How to get a Tempered Plate Carrier vest in DMZ

Make more of less.

An overhead shot of the Sawah Hotel, with a grounded tanker ship in Al Mazrah in DMZ.
Image via Activision

In DMZ, plate carrier vests are all the rage, giving players additional options and benefits other than just armor bonuses. The plate carrier vests were introduced at the start of season three one of which makes the most of your armor plates and leaves extra room in your backpack for other goodies.

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The Tempered Plate Carrier vest features two slots for armor plates instead of the traditional three, but these larger plate slots provide the same amount of protection as a three-plate carrier. For example, if you have six plates on hand, you can replenish full armor three times instead of two.

You won’t be able to buy the Tempered Plate Carrier vest outright from a buy station using money, so how do you get your hands on it?

How to get the Tempered Plate Carrier vest in DMZ

To get a Tempered Plate Carrier in DMZ, you can either Barter for one or pick one up from the Juggernaut commander on Al Mazrah. Keep in mind, to Barter for it, you must first unlock the recipe.

Unlock the Tempered Plate Carrier vest recipe

A screenshot of the bounty board menu in DMZ, with the Tempered Plate Carrier vest recipe unlock screen displayed.
Take down the Jugg. Screenshot by Dot Esports

As of season five, all unique vests can be bartered for at a buy station, but you must unlock the recipe before you can barter. To unlock the Tempered Carrier Plate vest recipe from the Barter menu, you must first kill the Armored Commander in DMZ.

The Armored Commander, also known as the Juggernaut, will be patrolling Al Mazrah and Ashika Island. I’ve most commonly come across him by chance at the Al Safwa Quarry, Rohan Oil, and around the Al Mazrah City points of interest.

If you complete a Secure Intel contract, his location—assuming he’s still alive—can appear on your map and you’ll be able to hunt him down. Once you find him, dispatch his support team and take him down. Headshots are key, and you should constantly find cover before he finishes spinning up his minigun which will chew you to pieces if you’re out in the open.

Related: How to get a 3-plate Stealth Vest in DMZ

Once he’s down, he’ll drop a Tempered Plate Carrier vest for you to use for the rest of the session, which you can exfil to use later. Killing him unlocks the recipe, though, which means you’ll be able to Barter for it at any time.

Barter recipe for the Tempered Plate Carrier vest in DMZ

A screenshot of a Buy Station Barter menu with the recipe of the Tempered Plate Carrier vest shown in DMZ.
Screenshot by Dot Esports

Once unlocked, you can go to any buy station on Ashika Island and barter for the Tempered Plate Carrier vest. To make the barter, you will need:

  • One Classified Document
  • One Sensitive Document
  • Two Documents

Collect these items and trade for them at the buy station to get the Tempered Plate Carrier vest. Exfil out with it, and you can drop in anytime fully armored up.

Author
Image of Nicholas Taifalos
Nicholas Taifalos
Weekend editor for Dot Esports. Nick, better known as Taffy, began his esports career in commentary, switching to journalism with a focus on Oceanic esports, particularly Counter-Strike and Dota. Email: nicholas@dotesports.com