COD Modern Warfare 4 Campaign Walkthrough: All 16 Missions

In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, you'll work your way through 16 campaign missions. In this detailed walkthrough, we'll cover objectives, routes, hidden passages, keypad locks, and difficult battles. We'll also explain how to take down Graves's helicopter, complete three sabotage operations on one of the open maps, and find the emergency valve at the power plant.

What to Know Before Starting the Campaign

The campaign is designed for a single player. A normal playthrough takes around 6-8 hours, although exploring the open map and collecting documents can extend that considerably.The story alternates between a South Korean squad's battles and Price's operations, with some missions taking place several days earlier. Follow the order in the mission selection screen rather than trying to rearrange the flashbacks yourself. We've covered the setup in our article on the conflict in Modern Warfare 4's campaign.We also recommend turning on subtitles, since the radio provides directions and door codes. Watch the on-screen button prompts during scripted sequences, especially if you've changed your controls. And don't forget your armor plates. After a tough firefight, check your protection before opening the next door.

Mission 1. The Invasion of Hajin Begins - Mayhem

Follow your squad through the city at night until you reach a store. Help Dunn with the shopping and pick whichever dialogue options you like, since they don't affect anything. Once the power goes out and the explosion hits, stick with your teammates, run through the ruined street, duck under the debris, and reach the baseball stadium.Move through the service areas behind West. Take cover behind crates on the field and fight off the enemy landing force. If you're going for the challenge involving paratroopers, shoot them before they land. After the battle, move through the stands into the restaurant and clear out the attacking infantry. Restock on ammunition and armor here.When the squad goes looking for the source of the armored vehicles, head outside and go prone behind the cars to let the convoy pass. Then enter the underground parking garage. Clear the soldiers near the tunnel and help push the fuel tanker toward the breach while covering your teammates against reinforcements.At the end, pick up the RPG beside the crates on the left and fire at the tanker. The explosion will block the tunnel and complete the mission.

Mission 2. The Club and the Chase After Makarov - Out in the Cold

You now play as Price in New York. Complete the opening section with Laswell, then enter Club NOX and follow Milena to the restricted area. You don't have a weapon yet, so you'll have to deal with the guards in hand-to-hand combat.Don't just hammer the attack button. Wait for an enemy to swing, block just before the hit connects, then counterattack and perform a finisher. You'll need the same technique at the end of the mission, so it's worth paying attention to this tutorial.Kill the two guards in the elevator, pick up the silenced pistol, and go up to the third floor. Fight through the hall, service corridors, and kitchen, using the counters for cover. Interact with Milena in the office, then continue searching for Makarov.The chase takes you across fire escapes, rooftops, and construction structures toward Times Square. Jump after your target and follow the prompts for grabbing ledges. You'll eventually reach a dead end and a fight. Parry the knife attacks, counterattack, and perform the finishers. Price's capture in the following cutscene is scripted, so there's no need to replay the fight hoping for a different result.

Mission 3. Searching the Village - Following Orders

As a North Korean soldier, search the first house. You need to find contraband to move the conversation with the homeowner forward. Check the bathroom cabinet, upper shelves behind the sliding doors, and kitchen cupboards. You'll find an MP3 player, a Western novel, and extra rations.In the bedroom, open the red box with code 214. Take the medicine and read the note. Return to the man and ask about the South Korean medication. This will give you a lead without having to hurt the residents.Go back outside to your squad and search the neighboring house. Continue after reaching the bathroom with traces of blood. The defector's attack and your teammate's intervention are scripted events.Then search the last house. Find the spare key in the wardrobe in the far bedroom and unlock the hatch in the kitchen floor. You can report the woman hiding below or leave her alone. If you're collecting every document, you'll need access to the note downstairs after she comes out.Return to the courtyard. At the end, you can follow the order or refuse it. Both choices complete the mission, although the consequences for your character differ. Don't expect one dialogue choice to undo everything that's happening.

Mission 4. The Rail Depot and Graves - Hired Gun

Once the train stops, follow Valeria across the tracks. Use railcars and concrete pipes for cover. Before moving into the open, check the elevated positions. Shooters above you can make advancing much harder than the infantry nearby.Enter the warehouse and wait for a worker to open the rolling shutters. Continue through the container yard. Watch the rooftops and dogs in the passageways. If a dog tackles Price, follow the counterattack prompt that appears.Near the overpass, a helicopter will start firing on the road. Wait out its bursts behind the train, then run to the repair building. Before going in, collect grenades and armor plates. Inside, clear not only the path ahead but also the upper walkways and areas around the maintenance pits.At the turntable, grab the PR-48 Anvil launcher from the prepared weapons. Fire at the helicopter whenever it hovers, ducking into cover during its missile barrages.Bringing down the helicopter doesn't end the fight. Graves keeps fighting on the ground in heavy armor. Deal with the infantry getting in your way, shoot him with your weapons, and move between cover positions. When he retreats into the railway shed, the final cutscene begins.

