Just starting out with Call of Duty: Vanguard and want to know how to level up your weapons? Today, we're going to show you how to quickly farm weapon XP in Vanguard.
Bought Vanguard and found that it takes forever to level your weapons? Just realized that every gun needs to go from level 0 to level 70? Panicking? Don't worry, as today, we're going to explain to you how you can most effectively level up your weapons in Vanguard. If you still don't know which one to start with, check out our list of the 10 best weapons in Vanguard.
How to Level Weapons in Vanguard?
Let's get the basics straight first. In order to level up weapons in Vanguard (or any other Call of Duty), you need to earn weapon XP. As you might expect, weapon XP is earned by killing enemies with the appropriate weapon. Each level unlocks another attachment or camo for the weapon. However, there are certain factors that can increase the XP you earn, and certain challenges that can also earn bonus XP. So let's take a closer look.
Weapon XP | How Much XP Do You Need?
Here's a table showing just how much weapon XP is required to reach each level. Each weapon can be upgraded to a maximum of level 70 and requires a total of 150,000 XP to get there. In our table, we've listed the required XP in increments of 10.
Level | required XP per level | XP totaled |
10 | 625 | 5625 |
20 | 1250 | 17.500 |
30 | 1875 | 35.625 |
40 | 2500 | 60.000 |
50 | 2500 | 85.000 |
60 | 2500 | 110.000 |
68 | 3750 | 138.750 |
69 | 5000 | 143.750 |
70 | 6250 | 150.000 |
As you can see above, you usually require the same amount of XP within 10 levels. So going from level 1 to level 2 requires just as much XP as from level 5 to level 6. Only in the last few levels, from level 68 to 70, does the required XP increase significantly.
The Fastest Ways To Level Weapons In Vanguard
Now that we've figured out how to get weapon XP and how much you need per level, let's look at the best ways to farm it as quickly as possible. Logically, the following methods work best when combined to stack XP boosts.
Small Maps
If you want to farm a lot of weapon XP, you have to play on the smallest possible maps. The smaller the map, the more often you will encounter enemies and the faster you will collect a lot of kills. Fortunately, Vanguard has the permanent "Ship Haus 24/7" playlist, in which you can only play on the two smallest maps in the game: Shipment and Das Haus. Unfortunately, since objectives do not give weapon XP, you should only focus on kills. Depending on the game mode and your skill, you can easily get 70 kills or more in one match.
Blitz Mode
In order to have even more enemies and thus targets for kills, you should set the pacing to "Blitz". This setting ensures that you are matched with the maximum possible number of players on each map. Of course, this typically degenerates into chaos, but no matter how many times you die, you will definitely have a decent kill count at the end of the match.Now that the maps and modes are clear, how can we further maximize weapon XP earned?
The Right Operator
In Vanguard, all operators have a specific favorite weapon. Playing the appropriate operator with that weapon grants you a 10% bonus XP for that weapon and also unlocks an XP reward whenever the operator themselves level up. Unfortunately, there isn't an operator for every weapon, but before you level up a weapon, always check whether it might be one of the operators' favorite weapon and use the corresponding XP bonus.
Here is a list of all the operators and their favorite weapons:
Daniel | M1 Garand |
Wade | Type 100 |
Halima | MP-40 |
Polina | 3-Line Rifle |
Solange | NZ-41 |
Shigenori | Type 11 |
Roland | STG44 |
Lucas | Owen Gun |
Beatrice | AS44 |
Arthur | Sten |
Constanze | MG42 |
Padmavati | Combat Shotgun |
Francis | Cooper Carbine |
Lewis | Gorenko Anti-Material Rifle |
Isabella | Welgun |
The Surplus Attachment
Use the Surplus attachment in the kit slot on all weapons once unlocked. This attachment gives you bonus XP for every kill. To be exact, Surplus gives you an additional 20% bonus to your earned weapon XP. Since the perk is usually only unlocked around level 30, you have to grind a bit first, but then it's definitely worth taking for the extra XP when levelling.
Double XP Tokens
Use your Double XP tokens! I'm sure each of you has at least a few lying around. Make sure to activate the weapon XP tokens though, as the others don't affect how quickly your weapon levels up. You can activate a token by clicking the left stick at the main lobby menu, revealing the sidebar you see above. Also keep in mind that tokens will expire even if you are not in a match! So you should use the time after activation as effectively as possible and not take any breaks between individual matches.
Clan Boost
Play with at least one other member of your clan to get yet another XP boost. Matching with a clan member will give you an additional 10% bonus on all weapon XP earned. So if you're not part of a clan yet, it's high time to join one. Of course, there is also some coordination involved when you have to coordinate the gaming times with another player, but if you can manage that, you can level up your weapons in Vanguard even faster. If you manage to combine all these methods and stack all the XP bonuses, you'll receive about three times as much XP as you would if you were just playing normal matches. Of course, it still takes a while to collect an impressive 150,000 XP per weapon (between 2-5 hours depending on the gun), but you level up much faster this way.
Which Modes Are Best For Weapon Leveling?
In principle, Vanguard weapons can be leveled in normal Vanguard multiplayer, Zombies mode and Warzone. However, we recommend leveling your weapons in multiplayer using the method described above, as it takes much longer and is more cumbersome in Zombies mode. You can also level up weapons in Warzone, but since respawns are limited there and matches run much longer, it usually takes far, far longer than in multiplayer. If you still want to try it in Warzone, you should use this method.
That's it for our very detailed guide on how to quickly level weapons in Vanguard. Do you already have all weapons at level 70? What's your favorite weapon in Vanguard? We love the Welgun and the Cooper Carbine.