Hey, whats up guys.
I thought id share with you all what i have found out over the past 24 hours.
Like some of you, I was stuck on the same symbol for 2 weeks. Since the game came out,I have been a very active grief player. Focusing more on beating the other team rather than worrying about my stats(other than Kill/down ratio).
After playing countless grief games up to level 20-25 keeping a K/D around 150-200 I never ranked up and gave up trying to. I figured because I never cared about K/D at the start that my current K/D of 64 was a long way away from being able to rank up.
One day I stumbled on a random group of kids playing Tranzit. In this game were 2 persons with the skull with a knife and 1 with the double shotguns. In game I noticed that the person with double shotguns had a head shot for almost every kill. The 2 people behind him with skull w/knife symbol were also killing with mainly head shots but not as many as double shot gun guy. I decided why not try what they were doing? I spent that game going to round 31 working hard on making every kill I could a head shot kill. Also, making sure I hit a zombie with every bullet I could. After that game, I took a break and came back to later play a solo game using the same strategy. I got to round 20 before I died and when i got back to the lobby LOW AND BEHOLD the skull with the knife FINALLY shows up!
So, I thought to myself what did I do differently in the last day to achieve this rank? My K/D rose from 64 to 65 a whole 1 difference. Could going from 64 to 65 be the difference? It could, but I dough it. I had been to level 42 on Trazit before so getting to 31 was not the answer.(Later I became friends with the guy with double shot guns in the first game I talked about. Turns out he had never been past 25. In anything!)It was then obvious that focusing on head shots and hit percentage was what did it. For the first time ever I focused on maintaining a 85 percent head shot AND hit percentage while also keeping a high K/D for consecutive games.
I felt so strongly about what I had found I went to share the idea with a few friends of mine that had also been stuck on the same rank for weeks with no luck. I am happy to report that ALL of them have ranked up to a skull with a knife or double shotguns. The shotguns have been achieved with a 95 percent head shot/hit rating for multiple games. I don't know the range on these percentages but I'm sure we will eventually find out.
I don't know the limits to the percentages. I just know that EFFICIENCY and being CONSISTENT is the KEY to the symbol.
I know it seems Obvious...but if you were like me and played alot of grief and never focused on Head shots/hits and only to survive with a high K/D you are smacking yourself on the head right now! Lol.
Also, in response to Edward Richtofen comment above - this percentage system is the only system that can NOT be manipulated across game types. Although you are more likely to be downed in grief. Your zombie killing efficiency does not vary across game modes. Further supporting this!
Good luck! have fun! and update this as you play!