Mission 5. Defending the Cafe and Retreating - Losing Ground

After returning to Park, fight your way with the squad to the two-story cafe at the intersection. Climb the outside stairs, replenish your supplies, and pick up the scoped rifle by the window.First, pick off the infantry in the street, then turn your attention to riflemen and grenadiers on the elevated railway cars. Cover your allies as they retreat across the intersection. When the infantry fighting vehicle arrives, you'll have to abandon the position. That's part of the mission, so you don't need to defend the cafe forever.Retreat through the back exit and alleys toward the bridge, checking the rooftops. Once the mortar crew is killed, climb onto the truck and take control of the mortar. Aim according to the callouts and hit groups of soldiers, followed by vehicles and armored targets. Make sure there are no civilians in the impact area.After a helicopter attack, the bridge begins collapsing. Follow your squad through the dangling bus, jump out through the windshield, and cross the damaged vehicles. Don't stop to fight enemies behind you. Your goal here is to reach the evacuation truck and the tunnel.

Mission 6. Escaping Through Paris - Traffic

As Price, cover Valeria's car from the passenger window. Shoot at pursuing motorcycles and armed vehicles without spraying bullets across all the traffic. There are civilians on the road.After the crash in the tunnel, get out of the car and move from one column to the next alongside Valeria. When you reach the armored vehicle, take the wheel. Follow your partner's instructions through the park and shopping arcade. Keep to a clear path and don't hit pedestrians, or you'll have to restart.After the next crash, continue on foot through courtyards and across the boulevard. At the police van, pick up the FINN machine gun, armor plates, and ammunition. Another vehicle firefight is coming up.Climb into the cargo area of Luca's van and cover the rear doors. When an armored vehicle appears, use the supplied C4. Throw a charge onto the pursuer and detonate it with a separate button press. Gunfire and explosives will help you survive the chase, but you'll finally shake your pursuers during the scripted van switch beneath the overpass.

Mission 7. A Night Operation in Mumbai - Gone Dark

After the ambush, follow Valeria and Eduardo through the alleys. The main challenge is staying on the route. Climb drainpipes, vault walls, and cross sheet-metal rooftops. The firefights are brief, but it's better to take out any soldier covering your landing spot before jumping.Wait for the device to activate in the workshop. Once the lights go out, control switches to Gaz. Activate your hybrid night-vision device, clear the helipad from the air, and descend with the team.Work your way down through the building, checking the dining hall, kitchen, and service rooms. Use flashbang grenades in tight spaces and breach locked doors using the indicated forceful action. Don't run too far ahead of Ghost. Clearing several rooms at once isn't easy, even with thermal vision.You'll later regain control of Price. In the knife fight with Ghost, wait for his attack, parry, and counter. Complete the actions to grab Gaz when prompted. The ensuing encounter on the platform and the characters' capture bring the mission to a close.

Mission 8. Escaping the Palace - Assassins

Here, you play as North Korea's leader during a coup. When the shooting starts, crawl beneath the display case and wait for Ko to help. Follow him to the window, climb out onto the exterior ledge, and bypass the guarded rooms from outside.Follow the prompts in the security room, grab your equipment, and use the combination Ko gives you over the radio. After you're separated, he'll continue guiding you through the cameras.In the library, stay behind cover and wait for the patrol to pass. Open the door farther along the route with code 5523. After the kitchen, you'll need 7632. You can distract guards by throwing bottles. Toss one away from the passage you want to take, then move while the soldier is looking elsewhere.In the garden, don't try to shoot every enemy from the exposed path. Reach the ornamental pond and swim underwater past the sniper's position. Find the bunker entrance behind the large statue and enter 9103.Head down the stairs and enter the secure office. The ambush at the end is part of the story, not a punishment for taking the wrong route through the palace.

