The 10 Best Black Ops 2 Maps, From Forgotten DLC Gem Mirage to Raid

I think Raid is the best map in Black Ops 2. It tops my list of the 10 best maps the game ever had, a countdown that leans heavily on the DLC season. When I put this list together in June 2026, a PS4 and PS5 port of Black Ops 2 looked to be on the horizon, and I really, really wanted it to be real, because way too many players never actually played this masterpiece.

To be clear, that was not a remaster but an enhanced version. Either way, it seemed like a fitting moment to go over the best maps. Some people think the maps of the post Warzone era of Call of Duty are quality without ever having played a single match on Mirage, and a lot of people were probably a little confused, but this is my attempt to straighten them out.

Mirage, a DLC map many players skipped, was an awesome desert resort battleground

I am willing to bet plenty of people did play Black Ops 2 back in the day and still never played on Mirage, because it was a DLC map. We were all kind of cheapskates back then, so a lot of us didn't pay the extra money for more maps. But anyone who did pay for the DLC remembers Mirage, and it was awesome.

It was a midsize map set on a desert resort, with lots of crazy places to fight both inside the main building of the resort and on the road surrounding it. On the side of the map sat a big drained swimming pool that was basically a giant kill pit. Nobody dared jump into it, but if you did, you were the best player in the lobby. Mirage has never been remade or remastered, but it was a ton of fun, and those who remember it are probably shaking their heads along with me.

Rush, the paintball map, played best in its original Black Ops 2 form

At number nine is Rush, the paintball map. Here is a fun fact: it was actually designed for Greg Hastings Paintball 2, but it was deemed too good and sold to Treyarch to be used as Black Ops 2 DLC. That is not true. I made it up on the spot, but it probably had you going for a second.

Rush is one of the few Black Ops 2 DLC maps to actually get remade, so some players may have experienced it in Black Ops Cold War. I would argue it was even better in Black Ops 2, since it was actually designed for Black Ops 2. It was a very fast paced map with lots of interesting close quarters arenas to fight in: the indoor section with all the inflatables, and the outdoor sections with all the wood structures, which added some verticality to the experience.

I am still not sure how all the paintball structures were able to stay in one piece after taking hundreds of rounds from assault rifles and SMGs, but I am willing to believe it for the sake of it being a really good map, and it was a really good map. I know a lot of people played it in Black Ops Cold War and COD Mobile, but did they experience the original Black Ops 2 version of Rush?

Encore, the London amphitheater map, deserves some love

There are a lot of DLC maps on this list so far, which is a sign of just how good that DLC season was. Encore is another Black Ops 2 DLC map that was never remade or remastered despite being fantastic. It takes place in a London amphitheater, and you could run around everywhere: the empty stands, the general admission area, the stage itself and the backstage areas. It was fun.

It had lots of little Easter eggs and hidden details if you were willing to take a little time to look for them during a game, or just load into a private match and look for them on your own time. I used to do that. I used to be an Easter egg hunter.

Encore was a unique map. Despite being pretty big by Black Ops 2 standards, it was still pretty fast paced because of how well all the lanes pushed both teams toward each other, and there were some pretty crazy fights at the stage in the middle of the map. You could pretend you were at a death metal concert while fighting each other, all in good fun, of course. A lot of people don't remember this map at all, and since it was never brought back, many probably didn't even know it existed. It is one of the best DLC maps from what I think was the best DLC season, and it deserves some love.

Plaza, with its rave room, is the most famous rave map ever made

Speaking of maps with a musical theme that we loved, Plaza is the most famous rave map that was ever made, and maybe the only rave map, I don't know. It was really loud if you went into the rave room in the middle, but eerily quiet everywhere else, complete with some really gorgeous nighttime coastal views. Set on an upscale resort near the ocean, Plaza was a very long and narrow map with an old school three lane design that complemented the pace of the game. It definitely rewarded you for getting good with a sniper rifle or a long range AR.

If you could lock down one of the rooftops in Plaza and keep your back covered with a claymore, you could dominate the entire match. You always had to keep your head on a swivel, though, because if someone was running Hardpoint, they could sneak up behind you with a combat knife and you were gone. If you weren't trying to lock down a rooftop, chances are you were running around the side lanes, desperately trying to get to the top of the stairs in the middle of the map without actually taking those stairs, because they made you a sitting duck. "Oh, the memories come flooding back."

Plaza was brought back in Black Ops 7, yes, but I didn't think that counted as a remake, because nobody was playing Black Ops 7. As far as I was concerned, this map was never brought back, and if Black Ops 2 got ported to the new consoles, players were in for a treat.

Cove was a circular death trap that never felt unbalanced

I think Cove is one of the most unique maps of the classic Call of Duty era. It was one giant circular arena fight island, and it was absolutely insane despite actually being one of the largest maps in the game in terms of square footage. Cove was a big circular death trap surrounded by circular lanes that took you around it, so you could find a new angle to enter the death pit from, and it was so much fun. "If you could top the leaderboard in Cove, you could top the leaderboard absolutely anywhere because you earned it."

