How to unlock the Arcblade melee weapon in Black Ops 7 and Warzone
By TourneyTime ·
The short version
Complete any nine Weapon Class Camo Challenges in the Camo Costume Party event and the Arcblade is yours. Activision lists the melee weapon as “Unlockable via Camo Costume Party Event”, with the challenges spread across Multiplayer, Zombies, Endgame and Warzone (Season 06 patch notes).
The event window is 17 September 2026, 9am PT to 8 October 2026, 10am PT — 12pm ET to 1pm ET, or 5pm BST to 6pm BST, a 21-day run (Game Rant, Dot Esports).
Miss it and you are not locked out: the Arcblade becomes an Armory Unlock once the event ends (Game Rant, Call of Duty Wiki).
What the Arcblade actually is
Activision describes it as “a near-future spin on a bladed tonfa, combining a knifelike blade attached to the underside of grip and frame for maximum speed and stability” (Season 06 patch notes).
It is one of four new base weapons in Season 06, alongside the VMP SMG, the TR51 Para assault rifle and the Roc 20mm special weapon — full list and unlock routes in our Season 06 weapons guide.
How the unlock works
The Camo Costume Party is a camo event, and the Arcblade sits on top of it as a reward rather than being its own challenge chain.
| Mode | Weapon Class Challenges |
|---|---|
| Multiplayer | 9 (one per weapon class) |
| Zombies | 9 |
| Endgame | 9 |
| Warzone | 9 |
| Total available | 36 |
You need any nine of those 36 for the Arcblade — they do not have to come from the same mode, so you can mix and match (Game Rant, Call of Duty Wiki).
One nuance worth knowing: Activision’s own write-up nudges you wider, saying “you’ll want to make sure to complete Challenges from all four Modes in this one” (Season 06 patch notes). That is about the camo set — each challenge pays out a camo for that weapon class, so spreading across modes is how you collect the lot. For the blade itself, nine is nine.
The fastest route
Do the PvE challenges first. Zombies and Endgame challenges are measured against AI, not against a lobby of humans who shoot back, so the elimination counts come in noticeably faster than the Multiplayer or Warzone equivalents (Dot Esports, esports.gg).
The requirements vary by class and mode — Game Rant lists examples such as 75 Guild Tech eliminations with assault rifles in Endgame and 100 eliminations with assault rifles in T.E.D.D. Trials in Multiplayer, while Zombies leans on critical kills with a given weapon type.
Practical order if you only want the weapon:
- Pick one weapon class you already play and clear its challenge in Zombies and Endgame — two down with almost no friction.
- Repeat across three or four classes you are comfortable with rather than chasing a single class through all four modes.
- Backfill in Warzone only for classes you naturally run anyway. Warzone eliminations are the slowest currency here.
Nine done, blade unlocked, and you will have picked up nine event camos on the way.
If the event closes without you
The Armory Unlock fallback means the Arcblade survives the event (Game Rant). The camos do not — the Camo Costume Party set is event-exclusive, so the cosmetics are the genuinely time-limited part of this, not the weapon.
Worth weighing against the calendar: Season 06 is the final season of this Black Ops 7 and Warzone cycle, and the event closes on 8 October 2026. If you want the camos, that date is the one that matters.
Sources we check
The weapon description, the event name and the four-mode challenge structure come straight from Activision’s Season 06 patch notes. The nine-challenge threshold, the event dates and the post-event Armory route are cross-checked against Game Rant, Dot Esports and the Call of Duty Wiki. We do not publish challenge requirements we have not seen listed by at least two independent outlets. This page gets updated if Activision extends the event or changes the unlock route. Weapon balance context for Season 06 is in our patch notes breakdown.
