Black Ops 6 Zombies: Reckoning Main Quest Easter Egg Guide

Reckoning is the final map in Black Ops 6 Zombies and is the grand finale of this year’s arc in the Dark Aether saga. The Sentinel Artifact has been brought to Janus Towers and both S.A.M. and Richtofen are just steps away from reaching their respective end goals. The choice of who will get better tomorrow is in your hands. Will you get revenge or try to rectify the mistakes of the past? What else does the Dark Aether hold? Players who want to see what’s next for the long-running gamemode and story will need to complete this map’s Easter Egg Quest. This guide will show players how to complete the Reckoning Main Quest Easter Egg in Black Ops 6 Zombies.

How to Complete the Reckoning Main Quest Easter Egg in Black Ops 6 Zombies

Before starting your run at the Main Quest Easter Egg, it’s important that I lay out a few things you should make sure you equip in the pre-game lobby. You will want to make sure you have some good Augments equipped to your Perks and Field Upgrade to make the game and especially the final boss fight easier.

Juggernog is a Perk you are going to get every game of Reckoning, not just when you’re running the Easter Egg. The Probiotic Major Augment for Juggernog is one of the most important ones for you to get an extra 50 HP. Deadshot Daiquiri is also a great choice to get extra damage on those critical attacks. Use the Dead Head Major Augment to get even more critical damage and the Dead Break Minor Augment to increase damage to armor plates.

Both of the bosses rely on projectile attacks that you will need to be quick on your feet to avoid. Along with a lot of super-sprinting Zombies acting as her adds in the battle, the Stamin-Up perk is really useful during these fights. This perk is already great for increasing your movement speed but the right augments can make this perk invaluable. The Dasher Major Augment will give you a longer Tactical Sprint Duration. Couple that with the Hard Target, the Minor Augment that decreases projectile damage while you’re tactical sprinting, and you will be able to run through many of the boss’s attacks without worrying about going down.

Speed Cola’s Supercharged Major Augment is great here since it will charge your Field Upgrade faster. Field Upgrades are important for both fights, but especially the Rictofen fight, so this Augment is really useful, making the perk a must-have even if you use a weapon that doesn’t need to be reloaded. For the Minor Augment, I suggest Quick Swap to increase weapon change speed. Whether you use the Wonder Weapon for crowd control and need to quickly switch to your other weapon to damage the boss or decide to get two powerful weapons to fight the boss and need to switch between them instead of reloading, this Minor Augment is great for both approaches.

Double Tap Root Beer Perk is also a great choice to double your rate of fire. I suggest the Double Standard Major Augment since will will provide double damage to all non-critical hits when using a bullet weapon. The Double Time Minor Augment will further increase your rate of fire, also making it a great choice. Quick Revive is great for making sure you heal quickly from damage. The Dying Wish Major Augment works well against the S.A.M. boss fight, but doesn’t trigger if you’re killed by Richtofen. I suggest the Equivalent Exchange Major Augment if you decide to fight Eddie. Any Minor Augment is fine here but I suggest the Karmic Return Augment if you’re playing co-op since it heals you if you revive a teammate.

PhD Flopper with the Tribologist Minor Augment is also a must-have since it will increase your distance and speed when sliding, allowing you to get away from the boss even at its max speed. These boss fights are all about constantly moving to avoid the Zombies and the deadly attacks from S.A.M. and Richtofen. This ability to slide far distances is great for getting you from cover to cover.

These last few perks aren’t really required but can both be very useful. Vulture Aid is a great get since it will allow you to get more Salvage and Essence while playing the game, which means you will be able to Pack-a-Punch and upgrade your weapon’s Rarity quicker. This can get you to the boss fight at lower rounds, which can make the battles a bit easier. You should get Carrion Luggage as your Minor Augment so that you get a higher chance of getting Salvage to drop. Your Major Augment will depend on which boss fight you decide to fight. I’ll break down the why each Augment works with each given boss later on in this guide, but you need to either choose Fetid Upgr-Aid or Smell of Death. Both give Zombies a chance to drop a cloud of gas, with the former Augment charging your Field Upgrade while standing in it, while the latter makes you temporarily invisible while standing in it.

Elemental Pop can also be really useful when dealing with the extra Zombies that attack during the boss fight. This Perk is especially useful when fighting Richtofen, since he will summon the robotic Klaus enemies. Equip the Vulnera Bean Minor Augment, which will do extra elemental weakness damage to enemies. Finally, Death Perception, despite its lackluster reputation, can be useful when you equip the Death Stare Major Augment. This Augment will give you a chance to do massive damage when an enemy gets low on health.

