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39 ratings

Dark Aether Camo [Guide]

By V

My Guide on how to obtain Dark Aether skin.

Disclaimer: I do not claim this guide to be the fastest way to obtain the DA skin, it's just the compilation of what has worked for me, how long it took me, and which maps i played for the best results.

Award

Created by

V
Online

Category: Achievements, Characters, Classes, Co-op, Crafting, Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Loot, Maps or Levels, Modding or Configuration, Multiplayer, Secrets, Story or Lore, Trading, Walkthroughs, Weapons, Workshop

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

2 Jun, 2024 @ 8:33am

5 Jun, 2024 @ 4:17am

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65	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

Basics

Weapons of my choice

Perks / Loadout

Fastest XP / Zombie Modes

2500 Critical, Pack-a-Punch, Kills.

TL;DR

Comments

Basics

Let's start from the basics.
In order to unlock the Dark Aether weapon skin, you need to obtain all the Plague Diamond skins for all the weapon classes (9). Which means, you need to master all the basic weapons from each category; sometimes it will be just two weapons (special / melee), or up to five (Sub Machine Guns).
If you want to unlock the Diamond Camo, first you need to level up the weapon, to almost-maxed level, (sometimes it's 30, sometimes it's 50, you can check it in weapon's camo selection), for the achievements to start being counted (2500 kills, 2500 head shots, 2500 pack-a-punch kills), but thankfully, major requirements are being unlocked at a very early stage, so what i would recommend is to level up the weapon to 10-15 level, and then start focusing on getting those requirements done.

(Not all the weapons)

1 Level = Get 2500 Kills
5 Level = Get 2500 Critical Kills
10 Level = Get 2500 kills with Pack-a-Punch weapon.

Weapons of my choice

This is the selection of the guns i've used to get the camo. It may be the same for you, since i've mostly just used the "basic" guns that were available without doing any missions (even if you unlock a weapon from the mission, and decide to max it for the Camo, it also does count for the DA skin progression despite what the game tells you [you have to unlock the diamond camo for all the "basic" weapons - no]).

(x) - Number of necessary weapons to max out for Diamond Camo unlock.

Special Weapons (1)

Ballistic Knife (Highest DMG from all the melee weapons, ability to revive downed allies if needed, 1-shot without pack-a-punch til ~20 round). Very good choice, if you do not want to suffer with the grenade launcher (M79).

Melee Weapons (1)

I have used Scythe, for it's range, but it's like any other melee weapon (except Sai), so it's really up to you. I'd recommend using the regular knife, so you can use the DA skin on those, as your Showcase Weapon later, since the knife is the only melee weapon you can use as your showcase weapon. (i regret not doing that).

Launchers (2)

There's no other RPG's to unlock, so you have to max them both. And by max i mean 30 level, unlock the last camo-missions, finish them, and move on. The max level of those two is 35, but you don't have to max them like that.

Shotguns (2)

My favourite weapon category.
I have used Galio SA12 + Streetsweeper.
The only Semi / Full-auto shotguns from the selection. Easy to get the multi-kills with them, and when packed, they are really powerful. Just make sure to buy fast-reload perk with Streetsweeper, you gonna need it.

Pistols (3)

1911 - It was either this, or Magnum. I prefered to have a larger magazine over DMG since i will most of the times aim at the head, so it will be the insta-kill regardless of the DMG (early rounds).
Diamatii - Burst, nice DMG, beats the 1911.
AMP63 - I recommend unlocking this gun, it's a full-auto pistol, with really small clip, but it beats clicking constantly with 1911, or burst. Also, it's fun later, when you unlock dual-wield.

Sniper Rifles (3)

Pelington 703
LW3 Tundra
Swiss K31

Those are my picks. I can't say much about those, since i don't use Sniper rifles, neither in zombies nor multiplayer. So it's up to you, which ones you wanna pick. I'd say they only differ on the clip size, and DMG, but most of the times you're going to aim for the head, so the DMG doesn't matter.

Light Machine Guns (3)

Stoner 63
M60
MG 82

I do not recommend using RPD for it's small magazine. Rest of the LMGs are pretty much the same.

