Ascension — Black Ops Zombies Easter Egg Guide

In this guide: full main-quest walkthrough, recommended loadout, side Easter eggs & songs, boss strategy · Medium, ~30–50 min.

Open the interactive guide →
Black Ops · 2010

Ascension

A Soviet Cosmodrome. Repair the Casimir Mechanism to free Dr. Anton Gersh, who pleads for help from the first round.

Released 1 Feb 2011 Casimir Mechanism4 players (BO1)Free Gersh
MediumEst. time30–50 minPlayers4 in BO1 · 1–4 in BO3Updated7 Sep 2026
Documented here6 walkthrough steps · 6 side Easter eggs (incl. 1 song, 1 free perk) · 3 weapon builds · 8 named areas · 2 sources cross-checkedCounted from this page, not estimated. We publish what is documented rather than a percentage of what might exist — nobody can honestly claim to know the full list.

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?

It is rated Medium and takes about 30–50 min. The run breaks down like this:
  1. Power + link the 3 Lunar Landers for Pack-a-Punch
  2. Node 1 — Gersh the outside generator
  3. Node 2 — the four Space-Monkey buttons
  4. Node 3 — the clock / 2-minute stand
  5. Node 4 — ride the lander to spell LUNA
  6. Finale — free Gersh with dolls, Gersh + Thundergun + Ray Gun
Each stage is written out in full — with the exact locations, the order things must be done in and what to do when a step refuses to trigger — in the walkthrough below.

How long does the Ascension Easter egg take?

About 30–50 min for a run that already knows the steps, and we rate it Medium. A first attempt takes considerably longer — almost all of the time goes on setup rather than the finale, so knowing the order in advance is what shortens a run.

Can you do the Ascension Easter egg solo?

Players: 4 in BO1 · 1–4 in BO3.

Is there a song Easter egg on Ascension?

Yes — “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 Full trigger steps for it are in the side Easter eggs section.

What are the main areas on Ascension?

8 are documented: Centrifuge Room (Spawn), Speed Cola / Stakeout side (Lander Б), PhD Flopper courtyard (Lander Д), Stamin-Up / AK-74u side (Lander Ф), Power Room, Mule Kick room, Claymores / Flaming barrels area and Rocket / Launch Pad (Pack-a-Punch). Knowing the names matters more than it sounds — most guides, including this one, describe locations by area name rather than by direction.

How many side Easter eggs are on Ascension?

6 are documented here — song, collectible, free perk, miscellaneous and mechanic. Each one has its own steps rather than a one-line mention, so they can be followed mid-game.

When was Ascension released?

1 Feb 2011.

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

  1. Power + link the 3 Lunar Landers for Pack-a-Punch
  2. Node 1 — Gersh the outside generator
  3. Node 2 — the four Space-Monkey buttons
  4. Node 3 — the clock / 2-minute stand
  5. Node 4 — ride the lander to spell LUNA
  6. Finale — free Gersh with dolls, Gersh + Thundergun + Ray Gun
In original BO1 this needs 4 players. Bring Gersh Devices, Matryoshka Dolls, a PaP'd Thundergun and Ray Gun for the finale — all box pulls, so start fishing the box early. Box luck dominates the clock: an unlucky co-op run can stretch past 80–100 minutes even though a clean run is far quicker.

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.

Gates on this quest
  • 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.

Which version you're playing

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.
Solo or co-op

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

0% complete

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.

1
Central building · 3 lander stations

Power & the rocket → Pack-a-Punch

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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.

2
PhD rubble · Stamin-Up pad

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.

3
The four perk machines

Node 2 — four Space-Monkey buttons

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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.

4
Former launch area

Node 3 — the Pack-a-Punch pressure plate

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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.

5
Lunar Landers

Node 4 — spell LUNA with the lander

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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.

6
Crashed module · Stamin-Up

Node 5 — free Gersh (finale)

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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.

Reward: a ~90-second Death Machine for every player — the BO1 completion of the Casimir Mechanism. (The permanent all-perks reward seen in some videos is BO3-only.)

Side Easter Eggs & extras

Everything beyond the main quest. Tap any entry to open the full how-and-where breakdown.

Song

“Abracadavre”

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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.

  1. Hold Use on 3 teddy bears holding sickles, in any order
  2. Starting area — on the platform above the generator, next to the Olympia
  3. By Lunar Lander Ф (nearest Stamin-Up) — behind the gate beside the initial Mystery Box spawn
  4. By Lunar Lander Б (nearest Speed Cola) — above the wall left of the initial Mystery Box spawn
  5. 'Abracadavre' by Elena Siegman plays
Collectible

Four character dolls

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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.

