Thermite is coming back to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in the Season 3 update, giving you powerful equipment to use in multiplayer, Zombies, or Warzone modes. However, this familiar tool for a dangerous arsenal is only returning during a limited-time event. It's up to you and the larger Call of Duty community to unlock Thermite again through a collective effort.

The returning weapon in CoD: Black Ops 6 for Season 3 and Thermite are both tied to the Tribute Event. The Tribute Event takes place from April 17 until May 1, 2025, giving you a limited time to unlock returning items for your future loadouts. Thankfully, the new content in Season 3 goes alongside this event, making it easy to fulfill unlock requirements.

How Do You Get Thermite?

Reach An Experience Milestone In Season 3

You get Thermite automatically when players earn enough collective XP during the Tribute Event, which is determined on the launch of Season 3. Multiple rewards are offered for reaching various XP milestones during the event, including:

• Nail Gun (Special Weapon)
• C9 10mm Auto 30-Round Mags (Attachment)
• Thermite (Lethal Equipment)
• Death Machine (Zombies Scorestreak)
• Close Shave (MP Perk)
• Gobblegums (Zombies)
• "John Black Ops" Operator
• Emotes & other cosmetics

Earning XP in any mode progresses the collective XP of all players, slowly allowing you and everyone in the community to unlock rewards together. Unlike the Shadow Hunt event in CoD: Black Ops 6, XP goals are not tied to specific objectives for you to complete individually. Instead, simply playing the game and earning XP on your own will contribute towards the community rewards offered from the Tribute Event.

As of this time of writing, it is unclear how much XP you and others must collectively earn to unlock Thermite. That being said, XP put towards the community progress of the Tribute Event is gathered from all modes. This means you can gain XP from CoD: Black Ops 6's Warzone, Zombies, or normal multiplayer modes to keep making strides toward Thermite being unlocked.

What Is Thermite Used For?

Burn Away Opponents And Obstacles

Thermite is a Lethal Equipment item that burns brightly after being thrown, damaging enemies and melting through even the toughest environments. Thermite acts as a thrown grenade type of sorts, using its incendiary qualities to slowly tear through an enemy's health. Due to Thermite's adhesive properties, it will attach itself to a surface once it lands, then burn for an extended time.

While not an explosive, Thermite is still great for eliminating enemies in any mode you find yourself in. Even if Thermite takes longer to kill a target than a normal grenade, the inability for targets to remove Thermite until it is done burning almost always guarantees a kill if it attaches to someone. One of the best uses for Thermite is to throw it at a vehicle to deal unavoidable damage to it through intense, metal-melting heat.

Thermite is particularly good on the new Zombies map in CoD: Black Ops 6, as the narrow spaces where you fight zombies make them easy to burn with a well-thrown Thermite charge.

With its return, developers have stated that Thermite will not be as strong as it has been in the past. Currently, Thermite has less lethality than in past games, but it will likely remain a strong tool for powerful loadouts. After the community behind Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 collectively unlocks Thermite, it will be easy to see how strong the equipment really is across multiple modes.