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Sector 10 · Field manual

DMZ beginner guide

Everything a new operator needs before the first drop into Hajin, plus the map regions, common questions and patch history.

Sections
13
Regions
16
FAQs
14

01What is DMZ?

  • DMZ is MW4's PvPvE extraction mode. You drop into Hajin, chase objectives and loot, fight North Korean AI and rival squads, then exfil to keep what you carry.
  • Third-party guides report lobbies of up to 60 players in 20 squads of up to three. Activision's own FOB guide does not state a lobby size.
  • Everything on your Operator is persistent. Extract and it goes to your Stash; die and it stays in Hajin.
  • Between runs you are at the FOB (Forward Operating Base): shared Stash, 3D Printer, Gunsmith, Vendor, Boss Board, Orders, Bounty Leaderboard and a firing range.
  • Hajin is a Korean exclusion zone. The western wilderness was North Korea (rural, military); the east was South Korea (city, hospital, mall, stadium). A Russian sector is planned for Season 2.
  • Not free-to-play: DMZ ships inside paid Modern Warfare 4 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Switch 2. No last-gen versions, and not on Game Pass at launch.
  • There is no PvE-only or offline option; other squads are always in the match. Squads can request a truce through the Ping Wheel.
  • DMZ has its own 70-level progression. Multiplayer and Warzone XP do not level DMZ, though DMZ XP also counts toward the shared 1-55 player level.
  • DMZ early access opened October 20, 2026 for digital pre-orders; full launch was October 23.

02Your first deploy

  • Selecting DMZ the first time starts Breaking New Ground, a roughly ten-minute scripted intro: HALO jump into the NK Wilderness, then Deadtown and the Re-education facility.
  • The intro ends with your character captured in a cutscene. That is intended. You then reach FOB Zulu and recruit your first Operator.
  • Orders page 1 has three tasks: Gear Up (equip a weapon, backpack, armor vest and Medkit from the Stash), Crackshot (drop 3 range targets) and First Op (deploy to a Dynamic Op).
  • First Op does not require an exfil. Clearing page 1 pays $20,000 plus a Medkit and a 2-Plate Armor Vest; finishing the second Order unlocks the Boss Board.
  • Gear Up bug: if you sell the starter Backpack, Armor Vest or Medkits before it ticks, the Order can stall and block deploying. Keep starter gear until it completes.
  • Activision's workaround is joining a friend's party and deploying into Hajin together; progress should restore there. No verified solo fix exists.
  • An October 20 patch fixed a pre-deploy soft lock from selling starter gear, but as of Oct 25 some guides say Gear Up is not confirmed fixed for everyone.
  • Bring a plate carrier, backpack, weapon and Medkit. Open Survival Kits at the FOB station to move their contents into your Stash.
  • Free Loadout (at Ready Up) gives basic gear without using Stash items. You keep it if you extract, but your Operator can still go MIA and cost cash to recover.
  • Start with the free on-foot infil and a Dynamic Op: their completion payout reaches your Bank even if you never exfil.

03Loot and rarity

  • Six tiers, lowest to highest: Common (gray), Uncommon (green), Rare (blue), Epic (purple), Legendary (orange), Ultra (red). Colors per the Expel guide.
  • Basic resources (Synthetics, Electronics, Chemicals, Metals) break down automatically and use no Stash slots. Named 3D Printer Ingredients stay physical and must be extracted.
  • Ingredients are not interchangeable: plain Metals cannot stand in for Reactive Metals. Track a recipe at the Printer to pin what you still need to your HUD.
  • Grab early: armor plates, Medkits and bandages, keys, ingredients your next craft needs, plus Recipes and Weapon Manuals, which unlock and pay $5,000 each when extracted.
  • Valuables such as Gold Bars ($25,000) only turn into cash after you extract and sell them at the FOB.
  • Weapons dropped by AI are often damaged. They still shoot but perform worse than clean guns; damaged weapons can be extracted, then restored or upgraded.
  • Location type tells you what spawns: Police Stations hold military gear and a locked armory, Clinics hold meds, Fire Stations hold radiation gear and parachutes.
  • Compounds (tent icon) have better loot and usually a safe, guarded by roughly 10-12 AI. Clear them all and check the guard tower or main building.
  • Keys open special loot rooms. Story missions, Lieutenants and lockers drop specific keys; keep unused ones in the Stash between runs.
  • After a fight, search the Operator's body: cash, plates, parachutes and gas masks often turn up.

