This guide walks you through what we believe is one of the most effective solo low round strategies you can follow to complete the main quest easter egg on the Forsaken. While it is possible to complete this easter egg by round 7 or 8, we’ve kept it simple and have given leeway of up to round 9 or 10. This makes it easier for the casual players in case they mess up in a round or so. Although we cover everything in this guide, we highly recommend you check out our guides on how to turn on the power and pack-a-punch machine, do the free Wonder Weapon easter egg, and get arcade tokens and play arcade games. These guides will help you in this main easter egg, so be sure to check those guides out as well. We also have a complete video guide for your reference. The guide here is continued assuming you already know how to turn on the power by lifting the lockdown. If you don’t, we encourage you to check out our guide on how to do that here.
Video Guide
Preparation
There are a couple of things you need to keep in mind before you jump into the map.
Primary Weapon
There is no restriction on which weapon is the best and which one you should take into the game, as for the most part, we will be using the Chrysalax Wonder Weapon for everything. However, you do have to spawn in with a weapon. So, we recommend the good old Gallo shotgun. It is a very powerful weapon even to this day and has been an effective weapon in Cold War Zombies. We used the following attachments for our Gallo.
Muzzle: Flash Cone 12 GA Barrel: 24.8" Task Force Magazine: STANAG 12 Rnd Tube Body: Ember Sighting Point Stock: Marathon Stock
Field Upgrades
Tesla Storm
Field upgrades play a critical role in this easter egg, primarily the new Tesla Storm field upgrade. That is the first field upgrade you must have in your class. You need to spawn in with the Tesla Storm in your class setup. This one can be any tier level, but the higher it is, the better in general.
This field upgrade is crucial as it will help us power up an arcade machine by electrocuting a zombie during a specific step of the main easter egg. We will talk more about it when we get to that step below.
Ring of Fire
The second most crucial field upgrade is the Ring of Fire field upgrade. It should be upgraded to at least tier 3. Tier 5 would be even better.
Ring of Fire is used during the final boss fight. The combination of the Ring of Fire and the Storm variant of the Chrysalax Wonder Weapon shreds the final boss armor in seconds.
Aether Shroud
Finally, we have an optional field upgrade for those unwilling to risk their lives during a certain easter egg step. You only need the Aether Shroud field upgrade for one lockdown step, but that also if you want.
If you think you can survive a horde of zombies in a restricted space while there is a lockdown going on, then you don’t even need to worry about this field upgrade and directly go for the Ring of Fire.
Spawn Area & Lifting Lockdown
As you already know by now, when you spawn in Forsaken, the rounds progress super fast until you’ve moved towards the checkpoint area using the portal. So, as soon as you spawn in, run towards the portal and activate the portal by pressing the button.
A thirty seconds survival timer will begin.
At this point, you need to start knifing zombies to get maximum points. Kill 18-20 zombies. We killed 20 before we stopped. You can also go for kills with your weapon as long as you get critical kills.
After killing 20 zombies, make your way through the portal, and you’ll reach the checkpoint area.
There is also a Jugger-nog Perk Machine here. Prone next to the machine to get 100 free points.
After getting the points, stay in this area until the zombies start to spawn in. Melee the zombies to earn points and simultaneously charge up your Tesla Storm field upgrade.
By the time you have charged your Tesla Storm field upgrade, you should have around 6,000+ points.
Once charged, open the door to the main street by spending 500 points.
Go to the end of the street to get 100 points from the Tombstone Soda Perk Machine by proning next to it.
After that, open either the left side or the right side to reach the portal. We went with the left side in this guide.
Opening the left side also reveals the Stamin-up Perk Machine. Don’t forget to get your free points from the perk machines as you move forward. It costs 750 points to open either side.
Go upstairs and reach the portal to Anytown. There is another locked door before you can get to the portal. You need to spend 750 points to open it.
When you teleport, you will reach the video store rooftop on the west side of Anytown. Here, you need to collect four parts to repair the portal to the observation tower.
