So last night I finally earned Dark Matter. I got diamond on every gun in the game. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to finally have completed this challenge after weeks of grinding the game. I wanted to make this post to help all of you who might be struggling with the Dark Matter grind because I completed it in about 2 weeks.
The Ardent camo requires you to get long shots for many of the classes. For this camo, you should run the Varix sight with the silencer. This greatly reduces the range needed for a longshot and will make your life much easier.
Let me first preface the strategies by saying that you need to be running a launcher on every class you use. The launchers take, by far, the longest to complete. I also ran care package and would purposefully drop it near the enemies to give them more scorestreaks. It makes the launchers go by quicker. Once you unlock Policia, the hardest challenge is Chameleon (Destroy 10 Guardians, Hardened Sentries, or Power Cores). For this challenge, I made a class with engineer and rocket launcher. If I heard that the enemy had one of these three, I would immediately die and switch to the Engineer class so I could go destroy it.
HC FFA STRATEGY
This is best method to getting the headshot challenges. Use a Red-Dot Sight or ELO on all classes. This will make headshots easier. I never used High Caliber in HC and never had trouble getting headshots. Use Dead Silence/Awareness and try to find an area of the map to control spawns. Try to listen to when the enemy is getting close and then pre-aim at head height. Usually, if the enemy is clueless, they will run right into your aim. Just pre-fire before they come into view and they will usually run right into your bullets. I used this strategy for the SMGs, ARs, and LMGs.
SMGs
I did these first. Overall they were fairly easy. I used the HC FFA strategy listed above.
- Kuda — Straightforward
- VMP — Straightforward
- Vesper — This one is a tad tricky because of the high fire rate and the recoil. Try to aim more directly for the head rather than letting the enemy run into your bullets.
- Weevil — The hardest of the SMGs. Low damage is tough but in HC, you should get 1 shot to the head at a reasonable distance.
- Pharo — The easiest SMG due to the burst fire.
- Razorback — Straightforward
ARs
These were also pretty easy, like the SMGs. Use the HC FFA strategy as listed above.
- KN-44 — Straightforward
- XR2 — Very easy. I found burst weapons to be easiest for headshots.
- HVK-30 — Probably the hardest but use the HC FFA strategy.
- ICR-1 — Straightforward
- Man-O-War — Straightforward
- Shieva — Not hard but you have to aim for the head rather than spray for the head.
- M8A7 — Straightforward
LMGs
I thought these were gonna be really tough, but they were actually surprisingly easy! The Gorgon was the hardest, but again, just use the HC FFA strategy. Starting to see the pattern?
- BRM — Straightforward
- Dingo — The fire rate makes this gun very easy for headshots. It’s a beast in HC.
- Gorgon — The hardest one due to the fire rate. Just try to aim for the head a little more than spraying.
- 48 Dredge — My personal easiest weapon in the whole game. Because of the insane fire rate on the burst, you can actually aim a little to the side of their head. When you burst, drag your aim across their head and you will usually get a headshot. I was netting around 20 headshots a game in a 30 kill FFA. Very effective.
Shotguns
Now that you’ve completed those three classes, this is where it gets interesting. You need one-shot kills for the KRM and the Argus. These can be done in Hardcore Domination. The Brecci and the Haymaker require headshots, so just use the HC FFA strategy. You’re gonna want to try and get into a Combine lobby because some of the maps are awful for the shotguns. They really struggle with range in this game.
Snipers
Snipers. Where do I begin? They’re really bad. Sniping in this game is harder than ever before. There is no aim assist when sniping which makes this a lot harder. For all the snipers, you need one shot kills. Never use the Varix sight for the snipers. I’m not sure why but the Varix sight will cause your one-shot kills not to register. For the Drakon, play HC Dom because the Drakon is a weak sniper. All the other snipers, I played Safeguard. You can sit back and let the enemies come to you, or you can try to flank and shoot enemies in the back as they run by you. These are straightforward but very annoying.
Pistols
Just use the HC FFA method as listed above. Try to get into a Combine lobby.
Combat Knife
Probably the hardest weapon to get gold. For the first part, just play Chaos Moshpit and get 200 kills. You’ll almost always get Nuk3town. After that, there are only two difficult challenges. Make sure you run double smokes on Nuk3town. This will help you get to the other house easier!
The Batlle Camo requires you to kill an enemy with the knife, pick up his gun, and kill the same enemy with his gun. It’s straightforward, just takes some time. I got very lucky with this one. In a Nuk3town game, I killed a camper in one of the houses. He kept coming back to the house, so I just kept killing him with his gun. I got this done in one game.
The Chameleon requires you to get 5 Bloodthirsty medals only using the knife. For this one, just camp in the enemies house on Nuk3town. It’s gonna be tough but you will eventually complete it.
Do I regret going for Dark Matter? Absolutely not. It was so rewarding to see the progress I made with each gun. And now that I’ve completed it, I can do whatever I want in the game! And I have an awesome camo that I can use for the rest of Black Ops III!
Good luck! If you have any questions, leave a comment and I’ll try to help you out!
