You’ll need a weapon to survive the hostile environment that is DMZ, the newest primary multiplayer game mode for Call of Duty released at the start of Modern Warfare 2’s first season and at the launch of Warzone 2.
In DMZ, players can drop in with as much or as little gear as they choose, including potentially up to three weapons, a piece of lethal and tactical equipment, and a single field upgrade. As they travel around landmarks and strongholds, they can collect gear and attempt to extract it at exfil stations, similar to mechanics used by Escape From Tarkov and The Division‘s dark zones.
But what weapons can be brought in and out? Let’s take a look at how bringing, using, and retrieving weapons works in DMZ.
What are contraband weapons?
Contraband weapons are weapons that you can take into DMZ by adding them to your loadout before you start matchmaking. But because they are contraband, if you get killed in DMZ, then they are gone for good.
Players who own MW2 can store up to 20 contraband weapons in their contraband stash, but players who don’t own MW2 can only store up to 10. If you extract weapons from DMZ and you don’t have any leftover slots, you will be forced to destroy contraband weapons until you have room.
Contraband weapons cannot be altered or tuned in the gunsmith in any way. The attachments that are on them when they are extracted are there permanently. You can take a maximum of three contraband weapons into a game with you: two in your primary loadout slots and a third if you have a backpack that can carry it.
What are insured weapons? What weapons can be insured?
You don’t always have to take weapons you’re guaranteed to lose if you die with you into DMZ. Players can use insured slots to designate an insured weapon that will return to their inventory after a cooldown period if they die with it.
Players can use any unlocked weapon from MW2 and/or Warzone 2, as well as any unlocked attachments for that weapon. Players can even set a blueprint weapon into their insured slot (I’d like to recommend the Pendulum battle rifle blueprint, which is unlocked from an early set of faction missions).
Speaking of faction missions, those are your key to unlocking additional insured slots. Every DMZ has one insured slot unlocked. They can earn a second one by completing tier three of each faction’s set of missions and a third insured slot by completing tier five of any one faction set.
Players can also place valuables they loot in dead drop locations around the map to reduce the cooldown of insured slot weapons.
