Call of Duty Season 3 is officially live in Vanguard, bringing a new battle pass, multiplayer map, operators, and new weapons to unlock. Season 3's Sledgehammer melee weapon can pack quite a punch, and here are all the ways you can unlock it.

　　

How to unlock the Sledgehammer

Despite its expected heft, Season 3's Sledgehammer is a fast swinging melee weapon, but you'll need to unlock it before you can equip it. This new weapon can be unlocked either for free with an in-game challenge, or it can be purchased as a weapon blueprint with a cosmetic bundle.

　　

Warzone challenge

Warzone's Sledgehammer unlock challengeTo unlock Vanguard's Sledgehammer in Warzone, you must get a multikill with a melee weapon in 15 different matches. This might be best completed in a respawn playlist like Caldera Clash, which is more of a large-scale Team Deathmatch mode in Warzone.

　　Note: Warzone's weapon unlocks require you to complete the matches to get credit towards your challenge progression.

　　

Vanguard multiplayer challenge

Vanguard's Sledgehammer unlock challengeVanguard's multiplayer unlock challenge is the same as Warzone's, you must get a multikill with a melee weapon in 15 different matches. This might be best attempted on small maps like Shipment, and it might help to use stun grenades to slow your enemies down.

　　Note: Vanguard's multiplayer weapon unlocks require you to complete the matches to get credit towards your challenge progression.

　　

Zombies challenge

Zombies mode unlock challenge for the SledgehammerFor Zombies mode, you'll need to use a melee weapon to kill 20 or more enemies consecutively without getting hit 50 times. This won't be a tough challenge in Zombies, but it will be time consuming. Having something like Decoy equipment equipped can help you avoid taking damage if you have a ton of enemies around you. The Harvest and Transit objective types will be the best way to farm kills in Vanguard Zombies to complete this challenge.

　　

Store bundle

The Big Brawl bundle with Junkyard Jet blueprintThose who want to avoid the hassle of completing an unlock challenge can purchase the weapon outright. The fancy Junkyard Jet weapon blueprint is found as part of the Big Brawl cosmetic bundle, which also includes a matching combat shield blueprint. This seven-item bundle costs 1,000 CoD Points ($10).

　　How you choose to complete this challenge will mostly depend on your game mode preference, but the overall fastest way to unlock the Sledgehammer for free will be through Vanguard's multiplayer challenge.

　　If you're still needing to grab the weapons from last season, we have a guide to help you unlock the Ice Axe melee weapon and the Armaguerra 43 submachine gun from Season 2 Reloaded.