Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Guides

How to Get a Nuke in Warzone: Every Champion's Quest Step

Champion's Quest turns a Warzone match into a lobby-wide hunt: here is who can steal your quest items, who can defuse your Nuke, and what each side earns.

PandaPlay TeamCall of Duty: Black Ops 7 Guides
Updated 9 min read
Warzone Champion's Quest key art
On this page
  1. How to unlock the Nuke Contract in Warzone
  2. Champion’s Quest steps after you pick up the contract
  3. What the rest of the lobby sees during a Champion’s Quest
  4. How to stop or defuse an enemy Nuke
  5. Can you get a Nuke solo in Warzone?
  6. Champion’s Quest Nuke rewards for 1 to 10 completions
  7. Warzone Nuke bot lobby and Champion’s Quest accounts
  8. Frequently asked questions
  9. Sources and update history

To get a Nuke in Warzone, you first earn a Champion’s Quest contract: win five Core Battle Royale matches in a row, or 30 matches in one season. In your next match, grab the Champion’s Contract briefcase, move the isotope, recover the hard drive, escort the missile transport, then arm the Nuke and hold it until it goes off. These rules apply to Season 06, checked September 30, 2026.

How to unlock the Nuke Contract in Warzone

Champion’s Quest came back to Black Ops 7-era Warzone with Season 04 Reloaded on June 25, 2026. It is still live in Season 06: the Season 06 patch notes list a September 24 fix for a Champion’s Quest contract that could not be picked up at the spawn location south of TV Station. Warzone switches to Modern Warfare 4 content at the start of MW4 Season 1; our guide to what carries over to Warzone in MW4 covers your camos, skins and Blueprints.

The Season 04 Reloaded patch notes give two standard ways to qualify, and the official Season 04 Reloaded announcement adds a third:

RouteWhat you have to doSource
Win streakWin five consecutive Core Battle Royale matchesActivision
Season totalWin 30 matches in total within a single seasonActivision
Extract Elements public eventBe the first player to interact with a special element airdrop, then finish that mission before the match ends. The whole squad gets a contractActivision
Steal from a Champion’s Quest squadTake a key quest item from the squad running the quest and extract it at the marked helipad. Your squad gets a Champion’s Quest token for a future matchActivision

A few rules sit around those routes:

  • A loss or a new season resets you. Dexerto’s Champion’s Quest guide (July 13, 2026) says the streak resets if you lose a game or a new seasonal update arrives. Activision’s own wording only says the 30 wins must come “within a single season”.
  • Do not back out of prematch lobbies. The Season 05 patch notes say players who repeatedly leave prematches in playlists with Win Streaks or Champion’s Quest enabled get their progress reset to 0. You get a warning first, and finishing a full match clears the tracking.
  • Finishing the quest uses up your eligibility. Activision says completing Champion’s Quest removes eligibility from every squad member until a new contract is earned.
  • Golden Ticket events unlock once any squad has claimed the world-first completion. Activision describes them as rare public events that give progress towards a Champion’s Quest token.

Activision does not say whether the 30-win total counts only Core Battle Royale or every Battle Royale playlist. Media write-ups word it both ways, so treat that detail as not confirmed.

Warzone Nuke Bot LobbyWarzone Nuke Bot LobbyFor players who would rather not chase five straight Core Battle Royale wins or a 30-win season total.From $19.99View offer

Champion’s Quest steps after you pick up the contract

The contract is a briefcase that spawns at set locations and is marked on the map. Picking it up starts the quest. Activision lists three objectives: transport a radioactive isotope, recover a hard drive, and escort a missile transport vehicle, with destinations that change from match to match.

The step-by-step order below comes from Dexerto’s July 2026 guide, not from Activision. It lines up with objects that the official patch notes mention in bug fixes, such as the drone crash site, the Champion’s Quest chopper, the Encrypted Drive cooldown and the missile launcher vehicle.

  1. Search the crash sites for the isotope.
  2. Shoot down the chopper to reveal a Care Package.
  3. Pick up the hard drive from the Care Package.
  4. Head to the Hidden Bunker, which Dexerto says spawns around the third circle.
  5. Take the hard drive into the bunker and decode it.
  6. Use the terminal to deploy the missile launcher.
  7. Go to the launcher and insert the isotope.
  8. Escort the launcher, keeping at least one squad member near it.
  9. When the progress bar reaches 100%, arm the Nuke.
  10. Defend the armed Nuke for 30 seconds.

The Spike’s August 2026 guide splits the same run into four phases (isotope, encrypted drive, missile escort, launch) and describes the isotope as something you carry to a marked destination first. The two guides agree on the objectives but not on exactly when the isotope is delivered, so follow the on-screen markers in your own match.

Some numbers are still missing. Activision has not published an overall time limit for the current quest, how long arming takes, or what happens to your contract if the quest fails. Older versions had fixed timers per map, but those do not carry over to this version. A completed quest counts as a win: the Season 05 patch notes fixed a bug where launching the missile “would not always award players a win”.

What the rest of the lobby sees during a Champion’s Quest

A Champion’s Quest is not quiet. Activision calls it a “server-wide battle” built on randomized objective locations, public events and match-wide visibility. In practice that means:

  • The whole lobby is alerted that a Champion’s Quest is in progress (Dexerto).
  • Quest items and objectives show up as icons. Several Season 04 Reloaded fixes deal with Champion’s Quest icons appearing, clearing too soon, or showing in the Gulag.
  • Players who are not running the quest see a Nuke arming countdown. One fix corrected that timer showing 0:00.0 for players not performing the Champion’s Quest.
  • Carrying the isotope makes your movement easier for enemy squads to track, according to The Spike.

