Ray Gun

"Do you like my glowing green balls?"

- Edward Richtofen

The Ray Gun is a wonder weapon featured in Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It is one of the most iconic Zombies features in the game, due to the fact that it appears in every Zombies map and is the first wonder weapon created by the illustrious Group 935. A direct successor to the Ray Gun, known as the Ray Gun Mark II, appears in every Zombies map of Call of Duty: Black Ops II with the Vengeance downloadable content.

Zombies
The Ray Gun is available in all Zombies maps in Call of Duty: World at War available only in the Mystery Box. The Ray Gun is often the most favored weapon in Zombies due to its ability to kill in one shot until rounds 18 to 22, or 22 to 25 when Pack-a-Punched, and its large ammo capacity for such a high-damage weapon. It is pinpoint accurate, meaning that the player should aim their shots very carefully, especially since it takes a small but noticeable amount of time for the shot to reach its target. The Ray Gun can hold 20 rounds (40 when Pack-a-Punched) inside its magazine, which is, strangely, stuck into the barrel; the magazine seems to be two batteries stuck together with electric tape.

A document from Dr. Vannevar Bush reveals more about the Ray Gun. The document reveals that the Ray Gun was developed by Dr. Ludvig Maxis of Group 935 and was based on designs seized from the Rising Sun Facility in Japan. It is powered by Element 115, which must be contained in the Atomic Cold Cell batteries inserted into the gun as ammunition.

Campaign
The single player mission "Little Resistance" also features the Ray Gun as an Easter egg. After using the first artillery strike, head onto the beach. Next, on the far right there is a puddle. Get into the puddle and then move on to the next puddle in the general middle of the shore. Then, just stay in the far left puddle about 10 seconds. After that, the ground will shake and then the player should hear a Japanese-like voice. Four statues will arise from the ground holding a Ray Gun. To get it, walk up to any of the four statues and then press and hold the action button. The gun start with maximum ammunition, and the player can come back to the statues and get a new Ray Gun an unlimited amount of times.

The player can get the Ray Gun as a tertiary weapon by holding the radio to get it. By doing so, the player will lose the ability to call the rocket strike. To prevent this, call a rocket strike then immediately get the Ray Gun from the statues before the radio hand-off. After that, the player should have three guns and have the radio back after the count. This trick can be done again if players wishes to acquire different guns by replacing the Ray Gun to other guns they do not have.

The Ray Gun can be used to destroy enemy tanks with two shots at the end of "Little Resistance" instead of calling an artillery strike. It also has the ability to distort dead bodies.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The Ray Gun is available in Call of Duty: Black Ops in all the maps in Zombies game mode. While still being very powerful (one-shot-kill up to round 15), the gun has a tendency to start making crawlers on rounds 18 and higher more often if shot at the legs. Although this can be very useful, the player may be caught unaware by them and blocked/surrounded. At about round 23, the Porter's X2 Ray Gun (the upgraded version of the Ray Gun) will start to make crawlers. Occasionally, the reticle when you aim down the sights can change colors from red, green, purple, white, yellow, and blue. One problem is that it makes a mere 50 points per kill, making it one of the worst weapons to accumulate points with. The Ray Gun, along with the other wonder weapons, is very useful on Kino der Toten, "Five", and Moon, as Gas Zombies will not release their toxic gas if killed with it. It remains relatively powerful at later rounds, but runs out of ammunition quickly. Also, the splash damage can be lethal to the player if fired at a zombie or an object close to them, unless they have PhD Flopper.

Call of Duty: Zombies
The Ray Gun also makes an appearance in the Call of Duty: Zombies application for the iOS, with a few differences from its counterpart on the consoles. It causes no splash damage to the user and loses its one-shot-kill ability earlier (compared to Call of Duty: World at War), at round 17 for Verrückt and Nacht der Untoten, and round 20 for Der Riese and Shi No Numa. Along with these differences, it is not fully automatic on the iOS version. Obtaining it on the iOS version gives the player the "Space Man" achievement, and using it to kill 100 zombies gives the player the "Laser Face" achievement. It also causes no aesthetic damage to zombies, and cannot make crawlers.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies
The Ray Gun returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies. It was not released with the game but an update added the Ray Gun on February 2. It can be found in the Mystery Box on Kino der Toten, Ascension, Call of the Dead: Director's Cut, or in Dead Ops Arcade as a power-up. It has many of the same features of the Ray Gun in Call of Duty: Zombies, the only difference is that in this game, the Ray Gun is not as well textured. One similarity is that the Ray Gun is not fully automatic in both games.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II
The Ray Gun returns again in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, again with a new look. Its performance is identical compared to previous games, however, it now seems to have a reduction in splash damage against the player. The Ray Gun now has a new sprinting animation and dive-to-prone animation. The only real difference between the Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops versions of the weapon is that it has a much higher chance of being gained from the box, as there are no other wielded wonder weapons available in the game, akin to the first Zombies map, Nacht der Untoten. Furthermore, it has received a graphical update. However, the Ray Gun does not appear and is not available in the Grief maps Town and Farm. The Ray Gun sometimes does not change colors when Pack-a-Punched. It may retain the original colors instead of the Pack-a-Punch skin on the weapon.

Porter's X2 Ray Gun
When Pack-a-Punched via the Pack-a-Punch Machine, the Ray Gun becomes the Porter's X2 Ray Gun. With the upgraded version, the magazine capacity is doubled, the reserve ammo is increased from 160 to 200, it gets extra damage through damage multipliers, it shoots red-orange rays instead of green, and the splash damage is reduced. Also, should a player get downed with a Porter's X2 Ray Gun, they will have a larger amount of ammo to cover teammates.