When it comes to your Field Upgrade, Aether Shroud is, as always, a great choice but it is basically a necessity against the Richtofen boss fight. Frenzied Guard is also useful in the S.A.M. fight. I will delve more into these Field Upgrades when discussing tips for each boss. Just know that if you want to use Aether Shroud for S.A.M., you can use either the Extra Charge or Extension Minor Augments. For Richtofen, equip the Extension Minor Augment as it is required for taking down this boss’s second phase. should use the Burst Dash Major Augment in solo and the Group Shroud Major Augment in co-op.

Head to Sublevel 10 and Repair the Particle Accelerator

To get to the Pack-a-Punch, you will need to make your way to the top floor of Tower 1, known as the Executive Suite. To do this, you will need to make your way to either of the doors that are at the east and west ends of the T1 Reception Area. These doors lead to Aether Elevators and get you to the second or third floor of the tower. The easter elevator goes to Mutant Research and the other goes to Quantum Computing.

Whichever way you go, buy the next door and make your way to the Anti-Gravity Launcher that is facing Tower 2. No matter which one you use, you will end up in Android Assembly. Go to the elevator on the opposite side of this area to find another Aether Elevator. This one leads to The Dark Entity Containment.

Use the Anti-Gravity Launcher from Entity Containment to reach T1 Executive Suite. Go to the top of the stairs and buy your way into the Director’s Office.

On the corner of the desk is the iconic snowglobe depicting the Agarthan House from Black Ops 3. Interact with it to reveal a button and open a secret passage that reveals a teleporter.

The teleporter takes you to T2 Sublevel 10. GO into the control room across from the teleporter to find a lever. Interact with the lever to restore power to the Particle Accelerator.

After a short delay, the Particle Accelerator will start, but you will need to destroy 12 Aetherium Crystals found around the room. Go to each objective marker to find 3 crystals. You can destroy them with any weapon.

Once all the crystals are destroyed, the Pack-a-Punch machine will materialize and teleport around the room.

Get the Key Card and DNA Vial

After the Particle Accelerator is back online, go to the Mutant Research area in Tower 1. While in this area, a Zombie wearing a lab coat called the Geneticist will spawn. Kill this Zombie and they will drop a Key Card item.

Go to the west end of Mutant Research to find a giant tank with copies of Mary and Samuel, Richtofen’s dead family. While standing in front of the tube, turn around to face the doorway that leads to the center of Mutant Research. To the left of the door is a cabinet with an electric lock. Use the Key Card to open it. You will find a DNA Vial inside.

Gain Access to the T2 Teleporter Lab

Also in Mutant Research, go to the east end of the room and look for a small table next to a tank with a Mangler in it. Interact with the machine on top of this table to get a Syringe.

Take the Syringe down to T2 Sublevel 10. You can jump into the north end of the Particle Accelerator and you will become a ball of energy. As this ball of energy, make your way down the Accelerator’s beam. Along the way, you will see a floating Zombie body. Run into it and it will drop to the ground. Interact with the body to get a Blood Sample from Dr. Fowler.

Return the Syringe to the machine from which you took it. This will spawn an HVT Mangler that you will need to defeat. As the boss gets lower on health, a wave of Toxic Zombies will spawn as well as a Diciple, so I suggest having some decent weaponry before attempting this step. Once the Mangler is defeated, he will drop the Fowler Mangler Injector.

Go to T2 Dark Entity Containment. Go to the south end of the room and go up the stairs to find a door with an ID scanner next to it. Use the Fowler Mangler Injector and interact with the scanner. If you fail this step, you can now just buy the Fowler Mangler Injector from a workbench

When the scan is done successfully, the door will open and reveal a teleporter that takes you to T2 Teleporter Lab. This is going to be your hub for the majority of the Main Quest Easter Egg.

Build the Gorofex

Next is getting the map’s unique Wonder Weapon, the Gorgofex. This Dark Aether creature is required for the Main Quest and, while you can get it from the box, there is an Easter Egg that gives you the weapon for free. Head to the Mutant Research area of Tower 1. There are two monitors that are displaying static that you will need to look at. One is behind the tank with the copies of Richtofen’s wife and son at the east end of the map and the other is on the west side of the room to the left of the Deadshot Daiquiri machine. The static will eventually go away for a short time to reveal a word. Take note of the first letter of both of these words.

You will now need to take these letters and cross-reference them with the Periodic Table to the left of Richtofen’s family. Find the element that corresponds with the letters on the screen. In the playthrough used for the images in this guide, I got L and A, meaning my element was #57, Lanthanum (La).

Once you have your element, take note of its number and go to either of the staircases to the north and south of the Periodic Table. At the top of both staircases in a 3-digit number pad. Input the number of your element. If your number isn’t a 3-digit number, fill the missing spaces with a 0. For example, my code would be 057. This will open the door and grant you access to the T1 Bioweapons Lab. Along the east wall of this room is an incubator with a strange Cyst inside.

