Whether you’re only a few levels shy of Prestige 3 or are looking to score some free Operator skins and Weapon Blueprints, these final few days of the Black Ops Cold War Pre-Season are ones you won’t want to miss. Right now, anyone who has purchased or purchases the game and logs in by December 15 at 11 PM PST will receive two pre-season login bonus bundles. Also, starting on December 12 at 10 AM PST, Treyarch is turning on Double XP and Double Weapon XP until the start of Season One.

In other words, there’s no time to waste, so let’s level up.

This Week’s Featured Operators

Thanks to two free bundles given to all players who log in between now and 11 PM PST on December 15, we have not one, but two featured Operators to show off.

The first is MI6’s finest in Helen Park as our NATO representative. While she usually wears the signature brown leather jacket and jeans seen in the Campaign, there is another skin available for her within the in free Field Research Bundle log in bonus. “Scorch” outfits her in a way that makes her fit for an expedition, especially those that may involve some undead adversaries.

As for the Warsaw Pact, Mendo Garcia of the DGI has a new set of threads with the “Barrio” skin, part of the other log in bonus known as the Certified Bundle. A dramatic change from his default white hoodie, our favorite feature in this new skin are some bright blue kicks that any run-and-gun Operator could wear out after a few infiltrations.

Remember: these skins carry over to Warzone when Season One begins, so grab these bundles now in Black Ops Cold War to look fresh at the start of a new season.

Top Tip – Setting Up XP Rewards for Season One

In anticipation of Season One officially starting on December 16, Double XP and Double Weapon XP will be active in Black Ops Cold War starting on December 12 at 10 a.m. PT. If you haven’t hit Prestige 3 yet this pre-season, now is the time to do so.

For those who have, this Top Tip is for you: take this weekend to put some challenges on the edge of completion, especially ones that involve getting weapons to Max Level or all Camo Challenges unlocked. 

For example, this is our weapon challenge page for the 1911. We used it in our loadouts right up until it hits its Max Level, as reaching that milestone, as well as the ones for Eliminations and Camo Challenges, will give us massive XP rewards. However, because we already hit the pre-season level cap, we’re don’t need that XP yet.

Therefore, we are going to avoid using the 1911, as well as any other weapons we have close to completing challenges on, in our loadouts until next week. Then, when Season One begins, we can finish those challenges and kickstart the road to Prestige Master with multiple XP surges, especially if we combine it with Double XP Tokens that we have saved up or will earn during the season.

Weapon challenges are some of the easier ones to control completion on, as well as Reticle Challenges like this one for the Millstop Reflex sight. Even though our targets could use a groovy-looking mustache when they are in our sights, the XP reward that comes with earning the reticle will better serve us at the start of Season One rather than in the pre-season… But for now, we will be using other optics and spicing up those sight pictures with the free Epic “Micron” and “Maze” reticles found in those pre-season optic rewards.

Challenge prepping is not limited to just Multiplayer; this weekend is also an opportunity to dive into Zombies and get a few of those challenges close to completion as well. That mode has its own set of Camo and Reticle challenges on top of Career and Battle Hardened sets, so be sure to explore every menu and plan your strategy for XP banking accordingly.

Gunsmith Weapon of the Week

Along with those two Operator skins, reticles, and some additional player profile rewards, the pre-season login bonuses came with two Weapon Blueprints. One of them is the Rare “Ground Patrol” Assault Rifle, and the other is the subject of our Gunsmith Weapon of the Week: the Epic “Excavator” SMG Blueprint.

We usually see this weapon as a hip-fire lover’s dream, but this configuration is kitted for more long-range combat.

The 10.1” Reinforced Heavy Barrel provides a great mix of Bullet Velocity and Effective Range buffs, which help this weapon hit targets further down range and in less travel time. The other attachments will aid in controlling the weapon’s Vertical Recoil (Infantry Compensator), move quicker while aiming and fire sooner out of a sprint (Raider Stock), and give us a better sight picture with a decent 1.75x zoom (Sillix Holoscout).

For the fifth attachment slot, we recommend a simple Foregrip to keep this weapon’s Horizontal Recoil in check, or a Serpent Grip to sacrifice some of the Raider Stock’s Sprint to Fire benefits in exchange for a faster Aim Down Sight (ADS) speed. If we could take both through the Gunfighter Wildcard, then we would continue building an all-around solid SMG by taking the Ember Sighting Point, which exchanges Sprint to Fire and ADS time for a mix of Hip Fire Accuracy and Reveal Distance bonuses, and a Fast Mag for quicker reloads.

No matter how you round out this Blueprint, it is sure to be a great addition to your loadout in Black Ops Cold War… and in Warzone^TM when Season One begins in just a few short days.

Execute the mission.

For more information on Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War, check out: www.callofduty.com, www.youtube.com/callofduty and follow @Treyarch, @RavenSoftware, and @CallofDuty on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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