The general areas are indicated on the map, but there are always three possible spawn locations inside the general areas. Feel free to check out our in-depth guide now on how to turn on power & pack-a-punch to learn more. The parts are found inside the video store, the cinema, burger town restaurant, and the TV store.
Circuit Board (Video Store) Cathode-Ray Tube (TV Store) Focusing Lens (Cinema) Fryer Cage (Burger Town)
Once you have acquired the parts, make your way to the fuel processing area and fix the broken portal.
After fixing the portal, kill enough zombies to earn at least 1,250 points. Do not kill more zombies than needed. These 1,250 points are required to unlock another locked door in the bunker.
Go through the portal, and you will reach the bunker.
Go at the end of the bunker hallway, and you will come across a locked blue door to your left.
Use your 1,250 points to unlock this door and reach the amplifier room.
Go to the end of the amplifier room to reach a portal to the observation tower.
Approaching the portal will spawn in an abomination.
To defeat the abomination quickly, aim for the glowing purple heads. After shooting one head, run away from the abomination and then return to shoot the other glowing head.
Repeat the same with the third head, and the abomination should get killed.
We run away from the abomination to make some space between us and the abomination to ensure he doesn’t kill any regular zombies, which could result in a round skip. After killing the abomination, go through the portal, and you will reach the observation tower.
Press the indicated button to lift the lockdown and turn on the power.
Don’t forget to get the extra points from the PhD slider perk machine in the same tower.
There is another button which you must press. Press the second button located next to the window to initiate the easter egg intro cutscene.
Housing Unit & Energetic Geode
Housing Unit
After the cutscene ends, you need to make your way back to the bunker and into the board room. You can use the same teleporter you used to get into the observation tower.
The board room is through the door in the hallway which is locked before lifting the lockdown.
Head to the board room and stand by the wall, as shown in the image below.
If you look up in the corner, you will see a housing unit needed to build an Aetherium Neutralizer.
If you stand here, an abomination will always spawn directly in front of you.
Stand next to this wall, and the abomination will charge towards you. Lure it into the wall, and the housing unit should drop to the ground.
Energetic Geode
Pick up the housing unit and quickly run back to the hallway. There is always a purple crystal in this hallway.
Stand next to the crystal and lure the abomination into attacking the crystal with its laser beam.
Upon getting beamed, the crystal will drop a new crystal type called the ‘Energetic Geode.’ This crystal is needed to build the Chrysalax Wonder Weapon. Feel free to check out our in-depth tutorial here.
If you feel like you’re getting overwhelmed with zombies in this small space, you can kill some zombies. But, do not kill a lot, in order to avoid round skip. Also, take into account the fact that the abomination attacks also kill zombies. You can always go to an open area such as the main street to take out the abomination. It is a preferred method as you have fewer chances of regular zombies dying from the abomination’s attacks in a confined space.
The Arcade Step
The arcade step is essential and must be done carefully to avoid round skip. We do this step for three reasons: to earn 100 high-grade salvage to craft a flamethrower, to earn 2,000 points for later use, and to collect the ‘Monitoring Device’ needed for the Aetherium Neutralizer.
You can learn more about the arcade token and the arcade games here.
100 high-grade salvage
First, make your way to the arcade and melee the token machine to get a free arcade token.
There is a special arcade machine here called the Grand Prix arcade machine.
Stand by the Grand Prix arcade machine and wait for a zombie to approach you.
As soon as one does, activate your Tesla Storm field upgrade to electrocute the zombie near the machine, which will power up the arcade machine. We will come to this arcade machine later.
But, right after electrocuting the zombie, quickly run and play the Call of Duty: World at War arcade game. Be careful not to stay next to the zombie for an extended period as your Tesla Storm field upgrade can kill the zombie resulting in a round skip, depending on how many zombies you have left alive.
In this game, you need to survive three waves of zombies. This is a timed game, and you only have two minutes and thirty-five seconds.
You only have limited ammo, so always go for headshots and knife the zombies in the first wave if possible.
