Der Anfang combines the core elements from Outbreak and round-based maps, including round skipping, objectives, the crafting system, the armor system, and support streaks. Here’s everything you need to know about Vanguard Zombies.
Spawn
The spawn location of Der Anfang is a reimagined darker version of the multiplayer map ‘Red Star’ based in Stalingrad. At first glance, you might get Gorod Krovi vibes just from the statue located in the middle of Stalingrad.
This is the central hub and contains everything you need to prepare for the battles ahead of you. It has a pack-a-punch machine, a crafting station, an altar of the covenant, and all the perk fountains that can be accessed once you’ve unlocked the part of the map having the fountains. The central hub can be fully opened up by completing objectives.
Pack-A-Punch
The Pack-A-Punch machine is available right off the bat as soon as you spawn. There is no side-easter egg to build the Pack-A-Punch machine.
The Pack-A-Punch machine has three tiers. Since the weapon rarity system has been removed in Vanguard zombies, the colors that previously represented rarity now represent the Pack-A-Punch tiers.
The cost of Pack-A-Punch for each level is as follows:
Pack-A-Punch Level I - 7,500 Points (Blue) Pack-A-Punch Level II - 15,000 Points (Purple) Pack-A-Punch Level III - 30,000 Points (Orange)
Crafting Table
The crafting table allows you to craft armor, lethal equipment, tactical equipment, and support items such as a self-revive kit.
In the Black Ops Cold War, the armor was crafted at the Arsenal, a separate crafting station just for armor and weapon rarity upgrades. But, in Vanguard, armor is crafted using the crafting table.
Altar of Covenant
The Altar of Covenant is a new feature that allows players to get gameplay benefits and upgrades in exchange for sacrificial hearts that they earn by completing objectives. These upgrades are very helpful and are always random. They also increase in rarity, and as the rarity increases, the effectiveness of the intended functionality also increases.
For instance, if you have a rare cryofreeze, you will have a chance to slow down a regular enemy when shooting it. If you get an upgraded version of the same bonus (ie the epic version), there will be a chance to slow any enemy type when shooting. Finally, for the legendary rarity, any enemy can be slowed down with an addition of an explosion that will freeze the nearby enemies as well.
Here’s a list of all the covenants and their functionality:
Ammo Gremlin: Stowed weapons will slowly refill ammo from stock. If you upgrade to legendary, all weapons will refill ammo slowly. Bloodlust: Increases melee damage and also heals you. Brain Rot: Chance of turning a normal zombie into an ally when shooting it. If you upgrade the rarity, it also applies to special zombies. Cryofreeze: You have a chance to slow a normal zombie or any zombie if you increase the rarity. Cull of the Weak: You deal more damage to slowed or stunned enemies. You will be able to deal more damage and massive critical damage to stunned or slowed enemies at a legendary rarity. Dead Accurate: Successive shots on the same enemy will deal more damage. Death Blow: If you hit critical shots, it will return a bullet to your clip. You can get back two bullets if you get a higher rarity covenant. Mother Lode: You have a small chance of keeping your equipment after using it. The chance increases as you increase the rarity. You also get a very small chance of receiving additional equipment at a legendary rarity. Resurrectionist: It allows you to revive allies faster. Legendary rarity not only allows you to revive allies faster but also revives nearby allies automatically. Splatterfest: If you kill zombies, they have a chance of exploding and damaging the nearby zombies. The chance increases with increasing rarity level. Unholy Ground: You deal more damage when shooting while stationary. Brimstone: When shooting a zombie, you deal damage to nearby enemies. The damage increases with increasing rarity. Deadshot: When aiming down sights, the crosshair automatically snaps to the head of the zombies. You get bonus damage on your first critical hit. This is the deadshot daiquiri perk from Black Ops Cold War. Dead Wire: This allows you to stun enemies while shooting. If you upgrade to legendary rarity, you also stun the nearby enemies. Scrapper: This allows you to gain more salvage from pickups and legendary rarity of the same allows you to gain more salvage from pickups and objective rewards. Swift Vengeance: You deal more damage the faster you move. It will activate shortly after you start moving, but it will activate immediately upon moving on legendary rarity.
Tome of Rituals
The tome of rituals is a spellbook that allows players to upgrade their field upgrades by spending sacrificial hearts. The tome of ritual is located at spawn (Fountain Square) directly in front of the pack-a-punch machine. It is a book on a stand.
When you spawn into the game with your chosen field upgrade, it is on tier I by default.
You can level it up to tier IV by spending your sacrificial hearts. Each tier upgrade costs one sacrificial heart.
The following are all the tome of rituals artifact upgrades:
Frost Blast Tier I - Freezes normal and special enemies for 3 seconds once they have been in the Frost Blast zone for 0.5 second. Tier II - Increases the Frost Blast radius by 100%. Tier III - Increases the number of charges from 1 to 3. Tier IV - Frozon normal enemies are insta-killed when damaged. Energy Mine Tier I - Stuns normal and special enemies hit by Energy Mine for 3 seconds. Tier II - Explodes 3 times in a row with a 0.75 second delay between explosions. Tier III - Increases the number of charges from 1 to 3. Tier IV - Increases the explosion radius by 66%. Aether Shroud Tier I - Automatically reload weapons when activated. Tier II - Deal 500% bonus melee damage while active. Tier III - Gain 50$ move speed while active. Duration extended from 5 seconds to 8 seconds. Tier IV - Increases the number of charges from 1 to 2. Ring of Fire Tier I - Normal enemies inside the ring take damage equal to 2% of their max HP every second. Tier II - Players within the ring use ammo from stock. Tier III - Staying within the ring for up to 10 seconds increases the duration from 15 seconds to 20 seconds. Tier IV - Staying with the ring for 10 seconds increases your damage bonus from +50% to +75%.
