Season 5 Reloaded drops into Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone on August 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM PT, and it brings a fresh batch of free weapon camos spread across Multiplayer, Warzone, and one you can claim without firing a shot. Some are easy freebies, one is a genuine skill gate, and two only appear when a rare drone shows up in a Battle Royale match. This guide breaks down every new camo in the mid-season update, the exact unlock requirement for each (straight from Activision's patch blog), and the fastest, lowest-effort path to add them all to your armory.
Quick answer: Season 5 Reloaded adds these new camos on August 20, 2026: Veiled Aurora (verify your Call of Duty account email — free, no gameplay, and it also hands you fifteen 2XP tokens); Gridlock (finish the new Freerun: Descent course in under 12 minutes with fewer than 10 faults); Bullseye and Magnesis (from the Freerun: Descent Challenge Event); Warzone Heavy Metal Heroes (shoot down a Special Delivery Drone in Verdansk/Avalon Battle Royale and survive); War Machine (down a Special Delivery Drone in Resurgence and survive); plus new Mace Prestige camos and camo rewards in the Warzone Ranked Series event. The easiest wins are Veiled Aurora and the drone camos; the hardest is Gridlock. If you'd rather skip the grind entirely, a BO7 camo unlock service or easy bot lobbies do the heavy lifting.
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What new camos are in Black Ops 7 Season 5 Reloaded?
Here's the full list at a glance, with where each one comes from and roughly how much effort it takes. Every requirement below is pulled directly from the official Season 05 Reloaded blog (callofduty.com, August 13, 2026).
| Camo | Where | How to unlock | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veiled Aurora (Universal) | Account | Verify your Call of Duty account email on Aug 20 | ⭐ Trivial |
| Heavy Metal | Warzone BR | Down a Special Delivery Drone in Verdansk/Avalon (BR + BR Casual) and survive | ⭐⭐ Easy |
| War Machine | Warzone Resurgence | Down a Special Delivery Drone in Resurgence (+ Casual) and survive | ⭐⭐ Easy |
| Bullseye | Multiplayer | Freerun: Descent Challenge Event reward | ⭐⭐⭐ Medium |
| Magnesis | Multiplayer | Freerun: Descent Challenge Event reward | ⭐⭐⭐ Medium |
| Gridlock (Universal) | Multiplayer | Finish Freerun: Descent in under 12 min with fewer than 10 faults | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hard |
| Mace Prestige camos (Universal) | All modes | Reach Prestige 1, Prestige 2 and Prestige Max on the Mace melee | ⭐⭐⭐ Medium |
| Warzone Ranked Series camo | Warzone Ranked | Top-placement finishes in the Ranked Series event | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hard |
Two of these — Veiled Aurora and Gridlock — are Universal Weapon Camos, meaning once unlocked they can be equipped on any weapon in your arsenal, not just the gun you earned them on. Those are the ones worth prioritizing.
How do you unlock Veiled Aurora (the free camo)?
Veiled Aurora is the easiest camo you'll ever add to Black Ops 7 — you don't even need to play a match. All you have to do is verify the email address on your Call of Duty (Activision) account. Activision is running email verification as a security push, and they're bundling in a genuinely generous reward stack for anyone who completes it.
Per the official blog, verifying your email adds the following to your account:
- "Veiled Aurora" Universal Weapon Camo
- 1-Hour 2XP Level Tokens (x5)
- 1-Hour 2XP Weapon Tokens (x5)
- 1-Hour 2XP Battle Pass Tokens (x5)
That's fifteen 2XP tokens on top of a free universal camo — five hours of doubled account XP, five of weapon XP, and five of Battle Pass XP. If you're chasing prestige or maxing weapons, that token stack alone is worth doing this on day one.
How to do it: On or after August 20, head to callofduty.com/verify-email, sign in with the Activision account you play on, and confirm your email. If you've never verified before, you'll get a confirmation link in your inbox. Activision's full walkthrough lives in their Account Email Verification FAQ on support.activision.com. The rewards land on the account you verify, so make sure you're logged into the right one.
Pro tip: activate those 2XP tokens strategically — stack a Weapon 2XP token during a camo grind session so you're leveling guns and ticking off camo challenges at the same time. If you're going for max prestige, our fastest weapon XP guide shows exactly where to burn them.
