What to Spend Your Permanent Unlock Tokens on in Black Ops 7

Permanent Unlock Tokens in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 are one of the few progression decisions you cannot undo. Each Prestige level gives you a single token, and Vault Edition owners start with a bonus one on day one. Every time you spend one, a weapon, perk, wildcard, or streak becomes available on your account forever, even after you reset for a new Prestige.

That makes the obvious question: what is actually worth locking in?

How Permanent Unlock Tokens work in Black Ops 7

Black Ops 7 uses a traditional-style level ladder from 1 to 55. Hitting level 55 lets you enter Prestige, which:

• Resets your level and normal unlocks back to the start of the ladder.
• Keeps your weapon progression and Operators.
• Awards one Permanent Unlock Token.

That token can be spent on almost anything in the progression tree: a gun, perk, wildcard, field upgrade, or scorestreak. Once you unlock an item with a token, it never locks again. You can do this up to ten times before Prestige Master unlocks everything by default.

Levels are not linear in terms of XP cost. The jump from level 1 to 10 is far faster than from 45 to 55. Hitting level 20 or 25 happens quickly in every Prestige; grinding out the 40s and 50s is where the real time sits. Wasting a token on a level‑15 item gives very little real value.

There’s another wrinkle: weapon blueprints. Owning a blueprint for a specific gun permanently unlocks that weapon as well. Once seasonal content and the store are active, many weapons will end up effectively unlocked through blueprints alone. That pushes permanent tokens toward perks, wildcards, and streaks first, with weapons reserved for absolute favorites that sit at the very top of the ladder.

General priorities when picking permanent unlocks

A simple way to rank candidates is to look at three factors:

With that in mind, a sensible rule of thumb is:

• Avoid tokens on items that unlock before roughly level 30 unless they are absolutely core to how you play.
• Favor late perks, wildcards, and streaks that you’d like available in every single Prestige run.
• Spend tokens on weapons only if they’re top‑tier and unlock at level 50+ or are central to your personal playstyle.

Best multiplayer permanent unlocks

Multiplayer offers several late unlocks that change how your entire loadout functions. These tend to be the strongest candidates for early tokens.

When to spend on Specialist vs Perk Greed vs Gunfighter

Three wildcards come up repeatedly in discussions of the best permanent unlocks:

• Specialist (53) – replaces scorestreaks with extra perks unlocked as you gain score.
• Perk Greed (33) – adds a fourth perk slot while keeping scorestreaks.
• Gunfighter (29) – adds three extra attachment slots to your primary weapon.

Choosing between them comes down to your play pattern:

• Use a first token on Specialist if you love going on gun‑only streaks and value raw gunfighting power over streaks. It’s a late unlock and dramatically changes your survivability once active.
• Use an early token on Perk Greed if you prefer conventional streaks but still want a deep perk stack on most classes. Its level is mid‑tier, but because you’ll want it on a large share of your setups, having it unlocked from level 1 each Prestige is convenient.
• Use a token on Gunfighter if your favorite weapons feel incomplete with only five attachments. Snipers, high‑recoil rifles, or quirky builds benefit most. Its level is lower, so many players are comfortable delaying this unlock until a later Prestige.

In practice, a common multiplayer priority order looks like:

1. Specialist
2. Ninja (if you play a lot of SnD or care about footstep audio)
3. Perk Greed
4. HARP or your favorite high‑tier streak (such as VTOL Warship or Rhino if you’re heavily objective‑focused)
5. Gunfighter
6. Guardian or Lightweight depending on playstyle
7. A late‑unlock favorite weapon (often MPC-25)

Using a token on Ninja and other key perks

Footstep audio in Black Ops 7 can swing entire lobbies. When footstep volume is high, anyone not running a footstep‑dampening perk is at a clear disadvantage in one‑life modes and slower objective play.

Ninja sits at level 53. It quiets your own steps and helps you better separate enemy audio from your own movement. In respawn modes with constant chaos, Ninja is nice to have, but not mandatory. In Search and Destroy and other one‑life modes, it is close to a requirement.

If Search is your primary playlist, Ninja is a first‑token candidate. For everyone else, it’s a strong second or third choice after a wildcard.

Other interesting late perks include:

• Lightweight (45) – makes your movement more fluid on every class. Strong if you favor high‑tempo, rotation‑heavy objective play.
• Guardian (50) – part of the Strategist perk track and tailored to objective anchors and support players.
• Looper (54) – a niche late perk that merits a token only if you want more time to experiment with very specific builds that rely on it.

