Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies is in an interesting place when it comes to Season 3. For many, Season 3 is seen as a worrying sign for Zombies, as no new Survival map is set to come to the game until Season 4. Seemingly guaranteeing a shorter DLC Season with only 3 new maps, fans of classic, round-based Survival feel let down by the lack of fresh content. On the flip side, Outbreak is getting better support than ever before.
Not only does Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies’ open world mode have a main quest easter egg coming in Season 3 Reloaded, but the latest update brought several welcome changes to the mode. Aside from the new Duga region, gameplay improvements have been made that provide a much-needed increase to the speed of an Outbreak match. From a new side quest to a hilarious easter egg that references a community meme, here is every change to Outbreak in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Season 3.
The Duga Region
The most well-documented addition to Outbreak in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Season 3 is the addition of the Duga region. Featuring a massive satellite array reminiscent of the one from Chernobyl, the map is built around the huge structure. Players can climb to the top and gun down the Zombies below with Sniper Rifles, adding a fun new style to clearing the map. Ziplining to the top will also allow players to leap off and parachute to any location in the region, a process that will likely take several jumps to stop being fun. The rest of the map features a mixture of farmland, research labs, military bunkers, and offices. While other leaked Ural Mountains areas like Zoo could prove more unique, Duga is still a welcome addition that adds further variety to Outbreak.
The Fury Crystal Side Quest
Outbreak’s Fury Crystal side quest is another strong improvement, as it sees players completing a time trial to unlock a terrific reward. To start this new objective, players can head to the crystal point of interest marked on the map. From there, they can shoot the red Fury Crystal, which will spawn six more Crystals as a timer begins to play. If gamers can break all of them before the time runs out, the last Fury Crystal will drop an Aether Tool. Instantly upgrading the player’s equipped weapon to Legendary, getting this quest early can save tons of salvage and heavily speed up the game.
DIE Shockwave Upgrades
Outbreak has finally added upgrades for the DIE Shockwave Wonder Weapon through Season 3. Fortunately, there are no lengthy quests attached to securing each upgrade. Instead, players need to memorize a specific location in every region besides Sanatorium. Once they are there, all they need to do is swap their regular DIE ammo for the location’s special upgrade. The locations for the ammo types are as follows.
- Apline’s Ice Upgrade: Found on a frozen pond in the South side of the map.
- Golova’s Nova 5 Upgrade: Found on a silo with a ramp made of metal pipes. It is on the West side of the map.
- Ruka’s Thermophasic Upgrade: Found resting against a tree in the burned down forest.
- Duga’s Electrobolt Upgrade: Found on top of the massive satellite array.
World Tier Skips
One of the biggest complaints about Outbreak thus far has been how slow the game is in its early stages. This is understandable, as Zombies are incredibly weak and slow-moving. The challenge and intensity of a match does not really happen until Tier 5, and fortunately, players can now reach high World Tiers faster. To do this, all gamers need to do is destroy the warp and exfil beacon as they are moving to a new area. Once done, an ominous sound will play, and players will shoot up two full World Tiers.
Ronald Raygun
Call of Duty Zombies has embraced memes in the past. Whether it was the Last Gen Richtofen jumpscare in Classified or the Coffin Dance in Die Maschine, some easter eggs have acknowledged ongoing internet jokes. Ronald Raygun is no different, as this randomly spawning Zombie is a nod to the Ronald Reagan memes spawned by the president’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War cameo. While players do not get the chance to play as Reagan in a Five-like map, this reference is a terrific homage to the meme. If lucky players can find and kill the pink-haired Zombie, they are guaranteed a Ray Gun.
New Vehicles
A small-but-welcome change sees some new vehicles added to Outbreak’s lineup, with the FAV and the Cargo Truck both appearing in various regions. The FAV is a speedy, car-like vehicle with a minigun. While the Cargo Truck shares this minigun, it is significantly slower, offering a large bed for players to lay in as opposed to speed. This Cargo bed also has the unique ability to carry Outbreak’s Escort rover, though this appears to be a glitch that could easily be fixed through a future update.
Weapon Unlock Changes
Weapon unlock challenges in Zombies have finally become a reality in Season 3. One of the most requested additions to the mode, this feature sees Zombies players having the ability to unlock every post-launch weapon by exclusively playing Survival or Outbreak. Previously, grinding out multiplayer was a requirement to get the new weapons, something that many fans had no interest in. Now, everything can be unlocked in Zombies, including the powerful melee weapons that are typically a major chore to unlock in PvP.
Fresh Intel
Finally, new Zombies intel has appeared throughout all of Outbreak’s current regions. New recordings can be unlocked from the trial machine, while artifacts like Samantha Maxis’ scarf are seen throughout the maps. Audio logs for each faction can also be found, giving players more backstory as Treyarch sets up the next Survival map. While not everyone will be interested in gathering the intel, the 48 new collectibles should keep those that do care very busy.
While seeing no new Survival map is understandably frustrating due to to the lack of round-based content currently in the game, it is hard not to notice how much work has gone into improving Outbreak. These changes and additions deserve appreciation, and if the Outbreak main quest delivers some memorable story moments, the even more Zombies fans may start to gain interest in the experimental mode.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.