Objectives
The concept of objectives in any Call of Duty zombies mode was first seen in the Outbreak mode of Black Ops Cold War and now it’s been reintroduced in Der Anfang. Unlike the traditional zombies’ round-based map, you do not get to unlock a specific part of the map by spending points. Instead, you must complete different objectives to unlock specific locations around the central hub of Der Anfang, which is Stalingrad. You can start the objectives by interacting with one of the red portals with the name of the objectives hovering over them. These portals spawn as barriers (or doors) to the rest of the Stalingrad map. You can interact with the portal to teleport to another smaller area to complete the objective. These smaller areas are revised versions of the multiplayer maps except Shi No Numa.
The following are the three objective maps:
Hotel Royale Tonga Shi No Numa
Once completed, you will be teleported back to Stalingrad, and the barrier which was initially blocking your path will now disappear, giving you access to a new part of the central hub. For some objectives, you are teleported to a locked area within Stalingrad. These spawn buildings include the Theater, apartments, and even the boiler room.
The following are the objectives:
Blitz
In Blitz, you are teleported to a particular map area where you need to survive the incoming hordes of zombies under a timed lockdown until you are extracted. It is similar to holdout, which is seen in the previous games.
Harvest
In Harvest, you are tasked to fill three obelisks with runestones that drop by killing zombies. The obelisk is called the Sin Eater. Only one obelisk spawns at a time.
You need to insert five runestones per obelisk if you’re playing solo. But if you’re playing with a squad, you need to fill each obelisk with nine runestones. This is not a timed objective, and you can take your time with this one.
Transmit
Transmit is similar to escort from Black Ops Cold War’s Outbreak mode. In Transmit, you escort a floating zombie head to its destination. It will travel around the map and have a large energy barrier. If you go out of the barrier, you will start to take damage. You also need to be close to the head to progress, or it won’t move. Once the head reaches its final destination, the travel meter will fill and complete your objective.
Purge
In Purge, players need to capture control to clear “ethereal worms” called Augmentors. There are bright red runes on the floor all around the map. Players need to stand inside the runes for a period of time to capture them.
A capture progress bar shows up when inside. Once the bar fills up, the rune disappears. Players must capture all the runes to complete this objective. As the players capture the runes, more and more zombies spawn to stop them.
This objective is also timed, and if you do not capture all the control runes within the given time, a set number of zombies will spawn and rush you aggressively. To complete this objective, you need to eliminate the indicated number of zombies. In any case, you cannot fail this objective unless zombies kill you. The number of zombies spawning depends on how many control runes are left. If there are more runes left to capture, more zombies will spawn.
Void
The void is designed to act as a “round-based” game mode within Der Anfang. This objective is available once players have unlocked their way to Von List’s Office located directly to the left of the Theater. The office is inside the Stalingrad Store.
You can access the office by going upstairs. The objective is just behind the main office desk.
The objective is simple. You need to survive here for as long as you can. You will be put into Shi No Numa. No, you are not getting the complete map. It is still the same map you get for other objectives, but it also has a pack-a-punch machine this time.
You also get an ammo crate to refill your ammo. However, you must still return to Stalingrad for other upgrades such as your artifact tier upgrades, buying perks, and covenants.
After every three rounds cleared, you will get an option to return to Stalingrad or continue to survive. You will also earn one sacrificial heart and 5,000 points for every three rounds you complete in the void. Note that these are the same rounds you pass while doing other objectives. In this case, you skip the round simply by surviving inside the void as opposed to completing a single objective to skip to the next round. If you manage to survive a total of 12 rounds in the void, your perk tiers will not drop below tier II if you are downed. Normally, you lose all your tiers back to the default tier gradually. Once you’ve completed the objective, you can speak to Professor Gabriel Krafft by interacting with the door by the stairs having a red rune lock (shaped X).
Perks
The classic perks make a return in Vanguard Zombies but with a twist. The perk machines have been replaced with demonic perk fountains to comply with the demonic ritualistic theme of Vanguard Zombies. You can find all the perk fountains at spawn but can only access them by completing the objectives and opening the areas of the map.
The perks in Vanguard work uniquely. Each perk has different tiers, and they increase in effectiveness as you increase the tier. The perks have four tier levels, and you can increase the tier by purchasing the perk multiple times from the same perk fountain.
The first tier is free of cost. But, it then costs you 2,500 points to buy tier II, 5,000 for tier III, and 7,500 for tier IV.
The following are the perk fountains found in Der Anfang and their locations.
Fiendish Fortitude
Fiendish Fortitude or Jugger-Nog increases your health and can be found in the office doorway on Main Street. The fountain is southwest of Fountain Square. This is usually just behind you when you spawn in Der Anfang. You will have to complete an objective by going into the portal blocking the path leading to Main Street.
Venomous Vigor
Venomous Vigor or Quick Revive increases your health regeneration speed. You can find Quick Revive in Panzer Column East. The fountain is between the Store and the Boiler Room.
Demonic Frenzy
Demonic Frenzy or Speed Cola increases your reload speed and can be found inside the Boiler Room within Panzer Column East.
Aethereal Haste
Aethereal Haste or Stamin-Up is found inside the Theater.
Diabolical Damage
Diabolical Damage or Deadshot Daquiri increases your critical damage and can be found inside the apartments.
It is the bottom-most floor next to the stairs when you go through the door directly in front of the Fiendish Fortitude perk fountain on Main Street.
Intel Radios
Der Anfang also contains radios spread across Stalingrad and the other parts of the map, including Shi No Numa, Hotel Royale, and Tonga. These radios help you get the perspective of different characters involved in the story of Vanguard Zombies, including the dark aether elder gods. You can check out our complete guide on the radios and where to find them here.
