![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg height="439" width="780" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"/>)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is here and with it comes Treyarch’s attempt at a battle royale mode.
Blackout, Black Ops 4’s battle royale mode, is one of the most exciting modes to come into a Call of Duty game in quite some time.
With battle royales such as Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds taking the world by storm it should come as no surprise a AAA developer would take a shot at the genre eventually.
Blackout operates mostly the same as you’d expect a battle royale game to but with some added twists.
Like the Call of Duty games before it, Blackout features a leveling up system that progresses based on what you do match to match. If you’re the first one killed in the game regularly then you’ll likely find leveling up to be a difficult thing to do.
Here’s the rundown on how merits work in Blackout:
- One kill = 10 merits
- Top 15 solo = 50 merits
- Top 10 duo = 50 merits
- Top 5 quads = 50 merits
- Win = 100 merits
You can also complete challenges to earn merits which will be familiar to you if you’ve played Fortnite at all. This game is punishing to players who aren’t the best at shooters as you can potentially make it to the top 25 with no kills without even earning any merits. The merits system seems to reward either aggression or survival, but mostly a mixture of both.
As for earning merits quickly? That’s going to come down to how you play the game. You can easily camp and hide your way to the end game and earn 50 merits that way if you really wanted but that would be a boring way to play. Earning kills is a tougher thing to accomplish considering you’ll need five of them to match the 50 merits earned by just surviving.
Whatever you decide to do to earn merits is on you and your playstyle.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is out now on PS4, Xbox One and PC.