Grinding point‑blank kills in Black Ops 7 can drive you up the wall, and if you are trying to rush them in regular matches instead of using something like a CoD BO7 Bot Lobby, you have to accept that your whole setup needs to change. You are not playing for K/D here, you are playing for those tiny medals that only pop when you are practically breathing down someone's neck. The sooner you stop treating your shotgun like a normal gun and start treating it like a melee weapon with pellets, the less painful this grind feels.

Building Your Shotgun For Touching Distance

Most people throw range attachments on their shotguns out of habit, then wonder why their "close" kills are not counting. For this challenge, range is almost useless. You want sprint‑to‑fire speed, hip‑fire spread and maybe a bit of recoil control if the gun kicks hard. Semi‑autos and quick pump‑actions tend to work best because if you whiff that first shot with a slow hammer of a shotgun, you are already on the respawn screen. Aim to build something that you can fire the moment you come out of a sprint. If you are scoping in, you are late. Trust the hip‑fire at two or three metres. It looks sketchy when you first try it, but you will quickly see how often that loose spread still deletes people at point‑blank.

Perks, Gear And The "Rat" Mindset

Your perks and equipment matter just as much as your gun. Anything that keeps you off the radar, hides your footsteps or speeds you up is worth a slot. If the enemy hears you sprinting or sees you ping on the minimap, they just sit and pre‑aim the doorway and that is your push dead on arrival. Run ninja or ghost‑style perks so you can slip around the edges of the map. On the tactical side, stuns and flashes are huge. Hit someone with a stun, and they can not backpedal fast enough to escape your shotgun. It feels scummy at first, especially when you chain a few of these in one life, but when the game wants you within hugging distance, you use what works.

Smart Routes And Objective Pressure

A big mistake players make is sprinting straight down mid like it is a TDM warm‑up. For point‑blank kills, the middle of the map is a death trap. You want tight angles: staircases, cramped hallways, little side rooms that people forget about until an objective lights up there. Modes like Hardpoint and Domination are perfect because you always know where bodies are going to funnel in. Instead of chasing red dots, park yourself just inside a doorway or round a corner where enemies have to push. The tough part is discipline. You will see someone a few metres out and feel the urge to pull the trigger, but if you shoot too early, it will not count. Let them walk into your barrel, then fire.

Movement Tricks And Managing The Pain

Movement is the secret sauce that stops this grind feeling totally miserable, and this is where sliding really shines. If you catch someone looking the wrong way, slide straight at them so you end up almost on their toes. It throws off their aim assist, makes you harder to track and instantly gives you the distance you need. Do not take wide open fights, do not ego‑peek long lanes and do not worry when your stats look awful for a few games. You are playing a different mini‑game here. Once you lean into that sneaky, close‑quarters playstyle and get comfortable dying a lot for one good push, you will see those point‑blank medals stack up surprisingly fast, especially if you ever mix in a session or two in a BO7 Bot Lobby.