The zombies mode has always been a firm fan favorite amongst gamers in the Call Of Duty franchise, with many gamers spending the majority of their time battling the undead rather than doing anything else.

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Whether you brave it alone, play with friends, or go online to team up with others, battling against a horde of zombies is a whole lot of fun and throughout the years there have been some incredible versions of it. Each version of zombies has its own unique twist, and one of the most crucial parts of whether it is great or not is the map itself.

Updated by Matthew Wilkinson on April 18th, 2020: The Zombies mode of Call Of Duty has always proven to be incredibly popular, with every map having some positives and negatives.

However, there are certain maps that really have stood out, whether it be down to the theme of it or the story that the game plugs into it. Within this list, we will be taking a look at the 15 greatest Call Of Duty Zombies maps of all time. 

15 Buried

Anybody who has played Buried will know all too well how scary and creepy this map is, with the haunted house being a terrifying experience that is not really recommended for people who get scared easily.

The map forces you to run through a haunted house while chased by ghosts apparently returned from the nineteenth century. Worse, they continuously respawn until you leave, and, if they touch you, you'll lose a bunch of points, which is as horrifying as it is annoying.

You can also fly in this map with the Wonder Weapon Paralyzer, making this an absolutely crazy map that mixes genuine fear but also fun together.

14 Ascension

Another excellent Zombies map is Ascension, which brought a lot of new things to the mode which hadn't been done before. While it wasn't for everyone, the fact that it was willing to change things up kept gamers on their toes.

This particular map had space monkeys appearing and grenades that would create black holes, utilizing the theme of the map. It was a very large map, which suited the Zombies world and allowed gamers to live a little longer. People would be able to avoid Zombies a little longer due to the space, getting more time to explore the areas and have fun.

13 Five

This map came under some criticism for being a little gimmicky when it was first released, with the game allowing you to play as famous world leaders; John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, and Richard Nixon. Some gamers were unable to look past that fact early on, but, once you got to play the Five map, it was a whole lot of fun, with tight spaces and very few places to hide keeping you on the edge of your toes throughout.

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Five also brought a new form of enemy with the Pentagon Thie, who took things to a new level with his attempts to steal your weapons, causing problems for people throughout.

12 Dead Of The Night

This map was part of Black Ops 4 and was a ton of fun to play. It felt like one big game of Clue by taking place in a huge mansion, and COD did a great job of bringing more than just Zombies into things, with vampires and werewolves helping to make this even scarier than normal.

The map also had a real cinematic feel about it which was helped by the fact that the game brought in four big celebrity names. Charles Dance, Kiefer Sutherland, Brian Blessed, and Helena Bonham Carter were all featured here, and they added a lot of fun. It made the map feel special and important, with COD clearly putting a ton of effort into making this one exciting.

11 Shadows Of Evil

Any Zombie map that has some Jeff Goldblum is always going to be fantastic, right? That is certainly one of the main reasons why Shadows of Evil was a lot of fun, with this feeling very different from other Zombie maps.

Inspired by the 1940s New Orleans Jazz scene, the fictional Morg City was a perfect environment and switched things up for Zombies, going from the traditional bleak colors to something a little more vibrant, which was met with positive and negative feedback.

With the GobbleGum system being a new feature, there were plenty of new elements with Treyarch clearly trying to breathe some new life into Zombies with this map.

10 Attack Of The Radioactive Thing

This map takes place in Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and it really is an excellent map that feels unique and offers a lot of fun. The map is set on a beach, which instantly opens things up to being slightly more relaxed and fun.

However, it is a very different style of Zombies map, firstly because the enemies aren't zombies. As the image above shows, the enemies are a mutated frog/crab type creature which works to provide some great scares and something totally different. The game also focuses on radioactive situations as well, with nuclear balls popping up everywhere, adding another situation that people have to focus on.

9 Descent

Descent is a map that people either love or they hate, with this being Sledgehammer's take on the Zombie experience within Advanced Warfare, and it was certainly an intense experience.

