The FOB is your base in MW4 DMZ, a walkable camp where you store loot, take new orders, print gear, buy weapons and send your Operator back into Hajin. Most stations are locked when you start. The Vendor opens at DMZ level 5, the Gunsmith at level 10 and the Dog Tag Case at level 20, and the rest of the camp grows with your level and your 3D Printer upgrades. This guide walks through every station, what unlocks when, and what we would actually spend our cash on.
- 3D Printer at DMZ level 2, Vendor at level 5, Gunsmith at level 10, Dog Tag Case at level 20. The Boss Board unlocks through DMZ Orders.
- The Vendor resets daily. Check it every day, because it sells gear you cannot print yet, like the Legendary 3-Plate Armor Vest.
- Survival Kits stack and take no Stash space until you claim them.
- Recruiting an Operator is free. Rescuing an MIA Operator gets more expensive as its Dog Tag rank goes up.
- Operator Prestige needs 18 Trait Points, eight pieces of Rare gear and $200,000, but the button is still locked in early access.
- The Dog Tag Case and the Bounty Leaderboard do not work properly yet in early access.
The FOB at a Glance
You spawn into the FOB after every match. It is a forest camp with a heavy-lift helicopter, armored vehicles, a tent full of stations and a firing range at the back. You can walk up to every station, or open the FOB menu and jump straight to it. When someone calls with new orders, the call comes in here too.
Click to enlarge The FOB with the helicopter on the left and the firing range on the right. 
Click to enlarge Workbenches, vehicles and supply crates in the camp. 
Near the helicopter stands a board that tracks how many 3D Printer recipes and Gunsmith weapons you have unlocked. On our account it reads 37 of 104 recipes and 5 of 28 weapons, so it is a quick way to see how much of DMZ you have really opened up.
Click to enlarge The progress board next to the helicopter. 
Every FOB Station and When It Unlocks
A fresh account starts with the basics. The big stations come with your DMZ level, which you earn from every deployment, even the ones where you do not make it out. Our DMZ level rewards list has every unlock from level 1 to 70.
| Station | Unlocks | What you use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Stash/Loadout | From the start | Store weapons and items, equip your loadout, sell items for cash. |
| DMZ Orders | From the start | Your order pages and their rewards. See our DMZ Orders guide. |
| Operators | From the start | Recruit, equip and rescue Operators. |
| Traits | From the start | Spend Trait Points per Operator. |
| Survival Kits | From the start | Claim the kits you earn from levels and orders. |
| Firing Range | From the start | Test weapons on targets at the back of the camp. |
| Challenges, Events, Store | From the start | Camo and calling card challenges, limited-time events, the store. |
| Bounty Leaderboard | From the start | Weekly top 50 of most wanted players and bounty hunters. |
| Deploy | From the start | Dynamic Ops and Free Roam. Story Missions open after page 1 of DMZ Orders. |
| 3D Printer | DMZ level 2 | Print gear and permanent FOB upgrades. |
| Vendor | DMZ level 5 | Buy weapons and gear with cash. Resets daily. |
| Boss Board | After page 2 of DMZ Orders | Buy Lieutenant intel and track Commanders. See our Boss Board guide. |
| Gunsmith | DMZ level 10 | Buy weapons you own the manual for, and add attachments. |
| Dog Tag Case | DMZ level 20 | Store the Dog Tags of enemy Operators you took out. |
Click to enlarge The FOB menu at level 3. The Gunsmith and Vendor are still locked. 
Stash, Resources and Selling Loot
The Stash is shared by all your Operators. A fresh account has room for 12 weapons and 40 items, sorted into tabs for weapons, consumables, plate carriers, backpacks, tacticals, lethals, field upgrades, fire support, gear, keys, ingredients and misc. Your Loadout and Backpack sit right next to it, so this is also where you gear up before every run.
Printer resources work differently. Loot breaks down into four resources, Synthetics, Electronics, Chemicals and Metals, and those are counted on their own, outside your item slots. Valuables like flight logs or execution footage are only there for cash. Extract them and sell them here. Every item shows its sell value, and the cash goes straight into your Bank.
Click to enlarge The Stash with weapon and item counters and your four resources. 
Station Upgrades From DMZ Levels
Some DMZ level rewards are not items but station upgrades. You get them automatically when you hit the level, and they make the station itself better.
| Station | Upgrade | DMZ level |
|---|---|---|
| 3D Printer | Print Tacticals, Lethals, Field Upgrades, Fire Support | 4, 7, 12, 28 |
| Operators | +1 Operator slot | 15 |
| Vendor | +1 weapon for sale | 18 |
| Vendor | +4 items for sale | 32 |
| Stash | +18 item slots | 22, 45, 70 |
| Weapon Stash | +6 weapon slots | 35, 60 |
| Gunsmith | 5% discount on all purchases | 25 |
| Dog Tag Case | Claimed Bounty payout +10%, +25%, +50%, +100% | 30, 40, 50, 70 |
Until level 4 the 3D Printer only prints gear, backpacks, consumables and upgrades. Each category upgrade adds a new tab of recipes, and our 3D Printer recipes list has all of them.