You will now need to feed the Cysts. First, you will need to feed it 3 Vermins which have a higher chance of spawning in the Bioweapons Lab. When the Vermin does appear, kill it near the incubator and it will be sucked up into it. Don’t try and kill 3 Vermin at the same time as there is a cooldown for the incubator similar to the Der Eisendrache dragons and Mob of the Dead Hellhounds. After you feed the Cyst 3 Vermin, you will then need to feed it 3 Zombies. Once this is done, the incubator will open. Interact with it to pick up the Cyst.

Go down to the Quantum Computing floor beneath the Muntant Research area. There are 3 Dark Aether fungi that you can absorb energy from. One is next to the door that leads toward the anti-gravity personnel launcher, to the left of the Aether elevator. The next fungus is through the door near the first fungus and can be found to the left of the anti-gravity personnel launcher. The last one is in the center of the room near the Speed Cola Perk Machine. Stand near these fungi and you will pull out the Cyst and absorb its energy. Drain the bar that appears in the top left at all 3 fungi to complete this step.

Before moving on to the next step, I suggest getting a weapon that is at least at Pack-a-Punch Level 1. You will need to defeat a mini-boss, so having some good weapons can be very useful.

Once you’re ready, go to T2 Dark Entity Containment. 4 consoles display the message “Initiate Power Surge.” You will need to interact will all 4 within a time limit. Go to the terminal near the Aether elevator and interact with the console to start the power surge. Go to the left of the XM4 Wallbuy and interact with the terminal. Then turn around and interact with the nearby terminal. Finally, interact with the last terminal near the Stamin-Up Perk Machine.

This will charge the Forsaken containment chamber and an Uber Klaus will spawn. Destroy the shield generators on both of its shoulders and then lead the enemy to the electric pad in front of the Forsaken’s containment chamber. The Cold War antagonist will then be channeled into the Uber Klaus.

The Forsaken is just a stronger Uber Klaus so you will just need to beat it the same way you would against the normal variant. Target the shield generators and then break the boss’s armor by targeting its arms. When you do enough damage to the large body, a Klaus core will eject. Take out this smaller robot to bring down the Forsaken. When the Forsaken is defeated, a purple orb will be left where his body was.

Interact with the orb and you will place the Cyst into it. This will create the Gorgofex Wonder Weapon which you can now pick and wield against the undead hordes. You can also upgrade the weapon into either the Gorgofex C or the Gorgofex N. While this isn’t required for the Easter Egg, upgrading the gun can make it more useful as you fight the more difficult challenges later on in the quest.

Repair the Teleporter

Now that you have the Wonder Weapon and have T2 Teleporter Lab open, you can start to repair the teleporter found in the lab. To do this, you will need to complete several steps but you can do any of the next few steps in any order.

Rebuild Klaus and Power the Teleporter Room

You can find a limbless Klaus robot suspended in a workstation near the anti-gravity personnel launcher that connects to T1 Quantum Computing. You will need to find two Klaus Arms and two Klaus Legs to repair Klaus

To get the Klaus Arms, you need to face off against the Klaus enemies that you see during Max Ammo special rounds. Shoot the robot in the arm and then allow them to explode. This will lead them to drop an arm. During the first Max Ammo round, only one arm can drop. Anytime after this round, two arms can be dropped in a round.

IMPORTANT TIP: During the Forsaken fight during the Gorgofex unlock quest, several Klauses will spawn alongside the boss. You can get an arm during this fight so that you don’t need to wait for a second special round.

Next are the two Klaus Legs. There are 4 spawn locations where you can find these legs with two legs spawning every game.

One location is in an open door to the right of the anti-gravity personnel launcher that connects to the Quantum Computing.

Another leg is found on the ground behind a broken mirror to the left of the 2-Plate Vest.

Go to the southeast corner of the Android Assembly to find this leg on a shelf next to a door.

The final leg is in a pile of scrap in front of the Aether elevator that leads up to Dark Entity Containment.

You can interact with the remains of Klaus to put the limbs on his body. You will need to charge the robot with an electric blast from the Uber Klaus Elite enemy. You can charge the Klause before you attach the limbs, so if an Uber Klaus appears before you get two arms and two legs, you can still use them to charge the robot.

IMPORTANT TIP: An Uber Klaus will spawn after you initiate the power surge with the Forsaken during the Gorgofex quest. This means you can charge Klaus before the first natural spawning of the Uber Klaus on Round 16.

After Klaus is fixed and charged, he will start to hack into the nearby terminal.

End the round and return to Klaus to escort him to T2 Dark Entity Containment. Klaus will fly under the Forsaken’s containment cube. There is a S.A.M. Trial computer here. Start the S.A.M. Trial and you will need to complete a Kill in Location challenge.

After you complete the Trial, Klaus will go to the T2 Teleporter Lab. He will begin using the computer in the lab. This is the end of Klaus’s part of the Main Quest.

