Battlefield 6 brought back chemical warfare in Season 2 through the VL-7 Contaminated playlist, which is essentially a themed mode that features the Contaminated map. Here, players will be fighting in a Pax-controlled NATO base set in a green mountain valley, featuring underground military installations and fortified fighting positions covered by the titular VL-7 hallucinogenic smoke. This mode spices up the regular BF6 experience by cranking up the chaos in hot zones, and if you're curious as to what else this mode offers, we've got you covered.
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Battlefield 6 VL-7 Strike Mode, Explained
The launch of Season 2 featured the VL-7 Contaminated Warfare playlist. Here, only the Contaminated map is available, and matches will rotate between Conquest, Escalation, and Breakthrough modes. The main thing that makes the VL-7 playlist different is that the map will have large clouds of hallucinogenic smoke over different capture zones.
As of writing, VL-7 smoke clouds only appear on the Contaminated map, and only in the VL-7 playlist. Other BF6 maps are untouched, though this may change in the future.
What is VL-7 Smoke in Battlefield 6?
Unlike the chemical agent used in Battlefield 1, VL-7 gas in BF6 is only psychoactive. It does not deal damage; instead, it makes players hallucinate whenever they're inside affected areas. Not only will they suffer from impaired and blurred vision, but they'll also start seeing silhouettes and false enemy pings on their minimap, and they'll hear phantom voices and gunshots as well. Allies will look like enemies, enemies will look like allies, and overall, you'll have a horrible time if you go inside a gas cloud unprepared.
VL-7 gas is also present in RedSec LTM modes in Season 2.
How to Equip Gas Masks in BF6
To equip your gas mask, press and hold X on keyboard, or D-pad Up on controller. Gas masks prevent VL-7 smoke from worming its way into your brain. However, wearing one will reduce your peripheral vision, making it slightly harder to keep tabs on all the chaos that's going on.
Gas mask filters will expire if you stay inside VL-7 clouds for too long. Once you enter a cloud, you'll notice that the gas mask icon next to your gadgets at the bottom of the screen will start draining. Once it's gone, the VL-7 will affect you like it normally would. You can replenish your gas mask filters with Supply Bags.
It's also worth noting that from the outside, VL-7 smoke is much thicker than it is on the inside. Sniping people inside the smoke is going to be difficult, if not impossible without 3D spotting, but once you're inside, things will get clearer.
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, In-App Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Battlefield Studios
- Publisher(s)
- EA
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Cross Save
- Via EA Account
- Franchise
- Battlefield
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unsupported
- PC Release Date
- October 10, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 10, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- October 10, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 6 hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 87.44 GB
