Ray Gun

"I don't know who Ray is, but his gun rips!"

- Tank Dempsey after picking up the Ray Gun in Nazi Zombies

The Ray Gun appears in the single player mission "Little Resistance" and every zombie map. The Ray Gun is one of the most powerful weapons in the game, but is not available outside of these minimal appearances without the use of cheats or mods. It is unknown why the game producers put this in the game, but it is most likely for fun. The Ray Gun's appearance is of a generic '50s Science-Fiction film ray gun.

The Ray Gun is often the most favored weapon in Nazi Zombies due to its one-hit kill strength (up to about round 17 even when pack a punched) and its splash damage. Although it is less effective at long ranges (as the 'ray' moves slower than a bullet, but still quickly), it's pinpoint accurate - meaning that the player should aim his shots carefully. The Ray Gun can hold 20 shots inside its magazine, which is, strangely, stuck into the barrel (the magazine seems to be two batteries stuck into the barrel). Since most people tend to fire one shot at a time while using the Ray Gun, reloading won't be too frequent, and plus, reloading only takes about two seconds when you have Speed Cola and three seconds if you don't.

A document from Vbush reveals more about the Ray Gun. In it, it is revealed that the ray gun is powered by element 115, which must be contained in the battery inserted into the gun. The Ray Gun was created by Dr. Maxis and H. Porter was currently developing the second model at the time of the document. Max Porter is the real-life creator of the Ray Gun at Treyarch, and the pack-a-punched version bears his name.

Finding the Ray Gun
The Ray Gun can only be found in the Mystery Box. Using the Mystery box costs 950 points. In Shi No Numa and Der Riese it is more common at later levels (15+), however on Nacht Der Untoten, it is more common on lower levels. The only maps guaranteed to get the ray gun are maps such as Anzio and others for the computer. See Mystery Box for a more in-depth explanation.

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. Starting from the far right side, there are three puddles. Jump into (and then out of) these in order (right, middle, left), until the player reaches the last puddle. Stay in this puddle for a while and look towards the tree line. After a while, the ground will shake and a deep, garbled, voice speaks. Contrary to popular belief, the voice is not Japanese. Four Shisa statues will arise from the ground holding a ray gun. The ray gun has a laser-cross-hair sight, comparable to the Red Dot Sight from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The gun the player is given has maximum ammo, and the player can come back to the statues and get a new gun an unlimited amount of times. It can be used to destroy the tanks (2 shots) at the end of Little Resistance instead of calling an air strike. Due to it being a pistol, many people believe this weapon to be semi-automatic. However, holding down the fire button shows that it is in fact fully automatic, meaning it can be very efficient at killing zombies and Japanese alike.

On the iPhone
The Ray Gun also makes an appearance in the Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies app for the iPhone with a few differences from its counterpart on the console. It causes no splash damage to the user and loses its one shot kill abilities much earlier, at about round 17. Along with these differences, it is not fully automatic on the iPhone, only semi-automatic. Obtaining it on the iPhone gives the player the "Space Man" achievement while using it to kill 100 zombies gives the player the "Laser Face" achievement.

Appearance
The Ray Gun is crimson in color. It has some meters on it, and it contains something that appears to be some sort of Red Dot Sight system. Although one exception to this is that it's not a red dot, it's a red cross-hair. The cross-hairs appear to rotate alternatively on a vertical and horizontal axis, as if they are on a holographic screen. At the back of the gun, it appears to have a cog-shaped object with three rectangular-shaped bars atop it. There is a large handguard in front of the grip, and some sort of gauge on the sides of the gun, directly below the bar that acts as the rear sight (somewhat), which has a disputed purpose. There is also a toggle switch on the Ray Gun, next to the gauge, which has an indefinite purpose, but it could be used as firing mode selector, like on modern weapons like the M16, and it is set to fully automatic. This is a reasonable explanation since this is a "futuristic" weapon. On the side, title "Blast-O-Matic", possibly the official name, can clearly be seen on the back under the voltage gauge. Some players call this the "Hair Dryer" because of its appearance.



