CoD Cold War Zombies: How to Complete the Main Easter Egg (Firebase Z)

The new Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War map Firebase Z has some of the most exciting easter eggs to date.  Once the player spawns in The Villiage adjacent to Firebase Z, it may seem daunting to figure out what to do next. This guide contains all the steps necessary to complete the main easter egg and get the player to the final boss fight.

The objective of the player’s mission at Firebase Z: recover Agent Maxis. The power must be turned on to begin the easter egg’s preliminary steps. After turning on the power, return to The Village through the teleporter and talk to Ravenov behind the window in Atrium, east of Courtyard. The player’s current location is shown in the top left of the screen for reference. After the player has talked to Ravenov, they should go back through the Teleporter to Firebase Z and travel to Mission Control in the map’s northeast section. Once in Mission Control, the player needs to interact with Peck through the window in the north-western corner of the first floor of mission control.

Step One: Crafting the Truth Serum in CoD: Black Ops Cold War Firebase Z

After interacting with Peck, the player needs to return to Ravenov in The Village and interact with him. He will provide the player with a keycard needed to collect necessary components for the next step. The player should leave the Atrium and travel south across the Courtyard through the doorway with a purple arrow over it into a room called equipment storage. There is a locked cabinet with a keycard terminal on the western wall of Equipment Storage.

Use the keycard to unlock the cabinet and collect Compound S16. This is the first of three serums the player needs to collect. After collecting Compound S16, the player needs to return through the teleporter and go through the northern exit of Helipad, travel through Open Lot, and go into Engineering on the first floor, under Planning Offices. There is a hallway traversing from west to east containing a cabinet with a keycard terminal. Use the keycard to open it and collect Compound 36. Head to the western area of the map through Motor Pool and go to Military Command Control Room. On the northern side of the room, there is a Jugger-Nog machine adjacent to a staircase. Walk up the stairs and take a right, go to the office at the end of the hallway. Once in Colonel’s Office, there will be an identical cabinet on the eastern wall to the last two containing Compound P65, the final serum needed.

With all the serums collected, the player needs to set course to the map’s eastern section. Navigate through Barracks, and go into Field Hospital (the red building at the eastern end of the barracks). Once the player is in Field Hospital, they can find a “Chemical Mixer” device next to the western doorway. Interact with the device and prepare for a wave of Hellhounds (They’re not as friendly as last time!). Wait about 20 seconds for the serums to mix, and return to the Chemical mixer. Interact with the mixer to transfer the mixture to the dispersal device, look left, and pick up the Agent Delivery System.

Step 2: Capturing Mimics with Essence Traps in CoD: Black Ops Cold War Firebase Z

The player should now head to OPC (the area with the giant dome above Engineering). Walk towards the entrance from OPC to Mission Control, and before entering, turn right. Hug the exterior wall of Mission Control, and jump the yellow fence connected to the dome. Once over the fence, look left to find a vent tucked in a corner.

Place the Agent Delivery System on the vent, and head down to Peck’s window in Mission Control. Continue to interact with Peck until he prompts the player to go to Data Center. Go to the second floor of Data Center and head to the southern doorway next to the Speed Cola machine. Look for a computer with a brain on the screen on the eastern inside wall of Data Center and interact with it to unlock the Memory Transfer Station. Once unlocked, the player needs to equip an Essence Trap. Up next is the most tedious part of the easter egg: trapping the Mimics’ Essences. Be warned; this is a little more complex than the Coffin Dance Easter Egg.

The player needs to gather three essences—one for Sokolov, Brahms, and, Zhabin. The player does this by locating a group of items (grenades, materials, or equipment) that they are unable to pick up.  Walk over these items until one in the bunch turns into a Mimic. The player needs to get the Mimic’s health incredibly low (roughly less than 15-20%) and throw down their essence trap. The essence trap is triggered like C4 after placing. Once the Mimic is in range, the essence trap will give an audio alert. Hit the prompted inputs to trigger the trap and capture the Mimic, and wait until the trap turns purple to pick it up. If the Mimic escapes, it will destroy the trap, and the player will need to collect a new one from the Memory Transfer Station. If the player successfully traps the Mimic, they have 3 minutes to pick up the purple trap and deposit it at the Memory Transfer Station. Once deposited, the station will play one of several pieces of dialogue. If it’s Sokolov’s, Brahm’s, or, Zhabin’s memory (use subtitles for a visual queue on whose memory it is), Weaver will let the player know they have the right one.  Complete this process to collect all three required memories. It is also possible the player collects an unneeded memory– they will have to collect a new essence trap and continue hunting for Mimics to capture until the player has the three memories necessary.