04Secure Slots

  • Anything in a Secure Slot survives a failed exfil. Everything else in the backpack is lost with your Operator.
  • The Basic Pack has 8 slots and no Secure Slot. The Medium Backpack (printed from 50 Synthetics and 5 Rigid Synthetics) is the first bag with one.
  • Community-listed counts: Medium 1, Medium Weapon 1, Medium Scavenger 2, Large 2, Large Scavenger 3, Small Secure 3, Medium Secure 4, Large Secure 4, Secure Scavenger 4. Verify in-game.
  • To protect an item, select it in your bag and choose Secure; use Remove to take it out. Recheck after shuffling loot, since a bag's name does not make every slot secure.
  • Put keys, Legendary and Ultra (red) items, unextracted Recipes or Weapon Manuals, and scarce ingredients there first.
  • Mission objects go in a separate Mission Item slot. Holding one securely does not count as extracting it for an objective.
  • Some players report losing secured items after a disconnect. Infinity Ward says rejoining the same running server should work; no restore guarantee exists.
  • Operator Prestige consumes equipped loadout and backpack items, secured or not, so move keepers to the Stash before prestiging.
  • Vault Edition's Deployment Kit includes two Medium Backpacks, giving secure storage from the first run.

05Exfil

  • Exfil sites are marked by green smoke. Call the helicopter, defend the zone until it lands, board and stay aboard until the timer runs out.
  • Calling an exfil is noisy and the smoke is visible from afar, so clear the area first, pick a site with cover and keep a backup site.
  • AllThingsHow reports three random heli exfils per match, with sites near the radiation shutting first. Other guides give no count.
  • A final exfil opens late in the match; waiting for it can push a run past 40 minutes. The Final Intel trait marks it on the Tac Map from the start.
  • Alternatives: an Exfil Flare calls a heli wherever you are but is loud and bright; a Fulton balloon sends attached items to your Stash. Fulton rules differ between guides.
  • CODMunity's launch-week numbers: solo, stepping on exfil starts a 5-second countdown; squads wait 30-45 seconds until everyone is on, then 5 seconds.
  • Failed exfil: your Operator goes MIA and you lose everything outside Secure Slots. XP earned during the run is still awarded.
  • Expedited Extraction is a Minor Survivalist trait that makes exfils arrive much faster. No exact time saving has been published.
  • Die Hard (Survivalist) calls the exfil automatically if you reach it while in Last Stand.
  • The October 24 patch fixed the exfil helicopter disappearing with players still inside.

06Threat levels and Hunt Squads

  • Every area has a threat rating: Low, Medium, High, Critical or Extreme. It reflects AI strength only, not players, and shows when you enter or on the deploy screen.
  • Your personal threat meter climbs as you kill AI and draws heavier reinforcements. Breaking contact, hiding or heading into rural areas lowers it.
  • Guides describe it as 1-5 stars: one star sends reinforcements; five brings Deathstalker drones, Hunt Squads and riot-shield soldiers.
  • The Hostiles Kill Count fills with AI kills. When full, a Hunt Squad is dispatched and you become Marked for Death. No kill threshold is published.
  • The stealth meter turns white, then yellow, then orange as AI nears spotting you. Go prone or into cover to stop the alert. It does not track players.
  • AI tiers: Tier 1 grunts, Tier 2 armored soldiers, Tier 3 armored with gas masks, Tier 4 faceless armored. Also drone swarms, LMG drones, K9 robots, heli patrols and convoys.
  • Lieutenants are named bosses (Bale, Gorani, Jang-ui, Jin-Tae, The Chemist, The Doctor and more). Boss Board intel costs $25,000; Lieutenant Hunt towers ping the nearest one free.
  • Commanders roam the map: Colossus (minigun), Deathstalker (huge drone) and the Main NK Battle Tank. The first kill pays cash; extracting afterwards yields 3D Printer Ingredients.
  • Picking up a Lieutenant's dog tag broadcasts your position to other players.

