What is the fastest way to level up in MW4 DMZ? We read the XP breakdown of 71 of our own deployments, from quick loot runs to seven dynamic ops in one match, and turned it into XP per hour. The short answer: repeat a story mission for your DMZ level, chain dynamic ops for your operator, and never sit in a bush to farm the time bonus.
- Fastest DMZ level: story missions on repeat. Every completed mission pays 12,500 XP, and Iron Citadel averaged about 105,000 XP per hour.
- Fastest operator XP: dynamic ops back to back. About 95,000 XP per hour, plus cash in your bank.
- Level 70 takes 1,165,573 XP, about 11 to 12 hours of match time with the best strategies.
- Time in the match pays 450 XP per minute, and you keep your XP when you die. Only the Extracted Bonus is lost.
- Double XP tokens level your MW4 player rank, not your DMZ level, and Orders give no XP at all.
How We Measure
After every deployment the Rating tab of the after-action report lists the XP you earned per activity: the time bonus, kills, containers, ops, missions and so on. We collected that screen for 71 deployments, solo and in a squad, and grouped them by what we did in the match.
Click to enlarge The Rating tab after a solo Iron Citadel run. Every line of this screen went into our numbers. 
The time comes from the same screen. The Deployment Bonus pays exactly 7.5 XP for every second you spend in the match, so it tells us to the second how long each run took. XP per hour on the cards is the XP of a run divided by that time. Loading screens and menus are not included, so your real hourly rate is a bit lower.
Strategy 1: Dynamic Ops Back to Back
This is our go-to way to level. Pick Dynamic Operations on the deploy screen and you drop straight into an op. Finish it, and the next one is already waiting. Every op pays 4,000 to 8,000 XP, and cash on top. Our matches with three or more ops averaged about 50,000 XP in 30 minutes.
Speed comes from moving fast between objectives. A helicopter is the quickest way across Hajin, and flying low keeps you out of trouble. Infil with a helicopter for $50,000, or take the $5,000 light vehicle and drive to the nearest one. A car or LTV works too, it is just slower.
Click to enlarge Dynamic ops back to back: the best strategy for operator XP, and it pays cash too. The op locations are examples, ops spawn in different places every match. 
In a squad, split up. Drop one player at an item while the others head to the next objective, and pick them up on the way. It works best with players who all want the same thing, because randoms rarely feel like speedrunning an op. Chemical Denial is one of the quickest ops, under four minutes in our runs. Hunt Operator pays well, but its target sits in an Extreme zone, so skip it if you want a safe run.
| Ops in the match | Time | XP | XP per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 27:24 | 35,646 | about 78,000 |
| 3 | 27:06 | 41,260 | about 91,000 |
| 4 | 26:33 | 45,216 | about 102,000 |
| 7 | 37:53 | 71,310 | about 113,000 |
The table shows one of our matches for each number of ops. The more ops you fit into one match, the better the rate. All op XP also counts toward your operator, which makes this the best strategy for operator XP. Our dynamic ops guide has a walkthrough for every op.
Strategy 2: Story Missions on Repeat
A finished story mission pays 12,500 XP, and it pays that every time you play it again. Nothing else in DMZ comes close to it in one line. Pick Story Missions on the deploy screen, choose the mission and run it as fast as you can.
For pure XP, Operation Critical Extraction is the one. It is short and relatively easy: get General Kang out of the hospital and onto the chopper. Our squad did it in 9 minutes for about 21,000 XP. Operation Iron Citadel takes longer and is harder, but the armory gives you Epic gear and recipes on top. It averaged about 105,000 XP per hour over six runs, and with a squad of three we finished it in 13 minutes.
Click to enlarge Story missions on repeat: the fastest way to your DMZ level. Critical Extraction is the quickest, Iron Citadel adds loot. 
| Mission | Squad | Time | XP | XP per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Critical Extraction | Squad | 8:40 | 21,206 | about 147,000 |
| Iron Citadel | Squad of 3 | 12:56 | 27,738 | about 129,000 |
| Iron Citadel | Squad | 19:22 | 36,441 | about 113,000 |
| Iron Citadel | Solo | 26:12 | 46,603 | about 107,000 |
| Shopping Hacks | Squad | 21:12 | 30,224 | about 86,000 |
| Fallen Ember | Squad | 20:41 | 29,875 | about 87,000 |
Bring a squad if you grind this. Solo, one down without a self-revive ends the run, while a teammate can pick you up, and every objective goes faster with more players. Looking for people to grind with? Our Discord is full of them, see the end of this guide.
