Gears of War: E-Day Skins Guide: How to Unlock Every Character and Weapon Skin

Skins in Gears of War: E-Day can be unlocked through the Campaign, Horde Siege and Versus challenges, player progression, and in-game currency. This guide explains how to unlock character skins and weapon skin sets, which cosmetics come with special editions, and where to start building your collection. We also cover several requirements that are easy to misread, including successful extractions, class progression, and Re-Up milestones.

Where to equip character and weapon skins

Open the Barracks from the multiplayer menu and select the character or weapon you want to customize. From there, you can equip unlocked cosmetics and inspect the requirements for locked ones. Challenge rewards display their progress counters, so you can immediately see how much work remains. If you are targeting a specific skin, find it in the collection first. That saves you from playing several matches only to discover that you were using the wrong mode or working toward the wrong requirement.Store purchases use Coins and Iron. Coins are earned through gameplay, while Iron is the premium currency. Check the Coin price before spending real money because many store cosmetics can be earned without buying Iron. Character appearance and Horde Siege class are also separate systems, so choosing a skin does not force you to play a specific class.

Which character skins are available from the start?

The standard looks for the main multiplayer characters are already available in the collection and do not require Campaign progress or currency. If you want to jump straight into multiplayer, the starting roster includes:

• Bravo Squad Marcus.
• Bravo Squad Dom.
• Bravo Squad Mags.
• Bravo Squad Lucas.
• Captain Grey.
• Female Infantry Gear and Male Infantry Gear.
• Locust Drone, Locust Grenadier, Locust Rusher, and Locust Sniper.

Bloodied Hunter Tai also appears in current launch catalogs as Tai Kaliso's default selectable look once the character is available in the Barracks. The same Epic skin is included in the Premium Edition's Emergence Customization Pack, so Premium owners receive the corresponding entitlement as part of that package.

Which characters unlock through the Campaign?

We recommend starting your collection by playing through the story. Campaign progression awards several characters without a separate multiplayer grind and also gives you time to learn the weapons you will use online. Four rewards are tied to reaching specific Acts, while the final one requires completing the full story. You do not need to raise the difficulty for the normal Campaign unlocks.

• Theta Squad Tai - unlocks during Act 1.
• Charlie Leader Valen - unlocks during Act 2.
• Captain Michaelson - unlocks during Act 4.
• Quartermaster Rustin - unlocks during Act 4.
• Commander Zee - complete all Acts on any difficulty.

The available guides confirm the Act in which these rewards unlock rather than one exact chapter for every skin. If you have entered the required Act but the character has not appeared yet, continue progressing through the story. You do not need to search for a hidden collectible to unlock these Campaign characters.

How to unlock character skins in Horde Siege

Horde Siege is a good place to work on several cosmetic challenges at the same time. While leveling classes, you can use Tactical Gear, revive teammates, spend Energy at Supply Caches, and collect Heavy Weapon kills. Do not try to finish everything in a single deployment, however. Some requirements specifically ask you to switch between all four launch classes or successfully extract on higher difficulties.The Horde Siege character unlocks include:

• Butcher Bird Gill - complete the Horde Siege Onboarding Mission.
• Siege Ops Dom - reach level 30 with all four launch classes: Assault, Breacher, Marksman, and Medic.
• Colonel Trench - complete 15 successful extractions on Commander difficulty or higher.
• Theta Squad Manu - use Tactical Gear 10 times with each of the four launch classes.
• Theta Squad Mako - unlock and equip one Weapon Mod, one Armor Mod, and one Tactical Gear Mod for a single class.
• Butcher Bird Daan - get 200 Heavy Weapon kills.
• Female Sniper Gear and Male Sniper Gear - spend 10,000 Energy at Supply Caches.
• Combat Medic Morida - revive other players 50 times in Horde Siege or Versus.

