Endgame is a special mode that unlocks at the end of the Black Ops 7 story campaign.

And starting November 21, 2025, you won't even need to complete the story campaign to access it.

This mode is quite similar to MWZ from Modern Warfare III, which was based on elements of DMZ from Modern Warfare II:

Combat Rating (CR) is a mechanic that automatically levels up a character based on their activity, primarily in combat.

Performing other various Activities and Assignments also adds additional Power to the rating, depending on the type of contract and the zone it is located in.

Although there are 4 operator slots, the CR is tied to the character, so you can switch from one to another at any time in the lobby without losing progress (unlike MWZ and DMZ, which completely occupied the slot).



When reaching a new level, the player will be offered to choose one of two random skills from the corresponding branch at the bottom of the screen: Gunner, Surgeon, Daredevil, Tactician, Berserker, Bulldozer, as well as a basic upgrade every 5 levels (from 0 to 60).

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Surprisingly, it's simply by defeating enemies.

This works best in places where they appear frequently and in large numbers.

This works best with Fear - they only attack in close combat and you can run away from them if necessary - however, the most effective farming tactics require a fairly high CR level, since the best locations are in Zone 3.



You can also activate the DAWG Escort mission, but here you will have to fight against enemies who shoot back, and there will be quite a lot of them. Also, don't forget to pick up the Power that sometimes drops from them.

There is also no apparent correlation between your Combat Rating level and the number of points required to advance to the next level. Perhaps there is one, but the difference is not very significant, so you can do this even in the first zones with less risk.

All activities on the map are divided into two categories:

• Activities
  
• Assignments

The difference between them is as follows:

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All enemies in the game can be divided into the following archetypes:


Headshots always ignore armor (where present), but enemies don't have enough armor to affect the course of events anyway.

The only exceptions to this are:

• Guardian shield
  
• Rhino (HVT only)

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There are two ways to upgrade weapons:

• through rarity
  
• through Combat Rating

Using Jailbreak, you can upgrade weapons to higher levels, each of which will provide +25% base damage.

• Common = 125%
  
• Rare = 150%
  
• Epic = 175%
  
• Legendary = 200%

Please note that you do not have to go through each of these stages. If a legendary Jailbreak is available on the map, you can immediately upgrade your weapon to the maximum possible level.

Jailbreak is only available after completing the Command Center challenge and only for one weapon at a time. To upgrade your other weapons, use another available one (if there is a rotation on the map).

However, there are also Exotic weapons of golden rarity - they not only deal 250% of their base damage, but also have 2 additional random properties.



Please note that there is a limited pool of these Exotic weapons, meaning that there are only specific examples of weapons that are of this rarity.

You can also obtain random weapons with various attachments (the number corresponds to their rarity) by completing Activities or Quests that reward weapons.

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Also, as soon as you reach Combat Rating level 10, your character (and all your weapons) will receive a Damage 1 boost.

This effect is similar to Pack-a-Punch in Zombie mode - weapons deal more damage, have a larger magazine, and may reload faster.

Further achievements of Damage 2 and Damage 3 at levels 30 and 45, respectively, only increase the damage of the weapon without any additional properties.

There are currently 6 Skill Tracks (not counting basic upgrades), of which you can have no more than 3 at a time:

The best skills for it are:

• Tactician - Quick Rounds Back
  
• Bulldozer - Point Blank
  
• Bulldozer - Explosive Resistance

This allows you to significantly increase the already high damage at close range and completely negate the damage to yourself from explosives (although it was already quite low).

This weapon is sufficient against any light and heavy infantry (even HVT enemies in Zone 4), but this strategy is not effective enough to overcome particularly difficult enemies, such as Elite zombies and Dr. Falkner himself.

So against them, take the regular small arms that suit you best.

Additional gameplay elements you should know about.

• As in DMZ and MWZ, you can send a request to other players to join your squad, or vice versa — invite them to join yours.
  
  
• You can also leave a squad.
  
  
• The death system has been slightly changed here — if a player dies from a critical condition, after a certain amount of time, they will respawn above the nearest alive player from their squad.
  
  
• But if a player dies while solo, it is an irretrievable loss of all weapons and the character's Combat Rating.

Gideon Falkner is a boss located on a remote island in Zone 4. Accordingly, you should only approach him if you have a BR level of 45 or higher.

In order to activate the battle with him, you must find and destroy 100 toxic flowers on the island. Since this is an Activity, all interested players can join in.

After each flower is destroyed, reinforced Fears (even stronger than the usual ones in Zone 4) will begin to appear, as well as reinforced Special and Elite zombies (which cannot be killed permanently, but will be annoying).



All other Fears and zombies will not disappear, and the boss can summon new ones.

Therefore, the best strategy is to gather as many players as possible and focus all efforts on destroying him (as well as his minions with area damage so they don't get in the way).




Defeating the boss with any character other than the story characters from Zombie mode, as well as those available for pre-order, will unlock the “No Fear” skin for the operator you played with in that match.

This skin is available to unlock for all other characters, you just need to repeat the boss fight.