“On an uncharted volcanic island, the evil organization, “Arkadeus”, has built their ultimate weapon – a death laser that harnesses the raw power of a volcano. Now it’s up to the Specialists to stop them!”

Welcome, heroes, to the nefarious Lair of Arkadeus: one of the two Black Ops Pass maps available at the start of Operation Dark Divide in Call of Duty®: Black Ops 4. Battle on this brand-new map within the Black Ops Universe which is the site of a super showdown between Specialists to determine the fate of the world.

Located on a uncharted volcanic island, Lair is the quintessential evil organization hideout. It’s time to take a tour, as well as some tips that may help you when attempting to stop Arkadeus’ master plan:

At its core, Lair is a hideout and weapons facility built near a volcano which powers its ultimate weapon – a deadly laser.

Both teams spawn outdoors on the beach next to the main entrance either to the east or west of the hideout. Players can enter the lair from multiple directions including a waterway that leads to a center pool that surrounds and cools the death laser.  

The Lair itself has multiple rooms with evil devices and lavish displays of power leading to the map’s center, where the aforementioned death laser awaits activation. Surrounding the laser is a pool of water that acts as a natural cooling mechanism for the room. One could dive into this pool and swim south out towards the ocean through an underwater passageway to a speedboat loading dock, where a helipad with an escape helicopter awaits to the east.

Overlooking the central area is the control deck, which can be accessed via two elevators on the facility’s north side.  On this deck, a privacy screen shows the outline of Arkadeus’ nefarious leader, players will hear the voice of this nefarious throughout the match which hopefully aids in your determination to overcome the forces of evil.

While looking down at players below, you may be tempted to activate the death laser. The choice is yours: be a hero or a villain….

General Strategy:

The interior of Lair is a continuous circular lane around the death laser with additional rooms players can duck in and out of to mix up their gameplay. This unique layout provides opportunities for continuous engagements, tactical play, and strategies you can employ to get the upper hand on your opponents. Consider staying on the move and equipping Quickdraw to snap on enemies. Just stay alert as a sharpshooter could be above the laser scoping out players below.

The rooms surrounding the death laser pool are tight enough to encourage close-range gunfights, especially when it comes to the northern elevator bay rooms.  Both elevator bays also have a ladder that will take you through a tight ventilation shaft with green lighting. Shimmying through here will eventually lead to the northern lane’s central area, which offers a passage to the opposite elevator bay.

Some might not notice this unique path at first, so consider using it on your next playthrough. Or, better yet, try throwing a grenade through here to potentially catch someone waiting for the elevator.

The death laser room is a natural hotbed both literally – there is plenty of volcanic energy here – and figuratively, as players may be tempted to cut through the center of the map past the laser or around it through the control bay rotunda. You may want to exercise some caution when traversing through here, or at least, keep those long-range scopes at the ready to potentially spot enemies coming in from across the room.

Lair offers a variety of engagement opportunities, including the possibility of underwater combat thanks to the giant pool inside the facility and the beachfront. Should you find difficulty getting across the map, consider taking a dive in the ocean and sneaking in and out of the facility through the speedboat bay.

While the inside of Lair is where most of the action will take place, the exteriors shouldn’t be overlooked. Players should consider using Mesh Mines or Razor Wire to lockdown entrances to help control the flow of combat. 

Objective Tips and Tricks:

During an objective game mode on Lair, such as Domination, the control room will most likely become a place of importance.

This area offers a potential power position over the middle of the map with only two predictable chokepoints -- the elevators. On defense, locking these two elevator rooms down may be key to icing out enemy forces.

It may be a good idea to set up shop outside the control room, then, as a defensive player watch any potential attackers travel up the elevator shaft. Alternatively, if you are a fan of Torque, placing his Razor Wire or Barricade on one or both of the elevator drop-off points could stonewall enemy movements up to the second floor.

On offense, it may be too obvious to take the slow elevator up to the control room, so what might surprise a defending team? The control tower has three large frames looking out towards the death laser, with only one – the central frame – having a protective glass shield.

That means the other two, to the left and right of the glass frame, are open for someone looking to chuck a grenade or two into the control room. Another potentially viable strategy involves the Specialist Ruin and his Grapple Gun.

Through the two open control room frames, it is possible to grapple up to this floor from the center of the map with a bit of practice. Just be sure to avoid grappling the central glass pane and making an embarrassing dive into the water below. 

For those not playing as Ruin, there are other strategies players can employ to take the control room by storm. Consider equipping Ajax’s Ballistic Shield on the ride up, then blasting away any who meets you at the top. Or you can attempt to fake out the opposition by sending up an empty elevator, then take the other one to catch your foes off guard.

Whether you are dropping in for the first time or looking for the best strategies after your 100th game, the ultimate tip we have for this map, and every map in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, is to have fun.

We’ll see you online, heroes. The fate of the world is in your hands – help stop the Arkadeus threat before it’s too late!

For more intel about Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, be sure to visit CallofDuty.com/blackops4 and follow @CallofDuty and @Treyarch on Twitter.

Don’t forget to follow @Activision on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.