Mission 9. After the Crash - Survivors

After the transport plane is shot down, crawl out of the wreckage and follow the survivors along the river. Keep your squad and the distant red lights in view. This is a stealthy retreat, so you don't need to shoot at every patrol you encounter.When trucks with searchlights pass nearby, go prone in the snow on the riverbank and wait. If a search helicopter appears, press against the rocks and stay put until its beam moves away. Running while the spotlight is on you is the quickest way to ruin an otherwise successful escape.Pick up the injured Cho when the carry prompt appears. Keep moving with your squadmates and talk back to him along the way. There's no puzzle involving the "correct" dialogue choices here.Reach the abandoned house and follow Dunn into the basement. Wait for the conversation with Ko and for three objectives to appear on the tactical map. Once the shelter is prepared, the next chapter begins. You don't have to return to the plane wreckage.

Mission 10. Three Sabotage Operations Behind Enemy Lines - Stranded

This is an open area with a base camp. Check the workbenches. Collected supplies let you repair weapons, craft equipment, and improve your protection. Before heading out, stock up on available ammunition and open the container by the radio tower with code 0024.You can complete the three objectives in any order. Pick whichever is closest to your route, but return for supplies before a difficult assault. Exploring the map can help you find equipment, although you don't need to collect every crate to advance the story.

How to Destroy the Jamming Station

Follow the mountain trail, keeping an eye out for patrols and the search helicopter. The heartbeat sensor helps you spot enemies in the snowstorm. Clear the station buildings and climb the transmitter tower.Eliminate the drone operator, take the tablet, and collect explosive drones from the crates at the top. Interacting with the mast's control panel will trigger an attack helicopter. Send two drones into it, then deploy your parachute as the tower collapses.

How to Blow Up the Anti-Aircraft Position

Swim to the island, eliminate the guards at the dock, and regroup with your team. Fight your way to the launchers and plant the charges.Then hold your position. Prioritize vehicles bringing reinforcements and armored units. Explosive drones let you deal with infantry fighting vehicles without a drawn-out firefight. Once you've defended the area, detonate the launchers and withdraw.

How to Clear the Bunker and Start the Generator

Clear the entrance and roof, open the heavy hatch, and descend into the flooded tunnels. Use night vision. When you reach the door without power, look for a way to restore the backup supply.Dive into the flooded maintenance passage, reconnect the damaged wire, and start the generator. Return to the newly opened route, repel the counterattack, and find three crates of explosives marked with yellow triangles. After completing the objective, escape up the exit stairs as the water rises.Once the sabotage operations and safehouse scenes are complete, continue the mission. Your team will infiltrate an airbase aboard an enemy truck.

Mission 11. Sabotaging the Airbase - Defection

Arm yourself in the hangar, move through the first corridor, and activate night vision when the power goes out. Find three vehicles carrying mobile missile launchers and plant charges on them. You can move quietly through the opening areas, but reinforcements arrive near the final launcher, so make sure you have room to finish planting the explosives.Once you leave the hangar, you'll have to defend the runway. Control switches between three soldiers, each with a different job:

• Park holds the ground position and keeps the infantry at bay.
• Jae covers the team from an elevated position with a sniper rifle, eliminating distant threats.
• Dunn uses heavy weapons against mortar crews, vehicles, and infantry fighting vehicles.

Follow the character-switch prompts rather than trying to win the entire fight with one weapon. Deal with dogs before they reach you, and use the on-screen counterattack prompt if one grabs you. Fire an RPG at the attack helicopter when it appears.When the rescue helicopter lands, run across the runway toward it. Press the detonator after boarding, as soon as the prompt appears. Getting into the helicopter isn't the end of the evacuation. You still have to set off the charges.

Mission 12. Returning to Hajin - Counter Attack

After your landing craft is damaged, head ashore and advance behind allied armor. Once you reach cover, use the target designator to call in support against fortified positions. When gunfire alone isn't enough, mark the target.Move through the restaurant and upper floors of the apartment building. Plant a breaching charge on the reinforced wall. Clear the roof, descend the scaffolding, and regroup with the armored unit.After the ambush beneath the overpass, turn left through the ruined store toward the construction site. Take out the grenadiers and mark elevated machine-gun positions for support. Go through the residential building to reach the square outside the hotel. Suppress the gunners in the upper windows and wait for an armored vehicle to break through the entrance.The hotel's main staircase is blocked. Regroup by the elevator, ride up to the guest rooms, and clear your way to the conference room with the hostages. Check your targets before shooting. Then head up to the roof.Destroy the communications node and cover the advance on City Hall. Use a sniper rifle against infantry and mortar crews, and the mounted missile system against armored vehicles. Call in helicopter support against large enemy groups.