Get The Purple Brain

Go to Quantum Computing and look for a strange computer on the north side of the giant machine in the center of the room. You will need to hit this machine with Melee Macciatto.

IMPORTANT TIP: You are given Melee Macciatto during the Melee Kill S.A.M. Trial for a brief period of time. You can use this temporary Perk to open this computer instead of buy it. Use the S.A.M. Trial computers every time they appear to try and get this free Perk and open the computer while saving Essence.

When you hit the machine, it will reveal a purple brain inside. Interact with it to pick up the purple brain. You will have a short time limit to run the brain all the way to the T2 Teleporter Lab.

When you reach the lab, interact with the machine that looks exactly like the one you took the brain from. You can find it to the left of Klaus on the computer.

Clear the Crystals from the Teleporter

You can only destroy the Crystals lining the teleporter in the lab with an overcharged shot from your Gorgofex. To do this, you will need to reboot the Particle Accelerator and charge a machine to overload your weapon. To reboot the Particle Accelerator, you will need to enter a 4-digit code into a computer found in the Teleporter Lab.

To figure out this code, you will need to find some files that catalog items that belonged to Maxis. There are a total of 6 folders, with each one having a spawn location in the T1 Executive Suites. There is also one spawn location in the T2 Teleporter Lab. 4 total folders will spawn each game, 3 in the Executive Suites and 1 in the Teleporter Lab.

Sam’s BND Badge Folder is found on a small table along the west wall of the cafe.

Notso’s Collar can be found on the white table beneath the projector in the lounge.

The Scarf can be found on The Director’s Desk in his office.

The Wristwatch is on a long wodden table in the middle of the cafe.

The Combat Goggles can be found on a shelf in the lounge to the left of the door that leads to the Director’s office.

The Katana can be found on the table outside the Director’s Office.

The last possible location that a folder can spawn is in T2 Teleporter Lab on a terminal right in front of the teleporter that connects the lab back to Dark Entity Containment.

You will need to find the 4 folders that spawn in your game and organize them from oldest to newest. By interacting with them, you will see each of them is numbered and has a date attached to it. Take these numbers and put them in order to find the code for the computer. Here are the numbers for each file and the order which their dates come in.

• 6. BND Badge – 6/28/1985
• 1. Notso’s Collar – 7/15/1985
• 3. Scarf – 8/21/1985
• 4. Wristwatch – 9/2/1985
• 5. Combat Goggles – 10/12/1985
• 2. Katana – 12/8/1985

You can now go to the computer in the Teleporter Lab. You can find it to the left of the teleporter you use when you enter the lab. In my game, I had Notso’s Collar, the Scarf, the Wristwatch, and the Katana. That means my code was 1-3-4-2.

With the system rebooted, go down to Sublevel 10 and walk up to the same console you interacted with to turn on the Particle Accelerator. Go to the left end of this terminal to find a red button.

When you interact with the button, 5 Spectral Vermin will appear which you can only kill with the Gorgofex. Killing each of these Vermin will give you 200 points on the scoreboard you can see above the power terminal, while killing normal Zombies will only give you 10 points. You will need to get this scoreboard to at least 1000 points. If done correctly, a blue orb will appear above the device in the middle of the power terminal. Interact with it to charge your Gorgofex. You can now no longer shoot your Gorgofex until you return to the Teleporter Lab.

Shoot the Crystals on the teleporter with a fully charged shot of your powered-up Gorgofex to clear out the teleporter.

Clean and Charge the Fungal Head to Energize the Teleporter

You will need to move a mop bucket under some sprinklers to fill it with water. There are several locations that you can find these buckets, including the Executive Suites and Android Assembly, but I think the best one is in spawn. Look in the northeast corner of the entrance area before you go through the metal detectors. You can shoot or melee the bucket to get it to move. Place it under the sprinklers you can see in the ceiling near the center of this room.

IMPORTANT TIP: You can move the mop bucket right at the start of the game. Move the bucket under the sprinklers before you go through the metal detectors. The first time you go through the metal detectors, an explosion will go off, starting the sprinklers.

If you don’t use the tip above, you can manually start the sprinklers by going to a nearby barrier. You can see a smoke detector on the roof. Throw a fire-based equipment to trip the smoke detector and the sprinklers will turn on. For the spawn room bucket, go to the window in the southeast corner of T1 Janus Reception. Once the sprinklers activate with the mop bucket beneath it, you will see soapy water fill the bucket.

Now, you will need to get the Fungal Head of Dr. Hawkins. You can find this in a fungus in Quantum Computing. Go up to Mutant Research and look through the hole in the ground in the northwest corner of the central room. Looking through the hole. You need to shoot the fungus on a ledge above Quantum Computing with a fully charged shot of the Gorgofex. The Fungal Head will drop to the floor below.

