MW4 DMZ Key Locations and Loot Rooms Guide

Some of the best loot in Hajin sits behind a locked door. Keys drop from Lieutenants, story missions, Survival Kits and ordinary duffel bags, and each one names the grid square of the room it opens, from a basement armory in a Police Station to the Supreme Leader's Bunker under Chang-san Air Base. In the first week after launch on October 23, the rooms players chased most were the Counting Room Vault in the Heavenly Luck Casino, the Legendary armory key at The Citadel that videos call the "gold key", the air base armory behind a six-digit keypad and the Irradiated Container that only opens at the Haneul Nuclear Reactor. Below, we explain how keys work, list the key rooms confirmed so far with where to get each key, walk through the notable vaults step by step and finish with a key farming route.

How Keys Work in MW4 DMZ

A key is an item in your backpack, like a Medkit. Walk up to its door with the key on you and the prompt changes from locked to unlock. Opening a key room gives 300 XP, and the room usually holds Weapons Lockers, weapon cases, safes and military bags with far better odds than the containers outside.

Every key description starts with a grid square and a short line about the door, for example "F4 - Unlocks the counting room's vault on the main floor of the Heavenly Luck Casino". Letters run from west to east and numbers from north to south on the Tac-Map, so F4 is a map square, not a floor. Find the square, go to the building in the description, and check that the door name on the prompt matches the key.

Key Rarity Colors

Keys use the same rarity colors as other loot, and the color tells you roughly what kind of room you are heading to. Uncommon green and Rare blue keys open storage rooms, offices and shop weapons lockers. Epic purple keys open vaults and armories such as the Counting Room Vault. Legendary orange keys, which players call "gold keys", open Lieutenant loot rooms, the South Block Armory and the Supreme Leader's Bunker. Ultra red keys open DRC lockers with an Elite Weapons Locker inside.

Where Keys Drop

There are four reliable sources, and most keys turn up far from the door they open:

• Story Missions. Several missions reward a key that lands in your stash after extraction: Silent Ledger gives the Counting Room Vault key, Iron Citadel the Supreme Leader's Bunker Access Card and Fallen Ember the Reactor DRC Locker key. Players report that the key doesn't come with every completion.
• Lieutenants. Each Lieutenant can drop the key to their own Legendary loot room, but not every kill. Search the body even when no weapon dropped.
• Survival Kits. The Explosives Equipment Kit at DMZ Level 16 includes a Gun Store Weapons Locker Key, and the Recon Equipment Kit at Level 19 a Police Station key.
• Random loot. Duffel bags, jackets on coat racks, military bags, lockers and suitcases on the train all drop keys, and key rooms often hold another key.

Two keys spawn inside the building they open: the Police Station Armory key lies on a desk or shelf somewhere in the same station, and the Fire Station Storage key is on the bottom floor of the large fire stations. Neither is guaranteed, because another squad may have taken it first.

Single Use, Death and Extraction

Most keys are single use: the key disappears from your backpack as soon as the door unlocks. One Gun Store Weapons Locker Key opens one of the three lockers, so a squad with three keys can open all three. The exception is the Air Base Access Card, which says Multi Use in its name.

A key you carry out on the exfil goes to your stash, and one you die with stays on your body for whoever finds it. Players regularly loot keys from other operators. That is why a key belongs in the Secure Slot of a Medium Backpack on the way to its room: if you die before you get there, it waits in your stash for the next run. A key in your stash doesn't count, so move it into your loadout before you deploy. Keys don't stack, and a second Operator works well as a key mule to free up stash space.

Keys sell for only about 100 DMZ Cash, so opening the room is almost always worth more than selling the key. The Key Cash trait in the Scout tree pays DMZ Cash every time you open a locked room, and more for higher rarities. For your first DMZ matches, our MW4 DMZ tips and tricks guide explains why it pays to stash keys until you have decent armor.

MW4 DMZ Key Locations and the Rooms They Open

Players have counted somewhere between 45 and 60 different keys, and new rooms are still being found. The table lists the keys and key cards confirmed by several players so far, sorted by area, with the grid square from the key where it is known.

Most Lieutenants also have a Legendary room of their own, such as Jin-Tae's Private Lounge in the casino penthouse and The Doctor's Command Office in Mirae General Hospital. We list those rooms with each boss and how to beat them in our MW4 DMZ bosses guide.

Keypad Codes Change Every Match

Not every locked door takes a key. Some need power from a car battery or a generator, some open from a camera room or with K9 Battery Cores, and some have a keypad, so if the prompt names something other than a key, look around the building. There is no list of DMZ keypad codes that works for you, because every code is generated for your match. The digits come from notes nearby: two notes in the prison cells for The Citadel keypad, three for the Iron Citadel armory and one for a bank vault. Once you have read a note, its digits stay in your objective tracker. Codes you see in videos, and the "bunker codes" from the campaign mission Stranded, won't open anything in your DMZ match.

