- For other uses, see Damned (disambiguation).
- "A new world, a new enemy and some strangely familiar allies. Uncover the secrets of the Dark Aether's most dangerous corner and face the primordial power of its ancient guardian."
- — Mission Briefing
Ashes of the Damned is a Zombies map featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, available at launch.
Ashes of the Damned is the largest round-based Zombies map ever created, and is also the first map to be set entirely within the Dark Aether.
Overview[]
Ashes of the Damned is set in the immediate aftermath of Reckoning, which sees the former operatives of Requiem - Grigori Weaver, Elizabeth Grey, Mackenzie Carver - and their ally Maya Aguinaldo teaming up with new variants of "Tank" Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, Takeo Masaki, and Edward Richtofen to survive against the undead and the Great Voice. The Great Voice additionally serves as the Demonic Announcer.
The map has been described as the largest Round-Based map ever created, and includes multiple zones for players to fight in as well as fog covered roads connecting them. The map is heavily inspired by TranZit from Call of Duty: Black Ops II, including recreations of the Farm and Diner. Various new locations that weren't featured in TranZit also appear, such as the Parking Lot of the Janus Towers facility, a rocket launch site, and a floating pyramid. Power is restored to each location individually by clearing power pumps of spores and then defending them from Zombies.
Players move between zones using the Wonder Vehicle Ol' Tessie, an upgradeable truck that can be controlled by any player. Ol' Tessie additionally has the Pack-a-Punch Machine attached to its back bumper, and the map guides the player until the Pack-A-Punch is active.
Ashes of the Damned is also host to various new enemies the player must face, including the introduction of Ravager and the Zursa. Ravagers are small humanoid monsters that are drawn to and consume salvage and other dropped provisions. Packs of Ravagers are especially dangerous, overwhelming squads with relentless flurries of sharp-clawed wounding. More than just scavengers, Ravagers can also latch onto Ol 'Tessie and temporarily disable it if they damage it enough. They heavily populate The Fog, similarly to Denizens. Zursa are zombified bears and some of the toughest creatures in the Dark Aether. Driven by madness and aggression, it mauls with bite and claw strikes that deal heavy damage and wound players, temporarily disabling health regeneration.
Layout[]
Ashes of the Damned features six distinct places of interest, all connected by routes through the fog or the network of Jump Pads. All the locations are from different time periods, and arrived in the Dark Aether at different times.[1]
Janus Towers Plaza[]
The area just outside of Reckoning's spawn room in the real world. A triple-towered superstructure, violently crashed into a warped and hostile dimension. One tower has collapsed completely, while electricity sparks and crackles from severed power lines, arcing into the oppressive skies. The Janus Towers were built in Liberty Falls in 1989, and arrived in the Dark Aether in 1991.
Vandorn Farm[]
A reimagining of Farm from Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and host of the survival map of the same name. A once-idyllic homestead, now a horrific memory of one family’s descent into madness and ritualistic terror. The farm was built in 1920, and arrived in the Dark Aether in 1986.
Blackwater Lake[]
A cozy cabin on the shores of a lake that hosts of Pyramid floating above it. A drowning is said to have taken place in the lake, having left the area haunted.[2] The cabin was built in 1940 and arrived in the Dark Aether somewhere in the 1950s.
Ashwood[]
A frontier town sunken into a rift, overrun, and its inhabitants massacred in a war of a bygone era. Ashwood echoes elements of both Town and Buried from Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It was a frontier town built in 1820 and arrived in the Dark Aether in 1865.
Exit 115[]
A reimagining and expansion of Diner from Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and host of the survival map of the same name. Once thriving, this rest stop and crumbling freeway overpass was torn from its original location. There are faint echoes of a doomed confrontation; only desperation and betrayal remain. Various part of the rest stop were built between 1950 and 1980, though it ultimately arrived in the Dark Aether in 1989.
Zarya Cosmodrome[]
Inspired by the multiplayer map Launch from Call of Duty: Black Ops, and host of the survival map of the same name, a Soviet-Era Cosmodrome pulled entirely into the Dark Aether. It was built in 1960 and arrived in the Dark Aether in 1968.
The Fog[]
In between all the major places of interest lies "The Fog', which hosts stronger and more dangerous enemies. While it can be traversed on foot, use of Ol' Tessie is heavily advised due to the danger present within. The Fog is also host to an array of smaller locations, such as a grounded ship and a forest of monoliths. Players cannot earn Essence, Power-Ups, or Salvage in The Fog.
Features[]
Wonder Vehicle[]
The most important new feature in Ashes of the Damned is Ol' Tessie, the Wonder Vehicle. Ol' Tessie is imperative to the player traversing The Fog present in Ashes of the Damned and can be up upgraded with both additional weapons and defenses to help players survive against the Horde.
Ol' Tessie is powered by T.E.D.D., who comments on the players actions as they drive around. T.E.D.D. himself is the first of many upgrades for Ol' Tessie, the others being three Abomination heads, a mounted Wunderwaffe DG-2 Turret, and the Pack-a-Punch Machine.
Players can drive Ol' Tessie, as well as ride in the turret or the bed of the truck. Ol' Tessie can be damaged and even rendered inoperable by enemies, particularly Ravagers in The Fog. However, she can repaired in the Garage in Ashwood and can be teleported there if she can't otherwise drive. She can then be teleported to various other POI's from the garage.
