Limited-Time Modes

Battlefield 6 has run six limited-time modes in its first year, one or two a season: the freezing Ice Lock in December 2025, the hallucinogenic VL-7 Strike and the night-vision Nightfall in early 2026, the two-map Operation Augur in April 2026, Top Gun: Carrier Strike in August 2026 and the Dead Space crossover Marker Incursion, which runs until Nov 10, 2026. Each is built on an existing mode (Conquest, Domination, Breakthrough) with one rule that changes how it plays, except Carrier Strike and Marker Incursion, which are new from the ground up. Operation Augur is the one EA keeps bringing back.

Quick facts

Sources for each row are in its section. The limited-time 8v8 Sabotage of November 2025 is on Infantry Modes, and REDSEC's event modes (Gauntlet: Fighter Sweep, Rapid Royale and others) are on REDSEC and Gauntlet.

Ice Lock (Dec 9, 2025)

Ice Lock was the Winter Offensive event, the third phase of Season 1. Empire State froze over as Ice Lock Empire State, and EA ran special versions of Conquest and Domination with a mechanic called Freeze. Everywhere outside the team HQs is below zero, and a HUD meter shows each soldier's core temperature. When it reaches 100%, the soldier takes damage over time down to a critical 35% health and cannot regenerate from most sources. Sprinting slows the freeze, an Adrenaline Injector helps, and Heat Zones around the map thaw you out; so does fire, friendly or hostile, which made Incendiary Grenades a heating tool. REDSEC ran Ice Lock Gauntlet on the same map with three fixed missions. After the event, Freeze stayed in Portal as a rule any host can add, "even in the heat of Cairo", as EA put it.

VL-7 Strike (Feb 17, 2026)

VL-7 Strike opened Season 2 on the new Contaminated map. VL-7 is a psychoactive smoke from the game's story that does no damage; instead its hallucinations "make any soldier second guess charging into it without a mask". Every soldier, whatever the class, is given a mask, with more masks and filters around the map; run out of filters and you are exposed. The Support can resupply filters from the Supply Bag. VL-7 Strike was its own playlist in multiplayer while REDSEC got smoke versions of Gauntlet and the battle royale. The smoke came back in Operation Augur, where a VL-7 strike lands after most captured sectors.

Nightfall (Mar 17, 2026)

Nightfall arrived with the underground, infantry-only Hagental Base. For this mode "all combatants will have night vision goggles as a free gadget". The goggles recharge over time and see through darkness, but a light source, an overhead lamp or an enemy's flashlight, blinds the user, so thermal scopes and flashlights become weapons of their own. EA asked squads to combine them and "move with precision, caution, and strategy". It is the closest Battlefield 6 has come to night maps; EA said on Jul 30, 2026 that it hears the requests for night maps and dynamic weather, and pointed players to Portal's Night Ops Conquest meanwhile.

Operation Augur (Apr 14, 2026)

0:15 Operation Augur, in Season 2's Hunter/Prey phase, is Battlefield 6's first Operation, the multi-map format of Battlefield 1 and Battlefield V. It is "a sector-by-sector battle" like Breakthrough, for 48 soldiers, but it chains two maps: NATO attacks Pax Armata through Contaminated's five sectors (Hamlet, Siegfried Line and Hagental Tunnel, Maintenance Hangar, Ramp and Apron, Hagental Base Entrance) and then four inside Hagental Base (Emergency Generators, Central Tunnel, Depot, Server), nine in all. EA's own video, in the clip, says this version leans on squad and tactical play: attackers rely on squadmates, spawn beacons and vehicle spawns to get back to the objective.

0:45 The clip shows the route, from Contaminated's rocky surface down into Hagental Base's close quarters. What makes it an Operation:

• Three battalions. The attackers have three pools of lives instead of one. The first two times a battalion is wiped out, a new one arrives at the furthest checkpoint reached; on Contaminated it brings extra vehicles.
• No spawning on flags. Unlike Breakthrough, nobody spawns on a held objective; squads, spawn vehicles and the Assault's Deploy Beacon are the way forward.
• Smoke and tunnels. A VL-7 strike lands after each captured Contaminated sector except the fifth, and vehicles are disabled once the fight moves into the tunnels.

2:41 It ends when NATO captures all nine sectors or loses all three battalions. Creators had asked for it: GravityBFTV's Feb 8, 2026 map breakdown, in the clip, pointed out that the launch maps come in linked pairs, Cairo and Sobek, Liberation Peak and Mirak Valley, so "something akin to Grand Operations" was possible. EA's roadmap had dated the phase Apr 12, but update 1.2.3.0 and the mode went live on Apr 14, 2026.

1:21 EA's video promised that player feedback would be "mission critical" to how it evolves Operations. Players asked for Augur back, and on Jul 30, 2026 EA said Augur "will continue returning on a regular basis as part of our featured playlist rotation", adding: "we have bigger plans for Operations coming in future seasons!"

