After running the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign three full times (one blind, one Regular cleanup, one Veteran co-op), I finally put together a route that clears all 11 missions, grabs every intel, and unlocks Endgame on Avalon without a ton of backtracking. I made pretty much every mistake possible on my first run – sprinting past intel, underestimating hallucination segments, and playing Veteran like it was Regular – so this guide is exactly what I wish I’d had from the start.
The campaign is short on paper (around 5-6 hours), but if you’re going for Loremaster (all 11 intel pieces) and a Veteran clear, you can easily double that with replays and wipes. The good news is: once you understand how each mission is structured and where the intel sits, you can clean everything up in one focused run.
This walkthrough covers:
If this is your first time through, I recommend a full campaign clear on Regular while grabbing as much intel as you naturally find. Then do a second run on Hardened or Veteran specifically focused on intel mop-up and tightening your tactics. Jumping straight into Veteran is doable, but I burned a couple of hours learning enemy spawns and hallucination tricks the hard way.
Subtitles → All and boost effects volume in Options → Audio. Many hallucination cues and intel callouts are audio-based.Pause → Settings → Gameplay → Difficulty for that mission, then bump it back later. Veteran Containment is a wall for most players.Estimated time: 20–30 minutes
This intro mission teaches you Black Ops 7’s movement and shooting basics while throwing more enemies at you than most intros. The mistake I made at first was treating it like a shooting gallery instead of learning the pacing and cover system.
Intel location: After the first big street firefight, you move into a building with a staircase that spirals up to a rooftop. Before you go up, take the right-hand door at the base of the stairs into a side office with broken windows. The intel folder is on a desk facing the street. Don’t make my mistake of sprinting straight up to the roof and triggering the next wave before checking rooms.
Veteran tip: Hug cover and pre-aim every doorway. Enemies love to flank through side alleys; in co-op, park one player with an LMG watching your back while the rest clear forward.
Estimated time: 20–30 minutes
This is the first real stealth test. I failed this mission repeatedly early on because I tried to “stealth” with sprinting and half-aimed shots. Treat it like a proper infiltration: slow, methodical, and patient.
Intel location: In the mid-mission control room section, you enter a large chamber with multiple glass-walled offices above the main floor. Before hacking the main console, head to the far left office on the upper catwalk (it’s dark, with flickering lights). The intel laptop is on a side table next to a whiteboard. If you start the main hack first, extra guards spawn and patrol these catwalks, making it much harder to search.
Co-op trick: Have one player designated as “ghost” with max stealth tools (smokes, stuns, suppressed AR) doing most of the takedowns while others hang back and spot targets with optics.
Estimated time: ~30 minutes
This is the first hallucination-heavy mission, and it’s where I nearly shelved the campaign. Visual warping, looping paths, and enemies that appear where you just cleared all combine to mess with you. What finally worked was focusing on landmarks, not enemies.
Intel location: After passing a downed helicopter in a clearing, you follow a narrow path that “loops” you back to the same area. On the second pass, look to the right of the helicopter: there’s a newly opened path into a cave with purple-tinged lighting. Inside, the intel is on a crate near a flickering lantern. If you just keep following the main white-objective markers, you’ll walk past this every time.
Veteran tip: Hallucinations make it harder to see recoil, so favor low-recoil rifles and burst fire. In co-op, stay within visual distance — separating is how squads get wiped here.
Estimated time: ~20 minutes
This mission turns Avalon into a vertical playground. The first time through, I stayed on street level and got shredded. The breakthrough came when I started playing rooftops and windows, treating the city like a maze of angles.
Intel location: During the big rooftop defense near the end (where Karma is on the terminal), check the adjacent maintenance shack on the same roof. It has a locked door you can open once the first wave ends. Inside, the intel chip sits on a toolbox under a wall of server racks. I missed this twice by immediately jumping off to chase enemies instead of sweeping the roof.
Co-op setup: One sniper/DMR on the highest point, one LMG anchoring the stairwell, two floaters clearing whichever side gets overrun.
Estimated time: 25–35 minutes
Tokyo Bay mixes tight industrial interiors with open docks. My early runs were chaotic because I treated every space the same. The trick is swapping mindset — and sometimes weapons — between clear sections.
Intel location: When you reach the large cargo crane overlooking stacked red and blue containers, you’ll be told to move toward a marked ship. Before you do, climb the crane ladder all the way to the operator cabin. The intel folder is on the dashboard next to a coffee cup. It’s easy to miss because you’re usually under fire and focused on ground-level threats.
Veteran tip: Pre-smoke long sightlines before crossing open docks. One player should carry smokes specifically for these transitions; it saves a ton of random deaths.
