How every game mode in Battlefield 6 works
Battlefield 6 launches with eight game modes you can choose from:
- Conquest
- Breakthrough
- Domination
- King of the Hill
- Rush
- Escalation
- Squad Deathmatch
- Team Deathmatch
It's a good idea to hop into each mode and see how it works for yourself first-hand, but it's always better to have a little bit of knowledge beforehand. Below, we'll summarize each game mode, including its goal, how to win, and the playstyles it caters to.
Closed and open-weapons playlists
In the past, Battlefield's signature four roles featured a class-locked weapon system, meaning each role was only allowed to use one specific weapon type. In Battlefield 6, the developer is giving the option to let you choose between playlists that feature closed or open-weapon systems. The open system means you can pair any weapon class with any role you choose to play, while the closed-system offers additional perks to players who use the signature weapons designated to each specific class.
There will be playlists options available at launch for both class systems, so you can choose how you want to play Battlefield 6. To learn more about Battlefield's class system and the perks of picking the closed-weapons playlist, make sure to check our full Battlefield 6 class guide.
Conquest
Conquest is the bread-and-butter game mode of the Battlefield franchise. It's what the franchise has become known for over the years, and in Battlefield 6 it works very similarly to how it has in the past..
The mode sees two teams, each of which can be made up of as many as 32 players, spawn on opposite ends of a large-scale map. Starting at each team's base are a variety of vehicles, including tanks, helicopters, off-road SUVs, and more. The vehicles available are dependent on the map you're playing. In addition to the vehicles, six flags are spread out across the map, labeled A through F. Each team will begin near either the A or F flag, and the flags need to be captured by standing in their zones, which are indicated by lines on the ground.
The overall goal of Conquest is to capture as many flags as possible and eliminate enemies as they try to take your team's flags or defend their own. Points are earned by capturing more flags and keeping them under your team's control for longer periods of time. You can capture an enemy team's flag by standing on its zone for roughly one to two minutes, but the enemy team can also do the same to your flags.
As the match proceeds, you'll see the score bar at the top of your screen fluctuate. Each team starts with 1,000 points, and those points get depleted the less flag control you have. Eventually, a team will reach zero points, and the first team to do that has lost the match. So, in a nutshell, Conquest is about holding flags for longer so you can deplete the other team's points.
When you die in Conquest, you have to wait for a few seconds to respawn. Your spawn point can be on one of your squad's locations or at one of your team's active flags. Every person is grouped into a squad of four, and coordination with your squad is key so you know where to push on the map.
A Conquest match can take between 20 to 30 minutes in Battlefield 6.
Breakthrough
Breakthrough is another classic Battlefield game mode, and matches in this mode can take the longest out of any other. It also takes place on large-scale maps with teams of 30+ players. However, Breakthrough assigns teams one of two roles: Attackers or Defenders.
The team of Attackers' job is to push their forces forward on the map, capturing objectives along the way and continually pushing the enemy team back. The Attackers succeed if they push all the way up the map, reaching the enemy's team base within a certain timeframe.
Speaking of the enemy team, that's where the Defenders come in. The Defenders' sole goal is to stop the Attackers from pushing up on the map and capturing objectives. Defenders often hold specific positions that make it difficult for the Attackers to get around them and push up the map. However, if Defenders aren't coordinated, Attackers can bust through their defenses and make it very tough to stop them as they keep moving forward.
Breakthrough matches can take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes to complete in Battlefield 6.
Domination
Next up, we have Domination. If you're coming from Call of Duty, then this is the exact same game mode you know and love. It's also very similar to Strongholds from Halo, but the scoring works slightly differently.
In Domination, you're playing a scaled-down version of Conquest. The maps take place in the same locations, but the playable areas are cut off due to only three flags being available to capture (A, B, C). Teams spawn in on either A or C and must fight over the B flag while also trying to capture the enemy's spawn flag and defend their own.
Two teams, which are made up of eight players each, start at zero points in Domination and must try to earn 200 to be declared the winner. Teams score by owning at least one flag, but you score more points the more flags you have. So, if a team has two flags, they'll score points at a faster rate compared to the team that just has one flag. If you don't own any flags, you don't score at all.
Spawning is immediate in Domination, and you don't get to choose where you spawn, like in Conquest. This makes matches a little more chaotic, and they tend to finish much quicker than any other game mode. Domination is perfect for players who seek quicker action and fewer players to deal with on the map. The mode also doesn't feature any vehicles.
