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This weekend is the perfect time to grind in Modern Warfare II

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If you’re trying to unlock the top camos for every weapon or rank up your Operator in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, this weekend is going to be the best time to grind. With the launch of Season 01 Reloaded comes the perfect storm for quick and easy leveling — a Double XP weekend and the return of the iconic (and chaotic) Shipment map.

The Shipment map is one of the smallest to ever be featured in Call of Duty. It’s set on a cargo ship filled with shipping containers and there’s virtually no cover except for a few containers you can enter.

Soldiers on the Shipment map in MW2.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Despite the Shipment 24/7 playlist limiting teams to just six players, the way the map operates makes it feel like there are hundreds of enemies squeezed into this small map. Because of the extremely compact setting, spawn points are an absolute mess — you never know where the enemy team is going to be coming from. You can turn any corner on the map and there will be bullets flying your way. This makes Shipment the perfect map for racking up kills.

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Run around with a shotgun and one-shot enemies around every corner or rock an SMG and just spray down tight corridors to pick up double-kills. Assault rifles are absolutely deadly with the total length of the map being shorter than max-range for most options. Snipers and LMGs are a little harder to use given the fast-paced nature of the map (you’ll be dead before you can ADS with the RAAL MG), but you can manage if you play a little slower.

No matter what camo challenge you’re trying to complete or gun you’re trying to level up, you will easily leapfrog levels playing Shipment — even with your least favorite weapons. Rookies who rarely ever have positive kill-death ratios can walk away with a clean 25 kills, while more seasoned players can throw down 40, 50 or even 60 kills without too much effort.

While leveling up the Bryson 800 shotgun, I was dreading attempting the gold camo challenge that requires getting three kills without dying on 10 separate spawns. Not impossible, but always a pain to attempt on some of the normal, larger maps. On Shipment, I was able to get there in just two games. Even if you aren’t doing particularly well and are dying more than you’re getting eliminations, you’re still getting more experience faster than you would on any other map.

Shipment on #ModernWarfareII is insane.

Totally normal match stats here pic.twitter.com/QyQiLjMPdl

— Sam Hill (@samahill) December 15, 2022

If the Shipment grind wasn’t easy enough, you’ll get even more experience this weekend with a Double XP to celebrate the new season. Double XP and Double Weapon XP will be active across all platforms during its extended launch weekend, from 10 a.m. PT on December 15 to 10 a.m. PT on December 19.

Shipment will be included in playlists throughout Season 1, but there’s no promise that the Shipment 24/7 playlist will stick around long or that the map will be included past the season’s end. Be sure to take advantage of this insane leveling opportunity this weekend and make some moves toward earning those Orion camos.

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Sam Hill
Sam Hill
Gaming Guides Editor
Sam Hill is a journalist and the gaming guides editor at Digital Trends. He's also written tech guides for Input and has…
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