Black Ops 7 Season 2 is bringing some wild loadout additions, and I haven't been this scared of a scorestreak in years

Sure, you’ve already got more guns, gadgets, and gizmos than you know what to do with, but you can always rely on Call of Duty to consistently add even more options into its loadout system. Black Ops 7 Season 2 will be doing just that, and while the wackier weapons and equipment tend to get rolled out later in a CoD game’s life cycle, Treyarch is throwing caution to the wind. The addition I’m most intrigued by is a scorestreak that seems very much inspired by one of the best FPS games ever made, Titanfall, and while that should make me incredibly happy, it sounds like it could be a bit of a balance nightmare.

As always, there’s plenty coming to Black Ops 7 and Warzone when Season 2 drops next week: loads of maps, new modes, a fresh battle pass, some exciting Zombies content, and (at last) Ranked Play. While the typical influx of new weapons tends to be the part of a season I’m least bothered about, that’s not the case this time.

Via the battle pass, you’ll be able to earn three new weapons – the REV-46 submachine gun, the EGRT-17 assault rifle, and the H311-SAW melee weapon. Nothing too surprising or spectacular there.

That’s not the case, however, with the new special weapon called the GDL Havoc, which is described as a “pump-action grenade launcher” that will fire sticky explosives that can be remotely detonated. It doesn’t explicitly say if these will stick onto enemies directly like a Semtex grenade would, but if they do, expect this to be even more lethal than it already sounds.

Later in the season, you’ll be able to earn three weapons through events: the SG-12 semi-automatic shotgun, the Voyak KT-3 assault rifle, and one of my favorite Black Ops guns ever, the Swordfish. This burst rifle debuted in BO4 and was so satisfying to use, so I’m happy to see it back.

However, the weapon that’s really caught my attention actually comes in the form of a new scorestreak. Remember the Smart Pistols in the Titanfall series? Well, the Lockshot is basically that, by the sounds of things. “A sleek smart pistol with three rounds that can lock onto multiple targets,” its description in the Season 2 blog reads. “A single trigger pull eliminates every locked target in quick succession.” That’s totally not a terrifying prospect, especially if you’re playing an objective-based mode where you’ll probably find several opposing players bunched together to hold down a capture point.

Of course, as a scorestreak, you’ll only be able to use it a handful of times per match. But with a cost of just 450 points, it’ll be incredibly easy to earn – it’s only just more expensive than an RC-XD, and cheaper than a UAV. That makes it a scary prospect. I’m unsure if players will be pinged when they get locked onto, and if running away will break the lock-on, but if neither of those things happen, you’ll be getting one-shotted out of nowhere regularly.

Black Ops 7 Season 2 begins on Thursday, February 5. That means there isn’t too long to wait for all these new weapons (and the rest of the content tsunami) to arrive.

Gimmicky guns and scorestreaks aside, I’m really looking forward to Ranked Play finally arriving. The habit of launching it in Season 2 still irks me (why can’t we get it earlier?) but I’ll be glad to see it land and see how the competitive ruleset feels.