Top Gun: Carrier Strike (Aug 18, 2026)

0:49 Carrier Strike was the centerpiece of the Top Gun collaboration in Season 4, "a reworked version of classic Battlefield modes Carrier Assault (Battlefield 4) and Titan Mode (Battlefield 2142)" on Tsuru Reef. It is 32v32, one round, 30 minutes. Each team's aircraft carrier is its headquarters and its target. TheDevildogGamer's first match on Aug 18, 2026, in the clip, calls it "basically like Titan mode but with new jets". The rules:

1. Five SSM missile batteries sit around the map like Conquest flags. Each one a team holds fires at the enemy carrier every 15 seconds, and capturing a battery resets its cooldown.
2. Holding most batteries also switches on automatic anti-air guns for your side.
3. Direct fire hurts the carrier too: tank shells, launchers, explosives, and jet bombs, which hit as hard as an SSM salvo.
4. At 50% health the carrier enters a critical state and its M-COM rooms open from the water. Destroy the first M-COM and blast doors open to the second in the reactor room. A team that loses both M-COMs loses at once.

10:20 When time runs out, the carrier with more health wins. The clip, from TheDevildogGamer's first match, shows the end of a round: charges armed inside the carrier, a team defending until detonation, and the call that the carrier is lost. The mode was meant to end with the Top Gun event on Sep 15 but was extended through the end of Season 4 on Oct 13, 2026. EA said on Oct 21, 2026 that it is "very eager to bring back both Carrier Strike and Gauntlet Fighter Sweep in future seasons". The boats and carriers themselves are on Naval Warfare and Boats.

Marker Incursion: Dead Space Convergence (Oct 20 to Nov 10, 2026)

The Halloween event of Season 5 crosses Battlefield with EA's own Dead Space in a "non-canon what if": Pax Armata finds a Marker hidden beneath Area 51. Its mode, Marker Incursion, is Battlefield 6's first player-versus-environment mode, "a new 16-player PvE experience where squads battle through corrupted territory, destroy Marker Shrines" and race to stop Convergence. The enemies are Marked Soldiers, troops turned by the Marker, along with Necromorphs, and the DS-23 Pulse Rifle is a Battle Pickup. Kills on Marked Soldiers and event challenges earn Semiconductors, the event currency, for the Aegis VII soldier skin and other rewards. EA's 2.1.1.0 notes and its Oct 21 update give Nov 10 as the end; some press said Nov 7, so as of Nov 8, 2026 check the menu. EA said a PvE mode "made sense" for this event and that more PvE is "something we keep evaluating".

Events that are not modes

Several events add rewards across modes without a playlist of their own. Wet Work (Jun 30, 2026) and Casino Heist (from Nov 10, 2026) drop Contracts from defeated enemies in any mode; Casino Heist pays out in DOUGH for Heist Mask skins and more (EA). Deep Six (Sep 2026) tied Conquest and Escalation playlists to its event. Freezeout comes with Frozen Aces.

What comes next

5:13 Frozen Aces on Dec 8, 2026 brings "Operation High Roller" and the Freezeout event. EA has given no rules for it. We think Operation High Roller is the second Operation and that it chains the Las Vegas maps the way Augur chained Contaminated and Hagental Base: Vegas Strip, European Casino and Area 51 already form a surface, an infantry interior and an underground facility, and EA promised "bigger plans for Operations" in July. We also expect Ice Lock's Freeze to come back with Freezeout, since the event name and the December date match last year's Winter Offensive. Both are our predictions, not EA's statements; see Predictions. In the clip, Enders' Oct 11, 2026 Season 5 video calls High Roller "another operations mode" and guesses the same route, from the Vegas Strip into the casino or Area 51.

Frequently asked questions

Is Operation Augur coming back?

Yes, in rotation. EA said on Jul 30, 2026 that it returns regularly in the featured playlists.

Will Carrier Strike return?

EA has not dated it, but said on Oct 21, 2026 that it is "very eager" to bring it back in a future season.

When does the Dead Space event end?

Nov 10, 2026, by EA's patch notes and Oct 21 update.

Is there a zombie mode in Battlefield 6?

The nearest is Marker Incursion, the Dead Space PvE mode against Marked Soldiers and Necromorphs, until Nov 10, 2026.

Can I play old limited-time modes in Portal?

Some of their pieces, yes: Ice Lock Empire State and the Freeze rule were added to Portal, and Portal is where EA points players for modes that left. See Portal and Server Browser.

Sources

• Electronic Arts, Dec 9, 2025: Battlefield 6 and REDSEC Season 1 - Winter Offensive Update
• Electronic Arts, Feb 12, 2026: Battlefield 6 and REDSEC Season 2 Roadmap - Everything You Need to Know
• Electronic Arts, Apr 10, 2026: Battlefield 6 Game Update 1.2.3.0
• Electronic Arts, Apr 13, 2026: Operation Augur Guide - Season 2
• Electronic Arts, Jul 30, 2026: Community Update - New Maps, Features, and More
• Electronic Arts, Aug 13, 2026: Top Gun: Carrier Strike Mode Guide
• Electronic Arts, Sep 14, 2026: Enter Tidal Strike: Battlefield Season 4 Update and Event Guide
• Electronic Arts, Oct 9, 2026: Season 5 Roadmap: The Siege of Vegas Begins
• Electronic Arts, Oct 20, 2026: Battlefield x Dead Space Event Guide: A New Nightmare
• Electronic Arts, Oct 21, 2026: Community Update - More to Season 5
• Electronic Arts, Nov 5, 2026: Event Guide: Casino Heist