Ascension
A Soviet Cosmodrome. Repair the Casimir Mechanism to free Dr. Anton Gersh, who pleads for help from the first round.
Quick answers
Ascension is a Black Ops Zombies map set at a Soviet Cosmodrome. Its main quest, the Casimir Mechanism, frees the trapped scientist Dr. Anton Gersh across five nodes: capture the outside generator, hold four Space Monkey buttons at once, stand on the Pack-a-Punch pressure plate for two minutes, spell LUNA with the lunar landers, and free Gersh with the Matryoshka dolls. Rated Medium, 30–50 minutes; the original Black Ops version needs four players.
How do you complete the Ascension Easter egg?
- Power + link the 3 Lunar Landers for Pack-a-Punch
- Node 1 — Gersh the outside generator
- Node 2 — the four Space-Monkey buttons
- Node 3 — the clock / 2-minute stand
- Node 4 — ride the lander to spell LUNA
- Finale — free Gersh with dolls, Gersh + Thundergun + Ray Gun
How long does the Ascension Easter egg take?
Can you do the Ascension Easter egg solo?
Is there a song Easter egg on Ascension?
What are the main areas on Ascension?
How many side Easter eggs are on Ascension?
When was Ascension released?
Key areas
Centrifuge Room (Spawn)
Starting room around the centrifuge; Quick Revive, M14/Olympia, lander pad A, rocket-launch button next to the power switch upstairs; musical teddy #1 on the walkway.
Speed Cola / Stakeout side (Lander Б)
Speed Cola, the Stakeout room above (Nikolai's doll on the shelf left of Speed Cola), lunar lander pad; teddy on the wall past Speed Cola.
PhD Flopper courtyard (Lander Д)
PhD Flopper beside the 'D' lander pad with frag grenades wall-buy; red telephone right of PhD; Space Monkey button nearby.
Stamin-Up / AK-74u side (Lander Ф)
Stamin-Up near the AK-74u by the third lander pad; teddy under the red star by the gate.
Power Room
Power switch + rocket-launch button; gate and door entries; red telephone through the chain-link fence downstairs by a box spawn.
Mule Kick room
Mule Kick (added via update) with a Mystery Box spawn and a red phone; on the route between power and the pads.
Claymores / Flaming barrels area
Claymore wall-buy with Tank's Matryoshka doll on the barrels; connector between landers.
Rocket / Launch Pad (Pack-a-Punch)
Behind the blast door that opens after riding all three landers and launching the rocket; PaP room with two barricades; shooting the launched rocket drops Double Points.
Steps at a glance
- Power + link the 3 Lunar Landers for Pack-a-Punch
- Node 1 — Gersh the outside generator
- Node 2 — the four Space-Monkey buttons
- Node 3 — the clock / 2-minute stand
- Node 4 — ride the lander to spell LUNA
- Finale — free Gersh with dolls, Gersh + Thundergun + Ray Gun
Before you start
What to have in hand before step 1 — from the loadout notes, from the walkthrough itself, and from the map's own quest documentation where the gate is never stated in a step.
- The full Casimir Mechanism needs four players in the original Black Ops.
- Node 2 only exists during a Space Monkey round, which needs the power on and at least one perk bought.
- The finale needs the whole kit in hand at once: a Gersh Device, a Porter's X2 Ray Gun, a Pack-a-Punched Thundergun and Matryoshka Dolls. All of them are Mystery Box pulls, so start fishing the box early.
Set aside 30–50 min · 4 in BO1 · 1–4 in BO3
Where your run will differ
Gathered here so you meet them before they cost you a run rather than after — quoted word for word from the guide below, or researched from the map's own quest documentation.
This map exists in more than one release, and these are the points where they differ. Everything else in this guide applies to both.
- “Black Ops 3 / Zombies Chronicles only.” “Samantha's Sorrow” (Ascension · BO3)
- “Black Ops 3 / Zombies Chronicles only — not in the 2011 Black Ops map.” “Samantha's Sorrow” (Ascension · BO3)
- Black Ops 3 replaces PhD Flopper with Widow's Wine and adds Der Wunderfizz, which brings Double Tap 2.0 and Deadshot Daiquiri.
- The Node 5 finale takes one of each item in Black Ops; Black Ops 3 accepts two Ray Gun Mark IIs in place of the Porter's X2.
