Warzone pros’ favorite new reticle: How to unlock ‘Scalpel’ 3x Green Dot

Theo Salaun
call of duty warzone zombies scalpel reticle 3x green dot

It’s a lot easier to kill bad guys in Warzone when you can see them. And that’s why a new Zombies reticle has caught the eyes of pros and streamers. Here’s how to unlock the Axial Arms 3x ‘Scalpel’ Green Dot.

Like Modern Warfare’s VLK T-Pose and Corp Combat Blue Dot, Call of Duty: Warzone players have always cared for certain reticles over others. And, often, that means grinding it out to give yourself as clean a shot as possible.

While Black Ops Cold War’s default Axial Arms 3x (basically the game’s version of the VLK) has some great reticles already, a new one has been popping up. Unlike the Precision or default on certain blueprints, this one combines a small dot with a clean crosshair.

Called the ‘Scalpel,’ the green dot reticle can only be unlocked in Zombies. But it’s actually really simple to do so and shouldn’t take players much time at all — even if they’re alone for the grind.

Fastest way to unlock the ‘Scalpel’ Green Dot reticle

There are a number of maps and modes where you can unlock the Scalpel Green Dot in Zombies, but we’ll simply list out the quickest method we’ve found. 

  1. Open Zombies in Black Ops Cold War
  2. Equip an AR with fast-ADS attachments and an Axial Arms 3x
  3. Load into the new “Forsaken” Zombies map
  4. Farm kills, making sure to create distance and aim down sights to kill bunches at a time
  5. Rinse and repeat until 500 kills

In order to unlock the Scalpel Green Dot for your Axial Arms 3x, you need to hit 500 kills in Zombies while aiming down sights. As such, it’s better to use a fast-ADS, high-mobility gun (like the FFAR) so you can create distance and shoot quickly.

The Forsaken map is perfect for accomplishing this, as zombies spawn instantly and you don’t have to wait around. You can do this by yourself or, if you decide to do it with friends, there’s a power-up you can find to speed up the rounds.

Warzone pros and streamers dub ‘Scalpel’ Green Dot the “best reticle”

As you can see from Rhys ‘Rated’ Price’s tweet and IceManIsaac’s clip, the game’s best players all about this new reticle. Rated said he needs it “immediately” and Isaac said it will “blow your mind.” Oh, and another top earner, Jukeyz, also instantly asked how to unlock it.

And the answer is a simple one: hit Forsaken with a fast-ADS, high-mobility AR using the Axial Arms and farm away. 

In total, this method shouldn’t take longer than about 30 minutes. As JGOD mentioned to Rated, it can even take just about 15-20 minutes if you play your cards right.

About The Author

Théo is a former writer at Dexerto based in New York and built on competition. Formerly an editor for Bleacher Report and philosophy student at McGill, he fell in love with Overwatch and Call of Duty — leading him to focus on esports for Dex.