Hardcore TDM in Black Ops 7 isn't "Core but faster." It's more like a jump-scare version of the same maps. One wrong step, you're back in the respawn screen. If you keep playing it like you've got time to react, you'll get farmed. If you want to settle in and actually learn the rhythm, start by treating every peek like it matters and keep your expectations realistic, even if you're chasing cheap CoD BO7 Bot Lobby to warm up your aim and reset your confidence mid-week.
Read the room, not the HUD
Hardcore gives you less info, so you've got to make your own. UAV is huge, but the real value is what it tells you about habits. Two red pings stacking near a doorway usually means they're holding an angle, not rotating. So don't swing it like a hero. Go wide. Take the long way. Also, watch your teammates like they're sensors. If two friendlies vanish at the same corner, you don't need a callout. You've already got one. Stop sprinting everywhere too. You can move quick without full sending, and you'll win more fights just by being ready.
Spawns are a warning sign
People talk about "bad spawns" like it's random. Most of the time, it isn't. When your team pushes too deep, the game panics and drops enemies behind you. Then everybody acts surprised. Don't be that guy. Hold the line just past mid-map and let the other team walk into your lanes. If you see a little trail of deaths on one side, don't run straight into it for payback. That's a hot corner. Rotate, take a new angle, and make them re-check the map. You'll feel the match calm down when your team stops flipping the whole thing.
Win the first bullet
In Hardcore, "gunskill" is mostly discipline. Pre-aim the spots you know people love. Door frames, head glitches, the edge of cover where someone can shoulder peek. Keep your crosshair up, not in the floor, and don't ego-challenge someone already posted. Back up, re-peek from a different height, or just leave. Trades aren't always worth it, especially when you're the one anchoring a safe spawn. Use quiet movement when you can, and reload like you mean it—behind cover, not after you've walked into the next lane.
Play like you've only got one life
It sounds dramatic, but that mindset fixes a lot. You start clearing corners, you stop chasing the last guy into their spawn, and you actually notice timing windows. Give it a few matches and you'll catch yourself predicting where the next push comes from instead of reacting late. And if you want a smoother start to your sessions, some folks use buy game currency or items in RSVSR, then roll that momentum into rsvsr Bot Lobby BO7 so the first few matches don't feel like a punishment.