Bring the Fungal Head to the mop bucket. Interact with it to put the head in the bucket. You will now need to charge the head with Zombie Souls. When you kill enough Zombies, the head’s eyes will start to glow. Pick up the head and take it to the T2 Teleportation Lab. You won’t be able to run while carrying the head and you will start to take damage after carrying it for too long, so get to the lab as quickly as possible.

Once in the lab, take the charged head to the teleporter and interact with it. This will charge the teleporter.

Get the Charged Kazimirs

Once you fully repair the teleporter, you will now need to power it. You have to find Vacuum Seal Devices that can be found in every room of the map in Project Janus containers. Pick up these devices and look for floating items that are glowing purple. Throw the device at these items to capture them. Then pick up the device. You will need to do this 4 times. The locations with the most purple items are the T1 Executive Suite, T1 Janus Reception, and T1 Mutant Research.

Once you have all 4 Kazimirs, go to the middle of T2 Teleporter Lab and look for the machine right in front of the teleporter. Interact with it to insert the Charged Kazimirs.

Complete the Lockdown

When you put in the Kazimirs, a lockdown will begin. You will need to interact with red switches found around the room. There are a total of 5 switches. They will turn red one at a time. In solo, you will only need to flip 3 switches, while any co-op game will require you to flip all 5.

Once the lockdown is done, the teleporter to Tower 3 will be fully functional. This is the point of no return.

Prepare for the Boss Fights

Interacting with the teleporter will take you to the boss fight, but before going into this encounter, you will need to make sure you have everything you need for either one of these encounters.

General Setup

Whether you decide to fight S.A.M. or Richtofen, there are a few things that you need to make sure you have to give yourself as much of an advantage as possible. Firstly, let’s cover some Gobblegums that will help in these fights. Cache Back is always a great option to get yourself a free Max Ammo, but it’s not as necessary as Shattered Veil since these fights do provide you with multiple Max Ammo drops. Field Upgrades are extremely important in both fights, so Arsenal Accelerator is great to keep your Field Upgrade charged. If you want to just get right to refilling your Field Upgrade, consider using Power Keg, since this Gobblegum will instantly fill your Field Upgrade.

Shields Up will give you a fresh set of armor and make it strong for a short time to make it harder for the enemies to downs you. Free Fire will give you unlimited ammo for a minute, so this can be great to make sure you don’t fail to take down a phase of the boss because you need to reload. Idle Eyes is also great because it will cause all Zombies to just stand still for 30 seconds, giving you an opening to just focus on the boss. If you’re playing co-op, Phoenix Up and Near Death Experience are great for making sure your team stays alive.

There are a few powerful weapons that you want to consider when going against both of these bosses. Just like previous boss fights, the AMR Mod 4 Sniper Rifle is a great choice for dealing massive damage. When Pack-a-Punched, this weapon gets a very quick rate of fire and deals massive damage. I suggest putting on a low-magnification Optic for quicker aiming and strafing with this heavy weapon. There are a few other attachments that you can throw on, but Rapid Fire and Extended Mag II are the main focus, along with the Optic. There are a few other attachments that you can throw on, but Rapid Fire and Extended Mag II are the main focus, along with the Optic. Another good option is the GPMG-7 with the Belt-Fed Magazine attachment. This will allow you to shoot the quick-firing without having to reload, guaranteeing you get the most out of the weapon.

The trade-off with these two weapons is that they are very slow and both of these fights focus on your ability to move around the arena. Some lighter options that are really good are the new ABR A1 and AS VAL. Make sure you have Extended Mag on these guns to cut down on the number of reloads. The Maelstrom shotgun is also great. Make sure you have Extended Mag as well as either the Dragon’s Breath or Rapid Fire Fire Mod to get the most damage out of the weapon.

Overall, I think the best weapon for these boss fights is the DM-10 Tactical Rifle. Firstly, this weapon has the special ability when Pack-a-Punched to shoot two times with a single button press: Once when you pull the trigger and another when you release it. With Double Tap Root Beer, the DPS you can get from this weapon. Put on a lower magnification Optic and Rapid Fire to get a clear view of the bosses as well as an even faster firerate, respectively. I also suggest getting a Compensator and an underbarrel to help with recoil control since the double shot and crazy firerate can make it easy to lose control of the gun. With the right build, equipment, Perks, and Field Upgrades, you will be able to completely destroy both bosses with this weapon.

During the Easter Egg, you will need to get the Gorgofex Wonder Weapon, which can be upgraded in one of two ways. You can get rid of this weapon when you complete the steps of the Easter Egg where it’s required to get another heavy damage-dealing gun, but it can be useful against the Zombies that help both bosses.

