Ascension

"The risen dead have overtaken a Soviet Cosmodrome and all Hell has broken loose. The countdown to the zombie apocalypse has begun."

- Level description/Mission Briefing

"An abandoned Soviet Cosmodrome where unholy creations lurk in the shadows, and dark undead experiments run loose."

- Map biography

Ascension is the eighth Zombies map included in the First Strike downloadable content pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops. It was released on February 1, 2011 on the Xbox 360, March 3 on the PlayStation 3, and PC on March 25, 2011 for $14.99 USD.

A remastered version of the map is available in the Zombies Chronicles map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops III, along with seven other classic maps.

Overview
Ascension takes place in an abandoned Soviet Cosmodrome. The map features Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, Takeo Masaki, and Edward Richtofen as playable characters.

Among the new additions are two Wonder Weapons, the Gersh Device and Matryoshka Dolls (replacing the Monkey Bombs). Double Tap Root Beer does not appear, but two new perks are introduced: PhD Flopper and Stamin-Up (In the Black Ops III version, Widow's Wine replaces PhD Flopper and a Der Wunderfizz machine is added).

A new enemy, the Space Monkeys, also appear in this map, replacing the Hellhounds and Pentagon Thief. A new Power-Up, the Random Perk Bottle is also available.

New Perks
Ascension features two new perks, both costing 2000 points. However, Double Tap Root Beer does not make an appearance. Each player can only have four perks at a time, with the exception of already having four and obtaining the Random Perk Bottle to obtain all five (now six) perks at once as viewed here.

PhD Flopper; located outside near the "D" Lunar Lander launch pad (Black Ops version only) that has the Fragmentation Grenades. This perk makes the player create a small "nuke" when diving to prone. The "nuke" will only take effect if the dive-to-prone would normally hurt the player (almost anything above flat ground). In addition, landing directly on top of a zombie seems to neutralize the effect of the nuke. The nuke kills all nearby zombies up until the round 20s. In addition, the player cannot take any fall damage and is immune to any explosive damage done to the player, including the Ray Gun's splash damage, damage when a launcher or the Mustang & Sally is shot too close (such as the M72 LAW, or the China Lake), fragmentation grenades, and Matryoshka Dolls. The player can still take explosive damage after a space monkey tosses back a grenade. The player can also overcook their own grenade without being harmed.

PhD Flopper Theme

Stamin-Up; located near the AK-74u, towards another Lunar Lander launch pad. This perk gives the player increased movement speed and sprint duration, similar to both Marathon and Lightweight. Since Ascension is a rather large map, it is more useful than one might think, especially during Space Monkey rounds where a player may have to get to a Perk-a-Cola machine that is being attacked. It can also benefit the player when running from Zombies. This is even more useful in Call of the Dead.

Stamin-Up Theme

Doors

 * Centrifuge Floor 1 - Door (750)
 * Centrifuge Floor 2 - Door (750)
 * Stairwell Floor 3 / Base Level - Door (1250)
 * Lunar Lander B [ Б ] Access Door (1250)
 * Lunar Lander D [ Д ] Access Gate (1250)
 * Lunar Lander F [ Ф ] Access Door (1250)
 * Pack-A-Punch Access Gate (1250)
 * Power Room Door (1000)
 * Power Room Gate (1250)
 * Pack-a-Punch Machine room
 * To gain entry to the Pack-a-Punch Machine, all lunar landers' landing pads must be used. Once a player has ridden all three back to the Centrifuge Room, the player can activate the rocket by pressing the button to the right of the power switch. After the rocket has taken off, the large door concealing the launch area will open and the Pack-a-Punch Machine will be to the right. It costs 5000 points as usual. Unlike Kino der Toten, players can stay in the Pack-a-Punch room for as long as they like. There are two barricades in there to make camping harder. Also, if the player shoots at the rocket and blows it up, a Double Points power-up will appear in this room.

