Getting XP can be a slog in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. With over 50 weapons to level fully, unlocking access to all the game's attachments and camos can take hundreds of hours at a casual pace. Luckily, there are a few ways you can speed up your XP and weapon XP earnings.
By playing certain multiplayer modes and completing Daily Challenges, it's possible to unlock all of Modern Warfare 2's weapons and attachments in far less time. This short guide will cover ways of getting XP Tokens, the fastest ways of earning account XP, and we'll give an excellent weapon XP farm.
Updated November 27th, 2022, by Charles Burgar: With the launch of Warzone and DMZ, the community has discovered additional strategies for farming XP efficiently. We've updated our guide with new XP-farming strategies that can be performed by free-to-play users and multiplayer owners alike. We've also updated one strategy to include loadout recommendations, further increasing your expected XP earnings per match.
How To Get XP Tokens
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&dpr=1.5)
Before you start any sort of XP farm, you'll want to stock up on XP boosters. XP and Weapon XP Tokens double your XP earnings for a set duration. Tokens last anywhere from 30 minutes to multiple hours, so pay attention to which XP Tokens you're using and when.
You can get XP Tokens and Weapon XP Tokens from the following sources:
- Campaign: Completing the campaign gives three hours worth of XP and Weapon XP Tokens.
-
Promotional Offers: Purchasing certain products will grant codes which can be redeemed for XP Tokens.
- A full list may be found here. Most promotional offers expire on March 29, 2023.
- Purchasing the Vault Edition grants ten hours worth of XP Tokens and Weapon XP Tokens.
- Battle Pass: If MW2 has a similar Battle Pass structure as previous games, it's likely you'll earn a few hours worth of XP Tokens by leveling your Battle Pass rank.
Activating XP Tokens
As of writing, there is no in-game indicator for active Tokens or their current timers. Timers decay in real time, not in-game time.
You can activate your XP Tokens from the matchmaking menu. Upon queueing up for an activity, you'll see a tab labeled 'Tokens' on the bottom-left of your screen, located beside the 'Search Game' button. Select this tab to activate your Tokens.
The Fastest XP Farm
There are two fantastic ways of earning XP: Daily Challenges and objective game modes. We'll be covering both in this section since they're equally important for leveling quickly.
Daily Challenges
Daily Challenge XP is unaffected by XP Tokens.
Each day, you'll be given four challenges for Multiplayer, Spec Ops, DMZ, and Warzone. The first three challenges are immediately available and may be completed at any time before the next daily reset (06:00 UTC). Challenges range from getting certain weapon kills to using Field Upgrades, nothing that is particularly challenging.
Completing all three Daily Challenges will grant a bonus Daily Challenge, providing quadruple the XP when completed. These challenges are slightly more time-consuming but worth it. XP rewards are the following:
- Daily Challenge #1: 2,500 XP
- Daily Challenge #2: 2,500 XP
- Daily Challenge #3: 2,500 XP
- Daily Challenge #4: 10,000 XP
All standalone MW2 modes have unique Daily Challenges, so be sure to complete both playlist challenges for maximum XP earnings. A single set of challenges will grant 17,500 XP, a massive chunk that will help level your account quickly.
Farming Objective Game Modes
Once you've completed your Daily Challenges, we recommend farming objective game types to rank up quickly. Modes like Hardpoint, Domination, Kill Confirmed, and Invasion provide a staggering amount of XP per game. Play the objective, go on killstreaks, and using supportive Field Upgrades will rank you up fairly quickly. Pop an XP Token before a match to level up even faster.
The Fastest Weapon XP Farm
There are numerous ways of leveling your weapons in Modern Warfare 2, both for multiplayer owners and free-to-play players. We'll be covering three XP farms in this section that cover a wide range of game types, so you should be able to find an XP farm that suits you.
Weapon XP Farm #1: Warzone And DMZ Contracts
This strategy does not require ownership of Modern Warfare 2.
Completing contracts and purchasing armor plates is the best XP farm in Modern Warfare 2. The process is quite simple:
- Boot up Warzone or DMZ.
-
Complete any contracts your find.
- Popular contracts include Secure Intel and Safecracker.
-
Get your hands on the weapon you wish to level
- Warzone: Visit a buy station and buy it for $5,000.
- DMZ: Use your insured weapon slot before starting a game.
- With your leveling weapon equipped, spend all of your money on armor plates.
The farm itself is incredibly simple. Contracts themselves give a solid chunk of XP and pay a solid chunk of cash, all of which can be exchanged for armor plates at a local buy station. Armor plates give a massive chunk of XP when bought and have no purchase limit. The only bottleneck here is money. Complete as many contracts as possible to maximize your money and XP earnings. It's possible to max a weapon in a single Warzone game with this method, assuming you spend the entire match completing contacts and buying plates.
Weapon XP Farm #2: Invasion
A great source of Weapon XP is the Invasion playlist. This activity is a variant of Ground War that's 20v20 with bots present on both teams. Defeating a bot is quite easy and grants as much weapon XP as a player kill. Most bots spawn near the end of the map, so you'll want to travel near the enemy's spawn location and farm AI that spawn.
Most of the AI you'll face will spawn from helicopters or drop from the sky as paratroopers. A few bullets from just about any weapon will bring them down, giving you a solid chunk of XP. Stick near an ammo crate when possible to keep your reserves full. Use Tactical Insertion as your Field Upgrade to respawn if you get sniped.
Weapon XP Farm #3: Kill Confirmed
If you've heard of this Invasion farm already and can't stand Warzone or DMZ, give Kill Confirmed a try. Other objective modes like Hardpoint also work, but we have found Kill Confirmed to be a slightly faster grind. You'll want to equip Decoy Grenades, the DDoS Field Upgrade, and the UAV and Counter UAV as pointstreaks.
Your goal is to spam Decoy Grenades near the middle of the map, kill anyone you see, and grab any tags you find. Pop a DDOS when it's charged and you're near enemy equipment. This rapidly levels your weapons when done correctly, granting two or three levels per game without a booster.