Modern Warfare 4: All Campaign Choices, Best Answers & Consequences

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 campaign lets you choose dialogue options, intervene in interrogations, and even decide whether to follow orders. Some decisions only change a conversation, while others can affect characters' fates and the achievements you earn. In this guide, we've put together every important MW4 choice in mission order, including what to do with civilians, whether to shoot Graves, and how to answer Ri when playing as Ko.

Do your choices affect the ending of Modern Warfare 4?

MW4 does not have a separate good or bad ending based on your decisions. Choices can change individual scenes, but the story follows the same overall path regardless. Not every death means you've failed, either. For example, the soldier you control in Mission 3 can die as part of that episode's conclusion. If Price dies during his confrontation with Graves, however, you'll have to replay the scene.That's why we'll treat keeping a character alive and earning an achievement as two separate goals. They don't always depend on the same decision. For example, refusing the order at the gallows does not undo a peaceful interrogation you've already completed. If you're stuck trying to reach a choice rather than deciding what to pick, use our complete Modern Warfare 4 campaign walkthrough.

Mission 1: Mayhem. What should you say to Dunn?

At the beginning of Mayhem, Park talks to Dunn while they're shopping. The first choice concerns food. You can call it sushi, warn him about the fish's unpleasant smell, or say nothing. In the second conversation, you need to remind Dunn what he was planning to buy. The options mention stomach medicine, cream for an infection, and skincare products.Choose whichever dialogue options you like. Dunn will react differently to your joke or reminder, but it won't affect later missions. There's no special achievement for picking the correct answer, either. You don't need to replay the opening because you helped him shop differently than you intended.

Talking to Dunn in the store

Mission 3: Following Orders. How to handle the interrogation

In Following Orders, you control a North Korean soldier searching for a defector alongside Ko. Here, it's worth reading the options carefully because your decisions affect the lives of local civilians and your own character. First, you'll interrogate a married couple, then search other houses and return to your squad. The most important choices take place in the first and last houses, as well as at the gallows.

What to say to the woman in the first house

When you meet the woman in the kitchen, ask her to join her husband. For a peaceful outcome, choose "Please join your husband." followed by "I will not ask again." She'll return to the living room, allowing you to continue the interrogation. This sequence also works toward the achievement for finding the defector without harming civilians.The option "Run while you can" does not save her. She'll attempt to escape through the garden, where she'll be shot. If you want both spouses to survive, don't suggest running away and don't shoot either of them. Other questions can prolong the conversation, but to move forward, you only need to gather evidence and question the husband.

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How to learn the defector's location without violence

Search the house first. In the bedroom, find the red locked box and enter 214. Take the medicine and read the note beside it. Then return to the husband. You'll now have a dialogue option asking about South Korean medicine.Select "Ask about South Korean medicine", then demand that he reveal the defector's whereabouts with "Give up the defector. Now." The husband will tell you where the defector is hiding, and the interrogation will end without anyone being injured. You don't have to hit him, even if the game offers that as a way to get an answer. We recommend searching the rooms first, since the items you find unlock the relevant dialogue topics.

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This outcome earns you No Harm Done, which requires finding the defector's location without hurting any civilians. Shooting someone in the arm or leg still counts as an injury and prevents you from earning the achievement on that attempt. Collecting all contraband is a separate task, not a requirement for the peaceful interrogation. If you also want to open every lock, the remaining combinations are in our MW4 lockbox and bunker codes guide.

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Should you intervene when a soldier is drowning a civilian?

While searching the village, you can encounter a soldier holding a local resident's head underwater in a barrel. If you want to help the man, demand that the soldier release him and intervene. The civilian will survive and thank you. After that, you can continue with the mission.Simply asking what the civilian did won't stop the abuse. Shooting the civilian will, of course, kill him. This scene doesn't unlock a new campaign route, but it does let you save that particular person. You don't need to wait for another order from Ko to get this outcome.

Bring the woman out of the basement or leave her hidden?

In the final house, check the hatch in the kitchen floor. A woman is hiding underneath it. To keep your soldier alive at the end of the mission, you must bring her outside. Choose either the demand that she come out or the explanation that the defector has been found and it's safe to join the other villagers.The answer "Okay. Stay hidden." may seem like a way to help her, but it leads to a different outcome. The woman is discovered later, and Ri concludes that you either searched the house poorly or lied. Your character will be hanged alongside the defector. Choosing to obey the final order won't undo your earlier decision to leave her below.