Whatever weapon you decide to use, your main damage-dealing weapon should be at Pack-a-Punch Level 3 and Legendary Rarity. If you stick with the Gorgofex as your secondary, make sure that you have one of the upgraded variants that is at least at Pack-a-Punch Level 1. You won’t be using this weapon for the boss fight, but it can be useful for crowd control against the hordes. And of course, make sure you have the 3-Plate Armor Vest.

While not needed for the fight, an unlikely Tactical Grenade can turn the tide of both fights. If you throw down the grenade and stand in the middle of the smoke, enemies won’t be able to see you anymore, allowing you to focus on damaging the boss and with the right weapon like the DM-10, you will be able to do good damage even if the boss is far away. When it comes to S.A.M., standing in the smoke while she does her massive laser attack will also allow you to skip her attack and get you to the damage phase immediately.

One final tip is to set up a C4 near the Full Power powerup statue found in Mutant Research. You can find this powerup on the machinery that is above the center of the room. You can find it om the eastern part of this machine near Deadshot Daiquiri. Put a C4 on a nearby tube. You can detonate the C4 during the fight to spawn a Full Power.

S.A.M.

S.A.M. has a special laser beam attack that, when finished, will reveal her weak points so that you can do massive damage. There is a small trick that can skip this attack. If all players in the game are no longer visible while she is shooting the beam, the attack will immediately end. This means that you can use Aether Shroud to skip this attack and immediately target her weak points. The Burst Dash Major Augment will also allow you to blast through the hordes and get close to S.A.M. as quickly as possible. If you’re playing with a team, the Group Shroud Major Augment is also great since you will be able to make your whole squad invisible and stop her laser with just a single Field Upgrade use. For the Minor Augment, Extra Charge is the best option since it will allow you to use your Field Upgrade more times before needing to recharge, making it more likely that you will have a charge on standby when she starts her attack.

Now, while Aether Shroud is useful for skipping S.A.M.’s laser, there are a few other ways to become invisible. We already covered the Smoke Grenades, but I also want to mention the Smell of Death Major Augment for Vulture Aid. Thanks to this ability to make you invisible to enemies if you stand in the gas cloud, a well-timed Smell of Death cloud can skip her attack and allow you to immediately get to the damage phase.

If you decide to use Smoke or Vulture Aid’s Smell of Death, you can replace Aether Shroud with Frenzied Guard. While this does draw agro from the Zombies, you will also get a full set of Armor Plates when it is used, making it very useful if you run out of Armor. The Retribution Major Augment will trigger an explosion when your armor breaks and can be a great way to get Zombies away from you. Use the Repair Boost Minor Augment to repair more armor per kill. If you’re playing in a team, consider the Phalanx Major Augment and Rally Minor Augment. The former will allow your teammates to repair their armor when getting kills during the Field Upgrade’s duration, while the latter will repair your team’s armor upon activation.

To round out our discussion of Augments, Quick Revive should have the Dying Wish Major Augment will provide you with an extra down since you will survive when you get down to 1 HP instead of dying at the cost of losing your Quick Revive. S.A.M. gives you chances to get a free perk, which means you will have an opportunity to get Quick Revive back.

Overall, I think the best weapon for this boss fight is the

Richtofen

Richtofen is by far the hardest boss fight in the game, so you will need to use every advantage you can get. As I said earlier, the strategy for this fight is built around doing massive damage to him while he is unable to attack you, especially during his second Phase. This means that you will need to use Aether Shroud. This Field Upgrade will allow you to stand right beneath Richtofen while he just stands still and do as much damage as you can as quickly as possible. The Extension Minor Augment is the best option here, as it will give you a large window to just dump damage into Richtofen. The Burst Dash Major Augment can help you get through the horde if you find yourself in trouble or if you need to close the distance to the boss so you can get the most time to deal damage to them. If you’re playing with a team, consider Group Shroud Major Augment since it will turn your whole team invisible, allowing all of you to stand below Richtofen and do massive damage.

To cover some specific Perk Augments for this fight, make sure that Quick Revive has the Equivalent Exchange Major Augment. This functions similarly to Dying Wish since it will give you an extra down, but you will need to kill a Zombie while downed to get instantly revived, at the cost of your Quick Revive Perk. Dying Wish doesn’t activate when Richtofen downs you, so you will need to use this Augment instead. This also means that you should make sure you have a weapon like the Gorgofex or GS45 Pack-a-Punched as your secondary weapon so you can easily kill a nearby Zombie if you go down.

Your Major Augment for Vulture Aid should be Fetid Upgr-Aid. This Augment gives Zombies a chance to drop a cloud of gas which will charge your Field Upgrade while standing in it. Since this fight relies so much on using your Aether Shroud, anything that can speed up the recovery process is helpful.

As mentioned at the start of the guide, Elemental Pop is really useful during this fight, especially with the Vulnera Bean Minor Augment. This Augment will deal extra elemental weakness damage with the extra Zombies that attack during the boss fight. With the Cryo Freeze Ammo Mod, you can quickly take out the Klauses and focus on Richtofen.

