SegmentNextMaps
Black Ops Cold War launched Zombies with Die Maschine, a return to the ruined Nacht der Untoten with a Dark Aether beneath it, and followed it with Firebase Z. Our five map pages cover the opening chores on Die Maschine, its fun side egg, its full main quest and the Firebase Z quest. This guide strings them together in the order a match unfolds, with the costs, locations and step lists pulled from each page.
Die Maschine at a glance
| What | Where and how |
|---|---|
| Power | The control room inside the Particle Accelerator bunker, about 8,250 points of doors and barricades from spawn |
| Pack-a-Punch | Broken until you fetch a machine part from the Dark Aether through the Particle Accelerator anomaly |
| Perks | Six machines around the map, plus a Wunderfizz on top of Nacht der Untoten that only exists in the Dark Aether |
| Wonder Weapon | The D.I.E. Shockwave, with Cryo-Emitter, Nova-5, Thermophasic and Electrobolt upgrades |
| Main quest | Fourteen steps ending in an escort of Orlov and a ninety-second exfil |
| Side egg | The Coffin Dance: five blue orbs after power and Pack-a-Punch |
The road to the power switch
Our power guide prices the route. Nothing else is required, only points, and every blockage costs more than the last as you close on the bunker. Each stopping point is marked with a large X.
| Order | Blockage | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The door with the pink rabbit on it | 500 |
| 2 | Rubble on the staircase in the next room | 750 |
| 3 | Barricade on your left in the Penthouse, then jump down | 1,000 |
| 4 | Stone barricade straight ahead | 1,250 |
| 5 | The bunker gate | 1,500 |
| 6 | The locked Medical Bay door | 1,500 |
| 7 | The control room door, past the Particle Accelerator | 1,750 |
| Total | 8,250 |
Once the Medical Bay door is open and you enter the Particle Accelerator, the power switch is marked on the map. The switch is free. Flip it at the main controls by the window and the perk machines and upgrades come online.
Perk machines
Perks now come in cans, and each has its own machine. Our perk machine guide gives directions from spawn and the effect of each.
| Perk | Effect | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Stamin-Up | Faster running and sprinting | Second floor of Nacht der Untoten: in the front building, right, up the broken staircase, then past the red-lit door to the broken wall |
| Juggernog | 50 percent more maximum health | Out of the Stamin-Up door, up the broken-roof slope, back the other way and jump down; or open the door behind Stamin-Up directly |
| Quick Revive | Health regeneration and ally revives 50 percent faster | Down the slope from Juggernog, all the way to the pond |
| Speed Cola | 15 percent faster reloads | From Juggernog into the facility, first left, straight on and down the stairs; next to the Medical Lab’s first pillar |
| Elemental Pop | Every bullet carries a random base Ammo Mod effect | The power room in the main facility; new in Cold War |
| Deadshot Daiquiri | Aim-down-sight snaps to the critical spot and sway is removed | Right instead of left as you enter the facility, down to the lowest room, directly under the hanging missile |
| Wunderfizz | Every perk from one machine | Top of Nacht der Untoten, reachable only through the Dark Aether portal |
Perks are upgraded outside a match, three tiers each, with Raw Aetherium Crystals earned at fixed milestones and through successful exfils; most tiers stay locked until you reach the required level.
The Coffin Dance
The Coffin Dance Easter egg is a one-minute joke with a reward at the end, and it is easy to confuse with the main quest because it shares the same first two steps: turn on the power, then repair Pack-a-Punch with the part from the Dark Aether. After that, five blue orbs appear in a fixed order around the Pack-a-Punch room. Shoot each until it vanishes.
- Under the control room, tucked behind a broken metal frame; keep to the right wall as you come down the stairs.
- Up in the ceiling of the large machine on the room’s west side.
- Lower level: look through the window barrier the zombies use and check its top-left corner.
- On the upper level, between the computer terminals, behind the chair.
- Under a platform; you only spot it after climbing the central machine.
The fifth orb teleports you into the Dark Aether to watch a crowd of zombies perform the dance. It lasts a minute; collect your reward at the Pack-a-Punch machine when it ends.
The Die Maschine main quest
Our Die Maschine Easter egg guide runs fourteen steps. The table condenses them into phases; the page carries every detail, including the exact spawn points and the order the Wonder Weapon upgrades are gated in.
