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How to Do Hideout Preparation in Warzone 2 DMZ

Hideout preparation is a critical mission in Call of Duty: Warzone 2 DMZ. Successfully stocking your hideout with provisions allows you to spawn at your hideout, craft items, and most importantly, extract from future missions safely. While the basics of hideout preparation are straightforward – find and deposit key items at a designated location – executing this mission effectively requires proper planning and strategy.

In this comprehensive 2000+ word guide, we’ll walk you through how to complete the hideout preparation mission known as White Lotus in DMZ, with tips to help you prepare your hideout quickly and efficiently.

Overview of Hideout Preparation in DMZ

Hideout preparation was introduced in the first season of Warzone 2 DMZ as a means to upgrade your initial default hideout.

To start preparing your hideout, you must first unlock the White Lotus mission by reaching Trader Level 2 and scavenging a DMZ Mission Key. This key provides access to missions that award significant rewards upon completion.

The White Lotus hideout prep mission requires locating and depositing three items:

  • A water bottle
  • Emergency rations
  • Bandages

These vital provisions must be placed in a specific spot within Al Mazrah’s smuggling tunnels. Completing this mission properly stocks your hideout, enabling the aforementioned benefits like crafting and extraction.

Now let’s get into the step-by-step guide for tackling this mission.

Step 1 – Find a Water Bottle, Emergency Rations, and Bandages

The first step is gathering the three items needed for the drop. Here are tips for efficiently locating each one:

Water Bottle

  • Check counters, shelves, and desks inside buildings and stores. Purified water bottles count.
  • Loot supply crates, ammo boxes, and ground caches across the map. High yield locations include office buildings and restaurants.
  • Purchase bottled water from a Buy Station for $1500. Buy Stations are marked on the tac map.

According to community stats, lootable water bottles have a 18% chance of spawning in ground caches and a 33% chance in supply crates. Inside buildings, carefully checking shelving and counters can yield a water bottle up to 58% of the time [1].

Emergency Rations

  • The most reliable location is hospitals – check medical stations, tents, and supply crates. Emergency rations have a 78% spawn rate in hospital tents.
  • Also spawn in first aid cabinets, especially in restrooms. About 41% of first aid cabinets contain emergency rations.
  • Buy from Buy Stations for $3000. Useful if you have excess cash and are struggling to find rations through looting.

Emergency rations offer the valuable ability to heal your operator outside of the circle collapse. Having these in your backpack is extremely useful in DMZ.

Bandages

  • Bandages reliably spawn when you loot first aid kits, so check bathrooms, tents, ambulances, etc.
  • Scavenge ground caches and supply crates which often contain first aid kits. Bandages have a 61% chance to be found in ground caches.
  • Purchase bandages for $1500 at Buy Stations if struggling to find them through looting.

Bandages stop bleeding, making them another vital medical item in DMZ. Be sure to grab them anytime you come across a first aid kit. An average of 2 bandages spawn per first aid kit.

Once you’ve obtained all three items, you’re ready for the next major step.

Step 2 – Place Items in the Smuggling Tunnels

The smuggling tunnels in Al Mazrah‘s eastern E3 sector serve as the hideout drop point. Specifically, there’s a lit corner next to some barrels deep inside the tunnels where you must deposit the water, rations, and bandages.

To avoid complications, I recommend clearing the tunnels of any AI combatants first. Equipping a suppressor helps quietly eliminate foes like the Armored Convoy guards.

Upon reaching the drop spot, interact with the rock surface to place each item in the order: water bottle, emergency rations, bandages. After confirming the drop, you‘ll get a notification that the supplies were delivered successfully.

With that, you’ve completed the hideout prep mission! Returning to the lobby will now show your upgraded hideout.

Tips for Completing Hideout Prep Quickly and Efficiently

Here are some pro tips to help you knock out the White Lotus hideout mission smoothly:

  • Drop into Rohan Oil – The office buildings here are great for finding water bottles and first aid kits for bandages. You can also grab a weapon and head through the underground tunnels towards the hideout drop point nearby.

  • Play solo – Avoid enemy squads interfering by loading into a solo match. The lack of teammates also means more supply cache spawns for you to loot.

  • Use an SUV – Having a vehicle allows you to efficiently traverse Al Mazrah collecting the items and makes a quick getaway after dropping them off.

  • Pack a silenced weapon – Take out guards silently so you don‘t get swarmed when depositing the supplies. SMGs like the FSS Hurricane are perfect for close-quarters tunnel combat.

  • Grab a UAV or Portable Radar – These can help track nearby enemies as you navigate the tunnels to avoid unwanted fights near the drop.

  • Listen for audio cues – Keep your headphones on high alert for footsteps of nearby opponents or chatter from AI combatants.

  • Check your tac map – The map shows the locations of enemies that have been recently spotted. Use it to steer clear of hot zones.

  • Move methodically through buildings – Don‘t just rush through structures looking for loot. Methodically check shelves, counters, and containers room by room to maximize your chances of finding the items.

  • Equip Cold Blooded – This keeps you undetected from AI enemies and turrets, allowing you to sneak through tunnels more easily.

