Cursed Mode in Black Ops 7 isn't the kind of Zombies playlist you load up to chill. You drop in with a pistol, no minimap, no comfy little safety rails, and the whole thing only went live after a team cleared the Ashes of the Damned quest first. If you're trying to keep up with friends who've already mastered it (or you just don't have the spare hours), stuff like CoD BO7 Boosting gets mentioned a lot for a reason—it's a mode that punishes sloppy runs fast.
Relics Run the Show
The real grind is the Relics. There are nine total, split into Grim, Sinister, and Wicked. You can hunt them whenever, which is nice, but you can't equip any of them until you've beaten the main quest at least once. That's the weird little gate that catches people out. Still, you'll want to learn the routes and start collecting early, because Relics are basically your ticket to the ridiculous stuff later on—Golden Armor, higher-tier Pack-A-Punch, and that "okay, now I can breathe" power curve you're chasing.
Grim Relics: The First Wall
Most players slam into the Grim set first, and yeah, it feels like the game's testing whether you're serious. Dragon Wings is the classic: you've got to reach Round 20, Pack-A-Punch something you trust, then hit the Jump Pad between Vandorn Farm and Janus Towers. While you're airborne, you need to shoot three purple glowing orbs before you touch down. Nail it, and a portal shows up at the barn. The trial's nasty because power-ups flip on you—grab a Nuke out of habit and you'll regret it. That's the point: you're meant to unlearn the "free help" mindset.
Lawyer's Pen and Other Painful Habits
Lawyer's Pen is also locked behind Round 20, but it's more about setup than aim. You have to light three red candles using Molotovs or the Napalm Burst ammo mod. One's in the roadside cabin, one's on a shelf near Jugger-Nog in Ashwood, and the last is inside the Vandorn bedroom. People mess this up by rushing and running out of fire, so don't. The trial is a wave of Shock Mimics, which sounds manageable until you're boxed in and your screen's going wild. Keep moving, keep your reloads clean, and don't try to be a hero for a single drop.
Sinister Relics: Round 40 Reality Check
Once you've got the Grim set equipped, Sinister Relics ask for a deeper run—Round 40, no shortcuts. The VRIL Sphere is pure annoyance: lure a Doppelghast onto a Jump Pad and kill it mid-launch. Then the trial turns the screws by disabling purchases, so if you didn't prep ammo and perks, you're basically gambling. Focusing Stone is more "do your chores": melee a Zursa, then finish a Legendary T.E.D.D. job collecting wine bottles for the Blackwater Lake bar. It's a lot, but the rewards are the kind that actually change runs, and if you're trying to keep pace without burning out, some players just decide to buy CoD BO7 Boosting and save their sanity mid-season.
