Modern Warfare 2 Mastery Camos and how to unlock them all

Unlocking Modern Warfare 2 mastery camos for your favorite weapons is the ultimate challenge in Call of Duty multiplayer. They signal that you're a killing machine, or at least have the time to grind out the prerequisite challenges – both are feared equally on the battlefield. With Modern Warfare 2 prestige system still a few weeks from being implemented, the Gold, Platinum, Polyatomic, and Orion camos are the only real way to show off in the game – particularly as there is no real way to track your stats or check your Modern Warfare 2 KD.  

Naturally, the process of unlocking mastery camos in Modern Warfare 2 isn't easy, although the challenges are a little easier to access than in previous iterations of the series. So below you'll find details on the base weapon camos, and details on all four Modern Warfare 2 mastery camos and how to unlock them. 

Modern Warfare 2 camos

There are currently 186 standard camos available in Modern Warfare 2, split across 14 categories – Spray Paint, Woodland, Digital, Dragon, Geometric, Fun, Foliage, Skulls, Tiger, Stripes, Reptile, Solid Colors, Classic, and Cliffside. Unlike in previous Call of Duty games, however, they are shared universally between weapons. This means that once you unlock a standard camo for one gun, it'll be available for all of your unlocked guns. Now, this does also make it more challenging to unlock the camos that you want to use – forcing you to play with guns you may otherwise not want to.

For example, I spent the entirety of the Modern Warfare and Warzone era using the Cthulhu camo (that's the pink Skull camouflage) attached to my beloved Grau 5.56. If I want to get that same camo on my best M4 loadout in Modern Warfare 2, I would first have to get the Lachmann-556 (a Battle Rifle) to level 19 to even unlock the challenge. It's going to take a while to unlock your favorite camos, basically. 

Modern Warfare 2 base camo challenges

Outside of the 186 standard camo options, there are also special Base Camos to unlock. Every primary weapon in Modern Warfare 2 which can be customized via the Gunsmith system (so, that's weapons that can take attachments like the Assault Rifle, SMG, and Sniper) has four base camos and four challenges to unlock them.  You'll need to complete these weapon specific challenges to get on the road towards the mastery camos. 

It's worth noting that these challenges are different between the weapons, but they all fit the same basic structure. Here's an example for the M4 Assault Rifle: 

• The first camo challenge requires you to get 50 kills with the M4.
• The second camo challenge requires you to get 50 kills while ADS in Modern Warfare 2 with the M4.
• The third camo challenge requires you to get 10 double kills with the M4.
• The fourth camo challenge requires you to get 15 kills from behind with the M4.

Weapons like the Launchers and the Melee tools (which can't be customized via Gunsmith) only require you to complete the first or second camo challenge to unlock the Base Camo. Either way, once you have completed all of a weapon's Base Camo Challenges it'll unlock Gold Camo Challenges – and that's a great place to be. 

How to unlock Modern Warfare 2 mastery camos

There are four tiers of Modern Warfare 2 Mastery Camos. You have Gold, Platinum, Polyatomic, and Orion. Now, you may be seeing quite a few Modern Warfare 2 gold camo guns in the early game, and that's because it's a little less time consuming to unlock than it has been in previous iterations of the series. Still, there are hurdles to jump through if you want these special camouflages attached to your favorite weapons, which we have detailed for you below. 

How to unlock Modern Warfare 2 Gold Camo

If you want to unlock MW2 gold camo for your favorite weapons, you'll first need to complete all four of the base camo challenges as listed above. Once you've done that, you'll need to get x number of kills without dying x amount of times – and this number can vary depending on the weapon in question. Once you've completed that, you'll unlock Gold Camo for that weapon. 

How to unlock Modern Warfare 2 Platinum Camo

To unlock Platinum Camo, you must complete the Gold Mastery challenges for every weapon within its category – for example, if you want to unlock the Platinum M4 Camo Challenge, you'll first need to unlock the Gold camo for eight Assault Rifles. Once you've done that, the Platinum Camo Challenge will unlock, and these are different for every weapon, although as an example: the M4 Platinum Camo Challenge asks you to get 25 longshot kills with the weapon, and once you've done that you will be able to equip the Platinum camo. 

How to unlock Modern Warfare 2 Polyatomic Camo

Once you have got your hands on 51 Platinum Camos (the number of guns available in the game at launch), you'll be able to access Polyatomic Camo Challenges. Every Modern Warfare 2 gun has its own specific Polyatomic Camo Challenge to complete – so the requirements to unlock Polyatomic for the M4 will be different from the MCPR-300, for example. As an example, the M4 Polyatomic Camo Challenge asks you to get just 25 headshots with the weapon – which, if you've already unlocked 51 platinum camos to get this far, should be easily done!

How to unlock Modern Warfare 2 Orion Camo

Getting Orion camo in Modern Warfare 2 isn't going to be easy. If you want to equip this legendary skin to any of your weapons, you'll first need to complete 51 Polyatomic Camos challenges – which is to say, you'll need Base, Gold, and Polyatomic camo unlocked for all 51 guns available. Once you've done that, Modern Warfare 2 Orion Camo will unlock and can be equipped! 

Modern Warfare 2 mastery camo challenges

Once you unlock a completionist weapon camo (Gold, Platinum, Polyatomic, or Orion) it will unlock a set of additional Modern Warfare 2 weapon mastery challenges. The Gold Mastery, Platinum Mastery, Polyatomic Mastery, and Orion Mastery challenges will unlock special player emblems and calling cards. Given everything you've been through to get this far, these challenges don't seem all that taxing. 

For example, for the M4 Assault Rifle, they are as follows: 

• Gold Mastery Challenge: Get 100 kills with the Gold Camo equipped.
• Platinum Mastery Challenge: Get 200 kills with the Platinum Camo equipped.
• Polyatomic Mastery Challenge: Get 300 kills with the Polyatomic Camo equipped.
• Orion Mastery Challenge: Get 400 kills with the Orion Camo equipped.

Complete all four of these Camo Mastery Challenges and you'll get a special reward: a unique weapon charm that will be among the rarest seen in Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.