Tips

 * The Ray Gun has "splash damage", and thus hurts the user if the blast hits a surface or enemy close by.
 * Players will often use a high powered gun such as a machine gun, then switch to the Ray Gun for backup.
 * If in Last Stand during a zombie round it's good use to defend the remaining team who may revive the user by shooting the ground repetitively, rather than using the ammo to kill random Zombies. The splash damage will kill any zombies attacking the player's savior, allowing him/her to be revived at less risk.
 * The Ray Gun can and WILL push the player back if fired while standing still, but most players don't notice it.
 * The Ray Gun will lose its one shot killing power around wave 35. If it is upgraded it will begin losing its power at around wave 45. Because of this it is best to upgrade other weapons first.
 * It can also destroy Japanese tanks in the mission "Little Resistance" with three to four hits (if aimed right 1-2 hits).
 * If one obtains Porters X2 Ray Gun, it will contain 80 bullets in Last Stand (because the player receives two pistol magazines when downed). Sometimes when all players have run out of ammo a player will deliberately down themselves to use this free ammo before being revived and repeating the process.
 * The user must acquire a Ray Gun in the Mystery Box, not from the wall. This means the player cannot get more ammo unless the pickup "Max Ammo" or another Ray Gun is received.
 * If a player upgrades a Ray Gun in the Pack-A-Punch machine, the magazine will double to 40.
 * There is near a 10% chance of getting a Ray Gun on the first time going to the Mystery Box.
 * The Ray Gun is always available in the Mystery Box, but players are most likely to get it at rounds 15+.

Pack-A-Punched
When upgraded, the Ray Gun becomes Porter's X2 Ray Gun, with the upgrade, the magazine capacity is doubled, spare ammo increased to 200 from 160, deals 2x as much damage (2000 vs. 1000), shoots red rays instead of green, and the splash damage is reduced, but the player can still see it. Also, should a player get downed with Porter's X2 Ray Gun the player will have a large amount of ammo to cover teammates. "Porter" is a reference to Max Porter, the person that designed the gun for the game.

The Ray Gun is one of the best weapons to upgrade, but as the regular Ray Gun is still more powerful than most upgraded weapons except the Wunderwaffe, it is recommended that other weapons are upgraded first. If the player shoots continually, they will be noticeably pushed backwards, as mentioned above.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The Ray Gun is available in Call of Duty: Black Ops, only in the Nazi Zombies game mode. While still being very powerful, the gun has a tendency to make crawlers on later rounds more often. Although this can be very useful, it can also create problems for the player, as the player may be caught unaware by them.