07Radiation and gas masks

  • A radiation storm spreads across Hajin every match. The HUD's Time Remaining shows when it next intensifies; third-party guides say spreading starts about 30 minutes in.
  • The storm starts from a random point, so check which exfils it will leave open before committing to one.
  • Haneul Nuclear Reactor is permanently irradiated, worst inside the buildings. Entry needs Radiation Gear plus a gas mask. Reactor 02 is breached; Reactor 01 is stable.
  • Reactor approaches: by water, or through a tunnel from Compound Delta to the southwest.
  • Standing in radiation turns your screen edges and minimap red.
  • Fire Stations (red map markers) are the main source of Radiation Gear and parachutes, though a suit is not guaranteed each visit. Hanrim Village has one.
  • Gas masks wear out; the reactor's red zone drains them fast, so bring spares. Durable Gas Masks exist, but no durability numbers are published.
  • The October 23 patch fixed gas masks, Durable ones included, breaking the instant you entered radiation.
  • Radiation Blockers are a craftable Rare consumable that blunts radiation for 60 seconds. Carry one for the way in and one for the way out.
  • The Hazmat Suit (Legendary) is thrown away at exfil, so do not plan to bank it.

08Dog tags and bounties

  • Your Operator's tag ranks from Steel I to Onyx III across 18 levels. Every level grants one Trait Point.
  • Your first Operator kill puts a bounty on your tag. More kills, squad wipes and killing while Wanted raise it, and the bounty carries between deployments.
  • Who fired first and whether you were outnumbered also change how much a kill adds.
  • Four Operator kills make you Wanted. Higher Wanted levels mark you for nearby enemies; at the top level your general area is visible to everyone.
  • Your bounty clears if you die without exfil, a rival extracts your tag, or you pay it off at a Bounty Station. Partial payoffs work, e.g. a $5,000 reduction.
  • Bounty Stations list Wanted players free; intel costs DMZ Cash and shows a search circle. Kill the target, take the tag and exfil to get paid into your Bank.
  • The Dog Tag Case is a FOB station unlocked at DMZ Level 20. It stores extracted tags with rarity, victim, killer and time; upgrades add room and raise bounty payouts.
  • Bounty payout bonuses also unlock at DMZ Levels 30, 50 and 70.
  • The FOB Bounty Leaderboard shows weekly Top 50 Most Wanted and Top 50 Bounty Hunters, globally or among friends.
  • Known issue (Oct 24): on PC, extracting with a looted Dog Tag can throw a network error.

09Operators, Active Duty and MIA

  • Operators sit in Active Duty slots: two to start, three with Vault Edition. Another slot comes from DMZ progression (DMZ Codex says Level 15).
  • Each Operator keeps its own backpack, loadout and traits, but all of them share the Stash and DMZ Cash.
  • An Operator stays locked to its slot until you dismiss it, and the same Operator cannot fill two slots.
  • Dying without exfil makes the Operator MIA. It cannot deploy until you pay to recover it at the FOB or dismiss it.
  • Recovery cost rises with Trait Points. Traits, unspent points and tag rank are kept; gear is not. Quoted prices conflict: $15,000 starting (AllThingsHow) versus a $50 Steel-rank example (DMZ Codex).
  • An Operator Rescue Beacon, toggled at Ready Up, reportedly waives the recovery fee. It is used up when the run starts even if you extract.
  • In a match, squadmates can revive you if one is still standing. Each Operator gets one Tourniquet per deploy: back up, but max health drops from 150 to 100 until a Medkit.
  • 66 traits sit across three trees: Warfighter, Scout and Survivalist. Possum gives one self-revive per match.
  • At Onyx III (18 Trait Points) an Operator can Prestige for gear, cash and a random permanent trait. Prestige costs the equipped gear.
  • October 24 fix: party leaders could pull teammates out of DMZ without consent, which wrongly marked their Operators MIA.

