Weapon Prestige in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 gives your favorite guns a separate progression track beyond their normal maximum level, with exclusive camos awarded as you advance. Unlike Player Prestige, this system affects individual weapons rather than your entire account. However, entering Weapon Prestige does reset certain unlocks, so it's worth understanding what happens before committing to another round of leveling.
Jump To Section:
How to Prestige a Weapon
What Happens When You Prestige?
Weapon Prestige Rewards
How Weapon Prestige Master Works
How to Prestige a Weapon in MW4
To prestige a weapon in MW4, first reach that gun's maximum Weapon Level. Then open Create-a-Class, select the weapon, enter Gunsmith, and navigate to Progression. Once the weapon is fully leveled, you'll find the Weapon Prestige option, which allows you to reset its level and begin the next progression track.
- Level your chosen weapon to its maximum Weapon Level in Multiplayer or DMZ.
- Open Create-a-Class and select the weapon you want to prestige.
- Enter Gunsmith and open the Progression screen.
- Select Weapon Prestige once the option becomes available.
- Confirm your selection to enter Weapon Prestige 1.
Your weapon will return to Level 1, and you'll immediately unlock the Pyroclast camo. From there, you can begin leveling the weapon again to earn additional Prestige rewards.
There's no universal level requirement for every gun. For example, the M4 and HAN 86 reach their normal maximum at Level 72, while the KG-7 Vulcan requires Level 75. Always check the weapon's Progression screen to see how many levels remain before Prestige becomes available.
You also don't need to complete Player Prestige first. Weapon Prestige is a separate system, so reaching a gun's maximum level is the requirement regardless of your current Player Prestige progression.
What Happens When You Prestige a Weapon in MW4?
Prestiging a weapon resets that gun to Level 1 and relocks most of its regular attachments. However, you won't lose everything you've earned while using it.
Your unlocked camos, weapon blueprints, reticles, charms, decals, and other cosmetic customizations remain available. Apex Attachments and eligible attachments from Weapon Blueprints are also retained.
The reset applies to the selected weapon, not your entire arsenal. If you've unlocked shared attachments for other compatible weapons, prestiging one gun won't remove those unlocks from the rest of your collection.
This makes Weapon Prestige considerably less disruptive than completely restarting your weapon progression. You may need to earn access to certain attachments again on the prestiged gun, but your existing cosmetics and progress on other weapons remain intact.
We recommend checking your current loadout before confirming the reset, particularly if you depend on specific attachments for competitive Multiplayer matches. Your preferred configuration may need to be adjusted while you work through the early Prestige levels.
All MW4 Weapon Prestige Rewards
Weapon Prestige has four exclusive Pyroclast camo rewards, each associated with a different progression milestone. The first becomes available immediately when you prestige a weapon, while the remaining three require additional leveling.
- Pyroclast: Enter Weapon Prestige 1.
- Pyroclast Terminus: Reach the weapon's normal maximum level again during Prestige 1.
- Pyroclast Scatter: Reach Weapon Prestige Master Level 150.
- Pyroclast Cascade: Reach Weapon Prestige Master Level 250.
The first two rewards are earned by progressing through the weapon's standard level range twice, including the initial leveling journey before Prestige. The remaining rewards require advancing much farther into Weapon Prestige Master.
These camos are separate from the traditional Military, Special, and Completionist camo challenges. You don't need to enter Weapon Prestige just to begin working toward Gold, so there's no requirement to reset a weapon unless you want the Prestige rewards.
How Weapon Prestige Master Works in MW4
MW4 only requires one Weapon Prestige reset. After reaching the weapon's maximum level again during Prestige 1, you'll advance into Weapon Prestige Master automatically without having to reset the gun a second time.
From there, you'll continue leveling toward Master Level 250, unlocking Pyroclast Scatter at Level 150 and Pyroclast Cascade at Level 250.
This is worth considering before entering Prestige because the complete reward track requires significantly more progression than simply reaching a weapon's normal maximum level. If you're primarily interested in the first Pyroclast camo, one reset is enough to unlock it. Players pursuing all four variants will need to continue through the full Master progression.
For faster progress, focus on using the weapon consistently in Multiplayer objective modes or DMZ, and activate Double Weapon XP Tokens when available. Our MW4 How to Level Up Fast guide covers broader XP farming strategies, although Weapon Prestige specifically requires Weapon XP rather than Player XP.
Ultimately, Weapon Prestige is worth pursuing if you frequently use the same gun or want to collect its exclusive cosmetics. If you're still unlocking attachments across multiple weapons, you may prefer completing their initial progression first before committing to the longer Prestige Master grind.
