Call of Duty Mobile: DMZ Recon
Maps
Loadouts & Talents
Core Gameplay Loop
Loot & The Black Market
Progressing Forward
Welcome to DMZ: Recon
Welcome to Call of Duty® Mobile’s DMZ: Recon, the third major game mode to launch in the Call of Duty: Mobile environment. DMZ: Recon brings in extraction-based gameplay as squads of up to three drop into one of two maps and engage in PvPvE combat against a mix of human and hostiles. Land, fight, loot, and extract to keep what you’ve earned. Die and lose it all.
Deploy to the largescale Serpent Island or battle along the corridors of Building 21. Complete Contracts, find new gear, and evade the expanding cloud of radiation closing in throughout the match. To keep your progress, you must successfully extract before the match ends. Check your map for exfil points and get out of there before it’s too late.
Maps
Launching with DMZ: Recon are two maps, Serpent Island and Building 21. Serpent Island is the main map where you’ll likely be spending most of your time looting, exploring, and progressing. The map is large, similar to a Battle Royale map, with many areas to explore. Building 21 is smaller and far more dangerous. When you’re ready for a challenge, this entirely indoor map will provide a more competitive experience.
Serpent Island
Large and inspired by many fan-favorite Call of Duty maps, Serpent Island has a lot to explore and plenty to loot to help build your arsenal. Complete contracts while fighting in and around the dense urban center, along the Kurohana Ship offshore, and over the halls and rooftops of ancient buildings in this original map mixing iconic sights with new landmarks supporting a diverse range of playstyles.
Take time to explore the map and learn your way around by jumping into the game.
However, if you’d like a safer learning experience with less risk to your gear, be sure to check out the Interactive Serpent Island Tac Map. It’ll help you get an idea of where you may want to move to get the most out of your infil. It’s also a great resource to have up on another screen if you’re able.
Building 21
Building 21 is an entirely indoor map spread over three floors featuring a faster pace and more intense moment-to-moment gameplay compared to the larger Serpent Island. Fight down in the garage around parked vehicles and equipment rooms or move up to the main floor featuring an assortment of offices, restaurants, and living area.
On the second level, skirmish through the laboratory and weapons storage. Building 21’s tighter layout creates a more competitive match experience, perfect for squads looking to sharpen their skills in the forge of constant battle.
Loadouts & Talents
Loadouts
While putting together a Loadout is lightly based on what you plan to accomplish in your next run, it’s also important to know the basics. As long as you have a weapon, Armor and a couple of stacks of Armor Plates, a few stacks of Ammo, and a backpack, you’re at the minimum you’ll need to be successful. If you’re looking to get into a match quickly, try the Quick Fill option during the Pre-Battle phase and you can select one of the pre-made Loadouts.
You can either select the free Loadout or choose one of the upgraded versions. Just remember, you’ll have to pay for any of the items you don’t have yet. But don’t worry, you start with enough to get you going for a bit, just be sure to loot up during a match in order to keep purchasing for later matches.
Talents
There are three different Talent Trees — Scavenger, Assaulter, and Medical. Each with a different set of Active and Passive Skills that can be major boons to you during a match. You can build and craft each Talent Tree to create your own playstyle. Invest your points as you level each Talent Tree in the way that it fits you as a player.
Each Talent has its major benefits, but you can only choose to have one active at a time, however you can level them at the same time by using XP cards and investing them separately into each Talent. You earn Vouchers by leveling up in DMZ: Recon as well as completing Missions.
Scavenger
The Scavenger talent is all about gathering intel. Whether it be detecting enemy activity by seeing enemy footsteps or if a cache was opened recently, or by denying information to the enemy by hiding the armor tier you’re wearing when they’ve hit you.
The main Active Skill allows you to quickly fire a probe that scans a small area, revealing any enemies on your mini-map. The Scavenger Talent is great for solo players as well as players who enjoy providing intel to their squad.
Assaulter
The Assaulter Talent is focused on being an aggressive and deadly Operator. Operate faster and with better precision, giving you the upper hand on the enemy. The main Active Skill allows you to rewind back in time, moving to a position you were in several seconds ago. Useful for quickly escaping an ambush.
The Assaulter Talent is useful against both AI Hostiles as well as enemy Operators because no matter what the target, your abilities will help you eliminate them with speed and accuracy.