Woman in the basement: Bring her outside or leave her hidden

Once the woman comes out, climb down into the hiding place and read the note from her mother. You need it for No Stone Unturned, the achievement for collecting all the contraband and notes in this mission. Don't return to your squad immediately after speaking to her if you're collecting everything. You can check the locations of the remaining items in our Modern Warfare 4 intel, notes, and hidden stashes guide.

Execute the defector or refuse the order?

At the end of the mission, Ri orders you to hang the prisoner. There are two possible outcomes.

• Obey the order. The soldier executes the defector and survives if he previously brought the woman out of hiding.
• Refuse. Ri kills the soldier you're controlling, and the defector is executed anyway. The campaign continues after this scene.

If you want to keep your soldier alive, you need to make both decisions correctly. Bring the woman out of the basement and obey the order. Refusing at the gallows is not a requirement for a separate achievement. No Harm Done concerns the interrogation, while No Stone Unturned concerns collectibles. Choose the final action based on which version of the scene you want to see, not in pursuit of an achievement that doesn't exist.

Execute the defector or refuse the order

Mission 4: Hired Gun. Should you shoot Graves?

After the fight in Hired Gun, Price points his pistol at the wounded Graves. When the shoot prompt appears, press the indicated button. On a standard controller layout, that's R2 on PlayStation and RT on Xbox. If you've changed your controls, follow the prompt on your screen. You don't have much time to think about this one.If you shoot, Price kills Graves and the mission ends. If you hesitate, Graves takes the gun and shoots Price instead. This is a mission failure that sends you back to a checkpoint, not an alternate continuation of the story. You cannot spare Graves and continue the campaign.

Price and Graves

Be particularly careful during this scene on YOLO difficulty, where dying sends you back to the start of the campaign. We don't recommend testing what happens if you refuse to shoot during a YOLO run. To progress normally, just follow the prompt as soon as it appears. There are no additional requirements based on earlier dialogue choices.

Mission 8: Assassins. Sneak past enemies or kill them all?

In Assassins, the important choice is how you approach the mission. To earn Pacifist, you must complete it while killing only one enemy. For Revenge, you instead need to eliminate every enemy after Shin's death on Hardened difficulty or higher. These requirements cannot be met in the same attempt, so decide which achievement you're aiming for beforehand.If you're going for Pacifist, sneak past guards and avoid unnecessary gunfights. If you've chosen Revenge, check every area before moving on and don't leave enemies behind. You cannot save Shin by taking a different route because his death is scripted. Your approach and the reward you earn will change, not the North Korean leader's eventual fate.

Mission 10: Stranded. What to tell Ri to save Ko

During Stranded, control switches to Ko, who must explain the circumstances of Ri's brother's death. Here, only one answer lets the conversation continue. Admit that you separated and that he should never have left Ri's brother alone. Choose "I separated us. I never should have left him."The other answers end with Ko's death.

• Accuse Ri of killing her brother. She kills Ko, and you'll have to replay the scene.
• Say that Ko never left his side and couldn't react in time to the shot. Ri rejects that explanation and kills him as well.
• Admit that they separated. Ri gives Ko a chance to atone and continues issuing orders.

The conversation isn't over once you've given the correct answer. When asked about the search for the intruders, say that patrols are sweeping the area. Then proceed to the tactical map and follow the order to deploy armored patrols. If you pick the wrong first answer, a normal checkpoint lets you return to the conversation. You won't have to replay every sabotage objective just to choose a different line.

Where to deploy the armored patrols

You need to place two patrols on the map. Sending them toward the jamming station allows Ko to divert some of these forces away from his allies. Select the positions at and near the station, ARMOR PATROL AT JAMMING STATION and PATROL NEAR JAMMING STATION. After the conversation, Ko informs Park about the armored vehicle redeployment, and Park approves his decision.Ri will also deploy additional forces herself. Don't assume that the two markers you choose will remove every enemy from the map. To continue the scene, finish placing the patrols and wait for Ko's next assignment. The positions you choose don't unlock a separate ending.

How to replay choices and unlock missed achievements

Completed missions can be replayed through Mission Select. To see a different outcome for the interrogation or the gallows scene, return to Following Orders. For Pacifist and Revenge in Assassins, plan separate attempts. Complete one approach first, then the other. You don't need to start an entirely new campaign for either achievement.We recommend restarting Mission 3 from the beginning if you're returning for the peaceful interrogation and all collectibles. That way, you can gather the clues, speak to the couple, and check the basement in order without having to remember what you did before a saved checkpoint. Once you've earned the achievements you need, you can revisit the mission to see what happens when you refuse the order. That experiment won't affect the campaign's overall ending.