Grinding point blank kills in Black Ops 7 sounds simple on paper, but once you get into real matches you quickly realise it is a different story, even if you have messed around in a CoD BO7 Bot Lobby first to warm up. The game wants you uncomfortably close, almost face to face, or the kill just does not register as point blank. You push in, risk your life, get the kill, then see no progress on the camo bar and it feels like a waste. After a few matches of that you start playing angry, taking bad fights, and your K/D tanks fast.

Building A Shotgun That Actually Works

The first thing that usually goes wrong is the gun build. A lot of players throw on range attachments, tighter spread, extra damage, all that stuff that is great for normal lobbies but does not really help when you are supposed to be right in somebody's face. For point blanks you want a fast firing shotgun, something semi auto or a pump that cycles quickly so a missed shot does not instantly send you to the respawn screen. In the Gunsmith, stack sprint to fire, aim walking speed, hip fire accuracy, anything that lets you shoot straight from a sprint without that awkward delay. If the gun feels slow when you come out of a slide or a sprint, scrap the build and tweak it again.

Perks, Equipment And Staying Alive Long Enough

Your perks and gear matter just as much as the shotgun. You need help closing space without getting fried by players holding long angles. Movement perks that boost tac sprint time, slide speed, or let you hop over cover faster are almost mandatory. On top of that, you do not want to show up on every UAV, so grab whatever stealth perks keep you off the radar while you are wrapping around the map. For equipment, stuns are the star of the show. You hit someone with a stun, and they are basically stuck while you sprint straight into their face for a clean point blank. Smokes can help you cross those horrible open lanes, but most of the time a well placed stun near doors or choke points gets you more value.

Map Choices And Where You Should Actually Fight

Trying to farm point blanks on big, open maps is just pain. You are better off queueing into smaller maps or focusing on the tight parts of larger ones: staircases, kitchens, back offices, side halls. Objective modes like Hardpoint, Domination, or anything with fixed hills are great because you know where players have to go. Set up just off the objective, not directly on it, and let enemies run past you, then slide out and hip fire from almost touching distance. It feels a bit ratty, sure, but this is a challenge grind, not a montage. Do not bother chasing someone who is already sprinting away down a long lane; if they are out of that "breathing down their neck" range, just let them go and wait for the next chance.

Keeping Your Sanity While You Grind

The hardest part is not the mechanics, it is staying patient when the tracker keeps ignoring kills you thought were close enough, so give yourself a bit of a mental plan and stick to it instead of running around aimlessly. Play two or three matches focused only on point blanks, then switch to a different class to cool off. Lean on habits that make life easier: pre aim corners with hip fire, slide or jump into fights so their crosshair is off your chest, and learn which doorways consistently funnel players right into your lap. Once you get a feel for the distance the game actually counts, you start lining up those perfect pushes without overthinking it, and the challenge stops feeling impossible, especially if you have tested routes and builds in private matches or BO7 Bot Lobbies in U4gm before jumping back into sweaty public games.