Cut The Head DMZ Mission Guide

After reaching reputation level 22 for the Phalanx faction in Call of Duty: Warzone DMZ, you'll finally unlock the Tier 5 story mission called Cut The Head. For this mission, you are tasked to deploy into Vondel and activate four laptops in a heavy-security area. In this guide, I've explained how to complete this mission that rewards you with the exclusive Praetorian operator skin for Konig.

How to complete Cut The Head Mission in DMZ

Cut The Head mission objectives

Below are all the objectives for Cut The Head:

1. Trade for the Encryption Key at a buy station.
2. Activate the four laptops in the Market in under 2 minutes with the Encryption Key.
3. Extract with the Encryption Key.

All items you'll need for Cut The Head

Below is a list of items you should add to your loadout before deploying into the Vondel map. You'll need these items to craft the Encryption Key required for the mission.

• Smoke Grenade: Equip it in your Tactical slot.
• Throwing Knife: Equip it in your Lethal slot.
• Inflatable Decoy: Equip it as your Field Upgrade.
• Stronghold Keycard: If you already have one in your backpack slot or key stash, bring it with you. Otherwise, you can always get these by killing AI soldiers in the DMZ.

Related: DMZ Breaking the Bunker mission guide

How to trade for the Encryption Key

After deploying into Vondel with the items specified above, try to acquire a Stronghold Keycard by killing AI enemies around you and checking their bodies. You actually need two Stronghold Keycards for this mission, one to trade for the key and the other to unlock a safe house.

Once you have at least one Stronghold Keycard, head straight to the nearest buy station and open the Barter menu. In the list of items for trade, you'll find the Encryption Key that requires a Stronghold Keycard, a Throwing Knife, an Inflatable Decoy, and a Smoke Grenade to craft. Since you already have these items, you can trade for the Encryption Key right away.

How to activate the 4 laptops in the Market in under 2 minutes

After acquiring the Encryption Key, head to the Market POI situated in the center of the map. The area is heavily guarded, so I recommend you first take out the bots around the Stronghold building from a nearby vantage point. Once the area is somewhat clear, enter the building via the entrance marked in the second image, and remember, you'll need a Stronghold Keycard to unlock it.

Related: Crack The Code DMZ Mission Guide

As you unlock the building, the two-minute timer to activate the four laptops will start. But there's no need to panic as that's a sufficient amount of time to complete the objective. You'll find the first laptop on the couch right as you enter the building via the door discussed earlier, i.e., the west entrance. Approach the device, and you'll get the prompt saying Activate Laptop.

Activate the first laptop and move to the second one, which should be on the bar counter right across the room. Meanwhile, take out a few guards if possible so that you're not killed while completing the task. I suggest taking out the Riot Shield bots first. Now, go up the stairs, turn left, and you'll find the third laptop on the pool table. Activate it, move forward, turn left again, and the final laptop will be on the couch in the gallery. I've shown the location of each laptop in the images above for reference.

You should easily be able to activate all four laptops within two minutes of unlocking the Market stronghold. All you have to do now is to extract the Encryption Key you're carrying. You can do so from a nearby exfil point or complete a Rescue Hostage contract if there's one available on the map.

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