10Orders and missions

  • DMZ Orders are the FOB task list, grouped into pages of three. Finish all three on a page to claim its reward, often $20,000 plus items.
  • After page 1 you choose a chapter: Human Intel, Underground or Counterfeit (two pages each, ending in a story mission). After page 11 you choose The Grid or Hornet's Nest.
  • Six Story Missions at launch. Tier one (Medium): Critical Extraction at Mirae Hospital, Silent Ledger at the casino, Shopping Hacks at NuriGO Mall.
  • Tier two (Critical) opens after tier one: Iron Citadel at Chang-san Air Base and Grid Assault in The Grid. Fallen Ember at the reactor (Extreme) is last.
  • Menus advertise 25,000 cash per story mission, but early after-action reports show a 5,000 payout. Check your Bank after the run.
  • A weekly task rewards finishing three Random Story Missions.
  • Dynamic Operations chain 3-4 randomized objectives. The menu promises $10,000-20,000 each (one tester saw $6,800-14,880), plus XP and a Supply Drop that improves with each op finished.
  • Dynamic Ops include Dead Man's Cache, Chemical Denial, Hunt Operators, Broken Resupply, Ghost Shipment, Ignition Point, Sky Heist, Special Delivery, Signal Breaker, Viral Reckoning and Toxic Intercept.
  • Side Ops happen in any match: hack UAV Towers, climb Lieutenant Hunt towers, capture SAM sites, repair trucks, recover lost supply drops, crack safes and clear compounds.
  • Free Roam drops you in with no assigned task, which suits ingredient runs and bounty hunting.

11Making DMZ Cash

  • DMZ Cash is shared across Operators and held in the FOB Bank. Found cash only banks after a successful exfil; money already in the Bank is safe when you die.
  • Dynamic Ops are the steadiest earner because their completion payout goes straight to the Bank even if you never extract.
  • Lieutenant kills pay about $10,000 on the Boss Board. One solo casino run on Jin-Tae banked about $26,200, mostly from his dog tag.
  • Gold Bars are worth $25,000 and Recipes or Weapon Manuals $5,000 each once extracted. Cash registers and vaults pay variable amounts.
  • The Bank caps at $100,000 to start, and income over the cap is lost without warning. Bank Upgrade I costs $20,000 at the 3D Printer and lifts it to $250,000.
  • Later tiers (partly community-reported): Bank II costs $50,000 for $500,000; Bank III costs $100,000 plus 5 Infantry Invasion Plans for $1,000,000.
  • Spending: infils (Polaris Dagor A1 $5k, LTV $25k, Heli $50k, Cargo Plane $100k), Gunsmith and Vendor, MIA recovery, Lieutenant and bounty intel, and paying down your bounty.
  • Always hold back enough for at least one MIA recovery before buying a paid infil.
  • The Investor trait slightly raises the cash you extract.
  • October 24 fix: applying some camos or reticles in the DMZ Gunsmith was wrongly charging DMZ Cash.

12Vehicles

  • Ground: Camper, Sedan, Grizzly, Dreadnought, Polaris Dagor A1, LTV (optional .50 cal), Cargo Truck and D50 Radar Flatbed with a built-in UAV.
  • Air: the Heli is player-flown; the Heavy Chopper is rarely flyable; the Monarch is the automated infil/exfil helicopter. Water: RHIB. Train and Tram run on their own.
  • Unlike Warzone, DMZ vehicles have limited fuel and armor and must be refueled and repaired.
  • Gas Stations repair and refuel ground vehicles and aircraft and refill Gas Cans. Marine Gas Stations do the same for boats. Park at the pumps until the bar fills.
  • Carry a Gas Can to refuel away from a station.
  • You can steal AI vehicles such as patrol Grizzlys and military trucks by killing the crew first.
  • The Tank can destroy a vehicle in one shot. Convoys, attack helicopter patrols and the Deathstalker hunt vehicles and aircraft.
  • Pilots should avoid downtown SAM sites, Chang-san Air Base and SAM sites other squads have hacked. Flares help.
  • Paid infil unlocks: Polaris Dagor A1 from Silent Ledger, LTV from Iron Citadel, Heli from Grid Assault, Cargo Plane from Fallen Ember. You still pay every time.
  • Known issue (Oct 23): some enemy AI cars drive with no one in them or get stuck. Activision says fixes are out and being monitored.

