This weekend is the perfect time to grind in Modern Warfare II

By Sam Hill December 16, 2022

If you’re trying to unlock the top camos for every weapon or rank up your Operator in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, this weekend is going to be the best time to grind. With the launch of Season 01 Reloaded comes the perfect storm for quick and easy leveling — a Double XP weekend and the return of the iconic (and chaotic) Shipment map.

The Shipment map is one of the smallest to ever be featured in Call of Duty. It’s set on a cargo ship filled with shipping containers and there’s virtually no cover except for a few containers you can enter.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Despite the Shipment 24/7 playlist limiting teams to just six players, the way the map operates makes it feel like there are hundreds of enemies squeezed into this small map. Because of the extremely compact setting, spawn points are an absolute mess — you never know where the enemy team is going to be coming from. You can turn any corner on the map and there will be bullets flying your way. This makes Shipment the perfect map for racking up kills.

Recommended Videos

Run around with a shotgun and one-shot enemies around every corner or rock an SMG and just spray down tight corridors to pick up double-kills. Assault rifles are absolutely deadly with the total length of the map being shorter than max-range for most options. Snipers and LMGs are a little harder to use given the fast-paced nature of the map (you’ll be dead before you can ADS with the RAAL MG), but you can manage if you play a little slower.

No matter what camo challenge you’re trying to complete or gun you’re trying to level up, you will easily leapfrog levels playing Shipment — even with your least favorite weapons. Rookies who rarely ever have positive kill-death ratios can walk away with a clean 25 kills, while more seasoned players can throw down 40, 50 or even 60 kills without too much effort.

While leveling up the Bryson 800 shotgun, I was dreading attempting the gold camo challenge that requires getting three kills without dying on 10 separate spawns. Not impossible, but always a pain to attempt on some of the normal, larger maps. On Shipment, I was able to get there in just two games. Even if you aren’t doing particularly well and are dying more than you’re getting eliminations, you’re still getting more experience faster than you would on any other map.

Shipment on #ModernWarfareII is insane.

Totally normal match stats here pic.twitter.com/QyQiLjMPdl

— Sam Hill (@samahill) December 15, 2022

If the Shipment grind wasn’t easy enough, you’ll get even more experience this weekend with a Double XP to celebrate the new season. Double XP and Double Weapon XP will be active across all platforms during its extended launch weekend, from 10 a.m. PT on December 15 to 10 a.m. PT on December 19.

Shipment will be included in playlists throughout Season 1, but there’s no promise that the Shipment 24/7 playlist will stick around long or that the map will be included past the season’s end. Be sure to take advantage of this insane leveling opportunity this weekend and make some moves toward earning those Orion camos.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Tech News

Gaming Guides Editor

Sam Hill is a journalist and the gaming guides editor at Digital Trends. He's also written tech guides for Input and has…

Gaming

The best field upgrades for Modern Warfare 3 Zombies

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's Zombies mode puts a slight twist on the mechanics you are already familiar with. It now plays much more like a souped-up DMZ mode rather than its old round-based format. And Field Upgrades have been modified in terms of both their effects and how you get them just for this game type. There are six different Field Upgrades you can bring into the map and use on a cooldown timer to help improve your chances of survival, but you can only pick one at a time. You will begin the game with only one option, but steadily unlock the rest as you level up. Once you have them all, the question then becomes which is the best Field Upgrade? We've managed to exfiltrate with the answer.

Healing Aura
Regardless of whether or not you're playing with a team or running solo, Healing Aura is no doubt the best Field Upgrade to bring on any Zombie run. When activated, you and any teammates in the area will not only gain immediate healing, but it will also instantly revive any downed teammates. The downside to all this power is that this upgrade has the slowest recharge time and is unlocked at level 19.
Aether Shroud
This is another upgrade that you will be glad to have. Aether Shroud makes you you temporary invisibile to all Zombies. This won't make you invincible, mind you, and PMCs can still take shots, but if you're getting swarmed and have no way to escape, becoming instantly invisible to a bloodthirsty pack of zombies can save your skin more often than you think. This upgrade has a medium recharge rate and is unlocked when you hit level 39.
Frenzied Guard
Just past the halfway mark, Frenzied Guard has a massive upside, but not without some risk. When you pop this Field Upgrade, you instantly repair all your armor, but also draw all the aggression of any enemy nearby for 10 seconds. However, another perk is that anything you kill during this time also repairs your armor, so situationally, it can be great or detrimental. This one recharges slowly, unlocking at level 9.
Frost Blast
Frost Blast does exactly what you expect: it fires a freezing blast that will slow down any enemy you hit with it and deal a bit of damage. It's decent in a pinch, but not a game-changer. You can get it when you hit level 29.
Tesla Storm
An odd ability on paper, Tesla Storm is only good if you have a team working together. Activating it will create a lightning chain between you and your team that will damage and stun enemies that get close to any one of you. It lasts for 10 seconds and can be great in the final moments while holding out for an extraction, but not in other situations. It recharges slowly and is the last upgrade you unlock at level 50.
Energy Mine
This is your default Field Upgrade, so it makes sense that it's the "worst" on the list. Energy Mine isn't exactly bad; you simply lay down a mine that does what a mine does -- explodes. It's just that setting up traps like this in Zombies isn't all that applicable except when kiting a boss around or waiting for the helicopter. It has a medium recharge speed.

Gaming

How to fix packet burst in Modern Warfare 3

The last thing anyone wants to see when booting up a game like Modern Warfare 3 to head online with your friends is to be stopped by an error. Online games are susceptible to all types of problems beyond the player's control, leading to plenty of frustration and disappointment in a possibly ruined experience. While there are more substantial issues that can completely prevent you from playing, seeing the packet burst issue is almost worse because, while it does let you play, you will experience a ton of lag that makes the game essentially unplayable. If you've been struck by a packet burst error in Modern Warfare 3, here are some possible solutions so you can get back to fragging.
How to fix packet burst errors

If you spot a symbol of three squares on the left of your screen while playing Modern Warfare 3, it means you're suffering from a packet burst. This is essentially an error where something is messed up in the communication between your system and the game's servers, resulting in terrible performance. While it could be simply an issue on the server side and not related to you at all, which you can check by looking at the Modern Warfare 3 server status here, there are a few things you can do to potentially fix the issue on your end.

Gaming

Modern Warfare 3 Zombies: Mercenary Convoy guide

The old format of Zombies has been left behind in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in favor of a more open-world, objective-based take on the undead survival game type. This time, you will squad up and drop into a map with specific objectives you can choose to complete to earn tons of XP, while also pushing the narrative forward and unlocking new, more difficult tasks to take on. The early-tier missions are generally very simple, but in Act 1, you will be given the objective to find and destroy a Mercenary Convoy somewhere on the map. This sounds easy enough on paper until you realize you have no idea where this convey is or how to find it. Every run in Zombies risks losing all your hard-earned progress, so we'll lead you to the Mercenary Convoy to take it out before the zombies even know you were there.
How to find the Mercenary Convoy

Your first challenge will be to find this Mercenary Convoy. The problem here is twofold: first is that it isn't marked on your map in any way, and second is that, being a convoy, it is mobile. Once you land, you and your team should find the nearest vehicle and head toward the center of the map. Depending on how the threat levels are on your particular map, you are looking for roads and highways that are around the medium-threat level zone. You will have to patrol these roads until you come across the convoy, which only consists of three vehicles. Once you are in range, it does appear on your map to let you know you've found it.