Select Your Ending

Once you are ready for the fight, interact with the teleporter that you repaired to travel to Tower 3. When you arrive, you will find a large elevator with the Sentinel Artifact in the middle of several Dark Aether pillars. Interact with the machine, and you will be prompted to help either Richtofen or S.A.M..

No matter which choice you make, the elevator will start moving. If you’re helping Richtofen, a wave of Zombies will spawn on the elevator, and if you’re helping S.A.M., Klaus robots will appear. The elevator will eventually reach the next floor. There are 3 charging stations around this floor that you will need to kill Zombies near. The first one is in the southeast corner of the area, the second is in the middle of the hallway, and the last one is near a window at the north end of the hall. Once all the stations are fully charged, you will get a voiceline and must return to the elevator.

The elevator will start to go up again. You will reach another floor. This time, there are several purple ports you can see along the walls of the hall. Some of these ports have energy pulsing through them, while some will have Aetherium Crystals blocking the path of the energy. You need to destroy all of the crystals to get energy to flow through all of the ports. There are a total of 12 ports. Once all of the crystals have been removed, a voiceline will play and you will need to return to the elevator.

Once back into the elevator, it will start to ascend again and beams of energy will be fired into the Sentinel Artifact. The elevator will take you all the way to the roof of Tower 3.

Defeat the Boss Fights

Once you reach the roof, the boss fight will begin. If you decide to help Richtofen, you will fight the S.A.M. boss fight, and if you help S.A.M., you will fight Richtofen.

S.A.M. Boss Fight

S.A.M. will descend through a portal. While you can damage her while she is coming out of the portal, she will quickly activate a shield, making it possible to damage her as she flies around.

S.A.M. has several beam attacks that you will need to look out for. Her most basic attack is when she shoots a series of bolts toward you. These blasts are usually directed right where you’re standing when they are fired, so its easy to just run or PhD slide away to avoid them.

Another major attack and the one that will pose the biggest threat to you is her spin move. S.A.M. will go to the middle of the combat arena and spin around, shooting out orbs of Aetherial energy around the rooftop. These orbs will linger on the ground and do damage to you if you stand in them. Your best chance to avoid these orbs is to stand in the middle of the map, directly under S.A.M.. She also drops her shield during this attack. This means you can do some damage to her before she starts to fly around with her shields active again.

S.A.M.’s big attack is the red laser. She will aim at the ground and drag the laser toward you. Stand behind cover, use PhD Slider to dodge around the laser, or use one of your vanishing abilities mentioned earlier to avoid this attack.

After the red laser, S.A.M. will stay still for a few seconds and open 4 ports around her central eye. Shoot these critical points to do big damage. When you do enough damage to a port, it will explode.

When all 4 ports are busted, S.A.M.’s central eye will become a weak point. You can shoot her eye even when her shield is active. When you do enough damage, her eye will explode and return to her original version. You will need to break all the ports once again to target her eye again.

When you get through the first quarter of S.A.M.’s health bar, a portal will appear and she will vanish. Just like when she appeared, she is vulnerable when she goes through the portal. Use this opening to get a little bit more damage before she disappears.

After S.A.M. leaves the area, a S.A.M. Trial computer will spawn. You will need to complete this challenge. If you successfully reach the Legendary tier reward, you will get a Random Perk drop. If you fail to complete this challenge, you will be given a Grief debuff for a short period of time. During this section, a Max Ammo will also spawn.

After the trial is complete, S.A.M. will reappear and her second phase will begin.

Her second phase is very similar to her first one. The difference is that all of her moves are extended, with her bolt attack getting more shots and being stronger. The major change is her spin move which now moves around the arena instead of staying in the center. This means there is a larger range of locations that the orbs can land. The best way to avoid this version of the attack is to go to the perimeter of the map and watch which direction S.A.M. goes and then go to the opposite side of the arena. She can still be damaged during this attack so take advantage of that.

After reaching half health, S.A.M. will vanish for a little while before returning to the arena to continue Phase 2. When you get her to her last quarter of health. She will go through a portal and you will need to complete another S.A.M. Trial with the same rewards and punishments as before.

When S.A.M. returns, Phase 3 begins. She once again gets extended versions of all of her moves, including a deadlier spin attack. While these moves are longer, combating them is exactly the same as Phase 2.

Just keep targeting her when she does her spin move and destroy her ports and eye when they are shown and you will be able to take down your old friend.

After taking down S.A.M., the crew will be teleported away by the Sentinel Artifact as Rictofen reunites with his family.

Richtofen Boss Fight

When you start the Richtofen boss fight, he will start as “Uber Richtofen.” This first phase consists of an entire health bar and sees Richtofen piloting a larger version of the Uber Klaus mech that you have fought throughout the rest of the map.

