How to Get Refined Aetherium Crystal Schematic in MW3 Zombies

When getting ready to deploy for a dangerous mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies, you must find a way to supercharge your weapons. The Refined Aetherium Crystal Schematic is among the best acquisitions in MW3 Zombies, so here’s how to get it!

How to find the Refined Aetherium Crystal schematic in Modern Warfare 3 (MW3) Zombies

Refined Aetherium Crystal schematics are occasionally found in Threat Zone 3 contract Reward Rifts in MW3 Zombies. It’s easy to farm these using the Cargo Delivery contracts, so bring Decoy Grenades and Throwing Knives to clear any zombies in your way. Make sure to avoid Mega Abominations, though, as they’ll tear through your vehicles.

This makes the process very similar to getting the Tombstone Soda or Ray Gun Schematic, with RNG playing a factor. You will not likely get the Refined Aetherium Crystal schematic as a reward after completing only one contract in Zone 3. Still, it’s also the only way you can get the following schematic rewards:

• Epic Aether Tool
• Refined Aetherium Crystal
• Elemental Pop
• Tombstone Soda
• Ray Gun

Beyond that, once you find the Refined Aetherium Crystal Schematic, run to either Zone 2 or Zone 1 for a safe extraction. You won’t want to die and have to grind for another one of these items — something that happened to me multiple times.

The best contracts to get Refined Aetherium Crystal schematics in MWZ

The best contracts to get the Refined Aetherium Crystal schematic are Cargo Delivery or Outlast, which you can complete even with minimum load-outs in MW3 Zombies. My recommendation is to bring some Decoy Grenades and Throwing Knives, which allows you to farm the Cargo Delivery contract multiple times to get the Refined Aetherium Crystal schematic without nearly as much hassle. If it’s not showing up for you, it alternates with the Escort mission in the zone, so take the Escort contract, then immediately cancel it to spawn another Cargo Delivery.

Outlast might be a bit trickier, but inside the building where the PND is, you can climb to the top of some scaffolding, throw decoys out the opening, and run outside for ammo when you need a refill on your equipment. If you alternate these contracts, you can potentially even get these schematics solo.

How to craft schematics in MW3 Zombies

Players can craft any schematic skill, such as the refined Aetherium Crystal schematic, once they exfil the battlefield with the schematic corresponding to the skill. For example, if you want to craft Speed Cola, you must first find the Speed Cola schematic in the field and exfil with it. Once you exfil with the schematic, you can head into your Gear Menu and select an empty space in your Rucksack to be brought to the Schematic Crafting section.

The Schematic Crafting section will show you all schematics you have successfully exfiled with and ones you can currently craft. The good news is that it will also show the ones still in the field, letting you plan which ones you should try to find on your next match.