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Black Ops 4: Blackout Challenges, tiers, echelons and how to earn merits

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Guide by Matt Martin Contributor
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Challenges in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 award you with XP and merits, depending on your play mode. For Blackout mode the rewards are merits, which help you level up.

Here's how they work and a list of all the Challenges you should be working towards if you want to reach the highest level of play.

If you're looking for more guides to Blackout, we have a full list of perks, a map of all helicopter spawn locations and where to find zombies and the loot they spawn.

Blackout: what are challenges, merits, tiers and echelons?

Blackout Challenges are split into two sets of two. Career Challenges include Professional Challenges and Survivalist Challenges. Operations Challenges are split into Heroics and Vehicular. There are also Dark Ops Challenges - these are classified and are revealed as you play. We'll come back to those further down the page.

The majority of these challenges have three tiers to complete, with each tier handing out extra Merits once completed. For example, the Winner Winner Challenge hands you 50 Merits for winning a match in solo. Complete that Challenge 10 times and you'll also Complete Tier 1, which hands you a bonus 100 Merits.

Merits are used to level up through the Echelons (Ranks), from Echelon 1 to the max Echelon, which is level 80 in Blackout. As you move through the Echelons your title changes from Ranger (Echelon 1-19) to Frogman (Echelon 20-39), Airborne (Echelon 41-60), Seal (Echelon 61-79) and finally Battle Hardened (Echelon 80).

Career: Professional Challenges

  • My First Time: Get your first victory
  • Winner Winner: Win 10 times
  • I'll Do It Myself: Win any Duos or Quads Game as the last player alive on your team 5 times
  • Solo Victory: Get 5 wins in this mode
  • Duos Victory: Get 5 wins in this mode
  • Quads Victory: Get 5 wins in this mode
  • Solo Conquest: Place top 5 in this mode 10 times
  • Duos Conquest: Place top 5 in this mode 10 times
  • Quads Conquest: Place top 5 in this mode 10 times
  • My Participation Award: Place Top 25 10 times
  • Unthinking Act of Murder: Eliminate 10 Enemies
  • Career Scavenger: Scavenge 1500 items
  • Professional Mastery: Complete All Professional Challenges 100%

Career: Survivalist Challenges

  • Team Player: Revive a squad mate 25 times
  • Heal Up: Use any health item on yourself 100 times
  • Armored Up: Acquire and equip armor 50 times
  • Backpacker: Collect 50 Backpacks
  • Got The Drop: Kill 25 enemies without taking damage from them
  • Amphibious Assault: Eliminate an enemy while under water 5 times
  • Getaway Vehicle: Escape 10 times from a fight using a vehicle
  • Perks? Really?: Finish a game in the top 10 with a perk active 25 times
  • Equip It and Mint It: Eliminate enemies 25 times using equipment
  • True Sniper: Kill an enemy at long range with a sniper rifle 5 times
  • Roster Update: Complete 5 Unlock Missions
  • One Step Ahead: Finish 25 games in the top 10 without taking damage from the circle
  • Survivalist Mastery: Complete all Survivalist Challenges 100%

Operations: Heroics

  • Destroyer of Vehicles: Destroy 10 occupied vehicles
  • Revenge is a Dish: Eliminate the enemy that put you in the Last Stand 10 times
  • Best Served Cold: Eliminate the enemy that killed your squad mate and place Top 5 in 5 different games
  • This Is Just Cruel: Win the game without being downed 5 times
  • Pack Hunter: Eliminate 2 or more enemies from the same squad 5 times
  • Nope: Eliminate the enemy that damaged you 10 times
  • Path to Peace: Win a game with no kills
  • Keen Focus: Eliminate 5 enemies while blinded or concussed
  • Frantic Defense: Take damage while unarmed and kill the attacker 5 times
  • Get Straight To It: Eliminate 2 or more enemies within 30 seconds of deploying 5 times
  • Clutch: Kill an entire enemy Squad single-handedly in a Quads match
  • Masochist: Place in the Top 5 using only the first inventory item picked up
  • Heroics Mastery: Complete all Heroics Challenges 100%

Operations: Vehicular

  • Destruction Derby: Destroy and occupied vehicle with a vehicle 1 time
  • Just In Time: Exit a vehicle that is about to be destroyed by a locked on rocket 5 times
  • Silent Gliding: Travel 10 miles in a wingsuit
  • Road Trippin': Travel 10 miles in a land vehicle
  • Water Rat: Travel 10 miles in a sea vehicle
  • I Believe I Can Fly: Travel 50 miles in an air vehicle
  • Saw It In The Movies: Kill 10 enemies as a passenger of any vehicle
  • Top Tour: Drive or Pilot all vehicle types in a game of Blackout 5 times
  • Road Rage: Run over an enemy with a land vehicle to kill them 5 times
  • Hijacker: Kill 1 or more enemies that are passengers in a land vehicle 5 times
  • Pirate: Kill 1 or more enemies that are passengers in a sea vehicle 5 times
  • Scoundrel: Kill 1 or more enemies that are passengers in an air vehicle 5 times
  • Vehicular Mastery: Complete all Vehicular Challenges 100%

Dark Ops Challenges - Blackout

Dark Ops Challenges are revealed as you complete them so we'll update this page as we find them.

  • Open the Blast Doors: Head to the Fracking Tower and go between the two cylindrical towers in the middle of the location. The two towers are connected by a bridge. In the middle, there's a button to open the blast doors - push it.
  • Zombie Jams: Head to the diner to the West of Array and play the jukebox.
  • Red Light, Green Light: Head to the Cargo Dock and loot an underwater stash. You can find the stashes at either end of the ship - their location is marked by buoys.
  • Baller: Go to the estates and score a hoop with a basketball.
  • Back in the Ground: Murder 100 zombies.
  • Fist Fighter: Punch someone to death.
  • Practice Makes Perfect: Go to Firing Range and score a bullseye on a target from at least 90 meters away.

Dark Ops Challenges - Multiplayer

Obviously, these ones are for vanilla multiplayer, but we've popped them in here in case you were looking for these.

  • Shrug it off: Survive a direct hit from an RC-XD and kill the driver without dying.
  • Mega Killer: Get 6 rapid kills.
  • Frenzy Killer: Get 5 rapid kills.
  • Get Outta Here: If an enemy uses the Grapple Gun and follows it up with a Grav Slam, kill them while they're still in the air, before they can hit the ground with the skill.
  • Nuked out: Earn a Nuclear medal in FFA without using scorestreak rewards.
  • Fire with Fire: Kill an enemy that is using the Purifier with a Molotov.
  • Nuclear Killer: Earn 30 Kills without dying.
  • Brutal Killer: Earn 25 Kills without dying.
  • Chain Killer: Get seven rapid kills.
  • From the Depths: Get 25 kills against enemies that are on land when you are shooting at them from underwater.

For more tips and tricks head over to our Black Ops 4 guide page.

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