13Solo tips

  • Turn Squad Fill off at Ready Up and recheck it every deploy. There are no solo-only lobbies, but matchmaking tries to put solos with solos.
  • Play quiet: suppressed weapons, melee and throwing knives. Long loud fights pull nearby squads in.
  • Keep an eye on the Hostiles Kill Count so you do not summon a Hunt Squad.
  • Fog and rain cut AI visibility, so bad weather is good cover.
  • Carry a Self-Revive. Useful traits: Possum (self-revive into Last Stand), Die Hard (auto-exfil in Last Stand), Metabolism (regain Tourniquet health), Thermal Padding (hidden from UAVs).
  • Keep a mule Operator with no weapon or plate carrier equipped, so an accidental deploy is blocked and your real Operator is not put at risk.
  • Use proximity chat and the Ping Wheel to call a truce or join another squad, which can reach four players. A truce request is not a guarantee.
  • A proven solo earner: climb the Lieutenant Hunt tower in the South Korean Border Zone, then kill Jin-Tae in Heavenly Luck Casino.
  • Clear the exfil before calling it, and leave with a modest haul rather than risk a full bag.
  • Start Dynamic Ops early in the run, since each one you finish improves the next Supply Drop.

Hajin

Map regions

Named areas and the spots inside them. Use them to call out locations to your squad.

14th Political Prison (northwest, former North Korea)

Prison and yard are High threat; the Y-shaped Citadel fortress is Critical. Known loot route for K9 cores, an armory key and security cells; the Domino Protocol Dynamic Op sends you here for a Lieutenant.

PrisonFortress Prison YardThe Citadel

Chang-san Air Base (west, former North Korea)

Exterior is Critical and the underground bunker Extreme, with the best armor and medical loot. Lieutenant Bale can spawn inside the bunker, though most kills happen at Deadtown's Re-Education Center; the Tank Depot fight is trailer-only. The Supreme Leader's Bunker opens with the access card from Iron Citadel; guides disagree on its grid (B5 vs B6).

Air Base ExteriorChang-san Air Base BunkerTank DepotSupreme Leader's BunkerAdmin Complex No. 2Compound Foxtrot

Deadtown (southwest, former North Korea)

Abandoned farm town with toxic runoff and sewers; outskirts Low, Re-Education Center Medium. Haksan School's armory can hold the Counting Room Vault key. Lieutenant Bale is usually found on the upper floor of the Re-Education Center; he can also spawn in the Chang-san Air Base bunker.

Deadtown ExteriorRe-Education CenterHaksan School

Imjin Farmland (south-southwest)

Open rice fields and rail lines with long sightlines, so expect snipers. Exterior Low, Rice Mill Medium; the Rice Mill has a keyed bunker room.

Farmland ExteriorJeong Loading DockRice Mill

Cheongun Village (north)

Mostly Low threat except the High-threat casino, which hosts Silent Ledger, Lieutenant Jin-Tae and the Counting Room Vault. Much of the casino is unpowered, so bring night vision. A SAM site sits nearby.

Cheongun VillageCheongun OutskirtsHeavenly Luck CasinoRussian Border CrossingRussian Border

Mirae General Hospital (north-central)

Low threat, multi-level hospital near a train station, home of Critical Extraction and Lieutenant The Doctor. The Mirae Electrical Room key door is in the B2 garage. Snipers may watch from Mujin Pass.

Mirae General Hospital

Cheonwang Peak Array (central)

Medium threat. A summit TV broadcast array turned enemy barracks, with a rooftop helipad; community routes target its safes and electronics.

Cheonwang Peak Array

Haneul Nuclear Reactor (northeast)

Reactor is High threat with permanent radiation; needs Radiation Gear and a gas mask. Border Zone is Medium and has a Lieutenant Hunt tower. Home of Fallen Ember, Commander Colossus, Lieutenant The Chemist and the Hazard Storehouse key door.

ReactorSouth Korean Border ZoneCompound Delta

NuriGO Mall (northeast Hajin City)

East is Medium, West High. Shops and tenements over an unlit underground complex, so NVGs are a must. Home of Shopping Hacks and the Coin Mining Den key room. Lieutenant Jang-ui's key opens a converted power room under the mall, but he is fought at Netshin Tech Complex in The Grid.

NuriGO EastNuriGO West

The Grid (central Hajin City)

Walled business district rated Critical, with Nenshin Tech Complex at Extreme. Grid Assault runs through DBN HQ, which also has the Executive Arms Auction key room. Official material spells Nenshin and Netshin inconsistently. Lieutenant Jang-ui is fought high up in Netshin Tech Complex.

The GridNenshin Tech ComplexDBN HeadquartersHanex BankMinsok Art SchoolConstruction Zone

Songdo Wharf (eastern Hajin City)

Low threat beachfront with pier, lighthouse, market and train station. A Hanex bank branch with a vault sits on its north side, and the pier is an exfil option after Fallen Ember.

