Black Ops 7 Freerun Descent Event: How to Finish Fast and Climb the Leaderboard

The Freerun: Descent Challenge Event in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a leaderboard race, not a normal experience grind. Your finishing time on the Descent course decides your placement, and your placement decides which limited-time rewards you keep. Playing more matches by itself does nothing. A faster run is the only thing that moves you up.

Quick answer: Run Freerun: Descent, complete all seven zones to post a time, then repeat and beat that time. Reach the placement targets shown on the in-game event screen (Top 30, Top 15, Top 10, Top 5, and first) to unlock each reward before the event ends.

When the Freerun Descent Event ends

The event went live on September 3 at 10 AM PT and runs for seven days, closing on September 10 at 10 AM PT. Every reward tied to it is a cosmetic that stays exclusive to the event, so once the window shuts, they can no longer be earned. You have that one week to secure them.

Individual leaderboards each last three hours, and several run back-to-back until the event ends. Open the event page in game to see the start times for the active leaderboard and plan your runs around them.

How the leaderboard placement works

Descent is the second Freerun course in Black Ops 7, made up of seven timed zones with multiple checkpoints and up to 10 Operators racing at once. When you cross the finish, your time is recorded on the event leaderboard. Run it again and beat that time, and your position climbs.

Because rewards unlock by tier, you only need to reach the placement threshold attached to each one. Hitting Top 5, for example, awards everything at Top 5 and every tier below it. Your first completion is just a benchmark. The real goal is trimming seconds off later attempts until you clear the tier you want.

All Freerun Descent event rewards by placement

Placement	Rewards
1st	Sprint for the Finish (Animated Calling Card)
Top 5	Polaris (Weapon Camo), Count to Five (Calling Card)
Top 10	Obelisk (Weapon Charm), Take Ten (Calling Card)
Top 15	Bullseye (Weapon Camo), No Tripping (Loading Screen)
Top 30	Free Run For All (Calling Card), Vibrant Aurora (Peacekeeper MK1 Blueprint)

The Vibrant Aurora Peacekeeper MK1 Blueprint sits at the Top 30 tier, so it is the most accessible headline prize. Reaching first place is the only way to earn the animated Sprint for the Finish calling card.

Cut your Descent time and place higher

Complete one full run cleanly to set a baseline. Learn the layout of all seven zones first so you know which sections cost you the most time before you start pushing for speed.

Cut faults before you chase shortcuts. Falling off the course sends you back to your latest checkpoint, so every fault wipes out the time you spent on that obstacle and adds a respawn on top. A steady run almost always beats a rushed one full of resets.

Use the grapple zones to skip segments. You can swing off portions the course does not point you toward, chaining grapples and using them on launch pads to clear large gaps in a couple of pulls. Slow down, position yourself, and treat the grapple like a catapult rather than spamming it.

Look for jumps you can skip entirely. Wall jumping across to opposite lanes and using off-path parts of the map lets you bypass whole checkpoints. These openings are easier to spot when you move at a controlled pace.

Only keep a risky shortcut if it saves more time on average than you lose from failed attempts. If a skip keeps costing you faults, drop it and run the reliable route instead.

Tip: The later zones tighten up on timing. Lean fully into launch pads and bounce right as you hit the center, aiming in the exact direction of the arrow. On the skinny walls, time each jump just past the halfway point of the wall for maximum momentum, and add slight angled input on the tightest gaps.

Confirm your placement and rewards

Open Events and then the Freerun: Descent Challenge screen to see your current leaderboard position and the placement target attached to each reward. If you sit below a threshold, run Descent again and improve your fastest time. Shaving even a few seconds from several zones adds up across a full seven-zone run.

A reward unlocks the moment your best time reaches its placement tier, and the event menu updates to reflect it. Prioritize these leaderboard rewards while the event is live, since they disappear on September 10. The permanent Descent objectives, like the Gridlock camo and the Cipher charm, are separate systems that stay available afterward and do not depend on your leaderboard position.