Black Ops Cold War: How to Level Up & Prestige Fast

Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War has finally arrived, giving players an explosive single-player campaign, undead action in its Die Maschine Zombies mode, and the frenetic, fast-paced multiplayer that’s now synonymous with the series. Multiplayer is also where you’ll most likely be spending a large part of your time in the game. As such, some players may be wondering how to level up fast in Black Ops Cold War so you can Prestige and unlock all the extras that come with it.

How to Level Up Fast in Black Ops Cold War Multiplayer

There are a few different things you can do to help level up faster in Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer:

• Complete Challenges
• Play Objective-Based Game Modes
• Make the Most of Double XP Events
• Play with Friends
• Play Well in Matches

Get a Killstreak Going to Rack Up Score Fast

One of the key things to note here is that the score you earn in a game doesn’t directly translate to the XP you’ll earn from the match. But there is a correlation between the two. The more score you get in a match, the more XP you’ll earn as a result.

One of the best ways to increase your score quickly in a match is to build up a killstreak. Normally, a kill will net you 50 score.

However, once you start getting kills in a row without dying, your streak will add increasing amounts of score on top of that, to the point you can be earning 350 additional score for killing four or five enemies without dying.

As such, it pays off to play a little more tactically than opting for the run-and-gun, all-guns-blazing approach. Sure, this can sometimes be effective in the right scenarios, but more often than not you’re better sitting back, plotting out a route or pinpointing an enemy’s position and finding a way to pick them off without leaving yourself vulnerable.

The more killstreaks you’re able to pull off, the more score you’ll earn and the more XP you’ll get.

Completing Challenges

Challenges have always been one of the best ways of earning more XP to help you level up in the Call of Duty series, since CoD 4 all those years ago.

These will often task you with netting kills in different ways or with particular weapons, or completing other things like destroying enemy scorestreaks or Field Equipment.

Some challenges may not offer a lot initially, but once you reach their latter stages, you’ll be given huge amounts of XP for doing fairly simple things. Focus on getting some of these done while playing and you’ll be leveling up every other game or so.

Play Objective-Based Game Modes

Another thing to keep in mind is the type of game mode you’re playing. While the likes of Team Deathmatch may be the mode you prefer, it’s not the best mode for earning large amounts of XP at once.

Instead, try playing a game mode like Hardpoint, Domination or Search & Destroy. In Hardpoint and Domination, you’ll have ample opportunity to earn additional score for capturing control points and eliminating enemies while defending them.

For Search & Destroy, you’ll get a lot more score for every kill you get, and again, defusing or planting the bomb will net you additional large chunks, too.

Combining these with a double XP event (which we’ll touch on in a second) can see you leveling up in a single match. At that rate, you’ll be ready to prestige in no time at all.

Double XP Events

Every once in a while, Black Ops Cold War will host double XP events. In fact, one literally just finished, but if you missed out fear not, as more will come in the future.

Double XP events are exactly as they sound. You’ll earn twice the amount of experience in every game you play during the event. This even makes game modes like Team Deathmatch all the more rewarding, but the real winning combo is to pair it with one of the objective-based modes we mentioned before.

Hardpoint, Domination and Search and Destroy will net you huge amounts of XP when combined with a double XP weekend and are a surefire way to see you climbing levels in no time at all.

Make sure you’re putting a good chunk of time aside during a double XP weekend and you’ll see your level skyrocketing.

Play with Friends

This one might sound like a bit of an odd one, but hear us out. You’ll have no doubt played a game online where your teammates are all screaming, shouting, or stuffing Cheetos in their mouths.

Nobody’s communicating about where enemies are, which capture point they’re heading to and so on. This is immediately detrimental to your team’s success, missing out on the Win bonus you’ll earn as a result.

When you’re playing with a group of friends, it’s far easier to communicate and work as a team and, in turn, it’s a lot easier to win matches and rack up more kills.

Strong Performances In-Game

The most obvious and significant factor in determining just how quickly you level up will come down to how well you play in a game. If you finish with a K/D of 4/20, you can’t expect to earn huge piles of XP as a result.

Instead, find the weapon that’s right for you, get some quality attachments on it, and pick perks that fit your playstyle to give yourself the best chance of success.

Make sure your scorestreaks are achievable, too. While the Chopper Gunner is devastating once called in, if you’re never reaching the 6000 score required to unlock it, there’s no point having it equipped.

That’s everything you need to know on how to level up fast in Black Ops Cold War. Head over to our wiki for more tips and tricks, or check out more of our coverage below.