Black Ops 7 season 1 release time, content and roadmap

Black Ops 7 season 1 is arriving today at 9amPT and there is a lot of new stuff in it . Activision claim it's the 'the biggest season 1 ever' and looking at the list below I'm inclined to belive them. There's new Endgame events and skills, new reward across the board, fresh maps, modes, scorestreaks, weapons, attachments, zombies stuff, and that massive list I've just run through is only skimming what's coming on the roadmap.

So there's a lot going on, and to help you make sense of it all I've taken a look at all the main stuff that's coming in the roadmap in more detail below.

Black Ops 7 season 1 launch time and roadmap

The Black Ops 7 season 1 launch time is 9am PT on December 4.

The image above shows the full Black Ops 7 season 1 roadmap. You can zoom in to to see more because there is a lot, from maps to modes, Endgame content, multiplayer, zombies, weapons, and all the rest. Content drops are largely split between the December 4th launch, a mid-season drop, and 'in-season' stuff (so at some point). Now, because that roadmap is tiny and full of things, let's break it down and take a look at what's coming in more detail below.

Black Ops 7 season 1 new weapons

There are seven new Black Ops 7 guns arriving in season 1, either in season or via the Battle Pass, events, and challenges. That's certainly going to shake up the current Black Ops 7 meta, so let's take at what we're getting:

• Maddox RFB assault rifle (Battle Pass page 6)
• Kogot SMG (Battle Pass page 3)
• Ballistic Knife melee (Weekly Challenge week 1)
• Sokol 545 LMG (Event)
• Sturmwolf 45 SMG (Event)
• NX Ravager Crossbow Special (In-Season)
• Hawker HX Sniper (In-Season)

There are also 11 new weapon attachments arriving over the course of S1 to alter these and existing weapons, including the following confirmed options:

• Akita Scorchlink Akimbo - dual wield Akita shotguns
• Redwell Shade-X Suppressor - a suppressor that improves vertical and horizontal recoil but reduces damage range and bullet velocity
• CODA 9 adaptive discharge mod
• AK-27 Battle Scar conversion
• M8A1 Full auto conversion
• MPC-25 Contrabloom laser

Now let's drill into each weapon and see where their strengths and weakness lie.

Black Ops 7 Maddox RFB assault rifle

This is a full auto Black Ops 7 assault rifle returning from BLOPS 4. It's a fast fire rate option with some manageable recoil and a decent ammo reserve to allow sustained, accurate shooting. That can be enhanced as you upgrade it and unlock things like extended mags.

Black Ops 7 KOGOT SMG

The KOGOT SMG is a fast firing, high mobility SMG built for close range encounters. It's not built for high damage, so you'll need to take advantage of its speed as you race around opponents peppering them with bullets. You'll also have to master the recoil, especially if you unlock the akimbo prestige attachment.

Black Ops 7 Ballistic Knife

A Black Ops classic, the Ballistic Knife lets you fire the blade from the handle for an almost guaranteed kill on any unarmored enemy. It's mainly a bragging rights weapon, has shown by the range of prestige skins to unlock.

Black Ops 7 Sokol 545 LMG

Shaking up your LMG options, the Sokol starts with a 100 capacity mag, the largest LMG mag currently in BLOPs 7, so it's all about suppressive fire. It's also got the highest damage range, meaning you can hold enemies down effectively from much further away.

Black Ops 7 NX Ravager

The classic crossbow is back, allowing you to fire high damage bolts over great distances and letting you use explosive ammo to spread the pain far and wide. The Tribolt prestige attachment also lets you load three bolts at a time to increase your fire rate.

Black Ops 7 Hawker HX

It's a surprise return for this Black Ops 2 sniper. A bolt action option that has good handling, mobility, and decent one shot kill potential but pays for it with higher recoil, flinch, and a long reload.

Black Ops 7 season 1 community events

There are two season 1 community events currently confirmed for Black Ops 7 that will unlock a range of rewards (including two of the new weapons above).

• Rally Point Community Event - Work together to complete community missions to unlock rewards, including the NX Ravager Crossbow.
• Naughty and Nice Community Event - Naughty Challenges reveal rewards in bags of coal while Nice Challenges unwrap Festive Gifts to get rewards, including the Sokol 545 LMG.

New Black Ops 7 operators

There are three new operators joining Black Ops 7 in Season 1: Scorn, Alden Dorne, and The Replacer (Peter Stormare). Scorn is via the BlackCell Instant Reward Page, Alden Dorne is in the Battle Pass, and The Replacer is a free gift to everyone at the start of the season.

New Black Ops 7 Battle Pass and changes

The new Battle Pass will cost 1,100 COD Points and feature 11 Operator Skins and 26 Blueprints/Weapons, as well as attachments, decals, and more, with 119 rewards in total (including BlackCell).

The Battle Pass has also had a minor overhaul for season 1 with improved unlock timings, smaller, faster to complete pages, and the ability to earn Tokens via daily challenges in multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone.

