Call of Duty Zombies is a fun, iconic mode dating all the way back to World at War. The basic objective is simple: survive. Up to four players face off against waves of zombies, all while collecting perks, weapons, and the elusive mystery box.
Treyarch has gone back to its roots and kept the mode fairly simple in Black Ops Cold War. The map is a rehash of the Nazi lab from World at War but expanded and reconfigured. It’s called Die Maschine. Expect tons of secrets amidst specific objectives.
How Zombie Mode Works
Players must turn on the power to use the Pack-a-Punch machine and continuously fight off the hordes. The longer you survive, the more upgrades you’ll earn to power up your loadout and fend off increasingly powerful zombies.
There’s a rating system for weapons ranging from common to legendary. You can also use custom multiplayer loadouts and carry over experience into the rest of the game.
Field Upgrades
There are five different field upgrades available in Zombie Mode. They’re available from the start of the game and can be upgraded three times using Aetherium crystals.
Upgrades include:
- Frost Blast – Deals frost damage and slows down zombies.
- Energy Mine – Explodes zombies in mass.
- Aether Shroud – Helps players run away when overrun.
- Healing Aura – Restore team to full health.
- Ring of Fire – Creates an area that boosts damage and deals fire damage to zombies.
Perks
There are six perks that can also be upgraded. All of them are unique to Zombies.
They are:
- Jugger-Nog – More health.
- Quick Revive – Save a teammate.
- Speed Cola – Faster reloads.
- Stamin-Up – Faster running.
- Deadshot Daquiri – Removes scope sway and increases accuracy.
- Elemental Pop – Random chance for ammo mod effect.
Learning when and how to use perks and upgrade will help you delve deeper into the mode and last much longer.
The Crafting Table
The crafting table is new to Black Ops Cold War. Players can craft four tactical items, five lethal items, and five support items.
Tactical Items
- Stim shot
- Stun grenade
- Decoy grenade
- Cymbal Monkey (Monkey Bomb)
Lethal items
- Tomahawk
- Frag grenade
- Semtex grenade
- Molotov
- C4
Support items
- Combat Bow
- Sentry Gun
- War Machine
- Self-Revive
- Chopper Gunner
Gameplay tips for how to win
- Take advantage of progression. Remember that leveling up works between modes, so the more you play any of the multiplayer modes, the more weapons, and armaments you’ll unlock.
- Find the mystery box. While it might not give you anything good, the mystery box could also give you something fantastic like the ray gun, or a rare weapon that’s better than the one you’re using. Save points and take the chance, especially in the later rounds.
- Melee is a useful tool. Keep a combat knife in your loadout. It will never break and it’s a good way to conserve points to do a wall buy or even a run at the mystery box.
- Watch for drops. Use detritus left by zombies to craft other useful items to help in later rounds.
- Conserve. One of the keys to surviving zombie mode is the conservation of resources. If you have something powerful like sentry guns, wait until there’s a large number of enemies before using it. Conserve resources early.
- Complete objectives. It may sound obvious, but Die Maschine guides you through the mode in a straightforward way. Finishing objectives is an easy way to get rewards and experience, as well as give you a fighting chance in later rounds. Progress through them as fast as possible for early advantages.
- The Exfil. After round ten, and every five rounds after that, players will have the chance to escape using a helicopter. Once someone calls for an exfil, fighting back the horde will provide bonus XP and crystals for upgrades.
- Use the ping system. The ping system is a quick way to communicate objectives to teammates, especially those that are microphone shy.
Image Source: Activision