Dirty Bomb Presents… The Containment War Update

October 27, 2015

Welcome to the Containment War Update! In the latest to go live in the frag-filled world of Dirty Bomb you’ll find the official release of Execution, three new permanently unlocked maps and much, much more!!


Make sure to check out our Containment War Update mini-site and then read on below for all of the juicy details.

New Mode – Execution featuring Market and Overground

Your Merc’s abilities become even more crucial when each round is a matter of life or death. You’ll need to both wage war on and protect the Containment Shield in two new maps – Market (previously Canal) and Overground – to help decide London’s fate.

Since last showcasing Execution Mode in its prototype form, we’ve made several changes to improve the experience:

  • Added a new Round Start screen showing your Team’s Merc selection
  • Improved Round End, Win, Loss and Switching Sides screens
  • Added a new match status element at the top of the screen, that shows:
  • All friendly Mercs, along with their health
    • Enemy Mercs once spotted by a team-mate
    • Updated the Bomb carrier HUD and status updates
  • Added Badges, many that are Round based

New Merc – Stoker


Stoker is as alarming as he is eloquent, lighting up some enemies with his Molotov Grenades and denying areas to others with a carpet of fiery death. He packs a long range Timik-47 Assault Rifle, and can top up his teammates with his ammo station. Tinder not included.

New Map – Dome

Set in the rusting warehouses of East London, Dome is Dirty Bomb’s largest map yet. A huge variety of routes open up a plethora of tactical opportunities and offensive options.

Dirty Bomb Dome Screenshots

A hijacked airship loaded with experimental CDA tech waits to emerge from the iconic London Dome. Between it and your team are a power station that needs hacking, Containment Shield that needs cracking, and an anti-air emplacement ready to destroy the ship, not to mention a team of Mercs with a plan to stop you in your tracks.

Limited Edition Loadout Cards

Dirty Bomb Containment War Loadout Cards

For the 30 days of the Containment War event, you’ll have a chance to get exclusive, Limited Edition Loadout Cards that will never be available again. All Loadout Card variants are included, and have a small chance of being scored in Cases during the event:

  • CW Equipment Cases drop instead of regular Equipment Cases during the event, and can be bought in the store.
  • CW Equipment Cases give a 0.3% chance of scoring a Containment War Loadout Card.
  • CW Elite Cases can be bought in the store, and give a 10% chance of scoring a Containment War Loadout Card.

CW Event Cases are given away as a bonus when you purchase a bundle of 10 Elite Cases, and guarantee a Containment War Loadout Card.

Get Phoenix – For Free

No, we don’t know what’s up. Either Phoenix has some hitherto unearthed compassion or he’s messing with us. Log in on the first week of the Containment War update and find him nestled amongst your other Mercs, ready to revive.

Dirty Bomb Free Phoenix or Obsidian and Elite Cases

If you already own Phoenix you’ll find yourself two Elite Cases and an Obsidian card richer instead.

Updated Party Matchmaking Algorithm

Since the team-balancing system is heavily restricted when a large Party is involved, we wanted to introduce a system where the larger the searching Party, the smaller the skill variance they will search for. This means that matches involving a large Party will be more balanced in terms of skill but they can take longer to find.

Matchmaking Search Range Bar

Dirty Bomb Matchmaking Search Range Bar

To visualise this change, we have added a Matchmaking Search Range Bar. This will expand over the course of 5 minutes until it hits it’s maximum skill variance threshold.

Profile Stats Screen

Dirty Bomb Profile Stats Screen

You can now see lifetime stats for your Matches, Mercs and Weapons. This is our first pass, please leave your feedback and let us know what you would like to see!

Feedback Feature

Let us know how you’re getting on in Dirty Bomb – the new ‘Feedback Feature’ allows you to rate the game and leave a comment.

New Level Requirement for Competitive

So that new players will be better equipped before entering the mode, we’re now unlocking Competitive at Level 7. Anyone below Level 7 that already has a rank will continue to be able to play in Competitive mode.

Quick Join Unlocks

We’re now unlocking game modes via Quick Join based on player level, leading new players from the simplest to the most involved game mode as they progress:

  • Execution Mode – Level 1
  • Objective Mode – Level 3
  • Stopwatch Mode – Level 5

New players will still be able to play any casual mode from the server browser, or by joining friends at any level.

CDA and Jackal Factions

We’re building out the lore of Dirty Bomb by introducing Factions. The defenders are the CDA (Central Disaster Authority), the new custodians of London paid to fix its radiation problem following the Dirty Bomb attacks of 2018. The attackers are Jackal, a tech-savvy criminal syndicate out to steal the CDA’s experimental technology used throughout the city. Both hire Mercenaries to do their dirty work.
For now, the changes in-game are minimal. They include:

  • New Jackal and CDA Win/Lose/Draw logos in all game modes
  • Re-skinned EV, Helicopter and Skycrane with Jackal camouflage
  • Updated level loading screens with Jackal and CDA branding

For the full rundown of the latest patch, check it out on the forum here!