Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Zombies – How to Upgrade Weapon Rarity

To survive the growing threat levels as players push deeper into the infected Urzikstan of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies, players will want to power up their operator and weapon using the perks, Pack-a-Punch, and weapon mods available around the map.

In addition to upgrading a weapon with the Pack-a-Punch machine, players can also use the aether tools commonly found in Reward Rifts earned by completing contracts to upgrade a weapon’s rarity level. There are five rarity levels players will encounter – here’s how players can boost their weapon to take on stronger enemies in Modern Warfare Zombies.

RELATED: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies – Tips For Completing the Aether Extractors Contract

All Rarity Levels

Making a debut in Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War Zombies along with multiple levels of Pack-a-Punch, players will encounter multiple levels of weapon rarity in Modern Warfare Zombies, ranging from gray (common) to gold (ultra), with each getting stronger than the last:

• Common (Gray) – Common weapons are the weapons players deploy with. They have a gray banner and do not receive any damage bonuses. Players may find gray-tier weapons in the game when killing Tier I mercenaries.
• Uncommon (Green) – Green weapons indicate an uncommon weapon – most prevalent in the Tier I threat zone. Uncommon weapons receive a 50% damage bonus.
• Rare (Blue) – Rare weapons can be found in Tier I, but are more often found in Tier II. Rare weapons are marked with a blue banner and receive a 100% damage bonus – equivalent to Pack-a-Punching a common weapon.
• Epic (Purple) – Epic weapons can be found in Tier II, but are rare in this zone and even in Tier III. Marked by a purple banner, epic weapons receive a 200% damage bonus.
• Legendary (Orange) – Orange weapons are incredibly rare, found in loot crates in the Tier II and III threat areas, and very sparingly at that. Players have the best chance of acquiring Legendary gear by hitting the mystery box late in the game. Legendary gives weapons a 300% damage bonus, and is the highest rarity available to regular weapons (non-wonder weapons).
• Ultra (Gold) – The most coveted of all, Ultra rarity is reserved for the most valuable items in Modern Warfare 3 Zombies, the wonder weapons. Including the Wunderwaffe DG-2 and the Scorcher, ultra-rare weapons do not receive any damage bonuses due to rarity since the rarity of these weapons cannot be altered. They do, however, dish out massive amounts of damage, and can have some cool tactical effects, like the rocket jump feature on the Scorcher.

RELATED: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies – What Are Aether Nests (And How To Clear Them)

How Do I Increase Weapon Rarity?

Unlike Black Ops: Cold War Zombies, players do not have an armory station available for easily upgrading weapon rarity in the game. When players deploy, equipped weapons will always start as common weapons, and players will have to find better weapons or aether tools to upgrade and increase the rarity of the weapon. Players can increase their chances of finding rare weapons by operating in the threat level II and III areas of Urzikstan and can take advantage of the wall buys or the mystery box when in these areas to guarantee the acquisition of a weapon.

If players do not want to depart from their weapon equipped at deployment, players will need to scavenge the mission area to find an aether tool that correlates to a rarity higher than the weapons’ current rarity. Since weapons start at common rarity on deployment, any aether tool found will upgrade the rarity of the weapon to match the tool (i.e. a rare aether tool will upgrade a weapon to rare), although an aether tool of lower quality or matching quality will have no effect on a weapon (i.e. an uncommon or rare aether tool cannot be used with a rare weapon).

As players progress through the missions of Modern Warfare Zombies in Operation Deadbolt, players will acquire a stash of acquisitions and schematics that can be used to enhance operators in the pre-game lobby, taking aetherium crystals, which instantly gives a Pack-a-Punch upgrade to the equipped weapon or perks consumable after loading into Urzikstan. Players can find and stow rare or higher aether tools for use on later deployments (and can be stored in the stash outside the game as long as space is available) and can even earn schematics that allow the crafting of up to a legendary aether tool, allowing players to instantly upgrade their equipped weapon to Purple tier rarity at the start of a match.