3 tips to help you survive Black Ops Cold War’s new Zombies Cranked mode

With the release of Black Ops Cold War’s mid-season update, Treyarch has added Cranked into the game’s Zombies mode – and it’s pretty different from the standard version, requiring some completely separate strategies. 

While Cranked in Call of Duty games is nothing new, having debuted all the way back in 2013’s Ghosts, what is different is a Zombies version of the mode, which was just added to Black Ops Cold War during the game’s midseason update.

The concept is simple: You’re given a timer, and when that timer reaches 0, you explode and die. With each kill, however, your timer resets, giving you more time to keep on grinding. It’s an incredibly fast-paced mode in normal multiplayer, and the Zombies version is even more hectic – but there are some tips you can utilize to help you survive longer.

Pace out your kills

In standard Cranked, players are usually scrambling to get kills. In a 5v5 or 6v6, it makes sense, considering there’s only a limited amount of potential targets, and if you can’t find anyone, you’ll die easily due to the timer running out.

With BOCW Zombies Cranked, the opposite is true. There’s always an abundance of enemies and, while it’s not impossible to run out of targets, generally speaking, they’ll keep on spawning (there’s not even a break in-between rounds).

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Because of this, there’s no need to be mowing down Zombies as one does in the normal mode. Instead, if you’re feeling overwhelmed (or if you want to get something done like Pack-A-Punching your weapon), try running away from the enemies for a while to get your bearings.

Remember, all it takes is one kill to reset your timer. If you find it running out, just look behind you at the horde you’ve surely amounted, kill one Zombie, and then move along with your business. Wasting your time mowing down each and every zombie can cost you your game.

With all that being said, don’t think you can run away from the Zombies with no problem; if you get too far away, you’ll find yourself struggling for kills, so it’s best if you stay nearby.

Use fast-reloading weapons and attachments

In normal Zombies, using a LMG is sort of required during late-game conflicts, as it allows you to mow down Zombies with greater power. In Cranked, speed is king, so it might be better to use something smaller like an SMG.

Reloading fast is essential in Cranked, as you can easily become overrun. Even though it does have a lot of power, you don’t want to waste your time on the horrendously slow reload time found on LMGs. If you want an even faster reload time, you could even throw a fast-mag onto your SMG, and get it done even quicker.

In addition, SMGs have the added benefit of allowing you to run faster, meaning you’ll be able to evade Zombies even better than you would before.

Always go for the Timer Freeze power up

Treyarch has implemented a brand new power-up that’s exclusive to the Cranked game mode: Timer Freeze. With this, players will be able to stop their countdown timer for around 15 seconds or so, giving them a breather.

While this might seem obvious to point out, you’ll want to go for those as much as possible. Getting one at the start of your game is not too important, but it’s especially critical when you get into the late game.

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As the mode goes on, your timer will get shorter and shorter, meaning every break you get becomes more and more important. Having that 15 second breather seems like an eternity once you get it, so missing out on one can hurt you a lot – sometimes costing you your life.

While Cranked is incredibly fast-paced, it’s really not that bad if you know what you’re doing. If you remember these tips, you shouldn’t have as much of a problem.