Know Your Terminus Zombie: Hordes of the Undead
“Give me a minute, I’m about to be up to my neck in blood, bones, and brains!” – Carver
Almost all the residents of the maps you visit in Round-Based Zombies appear to have gone through a horrifying transformation, becoming a rotting host, shambling into a crowd of walking cadavers, each with sunken glowing eyes now reborn with a relentless purpose; to hunt you down and consume your still-twitching corpse!
PLEASE NOTE! Consult the following Bestiary to learn more about the foul forms encountered throughout the Terminus map. Remember: These entities do not represent the full miscellany of Black Ops 6 Zombies enemies you should expect to face in the game.
Bipedal Shamblers
Visiting Terminus Island reveals the impressive variety of zombies you’ll be facing, with some clad in the remains of hazmat suits, Project Janus security attire, scientist lab coats, prisoner garb, torn rags, as well as civilian clothing. Bloated experiments, decomposed and mutated forms abound, and other more sinister variants appear across the rounds of horde combat. Though not a complete list of the horrors you’ll encounter, here’s what to expect to battle across Terminus.
Zombies
Zombies are relentless. They will follow you, crowding into a swarm-like horde, intent on your demise. If they can’t reach you to claw you to death, they rip a portion of their own form and use it as a revolting meat projectile.
Armored Zombies
These are a zombie variant that have protective coverings, and also take reduced damage from projectiles and explosive damage. Focused fire on a particular appendage is a possible effective plan here.
Heavy Zombies
Armored Zombies clad in greater protective armor and are even better protected from projectiles and explosive damage compared to their lightly armored brethren.
Grotesques and Tormented Horrors
Quite how scuttling, spiderlike human heads and bloated bile sacks with wings have evolved to join the zombie throng is yet to be determined, but be prepared to be attacked by eldritch things arguably more grotesque than a mere animated corpse!
Vermin
Vermin are large, spider-like ravenous scuttlers with a central thorax that seems to take the form of a screaming human head. Relatively weak individually, they become more dangerous in packs, and sometimes appear after “detaching” from a fallen zombie host: In a spray of blood, the head and some internal organs rip free of the skin and sprout legs. Keep your head on a swivel, lest you’re dropped on. Vermin sprint and jump to inflict damage, mouth wide-open with a wet growl. They’ve also been known to spit a caustic substance, but this is the least of your worries.
Vermin also have the potential to evolve into another form, emitting gas, elongating their skull thorax and changing into an airborne terror, the Parasite.
Parasites
Parasites are horrific flying creates consisting of a toothy head attached to spindly membrane-like wings, and a bulging sack of flesh as an abdomen. They seem to possess a level of cunning, preferring to remain at a distance, harassing you with a pelting of acid bile projectiles spat from the maw.
Manglers
A new Mangler suit variant has been greenlit by Project Janus, now armed with an Aetherium-augmented cannon and prone to extended bouts of primal rage. It is these bipedal tanks that now roam parts of the island, threatening all with a cannon that shoots multiple shots, and a vicious melee that anyone should steer well clear of.
Amalgams
The zenith of the body horror aesthetic, the Amalgam is a form of fleshy deviancy that until now has defied explanation. Roughly over eight feet in height, and retaining a general humanoid mass, this appears – to put this politely – to be the combined DNA of multiple individuals. It has multiple appendages, including heads, all growing from seemingly random locations.
There are limbs in places there shouldn’t be.
Nothing about this heresy of nature is quite right.
Amalgams appear to be violent masses of flesh and sinew, emitting bellows from multiple heads. Up to ten arms and five legs have been counted, and they seem to regenerate limbs previously shot off. They mainly try to absorb you (or other zombies) by stretching a cluster of limbs into a tendril to pull the victim into a maw-like chest cavity.
Though not witnessed, it is theorized that should an Amalgam be killed, it will spontaneously lose cohesion, exploding into sprays of blood, entrails and innards.
Higher-Round Hordes
For those advanced players hoping for a challenge, get ready to pull out all the stops and learn a few new tricks as the round numbers climb. Zombies start to move with an increased swiftness, from shamble to run, to sprint. It becomes even more critical to learn escape and circular routes as well as every zombie spawn nest, lest you’re hemmed in and overwhelmed in seconds. The horde itself grows as the rounds increase, as does the frequency of Armored and Heavy Zombies, Manglers, the more revolting parasitical entities, as well the grotesque Amalgams.