Free perk

Defend the perk machines

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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.

  1. Space Monkey rounds start once any perk is bought (power on)
  2. Monkeys attack the machines of perks players own — damage steals the perk
  3. Split the team to cover machines; shoot monkeys off mid-animation
  4. End the round with zero machines touched and a free random perk bottle drops at the last machine
Miscellaneous

The three red telephones

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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.

Mechanic

Worth knowing

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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.

Version · BO3

“Samantha's Sorrow” (Ascension · BO3)

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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.

  1. Black Ops 3 / Zombies Chronicles only — not in the 2011 Black Ops map.
  2. 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.
  3. Interact with the doll sitting in the bush behind the Mystery Box in the Pack-a-Punch area to start the hunt.
  4. 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.
  5. Return and interact with the bush doll again — a skeleton hand drags it under and a free Max Ammo spawns, completing “Samantha's Sorrow”.

When it isn't working

The stalls that actually cost people runs on this map, and what to do about each.

TroubleshootingEach of these is quoted from the step it belongs to, derived from a gate the guide already states, or researched from the map's own quest documentation — nothing here is guesswork about what might be going wrong.

Doing everything right and nothing happens?

Check the round. Part of this quest is round-gated — it cannot start early however well you play: “Node 2 — four Space-Monkey buttons Only attemptable on a Space Monkey round (needs power + at least one perk bought).” Keep the setup going and come back to it.

Node 2 buttons don't work

Node 2 needs a Space Monkey round AND four players pressing the four wall buttons at the same moment (buttons only exist during monkey rounds, and monkey rounds only start once power is on and someone owns a perk). A buzz = failed sync; wait for the next monkey round.

Node 5 black hole won't take the items

The finish needs the exact loadout thrown/fired into the Gersch black hole: Gersch Device + Porter's X2 Ray Gun + Zeus Cannon + Matryoshka Dolls (BO3 version: two Mark IIs allowed). Missing any of these means the node can't complete; the 'Four Players' is listed among the requirements for the full quest.

Gersch throw at Node 1 vanished

If the device lands too far from the generator 'Samantha Maxis will giggle and the Device will disappear' — you've lost that Gersch and must buy/roll another.

Node 3 countdown keeps failing

All players must stand on the pressure plate by the clock for the full two minutes doing nothing — shooting or grenades void it; leave distant crawlers (BO3: distant crawlers respawn as fresh zombies, so keep them mid-distance or use Idle Eyes).

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?

Turn on the power in the central building, ride all three lunar landers back to the Centrifuge Room, then press the rocket-launch button to the right of the power switch. The launch blows open the blast door, and Pack-a-Punch stays open for the rest of the match.

What replaces Hellhounds on Ascension?

Space Monkey rounds. The monkeys largely ignore you and go for your perk machines — the HUD icon flashes while one is being drunk, and if they finish it every player loses that perk. Defend all of them and a free random perk bottle can drop, even past the four-perk limit.

What do the Gersh Device and the Matryoshka Dolls do?

Both debut here, from the Mystery Box. The Gersh Device is a throwable black hole that pulls zombies in and destroys them, and teleports you a short distance if you jump in yourself. The Matryoshka Dolls are a cluster-bomb take on Monkey Bombs: they distract, then detonate several times over.

Which perks are on Ascension?

Quick Revive, Jugger-Nog, Speed Cola, PhD Flopper, Stamin-Up and Mule Kick, which was added by a later update. Stamin-Up debuts on this map, and PhD Flopper means you can dive to prone into your own explosives without taking the damage.

Why is there no Double Tap on Ascension?

The original Black Ops version shipped without it. The Black Ops 3 Zombies Chronicles version adds Double Tap 2.0 and Deadshot Daiquiri through Der Wunderfizz, and swaps PhD Flopper for Widow's Wine.

Where are the four character dolls?

They are a lore collectible rather than a quest step: Takeo beside PhD Flopper, Richtofen on a desk on the floor above Jugger-Nog, Nikolai on the machine left of Speed Cola, and Dempsey by the Claymore wall-buy in the Stamin-Up lander area.

What is the reward for freeing Gersh?

Ninety seconds of Death Machine for the whole team, and the map's Easter egg achievement.

What is the quickest achievement on Ascension?

Space Race — open Pack-a-Punch before round 8. It only needs the power on and all three landers linked, so it is comfortable as long as nobody spends points on anything else first.

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.

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Part of the Zombies Easter Egg Codex — step-by-step Call of Duty Zombies Easter egg guides for every map. Open Ascension in the interactive codex for the solvers and map discussion.