The 12,500 mission XP counts for your DMZ level, but not for your operator. If you are leveling an operator for Trait Points, dynamic ops are the better choice.
Strategy 3: Kill Farming at the Air Base
Every hostile you kill pays 75 XP, and Chang-san Air Base never runs out of them. Solo during Iron Citadel we killed 150 to 160 enemies in one match without even trying to farm. If you go for kills on purpose and hold a spot next to an ammo cache, 200 to 300 kills is possible.
Click to enlarge Kill farming at the air base: hold a spot next to an ammo cache and let the base come to you. 
It is less than it sounds. 150 kills is 11,250 XP, about as much as two dynamic ops, and our kill-heavy matches at the air base without finishing the mission came to about 70,000 XP per hour. Almost half of that still came from the time bonus. Bring a lot of ammo or stay close to an ammo cache, armor and a self-revive, because the base keeps sending enemies at you. It works best as a bonus on top of Iron Citadel, not as a strategy on its own.
Strategy 4: XP While You Loot
Every container you open pays 75 XP, a safe counts as one, and you still collect the time bonus. Our loot strategies show what that adds up to. The air base sweep gave about 71,000 XP per hour, the six bunkers and the safe run about 48,000.
Click to enlarge XP while you loot: the air base sweep gives the most XP of our loot routes. 
Opening a container and taking everything out costs time, so if XP is your only goal, run the objectives and skip the looting. For a mix of XP and loot, only open what matters: weapon lockers and safes. A safe takes about ten extra seconds and is always worth it.
Side by Side
| Dynamic ops | Story missions | Kill farming | Loot routes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XP per hour | about 95,000 | about 105,000 | about 70,000 | about 48,000 to 71,000 |
| Operator XP per hour | about 95,000 | about 72,000 | about 70,000 | about 48,000 to 71,000 |
| XP per run | about 50,000 | about 39,000 | about 38,000 | about 9,000 to 18,000 |
| Run time | about 30 minutes | about 22 minutes, 9 to 13 in a squad | about 32 minutes | about 11 to 17 minutes |
| Risk | Medium | Medium to high | High | Low to high |
| Best for | Operator XP and cash | DMZ level | A bonus on top of Iron Citadel | Loot first, XP on the side |
How XP Works in DMZ
Click to enlarge The whole DMZ XP system on one page. Open it full size to save or share it. 
The Rating tab after a match pays these amounts. The popups you see during the match show slightly higher numbers, and your level bar ends up a little above the Rating total, but the order of what pays the most stays the same.
| XP source | XP |
|---|---|
| Time in the match (Deployment Bonus) | 450 per minute |
| Extracting (Extracted Bonus) | 500 plus a fifth of the Deployment Bonus |
| Story mission completed | 12,500 |
| Dynamic op completed | 4,000 to 8,000 |
| Unfinished dynamic op | 250 per finished step |
| Boss and Lieutenant kills | 500 to 1,500 |
| Operator or Lieutenant Dog Tag | 1,000 |
| Door unlocked with a key | 300 |
| Side op completed | Usually 150 |
| Player revived | Up to 100 |
| Hostile kill, operator kill or loot container | 75 each |
Just being in a match and getting out pays about 32,000 XP per hour, so in a normal run the time bonus is a big part of your XP. That does not make waiting worth it. Half an hour of hiding pays about 16,000 XP, while the same half hour spent on dynamic ops paid us around 50,000. Stay longer only when you are still doing ops or objectives.
Four Kinds of XP
DMZ moves four different bars, and they don’t all fill from the same things.
- DMZ level. Your account level from 1 to 70. It unlocks the FOB stations and everything in our level rewards list, and it fills with everything on the Rating tab. DMZ Orders give no XP themselves, but their chapters end in story missions.
- Operator XP. Every operator has its own Dog Tag that levels from Steel to Onyx and gives a Trait Point per level. It fills from the same XP as your DMZ level, except the 12,500 for a story mission, which never counts toward your operator.
- MW4 player rank. Your global Call of Duty rank up to Prestige 10 and Prestige Master. DMZ counts toward it, and this is where Double XP tokens work.
- Weapon XP. Levels the gun in your hands, and Double Weapon XP tokens speed it up.
After every match, the Level tab of the after-action report shows two of these bars. The DMZ LEVEL bar at the top is your account level, the DOG TAG bar below it is the operator you just played. A story mission makes the difference easy to see. After our Critical Extraction run the DMZ bar went up 20,860 XP and the Dog Tag bar only 8,293, because the 12,500 for the mission skips your operator.
