Getting killed by a Mosquito Drone killstreak from out of nowhere is no fun, but getting kills with it is hilarious. That’s why you need to get and use the Mosquito Drone and its big brother, the Swarm in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
How to Get the Mosquito Drone and Swarm in Modern Warfare 3
The Mosquito Drone — and the Swarm, which is just lots of drones — are both easily accessed via the Killstreaks menu in the Weapons screen. The difference is in what it takes to get and use them.
- You can select the Mosquito Drone from Level 4 when you unlock the ability to make your own loadouts.
- To unlock the Swarm, you first need to put it as your Armory unlock, then earn eight Armory points by completing Daily Challenges and winning matches.
Using the Mosquito Drone and Swarm follow the same rules as any other killstreak. The difference is the cost. Also, be sure to put them in your killstreaks to be able to use them (more on that below).
How to Use the Mosquito Drone
The Mosquito Drone costs 4 kills or 500 score to use. Remember that because the Mosquito is in the same tier as the UAV, you can’t have both equipped at once. That’s usually not a problem because literally everyone else is probably using UAVs, but it’s something to keep in mind. If you’re wearing the Mission Control Headset, you only need 3 kills or 375 Score, and getting multikills can help speed that up.
After you earn the Mosquito Drone in a match, select it with the D-Pad or press the 3 button on keyboard (both default) to release it. Note that if the Drone doesn’t have a clear line into the sky, you won’t be able to activate it. After release, the drone will fly around for about two minutes looking for an enemy to dive bomb. If it can’t find anyone, it will detonate harmlessly in the air.
You could just fire off the Mosquito Drone and hope it works, but these are my best tips for using it:
- Save it for the start of your next life. As a 3-4 kill killstreak, it’s easy to overwrite the thing. Also, be absolutely sure it has a clear path into the air. I had mine let me launch it, and it flew right into a wall.
- Aim at the sky at the edges of the map if possible. Like the Hunter Killer Drone from Black Ops 2, the more space the Mosquito Drone has to look for enemies, the better. Firing it into the sky beyond the map’s bounds gives your drone all the visibility it could ever want.
How to Use the Swarm
The Swarm costs a whopping 15 kills or 1875 score to use. For all that effort, you call in a swarm of Mosquito Drones that lasts for almost a minute, raining death on everything with vision on the sky. Everything else about the drones is the same: their damage, the sound they make, all of it. There’s just a metric ass-ton of them now, and they’re angry.
For the sake of clarity, wearing the Mission Control Headset makes the Swarm cost 14 kills or 1700 score. You’ll probably need to be better than me to get the streak, and I can’t wait for it to be used against me someday.
Why the Swarm is One of the Best MW3 Killstreaks
Of all the high-level kill streaks, I think the Swarm is one of the best bangs for your buck for two reasons. First, it’s fire and forget. Unlike the Chopper Gunner or AC-130, you can keep it up while you’re still around getting kills and making your way to either your nuke or your next streak.
And unlike the Juggernaut, you aren’t bound to the streak until death. It stays until its duration is used up. Most importantly, there are too many drones to shoot down, meaning the only recourse your enemy has is to hide or die. Such is their fate for letting anyone get the Swarm.
And that’s how to get and use the Mosquito Drone and the Swarm in Modern Warfare 3. For more tips and tricks, check out our guides on how to complete the Hands Off mission in Zombies, the best MCW loadout, and more in our MW3 guides hub.