Tips for Capturing Mimics with Essence Traps in CoD: Black Ops Cold War Firebase Z

• Only Mimics that spawn from items on the ground will provide the memories required.
• Only one Mimic with a required memory will spawn each round.
• Players can damage Mimics while the Essence Trap is sucking them up.
• The most common spawn locations are Motor Pool, Military Command Control Room, Skybridge, and Peck’s Quarters in The Village.
• Though dangerous, knifing is an excellent way to bring down a Mimic’s health in small increments.
• Mimics will “follow” the player through the teleporter between Firebase Z and the spawn area.

Step Three: Collecting Aether Containers in CoD: Black Ops Cold War Firebase Z

The player will need a RAI K-84 in the coming section. Once the final Mimic memory is deposited into the Memory Transfer Station, the player will need to wait for the final memory to play. After completion, the Memory Transfer Station will dispense a floppy disk. Grab the floppy disk and head over to Planning Offices. On the eastern wall, the player will find the Quantum Mainframe. Press interact to deposit the Floppy Disk. A series of dialogue will come from the Central Machine. The player should now head to the large dome at OPC and wait for the door to open at the top of the stairs. After some dialogue, the player needs to go to Peck’s window in Mission Control and talk to him. Following the conversation with Peck and Ravenov, the player will be prompted to find an Aethermeter “…in a cabinet nearby.” The cabinet is conveniently located to the left of Peck’s window (looking at the window) with the same access panel as the serum cabinets.

Open the cabinet, collect the Aethermeter just like the Redeemer, and go through the northeastern exit of Mission Control to Scorched Defense. Enter the small bunker with the ammo chest at the entrance. Grab the Shovel by the southern window of the bunker. Shovel and Aethermeter in hand, the player now needs to go to Open Lot, between Helipad and Engineering. Tucked in the corner to the left of the window leading into engineering, underneath the stairs, the player will find  an interactable area called “Aether Container.” Interact with the area to dig it up. It will spawn a series of Aether Containers; all but one are Mimics in disguise. The player is looking for the container without any black blobs floating around in it. If they choose wrong, they will get attacked by a swarm of Mimics.

After the blue Aether Container is Collected, the player needs to head to Jungle Defense on the map’s southern side. Go down to the area the breach portals spawn at, and go to the “ally” second to the left, directly in the line of fire of the left-most minigun as indicated on the mini-map. Around 2/3 south down the ally, listen for the Aethermeter’s auditory proximity queues. Once the player finds and interacts with the buried container, it will pop out of the ground and form a toxic green smoke cloud. Any player in the gassed area away from the container will start taking heavy damage, so make sure everyone is ready! A well-built class will be incredibly beneficial here.

After surviving the onslaught, the player needs to pick up the yellow Aether container and head over to Barracks for the final container.  A RAI K-84 is needed for this next part. Head to the southern entrance of Field Hospital next to the stairs leading to the second floor of Data Center. The final dig site is just outside the open door hugging the blue wall. Once it’s dug up, the Aether Container will shoot off in a beam of pink light. Follow the beam’s direction into Field Hospital or either of the barracks to the container but remain distant! If the player gets too close, the container will jump. The player needs to hit the container with the alternate fire of the RAI K-86 (the grenade launcher). Once hit, the player needs to collect the pink Aether container swiftly. All Aether Containers need to be deposited at the three Aether Generators to charge them. Once all three Aether Containers are deposited, a notification will come over the Omega PA system. The player now needs to listen to some dialogue between Carver, Peck, and Weaver before completing the easter egg’s final step!

Starting the Final Boss Fight in CoD: Black Ops Cold War Zombies (Firebase Z)

The final part of the easter egg before the boss is arguably the easiest. The player needs to return to Planning Office, and head to the computer screen on the second floor’s southern wall, across from the armor station. Hit interact and sift through the available satellites (indicated by the larger yellow dots on the screen). The satellite the player is looking for will show a question mark rather than a flag in the bottom right-hand corner of the satellite terminal’s screen. Press the interact button while hovering over the correct satellite, and some more dialogue will queue After re-aligning the satellite, the player will not be able to obtain any more points. The satellite alignment will also automatically trigger the cutscene before the boss after a short time, but if the player wants to manually trigger the cutscene, they can head back to the Dome in OPC to where the portal was and interact with the console to the entrance’s right. It takes some time after the satellite is re-aligned to be able to interact with the console.

The player has now triggered the final boss fight! Get ready for hoards, and remember, airstrikes, artillery, and tomahawks do insane damage to the boss! Many players believe this is the best easter-egg CoD Zombies has seen in a while. Enjoy the challenge, and watch out for Mimics!

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Last-Gen

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