Click to enlarge The Level tab: DMZ level on top, your operator's Dog Tag below. Story mission XP only moves the top bar. 
Double XP Tokens
The Rating tab shows Double XP Active when a token runs, but our DMZ level filled at the normal rate in those matches. The token doubles your MW4 player rank instead. Tokens are paused outside a match, so you lose nothing in the menus. DMZ is a good place to burn them: the rank goes up quickly, and playing DMZ feels a lot less like a grind than sweating through Shipment for hours.
Dying and MIA
When you die, you keep all XP from the match, including a story mission you already finished. The only line you miss is the Extracted Bonus. The real cost is your operator: it goes Missing in Action, and rescuing it gets expensive at higher Dog Tag ranks. You don’t have to play aggressively for XP. Play fast, avoid fights you don’t need, and offer a truce through your ping wheel or drive past other squads.
Operator XP and Prestige
Once your DMZ level is maxed, operators are what you level. Every Dog Tag level costs about 12% more XP than the one before. The first level takes 8,372 XP, Gold takes about 144,000 XP in total, and from Steel to Onyx III is about 450,000 XP per operator. With back to back dynamic ops that is around five hours.
When an operator has all 18 Trait Points, you can prestige it. That resets its trait trees and gives a random permanent Pro trait. The first prestige costs $200,000 and a set of Rare gear, the second $300,000 and Epic gear, and every one after that $500,000 and Legendary gear. We would prestige at least three times, so all three Pro trait slots are filled. After that, only prestige again if you want to reroll a Pro trait.
The Fast Learner and Faster Learner traits slightly increase operator XP. Only take them if prestiging fast is your goal. If your operator is already maxed and you don’t plan to prestige again, put those points into traits that help your build.
How Long to Level 70
The DMZ level curve is almost flat, so every level costs about the same.
| DMZ level | Total XP | With story missions | With loot routes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 137,806 | about 1.3 hours | about 2 to 3 hours |
| 30 | 459,845 | about 4.5 hours | about 6.5 to 10 hours |
| 50 | 802,528 | about 7.5 hours | about 11 to 17 hours |
| 70 | 1,165,573 | about 11 hours | about 16 to 25 hours |
Those are hours in a match, so add your time in menus and loading screens. DMZ level 70 comes rather fast. After that, more XP only matters for your operators and for your MW4 player rank.
Tips for Faster XP
- Play with a fixed squad that wants the same thing. A squad that speedruns together is far faster than solo or a squad of randoms.
- Bring a Medkit and a self-revive, so one mistake does not end the run.
- Infil with a vehicle. The $5,000 light vehicle or a helicopter gets you moving right away, and an armored LTV keeps you alive between objectives.
- Skip the looting when XP is the goal, except safes and weapon lockers.
- Don’t wait out the clock for the time bonus. Another op pays far more.
- Have fun with it. If you enjoy the runs, you keep playing, and that gets you further than grinding until you burn out.
Looking for a squad to grind XP with? Join our COD Central Discord where 50,000+ members hang out.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fastest way to level up in MW4 DMZ?
Repeat a story mission. Every completed story mission pays 12,500 XP, every time. Operation Critical Extraction was our fastest at about 21,000 XP in 9 minutes, and Operation Iron Citadel averaged about 105,000 XP per hour. Chaining three or more dynamic ops in one match comes close at about 95,000 XP per hour, and it also pays cash.
How much XP do you need for DMZ level 70?
Level 70 takes 1,165,573 DMZ XP in total. Level 2 costs 15,050 XP and every level after that costs a little more, up to 18,634 XP for level 70. With story missions or dynamic ops that is roughly 11 to 12 hours of match time.
Do Double XP tokens work in DMZ?
They work on your MW4 player rank, not on your DMZ level. The rating screen shows Double XP Active, but in our runs the DMZ level filled at the normal rate. Using tokens in DMZ is still a good way to level your player rank, because DMZ is a relaxed place to play while they run.
Do DMZ Orders give XP?
No. Orders reward cash, items, Survival Kits and station upgrades, but none of the rewards is XP. They still help indirectly, because the last order of a chapter is often a story mission.
Do you lose XP when you die in DMZ?
Almost nothing. You keep all XP from the match, including a story mission you finished, and only miss the Extracted Bonus. What really hurts is the operator, because a Missing in Action operator costs cash to rescue.
What is the best way to level up an operator in DMZ?
Dynamic ops. Operator XP works like DMZ XP, except the 12,500 for a story mission does not count toward it. That makes back to back dynamic ops the fastest way to fill a Dog Tag, at about 95,000 operator XP per hour.
