How to get the Cold War Zombies Firebase Z Easter egg

Cold War Firebase Z Easter egg
(Image credit: Treyarch)

Looking for the CoD - Cold War Firebase Z easter egg? Once you've gotten accustomed to the Firebase Z map, you'll want to start working on that elusive easter egg checklist. As with other zombies easter eggs, the Firebase Z hunt will take you through a lengthy task list on the new map.

There are plenty of zombies to keep us occupied, and there's a new Tombstone Soda Perk that lets us return as a shadow and revive ourselves. It's time to put your zombie-slaying skills to the test in a new arena. Here's how to solve the Firebase Z Easter egg.

When did the Cold War Firebase Z Easter egg release?

The Cold War Firebase Z Easter egg quest went live on February 5 at 10AM PT / 1PM ET / 6PM GMT. You can hop in and try it out yourself now.

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All Cold War Firebase Z Easter egg steps: How to complete the main Easter egg

Turn on the power

After spawning in the Atrium, take out the zombies to earn points. It's best to hang around here for a few rounds to stock up, as it makes opening doors a little quicker once you're ready to move on.

Head to the Courtyard and unlock the first door for 1250 points. Walk through the doorway and go up the stairs on the left. Keep walking until you reach the Teleporter. This transports you to the Helipad area. Have a quick look around and you'll notice that there are three Aether Reactors, each marked by a star icon.

Charge the Aether Reactors

(Image credit: Treyarch)

Charge three Aether Reactors

Walk over to the Motor Pool and part with 1250 points to open the blue door and head inside. The Aether Reactor is located on a metal grate, through a doorway that leads you outside again. Spend 500 points to activate the first Aether Reactor. You need to remain in this area and kill zombies close to the reactor to charge it. There are two Collection Units (one on either side of the Aether Reactor) that you also need to protect from the waves of zombies. Once the reactor is fully charged, both Collection Units will glow pink.

Repeat this process for the Aether Reactors located in Military Command and Data Center. Bear in mind that you need a bank of points to open the doors leading to each area, and charge the reactors.

Use the Pack-A-Punch machine 

Retrace your steps to the Teleporter in the Helipad and head back to where you started. Drop down into the Courtyard, then walk over to the Atrium to find that the Pack-A-Punch machine is now active. Next to the machine, you'll find Ravenov, who you can briefly speak to.

Find Dr. Peck

Where is Peck in Firebase Z?

From the Village, head through the Teleporter once more and make your way to Mission Control. Walk down the stairs to find Dr. Peck in a blue room. You can talk to him through the window, so wait here for a few moments until he's finished speaking, and then go back to Ravenov in the Atrium. After interacting with Ravenov, he'll place his ID badge in the box underneath the window. Pick it up and prepare to venture further into Firebase Z's map.

Make the Truth Serum

(Image credit: Treyarch)

How to get the Firebase Z serum

There are lockers scattered across the map, each fitted with a keypad. You can use Ravenov's ID Badge to open these lockers and retrieve the three ingredients required to make Peck's Truth Serum. Here are the Firebase Z Truth Serum locations: 

  • Equipment Storage (Village): Compound S16
  • Engineering: Compound 36
  • Colonel's Office: Compound P65

With all three vials in your inventory, go to the Field Hospital and interact with the Chemical Mixer to combine the compounds. Watch out for the Hellhounds in this area, and retrieve the mixture after around 30 seconds. 

Grab the Agent Delivery System (the machine to the left of the Chemical Mixer), and head to OPC. Interact with the air conditioner to attach the Agent Delivery System. This starts pumping the Truth Serum into Dr. Peck's lab, which makes him more agreeable. After a while, he'll mention the Data Center, which is where we're heading next. 

Trap Mimics in Essence Traps

(Image credit: Treyarch)

Trap Mimics in Essence Traps

After arriving at the Data Center, go upstairs to find the Memory Transference Station. Here you'll find Essence Traps, an item deployed from your Tactical slot that's basically a Ghostbusters trap. You can only capture a creature's essence once they're weakened, so don't activate the trap before then. It's also possible for the Mimics to break out of the traps, but you can always head back to the Data Center to get more.

From what we can tell, you have to trap three Mimics that spawn in different areas: 

  • Motor Pool/Planning Offices
  • Colonel's Office
  • Scientist Quarters

After trapping a Mimic, return the trap to the Memory Transference Station and listen to the tape. Each Mimic will have memories of one of the three characters you're looking. So, listen out for mention of Sokolov, Brahms, and Zhabin in the recordings. If you trap the wrong type of zombie or a random Mimic, you'll hear secondary bits of lore until those run out and the machine simply says "memory corrupted".

Get the floppy disk & Aethermeter

Grab the floppy disk and Aethermeter

(Image credit: Treyarch)

Once you've captured all three Mimics, the Memory Fragment machine will spit out a floppy disk. Take it to the Planning Office and insert it into the Quantum Main Frame machine. That will open portal in the OPC (the big dome room) that will need to be charged with Aether Crystals. Talk to Dr. Peck, then retrieve the Aethermeter from the locker next to his office.

Get the R.A.I. K-84 Wonder Weapon

Get the R.A.I. K-84 Wonder Weapon

Before progressing further with the main Easter egg quest, its a good idea to pause here and get the R.A.I. K-84 Wonder Weapon, as you'll need it for a boss fight later on. The Wonder Weapon can be unpacked from Mystery Boxes, which cost 950 points to open. You can also receive as a reward from completing Trials, or find it in the crate after entering the Dark Aether. However, these drops are random, so there's no guarantee you'll unbox one on your first try.