3D Printer FOB Upgrades
The Upgrades tab in the 3D Printer is where the FOB grows on your terms. These are permanent and cost cash, 3D Printer ingredients or both.
- Bank Upgrade I, II and III: your bank holds $100,000 at the start. The upgrades raise that to $250,000 ($20,000), $500,000 ($50,000) and $1 million ($100,000 plus 5 Infantry Invasion Plans).
- Stash Item Upgrade I: +18 item slots for $10,000, 10 Rigid Synthetics and 10 Electronic Sensors. You start with room for 40 items and 12 weapons.
- Stash Weapon Upgrade I: +6 weapon slots for $50,000, 20 Reactive Metals, 10 Stock Rods and 5 Comms Modules.
- MIA Recovery Discount I: 5% off every Operator rescue, for 5 Regional Combat Notes, 10 Control Units and 10 Rigid Synthetics.
- Gunsmith Upgrade I: 5% off Gunsmith purchases, once the Gunsmith is unlocked.
- Vendor Item Upgrade I: more purchase options at the Vendor, once the Vendor is unlocked.
- Dog Tag Case Upgrade I: more room in the Dog Tag Case.
- Uncommon and Epic Ingredient Printing: lets you print higher-rarity ingredients yourself.
The bank cap matters sooner than you think, because you cannot save past it, and the Vendor and Gunsmith both want big amounts. Need ingredients for these upgrades? Our ingredient locations guide shows where to farm them.
Click to enlarge Bank Upgrade III takes your bank to $1 million. 
Vendor: What It Sells and When It Resets
The Vendor unlocks at DMZ level 5 and sells weapons and gear for cash. The stock resets once a day, and a timer at the top of the screen tells you when. At level 5 you get one weapon and four gear slots. Level 18 adds a second weapon, level 32 adds four more items, and the Vendor Item Upgrade in the 3D Printer opens even more.
This is what our Vendor had at DMZ level 61:
| Item | Type | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Finn LMG | Weapon | $43,250 |
| Oden | Weapon (assault rifle) | $37,500 |
| 3-Plate Armor Vest (Legendary) | Plate carrier | $50,000 |
| Fulton Drop Marker | Field upgrade | $50,000 |
| Door Breacher Charge | Key | $50,000 |
| Artillery Beacon | Fire support | $25,000 |
| 2-Plate Armor Vest | Plate carrier | $7,000 |
| SAM Airburst Turret | Field upgrade | $2,000 |
| Disposable Parachute | Gear | $2,000 |
| Defibrillator | Field upgrade | $2,000 |
Honestly? The Vendor is one of the best stations in the FOB. It sells things you cannot print yet. That 3-Plate Armor Vest costs $50,000, and the only other way to get one is grinding every ingredient yourself and printing it, which takes a long time. If you have cash sitting in your bank, the Vendor turns it into gear, weapons, fire support and field upgrades straight away.
Click to enlarge The Legendary 3-Plate Armor Vest for $50,000. 
Click to enlarge Fire support like the Artillery Beacon is for sale too. 
Gunsmith: Building Your Own Weapon
The Gunsmith unlocks at DMZ level 10, when Gunny joins the FOB. Here you buy any weapon you own the Weapon Manual for, and fit it with the attachments you have unlocked. Every attachment and every extra attachment slot costs cash. Our ISO Nightshade build with an XRK Herder 40 muzzle came to $13,500, with $12,500 for the muzzle and $1,000 for the first attachment slot.
Here’s the thing though. Without the Gunsmith you infil with whatever you looted or printed. With it, you bring a weapon you know, with attachments you picked, and that makes winning a fight a lot more likely. It is expensive, so keep an eye on your bank. A Gunsmith weapon takes up to five attachments, and according to Activision, buying back a Blueprint you lost in Hajin is cheaper than the first time. The Gunsmith also has Weapon Prestige. That resets a weapon to level 1 and relocks its attachments in exchange for prestige camos. You keep your blueprints, but you lose access to APEX attachments.
Click to enlarge Gunny joins the FOB and opens the Gunsmith. 
Click to enlarge An ISO Nightshade build for $13,500. 
