January 2026 and I still can't help checking people's rifles in the pre-game lobby, because the Shower camo keeps popping up like a reminder you didn't ask for. If you're new to all this, you'll quickly notice how the whole scene revolves around flexing, bracket talk, and whatever shortcut rumor is trending—some folks even bring up CoD BO7 Bot Lobby in the same breath as "easy practice," even though that has nothing to do with earning Shower the legit way. The camo itself is the point: animated shooting stars skating across the receiver, clean enough that it makes every other skin feel flat. And yeah, missing it still hurts.
Why It Ended Up So Rare
The Astra Malorum event wasn't a straight grind, it was a risk you didn't really control. First you had to finish the main quest on Citadelle des Morts, then you were dumped into a competitive bracket and told to place top five. Not global. Not transparent. Just a sealed little pool that felt "skill-based" until you saw how weird the cutoffs got. You'd hear someone say they squeaked in with 30k, while you dropped 50k and still got shoved out. That's what made it brutal. It wasn't only about playing well—it was about landing in a bracket where "well" was actually enough.
The Runs That Ate a Weekend
I went in with a plan and a loadout I trusted: XM325 for control, and I kept rolling the box like it owed me a Ray Gun Mk II. I'd push the Easter egg steps solo as fast as I could, aiming to be done inside 45 minutes, then settle into the boring part: training zombies in the courtyard, staying calm, stacking points. You end up doing the same loops until your hands do it on autopilot. Doppelghast conversions helped when they showed up, but that's the thing—so much of the "strategy" still leaned on RNG. You can be locked in and still get nothing you need.
That One Score That Still Stings
My best run felt perfect at the time. I exfilled on round 52 with just over 58,000 points and went to sleep thinking I'd finally nailed a top five spot. Next morning: seventh. Somebody jumped past with 62k overnight and that was it. No animated stars, no "you made it," just the top 10% consolation camo—Cratered. It's fine. Lunar texture, decent look. But it doesn't move, and once you've watched Shower shimmer in the lobby lights, "fine" feels like a polite way of saying "not even close."
What People Are Trying Now
At this point, anyone promising a glitch unlock or save-editor trick is basically selling you a ban. Ricochet doesn't mess around, and getting your account clipped over a cosmetic is the worst kind of self-own. The smarter play is accepting the window closed on December 9, 2025, and putting your time into stuff that's actually attainable—Nebula progress, weapon challenges, clean runs you can repeat without stress. And if you're the type who'd rather spend than gamble, there are legit marketplaces for game currency and items; just be picky and use places with real delivery history, like RSVSR, without turning it into another shady "trust me" story in your squad chat.
