Traits are the perks your Operator earns in MW4 DMZ. Every Operator has three trees, Warfighter for fighting, Scout for loot and intel, and Survivalist for staying alive, and earns 18 Trait Points to spend across them. That is enough for two full trees, not three, so your choice decides what kind of Operator you play. Below are our three builds for looting, PvP and playing as a team, how the trees work, how Operator Prestige and the Prestige Traits work, and every trait we have found.
- Our builds: Scout plus Survivalist for looting, Warfighter plus Survivalist for PvP, and Scout plus Survivalist with squad traits for team play.
- Three trees per Operator: Warfighter, Scout and Survivalist. 9 rows each, one trait per row, capstones at the top.
- 18 Trait Points per Operator, one per Dog Tag rank. Enough for two full trees.
- Rows 3, 6 and 9 are the same on every Operator. The other rows differ per Operator.
- Prestige resets your trees for a permanent Prestige Trait, but it is still locked in early access.
Best Trait Builds: Looting, PvP and Team Player
These are the builds we run on our own Operators. Each one spends all 18 Trait Points on two full trees, one trait per row. If a trait is not in your tree, take the closest option in that row.
Scout for more cash and printer resources, Survivalist to keep the loot run going.
- 9 Thermal Padding Fixed row
- 8 Cash Ops
- 7 Mini Tracker
- 6 Field Crafting Fixed row
- 5 Resource Management
- 4 Investor
- 3 Container Looter Fixed row
- 2 Resource Pockets
- 1 Stealthy
Thermal Padding Hides from UAVs and downgrades Advanced UAVs to UAV detection.
- 9 Numb The Pain Fixed row
- 8 Metabolism
- 7 Consumable Stacker
- 6 Free Revive Fixed row
- 5 Lucky
- 4 Objective Oriented
- 3 Consumable Duration Fixed row
- 2 Rampage
- 1 Air Superiority
Numb The Pain Applies Painkiller and Smelling Salts effects on revives.
Warfighter for plates, lethals and a second life, Survivalist to stay in the fight.
- 9 Possum Fixed row
- 8 Plate Pouch
- 7 Plate Speed
- 6 Quick Fix Fixed row
- 5 Combat Scanner
- 4 Killing Spree
- 3 Equipment Professional Fixed row
- 2 Auto Fill
- 1 Bounty Hunter
Possum Allows a Self Revive into Last Stand from death, restoring health to maximum, once per match.
- 9 Numb The Pain Fixed row
- 8 Metabolism
- 7 Consumable Stacker
- 6 Impact Smokes Fixed row
- 5 Fuel Economy
- 4 Plate Organization
- 3 Faster Revive Fixed row
- 2 Rampage
- 1 Air Superiority
Numb The Pain Applies Painkiller and Smelling Salts effects on revives.
Scout for intel your whole squad sees, Survivalist for faster revives and a faster exfil.
- 9 Overwatch Fixed row
- 8 Operator Tracker
- 7 Mini Tracker
- 6 UAV Upgrade Fixed row
- 5 Ammo Scavenger
- 4 Ammo Reserves
- 3 Container Looter Fixed row
- 2 Quick Regen
- 1 Stealthy
Overwatch UAV towers you activate never expire.
- 9 Numb The Pain Fixed row
- 8 Metabolism
- 7 Expedited Extraction
- 6 Impact Smokes Fixed row
- 5 Rescuer
- 4 Objective Oriented
- 3 Faster Revive Fixed row
- 2 Rampage
- 1 Air Superiority
Numb The Pain Applies Painkiller and Smelling Salts effects on revives.
The fixed rows, 3, 6 and 9, hold the same traits on every Operator. The other rows are shown as they are on our Operators, Min-Hee for Scout and Hunter Killer for Warfighter and Survivalist. Yours can offer different traits there, so take the closest match.
Looting Build (Scout and Survivalist)
This is the build we level a fresh Operator with. Scout pays you more for everything you pick up: extra cash from ops and extracts, extra printer resources, a chance at an extra item in containers and radar pulses while you loot. Survivalist keeps the loot run going, with longer consumables, better crates from ops, a better chance at useful items when you run low and a free first wound repair. Numb The Pain comes last.
Click to enlarge The Scout half of our looting build. 
PvP Build (Warfighter and Survivalist)
This build wins fights. Plate Speed, Plate Pouch and Plate Organization mean you carry more plates and put them in faster. Auto Fill and Equipment Professional keep your lethals and tacticals topped up. Combat Scanner pings a player you down, Rampage gives you a short Painkiller after a kill, Quick Fix starts your health regeneration sooner, and Possum gives you a second life once per match. Bounty Hunter pays more when you collect bounties.
Click to enlarge Warfighter, topped by Possum. 
