Modern Warfare 3 Weapon Camos & How To Unlock

Modern Warfare 3 once again introduces hundreds of weapon camos to the game that you can unlock to customize your guns. We explain which base and completionist camos are available this time and how you can unlock them.

MW3 Camos
MW3 has hundreds of weapon camos again. | © Activision

Modern Warfare 3 once again offers a bunch of cool ways to customize your weapons. And that of course includes the weapon camos, which you can unlock in multiplayer or zombies.

Like every year, the camo grind is once again a big part of the appeal of the multiplayer, after all, you want to show how badass you are with your completionist camos...

The special thing about MW3 is that you also have access to all MW2 weapons and, of course, to the weapon camos from Modern Warfare 2 that you have already unlocked. To make things a little easier for you, we'll explain which camos are available in Modern Warfare 3, how to unlock them and which weapons you can use them on.

MW3 Weapon Camos Overview

In total, Modern Warfare 3 offers the following camos, which we explain in more detail below:

  • 18 MW3 Camo Sets (unlocked by playing MW3 weapons in Multiplayer and Zombies)
  • 14 MW2 Camo Sets (unlocked by playing MW2 weapons in Multiplayer and Zombies)
  • 12 MW3 Completionist Camos
  • 4 MW2 Completionist Camos

MW2 Camos: Old & New Camos For MW2 Weapons

As previously announced, you will take all the weapons and camos you unlocked in Modern Warfare 2 with you into Modern Warfare 3. You can still unlock all MW2 camos that you have not yet unlocked in MW3 by completing the corresponding challenges with MW2 weapons.

But can you also use MW2 camos on MW3 weapons? Yes, all basic camos from MW2 can also be used on all MW3 weapons. The only exceptions are the completionist camos (Gold, Platinum, Polyatomic, Orion), which can only be used on MW2 weapons.

MW2 Camos
MW2 Camos can also be unlocked in MW3. | © Activision

But the multiplayer camos from MW2 are not all, because with MW3 there are even new MW2 camos that you can unlock via the Zombies mode. Each MW2 weapon gets four more Zombies base camos and four Zombies completionist camos. You can unlock these camos by completing challenges in MW3 Zombies mode with the corresponding MW2 weapon.

If you want to know what we think of Modern Warfare 3 so far, take a look at our preliminary MW3 review.

MW3 Camos: Multiplayer & Zombies

With the MW3 weapons, the grind starts all over again. As in MW2, each MW3 weapon has up to four individual base camos and four completionist camos, which are unlocked via multiplayer challenges and just as many that are unlocked via zombies challenges.

In contrast to MW2, however, the individual weapon classes in MW3 have different challenges that are better suited to the respective class. For assault rifles, for example, such a challenge could be "Get 50 kills while aiming", while for an SMG it could be "Get 50 kills with hip fire".

MW3 Camos Challenges
The MW3 camos have slightly different unlock challenges this time. | © Activision

The MW3 weapons also have specific zombies camos, of course. Each weapon has four additional base camos and four completionist camos, which are unlocked through challenges in Zombies mode.

Completionist Camos & How To Unlock

But let's be honest, the important camos that everyone wants are of course the completionist camos again. Thanks to a recent blog post from Activision, we already know which challenges you need to complete to unlock them.

Here you can find all MW2 completionist camos and the corresponding challenges:

MultiplayerGold
  • Complete all Base Camo Challenges for the weapon
  • Complete the Gold Camo Challenge: Usually a certain number of kills with the weapon, without dying, a certain number of times.
Platinum
  • Complete the Gold Camo challenge for the specific weapon
  • Complete additional Gold Camo challenges for weapons in the same category
  • Complete the Platinum Camo Challenge: Usually a certain number of Longshot kills with the weapon.
Polyatomic
  • Complete the Platinum Camo challenge for the specific weapon
  • Complete a total of 51 Platinum Camo challenges for MWII weapons
  • Complete the Polyatomic Camo Challenge: Usually a certain number of Headshots with the weapon.
Orion
  • Complete a total of 51 Polyatomic Camo challenges for MWII weapons.
ZombiesGolden Ivory
  • Complete all four Zombie Base Camo Challenges for the specific weapon
  • Complete the Golden Ivory Camo Challenge: Usually a certain number of Zombie kills and a successful Extract with the weapon in a single deployment.
Spinel Husk
  • Complete the Golden Ivory Camo challenge for the specific weapon
  • Complete additional Golden Ivory Camo challenges for weapons in the same category
  • Complete the Spinel Husk Camo Challenge: Usually a certain number of Zombie kills with the weapon while it is Pack-A-Punched.
Arachnida
  • Complete the Spinel Husk Camo challenge for the specific weapon
  • Complete a total of 51 Spinel Husk Camo challenges for MWII weapons
  • Complete the Arachnida Camo Challenge: Usually a set number of Special or Elite Zombie Kills with the weapon.
Bioluminescent
  • Complete a total of 51 Arachnida Camo challenges for MWII weapons
MW3 Gilded Camo
The Gilded Camo from Modern Warfare 3 looks nice. | © Activision

Here you can find all MW3 completionist camos and the corresponding challenges:

MultiplayerGilded
  • Complete all Base Camo Challenges for the weapon
  • Complete an individual Gilded Challenge tailored to the specific weapon (for example, “Get 3 Operator Kills with 1 Magazine 10 times,” (MCW AR).
Forged
  • Complete the Gilded Camo Challenge for the weapon
  • Complete additional Gilded Camo challenges for weapons in the same category
  • Complete an individual Forged Challenge tailored to the specific weapon (for example, “Get 3 Kills without dying 10 times,” (MCW AR).
Priceless
  • Complete the Forged Camo challenge for the specific weapon
  • Complete a total of 36 Forged Camo challenges for MWIII weapons
  • Complete an individual Forged Challenge tailored to the specific weapon (for example, “Get 5 Kills without dying 10 times,” (MCW AR).
Interstellar
  • Complete a total of 36 Priceless Camo challenges for MWIII weapons
ZombiesGolden Enigma
  • Complete all four Zombie Base Camo Challenges for the specific weapon
  • Complete the Golden Ivory Camo Challenge: Usually a certain number of Zombie kills and a successful Extract with the weapon in a single deployment.
Zircon Scale
  • Complete the Golden Enigma Camo challenge for the specific weapon
  • Complete additional Golden Enigma Camo challenges for weapons in the same category
  • Complete the Zircon Scale Camo Challenge: Usually a certain number of Zombie kills with the weapon while it is Pack-A-Punched.
Serpentinite
  • Complete the Zircon Scale Camo challenge for the specific weapon
  • Complete a total of 36 Zircon Scale Camo challenges for MWIII weapons
  • Complete the Serpentinite Camo Challenge: Usually a set number of Special or Elite Zombie Kills with the weapon.
Borealis
  • Complete a total of 36 Serpentinite Camo challenges for MWIII weapons

That's all we know and can say about weapon camos in Modern Warfare 3. Do you grind the completionist camos every year or don't you care about the challenges? If you like camos, you'll definitely have a lot to do with MW3.

Lukas Ballat

Lukas has been passionate about shooters his whole life and at EarlyGame he teaches you everything about CoD, while also taking care of campaigns and partner projects. He also plays Souls-likes and doesn't shy away from the Diablo-grind either....