We can also assemble the new Wonder Weapon ourselves. It's quite challenging as you'll need to contend with waves of zombies while hunting for all the components, but I've outlined exactly what you need to do in my guide. Here's how to get the RAI K-84 Wonder Weapon in Call of Duty: Cold War.

Grab the shovel

(Image credit: Activision)

Find the Firebase Z shovel

You can find the shovel  in the Scorched Defense area. This item is essential for the next step, in which you'll need to dig up the Aether Crystals.

Find the Aether Crystals

Now we're looking for three main Aether Crystals that are each acquired in different ways:

  • Go to Open Lot and use the shovel to dig up an Aether Container. This reveals several more in the surrounding area. Most of these crystals are actually mimics, so don't start collecting them randomly. You're looking for a crystal that's clean on the inside without any black essence surrounding it.
  • In Jungle Defense, dig up a golden Aether Cyrstal to trigger a  wave of zombies that swarm in from every direction. You have to stay in the circle around the crystal and survive the wave before collecting it.
  • This step requires the  R.A.I. K-84. Head to the Barracks and dig up the Aether Container in the doorway. This spawns a crystal that will disappear if you get too close. So, use the R.A.I. K84's secondary fire to freeze it in place long enough to grab it.

Power the Aether Reactors

Power up the Aether Reactors

With all crystals collected, return to the Aether Reactors in Motor Pool, Military Command, and Data Center to insert them into the reactors. After that, head over to OPC and you'll notice that the portal that appeared earlier has now disappeared. 

Align the satellite

Next up, let's pay the Planning Office another visit. Interact with the computer and use the R, G, E, and K keys to find the Requiem satellite on the screen, which is marked by a '?'. Align the satellite and Dr. Peck will begin talking to you. The huge satellite on Firebase Z will also send out a red beam. 

Boss fight: Orda

(Image credit: Treyarch)

Firebase Z Orda boss fight: How to find and defeat the Elder God

With the anomaly finally in play, it's time to fight Firebase Z's main boss, Orda. Interact with the terminal in OPC to trigger a cutscene. Orda will then spawn in the Courtyard. Focus fire on its head to deal damage quickly and take it down, but be wary of the other zombies that'll also be lurking in this area. 

Orda also has a few attacks of its own, including fireballs, and a powerful swipe attack when it gets too close. It's best to stand back and keep out of Orda's way as much as possible. After defeating Orda, a cutscene will play, indicating that you've completed the Firebase Z Easter egg quest.

Watch a full run here

It only took a few hours for NoahJ456 and his friends to figure out the Easter egg, and he's since put together a video guide outlining all the steps you need to follow to solve it.

Free Jugger-Nog perk

Firebase Z secrets: How to get a free Jugger-Nog perk

Sadly, unlike the Coffin Dance on Die Maschine, you won't get to see zombies dancing in this Easter egg. However, there is a legendary loot crate waiting for you in the Dark Aether, and claiming it is straightforward.

Before doing this, you need to turn on the power and charge all three Aether Reactors. Then you need to head back to the Atrium in the Village to speak to Ravenov. While you're here, make sure that the Pack-A-Punch machine is active and ready to use.

Walk up the stairs in the Atrium, walk past the hole in the wall, and stand next to the junk piled up by the doorway to the Scientist Quarters. Stare down the narrow walkway at the stuffed rabbit toy perched on some furniture opposite and shoot it. It'll float towards you, and you'll hear a scream before being transported to the Dark Aether.

(Image credit: Treyarch)

The Dark Aether is filled with even more zombies, but you want to focus on finding and shooting three more rabbit toys here. The toys will be floating in the air and they also glow bright pink, so it won't take long to spot them. 

After eliminating all three, a golden box will spawn on the floor. Loot the contents and you'll automatically be teleported back to the main map. It's possible to unbox a RAI K-84 Wonder Weapon from the crate, but it's not a definite drop, unlike the perk which is guaranteed.

Here are the possible legendary loot crate rewards:

  • Jugger-Nog perk
  • RAI K-84 Wonder Weapon/ M82
  • Cymbal Monkey
  • High-Grade Salvage 
  • Salvage
  • Stun Grenades
  • Calling Card: Full Tour

Tombstone Soda Perk

(Image credit: Treyarch)

Cold War Tombstone Soda Perk: How to get it

The Tombstone Soda Perk allows you to revive yourself and later retrieve your items if you're downed on the Firebase Z map. You can buy the Tombstone Soda Perk for 2500 points at a dedicated machine next to the blue gate in the Helipad area. Remember, you need to use the Teleporter to visit this location.

Drink the soda while you're still alive and kicking, then if you're downed by a wave of zombies, you have the chance to create a Tombstone Shadow while you're bleeding out. This respawns you as a shadow with your guns so that you can run over to your body and revive yourself. You're on a strict time limit while in your shadow form, so try not to waste time and return to your body as quickly as possible.

These are the Tombstone Soda Perk upgrades:

  • Tier 1: Regenerate health while in shadow form.
  • Tier 2: Increase the bleeding out timer to 60 seconds (from 30 seconds).
  • Tier 3 (Co-op): Leave a Tombstone when you die. Retrieve your weapons and items from it when you respawn.
Emma Matthews

As PC Gamer's guides writer, Emma is usually juggling several games at once. She loves competitive first-person shooters like CS:GO and Call of Duty, but she always has time for a few rounds of Hearthstone. She's happiest when she's rescuing pugs in Spelunky 2.