How to Unlock Strider 300 in Black Ops 7 Lost Outpost

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone just picked up a quiet but important round of Season 3 updates, headlined by the temporary removal of the Deadeye Drone scorestreak, a bundle of Zombies bug fixes, and confirmation that the Lost Outpost event will bring the new Strider 300 sniper rifle later this week.
This guide breaks down what actually changed, how it affects your lobbies on console and PC, and what you should prep for once the event and Week 2 challenges go live.

COD Season 3: Patch & Event Tracker

Quick Info: The Strider 300 Sniper

If you are deciding whether to grind the upcoming event, here is how the new rifle stacks up:

• Pros: Fast ADS (Aim Down Sight) speed, high mobility, and low idle sway.

• Cons: Lower flinch resistance and slower bullet velocity than heavy snipers.

• Best For: Aggressive snipers, quick-scoping, and flexible mid-to-long range Warzone builds.

Key Bug Watchlist

Check these before heading into Ranked or high-stakes matches:

• MK35 ISR / VST: Suppressor attachments may still show as locked despite requirements being met.

• Danger Close: Known issue where the extra lethal doesn’t always spawn on your first life.

• Warzone: Be careful of “Ghost Loot”—certain attachment kits are currently spawning inside walls/geometry.

If you mainly grind multiplayer or Warzone on PlayStation or Xbox, the big points are simple: Deadeye Drone is disabled in Black Ops 7 multiplayer for now, PS5 performance issues are finally on the devs’ radar, and Lost Outpost is the path to the Strider 300 sniper if you want to stay ahead of the long‑range meta.
Zombies players get some much‑needed challenge tracking fixes plus a clean‑up to Cursed Standard Squads, while the current Survivors of the Ash event is about to end.

What changed in this Black Ops 7 update?

Here’s the short version of the live changes:

1. Deadeye Drone is temporarily restricted across Black Ops 7 multiplayer while Treyarch investigates an issue.

2. A small Zombies patch fixes HUD‑related performance drops, broken restore tokens, and week‑one challenge tracking.

3. Cursed Standard Squads is no longer stuck on Paradox Junction only; all round‑based maps are back in rotation for that mode.

4. Several new bugs are now tracked on the official Trello, including PS5 performance problems and attachment/wildcard issues.

5. The Lost Outpost event, with the Strider 300 sniper as a headline reward, is confirmed for this week as part of the ongoing Season 3 rollout.

If you just wanted to know whether it’s worth logging in this week: yes, especially if you care about the new sniper or you were getting farmed by Deadeye Drone in Nuketown‑style maps.

Why is the Deadeye Drone disabled in Black Ops 7?

Deadeye Drone is currently disabled in Black Ops 7 multiplayer because Treyarch and the Call of Duty team flagged an issue with the scorestreak and pulled it from live play while they work on a fix.

The official Call of Duty Updates account confirmed that “The Deadeye Drone has been temporarily restricted across Multiplayer while we investigate an issue,” and Treyarch followed up to say the streak has been “taken into the garage” for fixes, with a goal to bring it back “into the skies” sometime this week.
Community reports line up with what most players were feeling: on small maps and in hardcore variants, Deadeye Drone could chain kills into itself and dominate entire lobbies, turning any match where it appeared into a streak loop until the timer ran out.

From a practical standpoint, here’s what this means for you:

• You cannot equip or earn Deadeye Drone in Black Ops 7 multiplayer until the restriction is lifted.

• Scorestreak line‑ups that leaned on Deadeye Drone will need a replacement (Cruise Missile or Gunship‑style options if you want similar pressure).

• When it returns, expect some kind of tuning or stability fix, even though no numbers or exact changes are confirmed yet.

While Deadeye is offline, Treyarch has nudged players toward the Ion Core unlock via weekly challenges, which is still available and unaffected.

Zombies fixes: what actually got patched?

The latest mini‑patch for Black Ops 7 Zombies focuses on reliability and performance rather than new content.
If you were grinding early Season 3 objectives, you probably ran into at least one of these issues.

Confirmed fixes include:

• A bug where changing HUD settings could tank match performance has been addressed, so UI customization should no longer cost you frames in long runs.

• Endgame Restore Tokens now properly restore lost progress instead of failing silently, which is huge if you treat tokens as a safety net on higher‑difficulty attempts.

• The Week 1 “get 150 kills using Pack‑a‑Punched melee weapons” challenge now tracks correctly in Zombies.

