Modern Warfare Zombies: How to Open the Season 3 Reloaded Dark Aether Rift

With the new Season 3 Reloaded in Modern Warfare Zombies, there is an all-new Dark Aether Rift that leads to a new region of the Place Below Creation. To reach this area, you will need to complete a new quest as well as several easter eggs that will take you all across the map of Urzikstan. This is one of the most difficult challenges added to the MWZ mode to date, so allow us to help and show you how to gain access to the new Aetherial zone and how to earn the secrets hidden inside.

This guide will provide a full breakdown of how to unlock and open the new Season 3 Reloaded Dark Aether Rift in Modern Warfare Zombies. For more Season 3 tips, check out our complete Modern Warfare Zombies Union mission guide.

How to Open the Dark Aether Rift

Just like the other 2 Dark Aether Rifts found in Urzikstan, you will need to find 4 Attuned Relics and place them on the pedestals found at the center of an Aetherial tornado, this time located at the circle at the northwest end of the High Threat Zone island in Sector E4 near the portal that takes you to the Season 3 Reloaded Story Mission. 3 of these story items will require you to upgrade them to place them on the pedestals and summon the Dark Aether Rift.

Getting All 4 Attuned Relics

The 4 Attuned Relics that you will need to get are the Giraffe Toy, the Laptop with Stickers, the Imaginary Friend Drawing, and the Science Journal. The Giraffe Toy is the only Relic that doesn’t need to be upgraded because it has a golden background when shown in your inventory while all the other Relics start with a purple background which becomes gold after performing a small quest.

Giraffe Toy Location:

• You receive the Giraffe Toy from the Reward Rift at the end of the Union Story Mission which was introduced in the Season 3 Reloaded Update. With the Giraffe Toy acquired, it’s time to head back into Urzikstan and track down our other 3 Relics.

Laptop Stickers Location:

• The Laptop with Stickers can be found by getting a Hellhound companion and having them kill a Sergeant Merc enemy. You can summon a Hellhound by getting an item called Chunk of Flesh, which has a chance to be dropped by an enemy when their bodies are completely destroyed upon death. This can be done by killing a weak enemy with a much more powerful weapon with a Pack-a-Punch and Rarity level that greatly outlevels the Zombie, by using explosives or Molotov Cocktails, or by having the ACV run over the Zombies during an Escort contract.
• However you end up getting the Chunks of Flesh, get the same number of Chunks as the Threat Level of the Zone that you will be summoning the Hellhound in as you need the same or more Chunks to summon a Hellhound of a given Zone. When you have the amount of Flesh you need, go to one of the Dog Houses around the map and summon the Hellhound.
• You will now want to go to one of the many Merc Camps found across the map and have your Hellhound friend take down the Sergeant, a stronger enemy of your regular Grunt which can be spotted by the red beret he wears. This enemy also has the chance of spawning in Merc Strongholds and during the Defend Ground Station and Aether Extractors contracts. Whichever route you decide to take, just make sure your Hellhound is the one to kill the Sergeant and a Reward Rift will open with the unattuned Laptop with Stickers.

Science Journal Location:

• The next Relic we are going to cover is the Science Journal, which is found in the Aether Storm circle, which will change its location every match. You can find it on your map by finding the purple circle with a biohazard symbol at the center. Entering the Storm will do constant damage to you if you don’t have a Gas Mask and the Zombies in the Storm will be a level above whatever Threat Zone it is placed in.
• As a suggestion, you might want to wait for a match that the Storm is located in the Low Threat Zone just to make your life easier but this is completely doable in the High Threat Zone. When you have the gear and are ready to brave the Storm, head to it on the map and just start getting Zombie kills inside of the Aether Storm. You will need to watch out for the Stormcaller, a supercharged Disciple enemy that remains really powerful no matter the Zone the Storm is in.
• This enemy can do a decent amount of damage to you and buff the Zombies in the Storm, but you can avoid the mini-boss and just focus on killing Zombies. Just keep cutting down the undead and a Reward Rift will open and allow you to take the unattuned Science Journal.

Imaginary Friend Drawing Location:

• The final Relic is the Imaginary Friend Drawing and luckily, this is the easiest Relic to get. Head to Sector I7 and go into the main building of Zohoor Ranch across the water from Shahin Manor. Go to the top floor and look underneath the bed to see a strange container. Hold the Interact button and a voice line will play before a Reward Rift appears on the bed with the Imaginary Friend Drawing inside.

Upgrading the Unattuned Relics

Now that we have all of the Relics, it’s time to upgrade all of the unattuned ones. It is important to note that this can be done all in one game or across multiple different matches, but if you die with these items in your inventory, you will need to get them all again. Make sure you have Tombstone to get these items back if you bring all of them into a single match or only bring in the items you plan on upgrading that match.

With that said, it’s time to head into the High Threat Zone, so be prepared. There are 3 locations in the High Threat Zone that are marked with a triangle on the ground. Around this triangle are 3 Runes that you will need to shoot to activate. Once all of them are active, Aetherial markings in the surrounding area will begin to glow. You will need to find a spot nearby that will line up these markings to create a triangle.