Click to enlarge Survivalist, topped by Numb The Pain. 
Team Player Build (Scout and Survivalist)
For a squad we fill Scout and Survivalist with traits that help everyone, not just you.
- Scout. Overwatch in row 9 keeps every UAV tower you activate running, so your whole squad sees enemies. UAV Upgrade in row 6 increases the range and duration of your UAVs and upgrades them to Advanced UAVs. Mini Tracker and Operator Tracker add radar pulses while you loot and enemy footprints to follow.
- Survivalist. Faster Revive in row 3 and Numb The Pain in row 9 get teammates back up faster, with Painkiller and Smelling Salts on the revive. Impact Smokes in row 6 drops smoke when you go down, so your squad can reach you. Rescuer drags downed teammates faster, and Expedited Extraction brings the exfil in much faster for everyone.
Skip Fast Learner and Lucky here, because they only help you. If Resupply shows up in your Survivalist tree, as it does on our Army SF Airborne, take it over Metabolism for two extra plates from every armor box.
Not sure where to start? Spend your first points in the tree you will use most. Two full trees beat three half-finished ones, because the capstones in row 9 only open up once the eight rows below them are filled.
How Traits Work in MW4 DMZ
Open Operators at your FOB and pick Traits. Each Operator has three trees side by side, Warfighter in red, Scout in yellow and Survivalist in teal, plus a fourth tab for Prestige.
- 9 rows per tree. Row 1 is a single starting trait. Rows 3, 6 and 9 have two big traits, and the other rows have three. Row 9 holds the two capstones.
- One trait per row. You climb from the bottom up and take one trait in every row. Rows 3, 6 and 9 are always visible, but the rows with three traits stay hidden as question marks until you take a trait in the row below.
- 18 Trait Points. Your Operator earns a point every time their Dog Tag ranks up, from Steel I to Onyx III. A full tree costs 9 points, so you fill two trees, never three. Our FOB guide explains the Dog Tag ranks.
- Points belong to the Operator. A new Operator starts at zero again, and rescuing an MIA Operator gives their traits back.
The trees are not identical for every Operator. Rows 3, 6 and 9 held the same traits on all three Operators we checked. The starting trait and the rows with three traits were different. Activision calls the six big traits Major Traits and the rest Minor Traits, which are randomized. Our Army SF Airborne starts Survivalist with Rad Blocker, for example, while our Hunter Killer starts it with Air Superiority. A few traits can even appear in a second tree. So treat the builds above as “take these if they show up in your tree”.
Click to enlarge Scout and Survivalist filled. The empty Warfighter tree only shows its starting trait and rows 3, 6 and 9. 
Operator Prestige and Prestige Traits
Once an Operator has all 18 Trait Points, you can Prestige them. For the first Prestige, the Prestige screen asks for three things.
- All 18 Trait Points on that Operator, which means Onyx III.
- 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 the Warfighter, Scout and Survivalist trees reset so you can level them again, and the Operator gains a permanent Prestige Trait, up to three in total. According to Activision that trait is random, and from the fourth Prestige on you are offered a new one that you can swap for one of your three. Prestiging several Operators also unlocks extra rewards.
The price goes up with every Prestige. According to Activision, the second asks for Epic gear and $300,000, and the third and every one after that Legendary gear and $500,000. Our MW4 DMZ deep dive has the full list.
The 12 Prestige Traits are Pro versions of the big traits in rows 6 and 9, four per tree.
| Prestige Trait | Tree | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Adaptive Restock Pro | Warfighter | Enemy hostiles drop rarer additional items. |
| Possum Pro | Warfighter | Allows a Self Revive into Last Stand from death, and removes the tourniquet health penalty, once per match. |
| Quick Fix Pro | Warfighter | Immediately begin health regeneration when an enemy operator or hostile is killed. |
| Viper Sense Pro | Warfighter | Conceals you from thermal optics and AI targeting systems. Also alerts you when an enemy Operator is aiming at you. |
| Overwatch Pro | Scout | UAV towers you activate never expire. Also increases their range. |
| UAV Upgrade Pro | Scout | Increases the range and duration of UAVs and upgrades them to Advanced UAVs. Also expands your minimap. |
| Thermal Padding Pro | Scout | Enhances Thermal Padding to hide occupied vehicles from UAV detection. |
| Field Crafting Pro | Scout | Allows crafting items directly out of Common printer resources while deployed, and reduces the resource cost of each craft by 50%. |
| Free Revive Pro | Survivalist | Automatically repairs your first Wound. Also allows you to tourniquet while Wounded. |
| Numb The Pain Pro | Survivalist | Increases duration of Painkiller and Smelling Salts effects on revives. |
| Impact Smokes Pro | Survivalist | Increases size and duration of smoke released for Impact Smokes. |
| Die Hard Pro | Survivalist | Approaching an exfil while in Last Stand calls the exfil automatically. Also grants infinite bleed out time and faster movement speed while in Last Stand. |
In early access the Prestige Operator button stays locked, even on an Operator that meets 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. 