Easter Eggs

 * Three teddy bears holding sickles are located around the map. Activating them all causes a song called "Abracadavre " by Elena Siegman to play. The locations of the teddy bears are:
 * 1) The Centrifuge Room. When the player goes up the stairs, turn right, and on the end of that walkway is the first bear.
 * 2) Near the Lunar Lander closest to the Stamin-Up is a gate. Under the red star is a teddy bear.
 * 3) Nearby the Lunar Lander past the Speed Cola, there is a teddy bear sitting on top of a wall.
 * There are Matryoshka Dolls of the characters scattered around the level. They will say something to the player when the "action" button is pressed, depending on who the player is. Each of the Matryoshka Dolls can be found in the locations below:Dempsey Matryoshka.png
 * 1) Tank's doll is on top of the flaming barrels directly left to the Claymores.
 * 2) Nikolai's doll is on the top of the shelf directly to the left of the Speed Cola.
 * 3) Takeo's doll is on the shelf directly to the left of the PhD Flopper.
 * 4) Richtofen's doll Is in the room directly below the Stakeout, and can be found on a large table in a corner.
 * There are three red telephones similar to the ones in "Five" scattered around the map. When these telephones are answered, a line said by a character from "Five" can be heard. These telephones will not ring until a specific event occurs. Once they are answered they won't ring again. To answer, the player must "use" the ringing telephone (This can be done by holding Use while the telephone is in the players crosshairs). Treyarch has confirmed that "Five" and Ascension take place at the same time, meaning the characters in "Five" were somehow able to call the characters in Ascension while fighting off the zombies. The phones' locations are:
 * 1) To the left of the lunar lander in the centrifuge room, between multiple fuse boxes. To make this telephone ring, either the musical Easter egg needs to be activated or the player must get ten kills (only in Solo). When answered, President Kennedy can be heard saying "Need some beans for the chowder here!", while also dry firing an empty gun. He said this in "Five" when he ran out of ammo.
 * 2) To the left of the power switch, through the chain link fence, down the stairs, turn right, to the left of the Mystery Box spawn point. This telephone rings during a Fire Sale. When answered, the player can hear Nixon fire a weapon (FN FAL), and howl like a wolf. He did this in "Five" when he killed multiple zombies.
 * 3) Located just to the right of the PhD Flopper/Widow's Wine machine. This phone rings when the player receives the Ray Gun from the Mystery Box. When answered, the player can hear Fidel Castro say "Come to me, the revolution dies without Fidel Castro". He says this in "Five" when he is downed.
 * A pair of car batteries found underneath a stairwell in the centrifuge/spawn room have a Cyrillic inscription "ЅРДЯКУ" written across the front. If transliterated, it will read "Grdyaku" This is probably a reference to the 90 second Death Machines players get for completing the Casimir Mechanism. (They have 'sparky' engraved into them)
 * It is strange how the "Ѕ" Cyrillic letter is used, when that letter is only in use in the Macedonian language. The batteries should say "ЗАРЯДКУ," since the "З" is equivalent to the "Z". This translates to "charge" which makes sense since it is a battery.
 * When the rocket is launched, it is possible to destroy it by using a high-damage explosive gun, such as the Ray Gun or the China Lake. If it is destroyed, a Double Points power-up will spawn below it.

Casimir Mechanism
The man speaking at the beginning is Gersh and is actually giving the players a mission to complete the node puzzle to repair the Casimir Mechanism. Once the mechanism is repaired, the players will each get a Death Machine that lasts for 90 seconds. This serves as the map's major easter egg and requires four players to complete.

Achievements/Trophies
Chimp on the Barbie (35 / Bronze Trophy ) - Kill a space monkey with a Fire Pit.

The Eagle has Landers (35 / Bronze Trophy ) - Use all three lunar landers.

They are going THROUGH! (35 / Bronze Trophy ) - Kill at least 5 zombies with the Gersh Device.

Space Race (45 / Silver Trophy ) - Pack-a-Punch a weapon before round 8.

Trivia

 * There is a teleporter that can be seen next to the Lander Ф station. It is a piece of the main body. It can also further indicate that the Pentagon were to be originally connected to the cosmodrome via that teleporter, but was never finished.
 * On the loading screen of Ascension, the shadows of the three rockets form the number "115", a reference to Element 115.
 * Outside the map, there are several storage tanks. On them is written "ЗАРАЖЕНО" and "КОНТРОЛЬНО-ДОЗИМЕТРИЧНИЙ ПУНКТ 'ДИТЯТКИ' ." In Ukrainian, this translates to "Infected" and "Control-Dosimetry item 'baby'."
 * A "Control Dosimeter" is a device used to measure background radiation in a given area.
 * An update changed the map's picture to make it look static filled and slightly distorted, as if viewing it from a television with bad reception.
 * Everything the player sees is in black and white until the power is turned on.
 * Ascension initially started development substantially larger than the finished product.
 * On the Ascension poster, Tank Dempsey can be seen holding a Wunderwaffe DG-2 and Takeo Masaki can be seen holding a Winter's Howl. However, neither can be obtained during gameplay.
 * It was believed that the bald man on the First Strike poster was Richtofen, but it has since been confirmed by Jason Blundell during an interview that it is not Richtofen.