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Players hiding behind riot shield in CoD MW3 multiplayer.
Image via Activision

How to add bots to a MW3 private lobby? Answered

You might find bots outside of private lobbies too.

Whether you’re trying to balance out unequal teams or get practice in a private match, bots are great tools for players to use. Before jumping into Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer, you might first want to try out bots first.

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In Modern Warfare 3, you can create a private multiplayer lobby only accessible to players you invite. If you want to play completely solo, you can launch a game without any other players to explore the map alone, or take on bots. If you are trying to add bots in your Modern Warfare 3 private lobby, here’s how.

Adding bots to a MW3 private lobby

Image of a private lobby screen in Modern Warfare 3, showing a lobby full of bots.
By pressing the + sign near the teams, you can add or subtract bots. Screenshot by Dot Esports

To add bots to your Modern Warfare 3 lobby, you first need to create a private lobby. After loading up CoD HQ, you can scroll down to the Modern Warfare 3 section and scroll to the end to find the “Private Lobby” option.

Once you are loaded into a private lobby, you can add bots simply by pressing the plus sign underneath team one or two. Whenever you press this plus sign, you can specify the number of bots you wish to add as well as alter the difficulty level of the bots.

Image of the bot settings menu.
You can adjust the bots difficulty in the settings menu | Screenshot by Dot Esports

You can have up to 14 bots in a private lobby, spread across the two teams. You are allowed to disburse bots unevenly across teams, so if you want to take on 13 bots alone or gang up on one, then you can do so.

The bot difficulty setting is based off of campaign settings, ranging from Recruit to Veteran. I recommend picking recruit if you are trying to improve at a specific skill, but Veteran if you are trying to recreate a realistic multiplayer lobby.

Can you farm bots for XP in MW3?

No, you cannot get either rank or weapon XP by killing bots in a private lobby in Modern Warfare 3. You will not earn any form of progression while in a custom lobby, whether it be with bots or fellow players.

Though farming bots would be a great way to accelerate the leveling process, there still are some tactics you can employ in multiplayer to rank up quickly. For now, bots only remain a practice tool for players.


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Author
Image of Blaine Polhamus
Blaine Polhamus
Staff Writer for Dot Esports. Avid gamer for two decades and gaming writer for three years. I'm a lover of anything Souls-like since 2011. I cover everything from single-player RPGs to MMOs.