SYDNEY: Exo-Zombies Mode is a new game mode featured in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. It’s a brand new storyline revolving around 4 employees working at Jonathan Irons’ private military organization, Atlas Corporation.
Advanced Warfare Exo Zombies Outbreak Weapons, Power Ups, Upgrades
The new storyline is divided across 4 episodes, the first of which is featured in Outbreak. Exo-Zombies Mode is essentially same as zombies mode featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, but with a few changes and exo-suits.
For more help on Exo-Zombies Mode, make sure to check out our Exo Zombies Outbreak Strategy and Outbreak Easter Egg Guide.
Many of the weapons, scorestreaks, and exo-abilities are taken from Advanced Warfare Multiplayer Mode with little tweaks. In this guide, I’ll break down everything from exo-abilities to weapons and discuss which are better suited against the undead.
Exo Upgrades
Exo Upgrades can be considered as perks from Treyarch’s zombies mode:
Exo Health
Exo Health is an Exo Upgrade and can be considered as a variant of Juggernaut featured in COD: BO zombies mode. This upgrade costs 2,500 Credits and increases players’ overall HP, enabling them to sustain more damage before bleeding out.
Unlike Treyarch’s zombies mode, players take 3 hits before bleeding out in Exo-Zombies. Therefore, you can sustain a little while without this upgrade. Instead of this, try and go for something more important.
Exo Medic
For reference’s sake, Exo Medic works exactly like Quick Revive from Treyarch’s zombies mode. This upgrade costs 1,500 Credits with a party and 500 while playing solo. With this upgrade equipped, players are able to revive themselves and other allies in a pretty short duration of time.
One thing to note here is that while playing solo, a player can’t use Exo Medic more than three times. Whether you’re playing solo or with a full party, this is one of the few upgrades that you should get as early as possible.
Exo Slam
Costing 2,000 Credits, Exo Slam allows players to hover in the air and come crashing down while dealing area-of-effect damage to all zombies nearby.
Although this is a decent upgrade to deal damage to zombies at lower rounds, I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re forced to. The reason for this is that at some point, you’ll be forced to purchase this upgrade in order to retrieve a key card for one of your 4 teammates.
Exo Reload
Exo Reload is another upgrade which has appeared in previous Call of Duty titles.
Costing 2,000 Credits, Exo Reload functions like Sleight of Hand or Speed Cola from other zombies mode. This upgrade essentially decreases your reload time and is perfect for players who like to play with LMGs or Shotguns or like to reload at short intervals.
Personally, I like to save these Credits and go for something else. However, this upgrade indeed becomes a necessity at higher rounds.
Exo Soldier
Those of you who have played Call of Duty: Ghosts might remember Gung-Ho – a perk which allowed players to aim while running and sliding. Exo Soldier is pretty much Gung-Ho, but from my personal experience, I’ve noticed that it also increases hip fire accuracy which is a plus.
This upgrade costs 1,750 Credits and is an early purchase. In Exo-Zombies Mode, you’ll find yourself running and jumping more than usual and firing from the hip a lot. In this case, this upgrade comes in really handy.
Power Ups
Power Ups are certain boosts that appear throughout the map. These boosts work only for a short duration of time and can only be picked by one player:
Hyper Damage
Hyper Damage is essentially a one-shot kill for any zombie at any round.
Score Multiplier
As the name suggests, multiplier doubles the score earned by the player.
DNA Bomb
Remember Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) or Nuke from previous Call of Duty installments. No matter how many zombies are there, grab this power up and all zombies will be dead within the blink of an eye.
Security
This power up activates all traps on the map simultaneously.
Full Reload
Players who’ve played Treyarch’s zombies mode might remember Max Ammo. This thing works in almost the same manner and provides the player with full ammo.
Power Surge
Power Surge is another power up which has appeared in previous installments. This power up allows all Mystery Boxes on the map to function simultaneously and only cost 10 Credits to use.
Weapons
Assault Rifles
AE4
AE4 is a directed energy rifle in Exo-Zombies Mode which is also available in the game’s Multiplayer Mode. However, there are some changes made to it in Exo-Zombies Mode.
Unlike the one available in the game’s Multiplayer Mode, AE4 doesn’t boast unlimited ammunition and only has 70 shots (or whatever you like to call it) in a magazine. But on the plus side, it doesn’t overheat anymore.
The weapon has an extremely low ammunition reserve, but its rate of fire and overall damage output is next to ideal; compared to its multiplayer counterpart.
AK12
This weapon can be bought for 1,000 Credits from the Mystery Boxes. Its high rate of fire and low adjustable recoil makes it a very powerful weapon against the undead. Upgrade it a little and you’ll begin dropping zombies like bass.
Bal-27
Certainly the strongest Assault Rifle in Multiplayer Mode, Bal-27 can be bought for 1,000 Credits from the Mystery Box and has very high recoil. But a higher damage output makes it one of the best to use in Exo-Zombies Mode as well.
Furthermore, in Exo-Zombies Mode, the weapon also receives a Rapid Fire mode which works really well during higher rounds.
HBRa3
This is a wallbuy in Exo-Zombies Mode which can be purchased for 1,250 Credits. The weapon has a moderate recoil pattern and a subpar rate of fire.
IMR
Boasting ’36+148′ rounds, IMR can be bought for 1,000 Credits from the Mystery Box. The weapon has a pretty high rate of fire for its category and a higher damage output makes it one of the best weapons to use in Exo-Zombies Mode.