• The Week 1 “use 15 scorestreaks” Zombies challenge also has its tracking fixed, so normal play should complete it without odd gaps.

There’s also a key mode fix: Cursed Standard Squads was unintentionally locked to Paradox Junction only, which meant queueing that playlist always loaded the same map.
That limitation has been removed, and all round‑based Zombies maps meant for the mode are now available in the rotation again, including newer additions tied to the Season 2 and Season 3 quest content.

Player insight: If you bounced off Cursed Standard Squads because it felt like “Paradox Junction Queue Simulator,” it’s worth checking back in now that the full map pool is live. The difficulty curve feels more natural when you’re not stuck in one layout every game.

Current known issues: PS5 performance, Trello bugs, and Warzone quirks

While this update fixes a few clear pain points, a lot of Season 3 problems are still in the “investigating” bucket on the official Trello boards for Black Ops 7 and Warzone.

The most important ones to be aware of:

• PS5 performance problems – Post‑Season 3, many PlayStation 5 players are reporting heavy stuttering, inconsistent frame pacing, and rubber‑band‑style lag. The issue is now acknowledged on Trello, but there’s no public ETA for a fix yet.

• Redwell Shade suppressor bug – The Redwell Shade suppressor cannot be equipped on the MK35 ISR and VST despite meeting unlock requirements in both multiplayer and Warzone.

• Danger Close Wildcard inconsistency – The Danger Close Wildcard doesn’t always grant an extra lethal on first spawn, which makes it feel unreliable in ranked or scrim environments.

• Challenge and restriction errors – The “One Man Army” challenge still has tracking issues, and the VS Recon is unintentionally restricted in Ranked Play Search & Destroy.

• Warzone‑specific bugs – The Warzone Trello still lists map‑level graphical glitches, spectating cameras getting stuck, and attachment kits spawning inside level geometry, making them impossible to pick up in certain spots.

Here’s a quick snapshot for reference:

If you’re playing on PS5, the best move right now is to treat ranked or competitive scrims as volatile until a performance patch lands and keep an eye on future patch notes and playlist updates.

Lost Outpost event: how to get the Strider 300 sniper

Lost Outpost is a limited‑time event tied to Black Ops 7 and Warzone Season 3 that rewards you for completing in‑game objectives across modes, with the Strider 300 sniper rifle as the headline unlock.

According to the official Season 3 content roadmap and event previews, Lost Outpost is part of the Season 3 rollout and scheduled to go live during the early April update window, syncing with the usual mid‑week patch timing.
Community breakdowns of the event show that by finishing the full event track, you’ll unlock:

• The Strider 300 sniper rifle.

• A “Southpaw” Samuels Operator skin.

• The “Vandal” Akita shotgun weapon blueprint.

• Extra camos, a weapon charm, calling card, loading screen, and double XP tokens.

The core loop of Lost Outpost is straightforward: hop into high‑action playlists (think smaller maps and standard respawn modes) and complete event objectives quickly to stack progress.
If you’ve played previous “collect and earn” events in recent Call of Duty seasons, the pacing will feel familiar; you’re effectively trading a few busy evenings of multiplayer or Warzone for a permanent sniper unlock and cosmetic set.

For anyone wondering about missing the event window, past events suggest the Strider 300 is very likely to appear later as part of a premium store bundle, letting you purchase your way into the weapon if you didn’t finish the grind.
That route costs money, though, so if you care about staying current in the sniper pool without spending extra, you’ll want to clear the event track while Lost Outpost is live.

Is the Strider 300 worth grinding for?

Early showcases and creator testing position the Strider 300 as a high‑powered sniper that trades a bit of raw damage and bullet velocity for noticeably better handling, a slightly quicker rate of fire, and stronger close‑range mobility compared to the heaviest rifles in Black Ops 7.

From a practical gameplay perspective, that means:

• Faster ADS and better aim‑walking speed, which helps in lane‑holding and quick‑peek fights.

• Reduced idle sway, making it easier to hold a sight line without constantly holding breath.

• A small cost in flinch resistance and long‑range bullet velocity, so ultra‑long cross‑map shots are less forgiving.

If you usually anchor spawn lanes in 6v6 or like flexible long‑range options in Warzone, Strider 300 looks like a strong pickup rather than a niche collector’s piece.
Players who only snipe occasionally might be fine waiting for community tier lists to settle, but anyone who lives in the sniper category probably doesn’t want to skip an event weapon that’s this easy to secure in normal match play.