Tactical Rifles (4)

Similar with Launchers, not big of a choice, i did not unlock the Carv.2 so i can't tell you if it's worth it or not.

Submachine Guns (5)

MP5
Milano 821
Bullfrog
Mac-10
LAPA

Mac and LAPA are unlocked by doing the challenges (missions). I recommend unlocking those two, especially Mac, it's one of the fastest firing gun in game. PPSh also has high rate of fire, but has a small clip.

Avoid UGR, KSP 45 and Tec-9.

Assault Rifles (5)

Grav
FFAR 1
QBZ-83
XM4
AK-47

And those are the Rifles i've chosen. It's really up to you if you wanna select the same, or not. I'd suggest looking up which gun has the biggest clip size, and just going for it. You will go for the headshots anyway, so it's better to have a bigger clip over higher DMG.

Perks / Loadout

My favourite field upgrade is the Aether Shroud, and i'd recommend you maxing it out first, to have 2 charges. You can escape from a sticky situation with push of a button, and then have 8 seconds to kill the zombies while they are not aware of your presence. It totally depends on your play-style, which field upgrade, you wish to use. Some of them work the best in larger teams, where the rest work the best in solo-mode.
Ring of Fire is also nice, especially for Launchers, since you do not have to re-load while it's active (you have to upgrade it).

Perks (drinks) I advise against buying the "Elemental Pop" perk while going for the DA camo. It triggers the area effects that kill zombies which blocks you from getting the kill count toward critital kills or weapon kills.

Fastest XP / Zombie Modes

Huge tip, stack up on Double weapon XP tokens, from the daily free bundles. They really speed up the process, on tedious weapons like 1911, Sniper Rifles, Tactical Rifles, and so on.

Now you may be wondering, what gets you the weapon XP the fastest. I have read, that it's actually playing 4-man Outbreak. This is what i had done, and i can tell you, that it worked for me, it took me 3 games of 4-man outbreak, to max out a single weapon, which beats any other mode, that i have tried, and i tried them all.

The trick is, to do all the side-missions as well as get as much kills as you can during the main missions (objectives).
You do not want to play the Endless Mode, for zombies get tougher, faster, get armour which makes getting kills longer, and you actually get less XP, past 4th round, than if you were playing the 3-Rounds mode repeatedly. Why? Because.
Single-player Outbreak gets you less XP than duo, trio, or 4-man game, since the zombie count scales off the team size.

2500 Critical, Pack-a-Punch, Kills.

Now you know the fastest way to level up a weapon, but you still need to complete the requirements on the other camos, such as getting 2500 critical kills.
You may average 400 critical kills during a 4-man outbreak game, which if you were to play this mode til max (weapon) level, you'd still need to get ~1000 critical kills after maxing, which is a waste of time.

In order to avoid such situation, i suggest you play the map Forsaken, in solo mode, til you get ~1500 critical kills. This usually occurs at around 36-39 wave, if you are being efficient.
This way, you potentially get 2,000 regular kills, 1500 critical kills, and 1700 Pack-a-Punch kills in a single game and THEN move on to Outbreak to max out the weapon level. (30-50 level, depending on the category). This leaves you to get ~25 more weapon levels, and ~1000 more critical kills. You then play 3-4 games, get the requirement level (50), and during the process, finish the 1000 critical kills mission. This is how i've done it.

In Forsaken, you just run around the map, stack up zombies, and then kill them in waves, aiming at the head. I recommend using the "Accelerator" if you feel confident enough, to speed up the process by a lot. My tactic was to stay at the first level, til 15 wave, then use the portal, kill the big guy, pack-a-punch the weapon, buy Jugger-Nog, Speed Cola, Stamina-Up and Deadshot Daiquiri. (I recommend maxing out the Deadshot Daiquiri so you get as soon as possible). Optionally, Mule Kick, for the zombies to drop ammo. Activate the Accelerator, and start running.Once again the accelerator is optional, i've done many games without it. The best areas to run with zombies, are the starting level or area outside the Arcade. At around 1500 critical kills (36-40 wave) exfil, and start playing Outbreak til level 50.
After 50 level (or 30 for some weapons), you will need to get 20 kills, without getting hit once, 10 times. I've done it at Forsaken (solo), camping at one place, killing the zombies that were running toward me. Sometimes, when i get hit, and the count resets, i just throw some grenades, hoping i'd get the insta-kill power up, so it speeds up the process.