How do you get the Gridlock camo in Freerun: Descent?
Gridlock is the marquee new Universal Weapon Camo of the mid-season, and it's the only one on this list that's a real skill check. It comes from Freerun: Descent, the brand-new obstacle course The Guild introduces in Season 5 Reloaded — a timed run across seven zones packed with Wall Jumps, slides, Wingsuit sections, Grappling Gun segments, and target training.
The unlock requirement is strict. Straight from the patch blog:
"Finish the Freerun: Descent course in under 12 minutes with fewer than 10 faults to earn the 'Gridlock' Universal Weapon Camo and 5,000 XP." — Call of Duty Season 05 Reloaded blog, August 13, 2026
A fault happens whenever you fall off the course; you respawn at your last checkpoint but the fault counts against you. So Gridlock is a two-part test: speed (under 12 minutes) and precision (fewer than 10 falls). The blog spells out the balancing act plainly: "Balance speed with precision to keep your total number of faults low, especially when going for the 'Gridlock' Universal Weapon Camo."
The full Freerun: Descent course reward track is worth clearing while you're there:
- Complete the course 3 times → "Eyes on Screen" Emblem + 1,000 XP
- Collect all Ciphers in the course → "Catch Air" Weapon Charm + 2,500 XP
- Finish under 12 min / fewer than 10 faults → "Gridlock" Universal Weapon Camo + 5,000 XP
Fast-track tips: Learn the route first on casual runs before you go for time — memorizing where the boost pads, portals, and shortcuts are is what separates a 14-minute messy run from a clean sub-12. Faults, not the clock, are what wipe most players' attempts, so once you know the layout, prioritize not falling over raw speed; you'll usually clear 12 minutes comfortably as long as you're not respawning constantly.
What are Bullseye and Magnesis, and where do they come from?
Bullseye and Magnesis are two additional weapon camos tied to the Freerun: Descent Challenge Event — a separate, timed event layered on top of the base course. Where the base course rewards Gridlock, the Challenge Event rewards you for chasing fastest times and completing extra objectives during the event window.
Alongside the two camos, the Freerun: Descent Challenge Event reward list also includes:
- "Free Run For All" and "Take Ten" Calling Cards
- "Count to Five" and "Sprint for the Finish" Animated Calling Cards
- "Obelisk" Weapon Charm
- "No Tripping" Loading Screen
- "Vibrant Aurora" Peacekeeper MK1 Assault Rifle Blueprint
Because it's an event, this one is time-boxed — the camos are only earnable while the Freerun: Descent Challenge Event is live during Season 5 Reloaded. If you want both event camos, don't leave the parkour grind until the last weekend. For the full mid-season event and content rundown, see our Season 5 Reloaded everything-new guide.
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How do you unlock Heavy Metal and War Machine in Warzone?
These two are the fun ones. Season 5 Reloaded adds a new Warzone gameplay feature — the Special Delivery Drone, a rare drone that appears in matches. Shoot it down and survive to claim a free weapon camo. Which camo you get depends on the mode:
- Heavy Metal Weapon Camo — down a Special Delivery Drone in Battle Royale and Battle Royale Casual, available across Verdansk and Avalon.
- War Machine Weapon Camo — down a Special Delivery Drone in Resurgence and Resurgence Casual.
The key word in the blog is "survive" — grounding the drone starts the clock; you have to actually live through the rest of the engagement (and likely the match window) for the camo to register. Both camos are earnable in the Casual versions of each playlist, which is the single most important detail for a fast unlock.
Why Casual matters: Battle Royale Casual and Resurgence Casual are the lower-pressure, bot-heavy playlists — exactly where you want to be when your goal is completing an objective rather than winning a sweaty lobby. You can drop, hunt the sky for the drone, ground it, and survive with far less risk of getting third-partied by a full stack of sweats. This is the same logic camo grinders already use: the community's go-to move for the Absolute Zero / Apocalypse "top 10" grind this season was farming it in Rebirth Casual and Resurgence Casual because you drop with a loadout and stay in contention with minimal effort. If you want a breakdown of how those playlists differ, we covered it in Warzone casual vs normal explained.
Want the easiest possible lobbies to knock these out in? Warzone bot lobbies put you in low-skill matches so grounding a drone and surviving is trivial — grind Heavy Metal, War Machine and your camo challenges in the same session.