Mission 13. Escaping the Prison - Escape

Once you've broken free from the convoy as Price, move stealthily through the prison corridors. Wait for patrols behind doorways and pillars, and use low passages. Check corners from cover without stepping all the way into the lit corridors.Read the document in the office across from Cell 40. Near the room with the large window, wait for the guard to receive a message and leave. Inside, you'll find a note containing code 8410.Continue through the lower corridors. In the red boiler room, stealth gives way to a scripted fight. Perform the finishers and reach the room where Ghost is being held. Free him and grab a weapon.Fight through the laundry room and barracks. Beyond the sleeping quarters, search the office with the wall safe, enter 8410, and collect Gaz's dog tags. Before the final battle, replenish your equipment in the armory.In the garage, climb the walkways to the control room on the second level. Clear the corridor and press the red button to open the gates for Ghost's truck. Price stays behind as part of the story, so there's no need to look for another way out of the garage.

Mission 14. The Trenches and the Power Plant Emergency - Entrenched

After the airstrike, descend into the trenches and advance with the infantry. Don't try to stop enemies from spawning by camping at the entrance. Clear the next corner and move up to the following position. Throw a grenade into the machine-gun bunker, then restock on supplies inside.Use smoke to cross to the relay station. Then get into the armored vehicle and move with the convoy. Use the cannon against infantry and anti-vehicle missiles against heavy targets. After losing your vehicle near the power plant, continue on foot.At the substation, destroy the infantry fighting vehicle with available explosives or an RPG. In the reactor building, fight through the pool area and climb to the control room. Try to initiate the emergency reactor shutdown. When it fails, follow Jae to the manual valves.In the flooded passage, follow the yellow pipe. It leads to the correct valve, while the neighboring gray pipes don't mark the route. Hold the interaction button until the objective updates.Return to your teammates. After you lose consciousness and your squad helps you, work your way back up. Push the crate, climb the pipes, and help your teammates at the ledges. Cross the collapsing walkways to reach the roof and the evacuation helicopter.

Mission 15. Storming the Palace - Decapitation

You start as a helicopter door gunner. Fire at vehicles, infantry, and grenadiers on the approaches to the palace. When the Mi-24 appears, focus your fire on it until it's destroyed.After landing, join the assault team and descend through the shattered roof glazing. Check the balconies and main staircase in the atrium. Continue through columned halls and museum galleries.When you reach a dead end, don't search the entire palace again. Ko will open a passage behind a portrait. Head down into the bunker and switch on night vision when the power goes out.Move through the cells and maintenance crawlspace toward the server rooms. Watch for dogs and friendly soldiers in the narrow passages. Shooting a teammate can ruin the attempt. Flashbang grenades will help you enter the next room without taking all the incoming fire in the doorway.Reach the command room with the large map. After clearing the area, you'll discover the target isn't among the ordinary guards. The hideout is concealed behind a reinforced door in the wall with the map. Breach it, eliminate the enemy during the slow-motion entry, and wait for radio confirmation. Then return to the extraction point and board the helicopter.

Mission 16. Price's Final Chase - Greater Good

After the conversation in the truck, wait for the attack on the convoy and follow the prompt during the struggle over the weapon. The vehicle tumbles down the mountainside. Once you've crawled from the wreckage, cut your restraints against a sharp piece of metal, grab a rifle, and eliminate the soldiers near the wrecked truck. Ghost provides cover from a distance.When the objective changes to catching the Archer, follow the marker into the forest. It's easy to fail here if you methodically clear every patch of ground. Letting your target get too far ahead ends the attempt. Eliminate enemies blocking your route and keep moving.Use trees as temporary cover if needed, but don't turn the chase into a defense of one position. Head toward the snowy descent and survive the slide through the ravine onto the frozen river.On the lake, close in on the Archer and perform the finisher. The rest of the fight follows scripted prompts. Press the indicated buttons until the final cutscene begins. It concludes Price's story and the entire campaign. There is no additional mandatory route afterward.

What to Check After Completing the Campaign

Completed missions are available to replay. If you've missed contraband, documents, or dog tags, use mission select instead of starting a new campaign.When revisiting Mission 10, remember that its exploration progress is saved separately. Read the game's warning before confirming your departure. To collect all the supplies, you need all 26 yellow supply crates, not just the containers with code panels.Rewards for completing missions are separate from achievement challenges. There's no need to combine your first experience of the story with the highest difficulty setting and a hunt for every last note. Enjoy the campaign at your own pace first, then return for whatever you decided to collect.