How to unlock the Skal Crusher melee weapon in CoD: Warzone and Vanguard

Call of Duty Season 3 is officially live on Vanguard, bringing a new battle pass, multiplayer map, operators, and new weapons to unlock. The big update also adds a surprisingly fancy melee weapon as a free weapon unlock. This is how you can unlock Skal Crusher from Season 3.

How to unlock Skal Crusher

Skal Crusher from Season 3 is a Norse-themed ax with Norse runes etched into the wooden handle and a bright blue pattern on the blade. The weapon works much like the ice ax from Season 2 Reloaded, in that the weapon can be swung like a traditional melee weapon, or thrown and retrieved.

This weapon can be unlocked for free through in-game challenges. Typically new weapons arrive as a simple base model and weapon blueprints can be purchased as an additional way to unlock the weapon. However, the Skal Crusher appears to have a unique design as a weapon model, and it’s unclear if other variants of the ax will be available in store packs.

Warzone Unlock Challenge

To unlock Skal Crusher playing Warzone, you need to get five kills with a melee weapon in a single match 15 times. This might be best completed in a respawn playlist like Caldera Clash, which is more of a large-scale Team Deathmatch mode in Warzone. Rebirth Resurgence is another good respawn playlist option.

Note: Warzone weapon unlocks require you to complete matches to earn credit towards your challenge progression.

Cutting Edge Multiplayer Challenge

The Vanguard multiplayer unlock is the same as the Warzone challenge, you need to get five kills with a melee weapon in a single match 15 times. This is a pretty easy challenge for multiplayer, but it’s best to try it on small maps like Shipment that offer frequent clashes.

Note: Vanguard multiplayer weapon unlocks require you to complete matches to earn credit towards your challenge progression.

zombie challenge

For Zombies, you will need to kill 200 Boom-Schreiers with a throwing knife or throwing melee weapons.

Boom-Schreiers are the suicide enemy types in Vanguard Zombies. This is a tedious challenge that will probably take multiple zombie matches to complete, but the Boom-Schreiers appear more in later rounds. You’ll need to be quick enough to throw the throwing knives or Ice Ax melee weapon at the Boom-Schreier before they can run and explode near you.

How you choose to complete this challenge will depend on your game mode preference, but the fastest and easiest way to unlock the Skal Crusher will be through the Vanguard multiplayer challenge.

If you still need to get the weapons from last season, we have a guide to help you unlock the Ice Ax melee weapon and the Season 2 Weaponwar 43 submachine gun reloaded.