Buying the Battle Pass will instantly unlock the following:

• 10% Battle Pass XP Boost
• Linked reticle for Optic attachments
• Chain of Command legendary Blueprint for the X9 Maverick assault rifle
• Rank and File large weapons decal.
• Alden Dorne Operator as well as the Adjutant Operator skin, and a Adjutant BlackCell variant for BlackCell

In addition there are two new season 1 weapons, the Kogot-7 SMG unlocked on page 3 of the Battle Pass and the Maddox RFB AR on page 6 (you can read more about them above if you check the side bar).

Completing the Black Ops 7 season 1 Battle Pass will unlock the following rewards:

• 200 COD Points
• Dissonance legendary Blueprint for the AK-27 AR
• No Slowing Down animated Calling Card
• Energized One animated Emblem
• Gift Card Ultra GobbleGum
• Disharmony Operator skin for Alden Dorne and the Disharmony BlackCell equivalent.

New Black Ops 7 maps

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There are technically eight new multiplayer maps in Black Ops 7 S1 but three of them are remasters of old maps, and one is a Hijacked variant. So, that actually makes four new maps, all medium to small sized. Check out how they look in the gallery above and here some more info about them:

• Launch Maps
  • Utopia - 6v6, medium
  • Fate - 6v6, small
  • Odysseus - 6v6 or 2v2, small
  • Standoff - (Remastered from Black Ops 2) 6v6, medium
  • Sleighjacked - (Hijacked variant) 6v6, small
• Mid Season maps
  • Yakei - 6v6 or 2v2, small
  • Meltdown - (Remastered from Black Ops 2) 6v6, medium
  • Fringe - Returning Black Ops 6 Map/Black Ops 3 remaster

New Black Ops 7 modes

There are eight new modes in season 1 at launch and mid season, with two holiday modes for Christmas.

All five launch modes are returning from previous games, with only the mid season mode, Takeover, being a new one. That sees two teams of six fight to control three territories and earning points for every one controlled. When all three territories are taken they relocate and the cycle restarts.

These are all the modes arriving in Black Ops 7 season 1:

• New Launch modes
  • Prop Hunt (returning mode)
  • One in the Chamber (returning mode)
  • Sharpshooter (returning mode)
  • Sticks & Stones (returning mode)
  • Gun Game (returning mode)
• Mid season modes
  • Takeover (new mode)
• In-season
  • Holiday Havoc CODmas LTM
  • Snowfight CODmas LTM

New Black Ops 7 Endgame content

There are four new Endgame modes arriving in season 1, although the details are being drip fed out. Colossus of Avalon will see everyone battling to take down a giant robot. Toxic Tyrant is about fighting a 'hallucinatory biological weapon'. And the Wraith Wing event is about downing an advanced Guild aircraft with 'cloning capabilities'. The fourth world event has yet to be revealed in anyway.

There are also eight new exotic skills you can earn by completing world events and then level up to increase their base effects:

• Mega Punch - replaces your melee attack with a high damage knockback.
• Conjuration - summon toxic butterflies to attack enemies.
• Echo Shell - reduce damage taken from behind.
• Frost Cloud - damaging enemies has a chance to trigger a frost effect to slow them.
• Resurrection - become invincible when you die once per match.
• Shattered Shield - nearby enemies are stunned and take damage when your armor plates break.
• Graviton Reaction - taking melee damage can spawn a black hole that damages and moves enemies.

New Zombies content in Black Ops 7

Season 1 of Zombies introduces a range of new content to including a fresh maps, enemy, Wonder Weapon, traps, and more. There's also a range of returning perks, GobbleGums, equipment, and so on. Here's the breakdown:

• New round based Map - Astra Malorum (launch)
  • A mysterious observatory orbiting around the rings of Saturn.
• New survival maps - Exit 115 (launch) and Zarya Cosmodrome (mid season)
• New Enemy - OSCAR
  • A new robot enemy that scans for players and attacks them. Also deploys a range of defensive measures like shields, Tesla fields, and drones. Find out more about how to kill OSCAR in Black Ops 7 Zombies here.
• New Wonder Weapon - LGM-1
  • A gun that shoots homing saucers with laser attacks.
• New traps - Stellar Dissector and Apogee Annihilator
  • The Dissector casts out a net of laser beams while the Annihilator is a large rocket launcher.
• Returning Perk - Mule
  • Carry an additional primary weapon.
• Returning Ammo Mod - Light Mend
  • Reduces bullet damage but has a chance to create a healing glyph when you hit an enemy that homes in on damaged allies.
• Returning Ammo Mod - Shatter Blast
  • Explosive damage.
• New GobbleGums
  • Elemental Exposure - In Zombies this makes your weapon always inflict damage that matches the target's elemental weakness. In Dead Ops Arcade 4 it makes you invulnerable to hazards for 10 minutes (not in boss arenas).
  • Slaylist - plays a random Zombies song.
• Returning equipment (mid-season)
  • Returning Lethals
    • Impact Grenade, Thermo Grenade.
  • Returning Tacticals
    • Shock Charge.
  • Returning Support
    • War Machine, Grim Reaper, Death Machine, Combat Bow.

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