Modern Warfare 2 campaign guide: How to complete Mission 12

The twelfth campaign mission in Modern Warfare 2 gives players an experience of night-based combat aboard an oil rig and a ship in two different scenarios. Following the events of the previous mission, in which the Shadow Ops, Las Vaqueros, and Task Force 141 captured Valeria, AKA El Sin Nombre, they must now locate the missiles and prevent their launch.

During the mission, players will take on the role of Soap and begin with the weapons Fennec 45 SMG and FTac Recon battle rifle. Fennec is better suited for close combat, whereas FTac is better suited for long-range targets.

The mission takes place in darkness, which means that players will need to be aware at all times of the incoming fire and where they're going. While navigating across a ship or an oil rig through several doorways can be a challenging task in the dark, this guide will help you all the way through that.

For a complete walkthrough of the previous Modern Warfare 2 mission "El Sin Nombre", click here.

Disclaimer: The following section may contain spoilers for the Modern Warfare 2 Campaign

Modern Warfare 2 campaign: Mission 12 - Dark Water

In this Modern Warfare 2 campaign mission, Soap, Alejandro, Ghost, Graves, and his Shadow Company race to an offshore oil platform to prevent an impending attack on US soil. As soon as you can move as Soap, follow Graves while neutralizing any enemy threats in your path.

As you move with your team, go through the door to Graves' right and neutralize the two enemies behind that door. Keep moving until you reach a red room, and be mindful of your surroundings. Look out for any enemies firing at you from a distance.

Blue Container with the missile on the rig (image via Activision)

Exit the red room and keep moving upward the rig. Head upstairs with the rest of the team, taking out any enemies you come across on the way. Continue to move with the team and clear areas until you reach the helipad, where there is a blue shipment container.

As you interact with the container door, move closer and investigate it. When you open it, you'll notice that it's empty and that the missile is ready to launch over it. After interacting with the team, it is assumed that the missile controls are on the ship.

You now need to zipline down to a speedboat that will take you to the ship, where you will assist Ghost in locating the controls of the missile. Once you board the main boat, you will need to clear the area and neutralize enemies as you walk. However, the issue with the ship is that the tides are high, and the containers on the deck are sliding sideways with the ship.

Sliding Containers in the ship (image via Activision)

As you move forward, avoid getting crushed by the containers while neutralizing any enemies on the way and clearing the area. A viable strategy is to use the red structures to the sides of the ship to crouch and neutralize enemies from there. This comes in handy as these structures will keep you safe from the containers that can inflict heavy damage if they smash on you.

Continue walking until you reach the opposite end of the deck, where you must enter the doorway to your right. As you secure the deck, clear the first floor and climb the stairs with Graves.

Plant a C4 to blast the door open (image via Activision)

Moving forward, you now need to head upstairs to plant a C4 on the door to blast it open. Make sure to step back so the blast doesn't harm you and cause heavy damage to your health.

Enter the room and work with the team to secure the area. Once all threats have been neutralized,return to the hallway and exit through the door. Head upstairs to the second deck to clear the area, then enter another doorway in front of you to neutralize all threats in that area.

Locate the Brown Briefcase on Ship's control panel (image via Activision)

Once all areas downstairs have been cleared, proceed upstairs to reach the bridge. Neutralize any enemies in your path and secure the bridge. Once safe, proceed to the missile control system, which is housed inside a brown briefcase on the ship's control panel.

After opening the case, it comes to your knowledge that you need to manually detonate the missile before it reaches its target. For the same, you need to follow Laswell's instructions on comms.

Follow Laswell's instructions to execute Missile controls (image via Activision)

First, open the briefcase and activate the diagnostic mode by pressing the CLR and Mode keys simultaneously. Depending upon the platform, you're playing the game in, the missile controls will be marked according to your set keybinds. So read them carefully on the control panel and use them with instructions.

After you've completed the preceding step, give Graves the letter C from row two, column one. Finally, press the EXE key to detonate the missile on the rig, alerting Alejandro to flee as soon as possible. When the missile is launched, it will collide with the rig, and the Modern Warfare 2 mission will be completed successfully.

What are the rewards for completing "Dark Water" in Modern Warfare 2?

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By completing the twelfth Modern Warfare 2 mission, players will get their hands on a Double Weapon XP token for use in Multiplayer modes and Warzone 2.0. This can be used across several Call of Duty modes, thanks to cross progression in Modern Warfare 2, to upgrade weapons faster to unlock special attachments and gun variations in Gunsmith 2.0.

This covers the twelfth mission, "Dark Water", and takes players on an exciting night combat experience that is played on a variation of the classic COD map Shipment, which is, to date, the most chaotic multiplayer map in the franchise. Moreover, the map might arrive in the multiplayer modes of Modern Warfare 2 soon.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is now live on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox with pre-access rewards granted to players who pre-ordered the game.