Power-Ups (Zombies)

Power-Ups are features in every Nazi Zombies map that help the player(s). Power-Ups are dropped by zombies, hellhounds, the teleporters in Der Riese or in one of the teleporter rooms in Kino der Toten randomly. There are eight main Power-Ups; Insta-Kill, Double Points, Max Ammo, and the Nuke, which were introduced in Nacht der Untoten. Carpenter was added in Der Riese, while Fire Sale, Bonfire Sale, and Death Machine were introduced in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Each has a different and useful effect to the players. Each power up's icon is gold (Except the Death Machine; it's blue) with a green outline and floating. The icon will blink when it is about to disappear. ALL powerups give off a whistling or humming nose when a zombie drops them upon death. Also, the demonic announcer will announce they have been picked up by saying a phrase that varies depending on the powerup.

Types of Power-Ups

 * Insta-Kill - Enables players to instantly kill zombies with any weapon. It is wise to get it as soon as possible, but do not be suicidal. It is called "Insta" by many players. The icon is a skull. On "Nacht der Untoten" (WaW edition) players are awarded 10 + 100 points for any kind of kills during the insta-kill duration, as opposed to the 130 for a knife kill, 60 for a torso kill and 50 for a limb kill they would normally get if Insta-Kill wasn't activated. In all Black Ops maps you will get 10 + [50/60/100/130] for [limb kill/torso kill/headshot/knife kill] respectively. It is recommended that you just use your knife during the time that Insta-Kill is activated to save ammo unless zombies are in a large horde. Also grenades become very useful as hitting a zombie with a grenade will kill it and when the grenade explodes it will kill all zombies in the blast radius.
 * Double Points - This doubles the point values for damaging/killing all kinds of enemies for zombies to Hellhounds to the Pentagon Thief and for boarding up windows. In World at War it does not apply to points earned from Nukes and Carpenter whereas in Black Ops it does double the points. The 25 points got form the bottom of the Perk-a-Cola machines on Der Riese aren't affected by double points on both games. The icon is a X2.
 * Max Ammo - Gives player's weapons full reserve ammo and refills grenades. It does not fill up the magazine currently in the weapon. If a player is downed, it will fill up that player's weapon and grenades while downed, but will not refill their normal weapons' reserve ammo. The icon is a box with an ammunition belt coming out of the side. It refills both primary and special grenades on the maps Der Riese, Five, and Kino der Toten. If a player has put down 2 Bouncing Betties, and thus has none in their inventory, it will not give the player new Betties. However, if only 1 Betty has been put down, the player will get a second Betty. In Black Ops this is not the case. Max Ammo is guaranteed to drop off of the last Hellhound of a Hellhound round, or the first Zombie of the next round.
 * Nuke - Kills all zombies on the map at the time of detonation and gives 400 points to every player in the game except in Nacht Der Untoten (WaW version). If double points is active, it will gives 800. Any unspawned zombies in the round will not be affected, and the round will continue after the bombs use, it will end if the zombies on the map are the last in the round. You should get it as soon as possible but do not be suicidal. The icon is in the image of the 'Fat Man' bomb dropped on Hiroshima. A deep voice also says "Kaboom". It does not kill as many zombies in the Black Ops zombies compared to the World at War zombies. Only some of the zombies "scheduled for death" will die instantly upon the activation of the nuke, the rest will die in sequence shortly after from their heads exploding, it should be noted that these zombies cannot attack the player, and if left to their own devices, will approach the player as usual, but just stand in front of him shaking their heads until death.
 * Carpenter - Boards up all windows and gives all players 200 points if any windows were boarded up. There is a delay between activating it and getting the points; you get the points once the windows are boarded up. The icon is a hammer. Carpenter was introduced in Der Riese and has been present in all zombie maps made afterwards, including the other World at War maps in the Black Ops Hardened/Prestige Edition. The demonic announcer says something varying from normal, as instead of saying the powerup's name, it says: "Contact!"
 * Fire Sale - Lowers the price of the Mystery Box from 950 to 10 points for a limited period of time. Also makes the box spawn at every possible point for a limited time. Introduced in the Call of Duty: Black Ops zombies mode. This appears in 'Kino der Toten' and 'Five'. A 60's style rock and roll song is played during activation of the power up. The icon is a giant "SALE" tag.
 * Death Machine - Only appears in "Five" and Ascension. Grants the player a Death Machine for 30 seconds. It has infinite ammo and can be a significant asset in the later rounds. The icon is a bunch of small bullets, similar to the icon for the Rapid Fire attachment. This is the only powerup that emits a blue aura. However, you cannot revive players when the power up is in use, nor can you aim down the sight. You still can rebuild barriers with the powerup.
 * Bonfire Sale - Only appears in "Five". Does the same as Fire Sale, in addition to diverting all of the teleporters to the Pack-A-Punch Machine, regardless of DEFCON level, and lowers the price from 5000 to 1000. The only way to get Bonfire Sale is to kill the Thief before he steals anyone's weapons. The icon is a Pack-A-Punch Machine.
 * Bottle - Appears in Ascension. This power-up will drop if the player successfully complete the monkey round without having any of the Perk-a-Colas from getting damaged by space monkeys. Once the player obtains it, it will give all other players a random perk.

