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Call of Duty,

How to unlock the Vanguard Katana in Warzone without Vanguard Multiplayer or Zombies

How to unlock the Vanguard Katana in Warzone without Vanguard Multiplayer or Zombies

This blog post was originally the dialogue for a video tutorial but it made sense to also tweak it and throw it up here. As the title says it is all about grinding to unlock the Katana in Warzone, as opposed to Vanguard Multiplayer or Zombies. You can read this post or if you are short on time just watch the video embedded further below which is self-explanatory.

If you would like to dispatch your opponents with a level of aplomb befitting someone who grinded / ground? to acquire a tamahagane or steel blade possibly forged by the great Masamune or Hanzō and folded over two hundred times this is how you do it.



Why would you need to unlock the Vanguard Katana?
When it comes to weaponry there is not much that can compete with the simple beauty or fearsomeness of the Katana. Added in Season 1 of Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone Pacific as a secondary melee weapon the Katana is...



More importantly, it is an extension of your skill and embodies the spirit of the warrior. Or you could be a completionist like myself who enjoys making the most of Warzone.

How can one acquire a Vanguard Katana?
Well I am glad you ask, as one can acquire a Katana in a number of ways:

  - You can buy the Moon Forged Bundle.

  - Or unlock it by completing a challenge.
    • In Zombies you need to get 5 rapid kills with a melee weapon during 50 different Portal Objectives, whatever that means?
    • The challenge for Multiplayer and Warzone is the same - you have to get five kills with a melee weapon in a single match 15 times.

So finish 15 matches with at least 5 melee weapon kills in each match.

If you find this useful: like and subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more. Also drop a comment if you would like more of this kind of stuff, something specific in the Pacific or just to let us know how your Katana challenge is going.

The Warzone challenge was broken for me until the release of the January 20th update. Along with the unlock fix update the Katana also got a bit of a buff.

It does seem as the Katana challenge is easier in Multiplayer but if you are attempting the challenge in Warzone I would suggest trusty Plunder should be your first choice. If you are playing with randoms to avoid frustrating teammates - an option would be to activate “Don't Fill". This has a second useful function as you can redeploy to the area you were last eliminated.

Initially, I chose my favourite melee weapons the unbeatable Kali Sticks but after a couple of games despite numerous eliminations, the challenge was not progressing so I switched to newer Vanguard weapons. I guess any of the Vanguard melee weapons would work like the Sawtooth or Combat Shield but after the broken unlock glitch I stuck with the weapon that worked and didn't change - that was the Vanguard Fairbairn Sykes or FS fighting knife sporting the Mermaid Scale Blueprint in case you are wondering why it looks like that in the video.

For your second weapon, I would recommend something light and small to allow for quick movement. I chose the OP SMG Owen Gun as it is pretty awesome I needed to level it up and was also trying to unlock the Welgun at the same time.

Here are some of the tactics I employed.
As you are at a disadvantage with a melee weapon in the AO, the key to mission success is a strategy of “Surprise, Surprise”.

    • Land at the AFK zone and dynamic entry the guys preying on the unlucky distracted AFK players. All games could do with less toxicity - play with honour.

    • UAVs are your friend as is Dead Silence combine both for success.

    • Head the hunting party in the direction of a target-rich environment like Airfield. On a good day one should be able to rack up 5 melee kills in a game easily.

    • Throw Stuns into the mix for maximum effect.

    • Check your mission progress frequently in case you need to make changes.

After completing the mission the Katana did indeed unlock, sadly with little fanfare - only a green notification icon above the weapon tab let me know my grind was fruitful and my shiny Katana was ready for action.

So how does the Katana fare in-game?
The Katana is fun and if you want to be able to drop in and rescue team members like in the video. Or generally, run around slicing and dicing until you reach a level that your opponents would rather choose seppuku than face you - the Katana is your weapon.

Unless you are aiming for the coolest final game-winning kill the Katana is not really a viable option for Battle Royale. It does however look very cool and absolutely decimates opponents.


THE ESTABLISHING SHOT: HOW TO UNLOCK THE KATANA IN WARZONE WITHOUT VANGUARD MULTIPLAYER OR ZOMBIES