Tactics For Black Ops Ascension Zombie Map
Black Ops Zombies Map
Ascension is a zombie map for the Call Of Duty game Black Ops. It was released in the First Strike Map Pack. Ascension brought a lot of new additions with it, including Space Monkeys, new perks and new weapons. Ascension may be one of the most difficult maps to navigate tactically as it has a lot of different spaces for you to hole up in and a lot of more open spaces for you to maneuver through.
In order to enjoy the map, and do wel,l you need to work up a lot of points in the lower levels, make one of the last zombies in a round a crawler (disable his legs) and open all the doors so you can get to know the map because without knowing the map’s layout you will most likely die within a few rounds of reaching the outside. You only need to do this a few times until you know the map, then it’s time to get tactical.
Perks and Monkeys
Ascension introduces two new perks; PhD Flopper and Stamin-Up. It also includes all the regular perks with the exception of Double-Tap Root Beer. If you get downed you lose any perks you bought. Space Monkeys rounds will only happen if you have bought a perk, they will only attack any perks you have purchased, which may make them very hard or very easy depending on how many players there are and how many perks you’ve bought. When you consider buying a perk, think - is it worth having to defend for every monkey round? And, am I likely to be downed before I get to use it to its full potential?
PhD Flopper
This perk may or may not be useful to you depending on your play style and whether or not you are willing to consciously use it. PhD Flopper lets players drop a miniature nuke any time they dive to prone. The dive to prone must be one that under normal circumstances would hurt the player. The nuke will kill all zombies surrounding the player, jumping directly onto a zombie may stop a nuke from dropping.
PhD Flopper also allows players to absorb any explosive damage from frag grenades, weapon splash-back and Matryoshka Dolls.
PhD Flopper can be found at the Lunar Lander with the frag grenades on the wall.
Stamin-Up
Stamin-Up allows players to move faster and run for longer periods. This is especially useful if you plan on actually moving around the map, which you will usually be forced to do.
The perk can be found near the AK-74u. Stamin-Up is most useful during Space Monkey rounds if you have used a lot of perks; you will be able to sprint from perk to perk and defend them much more easily.
Juggernog
Juggernog increases player health making it harder for zombies to take them down and also making it useless for the early rounds - it is definitely more worthwhile to buy a good weapon first.
New players may think getting more health is the most important thing you could possibly do, but in fact it can usually wait for the higher rounds, unless your team is especially unhelpful.
Juggernog can be found in the floors below the power switch and the original mystery box spawn.
Quick Revive
Quick Revive is the first perk you will see - at the back wall of the very first room. This perk is only very useful if you know someone on your team will be downed at some point. If your team rarely gets downed I would advise against buying it - not just because it is a waste of points, but because it also means you will have to defend it against the space monkeys once it has been used.
Adversley, one of the most useful perks in ascension is Quick Revive if you are playing alone.
If you have bought it you get downed zombies will walk away from you (as they usually walk away from downed players) you receive dual M1911’s if you do not hold a Wonder Weapon at the time and, after a few seconds can stand back up and continue playing. Quick Revive can only be bought three times in one game while playing alone.
Speed Cola
Speed Cola is the multiplayer perk Sleight of Hand - it allows you to reload weapons faster, but it also enables you to rebuild barriers faster. It can be found around the Lunar Lander near the rocket.
Mystery Box
The Mystery Box will always spawn for the first time across from the power switch. If you use the Mystery Box and the Teddy appears it will respawn in a new location on the map. This location will be shown on the TV screens around the map. The Mystery Box is the only way that players can gain access to the Wonder Weapons.
Wonder Weapons
In general players should try not to use Wonder Weapons unless you are being overwhelmed or need to clear enemies from another player quickly because if you grow dependent on them it is very easy to run out of ammo. If you plan on surviving to the higher rounds you will need to keep hitting the Mystery Box until at least two players have a Wonder Weapon of sorts. They are invaluable in a tight spot.
Ray Gun
The Ray Gun is the original Wonder Weapon. It is one-hit-one-kill until you reach beyond round 30. The ray Gun reloads very quickly but you can only get more ammo for it if a Max Ammo is dropped so conservation is key. The Ray Gun can also ‘splash’ off of surfaces and damage the player using it (exactly like frag grenades).
When upgraded at the Pack-A Punch Machine the Ray Gun’s magazine is doubled (20 to 40) and spare ammo allowance increased to 200, splash damage to the player is reduced and, when downed, the player has more ammo to use instead of using a pistol.
