While most of the fun in Black Ops Cold War‘s Zombies mode comes from simply blasting the undead away, it’s a complex mode full of secrets to uncover and upgrades to unlock. One of the most interesting is ammo mods. If they’re confusing you a little, here’s everything you need to know about how to get ammo mods in Black Ops Cold War Zombies, how to upgrade them, and what they do.
What they are in the game is a Field Upgrade that you can purchase. They essentially add effects to the rounds you’re using that burn, freeze or stun the zombies you’re fighting to avoid. The four Ammo Mods in the mode are:
- Cryofreeze – Deals frost damage.
- Dead Wire – Deals electric damage.
- Napalm Blast – Deals fire damage to enemies.
- Brain Rot – Makes a zombie attack other zombies as part of your squad.
- Shatter Blast – Bullets deal explosive damage. Each bullet has a change to explode dealing additional explosive damage and destroying any impacted armor.
How to Get Ammo Mods in Black Ops Cold War Zombies
You’ll be able to purchase them from Pack-A-Punch machines in the mode, getting them at whatever Tier you’ve upgraded them to. We’ll get to the upgrading part down below.
You’ll then be able to load them into your weapon and unload them onto enemies. Aside them the colorful ammo coming out of your gun, you’ll also notice the XP notifier you see when killing a zombie will say what ammo you used to do so.
How to Upgrade Them
Much like other things in the game, you’re also able to upgrade Ammo Mods using Aetherium Crystals. Each tier will increase the additional damage the mod does. Keep in mind that Tier 4 requires four Refined Aetherium Crystals and Tier 5 requires five Flawless Aetherium Crystals. Check out our guide on how to get Refined & Aetherium Crystals for more info.
Cryofreeze
- Tier 1: Enemies that have been slowed take 25% more damage.
- Tier 2: Enemies are now slowed for five seconds.
- Tier 3: Zombies now move at half their normal speed.
- Tier 4: Special enemies can be slowed.
- Tier 5: On a slowed enemy kill, the enemy shatters spreading the slow effect to 5 nearby normal enemies. (30 second cooldown)
Dead Wire
- Tier 1: Adds an electrical forcefield around enemies affected by the ammo mod.
- Tier 2: Stuns enemies for four seconds
- Tier 3: Doubles damage of Tier 1 effect.
- Tier 4: Special enemies can be stunned.
- Tier 5: On stun, arcs of electricity jump and spread the stun to 5 nearby enemies. (30 second cooldown)
Napalm Blast
- Tier 1: Does 5% of the enemies’ maximum health in fire damage upon initial impact.
- Tier 2: Lasts 10 seconds rather than five.
- Tier 3: Makes the burn effect deal 20% of the enemies maximum health, still lasting 10 seconds.
- Tier 4: Special enemies can be burned.
- Tier 5: On a burned enemy kill, the enemy explodes spreading the burn effect to 5 nearby normal enemies. (30 second cooldown)
Brain Rot
- Tier 1: Affected enemies explode when they die, deals toxic damage to others nearby.
- Tier 2: Enemies remain on your side for 20 seconds before dying.
- Tier 3: Doubles the damage affected zombies deal for you.
- Tier 4: Special enemies can be turned.
- Tier 5: On turned enemy death, the turned enemy explosion turns 3 nearby enemies. (30 second cooldown)
Shatter Blast
- Tier 1: Explosion also deals damage to nearby enemies.
- Tier 2: All normal enemy armor damaged by explosion is destroyed.
- Tier 3: Normal enemies damaged by explosion are knocked down.
- Tier 4: Explosion size is doubled.
- Tier 5: On explosion, 3 additional staggered explosions occur in close proximity. (30 second cooldown)
You can also further increase the effectiveness of ammo mods and their own upgrades by using the Elemental Pop Skill and upgrading that. Once you hit rank 41, you’ll be able to use Aetherium Crystals to upgrade it. The tier and their effects are:
- Tier 1 – Equipment damage could also apply a random base Ammo Mod effect.
- Tier 2 – Reduces cooldown of the mod by 20%.
- Tier 3 – Applies an Ammo Mod’s current tier, rather than starting at tier one.
- Tier 4 – Increase enemy elemental weakness damage by 50%.
- Tier 5 – Reloading creates an electric damage discharge that damages and stuns nearby normal enemies. The more empty the magazine, the stronger the damage.
Best Cold War Zombies Ammo Mods
The best Cold War Zombies ammo mod is Brain Rot. Not only does this turn the undead against themselves, but you can also turn special enemies once it’s increased to Tier 4. Its Tier 5 upgrade can result in massive chain reactions of enemies turning against their kind and fighting it out.
Our second pick would be Dead Wire. Not only does the electric-type damage deal critical damage to Megatons, once fully upgraded to Tier 5, it essentially turns any weapon into the old Wunderwaffe DG-2 from World at War. And what’s not to love about that?
Here’s our official ranking of Cold War Zombies ammo mods:
- Brain Rot
- Dead Wire
- Shatter Blast
- Cryofreeze
- Napalm Burst
That’s everything you need to know about how to get ammo mods in Black Ops Cold War Zombies, how to upgrade them, and what they do. For more tips and tricks on the game, including the Zombies mode, be sure to check out our wiki guide or search for Twinfinite.