Songdo WharfOamsik Turtle IslandShoreline StationSongdo PierLa Grande Vie

Wolves Stadium (south-central Hajin City)

Medium threat baseball stadium with a police station and a Hanex bank branch nearby. Its north edge, bordering The Grid, is the most dangerous part.

Wolves StadiumTheatre

Hajin River Heights (southeast)

Medium-threat residential towers and streets. Compound Echo's garage has a safe, and a Gangbyeon Apartment B key may spawn nearby; the Militia Arms Depot key room is also here.

Hajin River HeightsSouth IslandJinseo Park TowersCompound Echo

North Korean Wilderness

Western wilds where Breaking New Ground's HALO drop lands; also a regular infil area and a Chemical Denial component spot. Named sub-locations were not confirmed.

Minor locations

Hanrim Village has a Fire Station, and Lieutenant Gorani snipes from above it. Pyonghwa Village (also spelled Pyeonghwa) and Revolution Dam have police stations with armories. Mujin Pass overlooks the hospital.

Mujin PassHanrim VillageRevolution DamPyonghwa VillageTong-il VillageImjin SuburbDaesong RidgeNamjin RiversideHajin River

Russian sector (not yet open)

Northern Russian part of Hajin; not playable at launch. Developers say it opens in Season 2, with no date given.

Asked a lot

FAQ

Is MW4 DMZ free to play?

No. DMZ is part of the paid Modern Warfare 4 release, unlike 2022's DMZ, which came with free Warzone. It was also not on Game Pass at launch.

Which platforms can play DMZ?

PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Battle.net, Steam, Xbox app) and Nintendo Switch 2. There are no PS4 or Xbox One versions, and PC needs TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled.

How many players are in a DMZ match?

Third-party guides report up to 60 players split into 20 squads of up to three. Activision's FOB guide does not give a lobby size.

Can I play DMZ solo?

Yes. Switch Squad Fill off at Ready Up before matchmaking. There are no solo-only lobbies, but matchmaking tries to group similar squad sizes.

What happens when I die?

Your Operator goes MIA and you lose everything outside Secure Slots. You keep the run's XP and the Operator's traits, then either pay DMZ Cash to recover it or dismiss it.

Do I keep XP if my exfil fails?

Yes. XP earned during a deployment counts whether or not you extract, and dying carries no XP penalty.

How do I unlock vehicle and aircraft infils?

Silent Ledger unlocks the Polaris Dagor A1, Iron Citadel the LTV, Grid Assault the Heli, and Fallen Ember lists the Cargo Plane. Each still costs DMZ Cash every time ($5k, $25k, $50k, $100k).

Why is my DMZ Cash not going up after a big run?

The Bank starts capped at $100,000 and anything over the cap is lost. Build Bank Upgrade I at the 3D Printer ($20,000) to raise it to $250,000.

Where do I find radiation gear?

Search Fire Stations, which are red markers on the Tac Map. You also need a gas mask for the reactor, and the suit is discarded at exfil.

How long does a DMZ match last?

Third-party guides say radiation starts spreading around 30 minutes in. An early exfil can end a run in about 15 minutes, while waiting for the final exfil can take 40 or more.

What does the Vault Edition add to DMZ?

A third Active Duty slot from the start, plus a Deployment Kit with two each of Weapon Insurance Contracts, Operator Rescue Beacons, Fulton Drop Markers, Medium Backpacks and 2-Plate carriers.

Does Multiplayer XP level my DMZ Operators?

No. Multiplayer and Warzone XP do not count toward DMZ level, though DMZ XP also feeds the shared 1-55 player level and weapon progression is shared.

When does Season 1 start, and what is next for DMZ?

Season 1 starts November 6, 2026 and adds a new DMZ location, named XL1 or Exo-1 depending on the source. Season 2 is set to open a Russian sector of Hajin.

Is the capture at the end of Breaking New Ground a bug?

No. The onboarding mission is scripted to end in a capture cutscene, after which you arrive at the FOB and recruit an Operator.

Patch watch

Patch history

Newest first. Known issues are what Infinity Ward still lists as open.