| Phase | What you do | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Power and Pack-a-Punch | Reach the control room, use both terminals in the Particle Accelerator, enter the anomaly, follow the Aether Tunnel to the Crash Site, pay 500 for a portal, bring the machine part back | A working Pack-a-Punch |
| The Wonder Weapon | Kill the Megaton that splits in two; one half drops a keycard for the blinking drawer in the Weapons Lab above Deadshot Daiquiri. Use the D.I.E. Remote on the stone room in the Nacht living room and feed it about thirty zombies | D.I.E. Shockwave |
| Cryo-Emitter | Shoot the wooden box in the Penthouse, find the flask where it lands, hold it under the mushroom by the tree while a Megaton shoots at you, then melt the chains off the crate in the Med Bay | Ice upgrade |
| Nova-5 | Suck the golden canister out of the locked Mezzanine room, fill it in the white tank in the Weapons Lab while a Plaguehound attacks, then set it on the crate at the plane crash and shoot it | Toxic upgrade |
| Aetherscope | Collect three parts in the Dark Aether, from the plane wing, near the fast travel point in the Particle Accelerator room and under the stairs outside Nacht, then build it at the workbench | The Aetherscope |
| Vogel’s computer | Take the diary from the Medical Bay desk in the Dark Aether and speak to Vogel’s three anomalies: behind the Speed Cola room, in the Control Room and by the workbench. Enter his password on the real-world computer | The Speed Cola canister activates |
| Thermophasic | Use only the pond portal, hit the box under the floating plane for a fuse, place it in the Plasma Cutter in the Weapons Lab, then open the crate on the truck by the pond in the real world | Fire upgrade |
| Electrobolt | Through the anomaly under Pack-a-Punch, absorb three yellow crystals with a partly empty gun, at the tunnel entrance by the crash site, the top of Nacht and the pond, shooting the weapon crate after each | Lightning upgrade |
| The canister | Shoot each coloured corner of the Speed Cola room canister with its matching element | Progress to the wrench |
| Decontamination | Speak to the anomaly at the Containment Unit, pick up the Dark Aether Wrench, hit the rusty tank at spawn until a zombie pops out, craft a Frag or Semtex and throw it in the hatch; the tank fells a tree that holds the Decontamination Agent | The agent for the red case |
| Orlov | Lure both halves of a Megaton under the large canister, then fuse them from the viewing deck in the Med Bay. Follow Orlov to the power room, survive the Plaguehounds and Megatons, then take his family photo from the anomaly in the corner of Nacht | The boss fight begins |
| Boss fight | Locked in the Pack-a-Punch room, keep Orlov alive while he shuts the Particle Accelerator down from three points. Kill Megatons first for their ammo, gas the floor around him with Nova-5, and have one player shadow him while three hold the horde | The accelerator goes dark |
| Exfil | Ninety seconds to reach the marked chopper through one-hit lightning strikes; Stamin-Up and Aether Shroud help, and only one player has to make it | The ending cutscene |
There is no way back once the family photo is in hand, so buy your perks, armor and Pack-a-Punch levels before you touch it, and give the fire and lightning upgrades to teammates who will use them in the final room.
Firebase Z
The Firebase Z Easter egg is shorter than Die Maschine’s and can be done solo. It begins the moment you spawn, though our page suggests sorting out your ammo mods and weapons first.
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1. Ravenov | Talk to Ravenov beside the Pack-a-Punch machine in the centre of the map, feed zombies to the three marked Aetherium reactors to power the map, return to him, visit Dr Peck at Mission Control and come back for a keycard |
| 2. The serum | Open the three lockers the keycard fits, in the room in front of Ravenov’s station, the Colonel’s Office west of spawn and the indoor control room east of spawn. Combine the serums in the vacuum cleaner in the Field Hospital, survive the Hellhounds, and set the vacuum on the AC vent on the Mission Control roof |
| 3. Mimics | In the Data Center, run along the left-hand computers until Peck speaks and a green terminal hands out Mimic traps. Step on grenade-shaped Mimic items to spawn them, drop each below 25 percent health, trap it and feed it to the terminal until Sokolov, Brahms and Zabim are caught |
| 4. The floppy disk | Insert it in the machine on the left wall of the Planning Office, watch the portal form in the Omega Portal Chamber, then collect the locator device from the locker beside Peck using his code |
| 5. Three canisters | Dig the first from the dirt pile in the corner of the Defense area and hold off a one-minute lockdown; dig the second in the open lot by the Planning Office and pick the copy giving off white smoke; dig the third at the Data Center stairs and freeze it with the RAI-K84’s alternate fire |
| 6. The satellites | Drop one canister in each reactor, look at the portal in the OPC building, wait thirty seconds at Peck’s closed workstation, then play the Planning Office computer and link the yellow dot showing a question mark rather than a flag |
| 7. Orda | Upgrade everything, then use the OPC terminal to teleport to the fight. Orda spawns Mimics and Manglers across three phases; keep your distance, use rifles and LMGs on her, a shotgun on the minions, and roam the Village spawn to dodge her slam |
The RAI-K84 for step five comes from the Mystery Box, the trial reward chests, or by building it from parts around the map. Shovels for the digging sit in the barracks and small huts.
The Dark Ops rewards behind these quests
Three of the Zombies Dark Ops challenges in our Dark Ops list are completed by the guides above: Evile Unleashed for the Die Maschine quest, Maxis Potential for Firebase Z, and Checkmate for running every trial on Die Maschine in a single match. The mechanics guide sets all of them out by mode.
Frequently asked questions
Can I do the Coffin Dance and the main quest in one match?
Yes. Both start with power and Pack-a-Punch, and the dance only costs a minute; do it before you begin chasing Wonder Weapon upgrades.
Do I need all four Wonder Weapon upgrades?
For the canister step, yes: each corner needs its own element, fire, ice, lightning and gas. Two upgrades come before Vogel’s computer and two after.
Is Firebase Z solo-friendly?
Our page says it can be completed alone or with friends, and Orda’s fight rewards distance over firepower. For loadouts to bring into either map, see the Black Ops Cold War hub.