Medical
The Medical Talent is a highly defensive Talent that gives both you and your squad a lot of reasons to stay alive and in the fight. The main Active Skill gives you a smoke bomb that you can use to tactically retreat, confuse your enemies, or give you cover to revive a teammate.
With the ability to both provide Armor Plating and Rescue speed upgrades or even giving your team faster Skill cooldowns, having a Medical Talent in your squad can really beef up the whole team and give you an edge when attempting to accomplish any goal.
Core Gameplay Loop
PvPvE
DMZ: Recon is a Player vs. Player vs. Environment (PvPvE) game mode that allows you and your squad to fight both Hostiles as well as other enemy players in the game with you. There will be threats around virtually every corner, which means you should bring a Loadout that leaves you ready to fight anything that ends up in your sights. A caveat to Extraction Shooters like DMZ: Recon is that you are not technically required to fight any enemies to succeed, although that may make things a lot more difficult.
A few tips to help you succeed in a PvPvE environment:
1. You don’t have to engage in a fight, especially if it’s not advantageous to do so. Sometimes spotting an enemy is enough to keep your Operator alive and progressing. Avoid fights you may be under-geared for because losing out on the progress you’ve already gained can be rough.
2. Find allies in other players. Just because they’re technically an enemy and you can remove each other from the match, you don’t have to. Whether it’s through an emote or two or just a simple nod, there are many ways to find common ground in other players. This is a risky move, but sometimes it means you both survive.
3. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by seemingly countless enemies attacking your position, take cover and work with your squad to clear out one section of the map at a time.
4. There are many different types of Hostiles all around DMZ: Recon; Normal Infantry, Rocketeers, Flametroopers, Snipers, etc. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Play to use their weaknesses against them for the best chance at survival. Get up close and personal with Snipers, while keeping your distance with Flametroopers. Each enemy can be eliminated so long as you’re thinking one move ahead.
Contracts
Contracts are your main source of income outside of purely getting lucky on loot. Find Contracts all around Serpent Island to take out HVTs or search for intel and complete them while being rewarded in return. Contracts in a mode like DMZ: Recon brings a whole new flavor to Call of Duty: Mobile. Giving you the opportunity to have many different goals in a single match, you can customize your experience and find strategies to get the most out of each infil before you need to make your way to the Exfil. Whether you want to hunt down enemy squads, crack a safe for high-value loot, or destroy some of the Atlas Corp. materials, the choice is yours.
Contracts can put you in the line of fire of other enemies, but that is the price of work at hand. Be cautious of time when taking a contract, because even though you don’t need to complete it before escaping the map. You also don’t want to be caught focused on completing the task without having enough time to find an Exfil.
Bosses
There are two bosses on Serpent Island, Kui Ji and The Tank. They’re located in very specific points of the map, but they do move around to different spots near those spawn points. So, once you find them, you’ll generally always know where to find them again, especially with a clear mini-map warning once you are close. Finding them is easy, defeating them is a different story.
Kui Ji
Kui Ji is extremely dangerous as he can perform a Finishing Move on you and take you out of the game in an instant. Fight him at a distance and don’t let him close the gap. Defeat him and he’ll drop a rare reward. If you’re brave enough to take him down and escape with this reward, you’ll be able to bring it back to your Warehouse with you. You will need to survive both the fight with Kui Ji as well as the path back to the Exfil. Good luck!
The Tank
The Tank is a heavily armored, heavily armed robot on wheels. If you’re planning on taking The Tank out, you’ll want to bring a lot of ammo to break through its thick armor. The Tank is also best to take down from a distance, or at least near some cover you can get behind quickly because once it gets its sights on you, it will deliver a payload of rounds on your location.
Exfil
When you’re ready to Exfil, there are many options available to you. Just be sure to start looking at these options before the match timer is up and the Radiation Zone begins to spread. Even with a Gas Mask, the Radiation Zone will begin to delete Exfil locations once the Gas has reached each indicated Exfil. So, don’t dilly dally.
There are five different types of Exfils, you can see each one and where they may be located in any given match by using the Serpent Island Tac Map. But it’s important to know which Exfil you’re about to attempt to use because it may require an additional item or some additional time.
Here are each of the different types of Exfils:
Normal Exfil
Indicated by a silhouette entering a door, this is an Exfil that require nothing except your Operator in the indicated zone and sometimes calling in the helicopter. Normally marked by green smoke, once you arrive at the Exfil, as long as you are standing near the smoke, a timer will begin. Once the timer is up, you’ll have successfully exited the match with everything you’ve collected. Keep your head on a swivel because these Exfils are not safe zones and you can be eliminated at any time before that timer is up.
