Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 – how to unlock Blackout character missions

There are a bunch of playable characters in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode, but you’ll need to unlock them by meeting a very specific set of criteria.

There are 29 unlockable characters in Blackout in total, pulled in from previous Call of Duty games, Zombies and Multiplayer modes.

To unlock the majority of them, your first objective is to find the challenge which appears as an item. You’ll need to keep hold of this item throughout the match, as well as complete the challenge requirements and finish in the specified position.

Finishing some of these challenges is no easy feat. Some items can be quite difficult to find and drop randomly, adding another layer of difficulty. It’s also worth noting that some skins currently aren’t available to unlock as this time.

While the majority of these items are randomly placed around the map or found in Supply Drops, you can also loot them off other players once you’ve killed them.

You’ll need to compete in Blackout, finish in a specific position that depends on whether you are playing solo, duos or quad and find the items, making Blackout a little bit more frantic than usual.

You can increase your odds a little once you know what you’re looking for and where those items might be. So here’s our growing guide to unlocking all characters in Blackout.

How to unlock Blackout characters

There are only four characters that require you to fulfill a set of ‘mission’ criteria, while the remaining five are unlocked as you graduate up through the echelons. You can see how to unlock those five here.

Reznov: TBC

Mason: TBC

Woods: To unlock Woods you’ll have to find the Bandanna.

Challenge: Fly a helicopter during a match, and win the match.

Menendez: You’re looking for a Locket to unlock Menendez.

Challenge: Kill an enemy with a shotgun and kill an enemy with a melee attack. And finish the match with the Locket in your inventory.

Ranger: Unlocks at echelon 1

Frogman: Unlocks at echelon 20

Airborne: Unlocks at echelon 41

Seal: Unlocks at echelon 61

Battle Hardened: Unlocks at echelon 80

How to unlock Zombies characters

The items to unlock Zombies characters can usually found in the areas heavily populated with zombies, unsurprisingly. Here’s a map to find zombies in Blackout.

Shadow Man: Shadow Man is included in the Black Ops Pass

Dempsey: Collect the Death Machine weapon from zombies.

Challenge: Kill zombies with Death Machine and finish the match in the top 10

Nikoli: Collect the Cymbal Monkey weapon, dropped by zombies.

Challenge: Collect the Cymbal Monkey and kill zombies with it. Finish the match in the top 10.

Richtofen: To unlock Richtofen you’ll need to collect a Ray Gun, usually found around clusters of zombies.

Challenge: Collect the Ray Run weapon and kill zombies with it. Now finish the match in the top 10.

Takeo: You’ll need to find the Katana to unlock Takeo.

Challenge: Pick up the Katana and slice up some zombies. Finish the match in the top 10.

Bruno: TBC

Diego: TBC

Scarlett: To unlock Scarlett you need to find the Racing Goggles and Scarf.

Shaw: TBC

How to unlock Multiplayer characters

Battery: You’ll need to find the War Machine weapon to unlock Battery.

Challenge: Collect War Machine and get kills with it. Finish the match in the top 15 with the War Machine in your inventory.

Firebreak: Find the Burned Doll to unlock firebreak.

Challenge: once you’ve found the Burned Doll you need to kill a player with fire (use the Molotov cocktail). Finish the match with the Burned Doll in your inventory and in the top 15.

Nomad: TBC

Prophet: TBC

Ruin: You need the Grapple Gun to unlock Ruin

Challenge: TBC

Seraph: You need to be armed with the Annihilator to unlock Seraph.

Challenge: Find the Annihilator and get kills with it. Finish in the Top 15.

Ajax: You’ll have to come across Broken Armor Plating to begin to unlock Ajax. you’ll get this off dead players who were wearing armor.

Challenge: Scavenge three armour plates from enemies and complete the match with those three armour plates in your inventory.

Crash: To unlock Crash you’ll need to find the Poker Chips. As this is a medical-themed challenge, you’re most likely to find the poker chips in a Trauma Case, which is stuffed full of medical items.

Challenge: End the match with 15 healing items, finish the match in top 15, and finish with poker chips in inventory.

Recon: To unlock Recon you’ll need to find the I Ching Coins

Challenge: Avoid collapse damage, place in top 7 and finish match with I Ching Coins in inventory

Torque: You’ll need to find the Note From Torque to unlock him, and that’s found in Supply Drops.
Challenge: Deploy 2 Razor wires, deploy a barricade, place in the top 7 and finish the match with Note From Torque in your inventory.