Status: Released. The second phase of Battlefield 6 Season 4, called Top Gun, went live on August 18, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. UTC. It landed at the same moment everywhere, so there was no staggered regional rollout and no midnight-by-country schedule.
Quick answer: If your local clock has already passed 12:00 p.m. UTC on August 18, 2026, the Top Gun content is live for you. Load the game, install the update if prompted, and Wake Island will appear in the map rotation.
Season 4 Phase 2 start time for all regions
Because the unlock is a single global timestamp, the only thing that changes from country to country is what your own clock reads. In New Zealand that pushes the launch onto the following calendar day.
| Time zone | Local start time |
|---|---|
| Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) | August 18, 5:00 AM |
| Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) | August 18, 6:00 AM |
| Central Daylight Time (CDT) | August 18, 7:00 AM |
| Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) | August 18, 8:00 AM |
| Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) | August 18, 12:00 PM |
| Central European Summer Time (CEST) | August 18, 2:00 PM |
| Moscow Standard Time (MSK) | August 18, 3:00 PM |
| India Standard Time (IST) | August 18, 5:30 PM |
| China Standard Time (CST) | August 18, 8:00 PM |
| Japan Standard Time (JST) | August 18, 9:00 PM |
| Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) | August 18, 10:00 PM |
| New Zealand Standard Time (NZST) | August 19, 12:00 AM |
Note: the download and the unlock are two different things. Patching early gets you into the queue faster, but the new content stays locked until the global timestamp passes.
Wake Island is the headline addition
Wake Island is back, and it is not a straight port. The map has been rebuilt to fit Battlefield 6’s scale and systems, drawing on the version that appeared in Battlefield V’s Pacific content rather than the original 1942 layout. The shoreline is the main pressure point, bunkers can be blown open with C-4, and an offshore aircraft carrier anchors one side of the fight.
It also inherits Season 4’s naval systems. Boats, the dynamic wave system, and underwater combat rules all apply here, which is the point of putting Wake Island in a season built around water rather than saving it for a nostalgia patch.
The Top Gun event, jets, and new modes
This phase carries a full Top Gun crossover rather than a skin bundle. The F-14 Tomcat arrives as a new jet, and there is a themed squad unit, CJTF Helix, with event challenges, cosmetics, and a limited-time currency attached to it.
| Addition | What it is |
|---|---|
| Wake Island | Returning map rebuilt around naval combat and a carrier |
| F-14 Tomcat | New two-seat jet tied to the Top Gun event |
| Carrier Strike | Multiplayer mode where each team defends its own carrier and tries to sink the enemy’s |
| Gauntlet: Fighter Sweep | Jets-only REDSEC mode built around two-seater dogfights |
| Interdictor | New sniper rifle |
| Spectator Mode and Custom Lobbies | Tools arriving alongside the mid-season drop |
| Mid-season attachments | Additional attachment options on top of the Season 4 launch set |
Tsuru Reef, the season’s launch map, also gets an expansion pass in this phase, so the archipelago is not left untouched while attention moves to Wake Island.
Free-to-play week: August 18 to August 25
Battlefield 6 is free to play for a week starting the same day the Top Gun phase went live. The trial runs through August 25 and opens up six modes across four maps: Tsuru Reef, Wake Island, Cairo Bazaar, and Hagental Base.
That means the two newest maps in the game are both inside the trial, which is unusual for a free window. If you were waiting to try the naval systems before buying, this is the widest access the game has offered.
How to confirm the update applied
What remains in Season 4
Season 4 runs on a three-phase structure. Phase 1, Pacific Front, opened the season on July 21 with Tsuru Reef, the RCB-90 patrol boat, the 7.7m NSW RHIB, and the EF88, BROD 3, and VSSM. Phase 2 is Top Gun. Phase 3, Tidal Strike, is scheduled for September 15, 2026 and is set to bring playable aircraft carriers to Tsuru Reef along with a proximity chat test and the Phantom Program event.
| Phase | Date |
|---|---|
| Pacific Front | July 21, 2026 |
| Top Gun | August 18, 2026 |
| Tidal Strike | September 15, 2026 |
No end date for Season 4 has been confirmed, and the same goes for Season 5’s start. Battle Pass tiers expire when the season closes rather than when Phase 3 launches, so there is still time to finish the pass after the September drop lands.