What about the Mace Prestige and Ranked camos?
Two more camo sources round out the mid-season:
Mace Universal Weapon Prestige Camos — the new Mace melee weapon (a free Last Call Event reward) has its own Prestige track. Reaching Prestige 1, Prestige 2, and Prestige Max on the Mace unlocks Universal Weapon Prestige Camos you can slap on any gun. The Mace maxes at Level 30 and supports Mastery Badges, so it's a self-contained grind. Full walkthrough in our dedicated Mace unlock and camo guide.
Warzone Ranked Series camo — the Season 5 Reloaded Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Series event runs 50-player leaderboards with Emblem and Weapon Camo rewards for top placements across all Ranks. Securing Ranked Play wins also earns a new Weapon Charm and Large Decal. This one is competitive — the camo goes to top finishers, so it's the hardest of the bunch to guarantee. If climbing Ranked is the wall between you and the reward, a Warzone ranked boost gets you the placements without the losing streaks.
What's the fastest way to unlock every new camo?
If you want all of them with the least effort, do them in this order:
- Veiled Aurora first (Day 1, 2 minutes). Verify your email at callofduty.com/verify-email. Free universal camo + 15 2XP tokens. No reason to wait.
- Activate a 2XP Weapon token, then hit Warzone Casual. Ground a Special Delivery Drone in BR Casual (Heavy Metal) and one in Resurgence Casual (War Machine) — two easy camos while your weapons level under 2XP.
- Run Freerun: Descent for Gridlock. Do casual practice laps to learn the route, then go for the sub-12-minute, under-10-faults clear. Sweep the Challenge Event for Bullseye and Magnesis while it's live.
- Grind the Mace to Prestige Max for its prestige camos, and chase Ranked placements last if you're a competitive player.
Camos are the ultimate flex in Call of Duty, but they're also a grind — and Season 5 Reloaded is a finale season, so time is short before Season 6 resets the meta. If you'd rather have every new camo done without the parkour attempts, drone RNG, or Ranked climb, Timesaver's BO7 camo unlock service and account & weapon leveling handle it fast, and our full unlock-everything guide maps the rest of the armory.
Get every Season 5 Reloaded camo the fast way:
- BO7 Mastery Camo Unlock — mastery camos done fast · secure
- Warzone Bot Lobbies — easy lobbies to grind drone camos & challenges
- Account & Weapon Leveling — skip the grind, level with pros
FAQ
When do the Season 5 Reloaded camos unlock? All of them go live with the Season 5 Reloaded mid-season update on August 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM PT across all platforms. Veiled Aurora and the drone camos are available immediately; the Freerun: Descent Challenge Event and Warzone Ranked Series camos are earnable during their event windows.
Is Veiled Aurora really free? Yes. You unlock the Veiled Aurora Universal Weapon Camo just by verifying the email on your Call of Duty account at callofduty.com/verify-email — no gameplay required. You also receive five 1-hour 2XP Level tokens, five 2XP Weapon tokens, and five 2XP Battle Pass tokens for completing it.
What's the hardest Season 5 Reloaded camo to get? Gridlock is the toughest guaranteed unlock — you must finish the Freerun: Descent obstacle course in under 12 minutes with fewer than 10 faults. The Warzone Ranked Series camo is arguably harder since it depends on top leaderboard placements, but that's competitive rather than a fixed challenge.
Can I earn Heavy Metal and War Machine in Casual playlists? Yes. Heavy Metal is earned by downing a Special Delivery Drone in Battle Royale or Battle Royale Casual (Verdansk/Avalon), and War Machine in Resurgence or Resurgence Casual. Casual playlists are the easier, lower-pressure way to ground the drone and survive.
Are Gridlock and Veiled Aurora usable on any weapon? Yes — both are Universal Weapon Camos, so once unlocked you can equip them on any weapon in Black Ops 7 and Warzone, not just the gun you earned them on. That's what makes them the two most valuable camos in the update.
Do I have to buy anything to get these camos? No. Every camo in this guide is a free, earnable reward — email verification, in-match objectives, event challenges, or Prestige progress. Premium Store bundles add separate Mastercraft and Reactive blueprints, but the camos listed here cost nothing beyond owning the game (and Warzone is free-to-play).