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This is the final map in the series, and, because of that, everything is ramped up to make this very difficult, although it does bring the story arch together in a satisfying way that left everyone happy. However, this is a very tough map, with the Zombies being faster and more agile, making them relentless. So, if you are new to the Zombie experience, it might not be the ideal choice.

8 Verruckt

This Call Of Duty map is one of the hardest that has ever been created, so some gamers weren't quite as keen on it. However, those who were skilled enough at Zombies found this an excellent challenge to get stuck into.

It's quite a tight map and it has lots of dead ends, which does provide some difficulties for games and that also increases the scare factor. The setting and design of this map are incredibly creepy as well, with this being the perfect package for a Zombies map.

7 Der Eisendrache

Der Eisendrache may just take the number one prize in terms of visuals, with this map being absolutely stunning to play through with incredible detail-packed to both interact with and in the background.

However, it isn't just about the visuals when it comes to this map, as the Der Eisendrache is also one of the toughest maps to go through, and you really need to know what you are doing in order to progress.

The four variants of the bow make this map memorable, and it will be quite a while before players forget all of the steps necessary to craft the lightning, wolf, void, or fire bows.

6 Origins

The Origins map was pushed as the climax to the original, classic zombies storyline, and it was certainly worthy of being just that, with the stakes being raised as an incredible map was created.

The elemental staves added something fresh to the combat, with giant robots walking around the landscape, giving something else to the gamer to think about, with a look to the sky being needed to avoid being crushed.

This map was full of story reveals that brought things to an end in a perfect way, mixing emotion and impactful moments with fantastic gameplay and graphics.

5 Mob of the Dead

If you want a really fun Zombies experience, then Mob of the Dead is probably the perfect choice for you, with a fantastic atmosphere with a gangster feel that also didn't take itself overly seriously.

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This map did have elements of dark humor which were welcomed, while also having an incredible story that had a real thriller feel with a brilliant payoff that was well worth dedicating some time for. Taking place on Alcatraz, the location chosen was superb and fit the zombies franchise well, with a hidden Johnny Cash song and the return of the introduction of the Tommy Gun, this map had it all.

4 Nacht Der Untoten

This was the starting point for Zombies, with this being a surprise mini-game that people weren't aware of until they unlocked it, which took place after players completed the World at War's main solo campaign.

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Once you had made your way through the game you actually bought, you were given a huge bonus of the Nacht Der Untoten map, which provided an incredible experience that nobody had prepared for. This didn't have the story or detail that later maps would develop, and the map was very small, but it became so popular that Zombies became a consistent feature, with this map providing a real thrill.

3 Zombies In Spaceland

This is a very fun and vibrant map, in comparison to most Zombies maps. While it still has the dark theme that would be expected from the game, it also has some amazingly vibrant neon lights that give the map a pop of color. The whole map takes place in a zombie infected amusement park with rides blaring around and a hilarious MC who keeps things entertaining throughout. Every round feels unique and the random clowns add a fun dynamic to it.

This is a very different type of map because of all the color and the funny jokes in the background. But at the same time, it still packs the scares, and that's exactly why it's so good.

2 Der Riese

Since Der Riese originally debuted within World at War, Treyarch has remastered the map on two more occasions, proving it is a major hit for the franchise, and that is why it ranks so highly on this list.

The map really rose the bar for what to expect from a zombie map, taking it from a side game to something that people actively wanted to buy the game to play, which really helped moving forward. The map featured some incredible designs and introduced upgradable weapons, giving you a real incentive to push on, especially with the map having a detailed and cryptic storyline that made it even more engaging.

1 Kino Der Toten

Some gamers may have found this particular map a little too easy, as things only tended to get incredibly challenging when the levels ramped up. Yet, that was all part of the fun, as the build-up began to increase and things intensified.

The brilliance of this map was that it had a genuinely eerie and strange feel to it, with the theatre being the main hub, with deserted and ripped apart chairs, cobwebs everywhere, and a dark moody atmosphere. The geometry of the map makes it fun to round up zombies as you attempt to battle your way through, picking up the best weapons possible or using the teleporter in what is an insanely fun map.

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