Treyarch returns to their typical form with the Zombies partition of this year’s Call of Duty package.
Die Maschine in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a fantastic map with some nods to the past and plenty of secrets to unravel in its underground aether.
In this guide, we’re going to give you a primer on the most important new features introduced by the map, and offer some tips to help you survive and pick up those precious aetherium crystals.
Turn on the power and pack-a-punch early
Once you’ve meleed your way through the first few rounds to get extra points, start opening up doors and pushing into the inner sanctum of Die Maschine.
Follow the purple arrows to the facility and the red button, only opening the doors you need to open to save money. Once the power is on, an anomaly should appear in the centre. Head through (make sure you’ve got 500 points) and you can follow the white crystalized walls to the Aether Portal.
Pay to head through and you’ll land in a room with a machine part. Take this to the centre of the facility to activate the Pack-A-Punch machine, where you can pay 5000 points to make your weapon a monster. Easy-peasy!
Use the arsenal and crafting table
Once the power’s on, you can also make use of the arsenal and the crafting table. The arsenal is in the top right corner of the inner facility, from the power button.
Zombies will drop salvage and parts which you can save to give yourself armor and upgrade the damage of the weapon you’re using. It’s well worth visiting if you can save a few zombies at the end of each round to get some chores done. There’s also the crafting table, which is in the tunnel on your way into the facility. Here you can craft stim shots to keep you alive if you get damaged, and even scorestreaks and self-revive kits at high levels.
Get the right perks
Once you’ve got the power on and picked up a decent weapon, head back to the great outdoors from the way you came in to get Jugger-Nog on the left. This is the most important perk as it gives you more health to keep you alive when you’re being poisoned by the plague zombies.
You can then pick up the elemental soda from the power button room to give your gun random bullet effects. Quick Revive is also handy if you’re playing in a team. You can find this outside, through the Nacht der Untoten building.
Watch out for the Megaton monsters
Every few rounds you’ll get a visit from the plague hounds, who aren’t too much trouble. However, in between zombie and plague rounds, you may get a visit from the Megaton, an irradiated boss monster with a gigantic health bar. Focus them first, as they can quickly destroy your health bar with ranged attacks. And whatever you do, don’t get close or you’re going down.
The Megaton can split into two smaller radioactive zombies that deal similar damage, so make sure they get gone once you’ve finished him off. Use the outdoors to create a less cramped zombie train if you need the space.
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