The Forward Operating Base is where everything in MW4 DMZ happens between deployments: you build your loadout, craft gear, buy weapons, track bosses and decide what to risk on the next run. It starts with only a handful of stations, and the rest unlock as your DMZ Level rises, from the 3D Printer at level 2 to the Dog Tag Case at level 20. How fast you upgrade the FOB decides how fast you grow, because its upgrades raise your bank cap, your stash space and the quality of what you can print. Below we go through every FOB station, when it unlocks, what to build first at the 3D Printer, how the Gunsmith prices work and how to manage your Operators.
The FOB is a small base you walk around between deployments, and each station is a screen you open by walking up to it. You can also jump between stations from the menu bar on the left. Six stations are open from the start, and five more unlock with DMZ Level and story progress.
| Station | What it does | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| Operators | Choose and manage Active Duty Operators, traits and prestige | Start |
| DMZ Orders | Story chapters with tasks and rewards | Start |
| Stash and Loadout | Store items and weapons, build your kit | Start |
| Firing Range | Test weapons on targets from under 10 to over 100 meters | Start |
| Survival Kits | Claim free kits from events, editions and rewards | Start |
| Bounty Leaderboard | Weekly top 50 Most Wanted and Bounty Hunters | Start |
| 3D Printer | Craft gear and FOB upgrades from resources | DMZ Level 2 |
| Boss Board | Bounties and intel on lieutenants and commanders | After your 2nd DMZ Order |
| Vendor | Buy and sell, stock rotates daily | DMZ Level 5 |
| Gunsmith | Buy weapons and attachment slots, build loadouts | DMZ Level 10 |
| Dog Tag Case | Store lieutenant dog tags | DMZ Level 20 |
The Deploy station and the DMZ Progression and Events screens are also part of the FOB, and the Ready Up screen is where you equip the Free Loadout, edit your kit and toggle Squad Fill.
The stash starts with room for 40 items and 12 weapons, shared by every Operator on your account. Each Operator keeps a separate backpack and loadout, so a second Operator works as extra storage. Resources (Synthetics, Electronics, Chemicals and Metals) are stored separately and take no stash slots.
Armor plates refill automatically when you deploy, and your equipped lethal and tactical slots refill to two. Extra plates beyond your vest come only from traits or the Armor Box field upgrade.
Survival Kits come in five types: Deployment, Triage, Armor, Equipment and SERE. They stack unopened at the station and take no stash space until you claim them, so open them only when you need the contents. The Vault Edition's Deployment Kit holds two Weapon Insurance Contracts, two Operator Rescue Beacons, two Fulton Drop Markers, two Medium Backpacks and two 2-Plate Carriers.
The 3D Printer opens at DMZ Level 2 and is the heart of the FOB. It crafts consumables and gear from the resources you loot, and it builds the upgrades that grow the base. New recipes come from DMZ levels, DMZ Orders and recipes you find in Hajin and extract with. A looted recipe is used up when you extract and also pays 5,000 DMZ Cash.
The first recipes cover the basics:
| Item | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Bandage | 15 Synthetics, 15 Chemicals |
| Medkit | 30 Chemicals, 1 Binding Catalyst, 5 Biomaterials |
| Energy Drink | 10 Chemicals, 10 Metals |
| 1-Plate Vest | 25 Synthetics, 25 Metals |
| 2-Plate Vest | 50 Synthetics, 5 Reactive Metals |
| Small Backpack | 25 Synthetics, 25 Metals |
| Medium Backpack with a Secure Slot | 50 Synthetics, 5 Rigid Synthetics |
The Upgrades tab of the 3D Printer holds the upgrades that make every later run better:
Press Triangle or Y on a recipe to track it, and its ingredients get a pin icon in Hajin. The Ingredient Locations button shows where each one is most likely to spawn.
The Gunsmith opens at DMZ Level 10 and sells all 32 launch firearms. A base rifle like the M4 costs about 5,000 DMZ Cash. Each weapon has five attachment slots you buy one by one, and each slot costs more than the last, up to around 50,000 for the fifth. Every attachment also has its own price. The Apex slot costs nothing once the weapon is fully leveled.
A few rules explain what you can buy:
Weapons you find in Hajin can carry up to eight attachments, more than you can buy at the Gunsmith.
The Vendor opens at DMZ Level 5 and sells and buys items. Its stock rotates once a day. It is the place to sell valuables, but check your tracked recipes first: some gem-icon items are FOB upgrade ingredients. Skip the most expensive rifles early on; that cash does more as bank and stash upgrades.
The Boss Board opens after your second DMZ Order and lists the ten Hajin lieutenants and three commanders. Each lieutenant pays a 10,000 DMZ Cash bounty, and intel on a lieutenant's location costs 25,000 for one deployment. Some intel stays locked until you finish a DMZ Orders chapter. Three long challenges sit at the bottom: kill every lieutenant once, then extract each one's dog tags two and five times.
You start with two Active Duty Operator slots and unlock a third through DMZ levels; the Vault Edition starts with three. Each Operator has their own trait points, backpack and loadout, and is locked to their slot until you dismiss them. If an Operator dies, they go MIA: pay DMZ Cash to rescue them with their traits, or dismiss them and start again. The rescue price grows with the Operator's trait points.
The order you build upgrades in matters more than how fast you build them. This order works for most new players:
Our MW4 DMZ tips and tricks guide has more advice for your first deployments, and the full mode is explained in our MW4 DMZ guide.
These guides cover the rest of DMZ.
These are the questions players ask most about the FOB.
At DMZ Level 10. Until then, weapons come from your stash, loot, blueprints you own and the Vendor.
At DMZ Level 5. Its stock changes every day.
Print Bank Upgrades at the 3D Printer. The cap goes from 100,000 to 250,000, 500,000 and finally 1,000,000.
Print Stash Item and Stash Weapon upgrades, and use a second Operator's backpack as extra storage.
Yes, on looted weapons and on blueprints you own. Buying attachments yourself needs the Gunsmith at level 10.
It's a known launch bug. Cosmetics are meant to be free in DMZ.