The Door Breacher Charge

MW4 has no skeleton key. The closest thing is the Door Breacher Charge, an Ultra item that opens a locked door once and is gone. You get one for free at DMZ Level 62, and after that you craft it at the 3D Printer from a recipe you have to find first. Players have used it on Lieutenant rooms such as The Chemist's Secure Armory, but it doesn't work on every door, so save it for a room you can't open any other way, like a second visit to the Supreme Leader's Bunker.

The Citadel Gold Key Route at the 14th Political Prison

The most-watched key video of launch week promises a "gold key" every run, and the route behind it is real. The Legendary South Block Armory key at The Citadel doesn't drop from a boss: you earn it with K9 Battery Cores from robot dogs in the same building, and the whole run takes under ten minutes.

1. Bring a Medium Weapon Backpack or a large backpack and only one gun, so you have room for the weapons you find.
2. Start the Operation Iron Citadel story mission. It spawns you in the west of Hajin within a short drive of the prison, and you don't have to finish it. Take the vehicle at your spawn and drive to the 14th Political Prison.
3. Go to the far end of The Citadel East Wing and take the zipline up. Kill the robot dogs in the kennel area and take their K9 Battery Cores right away, before the dogs explode.
4. Put four cores into the K9 Core Terminal. The room it opens holds The Citadel Main Control Room key, an Uncommon green key, on the desk.
5. Use the green key on the officers-only door and take the South Block Armory key from the counter inside.
6. Leave through the front door, climb in through the window next to it and open the armory.
7. Exfil. A helicopter spawns next to the prison in most matches, which gets you across the map fast. If it's missing, drive out.

The armory's contents are random. Runs shown on video ranged from "ugly" blues to Legendary weapons, a Gold Skull and a Sanctioned Assassination List worth 10,000 DMZ Cash. A few players report runs where the key wasn't on the counter, and the zipline has started to attract squads waiting with mines, so check the landing before you go up.

The South Wing and the Secondary Control Room

With a squad, the prison has a second loop. The Citadel South Wing key is one of the most common keys in Hajin, because prison guards drop it often, and it opens the street-side door of the South Wing.

• Inside, pull the lever to turn the power on. This opens the cells and a deadbolt, and in the same area you find The Citadel Secondary Control Room key.
• Without the South Wing key, use the keypad in the cell block. Two notes in two different cells each hold part of the code, and their cells change between matches, so search the glowing papers on every floor.
• In the Secondary Control Room on the second floor, switch through the cameras to open two security fences, then go up one floor.
• Four rooms wait behind the fences, but only one of them can be opened. Look through the bars and pick the one with the most lockers and crates.

Eight K9 Battery Cores in the East Gate panel open the cells on that side of the prison too, but the loot there is mostly blues and purples. The Colossus and The Warden both patrol The Citadel, so leave before the shooting draws them in.

Counting Room Vault at the Heavenly Luck Casino

The Counting Room Vault is the easiest high-tier room to reach in DMZ. Its key is a purple Epic key marked F4, and the room holds two stacked safes, two weapon containers and loose cash.

1. Put the key in your Secure Slot and start Operation Silent Ledger at the Deploy station. The mission spawns you right next to the casino in the north of Hajin. You don't have to do its objectives.
2. Cross the road to the main Heavenly Luck entrance on the south side.
3. Inside the lobby, take the tucked-away double door on the right into the east wing.
4. Past the holding cells you reach three doors. Go through the left one and follow the corridor to the door marked Counting Room.
5. Unlock it. The keypad and fingerprint reader next to the inner door do nothing, because the key opens both doors.

The first room has a weapon crate, a foot locker and a duffel bag. The inner vault has the two safes, a weapon case and cash on the shelves. Safes can hold Gold Bars, Weapon Manuals and recipes. One run in launch week pulled two Legendary weapons and a plate vest recipe, while the same player's second run gave mostly greens and blues. Bring a backpack with a spare weapon slot.

The casino is a High threat zone with Lieutenant Jin-Tae inside, and the Deathstalker and the Tank sometimes roam outside. It is also busy with players on the same mission, so don't linger. The round vault in the casino basement, the one you drill open during Silent Ledger, is a different room and doesn't take a key.

The Vault Armory in the Casino Garage

A second F4 key, the Vault Armory, opens a caged room in the casino's underground parking garage. It holds Weapons Lockers, a rifle case and military bags, with a chance at a Weapon Manual. If you come from the sea, a water tunnel leads into the garage almost opposite the armory with no AI on the way. Watch for tripwires where it comes out.

Supreme Leader's Bunker Under Chang-san Air Base

The Supreme Leader's Bunker Access Card is your reward the first time you finish Operation Iron Citadel, which unlocks after your first three story missions. Players also report it from Bale. The card is single use: if you die with it outside the Secure Slot or fail to exfil, you have to earn a new one.