Tips/Notes

 * When power-ups are on the map, a distinct humming noise can be heard by players nearby.
 * Players can have more than one Power-Up active at once such as Insta-Kill and Double Points, however, if a Power-Up is active, getting the same Power-Up will reset the time left for that Power-Up to the maximum wasting any time that was left before the first one ran out.
 * Insta-Kill and Double Points are an extremely great combination, as you get easy kills plus the points of those kills are doubled. However, beware grabbing a Nuke power-up during this time, as it will ruin it.


 * There is an easter egg/glitch (confirmed on Kino der Toten and "Five") in which one player will go prone in a corner while another player dolphin dives onto the player that is prone. Both will be downed and the the little girls laugh will be heard. For the rest of the game, zombies will drop more power-ups than usual, so it is possible to retrieve 10 or more power ups in higher rounds. It is more likely that this is more of an easter egg because of the little girl's laugh and it is hard to believe that doing this could cause more power ups without it being programmed to do so.
 * The Max Ammo gets dropped by the last Hellhound that's killed although occasionally it will be dropped by the first zombie of the next round instead. Most players advise against getting it until all players are alive and reloaded. Ocaissonaly, pne of the first zombies will drop it after the Hellhound round that DOES drop Max Ammo.
 * Grabbing a Nuke can sometimes be a bad idea, especially if the objective is to save crawlers or build up points. Although the Nuke does give points, it is usually not as much as players will receive from killing zombies themselves.
 * Meleeing (or shooting at close range) will sometimes cause a player to grab a power-up the moment it is dropped. This can be a bad thing if (for example) the power-up was a Max Ammo and players hadn't reloaded their weapons or if it were a nuke and wiped out the zombies when a crawler was desired.
 * Grabbing a Carpenter can be a bad idea for several reasons. For one, it boards all windows making it impossible for players to get points from boarding them manually. It also slows down the flow of zombies, which can be annoying if something like Insta-Kill is in effect, where players want to be able to wipe out as many zombies as possible before it expires.
 * Insta-Kill may be a bad idea to get at the end of a round when the objective is to create crawlers, as explosions which would normally create the crawlers will simply kill them instead.
 * The Flamethrower is probably the best weapon to use during Insta-Kill due to it blanketing swarms of zombies in immediate death, other high-fire rate guns also excel and the value of penetration becomes immense.
 * Even if every zombie has been killed, the Nuke power-up will still give bonus points to all players.
 * It can be a good idea to use a slow firing weapon during Insta-Kill because it avoids wasting ammo.
 * It may be beneficial to throw Monkey Bombs before grabbing a Max Ammo, as whatever you use will be replaced anyway once you grab it.
 * On Kino der Toten, if a player kills a crawler zombie as it's crawling down on the wall and it drops a power-up, the power-up will not fall, but will stay in the air. If this happens, try to avoid killing the zombie from a distance that is not reachable by the player.
 * The power-up staying in the air can also happen if a player kills the last dog of a hellhound round as it jumps up at them. The Max Ammo will be higher than normal, but it will still be of jumping distance.
 * It can be useful to simultaneously get a Nuke and Carpenter. The Nuke kills all zombies and the Carpenter allows the players to get a break for reloading heavy weapons, or moving to a new place on the map.
 * An extended version of the Fire Sale announcement refers to the points as "dollars"
 * The time wait for power-ups gets longer each time one is picked up. Letting them fade until needed is an advanced strategy. This keeps the time between drops shorter until later in the game, when power-ups become more valuable due to the game being harder.
 * Always try to reload before getting Max Ammo.