Players encounter different mission types in the game. They vary in length, rewards, and stories. Missions are given by various vendors in the HUB. All active missions can be viewed in the journal.

Campaign missions (or EPIC - designer, main missions) - Missions with the main story of SGL. They are the biggest missions in the game and can be played in COOP. They are shown on the planet map. The icon for them is orange/yellow.

Side missions - Still pretty big missions, but shorter than campaigns. In some cases they support the main storyline; some are standalone. The icon is purple.

Operations (Blue missions - players, Grind - designers) - shortest missions in the game. They are made for grinding and  always have 4 of them active.

COOP Operations - unlocked along with normal grinds at rank 4.

Guided co-op missions They can be initiated only by newbie players on rank 4 - 14 seeking help/guide. 

Veteran players from rank 15+ can respond and join as the guide. Mission rank is based on the rank of the newbie player + 1. Guide player rank is balanced to mission rank + 2. Drop and fame is based on the player’s original rank. The guide player is rewarded with a ribbon & Turbo Fame boost (30 minutes) for helping a newbie player. If the newbie disconnects from the gameplay, it continues normally for the veteran. If a veteran disconnects from the gameplay, mission rank is immediately adjusted to newbie rank.

Daily missions - green mission - once a day, players get a daily mission. These missions are story missions that players go through again. The reward of completing a daily mission is a Neo crate - contains regular items in legendary quality.

To find how long before your next daily mission appears, go back to the star map and tap on one of the planets. You should see a mission with a question mark instead of a mission icon on the left side of the screen. Tap this mission, and you will reveal the daily mission timer.

Special missions

Shadowgun Elite 1 Win a PvP match naked and only with a pistol (obtain the Naked man ribbon)

Shadowgun Elite 2 - kill 30 enemies without taking damage in a single mission (= obtain the Dodger ribbon)

Shadowgun Elite 3 - boss kill headshot - only possible to finish in Brothers of Fire or Blade Dancer