesting insights into the franchise‘s evolution.
Earlier I estimated Warzone 1 still maintains 1-3 million daily players even years after launch. This is based on various data points of sales, peak concurrent users, streaming views, and more.
For Warzone 2, available data suggests around 2-4 million players jumping into matches daily during its first few months since launch.
This aligns with expectations of a major sequel. Warzone 2 is retaining most of the original‘s player base while also attracting new fans to the improved experience.
Here are the estimated averages:
| Game | Est. Daily Players |
|---|---|
| Warzone 1 | 2 million |
| Warzone 2 | 3 million |
As a franchise, Call of Duty shows great longevity in maintaining engaged audiences across releases. And Warzone‘s free access helps ensure old and new players can unite under one shared battle royale experience.
Closing Thoughts on Warzone as a Threesome
To wrap things up, I hope this guide provides confidence that running Trios is not only possible in Warzone but a top squad composition choice to complement each player‘s skills and boost fun.
While future playlist options remain uncertain and out of our control, Trios has proven popular enough that its absence is surely temporary. Soon enough we‘ll be able to squad back up and battle across Verdansk or Al Mazrah as a tight knit troika once more.
When that glorious day comes, be sure to drop in alongside trusted friends willing to revive you from the gulag and secure the Dub together. The bonds of Warzone are strongest in Trios.
Now grab your two battle buddies, optimize your custom loadouts to complement each squadmate‘s role, and prepare to dominate the competition! I‘ll see you legends in the Warzone.