Because most early perks unlock relatively quickly each Prestige, tokens are best reserved for those in the high 40s and 50s that you expect to slot into many classes.

Scorestreaks and when they deserve a permanent unlock

Scorestreaks are less universal than perks, but a few stand out because they benefit every lobby without taking you out of the action.

• HARP (47) gives superior map information without disrupting your gunfights. It is more than a simple UAV, showing live enemy direction indicators on the mini‑map. If you chase high kill games, Nuke runs, or just like leading your team’s rotations, HARP is one of the best streaks to have unlocked from the start every season.
• Rhino, a remote juggernaut‑style suit at level 54, doubles as both a high‑impact streak and an objective tool that can capture points while you’re safely remote‑controlling it. Players who live in Domination and similar modes often earmark a token for Rhino specifically for that reason.
• VTOL Warship and similar top‑tier offensive streaks are tempting as late‑token picks once your core perks and wildcards are covered, particularly if you enjoyed them during the beta period.
• Interceptors become more valuable in persistent lobbies where streak spam is common; they are high on the list for players who like turning enemy air superiority into wasted score.

For most multiplayer‑only players, a solid streak‑related plan is:

• Unlock perks and wildcards first.
• Reserve one mid‑Prestige token for HARP once you know you want it in almost every lobby.
• Consider Rhino or your favorite high‑tier streak after core utility perks are permanently unlocked.

When a weapon is worth a permanent unlock

In a game where blueprints unlock guns permanently, it is risky to spend your earliest tokens on weapons. The exception is any weapon that:

• Unlocks in the final handful of levels (around 50–55).
• Fits your main playstyle perfectly.
• Is not covered by a blueprint you already own or plan to get.

The standout example is the MPC-25:

• It is the last unlock in the ladder at level 55.
• Functions as a spiritual successor to the MSMC: a full‑auto SMG with excellent handling and mobility, high damage, pronounced recoil, and limited range.
• Excels on smaller maps and aggressive flanks if you can manage its kick.

If you are an SMG main or plan to camo‑grind the MPC‑25 early, using a token on it makes sense. Otherwise, it is often better to wait until later Prestiges, once you know which guns feel irreplaceable to you and which ones you will unlock through blueprints anyway.

Best Zombies permanent unlocks

Zombies has its own progression track and its own late unlocks that can dramatically affect survival and high‑round play. Permanent tokens work the same way: you can grab late‑tier field upgrades, ammo mods, lethals, or scorestreaks and never wait for them again.

For Zombies‑first players, early tokens are commonly aimed at:

1. Aether Shroud – the most reliable “get out of jail” button. It keeps you alive through mistakes, tight Easter egg steps, and telegraphed boss attacks. While dedicated players can eventually unlock it through Augment Research, spinning a token on it lets you build loadouts around it from the start.
2. Napalm Burst – especially valuable if you grind high rounds on Ashes of the Damned or Farm Survival where Zursa bears spawn. Its fire damage and burn effect counter their high health pools.
3. Combat Axe – a lethal that scales well into late rounds and doesn’t vanish on use. Once you invest a token, you can equip it immediately and craft it freely at workbenches.
4. Disciple Injection – a panic button scorestreak that gives you a brief transformation into a Disciple. It is particularly attractive for solo players and squads pushing very late rounds.
5. Decoy – a late tactical that snaps aggro away from you or a teammate, essential for safe revives and some objective defense scenarios.

Many players who split time between modes choose to spend their Vault Edition token on a Zombies item (often Aether Shroud or Napalm Burst) and then reserve their first standard Prestige token for a multiplayer wildcard like Specialist.

Sample permanent unlock plans by playstyle

To make the decision less abstract, it helps to map a rough plan based on what you actually play.

These are starting points, not strict prescriptions. The key is to combine the unlock level with how often an item will affect your games. If something late‑tier sits in almost every one of your classes or Zombies loadouts, it deserves a token sooner rather than later.

Once you accept that most low‑ and mid‑level items will be in your hands quickly every Prestige, Permanent Unlock Tokens become easier to allocate. Think past the first few, fast levels of each reset and ask what you hate waiting for at the back end of the grind. If an item lives in that late‑game band, shapes your entire playstyle, and cannot be bypassed with a blueprint, it belongs near the top of your permanent unlock list.