Theta Squad Manu has one especially easy-to-misread counter. The 0/4 display refers to four completed class requirements. You need to play Assault, Breacher, Marksman, and Medic and use each class's Tactical Gear ten times. Four uses on your favorite class will not move the challenge to completion. We recommend working on Manu at the same time as Siege Ops Dom because both rewards encourage you to play all four launch classes.For Theta Squad Mako, you only need to develop one class, but the equipped mods must come from three different categories. Three Weapon Mods do not substitute for one Weapon Mod, one Armor Mod, and one Tactical Gear Mod. Unlock all three categories and actually equip the mods. Buying or unlocking them without equipping them does not complete the full requirement.

Which skins unlock in Versus?

Several Versus challenges care about how you eliminate an opponent rather than your total kill count. Normal kills do not replace explosive kills, cover kills, or kills with weapons picked up from the map. We recommend choosing one or two challenges before a match and adjusting your playstyle around them. For Elite Sniper, for example, you need to use weapons taken from map pickups rather than relying only on your starting loadout.

• Female Heavy Gear and Male Heavy Gear - get 6 kills or downs while in cover.
• Elite Drone - win 3 objective-based matches.
• Elite Grenadier - get 25 explosive kills.
• Elite Sniper - get 10 kills with weapons picked up from the map.
• Krav Vraahk - win 50 matches.

Emergence Dom is a separate earnable skin that requires saving another player during a Locust struggle. Do not confuse it with Exfil Dom, which was the pre-order character skin. They use the same character but have different names and different unlock methods.

Skins from Boot Camp, Re-Up, and special challenges

Start by unlocking Emergence Lucas, which only requires completing Boot Camp. It is one of the easiest extra character skins for a new player because the tutorial teaches the basic controls at the same time. Marcus's Re-Up skins take much longer and are meant as long-term progression rewards.

• Emergence Marcus - Re-Up for the first time.
• Wings of Valor Marcus - reach the maximum level of the final Re-Up cycle.
• Emergence Mags - complete the Explosive Indigestion challenge by killing a Bilefrog with an explosive fired into its open mouth.
• Svore Vraahk - defeat Vraahk in the Campaign or Horde Siege.
• Vraahk the Scorched - complete the Campaign on Insane and reach 100% Campaign completion on any difficulty.

Re-Up becomes available after reaching player level 100 and starts another progression cycle. E-Day has multiple Re-Up milestones, and Wings of Valor Marcus sits at the far end of that ladder. You need to progress through the final cycle to its maximum level rather than simply performing the last reset and stopping immediately.For Emergence Mags, wait until a Bilefrog opens its mouth before the acid-spit attack. Fire an explosive directly into the exposed mouth. The Gut-Puncher is a convenient option, and a frag grenade can also work when placed correctly. Hitting the creature's body does not satisfy the specific challenge.Vraahk the Scorched has two separate requirements that do not need to be completed in one run. Finish the Campaign on Insane, then make sure your Campaign completion reaches 100% on any difficulty. This lets you handle the hardest combat on one playthrough and clean up optional objectives and collectibles later on easier settings.

Which character skins can be bought with in-game currency?

If a skin is sold through the Barracks, check its Coin price before buying Iron. The store includes character cosmetics that can be purchased with earned currency, while featured bundles may also advertise premium-currency options. The launch catalog includes the following store character skins:

• Ceremonial Marcus, Ceremonial Dom, and Ceremonial Lucas.
• Infantry Armor Mags.
• Repair Bay Gill.
• Armistice Officer Grey.
• Bloody Star Trench.
• Airbase Daan.
• Female NCOG D-Flotilla Marine and Male NCOG D-Flotilla Marine.
• Purgeshock Drone and Scorched Drone.
• Scorched Chosen, Scorched Siegebreaker, and Scorched Grenadier.
• Scorched Rusher.
• Scorched Stalker, Locust Scouter, and Scorched Sniper.
• Impaler's Visage Vraahk.

Store prices can vary by rarity and featured placement. Where a cosmetic supports both Coins and Iron, Coins are the free-to-earn option. Real-money promotional bundles are separate and should not be treated as normal Coin purchases.

