Cursed Mode in Black Ops 7 is where you learn fast whether your route is real or just vibes, and if you're the kind of player chasing every hidden Relic, you'll probably end up looking for shortcuts like CoD BO7 Boosting while you're still stubbornly trying to do it the hard way. You spawn with a sidearm, no minimap, and that "I'll be fine" confidence lasts about one bad corner. The Relics are the real hook, though, because each one forces a very specific kind of clean play: timing, positioning, and not panicking when the game starts messing with the rules.

Ashes of the Damned: Getting Your First Set

Start with the Grim Relics and treat them like training wheels made of knives. For Dragon Wings, the headline is Round 20 plus Pack-A-Punch, but the make-or-break moment is the jump pad run between Vandorn Farm and Janus Towers. While you're airborne, you've got to snap to three purple orbs and shoot them before you land. Miss one and you'll feel it. If you do it right, the trial flips your instincts because power-ups hurt you instead of helping. Next up is Lawyer's Pen: light three red candles, one in the cabin by Blackwater Lake, one around Ashwood, and one inside the Vandorn farmhouse. A Molotov works, Napalm Burst works, but wandering in under-geared doesn't. The trial leans hard on Shock Mimics, and they don't let you breathe.

Ashes of the Damned: The "Annoying but Worth It" Steps

The Teddy Bear Grim Relic is less about aim and more about prep. Bring Aether Shroud and the Necrofluid Gauntlet, then pop Shroud to spot those hidden bears tucked into places like the Vandorn Farm silo or the Ashwood church wall. The following trial is cruel in a quiet way: every shot drains Essence, so you stop spraying and start counting. After you've got all Grim Relics on, the Sinister chase opens up. The VRIL Sphere wants you at Level 40, then asks for a jump-pad kill on a Doppelghast—bait it onto the pad, and let the pad do the final damage. The trial locks out buying, so people usually stack Gobblegums and build a loadout first.

Long Hauls and Wicked Relics

If you're going further, expect marathon rules. Focusing Stone begins with a melee kill on a Zursa—soften it up, then commit—then you're solving a wine bottle puzzle in the Blackwater Lake cabin while everything wants to interrupt you. Wicked Relics are where your patience gets tested: the Bus asks for Round 60 and a full flawless round, so most players cling to safe loops and use Ol' Tessie like it's a lifeline. Blood Vials is pure attention span: a ringing phone pops every 10 rounds from Round 20 onward, and you need to answer it five times without slipping into autopilot. Then the Dragon ties to beating the main quest boss after Round 60, with a trial that forces explosive-only damage, which changes your whole upgrade plan.

Astra Malorum: Precision Over Brute Force

Over on Astra Malorum, the Relics feel more like weird dares. The Seed Grim Relic is a math check disguised as luck: after Round 20 you hunt an uncommon gun, and the kill count has to match the round you picked it up on—grab it on Round 22, get exactly 22 kills, then stop. People mess this up by "just one more" tapping a zombie. The Spider Fang Sinister Relic is even fussier: you need Wisp Tea and Aether Shroud, then melee kill OSCAR while a wisp is actively hitting him. Pulling that off clean can take longer than the trial, especially since perks get blocked. And yeah, the Gong and Samantha's Drawing are still the community's headache—if you're tired of waiting, you're not alone, which is why some folks decide to buy CoD BO7 Boosting and spend their time actually playing instead of re-running setup steps for hours.