The Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer experience demands a lot of you every second of every match. New and returning maps, a host of new weapons, new scorestreaks, and an evolution on the Omnimovement system introduced in Black Ops 6. You’re likely to spend at least a little time getting your head around things, because while the game is similar to last year’s offering, there are just enough changes to breathe a bit of new life into the gameplay. That’s why you’ll find some tips here to get you started. These tips are geared toward new and returning players alike. 

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Movement tips

String together wall jumps, slides, and strafes wherever possible. The biggest update to Omnimovement in Black Ops 7 is wall jumps. If your character is next to a wall at any point during their jump, you can press the jump button again to bounce off the wall at a new angle. You can chain a wall jump into a slide, then begin strafing as soon as you hit the ground. Doing so gives you a maneuverability advantage over a stationary enemy and will win you gunfights.

Retreating and reengaging is easier than ever. The time-to-kill in Black Ops 7 is as fast as it's ever been. If you find yourself outmanned or outgunned, you can slide backward or any other direction and put some space between you and the oncoming threats. Even if that retreat is momentary, around a corner, say, that disengage might put your foes off balance enough that you can win an otherwise lopsided fight.

Keep diving to a minimum. The dolphin dive was a neat gimmick back in the original Black Ops, but in Black Ops 7, it’s more liable to get you killed than anything else. Diving removes much of the control you have over your character, and it’s easy to land on some random barrel or other object, leaving you open to fire from unknown directions.

Leveling tips

Play Hardpoint. By far the best game mode for XP in Black Ops 7 is Hardpoint for both vanilla and hardcore game modes. You can easily earn 20,000 XP in a match, but matches still rarely last longer than ten or so minutes. That’s around 120,000 XP per hour if you’re playing lights out, and even a bad game is still likely worth 10,000.

Play the objective, but still try to slay out. Every Black Ops game since 2 has had a major focus on objective play, and Black Ops 7 is no different. Playing the objective in Hardpoint will get you tons of points, and if you’re also one of the kill leaders on your team, you can double or triple your XP income.

Use supportive streaks. UAV, Counter UAV, H.A.R.P., and EMP Systems are all fire-and-forget streaks that award passive XP every time your teammates get a kill with them active. The UAVs are also easy to get, even if you die a lot. And while only five XP per UAV assist might not seem like a lot, every little bit helps if you want to level quickly.

Play more conservatively if you die too much. Sure, Black Ops 7 is blindingly fast, but holding sightlines, especially on or near the objective, is still a viable tactic. Rushing around without care for your survival is a good way to earn half the score you would otherwise. Those precious seconds you spend getting out of spawn could be spent in the thick of things.

Combat tips

Find a weapon you like and stick to it. Not only does becoming familiar with how weapon handles ensure you have the best chances in a fight, it also makes earning mastery camos faster. Having a fallback option when the match isn’t otherwise going your way can get your K/D back in the positive and help propel your team closer to victory.

Only use scorestreaks you know you can reliably earn. As tempting as it is to put on the big ticket streaks, if you overestimate what you can consistently earn, you’ll spend the entire match providing much less to your team. You can bring in the sexier streaks as your skills improve, but better to contribute a single UAV than nothing at all.

Suppressors are your friend. Putting a suppressor on your weapon keeps your gunfire off the minimap. Even if the enemy has a UAV, movement in Black Ops 7 is so fast that they’ll be tracking where you were a few seconds ago, not where you are now. The same cannot be said of your unsuppressed shots. Those ping your exact position as long as you’re shooting, and any advantage you can glean is valuable.

Use the Stim Shot. The Tactical slot options are all good, with Stuns and Flashes maintaining their potency from previous entries. For survivability between fights, though, nothing beats the instant 100% heal of Stim Shot. With the Double Tac Wildcard, you’ll have two on tap at the start of every life, and because they slowly recharge, there's a good chance you’ll always have one available.

Loadout tips

Know which Specialty best suits your playstyle. There are six specialities in Black Ops 7, up from three in the last game. Take the time to know which best suits your style and skill level, because there are no right answers. Enforcer is a good fallback, as the free heal and movement speed boost is tough to beat, but don’t sleep on any of the others.

Use Looper if you know you can get enough points to earn your streaks again. The Looper Perk brings back a mechanic long missing from Call of Duty: the ability to earn your streaks over and over again in the same life. That means you can, well, loop multiple UAVs, Hellstorm missiles, or even HKDs multiple times, provided you earn the score for it. That constant barrage of streaks can be overpowering in the extreme, and can turn the tide of even an otherwise unwinnable match.

Use the Gunfighter Wildcard. The guns of Black Ops 7 are all usable stock, but become much deadlier when outfitted with a full set of attachments. With the Gunfighter Wildcard, you can equip eight of the nine slots worth of attachments to your gun, giving it and you the best chance at securing every kill.

Don’t ignore your Field Upgrade, and experiment with all of them. Field Upgrades like the Trophy System can and will win you entire engagements in objective modes like Domination and Hardpoint. Using these tried and true options is never a bad idea, but don’t underestimate the Black Hat or the Echo Unit for their niche but still potent abilities.