Domination matches can take around 10 minutes to complete in Battlefield 6.
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is a classic first-person shooter game mode that is essentially Hardpoint from Call of Duty and acts similarly to the mode of the same name in Halo. In King of the Hill, a capture point appears in a set location on the map. The mode features smaller maps with no vehicles and two teams of eight.
With your team, you need to head to the capture point zone. When just one member of your team is standing in the zone with no enemies in the zone, your team scores one point every second. Even if more players hop on the point, your team still only scores one point per second. However, when the point is contested between two teams, no points are scored until one team has full control of the zone.
After one minute, the capture point moves to a new location. This happens six times, with every capture point being in a designated location each time. If the match is still going after all six capture points have popped up, then the rotation restarts from the first location.
King of the Hill is all about knowing where enemies will spawn and having players on the objective. If you can control where enemies spawn by staying on the point, then you control the entire game.
King of the Hill matches can take around 10 minutes to complete in Battlefield 6.
Rush
Rush is a mix between a small-team and big-team mode in Battlefield 6. During the open beta, Rush is played in 12v12, which has caused a stir in the hardcore Battlefield community. Nevertheless, Rush sees the return of the Attacker and Defender roles from the Breakthrough game mode. However, in Rush, the Attackers' job is to destroy objectives scattered around a large map while the Defenders try and stop them from doing so.
Each team gets to experience both the Attacker and Defender roles, and the team that emerges victorious more throughout the alternating rounds is declared the winner. Overall, Rush is a nice change of pace from the large-scale Conquest and Breakthrough modes and the smaller modes, like Domination or King of the Hill. It feels like a larger-scale game mode but has the frequent action and hectic gameplay of a small-team mode.
Rush matches can take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes to complete in Battlefield 6
Escalation
Battlefield 6 introduces a brand-new game mode called Escalation. The mode sees two teams, each of which can be made up of as many as 32 players, spawn on opposite ends of a large-scale map. These matches feature a variety of vehicles, including tanks, helicopters, off-road SUVs, and more.
Escalation is a spinoff of the game's popular Conquest mode, and it pumps up the intensity and chaos even further. While Conquest only has five capture points, Escalation offers a total of seven points to capture. In order to score a point, a team must hold a majority of those capture points until a meter fills up. A team scores a point once their meter is 100 percent filled, and the first team to three points wins.
Of course, scoring those three points isn't that simple. The real chaos of Escalation comes from the fact that one capture point is removed from the map after each point is scored. This causes the map to shrink in size, meaning the fight becomes more centralized on the map and holding on to these dwindling territories can become so much more difficult.
Just like Conquest, you have to wait for a few seconds to respawn after a death. Your spawn point can be on one of your squad's locations or at one of your team's active points. Every person is grouped into a squad of four, and coordination with your squad is key, so you know where to push on the map.
An Escalation match can take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes in Battlefield 6.
Squad Deathmatch
Squad Deathmatch is a smaller Battlefield experience with up to 16 players. These matches are played with four squads of four competing to be the first team to reach the match's kill target of 50 kills. The maps available for Squad Deathmatch are smaller slices of Battlefield 6's larger maps, and they offer you gritty, close-quarters situations. The mode is infantry only, so there are no vehicles to contend with here. There's also no respawn delay, meaning you'll jump right back into the fight after a death. This formula makes for quick, fast-paced matches. While class roles like Support and Assault are still very useful here, these matches play more like Call of Duty than traditional Battlefield.
Squad Deathmatches take under 10 minutes in Battlefield 6, usually lasting around five to six minutes each.
Team Deathmatch
Team Deathmatch is a pretty straightforward mode, and this is another smaller Battlefield experience limited to 16 players. In TDM, two teams of eight face off to achieve the target kill count of 100. The maps available for Team Deathmatch are smaller sections of Battlefield 6's larger maps. Just like Squad Deathmatch, the mode is infantry only, so there are no vehicles to contend with here. There's also no respawn delay in this mode, meaning you'll jump right back into the fight. While class roles like Support and Assault are also still very useful here, these matches play more like Call of Duty than traditional Battlefield.
Team Deathmatch can take about 10 minutes in Battlefield 6.
Both Squad and TDM modes are great choices if you're just wanting a quick match to warm up before the bigger map experiences or if you don't have a lot of time to spare.