Every Warfighter Trait
Warfighter is the combat tree: plates, lethals, health regeneration and bounties. The Row column shows where a trait sits when it is in one of the fixed rows. “Varies” means it moves around per Operator.
| Trait | What it does | Row |
|---|---|---|
| Possum | Allows a Self Revive into Last Stand from death, restoring health to maximum, once per match. | 9 (capstone) |
| Adaptive Restock | Enemy hostiles drop one additional item. | 9 (capstone) |
| Quick Fix | Reduces health regeneration delay when an enemy operator or hostile is killed. | 6 |
| Viper Sense | Conceals you from thermal optics and AI targeting systems. | 6 |
| Equipment Professional | Slowly recharges equipped Lethals and Tacticals after use. Refills up to the max capacity of the slot. | 3 |
| Combat Resistance | Reduces damage from explosives and the effects of enemy tacticals. | 3 |
| Adrenaline Burst | Killing an enemy resets tactical sprint. | Varies |
| Auto Fill | Lethals and Tacticals automatically replenish from Backpack. | Varies |
| Bounty Hunter | Increases rewards for collecting bounties. | Varies |
| Bounty Intel | Decreases the cost of purchasing Bounty Intel. | Varies |
| Combat Scanner | Downing a player creates a single UAV pulse on their position. | Varies |
| Final Intel | Final exfil marked on the Tac Map from the start. | Varies |
| Free Prep | Free Loadout adds a random Consumable to the Backpack. | Varies |
| Hostile Ammo | Hostiles drop an additional ammo pack when killed. | Varies |
| Killing Spree | Killing enemies increases the duration of active effects, up to twice their normal duration. | Varies |
| LT Hunter | Activating a Lieutenant Tower reveals an additional Lieutenant. | Varies |
| Plate Pouch | Increases reserve Plate storage by 2. Stacks with Plate Organization. | Varies |
| Plate Speed | Decreases time it takes to insert a Plate. | Varies |
| Popcorn Lethals | Hostiles affected by Lethals have an increased chance to drop Lethals. | Varies |
| Popcorn Tacticals | Hostiles affected by Tacticals have an increased chance to drop Tacticals. | Varies |
| Quick Knife | Replaces weapon bash melee attacks with knife attacks. | Varies |
| Resupply | Ammo restocks and ammo crates give extra ammo. Armor boxes give 2 extra armor plates. | Varies |
Every Scout Trait
Scout is the loot and intel tree: more cash, more printer resources, better containers and UAVs.
| Trait | What it does | Row |
|---|---|---|
| Thermal Padding | Hides from UAVs and downgrades Advanced UAVs to UAV detection. | 9 (capstone) |
| Overwatch | UAV towers you activate never expire. | 9 (capstone) |
| UAV Upgrade | Increases the range and duration of UAVs. Also upgrades them to Advanced UAVs. | 6 |
| Field Crafting | Allows crafting items directly out of Common printer resources while deployed. | 6 |
| Container Looter | Chance to get an extra piece of loot in containers. | 3 |
| Hostile Looter | Enemy hostiles sometimes drop an Uncommon printer ingredient, with a very small chance for a Rare printer ingredient. | 3 |
| Ammo Reserves | Increases ammo reserve amount for all ammo types. | Varies |
| Ammo Scavenger | Gain double ammo from ammo packs. | Varies |
| Auto Fill | Lethals and Tacticals automatically replenish from Backpack. | Varies |
| Cash Ops | Receive 20% more cash from completing Ops. | Varies |
| Combat Scavenger | Hostiles have a small chance to drop an ingredient or valuable when killed. | Varies |
| Faster Learner | Slightly increases operator experience gain. Stacks with Fast Learner. | Varies |
| Investor | Slightly increases cash amount extracted. | Varies |
| Key Cash | Opening a locked space with a key grants cash. Cash increases by rarity of the key. | Varies |
| Mini Tracker | Looting an unopened container has a 50% chance to emit a radar pulse. | Varies |
| Operator Tracker | Allows the tracking of enemy operators via footprints. | Varies |
| Pack Rat | Increases maximum printer resource capacity by 20%. Stacks with Resource Hoarder. | Varies |
| Quick Regen | Slightly reduces Health regeneration delay. | Varies |
| Resource Hoarder | Increases maximum printer resource capacity by 20%. Stacks with Pack Rat. | Varies |
| Resource Management | Picking up printer resources that would exceed max capacity also grants a portion of the pickup to your lowest printer resource. | Varies |
| Resource Pockets | Scrapped items grant 20% more printer resources. | Varies |
| Stealthy | Lets you kill more enemies before a Hunt Squad will pursue you. | Varies |
Every Survivalist Trait
Survivalist keeps you and your squad alive: revives, consumables, radiation and vehicles.
