The Zombies mode has always been a fan-favorite staple of the Call of Duty games. In fact, there are plenty of people who buy the newest CoD purely for its Zombies content (more of which was just recently teased). And, it’s back once again in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, though there’s only one map out at present.
But, there's plenty to do in this map, and the difficulty to scale pretty drastically around, especially when new types of Zombies like the Sprinters start spawning Round 50+. So, in order to help players live as long as possible, here are some tips.
Always Keep A Killstreak Ready As Insurance
There are two particular Support items that every Zombies Player should be looking out for in the higher rounds, Chopper Gunner & Cruise Missile. Both of these Killstreaks cost High-Grade Salvage to craft, but they also make the player invulnerable while they’re controlling them. For Cruise Missiles, the invulnerability time is pretty short, around 3-5 seconds, but for Chopper Gunner it's like five-times that. Not only are these things amazing in general, but they also work as a safe way for players to get themselves out of a bind as well, since they can just pop a Killstreak when they get surrounded & clear the Zombies out.
Plan Field Upgrade Combinations
Field Upgrades in Zombies are already pretty strong, but they become insanely powerful once fully upgraded. In particular, Aether Shroud, Healing Aura, and Ring of Fire become especially overpowered. Not that Frost Blast or Energy Mine isn’t good, but they're not staggering good like these other three. Here are a couple of ways players can exploit them in both Solo & Multiplayer:
- Aether Shroud: Popping this whenever Megatons spawn lets the player unload on them without fear of repercussions. Plus, all Zombies immediately switch targets, so a player could bring their Horde to their teammate who also has a horde, pop Aether Shroud, run back to their zone, & the two hordes would essentially combine on the teammate, giving them access to more Salvage & Essence.
- Healing Aura: This Field Upgrade is absolutely insane in Multiplayer. If an entire party runs the max upgraded Healing Aura & communicates who is going to pop theirs and when, there's almost no chance that anybody actually dies.
- Ring of Fire: The amount of damage increase players have seen from firing at Megatons from inside the fully-upgraded Ring is awe-inspiring. It's a pure-DPS sort of thing, so there aren't many ways to "exploit" it other than using the max upgraded version to fire single-bullet guns repeatedly, such as the RPG.
Use The Overpowered Attachments
It’s pretty clear that Treyarch didn’t really put too much work toward balancing the Weapon Attachments for Zombies. Quite simply, a few of these Attachments are simply too strong.
In particular, the Task Force Barrel attachment for both the Gallo SA12 & the Hauer 77 turns these guns from already powerful Zombie eliminators into undead-specific WMDs. So, for players who want to last as long as humanely possible in Zombies, use a Loadout that combines a powerful gun with some powerful attachments.
Save Some Essence & Focus On Survivalbility Over Damage
It’s easy in a Zombies run to unconsciously hyper-focus on damage upgrades without even realizing it, but building for survivability early is actually key, in particular:
Try & Exploit The Way Zombies Spawn
- If the player gets far enough away from most of the zombies (which is easy to do in Multiplayer) they'll “respawn” in the area that the player stops in, meaning they come from out of bounds again or dig up from underground, giving the player a much-needed couple of second to rest
- Megatons seem to dissapear/respawn when entering or leaving the Dark Aether. This is likely unintentional on the developer's part, but players should utilize this oversight to get some distance between them & a Megaton if their damage isn't quite high enough yet.
Try To Keep A Decent Chunk Of Backup Essence, For Safety
- Getting downed always deletes at least one Perk. So, while it might seem smart to get that Tier 2 Pack-A-Punch upgrade right at 15k Essence, waiting until 20k gives some breathing room to re-buy perks in case the Zombies swarm the player at the P.A.P machine.
- Plus, fully dying completely resets a player's Armor level, Weapons, & Salvage collected. Luckily, they keep their Essence, so stockpiling a certain amount lets players gear back up after a respawn.
Keep Breaking Crystals In The Dark Aether
Not only is the Dark Aether a neat new mechanic in Zombies, but it’s also a great way to get amazing Equipment & Weapons early on. The breakable Crystal Clusters in the Dark Aether can drop a ton of insane stuff, such as Ray Guns, Self-Revives, Perks, or even Legendary Weapons. So, going in and out of this Realm as much as possible is usually beneficial in general.
Learn & Utilize All The Easier Easter Eggs
For a mode with only one map so far, Cold War’s Zombies mode sure has a lot of easter eggs. And, unlike the easter eggs in some other CoD games, these ones can be exploited pretty easily in every Zombies run without much effort. No need to go into each one in detail, but at the very least the Skeleton Arm & Coffin Dance ones can be easily repeated in every run, so players should use them to get their kit set up for the long haul.
Some Doors Are Better Left Closed
This is a trick in Zombies thats as old as the mode itself, and all it requires is that players don’t open certain doors on the map. A big part of the Zombies gameplay loop is “training” zombies into following the player in a path that they run over & over. And, a crucial step in doing this consistently is limiting the number of directions zombies approach from by not connecting the map fully.
CoD pros like to crunch the numbers & figure out what exact paths to keep closed, but that's not entirely necessary for everyone. In general, it seems like the Tunnel that leads to Control Room in Pond can stay closed, as it makes this area a lot easier to run around without fear of getting flanked.
Always Keep Armor Topped Off
Once players unlock Blue Weapons & Tier 3 Armor, there’s no more use for Low-Grade Salvage at the Arsenal specifically. So, that means there’s no real monetary consequence to using 250 Low-Grade Salvage to refresh Armor each round.
Sure, waiting until a Carpenter Power-Up spawns would be more thrifty, but it's way more dangerous than necessary. Waiting for a Carpenter or spending 250 Low-Grade Salvage is much less of a practical argument than waiting for Max Ammo or spending 5000+ Zombie Essense on ammo for Pack-A-Punch Level 2.
Rely On Aether Tunnels More
It’s incredibly easy to find info on how the Aether Portals spawn in Die Maschine, but what about the Aether Tunnels? These Aether Tunnels make traversing the map a breeze, yet most players don’t even know how they work! So, for those, like us, who were unaware:
- Aether Tunnels can be used in the Dark Aether 100% of the time, they always show up here and cost 500 Zombie Essense to use.
- Players can shoot Zombies while in the Aether tunnel & can also reload or throw Equipment.
- Aether Tunnels can’t be used in the real world until after Round 15, where they automatically spawn.
Because players are constantly traveling from the Dark Aether & back, it becomes easy to forget when & where Aether Tunnels are available. This is all to say that players haven't been exploiting the Zombie AI with these Tunnels nearly as much as they should be.
Keep Stocked Up On The Right Equipment
Once players are able to craft Cymbal Monkeys, Self-Revives, Decoys, or C4, they can last much longer. Cymbal Monkeys, in particular, are a godsend for when cornering seems like an immediate threat or if a downed ally is surrounded by Zombies. But, be wary, since Megatons & Plaguehounds don’t seem to care about these things at all. All of these items are pretty cheap Salvage-wise & well-worth the investment 99% of the time:
- C4: 500 Low-Grade Salvage, max of three at once
- Cymbal Monkey: 1000 Low-Grade Salvage, max of two at once
- Decoy: 500 Low-Grade Salvage, max of three at once
- Self-Revive: 250 High-Grade Salvage, can only carry one at a time.