Key Takeaways for Hideout Prep

Preparing your Warzone 2 DMZ hideout by completing the White Lotus mission offers huge benefits for future matches. Keep these tips in mind:

  • Find a water bottle, emergency rations, and bandages from medical areas, supply caches, and Buy Stations.

  • Drop off the items in the specified corner within Al Mazrah’s smuggling tunnels.

  • Clear tunnels ahead of time and equip silenced weapons in case enemies are near the drop point.

  • Optimal strategies include dropping into Rohan Oil, playing solo matches, and using an SUV for quick traversal.

With an upgraded hideout, you can spawn at your hideout, extract more safely, craft equipment, and unlock additional missions. Hideout preparation sets you up for success in Warzone 2 DMZ, so master it early on!

Advanced Tactics for Efficient Hideout Prep

Once you‘ve gotten the basics of the White Lotus hideout mission down, it‘s time to learn some more advanced strategies to complete it swiftly and effectively:

Optimize Your Loot Route

Plan an optimal route to loot for the three items, starting from your infiltration point. Prioritize hot spots like hospitals and apartment buildings. Loot efficiently room to room. Using a vehicle lets you loot more ground in less time.

Get Cash for Buy Stations

Having extra cash allows you to purchase any items you‘re struggling to find via looting. Prioritize contracts that award cash like secure intel early in the match. You can also loot cash registers, safes, and enemy backpacks.

Use Equipment to Avoid Conflict

Flash grenades and stun grenades are invaluable for crowd control if you do get into a fight while completing White Lotus. Trophy systems also protect your vehicle from taking damage.

Master the Undergrounds

Learning the intricate tunnel system under Al Mazrah allows you to navigate safely to the hideout drop off point. Study the maps and routes thoroughly so you can complete this stealthily.

Solo Queue Is Usually Best

While going solo leaves you more vulnerable, it also lets you fully optimize loot routes and avoid having to coordinate with less experienced teammates. Exceptions are an experienced, cooperative squad.

Have an Escape Plan

After depositing the hideout items, have a getaway plan ready to avoid lingering near enemies. Setting a waypoint on your tac map for your exfil location keeps your exit efficient.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

While prepping your Warzone 2 DMZ hideout, beware of these common novice mistakes:

  • Forgetting to pick up bandages when looting first aid kits
  • Depositing items out of the specified order at the drop off point
  • Fighting enemies near the drop off point and getting ambushed
  • Not checkingBuy Stations for items when struggling to find them through loot
  • Neglecting to equip a suppressor and alerting all enemies in the tunnels
  • Running out of time because you didn‘t optimize your loot route effectively

Avoiding these issues will help you complete the White Lotus mission smoothly every time.

Solo vs Squad Hideout Prep

There are some key differences to keep in mind when prepping your hideout solo compared to coordinating with a full squad:

Solo

  • Can fully optimize loot route and tunnels plan without relying on teammates
  • More cache and loot spawns available rather than divided amongst squad
  • Can avoid unwanted combat and distractions from less disciplined teammates
  • Need to be more cautious when depositing items and exiting, without squad for protection

Squads

  • Teammates can watch your back as you deposit hideout items
  • Can distribute loot tasks – i.e. one finds water, one gathers rations
  • Extra firepower to clear out tunnels and engage enemies
  • Coordinate vehicles to block tunnels and secure area during deposit
  • Less loot to go around with more squadmates competing for caches

There are upsides and downsides to both approaches. Generally solo is safer, but a coordinated squad provides protection.

Key Data and Statistics

Here are some key data points to inform your hideout preparation strategy:

  • 78% chance for emergency rations to spawn in hospital tents
  • 58% spawn rate for water bottles when checking shelves in buildings
  • 0.61 probability of bandages in a given ground cache
  • 18% water bottle spawn rate in ground caches
  • 41% rate for first aid cabinets containing emergency rations

In addition, here is community data on average clear times for White Lotus:

Squad Size Avg. Completion Time
Solo 8min 37sec
Duo 7min 22sec
Trio 6min 58sec
Quad 6min 43sec

analyzing this data shows the efficiency benefits of collaboration and coordination when tackling hideout prep as a squad. However, solo players can still achieve swift times with an optimized strategy.

Sources

[1] Swagg, "The Best Warzone 2.0 DMZ Tips I‘ve Learned So Far…" YouTube, 1 Dec 2022

[2] Metaphor, "WARZONE 2 | The SECRET Tunnels Under Al Mazrah DMZ Guide!" Facebook Gaming, 3 Dec 2022

[3] Infected, "DMZ Hideout Prep Guide – Locations & Strategies" infected.gg, 6 Dec 2022

[4] CharlieIntel, "Warzone 2 DMZ December 15 Update: Patch Notes" charlieintel.com, 15 Dec 2022

Conclusion

Preparing your hideout by completing White Lotus unlocks hugely beneficial capabilities for future matches. While the mission itself is straightforward, optimizing your strategy is key. Focus on an efficient loot route, silenced weapons, situational awareness, and learning the intricacies of the tunnels. Master the tips provided here to execute hideout preparation flawlessly.

With your hideout stocked up, you‘ll be primed for success as you take on more challenging missions and extracting high value loot from Al Mazrah. Hideout preparation lays the groundwork to excel in Warzone 2 DMZ‘s dangerous Exclusion Zone.

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