How to find and destroy a Mercenary Convoy in MW3 Zombies

In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the only Tier 2 mission in MW3 Zombies can be quite a pain. Titled Interceptor, the mission tasks you with Destroying a Mercenary Convoy and Collecting a Stronghold Keycard dropped by the convoy. Here is how to find and destroy a Mercenary Convoy in MW3 Zombies.

Where to find the Mercenary Convoy

Once you spawn into the map in MW3 Zombies, immediately open your map and head to the main highway that circles the entire map. It typically dips in between the easy and medium difficulty zones. Sometimes the Mercenary Convoy will spawn right away, which you will see as three armored trucks driving in a line around the highway.

If you don’t see them, however, you just need to get them to spawn. To do so, continue driving around the highway and eventually, you will trigger it to spawn. Keep in mind that only one group can take out the Mercenary Convoy and complete the keycard part of the mission, so you’ll want to try and hurry to reach the Armored Convoy.

Also, sometimes you might see a single armored truck by itself. Unfortunately, this isn’t the Mercenary Convoy, but rather Knight, a boss enemy that can drop some interesting loot. If you look at the map above, inside the red circle is what the trio of armored trucks in the Mercenary Convoy will look like.

How to destroy the Mercenary Convoy and Collect the Stronghold Keycard

Once you’ve tracked down the Mercenary Convoy, it’s time to take it out. Start shooting the armored trucks and the convoy will stop and the mercenaries will start popping out. There are 3-4 mercenaries in each of the armored trucks, so you’ll have to take out about 10-12 of them in total, not to mention other zombies might attack you.

Eventually, you’ll see a keycard icon popup in the middle of the Mercenary Convoy that indicates the Stronghold Keycard you can obtain. From what I’ve seen, this normally spawns as a keycard inside a small chest in the bed of the second armored truck in the convoy.

Unfortunately, I’ve also seen this bug out a few times. When that happens, you can loot the keycard but the Interceptor mission does not update to say you have picked it up. When this happens, you’ll have to exfil and then drop back in and try the whole process again.

Tips to successfully beat the Mercenary Convoy

Obviously taking on three Armored Trucks full of mercenaries can be a bit tricky. If you are in a group, it’s actually super easy to take on the Mercenary Convoy. However, if you are solo it can be a bit troublesome.

If you are solo I’d recommend finding a Pack-a-Punch before taking on the Mercenary Convoy. Doing so can give your weapon the added damage it needs to make quick work of the Mercenaries, so you don’t get overwhelmed.

Also, don’t be afraid to use lethals like Grenades and Semtex. With the area-of-effect damage of lethals, you can make quick work of one of the Armored Trucks full of mercenaries before moving onto the next one.

I can find the Knight but not the Mercenary Convoy

The Knight is part of an elaborate secret called the “Chess Vault” in which you have to kill four separate special enemies, including the Knight. Doing so will open the vault, which gives you access to a room full of loot chests.

Unfortunately, despite sometimes running the same route as the Mercenary Convoy as well as driving in an Armored Truck, the Knight has nothing to do with the Mercenary Convoy. If you see the Knight but no Mercenary Convoy roaming around your map, you either have to wait for one to spawn or Exil and drop back in again at an attempt of spawning and encounter the Mercenary Convoy.

What if you’re solo and have trouble in the medium area?

Throughout the MW3 Zombies map, you may notice a burning doghouse that you can seemingly interact with. They can spawn in several different places on the map. While exploring you can come across various Chunk of Flesh items, which you can then take to the doghouse and use the Chunk of Flesh on. The qualities of the Chunk of Flesh are green, blue, and purple.

These Chunks of Flesh will spawn a hellhound at the doghouse. However, they are friendly Hellhounds that will actually help fight alongside you. The allied hellhounds are arguably strong companions, especially if you are solo. In my opinion, they are nowhere near as strong as an actual ally, especially if you are going with the strategy of driving around to try and hunt down the convoy. That being said, I could definitely see the argument that bringing a hellhound companion with you is better than nothing.

Especially when you encounter the convoy, it could help to have a hellhound there to help you soak some damage. So in the end, I’d recommend grabbing a hellhound if you are solo and seem to have trouble soloing ranged mercenary enemies. Otherwise, you’re better off bringing a friend.

Hopefully, now that you know how to find and destroy a Mercenary Convoy in MW3 Zombies you will be able to complete the only Tier 2 mission and then move on to the Tier 3 missions.