How to Unlock the Mace Melee Weapon in Black Ops 7 Season 5 Reloaded (All Camos & Fast Level Guide)

The Mace is a new two-handed melee weapon in Black Ops 7 Season 5 Reloaded, and it unlocks as a Weekly Challenge reward when the mid-season update goes live on August 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM PT. Once you've unlocked it, the Mace has 30 weapon levels to grind and three Universal Weapon Prestige Camos to earn at Prestige 1, Prestige 2, and Prestige Max. This guide covers exactly how to unlock it, the fastest way to level it, and how to clear every Mace camo — plus what the weapon actually does in a match.

Quick answer: how to unlock the Mace in BO7

• What it is: the Mace — a new Melee weapon (30 levels, no attachments, blueprint-customizable), added in Black Ops 7 Season 5 Reloaded.
• How to unlock: it's a Weekly Challenge reward, not a battle-pass or store item. Complete the relevant Weekly Challenges after the update drops to add it to your armory. Activision confirmed the unlock method; the exact challenge list goes live with the update.
• When: Season 5 Reloaded — and the Mace with it — launches August 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM PT across all platforms.
• Camos: three Universal Weapon Prestige Camos unlock at Prestige 1, Prestige 2, and Prestige Max on the weapon.
• Playstyle: long lunge range, high damage, slow swing speed. Built to break the enemy line, not to duel at range.

Two other Weekly Challenge rewards land in the same update: the RK-9 Calibrated Strike System and the Peacekeeper MK1 Gauss Accelerator attachments. The Mace is the headline reward of the three.

What is the Mace melee weapon?

Per the official Call of Duty Blog, "Get medieval and rush enemies with the new Mace Melee Weapon, combining long reach with high damage attacks to help break the enemy line." It's a massive two-handed bludgeon with a longer lunge distance than a standard knife, traded off against a slower recovery between swings.

Here's the confirmed weapon profile:

Spec	Detail
Class	Melee
Weapon levels	30
Attachments	None
Customization	Blueprints
Damage	High
Range	Long (extended lunge)
Attack speed	Slow (longer downtime between swings)
Unlock	Weekly Challenge reward
Camos	Universal Weapon Prestige Camos (Prestige 1, 2, Max)

Because it has no attachments, there's no build to theorycraft — the Mace is a pure "pick it up and swing" weapon. That long lunge is the whole point: you close the gap and one-hit whoever's on the other end. The slow reset is the catch, so whiffing a swing in a crowded lobby will get you punished. It plays like the aggressive, movement-heavy melee option, and it slots naturally into the Nuketown-inspired Turbo Tilt map and the tight lanes of Cranked Moshpit arriving in the same update.

How do you unlock the Mace in Season 5 Reloaded?

The Mace is earned through Weekly Challenges, the rotating challenge tracks that refresh each week of the season. Activision's announcement is explicit that you "unlock new Attachments and the Mace Melee Weapon through additional Weekly Challenges" — so this is a play-to-earn unlock, not something you buy in the store.

Here's how Weekly Challenges work in Black Ops 7, and how to line yourself up for the unlock:

• Wait for the update. Nothing is unlockable before August 20 at 9:00 AM PT. The challenge set that grants the Mace appears with the mid-season patch.
• Open the Challenges menu in Multiplayer or the main menu and find the current week's track. Weekly Challenges are completed by hitting specific in-match objectives (kills with a weapon class, operator actions, mode-specific tasks, and so on).
• Complete the required challenges in that week's set. Weekly Challenge weapon unlocks in this era of Call of Duty typically ask you to finish a run of that week's challenges — the reward pops the moment you meet the requirement.
• Claim and equip. Once unlocked, the Mace is permanent and shows up in your melee slot to level and customize.

Weekly Challenges reset every week, so if you're time-limited, do the Mace-related challenges as early in the week as possible — you don't want a server issue or a busy weekend to cost you the reward window. Challenges also progress across Multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone in most cases, so play whatever mode you're best at to knock them out fast.

Heads up on a common mix-up: the Mace is a Weekly Challenge reward, not a reward from the Zombies-themed Last Call Event that launches alongside it. The Last Call Event hands out Operator Skins and other cosmetics; the Mace comes from the challenge track. Chase the right objective and you won't waste a session grinding the wrong event.