Thunder Gun
The Thunder Gun literally blasts air at zombies and sends them flying. It can also temporarily stun them for a few seconds before they get back on their feet. The Thunder Gun can only hold 2 rounds per magazine, but its range makes up for this. It can take out so many zombies at once that it can literally be a life-saver when you are feeling overwhelmed by zombies.
Upgrading the Thunder Gun doubles rounds per magazine to 4.
Matryoshka Doll
When thrown (as it is a grenade of sorts) three other dolls will pop out of the Matryoshka Doll making its path of destruction unpredictable, sometimes hurting the user. The Matryoshka Dolls are one-hit-one-kill making them extremely useful when there are a lot of zombies in a pack. It is important to use them only against distant hordes because the detonation time and unpredictable nature of the dolls can easily get you killed by bouncing off if a nearby zombies.
The Matryoshka Dolls do not replace a primary or secondary weapon, they are activated as a special grenade.
Gersch Device
The Gersh Device is probably one of the quickest ways to save a teammate from being overrun by zombies. It creates a black hole that literally sucks all zombies on the map towards it, any surrounding zombies will be pulled into the black hole. You also get points for each zombie sucked in, which can be a lot if you time it right. Jumping into a black hole will transport the player to another section of the map that has previously been opened. This can be an easy way to escape from zombies, depending on where you end up.
Sickle
The Sickle is not a wonder weapon, but it is definitely worth mentioning. It costs 3000 points to buy and replaces the knife. It is one-hit-one-kill until round 9, making its expense worth conserving a lot of ammo. If you have more than one player a good tactic is to stay in the area where you bought the Sickle and have someone stand near the stairs at the entrance and repeatedly kill zombies with the Sickle. The person on the stairs should ideally have a sickle making their kills quick to stop the other players being overrun with zombies from behind as they defend the windows. The players defending the windows should buy a sickle if they can afford it too.
Pack-A-Punch
To gain access to the Pack-A-Punch machine in Ascension players must use all three lunar landers and return to the power switch by the original Mystery Box spawn location and launch the rocket via the other switch. This may sound difficult but if you do it in stages and take your time it should be simple.
The Pack-A-Punch machine is in the area vacated by the rocket.
Pack-A-Punch upgrades a weapon of your choice for 3000 points. Each weapon upgrades in a different way. When you put a weapon in the Pack-A-Punch machine don’t forget to take it back out! The machine does not give your weapon back automatically you have to place it in the machine and wait for it to upgrade before you take it back.
Pack-a-Punch Weapon Upgrades For Weapons Found Around The Map
• M14 – More damage, more ammunition and a larger magazine.
• M16 – Becomes fully-automatic, more damage and under-barrel grenade launcher.
• Olympia – Incendiary rounds, more damage, more ammo and more range.
• MPL- More damage, red dot sight and a larger magazine.
• PM63 – Dual wielded PM63s.
• MP5K – More damage and a larger magazine.
• AK-74u – Red dot sight and clip size is doubled.
• Stakeout – More ammo, grip attachment and 2 shells loaded at once.
Mystery Box Weapon Upgrades
• Python – Larger cylinder, more ammo, reloads faster.
• Commando – Larger magazines, more ammo, more damage and dual mags.
• CZ75 – Fully automatic, more ammo.
• CZ75 (Dual Wield) – Larger magazine, more ammo, fully automatic.
• AUG – Under-barrel shotgun with 36 rounds.
• G11 – Fully automatic.
• FAMAS – Red dot sight, more ammo, larger magazine.
• Galil – Red dot sight, more ammo.
• M72 LAW – More ammo, semi-automatic.
• Dragunov – More damage, variable zoom scope.
• L96A1 - More damage, variable zoom scope.
• China Lake – More ammo, quicker reload.
• SPAS-12 – More ammo, one shell reloads all ammo, fully automatic, more damage.
• Ballistic Knife – Hitting a downed player with a knife will revive them, from any distance.
• Crossbow – Fired bolts will distract all nearby zombies.
• Spectre – More ammo, larger magazines and a reflex sight.
• FN FAL – Reflex sight, three-round burst.
• HK21 – More ammo, larger magazines, more damage.
• HS10 – Larger magazine, dual wield, faster reload.
• RPK – More damage, larger magazines, more ammo.
Pack-A-Puch Wonder Weapon Upgrades
• Thundergun – More ammo, more range.
• Ray Gun – More damage, more ammo. Reduced splash damage to user.
References
All images are screenshots from Call of Duty Black Ops.