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Modern Warfare 3 CODMAS: event dates, rewards, and more

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is letting you get in on the holiday spirit early this year with its CODMAS event full of new maps, modes, rewards, and more. This limited-time event has new content to experience all across the Call of Duty suite, from traditional multiplayer to Warzone and Zombies. While you could just experience the holiday cheer, there are a ton of special rewards and things to see before it ends that may never come back to the game. Check out all the details on the CODMAS event so you can write up your wishlist before visiting Santa Gnaws himself when it begins.

When is CODMAS?

MW3 Zombies Santa's Playground Trailer Christmas Update! Modern Warfare 3 Zombies Christmas CODMAS!

CODMAS officially kicks off at 10 a.m. PT on Tuesday, December 19, and will end at 8 a.m. PT on January 3, 2024; that gives you 15 days total to enjoy the event.

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CODMAS event details

A gun with a ribbon and happy holidays sticker.
ACtivision

The main event of CODMAS is split into three new sets of challenges across multiplayer, zombies, and Warzone. There’s Santa’s Slayground in multiplayer, Slay Ride Resurgence in Warzone, and several individual Santa-themed challenges in Zombies. The former will unlock things like new skins and blueprints, while Zombie challenges will give you random but valuable loot.

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You can also look forward to two maps getting a holiday makeover: Shipmpas and Hangover.

Limited-timed modes

A snowman in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Activision

Two limited-time modes are available for players, both naughty and nice.

Infectious Holiday is the classic Infected mode but with a Christmas spin. Instead of appearing like traditional zombies, all the infected players will donn the Zombie Santa Skin to hunt down the Operators.

Snowfight is coming in as a more chill version of Gunfight. Rather than begin with a gun as normal, the first two rounds of this mode equip you with nothing but a snowball to chuck at your opponents. Don’t be fooled, though. Someone probably put batteries in there or something because they will still take you down. If you find the rare yellow snowball in the middle of the map, don’t think about it too hard and grab it because it is a one-shot kill weapon! While the game returns to normal at round 3, you can still scoop up snowballs the entire game if you want to embarrass your enemies.

On the Warzone side of things, Slay Ride Resurgence has added festive trees and even Santa himself. If you board the train, you can encounter Saint Nick and put yourself forever on the naughty list by taking him out. It’s all worth it for the loot and exclusive Emblem.

You can also visit one of six Deck the Halls trees that have sprung up on the map to tear open those presents! No need to worry about getting socks — they all contain loot. But don’t get too eager. If you can resist the childlike urge to rip apart the wrapping paper immediately, you and your team can decorate the tree to upgrade it as long as no other teams are in the area. You can bring it from Tier 1 up to a max of 3 to increase the rarity of loot the presents contain.

CODMAS challenges and rewards

A christmas tree with a box of snowballs.
Activision

Santa’s Slayground has eight challenges. Here are each of them and what you need to do to cross them off your list:

Santa’s Slayground Event 1 Get 40 Operator Melee Kills With Stalker Boots Equipped Underbaker Sticker
Santa’s Slayground Event 2 Get 40 Operator Kills With A Weapon Picked Up From Another Player Double Weapon XP Token
Santa’s Slayground Event 3 Get 100 Operator Kills With The QBB LSW Tier Skip
Santa’s Slayground Event 4 Get 6 Operator Snowball Kills In Snowball Gunfight Mistle Toe Charm
Santa’s Slayground Event 5 Get 40 Operator Headshot Kills With A Sniper, DMR, Or Battle Rifle Deadly Knit Calling Card
Santa’s Slayground Event 6 Get 30 Operator Kills While Playing Infected Holiday Lil’ Krampus Emblem
Santa’s Slayground Event 7 Get 5 Operator Kills While Sliding Or Crouching Santa’s Right Hand Finisher
Santa’s Slayground Mastery Complete All 7 Event Challenges Ugliest Sweater Blueprint

Slay Ride Resurgence

In Slay Ride Resurgence Get 15 Operator Kills with Assault Rifles Double Weapon XP Token
In Slay Ride Resurgence Get 15 Operator Kills with SMG’s Tier Skip
In Slay Ride Resurgence Get 15 Operator Kills with Snowballs Mistle Toe Charm
In Slay Ride Resurgence Get 15Operator Kills with Sniper Rifles Deadly Knit Calling Card
In Slay Ride Resurgence Place in the Top 5 15 Times Santa’s Right Hand Finisher
In Slay Ride Resurgence Get Operator Kills with Snowballs at over 25 m Lil’ Krampus Emblem

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
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Frost Blast
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Tesla Storm
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Energy Mine
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