Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies finally concludes with its final round-based map - The Archon. The Archon is a round-based version of Terra Maledicta with a green tint.
As expected, the players were not happy with the map, but regardless of how the map was received, the easter egg was long and tedious, with a decent boss fight at the end.
It was clear that the majority of the focus was on the final boss fight to give a proper farewell to possibly the most underwhelming zombies experience to date.
Of all the maps in Vanguard, Shi No Numa is the best, and it is a remastered and slightly reimagined version of the classic map.
In this guide, we've covered everything you need to know about completing the main easter egg quest on The Archon. The easter egg is a multi-step easter egg that can take quite a while to complete. It consists of forging a pack-a-punch machine, completing three trials, and finally fighting Lord Kortifex, the Deathless himself.
Video Guide
Loadout
The loadout in the recent zombies game has been nothing but shotguns, and it remains the same for The Archon. We highly recommend selecting the Einhorn Revolving shotgun with the following attachment as your starting weapon.
- Muzzle: A5 Smoothbore
- Barrel: Klauser 560MM Rapid
- Underbarel: Carver Foregrip
- Optic: Slate Reflector
- Magazine: 16 Gauge 7 Round Cylinder
- Rear Grip: Pine Tar Grip
- Stock: VDD Hunter
Note that the shotgun isn't viable during the final boss fight. We will change our weapon to a long-range one, preferably an LMG. You can get at least pack-a-punch tier I weapons from wall buys on round 10 and above. We will get to the boss fight weapon when we get to it.
If you're confident, you can do the easter egg with an LMG or other fast-firing weapon such as a PPSh. Feel free to start the map with it, as it will save you some points.
For your field upgrade, we recommend Ring of Fire. You can go with any field upgrade you like, such as Aether Shroud or Frost Blast, but you will eventually need to change it to Ring of Fire.
Ring of Fire is not only needed for a certain step in one of the trials, but also for the final boss fight.
In-game Prep
You need to do a couple of things before starting the trials in this game.
Pack-A-Punch Machine
The first step of this easter egg is to forge the pack-a-punch machine. When you first spawn into the map, you will notice that the pack-a-punch machine is not built. It is in a "ghost" state with its top half missing. You will also see a Sturmkrieger and a bunch of zombies around it in a "ghost" state.
First, kill zombies and rack up at least 8,000 points. Once you have enough points, exit the Temple using the northern barrier, which leads to East Spring.
You can follow the on-screen indicators to get to the pack-a-punch machine parts. Continue forward and go inside the Radio Outpost building at the end of East Spring.
Go through the building, and you will reach Outpost Courtyard. Once again, open the barrier and go through the Storehouse, and you will reach the Jugger-Nog area, The Spike.
You will find one of the parts here.
Backtrack all the way to the Storehouse and go through the Merchant Road.
Keep going straight until you reach Merchant Road West. Open up the barrier and continue going southwest towards the Derailment area.
You will find the second part on top of a wrecked train.
Go back to the Temple and interact with the pack-a-punch machine, and all the "ghosted" zombies around the machine will come to life.
Take out the zombies, and you will notice their souls will get sucked into the pack-a-punch machine.
Keep killing the zombies until you get a white flash on your screen indicating the completion of this step. Your pack-a-punch machine will now be fully functional.
You will also notice a stone podium coming out of the ground directly in front of the pack-a-punch machine.
Once it is out, interact with it to place the Relic Mirror you obtained from the main easter egg quest of Shi No Numa. You don't actually have to complete the Shi No Numa easter egg to have the Relic Mirror. It is obtained by completing the narrative.
After placing the Relic Mirror, Kortifex's artifact will appear, and he will break free.
After some dialogue, he will disappear, and a portal to Dark Aether will appear to your right. This portal will take you to the boss fight later.
The Shovel
The second preparatory thing you need to do is to find a shovel, as it will be used during the main steps and trials. There are four guaranteed spawn locations for the shovels.
The shovels always spawn in all four of these locations, so you don't have to worry about RNG in this case. Go to any one of the locations and pick it up before moving on to the trials.
Note that these shovel locations are completely different from those found on Terra Maledicta. The dig sites remain the same. Here are the four shovel locations:
Shovel Location 1
You can find the first shovel in the Tents area on East Spring, next to the Speed Cola perk fountain.
Shovel Location 2
The second shovel is found in Debris Field directly in front of the Quick-Revive perk fountain.
Shovel Location 3
The third shovel is found inside the Bazaar building where the Deadshot Daquiri or Diabolical Damage perk fountain is.
Shovel Location 4
The last shovel is found inside the train in the Derailment area.
Entering Dark Aether
Once you've forged the pack-a-punch machine and obtained a shovel, go back to the Temple and enter the Dark Aether portal that appeared earlier.
Once you enter, you will get some dialogue from Kortifex and the Construct. You need to survive some incoming zombies and then eventually go down. Do not intentionally go down. Just wait for an automatic down.
Do not panic, as this is part of the easter egg. You won't lose any of your perks. After some more dialogue, you will be teleported back to the Temple. Now, you're ready to begin the trials.
