All Barter recipes in DMZ: How to make three-plate vests, Skeleton Keys, Backpacks, and more

When taking on operators and AI in DMZ, you’ll come across a variety of miscellaneous items all over the map. Using Call of Duty’s Barter system at a Buy Station, you’ll be able to turn these seemingly useless items into unique pieces of kit like upgraded armor vests, backpacks, loot cache keys, and more.

I mean, what use is there for a screwdriver, a bandage, and an electric drill when you’ve got more important tasks to accomplish?

Here’s how the Barter system works in DMZ and a full list of recipes available as of season six.

DMZ Barter system, explained

DMZ players can channel their inner MacGyver with the game’s Barter system. Using specific crafting recipes, players can transform useless items into valuable tools to bring into the area of operations. For example, operators can turn common household items into valuable session gear that can be extracted and reused multiple times, like three-plate vests or gas masks.

There’s a wide array of options for players who want to get special items through different means. You don’t need to luck into a Revive Pistol, you can make one at the nearest Buy Station—assuming you’ve found the right items to trade.

The Barter system is available through its unique menu in any Buy Station, and you can even find a Workbench to spruce up your Contraband weapons.

Following season five’s launch in July and August 2023, most Barter recipes will need to be unlocked before they can be used in a DMZ session. Once unlocked, you can craft the items in the Barter menu. Also, note some Barter stations only have a limited supply of each item, so once they’ve sold out, you’ll need to find another Buy Station.

How to make all Barter recipes in DMZ

All three-plate vest Barter recipes in DMZ: Comms, Medic, Stealth, and Tempered

Three-plate Medic Vest

• Unlock: Kill the Pyro Commander once.
• Barter Recipe:
  • All maps: Three bandages, one liquor, one watch.

Three-plate Stealth Vest

• Unlock: Kill the Sniper Commander in Koschei Complex once.
• Barter Recipe:
  • Al Mazrah: One encrypted USB drive, one comic book, one game console.
  • Ashika Island: Unavailable.
  • Vondel: Unavailable.

Three-plate Comms Vest

• Unlock: Kill the Wheelson on Ashika Island once.
• Barter Recipe:
  • All maps: One encrypted hard drive, two batteries, one soothing hand cream.

Three-plate Tempered Vest

• Unlock: Kill the Armored Commander (Juggernaut) on Al Mazrah once.
• Barter Recipe:
  • Al Mazrah: Unavailable.
  • Ashika Island: One classified documents, one sensitive documents, two documents.
  • Vondel: Unavailable.

All special backpacks Barter recipes in DMZ: Scavenger Backpack, Secure Backpack

Scavenger Backpack

• Unlock: Kill the Scavenger Commander once.
• Barter Recipe:
  • All maps: One battery, one canned foods, one gun cleaning oil.

Secure Backpack

• Unlock: Kill the Scavenger Commander nine times.
• Barter Recipe:
  • All maps: Two electric drills, two gas cans, one gold skull.

All key Barter recipes in DMZ

Skeleton Key

• Unlock: Kill Velikan in Building 21 once.
• Barter Recipe:
  • Al Mazrah: One GPU, one gold bar.
  • Ashika Island (Skeleton Key – Worn): One videocasette recorder, two gold bars, one vintage wine, and one encrypted hard drive.
  • Vondel: Three three-plate armor vests, three self-revive kits, one gold bar.

Fire Dept. Key

• Barter Recipe:
  • Vondel: Three stronghold keycards, one blow torch, one gun cleaning oil.

Lost Room 403 Key

• Barter Recipe:
  • Ashika Island: Four nuclear fuel.

Sattiq Poppy Farmer House Key

• Barter Recipe:
  • Al Mazrah: Three radiation blockers.

Crane Control Room Key

• Barter Recipe:
  • Al Mazrah: Six stronghold keycards.

All support item Barter recipes in DMZ: Revive Pistol, Armor Box, Durable Gas Mask, and more

• Revive Pistol
  • All maps: One bandage, one soothing hand cream.
• Armor Box
  • All maps: One electrical tape, one screwdriver, one C4.
• Rebreather
  • Al Mazrah: One hard drive, one imported tea.
  • Vondel: One durable gas mask, one gas mask.
• Night Vision Goggles
  • Al Mazrah: One aged wine, one emergency rations.
• Radiation Blocker
  • Al Mazrah: One blow torch.
• Tactical Camera
  • Al Mazrah: One car battery.
• Console Devkit
  • Al Mazrah: Three game consoles, one Golden Skull of Al Bagra Minor, two nuclear fuel.
• Durable Gas Mask
  • Ashika Island: Two toothpaste, one lighter.
  • Vondel: Two toothpaste, one lighter.
• Munitions Box
  • Ashika Island: One imported tea.
  • Vondel: One imported tea.
• GPU
  • Ashika Island: Two gold bars, five thumb drives.
• Gold-Fish
  • Ashika Island: One Ashika Kitsune Original, one dog bank, one cat statue.
• Encryption Key
  • Vondel: One stronghold keycard, one throwing knife, one inflatable decoy, one smoke grenade.
• Self-Revive Kit
  • Vondel: Two bandages, one purified water.

All Koschei Complex Shopkeeper Barter recipes in DMZ

With the introduction of the Season Three Reloaded update in May 2023, players can Barter for old and new items at the Shopkeeper’s Buy Station deep in the heart of Koschei Complex—the subterranean map underneath Al Mazrah.

The Shopkeeper has plenty of the original items from the standard Barter list, plus a couple of unique items useable inside Koschei Complex. Most of the items you’ll need for the recipe can be found scattered around the complex’s rooms.

• Three-Plate Comms Vest
  • One server tape – orange, one formaldehyde.
• Three-Plate Medic Vest
  • One tattered lab notes, one delta board.
• Three-Plate Stealth Vest
  • One chlorine, one server tape – black.
• Tempered Plate Carrier
  • One acetic acid.
• Scavenger Backpack
  • Two server tape – black, two canned foods.
• Secure Backpack
  • Two beta boards, one gold bar.
• Skeleton Key
  • One alpha board, one server tape – silver, one lab code book.
• L2 Restricted Zone Key
  • Four wrenches, two scientist’s notes.

All Building 21 Buy Station Barter recipes in DMZ

Like the Shopkeeper in Koschei Complex, the Building 21 buy station has its own Barter recipes, too. Most of these recipes require items that are quite rare on the regular DMZ maps but are plentiful inside Building 21. Be careful, though, as this raid zone is not for the faint of heart.

• Three-Plate Comms Vest
  • One encrypted hard drive, two batteries, one soothing hand cream.
• Three-Plate Medic Vest
  • Three bandages, one liquor, one watch.
• Tempered Plate Carrier
  • One classified documents, one sensitive documents, two documents.
• Scavenger Backpack
  • One battery, one canned food, two gun cleaning oil.
• Secure Backpack
  • Two electric drills, two gas cans, one gold skull.
• Skeleton Key (Worn)
  • Three encrypted hard drives, two gold bars.
• Research Center Room Key (Worn)
  • Four electrical components, two jumper cables.
• Bunker 11 Keycard
  • One Red Access Card, one Blue Access Card, one Black Access Card, one Green Access Card.
• Durable Gas Mask
  • Two toothpaste, one lighter.
• Revive Pistol
  • One bandage, one soothing hand cream.
• Munitions Box
  • One imported tea.
• Armor Box
  • One electrical tape, one screwdriver, one C4.
• Radiation Blocker
  • One blow torch.
• Tactical Camera
  • One car battery.