Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies: how to complete Bad Signal

By Jesse Lennox Published December 13, 2023

A soldier with a Pack-A-Punch weapon fires at zombies from behind cover. — Infinity Ward

Once Season 1 hit in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Zombies mode, a new Act was added for players to dive back into the undead masses to complete more missions. Since this Act takes place after all the prior ones, it’s only natural that it puts players to the test.

The first mission in Act 4 is Bad Signal, which brings you to a new area that is more deadly than even the highest threat-level zones. If you’re struggling to survive this mission, we’ll give you clear instructions on how to complete Bad Signal.

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Bad Signal guide

A triangle stone with a portal inside. — Activision

Once you’ve selected the Bad Signal mission in the main menu and dropped into the game, you will have a special symbol placed on your map. Take note of it and make your way toward it. When you arrive, you will see that you have been led to a rift you can interact with. If you’re on a squad, a vote will trigger that needs to pass to start the real mission.

This rift transports you to the brand new Dark Aether zone, where your objective is to activate and fill four seals around the area. You fill them by killing enough zombies near them to fill up their respective meters.

A soldier approaching a stone pillar in Modern Warfare 3 zombies. — Activision

The seals will be marked on your HUD and appear like small stone spires on pedestals. One of your squad mates must interact with it to activate it and create a ring of fire around it. This ring is the zone you must kill zombies within in order for them to count towards filling up the meter that will eventually break this seal. Because the zombies in this area are so strong, we highly recommend sticking together and doing each seal one at a time rather than splitting up and attempting to activate and destroy multiple at once.

A giant zombie worm in Modern Warfare 3 zombies. — Activision

Once you’ve filled all four, your goal will be to leave the Dark Aether; however, that doesn’t go according to plan. As soon as you approach the exit portal Gorm’gant, a giant boss worm will spawn that you need to take out. You’ll notice purple spots all around its tube-like body. Focus fire on those spots to damage it and keep your distance to avoid damage. Once you kill it, the mission will be complete.

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Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…

Gaming

How to craft the Jet Gun in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies

A soldier holding a giant jet engine gun in Black Ops 6.

In the world of Call of Duty Zombies, one type of weapon has always been the most powerful, but hard to get. Wonder Weapons are back in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and that includes the old favorite known as the Jet Gun. This jet-engine-looking weapon is part of a long string of steps you can only do on the Liberty Falls map but is well worth the effort. Make sure you have your crew around to watch your back while reading through our guide on how to craft the Jet Gun, aka the Thrustodyne M23.

Gaming

The best Perk-A-Colas in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

A screenshot from Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's zombies mode.

There's nothing more refreshing than taking a nice big swig of a Perk-A-Cola during an intense Zombies match with your pals in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Besides tasting great (we assume), these colas empower you with buffs that will keep you alive until the later rounds. These bonuses are just as important as the Pack-A-Punch, but come in a wider range of flavors. It is possible to stack them all, but that gets expensive very fast so you need to be thrifty about choosing which ones are most valuable early on. These colas come in eight different types that may or may not be worth your Essence to chug. If you want to know which ones are the best in Black Ops 6, check out our ranking.
Best Perk-A-Colas in Black Ops 6

We're ranking these Perk-A-Colas based on their base bonuses, not any additional effects you can get if you Augment them, from best to worst.
Jugger-Nog
You can never go wrong with the classic Jugger-Nog. Increasing your health by 100 is useful for the entire duration of a Zombies mode, but especially in the early rounds. Going down is at best a major setback and at worst a cascade into defeat. This extra health allows you to get out of a bad situation that would otherwise end your run.
Quick Revive
This Perk has two components, with the less useful one being the ability to revive teammates 50% faster. Ideally, that shouldn't be needed but is nice. However, what makes it rank so high is the 50% shorter delay on health regen. Your health will come back over time in Zombies but at a dreadful pace. Starting to heal faster means less time running and kiting zombies around and more time in the action helping the team.
Speed Cola
The best early guns for Zombies mode have a large magazine, fast reload, or both. Running out of ammo at the wrong time and not being able to get more rounds in the chamber fast enough has ended many a run, but Speed Cola is the solution. It will speed up your reloads and armor plating by 30%. That's not a massive number, but fast enough to make the difference.
Stamin-Up
These zombies aren't the shambling types. They will chase you down like sprinters, and some of the monstrous ones can outpace you even at full tilt. Stamin-Up sounds like it would let you run for longer, but actually just lets you run faster since you have no limit on sprint in Black Ops 6. Positioning is everything in Zombies so being able to get where you need to be faster is never a bad thing, especially if it's a downed teammate bleeding out.
Deadshot Daiquiri
Every zombie has a weak spot, which is most often the head. Deadshot Daiquiri makes a critical hit hurt even more than normal, plus increases your auto-aim on those weak points when you aim down sights (ADS). That second part shouldn't factor much if you've got good aim, which is why this is only a decent Perk-A-Cola.
PhD Flopper
Not being able to hurt yourself is situationally useful, and the ability to cause an explosion by diving is a risky move. Yes, it's cool, but you don't want to be lying prone surrounded by zombies. This is a cool gimmick, but save yourself the Essence and skip it.
Elemental Pop
When Elemental Pop works, it's great. The problem with it is that you can't rely on it. It gives a small chance on every shot you take to add a random ammo mod effect, which is cool but impractical. If you have spare Essence on you, sure, it won't hurt you to have, but it isn't something that will turn the tide for you or your team.
Melee Macchiato
Finally, Melee Macchiato bottoms out the list. It is fine in the early game when the hordes are small and you're better off meleeing enemies since it will smack enemies away with each hit, but quickly drops off in usefulness. When the zombies get too strong and too numerous, you will need a lot more than a strong punch to deal with them and end up forgetting you even have it.

Gaming

How to get Double XP tokens in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Soldiers near a train in Black Ops 6.

Even with all the best tips and tricks, grinding your way through all the levels in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will take you a long time. Each level will take more and more XP to reach and can eventually feel like a chore, even if you swap over to Zombies mode. As has been the case for many entries now, Double XP tokens exist as a way to speed up the grind by doubling the amount of experience you earn for a set duration of time. Naturally, these are some of the most sought-after items in the game, but they're not so easy to come by. If you need a helpful XP boost while running games with your squad, here's every way you can get more Double XP tokens in Black Ops 6.
How to get Double XP tokens in Black Ops 6

There are a few ways to get Double XP tokens, but not all of them are free. We'll start with the ways you can earn them in-game before talking about the more costly options.
Prestige
Who deserves a Double XP token more than someone who has grinded all the way to level 55? Once you hit max level and opt to Prestige, you will get a one-hour Double XP token, which is the longest length they come in.
Follow Call of Duty's socials
The official Call of Duty X (formerly Twitter) account regularly posts opportunities to earn several Double XP tokens if you engage with the post. This is a quick and easy way to snag some free tokens.
Purchase the C.O.D.E. Endeavor Tracer Pack
Our first paid option is the extra DLC Endeavor Tracer Pack. Besides some cosmetics, you also get two Double XP tokens (one player and one weapon) that last an hour each.
Drinks and pizza
The two main brand promotions with Black Ops 6 this year are tied to Monster Energy and Little Caesars. Buying a marked can or purchasing a qualifying item will get you a small handful of rewards that include Double XP tokens.
Battle Pass
The Black Ops 6 battle pass isn't out at the time of this writing, but we do know that it will include Double XP tokens among its rewards. There will be both a free and paid version of the pass, but details about what can be unlocked in each version are not yet available. To be safe, we're assuming you will need to buy the pass to get these tokens.