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

By Jesse Lennox Published December 19, 2023

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.

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

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

Gaming

The best field upgrades for Modern Warfare 3 Zombies

A man holding a mysterious glowing vial.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's Zombies mode puts a slight twist on the mechanics you are already familiar with. It now plays much more like a souped-up DMZ mode rather than its old round-based format. And Field Upgrades have been modified in terms of both their effects and how you get them just for this game type. There are six different Field Upgrades you can bring into the map and use on a cooldown timer to help improve your chances of survival, but you can only pick one at a time. You will begin the game with only one option, but steadily unlock the rest as you level up. Once you have them all, the question then becomes which is the best Field Upgrade? We've managed to exfiltrate with the answer.

Healing Aura
Regardless of whether or not you're playing with a team or running solo, Healing Aura is no doubt the best Field Upgrade to bring on any Zombie run. When activated, you and any teammates in the area will not only gain immediate healing, but it will also instantly revive any downed teammates. The downside to all this power is that this upgrade has the slowest recharge time and is unlocked at level 19.
Aether Shroud
This is another upgrade that you will be glad to have. Aether Shroud makes you you temporary invisibile to all Zombies. This won't make you invincible, mind you, and PMCs can still take shots, but if you're getting swarmed and have no way to escape, becoming instantly invisible to a bloodthirsty pack of zombies can save your skin more often than you think. This upgrade has a medium recharge rate and is unlocked when you hit level 39.
Frenzied Guard
Just past the halfway mark, Frenzied Guard has a massive upside, but not without some risk. When you pop this Field Upgrade, you instantly repair all your armor, but also draw all the aggression of any enemy nearby for 10 seconds. However, another perk is that anything you kill during this time also repairs your armor, so situationally, it can be great or detrimental. This one recharges slowly, unlocking at level 9.
Frost Blast
Frost Blast does exactly what you expect: it fires a freezing blast that will slow down any enemy you hit with it and deal a bit of damage. It's decent in a pinch, but not a game-changer. You can get it when you hit level 29.
Tesla Storm
An odd ability on paper, Tesla Storm is only good if you have a team working together. Activating it will create a lightning chain between you and your team that will damage and stun enemies that get close to any one of you. It lasts for 10 seconds and can be great in the final moments while holding out for an extraction, but not in other situations. It recharges slowly and is the last upgrade you unlock at level 50.
Energy Mine
This is your default Field Upgrade, so it makes sense that it's the "worst" on the list. Energy Mine isn't exactly bad; you simply lay down a mine that does what a mine does -- explodes. It's just that setting up traps like this in Zombies isn't all that applicable except when kiting a boss around or waiting for the helicopter. It has a medium recharge speed.

Gaming

How to fix packet burst in Modern Warfare 3

A soldier shields themself from an underwater explosion.

The last thing anyone wants to see when booting up a game like Modern Warfare 3 to head online with your friends is to be stopped by an error. Online games are susceptible to all types of problems beyond the player's control, leading to plenty of frustration and disappointment in a possibly ruined experience. While there are more substantial issues that can completely prevent you from playing, seeing the packet burst issue is almost worse because, while it does let you play, you will experience a ton of lag that makes the game essentially unplayable. If you've been struck by a packet burst error in Modern Warfare 3, here are some possible solutions so you can get back to fragging.
How to fix packet burst errors

If you spot a symbol of three squares on the left of your screen while playing Modern Warfare 3, it means you're suffering from a packet burst. This is essentially an error where something is messed up in the communication between your system and the game's servers, resulting in terrible performance. While it could be simply an issue on the server side and not related to you at all, which you can check by looking at the Modern Warfare 3 server status here, there are a few things you can do to potentially fix the issue on your end.

Gaming

Modern Warfare 3 Zombies: Mercenary Convoy guide

Soldiers in a car driving and shooting zombies.

The old format of Zombies has been left behind in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in favor of a more open-world, objective-based take on the undead survival game type. This time, you will squad up and drop into a map with specific objectives you can choose to complete to earn tons of XP, while also pushing the narrative forward and unlocking new, more difficult tasks to take on. The early-tier missions are generally very simple, but in Act 1, you will be given the objective to find and destroy a Mercenary Convoy somewhere on the map. This sounds easy enough on paper until you realize you have no idea where this convey is or how to find it. Every run in Zombies risks losing all your hard-earned progress, so we'll lead you to the Mercenary Convoy to take it out before the zombies even know you were there.
How to find the Mercenary Convoy

Your first challenge will be to find this Mercenary Convoy. The problem here is twofold: first is that it isn't marked on your map in any way, and second is that, being a convoy, it is mobile. Once you land, you and your team should find the nearest vehicle and head toward the center of the map. Depending on how the threat levels are on your particular map, you are looking for roads and highways that are around the medium-threat level zone. You will have to patrol these roads until you come across the convoy, which only consists of three vehicles. Once you are in range, it does appear on your map to let you know you've found it.