Once you do that and you have the corresponding Relic in your inventory, an orb will appear at the center of the triangle and you will be prompted to Perform the Summoning. A purple ring will surround the area and Zombies that enter the ring will gain a slight purple glow. You will need to kill Zombies inside the ring until you hear a completion noise and a supercharged Special Zombie spawns. Defeat this Special Zombie and you will get a Reward Rift with the now Attuned Relic inside.

Triangle #1:

• The triangle for the Laptop with Stickers is found in the alley to the northwest of the Opal Palace just beyond the Point of Interest’s crumbling walls in Sector F5. From the triangle on the ground, look to the southwest and up to the roofs. You will see a rune on the wall of a rooftop on one of the buildings on the right. Turn 180 degrees and look at a building to the left which has a rooftop that is almost level with the road you are standing on.
• The last rune is on the wall facing Opal Palace to the south right next to the nearby scaffolding. When all the Runes are lit, go to the northeast of the triangle and get onto the roof of the building at the base of the staircase leading up to Opal Palace. On the roof, stand in the doorway that connects the stairway of the building to the rooftop proper and face where the triangle is on the ground.
• This should form the triangle that you need to start the Summoning. Get the necessary amount of Zombie kills and a powerful Mimic will spawn. Defeat the Mimic and a Reward Rift will appear with your now fully Attuned Laptop with Stickers Relic.

Triangle #2:

• The next triangle is right outside the destroyed northeast-facing wall of Opal Palace at the top of the staircase the building mentioned above is at the bottom of, also found in Sector F5. The triangle, look down the stairs and to the north and you will see a rune on the wall. Turn to the right and you will see another rune on a destroyed wall.
• The final rune is to the right of the previous rune near the top of the rightmost destroyed wall that leads into Opal Palace. Once all the runes have been shot, climb onto the wall that the final rune was on. Run along the top of this wall until you reach another gap. Jump across the gap and turn to face the area where you shot the runes to see the triangle.
• Summon the circle, kill the allotted number of Zombies, and then a powerful Mangler enemy will appear. Defeat the Mangler and open the Reward Rift to get the Attuned Imaginary Friend Drawing.

Triangle #3:

• The final triangle is over near the altar where you will place your Attuned Relics to summon the Dark Aether Portal in Sector E3. The 3 runes are next to the bridge going east, one on the wall of the building to the south, and the last one is on the archway around the circle at the center of the Aetherial tornado.
• Now, head to the north and get on top of the archway in front of the Nahr Bathhouse. Stand at the northeast end of this archway and face the area that was across the bridge that the rune was on to see the triangle.
• Begin the summoning, kill Zombies in the circle, and then defeat the powerful Hellhound that spawns to get the upgraded Science Journal.

Opening the Dark Aether Rift

• With all of these complete, gather all your Attuned Relics including the Giraffe Toy, and go to the Dark Aether Rift in E3. Around the circle at the center of this Aetherial tornado are 4 altars, each one with a symbol that corresponds to one of the Relics. Place the correct Relic on each altar to summon the Dark Aether Rift.
• A powerful Disciple enemy will come out of the Rift and has the ability to summon other Special Zombies that are marked as the Disciple’s “Minions.” When these Minions are alive, the Disciple will be invincible, so take out these other enemies to do damage to the main threat. When the Disciple is defeated, a Reward Rift with a Sigil inside will spawn so you can enter the Dark Aether.
• Just like the previous Dark Aether Rifts, you will need to use a Sigil to enter the Tier 4 zone and can use an Elder Sigil to enter Tier 5. Both of these items can be received as rewards from contracts in The High Threat Zone and the Dark Aether.

Obelisks Locations:

• Unlike previous Dark Aether areas, you won’t be tracking down the Mr. Peeks rabbits to start your contracts in this new region, but will instead need to find 3 obelisks which can be tracked down by following the gold beams of light that are being shot into the sky. These can be done in any order and each obelisk also comes with a new item that provides passive boosts to the player carrying them, providing help against these challenging contracts.
• At the northern part of the map in Sector F1, you will find the Eliminate Bounty contract with the Mind-Blowing Revelation item, which will mark enemies when you land headshots who will explode upon death. In I3, there is the Numb Foot item which will give the carrier increased movement speed and will start a nearby Outlast contract. The Escort contract is found on the roof of a building in G6 and will give you the Atomic Hunter perk, which will see some Special Zombies glow green and guarantees a Nuke Power-Up to drop when you defeat that enemy.
• Along with all of these contracts, there is also a secret boss fight that will require you to complete all the other contracts.

Completing Contracts:

Completing these contracts gives you a chance to get some of the new items introduced in Season 3 Reloaded and you can get the Schematics for these items by completing these contracts after using an Elder Sigil to enter the Dark Aether. When you are finished in the new region, you can extract from the Dark Aether by using the portal at the southeast end of the island at the center of the map in G4.