The community-run Call of Duty Wiki lists two rewards for players who witness a Nuke go off in the Black Ops 7 seasons: the “Kilonova” weapon charm and the “Ever Watchful” calling card. Activision has not listed these itself.

Ever Watchful calling card: an operator in a gas mask looking through binoculars in the rain
Image: “Ever Watchful” calling card, Call of Duty Wiki (Fandom), uploaded July 7, 2026

How to stop or defuse an enemy Nuke

You have two ways to wreck another squad’s Champion’s Quest, and both pay you for it:

  • Steal a quest item. Enemy squads can contest objectives and intercept carriers. If you take a key item from the quest squad and extract it at the designated helipad, your squad earns a Champion’s Quest token for a future match. A July 15 fix limits this to one extracted item per match.
  • Defuse the armed Nuke. Once the Nuke is armed, any enemy can try to disarm it during the final defense. Activision says players who defuse an armed Nuke earn an animated calling card. The Call of Duty Wiki names it “Going Critical”.

Activision has not said how long a defuse takes in the current version, or whether the defuser’s squad wins the match on the spot. Older versions worked that way, but treat both as not confirmed for Season 06.

Going Critical animated calling card, the reward for defusing an armed Nuke
Image: “Going Critical” calling card, Call of Duty Wiki (Fandom), uploaded July 7, 2026

Can you get a Nuke solo in Warzone?

Activision’s rules do not mention squad size. They only say “Core Battle Royale matches” for the streak and “the participating squad” for the quest itself, so whether solo wins count towards the contract is not confirmed officially.

The rest of this section comes from community posts, not from Activision. TikTok clips titled as solo Nuke runs were posted in 2026, including one titled “I Completed my FIRST Ever Solo NUKE!” on September 2. We have not verified which playlist those players used or how they qualified. What is clear from the quest design is the workload: one player has to carry every item, stay near the missile transport, and then hold the armed Nuke alone against the whole lobby.

Champion’s Quest Nuke rewards for 1 to 10 completions

Rewards stack with each completed quest. This is Activision’s list from Season 04 Reloaded. The Season 05 and Season 06 patch notes do not announce a new track.

CompletionsReward
1“Containment Crew — Alpha” Weapon Camo and “Axia” Grimm Animated Operator Skin
2“Darkly Dreaming” Animated Calling Card
3“Nuke Core” Animated Emblem
4“Death Filter” Spray
5“Containment Crew — Omega” Weapon Camo
6“Gamma Stick” Flatline MK.II Melee Weapon Blueprint
7“Critical Mess” Finishing Move
8“Axia’s Wrath — Alpha” Animated Weapon Camo
9“Ion the Ball” Emote
10“Axia’s Wrath — Omega” Animated Weapon Camo
Grimm in the Axia operator skin, a hooded gas-mask outfit with glowing blue eyes, holding a rifle
Image: “Axia” Grimm operator skin, Warzone Season 04 Reloaded patch notes, Activision, June 2026
Containment Crew Alpha camo iconContainment Crew Omega camo iconAxia's Wrath Alpha camo iconAxia's Wrath Omega camo icon
Image: Containment Crew Alpha and Omega, Axia’s Wrath Alpha and Omega camo icons, Call of Duty Wiki (Fandom), uploaded July 5, 2026

Win Streak camos are a separate track. For Season 06, the patch notes list Battle Royale camos for 10 and 25 consecutive wins. They do not count as Champion’s Quest completions.

Whether your completion count carries into the next season is not confirmed. Activision has not said.

Warzone Nuke bot lobby and Champion’s Quest accounts

If the win streak is the part that stops you, our Black Ops 7 and Warzone bot lobbies page has the Nuke lobby. What a bot lobby is explains how these lobbies work, and the Season 6 The Haunting guide covers the rest of the current season.

Warzone Nuke Bot LobbyWarzone Nuke Bot LobbySkip the five-win streak and go straight to a Champion's Quest run.From $19.99View offer BO7 Champions Quest ×1 Account — Axia Grimm SkinBO7 Champions Quest ×1 Account — Axia Grimm SkinAn account that already has the first-completion reward, the Axia Grimm skin.From $29.99View offer BO7 Champions Quest ×10 Account — All RewardsBO7 Champions Quest ×10 Account — All RewardsAn account with all ten Champion's Quest completion rewards.From $299.99View offer

Frequently asked questions

How many wins do you need for a Nuke in Warzone?

Five Core Battle Royale wins in a row, or 30 wins in total within one season. An Extract Elements public event can also give your squad a contract.

Is Champion’s Quest still in Warzone Season 06?

Yes. The Season 06 patch notes include a September 24, 2026 fix for picking up a Champion’s Quest contract near TV Station.

Do you have to be in a squad to do Champion’s Quest?

Not confirmed. Activision’s rules do not name a squad size, and the solo clips we found are community posts we have not verified.

What do you get for defusing a Nuke?

An animated calling card, according to Activision. The Call of Duty Wiki names it “Going Critical”.

Can you do Champion’s Quest again after a Nuke?

Yes, but you need a new contract. Completing the quest removes eligibility from every squad member until they earn another one.

How long do you have to finish Champion’s Quest?

Not confirmed. Activision has not published a time limit for the current version.

Sources and update history

Drafted 2026-09-30. Facts last checked 2026-09-30.

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