Total time it took me to get the Skin = around 100 hours. I was not being competitive about it, so at first i experimented with other game modes, such as, getting max level with 1911, by just playing Forsaken, where in the same time, i'd max out 5 other weapons by playing Outbreak, so yeah.
You can easily max out one weapon a day. By just playing Outbreak (3-Rounds), and one game of Forsaken ~35 wave.

There's another way to gain fast headshots, and it's to camp 1st floor of Die Machine, with Ring of Fire, and just let the zombies come to you, so minimal running required. It's rather difficult to pull off, and wouldn't recommend any beginners do it, but it's also a nice way to get head shots fast.

TL;DR

1) Stack up on Double Weapon XP Tokens (obtained from Daily Free Bundles in the shop).
2) Play around, feel the game a bit before going for the last camo, obtain crystals to upgrade the weapons, and perks. Deadshot Daiquiri, Aether Shroud, are very important to upgrade.
3) Select the weapon you're going to level up, and either play one game of Outbreak (3-rounds) or jump to Forsaken (Solo) til you get 1500 critical kills. (40th wave exfil) [use accelerator to speed up the process]
4) Once you have done that, start playing Outbreaks (3-rounds) and make sure to have 4-man team at all times. Finish all the main objectives as well as the side ones.
5) Do not buy the Elemental Pop upgrade when going for the head shot kills.
6) Once you have reached 50 level, play Forsaken and get the last camo requirement (20 kills without getting hit, 10 times) in order to unlock the Diamond Camo for that weapon.
7) Move onto the next weapon, and repeat the process.
8) Rate this guide, or leave a comment.

I know it's a lot to read, but hopefully i was able to guide you toward the most efficient way to obtain the Camo. Thanks for stopping by!

5 Comments

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SnipaXKilla 27 Oct @ 3:18am

For Assault Rifles, I've only done AK and Fara right now since those 2 are the only ones that I liked in Multiplayer.

For LMGs, it's the MG is actually bad here cause of low damage and being the heaviest of the group. Even tho it has higher fire rate, the slowness alone makes it basically unusable in fast-pace combat like Zombies typically is. For Rifles, Tundra is reliable and Swiss has the lowest ADS-time AND Sway out of the bunch, the last one is based on preference since the others are a bit unwieldy.

SnipaXKilla 27 Oct @ 3:18am

I also raise a concern for when you did not mention the shotgun pistol in the pistols section. It's far more reliable than both the 1911 AND the Magnum.

For Shotguns, I suggest the Streetsweeper and the other one. Gallos suffers from very low damage and Hauger is too slow for the makeway of zombies.

For tacticals, I agree with you cause the Carv is utter crap.

I have no preference with the Sub Machine guns cause I don't like their low damage output, causing them to need to shoot too much.

SnipaXKilla 27 Oct @ 3:08am

I would like to raise a concern for when you say that the M79 is not a good choice for Special Weapons.

Once you get PhD Slider to Rank 3, it grants you immunity to self-imposed explosion damage. This includes Rocket Launchers, grenades, and the M79. Once you Pack-A-Punch the M79, it turns from a weapon that's to-be-desired to a weapon of absolute mayhem, basically murdering any enemies that does not have splash-damage resistance (Like bosses, Krazat, and Abomination) in half a second at a time, and this can mow hordes effectively-instantly as a result.

Vs the Ballistic Knife which suffers a slightly-less problem that the Knife weapon suffers from, it's limited range. Sure you can use the alt attack all the time, but in order to get some of the skins for it, you need to actually knife with it.

ghstedd__ 11 May @ 12:52am

woahhhh

aetherium. 17 Aug, 2024 @ 10:56am

Thank you!

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