Modern Warfare 4 DMZ FOB Guide and Early Access

Call of Duty has published Part 2 of its DMZ deep dive, a full intel guide to the Forward Operating Base, and confirmed that DMZ Early Access begins October 20 for players who digitally preordered CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE 4. The FOB works as your home between deployments into war torn Hajin, a navigable camp where you offload loot, gear up, take new Orders and build long term progression before heading back into the Exclusion Zone. Campaign Early Access opens earlier on October 16, and the full game launches October 23.

Quick facts

• Game: CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE 4 DMZ, the action extraction shooter with persistent progression and open world combat
• Early Access: Campaign from October 16 and DMZ from October 20 for Standard Digital or Vault Edition digital preorders on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, PlayStation 5, Battle.net, Steam and Nintendo Switch 2
• Home base: the Forward Operating Base holds stations covering Operators, Orders, Stash and Loadout, Firing Range, Survival Kits, Bounty Leaderboard, 3D Printer, Boss Board, Vendor, Gunsmith, Dog Tag Case, Progression and Deploy
• Crafting: the 3D Printer unlocks at DMZ Player Level 2 and combines Recipes with Synthetics, Electronics, Chemicals and Metals plus field Ingredients
• Progression: a dedicated DMZ track runs across 70 levels while each Operator earns up to 18 Trait Points before Prestige, per the official DMZ FOB deep dive guide

DMZ Early Access dates and preorder details

Starting Friday October 16, players who digitally preordered or prepurchased MODERN WARFARE 4 get Early Access to the Campaign. Starting Tuesday October 20, the same players gain Early Access to all of DMZ. The offer covers the Standard Digital Edition and the Vault Edition across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, PlayStation 5, Battle.net, Steam and Nintendo Switch 2, with full details in the preorder benefits breakdown. Actual play time remains subject to outages and time zone differences, and platform availability can change.

The announcement frames the package as Warfare Without Limits, pairing the gripping Modern Warfare 4 story with Call of Duty grounded extraction shooter ahead of the October 23 launch. You can watch the Early Access trailer embedded above for a first look at the mode in motion.

FOB stations open from day one

The Operators station manages your Active Duty roster. You start with two Operator slots, Vault Edition owners start with three, and each Operator levels up through deployments to earn Trait Points across three playstyle trees. The DMZ Orders station holds your guiding mission directives in pages, covering onboarding, story beats and mastery challenges with resources and cash as rewards. Completing your second DMZ Order unlocks the Boss Board, so early Orders deserve priority.

The Stash and Loadout station splits storage from field gear. The Stash is shared across all Active Duty Operators and initially holds up to 40 items plus 12 weapons, covering Weapons, Gear, Consumables, Ingredients, Keys and valuables. The Backpack carries items during deployment, and anything outside a Secure Slot is lost on a failed exfil. Without a proper Backpack you start with the Basic Pack and its eight slots, so upgrading to Small and Medium Backpacks quickly pays off.

The Firing Range sits in a wooded grove between the Gunsmith and Vendor stations and lets you test ranged builds against circular and bottle targets from under 10 meters to beyond 100 meters. Survival Kits bundle themed supplies such as Deployment, Triage, Armor, Equipment and SERE kits, earned through DMZ leveling, Orders and Events, and unopened kits stack indefinitely in the station menu. The Bounty Leaderboard tracks the Top 50 Most Wanted Operators and Top 50 Bounty Hunters globally or among friends.

3D Printer crafting and FOB upgrades

The 3D Printer unlocks at DMZ Player Level 2 and drives both gear crafting and permanent FOB upgrades. Every craft draws on three inputs. Recipes form the foundation and unlock through DMZ leveling, Order completion or successful extraction with a looted Recipe, which also pays out 5,000 DMZ Cash. Resources are the four base elements of Synthetics, Electronics, Chemicals and Metals, broken down automatically while looting and shown in the corner of the printer menu. Ingredients such as Binding Catalyst, Biomaterials, Detonators and Control Units are extracted intact from specific map areas.

First recipes cover the essentials. A Bandage costs 15 Synthetics and 15 Chemicals. A Medkit costs 30 Chemicals plus 1 Binding Catalyst and 5 Biomaterials. A 1 Plate Armor Vest costs 25 Synthetics and 25 Metals, while the 2 Plate version needs 50 Synthetics and 5 Reactive Metals. A Small Backpack costs 25 Synthetics and 25 Metals, and the Medium Backpack with Secure slots needs 50 Synthetics and 5 Rigid Synthetics. You can pin Recipes and Ingredients to track them, and pinned Ingredients show a pin icon when looted in the field.

The Upgrades category spends DMZ Cash, Ingredients and valuables on permanent base improvements, including Bank capacity, Stash item and weapon capacity, MIA Recovery discounts and increasingly rare Ingredient printing. Upgraded printers can even print Ingredients from Resources, closing the loop between looting and crafting.

