This comes up often enough in Call of Duty that it deserves a straight answer rather than a thread to scroll through.

Short answer

In most cases the straightforward approach works. The exceptions are specific and listed below.

Testing this yourself takes a few minutes and settles it definitively. Most of the disagreement online comes from people describing different versions of Call of Duty. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work.

When the usual advice fails

Nothing here depends on a setting you are unlikely to have. Edge cases are genuinely rare, which is why the simple answer is usually the correct one. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. The mechanic behind it is simpler than the discussion around it suggests.

It is worth separating what the game does from what players have concluded it does. Everything below is framed around the current state of Call of Duty rather than a launch-week impression. The accepted community answer is broadly right and wrong in a specific way that matters here.

What to do instead

If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional.

  • Test it yourself where testing is cheap.
  • Check which version any conflicting advice was written for.
  • Expect one number in every guide to be out of date; the method is what matters.
  • Note the exception cases — they are specific rather than vague.
  • Try the straightforward approach before the elaborate one.
  • Write down what you changed, so you can undo exactly one thing if it goes sideways.

The practical answer

What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it. Call of Duty is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters.

A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see.

Why it works this way

Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different.

Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows.

Worth knowing alongside this

The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing.

Where people go wrong

  • Grinding a method that was patched months ago because a thread still ranks well.
  • Assuming a guide from an older season still describes the current version.
  • Downloading a helper tool for something the game already does in its own menu.

Call of Duty FAQ

Why do other guides describe this differently?

Most were written for an earlier version and never revisited. Compare the steps against what your build actually shows.

Does this work the same on console and PC?

The logic is identical. Menu paths and button prompts differ, and any real difference is flagged above.

Why do people disagree about this?

Mostly because they are describing different versions. Version drift explains the majority of contradictory advice about Call of Duty.

Does this change between platforms?

The behaviour does not. Where menu paths or prompts differ, that is noted above.

Work through it in the order above and war zone 2.0 stops being a question you have to look up again.