Note that if you fail to complete all three waves, you probably won’t get enough salvage for the flamethrower. You will earn 2,000 points, but if you fail, you need to restart the game or continue if you don’t mind completing the easter egg on round 11 or 12. After completing all three waves, you are rewarded with a large chest containing bonus points, full charge power up, and a stockpile of salvage containing a lot of high-grade salvage.
You also get a medium chest containing high-grade salvage and a DMR to complete the second wave. This arcade game gives you more than enough high-grade salvage to craft the flamethrower.
Before you grab the full charge power-up, you need to change your field upgrade from Tesla Storm to either Ring of Fire or Aether Shroud. As we’ve mentioned before, Aether Shroud is an optional field upgrade for those looking to play risk-free. If you think you can survive the fuel processing lockdown step without Aether Shroud, then select the Ring of Fire. The lockdown step can get a bit hectic with no stamin-up perk. We selected the Aether Shroud field upgrade as we can always change the field upgrade to the Ring of Fire after the lockdown step. It is better to play it safe. Selecting the Aether Shroud field upgrade did come in clutch for us.
Pick up the full charge power-up, high-grade salvage, and bonus point after changing your field upgrade. By now, you should have more than 2,000 points, up to 100 high-grade salvage, and a fully charged Aether Shroud field upgrade.
You will shortly be teleported back to the map. While you wait to get teleported back, you can repair the broken barriers for some extra points.
The Monitoring Device
As soon as you’re back, run to the Grand Prix arcade machine and activate it for 2,000 points to deploy an ARC-XD.
You need to be quick about this, as the zombies will soon start to spawn. We need to avoid bumping into zombies, as bumping into a zombie will cause the ARC-XD to blow up. If the ARC-XD blows up, you will need to kill zombies to earn 2,000 points again to deploy the ARC-XD, and you might even progress to the next round in the process of killing the zombies. The ARC-XD also pulses out energy waves.
After deploying the ARC-XD, drive it into the TV store across the street from the arcade.
Once inside, drive it to the half-opened vent behind the counter.
The pulse from the ARC-XD will blow open the vent, drive into the vent and detonate it.
After destroying the ARC-XD, make your way to the TV store, and you will see a broken glass to your right as soon as you enter. It is a monitoring device needed to build the Aetherium Neutralizer.
Fuel Processing Step
The fuel processing step is carried out to obtain a fuel tank, the final part needed to build the Aetherium Neutralizer. You will notice four fuel tanks in the fuel processing area.
You can see their liquid level indicated by a vertical see-through glass in the middle of each tank.
Interact with one of the tanks to activate the tank and start the lockdown.
After the initiation, you won’t be able to leave this area. And if you go through the portal, the lockdown will end, and you will have to restart it.
Now, you just need to survive until the tanks are full of some red liquid. All four tanks will be empty before this.
If you get cornered by the zombies, use your Aether Shroud to escape.
After escaping, kill some zombies to recharge your Aether Shroud upgrade, just in case you get overwhelmed by the zombies again. Run around in circles around the processing area while occasionally killing the zombies, prioritizing the plaguehounds and the tempests. Always kill the tempests first, as they do a lot of damage.
It is okay if you skip to round 6 during this process. Just make sure you do not go past round 6 and keep zombies alive. Keep running in circles until the lockdown is over. This lockdown is not kill-based or round-based. It is just time-based, and you need to keep an eye out for the tanks. You will notice a fiery red liquid filling up in the tanks.
Once complete, the lockdown will end, and a fuel tank will drop in the middle of the fuel processing area, which you can then pick up.
Chrysalax Wonder Weapon
Now that we have all three parts needed to build the Aetherium Neutralizer, we can focus on collecting the rest of the crystals required to build the free Wonder Weapon - The Chrysalax. After luring the abomination into shooting the purple crystal, we’ve already collected one crystal from the bunker to give us an energetic geode. Before you do anything, by now, you should have enough points to buy the jugger-nog perk and the stamin-up perk from the main street.
You need a total of 5,500 points to purchase both perks.
Also, while you’re at it, do not forget to switch your field upgrade from Aether Shroud to Ring of Fire. We need to be fully charged by the time we reach the final boss fight.
