How to get and use the Locked Diary in MW3 Zombies

While Dark Aether Rifts in MW3 Zombies might seem exhilarating to explore, you’d want to complete tasks and get out of there as soon as possible. Before you exit the very first rift after conquering what’s inside, you’ll receive a Locked Diary to bring back. But what does it mean?

Season one of MW3 Zombies dropped on Dec. 6 with plenty of new content, including the star of the show: Dark Aether Rifts. You’ll get the Locked Diary as a reward for completing the new story mission, but it’s not just a decorative token you get to keep in your inventory. There’s huge significance to it, and if you’re wondering what it’s used for, our guide will definitely clear your doubts.

How to get the Locked Diary in MW3 Zombies

The season one update of MW3 Zombies introduced only one story mission of Act Four; the rest of the missions will be added as mid-season content. The first mission of Act Four is called Bad Signal, and completing it will get you the Locked Diary in MWZ.

To begin the mission, you’ve to visit the new Anomaly extraction site on the MW3 Zombies map. Once you get there, interact with the portal to activate a Dark Aether Rift. Be ready for a hoard of zombies and an enormous boss waiting for you on the other side of the rift when you choose to “Investigate the Anomaly.”

While there, you’ll have to break the seals by killing zombies and then defeat Gorm’Gant—basically a giant purplish worm. We’ve spun together a guide to complete investigating the anomaly, so if you aren’t sure how to handle what’s inside that rift, make sure to check it out. 

If you haven’t realized already, defeating Gorm’Gant will unlock a Reward Rift, and you’ll be able to take what’s inside (the Locked Diary) and extract with it. Now, the question is, what do we do with the diary? 

How to use the Locked Diary in MW3 Zombies

You need to deposit the Locked Diary in one of the four pillars (podiums, altars, whatever you’d like to call them) that you can find on the new island near the giant purplish tornado. It’s at the center of the map and pretty easy to locate on the map, where it’s marked as Dark Aether Rift.

That being said, you can’t just put the Locked Diary in any of the pillars—it must be put in the Cryo Freeze Pillar. You’ll also have to find three more items to put in the remaining pillars to unlock an Easter egg. These are as follows: 

• Dog Collar on the pillar marked Napalm Burst
• Pill Bottle on the pillar marked Brain Rot 
• Surveillance Camera on the pillar marked Dead Wire

The remaining items can also be found in Reward Rifts, for which you’ll have to venture into other Dark Aether Rifts and complete the designated missions for those rifts.

Placing these items on their designated pillars isn’t the end of the story, mind you. After this, you’ll have to deal with a Mega Abomination alongside hordes of zombies, so make sure to be ready for a scary fight—with weapons and armor—before you place those items on the pillars.