How to Unlock Bonus Characters in Black Ops 4’s Blackout Mode

Black Ops 4 has finally arrived and it brings with it Activision’s very own take on the Battle Royale formula, Blackout. Much like Fortnite, the game’s staunch competition, bonus character skins can be unlocked as you make progress. These range from a variety of iconic characters from across the whole of the Black Ops series. 

How do you unlock these bonus characters?

Most of the unlockable characters require you to make progress through playing the Blackout mode. Accruing merits to unlock Eschelon levels in the mode’s main progression system unlocks some characters. While, many of the characters require more specific actions to unlock. 

Unlocking bonus characters usually requires you to complete specific ‘character missions’. Some of these are unavailable at the time of writing. Fortunately, these will likely unlock at a later date. Luckily, some are available now.

You can find some of them in supply boxes, supply drops, dead enemies and defeated zombies. Once a character mission has been found, you’ll be given a set of specific challenges to complete. Furthermore, these character missions must be achieved in that specific match, otherwise you’ll fail to unlock the character. You must keep the character item in your inventory for the duration of the match, as well. 

Black Ops 4's first Black Ops Pass Blackout character is the Shadow Man.

Which characters are unlockable?

Here is a list of the unlockable bonus characters in Blackout:

  • Airborne
  • Ajax
  • Battery
  • Battle Hardened
  • Bruno
  • Crash
  • Dempsey
  • Diego
  • Firebreak
  • Frogman
  • Mason
  • Menendez
  • Nikolai
  • Nomad
  • Prophet
  • Ranger
  • Recon
  • Reznov
  • Richtofen
  • Ruin
  • Scarlett
  • Seal
  • Seraph
  • Shadow Man
  • Shaw
  • Takeo
  • Torque
  • Woods

Character missions unlock most bonus characters. However, characters can also be unlocked differently. For instance, Airborne, Battle Hardened, Frogman, Ranger, and Seal are all unlocked by reaching certain Eschelon levels. Making progress in the Blackout mode by earning kills, completing challenges, ranking high in matches, and winning, will help you unlock certain characters. Essentially, the more you play Blackout mode, the greater chance you have of unlocking those bonus characters.

Finally, the Black Ops Pass — which is the game’s paid season pass of additional content — features some extra characters, too. The first Black Ops Pass-exclusive Blackout character that was revealed by Treyarch recently was the mysterious Shadow Man.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.