Operators, traits and the prestige grind

Operators stay largely cosmetic but grow stronger through survival. Each carries a Dog Tag that climbs 18 levels from Steel through Bronze, Silver, Gold and Damascus to Onyx, awarding one Trait Point per level. Points feed three trees, Warfighter, Scout and Survivalist, holding 66 Traits in total with six visible Major Traits and randomized Minor Traits per tree. Standouts include Adrenaline Burst for resetting tactical sprint on kills, UAV Upgrade for longer Advanced UAVs, and Die Hard for auto calling exfil while in Last Stand. With only 18 points available, you can max two trees or spread across all three, and picks lock in permanently.

Death has consequences. A slain Operator goes MIA and stays benched until you pay DMZ Cash from your Bank to recover them, with cost scaling alongside Trait Points, or dismiss them to start fresh. Recovered Operators return without gear, so pack a new Loadout. Dog Tags can also be looted by rivals, which feeds the trophy economy detailed below.

At 18 Trait Points an Operator can Prestige, sacrificing Rare gear and DMZ Cash for a random Permanent Prestige Trait. The first Prestige costs 200,000 DMZ Cash with Rare loadout gear, the second costs 300,000 with Epic gear, and the third and beyond cost 500,000 with Legendary gear. Operators hold up to three permanent traits, and further Prestiges offer a swap against your existing three plus Calling Card rewards for Prestiging across your roster.

Bounties, Boss Board and hunting Wanted players

PvP aggression feeds the bounty system. Killing rival Operators earns a Bounty shown on your Dog Tag, and four kills across deployments marks you Wanted with nearby players auto alerted to your presence. Higher kill counts climb through multiple Wanted states up to Most Wanted, displayed on the FOB leaderboard station. Clearing notoriety is hard. You can lose the Dog Tag to another player, die without exfil or pay off the bounty with DMZ Cash at a Bounty Station inside Hajin.

Hunters work the other side. During deployment, visit a Bounty Station and spend Bank funds to pinpoint Wanted players on the Tac Map, with sharper and faster updates at higher Wanted levels. Kill the target and extract with their Dog Tag to bank a DMZ Cash cut scaled to the Bounty level. Note that XP earned in Multiplayer or WARZONE does not raise DMZ level, but DMZ XP feeds both the 1 to 70 DMZ track and the shared 1 to 55 player progression, even when you fail to exfil.

The Boss Board adds PvE targets after your second DMZ Order. Lieutenants are elite operatives with unique loadouts and small loyal squads. Buy intel with DMZ Cash to hunt a specific Lieutenant for one deployment, then extract with their Dog Tag Case for DMZ Cash bonuses and Boss Board progress while broadcast to rival squads. Commanders need no intel and stay marked when close. Expect Colossus in heavy armor with a minigun, the helicopter sized Deathstalker drone, and a patrolling North Korean battle tank, all dropping cash and rare crafting Ingredients.

Gunsmith, Vendor and weapon unlocks

The Gunsmith unlocks at DMZ Player Level 10 and builds Loadout weapons for DMZ Cash much like Multiplayer, with weapon levels and shared attachments counting across both modes. Builds take up to five attachments while looted weapons can carry up to eight slots. Purchasing a base weapon requires extracting with its Weapon Manual first, with 32 launch weapons across Assault Rifles, SMGs, Shotguns, LMGs, Marksman Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Pistols and Launchers. A base M4 runs around 5,000 DMZ Cash, and a Gunsmith discount unlocks through DMZ leveling.

Blueprints work as single free uses in the Gunsmith, including the Beta Forged Han 86 rifle, with discounted repurchase after loss. Vault Edition owners get one time access to the Signature Weapon Collection, spanning the Kastov 762 Voltspine, the ISO Nightshade La Sombra Venenosa, the Rezi 12 Shattered Code, the Oris 8.6 Volt Edge and the Sombra Besada Combat Knife. Stuck on a build, the in station Gunny assistant suggests a loadout to get you deployed again.

The Vendor unlocks at DMZ Player Level 5 and sells weapons and equipment for DMZ Cash with stock rotating day to day, expanding through DMZ levels and printer upgrades. The Dog Tag Case unlocks at DMZ Player Level 20 and displays extracted rival tags with rarity, killer name and kill date, with upgrades boosting bounty payouts and case capacity.

Deploying into Hajin

Three deployment types await at the wire lined Deploy area. Story Missions follow the power vacuum narrative across Hajin with briefings and high value rewards. Dynamic Operations pay DMZ Cash and XP with escalating Supply Drops per completion. Free Roam drops missions entirely for looting, Ingredient runs and bounty hunting. Infil options scale with budget, from free Ground insertion through the 5,000 cash Polaris Dagor A1 and 25,000 LTV to a 50,000 helicopter ride and a 100,000 cargo plane drop over a pinpoint location.

The Ready Up menu offers a Free Loadout for fast entry, full Loadout editing with Plate Carrier, Backpack, Weapon and Medkit recommended, Active Duty swaps and Squad Fill matchmaking for solo players. Pair this guide with the Hajin points of interest guide from Part 1 of the deep dive, and your October 20 deployment should start on strong footing.

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