Bowie Knife

Bowie Knife
Weapon Class	Knife
Damage	1000 + (150)
Fire Mode	Melee
Starting Ammunition	Infinite
Range(explanation)	64"
Cost(Zombies)	3000 Free (when harvested from a purple Harvest Pod in Zetsubou No Shima)
Used by	Ultimis US and Cuban Goverment CIA/CDC Victis Primis Shadows of Evil Cast Chaos Story Cast
Consolecodename(s)	bowie_knife_zm bowie_knife (Black Ops III)

"Like a knife, but more so."

— Description in Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

"Single-Edged Lethal blade weapon. Stalk from the shadows to strike swiftly on your prey."

— Blackout description

The Bowie Knife is a special knife which can be bought for 3000 points off the wall in Der Riese, Kino der Toten, "Five", Shangri-La, Moon, Tranzit, Nuketown Zombies, Die Rise, Buried, Shadows of Evil, The Giant, Der Eisendrache, Zetsubou No Shima, Gorod Krovi, Revelations (map), Classified, IX, Voyage of Despair, Dead of the Night, Ancient Evil and Alpha Omega. It also appears in Cyborg Evacuation from Call of Duty Online. It is larger and wider than the standard knife in Call of Duty: World at War (or any other Call of Duty game so far). Its first appearance was in the Map Pack 3 trailer for Call of Duty: World at War.

It increases knife damage from 150 to 1150 (1000 in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty Online), making it a one-hit-kill for zombies from round 1 to round 11 (round 9 for Call of Duty: Black Ops, Black Ops II, and Black Ops III), and through round 12 for Crawler Zombies. It is a one-hit-kill to Hellhounds and Jumping Jacks all the way up until the third Hellhound or Jumping Jack round.

If equipped with a Pack-a-Punched Ballistic Knife (The Krauss Refribrillator), it will one hit kill normal zombies to round 13, Crawler Zombies to round 17 and Hellhounds and Jumping Jack until the fourth Hellhound or Jumping Jack round.

In World at War, the Bowie Knife will not be lost on death, remaining with the player after death. In Zetsubou No Shima, the Bowie Knife reduces the time needed to cut through webs woven by the Spiders.

It is better than the starting knife as the player's melee will become more powerful. However, sometimes the player may not get it before it loses its one-hit-kill status, making it somewhat of a waste of 3000 points. The Bowie Knife does not feature in Ascension and Call of the Dead due to its replacement for a new melee weapon, the Sickle.

In Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in addition to its presence in Zombies, the Bowie Knife was made available as a standalone weapon in Blackout mode after an update.

In Call of Duty: Mobile, the Bowie Knife appears as the Assault Knife. It is available in the form of Epic blueprints for the Base Melee, and was added in May 2021 as part of the Season 4: Spurned & Burned update.

Within Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War the Bowie Knife is relegated to the Aetherium Crystal upgrade, being the Tier III unlock for the Melee Skills in which it replaces the default melee action for itself, as long as a weapon is equipped and the Knife is not equipped as a secondary option. It retains a one-hit killing potential until Round 11, where this potential is lost.

Appearance

The Bowie Knife is very large, possibly one foot in length (by comparison to other weapons bought off the wall) and is anywhere from three to five inches in width (until the curve). Most likely made of steel, shined and a light grayish tint.    