Wonder Weapon[]
In addition to the returning Ray Gun and Ray Gun Mark II, Ashes of the Damned introduces the Necrofluid Gauntlet. The Necrofluid Gauntlet is a black, skull-fanged glove that glows with a greenish hue. The Gauntlet can be used as both a melee and long range weapon. Use of the Necrofluid Gauntlet heals the player. The Necrofluid Gauntlet can also pull items and Power-Ups towards the player from a distance. The Gauntlet fires needles that it then pulls back towards to itself, restoring its ammo and damaging or killing zombies in either direction.
Perks[]
Round Theme[]
- Main article: Round Transition Themes
- Round Spawn
- New Round
- End of Round
Round Spawn 
Version A Version B Version C Version A Version B Version C Cutscenes[]
| Opening Cutscene Transcript |
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In the Janus Towers plaza, four portals open and drop the Ex-Requiem crew - Grigori Weaver, Elizabeth Grey, Mackenzie Carver, and Maya Aguinaldo - to the ground. As they begin to regain their bearings, four figures step out from behind the plaza counter and greet them. Richtofen: Welcome... to the party. The figures are revealed as different incarnations of Edward Richtofen, "Tank" Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masaki. Suddenly, a voice speaks to all eight of them. Great Voice: You got that straight. It is a party. And y'all are the guests of honor. As both crews look around to find the source of the voice, a figure steps in from the front entrance. Great Voice: Or, technically, the main course. The figure is revealed to be a man dressed in Western wear, each hand holding a chain that connects to a cage containing a skull, each of them emitting smoke. The man faces the two crews. Carver: And who the fuck are you? The man sets the cage on his left hand to the ground. The camera focuses and shifts from his boots, moving upward to his face, revealing his hat and sunglasses. Great Voice: I know, I know. Y'all are confused. So was I. But as they say... The man removes his sunglasses, revealing white eyes. Great Voice: This too shall pass. The man raises the cage on his right hand up, then whispers to the skull in the cage. Great Voice: Feed... Richtofen's face is momentarily shocked as he notices the skull, which then starts to scream as it violently absorbs the life force of both crews. Each of them struggles as their life force is drained, trying to hold on as if their physical bodies are also being dragged. The man directly absorbs the life forces flowing through the skull. Having fed on their life forces, the man puts on his sunglasses and turns around, as a portal opens behind him. Great Voice: See y'all real soon. He steps through the portal and disappears. Great Voice: In the meantime, why don't y'all get to know some of the natives. As both crews are still recovering from what just happened, the zombie corpses in front of them begin to reanimate. The camera focuses on Takeo, whose face is now white and veiny, and his eyes also turned white. Zombies begin to appear and surround them. One of them sprints toward Nikolai from behind him. He notices just in time, grabs the M10 Breacher shotgun on the counter, and shoots it as it leaps over him. He quickly stomps his boot on the zombie and puts the gun over its head. Nikolai: Hell pigs... He then shoots the zombie in the head, then turns around and look at the rest. Nikolai: Kill them or be killed! Nikolai sprints toward the Janus Towers entrance. He stomps on a zombie as it tries to get up, then Takeo slices its head off with his Katana. Behind him, Dempsey and Richtofen also open fire on the other zombies. Carver grabs a zombie and throws it on the counter, then grabs an XM325 nearby and hits the zombie with it. Another zombie tries to attack him, but he wrestles with it. Having then loaded the gun, Carver then fires at numerous zombies approaching him. As he turns around, a zombie nearly attacks him, but is shot in the head by Richtofen. Richtofen looks at Carver for a moment, then focuses on the zombies once more. More zombies appear on the balcony as they rush toward Grey and Dempsey, who assist one another in killing them. Right next to them, Maya attacks a zombie in close range with her Karambit Knife. Takeo kills two zombies with his Katana, then throws the blade and strikes one that Maya is fighting against. Maya pulls the Katana from the zombie, then hits it with the hilt, and stabs another zombie with it. Takeo grabs his Katana, pulls it out of the zombie, then decapitates two more in slow motion. Behind him, Weaver walks backward as he shoots the zombies with his M15 Mod 0. A zombie attempts to grab him, but Weaver maneuvers and throws the zombie to the side, then shoots it. He then turns around and aims his gun forward, just as Nikolai aims his. Both slightly nod their heads, and Weaver leans to the left as a zombie approaches him from the right, allowing Nikolai to shoot it. Carver, Dempsey, and Grey vault over the metal detector area as the zombies continue rushing toward the crews. Richtofen raises the entrance door, allowing Grey to pass through. As Dempsey and Carver focus fire on the zombies, they then aim upwards and shoot the ceiling, causing a ventilation unit to collapse on top of the zombies. The crews head through the door while Richtofen holds the door for them. He then notices a zombie wearing a grenade belt. Richtofen aims his Velox 5.7 pistol at the zombie and fires, setting off an explosion that throws him backwards through the entrance. With debris and fire blocking the entrance, the crews take a moment to regain their bearings, as the man from before speaks to them. Great Voice: Hoho... Oh, you all are some bona fide cutthroat killers. This is gonna be fun. Carver grabs his XM325 and an X9 Maverick assault rifle off the ground, then hands Dempsey the LMG, as all eight of them prepare to face the threats of the Dark Aether. |
Gallery[]
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Videos[]
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Trivia[]
- During the Open Beta, if players ran the training course on Vandorn Farm and were completing the Pack-a-Punch tutorial, the jump pad between the farm and the Janus Towers Plaza would be active, allowing players to explore the area before it was officially available with the full release of Ashes of the Damned.
References[]
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