How to unlock all Dark Ops challenges in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

It’s hard to say how long it takes to finish the campaign mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. It can be as low as three hours for speedrunners, while it can take up to 10-11 hours for players who enjoy exploring the maps.

A CoD game never ends after completing the campaign, however. There will always be the multiplayer mode to test your mettle against other players and hidden missions to unlock more mysteries surrounding the game. Though Dark Ops challenges were missing in the last CoD title, they’re back with Black Ops Cold War.

What makes Dark Ops challenges unique is that you’ll never know what they are until you complete them. They’re hidden from the players and only show their faces when you accidentally get them done while playing the game. It’s quite possible to miss some of them since there are Dark Ops quests that require you to play different game modes.

Dark Ops challenges don’t count toward the completion percentage of the game, but you’ll get the bragging right of “actually completing the game” after doing all the Dark Ops quests.

Here’s how you can unlock all Dark Ops challenges in CoD: Black Ops Cold War.

Campaign Dark Ops challenges

• Anti-Hero
  • You’ll need to eliminate all the marked enemies in the Ashes to Ashes mission.
• Awkward Chat
  • Answering both questions correctly in the elevator ride during Desperate Measures will be enough to complete the Awkward Chat quest.
    • This mission starts as soon as Zakhaev walks into the elevator with you. You’ll need to tell him that you arrived last week and report to Commander Sobol to complete the Awkward Chat Dark Ops mission.
• Cover Your Tracks
  • Hide five bodies as Belikov during the Desperate Measures to complete Cover Your Tracks.
• Defiant
  • Try jumping off the bridge to your death in Break on Through.
    • You’ll need to attempt doing this during the Vietnam flashback toward the end of the mission.
• Retro Gamer
  • Unlock all the Arcade Machines.
    • As you’re making your way through Black Ops Cold War’s campaign, you may notice random arcade machines scattered around the world. These arcades feature real-life games, and you’ll need to play each of them for a couple of seconds if you want to unlock them all for the Retro Gamer Dark Ops challenge.
• What Do the Numbers Mean?
  • Decrypt the floppy disc in the Operation Chaos mission.
    • Check out our Operation Chaos mission guide and follow the steps to decrypt the floppy disc mentioned.

Multiplayer Dark Ops challenges

• Back at You
  • Pick up a grenade thrown at you and throw it back to eliminate the person who threw it.
• Brutal Killer
  • Earn a Brutal Medal by going on a 25 killstreak.
• Chain Killer
  • Perform seven rapid kills
    • Rapid kills happen when you take down multiple players in between a specific time period.
• Nuclear Killer
  • Earn a Nuclear medal.
    • You’ll need to kill 30 enemies without dying to earn the Nuclear medal. 
• Nuked Out
  • Earn a Nuclear medal in a Free-For-All match without using Scorestreak rewards.
    • You’ll need to kill 30 enemies in the Free-For-All game mode without using any killstreak rewards to complete this Dark Ops challenge.
• Underwater Ops
  • Plant C4 explosives under boats and jet skis while being underwater. Destroy the vehicles and occupants five times to complete the Underwater Ops Dark Ops mission.

Zombies mode Dark Ops Challenges

• Another Round?
  • Reach Round 100 in the Zombies game mode..
• Armed to the Teeth
  • Have two fully upgraded weapons with Ammo Mods and all six perks in one game.
  • Fully upgrade two weapons with Ammo Bods and equip them at the same time. You’ll also need to have all six perks alongside completing the weapon upgrade precondition.
• Box Addict
  • Buy every weapon from the mystery box in a single game in the Zombies mode.
• Checkmate
  • Play every single trial on the Die Maschine Zombies map in a single game.
• Evil Unleashed
  • Complete the Zombies Easter egg on the Die Maschine map.
    • You’ll need to make your way to the facility, turn on the power to activate the pack-a-punch machine. An anomaly will spawn on the map after doing so, and you’ll need to find it to collect three collectibles. We recommend following a video guide to complete this Dark Ops mission since it’s one of the longer ones on this list.
• Good Enough
  • Reach Round 20 only using your starting loadout without upgrades.
• Harbinger of Doom
  • Kill 50 enemies with a single support.
• Invincible
  • Reach Round 30 without going down.
• Social Distancing
  • Reach Round 20 without getting hit.
    • Try keeping your high ground advantage while doing this quest since it’ll make it a lot easier to protect your ground.
• The Anvil
  • Exfil a game while only using melee attacks.
    • We recommend doing this quest with a squad of friends since you’ll need people covering your back whilst being melee.

More Dark Ops challenges are to surface as players continue to complete them without knowing. This list will be updated as more Dark Ops missions get discovered, and remember the share the ones you may have found on Black Ops Cold War community forums to help out other players.