Simple way to unlock the Phantom Bow

Fast and simple way to get the Phantom Bow, skipping the assignments and easter eggs. No cheating or exploiting involved.

Preparation

First of all, make sure you have the free Community Operations DLC installed. If you don't, go to the Battlefield 4 store page on Steam and get it here:

Find the right server

Go to the server browser and find a conquest server running the map "Operation Outbreak". You may have to search for a proper server multiple times, as sometimes there might not be one in this map. Make sure to include every region in your search settings to increase your chances to find one.

In case you still can't find a proper server, you can resort to connecting to one via Battlelog. The in-game server browser is janky, shows wrong information, and usually hides a lot of servers that you can otherwise normally connect to. You can access the Battlelog server list through the following link:
https://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf4/servers/pc/

Once you are in the server, you can proceed to the next step. Note that while some players have reported that finding the bow during pre-match, there isn't an actual match going on, has unlocked the bow permanently, while other players have reported that their bow does not get permanently unlocked unless found in a real match.

Finding the bow

You can find the bow at this spot in the map, between bases C and E:

When you get there, you'll see some boxes. You must open one of them with your knife to find the bow inside it.

Once you pick up the Phantom Bow, it's yours permanently. You will find it in the carbine section of your loadout.

Contributions

Thanks to luutarb and crow for informing us that the Phantom Bow can be permanently unlocked by picking it up during pre-match time.

Ratings & Corrections

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If you have noticed a mistake, feel free to leave a correction in the comments.

[crow]

Thats me!!!! (I changed my name from Micro_Blu)

[Karizmah]

A little while later I found a populated server and completed the unlock, I do not know if I was an anomaly or if not being able to unlock it in an unpopulated server was intentional. I played rhe match and finished it and it is now in my load outs and unlocks

[Kynor]

I have edited the guide with that information, but I suppose there isn't much to do other than to try looking for another server, or an active server running Operation Outbreak, then. Thank you for informing me, if you find out anything else about this, I'd like to know as well, since other players that commented here seemed to unlock the bow during pre-game. Good luck.

[Karizmah]

no, as i can only find the one server

[Kynor]

@Karizmah Unfortunately I cannot test this anymore, since I already have the bow. Have you tried it on different servers? It might not count on certain game modes or rule sets.

[Karizmah]

been in a empty derver 4 times now to unlock bow, i grab it and while im in the server it stays in my invetory and can equip to diffrent classes, but its gone when i leave the server, i dont think this works anymore

[Mr Nebu]

King

[Kynor]

@Birddog103 Oh, it is legit. I'm not a big fan of using the bow myself, but the poison tip arrow is apparently pretty good, some servers even ban it. I hope you have fun with it.

[Birddog103]

If this is legit its worth a golden unicorn award. Always wanted the kewl bow

[Kynor]

There are more achievement and unlock servers like that, but I've seen a lot of them go down after a certain time. I don't want to leave obsolete info in the guide, and it should be easy enough to get a server for unlocking the bow through the server browser. Thanks for the heads up, though.