Let’s continue with the crystals. We need two more crystals: the tempered crystal heart and the polymorphic crystal core.
Tempered Crystal Heart
A tempered crystal heart can be obtained from one of the tormentor zombies. The problem with this zombie type is that it only spawns on round 8 or above. But, we can force spawn this zombie before round 8 by using one of the big crystals that spawn around the map. We will get to the crystals shortly, but before spawning the tormentor, you need a flamethrower. We already have 100 high-grade salvage from the arcade step. Make your way to the crafting table and navigate to the ‘support’ tab to craft the flamethrower for 100 high-grade salvage.
Go to huge crystal located in the Amplifier room in the bunker.
Shoot one of the three orbs floating around the crystal. This will result in several zombies spawning. One of the zombies is a tormentor. If a tormentor doesn’t spawn for you, leave the area, come back and shoot another orb. The tormentor always spawns when you shoot the orbs around the crystals in the bunker.
Do not let the tormentor get close to you, or else it will explode. Quickly switch to your flamethrower and kill the tormentor using it.
The tormentor will drop a tempered crystal heart for you to pick up.
The tormentors can also be killed using the Ring of Fire. The problem with it is that it’s challenging to kill them using the Ring of Fire as you need to lure them into passing through the fire multiple times. Killing the tormentors using your weapon while you’re inside the Ring of Fire does not work. They must die from the fire of your field upgrade. The Molotov does not work.
Polymorphic Crystal Core
The polymorphic crystal core can only be obtained two rounds after the initiation of the intro cutscene. This means if you’ve initiated the intro cutscene on round 5, then you need to reach round 7 to acquire the polymorphic crystal core. First, make your way to the Jim’s Donut on the main street, and kill all the zombies until you reach round 7.
When you look up at the sky, you will notice a meteorite crash into the donut shop.
Head inside, and you will notice a polymorphic crystal core with a force field around it. You won’t be able to pick it up due to the force field.
Approach the crystal, and six plaguehounds will spawn. Kill them but do not kill the regular zombies.
After killing the plaguehounds, approach the crystal core again, and it will spawn three tempests. Kill the tempests as well.
Finally, approach the crystal core for the third and final time to spawn two mimics. Kill them, and the force field around the core will be destroyed.
After killing the mimics, you should be able to pick up the final part to build the Chrysalax Wonder Weapon.
Building Chrysalax
Make your way to the particle accelerator room by the amplifier in the bunker.
You will notice a tub with some Aether liquid in this room.
Interact with the tub to insert all three crystals inside the tub.
The tub will now become a soul box. After inserting the crystals, get melee kills near the tub, and the zombies’ souls will go into the crystals.
Get ten melee kills to fill it up. After the tenth kill, the crystals will combine to form the free Chrysalax Wonder Weapon.
Before moving on to the next step, go to the observation tower and pack-a-punch your Chrysalax at least once. Tier I pack-a-punch costs 5,000 points which you should have by the time you’ve built the Wonder Weapon.
Catalyzed Crystal Shards
Now, it’s time for the big crystals step. These giant crystals spawn in three locations around the map.
Crystal Location 1
The amplifier room in the bunker.
Crystal Location 2
The storage zone 5 rooftops on the main street.
Crystal Location 3
The staging area which is your spawn area.
So, what do you do with these crystals? You need to destroy them using your Chrysalax Wonder Weapon. First, use the Storm variant of your Wonder Weapons to destroy the floating orbs around the crystal.
Then convert the Chrysalax back into the Savager axe and melee the giant crystal to destroy it.
It will reveal a crystal shard. This crystal shard spawns in an unlimited supply.
When you destroy the crystal, an abomination always spawns. Pick up the crystal shard and throw it towards the mouth of the abomination. Don’t worry if you miss it. The shards spawn in an unlimited supply, as mentioned before.
The abomination will eat the crystal. Once he eats it, the zombie tail of the abomination will start to glow red, confirming that the abomination has swallowed the shard.
Once it does, kill the abomination, and it will drop a catalyzed crystal shard.
