An overhead shot of the Dutch-inspired Vondel, the newest map to land in DMZ.
Image via Activison

How to complete the Icebreaker mission in DMZ

Welcome to Phalanx, operator.

Season four of DMZ brought about a new set of missions with players discovering the Dutch city Vondel and the mysterious deep-cover faction Phalanx. But Phalanx isn’t just going to invite you to the faction straightaway. Icebreaker is the final faction mission required in order to unlock the new faction, and it will have you traverse Vondel and Al Mazrah, acquiring data and uploading it to a secret source.

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Once the Icebreaker mission is complete, you’ll be a part of Phalanx—but what do you have to do to complete the mission?

DMZ Icebreaker mission guide

Icebreaker is a tier two Black Mous faction mission, meaning you’ll have to complete tier one and most of tier two to start it. Fortunately, the Black Mous faction missions are very easy, and teach you the basics of DMZ like spotting enemy targets or how to use a UAV.

Related: DMZ Laswell’s Letter mission: How to read Laswell’s letter in the note menu

The Icebreaker mission lists three steps, but in reality, there are two to complete. In all, it’s a pretty simple mission—you just have to survive.

Head to the Vondel Zoo dead drop

A map of Vondel, the newest DMZ map, with a red arrow indicating the location of the Zoo dead drop.
You’ll begin the Icebreaker mission at the Zoo dead drop. Screenshot by Dot Esports

Drop into Vondel then head straight for the zoo in the southwest of the city. You’ll be looking for the Vondel Zoo dead drop—a white dumpster where you can offload valuable equipment to reduce your insured weapons’ cooldown time. There are a number of dead drops all over Vondel, but we’re only worried about two today.

Inside the dead drop will be a Phalanx introductory note and a tracking device. Add these to your backpack. While there, if you have any spare cash or valuables you want to convert to your insured weapon cooldown, throw them into the dead drop.

Deliver the note and tracker to the Phalanx university dead drop

A screenshot of the tactical map in CoD's DMZ, with the location of the Vondel university dead drop highlighted in red.
A new location for this mission. Screenshots by Dot Esports

In season five, you’ll need to deliver the note and the tracking device to the Vondel University dead drop in the north of the map at F3. It’s a bit of a trip to take, so I recommend grabbing a vehicle. If you exit the zoo to the west just over the wall next to the zoo dea drop, you’ll likely find a car parked just outside.

Your short drive to the university is easier said than done, though. Vondel is a winding city split by small bridges and canals, and swarming with enemy units. Take your time traveling between areas and be wary of your surroundings.

From the zoo, head north and east. Ideally, you’ll want to stick to the west of the map and only cut back eastward once you’ve made it past the graveyard, as otherwise, you’ll be passing through the very center of Vondel—normally packed with AI and operators.

A previous version of this mission had you deliver this to the original Phalanx dead drop, but season five has you explore a larger chunk of the map now.

Related: How to fix spawning without a weapon in DMZ, explained

Once you make it to the university dead drop, you have to place the note and the tracker inside, and the mission is done. From here, you’ll be able to access the new Phalanx faction missions from your Missions menu, as well as pick up some sweet XP.


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Author
Nicholas Taifalos
Weekend editor for Dot Esports. Nick, better known as Taffy, began his esports career in commentary, switching to journalism with a focus on Oceanic esports, particularly Counter-Strike and Dota. Email: nicholas@dotesports.com