One player has yet again managed to prove that you can level up in Call of Duty any way you like as long as you have enough patience and determination. After 19.5 hours, 111 games, and a 1.92 W/L ratio, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 player Pilgore1 revealed that they have managed to reach Prestige 1 without getting a single kill.
"Pacifism will always be a legitimate strategy," Pilgore1 said in a Reddit post. Not getting a single kill in Black Ops 6 multiplayer doesn't seem like a hard feat—plenty of my teammates would probably excel in this challenge—but the impressive achievement comes from actually reaching level 55 and winning matches despite no kills.
"It was definitely risky at the start (previous games), and I got lucky a few times," Pilgore1 said in an interview with IGN. "I'd throw a Decoy grenade, and it would sometimes hit somebody. Luckily, it never got me a kill (yet). I've gotten much better at being careful after doing this for 51 Prestiges now. There's almost no worry about it happening in this game, as the Spy Cam has replaced Decoys for me."
While there's clearly a lot of skill that goes into achieving a 1.92 W/L ratio while not killing a single person, Pilgore1 does admit that some game modes are easier than others. Hardpoint and Domination are easier to win without having to get any kills because they are objective-based modes, and as long as you actually play the objective, you can be pretty successful. On the other hand, Team Deathmatch and Kill Confirmed are obviously harder going because they are more K/D focused. Although I will say that you could probably be fairly successful in Kill Confirmed by just picking up dog tags that players always leave lying around.
As for Perks, Pilgore1 said that he uses Flak Jacket, Gearhead, and Dispatcher to trigger Strategist, alongside the Tactical Expert wildcard, which gives him an extra piece of tactical equipment: "Four Spy Cams can genuinely get you UAV/CUAV on its own."
But even if it does take considerably more effort, Pilgore1 actually revealed that it's not too much of a grind. "I consistently get at least 7,000 score a match," Pilgore1 said. "My tactics haven't really changed over the years. I've experimented with different loadouts, but the main gameplay has been the same. Earning XP doing this is much better than you'd think."
It's all very impressive, but this isn't the first time that someone has attempted to do a pacifist run in a Call of Duty game. YouTuber ThatFriendlyGuy pursued the path of pacifism in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022). Like Pilgore1, ThatFriendlyGuy was able to achieve the maximum level in Modern Warfare 2 by supporting teammates and playing the objective—if only all my teammates were this dedicated to peace.