Survival Kits
Survival Kits are bundles of stash items you earn from DMZ levels and orders. Open the Survival Kits menu, pick a kit and claim it to move everything inside to your Stash.
| Kit | Rarity | What is inside | DMZ level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Armor Kit | Uncommon | 2-Plate Armor Vests and an Armor Box | 6, 21 |
| Basic Restock Kit | Uncommon | Medium Backpacks, an Ammo Box and an Armor Box | 8, 24 |
| Basic Triage Kit | Uncommon | Bandages, a Medkit, Painkillers and Radiation Blockers | 11 |
| Explosives Equipment Kit | Uncommon | Frag Grenades, Semtex, C4, Proximity Mines and a Gun Store Weapons Locker key | 16 |
| Recon Equipment Kit | Uncommon | Seeker Drone, Recon Drone, Heartbeat Sensors, Snapshot Grenades and a Black Market Weapons Locker key | 19, 46 |
| Triage Kit | Epic | Bandages, Medkits, Self-Revives and Painkillers | 27 |
| Trap Equipment Kit | Uncommon | Razor Wire, Trip Wires, Proximity Mines, Claymores and a Gun Store Weapons Locker key | 42 |
| Ballistic Gel Armor Kit | Epic | Ballistic Gel 2-Plate Armor Vests and Armor Boxes | 54 |
| Advanced SERE Kit | Legendary | Operator Rescue Beacons, Weapon Insurance Contracts, Self-Revives and Medkits | 70 |
We do not claim kits right away. They stack, so you can hold two of the same kit, and as long as they sit in the Survival Kits menu they take up no Stash space. Claim one and all of it lands in your Stash at once. If your Stash is full, the items have nowhere to go and the claim fails. We only claim a kit when we really need what is inside.
Click to enlarge The Basic Restock Kit, ready to claim. 
Click to enlarge A full Stash blocks the claim. 
Operators, Dog Tag Ranks and MIA Rescue
You start with two Operator slots and get a third at DMZ level 15. According to Activision, Vault Edition owners start with three. Recruiting a new Operator into an empty slot is free. Each Operator has its own Dog Tag rank, its own Trait Points and its own fate in Hajin.
Dog Tag Ranks
Your Operator’s Dog Tag ranks up with the XP that Operator earns. There are six ranks with three tiers each, so 18 in total. From low to high they are Steel, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Damascus and Onyx. Every rank up gives that Operator one Trait Point to spend in the Traits menu. Our main Operator is at Onyx III, the top of the ladder.
MIA Rescue
If you fail to exfil, your Operator goes Missing In Action and you cannot deploy with it. You have two options. Pay to rescue it, or dismiss it and recruit someone new. A rescue gives back the Operator’s Traits, unspent Trait Points and Dog Tag rank. Most of the loadout is gone either way.
The rescue price goes up with the Dog Tag rank. We paid $13,000 to rescue our Army SF Airborne at Silver I. When the same Operator went MIA at Damascus III, the price was $65,000, and on a high-rank Operator it can run past $100,000. The MIA Recovery Discount in the 3D Printer takes 5% off.
That is why we take risky runs on a low-rank Operator. If it dies, the rescue is cheap. Keep your high-rank Operator for runs you expect to survive.
Click to enlarge Three Operators, three Dog Tag ranks. 
Click to enlarge Rescuing a Damascus III Operator cost $65,000. 
Operator Prestige
Once an Operator reaches Onyx III and has earned all 18 Trait Points, you can Prestige it. The Prestige screen asks for three things:
- All 18 Trait Points on that Operator.
- Rare gear on the Operator: two weapons, a plate carrier, a backpack and four printer ingredients.
- $200,000 in your Bank.
Everything left on the Operator is consumed. In return its Warfighter, Scout and Survivalist Traits reset so you can level them again, and you pick a permanent Prestige Trait. An Operator can hold up to three. There are twelve to choose from, four per tree. Possum Pro lets you self-revive into Last Stand from death once per match, and Field Crafting Pro lets you craft from Common resources while deployed, at half the cost. Prestiging several Operators unlocks extra rewards.
In early access the Prestige button stays locked, even for players who meet every requirement. We will update this section as soon as it opens.
Click to enlarge The three Prestige requirements. 
Click to enlarge All twelve Prestige Traits. 
Dog Tag Case and Bounty Leaderboard
The Dog Tag Case unlocks at DMZ level 20. It holds the Dog Tags of enemy Operators you took out and extracted with. Select a tag to see its rank, who killed the Operator, when, where and how. You can set one as your favorite. The Dog Tag Case Upgrade in the 3D Printer adds room, and the station upgrades at level 30, 40, 50 and 70 raise the payout when you claim a Bounty.
