Dead Wire

"Bullets deal electric damage. Each bullet has a chance to stun normal enemies for 2 seconds (15 second cooldown)."

— In-game description

Dead Wire, also known as Kill-O-Watt, is a Pack-a-Punch upgrade in Call of Duty: Black Ops III, an Alternate Ammo Type found in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, an Ammo Mod found in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, and a Covenant found in Call of Duty: Vanguard.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III[]

Dead Wire first appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops III, where the effect will affect up to nine zombies including the one on which the effect was triggered, giving a maximum of nine kills per activation, just one kill below the Wunderwaffe DG-2. It is also capable of killing zombies forever due to its infinite damage.

Affected zombies are incapacitated instantly before they die, making Dead Wire more likely to save the player from being cornered than the other upgrades, such as Blast Furnace, which takes several seconds to kill affected zombies. When Dead Wire triggers on a group of zombies larger than nine, it will affect all of them but only killing nine of them with the rest simply being stunned before returning to normal. Electric Cherry's effect is ignored when Dead Wire chains to a zombie affected by it.

Because of Dead Wire's positive features, Dead Wire is a very effective Pack-a-Punch upgrade, appearing to activate more frequently than the other Pack-a-Punch upgrades, and will consistently trigger on the first bullet fired after the previous Dead Wire effect has ended. It is also arguably the best for high rounds, especially if it is used on a wall weapon so that ammunition is in constant supply.

The amount of points the player gains per kill with Dead Wire is 50 per shocked zombie, and the effect of Dead Wire occurs more often, making it reliable for taking out small trains of 10 zombies (if one causes a chain reaction).

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4[]

Dead Wire returned in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 as the Kill-O-Watt Alternate Ammo Type, where it has a chance to be applied to an upgraded weapon when placed in the Pack-A-Punch Machine again. It costs 2500 points initially, but lowers to 1500 after upgrading a weapon 4 times. The ammo has an area of effect stun that can occur on a short cooldown. It will immobilize zombies around the zombie affected and eventually kill them. Zombies affected by Kill-O-Watt's effect will die after about five to ten seconds. Kill-O-Watt ammo is super effective against Water Catalyst zombies, causing them to explode in a high-velocity blast. It is also a necessity in order to complete certain steps in Easter Eggs.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War[]

Dead Wire returns as an Ammo Mod in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War which can be applied at the Pack-a-Punch machine for 2000 essences. Unlike its Black Ops 3 equivalent, the ammo mod does not chain between zombies, instead it will stun a single one and release an area of electric damage around itself (if the player has it upgraded to at least tier I). The area of electric damage will hurt surrounding zombies every second for the duration of the stun. Should the stunned zombie's health reach 0 during the stun, it will not die until the effect is over or the player hurts it with another weapon. The duration of the stun depends on the tier of the ammo mod (2 seconds for tier 0-1 and 4 seconds for tier 2-3).

The Dead Wire ammo mod has a cooldown of 15 seconds, which can be reduced to 12 seconds by using a Tier II Elemental Pop perk, and using a weapon with Dead Wire ammo also gives a 1.5x electrical damage multiplier against Megaton units, however it will not trigger the effects.

A weapon equipped with Dead Wire is required to complete the Satellite sub-quest in Die Maschine.

Although this Ammo Mod uses the name of its incarnation from Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, the effect it uses is actually more similar to its incarnation from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

Tiers[]

Starting at Level 11, players can upgrade Dead wire's effects with the use of Aetherium Crystals.

Tier I - Stunned enemies generate an electric field dealing electric damage to self and nearby enemies.
Tier II - Increase stun duration to 4 seconds.
Tier III - Double the electric field damage.
Tier IV - Special Enemies can be stunned
Tier V - On stun, arcs of electricity jump and spread the stun to 5 nearby enemies. (30 Second Cooldown)

Call of Duty: Vanguard[]

Dead Wire returns in Call of Duty: Vanguard as a Covenant added as part of the Season Two update. It can be purchased for 1 Sacrificial Heart used at the Altar of Covenants

Rarities[]

Rare: Chance to Stun a normal enemy when shooting it.
Epic: Chance to Stun a normal or special enemy when shooting it.
Legendary: Chance to Stun normal or special enemy when shooting it. May also stun nearby enemies.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III[]

Dead Wire returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III functioning like in previous iterations. Dead Wire can also be crafted as a Schematic in the menu allowing users to spawn into Operation Deadbolt with Dead Wire.

With the Season Three Reloaded update on May 1st, 2024, a new Schematic called Dead Wire Detonators was added allowing Dead Wire to be equipped onto heavy weaponry.