| Trait | What it does | Row |
|---|---|---|
| Numb The Pain | Applies Painkiller and Smelling Salts effects on revives. | 9 (capstone) |
| Die Hard | Approaching an exfil while in Last Stand calls the exfil automatically. Also grants infinite bleed out time while in Last Stand. | 9 (capstone) |
| Impact Smokes | Releases smoke when downed. | 6 |
| Free Revive | Automatically repairs your first Wound. | 6 |
| Consumable Duration | Increases the duration of consumables. | 3 |
| Faster Revive | Increases Revive speeds. | 3 |
| Air Superiority | Extends the duration of UAV towers and SAM sites. | Varies |
| Consumable Stacker | Using a consumable that is already active stacks the durations together, up to twice the base duration. | Varies |
| Deep Breath | Increases underwater breath time. | Varies |
| Expedited Extraction | Extractions arrive much faster. | Varies |
| Fast Learner | Slightly increases operator experience gain. | Varies |
| Faster Learner | Slightly increases operator experience gain. Stacks with Fast Learner. | Varies |
| Fuel Economy | Lowers vehicle fuel consumption. | Varies |
| Lucky | When suffering from a negative effect or short on supplies, increases the chances of finding a useful item. | Varies |
| Mechanic | Doubles refuel and repair speed for vehicles. | Varies |
| Metabolism | Slowly regenerate health lost via tourniquet. | Varies |
| Objective Oriented | Op reward crates are one rarity tier higher, up to Rare. | Varies |
| Operator Tracker | Allows the tracking of enemy operators via footprints. | Varies |
| Plate Organization | Increases reserve Plate storage by 2. Stacks with Plate Pouch. | Varies |
| Rad Blocker | Lowers damage taken from radiation. | Varies |
| Rampage | Applies a short Painkiller effect when killing enemy operators. | Varies |
| Rescuer | Move faster while dragging a downed teammate. | Varies |
Auto Fill, Operator Tracker and Faster Learner turned up in two different trees on our Operators. Faster Learner stacks with Fast Learner, and Plate Pouch stacks with Plate Organization.
Traits pair well with the rest of your setup. Our FOB guide covers the stations and Survival Kits, our Boss Board guide shows where LT Hunter pays off, and our 3D Printer recipes guide shows what Field Crafting lets you print.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do Traits work in MW4 DMZ?
Every Operator has three trait trees, Warfighter, Scout and Survivalist. Each tree has 9 rows and you pick one trait per row, from the bottom up. You earn one Trait Point every time your Operator's Dog Tag ranks up, 18 in total, so you can fill two trees completely but never all three.
How many Trait Points do you get in MW4 DMZ?
18 per Operator, one for every Dog Tag rank from Steel I to Onyx III. Trait Points belong to the Operator who earned them, so a new Operator starts again at zero.
Are the trait trees the same for every Operator?
Not completely. Rows 3, 6 and 9, the rows with two big traits, held the same traits on every Operator we checked. The starting trait and the rows with three traits differ per Operator, and some traits can even show up in another tree.
What is the best trait build for looting in MW4 DMZ?
Our looting build fills Scout with Stealthy, Resource Pockets, Container Looter, Investor, Resource Management, Field Crafting, Mini Tracker, Cash Ops and Thermal Padding, and Survivalist with Air Superiority, Rampage, Consumable Duration, Objective Oriented, Lucky, Free Revive, Consumable Stacker, Metabolism and Numb The Pain.
What is the best PvP trait build in MW4 DMZ?
Warfighter plus Survivalist. Our PvP Operator runs Bounty Hunter, Auto Fill, Equipment Professional, Killing Spree, Combat Scanner, Quick Fix, Plate Speed, Plate Pouch and Possum in Warfighter, with a Survivalist tree built around Rampage, Faster Revive, Plate Organization, Impact Smokes and Numb The Pain.
How do you Prestige an Operator in MW4 DMZ?
For the first Prestige you need all 18 Trait Points on the Operator, eight pieces of Rare gear on them and $200,000 in your Bank. Prestiging resets the three trees and gives the Operator a permanent Prestige Trait, which according to Activision is random, up to three per Operator. In early access the Prestige button is still locked.
What is the best trait build for playing with a squad in MW4 DMZ?
Scout plus Survivalist with squad traits. Take Overwatch, UAV Upgrade, Mini Tracker and Operator Tracker in Scout, and Faster Revive, Impact Smokes, Rescuer, Expedited Extraction and Numb The Pain in Survivalist. Skip Fast Learner and Lucky, because they only help you.
