MW4 DMZ 3D Printer and crafting: resources, recipes and what to farm first

What the printer is for

The 3D Printer is one of the workstations in your Forward Operating Base, the area between raids where you prepare for the next drop into Hajin. GNGWarzone calls it one of the most essential stations in DMZ, and the reason is breadth: consumables, plate carriers, backpacks, tacticals, lethals, field upgrades, fire support, gear and the ingredients for all of those come out of it. Activision's station card says the printer offers over 100 craftable items. Weapons do not. Those are built and modified at the Gunsmith, a separate station in the same FOB. Quality climbs from common through uncommon, rare and epic to legendary as your FOB and Operators level up. The way in is cheap. The printer opens at DMZ Level 2.

MW4 DMZ release date and FOB →

What it eats: resources and ingredients

The printer asks for two kinds of input. The first is four plain resources: Synthetics, Electronics, Chemicals and Metals. Activision's card says they break down automatically when you loot them, so there is nothing to sort, and that they are common across Hajin. The second kind is a 3D Printer ingredient, an item that stays intact in your bag, turns up less often and is found in specific places. The Medkit wants a Binding Catalyst (rare) and Biomaterials (uncommon); the armour and backpack recipes ask for Reactive Metals and Rigid Synthetics, both uncommon. The card's examples say Reactive Metals turn up in industrial areas and toolboxes, and Nylon Laminate in military holdings and high class civilian locations. Nothing counts until you extract. Resources and ingredients both have to come out of Hajin with you before the printer can see them. Once the printer is upgraded it can also make the rarer ingredients from the four plain resources, which turns a run of bad luck into a bill you can pay (the upgrade list on the card shows Epic Ingredient Printing, and the Ingredients category exists for the same reason).

Hajin map →

How recipes open up

When you first reach the printer most recipes are locked and you can make only the basics. There are three ways to change that. DMZ level opens recipes as you climb from 0 to 70, before prestige. DMZ Orders, the narrative missions you track at the Order Station in your FOB, reward recipes along the way. And some recipes are simply out in Hajin as loot. A looted recipe has to be extracted like anything else, and then it unlocks on its own with no extra step. GNGWarzone also says each recipe you extract pays 5,000 DMZ Cash, which makes a recipe a better find than it looks. We could not see that figure on a card, so treat it as the creator's number.

Casual mode, PvE and bounties →

Reading the screen

Select a recipe and the printer shows what it needs, what you hold across your loadout and stash, and what is missing; the numbers turn green once you have enough. Set a quantity, then send the result to your Operator or straight to your Stash. Each entry carries its name, rarity, a short description and the full cost, and an Ingredient Locations button suggests where the awkward ones live. Two small features earn their keep. Track a recipe and it joins the Tracked list, and tracked recipes and ingredients show a pin icon when you spot them as loot, so a room of clutter stops being a room of clutter. And Operator Traits can help with crafting: Activision's card says a loot-focused secondary Operator can craft items for your main Operator through the shared Stash.

FOB upgrades through the printer

The printer also upgrades the base around it. FOB upgrades are permanent, and each one takes several prints to finish. The list on Activision's card includes a Bank Upgrade, a Stash Item Upgrade, an MIA Recovery Discount, a Stash Weapon Upgrade and Epic Ingredient Printing, and the card adds that further upgrades arrive as you level and the FOB develops: extra Dog Tag Case storage, Gunsmith discounts and more Vendor options. In the card's example, a Stash Item Upgrade adds 18 item slots to your stash for 10,000 Cash, 10 Rigid Synthetics and 10 Electronic Sensors. GNGWarzone says upgrades draw on DMZ Cash, ingredients and valuables. This is the part of the printer that rewards patience. A bigger stash or a cheaper MIA recovery pays out on every later raid, where a Medkit pays out once.

MW4 DMZ bosses and Dog Tag Cases →

Every category in the menu

The category list runs Tracked, Upgrades, Consumables, Plate Carriers, Backpacks, Tacticals, Lethals, Field Upgrades, Fire Support, Gear and Ingredients. Consumables cover healing, performance boosts, radiation survival and door breaching. Plate carriers and backpacks add protection and space, and some backpacks carry Secure slots. Tacticals disrupt, lethals kill, field upgrades deploy support equipment, and fire support brings in the big guns that turn a fight. Gear takes face equipment for gas and darkness, and parachutes. Ingredients let you print the components you would otherwise have to find. No weapons category appears in the menu, which matches GNGWarzone: weapons are built and modified at the Gunsmith.

Decide your bottleneck

The printer rewards the player who walks into Hajin knowing what to print. Before each drop, ask what you are trying to unlock: a better vest, a stock of Medkits, a bigger stash, a cheaper recovery. Track that recipe, pin its ingredients, and let the pin icon do the filtering while everything else on the shelf stays on the shelf. If the shortfall is plain resources, loot more and extract. If it is a rare ingredient, check its Ingredient Locations first and plan the route. If it is a recipe, your Orders and your level are the cheapest road, and a looted recipe pays you for the trouble. One target per raid is plenty. Wing Mait: the squadmate you need. MW4 DMZ pack in development.