Call of Duty Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Call of Duty Wiki
The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops III. The subject of this article appeared in Zombies mode This article was previously featured

For the group of scientists, see Ascension Group.
For the brainwashing numbers code from Black Ops, see Ascension (numbers code).
"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


Ascension is the eighth Zombies map overall and is available in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops III. First released in the First Strike map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, the map takes place in an abandoned Soviet Cosmodrome in the Soviet Union. The map introduces some new components to the Zombies mode, including Space Monkeys, which replace Hellhounds from the previous maps, and the first easter egg quest.

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[]

The Ultimis crew traveled to a Soviet Cosmodrome in 1963 from Group 935's Kino facility via a Lunar Lander to recover Richtofen's diary. The group also need to free a Soviet scientist from the Ascension Group named Gersh from the Casimir Mechanism along with the fact that they must face limitless hordes of the undead as they continue their journey.

Among the new additions to the Zombies mode 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 remastered version in Black Ops III, Widow's Wine replaces PhD Flopper and a Der Wunderfizz machine is added to include Double Tap Root Beer 2.0 and Deadshot Daiquiri as they aren't physical perk machines in the map).

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.

Features[]

Weapons[]

Starting Weapons (Black Ops)
Starting Weapons (Black Ops III)
Off-Wall Weapons (Black Ops)
Off-Wall Weapons (Black Ops III)
Mystery Box (Black Ops)
Mystery Box (Black Ops III)

Perks[]

Perk-a-Cola Machines

New Perks[]

Ascension features two new perks, both costing 2000 points. However, Double Tap Root Beer does not make an appearance in the original map in Black Ops. 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-clear-icon
Main article: PhD Flopper

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. In Black Ops III, the perk was removed due to the absence of dolphin diving and was replaced by Widow's Wine.

VoiceSymbolQuotation PhD Flopper Theme QuotationReverse

Stamin-Up Icon
Main article: Stamin-Up

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.

VoiceSymbolQuotation Stamin-Up Theme QuotationReverse

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[]

Main Quest[]

Main article: Casimir Mechanism

The Main Quest is Casimir Mechanism which involves repairing the mechanism and freeing Gersh.

Musical Easter Eggs[]

The song Abracadavre can be activating by interacting with three Teddy Bears holding a sickle located around the map:

  • The Centrifuge Room. When the player goes up the stairs, turn right, and on the end of that walkway is the first bear.
  • Near the Lunar Lander closest to the Stamin-Up is a gate. Under the red star is a teddy bear.
  • Nearby the Lunar Lander past the Speed Cola, there is a teddy bear sitting on top of a wall.

Miscellaneous Easter Eggs[]

  • 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
    • Tank's doll is on top of the flaming barrels directly left to the Claymores.
    • Nikolai's doll is on the top of the shelf directly to the left of the Speed Cola.
    • Takeo's doll is on the shelf directly to the left of the PhD Flopper.
    • 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 scattered around the map. Each telephone will ring only once during a match after a specific action is performed. When answered, one of the characters from "Five" can be heard. In the Black Ops III version however, the quotes are replaced with ones from the Ultimis characters when they are trapped behind the door in Call of the Dead.[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. [4]
  • A pair of car batteries found underneath a stairwell in the centrifuge/spawn room have a Cyrillic inscription "ЅРДЯКУ" written across the front. This is an easter-egg referencing developer Alejandro Romo (who is known by online handle "Sparky" or "SparkyMcSparks").
  • 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.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III[]

A remastered version of Ascension is available on Call of Duty: Black Ops III if the player has purchased the Zombies Chronicles map pack. The map has been designed to look very high quality while still maintaining the look and feel of the original. Differences include new better Zombies artificial intelligence, and futuristic Black Ops III-era weapons are now available in the Mystery Box and the walls instead of the Cold War weapons (although some do return in the box), as well as the original wonder weapons. Additionally, the Ray Gun Mark II can now be obtained from the mystery box. The characters are once again the Ultimis versions of "Tank" Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, Takeo Masaki and Edward Richtofen.

Quotes[]

Main article: Ascension/Quotes

Radios[]

Main article: Ascension/Radios

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

Ascensionleak

Ascension leak in the iTunes album.

  • 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.
  • The characters received a visual update with this map, looking more beat-up and covered in blood, with Richtofen also having a completely different outfit.
  • 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.[5]
  • 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.[6]
  • This is the only map in which zombie will try to dodge bullets by rolling over to the player or side stepping. This is not the case in the Black Ops III version.

References[]

Advertisement