5 Things We Learned From Black Ops 7's Open Beta

The Call of Duty Black Ops 7 Open Beta has come and gone, and with it, we learned a lot more about what to expect in the year ahead. Call of Duty NEXT previewed the tip of the iceberg, but a full week of gameplay has filled in the rest of the picture. 

We’ve got the rundown on everything to learn from the beta — but don’t just take our word for it, we enlisted help from our pros Scump and Shotzzy to get a veteran, top-level perspective. From the new wall bounce down to the nitty, gritty gunsmith details, here are all the important things you should know before going boots on the ground in November. <

FIGHTING WITH A CLASSIC FEEL

Your first time playing Black Ops 7 will feel perfectly in line with older Black Ops entries. Nearly every element of BO7 builds off something familiar. OpTic Scump explained it perfectly at Call of Duty NEXT. 

“You guys are going to see a lot of cross-pollination between BO6, BO4, and BO3. It’s like a love-child of all those three games. It’s got Black Ops 6’s gunplay, wall bouncing reminds you of [Black Ops 3].”

The beta maps took a page from the franchise’s roots, slimming down the battlefield to three highly contested lanes. The Forge, for example, pits players against each other in a Guild Research and Development center with a rotating turret at the heart of the map. Teams fight for control of the two primary buildings that form a semi-shell around the turret.

You’ll want to control the outside of these maps and either force enemies to funnel into the middle, where they’ll be picked off from the various windows and doors along the outer ring, or right into your sights at the two exterior doors by the spawn zones. While players didn’t get to see any of the three returning maps (Express, Raid, or Hijacked) in the beta, they’ll be added later on and should make the classic vibe stand out even more.

Get ready for the pace to increase too. Omnimovement, wall bouncing, and the dynamic map elements keep the experience feeling fresh, but the rapid flow of combat retains the spirit of previous fan-favorites, like Black Ops 3’s Breach.

MOVEMENT MAKES MAGIC 

Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro mastered omnimovement en route to a Call of Duty League World Championship ring with OpTic Texas in the last season. There’s no one better to study if you want to level up your game. Take a look at how he uses slick sliding and crafty wall jumps to turn a one-versus-three situation into three isolated gunfights.

Shotzzy’s play shows that being quick on your feet and staying shifty is a clear key to success. Pair that nonstop movement with an Overclocked Stim to give yourself the maximum level of survivability and you might just go on your own Nuclear run.

SIMPLE LOADOUTS, MAJOR RESULTS

The Gunsmith has become an integral part of building loadouts since its introduction in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). While customizing every little piece of a weapon has its upsides, Black Ops 7 aims to rein in the mad science of loadout crafting by offering fewer attachments in each category.

If you’re a meta hunter who wants to stay on the cutting edge, there’s still room for experimentation, and sharing your masterpiece with the world will be easier than ever with the addition of Build Codes when they arrive at launch. For everyone else, Monster’s resident loadout expert, Tyler “TeeP” Polchow, has already cracked the code on the best builds for several weapons and will keep the info flowing as the year rolls on. Stay tuned, as he and the rest of the Monster family will have more build recommendations for you soon in our new Monster Meta.

KILLSTREAKS GALORE

Call of Duty Killstreaks and Scorestreaks are strong year in and year out, but Black Ops 7 raises the bar for effectiveness and creativity. Take the Gravedigger, for example. This portable one-shot kill Sniper Rifle allows you to see through walls—and fire through them, too! This absolute beast of a streak-reward is just as helpful for information about which direction the enemies are coming from as it is for racking up eliminations.

The other standout streak from the beta takes a familiar idea and gives it a fresh coat of paint. Similar in spirit to the RAPS streak of Black Ops 3 fame, the HKD drops in a small army of wheeled Hunter Killer drones to chase enemies all across the map and explode right in their lap. Survival is possible when they’re called in, but each drone left on the map makes life a whole lot harder for the opposition.

Late in the beta, Scump showed off exactly how strong the streaks can be when he used HKDs to fuel a buzzer-beating Domination rally, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat and dropping a personal-best 117 Eliminations along the way.

SKILL-BASED NO MORE

The last big piece of news to drop following the conclusion of the Black Ops 7 beta was the death of Skill-Based Matchmaking (or SBMM). Going forward, every playlist will once again drop players into matches based on proximity and connection strength, with minimal consideration for skill.

The Open Moshpit playlist from the beta was a dry run for the idea, and with its enormously positive reception, players will once again be blindly tossed into lobbies together like it’s Modern Warfare 2 (2009) all over again. Additionally, Treyarch is evaluating aim assist strength with more updates promised closer to launch. These wishlist items have both been hot topics in the community for years, and although we don’t have all the details yet, the prospect of big changes is already a smash hit.

The Open Beta answered an abundance of questions about Black Ops 7, but there’s still so much to uncover—including weapons, killstreaks, maps, and more. That’s not to mention the hunt for Raul Menendez in the Campaign, or the largest round-based Zombies experience in franchise history.

If you want to get in on the action and learn all about the rest, then pre-order the game, stock up on Monster Energy, and be ready to rock when Black Ops 7 goes live for real on November 14th.