How to get a Nuke in Warzone 3

There's a new way to get nukes in Warzone.

Water combat in Warzone
Image via Activision

Raven Software brought back the Champions Quest contract for Modern Warfare 3’s iteration of Warzone. Here is everything you need to know about earning a nuke and unlocking the exclusive operator skin.

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The Tactical Nuke has been a staple in CoD multiplayer since Modern Warfare 2 (2009). By getting 25 consecutive kills without dying, a bomb ended the match. The Killstreak went on to appear in several other series entries, and Warzone 2 adopted the nuke and molded it to fit into a battle royale game.

Instead of racking up kills, squads had to complete a contract by collecting elements and constructing a bomb. The end result, however, was the same, as an explosion ended the match early. The contract is back for Warzone 3, with the same unique twist.

Champions Quest contract in Warzone
The Champions Quest Contract looks much different than Warzone 2.

How to get a nuke in Warzone 3 and unlock the nuke skin

To get a nuke in Warzone 3, squads must first complete the Champion’s Quest contract. This contract only appears after winning five consecutive matches, or 30 total matches.

Once the Champion’s Quest contract does appear in your game, one player from the squad must start the contract by picking up. The contract is marked on the map as a yellow crown with the letters WZ in the middle of it.

Once the contract is initiated, a 20-minute timer starts and players have to complete Champions Quest within that timeframe.

Here are all of the steps after the timer starts.

Locate Elements

In the first stage of the Champion’s Quest, squads are tasked with collecting three different elements, (Beryllium, Plutonium, and Tritium). First, players must acquire a Geiger counter, marked on the map as a yellow phone with a wings icon.

After opening the chest and looting the Geiger counter, the next step is to enter the marked area, shown as a green circle on the map. Within the highlighted area, players have to locate the radioactive cache. Players can use the Geiger counter as a compass, and can tell if they are close to the cache when the radiation level gets higher.

The radioactive cache contains the first element. Next, the squad needs to locate the nuclear safe, and open it with a drill. The Drilling process only takes a few moments, and once the safe is open, it drops the second element.

Finally, the third and final element is collected by Shooting down the nuclear chopper. A yellow icon on the map marks the helicopter and can be brought down with a few rounds of ammunition. The helicopter’s crash site drops a crate with the last element needed to set off the next stage of the contract.

Awaiting Bomb Revival

Upon collecting all three elements, the squad must wait while the bomb site slowly descends from the sky. The bomb site drops from the sky and kicks off the contract’s final leg. Players can find the bomb site by looking for a yellow radioactive icon with wings on the map.

Assemble the Nuke

In this stage, the squad must put all three elements into the Nuke. This step comes with an added layer of danger, as after collecting every element, an enemy can steal and hold onto them to kill off the 20-minute timer.

Defend the Nuke

Once all three elements are in the nuke, they must defend the bombsite for two minutes. During this window, enemy teams can defuse the bomb, and players must re-detonate it. The match will end if successfully defended, and the team will complete the Champion’s Quest contract.

It’s important to note that each individual player has a winning streak. So, if all four players met the five consecutive matches or 30 total match threshold, that quad would technically have four attempts to complete the contract because each team member has a chance to complete the contract

Champions Quest Contract rewards

Here are the rewards for completing the Champions Quest contract and getting a nuke.

  • Operator Skin: Meltdown 240
  • Weapons Camo: Acerbic Roil
  • Emblem: Number 1
  • Weapon Sticker: Nuke Crew
  • Weapon Charm: Atomic
  • Calling Card: Big Boom
  • Weapon Sticker: Warning: Nuke
  • Emblem: Dangerous Material
Author
Image of Ryan Lemay
Ryan Lemay
Ryan graduated from Ithaca College in 2021 with a sports media degree and a journalism minor. He gained experience as a writer with the Morning Times newspaper and then Dexerto as a games writer. He mainly writes about first-person shooters, including Call of Duty and Battlefield, but he is also a big FIFA fan. You can contact him at ryanlemay@dotesports.com.