Random Exfil
While many Exfil zones are consistently in certain POIs or locations, there are also random Exfil Zones that may appear in many of areas of the map. Functionally these are similar to Normal Exfils, but they could pop up where you least expect it and save you from an encroaching enemy squad or radiation zone.
Payment Exfil
Similar to a Normal Exfil, you can escape through a Payment Exfil so long as you have the cash to pay for it. This doesn’t mean the amount of money you have in your Warehouse, but that actual cash your Operator has on hand. It’s always good to loot and find cash or remember to pick some up from your Kills. You never know when you’ll need to use a Payment Exfil.
Boat Exfil
The Boat Exfil requires a bit of time, so make sure you get there early. It’s also in a highly dangerous area, so use it after you’ve cleared the POI. Once you find the Boat Exfil terminal, you’ll need to activate it. Then once you’ve done that, you’ll need to head to the actual Exfil location before the timer ends. This is also another reason why you’ll want time to clear the area beforehand. Enemies will attack you as you attempt to Exfil, but as long as you’re diligent, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue to get out.
Train Exfil
The Train Exfil is also a multi-step process, so make sure you work fast. Once you visit the Train Station and interact with the terminal, you’ll need to help upstairs and wait for the Train to arrive. Figuring this out for the first time may be tricky, but listen for that train to roll into the platform and jump on board once it arrives escape before you become stuck on Serpent Island when the Radiation Zone rolls in.
Elevator Exfil
This Exfil location is unique to Building 21 and like others where you have a short countdown before you can escape. Once you hit the call button for the elevator, you and your squad will have to defend that location from Hostiles or other players as they try to take you down before you can escape.
Loot & The Black Market
Loot is one of the main pillars of DMZ: Recon. Yes, there is often a ton of action happening around you, however it’s important to take some time to loot. Often, you’ll have to fight for high tier loot, but this is all part of the progression loop.
When you start playing DMZ: Recon for the first time, you’ll be using very basic and low powered weapons and gear, however you can utilize the Black Market to upgrade your gear and purchase better weapons, better armor, Armor Plates, ammo, and more in order to give you the best chance at having a successful run. However, it’s important to remember that you are risking the gear you purchase but, the higher the risk often yields the highest reward.
Looting is what allows you to be able to purchase more from the Black Market. The more valuables you extract with, the more you’ll be able to sell and gain cash. Cash means you can buy the more expensive items and give you more resources to the next or even future runs.
Looting cash is extremely important during a run because without it you’ll be unable to purchase from Buy Stations or exfil via Pay Exfils. Buy Stations are often needed for long runs when you need to re-up on ammo or Armor Plates. It also helps when you’re about to move to a more dangerous zone and just need some extra explosives to take down the enemy forces.
Note: If there’s an item you really don’t want to lose, be sure to put it in your safe slot, which you can upgrade later to give you more slots.
Safes & Vaults
Safes and Vaults provide high value loot that will bring a lot of attention when you go to crack them. When cracking one of the larger safes, they will sound an alarm for those in the vicinity to hear. This means you’ll need to be on alert as other players may come to make sure you don’t get the loot that’s inside. Before reaching a safe, you may run into some heavy hitting enemy AI Hostiles protecting the loot. You will definitely want to deal with them first.
When you go to crack a safe, there will be a minigame involved where you’ll have to pick the lock. Simply follow the instructions on the screen to unlock the tumblers. Try to get this done quickly because you’ll want to be in and out before the opposition arrives.
Progression
Being eliminated in a match means that you’ll lose all items in your Loadout except for what’s in your safe slot. However, that doesn’t mean you’re barred from progressing in your missions. There may be missions where you’re required to exfil successfully. However, anything that doesn’t require this means that you can complete and gain progress on those missions by completing the objectives.
There are three different types of missions Faction Missions, Weekly Missions, and Achievement Missions. Some may be more similar than others, but it’s important to read the details as they may be specific, especially when it comes to Faction Missions and being required to eliminate enemies from a specific faction.
Reactive Camos
As you complete Missions you’ll progress toward earning Reactive Camos. High-value, dynamic weapon camos that are able to be used across all Call of Duty Mobile Modes. Each of the Camos will require you to complete different Missions, and it will mean you’ll need to complete the long-term challenge, but it is well worth the reward.
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