The bunker lies under Chang-san Air Base in the west, an Extreme threat zone. One route that avoids most of the AI:

1. Enter at the notch on the west edge of the base, crawl through the gap and follow the bushes to a ladder.
2. Go into the building marked Entrance and turn right through the main door.
3. Find the door with a red banner and Korean lettering, turn right and take the stairwell all the way down.
4. Use the card on the heavy grey door at the bottom.

Inside are the Supreme Leader's private rooms, a corridor of lockers and a Lieutenant's crate. A Legendary LMG, the Dreadnought, turned up in every run players have shown so far, along with WMD valuables worth about 5,000 DMZ Cash each. One solo run walked out with 37,800 DMZ Cash in loot plus the Legendary LMG. Close the doors behind you, because AI and other squads follow the noise.

To go back in after the card is used, finish Iron Citadel again for another card, or spend a Door Breacher Charge on the door.

The Air Base Armory: Access Card and Six-Digit Code

The "secret vault" from launch week is the armory in the Chang-san Air Base bunker, and it opens only during Operation Iron Citadel. It takes two key cards and a code, so plan for a long fight.

1. Find the Air Base Access Card - Multi Use. The mission marks four search zones, and a scanning meter fills while you are in the right building and then marks the card.
2. Take the card to the server room terminal in Admin Complex No. 2 and hold the area while it upgrades into the Air Base Armory Keycard, which is single use.
3. Go down to the second basement level. Three notes, in the admin area, the medical area and the security wing, each give two digits of a six-digit code. The code changes every match.
4. Enter the code, swipe the keycard and get ready for a Colossus and heavily armored guards.

The armory is a maze of military crates, weapon cases and back rooms. One squad found a launcher Weapon Manual and a gold PPSh there, and a separate Air Base DRC locker inside takes its own Ultra key. A sealed chamber with a tank sits further in, and nobody has found the parts to start it yet.

The air base, the Supreme Leader's Bunker and other manual spots are compared in our MW4 DMZ Weapon Manuals guide.

Irradiated Container and the Reactor DRC Locker

The Irradiated Container is a red Ultra item that works like a key to a room you carry with you. You can't open it in the field: it has to be decontaminated at the Haneul Nuclear Reactor in the north-east. It is rare, and players find it in the yellow Chemical Storage containers of clinics, the large fire stations and their storage rooms, and some police stations and compounds.

Put the container in your Secure Slot, so it goes back to your stash if you die on the way. Bring three or four gas masks or a Hazmat suit, and take a boat: landing on the north-west shore of the reactor skips the main entrance, which is full of AI and blocked for vehicles. In Reactor 02, the destroyed cooling tower, climb in from the back stairs and the ladder, clear the guards below and drop to the ground floor. Next to the destroyed yellow platform, use the machine with the Process Radioactive Material prompt, and after a few seconds the container opens like a chest.

Most players get a Weapon Manual and a Legendary or Ultra weapon, with other rolls including gold backpacks and parachutes, a purple key or recipes. It isn't guaranteed: one player got a blueprint he already owned and a sniper rifle worth under 10,000.

The Reactor DRC Locker is on the same trip. Its Ultra key comes from Operation Fallen Ember, and the locker glows red on the bottom of the flooded pool under Reactor 02. It always holds one Ultra item, such as a 3-plate vest, plus random loot that can include a Weapon Manual. Watch your air and your gas mask while you swim.

Best Key Farming Route in MW4 DMZ

You can't farm one key on a timer, but you can build runs where the key and its room are in the same match. These routes worked best in the first week:

• Iron Citadel prison run. Spawn with Iron Citadel, earn the South Block Armory key with K9 cores and open it, then fly out on the prison helicopter. It needs no key from your stash, and it often drops a South Wing key for the next run.
• Iron Citadel air base run. The same mission starts you near Admin Complex No. 2, where the Commandant Office is on the second floor. Open it, then decide whether you have the gear for the armory or the Supreme Leader's Bunker.
• Police and fire station loop. Both keep their key in the same building, and fire stations add Irradiated Containers and gas masks for a reactor trip.
• Mission spawns for stash keys. Start the story mission closest to the door you hold a key for: Silent Ledger for the casino rooms, Shopping Hacks for the Coin Mining Den, Critical Extraction for the Mirae Electrical Room.
• Lieutenant hunts. Every Lieutenant kill is a chance at a Legendary room key.

Before every key run, leave free backpack and weapon slots, put the key in your Secure Slot and pick an exfil close to the room. If you would rather have a pro on your squad for the Citadel or the bunker, our MW4 rent a booster service covers DMZ runs. Everything else about deployments, exfils and the FOB is in our MW4 DMZ guide.

More MW4 DMZ Guides

These guides cover the bosses that drop keys and the loot you open them for.

MW4 DMZ Keys FAQ

These are the questions players ask most about keys and locked rooms.