Estimated time: 25–30 minutes
Here Avalon starts falling apart — literally. Destructible cover and collapsing buildings can work for or against you. The first time through, I clung to “safe” positions that later got blown up underneath me.
Intel location: Mid-mission, you cross a street where a building façade collapses and opens a new path through the rubble. Instead of following the objective marker immediately, climb up the fallen concrete slab into the half-destroyed second floor. The intel is on a coffee table in a ruined living room facing the street. If you push too far forward, a cutscene can trigger and lock you out until replay.
Co-op note: Assign one player to constantly call out shifting cover and new openings. It sounds minor, but on Veteran it keeps everyone from hunkering down where the game wants to punish you.
Estimated time: ~30 minutes
Fracture brings the hallucinations to a familiar city, which makes them feel even weirder. Streets bend, landmarks repeat, and the damaged Guild drone keeps pulling you into bad positions.
Intel location: When you reach the blocked-off overpass with abandoned cars, look for a smashed souvenir shop on the right side of the street (neon sign flickering). Go inside, head to the back storage room, and you’ll find the intel on a metal shelf between stacked boxes of merch. Because the drone is dragging your attention forward, it’s very easy to run past this building entirely.
Veteran tip: Use audio heavily. Hallucinatory whispers usually precede spawn waves; if you hear them, reload and reposition before enemies appear.
Estimated time: ~15 minutes
This is a short, story-heavy mission and a breather if you’ve just muscled through Fracture. I used this one specifically as an intel “gimme” and a chance to relax my aim.
Intel location: In the main lab complex, you’ll walk through a large central lab with glass tanks and blue overhead lighting. Before following Karma into the next hallway, check the side office with blinds half-closed on the left. The intel tablet is on a rolling chair at a workstation. I almost missed it because the story chatter pulls you toward the objective.
Co-op tip: Split into pairs: one pair checks every side room explicitly looking for intel while the other secures the main path.
Estimated time: ~30 minutes
Vorkuta is where the campaign leans into psychological horror. On my first run, I burned a ton of time shooting at shadows in the Sanctum. Treat this mission like a puzzle with guns, not just a firefight.
Intel location: After riding the freight elevator down into the Sanctum’s lower level, you enter a circular hub with three branching corridors. Take the corridor with the red emergency lights (left side). In the second lab on that path, the intel file is pinned to a corkboard next to a map of the facility. If you follow the objective marker immediately, it sends you down a different corridor and you’ll miss this wing entirely.
Veteran tip: Equip a thermal or high-contrast optic if available. It helps you quickly distinguish real enemies from visual noise against the cold industrial backdrop.
Estimated time: ~20 minutes
Breakpoint is all about pressure and timers. My squad wiped here the most because we got greedy fighting every last wave instead of prioritizing objectives and shipments.
Intel location: In the large freight yard where you sabotage multiple trucks, find the small logistics office overlooking the central lane (big windows facing the yard). Go inside before planting the final charge; the intel is on a clipboard on the main desk. Once you finish the last truck, the game pushes you into a hectic escape, and coming back is a pain.
Co-op setup: One “objective runner” with lots of stuns/smokes focuses purely on planting charges while the other players run interference and hold chokepoints.
Estimated time: 30–40 minutes
This is the big finale and, on Veteran, one of the toughest campaign endings in recent Call of Duty history. My first Veteran clear took three full attempts and a lot of trial and error with positioning.
Intel location: In the final facility, just before the last multi-phase fight, you pass through a war room lined with holographic displays and a central table. Before stepping through the big blast doors into the last arena, circle the table: the intel drive is sitting near a stack of holoprojectors on the side closest to the entrance. If you trigger the final sequence, you’re locked in until the mission ends, so grab it before you commit.
Veteran & co-op tip: Bring at least one player with crowd-control tools (stuns, flashes, smokes) and another with a high-damage rifle for elites. Call out target priorities constantly: shield enemies, then heavies, then everyone else.
There are 11 intel pieces total in the Black Ops 7 campaign — exactly one per mission. Collecting them all unlocks the “Loremaster” achievement/trophy and fills in a surprising amount of backstory for the Guild, Cradle, and Avalon itself. More importantly, finishing all 11 missions unlocks the Endgame extraction mode on Avalon, where that story context actually makes the map and factions feel meaningful instead of random.
Campaign → Mission Select to jump straight to the mission, grab the intel, and exit after the next checkpoint.If you stick to this route, you’ll walk away with all intel, Loremaster unlocked, and a much smoother transition into Endgame on Avalon. The campaign is designed for short sessions, but mastering it — especially on Veteran — is surprisingly satisfying. If I could drag a half-coordinated squad through Containment on Veteran and clean up every collectible along the way, you absolutely can too.
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