Nov 19, 2020

MRags' Guide to Cold War Zombies (Level 101)

Earlier today, I dropped a Beginner's Guide to the Cold War Zombies map "Die Maschine." In the coming weeks, I will be releasing an advanced guide going more depth into aetherium crystals, ammo mods, and overall best strategies for high round games. Here is the Beginner's Guide to Survival - please like and comment!

This blog is meant to be a compliment to the YouTube video. Let's start with how the points or "Essence" system works in Cold War.

Essence

I was surprised to see Treyarch change the points system after so many years. In the past, players would earn +10 points for each bullet hit on the Zombies. In Cold War, players ONLY earn Essence through kills. Therefore, points are much harder to come by and the overall map seems to cost much more than zombies maps in the past.

Headshots + Melee kills will give the player +115 Essence

Regular kills = +60 Essence

Therefore, you want to maximize points by using the melee + getting headshots

Salvage

VERY IMPORTANT - New to Cold War, there are two types of salvage that Zombies drop.

Green - Each green salvage pickup is worth +50 and this salvage is used for Armor (Tier 1-2) and Weapon Tiers (2-3). Green is fairly easy to come by, but make sure you are picking up the salvage by running over it.

Blue - The blue salvage drops much less common and it is only worth +10. It is very important to farm these salvages and collect as many as you can.

Armor Tiers Costs

Tier 1 - 500 (Green Salvage)

Tier 2 - 1000 (Green)

Tier 3 - 250 (Blue Salvage)

Weapon Tiers Costs

Tier 2 Damage - 50% Damage Boost - 500 (Green)

Tier 3 Damage - 100% Damage Boost - 1000 (Green)

Tier 4 Damage - 200% Damage Boost - 500 (Blue)

Tier 5 Damage - 300% Damage Boost - 1000 (Blue)

Pack-a-Punch

In the YouTube video, you will see how to Pack-a-Punch your weapon. It is very important to try and have one gun packed by round 10. After that, you should shoot for round 15 for double pack and round 20 for triple pack. Also, when you pack-a-punch, do not forget to purchase an ammo mod. These are EXTREMELY important as they turn any gun into a weapon with Wonder weapon abilities. My favorite ability is Brain Rot.

Pack-a-Punch Costs

Level 1 - 5000 Essence

Level 2 - 15,000 Essence

Level 3- 30,000 Essence

Ammo Mods

Napalm Burst - Bullets deal fire damage. Has chance to apply burn effect on zombies

Dead Wire - Deals Electric Damage. Each bullet can stun zombies. BE CAREFUL USING THIS - in the past, this was OP because you were able to run through stunned zombies. Now, if you use this, the stunned zombies can easily trap and kill you

Cryofreeze - freezes zombies

Brain Rot- turns a zombie (or plaguehound) onto your side and kills zombies for you

Aetherium Crystals

This is where things start to get more advanced. I will not be diving too deep into this topic just yet, but I wanted to quickly discuss how you can farm these.

When you hit level 10 and then every 5th round after (aka 15, 20, etc) - you will be given 1 Aetherium Crystal. Once you get to round 35, you will begin to get 2 crystals for every 5 rounds. These crystals are VERY important to permanently upgrade your character. In the next Zombies blog, I will cover what crystals should be used for and in exactly what order. If you would like to get a head start, use your first 6 crystals on the most important perk in the game, Jugger-Nog. This will raise your max health to 250, reduce status effect duration by 50% and armor plates will replenish 25% more armor.

Other than that, farm up as many crystals as you can and lookout for the next blog specifically about these!

D.I.E. Machine

In the video, I walked you through how to unlock, equip the gun and gain ammo. I think it is very important to have the Wonder Weapon for the overlooked fact that you do not have to Tier this weapon up or Pack-a-Punch it. Therefore, you will be saving a ton of Essence + Salvage which are both critical to your survival.

Perks

The preferred order to get perks:

If Solo

Jugger-nog

Elemental Pop

Stamin-Up

Sleight of Hand

Quick Revive

Deadshot Daquiri

IMPORTANT: Quick Revive is Solos no longer gives the player self-revive. Self Revive can be crafted in the spawn area with salvage OR it can be dropped from a zombie (very rare - will appear purpleish/pink on the ground)

With Squad

Jugger-Nog