Pre-order, Premium Edition, beta, and promotional skins

These cosmetics use entitlement-based unlocks rather than normal progression. Before buying an edition upgrade, check which items you already own and which are actually included in the package. Beta rewards also depended on completing their challenges during the test period, so repeating the same requirement after launch does not recreate the historical reward.

• Exfil Dom - pre-order character skin.
• Death's Rendezvous Marcus - included in the Premium Edition's Emergence Customization Pack.
• Bloodied Hunter Tai - included in the Premium Edition's Emergence Customization Pack and also used as Tai's launch default appearance in current Barracks catalogs.
• Blast Damage Mags - awarded for reaching player level 20 during the Open Beta.
• Never Fight Alone Morida - part of a separate charity-related promotional offer.

How to unlock free weapon skins

Weapon cosmetics have their own gameplay challenges. Many can be progressed naturally while you play, such as performing Perfect Active Reloads, dealing critical damage, closing E-Holes, or getting kills with specific weapons. When a reward is described as a weapon skin set, it applies across its supported customizable weapons rather than requiring you to repeat the same challenge for every gun.

• Backbone - get 20 kills each with the Lancer Mk1, Prototype Lancer, and Hammerburst.
• Kalona Eagles - perform 30 Perfect Active Reloads in Versus or Horde Siege.
• Aurora Borealis - close 50 E-Holes in Horde Siege.
• Acidic - down 100 players in Versus.
• Team Faction Bound - complete your second Re-Up.
• Team Draconic - complete your fourth Re-Up.
• Team Wooden Resin - deal 1,000,000 critical damage in Versus or Horde Siege.

Store weapon skin sets

These sets are found among weapon cosmetics in the Barracks. Select the skin set first, then compare the available purchase methods. If you only want one particular set, buying a larger bundle full of unrelated cosmetics may not be necessary. The launch catalog includes:

• Clear Coat, E-Hole, and High Yield.
• Impaler's Visage and Inscribed.
• Kalona Skyline and Kalona Survivor.
• Luke Preece and NCOG D-Flotilla.
• Ravens Inbound, Serano, and Supernova.
• Team Laser and Team Machine.
• Tusk, X-Ray Scan, and Scorched Chosen.

Some of these are standard Barracks purchases with Coins or Iron, while others are separate real-money store items. Check the purchase panel before assuming every set uses the same currency.

Special and signature weapon cosmetics

Some weapon cosmetics are tied to editions, pre-orders, beta rewards, partnerships, or promotional bundles. Do not look for a normal gameplay challenge when the skin is attached to one of these offers. Signature variants are also different from universal weapon skin sets because they are tied to specific weapons.

• Exfil - pre-order weapon skin set.
• Death's Rendezvous and Emergence Omen - weapon cosmetics included with the Premium Edition's Emergence Customization Pack.
• Crush the Bug - Open Beta weapon skin set awarded for 8 successful Horde Siege extractions on Infantry difficulty or higher during the beta.
• Ride the Lightning - paid Metallica weapon skin set.
• Never Fight Alone - weapon cosmetics from the corresponding charity-related offer.

The Premium Edition also includes the Bravo Squad Signature Weapon Pack for Campaign use. Current catalogs list signature variants including Fenix's Signature Prototype Lancer, Santiago's Signature Gnasher, and Reyes' Signature Longshot. The official edition description confirms the pack itself, while some per-weapon catalog details are presented through the in-game inventory rather than as separate unlock challenges.

Where should you start collecting skins?

We recommend completing Boot Camp and the Horde Siege Onboarding Mission first, then playing through the Campaign for the story unlocks. After that, pick the multiplayer mode you enjoy most and combine compatible challenges such as revives, Tactical Gear usage, reloads, or kills with specific weapon types. Save Coins for a cosmetic you actually want to use instead of buying the first store item you can afford. Maxing every Horde Siege class and climbing through the final Re-Up cycles are long-term goals, so they are much easier to complete naturally than by turning the entire collection into one giant grind.