Pick it up, and you will fill up your fuel tank for the Aetherium Neutralizer. You can view the progress by bringing up your leaderboards UI or screen’s top right corner whenever you pick up a catalyzed crystal shard. The fuel tank will fill up with each catalyzed crystal shard you pick up.
Repeat the same process with all the crystal locations to fill your fuel tank.
Aetherium Neutralizer
After collecting all three catalyzed crystal shards, make your way to the main street and craft the Aetherium Neutralizer at the workbench.
Do not kill any zombies here and wait for the dialogue between Kravchenko and Peck to finish. Once they’re done talking, there will be an explosion in the observation tower.
After the explosion, activate the Aetherium Neutralizer to start an “onslaught type” escort.
When you activate the neutralizer, you will skip a round and reach round 8 or 9, depending on which round you were on before activation.
A force field will develop around you, and you must stay inside to escort the neutralizer to the end of the road.
There are red crystals scattered around. Destroy them to get the crystal shards, pick them up and insert them into the neutralizer to fuel it.
You can melee the zombies using the Chyrsalax axe to conserve the Chyrsalax Storm ammo, as we will need it for the final boss fight.
Insert the shards into the neutralizer to fuel it and keep it moving.
Repeat it until it reaches the very end of the road.
If your Ring of Fire isn’t full, melee the zombies while escorting to fill it before you enter the boss fight. When you reach the end, the force field will disappear, and you will be able to buy perks, craft, pack-a-punch, and buy ammo.
Boss Fight
Now comes the final boss fight, the Forsaken himself. Before you head into the boss fight, you should have stamin-up, jugger-nog, and quick revive perks. You can buy even more perks if you can afford them, of course. But, you must have these three perks.
Upgrade your armor to tier 2, at least.
And if you still haven’t already, pack-a-punch your Wonder Weapon at least once. But, you should have already pack-a-punched it before this step, assuming you’ve followed our guide up to this point.
When you’re ready, go to the containment door and interact with it to start the final boss fight.
When the boss fight starts, quickly run to the middle of the map where Maxis is.
As soon as you reach the middle, the Forsaken will slam attack, and you need to quick run behind the huge container in the middle to take cover.
After his attack, quickly head back out there, activate your Ring of Fire and focus fire on the shoulders of the Forsaken to break its armor. You can break both shoulder armors in one Ring of Fire activation.
After breaking the shoulder armor, quickly run back behind the container and take cover.
Now, before you proceed with the fight, stay behind cover and kill zombies to recharge your Ring of Fire.
The Ring of Fire field upgrade does not recharge if you are killing zombies when standing under Maxis. Make sure you are outside of her Ring of Fire and then kill zombies. After recharging, stand in Maxis’s Ring of Fire and kill zombies inside to fill her essence level.
You can keep track of her essence level below your mini-map.
When it is full, Maxis will activate one of the laser cannons.
Use the laser cannon to shoot one of the shoulders of the Forsaken.
Repeat the same for the other shoulder. Fill Maxis’s essence level and then shoot the shoulder using the cannon.
After both shoulders are destroyed, a mini “cutscene” vision will play with everything dark around you. You will also see some dead bodies in front of you with familiar faces.
You will then be teleported back to the map by Maxis.
As soon as you’re back, activate your Ring of Fire and shoot Forsaken’s stomach using your Wonder Weapon to break its stomach armor.
Remember to run away as soon as he goes for his electric attack as it does a lot of damage.
Once again, fill up Maxis’s essence level so that she can power one of the laser cannons for you. Once she does, use the laser cannon to focus fire Forsaken’s stomach.
Now, recharge your Ring of Fire field upgrade for the final armor break.
When it is ready, activate it and shoot Forsaken’s head and break the armor on it.
After that, fill Maxis’s essence level to power up the laser cannon for the last time. When ready, shoot Forsaken’s head to finish him off for good.
Once you’ve destroyed the Forsaken, you can go down. You do not have to fight anymore, as going down is part of this fight.
Now, a mini cutscene will play, followed by another outro cutscene to conclude this easter egg and the Dark Aether story in Black Ops Cold War.
