Call of Duty: Vanguard is not just a pure PvP slaughter. In fact, you can shoot even more enemies in co-op mode and together with 3 friends, annihilate hordes of Nazi zombies. MeinMMO shows you 5 tips on how to stay alive.
The Second World War is the original setting of Call of Duty and with CoD: Vanguard, we go back to this fatal conflict. The Nazis are trying to turn the tide with supernatural forces just before the end of the war – an army of the dead rises.
The Special Force Vanguard cannot allow this, so you set out for Stalingrad to prevent armored Nazi zombies from overrunning Europe. We will show you what to pay attention to at the start with 5 tips.
1. Assemble your loadout thoughtfully
Before starting the first round, assemble a loadout. If you haven’t played Vanguard yet and want to try the zombie mode first, you will unlock loadout adjustments at account level. Under the menu point “Weapons” and then “Equipment,” you can find the loadouts and choose a weapon and a demonic ability.
Which weapon should I take? Shotguns are incredibly strong in the zombie mode. You deal a lot of damage and are specialized for close combat. If a few rude undead are getting too close for comfort, you always have enough kick in the barrel to clear the enemies out of the way.
- Weapons in zombie mode: Shotguns
- Level 4: Unicorn with rotating cylinder
- Level 14: Combat shotgun
If you are still very new to the game, go for the Unicorn, the first shotgun. However, the best shotgun for zombie mode is unlocked only at level 14: Then switch directly to the combat shotgun.
Which ability should I take? Overall, you can choose from 4 active abilities, of which we recommend 2 for beginners:
- Offensive: Fire Ring
- Defensive: Aether Veil
Choose according to your preferences. The Fire Ring creates a zone that boosts your damage while you are standing in the zone. The Aether Veil hides you for 5 seconds, and no zombie can detect or pursue you. Damage or protection – you have the choice.
2. Upgrade your equipment, even if it’s expensive
In your command center in Stalingrad, there are several “workshops” where you can upgrade your combat power. We would especially like to recommend 2 specific upgrades for the first rounds:
- Purchase with essence: Pack-a-Punch upgrade
- Purchase with scrap: Armor
The first few rounds are hardly worth mentioning in terms of difficulty. You can breeze through the missions and already collect a respectable amount of materials. You get essence from kills or mission completions, while scrap mostly drops from enemies.
However, don’t spend your savings immediately, but quickly get weapon upgrades and armor. Both are extremely useful because your weapons become much better, and you can refill armor if you have taken a few hits.
If you get the Pack-a-Punch upgrade for a shotgun, not only does the damage increase, but the magazines are also significantly larger, and you reload several rounds at once.
Other equipment like grenades, perks, or killstreaks become increasingly important with higher round numbers, but at the beginning, focus on your weapons and the armor.
If you enjoy taking chances, try the Mystery Box and hope for weapons that already have a Pack-a-Punch upgrade. In higher rounds, the chance for stronger weapons with the box increases.
Pack-a-Punch boosts your offense. 
Armor boosts your defense. 
And the Mystery Box spits out random weapons.
3. Explore the Command Center
After you complete a mission, the area of your command center expands. Don’t jump directly into the next portal, but run around the area a bit, look for opportunities to interact, and watch for the demonic fountains.
After the first few portals, you will find these fountains in the unlocked areas and can pick up a free perk that grants passive bonuses:
- Fiendish Fortitude – Increased health
- Diabolical Damage – More critical damage
- Venomous Vigor – Improved regeneration rate
- Demonic Frenzy – Higher reload speed
- Aethereal Haste – Faster movement speed
If you later collect more essence and want an upgrade, you can enhance the bonuses according to your playstyle. But you should always take the first perk immediately, as it costs nothing.
As you stroll through the center, keep an eye out for glowing crystals on the ground. These can be shot to give you resources.
4. Use the sacrificial hearts wisely
A new currency in the zombie mode of Vanguard is the sacrificial hearts. You receive them upon completing missions and at the “Altar of Alliances” you forge demonic alliances and benefit from strong, passive bonuses:
- Bloodlust: Melle attacks deal more damage and heal
- Resurrectionist: Revive allies faster
- Brain Rot: Chance that enemies become allies
- Cryofreeze: Can slow down enemies
- Death Blow: Kills with critical hits reload bullets
- Ammo Gremlin: The unselected weapon regenerates ammunition
- Dead Accurate: If you hit an enemy multiple times, the damage on that enemy increases
- Splatterfest: Enemies killed with explosions can explode
- Unholy Ground: Deal more damage while standing still
- Cull the Weak: More damage to stunned or slowed enemies
- Mother Lode: Chance that used equipment is not consumed
However, the “alliances” you are offered are always randomly selected. So, you can roughly make a plan of what kind of bonus you want, but no specific build. After each mission, the offer changes, and you get access to other and later stronger versions of the bonuses.
So choose wisely, and especially in the beginning, save your sacrificial hearts. Maybe it’s better to wait for a high-level bonus instead of buying the normal and weaker versions.
5. Stay calm!
In conclusion, we want to give you perhaps the most important tip in zombie mode: Stay calm and keep control.
The higher the rounds, the more chaotic the fights become, and if you can’t land the critical headshot at a crucial moment, you are out of the game. So instead of mindlessly spraying into the crowd – maybe use your “Aether Veil,” sneak behind the enemies, and take another lap around the map to get some peace.
Take your time, take an extra round if necessary, and always have a plan B ready. This could be a Monkey Bomb that distracts a horde and buys you time or simply an escape route to have room to breathe at any time. Don’t play reactively, but proactively.
The zombie mode of Vanguard is a unique co-op experience with a lot of rotten flesh and a demonic story. You experience how the zombies find their way into our world and with it the beginning of a story with which Call of Duty was able to build its own zombie community.
The first zombie experience of Vanguard, “The Beginning,” plays out differently than in previous installments and tries out a lot of new things. If you want to take a look at the round-based system of the predecessor Cold War, check out our guide to level “The Machine”: CoD Cold War: Beginner’s Guide for Zombies – How to succeed in your first rounds