Players should also expect a higher level of difficulty in general when it comes to high-round play, as Treyarch has limited the number of Self-Revive purchases to three per match. Coupled with the risk vs. reward nature of Augments (rather than relying on five tiers of permanent Weapon Skill upgrades in Black Ops Cold War, for example), players will need to make some tough choices to plan for their survival compared to more recent Zombies experiences.
Terminus: A Living World of Terror and Traps
A Living World
Expect each Zombies map to come with ambient encounters specific to the environment. Explore Terminus, and you’ll encounter the last vestiges of Project Janus Security forces being pounced on and ravaged to death as the entire base is lost to a zombie outbreak. Body bags twitch on gurneys. Bloated corpses suspended in amniotic fluid twitch and peer out at you from large experimentation vats.
Tentacle Traps
Located across the prison complex on the main island are a number of ceiling containment shutter vents. These seem to be holding back an
Void Cannon Trap
After the fortification of the island in 1942, a 16-inch artillery defense cannon was left to rust in the elements. Recently upgraded and improved by Project Janus forces in an attempt to weaponize Aetherium, this battery now serves as a devastating trap, providing you have the necessary power, as the cannon now shoots out a beam, the muzzle flash acting as a singularity that slows enemy advancement, and pulls any zombie enemies that are present within the deck area beneath the cannon up into the beam before they are vaporized.
“The Tentacle”
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Or in this case, where there’s an alarming, choking, lightning-imbued cloud of toxic smog, there’s a monstrously sized, writhing tendril intent on capsizing tactical rafts. This worm-like crime against nature seems possessed by a proto-intelligence of sorts, spitting out a billowing spray of noxious vapors from its hideous, splayed maw, before quickly retreating beneath the waves.
Venture off the main island or into the water at your own risk!
PART 6: NEXT STEPS
Incoming Comms: Prepare for Call of Duty®: NEXT on August 28!
Call of Duty: NEXT returns on Wednesday August 28, 2024, and can be viewed live on either the Official Call of Duty Twitch® Channel or Call of Duty YouTube® Channel., or via your favorite streamer’s channel.
With developers from Treyarch and Raven on deck, and a host of other representatives from across the Call of Duty studios and community channels, Call of Duty: NEXT is the premier showcase for Black Ops 6. Get ready to learn more about Multiplayer and Zombies, as well as Call of Duty: Warzone™.
Pre-Order Digitally and Get the Reflect 115 Camo Pack
Pre-order Black Ops 6 today, and you’ll receive a variety of pre-order benefits, including the brand-new Reflect 115 Camo Pack for Modern Warfare® III, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile!
Pre-order the Digital Edition on PC to receive the following:
- Reflect 115 Camo Pack (New!)[/*]
- Woods Operator Pack*[/*]
- Early Access to the Open Beta**[/*]
Pre-order the Vault Edition on PC and receive the previous rewards as well as the following:
- Hunters Vs. Hunted Operator Pack[/*]
- BlackCell Season 1[/*]
- Mastercraft Weapon Collection[/*]
- GobbleGum Pack[/*]
Game Pass Subscribers are set to receive all Digital Edition benefits, and those who upgrade for $30 (or local equivalent) to the Vault Edition will receive all Vault Edition benefits.
Those players who have already preordered Black Ops 6 will receive the Reflect 115 Camo Pack automatically.
The Reflect 115 Camo Pack consists of the Reflect 115 Mastery Camo for use in Modern Warfare III, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile. In addition, you receive three Flawless Aetherium Crystals, three Legendary Aether Tools, and three Ray Gun Weapon Cases for immediate use in Modern Warfare Zombies. All content does not carry forward into Black Ops 6.
Additional Intel: Stay Informed. Not Misinformed
Misinformation is everywhere: Ensure you stay one step ahead with the latest official Black Ops 6 information by checking the Call of Duty Blog in the coming days and weeks, as we dive deeper into the game, along with Call of Duty: NEXT, Open Beta, and other important comms you won’t want to miss.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is published by Activision. Development for the game is led by Treyarch, in partnership with Raven Software. Additional development support provided (in alphabetical order) by Activision Central Design, Activision Central Technology, Activision QA, Activision Shanghai, Beenox, Demonware, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, and Sledgehammer Games.
The Truth Lies.
*Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III / Call of Duty: Warzone on the pre-ordered platform required to redeem Woods Operator Pack. Sold / downloaded separately. Must be redeemed by October 25, 2025.
**Actual launch date(s) and platform availability of Open Beta subject to change. See for more details. Minimum Open Beta duration is 2 days. Limited time only. Internet connection required. Online multiplayer subscription may be required.
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