Short version
When your Operator dies in Hajin and is not revived, the deployment is over for them. You keep all the XP you earned. You lose the gear you were carrying, the cash you picked up during the run, and (until you pay to get them back) the Operator themselves.
What you keep
- XP of every kind. DMZ XP, Weapon XP and camo progress all count even if you never reach an exfil. Infinity Ward has said this directly, and the After Action Report still shows after a failed run.
- Your Stash and Bank. Anything you left at the FOB is safe. The Stash is shared by all your Active Duty Operators.
- Items in Secure Slots. Some backpacks have Secure Slots. Whatever sits in them survives a failed exfil. Secure Slots are the only protection the game has documented so far.
- The Operator’s Traits and Dog Tag rank, as long as you buy them back rather than dismiss them (see below).
- Mission payouts, probably. PC Gamer’s review says cash earned through missions is banked even if you die. Unconfirmed We have not seen official wording on this yet.
What you lose
- Everything in your loadout and backpack: weapons, armor, consumables, keys and loot.
- Cash picked up in the match. You start every deployment with zero DMZ Cash on you. It only moves to your Bank after a successful exfil.
- The Operator, for now. A killed Operator goes MIA and cannot deploy again until you recover them.
- Your Dog Tag, if the player who killed you takes it. It comes back when you recover the Operator.
Getting an MIA Operator back
You have two choices:
- Recover them with DMZ Cash from your Bank. The price goes up with the number of Trait Points the Operator has earned. They come back with every Trait and their Dog Tag rank, but with no gear.
- Dismiss them and start a fresh Operator in that slot. This throws away their Traits.
MIA Operators never expire, so there is no rush. One trick from the press: if a high-level Operator is MIA, play a cheaper Operator in another slot until you have the cash. More in Operators and MIA.
Before a risky run, ask yourself what you would be sad to lose. Leave it in the Stash or put it in a Secure Slot.
Items that might protect gear
The Vault Edition kit includes Weapon Insurance Contracts and Operator Rescue Beacons. The names suggest they protect a weapon or help an MIA Operator, but as of launch Activision has not said what either one does. We will update this page when it does.