  1. 2026-10-24

    Post-launch fixes

    • Party leaders can no longer yank teammates out of DMZ and get their Operators marked MIA.
    • Fixed the exfil helicopter vanishing with players still aboard.
    • Fixed the DMZ Gunsmith charging cash for some camos and reticles.
    • Fixed wrong data on looted Dog Tags and Bounties, a FOB out-of-bounds spot and excess AI reinforcements in the Shopping mission.
    • Fixed Dark Zone story mission markers and Philanthropist Order (page 19) tracking; closed several exploits.
    • Known issue: PC players may hit a network error when extracting with a looted Dog Tag.
    Source
  2. 2026-10-23

    Full launch update

    • Stability work aimed at disconnects.
    • Gas masks, Durable ones included, no longer break instantly in radiation; Disposable Parachutes now have three uses.
    • Fixed Bounty tracking, Lieutenant intel not updating tracked Orders, and Lieutenant Hunt progress showing for other squads.
    • Fixed AI helicopters freezing mid-air in the Fallout mission and eliminated Operators dropping extra killstreaks.
    • UAV Towers held by enemies can now be stolen back.
    • Known issue: some AI cars drive without drivers or get stuck; fixes are being monitored.
    Source
  3. 2026-10-21

    Early access follow-up

    • Fixed an error when opening the Dog Tag Case.
    • Toxic Intercept no longer fails after the Defend the Bomb step is completed.
    • AI vehicles stopped running players over during NK Wilderness infils.
    • Fixed a PC performance hit while holding a Heartbeat Sensor, plus Dynamic Ops text at large menu sizes.
    Source
  4. 2026-10-20

    DMZ early access fixes

    • Fixed a crash when breaching the door in Breaking New Ground, plus a tablet that sometimes would not turn on there.
    • Fixed the After-Action Report showing 0 XP after a player's first match.
    • Fixed a soft lock caused by selling starting equipment or dismissing Operators before the first deploy.
    • Squads now all get XP and King Slayer credit for a Commander kill, not just the final blow.
    • Fixed Untrack Recipe at the 3D Printer kicking players out of the FOB, and story missions double-crediting completions.
    • Removed more spots where players got stuck in Hajin's rocks.
    Source

Coming up

  1. 2026-10-27

    Roadmap (upcoming): Shipment

    • Shipment map returns to Multiplayer, per Activision's launch roadmap as reported by Inven Global and Gfinity. Not a DMZ change.
    Source
  2. 2026-10-29

    Roadmap (upcoming): Possession mode

    • New Halloween Possession mode for Multiplayer; Infected follows on October 30. Not DMZ content.
    Source
  3. 2026-11-06

    Roadmap (upcoming): Season 1

    • Season 1 for MW4 and Warzone begins with the first Battle Pass.
    • DMZ is due a new Season 1 location compared to Building 21. Sources name it differently: XL1 (CODMunity) versus Exo-1/X01 (AllThingsHow).
    • A Toggle ADS fix originally planned for launch has been pushed to Season 1, per DMZ Codex citing the developers.
    Source
Known issues:
  • Gear Up Order can stay incomplete if starter Backpack, Vest or Medkit was sold; Activision workaround is deploying with a friend. Not confirmed fully fixed (checked 2026-10-25).
  • PC: extracting with a looted Dog Tag may cause a network error. Official known issue in the Oct 24 notes (checked 2026-10-25).
  • Some enemy AI cars move without drivers or get stuck. Official known issue since Oct 23; Activision is monitoring prospective fixes (checked 2026-10-25).
  • Free Loadout can spawn players with no weapons, sometimes only a knife. Under investigation on Activision's Trello as of Oct 23 (checked 2026-10-25).
  • Operator Prestige will not start for some players. Under investigation; workaround is equipping Rare weapons that only ever had three attachment slots (checked 2026-10-25).
  • Enemy AI do not count as Backstab targets for challenges. Under investigation on Trello as of Oct 23 (checked 2026-10-25).
  • Xbox-on-PC players may have no button to launch the game from COD Home (a whole-game issue, not DMZ-specific). Activision suggests checking Microsoft Store device limits and installed content packs (checked 2026-10-25).
  • Community reports, not officially confirmed: paid bounties coming back, high-tier tags missing from the Dog Tag Case, and secured items lost after disconnects (checked 2026-10-25).

Receipts

Where this comes from

Sources (72)