So yeah, trying to grab all 9 Ciphers in Ascent during a clean speed run is basically bait. I tested it for an hour last night and every time I chased a collectible, my Gold pace died instantly. If you're just farming weird side stuff between matches, I've been getting mine from CoD BO7 Bot Lobby, then hopping back into Freerun, and honestly that was way less annoying than forcing perfect runs while exploring. The big thing is treating Ascent like two different modes: one for time, one for scavenging. Most people are trying to do both at once and that's why they think the cipher hunt is mid.

What actually worked for me

Look, break the map into chunks. Don't full send from spawn like you're chasing a clip. Cipher 1 is stupid early and easy to miss because your brain is already locked on the first gate. After the first drop and wall run, I noticed it's off to the left behind a pillar, not in the obvious forward line. Then Cipher 2 is right after the first checkpoint under a staircase that most of us just hop past without thinking. I saw a lot of people saying the game saves instantly on pickup, and maybe it does, but I still pushed to the next checkpoint every time because I wasn't about to lose progress to some jank.

Where the run starts trolling you

The middle section is where this gets sneaky. Ciphers 3 and 4 aren't hard because of movement, they're hard because the game trains you to stare straight ahead. In my runs, the only way I found them was by slowing down and checking up and down during wall-run sections. Cipher 5 was the one that got me tilted. It's hidden behind that energy curtain thing everybody blasts past at full speed, so if you're following the arrows like it's gospel, you'll miss it every single run. And no, they don't have some loud sound cue like other COD collectibles. They're just small glowing objects getting washed out by all the neon, which is kinda evil tbh.

The last few are the real pain

Ngl, the top end is where the course starts asking if you actually know the movement or if you've just been winging it. Cipher 7 and 8 are in the higher sections where grapples and fast mantles start stacking, and one of them made me intentionally drop off a high platform onto a lower ledge I couldn't even see from the main route. That's not clever, that's just mean. Then there's the one near the final ascent on the rotating gear. You have to land on the outer rim, not the center, and if your timing is off you're eating a checkpoint reset. As of the current patch, the spots seem static at least, so once you've got one, it's done. Haven't tested private matches yet though, so if somebody knows whether that counts, say so.

Here's the thing though

Imo the Upswing charm is fine, but the real reward is just finally understanding how much of Ascent the speed line hides from you. The meta right now is all "go faster, cleaner inputs, no wasted movement," and that's cool, but this collectible set is the exact opposite mindset. I ended up using RSVSR for some side stuff while grinding and then came back fresh, and that honestly made the cleanup less of a slog. So yeah, if you're hunting all 9, stop trying to be a hero and start checking dead angles. Hope this helps.