The Porter's X2 Ray Gun gets its name from H. Porter, the scientist that was working on the next Ray Gun model. He was trying to reduce its peripheral damage and apparently succeeded if the Porter's X2 Ray Gun is really the second generation model he created. H. Porter is a reference to Max Porter, the programmer that created the Ray Gun.

Ray Gun vs. Porter's X2 Ray Gun (Call of Duty: Black Ops)
Exactly the same as World At War.

General

 * There appears to be a writing on the back of the gun next to the "handles". On the left side it says "220 V~", while on the right side it says ~V 022.
 * H. Porter invented the Porter's X2 Ray Gun and also made the Porter's X2 Zap Gun.
 * The real life story behind the naming of the Porter's X2 Ray Gun is that Treyarch weapon artist, Max Porter, came up with the weapon as a side project.
 * The batteries read "Atomic Cold Cells".
 * The Ray Gun is the first out of fourteen fictional weapons in the Call of Duty series.
 * The Ray Gun, along with the Thundergun, is one of only two wonder weapons that appear in campaigns.
 * In the German versions of Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops, the Ray Gun is named "Beam Cannon".
 * When the Ray Gun is shot, the player is pushed backwards. This later appears in the Winter's Howl and the Ray Gun Mark II.
 * It is the only weapon that appears in all the Zombies maps.
 * The Ray Gun is always held with one hand in first-person whilst it is held like it is a pistol in third-person in all Call of Duty games it appeared in.
 * Upon picking up the Ray Gun from the Mystery Box in several maps, a small guitar riff heard by everyone in the game will play.
 * This is also heard when aquiring the Wunderwaffe-DG2 on Der Riese.

Call of Duty: World at War

 * When the player lowers gravity and shoots the Ray Gun at the player's feet, they will be pushed up into the air.
 * The Ray Gun uses the M1911's pick-up icon.
 * When used on "Little Resistance", the player can shoot a dead Imperial Japanese Army soldier and after a couple seconds, the corpse will be distorted.
 * In "Little Resistance", the Ray Gun can destroy a tank with two shots.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

 * In Call of Duty: World at War, the aiming reticule is always red, whereas in Call of Duty: Black Ops, it can be green, red, blue, yellow, white, turquoise or purple. It may change after teleporting, Pack-a-Punching it, or sometimes when reloading the player's other weapon then switching back to the Ray Gun. In Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies, it has a black reticule.
 * When a player receives a Ray Gun or Porter's X2 Ray Gun, they will twist a knob on the side of the Ray Gun to turn it on, as well as flipping up the fire-mode selector.
 * There is an unusable Ray Gun on a table in "Five", in the window on the right of the AK-74u.
 * The first-person model for the Ray Gun holds it with one hand, while the third-person model shows the character holding it with both hands.
 * The Ray Gun in the Nintendo Wii version has a different firing sound.
 * The Porter's X2 Ray Gun in the Nintendo Wii version is black and orange instead of red and blue.
 * When the Ray Gun is fired, the needle on the left side gauge will jump forward into the green section of the meter then bounce back. This is only seen when hip firing.
 * There is a Group 935 logo on the top of the gun. This can be seen by other players or if in third-person spectating. It can briefly be seen when switching weapons.
 * In Dead Ops Arcade, Ray Gun shots bounce off of walls.
 * When acquired through mod-tools in multiplayer, the killcam for the ray gun follows the beam, like it follows the tomahawk or ballistic knife.
 * In the Kino der Toten trailer, the Ray Gun uses its firing sound from Call of Duty: Zombies.
 * On Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies, the Ray Gun has no splash damage, yet still interestingly has the ability to create crawlers.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

 * The Ray Gun is said to be one of the most powerful weapons of the game via loading screen info.
 * The Ray Gun's iron sights are seen above the handle part, whereas in other Call of Duty games, the iron sights are seen below the handle part.
 * When the Ray Gun is fired, the cog shaped mechanism behind the Ray Gun will rotate, unlike other Call of Duty  games.
 * The Ray Gun cannot be Pack-a-Punched multiple times.
 * The Ray Gun, Blundergat, Ray Gun Mark II and the Paralyzer are currently the only Wonder Weapons in Call of Duty: Black Ops II that can be Pack-a-Punched.
 * The Ray Gun is Albert Arlington's favorite weapon.
 * In the multiplayer map, Studio, in the large trailer are some images that shows dual wield Ray Guns, a Sliquifier, a Vector K10 with a large scope and the Ray Gun Mark II.
 * In Mob of the Dead, if the Ray Gun runs out of ammo and the player attempts to shoot it, a beeping noise plays which can be heard loudly anywhere on the map.
 * Also in Mob of the Dead, when receiving the Ray Gun, the gun will make noises when the character adjusts its knobs, similar to its Black Ops version.
 * A player cannot have the Ray Gun and Ray Gun Mark II at the same time.
 * The Ray Gun receives a re-texture in Buried, sporting a more solid, glossy red body similar to the Ray Gun Mark II; the red, amber, and green meter on the side of the gun is more colored. It also gains a dark pistol grip, the neutron symbol on the top of the gun glows green and the cold-cell housing compartment on the upper receiver of the weapon will glow green instead of blue. When Pack-a-Punched, the window will glow red. This carries over to Origins.

Video
Video:CoD WaW 4 Ray Guns on Little Resistance Tutorial (High Quality)

Ray Gun acquisition in "Little Resistance"