What changes with your player count. The rest of the guide is the same either way.
- Node 2 needs four buttons held at the same moment, at four separate perk machines — there is no version of that for fewer players.
Full walkthrough
The quest in the order this guide runs it — tap any step to jump to it, and it fills in as you tick steps off.
Power & the rocket → Pack-a-Punch
Open through the central complex and climb to the highest interior floor to throw the power switch (perks, lander call-panels and traps come on). Now charge Pack-a-Punch: at each of the three remote lander stations — PhD Flopper, Stamin-Up (the flooded lower room) and Speed Cola / Sickle — call the lander and ride it back to spawn. Each remote→spawn ride turns one section of the rocket icon at spawn green; with all three green, press the launch button by power. Once the rocket clears (or you shoot it down for a Double Points), the Pack-a-Punch room opens directly below the launch pad — it stays open, no teleporter timer.
Merely calling a lander out from spawn doesn't count — the ride must go from the remote station to spawn.
Node 1 — capture the generator & activate the terminal
Two parts:
- Generator — take a Gersh Device to the PhD Flopper side and, looking beyond the boundary through the rubble, throw it at the small sparking white generator so the black hole forms over it and pulls it away.
- Terminal — go to the Stamin-Up lander pad and, in the flooded area below the stairs, interact with the bright, high-pitched terminal/TV; its screen changes to an eye symbol and the crashed module by Stamin-Up shows its first progress light.
If the generator stays and Samantha laughs, the Gersh landed too far — that charge is spent, so get another and throw it so the singularity overlaps the machine. The crashed module's lights are your reliable progress tracker.
Node 2 — four Space-Monkey buttons
Only attemptable on a Space Monkey round (needs power + at least one perk bought). Four wall buttons appear at the perk areas — in front of Jugger-Nog, on the wall left of PhD Flopper, across the doorway to the right of Speed Cola, and on the wall immediately left of Stamin-Up. Station one player at each before the monkey round begins, then all four press and hold at the same time on a countdown. Listen for the cue — a buzzing sound means the simultaneous press failed, while a beeping sound plus an announcer line confirms it registered and the module gains a light. Space Monkey rounds arrive every 4–7 rounds (power on plus at least one perk bought), so a failed attempt just means a short wait for the next one.
Node 3 — the Pack-a-Punch pressure plate
The large circular plate sits outside the Pack-a-Punch room in the former launch area. Hold one slow zombie far away, then all four players step inside the circle at once — a wall clock/knife starts turning. Stay continuously inside for ~2 minutes (one full revolution of the knife). You can freely shoot, move around inside the ring and use equipment — only stepping off the plate resets the timer, so this is not a stand-still. Because a single player crossing the boundary resets it, the standard approach is to make a crawler, drag it to the Stamin-Up side, then run back to the plate. Success triggers a Nuke effect and the next module light.
Node 4 — spell LUNA with the lander
Letters float in the lander flight paths only while a lander is moving, so ride these four legs in exact order (ignore the decoy letters): Spawn→Stamin-Up = L · Stamin-Up→Spawn = U · Spawn→Speed Cola = N · Speed Cola→Stamin-Up = A. Put callers at Spawn, Stamin-Up and Speed Cola; a rider stays aboard while each caller pulls the lander their way. Listen for the Node 4 announcement and the fourth module light.
Node 5 — free Gersh (finale)
Bring the full kit: a live Gersh Device, a Pack-a-Punched Thundergun (Zeus Cannon), a Pack-a-Punched Ray Gun (Porter's X2) and Matryoshka Dolls (from the box). After Node 4 a glowing white orb appears on the ground at the crashed module by the Stamin-Up lander. Throw a Gersh onto it and, during that one vortex, hit it with everything at once — Zeus Cannon blasts, continuous Porter's X2 fire and Matryoshka Dolls thrown into the effect — until the orb rises into the sky.
Side Easter Eggs & extras
Everything beyond the main quest. Tap any entry to open the full how-and-where breakdown.
“Abracadavre”
Elena Siegman. Hold interact on the 3 teddy bears (any order): Spawn upper level, left of the Olympia wall-buy · the Speed Cola lander station, on the wall left of the connecting hallway · the Stamin-Up lander station, behind the fence left of the lander. Once per match.
