CoD MW3: Best Tips for Completing Zombies Solo

Zombies is back in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and you can play it solo as long as you can survive it. Our guide will provide you with the best tips for completing Zombies solo, including all the best strategies and items to use.

Best Tips for Completing Zombies Solo in CoD MW3

Here’s a quick breakdown of our list of the best tips for completing Zombies solo in CoD MW3:

• Kill Zombies to Farm Essence
• Upgrade Your Weapons
• Complete Contracts for More Rewards
• Purchase Zombie Perks
• Obtain and Use Crafting Schematics
• Other Zombies Solo Tips and Tricks

Kill Zombies to Farm Essence

One of the best features of the Zombies mode in CoD MW3 is that zombies drop Essence, an in-game currency that allows you to purchase new weapons and weapon upgrades. The only other way to obtain Essence is to complete contracts, but killing zombies and mercenaries is a lot easier.

It’s important to focus on this from the very beginning since surviving as a solo player in Zombies mode is extremely difficult, so you’ll need to have the best possible weaponry on your character. Be sure to aim at elite zombies who drop the highest amount of Essence, as it directly depends on the amount of XP per kill.

Once you have enough Essence to purchase new guns, you need to visit the following locations, indicated on the Deadbolt map:

• Wallbuys
• Buy Stations
• Mystery Boxes

I highly recommend using the loot from the Mystery Boxes, as these often contain the best weapons, even though they’re random.

Upgrade Your Weapons

In time, you’ll need to upgrade your weapons, which you can do via Pack-a-Punch machines. But be sure to farm lots of Essence beforehand, as upgrades are usually very expensive. There are three levels of Pack-a-Punch machines on the Zombies map, with the corresponding upgrades:

• Level 1: 5,000 Essence
• Level 2: 10,000 Essence
• Level 3: 15,000 Essence

Note that each level is located in various threat zones, so the higher the threat, the higher the level upgrade machine you’ll find on the tac-map.

Complete Contracts for More Rewards

Once you’re ready to move forward with new weapons, you can start completing contracts that provide even more rewards in addition to Essence, including Cans, Aether Tools, and Mods. You can identify the locations of the contracts on the tac-map by following the blue phone icons.

Once you find the phone and interact with it, you’ll receive one of the possible contracts to complete, but I believe the best ones are:

• Escort the ACV Contract
• Raid Weapon Stash Contract

Both contracts are extremely easy to finish, even for solo players, and their rewards are excellent.

Purchase Zombie Perks

Once you gain extra Essence from the contract, it would be smart to use them for special perks that can be purchased via the Perk-a-Cola machines, similar to Pack-a-Punch, but for perks. There are no levels here, so just buy the ones that you need, although the following three are my personal favorites:

• PHD Flopper: Immunity from fall damage and AoE damage.
• Quick Revive: Reduces HP regeneration time and ally revival time by 50%.
• Tombstone Soda: Spawns a tombstone upon death, preserving your inventory going into the next matchup.

Obtain and Use Crafting Schematics

Apart from weapon upgrades and perks, you can also unlock various schematics in the Zombies mode. You can use them to craft even better weapons and weapon mods, as well as Aetherium weapon upgrades.

Crafting schematics drop only from reward rifts that appear after each completed contract. Not every reward rift will drop a schematic, or it may not drop the one you’re looking for. But the more contracts you finish, the higher the chance that you’ll get the schematic that you’re looking for the most.

Here’s a short list of some of the best crafting schematics that you’ll need for solo play:

• Best Weapon: Wunderwaffe DG-2 Wonder Weapon
• Best Ammo Mods: Shatter Blast, Cryo Freeze, Napalm Burst

Other Zombies Solo Tips and Tricks

Don’t Neglect Melee Weapons

Of course, having a good firearm against mercenaries is great, but zombies are much easier to kill with simple melee weapons, especially when they’re hoarding. A simple knife or karambit could easily help you deal with low-level zombies without taking any damage.

Use Tactical Stance Often

If you go solo in Zombies mode, you’ll need to be as aware of your surroundings as possible. That’s why you need to enter the tac-stance as much as you can by pressing the RMB on PC or LT/L2 on console.

Related: Tactical Stance: How to Use It, What It Is, and How to Disable It in CoD MW3

Utilize Crouching, Proning, Positioning

Learn how to position yourself in each zone and use crouching and proning to stay out of the enemy’s sight. This tactic is crucial for your survival in solo, where you have no allies to help you and revive you once you’re dead.

That’s it for our list of the best tips for completing Zombies solo in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Stay tuned for more CoD MW3 tips and tricks articles, such as how to find and destroy mercenary convoys and find out whether you play Zombies in split screen.