The Elevator appears briefly in Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Classic, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and appears as a regularly usable utility in Call of Duty: Black Ops on the multiplayer map Hotel, the campaign mission "U.S.D.D.", and the Zombies map "Five". Elevators return in Call of Duty: Black Ops II on the campaign missions "Celerium", "Karma" and "Suffer With Me", as well as the Zombies maps Die Rise, which is included in the Revolution DLC. It also appears in Call of Duty: Ghosts in the multiplayer map Stormfront, again as a regularly usable utility. A usable elevator is featured in the Zombies map Zetsubou No Shima in Call of Duty: Black Ops III as part of the map's main easter egg Seeds of Doubt.
Call of Duty and Call of Duty: Classic
In "The Eder Dam", Evans uses two elevators to go downstairs after destroying the German Flak guns. After setting the explosives on the control panels, he uses the same elevators to return to the first area and reach the truck. The elevators are used by holding the "use" button.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
In "No Fighting In The War Room," Price, Griggs and Soap ride an elevator to get to the vehicle depot.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Elevators are seen in the level "No Russian." Three guards ride up on one, attempting to stop the terrorist attack. The elevator is then blown up by a grenade. If the player kills the guards before they enter the elevator, the player can click the elevator button and use it instead of the escalator, but if Makarov blows it up, the player can use the one right next to it. Taking the elevator is actually longer, because the player has to walk around a big wall to reach the exit. On "Of Their Own Accord," some elevators are seen, with one of them closing and opening on a dead Ranger.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized
An elevator is used by Sgt. Baker and Captain Weston.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
U.S.D.D
In the third mission of Call of Duty: Black Ops, "U.S.D.D.", the player plays from the perspective of Mason as he is led by the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Jason Hudson to speak to President Kennedy in the Pentagon. At one point on their journey, they turn into a short extension of the room where armed guards stand next to an elevator. After gaining clearance, McNamara and Hudson lead Mason down to the elevator and take him down to the "Nerve Center."
"Five"
The first elevator players are able to use is on the same level as the players spawn, and leads to the second level of the war room. This elevator is very small, with barely enough room for all four players. It is elegant, featuring polished wood walls and a marble ceiling with several plaques that serve only for aesthetics and humor. Because of its small nature, there's only one entrance.
The second elevator is located at the bottom of the war room. Unlike the first, this elevator is much bigger, all four players and dozens of zombies can easily fit in. It resembles a very large cargo elevator. Also unlike the first elevator, this one has two entrances. The first being the main door, and the second being a barrier where zombies can break in. The entrances face different directions at different floor levels.
On both elevators, players can call the elevator if it is not on the same floor as them. Also, players can use this method for free rides if the players are on separate floors which allows players to save money and work together. Camping in elevators is an extremely popular method, as players can hold off in the elevator until things start to get hectic, where a player can take the elevator up or down as short break to allow reloading or the reviving of any downed players.
Elevators are overall more reliable than teleporters in Five, as they can be camped in, used for short relief, and are more predictable than the teleporters, which take time to memorize the locations they're connected to. But if used foolishly, the elevators can also lock the players in an inescapable corner. Players can also misuse the elevator by using it when other players aren't in it, thus leaving them behind to be killed. Elevators are a lot like the zipline for these reasons, as both can be camped on and used for quick escapes.
The elevator cannot be used during the thief round. Players will get the "Access Denied: Security Protocol 115" message when attempting to use it.
Hotel
Hotel is the first multiplayer map to feature elevators. They take players to the upper or lower levels of the resort, leading either to the inside of the hotel or to useful sniping positions.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
In "Eye of the Storm," an elevator can be seen closing and opening on a Czech citizen, like in "Of Their Own Accord". In "Down the Rabbit Hole;" Price and Yuri, along with Sandman and Team Metal, use an elevator in the very beginning of the mission. In "Dust to Dust," Captain Price and Yuri use an elevator to get to the top floor to kill Makarov, but it is destroyed by a Little Bird, so Nikolai raises another elevator for Price and Yuri, before the one they're standing on falls.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Celerium
In the beginning of the "Celerium" using the binoculars the player can find an elevator being used by a Merc. After the player kills a few soldiers the player can run to the front and can see the elevator and use it.
Karma
In the campaign mission "Karma", David "Section" Mason, Mike Harper and Javier Salazar use an elevator at the Colossus resort so Harper can find Chloe Lynch at Club Solar and Section and Salazar can use Ziggy. After using Ziggy, Salazar and Section use 2 different elevators to regroup with Harper at Club Solar.
Suffer With Me
In the mission "Suffer With Me", Frank Woods and Manuel Noriega use an elevator to get to the sniping position.
Die Rise
In the zombies map Die Rise, elevators can be seen holding various Perk-a-Cola machines, including the Pack-a-Punch machine, once the power is turned on. The elevators can be jumped on to allow the player to get up and down floors. Special care must be taken as elevators can crush players.
Call of Duty: Ghosts
The multiplayer map Stormfront has a usable elevator in it. However, it is not usable in Safeguard mode.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III
An elevator can be used in the Zombies map Zetsubou No Shima upon repairing the elevator with the necessary parts. It is located directly across from the door leading to the Anti-Air Platform within the Bunker.
Trivia
- In "No Russian", as well as the special ops mission Terminal, the elevators are made of bulletproof glass.
- If a player or a horde of zombies stand in the doorway of the elevator, it cannot be used. Displaying the message "Elevator doors blocked" upon use.
- Also, in the service elevator, if a player is guarding the window, it will say " Elevator doors blocked."
- If the player dolphin dives inside the elevator when it is moving down, they will take fall damage.
- Power-ups will float up or down when the elevator is used. This sometimes applies to dead zombies too.
- For some reason all sides of the elevator shaft are properly textured, including the ceiling and floor, even though it is not possible to see them without glitching or cheating.
- The elevator doors cause damage, and destroy equipment on Hotel.