While having a lot more health than the normal Uber Klaus, Uber Richtofen retains the same moveset as the normal variant. The mech will try and close the distance by leaping toward. When close, the boss will throw two types of punches at you. One is a normal punch while the other sees the mech shoot its fist forward to try and hit you at a medium range.

Richtofen’s most dangerous attack during this phase is the electric orbs he can shoot from the mech’s chest. What makes these so deadly is that they will linger on the ground, acting as an area denial weapon and they ignore armor which means they do normal damage to you even if you are fully plated up. He will shoot 3 orbs at you and will usually lead his shots. This means he will read your input and shoot the balls of energy at the location that you are running towards. The best way to avoid these attacks is to change direction when you see him about to do the attack or when you hear the audio cue. Another great way to avoid this attack is to run toward the boss because if you get really close to him, Richtofen will end the attack early.

The main way that you will do damage to Richtofen’s mech is to first target the shield generators on his shoulders. When both of them are destroyed, you can then break both of his arms to decrease the physical armor on his body. The last place to aim is his cockpit.

As you fight Richtofen, he will summon Klaus Cores and Klaus Commandos to fight alongside him. He will even have an Uber Klaus arrive to help him out. I highly suggest targeting these enemies because they can also put down the electric balls, which can quickly take you down when a lot of them cover the ground, along with the ones Richtofen puts down.

If you break all of his armor and the protective glass around the cockpit, you can hit Richofen directly for critical damage. Doing this enough with a powerful weapon quickly gets rid of any remaining health.

When you fully take down Uber Richtofen’s health, the Director will eject from the mech and start flying around the arena with a Wunderwaffe as his primary weapon. This is a much deadlier phase and is the hardest encounter in Black Ops 6 Zombies, so be ready!

Richtofen’s primary means of attack is shooting his Wunderwaffe. If this beam of electricity hits you, it will ignore your shields and also stun you for a brief moment, giving him a chance to follow up and hit you again. When he is shooting this weapon, you need to make sure that you move from over to cover and do your best not to stand out in the open. Only take brief moments to shoot at him and try to watch for when he reloads the weapon to get some damage.

When you are behind cover or Richtofen can’t see you, he will start to throw out grenades. These include Concussions to slow you down, Shock Charges that will stun you if you run into them, and Blast Charges which can do massive damage if you trigger them. Do your best to avoid these pieces of equipment.

Richtofen can also shoot off into the sky, disappearing for a short time. Be careful when he is taking off because standing near him can quickly down you as he fires off his jetpack. When he returns, there will be an explosion sound. Look up into the sky to get an idea of which direction he’s coming from. He can do a bombing run where he swoops back down to shoot a series of rockets at the ground before quickly returning to the air. He will end his airborne attacks by crashing back to the ground, causing a massive explosion where he lands.

You will need tou use Smoke Grenades and Aether Shroud to dump massive amounts of damage into the boss without worrying about the threat of his deadly attacks. I suggest throwing down a smoke as he is ejecting from his mech to get some quick damage right at the start of this phase. After this, follow up with an Aether Shroud to finish off the first quarter of his health bar.

When Rictofen loses the first quarter of his health, he will fly up into the sky and disappear for a long time. While he might appear to do a rare bombing run, your main threat here is a horde of Zombies with Richtofen not really being a presence for a few minutes. Use this time to kill Zombies and use the Fetid Upgr-Aid gas from Vulture Aid to recharge your Aether Shroud. You will also get a Max Ammo during this section so grab that to resupply.

Richtofen will eventually crash back down to the arena to start Phase 2, which includes the same attacks as before but they are just stronger and faster. Throw a Smoke Grenade right as he crashes back down and do as much damage as possible. When the smoke wears off, pop Ather Shroud and continue to do damage. If the phase still hasn’t ended, you can either activate the C4 or use the Power Keg Gobblegum to get a free Full Power, which should give you enough time to end the phase with another Aether Shroud.

When you get his health bar down to its final quarter, Richtofen will fly away again and you will repeat the Zombie horde section to give yourself another chance to refill your Field Upgrade. When Richtofen returns, use your Smoke Grenades and Aether Shroud to get through this last bit of health and you will finally take down the Director.

Just like in the S.A.M. ending, the crew is teleported away by the Sentinel Artifact. With the power of the Artifact, S.A.M. is able to construct a physical body for herself and becomes the “real” Samantha Maxis.

The End of Black Ops 6 Zombies

No matter what ending you choose, another cutscene will play where the Terminus crew is sent into the Dark Aether. Here, they meet some familiar faces to set the stage for Black Ops 7 Zombies.

Now you can complete the Reckoning Main Quest Easter Egg in Black Ops 6 Zombies. Stay tuned to Gameranx for more news, updates, and guides for Black Ops 6 as well as other great games in the future.