Locations

• Der Riese - Opposite of the big door leading to Teleporter Z-C.(The door in the area near the power switch.)
• Kino der Toten - In the theater seating area, to the right of the main doors, to the left of Juggernog.
• "Five" - In the lab room on the left hand side when the player comes out of the elevator.
• Shangri-La - In the power room, to the right of the Mystery Box spawn point.
• Moon - In the second floor of the labs, it is above the staircase frame leading to the third floor and must be jumped to. It is significantly easier to reach with the room decompressed, however a well timed sprint and jump can reach it with normal gravity.
• TranZit - In the Hunter's Cabin between the Town and the Power Station.
• Nuketown Zombies - In the moving truck to the left of the Claymores.
• Die Rise - At the top of the elevator shaft nearest to the power.
• Buried - In the bar halfway up the staircase behind a barrier.
• Shadows of Evil - In The Anvil Boxing Arena, behind the boxing ring.
• The Giant - Same as Der Riese.
• Der Eisendrache - In the room with the power switch.
• Zetsubou No Shima - To the right of the Bunker entrance.
• Gorod Krovi - In the Dragon Command, on the top of the stairs, to the right.
• Revelations - In Kino der Toten, where the door to the spawn room used to be.
• Classified - Same as Five.
• IX - Located in the Ra Tower: Burial Chamber.
• Voyage of Despair - There are two locations. The first is in the 1st Class Lounge in the intersection between the two rooms. The second is in the Galley as you walk in through the right door from the Dining Hall.
• Dead of the Night - Outside on the Forest Terrace on the left.
• Ancient Evil - At the Ampitheater in the small building.
• Alpha Omega - Located in the Generators area on a door near a passageway leading to the Beds.

Achievement/Trophy

• 40 Knives (25 / Bronze Trophy ) - Kill 40 zombies using the Bowie Knife, on Der Riese.

Gallery

Knifing animation.

Lunging with the Bowie Knife.

Note the imperfection of the Bowie when reloading the Ballistic Knife.

The Bowie knife in Der Riese.

Bowie knife in the mobile app.

Bowie knife in Shangri-La, seen through the Trailer.

The Bowie Knife on Call of the Dead, achieved on PC with console commands.

The chalk outline of the Bowie Knife.

The Bowie Knife in Black Ops III

Menu model of the Bowie Knife in Black Ops 4

The Bowie Knife in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies.

Trivia

• Upon purchasing the Bowie Knife, the character examines and comments on it before holstering it, leaving the player vulnerable to any zombies close to them. This is not the case in the mobile version of Der Riese.
• In Call of Duty: World at War's game files, the knife is treated as a perk, however the achievement/trophy Perkaholics Anonymous can be unlocked even when in possession of the Bowie Knife and the player doesn't lose it upon death.
• When the Bowie Knife is swung, a sound of metal being sharpened is heard, except when using the M2 Flamethrower.
• The Bowie Knife has blood stains on it, even before any use.
• Occasionally on the Nintendo Wii, it is impossible to buy the Bowie Knife off the wall after a player has bought it and died.
• On Kino der Toten, the big teddy bear in Samantha's zombified room is holding a massive Bowie Knife.
• The Bowie Knife is one of eight objects that are found in the "Fly Trap" easter egg.
• In the Call of Duty: Black Ops version of Der Riese, the Bowie Knife is upside down and is lower than in Call of Duty: World at War.
• In Call of Duty: World at War, the prompt to buy the Bowie Knife is not removed after the knife has been purchased.
• A metallic sound is heard when the knife is bought from the wall when the character examines it, except in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
• In Call of Duty: Black Ops III, the player can select camouflages from multiplayer as the camouflage for the Bowie Knife in Local Zombies but not in online.
  • In online, all of the Campaign camouflages are unlocked for it by default.
• A Bowie Knife can be seen above a doorway on the map Hunted.
• Fidel Castro can be seen holding the Bowie Knife in the opening cutscene of "Five".
• In Call of Duty: Black Ops III, it is possible to get the Bowie Knife in Multiplayer via using a glitch. However, the weapon does not appear unless doing the melee animation with it. The Bowie Knife also has its own icon in the kill feed, which would be used for the kill feed icon for a Ballistic Knife projectile.
• In Call of Duty: Black Ops, upon swinging the Bowie Knife while either leaning left or right causes the players to hit themselves with it, resulting as suicide.
• In Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, the Bowie Knife shown in the armory menu is only within the Chaos maps, while the Aether maps instead have the classic design of the Bowie Knife which is unable to be camouflaged.
• In Call of Duty: Black Ops, a glitch occurs with both this weapon and the Sickle, in which knifing a teammate who is currently reviving a downed player that also has either one of the aforementioned blades will down the reviving player. It is unknown why this glitch occurs. This glitch also affects several other weapons, such as the Python. As such, it is ill-advised to melee a teammate who is reviving you, or else they will be instantly downed as well. A similar glitch will kill two players if they dolphin dive on top of each other, such as when sliding on Buried.