As for the recoil, firing it in short burst keeps the recoil under control which is another plus point.
MK14
Those of you who have played Modern Warfare 3 might remember this weapon. It can be bought for 500 Credits off a wall and is a semi-automatic Assault Rifle.
Despite of its high damage output and highly manageable recoil pattern, this is not the weapon you’d want to use in Exo-Zombies Mode unless you’ve a pretty fast trigger finger.
ARX160
The last Assault Rifle available in Exo-Zombies Mode is a wallbuy in this game mode. It boasts ’30+200′ rounds and has an extremely high range, meaning that you can always have zombies at a far distance while constantly firing from the hip.
Even from a long range, the recoil pattern on this weapon is pretty manageable which another point in its favor.
Shotguns
CEL-3 Cauterizer
Better known as the Wonder Weapon in Exo-Zombies Mode, this weapon is exclusive to this game mode. This is a directed energy shotgun with three barrels of explosive rounds. This is certainly one of the best weapons to use in this game mode because of its insanely high damage output and hip fire.
At lower rounds, you can expect to one-shot enemies which is increased to 2-3 shots at higher rounds. However, with constant upgrades, you can turn this into a complete beast. As for its ammunition, its ‘16+80’ on stock and ‘24+120’ with Extended Magazines which appears on MK10 upgrade.
Bulldog
Bulldog is another weapon which is available in both Multiplayer Mode and Exo-Zombies Mode with a few notable changes. First and foremost, the number of shots in Exo-Zombies is reduced to only 4 instead of 6.
In addition to this, it takes a lot longer to reload in Exo-Zombies Mode than its Multiplayer counterpart. I also have some concerns regarding the its range. If you need to stick to shotguns, I’d recommend CEL-3 Cauterizer over Bulldog any day.
S-12
Similar to Bulldog, the only notable difference is less ammunition in Exo-Zombies Mode. You can buy this weapon from the 3D Printer for 1,000 Credits. Like I’ve said before, if you wish to go with shotgun, CEL-3 Cauterizer is a decent choice.
Tac-19
One of the most powerful shotguns in the game’s Multiplayer Mode is also available in Exo-Zombies Mode. You can buy it for 1,500 Credits from Mystery Boxes. Personally, I didn’t find anything different between the two counterparts.
Launchers
MAHEM
If you check my Advanced Warfare Exo-Zombies Strategy Guide, I’ve stated that one of the best weapons to use at higher rounds is MAHEM. Unlike its multiplayer counterpart which only contains a couple of rounds, players receive around 12 rounds in Exo-Zombies.
However, one of the best things about this weapon in Exo-Zombies Mode is that it can be fired from the hip which is huge. In modes like Exo-Zombies, players are constantly running away from zombies and waste no time to ADS. This is where MAHEM comes in and blows anything in players’ path.
Sniper Rifles
Lynx
Lynx can be bought for 1,000 Credits from Mystery Boxes and boasts ‘8+48′ rounds in Exo-Zombies and other game modes.
Due to the fact that this is a single-shot weapon and exo-zombies can easily overwhelm you during most of the situations, I’d prefer going with something with increased damage output or a higher rate of fire.
Submachine Guns
AMR9
AMR9 can be bought for 1,000 Credits from the Mystery Box and boasts ’35+200′ rounds in Exo-Zombies Mode.
The weapon has moderate recoil and a pretty high rate of fire with decent range. Furthermore, the hip fire accuracy of this weapon is also pretty decent. All in all, a pretty strong weapon to use at both higher and lower rounds.
ASM1
ASM1 can be bought for 1,000 Credits from the Mystery Box and boasts ’50+250′ rounds in Exo-Zombies Mode. It has pretty high rate of fire and range (even higher than AMR9), but a very uncontrollable recoil.
In addition to this, it has a low penetration value which makes it ineffective against zombies some of the times.
MP11
MP11 can be bought for 1,000 Credits from the wall near the Decontamination Zone and a Weapon Upgrade Station. Its maximum ammunition size is ’35+220′ rounds and has a high rate of fire with only subpar range.
The penetration value is pretty low and it has a high recoil pattern.
SAC3
SAC3 can be bought for 1,000 Credits from the Mystery Box. This weapon has below average rate of fire, but its extremely low recoil and decent range make it worth using. Furthermore, it’s a pretty strong weapon when it comes to firing from the hip which you’ll be doing a lot in Exo-Zombies Mode.
SN6
SN6 can be bought from the Mystery Box for 1,000 Credits. It has a below average range and a decent rate of fire, but its less recoil is its strength. Similar to SAC3, this weapon boasts a low recoiling pattern and has amazing hip fire accuracy.
Heavy Weapon
Ameli
This weapon can be bought from the Mystery Boxes for 1,000 Credits. It boasts ‘100+350′ rounds and very high rate of fire for a Heavy Weapon.
EM1
EM1 is another energy directed weapon which is available in both Multiplayer Mode and Exo-Zombies Mode. However, unlike its Multiplayer Mode counterpart, EM1 has only 100 rounds, but on the plus side, it never overheats.
Due to its extremely high recoil pattern, it’s impossible to use it without moving away from your target. But again, a high rate of fire enables it to drop zombies very quickly.
Pytaek
Boasting ‘125+300′ rounds, this weapon, this weapon has the slowest rate of fire among all the Heavy Weapons. However, a high penetration value and controllable recoil pattern make it pretty useful during higher rounds.