How to level the Mace to 30 fast

Unlocking the Mace is step one. It ships at level 1 with 30 levels to climb, and you'll want it maxed to start the Prestige grind for its camos. Weapon XP on a melee weapon comes from kills and objective play, so the fastest paths are the same high-kill, high-XP loops that work for any gun:

• Play objective modes. Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, and Demolition feed constant close-range fights — exactly where a melee weapon thrives. More engagements per minute means more weapon XP per match.
• Ride Double Weapon XP windows. Activision runs Double XP and Double Weapon XP events regularly through a season, and mid-season is prime time for them. Bank your Mace grind for those windows to roughly halve the time.
• Use a Weapon XP Token. Stack a token on top of a Double Weapon XP event for the biggest multiplier.
• Farm in low-pressure lobbies. A melee-only weapon is far easier to level when you're not getting beamed across the map. Softer lobbies let you actually connect swings and rack up kills — which is why plenty of players run bot lobbies to level fast for exactly this kind of weapon-XP grind.

If you want the full breakdown of the fastest XP routes in the current season, our fastest weapon XP and max prestige guide covers the optimal modes, maps, and token stacking in detail.

How do you unlock every Mace camo?

The Mace doesn't use the standard base/Mastery challenge tree — its camos are Universal Weapon Prestige Camos, tied to prestiging the weapon after you hit level 30. There are three to earn:

Camo	Requirement
Prestige 1 Camo	Reach Weapon Prestige 1 on the Mace
Prestige 2 Camo	Reach Weapon Prestige 2 on the Mace
Prestige Max Camo	Reach the maximum Weapon Prestige on the Mace

Weapon Prestige means taking the Mace to level 30, prestiging it, and re-leveling — each prestige tier unlocks the next Universal camo. It's a pure time-and-XP grind rather than a checklist of trick-shot challenges, so the same Double Weapon XP + objective-mode approach above is what gets you to Prestige Max fastest.

If your goal is a fully decked-out weapon across the whole armory — not just the Mace — the mastery camo unlock service clears the grind for you, and the broader unlock-all weapons, camos and operators guide maps out the full Season 5 progression if you're chasing everything at once.

Is the Mace worth using?

For a free Weekly Challenge weapon, the Mace is a genuinely fun pickup rather than a throwaway cosmetic. Its long lunge makes it one of the more forgiving melee options for aggressive, rushing playstyles, and it's a strong fit for the small, chaotic maps in this update. It won't replace a meta primary for ranked or long-range fights — that's not what a melee weapon is for — but for movement players, challenge grinders, and anyone who wants a stylish melee finisher, it's well worth unlocking. And since the camos are Prestige-based, leveling it doubles as camo progress, so no swing is wasted.

Skip the grind on launch day

Season 5 Reloaded stacks a lot into one window — a new weapon to unlock and prestige, a finale Zombies easter egg, event camos, and two ranked events. If you'd rather spend August 20 playing the finale than farming challenge tracks, timesaver.gg can fast-track the grind:

Get Mace-ready and camo-stacked fast:

- CoD Camo Unlocks (BO7) — mastery camos, fast and secure

- CoD Account & Weapon Leveling — skip the grind, pro players

- CoD Bot Lobbies — easy lobbies, level fast

- All Call of Duty services

For everything else dropping the same day, see our Season 5 Reloaded full breakdown.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you unlock the Mace in Black Ops 7? The Mace is a Weekly Challenge reward in Season 5 Reloaded. Once the update goes live on August 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM PT, complete the relevant Weekly Challenges in that week's track to unlock it — it's earned in-game, not bought from the store. Activision confirmed the unlock method in the official Season 5 Reloaded blog; the exact challenge requirements publish with the update.

When does the Mace come out? The Mace releases with Black Ops 7 and Warzone Season 5 Reloaded on August 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM PT across all platforms. Nothing tied to it is unlockable before that time.

How many levels does the Mace have? The Mace has 30 weapon levels. It has no attachments, so leveling it only unlocks Blueprints and progresses you toward its Prestige camos rather than a build tree.

What camos can you get for the Mace? Three Universal Weapon Prestige Camos, earned by prestiging the weapon: one at Prestige 1, one at Prestige 2, and one at Prestige Max. There is no separate Mastery challenge tree — it's a Weapon Prestige (XP) grind.

Is the Mace better than the knife in Black Ops 7? The Mace trades attack speed for reach and damage — it has a longer lunge and hits harder, but resets slower between swings. That makes it stronger for rushing and breaking enemy lines, while the knife stays faster for quick back-to-back melee kills. For aggressive movement play on small maps, most players will prefer the Mace.

Is the Mace free? Yes. The Mace is a free Weekly Challenge reward — you don't need to buy a bundle or battle pass to get it, just complete the in-game challenges after the update drops.