Despite being one of the most ridiculous maps in the game, it never felt unbalanced or unpredictable. It was like a classic Quake or Halo map ported into Call of Duty and given a realistic coat of paint, and everybody loved it. And yet it is another map everybody loved that still never got remade, which makes no sense. How did the USS Texas get a remake over Cove? How did Zoo get a remake over Cove? Somebody is going to have to explain that to me. It was a great map. You could also see Hijacked off in the distance, with all the coordinates and the tac insert Easter egg things we used to do.

Grind, the Venice Beach skatepark, keeps coming back for good reason

Grind opens the top five. It debuted as DLC in Black Ops 2 and was remade in Black Ops 4, Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, so clearly Treyarch knows we like it. To their credit, there is a good reason they know that: it slaps. It takes place at a skatepark in Venice Beach and has some of the most unique architecture in Call of Duty history, with ramps, grind rails and quarter pipes. It is like a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater level was loaded into Call of Duty, and it worked well.

In fact, I am pretty sure you could port Grind into a Tony Hawk game and it would work. I wonder whether somebody has actually done that in the modern world of PC game modding, and I am sure somebody has. But as a Black Ops 2 map, it was amazing: perfectly fast paced, perfectly hectic without being too crazy, with lots of personality. It is one of my favorite Treyarch maps ever.

Hijacked was better than Nuketown as Black Ops 2's best small map

Another of my favorite Treyarch maps ever, and yours too, is Hijacked. It was the go to place for 1v1s until Nuketown was added as free DLC. Honestly, when it comes to super small, fast paced maps in Black Ops 2, I think Hijacked is much better than Nuketown because the lanes are longer, it is more strategic with your flanking routes, and the flow is better.

Hijacked took place on a massive cruise ship in international waters, where if you stood over the side you could probably see Cove. It had amazing sights and Easter eggs, as well as an extremely fast paced layout that would never put you too far from the action after you spawned. It came back several times and is seen as one of the most iconic Black Ops maps ever, and I am sure there will be some debate over which version was the best. But in Black Ops 2, it was one of the best maps in the game.

As I said above, I rated this map better than Nuketown, and since we are into the top five, it should be obvious by now that Nuketown is not on this list. The reason is simple: I think Nuketown is bad. Let's move on.

Studio was a faithful Firing Range remake that simply played better

Studio was a faithful remake of Firing Range from Black Ops 1. It took the original map's layout and improved on it in some subtle ways. The layout was kept exactly the same, but we got a new theme and better spawns, and because the gameplay of Black Ops 2 greatly improved upon Black Ops 1, the map just played better. And who doesn't like a Call of Duty map with a giant animatronic dinosaur hanging out at one of the spawn points?

Seriously, Studio had all the hallmarks of a great map and all the most iconic parts of classic Firing Range: the sniper tower, the moving targets by the trailer, and the two two story buildings that stare at each other and dare you to capture one. It was perfect. People were still arguing about whether Studio or the original Firing Range was better, and I think that is how you know it was a great remake. If people can't decide which version was better over a decade later, you did your job.

Standoff was one of the most balanced maps in Call of Duty history, despite the blowouts

I want to give a nice firm handshake to whoever was in charge of designing Standoff, because they did a phenomenal job. This is one of the most balanced maps in Call of Duty history. And yet it often resulted in complete blowouts in Domination because of how difficult the B flag was to capture. I still think that makes it one of the most balanced maps in Call of Duty history, even if that sounds strange.

The map took place in the middle of a town with a bunch of two story buildings and second story windows, a sniper's best friend. That gave you two options. Option one, you tried to capture one of the second story windows and sniped the other team into oblivion. Option two, you ran around the back alleys and tried to flank the people holding those second story windows. I guess there was a third option, which was to run out into the streets and get shot from 20 different directions, but that is not an optimal strategy.

Standoff was one of the most fun and balanced maps in Call of Duty history. The sheer number of power positions all perfectly balanced each other, and the flanking routes meant the people in those power positions could not get too comfortable. And yet, I do think there was one Black Ops 2 map that did it better.

Raid, the Los Angeles mansion, is the best map in Black Ops 2

Anyone paying attention probably already knows the answer. Out of all the original Black Ops 2 maps, Raid has to be the one that gets remade the most. It was a super fast paced map set at a rich, fancy pants mansion in Los Angeles. You fought through courtyards, basketball courts, parking lots and fancy pants building interiors, all of which perfectly funneled you toward opposing players on the other side of the map through the garage full of super expensive cars.

It had power positions, flanking routes and safe spawns that didn't put you too far from the action. It had Easter eggs, crazy grenade spots, awesome sight lines for snipers and tight corridors for shotgunners. There was truly something for every play style on the map, and that is what made it so much fun.

Raid was "remade 7 billion times after Black Ops 2", but I don't blame the developers for bringing it back, because it really is one of the best maps in Call of Duty history. Out of all the maps available in Black Ops 2, I think this is the best. At the time, I was hoping for a port, saying Black Ops 2 would end up getting ported, "which it's going to, we're going to manifest this", and that new players would get to experience why I think that. This was a really hard list, and there were a lot more maps that were really good.

Which two Black Ops 2 maps that missed this list do you think could have made it?