How to Get Essence Fast in Modern Warfare 3 Zombies (MW3)

Modern Warfare 3 launched its new MWZ mode alongside the multiplayer, and with it comes a bunch of new additions to the mechanics. One of those is the addition of Essence, which serves as the currency in the games for you to purchase upgrades for your weapons.

Here’s how to get Essence fast in MW3 Zombies.

How to Quickly Earn Essence in MW3

MWZ is set up so that you’re heading into the exclusion zone where the deeper you go, the more difficult the enemies are going to be to take on. Therefore, you’ll need to upgrade your weapons so that you can deal more damage the deeper you go. For this, you’ll need to have plenty of Essence so that you can buy weapons off the wall from the mystery box, or upgrade your weapons at a Pack a Punch machine.

You can earn Essence from completing contracts in the exclusion zone, with some contracts being worth more than others. Ensuring that you’re in the zone with purpose is one of the best ways to guarantee that you’re earning as much Essence as possible. That way, you’ll be able to earn more Essence than if you’re just running around killing zombies, so be sure to check the Tac Map for the closest contracts to your location.

Another quick way to earn Essence in MW3 Zombies is through Harvester Orbs, which will drop a considerable amount of money. You’ll generally find these throughout the map, marked with their corresponding orb icon.

At the same time, you can earn Essence more frequently by killing hordes of zombies or special enemy types. The more opponents you eliminate, the more your money intake will increase. I suggest clearing out Strongholds, Encampments, and Aether Nests if you want to earn some extra rewards. In some cases, you can even sell high-valued items at the Buy Stations, like rare documents or comic books.

Best Zombies Contracts For Earning Essence

The contracts that are scattered all throughout the exclusion zone are going to be your best bet for getting as much Essence as possible, as fast as possible. They’ll all give you 2000 Essence for successfully completing them, so choose the ones that you feel are going to be the easiest to complete for your play style. The fastest method to complete as many contracts as possible before the exfil is to play with a full squad, that way you can have the most help while trying to complete your objectives.

I would say the easiest Contracts you can complete are Spore Control, Raid Weapon Stash, Deliver Cargo, and Eliminate Bounty Target. I’ve done these numerous times in solo mode, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble, regardless if you are just starting out the match.

The cargo deliveries can be somewhat more involved so they might take longer, but the contracts where you have to hold down a point or drill open a safe are usually the faster ones to knock off. Taking down some of the bosses can also be pretty quick, but it’ll be way easier if you’ve got a squad to lay down extra damage.

That’s about all there is to know about how to earn essence fast in MW3 zombies. It can be a bit of a grind and a time commitment, but if you’re willing to dive headfirst into the exclusion zone, you’re sure to be rewarded. For more guides like how to get the ray gun or if zombies has PvP, be sure to check back here.