Trivia

 * It is possible that the Ray Gun is a reference to the Imperial Japanese death ray, the Ku-Go. Unfortunately magnetron technology at the time was insufficient to produce effective results, the microwave laser could kill a rabbit after being shot at for 5 minutes at a distance of 1000 yards.
 * Above the left-hand radar on the gun pictured, the player can see (in black) an alien firing a ray gun.
 * Because Dr. Maxis made the Ray Gun and in "Five" there is a reference to an alien in Mexico about the Ray Gun, the reason for the alien on the side of the gun may be because Maxis was trying to replicate the alien's weapon.
 * The Ray Gun isn't available on the Wii version of World at War, but is on the Wii version of Black Ops in Kino Der Toten
 * The Ray Gun is among the worst weapons to Reload Cancel, with a half-second delay.
 * Batteries seem to read, "Atomic Cold Cells".
 * On the PC version of the game, if the player lowers gravity, when they shoot the ray gun at the ground, the user will then be pushed up into the air.
 * On the front of a ray gun, there is a black flame design.
 * When acquired in campaign mode, a deep voice can be heard chanting, but it is not Japanese.
 * The pickup symbol is the same as the Colt M1911. This can only be seen through modding. Unless you switch the ray gun with a weapon in "Little Resistance"
 * The Ray Gun's third person appearance is the same before and after it is upgraded in the Pack-a-Punch Machine.
 * When used on Little Resistance the player can shoot a dead Imperial soldier and after a few seconds their skin starts to decay and and they look like zombies from Shi No Numa. This works best when they are shot in the face.
 * In Little Resistance the Ray Gun can destroy a tank with one or two blasts.
 * In Nacht der Untoten, Verruckt, and Shi No Numa, the electricity rays going to the front aren't there, however it is on Der Riese.
 * In the iPod Touch and iPhone app, the Ray Gun is Semi-Automatic. Also, in the iPhone version, the one hit kill ability is lost at round 17, and users will not suffer splash damage with this version.
 * On Little Resistance, if the user fires the Ray Gun at a barrel, it will burn a hole in it.
 * The Ray Gun is the first fictional gun to appear in the Call of Duty series and was the only fictional gun to appear in any of Call of Duty's Single Player Campaigns, until the Thundergun could be found in Numbers.
 * It seems early when the game was released the ray gun had a green frame not a red one. This could of been an easy notice if the player played Nazi Zombies more than multiplayer or Story modes.
 * Sometimes, if the player shoots a zombie in the foot or in front of them, it will become a crawler. However, this doesn't always work but is best done at a far distance, you may have a greater chance of getting a crawler.
 * If the player looks closely at the sights, they will notice that the front sight spins.
 * When the player switches weapons and the Ray Gun is equipped (ex. he had the Ray Gun equipped and switched to the MG42) the ray gun's switch is quite slower than other weapons.
 * In third person on the top of the Ray Gun, the Seal of the Emperor (also known as the Emperor's family Chrysanthemum) is clearly visible.
 * It is possible to carry only a Ray Gun in Little Resistance. First, the player swaps his primary weapon with the Ray Gun and then swaps his secondary weapon with the Ray Gun.
 * In Call of Duty: Black Ops, your first shot after equipping the Ray Gun will make the screen vibrate.
 * In World At War, the aiming reticule is red, whereas in Black Ops, it is green, red, blue, yellow, or purple.
 * The Ray gun is best used with an MG42 or Browning in World at War because when these guns have to be loaded you can swap to it fast and take out some Zombies until you can have enough breathing room to reload.
 * This is the only gun that appear in ALL the zombie maps, including Dead Ops Arcade, which lacks the M1911.
 * The Ray Gun seems to have three metal bars on the back, and the highest is used for aiming.
 * The Ray Gun no longer pushes the player back in the revamped and new Zombie maps in Black Ops.
 * It is confirmed as of Call of Duty: Black Ops via the vbush files that the Ray Gun was designed by the Japanese at the 'Rising Sun Facility' (possibly Shi No Numa) and the designs were taken by Ludwig Maxis to be built at Der Riese by the Germans, and the file mentions "a second generation of the Ray Gun under development by Porter", a reference to the Pack a Punched version of the Ray Gun.
 * If you have Juggernog with the un-upgraded Ray Gun, it has no splash damage in Black Ops. There is little to no splash damage with the upgraded Ray Gun.
 * On the zombies version of Call of Duty Black Ops when a player receives a Ray Gun or Porters X2 Ray Gun they will twist a knob on the side of the Ray Gun indicating to turn it on. However on World at War the Ray Gun is just grabbed and already turned on.
 * There is an unusable ray gun on a table on "five" on the bottom floor behind a window.
 * The Ray Gun in "Five" may have been secured from the supposed alien in Roswell, New Mexico. When John F. Kennedy kills a zombie or gets it from the box he will say "Just like at Roswell," and when Robert McNamara gets it he will say "Where have I seen this before?". This may be why the alien is on the side of the Ray Gun.

Videos
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Acquiring this weapon on Little Resistance