The Bounty Leaderboard shows the top 50 Most Wanted players and the top 50 Bounty Hunters of the past week, globally or among your friends. It refreshes weekly. For how Bounties work, see the PvP section in our Hajin map guide.
In early access neither station works properly yet. Every tag in our Dog Tag Case shows Steel I, even though plenty of Operators are already at Gold or Onyx, and the Bounty Leaderboard stays empty. We expect both to get a real job once the full game is out, and we will update this guide when they do.
Click to enlarge Eight tags, all showing Steel I in early access. 
Click to enlarge The Most Wanted list, still empty. 
Firing Range, Orders and Events
The Firing Range sits at the back of the camp, with shooting lanes, a spotting scope and targets at different distances around a 50 meter marker. Use it to try a new Gunsmith build before you pay to take it in. One of the first orders on page 1 also sends you here to knock down three targets.
New orders come in by call. The CIA Operator and Grigory, the exfil pilot, ring you at the FOB, and you answer to get your next page. Our DMZ Orders guide lists every page and its rewards. Events and Challenges are menu stations. Events shows limited-time events, like the MW4 Boot Camp at launch, and Challenges tracks your camos and calling cards.
Click to enlarge The Firing Range at the back of the FOB. 
Deploy: Mission Types and Infil Costs
Every run starts at the Deploy station. Pick Story Missions, Dynamic Ops or Free Roam, then choose how you get in. Ground infil is free. The vehicle infils cost DMZ Cash, and each one unlocks through a Story Mission.
| Infil | Cost | Unlocked by |
|---|---|---|
| Ground | Free | From the start |
| Polaris Dagor A1 | $5,000 | Operation Silent Ledger |
| LTV | $25,000 | Operation Iron Citadel |
| Helicopter | $50,000 | Operation Grid Assault |
| Cargo Plane | $100,000 | Operation Fallen Ember |
The Helicopter takes off right from the FOB, and the Cargo Plane drops you exactly where you choose. Broke after a bad run? The Free Loadout gives you basic gear to deploy with.
Our FOB Tips
- Check the Vendor every day. This is the one we would tell every new player. The stock changes daily, and now and then it sells high-end gear you cannot print yet.
- Leave Survival Kits unclaimed. They take no Stash space until you claim them.
- Run risky games on a cheap Operator. MIA rescues get expensive as the Dog Tag rank climbs.
- Upgrade your bank early. A $100,000 cap fills up fast once you start selling loot.
- Build one weapon you know at the Gunsmith. It costs more than a random looted gun, but you win more fights with it.
Ready to head out? Start with our Dynamic Ops guide for quick cash and XP, or find your way around Hajin with our MW4 DMZ map guide.
Have questions? Join our COD Central Discord where 50,000+ members hang out.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the FOB in MW4 DMZ?
The FOB (Forward Operating Base) is your hub between deployments. You walk around it in third person and use its stations to manage your Stash, take DMZ Orders, print gear, buy from the Vendor, build weapons at the Gunsmith, manage Operators and deploy into Hajin.
When do the Vendor, Gunsmith and Dog Tag Case unlock in DMZ?
The 3D Printer unlocks at DMZ level 2, the Vendor at level 5, the Gunsmith at level 10 and the Dog Tag Case at level 20. The Boss Board unlocks through DMZ Orders, once you finish page 2.
How often does the DMZ Vendor reset?
Once a day. The Vendor screen shows a countdown to the next reset, and the stock changes completely. More weapon and gear slots unlock at DMZ level 18 and 32 and through the Vendor Item Upgrade in the 3D Printer.
How much does it cost to rescue an MIA Operator?
It depends on the Operator. Our Army SF Airborne cost $13,000 to rescue at Silver I and $65,000 at Damascus III, so the price climbs with the Dog Tag rank. A rescue gives back the Operator's Traits, unspent Trait Points and Dog Tag rank, but most of the loadout is lost.
Does recruiting a new Operator cost anything?
No. Recruiting a new Operator into an empty slot is free. You start with two Operator slots and get a third at DMZ level 15.
Should you claim Survival Kits right away?
Not always. Unclaimed kits stack in the Survival Kits menu and take up no Stash space. Claiming one moves every item into your Stash, so we only claim a kit when we actually need what is inside.
Can you Prestige an Operator in MW4 DMZ?
Not yet. The Prestige screen asks for 18 Trait Points, eight pieces of Rare gear on the Operator and $200,000 in your Bank, but in early access the Prestige button stays locked even when every requirement is met.
What are the Dog Tag ranks in DMZ?
Every Operator has a Dog Tag that ranks up through Steel, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Damascus and Onyx, each with three tiers. That is 18 ranks, and every rank up gives the Operator one Trait Point.
