How DMZ works

Secure Slots

Secure Slots keep items when you die. How they work and what to put in them.

Quick answers

What survives a death in DMZ?
Items in a Secure Slot. Everything else you carried is lost.

Secure Slots are special slots on some backpacks. Anything you put in them stays with you even if you fail to extract.

The rules

  • Only some backpacks have them. Exactly which ones, and how many slots each has, has not been confirmed yet.
  • Items in a Secure Slot survive a death or failed exfil. Everything else in your backpack and loadout is lost.
  • As of launch, Secure Slots are the only documented way to protect an item. The Vault Edition’s Weapon Insurance Contract may turn out to be another, but its function has not been explained.

What to put in them

  • A key you have not used yet.
  • A Weapon Manual or Recipe, which pay 5,000 DMZ Cash and unlock something when extracted.
  • High-rarity Ingredients you are saving for crafting or Prestige.
  • Valuables with a high sell price.

The number of Secure Slots on each backpack has not been published. See armor and backpacks and what you keep when you die.

Still waiting on confirmation

We only state what Activision, Infinity Ward or the press have confirmed. These parts of the topic are not confirmed yet, and this page will be updated when they are:

  • Which backpacks have Secure Slots, and how many

Published · last checked against Early Access (20 Oct 2026). Sources are listed under "Where this comes from" at the top of the page.

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