- Hold Use on 3 teddy bears holding sickles, in any order
- Starting area — on the platform above the generator, next to the Olympia
- By Lunar Lander Ф (nearest Stamin-Up) — behind the gate beside the initial Mystery Box spawn
- By Lunar Lander Б (nearest Speed Cola) — above the wall left of the initial Mystery Box spawn
- 'Abracadavre' by Elena Siegman plays
Four character dolls
Four character Matryoshka dolls are tucked around the map (a lore collectible): Takeo beside PhD Flopper · Richtofen on a desk on the floor above Jugger-Nog · Nikolai on the machine left of Speed Cola · Dempsey by the Claymore wall-buy in the Stamin-Up lander area.
Defend the perk machines
During Space Monkey rounds, keep the monkeys off every perk machine you own — HUD perk icons flash when a machine is attacked, and losing it strips that perk from everyone. A flawless defence can drop a free random perk bottle, even past the four-perk limit.
- Space Monkey rounds start once any perk is bought (power on)
- Monkeys attack the machines of perks players own — damage steals the perk
- Split the team to cover machines; shoot monkeys off mid-animation
- End the round with zero machines touched and a free random perk bottle drops at the last machine
The three red telephones
Three red phones around the map ring every couple of minutes and stay ringing for a few seconds — one to the right of PhD Flopper, one downstairs in the Power Room through the chain-link fence, and one in the Mule Kick room. Answer one and you hear “Five” cast audio: Kennedy, Nixon, Castro and McNamara. Purely flavour, and nothing to do with the Casimir Mechanism.
Worth knowing
Gersh Devices (black-hole grenades) and Matryoshka Dolls come from the box here; PhD Flopper debuts — dive-explosions with no self-damage. Watch the crashed module's progress lights to confirm each node.
“Samantha's Sorrow” (Ascension · BO3)
Black Ops 3 / Zombies Chronicles only. Gersh three dolls, then shoot five more in order for the song and a free Max Ammo. Full steps below.
- Black Ops 3 / Zombies Chronicles only — not in the 2011 Black Ops map.
- Throw a Gersh Device at each of three Samantha dolls to collect them: one on a pipe in the Pack-a-Punch room, one on the Widow's Wine railing by the green power-room walls, and one on a beam above Stamin-Up. The black hole must engulf the doll — a Gersh that lands too far away is wasted and Samantha laughs.
- Interact with the doll sitting in the bush behind the Mystery Box in the Pack-a-Punch area to start the hunt.
- Shoot five dolls IN ORDER: (1) in the Kuda debris, (2) on the Wunderfizz barrel, (3) on the beam near the Gobblegum machine, (4) on the ground in front of the crashed module, (5) directly above it.
- Return and interact with the bush doll again — a skeleton hand drags it under and a free Max Ammo spawns, completing “Samantha's Sorrow”.
Recommended loadouts
Three strong picks for this map — the map's Wonder Weapon plus reliable box/wall options. These are pre-augment-era games, so the setup is the gun plus Pack-a-Punch and perk synergy.
Thundergun
Panic buttonBox. The Ascension escape tool — clears the lander-defence swarms instantly.
Ray Gun + Gersch Device
Crowd control comboGersch black-holes (box) group zombies; Ray Gun finishes. A signature Ascension pairing.
MP5K / Commando (PaP)
WorkhorsePaP a solid AR/SMG for sustained trains around the centrifuge.
When it isn't working
The stalls that actually cost people runs on this map, and what to do about each.
Doing everything right and nothing happens?
Node 2 buttons don't work
Node 5 black hole won't take the items
Gersch throw at Node 1 vanished
Node 3 countdown keeps failing
Common Ascension questions
Direct answers to the specific things players look up mid-game — part locations, puzzle steps and more.
How do I open Pack-a-Punch on Ascension?
What replaces Hellhounds on Ascension?
What do the Gersh Device and the Matryoshka Dolls do?
Which perks are on Ascension?
Why is there no Double Tap on Ascension?
Where are the four character dolls?
What is the reward for freeing Gersh?
What is the quickest achievement on Ascension?
Visual guides & sources
Screenshots and exact part locations live in these — open one on a second screen.
Map discussion
A shared community board for Ascension — posts are public, saved on the server and visible to everyone across devices. Handy for strategies, spawn variations you've noticed, or steps to double-check. Please keep it civil and on-topic.